Forcibly United
A Weekend With Eda: Chapter 7
oOo
Ranma grimaced as the trio made their way through the jungle's growth, the weight of the kevlar backpack causing straps to bite deeply into his shoulders. Even with the chi he was using to reinforce his strength, the damned bag was heavy. It didn't help that the thing continued to get caught on the undergrowth of the forest, necessitating frequent stops to untangle himself lest he start dragging half the plant life between him and the ocean along with him.
Behind him, Ryouga's muttered curses were an echo of his own. Yet underlying the bad mood, Ranma couldn't help but feel that they'd finally succeeded. They'd finally won. Not only would the curse that bound them together be cured, but they'd each have a bundle of cash on the side.
The only question would be what they'd do next, and it was on that thought that Ranma nearly stumbled in his walk through the jungle, trailing their blond leader. It was actually a damned good question. One he wouldn't have had to ask before he and Ryouga had wound up spending an extended stay in Roanapur.
What exactly would he do next?
He knew he'd go back to Aka- The Tendo's place, but did he necessarily have to go right away? He didn't consider himself a material person by any stretch of the imagination. He and Ryouga had both spent years on the road, making ends meet with odd jobs and the stoicism of the road. Neither of them needed the sort of money they were earning at the moment.
Yet Ranma couldn't help but think what he could do with his life with a bit more money. Another few months, and he could afford to buy a large enough store front in downtown Tokyo that the Saotome School of Anything Goes would easily reach national prominence within weeks. Or he could build a small dojo in the countryside, taking only the best students and not worrying a day for the rest of his life about earning money, but instead just focusing on the perfection of his art.
Was he really ready to leave Roanapur even if Ryouga would wander away, intending to or not, the day that the curse was lifted? Or would he remain a while longer in order to earn enough money that he'd never have to work again?
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Eda bit her thumb, staring across the small bay at the fishing boat which had conveyed them to the island. There was no sign that the men who'd been hunting them earlier had found it, nor was their any sign that the small rowboat they'd left on the beach had been tampered with in any way.
Yet they were military. A strict one at that, if she was any judge. They couldn't have possibly missed either of their boats. Paranoid to a fault, the blond had cautiously approached their beached rowboat, checking the underside for anything amiss. After inspecting every inch of the craft in the waning light, she finally motioned for the boys to join her.
They launched the craft into the ocean water, two stout lines trailing them as the Ryouga unraveled lines of braided steel while Ranma paddled them to the fishing boat. Once they arrived, the pair quickly drew in the gold-filled bags on the beach, each fashioned with a flotation device which would make the task easier. There was no way the rowboat could have handled their weight.
Eda frowned, glaring around the boat. Sunlight was waning, and even if she had the inclination to check every inch of the boat before setting off, doing so would raise the chances of being found by their foes greatly. Assuming they hadn't been discovered in the first place.
The CIA agent did a sweep of the control panel, her sharp eyes noting every screw tightening the metal plate to the boat proper and noting no signs of interference. A visual check underneath the panels with her pen light showed no obvious bugs crudely fashioned in place with magnets or glue.
The blond teenager, ignoring the boys dividing the loot into "her pile" and "their pile", moved to the engine room. Turning on the overhead light and using her flashlight to check the corners not illuminated, Eda performed a full evaluation of the engine itself and the room.
The engine showed no obvious signs of tampering, and nothing looked out of place. The blond girl even spent five minutes shoving her hands into questionable crevices in the engine room, feeling around for devices which had no reason to be on a used fishing boat.
Aside from gunk-covered fish bones, very likely from a time when the previous owner overestimated his cargo hold's size, Eda found nothing.
Had she been less professional, one could have called her check of the cargo room half-hearted. As it was, the young woman knew she was missing something, and even a thorough check revealed nothing. There were no large crates or anything to hide a device, and not a single plank showed a sign of tampering.
The boat was, in theory, clean.
Yet Eda was certain that she'd missed something. Fighting the disquiet in her instincts, the blond finally started up the engine and slowly moved the boat out of the bay, having extinguished all lights on the craft.
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Underneath the boat, a small radio transmitter in a plastic bag taped to the underside was turned on when the fishing line attached to the propeller was pulled as the boat's engine turned over.
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They were going to make it, Ryouga thought. He felt... giddy. No more Ranma bothering him every day of the week. He could finally be free! Sitting in the darkness while Eda steered the boat for the open ocean, Ryouga couldn't help but smile. He'd be free of the city of Roanapur.
He might miss a few people, he'd admit. But it wasn't like he wouldn't be wandering through the place sometime in the future anyway. He could always visit the people he liked.
His hopes were dashed as he heard a strange whistle, followed quickly by a splash thirty or forty feet out in the water. His curiosity about just what the hell it was was answered when a large, muted boom rocked the boat, shooting a large spray of water into the air.
"Shit, I knew I missed something!" Eda growled from the boat's wheel, her hand deftly shoving the throttle forward as she guided it away from the explosion. "Hold onto something guys, this might just get a little bit bumpy!"
Another shell hit the water, sending a plume of water into the air once more. This time, Ryouga whirled his head to find the source. Less than a kilometer away, a large ship with a lot of guns was bearing down on them. Even at that distance, the Lost Boy could see the ship's weapons quite clearly, illuminated by the vessel's running lights.
"We're never gonna get away from that thing," Ranma muttered, glancing to Eda, who briefly nodded in agreement. He slammed a fist into open palm. "Okay, I got a plan. You think you can keep the boat together for another ten minutes, blondie?"
"I can try!" Eda growled, swerving a bit and wincing as the spray from another shot from the other ship soaked her.
"Okay, P-chan. Into the rowboat. Let's go distract the guys on that ship from shooting at us," Ranma said, putting the small boat in the water and hopping in, followed shortly by his partner.
"I've told you before, don't call me P-chan!" Ryouga growled in reply, both boys digging oars into water as they propelled themselves across the distance to the approaching ship. Before too long, they were looking at the approaching bow of the ship and getting ready.
"On three, we jump! One, two... Three!" Ranma cried, and both boys leaped in the same instant. They landed on the ship's deck, surprising the guard there. He barely had time to blink in surprise before Ryouga's fist found his gut, throwing him away from the pair.
Their grins matched perfectly.
"Bet I can take out more of these chumps than you can, Ranma!" Ryouga challenged.
"It's on!" Ranma agreed smashing his fist into the decking.
The crew's only supernatural support was stranded in a bunker kilometers away from where the ship was. Even should said support have been there, it was no match for either boy, let alone the pair working together. The gun crew only had time to fire two more shots before they were put down, and the rest of the crew swiftly followed.
oOo
On the small fishing boat she'd rented, Eda breathed a sigh of relief. Barely five minutes ago, her two bodyguards had assaulted the ship. And after one last, painfully close shell had nearly capsized the boat, the attacks had ceased. Her boys had done exactly what she'd brought them to do – Inflict violence on her enemies.
She smiled, slowing the throttle to match the speed of the following boat. The boys would finish, come back, and then they'd escape back to Roanapur with far more money than they'd departed. A few days of easy work, and bam! They were rich!
Eda's smug feeling of superiority lasted precisely until the engine of the boat cut out. Feeling a dread deep in her gut, she grabbed her small flashlight and opened the hatch to the engine room. She dropped in, and the blond let out a low moan when her feet landed on the decking below after going through nearly two feet of water already.
The engine was flooded, and her boat was going to be sinking shortly thereafter. Given the fact she could hear the water pouring in, she knew it was a vain hope to try to plug the leak. She'd probably get killed trying: Trying to escape a dark room with limited breath and only a pen light would be suicide.
Eda decided then that she had to cut her losses. She climbed the ladder back to the deck of the boat. All she had to do was pile the gold in the rowboat, as much as it could hold, and recover the rest from the sinking fishing boat at a later date, providing that someone else didn't get to it first. She grabbed a bar and moved to do exactly that.
Then she realized that Ranma and Ryouga had taken the rowboat with them to attack the larger ship: All she had was a life jacket to keep her afloat. Grabbing said floatation device and abandoning ship with her gun, Eda inflated the device and swam away.
At least, she thought, the sunk boat would make finding the gold easy.
It was then that the larger craft which had been chasing them flashed by, smashing the fishing boat into little more than bits of flotsam. Eda was forced to swim as hard as she could just to avoid being sucked into the ship's wake.
Ignoring the sound of Ranma laughing over the sound of gunfire as the ship slowly plodded on, Eda couldn't help but stare at the place where her rented boat had been just a moment ago.
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Author's Notes:
Bwah? I'm writing again? I know, I know. It's a shock. Hopefully I'll get in the habit of doing this more often. Another chapter should finish this arc off and then I can do something about that whole dramatic mess I used this arc to avoid.
Originally, this arc was planned to end differently. I'll go into details about it next chapter, but I think things wound up for the better here.