Ranma Half Moon Season Two, Phrase White: Cold opening, part 5

Police Chief Santa stands in front of the members of White. They hang their heads in shame. They all are in one of the houses used by one of the field agents.

Santa holds out a hair. "Blond. That would belong to you, Jadero, would it not?"

Jadero weakly nods his head.

"Nowadays, science can take a single stand of hair and trace it through dozens of databases. Even though none of you are in a DNA database, all of your parents are. This hair would alert an investigator that the son of someone whose entire family was wiped out was still walking around."

Jadero contemplates digging a hole in the floor.

"That would raise all sorts of questions, would it not? It would put everything at risk."

"I'm sorry!"

Santa smiles. "Jadero, you're still gaining experience. The other boys left a lot more than just one hair on their early attempts. I'm sure you'll do better."

"I will, sir."

"Good. However, I didn't come all the way out here to micro-manage your training. I trust my field agents to train you four correctly. No, the reason I came down is that I have an assignment that is a lot more dangerous than usual. You might think of it as a live exercise."

The four boys look at Santa with confusion on their faces.

"So far the assignments have amounted to harmless hijinks, meant to desensitize you boys towards doing unlawful things. Now, we are going to take it to the next level, and we are going to do something bad to someone. You might say that we are going to deny a dark beast his tomorrows."

Zoiki smiles. "Who would be this dark beast?"

"I think you might have seen this man before." Santa holds up a photo.

Jadero panics. "Mister Rope."

"Yes. We traced the license plate number that Zoiki sent in. This man is exactly the sort of person you all thought he was. He picks up young boys, ties them up and kills them, and," Police Chief Santa whispers, "worse."

Jadero gulps.

"But, he is above the law. He has powerful connections in the criminal justice system and is able to squash any attempt to arrest him."

Kunochi smiles. "Are we going to kill him?"

"No, no, no. Not directly. I don't think you boys should have 'being killers' on your conscience just yet. But, you can be instrumental in bringing him down."

"Wouldn't that make us accessories?"

"Yes, but it will be his behavior that will seal his fate. Do you guys want in on this?"

Towa looks at Santa funny. "Do you mean we have a choice?"

"Yes. You will always have a choice."

"I'm in." Zoiki does not hesitate.

Kunochi nods. "Well, if Zoiki is in, I better be there to protect him."

Towa turns up his nose in disgust. "Can't be helped. This guy would have killed Jadero if we had been a few minutes slower. I'm in."

"Are you guys crazy? We're just going to go out and make sure some guy dies?"

Towa stares at Jadero. "Not just some guy. We're talking about Mister Rope."

"This feels so wrong."

Zoiki smiles. "Didn't breaking into that house last night feel wrong?"

"Yes, but it was just a house."

"And, this is a just a guy who would have killed you. I know it will be hard, but if all four of us work together, I think we can do it."

"And, if I say no?"

"We're a team. I think that unless we all say yes, we won't do it."

"But, won't I be a burden?"

Zoiki smiles. "No, you won't."

"Well, if we don't do it, then someday it might be one of our classmates that he kills. Okay, I'll do it."

Santa smiles.

On a deserted stretch of highway, Zoiki starts hitchhiking. After thirty minutes, his patience is rewarded.

The same car as before pulls over.

"Excuse me, sir, could you give me a ride?"

"Of course! Wow, are you a model?"

Zoiki manages a blush. "Oh my. Do you think I look like a model? I've been told that before. Are you with a modeling agency?"

"Ahhh, yeah. Sure. I am. I can absolutely make you a top model."

"Oh, how exciting. Well, let's get going."

"Climb in the back. There's some candy there if you're hungry."

Zoiki climbs in the back seat of the car.

"Go ahead, help yourself to the candy." The man guns the car and tries to drive off, but the car doesn't move. The man continues to gun the engine, but nothing happens.

Suddenly, the man hears a knocking on his window. He looks around and sees the boy that he had tried to give a ride to earlier. "You?"

Zoiki takes advantage of the distraction and shoves a Taser into the man's neck and turns it on.

The man slumps, unconscious, foot still racing the engine.

Zoiki reaches around the man and lowers the man's window. Jadero turns the car's ignition key to off.

Zoiki gets out of the car and sees Towa calling in the mission's success. He goes around to the back of the car and admires the handiwork of Kunochi and Towa. They had slipped unnoticed out of the bushes and placed hydraulic jacks under the back end of Mister Rope's car. It pushed the back end up far enough to break the back wheels' contact with the ground, but did it slowly enough so that Mister Rope did not notice.

A large truck appears. Several of their handlers jump out and push the car into the back of the truck. The boys pile into the truck as well.

The handlers tie up the man with his own rope and bind him to the passenger side seat of his car with duct tape.

Swaying from the movement of the moving truck, one of the handlers wakes up Mister Rope with smelling salts.

"What the..."

One of the handlers shines a bright light in his eyes. "This night isn't going to end the way you thought. Do the boys you pick up usually eat your candy?"

"What do you mean? I haven't done anything wrong."

"Sure you haven't. Won't you have some of your own candy then?"

The man turns his head. "Okay, so they're drugged. I don't like to hear the boys say no."

"And, the bloodstains on your rope?"

"I couldn't have them identifying me. Look, I have a lot of money. Let me go and I'll make sure that it's worth your while."

The field agent talks coldly. "When you meet whatever you consider to be God, do you think that money stained with the blood of young boys will bring you favor?"

The field agent injects the man with some drug. Mister Rope stops struggling.

Jadero starts crying.

"He's not dead yet. We're going to dump his car and body at deep sea. The ocean will finish the job."

The truck stops and the handlers move the car into the storage area of a large fishing boat.

The boys look at the ship as it takes off in wonder.

Finally Zoiki speaks. "You sure told him off."

The field agent nods. "It was nothing. It was just a cold and unemotional thought to remind him why he was being sent to hell. But, he should get credit for it because it was written by his misdeeds."

Kunochi nods. "A phrase white."

To be continued