"Speech"
'Thought'
#Panda Sign#
X x x x x x
Ranma awoke to a horrible buzzing noise. He had heard it and several variations many times before, too many times to count. Flailing his right hand in an attempt to find the source of the noise, he had to drag himself across the bed to finally hit the snooze button. Dropping his arm to dangle over the edge of his bed, he tried to find reason to actually get up.
"Oh right, school－ ugh, so not worth it."
Mr. Tan had not been happy when he had arrived late last night, the stern man having stayed up to make sure he could give Ranma a strong speech about being home at a reasonable hour, and that it was unacceptable to show up at three in the morning. Glancing once more at the alarm clock, he had only gotten a couple hours of sleep.
Dragging himself downstairs, he actually decided to drink a cup of coffee, having heard it helped wake a person up. Sipping on the bitter liquid, Mr Tan was watching the net to see the morning news. Not paying much attention at first, he suddenly did when Cuvier was brought up.
"Last night an attempt was made on District Attorney Sam Young's life. A strong opponent to the latest teen fad known as splicing, the three attackers who's names are not being release yet, freely told police that Dr. Able Cuvier of the Cuvier institute, had targeted Young to remove the threat his legislation had to his operations. Batman, who foiled the attempt, also implicated Dr. Cuvier in an illegal trade of exotic and endangered animals to wealthy hunters. The full details of this have yet to be released. Dr. Cuvier remains at large, and he is presumed to be very dangerous."
'Good, I'm going to be the one to kick his ass.' Ranma sneered as the news kicked into more mundane matters.
"So why are you up so early?" Mr. Tan asked.
"School." He answered like it should have been obvious.
"But it's Sunday." The man pointed out. Ranma wanted to retort, but he realized that Mr. Tan was indeed correct, so he just slumped in his chair. A minute later Dana came down while dragging her feet on the carpet.
"Why did you have to set your alarm?" She groaned, rubbing at her eyes. "I can't get back to sleep if I get up."
"Had other things on my mind, sorry."
"Please don't do it again." Dana finally cleared away the sleep from her eyes long enough to look at him, she immediately locked on his white hair, then his eyes, then his hair again. "Alright, give me details." She demanded, taking a seat next to him. "I want to know everything."
"Not much to say." He answered like it had just been any normal day, avoiding her dig for information, not wanting to really remember the previous day.
"Oh yea? Then what's with the hair?"
"Ah, well－ it's－ apparently not everything is reversible." Scratching at the back of his head, he noticed for the first time that it slightly different, more dense and with a softer feel to it.
"I'm sorry, I thought you had just decided to keep some of it." Dana gave him a sincere apology, assuming correctly that he had not wanted to remain as such. "Is anything else－ stuck?"
"I haven't noticed anything else." He replied, although he did feel a little off, but he couldn't put his finger on what. Probably just his imagination playing with him from sleep deprivation, though a dark part of his mind wondered if there may in fact be something else.
"So how did the modeling go? Was it fun?"
"No, it was really boring, mostly just sitting around or posing while they took pictures."
"Did they let you keep any clothes? I bet they had designer brands." 's voice took on a dream quality at the idea of designer clothing.
"I didn't want to keep anything." He said simply, sipping at his coffee, deflating Dana's clothing talk.
"How about being spliced? What was that like?"
Ranma took a moment to actually think about that. "That was weird, it was just sort of－ normal."
"Normal?" Dana asked skeptically.
"Yea, everything just felt normal." He rephrased it, be told it was sort of like the curse, which after a while he often forgot about which body he currently inhabited.
"What did they splice you with?" Dana pressed, clearly not believing him. "Did you look like that tiger lady at their building? She looked really normal except her face."
"Kind of, it was a snow leopard." He answered. "Though I had a." Pausing, he was unsure if he wanted to let her know about the tail.
"What? Horns?" Dana switched to trying to make a joke.
"No, I didn't have any horns." Though there was someone with horns who would be getting it if he ever met with him again.
"Paws?"
"No."
"Well what then? Tentacles?"
"I had a tail alright." He blurted out to stop her questions.
"A tail." Dana said evenly. "And that felt normal to you?"
"They mess with your head a bit when they splice you." He explained quickly, finally finding the explanation that he wanted. "That's what makes it feel normal."
"Oh, why didn't you say that to start?"
"I'm tired." He pointed out, drinking some more coffee.
"Did you go out for a party afterward? I thought you were supposed to be back near dinnertime."
"No, not a party." He was not going to tell Dana or anyone else what had happened after the shoot.
"What was it then?"
"I gotta go get dressed, I have a big day planned." He hastily finished off his coffee, and took off for his room.
"When you get back I'm going to want to know more than that!" Dana called after him, clearly unsatisfied by his vague answers.
"Of course where do I go about finding that jackass." Ranma realized as soon as he reached his room. Obviously Cuvier wasn't going to be at his business, and Gotham was a really big metropolis, with an impossibly large number of hiding spots. So how could he hope to track down man, who was not trying to be found?
The cops were surely out looking and he didn't want them to find Cuvier before he got to show his displeasure. That Batman guy would probably be out as well, and if rumors were true, he would be the one to get the bad guy first. Inspiration hit him, he had met the man behind Batman, an old man in a cave but still. If nothing else he could find out some more about one of the reasons he had come to Gotham.
X x x x x x
Retracing his steps, Ranma returned to the old mansion he had come out of last night. The place was far enough and in an old enough part of town that no trains came within a kilometer. Pausing at the large gate blocking the drive up to the building, he inspected the large decorate plate on the stone pillars holding the gate.
"Wayne?" He thought, remembering that it was the same name as the man who Terry worked for. Deciding to be polite, he hit the call button on a panel. Ranma was almost ready to just jump the gate when a voice finally answered over the speaker.
"Yes?" The elderly man he had met last night asked.
"Yea, we met last night, I need to talk to you."
"I don't know what you're talking about." The man denied.
"You're not that old, old man. I know you work with Batman, it was you who helped me out last night, and I'm not leaving till I talk to you." Pushing the button too hard, he nearly broke it.
"Fine." The gate creaked and opened inwards towards the mansion.
X x x x x x
Terry was enjoying sleeping in after the hectic night he had last night. Unlike most of the time where he had to deal with that kind of thing on weeknights, on the weekend he could actually get enough sleep. His phone ringing completely ruined his morning.
"Yea?" He answered.
"I need you at the mansion, now." Bruce's voice commanded. "In the suit."
"Batman works at night." He pointed out, hoping that this was just a test to be sure he had the phone on him.
"Crime never sleeps." Bruce hung up without waiting for a response.
"Aw man." Dropping his phone back on his bedside table, he was really going to make whoever was dragging him out of bed sorry.
X x x x x x
"You wanted to talk." Mr. Wayne demanded from his front door, the big black dog standing attentively at his side. The white haired man a scowl on his face, didn't look like he was going to invite him in.
"I want to find Cuvier." He stated simply.
"Your help isn't needed."
"I'm not the type of guy to just sit around and let other people do things. least not without getting to watch."
"No."
"If I don't find him before the police get him, I'm not going to be able to pay him back." Ranma stared directly into the old man's faded blue eyes. "After what he was going to do to me." Closing his eyes, he didn't have the vocabulary to describe his anger.
"You don't want to bring Cuvier to justice, you want revenge." Wayne calmly explained.
"And what's wrong with that?" He nearly shouted, causing the dog to bark once at him. Ranma's response to the dog was to hiss angrily, shocking the canine. Realizing what he just did, he clapped his hands over his mouth. 'Did I just hiss－ like a－ cat?'
Mr. Wayne's eyes narrowed at him. "Come inside." He ordered, turning to walk back into the home. The dog cocked his head to the side briefly before following his master.
"Okay." He shut the door behind him and removed his shoes.
"Put your shoes back on, I need to analyze your genetic sample that I took last night." Wayne ordered. "can't do that up here."
"Kay." Following the elderly man down into the cave from last night. Having more free time, he could appreciate just how huge the cave was. It was also like a museum, with glass cases displaying various costumes and gadgets. Wayne wasted no time in sitting down at the large chair in front of the big computer screen.
"Don't touch anything." Wayne warned, rapidly typing on the keyboard, and bringing up information on him. Ranma came closer and stood behind the man, watching detailed information on him fly by.
"How do you know all this about me?" He asked, knowing that some of it would not have been possible to just look up.
"I have my ways."
"And why would you even want to spy on me?" Ranma couldn't see the reason why the man behind Batman, or Batman himself would be interested in him. Other than last night, he hadn't been involved in anything that the crime fighter was a part of.
Wayne didn't say anything but spun his chair around, and plucked a hair from Ranma's head. "Hey! What was that for?" He took a step back.
"I needed another genetic sample." The man responded casually, placing the hair on a small plastic dish that slid into a slot in the side of the computer. "I also need a blood sample to see if there is any trace of the splicing formula still active in your system."
"Bossy old man." Ranma mumbled outwardly, while internally he was happy that he was being helped in some way. Glancing down at the big dog looking at him curiously, he knelt down, and motioned for the animal to approach him. He had always liked dogs, in fact he even liked Ryoga's dog Shirokuro more than Ryoga himself.
"So what's this guy's name?" He asked, rubbing the dog behind the ears.
"Ace." Mr. Wayne answered without looking away from the computer screen as information rapidly scrolled by. Scratching at Ace's neck, Ranma caused his collar to jingle lightly. It was almost enough to drown out the soft footsteps approaching him from behind.
"I should be jealous." A gruff male voice said from behind him. Having heard the footsteps he didn't react at all. "I can't even say hello before he's on my case."
"I guess you're Batman?" Ranma asked while turning around. The male figure standing behind him wasn't much taller than himself. He was wearing a skintight black suit with a red bat logo on the chest. His eyes were covered by white lenses, and the only thing exposed as that his mouth had an opening in the mask. There was nothing that could be used to identify Batman, and Ranma had to admire the planning that had to go into an operation like this.
"Batman, I have things handled here." Mr. Wayne spun his chair around. "Cuvier's trail is going to get cold, I'd start by checking for any property he might have purchased through an alias or known associate."
"Good idea." Batman responded, heading off for a sleek black car parked a short distance out in the cave.
Ranma's vision blurred for a moment, remembering how she was thrown roughly into the metal cage, the door clanging shut behind her. Terror gripped her as her body rapidly and unstoppably continued it's transformation into a snow leopard. Unable to even raise her altered body from the floor, Batman became her savior, taking her from the cage to the black vehicle. Even though she had been saved from the fate of being hunted, Ranma quickly could remember no more.
Coming back to the real world, Ranma found that his breath was coming out in rapid gasps, and his entire body was shaking. Unable to stop, he sat with his back against the large table he had woken up on last night, staring forward a focus.
X x x x x x
Bruce loaded up the information that Terry had retrieved from Cuvier's computers. He hadn't had time to run through , and there was a good possibility that the serum used on his current house guest was simply not on file. The formula used by Cuvier in his every day business was designed for easy reversal. Which negated that formula instantly, because his antidote was compatible with that formula.
Running through more data, he came across a very disturbing entry. One that Cuvier had been very excited about. Immediately he hit the intercom to the Batsuit. "Batman, have you made any progress."
"Of course not, I've only been gone fifteen minutes." Terry answered after a moment.
"There's something you need to know."
"What is it?"
"Cuvier was trying to develop an airborne formula."
"I don't like the sound of that."
"You shouldn't, Cuvier doesn't just want to cause a 'splicing revolution' among the younger generation, he wants to force it on everyone." Scrolling through more of the entry he wanted to see if Cuvier had actually created such a weapon. "Luckily it seems to lose it's effectiveness within half a meter, so he doesn't have a way to currently deliver it any easier than the liquid form."
"Got it, no close contact."
"Don't be so casual, if he is able to hit you with this formula, it's permanent."
"Permanent?" Ranma suddenly spoke up behind him. The boy having been perfectly quiet up until now. "What do you mean permanent?" He was at his side in a flash, clearly panicking.
"Did he use an airborne variant on you?"
"No." The panicked boy answered.
"Then I wasn't talking about you." Bruce watched the teen sigh with relief, but he kept his mouth shut on his suspicions based off the lingering effects. Cuvier had made an attempt at assassinating the district attorney. Whether or not his flunkies had been ordered to announce their intentions or not, Cuvier was moving towards forcing splicing on the populace, and he couldn't have them curing themselves.
X x x x x x
Terry hopped out of the Batmobile on a rooftop nearby the police station where the three goons that Cuvier had sent to kill D.A. Young were being held. All three of them had been reverted to normal humans. Using his communicator, he dialed Barbara Gordon's number.
"Commissioner Gordon." The older woman answered within two rings.
"It's me." He said in his gruff Batman voice.
"What do you want?"
"I need to get in and talk to the three I brought in last night."
"Not happening kid."
"I wasn't really asking, I need to find out if they know anything about where Cuvier might be."
"And you think we can't? Listen, if I find you breaking in here, I am going to pull the plug on you, got it?" Barbara snapped.
"So as long as I don't get caught, got it." He clicked off the communicator before she could protest. Extending the flight wings on his back, he jumped off the roof to head to the police building.
X x x x x x
Tigress sat on her bed with her back against the wall of her cell. Glancing down at her hands for the thousandth time, she couldn't believe that her claws had been taken from her. Batman had taken so much from her with a single action, he had taken everything that made her, he had crippled her in ways he couldn't understand. Weak and frail, she was just a human now.
Dr. Cuvier would help her, when he finally achieved his dreams, there would be a special place at his side for her, his most trusted follower. This paltry sacrifice would be rewarded. Her internal musings were cut when the door to her cell clicked softly, and slid open to reveal nothing. Waiting several seconds, she wondered if she would be brought into some other room for questioning.
Sniffing, her woefully inadequate nose caught a familiar scent, and the air shimmered until Batman appeared out of nothing. "YOU!" She shouted, jumping off her bed to try and tear him apart with her hands. He was quicker though, ensnaring her arms, then legs in a bola line. Toppling to the ground, she made inarticulate snarling noises, struggling to free herself.
"Don't be so noisy, you'll alert the guards." Batman taunted her. "Where did Cuvier go to hide?"
"Like I'd tell you anything." She snarled.
"Cuvier left you to take the fall for him, why protect him?"
"Liar! Dr. Cuvier didn't leave me, I sacrificed myself for the sake of his dream."
"A dream that you can never be a part of."
"What do you mean?"
"That antidote I injected you with－ 's stuff isn't going to work on you ever again."
"No－ no you're lying!"
"Cuvier isn't going to come back, he isn't going to help you. What reason do you have to protect him?"
"He will, he will come for me!" She proclaimed, assured that she was right. Batman didn't answer, he just backed out the door, and vanished from view again. The door clicking shut once again. "He will." She said softly to herself.
X x x x x x
Ranma continued to frown, watching Bruce move through a never ending stream of data on his computer screen. Nearly all of the terminology being used was beyond him, so he watched for a few keywords. Yawning, it was a chore to keep his eyes open, when all he really wanted to do was to get more sleep. 'A long nap sounds so nice right now.' He mentally purred, stretching his arms high up over his head.
"Wayne." Batman's voice appeared from a speaker. "I'm sending you info on where Cuvier should be hiding."
"Who talked?" Wayne asked, hitting several keys that shifted the data on Cuvier's operation to fill half the screen, while the other half showed a map of Gotham, that zoomed into an area on the western end of town with a small red dot indicating the building.
"Goat boy, seems he wasn't as committed to the cause the other two. Not sure how reliable the info is, but it's a start. Anything new on the homefront?"
"No." Wayne answered.
"I'll contact you when I get there, Gordon locked off the cell block so it may be a while before I can slip out of here."
Ranma smiled, slipping away from the computer towards a sportbike he had seen. He had memorized the location that Cuvier was supposed to be at, and he wasn't going to let anyone else get a shot at the man before he did. Placing the helmet on his head, he straddled the seat, and tried to find a good position. (1)
'Okay, clutch, gas, brakes, I guess this is to shift. Alright, I can do this.' only a very vague idea on what it took to ride a motorbike, this was going to be a new experience. Finding the ignition, he pushed the button, and the bike clicked repeatedly but did not start. "Uh－ oh right the clutch." Squeezing the handle to the grip, he hit the button again, and the bike roared to life before quickly quieting down into a soft idle. Ranma blinked at the display that popped up on the visor in front of his face, showing speed, rpms, and fuel.
"What are you doing?" Wayne's voice was level by carried just how angry he was. The elderly man had risen from his computer chair, and was now hobbling towards him.
Accidentally releasing the clutch to raise the visor on the helmet, the bike rocked forward as the engine cut out. "Sorry, but I'm going to be the first one to beat Cuvier in the ground."
"Get off that RIGHT now." Bruce increased his speed.
"Sorry old man." Ranma popped the visor down and turned the bike back on. Releasing the clutch and giving it gas, the bike stuttered forward before he released the clutch all the way, and added enough gas. Twisting the grip too far, the tires spun out on the slick floor, and the bike swung sideways. Aiming the front wheel towards the steps, the tires finally found grip, and he rocketed up into the mansion, and through the grandfather clock at the top.
Hitting the brake, he took a second to brush off debris before heading for the front door at a far slower pace. Hopping off the bike, he kept one hand on the clutch to open up the door, before heading off into the yard. Slowing down as he arrived at the gate, he was at a loss on how to open the iron structure. Then again, he didn't really have to.
Letting the bike engine die down, he found good hand holds, and jumped over the gate with a minor amount of difficulty. Grunting when he landed, he set the bike down, and took off down the road, focusing on the fuzzy mental map he had of Gotham's streets, and how he could get to Cuvier's location.
X x x x x x
Ranma was just starting to enjoy himself upon the motorbike when the engine sputtered, chugged, and then cut out. Since he was still in gear, the bike slowed with violent force, and he was nearly thrown off. Swerving wildly, a truck almost clipped him before he could get over to the side of the road.
"Ugh, this stupid thing." Ranma threw off his helmet and kicked at the plastic side panel.
Sighing, he was only about halfway to his destination. Wayne's place was on the North end of the city, and he had been taking a diagonal route that would minimize the amount of roads he needed to take. Sitting down on the barrier stopping people from driving over the side, he watched the vehicles fly and roll by.
Glancing back over the edge, and down to the lowest level of the city. He traced various roadways as they lead in the direction he needed to go, he realized that if he tried that, it wouldn't take long to get lost. A single whine of a police siren accompanied by a bright flash of lights alerted him to a flying patrol car as it came to rest on the side of the road in front of the bike.
"Troubles?" A male officer asked, stepping from the vehicle, and approaching him.
"Out of fuel." He shrugged.
"Kids." The officer shook his head, and opened up the trunk of his patrol car to pull out a cylinder fifteen centimeters long and five in diameter. "Always going out without a spare fuel cell. How bout a trade."
"Thanks." Ranma replied sincerely, letting the officer pull the spent one from the bike, and inserting the full one into its slot on the right side.
"So where you headed?"
"No place." He dodged the question. "Just－ out for a ride. Ya know, since it's such a nice day."
"It is isn't it? Well, there you go." The officer put the spent cell into his trunk. "Have a nice day."
"Thanks again." Ranma smirked and put the helmet back on before taking a seat on the bike. Letting the cop pull out and take off, he finally started the bike up, and started his journey again.
X x x x x x
"I found him." Terry alerted Wayne over the intercom. Following after Ranma in the Batmobile, since it was daylight out he needed to use the cloak. Yawning, he rubbed at his eyes, wishing he could have waited till after some sleep before having to deal with all of this. "Looks like a cop is following him now. Must have ran the plate."
"That complicates matters, you should get to Cuvier's location and check it out before your friend get there."
"Already on it." Increasing his speed, he sped off in a more direct shot to the address he had been able to drag out of Cuvier's goon. Slowing to a halt two buildings away from the target one, he gave a disgusted groan. "You got to be kidding me."
"What is it?" Wayne asked.
"It's an abandoned taxidermy business."
"No one ever said criminals were smart."
"Ugh, from now on I'm just going to look for the most cliched hide out spots imaginable, cause this is ridiculous." Hitting the eject button, the floor dropped out from him, and he landed lightly on the rooftop below. Catching the dart gun that dropped a half second later, he checked to make sure that it was loaded before attaching it to his belt. "Time to go to work."
X x x x x x
Hopping down from the skylight and on to a second story walkway that wrapped around a large room, Terry scanned it from left to right, before deciding the Cuvier wasn't waiting to jump out at him. Standing up straighter, he glanced at some of the dusty figures that were still contained in the building. Dropping down to the lower show room floor, he heard the sound of movement from down a set of stairs.
Walking down them as softly as he could, he came to a landing that opened up into another two story room, with the steps spiraling to the right to continue down to the floor. Moving slowly, he kept the dart gun raised, ready if Cuvier had some more goons ready to pounce.
This level was setup with rows of animal parts and even large species still being put into a pose. Stopping at the end of a shelf, he glanced out an area that had been converted into a lab like Cuvier had in his building. Power was on to the systems, and three lights above were illuminating the area.
"He's definitely been here." He spoke to Wayne.
"I still am." A deep voice said from behind him just before he was struck by something on his lower back. Flying forward, he dropped the dart gun, and clutched at his side. "I knew you would be along eventually, those worthless fools that were under me, why did I ever bother with them?"
Gritting his teeth, he looked back towards the shelf to see a giant figure slide out from the dark. At least ten feet high, Cuvier had been transformed into an amalgam of species. Legs had been replaced by a snake tail three times the length of his upper body, which itself had become heavily muscular with wide shoulders. Thick dark claws ended each finger, and large white teeth were reflected in the altered head with a beak like nose, and two backward facing ears on the top of his head. His skin had changed to scales, a darker brown along his back and head, with white running along his chest and down the snake tail.
"Now you face a true chimera." Cuvier smiled cruelly.
"I don't really care what you are." Diving for the dart gun, he nearly had it in his hands before one of Cuvier's hands slammed down to smash him into the floor. Before Terry could attempt to move, Cuvier's tail smashed the dart gun. 'Oh crap.' Feeling sharp talons dig into his body, he was listed off the ground, and swung to face Cuvier's monstrous face.
"Your little toy wouldn't have done you any good. But I'm going to enjoy making you pay for ruining my plans." Cuvier drew back his other hand and punched him in the face. Still held by the other hand, Cuvier hit him several more times. Stunned, he pulled out a batarang, and threw it to hit Cuvier in the eye. Roaring, Cuvier dropped him, now on the ground, Terry tried to put some distance between him and the spliced Cuvier. He didn't get far before Cuvier's tail tripped him up, and then wrapped him up in powerful coils.
"Stupid Bat!" Cuvier spat, tightening his hold, and squeezing the air from Terry's lungs. "No, I won't kill you like this. There are so many things I want to do to you." The tail tightened again, and Terry gasped for breath, trying unsuccessfully to free himself. "Nighty night, Batman."
X x x x x x
Pulling to a stop, Ranma glanced at the building, trying to decide if Cuvier really would be so cliché as to hide in a taxidermy studio. Cutting the engine, he took off the helmet, and dismounted the bike. The front door and most of the windows were boarded up, and considering the area, had not been opened for many years. 'Oh well, can't hurt to take a look.'
Kicking in the door, the wood splintered, and the door itself fell off its rusted hinges. "Oops." He winced as the door slid across the tiled floor before stopping.
Once again there was a whine of a siren, and a bright flash of red lights, as a familiar patrol car pulled to a stop next to the motorbike. The officer from earlier stepped out, along with a second officer. "That's far enough."
"Uh, hi." He greeted, glancing between the pair.
"Alright kid, lay down on the ground, and put your hands behind your head."
"What for?" Ranma made no move to comply with the order, intrigued over why he had been followed.
"Motor vehicle theft for a start, now lay down on the ground, and put your hands on the back of your head."
"I'm just borrowing it." He protested.
"You borrowed it a year ago."
"Eh? Oh man." He groaned. 'Batman must have grabbed that bike from some thug.' Settling his eyes on the closet officer, he debated on his course of action.
"I said, get down on the ground." The officer who had helped him earlier tried to force him. Thirty seconds later, Ranma had knocked out both officers, and shoved them into the back of their patrol card and locked the door.
"Sorry bout this." He said through the door while brushing some imaginary dirt from his clothing. "Man, the police in this town aren't very good at their job." Normally he wouldn't have done something like that. But being arrested would have raised complicated questions, questions that he did not want to answer.
X x x x x x
A small electric shock awoke Terry just as his hands were secured in shackles. Looking at the restraints, he was spread eagle within a circle, each foot and hand was firmly secured. It shouldn't be anything for him to break out of this, but Cuvier was slithering himself over to a console nearby. Still dizzy from the lack of oxygen, he just watched.
"It's too bad you won't be around for the revolution Batman. Well－ not as you are now anyways."
"You think anyone wants to live in your freakshow world Cuvier?
"And why won't he be around?" A new voice asked from above him. Looking up Terry found Ranma crouched on top of the rack holding him in place.
"Who are you?" Cuvier demanded.
"I'm someone you tried to kill the other day." Ranma hopped off the rack to land lightly in front of Terry.
"Did I now?" Cuvier leaned in closer to examine the boy. "You smell familiar."
"Yes I was that girl you tried to turn into a snow leopard, magical curse, don't ask." Ranma waved his hand flippantly and Cuvier laughed.
"I see the resemblance now." The chimera sneered.
"You're also going to be seeing my fist if you don't fix me back to normal."
"I suppose you would have something to do with this, playing with my creations." Cuvier looked up briefly to Terry.
"Don't bother with him." Ranma snapped his fingers in front of Cuvier's face. "Whatever you did, he couldn't fix. So if you do, I'll consider lessening the beating I'm going to give you."
"What's to fix? Since I never intended to let you go back, I used a permanent serum on you." Cuvier laughed again. "You really should have taken me up on my offer. Now you'll just be like that the rest of your life, some kind of half thing."
"Who are you calling a thing?" Ranma shouted, jumping up in order to reach Cuvier's face, and punching him with enough force to topple the chimera. Terry's mouth dropped open, he had seen the metal door, but to actually witness inhuman strength in person was different.
"You stupid lizard!" Ranma grabbed Cuvier's tail and with a mighty heave, swung the chimera towards Terry.
'This is gonna hurt.' Terry grimaced at the large form that was hurtling towards him.
X x x x x x
Ranma winced, having forgotten that Batman was still there in his fit of rage. Watching Cuvier knock over the rack the vigilante had been tied up in, the monster's form smashing through one shelf, before settling in the remains of a second. He didn't stop himself from emitting a deep growl and stalking forward over the downed form of Batman.
"Get up you overgrown iguana, I'm not done hurting you yet." Ranma cracked his knuckles. Closing his eyes for a moment, he nearly missed the movement of Cuvier's tail as the monster tried to bring it down on top of him in a lightning quick movement. Dodging to the right, he had to jump vertically to avoid being cleaved in two by Cuvier's claws.
Passing over Cuvier's head in an inverted position, he grabbed the chimera's head, and used it as leverage to kick the former human in the spine. With a shrill cry of pain, Cuvier spun and attempted another claw swipe. Twisting in midair, the attack missed him by a hair.
Back on the ground, he back flipped over a sweep by Cuvier's tail. Bracing himself, he caught Cuvier's clawed hand as he brought it down vertically on his head. Grunting in pain, he kept a firm hold, and slowly pushed it to the side enough to look at Cuvier's face. "That all you got you freak of nature?"
"Not at all!" Cuvier answered, hitting Ranma with his free hand.
The brick wall that he hit never stood a chance, and Ranma tumbled several meters before coming to a stop. Shaking his head to clear away the cobwebs, he felt a large hand grab on to his right leg below the knee. Lifted up off the ground, he dangled upside down briefly before he was thrown forcibly against the concrete floor, his head painfully bouncing off the hard material. Dazed, he barely felt himself get lifted up once again.
"You're still alive?" Cuvier sounded amused at this. "I'll just have to try harder." With a powerful swing of his arm, Cuvier sent Ranma flying back through the brick wall, and into the supper side of a shelf near the top. The wood of the side held, but the rest collapsed away from the impact. Sliding down the inclined plank, his feet hit the bottom, and he unsteadily got to his feet, rapidly recovering from his blow to the head.
Cuvier moved through the destroyed wall, and with a powerful push of his tail jumped at him to stab him with his claws. Dropping to a knee, Ranma rolled to the side in order to avoid the attack. Back on his feet, he stepped forward, and planted a side kick in Cuvier's ribs with his full strength. Ranma felt the ribs give way, even though he couldn't hear the bones break due to Cuvier's roar of pain.
Not stopping, Ranma ran up to Cuvier's front. Evading a weak swipe of the chimera's claws, he jumped up to knee Cuvier in his face. The monstrous man crumpled backwards, his tail lashing angrily as he roared in pain. Landing on Cuvier's chest, he was about to get off but was caught by the flailing monster's clawed hand. It didn't cut him, but it threw him off balance enough for Cuvier to grab on to his neck with his other arm, before the snake tail curled around his lower half.
"Insolent brat!" Cuvier snarled. "I'll pull you apart!"
Struggling to pull the hand from around his throat, Ranma caught movement from the corner of his eye, and Batman landed next to Cuvier's head briefly before stabbing him with three vials that quickly injected the orange liquid contained into him. With a snarl Ranma finally ripped Cuvier's fingers from his throat, and in a instinctive action bit down on the tail holding his waist.
He was released from the constrictive tail, and tumbled to the floor in a heap. "He's butting into me getting to beat on Cuvier!" Ranma snarled, lips curling back to expose his teeth. Jumping to land on Cuvier's head, he knocked Batman away when he tried to inject more of that liquid into the monster. "This is my fight!"
Cuvier made a pained squeal, his body jerking, and convulsing. "I didn't forget about you." Dropping from the man's head, he punched Cuvier in the face before landing on the ground. The chimera staggered back, but not from Ranma's blow.
Cuvier's right arm bulged and contorted, growing until it was long enough to touch the ground. The fingers on his hand twisted and turned at unnatural angles before the bones burst from the hand and turned into a giant claw.
"Ew, I think I'm going to be sick." Ranma held his hands over his mouth and turned to the side.
From Cuvier's waist two legs sprouted, each with a thick bone claw at the end, altering the chimera's stance with the tail acting as a third leg. Next his face melted, lower jaw jutting out in an extreme overbite. "What－ did you do－ to me?" Cuvier's voice came out like he was speaking through fluid, and he tipped forward to throw up a thick green fluid. Ranma took several steps back, feeling like he was going to throw up himself.
Falling into the bile he had spat up, Cuvier continued to shake, and convulse violently. With a final gurgling cry, the large form breathed out, the skin, and flesh underneath melting away. Seeing the soup that was Cuvier spread out to his position, Ranma quickly ran a safe distance away.
"You killed him." He said to Batman, who was crouched on a shelf.
"Didn't really think it would do that."
"You could have at least waited!" Ranma growled.
"Wha－ what?" Batman backed away slightly.
"I wasn't done hurting him yet."
"Stopping him was more important."
"Gah!" Ranma threw up his arms, and turned to leave the building.
"Do you really believe what Cuvier said about you?" Batman asked.
"What do I care? That old guy you work with couldn't do nothing, change of hair color, and occasionally I might act a bit like a cat." Blowing up his bangs, he continued walking. "Better than being a cat."
He saw the flashing lights before he had reached the top of the steps. Peeking out around the corner, he saw several police officers slowly entering the building with their weapons drawn. 'Uh oh.' Quickly analyzing his options of escape without getting shot at now. He leapt up a second story walkway. Wincing in pain, he rubbed at the back of his head. With his adrenaline gone, being thrown into the floor had hurt him more than he would admit.
Waiting till the officers were inside enough, he dropped down into the doorway to walk out, only to be met by another set of officers. He was locked into a momentary staring match with them before they started to draw their weapons.
"Freeze!" They ordered closely together.
"I'd rather not." Taking off at a sprint to his right, he heard the police following on foot rather than shooting at him.
Rounding a corner, he came face to face with the front of an assault patrol car. It was hovering two meters off the ground, the two guns spaced off to the side on the nose swiveled to point at him. The rest of the one man vehicle was shaped like a pill capsule, the propulsion coming from wings placed on the far back.
"Halt." A voice came over a loudspeaker.
"Like I told your buddies." Ranma jumped and was on top of the nose of the vehicle before the driver could react. "I'd rather not!" Running over the cockpit to the back, he did a short hop and kicked one of the wings. The wing broke away, and the patrol car instantly tipped towards that side. Dropping down, Ranma resumed running, pausing only briefly to watch the car careen into the building before the driver could cut the power.
"I think I better get lost for a while." He said to himself, happy that the cops didn't actually know who he was.
X x x x x x
Terry winced, watching Ranma wreck the police vehicle. He was interested in finding out just how Ranma got so strong and durable, but he didn't want to get into a fight with the other teen. Having dropped off a thumb drive with a simple and slightly edited retelling of how Cuvier became a pile of bones and goo, he got into the Batmobile, and sped off back towards Wayne manor.
"I'm sure you heard." He opened up communication with Wayne.
"Saw as well." Wayne answered. "Your friend has to be a meta-human."
"And that is?"
"It's an old term for humans with super powers."
"Any clue on how?"
"Not at this time."
"That's helpful, well I'm going to come back to the cave and get some sleep."
"You should be going after Ranma."
"He can take care of himself, or the police can handle him. Me－ I need sleep. And I can't really fault him for anything he's done as being illegal. We've done worse."
"Get some rest." Bruce conceded his point and cut communication.
"Home Batmobile, home." He leaned back in the seat, looking forward to getting back in bed.
X x x x x x
"This is too lost." Ranma glanced around, trying to get his bearings. He knew the general direction he needed to go, but after destroying the cop car, they had come out in force to find him, pushing him deeper into the old part of the city. There was something in the air, decay he suspected. Few if any of the buildings looked stable enough not to fall in on themselves. Catching sight of a patrol car flying overhead, he ducked into a two story building that looked like it had been a store decades ago.
Glancing out the grime coated window that went along the front of the building, he watched the car go by. Sighing he glanced around the dark interior, the only thing contained within were some empty clothing racks. Closing his eyes, Ranma shook his head. Whatever was in the air was making him feel dizzy, and being in an enclosed space made it worse.
He was just stepping outside when another patrol car found him. Squaring off against the flying vehicle, he watched a large gun slide out from the right side. There was a bang, and a net spread out as it spread towards him. Rolling to the side, he was nearly caught by a heavy weight on one of the four corners. 'Don't these guys ever give up?' Taking off at a sprint, he passed through an alley, and found another patrol car trying to cut him off.
Avoiding another net, he ran along a barrier keeping this section off from one that was lower, and even older. Breathing heavily, waited till he was out of sight, and jumped over the ledge. He dropped ten meters before hitting a metal roof with a steep slant. Unable to keep his footing, he fell on to his back before sliding off. Rolling uncontrollably while he fell, he was able to twist himself just in time to land stomach first on the raised ledge of a roof.
"Ah man." He wheezed, trying to drag himself over the ledge, only to have it collapse underneath him. Crying out, he hit an overhang that broke apart, and fell uncontrollably to crash through the roof, and then the floor of a building below. Grimacing, he picked himself up into a sitting position, and looked upward just in time to catch a wooden support beam to the face.
"This is just not my day." He groaned, shoving the beam off of him. Raising himself unsteadily to his feet, he staggered over to the wall to collapse against it. Feeling at his ribs, it didn't feel like he had broken anyone of them, but it was becoming hard to breath. Wiping some sweat from his forehead, he squinted his eyes to look around the room.
Several tables were setup on the far side with beakers, test tubes, and other lab equipment covered in a thick layer of dust. Rubbing at his eyes, he wondered if he was hallucinating the giant round seed pod positioned near the center of the room, on a round pedestal. Stagger over, he touched it with his fingers before dragging them down the side to create tracks in the dust covering it. Satisfied that he had seen what he saw, he tried to walk away, only to feel a wave of dizziness and nausea work through him. Falling backwards, he fell against the pod, knocking it from the pedestal to roll and settle on the depression he had made in the floor.
Dropping on to his side, he held his eyes shut tight to try and make the world stop spinning. Curling up into a fetal position, it felt like he was burning up.
X x x x x x
Poison Ivy, formerly Pamela Isley, felt the world come alive around her. With a soft pop, sunlight began to stream down on her face. Not bothering to open her eyes, she stood up and stretched towards the life giving rays of sunshine. rose from the giant seed pod she had been held within. Her pale skin with a greenish hue glistened with the moisture that had coated her within the pod. Clothed in a green leotard formed from a fine weave of plants, she breathed in deeply, and finally opened her eyes to see that her lab had been destroyed by neglect.
'How is this possible?' She asked herself. This looked like decades without her hand to provide upkeep. Removing herself from the remains of the pod, she put her feet on the floor, and wobbled unsteadily. Her muscles were weak, as if she had not used them in many years. Nearly stepping on a body, she bumped it with a toe, eliciting a moan from what she could now see was a teenage boy. He was on his back, his face covered in sweat, and he looked to be in pain. (2)
"And what are you doing here?" She asked, bending down to wipe some of his strange white hair from his forehead. As far as she knew this lab was situated upon an area that would had been the site of a toxic waste spill, and would be toxic to most life for several hundred years. Ever since her time at Paradise Meadows or Toxic Acres, a suburb that was stupidly built over a toxic waste dump, she had been using places others could not go for her most delicate of experiments.
It would take nothing to simply let him die from the poisonous chemicals in the atmosphere, but she was in a merciful mood, and he may have some answers to how her lab could have gotten into such a state of disrepair. She had a sneaking suspicion that she was missing vital information somehow, and if he couldn't provide then there would be no harm in her helping him at least get away from this place.
Rummaging quickly through the storage containers and sealed areas of the lab, everything was still in its spot, though nearly all of it had been damaged by time. Gathering just enough of the needed materials to create her toxin antidote, she injected the boy with it. Within two minutes his breathing became regular, and he seemed to fall into a deep sleep. Pleased with her work, she was however surprised when the teen's body suddenly went through abrupt and strange changes.
His face melted into a feline cast, the skin around his eyes gaining a dark outline, and his ears becoming pointed at the tops. He shifted himself side to side before rolling to his stomach, allowing her to watch a tubular object grow down the back of his pants until a furred tail poked out from his right pant leg, and continued growing until it was nearly a foot past his feet.
"My, my, you do have more to you than just being another nature raping human." She said to herself, seeing that the nails on his hands had become white and curved to point forwards to a tip half an inch from the end of the finger. 'My anti-toxin couldn't have caused this kind of reaction on its own.' She thought to herself, wondering what could do this.
X x x x x x
Groaning, Ranma blinked his eyes to focus in on the world around him. He was right where he remembered being, though he no longer felt dizzy or nauseous. Attempting to sit up, he stopped midway through the motion when he realized that there was something in his pants that was being crushed and twisted into ways it wasn't supposed to be.
Feeling this thing that didn't like being crushed with his left hand, he gulped when he found that it was covered in thick fur, and attached to the end of his spine. 'No, no, no, no.' He repeated in his head, horrified as he roughly pulled the tail till it was out of his pant leg, and now free to move behind him. 'But the antidote was supposed to keep me looking human!'
"Oh good, you're up." A pleasant feminine voice with a drawl to her voice commented. Forgetting that he had been returned to a visibly spliced status, he was up, and with his back to the wall in an instant. "Easy kid, if it weren't for me you'd be dead right now. Call me, Poison Ivy."
Realizing that he was being silly, Ranma forcibly relaxed himself. The woman in her early twenties that had spoken had pale skin with a green tint. She was slightly taller than his own girl form, and with a similar voluptuous build. Her bright red hair clashed with her pale skin, while her pale green eyes complimented it. Clad in just a strange green leotard without any shoulders, she was showing off a large amount of cleavage as she leaned against a door frame with her arms crossed beneath her breasts.
"You－ did something to me?" He asked.
"Yes but it wasn't anything that would make you like that. This place is situated on a spot where toxic waste had contaminated the land. You were dying from breathing in the fumes, and I gave you an immunity to such things."
"I－ immunity?"
"Immunity to anesthesia, poison, disease, etc, it's like a super booster shot."
"When does it wear off?" He asked nervously, assuming that this weird ladies claim of a life saving serum was what removed Wayne's splicing antidote.
"Sorry, it's rather permanent."
"No." He stared at his claws. "That－ that was the only thing keeping me human." Could it also make him go full snow leopard again? He didn't want to lose himself and die! Panicking, his eyes shot around the room to notice another doorway, before darting between the two doors, unable to make a decision on which he should dart through. He didn't know why, he just had to get away, he had to find some safe place, somewhere to hide!
"You should calm down." The woman's voice cut through his sudden hysteria. Slowly she sauntered towards him, and he could smell something different in the air. Sniffing more seriously, his nose locked on to the strange and intriguing scent. "You're alive that's what really matters, isn't it?"
"Kind of." He agreed, noticing that the woman was even more attractive now that she was close to him. Behind him, his tail slowly swished side to side of its own accord.
"But I didn't just help you because I'm a good Samaritan. I was wondering if you'd answer some questions."
"Sure." He agreed, happy to help his savior.
"First of all, what year is it?"
"It's 2053." Ranma answered, a bit confused on why that would be her first question, shouldn't she want to know his name?
"Much more time has passed than I thought." The woman idly put a finger to her lips. "Have humans continued to destroy and rape the Earth?" She asked after a moment.
"What?" He asked, confused over her question, and feeling lightheaded. Whatever was in the air was really strong, and it was causing him to have some rather impure thoughts about the leotard wearing woman. Being unused to, and uncomfortable with such thoughts, his face developed a furious blush. "Um, do you think we could maybe get to know each other better?" He asked shyly, thinking that she was being very forward.
This seemed to make her happy because she smiled. "Aren't you just a big sweetie." Her face quickly returned to a more neutral expression. "It seems my pheromones are having a different effect on you. I'm going to stop them now, don't fly off the handle now."
"Okay." He replied absently, not really hearing what she was saying, too busy staring at any part of her that he found interesting at that particular moment.
X x x x x x
Freezing underneath an overhang, Ranma realized that she had not been able to control herself. There was the possibility that she had even slipped into the neko-ken for a time, but it was so hard to remember. She was also female now because it had begun to rain sometime during her vacation from reality. Huddled in a corner with her large tail wrapped around her bare arms, she shivered uncontrollably.
Glancing around from her shelter, she found that she was on the lowest level of Gotham, the cold was due to the buildings and their effect of shading the lower levels from the sun. Not that there was a sun out at the moment, only dark clouds, and rain that had slowed to a drizzle.
'Cuvier is dead, that lady gave me some super cure, and now－ now I'm stuck like this.' She thought sourly. Two days, that's all it took for her life to be ruined far worse than Jusenkyo, all because she had wanted some easy money.
Her priority now was to get some place warm in case the rain started up again, she headed off to find a way back to the upper levels. While moving through the forest of giant buildings, she reasoned that she was overreacting. There was a cure for this somehow. She wasn't doomed to spend the rest of her life being part cat, or at least visually part cat. She just couldn't be.
She would go back to the Tan's, from there she would have to just deal with it until a cure could be found. Wayne should be able to help, though she would have to answer to destroying that clock, and probably marking up his carpets. It wasn't like she hadn't dealt with something like this before. Glancing down at her bust, she really didn't know if she should cry or laugh. First magic and now science twisting her body into shapes it was never intended to be.
'Maybe I could go to Jusenkyo.' She wondered, knowing that it most assuredly would be able to change her body. That had popped into her mind before, but it was always tempered by the lack of information from the Guide who worked there. He hadn't presented any way for a cure even though they had asked. So she had simply ignored that possibility for the most part. Since she may technically no longer be human, maybe it might work as a cure now though. But now that she was literally on the other side of the world, Jusenkyo was out of reach.
Moving through the undercity, she quickly realized just how lost she was, and became increasingly frustrated. It was almost at the point where she was going to lapse into some kind of fit, when she finally heard voices. Immediately she calmed down immensely, and increasing her pace, tracing the source to an abandoned service elevator in the side of a particularly large building. The people talking were a group of thirty Jokers, having setup a shanty town around the elevator. Ranma ducked back behind the wall she had just came around, her eyes quickly scanned and analyzed the threat level they may pose, and found them wanting.
The real question was whether or not that elevator worked. Judging by how the gang had setup their base near it, it was a very good possibility. None of them seemed above the average street punk, which meant they wouldn't be able to touch her. Straightening up, she fixed her clothes to no longer be plastered to her skin from water, and walked out into the open.
"Hi." She greeted, hoping for a diplomatic approach, her sudden appearance startled the group, but they recovered quickly.
"Well well well, look what we got here." A very tall and muscular guy separated other gang members as he came towards her.
"I'm not looking for trouble, I just want the way back up." She explained, the large Joker circling her. Several more Jokers surrounded her, causing her breath to quicken, her mind focusing not on how she could deal with them, but on how she was trapped.
"Check it out, she's all spliced up"
"We got a stray kitty on our hands."
"How about you come hang out with us, we'll show you a good time." The big one suggested. "We got good food, drugs, whatever you want."
"No, I just really want to go back up." She stuttered, having trouble keeping herself calm.
"Hmm, I like that tail." A skinny Joker attempted to grab her tail. Unable to control herself, she hissed angrily, and used her claws to tear the skin on his hands to ribbons. The boy paused for a moment, shocked over the sudden attack, before he screamed.
The other Jokers watched their comrade scramble away from her quickly, their silence finally being broken by the group breaking out into laughter at his plight. Looking around wildly, Ranma waited for the next one to try and attack her.
"Just- just let me use your elevator." She told them, having no clue if something might cause her to kill one of them. This wasn't like the first time she had been spliced, new instincts she didn't know how to handle were throwing her completely out of control.
"Nuh uh, you just hurt one of our buddies, you're going to have to pay us back somehow." The big one risked shaking a finger in her face. It was an action he would regret, because she grabbed his wrist, and nearly crushed it with her grip. Before the man could scream she pulled him down to be face to face.
"Let me go up, or you're all going to end up like your buddy over there." She growled, curling back to expose her slight fangs.
"Okay! Okay!" The Joker pleaded, squirming in pain.
"I'm glad we could come to an understanding." She informed him crossly and released him.
X x x x x x
It took over two hours for Ranma to get back to the Tan's, and by the time she did it was just past ten o'clock. Wherever she went, people kept staring, or it felt like they were, which made her incredibly nervous. Slowly opening the front door, Ranma entered the house, and closed the door silently behind her. Pulling off her ruined shoes, she grimaced at the five tears on each, created by the claws on her toes she had first been reverted to a spliced state.
Dana seemed to be the only one home, lights in the living room were on, and so was the one in her room. Ranma must not have been as silent as she thought because Dana called out, wondering who was home.
"It's just me." She answered rather weakly, not interested in being examined at the moment. She just wanted a really nice hot bath, get something in her stomach, and then to curl up in a nice warm blanket.
"Where have you been all day?" Dana asked as she came out of her room to lean over the railing. "You took off like Terry－ always－ does." The girl trailed off when she finally saw the changes that had been forced upon her.
"I've been out." She answered, heading for the bath. Behind her she heard Dana rush down the steps to follow. Shutting the door behind her quickly, she yowled in pain as she caught her long tail in it.
"You－ you're spliced!" Dana finally exclaimed, following her into the bath area.
"I hadn't noticed." She replied venomously. "Do you mind?" Ranma asked and crossed her arms, wincing when her tail decided to lash to the side in anger, leading to it slamming into based of the sink.
"But－."
"Leave me alone!" Forcibly shoving Dana out of the bath, she locked the door. Dragging her claws along the wood of the door, she sighed and went to turn on the water. Listening the water crashing into the bottom, she was uncomfortable by the load roar this caused. Stripping out of her still damp clothing, she didn't clean herself before sliding into the water.
Back in his birth gender, he simply lounged in the steaming water, letting his core body temperature get back to normal. He felt so content in the warm water, that he found himself emitting a strange rumbling whenever he would breathe in and out. It seemed to come from deep in his chest and throat at the same time. When he realized that was purring, he quickly found a way to stop it.
Exiting the tub, he realized that there was a problem he could not ignore. That being the waterlogged and very heavy tail that was dripping water everywhere. Doing his best to wring it out, as well as using a towel, he only minimized the problem.
"Hey Dana?" He opened up the door enough to see that she was sitting on the couch. "Could I borrow your hair dryer?" He asked slowly.
"Sure." She answered after a moments of hesitation before running up to her room. When she returned to hand off the blow dryer, her eyes never left his face. Snatching the item from her hands, he shut the door again. Firing up the dryer, and snagging a comb from the drawer, he began the task of drying off the tail now firmly attached to him. Thankfully the fur didn't seem apt to become matted, or else the nightmare he was currently in would become far worse.
Finally remembering that he hadn't grabbed clean clothes, he borrowed Mr. Tan's bathrobe just to get past Dana. Heading up to his room, he could feel her eyes track him every step of the way, almost feeling her intense curiosity. Again he made the mistake of shutting his tail in the doorway. Quickly moving past his clumsy action, he got dressed in a set of orange pajamas.
Since he wasn't going to let this get him down, he grabbed a blanket, and went back downstairs. Dana had the television on, but she was focused completely on him. Wrapping the blanket around his shoulders to cover all but his feet, he dropped into place as far from her on the couch as possible.
"I saw on the net that Dr. Cuvier's place had been shut down this morning." Dana finally decided to talk to him, after staring at him for a full five minutes. "But why did you get spliced again?"
"I didn't." Shifting his blanket, the tip of his tail flicked like a rattlesnakes; obviously this answer didn't match up with reality for Dana.
"Your tail says differently." She pointed out.
"Yea well I didn't!" He snapped irritably. "I didn't want this, I didn't want it at all."
"Sorry, just looks that way to me. But if it's not, why don't you explain it?"
"Cuvier permanently spliced me the first time, Batman cured me so that I looked human, then some weird lady shot me up with something that supposedly cured me of that, so now I'm back to this." He answered quickly, wishing he had never even heard of splicing.
"I feel like I'm missing out on some info."
"Tomorrow I'll try and find a way to get back to the way I was." He said with determination.
"You do realize that tomorrow is a school day right?"
"I did not." He replied slowly. "I'll just have to call in sick."
"My dad isn't going to like that; well he's not going to like any of this. Whatever it was that you were doing that got you spliced again."
"He'll just have to deal." He gave his thoughts on that. Getting back to at least looking human was far more important than a single day of school.
"Won't you get in trouble with the exchange program if you don't have an excuse? And I know my dad isn't going to lie and say you're sick."
"Slag!" He cursed, figuring that she was right about that.
Dana didn't respond to that, but he could feel her eyes occasionally falling on his tail. "Does it still feel normal?" She asked after a minute.
"Yes." He said irritably, crossing his arms underneath the blanket. Hence why he had twice now shut his tail in the door, he kept forgetting that it was there.
"Would you－ I mean, could I?"
"What?" He asked.
"Well－ can I feel it?" She glanced down at his tail.
"Fine." With a negligent flick, he sent the tail so that it lay across the couch.
"It's so fluffy." Dana commented, running her fingers through the thick fur.
"Great, now I'm fluffy." He groaned, pulling his tail back to wrap around the front of his legs.
"You know that if you show up tomorrow at school like this, Chelsea is going to think you're after her?"
"Slag again!" He fidgeted for a moment, remembering those green cat eyes. Chelsea totally would see this as some sort of pass at her, and he would never, ever, hear the end of it.
"I have to say you seem to be taking this fairly well. It sounds like you had a big adventure, and you might stuck like that. I know I wouldn't be even coming out of my room."
"Cause I might not be able to go back." He gulped, feeling the sudden weight of his situation. "What else can I do?"
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything." Dana quickly apologized.
Excusing himself, he headed up to go to bed in order to think about the next day. Should he go to school? Or should he just deal with the trouble of skipping in order to try and get Wayne to cure him back to looking human again?
X x x x x x
The choice was made for him in the morning. Mr. Tan was something more than hostile towards him being spliced. The man had never been happy with the idea of him actually doing it for a day, now it appeared that he had went back to being spliced on purpose. Attempting to explain it had resulted in the man being angered that he was out being a quote, thug.
It was all that he could do to get out of the house without saying something that would cause some rather major problems. Dana's father and his opinions didn't matter, there were far more important things to concern himself with that what some old guy thought. He would abide by the man's rules only because to end up back in Japan would show that he had failed, and the amount of whining and complaining Genma would do, would likely kill him.
"Ranma, you're growling." Dana pointed out. "And you just hit me with your tail."
"Oh." He stopped thinking about adults and how annoying they were to realize that several people on the train he was traveling on were looking at him were clearly nervous glances. There were even several who were suggesting that he was unstable. "I'm not unstable you twips, come over here and say that!" He pointed at the two middle aged women who had said that.
"Calm down." Dana put a hand on his arm. His outburst seemed to confirm the suspicions of several passengers.
"If you don't like how I look you old bag why are you looking at me?" He snapped at another comment.
Ranma was thankful when the train finally reached their stop, no wonder why spliced people were supposed to get aggressive. How could you not be if you had people acting like you were some kind of dangerous animal to your face? Or worse yet, like you didn't even know they were saying it.
"What's gotten into you?" Dana pulled him to the side.
"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with them? Why don't they learn to keep their mouths shut?"
"Listen to yourself! You're acting like everyone is out to get you."
"Maybe they are." He mused.
"You're not funny." Dana snorted. "Quit being an idiot and let's get to class." Rolling her eyes, she headed off in the direction of the school.
'I'm not an idiot.' He narrowed his eyes, following after her. His new appearance instantly raised a commotion but not like what Chelsea caused, for some reason he was actually being insulted by a couple students who said he was just following Chelsea.
Digging into his locker to pull out his first period books, he honestly wasn't surprised to find that Chelsea was leaning against the locker to his left. She still had those green cat eyes, and a matching grin plastered across her face.
"You're not trying to one up me are you?" She asked suggestively. "Though the tail does give you a certain cuddly charm."
"I'm not in the mood." He responded negligently.
"Maybe I could put you in the mood, we could get together after school, see a movie, or maybe something more private. My dad's off on a business trip, I have the house all to myself."
"No." He said flatly, shutting his locker, and turning to head for his first class.
"What's your hurry? Class doesn't start for another five minutes. Come on, let's make plans." Chelsea continued to pester him, even stopping directly in front of him.
"Are you mental? I said no, leave me alone." Moving around the girl, he found his path once again blocked.
"You're enjoying this aren't you?" She laughed to herself. "Me, the most popular girl in school, begging, pleading for your attention." Getting in close, she got right up into his face. "I admit I like the chase, but maybe we could make it more enjoyable for the both of us?" She finished in a very sultry tone.
Being this close, Ranma could smell the small amount of perfume that she was wearing, her own personal scent, and something else that he really couldn't place. "I have plans." He admitted, taking another sniff of her, that strange smell was kind of like that weird lady, but far weaker.
"For the whole night?"
"No, shouldn't take that long." Another shot from Wayne should fix him up, an hour at most, and then he would be free to do as he wanted. Though there was that unfortunate incident with the motorbike, but Wayne was beyond rich, it shouldn't cost him anything to fix that old clock.
"How about you come over my place about seven? It's over on Brookridge, second house on the right."
"Sounds good." He agreed.
"I'll see you then, if I don't see you some more during the day." Being close to the same height, she didn't have to stand up very high to kiss him lightly on the cheek. "Later." Having seemed to accomplish her mission, Chelsea trotted off in the opposite direction of his first class for her own.
X x x x x x
"Hey Dana, is it just me or is there something off about Ranma?" Terry asked his girlfriend, watching Ranma chat with Chelsea as they ate lunch by themselves across the lunchroom. "Ya know, aside from the spliced thing."
The first bit of weirdness was that Ranma was spliced again. This was rather contrary to everything he knew from yesterday. He also thought that it would be rude to just come out and ask why Ranma was spliced. As far as civilian Terry knew, Ranma had been in a photoshoot that required 'her' to be spliced, and simply had not changed back.
There was also the obvious problem of who did it? Cuvier was gone, and his business was shut down. Bruce had the ability to create the formula but wouldn't. This would require investigation later.
The second was that Ranma was actually eating lunch with Chelsea. It was no secret that Chelsea had set her sights on Ranma, and the end result was likely going to be disaster. But Ranma had vehemently opposed even going on a single date with her. Now they had plans to get together tonight, at her house.
'Did Ranma just sniff at Chelsea?' He wondered before deciding that yes he had seen it. While subtle, with his training he hadn't missed the small action. 'His nose must be more sensitive now, and he's already so close to finding out about me being Batman, I'll have to keep my distance or else he might connect us.'
"Kind of." Dana answered. "He was so down on himself last night, then this morning on the train he was about ready to attack anything that moved, and now he's seems happy. Honestly I prefer happy over violent."
"Yea that's good and all, but what's up with the splicing?" He decided that asking Dana this question wouldn't be risking anything.
"He wasn't spliced yesterday morning, he took off for the day, and when he came back he was spliced. I couldn't really get a good answer out of him for why. But he said it might be permanent."
"That sucks." He commented absently, confused over how this might have happened, and how he would find out this needed information.
X x x x x x
It was actually fairly easy for Ranma to finish out the day. While he had been adverse to the idea before, he was actually excited to have a date. He couldn't even remember the last time that had happened. Well that wasn't true, there were two or three times that he went out with someone as a girl for one reason or another. But never for actual physical attraction.
'Wait, is Chelsea attractive?' He pursed his lips. 'Yea she's attractive.' He decided, wondering why he had turned her down so much?
After all, all he had to do was go to Mr. Wayne, get him to fix him again, and then he could get to know Chelsea. That brought up a problem, what was he supposed to wear? He didn't really have any clothing that would be called nice. That's what he would do, he'd go buy something that would really show off how superior he was without being gaudy.
When school ended, he dropped off his books, and ignored the world as he strutted off to find some new clothes. Of course he had to decide if he wanted something that matched his hair and fur, or should he plan not to have fur? Maybe he could find something that did both? Surely he could find something that went with white, gray, and black.
At a clothing store, it took him nearly an hour to decide on what he wanted to buy. Everything he looked at was either too preppy, too radical, or didn't look right with his features. Finally he decided on a pair of navy blue jeans and a white t-shirt. It was simple, matched his coloring, and made him look dignified yet casual. It really showed off just how great he was not to require some kind of flashy clothing to pull off such a look.
Paying for the clothing, he nearly got on the train to go to the Wayne estate, but stopped himself, letting it depart. Why should he bother? He felt great, a little put off by some of the looks he was getting, but he was used to being seen as a freak by some people. What was a little extra on top of that? Tapping a claw to his chin, he didn't even think Wayne could do it. It wasn't like the man had been able to help before past saving him from being an actual snow leopard.
With a negligent shrug, he headed off to find some food before dropping off his old clothing. Then he would go find Chelsea's house. Besides, if he did want to get Wayne to try later, it wasn't like the old guy was going to go anywhere. (4)
X x x x x x
Brushing a stray lock of hair from her face, Chelsea hummed to herself, and fluttering her eyes at herself in the mirror of her vanity. The cat eyes would have to go sometime soon, all that stuff with splicing being made illegal would make her a real bad girl, but she liked to live on the line of new fads, and splicing was going to be out soon. Dabbing a small amount of perfume behind her ears, and a small spot between her breasts, she started to get dressed in a green low cut halter top, and white capri pants.
Now all she had to do was wait till Ranma showed up. She already considered possible plans. There was a movie they could go to, or just order something into the home, maybe get some food delivered. She really should have made better plans. If he was punctual, and he better be, he should be arriving soon.
Turning on the net, she rolled her eyes when an announcement preempted the show she had wanted to watch. "The state legislature met today and in an overwhelming majority voted to make splicing illegal. This new law will go into effect in two months and anyone spliced after this time will face possible jail time. Those who are already spliced will need to report to their local hospital in order to receive the antidote. Research into the technology for medical usage will also be restricted."
"Well that's just－." She crossed her arms. Even though she had already been planning to have it fixed, that old people would go so far as to make it illegal irked her. This just cemented in her mind even more that the older generation simply didn't understand or care about her own.
Hearing the doorbell chime, she checked herself one last time in the mirror before heading down the steps to the front door. Looking through a window on the side of the door, she smiled, and opened the door. "You're early." She told him, giving him an appreciative look.
"Mr. Tan was on my case, didn't really feel like listening."
"He can be a real stick in the mud, come on in. Do you want anything to drink?"
X x x x x x
Author Notes
1 – The red bike from the first episode Terry stole from the Jokers.
2 – Ivy is programmed not to think about how she came to be.
3 – After the art shift, it's later revealed in a comic that the Ivy seen on the show was a plant clone Ivy had created to keep Harley company.
4 - If you haven't figured out, Ranma's a few cards short of a full deck. Not firing on all cylinders. Mad as a hatter. Lost his marbles. Yadda yadda. But he will even out to just being really unstable.