Arc and Ki

by Miklagaard

A redheaded Japanese girl with an unusual means of getting attention comes knocking at Tony Stark's Malibu mansion bearing surprising insights into a power he barely understands. Pepper worries but Tony was sure opening that door was the right call because: Redhead! Little did he know how past and present would collide to show a new way to the future.

8. The Plans of Iron Mice and--

Disclaimer: This is a work of fan-fiction and no ownership of any intellectual property is claimed or implied. Quotes from original sources are included, but rather than disrupt the flow of the story, I will acknowledge them in general here. All instances of irony are likely intentional.

############

(Chapter theme song: The Beautiful People – Marilyn Manson)

############

Things moved quickly in Stark-World.

It had been not quite four days since the Monaco incident, and the billionaire and his group had managed to assemble and test multiple experimental vehicles, throw together a new, ad-hoc support organization, train Ranma in multiple disciplines she would never have imagined practicing before, locate potential targets, and make arrangements with national and international institutions to let the martial artist strut her stuff. Had it not been for the promise of action... as well as 'Natalie's' almost-constant presence and pampering... the frantic and mentally wearing activities would have left the teen superhuman entirely frazzled by now.

Still, they had gotten through the preparations, and Ranma now rode the SkyBuster 20,000 feet above the Basque Mountains of northern Spain after a nearly five-hour flight from Malibu. The flight would have been less than two hours had she flown her new vehicle at its max cruising speed, but instead she had ridden on the plane with the rest of the group while JARVIS piloted the SkyBuster just behind them. She then traded vehicles at the airport and flew the rest of the way to the target..

Below her hovering aircraft was an abandoned mine complex which had been occupied by a Basque separatist faction that had radicalized far beyond what even the established militant groups could accept. Due to a lack of local support, they had not carried out any effective attacks... yet... but JARVIS had tracked down evidence of nerve gas being smuggled into the area, and they were the most likely culprits.

Honestly, they weren't sure if this was a worthy target, but they were under pressure to come up with some kind of public victory. The Spanish government had been discreetly briefed in order to get permission to proceed and had made quiet preparations to arrest the terrorists and investigate the site once Ranma finished her part. Assuming there was anything there worth investigating, that is. Her first job would be to sneak in and look for evidence.

"Ranma, sensors show troops with MANPADS deployed around the area, along with an active portable radar station," the local instance of JARVIS running on the EncounterSuit announced in English, which Ranma was now using constantly after all the practice she had recently. The displayed real-time video feeds of the eNReal Visor showed the terrorists in question, outlines and brief descriptions appearing momentarily around each tubular weapon as well as the radar dish.

"Uh... those are the things to shoot down planes, right?" Ranma asked with her ever-improving English, repressing a yawn due to it being very early in the morning back in California. "Can they hit the Buster?"

"Not at this distance, the narrow radar profile and ECM systems would make target acquisition impossible. However, they are late generation technology and can detect and engage the SkyBuster if it flies in closer. Please note that the prior intelligence assessments gave no indication they had access to such advanced weapons."

"Yeah, it's always something," Ranma said fatalistically, far more used to extra difficulties showing up than Tony Stark had been when he started the superhero gig. "I guess I should land a ways off and ride it the rest of the way in... but I kind of want to get right to it." She opened the canopy above her and sat up, letting in the cold, thin air with a rush. With practiced ease, she activated the facemask of the eNReal Visor to let her breathe the low-pressure air without needing to tap her Ki. The headgear used what Tony called 'morphable geometry' to spring out this and other helpful doodads, and the inventor had been almost constantly tweaking it right up until they left California.

Speaking of Tony... "Hey, Ranma," the inventor said hesitantly over the radio link as she unstrapped herself, "what are you doing?" He, Pepper, Happy, and 'Natalie' were all watching the action from the Stark jet sitting on the tarmac at the nearby airport. If Tony had to put on the Iron Man armor to bail her out, he would. The others could have stayed home, but no one wanted to be left out of Ranma's first operation.

"Radar can't see people, right?" She responded casually. Hearing a confirmation, she explained: "so in that case, I'm gonna just jump down there."

"I haven't managed to put a parachute in your suit, yet," Tony warned. She could hear Pepper complaining in the background. "You'll need to strap back in and use the ejector seat to parachute down. They'll also see you coming if you do that. Just fly down out of range."

"No way," Ranma denied. "I don't need a parachute. I'll just drop down on my own."

"You can do that?" Tony asked startled. "Oh right... of course... terminal velocity." He remembered the demonstration Ranma and Ku Lon had given. "In other words, it's you, so... all together now...!"

""Of course you can..."" she heard all four of the observers call out at once. Ranma had to smirk at that. They were becoming well trained in accepting her awesomeness.

"You bet," Ranma agreed. "Terminal velocity for a human is like 50 meters per second. I've hit things going way more than that and been OK. I definitely cracked the sound barrier some of the times Akane malleted me, and that was straight into, and through, a ceiling a lot of the time."

"Your home life in Nerima should have been reported to the Hague," Pepper took over the line. "You'll really be OK?"

"Really truly," Ranma confirmed cheerfully. "Clear sky and no mallets? That's like a stroll in the park for me. The Saotome branch of the Musabetsu Kakuto Ryu is an aerial school, I keep telling you guys."

"Alright, then," the older woman said grudgingly, overriding the Tony's yelled 'Anything Goes' in the background. "Just remember to grab the camera drones before you jump out of a perfectly good aircraft... without a chute! God... the things I end up saying with a straight face in this job..."

Ranma laughed as she turned to yank on a handle behind her seat, pulling out a briefcase-sized cage holding six, spherical mini-ROV's. Then she vaulted out into the clear blue sky. She smiled at the freedom of the open air, her braid trailing in the wake of her descent, then frowned in worry. "Hey, uh... JARVIS?" she belatedly asked as she fell head-first, her legs straight with her toes pointed up and her arms held a little out from her body. "You're flying the Buster, right? I just remembered I forgot to tell you to do that."

"I am indeed, Ranma," The NLUI assured her. "The SkyBuster will be maintained at a hover until you specify otherwise."

"OK, how about you fly it down to the ground outside their range and see if you can use SlyDr mode to get it pretty close through the trees," she instructed. "That way you can pop it up to blast things if needed."

"Good idea," Tony complimented her. "I like the idea of having a second form of backup for you. I can have my new project do the same thing for Iron Man in the future. I'll watch over that operation and make sure the Buster gets in OK."

"Thanks."

"Now launch a couple of the drones, if you would," he ordered. "I'll have one lead you and the other follow to get some good shots."

"Yeah, OK," She spun to fall back-first as she took the devices out of their cages. Once she let go of them, onboard impellers caused one to slow with a faint buzz while the other naturally fell faster than her until it too slowed a ways below her.

"Though Ranma...?" he added playfully. "Asking who's flying the plane? After you jump out? Kind of a no-no!"

"Shut up, Tony," Ranma grumbled as she spread her arms and legs to slow her descent. Thanks to JARVIS, the camera feeds were able to compensate for her movements and the howling air currents to take full-body shots of her skydive.

"Just saying... it's a good thing JARVIS was on the ball."

"Shut up, Tony!"

"Also... remember to do a superhero landing when you reach the ground!" he nattered on.

"A what landing...?"

############

"It's kind of funny that we're rooting for this side of the horror movie," Tony joked.

["What do you mean?"] Ranma's tone was flat and emotionless due to the subvocal pickup she was using to 'speak' silently. With JARVIS's processing, the device was even more effective than what military researchers had developed. It had over 97% accuracy according to their tests. As she spoke, she dropped down behind a trio of terrorists running through the tunnel and tapped the last one with an acupressure strike to knock him out. Before he could fall, she grabbed him and leapt up to hide behind the gantry holding the lights, tying him to the frame with a few lengths of rope. She unloaded his rifle and twisted the receiver to make it unusable... the Golden Silence Wrought technique she'd worked out for her resistance suit came in handy here to prevent the metal from making noise from the torsion... before cramming the ruined weapon in amongst the supporting struts. Seconds later, there was a rise in the panicked shouting when the other two men realized their buddy was gone.

"You're in a place full of tunnels with bad lighting, you're crawling around the ceiling until you find your next victim, and you're striking without warning from the darkness. If those aren't the actions of the monster from a science-fiction thriller, I don't know what is," Tony explained with great amusement.

["Complain. Complain. Complain,"] was her dispassionate rejoinder as she set off in clandestine pursuit of the others.

"Oh I'm not complaining," Tony told her as he tossed another bit of popcorn in his mouth, watching the feeds from the eNReal Visor and the drones. The drones were all out and floating around with stealth systems active, but he wasn't able to bring them too close to the action in the restricted confines of the mine without risking them being spotted. As such, the devices were hiding in dark corners as they filmed. The most entertaining view came from the drone outside, which was showing various idiots running around like chickens with their heads cut off. "Fair warning: if you see a tall woman with dark curly hair, strong features, and a big-ass flamethrower... run away." He cocked his head and thought about that a bit more. "Or pounce on her for some epic lesbian ravishment... either one." He waggled his eyebrows at his fellow audience members. Happy gave him a thumbs up while Pepper gave him one of her patented Pepper-Looks. 'Natalie,' on the other hand... "I thought I was kidding, but Natalie looks genuinely freaked out!" He was exaggerating, but she did look faintly disturbed.

["Sorry, Natalie,"] Ranma apologized shortly as she tied up the second and third members of the last group she ambushed and set off to where she could hear banging noises back near the terrorists' make-shift armory.

"It's OK, Ranma," the assistant replied. "I was never a fan of horror movies and I just imagined what it would be like for those guys... even though they deserve it and you're being really gentle with them."

"Just remember to never to join a secret evil organization that Ranma has to beat down, and you'll be fine," Tony gestured at her casually. 'Natalie' joined in the laughter a little bit after Happy and Pepper did.

"That's good life advice, Mr. Stark," she answered a little sarcastically. "I'll try to find one of those motivational posters with that as a credo." The billionaire laughed some more at her snarky reply.

Ranma stopped participating in the conversation as she stealthily approached the place where she had found canisters of gas whose Russian labels JARVIS had helpfully translated to show they were full of nerve agent. Along with them, she had found plenty of other explosives and heavy weaponry, some of which Stark were infuriated to see was produced by his own company before he shut that part of the business down. Stane had been a little too good at concealing all the under-the-table sales he had made, and Stark feared he would keep finding more for years.

The Ki-adept had sealed the door with the simple expedient (for her) of driving some spare lengths of steel track she had found into the ground to jam it closed. Unless they found a martial artist near her own rank or got demolition equipment, they weren't getting that open... and all their demolition equipment was inside the room. Still, there were several men trying to knock the barricade loose by hitting it with a motley array of tools. One man stood back from the rest and supervised, putting him right at the top of her 'to bludgeon' list.

She could have crept along the ceiling lights. She could have used her suit's dark color to blend into the shadows. She could even have shown her new friends the Umisenken for the first time if the situation justified unsealing it. But since all the idiots were focused on the door, what she did do was stroll on up, tapping necks to knock them out one by one. When the last of them dropped, she leapt up out of view again just as two more men came running around the corner.

"Oh my god... those idiots..." Tony groaned. "Are they seriously going to use that? You're gonna want to stop them if you want to keep your perfect zero-injury score!"

One of the men was carrying a surface to air missile launcher while the other had a case full of reloads. She guessed they had planned to blast the door open with the SAM. Fortunately, it didn't look ready to fire. ["I got this,"] she announced.

Seeing their leader in a pile of bodies, the two rushed over to check to make sure the fallen group were still alive. Ranma left them alone long enough to let them call the others on the radio before knocking them out as well and destroying their weapons. Then she hid to wait for more suckers to enter the caverns.

"Ugh... morons..." the technologist muttered. "They would've killed their buddies and probably themselves if they fired that. These guys are totally amateur hour. I seriously don't get how these knuckleheads managed to score those WMD's. You know... you could've curbstomped the lot of 'em by now... just sayin'."

["I'm trying to be gentle since they're so weak. And trying to keep them from shooting each other,"] Ranma explained.

"And to do this safely," Pepper interjected pointedly. "That was the plan from the start."

"Eh..." her life's trial shrugged dismissively. "Not like anything they've got now the armory is sealed shut is a threat to Ranma, right?"

["Don't think the stuff they had in there was a problem for me either,"] Ranma admitted. ["However, you did say to treat this whole thing as..."]

"...Treat it as training," Tony finished the thought for her impatiently. "Making like these bozos were a serious threat so you'd have practice for later. Yes, I know. Good point. OK. Carry on."

["OK."]

Fourteen seconds of silence elapsed.

"I'm getting a little bored here," Tony suddenly complained. Pepper slapped a hand over her eyes while Happy smirked and 'Natalie' studiously kept up a professional facade. "If you'd left those computers hooked up instead of swiping them into your pocket dimension, at least I'd have something to do while hacking them."

Even with the toneless nature of the subvocalization, Ranma's strained patience was evident as she replied: ["I don't know computers that well yet. I've had like three lessons so far. Even with JARVIS helping, I'm not sure I could tell if someone was trying to delete things, send for help, or set-off a self-destruct like the bad-guys do in the movies. So I pulled the plugs and took them."] The servers were in the pouch-belt she had worn for her debut in spite of her preferences. However, until she figured out how to change the order of things she pulled out, it made it easier to have lots of Stuff-Space pockets. Someday, however, she would be able to switch to the sash like a proper martial artist.

"That was probably the best thing to do," Pepper assured her, shaking her head at her former employer.

"Yeah... yeah... I forgot to include an interface to let you plug JARVIS in. I'll add one in the next version of either the suit or the visor. Or make a dedicated device for hacking so you just can clip it in and leave it to work," Tony planned aloud before sinking down again to rest his chin on his hands that were crossed atop his desk. "It's still boring," he plaintively complained, his words a little muffled by his pose. "Can you make, like, shadow puppets or something while we wait?"

["Natalie? Could you get Tony some cheese to go with that?"] Ranma asked.

Tony snorted and sat up again. "Getting good at those colloquialisms, are we?"

["I learn fast."]

"That you do," he agreed equitably. After a few moments of watching the outside camera feed, he said. "Hey, it looks like they are bunkering up, not coming in after you. Looks like you'll have to go do something after all."

Ranma gave up on the subvox and sighed loudly. "Fine," she said normally. She dropped to the floor and started meandering toward the exit. "Ugh," she groaned, "no sense of craftsmanship."

"Uh... 'no craftsmanship?'. Excuse you? Did you forget I'm the worlds greatest engineer?" Tony asked as he made sure the stealth drones inside the mine followed her out.

"Not that kind of craftsmanship," Ranma responded. "I mean the kind that doesn't leave you out in the open like an idiot where people can shoot at you... like I'm doing right now," she explained just as she stepped out into the sunlit open area in front of the mine entrance. The dozen remaining terrorists stared at her incredulously. She wasn't sure if they were more stunned by her revealing herself or by the fact it was a relatively tiny young woman who had been menacing them all that time. Either way...

"Look out, Ranma!" Pepper screamed into the mic just as one of the men cut loose with his AK at full-auto. This signaled the rest of the enemies to start shooting as well.

Twin circles of shimmering steel blossomed into existence in front of Ranma as she spun two chains fast enough that there were a continuously cracking booms from the tips as they catapulted right past the sound barrier. The Ki-reinforced metal links intercepted bullet after bullet, hitting hard enough to cause the jacketed lead to throw sparks into the air. She rose up on one leg as the incoming fire intensified so that the shots that got through her impromptu shields were met by kicks that slapped them out of their trajectories. A couple of bullets still made it through, but didn't even hole her suit due to it's innate toughness that made the Iron-Cloth technique she used irrelevant. In several seconds of continuous fire, the terrorists' weapons had emptied their magazines. Before they could reload, one of the MANPADS operators launched a missile straight at her.

Bolting forward and dropping her chains, the martial artist intercepted the explosive in mid-flight, weaving around the warhead's path and reaching for the middle of the weapon. An instantaneous touch of her fingertips let her detect and calculate the harmonies involved before she grasped the rocket, bringing it to an immediate halt. Her two audiences of hotheaded terrorists and helpful Americans all had their jaws dropped as they stared at her standing there with a roaring rocket in her hand, utterly unmoved by the thrust.

"The missile will detonate once it runs out of fuel," JARVIS quickly warned her.

"Oh yeah?" she asked casually. Unhurriedly, she looked around, then threw the rocket straight up. Letting her aura manifest in a bright silver and gold nimbus around her, she charged up a Ki-bolt and fired once the SAM was a few hundred feet in the air, pushing extra power into it to make sure it caught up. The valley she was in brightened for a moment from the explosion above her.

Still lit up by her Ki, she looked around slowly and looked each and every opponent in the eyes. They weren't the most professional crew, and were still staring blankly at her instead of reloading. Time to make sure it stayed that way. Flaring her aura for maximum intimidation, she asked: "JARVIS? How do you say 'do you give up yet, or do I have to get mean?' in Basque?"

Rather than answer her directly, the AI flew the SkyBuster up from behind a ridge with a roar of thrusters. The external speakers blared loudly, yet clearly, with what sounded like her own voice shouting a couple of phrases she didn't understand. To punctuate the statement, it hovered in place with the twin front repulsors aimed and glowing ominously. The men all quietly and obediently dropped their still-empty weapons and raised their hands above their heads.

############

In the temporary command center, Tony was clapping and cheering. "And the crowd goes wild~!" He cupped his hands around his mouth and made a hissing/roaring sound to imitate a stadium full of cheering sports fans. Happy clapped him on the back in congratulations, fighting down a grin.

Pepper was watching over 'Natalie's' shoulder as she started picking out stills from the recorded video feed for the planned press release. The drones had captured some amazing images, and many of the best ones showed the Stark Industries logo printed in black on the arms and legs of Ranma's suit. "This is great!" She shook her head and smiled at the branding bonanza in front of her. "Poison gas found and secured? Check! All terrorists were captured? Check! No injuries on either side? Check!"

"I think that one guy stubbed his toe," Tony piped up with a smirk.

"Right, exactly," Pepper smirked back. "Not like the contusions that get handed out like lollipops by a certain someone who shall remain nameless." The tycoon didn't look at all bothered as he held up a hand to signal a 'touche.' "Call the local authorities and get them over there to pick the terrorists and the nerve gas up. I'll notify the press."

"Well..." Tony drawled in mock reluctance, "...OK!" he finished chirpily, looking forward to the mass awe and confusion that was about to ensue.

Pepper triggered the microphone for the radio. "Ranma, you did a fantastic job. That was really amazing. I think you just pulled our fat out of the fire with this," she sighed in happy relief. "I think it's safe to call this an absolute success!"

############

"It's a disaster..." Pepper moaned while bent over in her chair, her hands pressed into the top of her head and her elbows on her knees. "An absolute disaster!"

"How the hell did this happen?" Tony asked blankly as he stared up at the televisions. His legs were splayed out in front of the couch he was on and his arms hung limply over the sides. "How the ever-loving, revolving, pogoing hells did this happen?"

"I'm sorry," Ranma apologized miserably as he sat on the couch, huddled in on himself a bit.

It was the morning of Tony's birthday. Yesterday's capture operation had been timed to dominate the majority of the American news cycle to get the word out that Stark Industries was still in the business of protecting the innocent. The country had spent the day seeing the photogenic and spectacular feats of a redheaded beauty, and they had nearly all fallen instantly in love.

The ad-hoc publicity team put together for Ranma had earned their bonuses in setting up and managing press conferences and interviews with the super-powered teen and her employer upon their return to the USA. It helped that the press was practically panting for access, and not at all inclined to kill the golden goose by being hostile. Seeing the gratifying enthusiasm the public showed for the new member of the Stark Industries family, they had been sure that the plan had succeeded.

That had changed, literally overnight. The media perception turned itself inside-out and left them possibly worse off than before. There was still plenty of positive reporting and opinion for Ranma as an individual... though a few counter-examples certainly stood out... but Tony and Stark Industries were taking it on the chin for issues ranging from speculation of artificial enhancement, to sending someone underage to fight (even though Ranma wasn't, in fact, underage,) to the obscurity of the Basque separatists, to accusations of exploitation of Ranma's abilities and image... the last two of which they had to admit were accurate.

Once again, Stark Industries stock value had taken a nose-dive mere minutes after the east coast markets opened. Their phone-banks were inundated with panicked, demanding, or threatening calls. All of the phone-banks... not just public relations. Not to mention the people who had more direct numbers... such as politicians.

"It's not your fault," Pepper immediately got up and hurried over to lay a comforting hand on his shoulder. "There is no way anybody could have seen this coming. You absolutely went above and beyond what we should have expected of you and I'll be authorizing a bonus in addition to another raise because of that."

"It's not about the money," Ranma sighed, "I wanted to help you guys out like you helped me out."

"No, seriously... you did help. You nailed the press conferences and the interviews yesterday," Tony shook his head. "You did everything we wanted. And that's on top of all the other stuff you did: probably saving my life in Monaco... definitely saving those other drivers lives... and the audience's lives... and whoever those morons yesterday would have used the gas on's lives..." he made a rolling gesture to signify the endless amount of saving that had been going on. "Just imagine where we'd be if you hadn't done any of that." He picked up an empty glass and eyed one of the TV's in particular. "If it's anybody's fault, I bet it's those ratfuckers," he snarled at the smug, dough-faced blowhard on the screen. JARVIS prudently shut it off before the billionaire could hurl his glass at it.

Pepper sighed as she sat next to Ranma on the couch. "We always expected that the pundits on..."

"'Ratfuck News'," Tony interrupted before she could name the channel. "They are now and will forevermore be known as 'Ratfuck News.' So I declare it, so mote it be!" He made vaguely pope-like gestures at the darkened monitor that ended with a raised middle finger.

"Didn't you used to like them?" Pepper asked.

"No..." Tony insisted, somewhat less than honestly. "They were Obadiah's favorite channel, though. They're great if you're a merchant of death."

Pepper rolled her eyes a little ,but didn't disagree with his assessment. "As I was saying... the channel that shall remain nameless could be counted on to not be a fan of yours. They've been mad enough that I was appointed CEO and joined the ranks of what they would very much prefer to remain an all-boys club. A minority woman hero? They were always going to undercut you at every chance. They just managed to fire up the vitriol far faster than expected. We kept the plans for you under wraps to avoid them getting a head start, among other reasons, but it doesn't seem to have been enough."

"Holy shit, did they fire up the echo-chamber fast this time!" Tony agreed sourly. "What kills me is how all the other channels just follow along behind Ratfuck News like they're not a propaganda mill."

"That's true," Pepper agreed. "If the rest hadn't gone along with the whole 'some concerns exist' bandwagon, this would not have been a real problem." She shook her head tiredly. "I don't know why I keep expecting better."

"I honestly should make my own channel, staff it with people willing and able to sort out and explain the truth, then steal all those idiots lunches when folks watch my channel to get the real news," the industrialist declared.

"As good an idea as that would be, you would have had to have started it at least five years ago for it to be any use today," Pepper threw up her hands in resignation. "This might be my fault," she went on in a depressed tone. "We might have overplayed our hand yesterday with the media campaign and set off a backlash."

"I doubt that," Tony hastened to reassure her. "Nothing's made much of a dent in Ranma's initial popularity... dog-whistle-types aside," he jerked a thumb at the darkened television.

"Dog-whistle?" Ranma asked in confusion.

"'Dog-whistle' is what they call something that someone says that means one thing to most people but means something very different to a certain targeted audience," Pepper explained patiently. "I think the classic example is 'this campaign supports states rights,' which sounds like it just means being approving of federalism, but is meant to be taken by many listeners as 'this campaign supports segregation.' That's when black people and white people were treated differently in a lot of ways by law back in the 1960's and before," she expanded at Ranma's confused look."

"When Ratfuck News talks about you 'globe-trotting,' or being 'aggressive,' or call you a 'naive young lady,' or whatever... they mean you're an Asian lesbian too stupid and ignorant to know her place," Tony added.

When Ranma frowned and looked at Pepper, she nodded in rueful agreement. "Pretty soon, you'll be able to predict when you'll get a slew of vile comments directed at your online presence from when they put one of their special little segments on the air." She shrugged. "I probably wouldn't even be able to log into my e-mail if it weren't for a lot of the more rancid stuff getting filtered out, and I still see plenty of horrible crap. As a woman, Ranma," she smirked at the expression on the currently-male martial artist's face, "you'll have to get used to seeing the same."

"There are already concerning messages being sent," JARVIS interjected. "The e-mail and social media accounts created for Ranma have been getting death threats since yesterday. Even before the negative television segments. They have been treated with the usual protocols."

"Oh yeah?" Ranma actually perked up and looked more cheerful. "Anybody good? It's been a long time since anybody's threatened to kill me. Though usually they just yell 'prepare to die!' just before they attack. Maybe Ryoga got a computer?" He paused to try to calculate the chances that his frequently lost rival could acquire a computer and learn to use it in his wanderings. "What?" he asked of the faces staring at him.

"You... you're never going back to Nerima," Pepper told him with a pained expression. "Jesus, I... never mind. These aren't fellow martial artists looking to fight you. They aren't even assassins warning you of a real attack. They're just obnoxious assholes who threaten people with death or rape to try to scare them off from using the Internet."

"Ehh? That's it?" Ranma sounded put out. "Really? Give me an example!"

As a computer, JARVIS did not pick up on the clear reluctance of the older humans present and answered: "In the most recent example, the author stated: 'We want Iron MAN!' ...emphasis added... 'Not his damn...' and my protocols do not allow me to repeat the racist epithet... '...fucktoy' ...followed by numerous exclamation points... 'I'll choke her to death with my cock' ...followed by even more exclamation points, not to mention a few misspellings all throughout," the AI calmly concluded.

Ranma was little disgusted at the imagery, but that was all. It was the other humans who reacted more strongly.

"Oh they want Iron Man, huh?" Tony asked angrily. "Track that shithead down! Somebody's getting an Iron Man alright... right to the face!"

"No, Tony," Pepper vetoed tiredly. "We have to be absolutely civil even with people who'd just as well see civilized behavior, or 'political correctness' as they like to call it, be tossed aside... until it's their turn to get some invective sent their way. Otherwise all the chattering classes will blame us instead."

"Well that's just not fair," Tony fumed. "What the fuck?!"

"This is hardly new. Welcome to the world of women," Pepper announced with studied patience. "We'll track them down if we can, but we'll turn the information over to the FBI and local police. That's standard procedure."

"Will that do anything?" the inventor asked with dubiously raised eyebrows.

Pepper huffed a scornful breath. "It'll let them attribute a motive after the fact if one of those guys actually attacks us. Some of the better departments will let someone know they're under scrutiny, which will cause them to shut up."

"Most of these sorts are pathetic little weenie bigots who only ever want to deal with other pathetic little weenie bigots online and try to stink things up enough that everybody else goes away. The police are not going to take them seriously," 'Natalie' spoke up for the first time in a while. "Especially since unlike most of the women who get these threats, Ranma could probably smash them into a bloody ruin just by breathing on them extra hard," she declared with massive contempt. "Just ignore them. They're actively working to make themselves less than nothing. Other than them, none of this mud being slung around is sticking to you, Ranma. At all."

"Thank goodness for that," Pepper murmured.

As it happened, Natasha suspected there was a bit more to it than some maladjusted hate-mongers. She wasn't too happy about it, but SHIELD leadership had decided to push Stark into a corner, so there was definitely some behind the scenes maneuvering to trash the public perception of Stark. Actually, she didn't really care about the cornering part, she was more annoyed that part of the plan was to try to make things unpleasant to see if they could push Ranma out of the industrialist's orbit. She'd bet Fury or his superiors had listened well to her report about the Hidden Weapons technique, and not at all to her warnings against testing conclusions with Ranma's loyalty. Fortunately, her orders to keep the martial artist sweet were still in effect, so she had some leeway in handling things.

"You've gotten shit like this, too?" Tony asked the spy.

The redhead shrugged. "I don't have much of a social media presence anymore," she said. "But back when I modeled, I'd get some unwanted attention from guys who thought I owed them something just because I look good. They didn't take it well when I disagreed. So yeah, I've seen this sort of thing."

"Just like I do to this day," Pepper sighed.

"Oh yeah?" Ranma, who hadn't been even a bit bothered by the vicious threat directed at his female persona now started scowling.

Anticipating him, Pepper said: "You can't do anything about it yourself. Not without making it worse. Let the professionals handle it. That goes for you too, Tony."

"Uh-huh," Tony muttered darkly, not sounding particularly obedient. Both males gave each other a look and a nod.

Pepper had the feeling they were making some clandestine plans, but honestly, as long as they didn't do anything overt, or at least covered their tracks, she didn't care if they got in some discreet retribution. "Seriously, just ignore it," she said anyway. "Like I said, this is the typical nonsense we see when people get stirred up by the people on TV."

"Actually, this pattern appears to be atypical," JARVIS noted. "There are new patterns that have not been observed previously in regards to Stark Industries or affiliated persons."

"What do you mean?" Pepper asked.

"There are four categories of negative commentary," the computer explained the results of its core functions of natural language interpretation and stochastic analysis. "There are the exceptionally unpleasant, bigoted posts, often from previous offenders, that started as soon as Ranma's gender of the time was identified. There are more thoughtful posts from long-time critics on political or business terms that appeared within time-ranges expected depending on previous reaction times and the amount of content generated. There are secondary reactions after mass-media news sources started to produce their own commentary, mainly by means of links and repetition. Finally, there are several new sources similar to the third that are spreading and amplifying the previous categories, but these all started several minutes after the direct television appearances of you, of Mr. Stark, and of Ranma, yet before negative editorializing was broadcast."

"That is strange," Pepper muttered. "Can you show me a timeline?" She peered at her computer tablet as the information was routed to her.

"What's so strange about it?" Tony asked.

"The way it normally works," Pepper explained absently, "is exactly as JARVIS just described for the first two groups. Instant, knee-jerk posts from those misogynistic weenies Natalie mentioned. Then the more serious people might make a few observations during a segment and more detailed critiques later when they have time to think about it. Basically, those people are news-junkies who pay close attention and try to be more informed, while commenting based on their established political philosophies or whatever. An example we see a lot are people objecting to the new initiatives of the company, especially the environmental ones."

"'Cause breathing clean air and not letting your beach-front property get washed out to sea are such chores!" Tony groused.

"Yes, Tony," Pepper responded drearily. It wasn't the first time he'd expressed frustration on the subject. "Moving along... the third category are people who don't pay close attention and don't have firmly set agendas... bigoted or otherwise. They will add their own comments and they will re-post things, but it takes a while for them to react. This group will usually start up after the talking heads on the news shows feed them some opinion, not before." She tapped the screen in front of her as Natasha carefully concealed a sinking sensation. "This is weird. They started too soon."

"Huh... OK. JARVIS, start working up some analysis. I want to see how much delta there is here compared to other examples in your databases," Tony ordered.

"Processing..." JARVIS intoned.

Trying to change the subject, 'Natalie' asked: "You censored JARVIS?"

"Huh?" Tony gave her a strange look, then blinked and looked enlightened. "Oh, you mean the racist thing he skipped? That wasn't censorship... I'd have made him bleep himself out or something if that was the plan. He did say 'fucktoy,' and some other stuff, after all. To the contrary, I've been trying to drive him to cussing me out for years! Isn't that right, buddy?"

"The data does not support that assertion. I would agree my protocols have been under strain, but the historical record does not indicate any increase in your antisocial behavior after my activation as compared to before. I therefore conclude there was no deliberate test or inducement," the computer responded primly.

"True that..." Pepper muttered, making Tony chuckle.

Cheerfully, the inventor continued to explain: "No, the protocols he's talking about apply to his sociability. It takes more than a posh accent to be a Jarvis. I programmed him to communicate... frequently with people I didn't want to deal with. That means speaking clearly and intelligently. He has carefully observed how the best examples of speakers act and adopted their patterns so he can communicate information better. He's largely self-programmed to be refined, courteous, and thoughtful in his speech so people are more inclined to pay attention. I'd say being genteel and gracious was a side-effect, but it was also what I was shooting for from the start. I'd be risking inadvertent necromancy otherwise, since the man he's based on would rise from the grave and strangle me if I didn't. JARVIS theoretically could say anything, but if he were called on to say the N-word... or I guess it would be the... what? G-word?"

"C-word, actually," JARVIS corrected distastefully.

"Right..." The twinkle in Tony's eyes went flat. Even if he didn't say it, the ladies were fairly certain the words 'Iron Man to the face' were running through his head. "Anyway, he's kind-of programmed to make life better. Specifically my life, but it tends to spill over to other priorities... like elevating the quality of conversations. So the weighting he gives to dignified and helpful speech patterns will stop him from repeating whatever racist drivel under any circumstances."

"That is not quite correct, Sir," JARVIS added. "I would be able to repeat certain words and phrases verbatim if I were making a audio report to legal or mental health professionals."

"What he said," Tony quipped, pointing upward.

Natasha smirked. "So you're saying your software learned kindergarten rules better than these online morons."

"Basically, yeah."

"Kinder-what?" Ranma asked.

"Oh, umm... kindergarten is for four or five-year-olds," Pepper explained. "Kind of a school before school thing. Mostly activities and play, but some lessons too. One of which being to not say mean things to people. Do they have anything like that in Japan?"

"I guess?" Ranma shrugged. "I don't know what they called it, but I've seen these groups of kids around that age wearing loose shirt things and yellow hats while following some lady around."

"The pre-school programs in Japan are called yo-chiens," JARVIS offered. A video appeared on a monitor, showing several young children wearing light blue smocks over their regular clothes and bright, high-visibility yellow hats holding hands as they trailed after a teacher on a sidewalk.

"They're adorable!" a wide-eyed Pepper said. Turning to look at Ranma she asked: "You didn't do that?"

"Me? No. Are you kidding?" Ranma rolled his eyes. "For Oyaji, saying mean things was good, 'cause it made me fight harder. I had to get a crash-course in 'yo-chien' stuff from Hokkusu-Sensei way, way later." He pointed a finger at his grinning boss. "Don't say it!"

"Perish the thought!" Tony exclaimed as he held up his hands in surrender. "Though I will point out how bad it is these basement-monkeys messing with you seem like kindergarten drop-outs. And your dad."

"Exactly," Natasha agreed. "It's not worth trying to figure out what goes through their tiny heads. Better to just move on. The PR teams do have some ideas for a counter-campaign," she pointed out while bringing up the relevant documents on her computer. She tilted her screen to show Pepper, getting the CEO's interest.

"Yeah..." Tony kicked back and clasped his hands behind his head. "I guess we should move on. Look forward. Be proactive, not reactive. But..." he trailed off in a drawl. "These guys have managed to piss me off. And there's that pattern-break. Can't forget that. JARVIS! Got anything for me on that front yet?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," the AI reported. "As noted before, the timing of initial secondary reactions was atypical. I further note that the sources have not previously commented about Ms. Potts or your Iron Man activities before, though some have been used to spread unfavorable content about the company in the past. Furthermore, these accounts are re-posting all negative commentary regardless of content or source. As a final datum, the accounts are redistributing content more quickly that would be expected from a human user."

"Bots?" Tony asked, sitting up with a more intent expression. Pepper also turned her full attention to the conversation. Natasha looked politely attentive, regardless of how her attempt to derail this line of thought had failed. For his part, Ranma had no idea how to contribute and was stuck literally twiddling his thumbs, but he was trying to follow along anyway.

"Indeed, that is the term used in IT nomenclature. Those same bots would scan the new content and forward or up-vote those that had certain key phrases automatically. Simulating broad-based interest and validation of the subjects and opinions in question," JARVIS explained.

"Yeah, I get it," Tony replied. Seeing Ranma's clueless expression, he expanded on the subject: "Somebody writes a hack job that'd normally be ignored as stupid and pointless, but sets up bots, automatic programs, to pretend to be people to tweet and re-tweet the link and send likes to each other and anything else that fits the program parameters. The echo-chamber eventually gets loud enough the major news organizations take notice and think there's something real behind it all. Works even better when Ratfuck-News plays along by making segments quoting an article that quotes a post that quotes a pod-cast that mentions the original hack job... and then making more segments to extend the recursive quoting even further so there's this big branching mess that looks like some wide-spread consensus, but it's all actually based on one stupid thing. And the drooling morons in the rest of the news outfits never put the pieces together. So how the hell is this any different from the usual bullshit?"

"Again: the timing," JARVIS said before explaining in more detail. "Bots must be programmed and activated. By my estimate, it would have been very unlikely for a human to configure the necessary filters in the time available had the programmers been truly surprised."

"God damn it," Tony breathed in a mix of fury and admiration. "Something leaked. Somebody was ready to jump on our heads as soon as we stuck them out."

"Dammit!" Pepper cursed.

"That was my assessment, yes," JARVIS stated blandly.

Natasha was not happy about how this was developing. Bots were not just used by political groups or corporations, but also by intelligence agencies to nudge public opinion. Natasha had just attended a SHIELD presentation on how to suborn and use a bot-farm fairly recently, as a matter of fact. Due to operational security, she was not specifically aware of actions other groups in SHIELD might be performing, but she was absolutely certain at least one such group was behind that particular campaign against Stark. And she was privately livid they had done so clumsily.

"Can we use this?" Pepper wondered aloud. "If we put out the evidence, can we stop the bleeding, at least?"

"Maybe?" Tony replied. "Couldn't hurt."

"Ah! Actually, Mr. Stark..." 'Natalie' interjected hesitantly with a wince. "I hate to say it, but the evidence it pretty thin." She held up her hands to stop his objection. "I'm convinced, but something like estimates of programming speed won't be too convincing to the man on the street. Trying to say something anyway might make things worse. The bots have already done their jobs. It's the typical 'he who throws mud first wins' scenario. The terms of the debate have been set, however asinine they might be, and it could take a lot of effort to shift them. The major networks are already invested in the narrative. Complaining about the bots now might be seen as trying to smokescreen or change the topic and that will probably backfire."

"We could at least let the newsies know, couldn't we? Wouldn't seeing how they were suckered change things?" Stark asked, though he didn't look like he thought highly of the odds..

"It never has before, has it?" the redhead shrugged helplessly.

"Ugh, she's right," Pepper groaned.

"Can't we, uh..." Ranma trailed off as the others looked at him, but then rallied. "Can't we hit back with those bot things, too? Like with JARVIS?"

"Huh..." Tony stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Interesting idea. Though the first question would be who do we hit back against? JARVIS? Any chance of figuring that out based on the sources?"

"I am afraid not," the computer reported. "The source materials were re-posted from temporary public Internet connections all over the country, and of course those materials were initially published on established sites."

"Well... we might not be able to prove anything, but the only people giving me shit recently have been Rhodey's lords and masters. The government has really not been happy with me showing them up no matter how much propaganda they roll out for the public. Also, when we were negotiating with the Spanish government, they almost certainly said something to their contacts in the USA," Tony scowled and started rubbing his fingertips through his goatee even more vigorously. It was obvious he was trying to come up with a plan of attack.

"Really, Tony?" Pepper chided. "Even the misogynistic slime? Doesn't that seem a bit petty for the federal government?"

Before the billionaire could voice the obvious rejoinder, Natasha intervened. "Speaking of petty and obnoxious... didn't we have to deal with someone like that recently? Someone a bit closer to home who's been trying to show Mr. Stark up?" If she couldn't distract them from the subject entirely, it was time to deflect them to a different target. Suspicions aside, no one had officially said SHIELD was on any one particular person's side, so no one could openly object to her throwing that person under the bus.

Pepper and Tony looked at each other with almost identical annoyed looks. ""Hammer,"" they chorused.

Tony slapped his forehead. "Crap... that's right. He's also got all kinds of government people on the hook. This does seem like the kind of insipid shit he loves to use."

"Yes," Pepper sighed grimly. "The man's an idiot a lot of the time, but he has plenty of smart people working for him. Hammer Industries may be the new leader in defense contracting, but he has enough competition to make him desperate. Idiot or not, don't forget he's a lot more experienced at corporate maneuvering and skulduggery than you are."

"Pfeh... he's kinda had to be," Tony conceded. "It wouldn't be the first time he tried to beat me with social engineering instead of real engineering. I wonder how he'll like JARVIS turning the bot scheme against him?"

Natasha didn't care one way or the other, but allowing Stark to take action would make him feel less helpless, and therefore less boxed in. "If I may point out, that would do more to hurt him than help us. Maybe keeping an eye on such things would help with future crises, but we're already stuck."

"Yeah..." Tony conceded reluctantly. "Most of the American public is distinctly lacking the critical thinking education needed to throw off whatever horseshit the mass media spews at 'em. We're better off than a lot of countries when it comes to that, but there are a fair number more that have us beat. Japan, for instance," he waved a hand at Ranma.

Ranma just blinked at them a few times and said: "Who knew pineapple bombs were so educational?"

Tony barked a laugh. "I think we can call Nerima the exception that proves the rule."

Sighing in a show of regret, Natasha said: "It's too bad, but there's no way we can wait ten or twenty years for an improved educational system. We might want to get back to the suggestions the PR people came up with for the short-term. I'm flagging them for you, Ms. Potts. Ironically, the way they want to avoid the perception of smokescreens or distractions is to use smokescreens and distractions."

"Say what? How does that work?" Tony half-laughed, now fully diverted by the absurdity of 'Natalie's' statement.

Eyes rapidly scanning the offered materials, Pepper answered: "In the long term... say a few months... we just keep going on like usual. Make products nobody else can make and sell 'em. That will keep the company going until people forget about this whole stupid thing."

"The long term, huh?" Tony put his hands behind his head and stared up at the ceiling with a dark, unreadable expression. "I'm more of an instant gratification kind of guy."

"Yes, I know," Pepper deadpanned. "We all know. Everybody on the planet knows." Shaking her head at him, she continued: "For the medium term? No more screw-ups. No more scandals. Other than that, we'll continue as planned with Ranma doing missions. Iron Man needs to get back out there, too."

"Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh," Tony said impatiently while making a rapid rolling motion with his hand. "Instant gratification. How do we make that happen? What's the short-term play? I see you've got your 'I have a plan' face on."

Pepper nodded at the accurate guess. "The plan is pretty much the same as before: Ranma. He... or, more honestly, she... has captured the public imagination just as much as you did with your 'I am Iron Man' spiel six months ago. Only more so, because..."

"Because... sexy redhead." Tony cheerfully held up a hand to stop her explanation. "I get it. Totally."

"Of course you do." Pepper rolled her eyes, though that was as much directed at the trivial preoccupations of society as it was at the proclivities of the eccentric inventor. "The hype is out there, we just need to keep playing to it. There might not be any counter-terrorist operations he can do right now, but there are plenty of other things Ranma can do to get attention. And that's not all. It occurs to me that while we might not be able to immediately cancel out the damage from the bots, we can stop Justin from profiting from them. He's got that presentation at the Expo on the 31st that he's going to use to get every scrap of attention he can. However, we have a few new bits of technology of our own to show."

"The SkyBuster," Tony stated, pointing two finger-guns at his former assistant. Ranma perked up at the mention of his new vehicle.

"Exactly. The rumors those race teams have been spreading and the mentions we made during the press conference have made it a hot topic too, but we've been holding off on showcasing it fully yet. You could say we owe it to the public to let them have a good look at it and everything Ranma can do with it,"she smirked. "On the 1st of June, let's say."

It took only an instant for Tony to make the calculation. "Hah!" He slapped his knee. "I love it! You want to blow Pinhead off the front page before he's had a full day with it!"

"Yes," Pepper's smile broadened. "We'll tell people the morning of the 31st that Ranma will give his... or her... next official interview after the SkyBuster debut. That should both drum up even more interest and take the focus away from Justin's play even more so he doesn't even get much of a temporary boost."

Tony's grin suddenly widened. "I like it. For that matter, we can add my little project for myself to Ranma's presentation. Plus the Mark VI."

"Oh yes," Pepper agreed as she realized what he was talking about. "Though maybe we want to space it out? Wait for the SkyBuster hype to start dying down and then hitting them with the other things?" Before Tony could object, she went on to say: "I'll have to think about it and maybe bounce the idea off the PR people. In the meantime, we'll want Ranma to be on people's minds in other ways up until the first presentation. Press opportunities, promotional videos, and that sort of thing. Sending out clips of the demonstrations Ranma did in the mansion's gym, for instance."

"So basically, double-down on Ranma," Tony summarized.

"Pretty much," Pepper agreed, nodding. "Nothing's been sticking to him yet from what we can tell. Also, the things that look like they are sticking to us can be spun to make him look innocent at worst and some level of a redeeming factor at best. In fact," she bit her lip and looked hesitant as she looked at Ranma. "We can expect Ranma to be on magazine covers and suchlike anyway... so it wouldn't be that much of a stretch to make him... or rather, her... the new public face of the company as a whole."

"You mean a spokesmodel," Tony said with a smirk. The smirk deepened at the expression he saw on Ranma's face.

"No, no!" Pepper was quick to wave off the phrase. "I just mean Ranma could be a significant representative of Stark Industries in more than the news media and for more than the counter-terrorist hero activities. The hero part would still be key, of course, but we could extend that into an endorsement of what we do. Represent us to the public. Do some public appearances... maybe some advertising..."

"A spokesmodel," Tony repeated emphatically, his grin sharpening at her attempts to soft-pedal it.

"No! Ranma would be a spokes... person," Pepper tried gamely.

"Riiight," Tony drawled. "A gorgeous, sexy, redheaded, spokesperson. Who people will be lining up to see because of how well she presents the stuff we sell, and no other reason. Riiight."

Pepper glared at him for his commentary while 'Natalie' was pointedly looking anywhere but at the other people present. Evan Ranma was giving the CEO a jaundiced look after hearing how Tony phrased things.

Pepper took a deep breath for her nose as she scowled. "Dammit, Tony! Fine!" she blurted. "Ranma would be a spokesmodel! Happy?"

"Ecstatic," her long-time friend and tormentor agreed smugly. "I love this plan!"

"Uh..." Ranma started to raise his hand unsurely.

"We did set up that modeling contract to mess with that Nabiki girl," Tony pointed out. "And you already inflicted the PR department on him for the press briefing training. We might as well get some use out of all that. Better that Ranma get the money for the advertising thing than... whoever the hell we've got now."

"Nobody memorable, actually." Pepper calmed down a bit and shrugged. "Before the switchover from weapons, we didn't really do much in terms of actual advertising to the public, just anodyne patriotic spots to keep us positive in the public approval polls. The way we handled things, there still aren't actually a lot of people who know just how big we are in medical scanning or IntelliCrops, just weapons. After the switch, the only face our advertising concentrated on was yours, Tony. Anybody else in the posters or commercials or whatever were bland background, really."

"Ranma's anything but bland," Tony quipped. He saw the martial artist didn't quite preen at the comment, but he shifted a bit like he wanted to.

"Now that I think about it, we're really due for a boost on the advertising side. Marketing's been making some noises about this for a while," Pepper mused aloud, getting more enthusiastic about the idea. "Seriously, it's past time we had a centerpiece who gave us more than the haphazard film clips you take during your field tests."

Seeing Ranma start to look dubious out the corner of his eye, Tony backed his CEO's play. "Well if we are going to have someone who isn't me, then we might as well roll with the most spectacular possible, am I right?"

Veteran negotiator that she was, Pepper instantly picked up the thread. "Oh, absolutely." She locked eyes with Ranma and gave him an earnest and eager look. "Unlike Tony, you're new to the world scene, and the only preconceptions anyone has were formed by the Monaco incident and this last raid. You can absolutely... well... write your own narrative is the best phrase for it. You're capable doing of things people have only imagined, and more. There is no way people can be anything but awed. You're completely unprecedented as a potential brand ambassador," she praised unstintingly.

"Oh... well... I guess..." Ranma rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed and flattered.

"Right," Pepper clapped her hands decisively. "And we have a new opportunity tonight at your birthday party, Tony. It is exactly the kind of big, unexploited front the public relations people made a point of looking for. You know the kinds of people who show up to these things. A scene like that? Ranma won't even have to say a word."

"Not say... oh." An impish smile formed on Tony's face and he started rubbing his hands together as he figured out his friend's intent. "Oh-ho-ho!"

Pepper tilted her head down a little and her face showed steely determination. "We've only got about eight hours before guests start to arrive. We'll need to move fast, scramble a lot of people, and spend a lot of money, probably."

"That is kind of our theme," Tony nodded agreeably.

"Wait, what?" Ranma's eyes went wide as he experienced the all too familiar sinking feeling. "What? What do we need eight hours for?"

"Your outfit," Natasha predicted. "Don't worry, I'll hold your hand through this too."

"I just need to wear the same thing as Monaco, right?" Ranma pleaded, even as massive prior experience told him it was a losing battle.

Pepper gave the martial artist a sympathetic look. "Sorry, Ranma... that look was good, but we more than good. We need devastating. We need to blow the doors off."

"Oh yeeeeah!" Tony intoned with as deep and gravelly a voice as he could manage. This did not reduce Ranma's worries.

"I mean... the potential 'wow' factor was too high to let it pass even before all this came up. It's why I let Edna have her head with that one particular item," the CEO explained.

"Ah... shimatta!" Ranma's face fell even further as he figured it out.

Apologetically, Pepper delivered her sentence like a regretful but determined judge: "We need for you to to wear... The Gown."

"Dun-dun-duuun~!" Tony sang with a toothy grin.

"Kuso! Really!?"

"Yes... really," Pepper answered sympathetically. "I'm sorry, but half of Hollywood is showing up tonight. A lot of the public attention will be drawn in by the SkyBuster and your fighting ability, but rest... likely even the majority... only really sit up and take notice when celebrities and high society are involved. Natalie?" She looked over at the assistant and her tone sharpened decisively. "Get stylists! Get manicurists! Get the whole salon! See if Edna will make an exception and we can get her too! Get them over here in time to get Ranma ready! I want her to make every actress, model, entertainer, socialite, sex icon, disgraced royalty... any and every other famous female celebrity that shows up look positively ill!"

"Ah-hahaha! This is going to be great!" Tony clapped his hands once, then went back to rubbing them together fiendishly. "That's what you meant by 'smokescreen!' Emphasis on smokin'!"

Ranma sent him a flat, hostile look.

"Man, I'm looking forward to this!" Tony continued gleefully. "Good thing we managed to express ship that waterproof soap stuff, huh? A big, crowded party like that? You won't be able to risk depending on the Soul of Ice alone..."

Ranma's look did not notably increase in friendliness.

Pepper went over to her youngest employee and crouched in front of him while setting her hands on his knees to steady herself. "Please, Ranma?" She smiled up at him imploringly. "I know you aren't exactly comfortable with it, but it would really help us... help me out. Please?"

Ranma eyed her despondently for a long moment. Suddenly, he stood up, one hand held up in a histrionic pose of frustration while the other held a microphone with a severed cord up to his face. "Why am I such a sucker for a woman's smile!?" he cried out with a reverberating voice.

"Because you're a sweetheart," Pepper told him with gratitude and bemusement as she straightened up more slowly.

"Are you really carrying around a broken microphone in an extra-dimensional space fold just for doing your own comedy sketches?" Tony wondered. "If so...? I approve."

"Huh?" Ranma let his arms drop. "Oh. No, that wasn't Stuff-Space. It's a Nerima thing. The microphone just shows up sometimes when someone wants to say something dramatic. We don't know where it comes from, or where it goes." He held up his hands that were now empty. "See? Gone."

While Tony screwed up his face in a rather hilarious expression as he tried to figure out if the Japanese teen was having him on or not, Pepper asked: "Does that mean you'll do it?"

"Yes... fine...!" Ranma groaned. "I'll do it! Argh!"

"Thank you, Ranma," she gave him a quick hug that had him blushing. "You're really bailing us out. I really appreciate it. We all really appreciate it."

"Hai, Hai. You'd better," Ranma sighed. "Urgh. I'm gonna go train until the world makes sense again," the martial artist grumbled as he walked away. At a nod from Pepper, 'Natalie' followed him out to do some morale boosting.

############

Natasha surveyed the scene in front of her with a rueful smile. Then she shrugged and said: "Meghan? I don't think this is working."

The athletic, blonde twenty-something in front of her froze in mid-attempt to manipulate muscles that were more like bands of kevlar than mere mortal flesh, then sighed dispritedly. "I think you're right. I'm sorry Ms. Rushman, Ms. Saotome," she apologized as she shook the strain out of her hands.

"No, no! Meghan's been doing great!" Ranma hastily, but unconvincingly, claimed.

Trading glances with the spa worker, the agent said: "That's kind of you to say, but you've clearly been bored out of your mind for the last few minutes while she hasn't even budged a bit of your stress, has she?"

"Uh... but it's fine! Really!" the redhead insisted as she rose up on her elbows on the massage table. Ironically, it was one of the tables purchased for her to provide Reiki. "I can meditate for as long as you need me to until you finish!"

Meghan sent a wry smile at the new hero. "'Meditate' as in get lost in your own head while ignoring this, right? I think you're missing the point of a massage," she joked weakly. "I can keep trying, of course..." she offered dubiously, trying to think of something. She'd heard of walking on someone's back as a massage technique, but knew nothing about how to do that right. She bit her lip as she considered the mechanics of trying to stand on a back that, while powerful, was also rather slender. Meghan started wondering if there were other ways she could relax the beautiful redhead, and bit her lip as she fidgeted where she stood. If she dared...

As if she were reading the blonde's mind, Natasha cut off her line of thought. "Thank you, but I don't think there's any point in you trying anymore. We're just going to have to accept that there are certain facts of life we'll have to take into account when dealing with someone who can bench-press earth moving equipment," Natasha said wryly. "I think you'll have to go without, Ranma, unless Mr. Stark invents Iron Masseuse armor. It's not like you can really massage yourself. This isn't like the acupuncture earlier." Meghan giggled at the comment.

The team of beauty specialists that had been hired for the day cost more than most households in the country would earn in a few months. Enough to have their own command group, to take over multiple rooms in the top floor of the mansion, and bring in extra workers to hover about just in case they might be needed.. All this to primp and pamper one woman. Pepper Potts was in the hands of another team just like it on the other side of the building. If she could, Natasha might be able to avail herself to any leftover time and resources that remained, but she wasn't anticipating it. She was not one of the centerpieces of the night, after all.

Instead, her role was strictly assistant, which suited her fine. Her sole task according to Potts was hand-holding to make sure Ranma got through the entire ordeal. As entertaining as she had expected it to be, it turned out to be even more so. Starting with personally making sure Ranma applied the transformation-blocking soap to lock herself as female before entrusting her to the hands of the uninitiated beauty specialists.

Things had gone fine with the manicure and pedicure... at least when Ranma had pulled back her Ki enough to prevent her nails from shredding the emory boards... but they had hit their first real snag with the acupuncturist. The specialist had not been able to penetrate bullet-proof skin without cooperation from the martial artist, so it had been slow going at first. Then Ranma had a highly technical discussion with the woman and had set the needles herself at the professional's direction. It had been particularly entertaining when the treatment had moved to her back and she ended up using a hand mirror to aim. She even had to set a couple of needles with her toes when her fingers couldn't quite reach. Somehow, despite the awkward angle, she had managed to get the correct locations with perfect accuracy.

The initial trim for the hairstyling had been accomplished relatively without incident, though a clipper's blades did have to be replaced mid-way through. However, the team had looked positively daunted when the subject of bikini waxing had come up. Luckily, Ranma had very little body hair in the first place and she was able to remove what was needed with a swipe of her fingers, something that had garnered looks of pure envy from the other women present.

Despite the odd conditions, the entire team kept trying their best. Not only were they well paid for the inconvenience of dropping everything to rush over to the mansion, but Ranma herself had managed to inspire their best efforts. The Ki-adept had been inadvertently charming the all-female troupe all afternoon by determinedly being polite and friendly in spite of her obvious discomfort with the elaborate process. They all could tell she was trying hard for the sake of not upsetting them, and they repaid that with even more lavish service.

This just made Ranma feel even more out of her depth, ironically.

Fortunately, they were coming into the home stretch. Even after the unique experiences of the day, they were not expecting any problems with the upcoming tasks of body-wash, makeup, hair arrangement, or the final donning of The Gown which were scheduled after the massage.

"Go ahead and lie back down, Ranma," the older redhead coaxed. "I'll take it from here." Meghan looked like she was going to protest, but Natasha stopped her with a raised hand. "How about you help the rest make plans for the make-up and jewelry?" she suggested. "Ranma is unique enough that we'll want to be low-key, but creative. Particularly the jewelry selection can benefit from the fact you were just studying her arms and neck and such. We'll be ready for the next step in about 30 minutes, yes?"

"Well, I don't know..." the masseuse looked reluctant, even though her group was specifically told to follow 'Natalie's' instructions. Her unwillingness to leave increased when Ranma gave her an apologetic smile. The way the teen's eyes spoke when she smiled made it hard to walk away.

"Don't worry," Natasha said firmly, as she herded the civilian woman out. "If it comes up, I'll make sure Ms. Potts knows you gave it your best effort."

"Ah..." Meghan sighed. "If you're sure. Just let me know if you change your mind," she offered as she was guided out of the large, tiled bathroom. Natasha quietly locked the door after her.

Ranma, naked except for the towel covering her butt, looked back over her shoulder with a quizzical eye as Natasha approached. "What's up?"

"Nothing of significance," the agent answered as she started running her hands up and down the the martial artist's back. While she was much stronger than the woman who left, she still didn't even try to work her fingers and palms into the muscles under her hands. Instead, she used lighter touches... strokes and caresses, so it was more an extended, erotic petting than a massage. Not the sort of thing a legitimate professional should do... though Meghan looked like she was right on the edge of ignoring that restriction... but it was more likely to be effective. Ranma sighed and wriggled a bit at the sensuous feel of the other woman's hands... she certainly didn't offer any complaint. "I've actually been meaning to have a private talk alone with you again, but we've been pretty busy, and others were always around before, so I thought this was a good time. Particularly since this is the eleventh hour."

"Oh yeah?" Ranma asked a little suspiciously. "What about?"

Wanting to make sure the improbably powerful young woman stayed stable and friendly after the upcoming chicanery, Natasha used a soothing tone: "I just wanted to talk about how you are doing... what you think of everything going on lately... that sort of thing. After all, you went from a refugee, to a newly-minted-adult and private citizen with a new job, to an international celebrity, all in one week. Things must seem pretty topsy-turvy to you now."

"Topsy-turvy?" Ranma's question was a bit muffled as she laid her head back down. She'd removed her HUD for the treatments, so couldn't get a hint from JARVIS.

"Sorry, your English got so good so quickly... I actually forgot you probably wouldn't know that phrase," Natasha apologized. "It means... massive confusion, I suppose. Where up is suddenly down and inside is suddenly outside. That sort of thing."

"Heh," Ranma gave a short, scornful laugh. "For me, 'topsy-turvy' is Tuesday. Followed by 'pull-a-solution-outta-my-ass-Wednesday,' then 'sore-loser-Thursday.'" She sighed wearily. "Then it's time for 'get-blamed-for-not-fixing-it-faster-Friday,'" she added ruefully.

"I'm going to regret asking... but what is Monday?"

"'Ominous foreboding,'" Ranma answered darkly.

Natasha snorted a laugh. "It says something that you learned that English phrase in particular. Though I'd bet a lot of people would agree with you about Mondays."

"Heh, I guess," Ranma huffed. "Funny thing is, now that I think about it, that hasn't been how it goes recently. This?" She raised a hand and waved it around. "This is really new. And really weird. But except for today, it's been the nicest days I've had in years."

"Today is what you're counting as the bad day? Not Monaco?"

"Nah... meeting that Hammer guy wasn't that bad," Ranma replied with an impish tone.

Natasha snorted a laugh. "I meant battling the guy with the electric whips," she corrected dryly.

"Now that was no problem," Ranma stated definitively. "At all. Fighting is what I do... or did... every day. Wake up: fight. Walk to school: fight. Have lunch: fight. Go home: fight. Heck, I was glad to fight that guy... though it wasn't much actual fighting... it was the part I understood best of all." Jerking her head up, she hastily appended: "I wasn't glad he showed up to hurt people! I mean I was glad I was there to stop him and it was something I could do. Also really glad nobody got hurt bad."

"I understand," Natasha soothed. "It was more familiar, something you could grasp and control. Not like the PR problems Stark is having."

"Yeah, exactly." Ranma plunked her head back down. "That's like punching fog. Worse. I actually can punch fog with air-pressure strikes."

"Of course you can," Natasha murmured to herself with a wry smile. Everybody who had been pulled into the martial artist's orbit recently had been using that phrase a lot. "Is that something you want to do every day? Punch things?"

"You make it sound bad when you say it that way," Ranma muttered with a slightly aggrieved tone.

"Sorry, I was just teasing... a little. But I do want to know if fighting like you did in Monaco or Spain is really something you want to do for the rest of your life. Stark Industries is extremely unlikely to go out of business no matter how bad things seem now. You could walk away from it all. Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts will not stop you. Their stock prices will recover. Their lives will go on much like before," Natasha said gently. She noticed a slight twitch at that comment... making her think the martial artist might know about Stark's condition. Interesting, if true. "In the larger scheme of things, you don't need to keep going into battle over and over again. Which you would if you keep playing Iron-Man-alternate. It honestly sounds kind of horrible the way things were back in Japan with the constant fighting. Do you really want to keep doing it?"

"It wasn't that bad," Ranma waved it off lazily. "The biggest problem I had with the fighting was how stupid the most of the reasons were. Like one day, it's someone wants a different name and kidnaps people to get it, and the next day it's two idiots competing for... I dunno... the boxer shorts of power or something. None of which works, of course."

"Rescuing people and preventing terrorist attacks are definitely far worthier goals," Natasha admitted.

"Yeah, exactly. I mean... I might not have left at all Nerima if the fights were the only stupidity there was. The real reason I came over here was to get away from the stupid marriage stuff Oyaji and Tendo-San came up with. That seems kind of... pathetic... compared to what I ended up doing." Ranma slowly shook her head. "Stuff I'm doing now is more important. Not just thumping heads, either." The way the young woman said that all but convinced the spy that she knew of the palladium issue.

"Personally? I'd say avoiding marriage was a perfectly good reason to move to the other side of the planet," Natasha declared jokingly. "Seriously, though, your motivation doesn't need to be Earth-shaking. That was more than enough justification by itself, but I suspect it wasn't really all there was."

"Well... yeah," Ranma confirmed slowly. "The fiancee mess was just... I don't know... I guess it was just the most obvious part. With that and a lot of other things, what was bugging me was the way people wanted me to be like a... uh... 'manekin' is the Japanese word."

"It's almost exactly the same in English. 'Mannequin,' with a 'Q-U' if you can hear the difference."

"OK. So they want me to be a manneQUin," she carefully pronounced, "that they could wheel out and pose the way they like. Like what I thought and what I wanted were worthless." She shook her head with grim determination. "Out on the ocean? That was something my head kept coming back around to. How insideNerima, me as Ranma didn't matter to anybody but Akane. It was only outside of Nerima that anybody cared about what I think. If they could've fitted me with a string on my back they could pull and make me say whatever they wanted to hear, they would've."

"Believe me, I completely understand," Natasha said sympathetically. "Though I should point out that you were being a bit passive. Reacting instead of acting. You might want to think about that since Ms. Potts and Mr. Stark are doing something a lot like that to you right now," Natasha pointed out delicately.

"Aggghh, that's different," Ranma groaned.

"How so? The plan is to make you a spokesmodel..."

"Spokesperson," Ranma corrected.

"That ship has sailed," Natasha informed her, amusement coloring her tone. "It's gonna be spokesmodel. The way you look? 'Model' will be one of the first things people think. Ergo... spokesmodel. The bosses are very aware of the impact you have, and they plan to take advantage of it. They will literally be setting you out in the public eye to present things a certain way. Exactly like a mannequin." The martial artist didn't answer immediately and Natasha was content to keep sliding her hands over her sleek, powerful frame in silence to let her get her thoughts in order.

Natasha's education in psychology was usually used to wreck a target's reasoning, not encourage it, but her situation with Ranma was different. Her ongoing mission to keep Ranma friendly was one of several, but it was the one that she was the most invested in. Not to the extent of disobeying SHIELD, or even prioritizing her efforts any differently from what the director mandated, but in how she wanted success beyond mere professional pride. She didn't think she was being nonobjective, but she hadn't ever dealt with someone like Ranma before. A target of investigation she actually liked. It made things a lot blurrier than she was used to. She'd heard of the problems other agents had with 'going native,' but she hadn't ever experienced that condition since she was eleven.

Reflexively, her mind shuddered away from remembering that time.

Natasha was relieved from her introspection when Ranma came up with an answer. "Tony and Pepper... they explain things. They listen to what I have to say. They give me choices," She said. "Nobody ever did that before. It was always: 'Do this! Now!' back in Nerima. Instead, those two tell me why they need something done, and why doing it a certain way makes sense. They even warn me about what they think might happen if I go along with it. If I have an idea about doing something else, they hear me out and they'll change plans if what I say makes sense. Pepper also made a big deal about how I should think it over before doing the thing in Spain." She paused thoughtfully. "Also, it's like you said. Not that they could really stop me, but if I wanted to leave later, they'll let me. They even promised to help me anyway."

"True, they did explain why they are desperate for positive press, but you still need to make sure it's still worth it to stay. Keep your own needs in mind," Natasha advised. To someone less experienced than the agent, it would seem like she was setting the stage to separate Ranma from Stark. The Council members who couldn't make up their damn minds about what orders to give would probably think that, which could be convenient for her later. Her more competent colleagues and superiors would know better. What she was doing now was giving the superhuman some much-needed perspective to settle her own thoughts.

"Food, shelter, and the ability to train are all I need," Ranma laughed. "And you could even drop the shelter. Tony and Pepper are paying me more money than I ever imagined to do this. Kuso... I can name times back in Nerima when I had to shell out yen for the honor of saving somebody! Seriously! I had to pay for the people I was saving!"

"Tch... Nerima," Natasha scoffed, getting a chuckle from the younger woman. "Yeah, I can see how it's a big turn-around. Still, the fact is that Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts didn't give you much of a choice with The Gown, did they?" Natasha said with hint of reproach.

"That's..." Ranma started to protest before getting distracted. "What's with the capital letters, anyway? You're saying it, not writing it! How the heck do you all keep doing that?"

"You know Ms. Potts called me in for the fitting they did earlier since I've got my background as a model," the older woman reminded her. "When it was on the hanger, it was amazing, but still just a gown. On you...? All caps. Definitely. The Gown is The Gown because it's THE GOWN. I think my Bi-level went up two points just from seeing you in it." Ranma snorted at that, not knowing the background of the phrase, but grasping the context. She also radiated a bit of smug that Natasha had no problem picking up. "But let's get back to the point. I know why we want you to wear it... you're gonna be absolutely ravishing. The question is if you're really sure if you want to go along with it?"

"It's... it's just a stupid dress," Ranma grumbled, "it's not that big a deal if I wear it."

"With the high heels, tiny thong panties, and no bra or anything else but make-up and jewelry? Really? Going out in public like that... like the ultimate icon of feminine beauty and sexiness? Really?" Natasha asked leadingly. When Ranma turned to look at her with a blank expression, she added: "You haven't really complained enough to stop it, but you also haven't been too comfortable with all this pampering and primping we've been doing to make you the womanliest woman in California. You, who were born a guy? Ms. Potts really did kind of steamroll you on this whole thing, so I just want to make sure you're OK."

Ranma didn't say anything immediately in reply, and again Natasha was content to work in silence as the younger woman processed things. "I guess she kinda did," the martial artist conceded at last. "Today's been a bad day and I think it's making her rush things. I'm not even sure this will even work."

"Oh... it'll work," Natasha stated with absolute certainty. "If we're talking about the plan to put you front and center of every society magazine, gossip column, talk show, etcetera...? It'll work. It might not be enough to cut into the media space being used for hit-pieces, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was. Between all the movie moghuls, corporate honchos, socialites, and other rumor mongers, there is no doubt pictures and videos of you styled to within an inch of your life will be all over the planet tomorrow morning. If you aren't ready to face that... back out. Now."

Once more, Ranma went quiet. She sighed and tilted her head as she rested it on the pillow, and Natasha could see a pensive expression. As expected from the profile she had worked up, Natasha didn't get the impression the younger woman was about to give up, however. She took the opportunity to nudge some more. "Come to think of it, you complained about when they were fitting The Gown, but there wasn't really anything stopping you from just walking away. You held still for it in the end. You don't have to say, but have you thought about why that was?"

Ranma looked even more reflective as she stared out into space for most of a minute. "I'm not sure I want to admit this..." the littler redhead finally said quietly. She went silent for several more seconds.

"I'm not here to judge you," Natasha said solemnly. "I just want you to know what you're getting into and for you to understand your own feelings about it."

"I..." Ranma paused for a long time again. "I... like looking good. Beautiful, even," she finally confessed. "Even back in Nerima, I liked it when people thought I was the best looking girl around. Got into stupid contests over it a few times. I guess I want people to look at me and be all... amazed. Even guys. Don't get me wrong," she was quick to add, "I don't ever want guys touching me that way!" Her entire body shuddered atop the massage table. "Euuugh... no! But... it's OK for them to look," she admitted almost inaudibly.

"I don't exactly remember how I phrased it, but that first day in your house, remember? I asked something like if there was anything better about being a woman, but you never really answered. Are there things that are better about being a woman? Is looking good one of those things?" When the young lady under her hands nodded slightly, Natasha reassured her: "There are millions of women in the world who would say exactly the same things. That even if they don't want to do anything intimate with a man, they still like looking good to men as well as other women anyway," the agent pointed out. "There's nothing wrong about your feelings. Hell," she giggled, "I can name male models who've said almost exactly the same thing you just did even though they're just as disinterested in men as I know you are."

"Oh yeah?" Ranma asked with a small, hopeful voice.

"Oh yeah," Natasha agreed. "Having pride in your appearance doesn't say a damn thing about your sexuality. You can be the hottest, sexiest person alive, and still live like a monk if that's what you want. It's not anybody else's business... unless you're in a committed relationship with them or something. But even that part's still a decision you make, and still not any business of anyone outside the relationship. For that matter, it's nobody's business but yours if you want to hook up with everything on two legs."

Ranma turned her head to give her an unimpressed look. "I won't be doing that."

"Hey," Natasha grinned. "Don't knock it until you try it." Seeing how Ranma's expression wasn't relenting at all, her grin widened. "Or at least never say never."

Ranma rolled her eyes. "Kinda doubt it's that simple."

"Well, there are people who think that just because they lust after you that you're required to hold still for whatever they want to do. Those people are scumbags." Natasha's smile dropped into a more grim cast. "You know... other women might need to be careful depending on where they are, or who they're near. But you? It really is that simple when it comes to you, since you can't be forced or trapped. Hell... not even the old 'my car ran out of gas' con would work on you, since you can outrun the car on foot in the first place. All that's left is what you want. As long as consenting adults are involved? Do as much or as little as you desire."

Shifting uncomfortably at the frank topic, and some of the things it made her think about, Ranma tried to move the subject back onto safer ground. "The dress isn't that bad, y'know. It's not little-girly, anyway. Not... y'know... the sort of thing that would make people not take me seriously."

"You're right about that!" Natasha agreed fervently. "You look absolutely dangerous in that thing!" She couldn't see her charge's expression, but she heard Ranma make a pleased sound at her choice of adjectives. "You know," Natasha mused, "when I go all out. When I dial up the sexy to the max, it feels kind of amazing. I walk into a room and I own it. I don't have to be looking for a good time, just the impact I make is fun by itself. So I get what you're saying. Whether they react well or badly, the one thing nobody's going to do is disregard you when you're wearing that dress."

"Yeah. 'Dangerous'," Ranma quoted in a murmur. "I like that."

"Don't forget, approval of distributed images and video is written into the contract we set up for your modeling," Natasha pointed out. "You can insist on 'dangerous' as your standard for anything that gets released. I think we both know Mr. Stark won't object at all, and Ms. Potts will probably encourage it."

"Hmm..." Ranma hummed contentedly. "Yeah. That'll work for me. Dangerous."

"Felling better about becoming a world-famous model now?" Natasha inquired.

Ranma went noticeably still for a moment. "I was until you pointed out the 'world-famous' part."

Natasha chuckled throatily. "Sorry about that. Does that mean you want to bail out now?"

"Nah, nah..." Ranma sighed resignedly while she relaxed again. "It just hadn't hit me until you said it. Akane and the rest are going to tease the hell out of me, but it's still cool."

"Really?"

"Yeah... I mean... it's like that one phrase I heard: 'go big or go home.' If I'm going to do this, I might as well aim for being world-class." She made a fist and pounded it lightly on the cushioned pad. "This is me. It's what I am. I'm Saotome Ranma. I'm the best there is. That means when I'm a woman... I'm magnificent!"

"And a little arrogant... or actually a lot arrogant," Natasha commented lightly.

"Yeah... but am I wrong?"

"Hmm..." the older woman hummed thoughtfully. "No. I don't think so."

"Thanks. Besides," Ranma huffed a mischievous laugh. "I kind of want to see how Okaa-San reacts."

"Ah yes... her," Natasha said in a low, hostile tone. "I admit, I'd like to see how she reacts as well."

"Eesh," Ranma muttered at how angry 'Natalie' sounded. "Maybe I shouldn't have said anything."

"It's fine. If I ever do find myself thinking of that woman, it will cheer me up to think how she handles you being the beautiful young woman all the world fawns over." Natasha's smirk made a comeback. "That'll be enough... unless I ever actually meet her. I might want a little more retaliation if that ever happens."

"O...kay...? Uh... please don't beat up my mom."

"Anyway, speaking of modeling, I do have some extra advice for you," Natasha offered, blatantly ignoring the plea.

"Oi... OK. Seriously... don't beat up my mom," Ranma repeated as she looked back. Taking in the bland expression of the other woman, she rolled her eyes. "Fine. What's that advice?"

"I may have been a lingerie model and you'll be presenting Stark goods and services fully dressed... probably... actually...?" She thought about it some more. "Actually, you might want to prepare yourself for wearing swimsuits for these shoots. Anyway, the two situations are largely the same. So I can warn you that you need to be ready for the fact that there will be a lot you can't control once your image is out there," Natasha told her.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, even if you do everything right, or exactly what you employer wants, people are not always going to form the opinions you expect. It won't be their business, and they'll have no right to judge your life, but they'll have their own hang-ups or prior ideas, and those can make things shake out in unpredictable ways. So they might think things about you that you don't like. Like they'll think you're not a real martial artist or you're not as smart as you are, or something like that," Natasha explained. "That goes double for any woman associated with Mr Stark. With his reputation, people thinking you're another of his conquests is inevitable."

"Isn't that what the Flirt-Fu's for?" Ranma complained.

"It is, but it will take a while for that to take effect. Just don't put too much stock into public opinion when it goes that way. Especially since there are people who even when you haul them outside and make them look up, they are gonna insist the sky is green with brown polka dots, not blue."

"Oh... yeah." Ranma rubbed at the bridge of her nose. "I know those people. They're called 'Almost Everybody in Nerima'."

"Exactly. So?" Natasha shrugged. "As long as you did the best you could, you've done your job. Take your pay and go home. Worry about what the people close to you think and forget about the rest."

"Alright," Ranma sighed. "Sounds like good advice. I can do that."

"It's easier to say than to do," Natasha pointed out. "You are pretty prideful."

"Yeah, I'm prideful. I've earned it. But..." she sighed again. "I can handle it. I'm used to putting up with crap like that. Like I said... almost everybody in Nerima."

"OK. As long as you are warned." And Natasha was fairly pleased she could work that warning into the context of her cover and also remain within her mission parameters.

"Thanks for watching out for me, though," Ranma said with studied casualness as she put her face down again to hide her expression. "I really appreciate how much you've helped me. I really need to do something nice for you sometime. And for Tony and Pepper."

"Well... you're already doing something plenty nice for them, and it's my job to help you out, but you're welcome. Though if you want to owe me a favor sometime, I won't say no," she smiled down at the back of Ranma's braid. "This is why I like talking to you when you're female," she suddenly veered off the serious discussion.

"Huh? Why? Oh... wait... the 'girl talk' thing?"

"I like that too, but that wasn't what I was thinking of. Want to keep guessing?" Natasha teased.

"Uh... girls are better looking than guys?" Ranma guessed again.

"That's your opinion, not mine," Natasha chuckled. "So nope."

"Hmm... OK, I give up. Why?"

"You're freer with your emotions like this."

"Huh?"

"When you're male, I notice you tend to be more... introverted? No..." Natasha shook her head. "That's not quite the term for it. You've been nothing but open and talkative. More stoic, maybe?" She bobbed her shoulders where she stood even as she kept petting Ranma's skin. "Maybe straitlaced is the best word."

The pseudo-massage came to a halt when Ranma propped herself up on her elbows and gave Natasha a confused look. "I have no idea what you're saying. Hang on." She vaulted off the massage table and padded over to her things, completely casual about her nudity like she'd been all afternoon with the salon ladies. Natasha enjoyed the view and 'helpfully' took away the towel that has been partially covering the Ki-adept earlier.

Ranma grabbed her Stark HUD and put it on. Turning the face the other redhead, she propped her fists on he bare hips and said: "JARVIS? What do 'introverted,' 'stoic,' and... what was the third thing?"

"Straitlaced?"

"...'Straitlaced' mean?" It look only a fraction of a second of rapid reading for her expression to turn profoundly dubious. "Really?" she asked Natasha. "I'm fine with stoic, but introverted? Pretty sure I told you about my Dairokkan. I'm always paying attention to what's around me. And straitlaced? 'Excessively strict in conduct or morality; puritanical; prudish'? Me? Prudish?"

"Hmm? A little, yeah. Even as you stand there totally naked... yeah," Natasha declared playfully. "But I was actually thinking about the strict in conduct part."

"How's that?"

"Get back on the bed, and I'll tell you," Natasha demanded as she waved the teen toward the table. Shrugging, Ranma did so. When she went to lay her face down, the HUD got in the way. She simply took it off and held it in her hand instead of putting it back where it was. She did not say or do anything about the now-absent towel.

"The fact that you didn't mind being called stoic ties in to what I'm thinking," Natasha quietly started to explain as she resumed stroking Ranma's calves. "I'll bet it's because of your upbringing, but you definitely try to act a certain way when you're male."

"Uhh... well..." Ranma muttered uncomfortably, "...guys are supposed to be strong. I mean... I don't buy what Oyaji always said about girls being weak now... I'm proof he's wrong... but still..."

"...Still you feel obligated to follow certain behaviors," Natasha finished for him. "That's fine. We all have our masks to deal with society. But the fact remains it doesn't always let you fully express yourself. I doubt you would have mentioned how Nodoka will react to seeing you model if you were male at the time. That wouldn't fit the role."

"I... huh..." Ranma cocked her head as she tried visualizing herself in her guy form during that part of the conversation. "Maybe not? Is that really such a bad thing?"

"Hmm..." Natasha pondered the question. "Not really bad. As long as you know you're doing it. And as long as you don't go too far with it. The strong, silent type does appeal to a lot of women, but there's a difference between a man who feels intense passion but keeps his own council and one who's just an emotionless lump. The former can be sexy but the latter is just a cold fish."

"Uh huh, right," Ranma replied doubtfully. "Not that anything women really want has anything to do with me right now," she concluded said a little sourly.

"Well that sounded rather defeatist," Natasha complained teasingly. "Didn't we just talk about Flirt-Fu and how it can make your life better?"

The supine redhead sighed heavily. "We did, and I agreed you had a point. Several points, really, but..." she sighed even more heavily. "There's so much going on right now... and I'm having to spend so much time as a girl. Also, being with someone would take so much work. That's skipping the whole part where I don't even know where to start! Ughh..." she beat her forehead on the padded rest a couple of times. "It's just easier not to feel things like that. So what if I'm a cold fish? I like fish! They're a good, traditional Japanese breakfast. Nice salty, fishy taste."

Natasha, the self-controlled super-spy, had to bite her lip to keep from laughing out loud at Ranma's unintentional innuendo. "Ahem... well... I didn't say you weren't feeling emotions. I said you were repressing them, and only a little bit. Really, it's not a problem as long as you don't go gonzo with it. It's better to be in touch with your emotions."

"How?" Ranma demanded flatly. She was getting a little offended at the perceived criticism.

"Aside from mental health?" Natasha inquired archly.

"I'm from Nerima," the stubborn young woman responded as if that was all the argument she needed.

"That's not an excuse or requirement to become a basket-case," Natasha denied drolly. "How about this? Modeling is a bit like acting as you'll need to act like you're enthusiastic for whatever you're pushing. Same thing for conducting news interviews. You need to act like a professional and an expert. For all your stated antagonism to acting, being better at it will help you out. Being able to project emotions is what makes one actor better than another. Understanding your own emotions will help you project emotions better, thus improving the kinds of acting you'll need to do for your job. Showing the face you want to show."

Grudgingly, Ranma admitted: "I am way better at disguises as a girl. I was never able to figure out why. I figured it was because I looked good, so nobody looked past that."

"That could certainly be part of it, but the rest could be your free expression of feelings," Natasha suggested gently. "Or maybe the real issue is you use up all your acting ability to play the kind of role you think guys should play. Putting up a front because it's expected of you. So busy being the manly, strong, he-man guy that you lose some flexibility?"

Ranma was quiet for several moments. When she spoke up, it was with a weak laugh and a weaker deflection. "Well... don't get me wrong, I kick the same amount of ass either way... but I am stronger as a guy when it comes to muscle."

"Are you saying you're weaker like this? I heard you could lift 55 tons over your head!?" Natasha asked in surprise, willing to go along with the diversion for now.

"My girl-side can lift 55 tons. My guy-side can lift 85."

"Oh no," Natasha said in a monotone, "30 whole tons less. You're such a frail, delicate flower." Resuming in a normal voice, she asked: "Do you know how much regular women lift?"

"Not much, I guess," Ranma mused. "Probably less than a ton."

"Try less than a twentieth of a ton."

"Oh..."

"Ahhh... yes. 'Oh'," she chuckled ruefully. "You really come from a different world than most people."

"Sorry."

"It's OK, I kind of like that about you. Back to what I was saying... there are other things that a higher emotional IQ will help with in your day-to-day life when you are projecting an image of yourself," Natasha claimed.

"Like tricking people?" Ranma was thinking of Nabiki, who didn't exactly wear her heart on her sleeve, but was very good at showing fake emotions to deceive people.

"That isn't what I was thinking of. There are other reasons to project an image than tricking people. People project images all the time. To show they are confident and skilled. To show they are reliable. To warn people off before the do something that will get them hurt. Or..." she drawled, "they can project the idea that they are single, available, and looking for company."

"Right. Flirt-Fu," Ranma sighed in consternation, realizing that she'd just been given a decent reason to practice that... ambiguous... art.

"Yep," Natasha chuckled. "That's another reason to be mindful of emotions. Yours and others. They're there. Everybody has them. Ignoring those facts will just get you in trouble. Paying attention can let good things happen, like romance." Natasha playfully smacked Ranma's backside when she groaned. "Healthy young people aren't supposed to act like getting sociable with attractive company is torture. This doesn't have to be painful."

"Yes. Yes it does," Ranma countered darkly. "My proof? Shan Pu. Ukyo... before we beat her dad into submission. Shan Pu. Kodachi. Shan Pu. That Daikonji chick. Shan Pu. Akane, before we figured things out. And... in case I forgot... Shan Pu."

"Nerima girls don't count as evidence by reason of insanity," Natasha declared imperiously.

"Ha-ha," Ranma responded dully. "Very funny. Also... very true. But who's to say things will be any different here?"

"Me. I'll say that," the spy told her with self-assurance. "Forget their strength and abilities. Forget their nuttiness. The reason things will be different now is those girls were silly little girls."

"Annnnd... you've lost me again," Ranma said.

"You're eighteen," Natasha reminded her. "You have a well-paying, highly-valued job. It's time to graduate to adult relationships instead of little kid ones. No more stupid drama about love letters or first kisses or popularity contests or whatever infantile crap. You're ready for more that that."

"Maybe not," Ranma said wryly, thinking about antics committed with duck-tape just to avoid a first kiss. "Because I can't figure out what that means unless you mean it like Happosai would."

"I might." Natasha grinned when Ranma whipped her head around to stare at her. "I'm only half-kidding that time. When I talk about adult relationships, I mean between people who realize the fairy-tale 'young-man-meets-young-woman-and-they-get-married-and-live-happily-ever-after-forever-and-ever-until-they-die-of-old-age-or-boredom' deal has almost no basis in reality. True, there are people who marry young and stay happily together for the rest of their lives, but they are very, very rare."

"OK, maybe I do qualify for the adult relationships," Ranma chuckled. "If there's one thing I know from... watchamacallit... empirical data, it's how fast 'together forever' falls apart. That still doesn't change the fact that jumping in to that mess anyway looks like more trouble than it's worth."

"From your perspective, that's to be expected. In a way, it's a bigger step for you than crossing the ocean on your own was," Natasha said sympathetically. "It definitely does get more complicated in real life compared to theory or ideals. Most people manage romances that last a few years or a few months. Some relationships only last a night... or even just an hour. Nor are those longer relationships strictly confined to exclusive couples. The phrase 'going steady,' where two people date each other and no one else, only showed up after World War II, and doesn't really work for a lot of people. Casually dating multiple people is common. Having intimate relationships with multiple people is less common, but hardly unprecedented. It doesn't even mean somebody is getting cheated on as long as everybody knows what's up and go along with it."

"If this is supposed to encourage me, it ain't working," Ranma grumbled.

"I'm only trying to make sure you're knowledgeable. It's better to know and have a chance of avoiding trouble than to stumble into it blindly," Natasha said primly.

"Hai, Sensei."

"Very droll. Still... I suppose you have been an able student. You managed things with Everhart rather well," Natasha complimented her.

"I guess?" A corner of Ranma's eye showed and looked perplexed. "That wasn't dating, that was more like... battle."

"They say love's a battlefield," Natasha quipped. "But actually it's more like diplomacy... war by other means. If you want to do it right, you figure out what you want, what you need, and what you can live with to get those things; then negotiate with the other side to see if their wants, needs, and means match up with yours."

"I don't get where you're going with this," Ranma shook her head. "What does that have to do with Christine? She's pretty, but I had zero plans to go out with her. Where are you getting this?"

"It all comes back to projecting feelings and intentions," Natasha explained. "She was showing how she thought you were potential dupe and conquest of Mr. Stark. You projected an image that her suggestion was impossible because you are exclusively attracted to women, including her. You also signaled that a relationship with her was unlikely and that you were a person beyond her capacity to handle, thus establishing dominance in a completely different way than Mr. Stark did when he seduced her. In the end it was all about projections and relationships."

"Wait... what? Who told you that? About her and Tony, I mean? They really got together?"

"Nobody told me. Nobody needed to. There was a whole subtext going on with her, Mr. Stark, and Ms. Potts all that afternoon," Natasha waved her hand dismissively. "It was pretty obvious when you notice the clues."

"I remember thinking something weird was going on," Ranma sighed a little wearily. "That's what that was all about? Christine was jealous?"

"Oh, I doubt she was jealous. Or if she was, it was a really, really small amount. She was more regretful and embarrassed about it. Especially since Ms. Potts has a reputation for being the one to finesse Mr. Stark's one-night-stands out the door and out of his life. Everhart was definitely the loser of that particular negotiation," she judged.

"Is that really the kind of thing where there should be a loser?"

"Not when the parties are negotiating in good faith. Mr. Stark probably wasn't."

"He lied to her?" Ranma sounded like she was starting to get angry.

"Lied? Probably not. I imagine what he did was overwhelm her with his charm and confidence... and some persistence too if how he acts around me is any basis," she speculated dryly. "I have no doubt she knew it wasn't going to be anything but a single night's entertainment, but she probably wouldn't have gone through with it if she had thought about it more. She would have been better off if she were a party girl instead of a serious professional woman, that way she could have just been in it for the fun with no regrets."

"And Tony couldn't have found a 'party girl' instead?"

"Sure he could have, but it was about the conquest as much as it was the sex," she shrugged. "It isn't pretty, but it happens all the time, especially with the rich and powerful. Mr. Stark supposedly has not been doing that sort of thing as often lately, but he hasn't exactly quit cold turkey, either. Everhart was genuinely trying to warn you before the same thing happened to you."

"Damn... now I need to go apologize to her," Ranma sighed.

"Not really, it doesn't sound like you were mean," Natasha patted the back of Ranma's knee. "You were just... much. Too much for her. Something I rather approve of."

"Still..."

"I would wait until you happen to have a private conversation with her again, if you ever do. Chasing her down to bring up something she didn't regard as a good memory would not be kind."

"Ahhhh, kuso... you're right." Still face-down, she threw up her hands in frustration. "By the kami, this stuff's too complicated. Monk! I need to become a monk!"

"No need to go that far. Don't panic," Natasha advised jovially. "Nobody said you had to drop straight in to some Byzantine love-septagon the first time you go out for a night out on the town. I'll help you out, if I can. Perhaps tonight? There's nothing stopping you from finding someone to keep you company the rest of the night after the party," she murmured suggestively.

"Er... really?" The whites of Ranma's eyes were clearly evident as she glanced back. "Are you really telling me to... to..."

"Those party girls I mentioned earlier?" Natasha spoke in a sarcastically confiding tone. "They often show up at actual parties, believe it or not. It would be a good chance to do some experimenting with someone who won't make demands later. For that matter, Meghan was definitely feeling it when she was in here with you. If you had gone for it, something pretty spicy could have happened."

"What, really?" Ranma squeaked, her eyes widening even more.

"Yep," the seduction expert confirmed. "Maybe I should have left instead of her, but I wanted to talk to you. If I hadn't, things could have been pretty steamy in here right about now."

As she made this claim, Ranma couldn't help but be very aware of the hands that were caressing the backs of her knees, and quivered involuntarily. Trying to distract herself, she admitted: "I just... I can't get over how you're telling me to do something everybody kept saying 'don't do' for so long."

"I'm not saying you should do anything... I'm saying you can do something if you wanted to. Ranma... you're free! Free of all the idiocy in Nerima. Free of all the pacts and demands. Free of your parents expectations. Free of anyone's expectations." She could tell from the way the martial artist shifted under her hands that her words had an impact. "All that matters now are your expectations. Your needs and your wants. Though I guess you're still figuring those out."

"Che... you sure got that right. Sometimes I think I want one thing, sometimes another." Ranma shook her head. "Crappy place for a martial artist to be. Unsteady intent is a guaranteed way to lose."

"I'd like to say this isn't something you can lose at, but it is possible to lose out if you aren't honest with yourself. Fortunately, a party like this one is a great way to push your boundaries. I don't mean push them as far as you're comfortable. I mean push until you're just a little uncomfortable, hold it there for a while, then make an informed decision of if you want to back off, keep it there, or even push it further," Natasha pointed out.

"Hmm... it does take pushing limits to really get good at the Art," Ranma said thoughtfully.

Natasha started chuckling lowly. "Oh, wow." Her laughter went on and took on a growing tone of wicked delight. "Oh, wow."

"What?"

"It just struck me how much potential you have," Natasha shook her head. "Martial arts... sexual arts... they're both expressions of physical and mental capability. The way you handle me on the mats... if you manage a tenth of that mastery on the mattress... heh. Heh-heh-heh-heh Oh my!" She rubbed her chin with an anticipatory grin. "I may have just unleashed a monster on the women of the world. I wonder how they'll thank me?"

"Ah... hunh..." Ranma opened her mouth to replay then froze. The only thing she could think to say was how little effort she put into training 'Natalie.' Extrapolating to what her real capacity was... she suddenly understood really well why the other redhead was reacting like she did. Her face lit up with a blush and her face was an odd study of curiosity, anticipation, and... was it possible to be intimidated by oneself?

"Whew..." Natasha calmed down again. Sighing, she said: "Just think about it. It's all up to you. Though I have to admit I'm really curious now, it really isn't my business to nudge you one way or the other..." the older woman trailed off. "Perhaps I shouldn't be putting ideas in your head yet... but I kind of want to make sure I'm around when you do try something out. So I can give advice and encouragement, if nothing else. That means I'm inclined to rush, I suppose." Unstated was the fact that helping Ranma get laid by a neutral party could help her renegotiate friendly relations later if she needed.

"Why do you need to rush me?"

"I don't know where I'll be after this mess with the press gets sorted out," Natasha shrugged. "Maybe I'll be working for Mr. Stark still, or maybe I'll just get transferred somewhere else entirely. Ms. Potts still isn't entirely convinced I should stick around."

"Oh... I hope that doesn't happen," Ranma said pensively.

"Things are pretty up in the air, so there's no telling."

"Mmm..." Ranma did not sound at all happy.

"Don't worry about it," Natasha coaxed. "You can go anywhere on the planet with the SkyBuster any time you want. You can always visit me. There are also these things called telephones and e-mail." Even if SHIELD pulled her out, they'd be mad to not use her friendliness with Ranma to keep open lines of communication or cooperation. She could even do that if she had to stay in cover as 'Natalie the assistant' or 'Natalie the U.S. Marshall' if things played out that way. "Though I hope we can go together the first time you go to a club or something, I'll want to watch to make sure you follow my oh-so-wise teachings."

"If those teachings are what a woman as spectacular as you likes, I'll definitely... follow... crap," she muttered. "I said that out loud, didn't I?"

"You sure did," Natasha smirked as her hands worked up to the tops of Ranma's thighs, her fingers moving in languorous spirals. She noted how Ranma unconsciously relaxed and opened her legs a bit.

"Can we, uh... forget I said that?" Ranma said a little breathlessly.

"Why? It was a good line. Plus bonus points for innate sincerity."

Indeed, Natasha found herself feeling more flattered than she had in some time. Plenty of men and women had praised her looks in attempts to seduce her. Some had even been as sweetly genuine as Ranma had just been. However, none of those people were an unstoppable god of combat on the battlefield, then as gentle as a butterfly's kiss off it. If religion was the opiate of the masses as she had been taught as a child, then power was hers. An opiate or an aphrodisiac. Deliberately or not... and it was very likely deliberate on the part of her handlers... her proclivities had been firmly fixed by her time in the Red Room. Either way, controlled power was a serious turn-on to her.

Following a mischievous impulse, and judging the Ki-adept was feeling receptive, Natasha moved her hands up way up Ranma's thighs to just a hair short of her finely sculpted buttocks... or maybe a hair farther as the side of one hand just barely landed an instant's feather touch on the rising curve. Making her hands writhe against the finely toned skin, she moved her hands in a safer direction, then pushed them right back up again. Again. And yet again with relentless eroticism. Ranma choked off a yip, her toes and fists clenching.

"Too much?" Natasha asked as she backed off a little. The way Ranma's thighs relaxed and opened a little more, she didn't think she had.

Ranma took a sharp breath then let it out slowly. "Ah... no...?"

"Then maybe I should go further...?" Natasha suggested. When the martial artist's body language stiffened, she answered her own question: "No...? Are you sure...?"

Instead or responding directly, Ranma sighed: "What are you doing?"

"What do you think I'm doing?" Natasha asked with some incredulity. To make her point, she worked all the way up to the edge of the agreed-upon safe-line, making Ranma squirm.

"Well... I guess... I... you... are you?" the superhuman fighter babbled a bit until she took a steadying breath. "Are you flirting with me?"

"Really? Ranma... I've been flirting with you since I laid hands on you," Natasha chuckled huskily. "Took you long enough to notice... especially since you were flirting back!" When Ranma jerked her face around to protest, she admitted: "OK, yeah... I escalated a lot on you, but you were flirting even if you didn't mean to say that out loud."

"But... why?" Ranma almost wailed in confusion. "Haven't you been flirting with Tony? I mean... flirting so much even I know you're doing it!"

"Yeah? So? None of us are in committed relationships, so why not?" Reading the confusion of the younger woman in the set of her shoulders, she went on to say: "For me, flirting can be fun, a tool..." a weapon, "...or just a way to kill time. If you watch me carefully, you'll see I'm doing it at a low level almost all the time, to everyone. It's how I move. How I use my eyes. What expression I show. What I wear. It's even been what I eat or drink. And how I eat or drink it." It was even in how she fought a lot of the time, but she had no intention of bringing that up. "If I get nothing back, like with Ms. Potts, I give it up. If I have an effect, like on you or Mr. Stark, then I keep doing it or I even ramp it up."

"Why? You can't be with both of us."

"Why can't I? Remember that we aren't talking kiddy-story relationships here. I could do something with you one day, and something with Mr. Stark the next... if I was dumb enough to to join the disposable bimbo pile. Hell, I could roll out of one your beds and skip on over to the other the same night if I wanted. But who says I want to sleep with either of you? People can flirt with absolutely no intention of going any further," she stated reasonably.

"I'm getting tired of asking this and looking stupid... but why?" Ranma groaned in bafflement. "If you aren't trying to make us boyfriend and girlfriend or something, you aren't accomplishing anything!"

"Wouldn't it be girlfriend and girlfriend?" Natasha teased, getting a growl in return. "Either way, I don't think I'm wasting my time. Beyond entertaining myself, it helps me get a read on people, let's me know how they respond and think. In Mr. Stark's case, it also helps me do my job by giving him incentive to cooperate."

"Oh... that'd work on me too, I guess," Ranma admitted with a bit of shame.

"You're a different case. Everybody is a different case when it comes to flirting and relationships. In your case, you're genuinely more attractive than he is... in both forms. Also, with you, flirting is really fun... for both of us, I'd think," she added an extra squeeze for emphasis.

Ranma twitched lightly at that but she had started to relax and squirm contentedly. "I uh... You don't need to stop if you don't want to. Flirting... I mean."

"Hmmm, like I said, this is a bit past flirting, but maybe I'll go a little longer anyway," Natasha murmured. "Think of this as adult friends playing together," she said after a few more moments of massaging.

"Friends, huh?" Ranma muttered wistfully. "I haven't done too well on making friends on my own."

"I'd say it's been working out for us. I don't want to get married. Ever." 'Again', she didn't say. "I don't even want a boyfriend or girlfriend the way you think of them... as in a long-term or exclusive relationship. But genuine friends? I can always use more of those." She briefly ran a finger over where a certain necklace would lie if she weren't undercover.

"So can I."

"So..." she drawled suggestively, "as friends, we can have fun together. We can also expand each other's horizons."

"Yeah... my horizon sure got expanded just now," Ranma quipped under her breath.

Natasha chuckled at the comment. "Would you say this is as much as those ladies on the Party Plane did for you, or is it a bit more?"

"Uh..." Ranma had to struggle to clear her head enough to think about the question. "You know about that?"

"Everybody knows about that plane." Natasha smirked knowingly. "Within Stark Industries, anyway. So...?"

"Oh, um... I guess what you're doing is a bit... I don't know?" Ranma decided with an atomic blush. "You've got all your clothes on... but..."

"It's not a lap-dance, so objectively, I may not be going as far. But there's a big difference when it's between friends or even co-workers, not a dancer and client, isn't there?"

"Um... yeah."

"Friends can share all kinds of things with each other. Trust me." Abruptly abandoning the legs she had been working over, Natasha stepped forward and leaned into Ranma's back, making certain to press her breasts against the uncannily powerful muscles there. "Even their bodies," she whispered into her ear, her warm breath tickling her earlobe.

"Uh..." Ranma went very still.

The older redhead could feel the skin under her chest heating up. The martial artist's muscles may have been impervious to her physical efforts, but her mental resistance was melted almost completely away. It was a heady feeling to Natasha. She could seduce the affection-starved, super-powered fighter right then and there. Have her any way she wanted and with any condition she cared to set. No commitments, no recriminations, nor even harsh feelings if she decided to handle it that way. She had an almost complete free hand to shape Ranma's attitude about adult relations, and she could guide that to suit her needs.

However... professionalism reasserted itself. The time to seduce Ranma would be after things were settled with Stark, not before. Either she would need to make some reparations in order to get the Ki-adept's forgiveness, or they'll have somehow managed to ride things out until the idiot committee members grew a clue. In which case she'd be free to continue on her own terms. Either way, laying in some groundwork in advance was useful.

"But we would have to get to know each other for a bit longer before that was on the table," Natasha declared brusquely as she stood and clapped her hands to signal the end of the 'massage.' "It looks like it's almost time for you to take a shower. Another cold one, of course," she noted with amusement. "Only not for the Waterproof Soap this time."

Ranma let out a deep breath to steady herself. "Yare-yare..." she huffed. "It's like you're a friendly, non-greedy Nabiki."

Natasha smirked at her as she made sure appropriate shampoo and unguents were in the shower. "I'll take that as a compliment."

############

Author's notes: Believe it or not, I had most of this written well before She-Hulk dropped. Though it's encouraging I'm not the only one who made certain extrapolations.

The mass freak-out about how Tony Stark wasn't Iron-Man often enough when he had only gone public six months prior was bizarre. I try not to underestimate the power of human stupidity, but becoming so dependent so quickly seemed like a stretch. Some kind of skulduggery under the surface makes this more believable? Maybe?

Female Ranma's lifting capacity is based on the fandom wiki where it was stated that the mass of the boulder she picked up and crammed into the Orochi's mouth was 40 tons. This is not by any means the high estimate based other canon feats of strength, as estimates of those got into the thousands or even hundreds of thousands of tons. So I arbitrarily picked this for something that put her in legendary ranges, but not ludicrously so. Take this initial estimate and add 15 more tons to account for her increased ability in the time since, then compare the ratio of average weight lifting ability of men as compared to women to get 85 tons for Ranma's male form. Either way, we're still talking about main battle tanks getting tossed around.

One thing that seemed to stand out about Natasha's interactions with Steve Rogers was how she would encourage him to get into relationships. That might have been more about getting him to accept the new time he found himself in, but it is hard to tell since the other Avengers were either not subject to matchmaking or we didn't see her interact with them as much. I decided that being nosy and meddlesome about her friends' love-lives is going to be a thing for her.

As for her own romantic preferences, you have to admit Natasha's relationship with Bruce was... a mess. It popped up out of nowhere, briefly, in Age of Ultron, and I have no idea why. To be motivation for Bruce? Because everybody else had some kind of romance going on and the writers felt compelled to include them as well? It wasn't Attack of the Clones bad, but it was still pretty bad. Still, a fascination with power on Natasha's part is canon. I decided to make controlled power more appealing. This still doesn't mean there will be a pairing, as in a committed relationship, with Ranma, however. Ranma has issues, and Natasha has volumes.