Ranma 1/2

Disclaimer: I don’t own Ranma, Rumiko Takahashi does. I just borrowed some of the characters. Rated: NC-17

Shades of Home

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Steven walked to the head of the table and sat down.

"Well, People, Let's get this show on the road. I have files on most of the young people we have been watching and a few that we didn't know excited."

"I'd like to know how several talented young people could have slipped through our net. All in the area of a town called Nerima in Japan."

"We can't afford this kind of mistake. It's too important."

"I realize we're just a bunch of ex-fighters ourselves. So how the hell are we any better, or different, than these kids. We just moved up the food chain a step. We are now ‘The Powers' instead of a bunch of humps trying to keep the dimensional rifts shut and all the boogey men out."

"There have been several incidences of slaving and there are a lot of magical objects floating around, all of them from other dimensions."

"I realized that Intel is vague, but you all know what we're dealing with. It's magic, pure and simple. Explain that to most people. We just don't have the referents."

"And it's hell when some cop asks who we are and we can't do anything but shrug."

"We need a name. We can't just keep telling people ‘I'm the guy who's going to fix it.' So someone come up with a name that makes sense. Not a hash of letters like some cartoon spy."

Steven looked around at the other people seated at the table. They were all friends and fellow Shadow Warriors. Every one of them had more experience in fighting Shadows than the bureaucrats above them had in their little finger. But, they were all older and starting to slow down. That didn't mean that they couldn't still hold their own but this time around Steven had taken hold and made people who had influence realize that throwing their lives away wasn't going to cut it. They needed to find and train the new generation of Shadow Warriors while the older ones were capable of handing down experience earned with blood. {What the hell is the plural of Apocalypse?}

"We've really got it bad this time around. There are several ‘thin' spots where the barriers between the dimensions can be ruptured very easily. You know what that means. We've got three or four places where it's going to get hairy real soon.

"We've managed to convince the police in LA in America that it's real. They have taken their rift in hand themselves and assembled a team of good fighters. Lonny is there and training like a bandit. They seem to realize that it's serious. We'll give them any help; lend experts on whatever, as needed, but
I don't see any real need to take over. As if we could if they wouldn't cooperate.

"Anybody heard anything that they haven't heard a thousand times before?'"

At head shakes from the others at the table he picked up another file. "I really wish the boffins would come up with some answers. I feel like I'm in a sci-fi movie. Dimensions, Shadows, it's all shit but we don't know jack so we name it what we name it. I don't care if we call it cannoli as long as we all call it the same thing." Steven tossed the file back on the table.

"At least this time around we're organized." At a snort from a small, black-haired man he grinned. "Well, we're better organized than when I got dragged into this mess. That bunch of trainers I had barely qualified as cannon fodder. They kept trying to train a gladiator to kill. Stupid isn't the word. I only survived my first mission because I'm too mean to die. And I know that you all had similar experiences. So I'd like to avoid the same disasters with these kids. We need to train them to think on their feet and not to be bound by rules. You know things are never as they ‘should' be. Anyone who expects things to work a certain way is dead and doesn't know it.

"Now on to important things. We've got some really good people. They aren't any of them more than twenty, so we've got some problems with that. How many cops are going to take advice from a snot nosed brat? I know of zero. So we've got to impress the hell out of them first off. Give me some ideas.

"Second, out of all the best ones we've found, we have one who is mental. The kid has to take pills every day or he isn't functional. That's not really going to be much of a problem because after he got level or whatever they call it he really came down to earth with a bang. He's been in intensive therapy and
really making progress. Kuno Tatiwaki may be a real asset, well just have to see.

"Then there is one we can't even find. Name of ....mmmmmmmmmmm.......Hibiki Ryouga, The Lost Boy, Wandering Child.......bunch of other names. Where do these kids get these names?

"I don't know Sparticus, Sword Breaker, Last Standing. Haven't a clue."

The woman sitting beside Steven smirked at him knowingly.

"Shut up, you pain in the ass woman, Ice Maid, Poison Princess"

Steven looked over the top of the file he was holding.

"Couch for you, Manly."

The woman grinned at Steven. She knew that they were all stressed and needed some comic relief.

Everyone at the table laughed. They had all worked together for years and knew each other like siblings.

"Well, let's get on with this. We need to find the Hibiki kid.

"And then there's Saotome Ranma. I'm not even going to bother with being nice. He's messed up real bad. I have an idea of what they did to him and its going to take some time for him to get over it. He doesn't want to be touched, he doesn't really trust us and he's the best fighter we're going to get. I'd like to kill Saotome Sr. slowly. He spent all Ranma's life trying to make him a Man among men. And some of the training he put that kid through would make my old trainers run screaming.

"One, there's this Neko-Kun, that really has me worried. He admits to being afraid of cats, but there is more to it than that or I miss my guess. We'll have to wait on that. Then there's the rest of this mess."

"He wants to be alone to get his head together and we're allowing that, but we can't wait forever; so I'm giving him another two to three weeks then we're going to have to bring him down. I'm thinking that he has the strongest intellect and force of will since Iron Will himself. He'll be fine if we have the time."

"Boss? What if we don't have the time?"

The speaker was a big man, and for Steven to think of him as big (Steven was 6'4" and in proportion.) he was huge, muscular and hard. But at pushing 40 he was past his prime as a fighter. He didn't heal as quicky as they needed him to. But he was a hell of a teacher.

"Then we're going to have to throw him in to sink or swim. I think once he realizes what we need him for, he'll be good enough. We'll just have to be careful of touching him unexpectedly. But how many of us have the same problem. I don't think it's going to be something we can't deal with.

"We've got to get a team up and running in the next 18 months. That's when the next rift is going to manifest. Don't these guys talk pretty? In other words that's when the shit hits the fan for some poor area we can't even find yet, and that's only if their calculations are right.

"They will be dealing with everything; half a dozen dimensions, planes, alternate universes or whatever screwy name some idiot bureaucrat can come up with . . . All kinds of shit will be coming through. Demons and monsters and bogey men and things that go bump in the night. You all know more about it than the scientists who are trying to explain it. We've been in it up to our asses and we can't explain it.

"As long as we can talk about it and deal with it, that's all that counts. We clean up the mess and try to keep civilians out of it as much as possible."

"Steven, I know that you hate all this explain it stuff, but one of the reasons we need to explain it is so we can get it under control. Wouldn't it be nice if we could make the rifts show up where we wanted them? Not that I really want them at all, but I don't think it's possible to stop them. The universe is in flux and entropy is the law of nature . . . OK, OK, I'll shut up. You ignorant savage, you."

The shy black-haired British man grinned. Steven was good at what he did and ignored, as best he could, things he didn't understand. That was one of the things that made him so good at his job.

"So, what we need is more Intel. The only way we are going to get it is by fighting this and using all the Tech we have to gather data and analyze it. That is where I and all my people come in. We deal with the science and you deal with the threat."

"Ok, Usher, I know I pop off at the mouth. But it is just so damn frustrating. Why can't we control this? Where do all these grizzlies come from? Why can't we find these kids in time to train them better before we have to throw them to the wolves? Damnit, I wish we weren't getting so old. We could just do it ourselves and save these kids a life like ours. Shit!"

Everyone around the table felt the same, you could tell by their faces.

"Hey! Sword Breaker, time passes and we all get older. I know how you feel. But the new generation has to have it's time. How will they become what they can be if we protect them from every little bump and bruise. We can help them by training them to see that they aren't thrown to the wolves without a few teeth of their own. You saved quite a few of them by setting up the school.

"Instead of working us old ones til we get ourselves killed, you've convinced some pretty important people to let us retire with honor so we can give these kids the benefit of knowledge earned in blood. I just hope they're smart enough to listen."

Steven made a face. "Some will; some won't. But if we can keep them from getting killed on the first mission, we've got it made. That was the other reason I yelled so loud about letting us get new blood before all us old ones are too old to fight or dead. We go on the first mission with them as backup, so if they really jump out of the pan, we're there to save their bacon."

Everyone groaned. "Steven I've heard of mixed metaphors before but that one is hash!"

Steven grinned. "Anyone have anything worthwhile to say?"

The woman beside Steven tapped her finger on a file. "I'm worried about this Hibiki kid. What's his malfunction? It seems that every one of the really good fighters has some problem or other. Curses and such seem to be epidemic."

Another member of the board spoke up. "And this Saotome kid. He's got a curse and he seems to be a shit magnet. Every crazy thing in the world seems to happen to him What's up with that?"

Steven snarled at the man. "He is a shit magnet and that's what makes him so good. He doesn't have to go looking for the problem. He stays in an area long enough and it comes to him. Just put him up somewhere and all their problems go away. As for the curse. We go that converted. It's under control and we've learned how to control a Jusenkyo curse. Sorry to say no cure yet. Anything else?"

"Yeah! I hear that Saotome and Kuno don't get along and what about that Hibiki kid? How is he going to fit? If we are going to make an effective strike team out of these kids they have to at least tolerate each other."

Steven eyed the other man hotly. "They'll get along. I haven't killed you yet, have I? Most of these kids are smarter now than we'll ever be. They just don't have any experience."

Everyone at the table shifted uncomfortably. The battles that Steven and Randy had had in the past were legendary. Including tearing down a building.

"Down, boys! No fighting! It's not dignified." Rachel patted Steven's hand. "Honey, don't let that Baka get under your skin. It's what he wants."

Randy rubbed his neck. "AW. Hell Steven, We get along pretty good, I'm sorry I came off as an ass. I just hate it that we can't protect these kids. We have been doing this for probably twenty years and I know that we can't keep it up much longer. Mary got killed just last week and Theo is in hospital again. We're running out of steam and we all know, it but it's hard to give up."

"We're not giving up!! Never think that. But we can't go on. I hate to admit it, but we can't. No one can fight for ever. So we pass the torch to the next generation and try to give them all the tools that they need to carry on. You know how I hate all that chosen one crap but it's true. There are some of us who are here to put ourselves between others and harm. Ranma even told me that same thing right after he came here.

"So here we are. We need Intel; find out everything we can about these Rifts. See if there isn't at least a way to control where they appear. Two; find that Hibiki kid. Three, Get Ranma off that mountain and into classes. Four; Get Ranma and Kuno to at least tolerate each other. Find out if Hibiki will fit. Sunny will be part of their team, so we have a good chance; if she doesn't talk them to death first.

"Five: find out where the Rift is going to manifest so we can get our new team familiar with the area before crap starts coming through.

"Leela and Danny are ready to go. I've never seen two people work so well together. They could steal your eye teeth and you wouldn't know it until you tried to eat something. They are really good.

"Shuba will work with Ranma. He's a good coordinator. Give him the barest scraps of Data and he can come up with something. Good with computers, too, so he's really an asset. However, Ranma is better at strategy than he is. He's one of the best tacticians I've ever had the pleasure of being screwed over by."

"I didn't tell you about this, but the little shit fooled us all. He took the tests and he fooled us. He came off all eager to show us what he had, so we didn't push it like we should have. The kid held back, we have no idea how strong he really is. But he didn't try to escape so I think he really wants to stay here, if we can convince him we're trustworthy. He comes off so bright eyed and innocent. I don't think it's entirely an act. He really has a good personality. He's kind hearted and doesn't like hurting people. He just has the social skills of . . . well . . . me when I was his age. So,"

A babble of "Oh, Shit!" "Kami help us all" And other exclamations broke out.

"Hey! I wasn't that bad?! Was I?? Well??" Steven put his head in his hands and laughed. "Well, At least we know that he'll get better some time or other. He's no socialite but at least he knows how to use chop sticks.

"Anyway, we have to convince him to be tested for real. I'd rather just go up and fight him, but it'd probably scare the hell out of him. Or, on the other hand, might make him see that we are just like him. Real fighters, not show offs. Some of the kids he's been fighting are really wierd, Martial Skating, gymnastics, Tea ceremony; for Kami's sake.

"Heaven help us!! I just figured out where the next Rift is opening. Nerema, Capitol City of Wierdness. And that's why there is such a gathering of good martial artists. Well, hell!"

"Ok, People, now all we need to do is pin down the time frame. See what you can figure out."

"Any other buisness? Ok, lets break this up."