Dark Titans - Arc 3 – This Ain't A Scene...
Chapter 3
Enjoy if you will, Tolerate if you won't.
Mousse did his best to conceal his amusement as Cologne was wracked by another awe-inspiring yawn. Apparently Luthor hadn't been joking when he'd said they'd had a mountain of paperwork to get through the night before. It seemed that even someone as versed in Amazonian law as Cologne had a limit to how many legal documents she could dredge through before faltering.
Oddly, Mr. Luthor himself seemed to be rather chipper this morning. It might have had something to do with the excited energy which seemed to encompass the man as he led them through the corridors of the LexCorp building. He was supposedly escorting them to meet with a group of their new co-workers, and Mr. Luthor seemed to think it would be a very interesting meeting.
Of course, they hadn't actually been informed what their new jobs were yet, but their employer assured them that it would all be sorted out within the hour.
"We there yet?"
Shampoo's inquiry came out sounding more exhausted than irate. He chuckled quietly to himself; that would teach her to stay up all night –
Oops!
Apparently he hadn't chuckled quietly enough, as a pair of violet (heavily rimmed with red) eyes lanced through him. Luckily for the vision-impaired youth, he was saved from certain doom by their bald benefactor.
"Actually, indeed we are, Miss Xian Pu." Luthor grandly gestured to the large pair of double doors not too far down the hall from their current position. The sign above the door was actually enough to perk the both of them up immediately.
'Gymnasium'
Now he was very curious about this meeting. What kind of corporate types would they be meeting in a gym?
Without further ado, Luthor moved forward and swung open the doors. What was revealed was a room beyond the weapon master's wildest dreams. It was a gymnasium, to be sure, but one that made the Hive Academy's gym look like a home exercise machine. Revolutionary and cutting edge seemed to be the theme for the day, with the latest and greatest equipment lining each and every wall; a few of the machines he actually recognized from the Academy. Oddly enough, though, it looked like a lot of the exercise machines had either been moved to the side, or taken out completely. Almost the entire center of the room was bare, except for a thick layer of Olympic quality floor mats which stretched nearly from one wall to the other.
Well, bare except for the mats and the five people training on them. So, these were their new co-workers, eh? Maybe there was something to his 'martial artist army' idea. The five figures were quite distinctive . . . which said a lot coming from someone that lived in Nerima.
Wait just a moment!
Mr. Luthor took another step into the room, then gestured to the five figures politely. "Elder Khu Lon, Miss Xian Pu, Mr. Mu Tzu, may I introduce you to-"
"Master Cain?"
Everyone looked up at his unexpected outburst, but he couldn't possibly hide his surprise. What was he doing here?
The man in question, an older, yet distinguished gentleman with graying hair and currently wearing a starched white gi, smiled widely.
"Mousse, my boy! How have you been holding up?"
The older martial artist strode forward and clasped hands with an exceedingly confused Mousse. He honestly wasn't sure what to say.
"Master Cain . . . I must admit, I hadn't expected to meet you again, let alone so soon . . ."
Master Cain leaned in and winked conspiratorially. "Well, I'd say I was surprised to see you here as well, but I'd hate to lie to such an excellent pupil."
That really sent Mousse's head spinning. What had he meant by that-
"Ahh, I see," stated Cologne, "So that would make you Mr. Luthor's informant from the Hive Academy, now wouldn't it, Mr. Cain?"
The hidden weapon master's very recently ex-instructor chuckled in amusement. "Lady, I've trained some of the greatest martial artists on the planet, but I've never seen anyone that could do the things that Mousse could do. Even with the limited time I had to work with him, I saw the potential in him to become a very valuable asset."
The man then turned back to Mousse, smiling knowingly, "And what do we do with a valuable asset, boy?"
Mousse buried his hands deeply into his sleeves, feeling strangely embarrassed that an answer immediately sprang to mind.
". . . You sell it to the highest bidder," he replied contritely.
"That's right!" Master Cain stated proudly, "And, technically speaking, I didn't take the information to Mr. Luthor until after I had left Brother Blood's employ, so informant is a bit of a misnomer."
Cologne nodded, grinning wryly, "I see, well, I apologize for that, then. So, I assume that you'll be continuing the boy's training in the less honorable arts, then?"
Mousse blanched slightly at the condemnation, but the older man just shrugged agreeably, "If that's what Mr. Luthor wants."
The sudden shift in topic finally brought the mogul back into the conversation. Luthor simply shrugged in amusement.
"We'll see how things progress. Now, as entertaining as it is to see old friends reacquaint themselves, please allow me to introduce the rest of your associates."
The bald businessman gestured quickly to Master Cain, "Obviously, you already know David Cain."
He then indicated the raven haired woman that had been in his office the day before, "And you've enjoyed the company of Lady Shiva as well."
The next warrior he pointed out was a mountain of a man . . . wearing a huge tiger mask for some reason. Aside from that, Tiger Face was wearing a gaudy orange outfit with tiger stripe trimming.
"This gentleman is known as the Bronze Tiger." Tiger Face proceeded to nod politely in their direction. Though, the mask made it hard to tell if the man was being snide or genuine.
Lex then gestured to a man of obviously Greek heritage. The man, with slicked down black hair and a rather sharp goatee (and wearing shades indoors for some reason) stared them down with calculated coolness. "The young man, there, is Constantine Drakon."
Hmph, Mousse thought to himself, young by Luthor's standards, anyway. That Constantine guy looked to be at least in his late twenties, if not early thirties.
"And, of course, last but not least . . ." Lex's arm swung out, grandly bringing everyone's attention to . . . an empty space on the floor mats, ". . . Cheshire?"
Huh? Mousse had been sure that there had been another warrior present, an attractive young woman (probably only a few years younger than himself) wearing a cat mask (maybe she was Tiger Face's daughter?) and a green Gi . . . top? Honestly, he wasn't sure, as most Gi's he'd seen had come with pants, but then the top did go down to about mid thigh . . .
"Nihao . . ."
The hidden weapon master gave a start as he suddenly felt a presence appear right beside him . . . as in wrapping around his arm and pressing some very soft and warm assets against him.
In the distant back of his mind, he noted a hint of a Vietnamese accent, but that piece of trivia was quickly lost to the current situation.
Of far greater concern was the intense buildup of fiery chi about four feet to his left. He didn't even need to look to know the royally pissed look that was doubtlessly forming on Shampoo's face, considering how often he had seen it before . . .
And then it was gone.
"This boring, Shampoo bored."
The cocky statement quickly drew all eyes to the youngest Amazon present. Shampoo chose that moment to take a step forward before pointing condescendingly at the warriors arrayed before her.
"You all supposed to be best fighters money can buy? Fine, you tell Shampoo who she have to kill to get title and then we no need you weaklings anymore."
The older woman, Lady Shiva if he recalled, glared balefully at the violet haired warrior, hissing "Insolent child" under her breath.
Tiger Face simply crossed his arms over his massive chest impassively (he assumed, again, hard to tell through the mask), while the Greek actually took a step forward, smiling malevolently-
Only to be stopped by David Cain's outstretched arm. The veteran assassin then closed in on Shampoo himself, only to take her hand into his own.
"So, you are the Shampoo that I've heard so much about. I must say, you're not nearly as dead as Mousse made you out to be." The gray haired man sent a conspiratorial wink Mousse's way before continuing, "And forgive me for saying, but not even Mousse's most anguished wails of loss truly did your beauty justice, by dear."
The blissful sound of Shampoo's laughter filled the air, even as Mousse felt his cheeks start to burn.
"Master Cain!"
His humiliation only deepened as the shapely young woman on his arm began to giggle as well.
After Shampoo finished laughing, either at the old man's antics, or Mousse's embarrassment, she leveled an appraising gaze on the assassin.
"You teach Mousse, right? Did you help Mousse train to avenge Shampoo's 'death', or you try convince Mousse not to let vengeance consume soul?"
Master Cain met her serious look for a moment, before shaking his head in bemusement. "I'm afraid that it was the former, my dear. I've never been an advocate of 'forgive and forget' myself, and he was quite broken up about the whole affair."
Shampoo maintained her deadly serious stare for another few seconds . . . before breaking into a wide smile.
"Alright, you Shampoo like, no kill you."
Mousse shook his head, now that had been predictable. Still, that was pretty high praise from the violet eyed Amazon. David simply chuckled happily, before replying.
"I think you'll do well here, Shampoo. However, you have to understand, we are a proud lot. After all, the people gathered in this room are some of the greatest martial artists known in the world,"
Mousse felt the young woman on his arm swell with pride-
"Except for the girl,"
Only to deflate like the proverbial pricked balloon.
"So challenging one of us to combat is no small matter."
Lex chose that moment to step in, linguistically speaking.
"Actually, I think a demonstration of Miss Xian Pu's skills would be a very enlightening experience. You can choose amongst yourself who will be her opponent. While you do that, Elder Khu Lon and I shall move up to the observation deck; we have some business to discuss."
The sharply dressed man then turned to Shampoo and smiled just a little too charmingly for Mousse's taste.
"I look forward to seeing what you're capable of, Miss Xian Pu."
With that, the multi-billionaire turned and made his way to a door on the east wall. Cologne turned to follow, but leveled an even stare at her Great Granddaughter before she did.
"Don't disappoint me, Shampoo. You have three thousand years of Amazon pride resting on your shoulders."
If the love of Mousse's life felt at all pressured by the rather blunt ultimatum, she didn't betray even a trace of it. Instead, Shampoo smiled wickedly and turned back to the gathered fighters.
"So, who Shampoo kill first?"
The four elder martial artists shared only the briefest of glances before Lady Shiva scoffed loudly.
"And debase ourselves? Feh, you can have the girl. Beat her, and maybe you'll be worthy."
Rather than scream in outrage, as he half expected her to, Shampoo turned to face him . . . or more accurately, the young woman now tightly gripping his arm. The smile on her face was not pleasant . . . even by Shampoo standards.
". . . Perfect," she literally purred.
Cologne patiently crossed her arms behind her back as she gazed through the large sheet of plate glass that separated them from the gymnasium proper. She had to admit that she was feeling a little curious to see how things would progress, though it appeared they had chosen the least interesting warrior to be Shampoo's opponent.
Behind her, sitting casually in a chair and not even putting on the pretence of actually watching the fight, Lex Luthor leafed through a pair of manila folders. Business seemed like a good topic, since it didn't seem like the fight would be one of the high-octane slobber knockers that she had gotten so used to over the past few years.
She didn't bother turning from watching the goings on below as she began to speak.
"All of the arrangements for the shipment have been made. A train will carry it to the city that I have chosen, and from there, a contingent of warriors will take possession of it to take it back to the village. I assume there are no problems with this?"
From the sounds of it, Lex didn't bother looking up from his reading as he replied, "Well, it would be easier to just airlift the cargo, but I appreciate your desire for secrecy at the moment. I've even arranged a number of third party specialists for you to choose from to check the shipment for tracking devices, just to be sure."
The corner of the Matriarch's mouth quirked up in amusement. "A sound precaution. I shall deal with that in the hour."
Silence reigned for several moments, punctuated only by the sound of shuffling paper and the occasional chuckle from Luthor.
". . . So, are you certain about Shampoo?" she asked finally.
A pause, followed by the sound of more rustling paper. "You mean making her an Executive Officer in LexCorp's Security Forces?"
Cologne finally turned to face the man, eyeing him owlishly. Luthor met her gaze over the edge of the papers he was reading.
"Yes, actually. I believe it is an excellent opportunity for the girl . . . but I must admit that I'm not sure she's prepared for such responsibility."
As skilled as her Great Granddaughter was, she didn't exactly play well with others and there were times she despaired that Shampoo might never grow into the type of leader she was being groomed to become.
Lex read another line, letting about another small chuckle before returning his attention to her.
"Well, Khu lon, you know as well as I; you'll never be ready for responsibility if you never receive any. Besides, I actually believe that your Great Granddaughter is an excellent fit for the job.
The bald man leaned back into his chair, lowering the folders into his lap. He then raised a hand and began to tick off his fingers one by one. "She's aggressive, territorial, clever, manipulative and ruthless, and these are just the traits that I've heard from you."
He lifted the top folder, the one that he had been reading from, and waved it around.
"From her aptitude test, I've also learned that she's much smarter than the broken English would lead one to believe. While Mu Tsu was able to tell us everything that we wanted to hear, she was able to ascertain the full extent of the situation, that the test was essentially meaningless."
Cologne nodded. She and Lex had discussed Shampoo's and Mousse's future careers before the children had even put pen to paper on that test.
"Not to mention," Lex continued. He held up the test in question, "The girl has a wicked sense of humor."
The man chuckled in amusement before continuing, "I don't say this often about young people, but I like your Xian Pu. With her attitude and personality, I think that she'll do quite well here. In fact, I'm thinking of putting three squads directly under her command, see how she handles it."
Hmm, interesting indeed. Cologne would be quite happy to see her Great Granddaughter rise to the occasion.
She shook her head ruefully. As hard as it was for her to admit, she found herself being drawn deeper and deeper into the machinations of the man before her. She knew he couldn't be trusted, not yet, and knew he was still hiding his true agenda, but he possessed and uncanny knack of offering her exactly what she wanted. Power and influence for the village, a positive learning environment for Shampoo, and most importantly, a little excitement and uncertainty for an old, old woman.
On the other hand, that fool boy, Mousse, was still trailing around, but with the proper molding, even he looked to have the potential to become very useful. Speaking of which.
"So, have you determined what the boy's first target shall be?"
An enigmatic smile played across the man's lips. "I have a place or two in mind. However, I want Cain to confirm that Mu Tzu is up to the task before I send him out. Industrial espionage isn't a task to be taken lightly, after all."
Again, Cologne nodded in agreement. It was another sound precaution. Still, she had to give Mr. Luthor credit. He was determined to win her trust, and was making better progress than most had in a lifetime. It wasn't just a matter of what he offered, but just how much of his organization he was laying bare before them. Shampoo would essentially become the eyes and ears of LexCorp, watching over all of its employees . . . and its enemies. Mousse had been assigned directly into LexCorp's Black Ops. That was impressive in and of itself, considering it was not only revealing the less legal aspects of his operations, but actively inviting them to participate. And, of course, he had given her actual sway over his company.
Even for one such as herself, the sheer mass of possibilities that swirled though her mind was somewhat daunting.
Where to even begin?
So lost in thought, was she, that she didn't even realize she had been staring vacantly through the glass before her for several long moments.
"So, what do you think of the cadre of warriors I've assembled?"
Hmph, apparently the man had mistaken her contemplation with actual interest.
In reply, she scoffed loudly, "Feh, you promise me a group of the world's greatest fighters, yet all you have to show is yet more assassins."
"Now, now, Elder. Don't you think you're being somewhat harsh? There is some real talent down there. Most of the people out there have actually defeated the Batman in straight combat."
This time, a derisive bark of laughter was her response.
"You say that as if I should be impressed. I am quite aware of who you speak. Frankly, as far as I'm concerned, the only thing worthwhile that that man has done for the world of martial arts was to give Robin the very basic physical conditioning to make the boy trainable."
A rueful chuckle issued from behind her. "Of course. I keep forgetting to whom I am speaking. Still, do you think you can work with them?"
At that question, she turned to peer at the man imperiously, "I don't like working with people so set in their ways. The girl, at least, is likely to have an open mind. Everyone else will undoubtedly require a constant contest of wills. How many of them will survive is anyone's guess."
Her eyes narrowed as she continued to study the confident man.
"I am loathe to admit it, but I still haven't completely divined your game yet. The simplest answer is that you want an army of martial artists under your control . . . but as we both know, the simplest answer is usually simple deception.
"You have all the trappings, yet five warriors do not an army make. And by now, you must know that there is no easy trick, no shortcut to training skilled warriors properly . . . so what is it that you're really looking for?"
Lex chose that moment to lean back into his chair, looking positively Machiavellian. "All in good time, Elder, all in good time . . . so, how is the fight progressing?"
The ancient Amazon let out a resigned sigh. The mystery of why she was here was even more tantalizing than all of the wealth and power that he was showering upon them. If only she had more information . . . bah! Oh well, as the man said, all in good time.
With that, she took a casual glance over her shoulder, onto the battle below.
". . . about as well as can be expected."
"Go on three."
"Ready?"
"One."
"Two."
"Three."
"Go!"
As one, the pair of paramedics carefully lifted the stretcher into its upright position. They were very mindful not to jostle its comatose occupant, in fear of exacerbating her already serious injuries. The first paramedic winced at the figure of the beaten and bloodied young woman securely strapped down to the gurney. It certainly looked like the girl was in for a bad night, but there was one thing he knew for certain . . .
He didn't want to be around when they had to dig out those mask fragments . . .
Shampoo smiled vindictively at the four remaining warriors. Each and every one of them was doing their very best to look unimpressed, but she could still see the trace of wonder dancing merrily at the back of their eyes. All she could think was:
'One down, four to go.'
Unnoticed behind her, Mousse shook his head sadly . . .
Lex shook his head in amusement as he looked down on the remnants of the spectacle.
"Your Great Granddaughter certainly has a killer instinct. I believe it will take her very far here."
To his side, the withered crone nodded in agreement, though her features were bereft of the amusement which filled his. Was she not satisfied with her Great Granddaughter's victory? It had seemed excessively thorough to him.
"Well," he continued, since it didn't seem like she was prepared to respond anytime soon, "Providing any of my people can actually survive your training, or Xian Pu's demonstrations, I'm certain that the gymnasium, at the very least, shall be a hive of activity. Unfortunately, other than that, I'm afraid that we'll likely be drawn into the tedium of running a multinational conglomeration before too much time passes. I doubt anything important will happen in the next few weeks . . . Which I think is for the best, since I'd prefer to keep the knowledge of the existence of meta-martial artists such as yourself as limited as possible for as long as possible."
Cologne nodded slowly, "Keeping your aces up your sleeve, as it were. Always a wise tactic." She then gave him a strange look, "And what's this 'meta-martial artist' nonsense?"
Lex shrugged, "It seemed like a fitting term. Your abilities are as far beyond traditional martial artists' as meta-humans' are beyond normal humans'."
The ancient warrior seemed to mull this over, before finally shrugging herself. "It does have a nice ring to it, and I can imagine how irate it will make your employee's down there, being demoted as it were. As for things progressing slowly, I share your sentiment that it is for the best. No need to rush head long into the darkness; things will move along at their own pace, I'm certain."
He allowed a wry smile to twist his lips as he idly watched the martial artists in the gymnasium below. It was true, patience wasn't one of his greatest virtues, but it was the best course for now. Even though he held all of the cards at the moment, he couldn't afford to rush things, not considering how wily the old woman was. No, what he had gathered before him was only the beginning, the beginning of something grand . . . but he could afford to wait. The most important things he had to concern himself with for the moment were keeping this new breed of warriors under wraps, and earning the trust or the ancient matriarch. Then, then he could finally begin the second phase of his project.
It was all just a matter of time . . .
A stray thought crossed his mind, bringing an amused chuckle to his lips.
"Heh, heh heh . . . 'Bash in head and feed to herds.' Really, Elder, your Great Granddaughter is brilliant."
Finally, he saw the corner of his companion's mouth twitch upwards, if only a fraction of an inch. Cologne then let out an obviously manufactured disgruntled groan. "Feh, not so brilliant as you make out. What is that fool girl thinking?"
". . . She doesn't have any herds."
It had been, Cologne reminisced, very much as her erstwhile partner had anticipated. The weeks had literally flown by in a flurry of activity, though she had never actually found any of it to be tedious at all. Though Lex had yet to confide in her his full plan, she had had so many things stacked on her plate, to use the vulgar term, that she scarcely even cared.
First and foremost, she had buried her Great Granddaughter beneath a mountain of language teachers. Japanese, English, German, most every important language, really . . . Except French.
Oh, how she hatedthe French.
And though it was too soon for anything to come of the newer languages, her Shampoo's grasp on English and Japanese had both started to firm up nicely after only several weeks of intensive drilling.
Next had been setting up a secure line of communication with the village council; which turned out to be much easier than she had anticipated, what with their access to Tamaranian technology. My, but hadn't Perfume been handling that alliance like a master in her absence? Now, a rather steady flow of supplies and equipment was trickling into the village, both for the villagers' use, as well as for trade. Of course, she made certain to use a different method and route each time . . . though, really, she refused to fool herself into thinking that her host couldn't locate the village at any time he so desired. It was just fun making everyone jump through hoops for her amusement, really.
Mousse had resumed his espionage training under Mr. Cain. Even she had to admit to being impressed by the new levels of mastery that the young male was attaining in his Hidden Weapons techniques. Even before he was kidnapped, the young warrior could fool simple devices, such as airport metal detectors . . . but now . . .
So impressed with the boy's progress was Lex, that he had even sent Mousse on an . . . 'information gathering' mission only the week before. Apparently it had gone quite satisfactorily.
As for her new 'students' . . . well, she hadn't been forced to kill any of them, yet. Young David Cain was quite receptive, though a bit too old to really benefit from the training too extensively. Lady Shiva was, sadly, about the same; she had the raw talent, though . . . maybe with more time. As for Drakon and Tiger Face (Mousse's nickname for the man had spread quickly, much to the assassin's chagrin.), she was honestly surprised that she hadn't killed them. Both men were simply insufferable, but just skilled enough to merit their continued breathing.
As she had predicted, the only student that really gave her any real sense of hope was the young Cheshire. She was young, impressionable, open to new ideas, and by far the most dedicated of the lot. After all, after considering the savage beating that Shampoo had laced on the girl, a fierce, if one-sided rivalry was a forgone conclusion. Cologne just chalked the girl's disturbing infatuation with Mousse up to the odd mental instabilities that seemed to plague all young warriors.
It seemed that everything was going perfectly; even Lex's plan to keep the knowledge of so-called 'Meta-martial artists' from spreading in any serious way . . .
At least until now.
Luthor's office was littered with martial artists, all watching last night's news, all the way from Tokyo, on a massive plasma screen.
To say 'so much for keeping things quiet' seemed to be just a legendary case of understatement. Leave it to her future son-in-law to create an international incident just as they wanted to keep their existence a secret. Still, between the demons, the gods and the miscellaneous other martial artists that had flocked to Ranma's banner, it looked like it would be quite the exciting battle indeed.
"Feh," scoffed Constantine Drakon, "Are we supposed to be impressed by this pigtailed buffoon? Why are we even watching this farce?"
Cologne rolled her eyes, even as Shampoo whirled on the man.
"Shut up, Drakken! Ranma is a warrior beyond your wildest dreams, so watch and see what a real man is like."
The Greek assassin returned her simmering glare, "It is pronounced 'Dra-kon'!"
"As if I could care less." Shampoo, obviously enjoying her newfound proficiency in the language then spun back to the massive screen, "Go, Airen! Kick that demon's butt!"
Mousse let out a disgusted groan. "Why are you cheering for him, Shampoo? He's only fighting this demon to save Akane, after all."
Her Great Granddaughter seemed to consider this for a moment, before slightly modifying her cheer.
"Airen! Win by an incredibly narrow margin! Preferably after Violent Girl is already dead!"
It was Cologne's turn to let out a disgusted groan. Apparently a new job and an improved vocabulary weren't enough to change her Great Granddaughter at all.
Beside her, Luthor studied the screen with fierce intensity. The large man rested his chiseled chin on an upturned fist, apparently deep in thought as he took in the battle unfolding before him . . . even though it technically took place hours before.
"I . . . think the situation is still salvageable, Elder. Your protégé has yet to do anything beyond conventional –"
"Mouko Takabisha!"
The screen flashed a blinding gold for several seconds.
Cologne let a self satisfied smile creep on to her face at the wide eyes that now populated the faces of all those around her, excepting Shampoo and Mousse, of course.
"W-what was that?" asked a somewhat shaken Shiva.
"Just a middling chi technique," she supplied in a rather amused tone. She then turned to stare down her would be pupils.
"Mark well what you see, assassins. For what you see now is the power of a truemartial artist. One that lives for the art, breathes for the art, strives for the art and that would sacrifice all for the art. This is the defining divergence between those that simply hone their bodies into weapons with which to kill, and those that practice the art as an extension of their soul and love it with all of their heart."
Maybe she was being a bit heavy handed about it, judging by the pained looks on Shampoo's and Mousse's faces (after all, there were very few indeed that could measure up to her future son-in-law) but she wanted to make sure that her murderous compatriots at least started to understand the truth. The Martial Arts were an art, not just a tool, and that was why none of these assassins, none of the so-called heroes, would ever be truly great. Without the love of the art, from a born and bred warrior such as herself, to the inner city youth training after school, it was all meaningless.
"Hmmm . . ."
Cologne turned to glare at person interrupting her moment . . . only to see Lex wasn't paying any attention to her at all. The man was still watching the screen with fixed concentration.
"You know . . . energy blasts such as that are very common amongst meta-humans. I doubt anyone will think anything of-"
"Hiryu Shoten Ha!"
The entire room filled with blinding white light and the multi million dollar speaker system suddenly assaulted them all with the very wailing of the damned themselves.
The rather vivid image of a manmade cyclone hungrily devouring most of a city block hung on the screen for a seeming eternity, the buildings seeming to disintegrate in slow motion as everyone in the room watched with slack jaws. Not even Cologne herself had ever seen a Hiryu Shoten Ha of such unimaginable size, and she had been present for the whirlwind created by the combined power of Ranma, Ryouga and Starfire . . .
Then, impossibly, the towering cyclone swelled painfully before bursting messily up its entire length, raining debris for as far as the camera could see.
With glacial slowness, Cologne tore her eyes away from the spectacle before her to gaze upon the man beside her. Lex's jaw hung open for only a second, before clicking shut tightly, the muscles along his jaw clenching fiercely.
"This . . .," the man started grimly, "is a disaster."
Mousse actually had the audacity to chuckle out loud. "So much for keeping things under wraps."
Shampoo slapped a hand to her forehead, regressing slightly at the shock of the moment, "Shampoo forget about that!"
What else could possibly go wrong?
With an annoyed grunt, Ryouga dropped his communicator to the cave floor and petulantly turned his attention back to the only girl that seemed to understand him lately. Terra, as always, stared back with blissfully unjudging eyes. She was also kind enough to not point out the fact that he was, in fact, acting petulant in the first place.
Why couldn't every girl be a stone statue?
It would certainly make life simpler. They'd still be pretty to look at, but you wouldn't get: malleted, spatula'd, slapped, yelled at, ignored or abandoned. You could even talk to them without ending up sounding like a complete moron . . . sounding crazy on the other hand . . .
Which just brought him back to the source of his annoyance. He had called the tower, hoping to talk to Raven; half to pick her brain, half just to hear her voice. Unfortunately, all he had gotten was a somewhat sleepy looking Kasumi informing him that Raven was still talking to Ranma after that massive fight that the pigtailed boy had gotten himself into hours ago.
The fanged boy let out a weary sigh. It would hardly be rational of him to get all worked up over something as silly as that. He knew that the two had forged a fast friendship after the ordeals they had gone through to save his sorry butt. It was obvious that the whole thing was just as innocent as his own relationship with Starfire. Besides, Raven had so few friends anyway . . .
Still . . .
"Argh!" He clubbed himself upside the head. This was exactly the reason he wasn't making any progress! The mountain of pizza boxes towering at the back of the cavern stood in silent testament to his lack of concentration. It was the Bakusai Tenketsu training all over again. He had to get his act together! If he didn't get results soon, he was pretty sure that Beast Boy was going to start using his bed as a litter box.
The mental images his imagination started to form at that disturbing thought were more than enough incentive to get back to work.
Taking a deep, cleansing breath, the bandanna clad boy sat down in front of Terra and closed his eyes. Again, he racked his brain for every trivial bit of knowledge that he had ever heard or conceived of concerning chi . . .
Which immediately made him think of Raven again. He remembered that she had mentioned a kind of 'chi sight' technique that Cologne had taught her.
Of course, thinking of that only made him think about Ranma, and start his temper to simmering. When he had asked Raven to borrow the scroll Cologne had given her, she'd told him she'd given it to Ranma!
Once again, that pigtailed jerk had gotten something that Hibiki Ryouga had needed! And what did the guy even need it for? It wasn't like Ranma was here trying to bring Terra back to life. It wasn't like Ranma didn't already have a million fancy techniques that people handed off to him like spare change!
"Damn-oops . . ."
Ryouga's eyes snapped open and he very carefully extracted his curled fist from the hole in the rocky floor before him. Terra's statue vibrated for another few seconds, causing the Lost Boy to suck in his breath . . . but finally stilled.
Feeling quite abashed, he quickly filled in the hole and patted it down. Beast Boy would kill him if he knew that he was doing stupid stuff like that five feet from Terra's statue.
And he'd thought he'd been making progress with his temper, too. Unfortunately, anything even remotely concerning his rival seemed to set him back to square one. Like when Raven had told him about the scroll, he'd been so annoyed that he hadn't even thought to just ask her to teach him the technique. And now, when he'd finally swallowed his pride enough to talk to her again, Kasumi's helpful reminder had only set him off all over again.
A long sigh escaped his lips.
He sure wished Starfire would visit. At least she'd have the common decency to knock some sense into him if she even suspected the idiotic stuff that was going through his head down here.
Another sigh and he closed his eyes again.
With a great feat of will, he pushed all of his mental baggage to the side and tried to get into a more constructive mindset. Gradually, he felt all of the annoying distractions plaguing him begin to dissolve away into nothingness, leaving him alone in the blessed darkness.
He took another long breath, then opened his mind's eye to the world, just as Cologne had taught him. What he did instinctually during a battle was painfully difficult now, though. It took him nearly a full minute to attain the state of concentration required to use the Bakusai Tenketsu, but once he finally slipped into the right state of mind, things began to come more easily.
It started small, the breaking points surrounding him showing up as tiny pinpricks of light against a canvass of purest black. The tiny nexi of chi represented the metaphysical points within the stone around him where the numerous lines of chi, which ran through the very earth itself, crossed. It took longer than he had expected, but it had only been a matter of time. After all, perceiving the breaking points was the most basic level of the Bakusai Tenketsu training.
He then let his mind begin to wander . . . kind of the mental equivalent of crossing his eyes. Slowly, a fuzzy golden glow seemed to suffuse from the points around him, painting, in broad strokes, a spectral picture of the cavern in his mind. This was why he had wanted to get that scroll off of Raven, since he thought he might have accidentally stumbled across a part of the technique with his latest development. He wasn't one hundred percent certain, but he was pretty sure he was seeing the ambient chi of the entire cavern, its 'aura' as it were.
Tentatively, he lifted his own hand before his face. Yes, though he couldn't actually see his hand, he could feel it in front of his face, his mind translating the odd sensation into a ghostly azure phantom of his hand. Running down the length of his forearm and throughout his hand, were a series of glowing points; the very same points that he had mistaken for breaking points on Ranma so long ago.
Hmm . . . he let his arm drop to his side and slid his 'gaze' back up to Terra's hand. Perhaps it was just him being dreadfully slow, but the placement of the breaking points along her arm were placed very similarly to his own.
Without bothering to open his eyes, he rose to his feet and carefully made his way up to the base of Terra's statue. This was more or less where he had been for the past week, staring at the fuzzy golden glow that was Terra's statue and the cavern that surrounded it, but it had been like trying to watch television without an antennae: just a rough, blurry image.
. . . Man . . . when was the last time that he'd really been able to just sit around and watch T.V. anyway? He'd spent so much time in this God forsaken cave lately that he was worried that he was going to start sprouting lichen. Beast Boy barely even gave him the minimum three hours training in the morning just to keep himself in shape, and forget actually doing anything relaxing, let alone actually fun.
Heck, when was the last time that he'd actually had fun for that matter? Sitting in a cave, striving desperately to save the life of a girl he'd never even met before was not fun, was not relaxing . . .
Hmmm . . . he did remember the last time that he'd really had the chance to relax. A flash of pink and navy blue filled his mind as he remembered his hands kneading the taught muscles of a certain sorceress' back a seeming lifetime ago. That had been a nice night, no worries, no problems, his whole world had just been to make her happy . . .
He chuckled weakly to himself . . . what was he even doing here? Wasn't he the insanely determined one that had doggedly tracked down Saotome for a stupid bread feud? Why wasn't he out there finding her? Ranma had insinuated . . . something, Ryouga wasn't sure what, but the pigtailed boy had sounded absolutely certain that Jinx hadn't just abandoned him.
And it wasn't like he was actually doing Terra any good here . . .
. . . Huh?
He kept his eyes squeezed tightly shut, but forcefully shook his head from side to side. A moment later, and a little dizzy for the effort, it was still the same. For some reason . . . he could see Terra standing before him as clearly as if she had been standing under the sun. Well, not really, there wasn't any color besides the same dull golden glow that suffused the entire cavern, but now, Terra, the cavern, even his own hands, it had all come into sharp focus! Every detail, every gentle curve, every meridian of chi . . .
Huh?
Wait a moment, since when had he been able to actually see the lines of chi that ran between the breaking points? He could see them in his own arm as well, brighter than on the statue, but flowing steadily throughout his body. He focused on Terra again . . . the brightest spot was at the very tip of one of her fingers; the very same finger with the hairline fractures running down its tip.
He followed the miniscule meridian down the length of her arm; from the tip of her pinky finger he counted nine breaking points . . . though he supposed that wasn't really an appropriate term, down the length of her arm: one at the very tip of the finger, four tightly spaced together on her rather delicate wrist, another at the elbow, one mid triceps and finally one at the armpit.
Several other meridians ran down the arm as well, but out of curiosity, he continued following the one he had seen. Faint lines traveled off in several directions, branching off throughout the chest, but one moved across the torso, to a strange concentration of energy . . .
He realized it was Terra's heart.
Something was niggling at the back of his mind, trying to tell him something, but he couldn't figure out what it could possibly be. Out of curiosity, he began to move down the torso . . . lungs, stomach, kidneys, bladder, gallbladder, spleen, liver, small intestine, large intestine, as many of the organs as he knew the names for, anyway.
From the liver, it was eleven more . . . chi points down her narrow legs and to the floor of the cavern . . .
Except the lines didn't stop at her toes!
". . . what the hell . . .?"
The tiny channels of chi sank into the stone, then branched off in all directions, as far as his mind's eye could 'see'. It was . . . was almost like the stone itself was sustaining her . . . or something . . .
Or more like the bulk of Terra's chi had been forced out of her body and into the cavern itself! Hadn't Beast Boy and Raven told him that her final act had been to literally quell an erupting volcano by sheer willpower alone? He couldn't even imagine the raw power it would require to do something like that . . . Perhaps it had taken all of her power, quite literally?
His mind was racing now, as he hypothesized what on earth could have happened here. He was likely completely wrong . . . but everything seemed to be slipping into place in his head. From what he'd heard, Terra's power was intimately tied to the Earth, derived from the Earth. What if she had expended all of her power, and it had become infused into the cavern itself. What if she hadn't turned into stone because she'd burnt herself out, but as a sort of self-preservation instinct to preserve her body after she had channeled all of her life force into stopping the raging volcano?
But . . . that didn't quite fit, either. Because it looked like there was still a connection present between the girl and the Earth . . . so why hadn't her energy flowed back into her body? Sure, it likely would have taken time, but from what he could see, there was no flow of chi at all.
Maybe he was just crazy, after all, he had no idea that things worked that way anyway; who was to say that her chi would even return to her body after something like that . . . but that line of thought left him at a dead end. So, if the chi would have returned naturally . . . what was stopping it from doing so?
He started his examination of Terra anew. He was starting to feel that looming sense of . . . something hanging over him again, as if some huge secret were about to reveal itself to him . . .
He made it about as far as her ankle . . .
And suddenly he knew.
"T-t-that's it . . . that's it!"
He knew!
His eyes snapped open and he stumbled back drunkenly several feet. H-he had to tell Raven . . . Beast Boy – anybody!
Unable to contain his excitement, he spun and bolted out the mouth of the cavern as if the hordes of hell themselves were on his heels, shouting his excitement every step of the way!
"Raavvvvveeennn…."
. . . leaving a familiar, hexagonal piece of metal laying useless on the cavern floor.
Yes, it was going to be a long week.
Cologne smirked smugly as she watched the battle draw to its ultimate conclusion. Not only were the shell-shocked expressions on the faces of her so-called pupils just absolutely priceless, but she was quite certain that she had never seen anything so outrageously hilarious in her long, long life. Really, the Saotome Ranma being saved by an aging officer with a fire hose?
Oh, she simply couldn't wait to rub it in the boy's face the next time she saw him.
Still, it seemed like Lex's strange obsession with keeping them a secret was lying in smoking ruins at his feet now. A shame, really, but hardly critical for her . . .
So, why was the man suddenly smiling again?
And why did his gaze keep slipping from Ranma to Shampoo and Mousse?
"You know, they say that the Chinese word for 'Crisis' is composed of the characters for both 'Danger' and 'Opportunity' . . ." The man turned to glare at the martial artists gathered behind him,
"And the first person to say 'Crisitunity is fired."
Slowly, Mousse lowered his hand to his side . . .
"As I was saying," Luthor continued, "Maybe this disaster is just a stroke of good fortune in disguise?"
"A-hem."
Cologne's overtly obvious throat clearing garnered her the attention which she sought.
"Actually, that is a rather gross misconception. I don't know which catch phrase spouting capitalist mistranslated it first, but the Mandarin word for 'Crisis': 'wēijī' is not formed from the linguistic elements which signify danger and opportunity."
". . ."
Had she existed in a more whimsical world, Cologne imagined the chirping of crickets would have accompanied the silence that had descended over her audience.
"Ummm, I hate to doubt you," doubted Mr. Luthor, "But I have read entire books based solely on that concept. I find it hard to believe that so many people could be incorrect."
Cologne shrugged amiably. "Oh, you must be absolutely right. After all, what would I know? I'm only a Chinese woman with over a century of knowledge of the language."
Lex lifted a hand, extending a finger in preparation to make a statement . . . but nothing came.
Satisfied that she'd shut the impertinent pup up, she prepared to continue her explanation-
Until David Cain interrupted her. "Are you certain, Elder? I mean, I've practically lived my whole life by the principle of finding opportunities in chaos."
The ancient Matriarch considered this before nodding slowly, "Well, I can see how that could be true for you. However, I really don't think it's honoring the spirit of the parable if you are the one creating the crisis so that you can profit from it."
Around the room, a disturbingly large number of people began to shift uncomfortably. She half expected a choir of innocent whistling to start up in accompaniment; unfortunately her current company was far too serious for their own good.
"As I was trying to say, 'wēijī' is composed of elements which signify two separate concepts, and yes, the first syllable 'Wei' does represent danger. However, the second element: 'Ji' in no way represents opportunity. A more appropriate translation would be 'incipient moment', or perhaps 'crucial point', indicating when something begins to change. Thus, a wēijī is indeed a genuine crisis, a dangerous moment, a time when things start to go awry. To try to claim there is some hidden message of finding profit amidst danger is as ridiculous as . . . as . . . as if I were to say a windmill was a form of weather pattern because the first word is 'wind'."
Hmm, she'd had to grasp there for a moment, but she was satisfied that she'd made her point. Normally, she wouldn't have made such a lecture out of such a small mistake, but she just hated that particular mistranslation misconception . . . almost as much as the Beret.
Lex stared at her for another moment before shaking his head quickly, ". . . I'll take your word for it. However, language lessons aside, I think that I can turn this negative into a positive."
Mousse scratched his head, looking vaguely confused, "How on Earth could you possibly salvage that? Saotome's always been an insufferable show-off, but he's really outdone himself this time, and that's from someone that's known him for years."
The powerful business mogul confidently clasped his hands behind his back and turned a knowing smile Mousse's way.
"Well, Mr. Mu Tzu, your pigtailed friend has just made a celebrity of himself. And, if we are watching this, one doesn't need to make a great jump in logic to imagine just what other organizations would also be watching. Groups, perhaps, with a vested interest in such outstanding young individuals."
Mr. Luthor then turned his attention back to the television, staring intently at the group of young martial artists that populated the screen.
"And so many other talented youths stumbling onto the stage in such short order as well . . ."
The man rested his chin on and upturned fist, quickly losing himself in thought.
"It makes you wonder how many other such impressive children are hiding right under our noses . . ."
"Achoo!"
Jinx sniffled a bit, then grabbed the first hankie she could find. She was about to blow her nose for all she was worth . . . until she realized she had just unwittingly pulled said 'hankie' from her 'master's' personal sack of . . . valuables. With only a minor shudder of disgust, she quickly returned the flimsy piece of silk back to its home and settled on the vaguely less gross alternative of wiping her nose on her sleeve.
"You know, I'm starting to think I'm allergic to mentally unstable martial artists. I don't remember sneezing this much before I met Ryouga."
The disturbingly withered and shrunken figure that was known as Happosai turned his huge, shimmering eyes her way.
"But that doesn't make any sense, Dearie. You haven't seen Ryouga in weeks, so why would you still be sneezing all the time."
The rosy eyed sorceress leveled a devastatingly droll expression at the ancient dwarf. "I sincerely have no idea, master."
As usual, Happi just chuckled happily, either missing the buckets of sarcasm she was flinging his way, or just not acknowledging her attempts to nettle him. Both possibilities were equally annoying, though she preferred the former.
"You're probably just catching a cold. Maybe you need someone to warm you up?"
She sensed the imminent lunge for her rather modest bosom before the ancient lecher even began to tense up for the leap. It was an odd ability she had developed after spending more than ten minutes with the old man, and by far the most important technique she had developed on this entire insane, rambling excuse for a training trip. With practiced ease, she lifted her hand before her and made ready to snap her fingers, her eyes gaining a particularly vicious pink glow to them.
"My, my, it certainly is windy up on this rooftop, isn't it, master?"
Happosai's eyes instantly lost their target lock on her chest and in a flash, the old man was desperately clinging to his sack of . . . treasures. He stared up at her with huge, crocodile tears in his eyes.
"Y-y-you wouldn't do that to an old, weak man, would you? Deprive him of his last joy in this world?" Happi asked with an over-used quiver in his voice.
Jinx rolled her eyes. Did they really have to do this every night?
"Fine, Happi, you're right, I must be coming down with a cold."
Doubtlessly he would have some ridiculous and likely embarrassing cure pop into his deluded mind, but at least it would get him off of that disgusting sack so she could go back to ignoring its existence.
"Ha! There's no time for that, Disciple! You see, I've decided on the next stage of your training and we need to get started immediately!"
The pink haired witch grumbled audibly. "I swear, Happi, if this plan involves: getting back to nature, au natural, or any combination of the words 'commando' and 'going', I'm going to be forced to tie you up and throw you into another male prison laundry truck."
Her indelibly eager master shuddered at the not-nearly distant enough memory, but just as quickly shook it off.
"Don't be silly, girl. I've decided on the perfect city where we can continue your training."
"Awwwwww, another city?" she wailed petulantly, "Seriously, we've been through so many cities over the past few weeks, that I feel like my life has turned into a series of poorly placed cameos."
The shrunken master of the martial arts hit her with his dreaded 'puppy dog technique'. The old man's eyes grew even larger and crocodile tears shimmered unshed at their corners.
"But-but Jinx . . . how can you say that when you're rolling with the Big Dog, here?"
Note to self: Kill Bumble Bee for teaching Happosai slang.
She mentally amended her list of reasons for killing Bumble Bee, inserting this new reason just above 'Being a Traitorous Spy' and just below 'Having a Bigger Rack than Her'.
"Ugh, fine. We'll go to your stupid city and keep doing your stupid training. Where the heck do you want to go, anyway?"
Happosai smiled a nearly toothless smile, as if the answer was so obvious that she should be able to lift it directly from the wrinkled and perverted folds of his diseased brain.
"Why, we're going to Metropolis!"