Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction, I do not claim any rights to any of the characters or concepts created or owned by Viz Video or Rumiko Takahashi. This is just the work of one fan to the others. The only characters or concepts that I claim are the ones I created or introduced. That said, I bring you:
For Love and Money, the War of the Horse. A Y3 story.
Chapter 4: Death comes in the night, as silent and final as the grave.
Ranma observed the group as they rolled into the little village from his vantage point on the hill through the night vision scope of his rifle. They had rolled in just before dawn, and had spread out as they roused the village. It was clearly a show, even as they ransacked the village. What they were taking was valuables, but nothing that would actually limit the ability of the villagers to live and provide for themselves, and the paramilitary unit that had taken over the area.
He watched the tall, muscular woman as she lorded over the troops. She carried herself with a surety and superiority that obviously had been drilled into her since an early age. She carried a slung AK-47, with a 9mm as her sidearm. What he also noticed was the butterfly swords that rested on her other hip. He could see the dual hilts that marked them as true butterfly swords.
He had his suspicions about her, but the massive man at her side was the one that really had him raise his eyebrows. He looked Chinese, possibly Mongolian but he was built heavier than most men he had seen, especially of any oriental descent bar some sumo's he had known. He had a heavy brow, and a square jaw. Ranma could see heavy bracers on his forearms, and from how his uniform rode on him, he assumed some sort of body armor. He had some sort of machine gun slung across his back like it was an assault rifle.
The two of them, the tall woman and the massive man, stood out from the rest of the supposed bandits. And from watching them, it was clear who actually made the decisions. It wasn't the guy who was screaming something or other, nor was it the supposed leader who sat in the open seat of the middle jeep and tried to look intimidating. Whenever something happened, the men looked to those two first.
As much as he was tempted to see how a .50 caliber anti-sniper rifle fared against whatever armor they might be wearing, he knew that by following and observing them he would get that much closer to finding out what had happened. At least, as long as they kept moving in the direction of the village. He couldn't count on them not being observant of any other vehicles on the road, nor on the fact that they might not harass anyone they ran into to make things look good.
No, he would follow them as long as they were heading in the right direction. And if they did go to the village, well… That would answer some questions. And put them squarely in his sights for the first people to be taken out. He had had a bad feeling ever since he had heard of the woman, and seeing her made the feeling in his gut just worse. She reminded him of someone he had run into a few years ago, when he had first met Nabiki, and protected her from one of the Families.
She reminded him of Rai Zur, in how she handled herself, and how she commanded the men around him. Chinese amazons had a very distinct manner and bearing to them, he would know. He had been the Teahouses go-between in the early part of the relationship between the two communities, and still stepped in from time to time to help settle any ruffled feathers.
There was something familiar in some way about the big guy, as well. Maybe something he had heard in the area, or something that had been discussed around him before. He wasn't sure, but he hoped to figure it out at some point. Honestly, the guy reminded him of an ox or bull, with how he was built. Ranma was certain that he could take him in a hand to hand fight, either of them, but the big guy would probably take a beating like Ryoga could.
Ranma made sure to keep himself calm, and observe them carefully. He couldn't let this get personal, not until he knew what had happened. What needed to be taken care of.
Who he needed to kill.
When the woman looked about, Ranma took a slow, deep breath and removed his finger from the trigger. There would be time enough, if it came to that.
And it was better to handle things personally. Face to face. So that they knew why it had to happen.
And to make sure the job was done, and done right.
Ranma observed them for a bit longer before he stalked back to his truck and prepared to move to the next village in the chain that would take him to Jusenkyo.
He waited until he was sure that the last truck had rolled out down the road, then followed them at a distance, out of sight but able to see the dust of their convoy as it rolled down the rough roads of the backwater section of China. Besides the Guide and a few others, Beijing didn't maintain a presence here as long as the various factions and communities kept their craziness to themselves. It had always been the odd thing to him. There were people and things out here that defied logic and explanation, that did not fit with their happy little vision of universal conformity. All he could figure was that it had to be some arrangement from the various leaders and Beijing, possibly a left over from the Dynasties that at one time ruled this section of the world.
Ranma had only ever really dealt with the Chinese Amazons, but he knew from them that there were other factions at play in the area, empires and dynasties that were left overs from ancient times, or strange groups that had formed over the years. Exiles, outcasts and forgotten bits of history.
That was what this back country of China was.
Ranma pulled off the road as they neared the next settlement, and once again made his way to a good vantage point to watch the group, and learn more about them. He needed as much information as possible so that he could deal with them when the time came. He wished he would have stayed with his daughter and the rest of his family, but he had to see if he could help the village. That had been why he had rushed to China as fast as he could, in case he would be able to help with the aftermath of whatever had happened. The group that had started to run roughshod over the area told me a lot more about the situation than he wanted to know. Whatever had happened in the village, odds were that it was over. He just had to hope that the Elder and Xian Pu had managed to get out with as many as possible.
He settled in behind his scope and watched them shake down the village once again. THey roughed them up a bit more, and he figured that it might have to do with the relative nearness of the village. The deeper you went, the more the residents tended to know of what happened here. It wasn't quite close enough to be people that had direct contact with the odder elements, but close enough to have some knowledge of them.
Ranma figured that things might get worse the closer they got, and if it got too bad he wasn't sure that he could just sit impassively anymore.
And it wasn't like he planned on letting any of them go if they had hurt any of the people that were important to him. He would make a statement, one that would not be soon forgotten. He would teach a lesson written in blood and bone, if needed.
He had done it before.
As he continued to , it became obvious that they were being much rougher with the villagers than the last. It made a sick kind of sense, the more terrified they were, the less likely they were to look in places that they would prefer they didn't.
When the main convoy made its way out of the small village, one truck stayed behind of the rougher looking soldiers. They proceeded to herd the terrified villagers into a different building. The fact that all of the young women were put into one of the houses was not missed by Ranma.
He gritted his teeth as he made a decision. He needed as much information as possible, and the best way to gather what he needed was some… Aggressive questioning of those involved. Torture was not the best way to get what you needed, because they tended to tell you anything, whether it was true or not if they thought it would make the pain stop.
It was also not how Ranma preferred to operate.
No, he had a different plan in mind, one that settled a bit better with his own sense of morality, and honestly with his sense of justice, as well. It would seem that his wife had really started to rub off on him.
Not that he was going to spare them, though.
Ranma stalked his way towards the village, as he kept low and moved with a slow, steady movement. Nothing caught the attention like abrupt movement. No, the eye was more easily fooled by small movements. He was close enough now to hear the wails of the villagers, the hopeless, depressed cries of people that knew what was coming. And knew there was nothing that they could do about it.
Ranma really couldn't stand seeing such good, resilient people reduced to this. He would make sure that things were taken care of here, and tell them to move until things had settled in. He was known well enough in the area, and he had the correct names to drop to get people to listen to him. He just hoped it would be enough.
Ranma continued his slow stalk to the village, as he watched where each of the men went, what they were doing. He stifled a low, almost feral sounding growl as he saw a pair of the men laughing before one walked into the house they had pushed the young women into. He had started to loosen his belt even before he made it past the door. It was only too clear what they intended to do. Whether it was to sell the 'bandit' story, or just because they could didn't matter. What mattered was stopping them, and making sure that they told him everything he needed to know before he made his way to his goal.
He quietly slipped one of his daggers from its sheath as he approached the back of the house, and leaned lightly against the wall to listen to what he could hear from inside. He gritted his teeth as he made his way to the back door and carefully opened it after he had applied a small amount of lubricant to the hinges. He stalked slowly, low and silent into the main room where all the women but one were huddled against a wall. One of them looked at him, her eyes wide as she started to open her mouth, but one of the slightly older women covered her mouth and shook her head silently. The older woman and Ranma's gaze met for a moment, and he nodded grimly as he moved up behind the man who had pinned the girl down and had started to tear her dress from her.
Ranma reached out as fast as a snake as his strong hand clamped over the mercenary's mouth, and he plunged his dagger into the base of his skull. He lowered the body slowly to the floor and placed one finger over his lips in a silencing motion before he wiped the blade clean on the body before he started to move towards the door. He paused just out of sight of the slightly opened door as he listened to the guard outside. He spoke in Mandarin, as he griped about having to wait his turn. At the comment about 'sloppy seconds' Ranma snaked a hand out and yanked him back into the darkness of the doorway, and slit his throat as neat as butchering a pig.
Ranma laid the body down as he took the cap and jacket off and slipped them on. He stepped out as he pulled the cap down to shield his eyes and face slightly with the dagger held pommel down in his hand, with the blade hidden by his sleeve. Two down, four more to go. He just needed to make sure that he captured two of them. Three would be better, but two would do just fine.
He only needed one of them to talk, after all.