Dark Titans – Arc 2 - Big Trouble in Little Tokyo

Chapter Three

Enjoy if you will, Tolerate if you won't.

Ranma sullenly wheeled his R-Cycle into the Tendo's backyard. The trip back home had been rather uneventful, but it did give him a lot of time to think about a topic that had completely slipped his mind in the heat of the battle. It was a most disheartening problem, and something that he wasn't sure that he could deal with at the moment. Still overwhelmed with sullen . . . ness, he parked his machine in its usual spot and gingerly ran a hand across the metallic shell of the gas tank.

A pained sob nearly escaped his lips . . .

The paint job was totally ruined!

His hand carefully glided across the marred and scarred surface of the machine, flaking off pieces of paint as it went. The one side, it wasn't too bad, a few scratches and a dent from when it had bounced over him. The other side, though . . . well, a forty foot skid across pavement left a nasty reminder. The entire side was scratched and gouged to hell.

There was absolutely no way that he could afford to get all of this damage fixed. And even worse . . . how could he bear to be seen riding to the rescue on a roughed up bike like this? It was certain to send the wrong signal to his potential . . . being-saved people. They – they might think that he wasn't competent!

With a loud sigh, he dropped to his knees before his mightily abused bike. Almost absently, he started searching for any damage that might be more than just cosmetic. He hadn't noticed anything funny on his drive, but then, he wasn't really used to it enough to know if there was anything wrong like tha-

"Ahh, Ranma. You're finally back." Akane's voice.

He looked up from his machine to his fiancée, currently standing on the back porch. He frowned slightly at the small smile that graced her lips for some reason.

"What? That's it? I go driving off into the night to do, the gods only know what, and I don't even get so much as a, 'Are you alright?'" he grumbled.

Rather than react to his weak barb, the young woman simply rolled her eyes, smiling wider. "Oh, Ranma, I knew you would be perfectly fine."

The pigtailed martial artist swelled with pride at that. Finally, his fiancée was giving him the credit he deserved. After all, she knew that he never los-

"I mean, your fight was on the television, so I saw that you were alright at the end."

Ranma's ego did its best impression of a deflating balloon.

If she noticed, Akane didn't show it. "That was a pretty silly thing to do, though, trying to jump over that car like that. I almost thought that you broke your neck when you crashed like you did," she stated, actually sounding faintly concerned.

It was his turn to roll his eyes, as if something like that would kill him - Wait a sec!

"Hold up there, Akane! My fight was on the TV?" he barked in surprise.

Akane's cute grin grew wider and a mischievous twinkle entered her eyes. "Um, yeah. You left the TV on that channel when you ran off. You didn't think that that cameraman stopped recording just because you stopped watching, did you?"

Argh, she didn't have to sound so smug about it! So he hadn't thought of that, it wasn't like it mattered. "Yeah, well, I saved the day, didn't I?" he muttered crossly.

Akane seemed to be enjoying her verbal high ground just a bit much, but relented at that. Instead, she hopped down from the porch and moved up to stand beside him. He looked down at her, not quite trusting her motives. She still had that cute smile on her face and was staring at him in a distracting manner. As discreetly as he could, he tried to look around her to see if she had one of those damned mallets behind her back . . .

When suddenly the blue haired girl leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace!

His mind completely shut down for a fraction of a second and his body went totally unresponsive. What was goin o-

"I am so proud of you, Ranma," whispered the beautiful young woman that was currently rendering his mind into putty.

He battled through the confusing array of pleasant sensations that started to overwhelm him. A little desperately, he raised a hand to ruffle the hair at the back of his head, chuckling weakly. "Uh, heh, it's no big deal, 'Kane. Just another fight, ya know? I mean, I didn't even really beat the guy . . ." Huh? What was he doing? Since when did he play down his accomplishments?

For that matter, since when was Akane so nice to him?

As if in answer to his unasked question, Akane looked up to catch his eyes once more. "This wasn't just another of your fights with Kunou or Mousse, Ranma. You saved all of those Police officers. If you hadn't shown up when you did, that police man that you helped would have died."

Ranma raised an eyebrow at that. Hmm, maybe this hero stuff had some benefits after all. Carefully, he wrapped his arms around the girl before him. "Well, I guess I was pretty awesome back there . . . even if I didn't actually win the fight . . ."

Akane's giggle rang through the yard. "Dummy. I'm sure you'll get him next time." Slowly, regretfully, she finally disentangled herself from him and pushed herself to arms length. "You did a wonderful thing tonight, Ranma, don't ever forget that."

He smiled widely, his ego swelling in a way that simply beating a tough opponent never caused. Maybe he wasn't getting paid to be a hero, and maybe he wasn't getting as much training out of it as he would like, but Akane's quiet praise seemed to have a subtle charm that seemed to make it all worth it.

His train of thought was derailed though, as Akane suddenly started straightening out his shirt, looking at him with a critical eye. She then reached up and swiped some errant dust from his shoulder, clucking disapprovingly. He stared back at her oddly.

"What the heck are ya doin?" he asked.

Akane continued her inspection for another moment before answering. "Hmm, this won't do at all. We'll have to find you something nicer to wear for tomorrow. We don't want you looking shabby, do we?" she replied cryptically.

His confused stare only intensified. "Huh? Looking shabby for what?"

Again, his fiancée's eyes rolled in amusement. "For your driving lessons, silly. You want to look your best for your first day, don't you?" she asked, only slightly patronizingly.

"Wait a second! How the heck did you know about that?"

Another rolling of the eyes. "Televised, remember?"

"Oh, yeah . . . Well, I guess there's always my white shirt . . .," he added, somewhat distracted.

Akane nodded, maybe in agreement, or maybe she was already formulating her own ideas in her head and was completely ignoring him. Who could tell with girls? The young woman then turned and started heading into the house. Then, almost as an after thought, she suddenly turned to look back at him over her shoulder, a happy laugh escaping her perfect lips.

"I still can't believe you jumped off the roof like that," she teased mercilessly.

He sputtered angrily for a moment. "S-shut up! The guy practically turned inside-out, anyone woulda been freaked out by that!"

Akane turned to face the house again, vainly trying to hide the smile on her face no doubt. "Sure, sure," she replied in a most unconvincing tone.

There was only one comeback that he had left at that point.

"You are so uncute!"

The next day went by at a mind-blurring pace for one, Lieutenant Uehara Daizo. He had spent the night with the rather grim duty of assisting the emergency crews in transporting all of his wounded compatriots to the hospital. Then he had spent the entire morning in the coma inducing process of filing his report. The entire afternoon . . . his afternoon had been an exercise in the exquisite torture that is being debriefed by superior after superior after superior. And to top it off, he had spent his entire evening trying to teach that Saotome kid to drive.

Frankly, Daizo was ready to find a nice dark hole to curl up in and die. Absently, he waved to the retreating form of his newest partner in crime . . . fighting, as the boy pulled out of the Station's parking lot.

At least the kid wasn't totally hopeless. Saotome could drive, great balance, amazing control . . . he was just so damned cocky! Every time that he tried to show the kid the basics, Saotome would go off and try to do some paranatural stunt that most pros would balk at. The pigtailed kid was a born daredevil, that was for sure, but hey: it hadn't gotten him killed yet.

Ah well, that was one more thing out of the way for today. That thought in mind, he let out a weary sigh before he decided to make the long trek back to his desk. Maybe he was getting too old for this? Heck, maybe he was just too sane for this? Flying, bulletproof criminals straight out of a bad manga? Roof hopping Martial artists right out of a bad movie? What was next: Ancient demons from beyond the veil?

Grumbling weakly, he shoved through the Station's main entrance, noticing the eerie silence that greeted him. Normally, the bustle and commotion that filled the place would have grated on his nerves already, but now it's absence was a grim reminder of his injured friends. There had been over a hundred officers at that fight yesterday. Nearly half of them were in critical condition. Another twenty or so were admitted with only minor injuries, but still enough to warrant a few nights of observation.

That meant that his Station and all of the Police Boxes that it supported were woefully undermanned. And that meant that he likely wouldn't be getting home anytime soon that night. The outflow of concern from the general public had actually been pretty heartwarming, but didn't change the fact that a lot of officers for this tiny region of Tokyo were out of commission.

Even worse, he got the distinct impression that he was being railroaded into taking charge of the entire case, being the senior most officer still mobile that was present, and the fact that it had been him that had made contact with Saotome. Of course, any young up-and-comer would have been thrilled at that prospect. It was a career making case after all. Unfortunately, he was just experienced enough to know that if he screwed this up, it could be a career ending case as well.

After some tired trudging, he finally found his desk and dropped down into it, letting out another tired groan. Wait a moment . . . Something was out of place, his sixth sense was very nearly screaming at him. He shot up in his seat, scanning his desk intently . . . Ah ha! A slightly crumpled piece of paper sitting on the corner of his desk!

"Damnit! Which one of you bastards ate my Adzuki Roll!" he shouted angrily. There were only three other officers seated at their desks around him. Misato, the rather attractive, if slightly outspoken officer in the traffic department. She immediately waved happily, while laughing at his predicament. A few desks over was Suzahara, one of the few detectives still on duty. Suzahara just shrugged, before pointing over to the remaining officer-

"KANEDA! I swear! If you aren't out that door getting me another one, your sorry ass is gonna be the first one I draft into tracking down this superfreak! You hear me?" he bellowed at the top of his lungs. The young, dark haired homicide officer was already out the door in the time that it had taken him to go from yelling 'draft' to 'superfreak'

Well, at least rank had some advantages. So, where had he been? Oh, yes . . .

So, undermanned, outgunned and with only a total wildcard of a martial artist on his side, yeah, he wasn't exactly feeling overjoyed at the moment. Still, at least he had had the quick idea to plant a few suggestions in his new ward's mind.

He turned to his computer and pressed the power button, maybe just a little harder than necessary. Not his fault the damn thing was so temperamental; if life had taught him anything, it was that a swift smack upside the head tended to get things working in short order. Now, maybe it was about time to finally find out a little more about his mysterious new ally.

Mysterious being used in the loosest possible sense here. The kid had given him his name, for crying out loud.

A few quick keystrokes and soon the computer started to whine angrily in its mad search for relevant information. It only took a few moments . . . but what he found shocked him.

"Huh? What's up with that?"

Ranma enjoyed the cool night air as he flew down the highway. He would have enjoyed the feel of the wind rushing through his hair even more, he bet, but the Lieutenant had been pretty uptight about him actually wearing the helmet that Robin had sent him. As if he actually needed the thing, but what can ya do?

He was pretty disappointed as well. He had been so excited about the prospect of defensive driving, but all it seemed to encompass was driving in a careful and responsible manner! How was he supposed to have awesome high speed battles on the back of his bike if he actually followed all of those rules? At least the Lieutenant seemed to be a decent guy, a bit gruff and surly, but a decent guy. He even had a good suggestion . . . well, good for the Lieutenant anyway. It was a suggestion that was going to bring Ranma himself no end of headaches, he was certain of that.

Well, he might as well get two of the headaches out of the way before he went back to the dojo, then he could deal with the third headache. That in mind, he took the nearest off-ramp into Nerima and made his way to a rather familiar restaurant.

It only took a few minutes of ducking and weaving through the traffic to arrive at his destination. He chuckled quietly to himself, the Lieutenant was right about one thing at least: when he wasn't trying to do anything really fancy, this driving thing wasn't really that hard at all. Squeezing down on the brakes, a squeal of burning rubber slid him neatly into one of the parking spots in front of his destination:

The Nekohanten.

He kicked out the kickstand and killed the engine, then removed his helmet with a flourish. He then took a moment to muss with his hair, trying to battle the onset of the dreaded helmet head. Finally satisfied with his efforts, he dropped his helmet onto the seat and strode purposefully into the restaurant-

Or tried to, at least . . . The door was closed. That seemed odd, not to mention none of the interior lights were on either. A bit confused, he tried the handle, rattling the door back and forth as he tested the lock. And locked it was . . .

What was goin on here?

There was no way Cologne would close the restaurant during the dinner rush like this. Sure, he hadn't seen the old Ghoul since he'd gotten back, but Raven had said she'd departed from America a while ago. She must have gotten back by now. And even if she hadn't gotten back, where were Shampoo and Mousse? If they were playing hooky, Cologne would kill them, great granddaughter or not.

Slightly more confused, he hopped up to the second floor and tested the window that he knew led into Shampoo's room. It slid open easily, which wasn't really that surprising. Someone as confident and skilled as the violet haired Joketsuzoku didn't need to worry about anyone trying to take advantage of her. And living in the same building as Cologne pretty must insured that no one would be foolhardy enough to try to break in.

Present company excluded, of course.

Hmm, the room was darkened as well and nearly empty to boot. Not just the empty of someone that didn't have many material possessions in their life, like his room . . . heck, probably like all of his friends' rooms, really. It was the empty of someone that didn't have many material possessions, and they had packed said possessions into a box and left with them.

There weren't any clothes in the closet, no jewelry on the dressers, no weapons on the walls. The last one was the most telling, clothes come and go (especially on Shampoo), but she didn't go anywhere without her weapons.

A quick search through he rest of the Nekohanten revealed much more of the same. Mousse's room wasn't just abandoned, it was completely bare. The duck cursed boy had even taken his bed with him. Cologne's room was locked, but he highly doubted that she actually left any of her dangerous or mystical items behind.

Now a bit worried, he absently wandered into the dining area and sat down. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen Shampoo or Mousse since before his first trip into the city. He hadn't really given it much thought at the time; everything had been pretty hectic for him. It was pretty obvious that they had upped and left, but to where? And why hadn't they even said goodbye? It seemed unlikely that they were leaving for good, after all, there wasn't a 'for sale' sign or anything, and there was still a lot of personal stuff around the building.

Frankly, he wasn't sure if this was good news or bad news . . . On the plus side, the continued absence of Shampoo would mean the continued absence of the worst of Akane's temper. He had really been enjoying that particular absence. On the downside, that meant that he couldn't get them to help out with the whole superhero thing, like the Lieutenant had suggested.

It had made sense; that Saico-Tek guy had left a lot of good cops out of commission, so bringing in a few extra people to help out with the law enforcement stuff couldn't hurt. Well, couldn't hurt anyone but Ranma, anyway. Still, this did leave him in a bit of a lurch . . . who else was even around for him to ask to help? Ryouga was obviously out. Same went for Kunou and Ukyou. Kodachi was way out, even if he had actually known where she was. He would have felt bad, if he wasn't just so damned relieved that the younger Kunou sibling hadn't returned from America yet.

Heck, even Cologne and Happosai were still missing. Not that Happosai would ever be on the right side of the law. He snorted derisively at the very thought of the old lecher doing something worthwhile with his time.

So, who did that leave him with . . .? Who else was competent in this crazy town? Dr. Tofu . . . but he was already busy helping people. Miss Hinako . . . they'd worked together before, but she was busy too. Mikado and Azusa were both half decent . . . of course, he'd rather tie himself up and throw himself into a pit of cats before he ever even dreamed of working with those two.

Sheesh! No wonder Ryouga was actually catching up to him skill wise, there was no one in this town even close to his level anymore. Man, that was a strangely depressing thought. What had happened to the crazy, chaotic suburb that was the Nerima district?

Well, there really wasn't much for him to do here then. He had no idea where Shampoo had gotten to, but it was a mystery that he could worry about later. After all, if anyone could take care of themselves, it was her. On that note, he decided to -

Wait a sec! Konatsu! That guy was really good, Ranma was sure that he'd be able to help out.

"No!"

"Aww, c'mon, Konatsu! We really need your help here, there's a super villain guy wanderin around Shinjuku, and the quicker we take him down, the better for everyone," he pleaded desperately.

Konatsu actually glared at him, which seemed to be a bit out of character for the usually extremely polite and personable Kunoichi. Come to think of it, Konatsu was looking a bit frazzled, what with mixing a bowl of batter with one hand, taking money from a customer with her other hand and flipping over three okonmiyaki's with a spatula wedged firmly between his toes.

"Well, Saotome, I'm afraid that I've got problems of my own," the pretty boy suddenly turned to a new customer, all smiles and cuteness. "May I take your order?"

The customer prattled off his order before taking a number and going to find a seat. As soon as the boy's back was turned, Konatsu turned back to him, a heated look on the ninja's face. "Elder Cologne never came back to help me like Ukyou said she would. I've been trying to keep the restaurant going by myself ever since I got back."

Ranma fought the urge to shrug, so what? Ukyou did that all the time! If one girl could run a successful business like that by herself, then how hard could it really be for a guy?

"Sheesh, Konatsu," he chided with a careless shrug. "If you're havin such a hard time, why don't ya just call her and ask for some help?"

The look of shock on the ninja's face was almost comical. He let out a loud gasp at his suggestion. "And let Miss Ukyou think that I've failed her? That I wasn't able to do this one task that she set before me!" he sounded positively scandalized at the very notion.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Ranma, but you'll have to find someone else to help you."

Akane knelt at the dining room table going over her night's homework, absently picking away at Ranma's waiting dinner as she did. As much as she hated to admit it, Mr. Saotome could actually cook pretty well, and the dumplings he'd made were really tasty . . . maybe just a little too tasty to let go to waste on her fiancé's cooling plate.

Smiling sneakily, she snagged another dumpling from his plate before turning her attention back to the work before her. It wasn't like she was waiting up for the guy or anything . . . though, he was running a bit late. He'd said that he'd help her with her homework (more likely vice versa) after he finished his lesson, but at this rate, she'd be done before he even got back. The homework and his dinner, both.

If it weren't for the fact that he'd been behaving himself so well lately, and the fact that almost all of the people that she got jealous of had just upped and left town, she'd be a little suspicious. Besides, it was hard to get angry at a person when so many of his friends just moved away. If he felt even half as bad as she did from missing Kasumi and Nabiki, then she imagined that he was probably still pretty upset about it; just hiding it like he did everything else.

Honestly, he was so macho.

She had to admit, though, that she was missing Ukyou and Ryouga a bit herself. Maybe even Kunou, just a tiny tiny bit. Ever since they had rescued him, he had been acting halfway normal. She giggled quietly to herself, if only she could get Shampoo to go join some international superhero group now. Though, come to think of it, the violet haired bimbo hadn't been pulling any of her usual antics for a while now. Not that she would ever mention something like that to Ranma; knowing him, he'd run right over to see if anything was wrong.

She let out a small sigh of contentment as another dumpling joined its hapless kin in her tummy.

The (by now) familiar thrum of an engine slowly wormed its way into her ear. A split second of indecision wracked her . . . did she finish off the dumplings quickly, or leave some for her tardy fiancé? She eyed the tempting appetizers longingly, before compassion finally won out. Fine, she'd let Ranma have them. She was such a great friend, really.

A few moments later, the stormy eyed martial artist walked through the door. Her cheerful smile died slightly at the troubled look that graced the boy's face. Maybe his lesson hadn't gone very well.

"You're a little late, Ranma. Did anything go wrong with your lesson today?" she asked in a concerned voice.

Her voice seemed to snap him out of whatever mood he was in. Immediately his head snapped up and the troubled look evaporated. He matched her gaze and met her with his usual cocky grin. "Heh, naw, it went great. Lieutenant Uehara says I'm a genius when I'm not bein stupid," he replied with great amusement.

She giggled quietly, that seemed to sum things up nicely. "Sounds like you should try it more often. So what took you then?"

He chuckled quietly himself, before waving off her concerns. "Oh, I just went over to the Nekohanten to see Shampoo," he replied as casually as if he were commenting on the weather.

Akane's left eye twitched.

"You did what?" she asked in a deceptively calm voice. Her arm began to slide casually behind her back.

As usual, her fiancé was totally oblivious to the coming storm. Instead, he spotted the remains of his dinner and hastily scooted over to sit at the table, foolishly bringing himself straight into ground zero. She almost felt the sensation of polished wood against her fingertips, when:

"Yeah, Lieutenant Uehara wanted me to ask anyone else that was good enough if they wanted to help out," he replied, still in his casual voice.

Her eyes widened in surprise, instantly the familiar handle she had been about to grasp vanished without a trace. Still unawares, Ranma stared critically at his plate, nudging at the dumplings with his chopsticks.

"Dumb old Panda, didn't make nearly enough to feed everyone," he muttered to himself. He then turned back to her. "After all, a lot of cops are outta commission, so he figured a few extra hands could help out with that. You aren't gonna believe what I found at the Nekohanten though."

Oh, there was that handle again. "What was that?" she asked rather sweetly.

"Nuthin! There wasn't no one there, Akane. The whole place was closed up. I even slipped in, but everyone was gone, packed and gone for that matter," he explained excitedly.

"Really?" she asked, perhaps a little more cheerfully than strictly necessary.

He nodded, absently nudging the dumplings off to one side of his plate. "Yeah, judgin by the dust and stuff, I'd say they've been gone for nearly a week, too. I'm kinda surprised that they were missing for so long and we didn't notice."

Well, she wasn't. As far as she was concerned, the Amazons were out of sight, out of mind with her. She was a little worried that he might pick up on her good mood at the good news though, so she decided to change the subject.

"So, who else is there to help you out then?"

He shrugged, looking a bit annoyed. "Apparently no one in Nerima. I tried Konatsu too, but he was too busy. Pretty much the only person I haven't asked yet is you." Suddenly his face split into a wide grin. "So, whadya say, Akane, you up for saving the city from masked madmen? The dynamic duo, Kung Fu Guy and Mallet Girl?"

For that comment, she reunited head and mallet; he had just been asking for that one. She put her mallet away as she watched him gingerly rub the tiny bump forming on his forehead. Then . . . then she actually considered his request.

It wasn't like she hadn't been thinking about it, thinking about it a lot lately. And it was for that reason, that she already had her answer.

"I . . . don't think I can do that, Ranma," she answered quietly. She knew this would likely hurt him, even if only a little bit.

Indeed, he looked back at her, a look nine-tenths incomprehension and one-tenth rejection on his face. "W-what? But what about all of your 'I'm a martial artist, too!' talk? Usually I can't drag you away from a fight, what's up with that?"

She nodded slowly. "I am a martial artist and whenever anyone threatens me, or challenges our school, I'll be the first one to punch their lights out," she started seriously. "But this isn't about getting into fights every once in awhile, this is about a way of life. Robin, Starfire and all of the Titans, all they do is save people. They don't go to school, they don't have jobs, heck, they practically live in their uniforms, just waiting for the next emergency."

She looked at him seriously, willing him to understand. "I may be a martial artist, but I'm also a normal girl. I want to go to school, I want to have friends and I eventually want to have a career, maybe even . . ." She began to blush brightly as he continued to stare at him. " . . . a family."

At that, his face went beet red and he instantly found his dinner to be the most fascinating thing in the world. "U-um . . . um, yeah . . . I guess those are things that . . . you might want . . . someday . . ."

Akane smiled weakly at that. "My point is that I don't think that I can devote my life to being a hero. But I think that you can. I mean, if you keep helping the police like this, and after you finish high school, I bet you'd have a great chance to join the police force yourself. Think about it, it would be perfect for you. You'd be able to keep practicing your art, you'd be helping people and you'd have a respectable career," she explained optimistically.

He nodded absently, from the look on his face she could practically see him imagining himself as a police officer. Officer Saotome, she giggled at the thought herself. Suddenly he snapped back to reality, smiling widely. "Hey! You could do that, too, ya know."

The blue haired girl shook her head wryly. "Sorry, but I don't think that directing traffic would be quite as fulfilling for me. Besides, I think two Tendo sisters being swept up into all of that superhero and super villain nonsense is quite enough, don't you?" she asked playfully.

Except his reaction was anything but playful! Suddenly his stare bore into her like a pair of arctic blue drills. The look on his face was complete shock and then he jumped to his feet, walking towards the hallway. Almost instantly, his expression melted from shock to a cocky, self satisfied smirk that instantly made her start worrying.

"What are you doing?" she asked more than curiously.

He turned back to her, his smirk blooming into a full blown smile. "Heh, inspiration strikes. Gotta go make a phone call, I'll be back in a minute."

Then, true to his word, he vanished for a few minutes, apparently making a phone call. When he finally returned, he dropped to the table once more, still smiling like the cat that ate the canary. She looked at him suspiciously.

"What was that all about?"

"Oh . . . nothing important, really. Hmm, man, why did the Old man make these dumplings, he knows that I hate'em," replied the boy. Ranma then turned his plate and slid it a little closer to her. "Hey, you want my dumplings? I can't stand em."

Still a little shellshocked about the whole thing, she nodded absently and grabbed one of the morsels.

"So, what are you going to do about that bad guy, then, if there isn't anyone else to help you?" she asked finally.

Ranma just shrugged, smirking that cocky smirk of his. "Sheesh, Akane, it's just one guy-"

"How bad could it possibly get?"

Ranma sprinted across the pavement as if his life depended on it . . . which it did! The road behind him detonated in a long string of molten explosions that trailed him for a good thirty feet. He quickly dove through the air, just as another series of high speed plasma projectiles tore into the ground where he had been standing a split second earlier. Each blast slammed into the pavement with enough force to send debris flying for yards and enough heat to turn that debris into poor man's magma.

His frantic dive landed him behind a nearby armored car. He peeked around the corner of the vehicle to stare at the scene behind him. The entire street was in ruins! Cars flipped over, lamp posts bent, torn out of the ground, or just plain melted down. Long lines of craters ran up and down the road, across a lot of building faces and spelt the end for more than a few news stands.

In the middle of the maelstrom, hovering several feet above the ground was the culprit. Standing at about four feet tall, one wouldn't imagine that he-it was responsible, but still, Ranma had seen weirder.

"Damnit! This is the third one this week! Where the hell are they all coming from?"

The rather irate cry drew Ranma's attention away from his target, to the other individual sharing his current hiding spot. The Lieutenant glared at the odd looking handgun that he was currently holding. The older man banged angrily on the side of the oversized weapon, certainly not any kind of gun that Ranma had ever seen, which suddenly caused a green light to flash on the barrel as it seemed to hum to life. Huh . . . that was weird.

Daizo hefted the overly large pistol and glared at it again. "Ultra hightech piece of junk . . ." muttered the man under his breath. The officer then turned to him. "What's this city coming to? Most of my life: nothing! Now, it's like these superfreaks are popping out of the woodwork! First that red guy, then that black, ghost thing. And, of course, let us not forget that huge, stupid looking yellow robot that tried to cook up the entire Police Station!"

Ranma smiled grimly at that memory. "Shucks, it sure was too bad that we weren't able to stop it before it actually busted into the Commander's office," he stated . . . maybe just slightly sarcastically.

The older man actually smiled wryly at that. "I certainly hope you aren't insinuating anything there, Saotome."

The pigtailed boy just shook his head, still catching his breath from all of the running and dodging he'd been doing. "I'm just saying that your boss probably wouldn't have insisted on you being equipped with all the best stuff if he hadn't almost gotten eaten, heh."

Daizo rolled his eyes at that. "Yeah, well we'll see if this overachieving remote control is worth what they paid for it soon enough. Never would have imagined I would end up using it on Astroboy though," the old man muttered that last part.

Ranma was about to ask who Astroboy was, when their conversation was suddenly interrupted -

Interrupted rudely, as suddenly the entire armored vehicle they were hiding behind suddenly lifted into the air! They both stared in shock at the widely smiling face of the armor plated boybot as it casually lifted the massive truck above its head with one hand and floated up into the air. The jet exhaust from the adolescent blue robot kicked up stinging clouds of dust and debris that did its best to get into his eyes.

"Good Afternoon!" came the high pitched whine that passed as the robots voice.

The next second, both of them were frantically running out of the way, just as the multi-ton bludgeon crashed back to the ground, embedding itself deep into the unyielding pavement. Almost instantly, Ranma flipped onto a nearby car and rebounded back to meet the pointy headed robot head-on.

Super strong opponents, he was more than used to.

The self proclaimed Mecha-Boi just had enough time to turn in his direction and raise a brightly glowing fist, before he was all over him. He landed lightly on the smoking remains of the armored car and slid around the frantic energy blast with dismissive ease. Then he spun around the following punch, planting his elbow deep into the robots chest.

A metallic clang rang through the entire street as the robot boy was launched through the air to smash into and through the front of a nearby building.

"OUCH! Damnit!" he howled, clutching his elbow to his chest.

What the hell was that thing made of, some kind of . . . metal . . . um, never mind. Sheesh, Ranma could probably punch a hole through the armored car that he was standing on without flinching, but hitting that robot was like hitting Ryouga . . . if Ryouga had managed to get himself dumped into a vat of titanium and cooled into a statue of himself!

Quickly, he turned to Lieutenant Uehara. "Hey, Gramps! Who the heck is Astroboy?"

Daizo was just dragging himself to his feet, having narrowly avoided being crushed by the armored car. The officer spent a moment staring suspiciously at his new gun, before looking at him incredulously. "Who's Astroboy? Did you spend your whole life under a rock, Saotome? Astroboy is practically a Japanese Icon. Really, they just don't make heroes like they used to," grumbled the cop, sounding slightly nostalgic.

Ranma jumped down to the road, getting a little more distance between him and the hole he had just launched the tiny terror through. Better safe than sorry, after all. Annoyingly, he couldn't sense the robot at all, so he couldn't tell if it was trying to be sneaky and get behind him, or if it was just taking forever to get off its butt.

Still keeping his senses stretched to their limit, he turned to Daizo. "Some dorky robot boy was Japan's greatest hero? Man, you guys must have been pretty deprived back in your day." Not that Ranma really had the money to keep up with much in the way of manga or anything, but since settling down in Nerima, he'd gotten to know all of the big names in manga and anime, even if only at the insistence of Hiroshi and Daisuke.

"I'll have you know-"

A slight vibration in the ground caused him to tune out the rest of his partner's words instantly.

There!

He leapt straight up, just as the killer machine burst up through the street, likely from the sewers below! Ranma angled himself to avoid the flying uppercut and smash into the boy's deceptively jolly face, when:

A massive beam of coherent light slammed into Mecha-Boi's chest! The blast was powerful enough to send the robot flying off to crash into another parked car, reducing the green compact to so much scrap metal. The pigtailed boy smiled, landing on the edge of the hole his attacker had created, rather than fall to the sewers below; an unpleasant prospect for a number of reasons.

Off to the side, still not too far from the armored car, was Lieutenant Uehara . . . currently sitting on his butt, a smoking gun in his hands and a surprised look on his face. Ranma nearly laughed out loud at the sight; apparently that gun had some kick to it.

He turned to regard the scrapped car, as the robot boy pulled himself out of it. Ranma's eyes widened slightly at the sight of a large hole, at least four inches in diameter, burned straight through the robots chest.

Note to self: Don't get shot by that gun!

Oddly enough, Mecha-Boi didn't seem too put out by the rather large hole taking up residence in his torso . . .

Suddenly, in a flash of color, the hole sealed itself instantly! The pigtailed boy did a double take at that! Nearly instantly, the hole closed, the once empty space now a bright crimson color. A second later, it flashed yellow, then suddenly the circular patch flashed blue and then melded in perfectly with the rest of the robot's colors.

Ranma nearly felt his jaw slam into the pavement at his feet. T-t-that just wasn't right! There had been a hole in his chest, the kind of hole that you don't walk away from! Any further gasps of incomprehension were cut off, though, as the robot lifted its hands before it again, blue plasma building up already.

Fortunately (or worryingly) Ranma was getting strangely accustomed to these little impossibilities, so he was already dodging when the air came to life with dozens of high energy plasma projectiles. His world became a series of flips, dodges and dives as he avoided the mass of attacks with a series of acrobatics that would leave most gymnasts in the hospital.

Unfortunately, it wasn't getting him any closer to his opponent. The damn kid didn't seem to have any limit on how many of those damn blasts it could throw.

So, a few seconds later, Ranma found himself once again hiding behind an armored car, a grumpy police Lieutenant crouched down beside him. The pigtailed boy smiled, turning to his companion.

"Ya know, we really gotta stop meeting like this."

The Lieutenant glared at him balefully, even as their tenuous cover shook and shuddered under enemy fire, apparently trying to decide whether or not to pistol whip him. Judging by the small bar of light on the side of the gun, it was going to take a few more seconds to recharge again -

A beep.

"Shit!""Crap!"

In a burst of motion, the two of them twisted and turned, looking for whatever had caused the noise. If his battle with Saico-Tek had taught him anything, it was a healthy respect for the word 'beep'.

There it was again!

"Where's it coming from?" Daizo's words were getting more panicked.

Wait! It was coming from his . . . pants?

Ranma slapped his palm to his forehead. D'oh! He knew exactly what it was. With only a somewhat embarrassed look on his face, the martial artist pulled the circular yellow communicator from his pocket and held it up before him. He was about to open it, but then turned to Daizo.

"Um, excuse me, Lieutenant, but I gotta take this."

If looks had the ability to kill, Ranma was pretty sure that the contents of his skull would have been decorating a good part of the neighborhood at that very moment. The Lieutenant held the irate glare for several moments, it looked like he was going through some kind of internal struggle on whether to yell at him, smack him upside the head, or just outright shoot him.

Rather than do any of those things though, the cop suddenly pulled out his trusty revolver and jumped out from behind the armored car. A second later, the sounds of ionizing air, tiny combustion reactions and maniacal laughter filled the air as Daizo went on a one man rampage against the tiny blue robot.

Ranma simply shrugged, he'd seen weirder. That out of the way, he flipped open the communicator, not sure what to expect.

Raven's face filled the tiny screen. She seemed to take a moment taking in the scene that surrounded him. He absently heard several plasma blasts fly over his head and explode spectacularly down the street, even as Daizo's half-crazed laughter continued to fill the air.

"Hey, Raven! How are things going?" he asked happily.

Raven continued to stare at him, a small look of incomprehension on her face.

"I'm not . . . calling you at a bad time . . . am I?" she asked uncertainly.

He thought about that for a moment . . . .

"Hmm, naw, not really. This is pretty normal for me, really," he stated, smiling wickedly. "So, what's on your mind, Rae?"

One of the girl's eyebrows arched cutely at that. "Well, I was calling about . . . are you certain this isn't a bad time? I could have sworn I heard explosions: multiple explosions . . ."

Ranma casually waved his hand in front of the communicator, even as he heard Daizo curse loudly in the background. "Well, I do have something I'm kinda in the middle of, but it's nothing too important. I'm sure I can talk to you while I'm doin that," he explained confidently.

A second later, Daizo flopped over the top of the armored car and dropped to the ground beside him, he appeared to be smoking slightly. The Lieutenant glared at him hotly for a moment. "Anytime today that you feel like using those amazing kung fu skills of yours would be nice, Saotome . . . Hey! That better not be a personal call while you're on company time!"

He glanced at Raven's tiny face, then back to his partner. "Um . . . no! This is important business . . . super hero business! Don't worry, I'll take care of the metal munchkin in a sec."

With that, he hopped up and over the mostly molten slag that was once used to transport currency, and started charging the hovering form of the robot. He lifted the communicator up again. "Sorry 'bout that, Rae. So, what was it you wanted to talk about again?" he asked politely.

A second later, the plasma started flying. He zigged to the side and zagged back again, snagging a sheared off car door in his erratic travels.

"Please don't call me Rae. And . . . "

Roll – Flip – Leap forward -

". . . well, I just really felt the need to talk to someone."

A neon burst of plasma shrieked straight in his direction. Rather than waste time dodging, he swung the errant car door ahead of him, angled just enough so the blast skipped off, rather than melted straight through. Physics rocked!

"I didn't really feel comfortable talking to anyone else in the Tower about it . . . things have been . . . odd lately."

One last leap took him up and over the blue robot. He spun as tightly as the laws of nature and a big bulky car door would allow. As soon as he landed he lashed out with the mother of all backhands, the car door smashing into Mecha-Boi's exposed back with enough force to explode in a shower of metal and glass. The mini mecha careened into the ground, digging a ten foot trench before skipping up and bouncing into the air, just in time to be caught in the leg by another high yield laser blast! The attack sent the tiny terror spinning like a top until it demolished the face of a nearby bank.

Ranma let out a small whistle at that, he bet even the old Lech woulda felt that one. He lifted the communicator back up, smirking confidently. "Heh, odd you say? I think I can relate, somewhat." Without thinking about it, he dropped the shattered remains of the door, dropping it to the ground with a clatter.

Raven's tiny face grew a reserved smile. "I'm certain you can." Then her face returned to its more natural, neutral expression. "It's just that – that everyone has been walking on eggshells here lately. Robin has been spending a lot of time with Kasumi lately and Starfire and Cyborg both seem to be reacting adversely, though I can't imagine why . . ."

The pigtailed boy scratched his head at that . . . walking on eggshells? What an odd expression . . . it didn't sound that hard, he was pretty sure he could do that without even thinking about it.

"But then, conversely, Starfire and Ryouga have also been indulging in their strange sibling relationship more lately, which has Robin feeling tense . . ."

"Huh? What's the big deal there? Those two are just good friends, nothing for bird boy to get his tights in a bunch about," he replied, feeling the odd desire to stand up for two people that he considered to be good friends, perhaps even contemporaries in the art.

A shift in the rubble signaled potential trouble. A moment later, Mecha-Boi dug itself out of the mortar and glass, looking none the worse for wear. Damn! Even the laser blast was already healed, he figured at the very least that would have done something. Really, all he was accomplishing seemed to be knocking the damn little robot around like a pin ball. For all its strength and durability, it was obscenely light, so almost any hit he landed just launched it through the air.

"My thoughts exactly. And then there is Beast Boy, he's pacing around like an expectant father, waiting for Ryouga to cure Terra. It's all getting to be more than I can handle," she explained, sounding a little stressed out.

Ranma didn't wait for his opponent to start flinging plasma blasts again, he flew forward on the attack. Within a second, he was in the robot's face, unleashing a lighting fast combination of Amagurinken punches, just like he normally would against Ryouga. Mecha-Boi was insanely strong and inhumanly tough, but he wasn't trained to fight at all, and lacked any real speed.

He lifted the communicator as he unleashed another chestnut fist with his right fist.

"Who – the heck . . ."

Backhand flowed into a sweep kick. Mecha-Boi floated over the kick with its leg jets -

"Is Terra?"

Knife hand chop to the side of the neck turned into a grab and he flipped the robot over his hip to slam into the ground. He then drove a devastating axe kick directly into the robots face, driving its entire head a foot into the road.

He noticed the shocked look on Raven's face now, apparently she was watching a bit of his fight when he was waving his communicator around.

"Um . . . I'll tell you later. Are you sure you should be talking to me right now? You appear to be quite busy."

With his free hand, he latched onto the tin can's leg and lifted with all his strength, tearing the robot completely out of the ground. He then pulled down as hard as he could and smashed the robot back to earth twice as hard as before, burying it even further into the pavement. Then he tore it out of the ground again and spun around three times, before launching it across the street and through the third story wall of a department store.

"Damnit, Saotome! Try to tone down the property destruction!" Uehara bellowed from . . . wherever he was hiding. Ranma chuckled to himself, obviously this cop had never been to Nerima before.

He gazed back down to Raven. "Hmm, while your here . . . you got any advice on how to beat an indestructible little robot boy? This guy is harder than Ryouga's skull," he asked earnestly.

Raven thought about that for a moment. "Well, if it's a poorly made robot, dousing it with water could work. Or you could try to short out its systems with electricity, those are both good ways to deal with robots."

Ranma nodded, considering his options. A quick scan of his surroundings gave him a few options that he could use. Yeah . . . yeah, that could work. All he needed was a distraction. He looked back to Raven. "Hey, thanks for the tip. Look, I'm really sorry, but I gotta let ya go now, things are gonna get pretty ugly here, but I promise I'll call ya back later tonight, alright?"

She nodded in understanding, more than likely still surprised that he had actually stayed on the line as long as he had. Without another word, he flipped the device closed and stuck it back in his pocket. A quick glance at the hole he'd just made showed his opponent was still down, possibly repairing itself after the beat down he'd just laid down on it.

A single leap took him back behind the armored car, to kneel beside the Lieutenant. Daizo stared back at him. "Finally done talking to your girlfriend, Saotome?" he cracked, sounding slightly amused.

Ranma just glared at him. "Don't even joke about that, man. Now listen, I need you to keep that thing busy for a second, I gotta plan."

Daizo nodded confidently. "What's the plan, kid?"

Ranma's smile slipped slightly at that.

"Lieutenant, I'm afraid you're about to see a very ugly side of me."

Mecha-Boi stood up, all internal and surface injuries fully repaired. A quick diagnostic revealed no problems remaining and that he was fully prepared to re initiate battle. If such a thing were possible, the robotic boy was feeling . . . troubled. All of his data on humans and human nature indicated that his victory should have been swift and brutal and yet this human remained undamaged. Was even inflicting minor damage, damage that no human should be able to inflict with its bare hands.

The laser weapon, while potentially dangerous, was not unforeseen and well within his abilities to regenerate from. The other humans abilities though, they defied all logic. Genetic scans indicated no alien or mutated DNA, so the targets heightened abilities seemed to have no logical reason for existing.

Still, in the thirteen minutes and fifteen point three-five seconds since they had initiated combat, he had recorded a four point six-two percent decrease in his targets maximum velocity and a five point nine-one percent decrease in his reaction time. Thus, his CPU calculated that eventually fatigue would drop his designated target within combat parameters that he would be able to overcome.

Still puzzled by his targets unusual abilities, Mecha-Boi was, nonetheless, satisfied that his victory was assured. His opponent was, after all, only human.

All of this contemplation had taken approximately a tenth of a second. A fraction of a second later, his jets flared to life and he flew out the shattered wall that he had been thrown through. Two seconds after that, he landed on the ground and proceeded to scan his surroundings.

Still kneeling behind the remains of the currency transport, a red outline formed around the figure of the secondary target. The threat value of the uniformed officer floated dangerously close to zero. A second outline formed around the weapon in the officer's hands, its threat value showed it to be a moderate risk.

But where was the primary target? Auditory sensors and motion sensors didn't show any signs that matched his previous readings on the human. Breathing, heartbeat and vibrations from footsteps (based on mass to height ratio) were all suddenly absent. Had the primary target fled combat?

All evidence seemed to indicate that scenario. That decided, he switched combat priorities, reestablishing the secondary target as the primary target. Slowly, Mecha-Boi turned to face the cowering human, raising a glowing fist.

As predicted, the human chose that moment to leap up from his cover and fire his high yield energy weapon. Mecha-Boi simply oriented the angle of his own attack, then launched a plasma beam of his own. The two blasts met almost directly between the two of them, a shower of supercharged plasma raining to the street in a fiery display of thermodynamics.

Of course, Mecha-Boi's energy yield was roughly nine point nine-five percent higher than his opponent's energy weapon. Also, his records stated that the laser pistol could only maintain maximum output for only three point two-five seconds, whereas he had no such limits.

Three point two-five seconds later, the energy duel ended, Mecha-Boi's energy lance instantly blasting through the dying beam of his opponent's weapon. The target just barely retained the reaction time to dive out of the way before being vaporized.

Suddenly, Mecha-Boi spun to the side, glowing fist raised threateningly. The unknown figure, previously disregarded as a noncombatant had just breached his threat perimeter. Mecha-Boi scanned the human that stood roughly seven feet in front of him.

Human female, roughly five foot, two inches. Hair: Red, Eyes: Blue . . . After several seconds of processing, a green outline surrounded the figure and the words 'Noncombatant' flashed across his CPU.

Unlike his companions, Mecha-Boi's primary programming had not been significantly altered. While he had been programmed to attack any and all specified targets, his core programming forbid him from harming any innocent bystanders . . . especially females.

Her threat level continued to drop, as she leaned forward, smiling cutely. "Hello there, little boy! My, aren't you a little cutie. Do you want me to buy you some ice cream, little guy?" she asked in a cooing voice.

Suddenly, unused subprocessors flared to life and unknown subroutines began to run against his will. For no logical reason, a wide smile formed on Mecha-Boi's face and he began rubbing his hand against the back of his perfectly smooth head.

"Hey, that'd be really nice, lady. My name is Mecha-Boi, what's yours?" he replied happily. Wait a second! Happily? Where were these emotion protocols coming from?

The pretty girl looked at him oddly for a moment, before smiling widely again. "My name is Ranko, come on, let's go get that ice cream. I know a place that has great sundaes," she insisted. Ranko then offered a petite hand for him to hold. Before he even had time to computate why, he was already reaching forward to take it.

Just a moment before he reached her hand, his threat sensors flared to life, as a sad look descended on the girl's pretty face. An automatic threat analysis began to run in his CPU. All visual and auditory data compiled in his mind and started to form a complete scenario in his mind.

A thick cable was lying on the ground behind the girl, running up behind her back. Why hadn't his sensors recorded that before? He was about to fly back out of range, when the girl suddenly lashed out with a speed that defied all comparison, save one.

The sparking hydro wire, which Ranko had been holding behind her back, snaked towards him with viper speed. Mecha-Boi didn't even have the time to activate his boot jets, before it slammed heavily into his chest.

And then everything went black.

Ranma tossed the sparking cable off to the side, mindful of the danger it still presented. The pigtailed redhead was actually feeling a bit bad about her plan now . . . Sure, it had worked, but she'd only expected to distract the robot long enough to get close enough. Instead, Mecha-Boi had started to react to her in a completely different manner.

The tiny robot boy had begun to smile a genuine smile and he'd looked so happy about the prospect of getting ice cream with her. It was like Mecha-Boi had become a completely different person when she had activated her curse. And that hadn't even been the worse part.

No, the look of utter betrayal, just a second before she'd hit him with the cable . . . It was eating away at her. She looked down at the smoking body of the robot boy, feeling like the biggest heel ever.

"Saotome, there had better be one hell of an explanation for this," grumbled the Lieutenant, as he came over to join her.

She waved dismissively. "Yeah, yeah, Gramps, I'll fill ya in later, it's a pretty long story. B-but didn't you think it was odd . . . how that robot kid was actin, just before I got him?"

Daizo stared at her impassively for a moment, before nodding slightly. "Yeah, I'm not sure why he didn't just blast you. Still, don't feel too bad about it, he was still a dangerous criminal, you did the right thing."

Ranma nodded to herself, still not feeling one hundred percent sure. None of the other badguys had acted like that . . . not that they really should, it wasn't like there was any connection between any of them, except that the last two had been robots.

That thought brought her back to their original problem. She looked over to her, now much taller, partner. "I'd like to know where all of these guys are comin from, and why they all chose pretty much the same time to start acting up. It seems like a bit much to be a coincidence," she stated.

The Lieutenant nodded in a sagely manner at that. "Maybe it's time I started doing some more digging. You head on home, Ranko, you need to rest up in case another of these loonies shows up."

"Hey now, none of that. My name is Ranma no matter what form I'm in."

Daizo just smiled smugly.

"Suure it is . . . Ranko."

Ranma shuffled tiredly out of the kitchen. After the fight he'd had that day, a midnight snack had been exactly what he'd needed. These super villain types were really different as far as fighting went. They didn't follow any code, like most of his opponents did, which made them much more dangerous to innocent people. And each of the bad guys that he'd fought so far had presented puzzling scenarios on how to defeat them. In fact, Mecha-Boi had been the first one that he'd actually and decisively put down.

It was odd, none of them were what he would consider fighters of any caliber, but their powers made them dangerous regardless. They were all really hard to hurt too, especially that last one. Not even Ryouga presented such an annoying level of durability . . . of course, Ranma knew a way around it now, but somehow doubted that it would be appropriate to jab the Lost Boy with a live hydro wire.

The idea did seem pretty damn funny though!

Oh, well. One thing was certain, he definitely wasn't looking forward to his driving lesson tomorrow. It seemed more than likely that it was going to be more Jusenkyo lesson, than driving lesson. Well, at least today's fight hadn't been televised, and it wasn't like it was something that his partner didn't need to know about eventually . . .

He nearly jumped out of his skin, when the phone rang just as he walked past it! "Crap . . ." he muttered weakly to himself, holding a hand to his heart. He was starting to get jumpy with all of these wackos jumping out of the woodwork lately.

Not wanting to wake anyone else up, he quickly picked up the phone before it could ring a second time. "Yo, Tendo Residence. Who may I ask is callin?" he asked politely.

"Cut the pleasantries, Ranma, I need to talk to you."

Ranma's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. The voice belonged to someone that he'd never thought he'd hear from again.

"N-n-nabiki!" he whispered harshly, suddenly very worried that someone else might hear. "What the heck are ya callin for? I thought you were a super villain now!"

"I am, you numbskull, which is why I'm calling. You and I need to talk."

Still not sure what the heck was goin on, he reverted back to type. "Heh, you're pretty lucky then. Callin right when I was walkin by the phone like that. Pretty lucky coincidence, I gotta say."

He could practically feel the middle Tendo's eyes roll over the phone line. ". . . riiiggght, a coincidence. Look, I'm calling you about your little publicity stunt a few days ago. Really, getting into a fight with a super villain, on live television?"

He shrugged . . . before realizing he was on the phone. "Yeah, so what? Me and that Lieutenant guy chased the guy off, saved a lot of people to boot. What's the big deal?" he asked, a little curious.

Nabiki's voice rose an octave as she continued, apparently she was in a pretty bad mood tonight. "The problem is, Ranma, that you didn't even try to hide your identity! You've pretty much declared yourself a superhero for all the world to see and you're using your real name! Do you not see the problem inherent here?" she asked in disbelief.

"Umm, not really . . . I mean, Ryouga's been doing this for longer than me, and he ain't doin none of that dumb disguise of funny name junk."

This time Nabiki nearly hissed in his ear. He actually pulled the phone from his ear a few inches. "Yes, well Ryouga isn't currently living in my house, with my father and my sister! Look, I don't care if you get yourself killed, you moron, but you'd better think twice if you think I'm going to let you endanger my family just so you can get a few thrills," she bit out angrily.

Sheesh! He couldn't remember the last time she'd been this mad at him. "Okay! Okay, I get it. But there isn't much I can really do about it now, it's a bit late for that, isn't it?" he replied, feeling a bit bad now. He hadn't even thought of that. His enemies had always known where he lived in the past, but they'd never been interested in doing anything but fighting him. But if these new villains started following him home . . . there was no telling what they would do . . .

Suddenly he was very worried for Akane and their fathers.

Apparently happy that he was finally understanding, Nabiki's voice returned to its normal cool tone. "Heh, well, luckily for you, your future sister-in-law is well connected. As soon as I saw you on the news, I had Gizmo start tearing through all of the government mainframes he could find, erasing all evidence of anything that could connect you to my family. In fact, he's spent the last few days erasing your old identity and creating a new one. As far as the world is going to be concerned, you aren't even going to know anyone named Tendo, and the only tie you have to Nodoka Saotome is coincidence, got it?"

He stared in shock at that. "Y-you're erasing my mom!"

Nabiki let out a tired sigh. "No, I'm not erasing your mom, just that you're her son. I'm also setting up a false address for you, I'll send you the mailing address so you can pick up anything anyone might send you later. So, no more parking your bike in the backyard, got it? I want you to find a safe place to hide it when you're done whatever it is you're doing, and using every stealth trick that you know to get back to the dojo, got it?"

He nodded with each point . . . man, she really knew what she was doing.

"One more thing, go check the mail box as soon as we're done here. There's a package there for you, it's a cell phone and a bank card. I want you to use that cell phone to contact the police only. I don't want you using it for personal things, and I definitely don't want you contacting your buddies on the force with our home phone."

He nodded again. "Hmm, that makes sense. But, what about the bank card, what's that for?"

"Two things, think of the first as a bribe to keep your mouth shut about this call. I'm setting up an off shore account for that card and you can use a certain amount of it to finance your super hero efforts. However, the remainder I want you to use to help pay off the bills around the dojo. I can imagine that daddy has been more mopey than usual lately, and I know that Akane isn't dealing with the finances, so I want you to start taking care of that for me. It's not too much to ask for, I hope," she finished sharply.

Wow, that was a lot to take in. Not only was Nabiki doing everything in her power to try to keep his identity secret, she actually trusted him enough to look out for Akane and her dad? To be honest, it was yet another thing that had slipped his mind lately. Mr. Tendo had been pretty despondent lately, so he hadn't really been going to work much, and his own father's job at Dr. Tofu's wasn't exactly bringing in the dough either.

"Heh, wow, you're, like, the nicest super villain ever, Nabiki!"

He could hear the cold hearted mercenary girl grumbling to herself on the other end of the line.

"Oh, shut up, Saotome!"