Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Blessed Yule, and overall Happy Holidays! I am thankful to have had a significant amount of peace and quiet over the holidays, no family incidents, and no major drama. Honestly, that's the best I could hope for.

Comments!
doraemax: My second girlfriend was a big fan of Highlander way back in the day and I remember her variation on the lyrics of the movie's title theme, "Princes of the Universe"... ~I am immortal!/I have a broadsword up my ass!~
Death Of Snipers: The logic I had with still going through the original 'infiltration' method is that this is Tifa's operation. Ranma could have turned Corneo's mansion into rubble, never mind his small army of criminals, had he gone all out. He also probably could have snuck in on his own. However, both options would have left him without backup, and having to deal with an assload of guys with guns who are willing to use them. The fic operates on a simple logic of 'guns and bullets or sufficiently sharp objects' are greater than 'human physiology'. Ranma's fortitude notwithstanding, he's not invulnerable.
Kaiya Azure: Ranma learning kunoichi arts specifically to exploit the gendershift mechanic actually sounds like a really good story idea. I don't know enough about the KoF-verse to feel confident writing that, but... I'd love to read it.

Story time! (minor edit to fix the fact that I didn't realize the text deleted the 'greater than' symbol)

Chapter Thirteen

Don Corneo

[ ν ] - εγλ 0007, December 11

Aerith squeaked slightly after having processed the result of the selection. She glanced at the other girls, meeting their eyes, before looking back to Corneo. "Mister Corneo, sir, the others will be treated okay?" she asked quietly, folding her hands together.

Corneo's expression shifted between delight to amusement. "Oh, what touching concern for her fellow competitors," he chuckled through his greasy tone. "Of course, my dear, they will be treated quite… companionably, I assure you. This way, my dear!" he finished, leading Aerith towards what everyone assumed was Corneo's bedroom.

Ranma gave Aerith a curt nod just before she vanished behind the sliding panel. Stay safe, we'll be there soon, she thought. She turned to follow Scotch out of the reception area.

"Well, then, ladies," Scotch said, guiding both women with a grab to their butts, "let me introduce you to your- grk…" The rest of his pitch trailed off as Ranma and Tifa both struck him hard in the solar plexus in response to the unwanted groping. The man crumpled like a rag, and Ranma hoisted him in a fireman's carry, hurrying rapidly downstairs with the unconscious man and dumping him out of sight beneath the stairs. She took a moment to look around the lower floor, checking the reception area for any hidden observers, but saw nobody and nothing. It seemed as though all of Corneo's security focus was turned outward, rather than anyone patrolling within.

"I swear, he deserves worse for all that," Tifa said quietly, reaching into her dress as Ranma returned. Ranma blushed hard, and turned sharply away. "Oh for - wait, right, sorry, still keep thinking of you as a girl. Thanks for the moment of privacy, Ranma."

Ranma turned back around to the sight of Tifa confidently pulling her studded gloves back on over her hands, flexing her fingers as they slid on. "Wait, that's where you hid your gloves?" Ranma hissed.

"...well, yeah," Tifa replied. "Girls do have a couple advantages when it comes to that sort of thing." She looked to either side of the balcony. "Think you can handle the rest of the guards on that side?"

Ranma nodded. "I'm going to need a whole bucket of hot water to wash that man off of me when we're done though," she commented. "Sleazy little…"

Tifa shushed her, but nodded her understanding. "Looks like there's a stairwell down this side," she said. "I'll see if there's anything down that way. Meet back here in a couple minutes, then we go check up on Aerith and… ugh… Corneo."

"Trust me on this," Ranma said quietly, "the girl's tougher than she looks, and that's before my training. It'll be better if we finish up quickly, but I think she'll be fine for a few minutes."

"You have that much faith in her?"

"I'd believe in anyone who could grow up in a place like this and come out basically good," Ranma answered. "Get goin', I'll be back here in a minute or two."

Tifa gave the redhead a nod, and turned down the stairwell at the far end. Ranma waited until she was out of sight, then slid open the door that Scotch had been guiding them towards, and pretended to stumble in backward, shutting the door as she passed. "Oi, girly," one of the thugs inside called out. "Whuzzup? Scotch comin' or what?"

In a heartbeat, her eyes scanned over the room. Five thugs, dressed mostly in what might have passed in Ranma's world as biker gang attire. A sixth, dressed in a cheap-looking suit jacket and slacks, sat at the side of what looked for all the world like a mahjong table to Ranma's eyes, the tiles set at the start of a match. Each man had at least one gun concealed about their person, among other weapons Ranma would have considered standard-issue criminal gear. Cushions littered the floor where most of the men had been sitting, with an older-looking but fairly large television set standing in the corner of the room, replaying a news broadcast covering the events of the previous two days.

Ranma shrugged, shoving her hands into her pockets. "He called dibs on the other girl." There was a series of disappointed groans. "Don't worry, I'll take care of all of you," she said, giving a quick giggle at her own intended meaning that sailed right over their heads.

"Sure ya got the stamina for all o' us?" another asked.

Ranma grinned evilly. "I'll manage," she said. "Before we get started, how would you all like to see a little magic trick?"

There was a brief moment of uncertainty. "Okay, girly, I'll bite," the first man grumbled. "What kind of magic trick?"

"I can make a two-meter tall pole appear out of nowhere."

That got their attention. "What, like a pole dance?" a third piped up.

"Somethin' like that," Ranma admitted.

There was a round of giggles. "Tell ya what, girly, you make a pole appear, I'll give ya five hundred gil," the first guy shouted out, holding up a coin pouch.

"Deal," she said, and performed a precise movement with her arms, suddenly holding Aerith's staff. Suitably impressed, the men clapped and whistled their appreciation. She reached out with the staff and snagged the coin pouch from the man. "Next trick?" she said, and blurred. A moment later there were five loud metallic thunk noises, followed quickly by five men falling unconscious to the floor. "Let's make this a private party," Ranma said with a dangerous tone, stepping forward to the lone remaining man.

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Tifa stood over the unconscious body of the last man, who had been standing around in the basement. Despite Tifa's better effors, the man either genuinely hadn't known anything, or had been sufficiently loyal to or scared of Corneo that she hadn't been able to budge him. Barring anything else to do, she knocked the man out. She then spent the next several minutes investigating, but hadn't found much more than a decidedly single-purpose table, a number of BDSM-themed accessories, and a rack of interesting looking toys. There was a computer terminal, but there was nothing on it about Sector 7. In fact, the machine appeared to be almost completely empty. There wasn't anything about any particular sector on the computer, only a single file containing a long list of names and a large number of increasingly personal details regarding each one.

After a couple minutes of cross-reference, Tifa realized it was basically a blackmail database. She briefly considered copying it in case anything on it would be useful to AVALANCHE. A moment later, she shook her head and erased the data from the file. "Better that nobody has this," she whispered to herself. Pulling on her materia bangle, she summoned a Thunder spell and fried the entire drive for good measure.

Running upstairs, she saw Ranma idly waiting by the reception door, who had somehow already changed back into her familiar red tunic and black pants, and was holding Aerith's staff at the ready. She was still wearing the red leather jacket, instead of the heavier trooper coat she had been sporting before. She held a bag that Tifa already knew contained her own outfit. "Thanks," Tifa accepted it from Ranma.

"I peeked in a second ago," Ranma explained, turning her back to afford what little privacy she could give. "Aerith is okay for now, but we should hurry."

"Give me a minute." There was the sound of swishing cloth. "Find anything useful?"

"Just that it's really easy to sucker-punch cretins like that when they think you're defenseless," Ranma answered, the smile in her voice unmistakable. "I try to hold back when I can, but there's some times honor has to take a back seat to practicality. The only one who looked like he had a brain didn't know anythin'. They'll all wake up in about three hours with a splittin' headache, but that'll be the least of their worries, cuz I also hogtied them all to the ceiling."

Tifa snorted at the description of the girl's exploits. "How did you even manage that?" she asked. "Where were you keeping enough rope to do something like that?"

"Same place I kept your clothes," she answered. "Sadly, that was the last of my rope, I'll need to get more when we're done here. Good for knotwork practice, climbing down heights, and occasionally trussin' up criminals like pinatas."

There was a long silence between them. "Ranma?" Tifa asked.

"Hm?"

"You've never had to kill before, have you?"

Ranma blinked at the question, startled out of propriety, and turned to face Tifa, who by now was fully clothed and was packing away her blue minidress. "No," she answered honestly. "I've always been able to avoid it."

Tifa handed Ranma the package, who accepted it and made it disappear again. "I envy you a world that lets you avoid that decision," she said quietly, eyes downcast. "But you may need to make that choice soon. Shinra does not play by the same rules you do."

Ranma hesitated, but nodded in response. "I know," she replied. "I'm... not looking forward to it." There was a long pause. "You've had to, haven't you?"

Tifa briefly considered sparing the redhead, but decided against it. "I've killed people, yes. Some quite recently. Sometimes I wish it wasn't necessary, but it is." She tugged at the straps on her gloves. "It's not an easy thing, though. Sometimes it's just about making sure I stay alive, or protecting my friends. AVALANCHE tries to minimize civilian casualties, but it's not easy when you're trying to stop people from sucking the life out of the planet."

Ranma nodded gently, considering her words. "I... If it came to it... If I had to... there are people, I would probably kill for, to protect them." She glanced briefly at the floor. "Came close to it a couple of times. Managed to knock 'em out, scare 'em off, or just pull somethin' outta my ass at the last second to exploit a weakness. But the regular people in my world don't play for stakes like this..." she took a breath, then looked back up at Tifa. "Sorry, I should be good now."

Tifa gave the girl a soft smile. "I know this may not sound like a lot, considering what we all do for a career," she replied, "but I hope things go well, and for what it's worth, I hope you never have to make that choice."

Ranma returned the smile, then turned to face the sliding door heading into the back of the mansion. "Let's go."

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Corneo was, predictably, on the oversized bed that occupied most of the room, thrusting his hips lewdly in Aerith's direction. "Oh, my lovely, you and I are going to have such fun," he drawled. "You have such lovely skin, beautiful eyes, and your hair-"

There was a clatter of sliding wooden doors behind Corneo as Ranma and Tifa stormed in, and he practically fell backward, scooting away on the satin sheets with his back to the bed stand. "The hell are you two bitches doing?" he demanded angrily.

"Shut it, clown," Ranma said, punching sharply into the wall to get the man's attention, leaving a neat fist-sized hole in the cheap wood. "Your security's all out for the count, nobody's coming to help you." She tossed Aerith her staff, and glared at Corneo.

Corneo's face turned beet red. "That does it!" he shouted, and drew a gun from one pocket, drawing a bead on Ranma. Who suddenly was not there. Before he could turn to aim at either of the others, there was a red-and-black blur, and the gun had been removed from his hand mid-turn. "What the fuck-" he started, but was cut off by Aerith pushing the tip of her staff firmly against the man's throat. He raised his hands in surrender and closed his mouth, breathing heavily.

"Aerith," Ranma called out, tossing her the satchel with her clothing in it. "Behind the divider, get changed. This shouldn't take long." Aerith nodded her understanding, and stepped behind the small privacy filter behind the bed.

There was a sound of cloth moving behind the screen. Corneo glanced between the two women in front of him, trying to guess at their purposes. "You're not assassins, or I'd be dead already," he declared. "So what the hell do you want from me?"

Tifa stepped up and put one foot on the bed. "You're gonna tell me a story," she began, an undertone to her words that Ranma hadn't noticed before. "A story about what the hell you're doing in Sector 7. And here's the best part. If you lie to me, or leave out a single detail, I will give you another chance." She smiled wickedly. "But in return for that second chance... I'll take your left nut," she whispered, her fingers miming a claw closing. "I think you can guess what'll happen with the third chance. There will not be a fourth."

Ranma stood to one side, casually unloaded the revolver she had swiped with a disdainful look, and crushed it in one hand, her eyes still firmly holding Corneo's gaze as the unspent bullets tumbled across the floor. "Not polite to keep a lady waiting, Donny-boy," she growled.

Corneo swallowed hard, his eyes drifting between the redhead's steely gaze and the pulped revolver in her left hand. "Fine, fine, they ain't payin' me enough for this shit anyway," he concluded, coming to a calm seated position with his back against the bed's backboard, stretching out lazily. "Shinra passed me a job yesterday morning. Told me to find a man with a gun attached to his arm. Far as I know, Shinra's trying to crush this little rebel group called AVALANCHE, and they paid me to help me find them. Just glad they're over in Sector 7, so when the hammer comes down I'll be out of the way."

There was a flash of metal, and the tip of Aerith's staff landed hard just between Corneo's outstretched legs. "And?" Aerith prompted, back in her usual outfit, a hard look in the girl's eyes that Corneo hadn't seen even a full minute ago.

He shuddered involuntarily at the close call, retreating a little further into the headboard. "I gotta mole in Shinra that passes me stuff from time to time. Says that they're gonna just drop the plate on all of Sector 7, just to wipe out those rebels." He grinned, as if telling some great joke that sailed over everyone's heads. "Overkill, if you ask me, but gotta admire that determination!"

There was a moment of abject, horrified silence in the face of that statement. "They're going to drop the plate?" Tifa repeated, dumbfounded. "That… they're going to kill thousands! Everyone in the Sector 7 slums! People on top will die too! All that to wipe out…" she trailed off. "We have to warn everyone, get them evacuated, something!"

Ranma nodded, and turned to leave. "WAIT!" Corneo shouted.

"What the hell do you want now?" Tifa whirled on him angrily.

Corneo grinned from ear to ear. "Won't take long, I promise!" he said, both arms raised as he stood up at the back of his bed. "I know you think I'm scum, but I am also a man of my word, and I promise you, if you stay right there and listen to what I have to say, then in less than thirty seconds, you'll be out of my house."

The next three seconds appeared to pass in slow motion for Ranma. She had a moment where she realized, somehow, this was about to go wrong. Corneo's eyes flashed with malice, and one of his hands began to drop to his side. The room was too busy, too large, with too many clashing colors, and despite her best efforts she couldn't spot what was pinging her senses. The hand landed on a round, glowing orb. Attached to a pole. Which was actually a lever. Which pressed downwards, hard, under Corneo's weight. At that moment, Ranma's senses went into overdrive, and she understood exactly what was about to happen.

But by then, it was too late.

The floor underneath them fell away, and all three slid down into the darkness below. As they fell, Corneo's voice called out above them, echoing in the narrow passageway.

"APS! DINNER TIME!"

A/N: Originally this chapter and the next were one chapter, but as the two developed, I felt it was important to get the stuff here out of the way on its own. The game plays Corneo for laughs, which is appropriate to the fact that both times he is encountered he is in way over his head with both the heroes and Shinra being pretty well able to curb-stomp him in direct combat. I also felt it was necessary to not play him like a complete fuck-up here, because he is at this point a rather prominent under-plate crime lord.

For the same reasons, I also didn't want to portray him sympathetically. He's scum. Irredeemable, unrepentant scum. Murder, extortion, rape, and gods know what else. So, yeah, he's not getting a redemption arc. He might show up later, I haven't decided if we're going to do much in Wutai or not yet. I also decided to drop all subtlety regarding the particular... ahem... threats given to Corneo regarding his manhood. Sorry to anyone who read that and winced. Next chapter is a boss fight, and we'll finally get some answers to several long-standing questions, as well as see Ranma in real combat in this universe.

Hope you like it! Comments and feedback welcome!