2.2 Invocation
I took a deep breath and sighed, still wondering what Armsmaster's deal was. One moment he was adamant on getting us to sign up for the wards, and the next one he was way too interested in my bullying situation. I smiled at Akane. She had handled herself better than expected. More than a few times I thought she was going to uppercut Armsmaster and send him to Andromeda.
We walked back and gave the thumbs up at Andrew. I'm fairly confident Armsmaster had bought my story regarding him. "He's gone"
Akane nodded. "He left with the tail between his legs the moment Taylor mentioned her dad."
Andrew looked relieved for a moment, but he never looked up from the computer screen. For a moment I wondered how he was even communicating with Dragon with my old rusty computer. I mean, we don't even have an Internet connection. But then again, 'Fucking tinkers' should be an answer to anything he could do.
I looked at him, still typing on my yellowed keyboard, not bothering to look down. That annoyed me a bit, because when he used it to go surfing on PHO earlier today, I couldn't really see what he was writing. I wondered if he knew I could piggyback on his senses, and was using the keyboard to go around that, and have some privacy.
I shook my head and sighed again. "Andrew? I know you said Dragon was sending someone over, but you know you can't really stay, right? My dad would throw a hissing fit if he found you here, silently tapping on our keyboard."
He smirked, but didn't look up, still typing on his computer.
"Earth to Andrew?"
He executed the program he had been coding, and then frowned when the computer showed some sort of spreadsheet, full of all sorts of numbers. "Crap." He muttered.
"Crap?" Akane asked, dragging a couple of nearby chairs so we could sit down.
He pressed the escape key and the computer screen went black. He turned to face us, his expression grim. "I was running some tests. Nothing important for now."
"Nothing important, but you go 'crap' on that?" I asked, an eyebrow raised.
He raised his arms, in a 'you caught me' manner. "Ok, ok. But you have to believe me when I say it doesn't concern you yet. I will let you know what's going on when I get an opportunity to speak with Tess about it."
I looked at him in the eyes, and monitored his senses. His blood pressure was going up. He was hiding something important. "Why talk with Dragon first?" I asked.
He grimaced. "She knows about it, but couldn't speak a word. It's part of the whole 'chained' thing. Someone took advantage of her situation and tried to control her."
"Who?" Akane asked, her fist closed.
"If they need smashing, you will be the first to know. But first I have to figure out who they all are and what's their endgame." He frowned, seemingly remembering something. "Right, right, there's something else that concerns you both. It's important."
I looked at him in the eyes. Yes, it was important what he was about to say, but somehow the readings he was giving off told me that it wasn't nearly as important as what he had just now discovered.
He sighed. "I know I can't stay, Taylor. I'm a grown man and your dad will start asking questions about why I need to be here. Don't worry, one of Tess' sisters is on her way with a car."
"Sisters?" I asked, blinking. "You never said anything about having more than one daughter."
"I didn't? Sorry. Sue is kinda new, and sometimes it slips my mind that there are more Dragons now."
I tilted my head. What did he mean by that? His readings were all over the place.
He closed his eyes. "Ok, that's one thing. But before Sue comes over, I have that other thing tell you guys."
"Well, out with it." Akane said, crossing her arms. "What did you find out?"
He smiled at her. "Well, for starters, that your mom is alive."
Akane almost fell from her chair. "What? No. My mom died back in 1990."
"Exactly, and that's part of the problem."
"The problem?"
Andrew motioned to the battered old computer. "Dragon's vast connections were strengthened by my own Tinker power. But she was still unable to find a 'Ranma Saotome' that matches the description you gave of him. And not just Ranma Saotome. No Genma Saotome. No Happosai. No Ryoga Hibiki. No Shampoo, Mousse, Cologne, or any other amazon named after a hair product. Only Akane Tendo"
"What do you mean, 'only Akane Tendo'?"
"We were able to find Akane Tendo." He explained. "And you weren't born in 1994."
I looked at him funny. "Well, yes, we know that. She was born in-"
"1998." He said, his hand raised.
"What?" Akane and I said at the same time. It didn't make any sense.
He opened his eyes and started typing something, the computer screen showed some newspaper in Japanese. I could read it just fine. Huh. I wondered if I was using Akane's understanding of Japanese to do that.
It was an opinion article, the author speculated about a team of Super Sentai that had suddenly lost one its members, back in 1997. The ranger in question was back again in 1998. The author mused that the black ranger had gotten herself pregnant and that was the reason she had been missing for almost an year. There were no facts in the article, just speculation and assumptions. Huh, what do you know? Japanese papers from the nineties were more sensationalist than PHO.
"So?" Akane asked, not really getting what Andrew was getting at, showing us that.
"Wait, there's more." He said, and a click away, the screen was replaced by a document that looked official. It was a Japanese birth certificate, for Akane Tendo, born on the 16 of January, 1998.
"There are lots of Akane Tendos in Japan." Akane said, but she wasn't really sure of herself.
"There's mo-oore!" Andrew said in a singtone voice.
The screen was replaced by two pictures, one of the black ranger that had gone missing in 1997, and next to her, an image of a very pretty japanese woman. Andrew typed some commands, and multiple red lines started showing up, comparing both photographs. After a few seconds, below the photographs a message showed up that read '99% match'.
Akane swallowed. "That-that's my mom." I could feel the tears being contained in her eyes, she was refusing to allow herself to cry.
"You're saying Akane's mom is this Black Ranger?"
"Yes." He said, and then, made a face. "And no."
"No?"
He looked at both of us, and prepared himself before saying, "Akane Tendo, the daughter of Rumiko Tendo, the Black Ranger, died when Leviathan attacked Kyushuu."
"I don't understand." Akane said, trembling.
"Your DNA matches 50% that of the Black Ranger, but Akane Tendo died in 1999. Do you understand these facts?" Andrew asked, talking softly.
I held up my hands. "Wait, her DNA? Where did you even get that from?"
"Armsmaster asked Dragon to match Akane's DNA against Jack Slash, he thought their abilities were similar and was cautious because of that."
"Jack Slash?" Akane asked, still looking shocked.
"Bad news. One of the worst criminals this world has to offer. Anyway, that match came negative, of course. But Tess kept looking, matching your DNA with that of all known parahumans."
"I don't understand what it means." Akane said.
"Basically, it's impossible you're the Black Ranger's daughter. That is, unless you're not from Earth Bet." Andrew said, and grimaced. "Maybe neither am I."
Akane blinked, and turned to look at me. "I am- I am not from this world?"
Andrew explained. "Tell me Akane, do you remember anything about capes in general from before you died?"
"Well, we had martial artists, monsters, and magic." Akane said, not sure of herself. "There were also power armors like the one Armsmaster was wearing, but- no, no 'capes'."
"Maybe your world also has 'capes', but they didn't become super-heroes and super-villains." Andrew mused, and nodded to himself. "What about Endbrigers. Do you remember hearing about entire cities being leveled?"
Akane shook her head. "I've seen dragons, phoenixes, and other monsters, even demons. But nothing that could just… murder a whole country."
Andrew typed some more, and four pictures of Earth showed up. "We know that the multiverse exists. There's Earth Aleph, which is much more tamer version of our Earth, they don't have Endbringers either. You come from a world I labeled Earth Gimel, a world not unlike Earth Aleph in that it's tame, but still has presence of parahumans. I come from Earth Aleph 2, basically the same as Earth Aleph, I haven't found anything different about both Earths yet, but I will figure it out sooner or later."
I shifted on my seat. "You mean, my power doesn't resurrect people, it brings them from other Earths?"
"Well, yes and no. I remember almost dying. Surely I would have if you hadn't saved me."
Akane blinked, and nodded in agreement. "I was gone. My spirit wasn't even in my body anymore. I remember- I remember seeing Ranma declare his love for me, but I was seeing him holding me, like I was someone else. He was crying because we were always fighting we never- we never had happiness."
"You were some kind of ghost?" Andrew said, interested, but shook his head. "Nevermind, not important right now."
"There's more?"
"Yes. Remember the Black Ranger, Akane's mom?" Andrew said.
"Yes." We both said at the same time.
"When Leviathan attacked Japan, and killed our version of Akane…" He started to say, and another picture appeared on screen, one taken by a plane or by a flying cape, it showed a single person standing, with thousands of dead bodies around them. "The Black Kazeranger went nuts. She started killing everyone in her path. It's believed that she murdered at least ten thousand people before she turned herself in. She's currently in the Birdcage."
Akane's face went white. "WHAT?"
"Your mother was a great hero before that happened." Andrew said. "Black Kaze is one of the world's most powerful capes. When you died, I think nothing else mattered to her, and she lashed out against the world that took your one year old counterpart from her."
I glared at Andrew, and turned to Akane who looked stunned. "It's not her, she's not your mom."
"Well, genetically speaking, she kinda is." Andrew said, but got my message as I tapped into Akane's abilities to send killing intent his way. He gulped and turned back to typing on my computer.
It took her almost five minutes of staring into empty space, but Akane finally reacted. "Ok… I think- I think I understand her."
"You do?" Both, Andrew and I, said at the same time.
"I mean," Akane started to say, and gulped before looking at Andrew. "What would you do if Tess got murdered?"
Andrew blinked. "I- I honestly don't know. I would probably do some pretty nasty things to the culprits." Somehow, it sounded like he was actually planning something, I better ask him later about that. "But I don't think I would kill thousands of people after I took my revenge."
"But it's different for you." Akane said, looking down. "I mean, Dragon is not a toddler. She lived her life. She got to be a hero. What did this world's version of me do? She-" Akane let go of the tears she had been keeping at bay. "I think I would do the same, I would kill. I would hate the world. I would hate everyone who got to live, while my daughter didn't."
Andrew nodded slowly. "I could-" He said, and eyed me, a bit afraid, but I motioned him to continue, and he nodded. "I could ask Tess to let you speak with Black Kaze, she kinda controls the Birdcage. Maybe- maybe you could get answers regarding the rest of your family. Maybe there's a Ranma, just with a different name. Maybe your sisters also exist in this world. I couldn't find anything on any of them, but maybe your mom just hid them better."
Akane nodded slowly. She almost looked more broken than she did when she found out Ranma might be dead. I wondered how I would feel, if I was stranded in some other Earth.
Akane rubbed her eyes. "I think I know what my code name will be." She looked determined, suddenly strong. "I will be Red Kaze."
I grimaced. While the idea was… honorable? It was kind of stupid. I mean, if someone found out she's Black Kaze's kid, I don't know what would happen. And with her naming herself like that, it was like she was inviting the worst kind of problem our way.