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 25

Ranma blinked; he was facing Sunny, who was watching him from one eye. He tried to get off the couch but Sunny wouldn’t let him, she just pulled his pigtail gently, keeping him where he was.

“I don’t hurt the people I love. If someone is hitting you, they are your enemy. Isn’t that so?” Sunny tugged his pigtail again.

“Huh? Yeah? I guess so. Except if you’re sparin’ I guess that’s true.” Ranma couldn’t quite get the drift of what Sunny was trying to tell him. He tried to get up again and again she wouldn’t let him.

“Open your mouth just a little.” Ranma just barely opened his mouth. Sunny tipped her head and gently pressed her lips to his. Her tongue pushed against his lips and slipped into his mouth exploring it, causing him to feel like he’d done something wonderful just by letting her.

“Mmmmm! Should we be doing this, Koi?” Ranma was doubtful, what if this was wrong somehow. He didn’t want to get Sunny in trouble; he didn’t care about himself, he’d gladly get into any kind of trouble there was. He was enjoying himself way too much.

“No. We really shouldn’t. If Mom finds out we’re necking first thing in the morning, she’ll have fits. But it’s nice just the same.” Sunny reluctantly sat up and started sorting herself out. “I’m hungry. Let’s get cleaned up and find food. Meet you in the Mess?. . . Koibito? You know you keep calling me Koi? It’s nice.”

Ranma watched Sunny leave. {I’m callin’ her what?}

Ranma met her and the rest of his friends in the mess. They filed through the line and sat down at ‘their’ table. Everybody in the mess either smiled at them or at the least nodded. It was companionable and comfortable. Ranma even sat with his back to the room.

“Ranma. Don’t clobber me, it’s Rio”

“Yeah, I heard ya commin’ up. What’d ya want?” Ranma turned to grin at Rio, scooting his chair over so Rio could grab a chair from the nearest table and sit next to him.

“We saw that chase on TV at the bar. What’s up? The guys all nearly had fits. We’d ‘ve come back if ya needed but ya said not, so we didn’t. Spill before we bust.”

Rio had seen Ranma and the others first so he was getting in his questions before anyone else.

“Give Ranma a break. We don’t know anything yet. Steven’s going to fill us in when he knows something.” Shuba got up giving Rio a level look. “My name’s Shuba. I’m the coordinator for this team. Rio; isn’t it?” Shuba stuck out his hand and Rio took it.

“Glad t’ meet ya. If ya need us, ya know where we are, Ranma. I’ll go fill the guys in. Sorry if I bothered ya.” Rio started to leave but Ranma clasped his arm and squeezed it gently.

“Thanks Rio. You guys are never a bother, shut up that shit or I’ll smack ya. We need ya, we know where t’ find ya.”

Ranma felt funny. It was so different to have people he knew he could depend on.

After eating everyone had something they needed to do and scattered.

Ranma did his training, realizing that this was the first time in a long time that he’d eaten breakfast before training. It was nice to eat with his friends and he vowed to do it more often.

He decided he was just going to wander around the complex. He should be studying for the long delayed Calculus test but he didn’t feel like scrambling his brains today. He opted for mindless socializing instead.

As he wandered around he saw a bunch of men standing around a blanket spread out on the ground. On the blanket a man was struggling as the bystanders cheered him on. He was tied up with climbing rope.

“Ok?! I give. What the hell is going on?” Ranma poked the man standing next to him. He explained that the man standing over the ‘prisoner’ was a rope expert and would bet anyone a hundred dollars American that he could tie them up and they couldn’t escape.

Panting the bound man said “Ok! Ok! I give. Buck, I can’t get lose. Untie me. I’ve got your money in my pocket.”

Buck untied the man, collected his money and coiled his rope. “Anyone else? Or have all you losers learned your lesson?” Buck laughed but without malice. He made quite a nice income from this and didn’t want to alienate anyone; besides, he was really a nice guy.

Ranma smirked, a hundred dollars American was a nice hunk of change especially for him. He decided he’d better ask some questions first.

“Excuse me. Can I ask some questions?” At Buck’s nod, he went on; “All I have t’ do is get loose? Any way I can. Right? Unn, what if I can’t . . . take it. I’ve got some issues but I’d really like t’ try. I don’t have a hundred dollars on me but I can get it. If you’ll trust me, that is.”

Everybody in the group recognized Ranma, not by name but as one of the ‘special’ group, so Buck just told Ranma he’d trust him for the money and if he started to get the creeps he’d cut him loose.

“It happens sometimes. Just sneaks up on a guy. I got it covered. Don’t worry, all you have to do is tell me you’re freakin’ and it’s all over.” Buck smiled at Ranma, he didn’t have the heart to tell the kid that he was an expert with knots and it was probably hopeless

Ranma cooperated with Buck as he wrapped the rope twice around his wrists then started to wrap it around his waist. One of the spectators yelled that it wasn’t fair to others to take it easy on the ‘kid’.

Buck mumbled something about ‘jealous old farts’ and went back to tying Ranma, he doubled the wraps around his wrists and then wrapped the rope in between his wrists several times.

“Not pinchin’ ya is it?” Buck didn’t want to hurt anyone. It was about the skill with knots rather than how bad he could make them hurt.

Ranma shook his head, “Na, I’m fine. Done yet? Oh, by the way the bet was I get free right?”

Buck nodded and helped Ranma kneel down so he could hogtie him.

Buck tied his ankles together and tied Ranmas hands to his ankles wrapping the rope several times between his ankles and wrists.

Ranma felt himself stiffening but forced himself to relax. These people weren’t going to hurt him, he knew that and was taking this opportunity to prove it to himself.

“What’s going on here who are you what are you doing to Ranma don’t you dare hurt him I’ll . . . well I don’t know what I’ll do . . . ” Sunny swatted at Buck, who just caught her hands and held them.

“Oh, man. I’m in trouble now. She’ll give me fits for a week.” Ranma eyed Sunny, she was looking around already calmer, as Buck explained what they were doing.

“Oh! I see. I’m sorry I yelled at you as long as you aren’t hurting him that’s ok.” Sunny turned a speculative eye on Ranma. He started to squirm. “Don’t you move!”

Sunny grabbed Ranma by the ears so he couldn’t pull away; startled he just gapped at her as she bent down a little and kissed him {She keeps kissn’ me.}She kissed him like he was her hope of heaven and he kissed her right back.

Sunny moaned, “Oh, my Gosh. I’m such a pervert . . . but it sure is nice.”

A light came on in Ranmas head, he was tied up so he couldn’t be doing anything wrong, Sunny even admitted she was the pervert. She had started this but he was going to finish it.

All hesitation gone he stood up; ropes snapped with pops like fire crackers; he picked Sunny up and held her in his arms.

They had completely forgotten about all the men standing around watching, their hooting and whistling brought Ranma back to his senses. He raised his head and grinned at the men; “Aw, shut up. Can’t a guy kiss his girl without you animals goin’ nuts?” He whispered, “Do ya have to be a pervert to like kissin’ this much?” but his big grin told Sunny the question was rhetorical.

“Uunn, Hey. How’d you do that? . . . Hey! Kid! I’m talking to ya!” Ranma turned to look blankly at Buck, he was still holding Sunny who showed no signs of objection. In fact she happily put her head on Ranmas shoulder.

Buck held out Ranmas hundred dollars but held it so Ranma couldn’t take it.

At his questioning look Buck said, “Could ya put the girl down and answer a few questions?”

Ranma, who was enjoying holding Sunny, sighed. This was the first time he’d done anything like this outside of dance class or just fooling around dancing outside of class.

“Darn kill joy!”

Sunny gave Buck a dirty look as Ranma dipped his shoulder and loosened his grip, letting her feet touch the ground. But she happily snuggled against his side as he firmly pulled her against him with the other arm.

“Ask!”

“How’d ya do that? That was a climbing rope made to hold a 300 lb. load. I wrapped ya up good, too.” Buck had seen it, he was holding the broken pieces of rope in his hand, but he didn’t know how.

“Oh well he’s a George you know I wish they’d put pictures in the orientation pack all the guys are nice Ranma’s the nicest but they are really strong and Ranma you didn’t cheat the man did you if you did you ought to be ashamed You Grunts don’t have a chance against Ranma, Ryouga or Kuno they can walk all over great big daemons so normal men like you don’t have a chance of course if you go up against Ranma you’re double doomed because he’s the best even better than Steven and . . . “

Ranma squeezed Sunny “Shush! You’ll have to take a breath, Koi. Let the man answer. And I didn’t cheat, he said get loose not untie. I asked.” Ranma turned to Buck. “You did say get loose, ya know.”

Buck put the money in Ranma’s hand. “Yeah, I did. I’ll have to be more specific in the future. But it was worth a hundred dollars to see that; plus, the kiss was somethin’ to see too.”

Sunny hid her head in Ranma’s shoulder, blushing furiously. Ranma patted her and grinned.

“Thanks Buck. Come on Sunny, lets go back to the dorm.”

~ * ~

Back at the dorm, the two looked for the rest of the team. They found Kuno lounging in the commons, watching tv.

“Hey, Kuno, where’s everyone?”

Ranma squatted next to the table flipping through the magazines there. Sunny flopped down on the couch next to Kuno, poking him till he moved over.

Kuno frowned for a minute,” I’m not sure. I saw Shuba and Danny go into Cen. Ops a while ago. Why?”

Ranma felt a cold chill crawl up his back. Where was Ryouga?

“Fuck! Where the hell’s Ryu, I saw Leela go in there and she was alone. She’s been sticking to him like glue. Damnit! If he’s gone and gotten lost again . . .”

A voice from the door relieved their fears.

“I’m not lost.” He turned to the man with him; telling him thanks. “Steven has set it up so I can get someone to escort me until they can get the tracers made. Leela had some kind of meeting at Cen. Ops so she handed me off to that guy. I’ve been with my secondary team. They needed to see me. Everyone seems to want to keep their eye, even their hands on me . . . Sunny, I’m not gonna disappear.”

Sunny had grabbed onto Ryouga, leading him to a chair like he couldn’t get there by himself. Ranma snickered, he remembered a time when Ryu had gotten lost going to the bathroom.

“Yeah, laugh asshole.” Ryouga said, without much heat. “It’s a family curse, see how you like it. I might as well be blind.”

All of a sudden Ranma felt bad, he flushed and tried to find something to say that didn’t sound like pity or sarcasm.

Sunny saved them by bursting into speech, asking where Leela, Danny, and Shuba were. When the boys just shrugged, she rambled on for a while speculating on what they could be doing at Cen Ops at this time of day, finishing up with. “ I can’t think of any reason for . . . Oh, I wonder if he’s sending them to steal something. I heard one of the dispatchers telling stories at lunch the other day. There is a collector in Nerima. You know, one of those idiot, weak magicians who can’t use items but has the money or clout to get them and just lets them sit around in cases and stuff. It’s supposedly the one who attacked you so they are stepping up surveillance on him and shutting him down by taking his stuff of course we’ll have to pay him but . . . “

The stream of invective that trailed behind Ranma made Kuno blush, Ryouga blink and Sunny squeal.

The door to the Cen Ops meeting room slammed back against the wall so hard that it cracked. Steven jumped up into a defensive stance and everyone else in the room cringed. Ranma strode into the room looking so feral that he was almost unrecognizable.

“What the hell do you mean by planning something for members of MY team without including me. You’re planning to send them off into danger without competent back, up ain’t cha . . . Well?”

One of the other men at the table smarted off before Steven could say anything.

“Here, take a pill. What do you mean by barging in here that way?”

Leela grabbed Ranma before he could go across the table after him and Danny added his pleas to hers.

“Ranma, calm down. This is a planning meeting. We don’t know exactly what we’re gonna do yet. Why don’t ya just sit in? Here, have some water and sit here.”

Ranma took the heavy glass, sipped, and sat down, still holding the glass. He listened as the man who had smarted off outlined the plan. He trusted Steven and Shuba but this man was something else entirely. He was some kind of big shot from Japanese Central Intelligence.

“We insert the girl through the sky light and she retrieves the objective. She must be sure not to trigger the security systems. She’s expendable in relation to . . . “

Steven watched as Ranma’s sanity packed its bags and left.

“You are not, by God, calling Leela expendable.” Ranma gripped the glass so hard it broke, cutting the palm of his hand. Ranma payed no attention to the pain, other than to pick the shard of glass out of his hand and drop it on the table.

“No one here is expendable. You can forget that.”

Ranma clenched his hands into fists. He was so mad he vibrated. He stuck his fist into the operatives face, dripping blood on the table.

“What the hell do you think you’re doin’ talkin’ like that. No one sends my people into something . . . “

“Shut up. I am mission control for this operation. My name is Mr. Downs. If you will quit shouting and listen, I will explain how necessary this mission is.” Mr. Downs glared at Ranma, not knowing just how close he was to getting seriously hurt.

Ranma took a deep breath and tried to calm down, maybe he’d misunderstood something the man had said.

“Now Mr. Ranma . . .”

“Saotome, it’s Saotome-san. Not Ranma. Damnit!” Ranma wasn’t going to cut this man any slack at all.

Steven hid a small smile behind his hand. He’d been thinking about telling the man to take a hike when Ranma had showed up; he didn’t like the JCI operative’s attitude either. As far as he was concerned the only one expendable here was Mr. Downs.

“Very well. The girl is expendable, we can’t let witches know that any government entity is interested in magical objects. If we can’t get these objects, there could be very bad repercussions. If the witch learns how to use some of them, she could open doors we’d rather keep shut. As for Leela and Danny, if they get caught, Danny can deny everything, he’ll be outside. Leela? She’ll just go to jail. Her cover is a common cat burglar.”

Downs gave Ranma a snide look. “I’m sure you understand now.”

Ranma didn’t. He went across the table intent on wiping the smirk off his face. Steven grabbed him and they wrestled around while everyone else headed for the nearest door, two people like Ranma and Steven fighting wasn’t anything they wanted to be near. Ranma didn’t want to hurt Steven and Steven didn’t want to hurt Ranma, so the fight wasn’t as bad as it might have been. But the final result was that Security was called and they had to dart Ranma to keep him from killing that man or stomping Steven.

As they carried Ranma from the room Steven started lecturing Downs.

“You have no idea how close you came to getting killed, that kid is one of the most powerful and skilled martial artists living. The only reason I got him down at all is because he didn’t want to hurt me. That may be out the window now. If you screw this up and something happens, I’m not responsible for what he does to you. I’m gonna have to duck and cover myself. He may never trust me again.”

Steven didn’t like the arrangement at all but his superiors had asked for this as a favor and he owed them a lot. He’d asked Danny, Leela and Shuba to do this. He wouldn’t command them. They could make up their own minds about this one. He just hoped Downs was better at his job than he seemed.

~ * ~

Ranma woke abruptly. His mouth felt like he’d eaten dirt and his head was splitting, he started to put his hand to his head, when he moved his arm, he felt the weight on his wrist. They’d chained him!

“Son of a Bitch! I’m gonna get Steven for this. I know what he’s up to.” Ranma examined the chains on his wrists and ankles. They were the same ones he’ had made for his work with the Neko-ken. Ranma smiled slightly, he’d wait and see want happened.

If Steven knew what he was doing, and Ranma hoped he did, He’d spend a few uncomfortable hours. If Steven was wrong, there was going to be hell to pay, but Ranma would wait. No sense in showing all his cards just yet.

“He’s awake.” The woman was a motherly looking 40 something and felt bad. She thought it was cruel to chain the boy at all, much less with chains that could hold an elephant.

“I’m sorry about this. Steven says it is necessary to keep some big shot from causing us trouble. I don’t know. And I know it sounds like an excuse, but I am only doing my job”

The lady looked sad and Ranma reconsidered what he was going to say, no sense in taking his mad out on her, no matter what she did. He knew she was probably working with only half truths or out right lies. Steven could be a real bastard when he needed to be.

“What did Steven say?”

“He said you attacked a high-ranking official from Japanese Central Intelligence. It’s not a good thing to do. They take their authority directly from the Emperor himself, so it is treason to interfere with them. He also said that you are very strong, that is why you’re chained. “ She gave the chain an angry look. “I’m sorry. I know they have to be uncomfortable. If you need anything, ask.”

“I’d like a drink. And a blanket, maybe a zafu, if you’ve got one. ”At the woman’s odd look he explained. “You know, one of those little meditation pillows? Ya sit on it.”

Ranma walked to the end of the chains. They had actually made a line on the floor with gaffers tape. He slowly leaned into the chains and pulled until they hummed. He didn’t jerk on them, only applied a slow steady pressure.

“Stop that right now. If you don’t, we’ll have to dart you again. Orders from Mr. Downs. Don’t make us.” The guard looked nervous, as well he might. Ranma hadn’t realized his reputation was so good, or was it bad. He realized everyone in the room was looking scared.

“Don’t worry. I’m gonna be a good boy. For now. “ Ranma smiled his sweetest, most innocent smile. It made him look like an angel. The guard looked even more nervous.

Ranma wandered around a little, waiting for his drink and zafu. He also tested the limits of the chains. He couldn’t reach anything and the line was right on the money.

The woman came back with his drink and a zafu. She put the zafu down and placed the drink on top, using a piece of dowel rod, she pushed them over the ‘safe’ line.

“Thanks. What’s your name? I can’t keep thinking of you as the nice lady.” Ranma tried his smile out on the woman and watched as her face crumpled into tears. “Hey! Don’t cry. I . . . geeze!” Ranma didn’t know what to do. He wanted to comfort the lady but he couldn’t reach her. “Please stop cryin’ I hate to see a lady cry.”

“Hell! My name’s Jessup, Connie Jessup. Call me Connie, please. Sorry about the water works, I just hate seeing you like that.” Connie swiped at her eyes with the back of one hand. “Your friends are all having fits. Steven said they could see you, if you promised not to cause any trouble. Would you like that?”

When Ranma reached for the drink, the guards all twitched then relaxed when he showed no signs of grabbing for Connie or doing anything else foolish.

Ranma took his drink and zafu and retreated to the wall behind him. He sat on the zafu with his back to the wall and leaned back against it. He tucked his left foot against the zafu and put his right foot flat on the floor. Resting his right elbow on his knee, he tucked his left arm around his waist and let the soda dangle from his right hand. He was the perfect picture of abject misery.

The chains rattled as he shifted restlessly, trying to find a comfortable position, he noticed that most of the people in the room flinched every time they rattled.

Fifteen minutes later the guards had another scare. Ryouga and Kuno entered the room and immediately started raising hell. After a few minutes of shouting, Ryouga slammed out of the room without saying a word to Ranma. Ranma ordered Kuno after him.

“Man, go after him. He’ll do something just as stupid as I did and wind up in the same mess. I need you two free so you can tell me what is going on. Hurry.” Ranma didn’t want either Ryouga or Kuno to get themselves in trouble. He didn’t really need them to report to him, he would know what was going on soon enough. Steven wasn’t stupid enough to keep real trouble from him.

Sunny was the next to come in some thirty minutes later. Ranma could hear her at the door, pleading with the guards to let her see him. They weren’t cooperating, then he heard the chilling sound of a fist smacking into someone. He froze just long enough to hear Sunny exclaim, “I’m sorry.” Then she came running into his open arms.

“Ranma, what have they done to you I hit that man he wouldn’t let me come in to see you. Why are you chained up I’m gonna kill someone I swear. If they’ve hurt you let me see. . . mmmmmmmm” Ranma knew Sunny by now. The only way to get her to be quiet when she got wound up was to put something over her mouth. His lips worked nicely.

“Ok. I’ll wind down. They darted you. Kuno told me. Where?” Ranma showed her the spot. Sunny healed it almost without thinking. “There! Ranma why are you still. . . mmmmmm” Ranma kissed her again. Her voice, while well modulated, carried like mad. She pulled away and looked at him. His expression begged her not to go on.

“Ok Ranma.” Sunny cuddled up to him, keeping her voice to a whisper. “I don’t know what you have up your sleeve but I won’t queer your pitch.” At Ranmas questioning look, she smiled “ One of the girls in my secondary is carny. Nice, but count your fingers after you shake her hand. It means I won’t give anything away.” Ranma kissed the top of her head and hugged her gently.

“Take your hands off her. Young lady, come here.”

The door guards had finally gotten themselves together and were coming to the ‘rescue’. Ranma looked down the barrels of two .38 police specials. Snub nosed, ugly and pretty much useless against him, but they were pointed directly at Sunny’s back. He just turned around, presenting the men with his back, shielding Sunny with his body.

“Put up your guns! Damn you! You shoot me and you’ll hit Sunny. Put them up, I said.” Ranma was ready to take them out but Connie saved the situation, stepping between the guards and Ranma she talked the guards into pointing their guns away while she got Sunny out of the line of fire.

After making Ranma kneel on the floor with his hands behind his head the guards permitted Sunny to stay to talk to Ranma.

“Tell me what’s going on. Where’s Ryouga and Kuno, have you heard anything about Leela and Danny? Steven hasn’t sent me any news yet.” Ranma was out of the loop and he knew it, but Sunny could find out anything she wanted, she just put on her prettiest smile and people told her everything.

“Ok, bad news first. I had to sedate Ryouga he went berserk. Kuno tried to take him for a run in the hills to calm down, but it didn’t work. Kuno’s ok, so don’t frown like that. He’s with Ryouga in case the sedation wears off too soon. They’re sending Leela and Danny to get the objective, stupid men, all that magic stuff from the hotel. That’s all I know and Steven’s really upset. That man from JCI is a real prick I don’t trust him as far as I could throw this building.” Sunny started to go to Ranma but one of the guards grabbed her by the arm. That was nearly Ranma’s undoing. He twitched, chains rattling.

“Don’t touch her. Get your hand off.”

“Stay away from him. He could hurt you. He’s too angry to be safe.” The guard hadn’t seen anything like this in his life and he wasn’t taking any chances with this kid. He looked like he’d like to fight the world.

Sunny stomped her foot. “Oh poo! Ranma wont hurt me. I just want to hug him good-by.” Sunny turned tear filled, shimmering eyes on the guard, who immediately melted under the pressure of a teary Sunny.

“Ok, I know I shouldn’t but go ahead. Kid, if you so much as twitch wrong, I’m gonna shoot you. You hurt her in anyway . . . ” The man knew he shouldn’t let her go anywhere near Ranma but he couldn’t ignore her plea.

Ranma just looked at Sunny. “I ever hurt her and I’ll shoot myself. I won’t move.”

Ranma stayed right where he was, kneeling on the floor with his hands behind his head, waiting for Sunny to come to him. She walked to him and put her arms around his shoulders. He was surprised to see that they were almost the same height, on his knees he was no more than three inches shorter than she was, she was so small.

Ranma tipped his head back and Sunny kissed him, delving deeply into his open mouth. Ranma slid his tongue over hers and demanded more.

“Ok, you two break it up. Kissing is one thing. Frenching in public is another.”

Ranma let his forehead rest on Sunny’s breast for a second. “I’m gonna kill that prick yet.”

Sunny took a deep breath, hugged Ranma one more time and turned to go. On her way out she gave the guards a fierce look.

“Hum! If you harm him in anyway. I’ll be back and you won’t like it at all. And believe me, I won’t be talking you to death.” Sunny flounced out the door.

Ranma watched her with his heart in his eyes. He stood up with a sharp rattle of chains. “If you ever point a gun at a civilian like that again, I’ll tear you a new asshole.”

“Yeah? You and what army. You’re chained.”

Ranma looked at the man with cold eyes “I won’t always be chained. Don’t count on that saving your ass anyway.”

Ranma spent the next few hours annoying everyone in the room. He paced, scuffing his feet, chains rattling at every step. He had to kick the chains when he turned, well he actually didn’t, but it made a satisfying clunk.

He also sang. He had a nice voice but the other occupants of the room couldn’t be reconciled to his choice of material. He sang every bawdy song he knew, and considering who his father was and his upbringing, the songs he knew were not only filthy, but hilariously funny, and long.

But he got bored with that and started singing a drinking song and kicking the wall he was chained to.
Laying on his back with his arms behind his head he sang and drove both feet into the wall in time.

I think(Boom) and I drink (Boom)
and I think (boom)
I’ll have( ka boom) another drink (boom)
And another drink (boom)
another drink(boom)
a drink. (boom)

“Damnit, that kid is going to drive me crazy. Every semi-civilized person had to leave the room. Between his chains rattling and the infernal singing . . . can’t we dart him. Please.” The Captain of the guards was pleading with Steven. Steven wasn’t cooperating in the least

“No, you can’t dart him again. He’s going to be mad enough when he finds out what a mess I’ve made of this. And I’ve got no excuse. I’ll be down to see him myself. And what the hell is that noise.”

Steven was disgusted with himself, he hadn’t trusted Downs, but the higher ups had needed him to cooperate with him so he’d put his mistrust aside. Now, he had to tell Ranma that he’d been right. Leela and Danny had been captured by the witch. Downs had decamped, saying only that it was up to Steven to recover his people if he could.

Steven headed for the lab building where he’d sent Ranma. As he got closer, he could hear the booming. {What the hell is going on}. He walked into the lab and nearly dropped in his tracks.

They’d chained Ranma to the wall and from the door it looked like they’d done something to him to force him to stay on the floor. Then Ranma drove both feet into the wall. The blow was floor shaking and he found out what the noise was. Ranma was kicking the wall just hard enough to make a racket without knocking the wall down. And singing.

“Ranma, stop that. I need to talk to you.” Steven waited for Ranma to stop singing.

Ranma rolled over and was in Steven’s face so fast that the guard thought he’d transported or something. He scrabbled for his gun. Steven just waited.

“What happened? How bad is it? Where do we have to go to get them out? I’m going with!” Ranma wrapped his chains around Steven and pinned him down. “Or are we collecting wounded. If Leela is hurt, I’m gonna hurt you just as bad.”

Steven didn’t struggle. He knew it wouldn’t do any good, Ranma was wound tighter than a dollar clock.

“Let him go!” The guard had finally gotten his gun out and aimed. “I’ll shoot!” but the guard made the same mistake Steven had. He was across the gaffer tape line within arms reach of Ranma.

“Fuckin’ gimme that.” Ranma picked the gun out of the mans hand and threw it through the roof. It made a ragged hole about a foot across and disappeared into the sky. “Go away!” Ranma turned his back on the guard who was counting his fingers and thanking his guardian angels that he still had them all.

Ranma pounced on Steven again, moving with a catlike grace that made him shiver. Neko-kun was very close and Steven knew it. He still didn’t struggle as Ranma forced him to his knees.

“Let me talk. You can kill me later. Leela and Danny were captured by that witch. She hasn’t turned them over to the police and Downs is disavowing the whole thing. The only thing I can think is, she is keeping them for some reason. We’ve got to get in and find them before she sacrifices them or something.”

Ranma sniffed Steven, sticking his nose into the hollow between his neck and shoulder. Ranma sniffed again and snarled, he could tell by the smell that Steven wasn’t lying.

Ranma called the Neko-kun, his aura changed, Steven could see the faint outline of a gigantic cat enveloping Ranma. {Damnit, he’s cat-boy, I hope I can reason with him} Ranma leered at Steven and used one chi claw to cut the bands around his wrists and ankles, he kicked them away and released the aura.

Steven felt his mouth go dry. If Ranma turned on him, he was dead where he stood, not that he didn’t deserve it but he wanted to get his people back first.

“Ranma kill me later. We have to get Leela and Danny back first. You have every right to be mad. I really messed this one up” Steven was just pissed, he’d trusted Downs and his superiors and it hurt to have his trust abused

“What happened to you Steven? When did you become a bureaucrat? When did politics take over? We don’t need their money or influence. We can manage without it. The Americans and the British will fund us, all we have to do is ask. You . . . want what . . . Influence?”

Steven shook his head. “Beats the hell out of me. I don’t know what I was thinking. When I figure it out, I’ll tell you. Expediency bites. I trusted where I shouldn’t have. Come on. We need to get to Cen Ops. Umm . . . before you kill, me will you tell me something?”

Ranma stopped for a minute, trying to decide how mad he was. Then he turned around and slugged Steven, knocking him into the wall and smashing the wall into the parking lot outside. Steven lay on his back for a full minute then sat up shaking his head to clear it. After heaving himself heavily to his feet, he trudged back to Ranma

“Ok. I really deserved that but no more until after!”

“Ask!”

“Excuse me?”

“You said you had questions. Ask.”

“I thought those chains would hold you. What just happened?” Steven bit at his lip, he didn’t want Ranma to think all he wanted was a way to restrain him. Ranma looked at Steven from the corner of his eye.

“They held me because I let them. I wanted to work on controlling the Neko-ken. I learned to do just that, so now, when I am Neko-kun, I’m in control completely. I control myself and my attacks. The chains were just barely strong enough to hold me, they kept me from rolling into someone while Ranma-me learned to control Neko-me. Understand? If you think you’re ever gonna find something to really restrain me ever again you’d better curse it.” Ranma gave Steven one fierce, fulminating look. “Oh. Another thing. If you ever endanger my people again, we’re all gone. We don’t need you, we’re still kids and can start a new life. Don’t ever forget that again”

Steven sighed, he’d hoped for this day, just not quite so soon. All the kids needed to understand that they had choices and the freedom to make them.

“Ranma, damnit, I hated doing that but . . . I won’t let you get charged with treason and disrespecting the Emperor. So now what.”

While they had been talking they had clambered back into the lab. Guards tried to stop Ranma from following Steven through the room. His glare could have taken the paint off a car. One guard actually worked up the nerve to touch Ranma

“Get your hand off me before I take it off you.” Ranma’s low cold voice dripped venom. Ranma raised his eyes from the hand on his arm to the eyes of the man holding him. The man started shaking and pissed himself, standing stock, still frozen in place.

Ranma followed Steven to Cen Ops. Shuba was no where to be seen, instead there was a man that Ranma had never seen sitting behind a control desk. He was frowning at a display and tapping his fingers on his chin.

“Steven, you’ve really screwed this one up. I can’t find those kids, all I have is a carrier signal and it’s only strong enough to show me their general location. It’ll be dawn soon.”

Ranma looked around and decided, “Where’s Shuba? I want to talk to him. After that I’m going to eat, then get some sleep. When I wake up, I want a report and then I’ll plan my mission myself. I’m not trusting any of you to plan my way out of the john.”

Steven just nodded, telling him that Shuba had been sent to get some sleep himself. He introduced the man behind the desk as Jeff and said that he would develop the mission details and have Ranma’s reports ready by sundown, ending. “We can’t do anything until dusk. You can’t just walk in and demand they return our people. They might kill them just for spite or use them as hostages.”

Ranma snorted and left, trailing a cloud of curses behind him.

When he got to the dorm, he found Sunny seated at the small table in the tea room sniffling.

“What’s the matter, Koi? I’m gonna kill whoever made you cry, I swear.” Ranma was tired and hungry, he was also still mad at the world in general.

Sunny jumped up and grabbed Ranma, running her hands over him, making sure he wasn’t injured anywhere.

“I’m just mad I can’t believe Steven was stupid enough to trust that nasty man I wonder what they did to get Steven over a barrel or maybe he just made a mistake he’s just human you know.” At the sour expression on Ranma’s face she just shut up.

“When you have peoples lives in your hands, you can’t afford to be ‘just human’. I learned that a long time ago. Sunny, I need you to be healer for a minute, no babbling, no foolishness. How reliable is Kuno? Could I depend on him to do exactly as I tell him to, or would he go off on one of his weird crusades? And Ryouga . . . no, I can’t trust that idiot not to get lost and he’s just plain too noisy.” Ranma tugged his pigtail and thought while Sunny stood and made faces.

“I can do whatever you need me to do. My medication is back in effect and I’m fine again. What do you need me to do?” Kuno had been standing unnoticed in the doorway while Ranma had questioned Sunny.

“Kuno, I know you may think you’re better but I need Sunny to confirm that. I’m not taking any chances with this. It’s too important.” Ranma turned to Sunny, he took her hands in his and pulled her close. “Sunny, I know you don’t want to hurt Kuno’s feelings but I need to know if he can do what I need. Please, Danny and Leela’s lives may depend on this.”

Kuno gave Sunny an encouraging nod. “Just tell the truth as you see it. I won’t be mad if you think I’m not ready to do this. It’s too important for my pride to get in the way. “

“Ok. I think you’re better. You haven’t had an episode in nearly a week, your meds have leveled in your blood, so I don’t see any reason why you can’t do whatever Ranma wants. Ok, Koi? You happy?”

“Sunny, I won’t be happy until I have Danny and Leela back here where I can chew them out good. But I’m better. I’m going to get something to eat and then I’m going to bed and sleep.” Ranma cracked his neck and bent backwards to stretch his back. “I’m going to the mess and then I’m gonna kill the first one who wakes me up before I’m ready. Come with?”

Sunny nodded and happily slid under Ranma’s left arm, next to his heart.