This story is set in the same world as "Change of Phases", starting roughly a year before the beginning of "Change of Phases". This is also based on the premise brought up in Gregg Sharp's "The Bet: Crippled", and it is recommended the former be read to understand the setup. The characters involved, save for "Paladin", are the creations of either Rumiko Takahashi, Naoko Takeuchi, and Marvel Entertainment Co.

Silver Nemesis

by Miriani

Chapter 03 – The Spider Hunting

Dr. Reed Richards, one of the foremost research physicists in America, sat back in a chair, staring at a newspaper, his face rather grave. A knock on a nearby window drew his attention, as an elongating hand reached out to open the window upon the opposite wall. "Thanks, Spider-Man. I'm glad you got my message."

The wallcrawler slipped into the window then closed it behind him. "Hey, Doc. What's the rush?" He asked as he walked to the scientist's side.

Reed offered Peter the paper. "Sorry, my Japanese isn't all that great."

The doctor sat back. "This was yesterday's Tokyo Shinbun. You don't even need to know the translation to know why it concerns me, if you look on page three."

Peter blinked as he stared at the picture. "Oh crap. When did Venom decide to take a trip?"

"You see why I'm worried, but things are worse. That cannot be Venom," Reed explained as he turned toward Spider-Man. "For one, the paper says that this pairing has been in Japan for over three months now, and you know where Venom was two weeks ago."

"So how many people have been killed?" Peter asked in a sickened tone.

"None."

"None?"

Reed pointed out, "The katakana here sound out the word 'Paladin'. As disturbing as it sounds, this one may be one of the good guys, for now."

"What do you mean, for now?" Peter paused and sighed. "Ahh..." He remembered how the alien costume which would eventually be revealed to be the Venom Symbiote had helped him at first but became violently aggressive and dangerous.

"It is my concern, as well as some of the Avengers, that he may actually prove a danger, were he to follow the same pattern Venom did with you."

"Perhaps I should take a little vacation," he thought aloud then said, "Did you manage to miniaturize the sonic cannon a bit?"

A silvery figure leapt from roof to roof. It had been three months since that figure came into its current existence, three months of conflict and entertainment. Ranma and Paladin were probably the best things to happen to one another, and despite the problems of hiding his mobility, struggling with classwork, and trying to find the best way to explain to Nabiki, he truly enjoyed his new hobby of sorts. The code was served, people were protected, and it was helping keep the crime-rate in the area down.

He stopped on a rooftop, looking down, thinking to himself. The only problem he had was how he was going to explain this to Nabiki, or even if he was going to get a chance. Every time he tried to explain, he either lost his nerve or something would happen, from phonecalls to people at the door. He was beginning to think he picked up another curse somehow.

A few nights before, Ranma rolled to Nabiki's door, knocking carefully. "Nabiki?" he called nervously.

Suddenly a flushed Nabiki swung the door open and rushed out, before crashing ontop of Ranma, knocking his chair backwards and down the hall. Ranma stared up at the worried woman. He tried to speak, his lips brushing hers, before Nabiki pushed off of him, blinking. "I'm sorry, Ranma," She said, flustered as she helped him back into his chair, before stumbling back into her room.

Ranma stared after her, shaking his head. "Ok... what happened there?" He asked himself, but neither he nor Paladin had any adequate response.

The night before, Ranma knocked on the door. "Nabiki?" He asked softly through the door.

Nabiki called back. "Yeah? Just a sec," she called back.

Ranma waited, as Nabiki walked out, yawning a little. "Yeah, Ranma?" she asked softly.

"Yeah, Nabiki, I need to tell you something," he said, voice tense.

Nabiki looked at him and nodded. "Go on?"

"Ok, Nabiki... We've been through a lot.. and I'm sorry to put you through all of this, but-" And before Ranma could continue, the phone rang.

Nabiki blinked and sighed. "Give me a moment, Ranma," she said before heading for the phone.

Ranma sighed as he tried to pull himself together, before hearing Nabiki yelling at the phone. Sounded like it was Akane and her bi-daily attempt to have Nabiki come home. That did not help matters. Every time the two had a conversation, Nabiki was always livid at her sister's stupidity and persistance.

He gave up and wheeled over to his room once more.

Paladin shook his head as he pulled himself out of his memories and stared down. More bad guys to deal with. He dove for the ground between a woman and her would-be assailants. A hero's work is never done.

He didn't notice a figure in red and blue keeping an eye upon him and taking a few photos. Hey, even in Japan, a journalist and webcrawler's got to eat.

Nabiki was seated at the table, grumbling under her breath as she looked at the three stacks of letters in front of her. All of them letters from colleges. One pile was from schools that wouldn't take her for various reasons, some more insulting than others. Another were acceptance letters from schools that would, but were far out of her price range, or would require her to move either to distant parts of Japan, or out of the nation entirely. The third, pitifully small, were of schools that she was accepted to and could afford. None of them were particularly appealing, unfortunately.

She still had time to decide, but that time was becoming shorter and shorter, before the windows of opportunity would start to close on her. Moving was an option, but would mean she would have to leave Nerima and Ranma behind. The former was sounding appealing, but she wasn't sure if it was fair for her to leave Ranma behind. She paused at that thought and muttered, "I wonder if this is how Kasumi felt."

Nabiki stood in disgust and paced through the apartment. Ranma was sleeping at the moment, or she'd even be willing to get his opinion on the subject. She paused, however, as she stopped near his door. That's strange, she thought to herself. One thing she did learn about Ranma is that he did snore. Not loudly, but it was noticible. She probably didn't notice it back at the dojo since his father sounded like a hurricane, but it was noticible.

Yet tonight, his room was silent. Maybe he was awake? She knocked gently upon his door, which swung open slightly. Concerned, she opened the door and looked inside. Ranma wasn't on his futon. This was concerning, but were it not for one important detail, she might have shrugged it off as him taking a 'roll' as he called it. But it couldn't be that.

Because Ranma's wheelchair was sitting, folded up, next to the futon.

Peter stared down at the silvery figure as it lashed a pair of would-be rapists to a wall. Very odd, he thought to himself as he took some pictures from hiding. Against the assailants, he was malicious, nearly brutal, but no injuries were life threatening, or even permanent. To their almost-victim, however, he was kind, gentle, even caring. She was intimidated by his appearance, even if it wasn't as frightening as some forms he had taken in the past, according to reports, but he was the soul of courtesy.

"You can come down, now," The resonant voice called as the smooth head turned to 'face' the wallcrawler. "We think we've gotten this mess cleaned up enough."

Parker blinked, before he leapt down to ground level. "How did you know I was there?" he asked, keeping his tone curious, trying to hide the nervousness he felt around another symbiotic pair.

"We've plenty of experience with people taking pictures of us," Paladin said in a tone of irony. "So who are you supposed to be?"

"That's almost refreshing," Peter quipped. "Someone not knowing who Spider-Man is."

"Spider-Man, huh? Where's your other four legs?" Paladin joked.

"Maybe the same place your holy grail disappeared to?" Spider-Man replied.

"My what?"

Peter blinked behind the mask. But before he could reply, a crash was heard from the street, before a loud roar overwhelmed screaming.

Spider-Man stared at the alley, ready to swing into action, but stopped as he heard Paladin comment.

"Oh hell. What's he doing here?"

It had been a month since the monster had roamed these streets, yet his goal was the same as before. And as before, he was thwarted. So he decided to vent his rage in some wholesale destruction. Tearing his surroundings to shreds was surprisingly cathartic, and since the target of his rage wasn't here, and the city streets about him were far more convenient, they took the brunt of his damage.

One cloven hoof crushed in a small car's hood as he bellowed out a roar of challenge, one that was not answered to his satisfaction.

At least, not by the figure he was looking for, as a silvery figure hurtled toward him and crashed right into his chest, hurling him back into a wall. "Ok, Yak-boy, what're you doing back here?" Paladin replied as he landed on his feet.

"Ok, what is that thing?" Spider-Man asked as he landed on a lamp post.

"That thing," Paladin replied, not looking toward him as he kept his 'eyes' upon the monster, "is a nutball named Pantyhose Tarou. Be careful, he's a dangerous little bastard. He came by a few weeks ago, looking for some old pervert."

But Peter didn't hear the second sentence, as he laughed. "That's so sad, a guy who comes with his own punchline. I couldn't /write/ a better one."

"Bad move, bug-boy," Paladin replied as an enraged Tarou lifted a car's wreckage and hurled it toward Spider-Man, who barely dodged it. "He doesn't like his name too much."

Spider-Man clung to the side of a wall. "Who would? Well, this is your court, any pointers?"

"Yeah. Piss him off. I can handle the rest," the silver figure replied as he moved toward Tarou.

Tarou howled in rage as he stared at Paladin, wings mantling in rage. The Jusenkyou-cursed mock-minotaur took a step toward the symbiote warrior, who merely folded his arms.

( Pal, do you think we can take Tarou on? )

( Before, we don't know. Now? Quite possible. We know you wish to try that new move, but can we contain it enough to prevent too much collateral damage? )

Paladin stared at Tarou, not saying a word as Tarou moved into a crouch, as if preparing to charge. ( I think we can handle it, as long as we keep him close to the center of the street. )

( We agree, ) the symbiote replied as Tarou began to rush Paladin.

The hulking creature suddenly felt his legs go out from under him as he fell flat on his face. "Hey, ugly, what sewer coughed you up? And can we send you back?" Spider-Man commented as he let go of the web that reached toward the back of the monster's legs. "Or at least send you somewhere downwind?"

Tarou glared over his shoulder at the webslinger, before chucking a piece of broken cement at him. Parker dodged the debris easily. "Oh come on, make it a bit more challenging, please? Whoa, spoke too soon," He replied as he barely avoided a pair of octopus-like tentacles. "Sorry, I don't bend that way," Spider-Man remarked.

Paladin almost laughed but decided not to waste the time, and gave Tarou a hard kick to the back of the head, sending him skidding down the street a dozen meters. "Whoa. What do you think, Spider? Go into soccer?"

"I think you'd do better as a punter," Parker replied.

Tarou howled in rage before standing and diving at Paladin, who was waiting for this moment. As he drew in a deep breath, he braced himself as Tarou prepared to crash into him. At the last moment, he leapt forward and over Tarou's head and wings, leaving a streamer of his substance in his wake. As Tarou crashed into the substance, it engulfed Tarou's head, as Paladin used it to swing the monster around before hurling him skyward with a snap, sending the monster end over end in an uncontrolled spin.

Spider-Man blinked and stared at Paladin. "What the hell was that?" He said, feeling uncomfortably for the doublebarreled device lashed to his back. If the symbiote had other such nasty tricks up his sleeve, this might be his only shot at taking him down.

"A little move we've been working on. I haven't gotten to use it, mostly because I hadn't found someone who could take it. If anyone could, though, Monster Boy up there could. Oh, and you might want to step aside," Paladin warned.

Spider-Man blinked. "What's that supposed to-" He blinked as his spider-sense screamed at him. He leapt to the side, just as the minotaur-like thing crashed into the spot he was just standing at. "Oh..."

Paladin shook his head. "Idiot," He said as he stared at the monster. "Here." He said as he built his ki between his hands, before firing it at a hydrant broken by Tarou's earlier tantrum. Quickly encasing some of the now heated water in a bubble of Paladin's substance, he tossed it at the monster.

Peter stared as the creature became a now brused human, before staring at Paladin. "Jusenkyou curse. Long story, but short form is cold water turns him into big and ugly, hot turns him back," Paladin explained. "Here... cops are about to show up and we don't really want to be here when they see the mess. We don't have all night."

Spider-Man nodded. "Mind if we talk?"

Paladin shrugged. "Sure... follow me?" He said as he suddenly leapt between two buildings, bouncing between them before he reached a roof. "Coming?"

Spider-Man shook his head. "What have I gotten myself into?" He asked himself as he swung after the silver-clad soldier.

A few moments later, they were upon the roof of one of the taller buildings in the ward. Paladin was perched on a flagpole, while Spider-Man was dangling upside down from an awning. "You've been following us for a few nights," Paladin decided to get to the point.

"Well, as a matter of fact, yes," Peter said with a shrug. "A friend of mine asked me to keep an eye on you."

"So why'd you come all the way to Japan? We mean we're not that famous that we get costumed groupies. We hope..." Paladin said a bit nervously.

Spider-Man replied, "Because we had a problem with something like you back home. And frankly, one Venom's enough, thank you very much."

"Venom, huh? Pretentious, isn't it? But why are you so worried? Come on, you didn't come all the way across the world to tell me about this Venom, did you?" Paladin asked.

Spider-Man sighed. This is where it could get ugly, he thought. "Because frankly, Venom's the scariest sucker I've ever faced. I have nightmares about the guy. I really don't want to have nightmares about you too. Even if that means taking you down and forcing the symbiote out of you."

Paladin stared, and sighed. "Great... Just great. Just what I need. Another guy after my head." The depression in his tone was unmistakeable. "I mean is it too much to ask to just have a nice life, without psycho tomboys, lost nutjobs and now costumed whackjobs trying to kill me?"

Spider-Man blinked. Definitely not what he expected. Rage, fury, death threats, he was expecting. But self-pity? "Look, pal, it's nothing personal, but I had one of those things in me once. It nearly killed me, and is still trying to. I don't want to see anyone else get hurt."

"We don't want to kill anyone, damn it! We just want to help people and be left alone..." Paladin replied as he leapt away.

Peter was too stunned to pursue him. Staring down at the streets below, he muttered, "Maybe we're being too hard on the kid. Maybe Venom's a fluke. Maybe we're wrong. But I don't want to risk being right..." He sighed and pulled out a small tracking device, looking at it, then in the direction Paladin fled in.

Paladin sighed as he landed on the roof of the apartment Nabiki and he shared. He grumbled as he moved to lay down on the roof behind the chimney, staring at the stars. After a few long moments, he muttered to himself. "Why can't we just be left alone? Between Shampoo breaking out of jail a week ago, Akane being a pain, Ryouga showing up at random intervals, and now that yak butting in, we can't seem to get a moment's peace."

The symbiote gave a mental sort of shrug. ( We do not know why things are so strange, but do we have any options? )

"At the moment, no," Ranma replied. "Not unless we could just suddenly afford to move somewhere else, get away from this all. Maybe get a real life, and not this manga-reject nightmare we seem to be stuck in."

Paladin replied, ( We couldn't leave our friends behind, though. )

"No, it wouldn't be fair to either of them. And Nabiki... I don't know why she keeps with us. Don't see it getting her anything." Ranma muttered.

( Perhaps she does it to be with you. Maybe she cares. )

"Maybe. But it wouldn't be fair to have her just have to up and leave because our life sucks," Ranma replied.

( Have you asked her? )

"When have we had a chance? We can't seem to even find the time to tell her the truth," Ranma muttered.

( A good point. )

"Well, we're not getting anywhere here. Might as well get some sleep. School tomorrow."

Ranma stood and slipped off of the roof, slipping into the window. He turned then froze. (Oh hell...) the human and the symbiote muttered in perfect agreement, as Nabiki stood in the doorway.

Parker stared as the symbiote slipped off the roof. A kid. The creature had attached itself to a kid. His heart sank as the half conversation filtered through. Not only a kid, but a kid with more issues than the National Geographic, if that little 'monologue' was to be believed. He crawled over toward what he assumed was the window he had gone into to try to get a look at the kid beneath the substance when he froze, hearing the swearing. That did not sound good at all, he thought, as he moved to listen further.

"Ok, bastard, what did you do to Ranma!" Nabiki said in a voice filled with both rage and fear. "Where have you taken him?"

Paladin held his hands up. "Whoa, hold on, just a second!" Behind the silvery mask, he stared at Nabiki, who's expression was almost terrified. Justifiably so, Paladin thought. The last time she saw him up close, he made horror movies seem tame. "We... he's alright.. we promise!"

Nabiki was torn between charging the silvery figure to beat some answers out of him, and fleeing in terror. She stammered out, "Why should we believe you?"

( Well, we wanted to tell her... now's a good a time as any, ) the symbiote commented with a hint of bitterness.

The creature sighed, then looked at Nabiki. A mournful yet familiar voice replied, "We wanted to tell you before..."

Nabiki's eyes widened as the silvery substance seemed to pour away from the head, revealing a familiar face cast in an expression of guilt and shame. "Nabiki, we're sorry. It's us. It's Ranma."

Nabiki stared. "It can't be you! Why are you looking like Ranma?" She said almost hysterically.

Ranma sighed as he moved to grab the wheelchair. Nabiki cringed, until he sat down in the chair. The rest of the silvery substance began to peel away, disappearing, leaving Ranma in a black t-shirt and pair of boxers. "It's us, Nabiki." He turned the chair away from her to face the window. "Remember the day you found me and dragged me to the Doc's office? It was when we... I met Paladin."

Nabiki's legs gave out as she fell to her knees, staring at Ranma as the wheelchair-bound boy explained. "It came to us and offered us a choice. It would bond with us, and help us heal, and in return, we help people. We never meant to scare you, and the Doc said we should tell you, but we never found the time... either you weren't having a good day and we felt bad about dumping it in your lap, or something else would happen."

Nabiki struggled to her feet and turned Ranma around, her expression blank. "What's this we crap?" She said hoarsely, staring at him.

"Paladin... well, he's a..." He paused, then rattled off an explanation as if being fed it from a teleprompter or the like. "A symbiote.. an alien creature that's travelled here. He requires a host and in exchange for a host, he augments whatever abilities the host had as well as provides abilities from previous hosts. That right? Ok."

Nabiki shuddered. "So you're an alien?"

"Part of us is, Nabiki. The other part's the same Ranma you've known since he arrived here in Nerima. The same Ranma who considers you his only friend besides Dr. Ono," Ranma replied.

Nabiki sat down heavily on Ranma's futon, staring wild-eyed at her hands. "This is... this is ridiculous!" She stammered.

Ranma moved to Nabiki's side, before pulling himself out of the chair with a thud, and dragging himself to her side. "Nabiki, it's ok. Trust me, it was hard for us to get used to as well. But we're still your friend. If you want us to be," He said, his expression almost mournful.

Nabiki looked at him. "I knew you were hiding something from me. But something like this... It's just nuts." She said, trying to calm herself down. "You scared the hell out of me," she said weakly.

"We know, Nabiki. And we're really sorry about that. We didn't mean to. We were just having fun with those jerks and didn't really think," Ranma admitted.

A weak, somewhat hysterical bark of laughter escaped her. "That's definitely the Ranma I know. Or at least knew. Diving into something without looking..." She wiped her face as she looked at Ranma. "So are you just faking the cripple bit too? Having a good laugh at my expense?" She sniped.

Ranma flinched. "I'm afraid not," he replied as he created a blade out of Paladin's substance and promptly cut his leg without even so much as a twitch from his leg.

Nabiki winced as she saw the blade, and again as she saw it cut his leg. "Why'd you do that?" She yelped out, moving to try to find a bandage, only to stop and stare as some of Paladin emerged, wrapping about his leg before turning into a bandage about the cut.

"Sorry... showing off like the idiot we are at times," Ranma said with a sigh. "But as you can see, we're still a cripple. Paladin can help me move but not all the time. Though he says he might be able to fix my spine eventually."

Nabiki swallowed, then stared at her legs. "I either need to get very drunk right now, or wake up."

Ranma moved to grab her hand gently. "It's a lot to take in, we know. And we wish we could have broken it to you easier, but you know us... we would have messed it up one way or another. We're sorry. If you want us to leave, or if you want to go back to the Dojo, we'll understand."

Nabiki took a deep breath, then looked at him. "You're not getting out of this that easily, Saotome. I figure you owe me for scaring me, and I'm going to collect."

Ranma flinched, but nodded. "Yeah, I guess we do."

Nabiki sighed. "Ok, I'm calling in tomorrow for both of us. You can make up your test later. You owe me some explanations."

Ranma nodded quietly. "Alright, Nabiki."

Peter shook his head softly. Worse than when I had to explain to Mary Jane, he thought to himself as he leapt off, an idea forming. This might kill two birds with one stone, if I can get Reed to sign off on it. He swung back toward his hotel room, then checked the clock. He should be awake, Peter thought to himself as he dialed up a number.

"Dr. Richards' office," Reed answered.

"Yes, Reed, this is Spider. I caught up with Paladin. Interesting guy," Peter replied.

Mr. Fantastic asked, "Do you think he's a risk?"

"I don't know. Maybe, but for some reason I kind of doubt it. He seems like a nice kid. Yeah, kid... he can't be more than seventeen or so. Gives me an idea, though."

"What's that?" Reed asked. As Peter explained, Reed considered it. "It could work. It'd keep him where we can keep an eye on him and maybe even prevent another disaster like Venom. Not sure if we'd be the best case for it, but if you can do some research on these two, it can give me some more options. Can you do some footwork and call me back in a few days? I'm going to try to get a hold of Tony, see if he has any suggestions."

Peter paused. "Stark is a good idea, actually. He could pass observances off to the Avengers if Paladin starts to become a risk, but he's not linked to a group enough to make it look suspicious."

Reed nodded, unseen, and replied, a bit hesitantly, "If you can get more information to me in the next few days, I can get things rolling. Just keep an eye on him."

"Will do, Doc. Take care," Peter said, before hanging up and moving to see if Mary Jane was still awake.