Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma or terminator. In addition if you aren't allowed to watch 'R' rated movies you probably ought to avoid this story…

Baba Yaga's Curse: Friction with the machine

Chapter 5

Ranma and Hotaru had spent the vast quantity of the day visiting farms, each one as boring, dry and dusty as the last. The time spent on each farm had tended to quite some time as neither of them had any facility with Spanish and most of the labor force did not speak English and none of them spoke Japanese. In a few places they got lucky and found someone who spoke Chinese, but it all amounted to the same thing: No sign of Sarah Conner or her son John.

Ranma decided to call it a day and the two headed back to their newly rented apartment. When they arrived they sat down in their couch hardly wanting to move. "Ya know Hotaru, this should be easier. Shouldn't it?"

Hotaru looked at him and said, "Unfortunately we do not have an expansive network of human resistance fighters who can give us updated information or who can follow our orders to capture what we need."

Ranma smiled and said, "After being in this world's future I would have never thought I might be inclined to prefer it over anything else. Still don't really, but having an information network was useful wasn't it."

Ranma dragged himself off the couch and said, "Well, I'm getting a drink. Do you want one?"

"Yes, please Ranma-san."

Ranma walked out and then came back in a few moments later with two large glasses of ice filled water. He handed one to Hotaru and sat down again. "We should probably see how Beryl is doing shouldn't we?"

Hotaru nodded and pulled out her silver communicator. Beryl's face shown on the device and the grayish pink haired woman said, "Hello?"

"Hello Beryl, we are wondering how everything is going on your end?"

Beryl pointed the communicator with one hand and the road could be seen whizzing by. "I'm on my way to Las Angeles right now. Got the item from Wolf, but had to ditch some people from one of those United States ABC agencies."

Hotaru nodded and said, "Are you being followed now?"

"Not that I can tell."

Ranma said, "Why not ditch the bike and Teleport?"

"No way! I love this bike. I'm not getting rid of it that easily Ranma."

Ranma smiled and suddenly an idea about teleporting came to him. "Alright when can we expect you?"

"I think perhaps a couple of hours."

"Right well you know the address, jut teleport in when you get here. I'll leave a key on the table."

"Oh where are you going Ranma?"

Ranma smiled and said, "I just had an idea. I'll tell you later, if it works."

Beryl nodded and said, "Alright Ranma, Hotaru I'll see you later."

Hotaru and Ranma said their own goodbyes and hung up. The black haired girl looked at Ranma and said, "What is your idea Ranma-san?"

Ranma looked at her and said, "I think we can use our powers to try and locate Sarah and John. We'll fly on up into the air and concentrate on the picture of Sarah trying to teleport to her. I'm thinking that we might just be able to pull it off."

A short period of time later Sailor Sol and Saturn were flying high in the sky. Sol held a picture up and said, "Alright concentrate on her, not the surroundings, but just her."

The two concentrated and Sol saw it in her mind. It was Sarah Conner as clear as day and she was running from something. Without hesitation Sol made the teleport and arrived. She was just in time to have her plasma shields hit by a familiar burst of energy. It was almost refreshing and even energizing. Sol turned towards the blast and saw a female with blonde hair and blue eyes come running towards her. Its arm was gone and in its place was some type of gun.

The gun discharged and Sol took the shot again, this time noting that it was indeed firing some type of plasma at her. She stared at it and then said, "You're kidding right?"

The machine woman stopped and seemed to be making a decision. Sol took the matter out of its hands and sent her own superheated stream of plasma at the thing. The plasma hit and the creatures form seemed to melt away into that of a boiling silver metallic creature. It screamed almost in agony, but then, still boiling it started to run.

Sol chased after it sparing a single glance to see that Sarah had not been around for the showdown. The brown haired woman was already running towards a drainage ditch. She concentrated on the task at hand, but when she turned a corner the creature was gone. She stared at the area and could see only farm implements and nothing else. She sighed and continued to search grumbling to herself, "There has to be something around here."

Her danger sense kicked in and she dodged into a small barn. Moments after that a voice shouted, "Silence Wall!" and she heard thousands of bullets impact against the impenetrable shield Saturn had just created. She carefully stepped out of the barn to see a simple bale of hay firing at her companion. She tossed a bolt of plasma at it, but this time the energy seemed to be absorbed by the creature. The hay bale suddenly sprouted another weapon and bullets came flying at her as well.

She flew into the air and avoided the assault, then flicked her wrist and sent a wave of powerful gravity at the creature. It stopped firing and she dove towards it. Saturn dropped her own shield and entered the fray as well. An amaguriken powered Glaive sliced into the creature from one side, while powerful fists impacted with the other. Streams of liquid metal flew from the machine in copious quantities leaving a metal endoskeleton.

Sol said, "Find Sarah and keep her safe, I'll deal with the rest of this thing." Saturn obeyed and flew off to find Sarah Conner while Sol stood there and took a single moment to stare at the strange endoskeleton. It was filled with devices and machines that she had seen used against her forces in the future. Devices designed very specifically to kill humans.

The machine looked at her and started to raise a new weapon. Sol blasted it and said, "What are your orders?"

Liquid metal started to flow back onto the machine and it said, "Kill Sarah Conner, Kill John Conner and any other members of the future resistance."

More metal was starting to flow from all around forming a new female body on the creature. Small leathery wings formed on its back and twin red horns on its head. Sol wanted to attack, but something was making her rethink that decision. Suddenly a fiery desire traveled through Sol as the machine said, "Come closer to me."

Sol walked forward trying to stop herself, but failing. She was mere centimeters from the machine and it smiled an evil smile and said, "Yes, come closer and accept my kiss. The bliss will be eternal."

Time seemed to be in slow motion as her lips came closer and closer to the machine. Her heart hammered and part of her mind was practically screaming at her to stop. Only one thing made her stop one single thing. It was a memory of dying woman she had never really met. Whispered words that reminded her of everything Sol was and everything Ranma Taya now wanted to be, "Solis Custodes Omnis."

"Nova Flare!" Sol shouted at the top of her lungs and a swath of destructive power ran from her blowing the liquid metal off the machine and then severing its endoskeleton at the hip. The barn she had dusked inside went up like a roman candle and a large area of the farm was instantly turned to cinders.

She barely even noticed the destruction around her as she stared down in disgust at the machine she had almost kissed. A thin voice came from the machine it was almost human in tonality as it said, "Please have mercy!"

Sol's eyes glowed with an inner fury as she looked down on it and said simply, "No."

The blade descended and then suddenly a pentagram appeared under the machine and it was gone.

Sol cursed and then looked around and noted the destruction. She sighed sadly, and went off to look for Sailor Saturn. After some minutes of searching the farm she decided to make her life easier and flipped open her silver communicator. Saturn answered it and said, "What happened? I saw it from here and I'm miles away."

Sol gritted her teeth and said, "Some new development. I don't think it has anything to do with technology. I'll brief you and Earth about it when we get back to the apartment."

Hotaru nodded and Sol continued saying, "What's the status of John and Sarah?"

"I believe that they are now en route to Mexico. I will try to keep up and see where they go if you like."

"No, head on back to the apartment. We need to figure out these new details first."

NSA Director Tonsberry was examining a folder on his desk when a knock sounded on his door. He said, "Come." And a young man with brown hair and green eyes entered.

Tonsberry glanced at him and said, "You're the new agent in charge of information from Sat 5. What is it?"

"Sir, I have a priority one request from Agent Carson. He wants me to dump the last hour of information from satellite five, Latitude 33, Longitude 118, to his secured modem sir."

Tonsberry examined the man's nametag nodded and said, "Let's go see this information first shall we?"

Terin said, "Yes sir," and walked out of the office. Tonsberry followed behind him and the two walked into the satellite data reception room. Inside were a few techs seated at terminals, some fixing programming code and other examining specific areas under orders? Terin found an empty seat and started typing in commands. Tonsberry took a position behind Terin and watched as the image zoomed to California and then to the designated sector. There in front of them was the entire City of Las Angeles and some of the surrounding area as well.

Tonsberry picked up a phone next to Terin's station and dialed a number. A few moments after that he said, "Agent Carson, this is Tonsberry. What do you think you will see in the information we are sending you?"

Tonsberry nodded and then said, "Yes, I see you think these reports of an explosion at a nearby farm might have something to do with your quarry?"

The voice spoke some more and Tonsberry said, "I'll run it right now." He motioned to Terin and the young man ran the previous hour. The two watched the image with scrutiny.

Terin shouted, "There!"

"Where? I didn't see anything at all."

Terin looked sheepish and ran it through again this time at a slower speed. The image clicked through 10 seconds at a glance and then there was a brief flare not far from eastern Las Angeles. A small fire burned for a while after that and then was suddenly gone. "Run that through again and this time use the thermal image."

Terin obeyed and ran it through again. Most of the area was bathe in oranges and reds due to the high heat of the day, but the area of the flash went a sudden pure white and then stayed a deep red as the fire burned down. Tonsberry said, "Agent Carson, I'm going to have Mister Terin send you some of the data we've just seen here. I want you to bring it to Edwards Airforce Base. I'll inform the General that you will be arriving."

The voice spoke some more and Tonsberry said, "Not yet, I just want the General to have this information. Please give it to him and explain all the details of the threat we are dealing with."

Tonsberry then said, "That will be all Agent Carson," and hung up the phone. He stared at the display for a moment and said, "Someday Mister Terin, someday we will be able to see a person's face with these satellites and if necessary remove them as well." Terin almost shuddered at that almost glee filled statement and kept his eyes on the monitor while his superior walked away.

In a small warehouse Gusoin stared at the body of a young Asian woman with dyed red hair was pinned to a wall by metallic spikes. She stared at him with pain filled eyes as he stepped onto a young man's shin. The bone gave a satisfying crackle pop as it broke and the man screamed in agony. "Please I beg of you. Let me go!"

Gusoin pulled the black haired Asian man up off the floor and stared into his blue eyes saying, "I tell you what little man. You kill that girl and I will allow you to live."

The man looked at the girl on the spikes and she stared back at him with pain filled eyes. In a raspy voice she said, "Please, don't."

Gusoin laughed and handed the Asian man a knife. "Go on mortal do it. End her pitiful life and gain your freedom."

Knife in hand the man walked towards the woman. He came close so very close to her and raised the knife. The steel touched her throat and then the man dropped the knife and said, "I…I can't." Tears of pain mixed with joy streamed down the woman's eyes and Gusoin laughed an evil laugh.

The metallic Minotaur grabbed the knife from the man and held him in the air by the neck. He then pulled the spikes out of the woman. She dropped to the floor and he dropped the knife at her feet saying, "I give you the same offer girl. Kill him and you will live."

The woman picked up the knife at her feet and Gusoin lowered the man in his grasp towards her. Once again a metallic blade rose and headed towards flesh, but this time the blade changed its trajectory instead of saying anything the woman changed the blades trajectory and tried to slam it into Gusoin's thick neck.

The blade snapped on contact and the demon god laughed as if he had been tickled. "Oh by all of my brethren! Mortal woman you are a spitfire aren't you? Just for that I will allow you both to live."

The woman started to run, but she was grabbed by a powerful fist and hauled into the air by her neck. Black stars swam through her vision and she lost consciousness. The man saw all of this and then Gusoin's grip tightened on his neck as well and he was gone.

After an inestimable amount of time they woke up. The man/woman scrambled to move, but his/her left/right side would not obey him/her. It was scrambling in a different direction and he/she could see something strange out of the corner of his eye.

Gusoin appeared out of no where holding a large mirror. The man/woman stared at it and they saw the horror that had been done to them. They stared at the mirror their naked body showing every detail of the horror that they had become. The man's head was on his left shoulder and he stared down at his left side, it was bonded to the woman's right side without any visible surgery. He looked at the naked breast on that side and felt himself stiffen. The woman looked down at that and shut her eyes in horror.

Gusoin felt their twin horror as it pulsed within them. It was like tasting a sweet candy treat and he eagerly lapped it up. He approached them very closely and said, "Now my little Amnar, now you will be able to lead my demonic armies to Ranma Taya and his minions."

The new creature looked at him and its female head said, "Kill me, I will not help in your evil plans. Not after this, never after this." A soft hand pointed towards her naked body and tightened into a fist.

Gusoin approached closely and pulled out a simple robe. He put it over Amnar's shoulders and cinched it closed. Amnar felt fear and terror, but could not figure out how to move correctly and then the large metallic minotaur whispered in a sweet soothing voice next to both of the heads saying, "Oh you will help me, because if you do I will give you your natural bodies back."

A vision appeared in front of them showing their bodies separate and natural. The combined creature felt a need greater than any either of its separate selves had ever felt. Gusoin then made the image go away and said, "Of course if you don't help me there's always…"

A new image appeared. It had horned demons torturing their combined body in harsh ways, using it for their perverted desires and then depositing it naked on live television in front of millions of people. Spectators nearby screamed and ran, some even threw up in disgust."

The image faded and the sweet voice said, "No more denials hmm. What do you say will you work for me or no?"

It had been too much to handle already, the two heads started to cry, but they both said, "Yes, I will work for you."

Gusoin smiled his evil smile one more time and said, "Good, good, now let us go to the scrying circle."

Gusoin walked towards a small circle of blood. In its center was a single large ruby gem in the shape of a human heart. He was about to lead Amnar to sit in front of it when a pentagram suddenly appeared on the floor of the warehouse. It flashed once and a smoking, battered, ruin of a metallic body was deposited in the room. Moments after that a wash of silver metal spilled all over the body in a stream and the pentagram disappeared. The demon god screamed, "What has happened here!"

The metal stream formed itself over the battered hulk and stood up. A female figure slowly formed and it said, "I was seconds away from killing Sarah Conner when I was attacked by Sailor Sol and Sailor Saturn. I almost destroyed Sol with my magical gaze, but she resisted and almost destroyed this physical body."

Gusoin stepped towards the female and put a huge hand into her chest. He yanked with all of his might and pulled the hunk of solid metal from her. He dropped it to the floor and studied it for a few moments, then his hands picked it up and he started to rip it apart. Weapons came out and he catalogued the damage out loud. "Plasma reactor destroyed, plasma gun destroyed, .223 Automatic STOPper, destroyed, 783 CHAIN Repeater destroyed, HDE Predator destroyed, HK-54334 destroyed, Tracking EBlaster destroyed, TWIN Barrier Gun destroyed, XFLRG - 44 mm destroyed, M41 Pulse Rifle destroyed, 45 mm Cascader functional, ADMOR BioBlaster functional, BioRail 32SR-9 functional, CG45 Needler functional, Crescent Corridor Blaster functional, Diamond tipped cutting blade useless, EMP Generator functional, Finite Rapid Cluster Gun functional, Laser X-Ray Burst Gun functional, Nano-Disrupter (.222 mm) useless trash, Nanotechnological Transjectors," He stopped and considered the item, then put it aside saying, "Hmm interesting I'll save these for later."

Gusoin finished his cataloguing by pulling out the last two items and saying, "P31 Caustic Shells x231 destroyed, SUBauro Neutralizer (.444) functional," He dropped what was left of the metallic body to the ground and turned towards Lorycia, "You have twenty four hours to rebuild that hulk over there and return to your mission is that understood?"

The female demon nodded and pulled the wreckage towards a small workshop in a corner of the building. Gusoin turned back towards the being it called Amnar. "You come here and touch this crystal."

Amnar slowly figured out how to walk and stood in front of the crystal. The ruby facsimile of a human heart was levitating over a bowl of blood. Amnar started to put its hands on it and hesitated. A shock ran through its system and Gusoin said, "Now and never hesitate to act on my orders again is that understood."

The creature nodded its heads and touched the ruby heart. Pain coursed through it as the sides of the crystal pulsed and jabbed into its hands. Blood then ran from the strange creature and through the now throbbing crystal and an image slowly started to appear in the bowl of blood.

The red tinged scene showed Ranma walking into the Trinity Towers apartment complex. Next to him was Hotaru Tomoe and they both took an elevator. They exited an elevator and walked into one of the apartments. Gusoin noted the apartment number and said, "Enough!"

Amnar pulled its hands off the ruby heart and it stopped pulsing. Twin circles of blood in the center of Amnar's hands dripped a few times into the bowl and then closed up as if they had never existed. The creature looked towards Gusoin and said, "Am I/we done yet. May I/we be freed from this horror?"

Gusoin just laughed and said, "No, I may have need of you in the future. Find something to do here, something out of the way to occupy your time."

Two mouths voiced, "But what am/are I/we to do?"

Gusoin smiled and told the creature to have sex with itself. Then he laughed a hearty belly laugh and walked over to a phone. There he dialed a number when the line was picked up he told Jurgen to lead his squad to Ranma's location, wait for the boy to leave and then destroy him.

When Ranma and Hotaru walked into the apartment they found Beryl lounging around on the couch in a long T-shirt and nothing else. Ranma desperately avoided staring at her and said, "You want some dinner?"

"No, I ordered this item called a Pizza some a few minutes ago. Apparently it will be here in thirty minutes or less."

"Pizza right," Ranma sat on the far end of the couch and said, "We need to talk."

"Oh what about?"

Hotaru said, "I'll go change out of this sweaty outfit you fill her in while I'm gone."

The black haired girl walked off and Ranma filled Beryl in on the recent activities with Sarah Conner. Beryl heard the last part and said, "Magic? That's not something we've seen before. Especially not magic like that."

Hotaru walked back in the room also wearing only a T-shirt and said, "It's definitely not Silver Millennium as far as I can tell."

Beryl shook her head and said, "No this is something different. Something more sinister," She stared at Ranma for a moment and said, "Didn't that witch use magic on you to send you to us?"

Ranma nodded and said, "Yeah and to try and get the time gate."

Beryl pursed her lips and then the door buzzer rang. Ranma headed to it and punched a button, "Yeah who is it?"

"Pizza delivery."

Ranma hit the button and the delivery boy came up. When Ranma opened the door her made sure to keep his body between the boy and any sight of Beryl or Hotaru, I can't believe they'd just let anyone see them like…He stopped the train of thought and paid the boy, then closed the door and brought the two cardboard boxes into the apartment. He opened one and said, "Hey it's like a giant Okonomiyaki!"

The three grabbed slices of the pie and ate them. As they did so Beryl said, "As I was saying before the witch what was her name?"

"Baba Yaga I think."

"Yes, she used magic on Ranma in a scheme to get the time gate. We now have that very same artifact inside us. Is it possible that this strange magic has something to do with that?"

Hotaru stiffened as something washed over her a memory from the time gate itself. "I think it is more than that, something tells me that it is much more than that."

"What do ya think it is then?"

"I think Ranma-san that we need to concentrate on the power of the Time Gate that we posses. It may have the answers. Don't you think so as well Beryl?"

Ranma noticed one thing strange. Is it just me or did she just leave out the 'san' after Beryl's name. I wonder what that means? Ah, must just be an accident. "Alright let's try this then."

Beryl nodded and they all held hands and concentrated. Slowly, but surely an image formed in their mind. It was a blank white wasteland with two incongruous black holes in it. The holes were where the Time Gate had been and next to them stood the ancient crone named Baba Yaga. The woman cursed and spat saying, "You foolish bones! You damn foolish things! You have ruined everything! Wherever you are, whenever you are I spit on your names! I send you a curse in the names of all the dark gods. Let them hound your steps and try to destroy you, let them bring you to me kneeling and bloody. Then and only then will I personally end your miserable little existences by rending your souls into tiny little gibbets and casting them into oblivion!"

The image faded away and Ranma said, "You're right Hotaru, there is quite a bit more to the magic I saw today. Quite a bit…"

Beryl nodded and Hotaru said, "What will we do Ranma-san?"

Ranma looked at her and said, "What we did last time Hotaru, we win. I don't know how or when, but we will find out who or what is helping Skynet and defeat it. After that I guess we will have to find Baba Yaga herself and defeat her somehow."