Sousuke frowned at the girl sitting next to him and chanting in a low voice. More pointedly, he considered the arc of concealing darkness between their little corner and the world outside. He knew that from outside it looked just like a normal if thick shadow, but was somewhat transparent from inside.
He'd heard rumors of such people, sensitives and kinetics and others, but this was the first time he'd worked with any. He'd originally assumed that their abilities were minor and perhaps a bit exaggerated by campfire stories.
He was finding the truth to be a bit more impressive than his assumptions.
At the same time, he was a bit underwhelmed by at least Naiki Satomi's actions, even if it had given them a bit of a distraction.
In any case it was time to make his report.
****
"As it stands," Sousuke said. "Kaname Chidori is captured, as are two of the Satomis. Naiki Satomi is injured but alive, I was not able to ascertain more than that."
He went on to discuss damage done to the enemy in the attempted retaking of the plane and the landing that followed, as well as the ongoing transfer of the hostages to the transport plane and the bomb reported by Eija Satomi.
"One last thing, Commander," Sousuke said. "It's Gauron."
"Are you certain?" Kalinin said, more surprised by this than he was by the report of how much damage they'd been able inflict. "I thought he was dead."
"I know, but it's definitely him," Sousuke said. "He has the scar from where I shot him."
"Understood, Urzu-7," Kalinin said. He was about to cut off the communication when their guest raised her hand to ask to be heard.
"Mind if I ask him to pass on a message for me?" Ranma asked.
Kalinin glanced over toward Tessa who nodded.
"Stand by for our guest expert, Urzu-7," Kalinin said before inviting Ranma over to the microphone.
"Soldier-boy, you've got my youngest daughter there," she said.
"Affirmative," Sousuke said.
"All right, tell her she's to follow your lead," Ranma said. "Remind her you're the sensei here. You'd probably say superior officer, but sensei will be easier for her to understand."
"Understood," Sousuke said.
"If she hasn't already, tell her to inform you what she can do, family secrets included," Ranma said. She took a breath and continued. "And also tell her drawing blood might be needed."
"Affirmative," Sousuke said. "Is there anything else, Ms Satomi."
"Tell her they're all grounded if they don't come back alive," Ranma said. "That's it."
"Keep looking for Kaname Chidori and the other ," Kalinin said. "And stay safe. Next contact will be at 2200, we'll let you know the next move then."
"Understood, sir," Sousuke said. "Urzu-7 out."
"That leaves us to plan the rescue then," Tessa said. "Ms Satomi, you've admitted that you're not used to military action, can we trust you to follow a plan?"
"Like I said, you're the senseis here," Ranma said.
"I'm surprised," Kalinin said. "Most of the time your sort of people tend to place more confidence in their own abilities over 'normal' people."
"Bah, skill and expertise overwhelm talent everywhere," Ranma said dismissing the concern. "But you're right, most psychics trust only the abilities that nobody else has and don't think crap through."
"All right," Tessa said. "Then you don't mind if I ask what you can do?"
"Don't mind," Ranma said. "All our eggs are the same basket, after all. I'm not good on the science terms though, so I'll just try to give practicals."
"Headache better?" Tessa asked.
"Getting there," Ranma said.
"Then let's get started," Tessa said.
Ranma took a deep breath and started to say what she could and could not handle.
****
Sousuke looked up from the radio to note Eija dragging a soldier into their corner and sitting down to continue her concentration on their cover.
"Did you hear?" Sousuke asked.
"Hai," Eija said. "I'm ready to do as you need, sensei."
"Then we find our comrades and wait for word," Sousuke said.
****
Naiki and Deimosu Satomi were kept under armed guard near three large trucks with trailers wired together.
A mobile lab unit.
It took a look to see that two Satomis were wearing a vest rigged with a detonator and bombs and that three heavy machine gun positions were placed about them. Naiki was still unconscious and lying on a cot with medical machines around her.
"Miss Chidori should be in one of the trailers," Sousuke said rationally. "This is bad. They have a squad strength there. This is likely a trap."
"I can get a closer look," Eija whispered.
"Are you confident of not being seen?" Sousuke said.
Eija nodded.
"Do it," Sousuke said. "See if you can find who has the detonator. And if there are any snipers."
Eija hesitated a moment.
"If I find any snipers, should I remove them?" Eija asked.
"I'd like to delay awareness of our presence as long as possible," Sousuke said. "But it would be best to remove all possible dangers."
"Delay the discovery," Eija said. "I understand."
She stood up and started to fade away.
Under the cover of the umisenken, Eija filtered in among the soldiers guarding her siblings, resisting the urge to fiddle with the machine guns or explosives that she knew nothing about.
She almost lost her focus as she got close to Naiki and saw that death was creeping up on her sister. It was hours away, and these villains would probably stop it completely, but that wasn't much comfort.
As Sousuke suspected, she found another squad of soldiers in hiding behind boxes deeper in the warehouse they'd taken their "special interests" to.
Taking a deep breath, she walked in among them and started the uncomfortable work.
She couldn't understand the Korean as she walked amongst them, but it was clear that they didn't realize anything weird was happening.
"Hey, watch where you're pushing," one of them said.
"You watch it," another protested quietly.
"Everyone keep your mouths shut," the squad leader said.
Eija was through like a ghost and out the other side.
A few pounds of force applied with expert percision to the right meridian points and slow build up of chi would have a particular effect.
Dim mak.
Eija aimed for the spleen.
It was a lethal attack, painful and sudden death by internal bleeding, but she didn't have time to closely study each target in the way that would make the non-lethal attacks most accurate and sure. If there was something anomalous about them, at the very least they'd be incapacitated with pain.
She needed that certainty.
However, as she left, it was obvious to her blood red eyes that the blackness of death was creeping up swiftly on the majority of the squad.
And she could already see more blood on her own hands.
She was at Sousuke's side and into view not long after.
"There's an ambush," she said. "But they're all dead or incapacitated in about thirty minutes. Naiki needs a doctor, or me."
The mercenary nodded.
"Any sign of the man from the cabin?" Sousuke asked.
"Not yet," Eija said. "And I'd only call him a man in the strictest sense."
"Agreed," Sousuke said. "I've had some experience with him. Can your sister hold out until the ambush is finished?"
"She has hours," Eija said. "But..."
"Then we'll move when the ambush is down," Sousuke said. "Get close and take out the man with the detonator and anybody near, those vests are jury-rigged, it doesn't look like they're wired to go anyway but with a detonator. I'll handle everybody else. As soon as I see you, I'll start firing. Got it?"
They sat and waited patiently, Eija feeling the building approach of death on the soldiers she'd already taken care of.
They had five minutes, maybe less, when everything went crazy.
First, there was the sound of a gunshot from inside one of the trailers.
Eija turned to look at Sousuke and saw he was already moving.
Watching the squad leader in charge of the detonator starting to get itchy, she couldn't hold back and moved, dropping the umisenken's cloak as she stole the detonator out of his hand and thrust her palm into his chest, sending a wave of force that damaged lungs and heart.
The two soldiers about the man raised their rifles her way but were too slow to stop her attack on their superior or the crescent kick that followed immediately afterward, taking them out of the fight.
Sousuke responded by taking out two of the heavy machine gun crews with the pistol he'd taken from Gauron earlier.
Deimosu was quick to take action as well, jumping into the distracted third machine-gun crew's midst and tearing them and their support apart. Taking the wired vest off a moment later.
The ambush squad was pouring out to the attack as Sousuke moved on the trailer, catching the detonator as Eija tossed it to him, but at the same time, a wall in the warehouse exploded inward as a large, dark-haired man moved to join the fight. Behind him another figure swarmed in, moving incredibly fast.
"Hey, Thyme," the slender one said. "That must be the dark-haired bride Basil was talking about. That's all three!"
"Good day for the Musk," the large one said.
Deimosu and Eija both turned to look at the two with a sinking feeling. Musk warriors were big on their mother's danger lists.
It turned into a brief threeway battle as the ambush, lives shortened by their activity started dropping all at once.
"Get to Naiki," Deimosu shouted. "I'll handle these."
Eija nodded and rushed to her sister, focusing her mind on healing and fixing the injuries that were threatening her sister.
Deimosu dodged aside a swipe from the large dark man, and leaned into a speeding charge by the slender speed-freak. Eija heard the crackling thunder of his inner-power striking out like lightning, but this was more or less familiar to her.
The sweat came out of her as if she was a towel being wrung out, but the internal damage faded away and, Naiki started to wake up.
"Whaz..." Naiki wearily as she started to come to.
"Fight," Eija said gasping as she tried to recover from the effort of healing. "Musk."
"Musk?" Naiki said confused before it came to her and she sat up to look at her brother competing with the two warriors coming in and getting the overall worst of it. "MUSK!"
She started to move forward to help and collapsed to the floor, or would have if Eija hadn't caught her.
"Not yet," Eija said, helping her sister to her feet and tossing the explosive vest aside. She started moving for the escape route Sousuke had determined earlier.
As she did so, Sousuke came out of the trailer behind them.
"Miss Chidori, help them," he said shouted moving forward to grab one of the personal assault weapons the guard squad had had.
Deimosu fell back, forcing a space between the two Musk and himself with a blast of electrical power and giving himself a chance to catch his breath. In doing so he gave Sousuke an opening.
Automatic fire hedged the speedy flame-haired slender one away, letting Deimosu focus his attention on the huge one. Thyme out massed and out-strengthed Deimosu, but couldn't compete in speed or skill with the young demigod.
A swift exchange and the brute was tossed aside and dazed long enough for Deimosu and Sousuke to backaway from the fight and catch up to the girls.
Which was when the ceiling blew inward to reveal an angry looking pink-haired young-man floating downward.
"I claim these females for the Musk Dynasty," he said imperiously, hovering over the space that the Satomis had been held earlier.
Around them, the other two Musk, mostly undamaged started to come to his side on the ground. Which was littered with two explosive wired vests.
"I'm afraid I can't comply," Sousuke said, setting his weapon aside and rising the detonator switch in his hand.
Basil looked confused as to why the outsider would drop the powerful gun, dangerous even to him if he weren't careful, and instead raise what looked to be one of the radios these outsiders talked through.
Then the world flashed brilliantly white and he was thrown backward into a truck.
When vision came back a few seconds later and he was looking to see the incredibly resilient Thyme shake free of the impact and the speedy Bay leaning against the wall and catching his breath. All the outsiders had vanished.
Growling in rage he limped the first few feet out into the middle of the warehouse before recovering himself and starting to consider rising into the air.
Which was when more of these monkey-ish outsiders came pouring in with more firearms and the three Musk had something to occupy themselves with before hunting their prize.
****
"Sousuke, what the hell do you think you are doing?" Kaname demanded as the five of them snuck away from the fire fight.
"I'm afraid our original plan has been scuttled by that third party," Sousuke said. "But they should still cause enough confusion and distraction for us to get somewhere secure to wait for reinforcements."
"Why don't we just get out of here?" Deimosu said, pointing outside the complex.
"In a moment," Sousuke said. "But we need time to catch our breath and re-equip. If possible we'll need to contact my superiors."
"Your superiors," Kaname said from where she was helping Naiki walk along. "What do you mean your superiors? Hayashimizu?! What's he going to say? 'The terrorists wouldn't dare impinge on the autonomy of the students'?"
"No, I do not believe his excellency has anything to do with this situation," Sousuke said. "Now please keep your voice down until we get to that hangar."
"S...souskue!" Kaname snapped. "This isn't a video game. This is the real thing!"
The young man turned around to catch her eye firmly.
"Miss Chidori, I will protect you," he said. "That is my duty."
Kaname felt herself blushing as he said that, and she couldn't continue to voice out her anger at the young man.
"I still say we should just roof-hop out of here," Deimosu said. "Leave the Musk behind and let soldier-boy's friends save everybody else since they're coming."
"Mother said to follow Sousuke's lead in this," Eija said quietly, still breathing heavily. "When we get to the hangar, I'll heal Naiki a little more."
"Can you handle another spell like that?" Deimosu asked.
"I'll be fine," Eija said as they reached the hangar.
"Hide in the back," Sousuke said eyeing the savage in the hangar. "Deimosu, keep a watch for any incoming."
"I still think this is a mistake," Deimosu muttered.
"What are you going to do?" Kaname asked, wondering about the tall robotic fighter in front of her.
"I'm re-equipping," Sousuke said as he moved to the ladder and started to climb up it.
"Look, cut it out," Kaname said. "I'll admit your good. But even if you've spent hours on the paintball range and simulators, that doesn't mean you can pilot an arm slave against real soldiers. An amateur can't control one of those."
"Amateur?" Sousuke said, coming to the top of the arm slave. "I'm no amateur, I'm a specialist."
****
The sound of battle outside was spreading across the base, much more than could be accounted for by just the three Musk warriors.
Kaname had moved to the back of the hangar with Naiki and Eija after Sousuke opened the cockpit of the AS and got inside, rather easily much to her surprise.
Naiki looked much better, the bruises and cuts on her arms miraculously healed to a level that looked like she'd taken a rough fall.
Eija on the other hand, was lying on her back with a grey pallor and breathing heavily as she recovered from what whatever it was she had down to help her sister.
"So, what was with that guy back there?" Kaname asked. "The one that was flying?"
"He's a Musk Prince," Naiki said. "They're a tribe from China somewhere near some magic springs. Mother told us all about them and told us to be very careful around them and to fight all out if one even hinted at attacking us."
"Why?" Kaname asked.
"They kidnap strong female martial artists and female psychics to strengthen their bloodlines," Eija whispered.
"We're breeding material," Naiki confirmed, pointing to all three of them.
"What, but I'm not anything like a psychic!" Kaname protested, not mentioning what that scientist had said about "Whispered".
"Something's coming," Deimosu shouted. "Something big!"
In his cockpit Sousuke growled at the soviet piece of junk, waiting for it to boot up so he could move.
From his position, Deimosu unleashed a chi blast followed by an electrical discharge as the approaching savage trained a cannon towards his position. The impact staggered the AS, but didn't seriously damage it.
Cannon fire blew through the wall just over Deimosu dodging down and rolling to standing. In the back, Eija was getting to her feet much slower than either Kaname or Naiki.
Naiki rushed in and ripped her arms out at the savage, watching as her vacuum blade sliced into the thing's chest armor, but found nothing vital.
The cannon aimed toward her as she threw more vacuum blades instead of dodging aside, chipping away at the armor, but failing to aim or hit something specific.
Before the cannon could fire again another robot rushed in and shoved the attacker away, grabbing its hand cannon away. A movement later and the cannon blew a sizeable hole in the enemy savage.
Kaname could only watch as a second savage appeared and was destroyed before it could even register Sousuke's savage.
"Let's go," Sousuke called out over the comms.
The robot kneeled down and lowered a hand for the others to climb on.
"Let's get out of here," Sousuke shouted. "No time to talk!"
"We can keep up," Deimosu said. "Even carrying Eija."
"I can move," she said.
"Negative," Sousuke said noting that Naiki's and Eija's health status had almost reversed. True the dark-haired girl wasn't at risk of death, from what he could tell, but she was exhuasted.
"Your brother carries you! We go now, reinforcements are already heading here," Sousuke continued.
Then they were rushing out of the hangar, Naiki bringing up the rear and lashing out with a storm of vacuum blades to tear through the approaching tanks, which lacked the futurisitc alloys that made up the AS bodies.
Then she followed after.
****
Ranma sat in one of the helicopters sitting scross and among the Mithril strike force.
Mithril.
It was hard to do anything in the shadows without hearing about that group, and here she was working for them.
This wasn't her normal beat, but she'd been close to this sort of work once or twice before.
The red head'd done something similar while she was still living in Greece, when she was still establishing herself and earning money...and the understanding to use it properly.
A quick rescue and raze of a KGB psychic research facility.
She'd only been one of a team on that one.
Twenty-three, still bitter. She'd probably still be controlled by that bitterness except for the combination of her children, who she didn't believe deserved punishment, and the repeated "thank yous" from the jobs she'd taken.
Most of that team had been mercenaries just like this one, with herself the token "sensitive" to help finding the objectives. They'd been surprised that she could handle herself.
"So, you're psychic?" the lieutenant across from her asked.
"Hmm, not really," she said. "But close enough."
"And your kids are down there," the other added.
"Yep," Ranma said, realizing where the man was going with this.
"Don't go Akira and threaten the mission on us, got it?" the man said.
"Minimal effort, maximum impact," Ranma said. "I'm supporting you."
"I heard we're covering you," the lieutenant said with a smirk. "Need a gun?"
"Not a good idea," Ranma said shaking her head. "I haven't trained in gunfire. Last time I tried, I almost got myself killed playing gunslinger."
"We're not going to be getting in hand to hand range if we can avoid it," the lieutenant warned.
"Trust me, I can cope," Ranma said with a smile.
****
The helicopters came in amidst gunfire, though most of that was drawn by the M-9s that had landed ahead of them.
Ranma disembarked and immediately moved for cover with the rest of the team she was with.
She could dodge pistol fire, and didn't worry much about a stray bullet striking her, given the bakusai tenketsu, even her reverse-engineered version of the body hardening, but there was no reason to invite gunfire.
Small injuries and pains were still injuries and pains. It was like walking onto broken glass with bare feet.
The team moved forward cover to cover, firing to cover the next person. Soon enough her turn to move came and, as she came to the next piece of cover she lashed her hands outward.
A whirling vacuum blade left her hand and slashed easily through the barrels and crates covering the soldiers behind them. In fact it slashed through some of the soldiers behind.
The lieutenant came up next behind her and smirked at her as he passed.
"I see what you mean now," he said.
The rescue squad worked their way through as the main assault worked to subdue the base and establish a perimeter to get the hostages out.
Ahead of the main fighting lines, where M-9s were securing the runway, Ranma and the rescuers were spearheading the path to the hostages for the demolitions crew and pilots. Turning a corner when they found a savage in firing position.
"Think you can take out an AS?" the lieutenant asked her.
"Give me three, five minutes," Ranma said peeking around the corner. "Maybe. Big maybe."
"How about just disable?" the man asked.
"I think that'll take less time," Ranma said.
"All right, I wan...the hell!?" the lieutenant gasped as the savage around the corner was engulfed in power and energy.
As the attack faded, the savage appeared visibly dented from several directions, some vital components sparking outward. Disabled but not destroyed.
"Ryu Sei Hisho," Ranma said narrowly as she saw the end result of the attack. "Too weak to be Herb unless he's been sitting on his ass eating potato chips for sixteen years."
"What's that?" the lieutenant asked. "One of your kids going crazy?"
"No," Ranma said. "There's a third party involved. He has to be able to fly to pull that move off, so watch up. There are probably more on the ground, dressed as ancient warriors."
The lieutenant nodded and gestured for the team to move past the now safe corner, eyes upward.
They were moving further in when a pink-haired figure carrying a chi sword swung around a further corner, hanging twenty feet off the ground, and turned to face them. A sneer covered his face as he unleashed a blast of chi towards them in the form of a scything line of chi.
Ranma immediately leaped forward and lashed outward with her arms, sending two vacuum blades to disrupt the chi blade.
"I've got this Musk brat," Ranma said to the men behind her. "Keep going, I'll catch up."
"Watch yourself, Ma'am," the lieutenant said as the rescue squad moved past her.
"Woman," the young-man said. "Don't presume to get in my way. If you know who we are, then you know we are not to be stopped. I am Basil, son of Herb, Prince of the Musk!"
Ranma responded by charging down the alley way between the warehouses toward where Basil was hovering. The young dragon prince unleashed chi blades and chi blasts growling bitterly as Ranma dodged them aside easily.
As the swift red-head, with speed probably surpassing Bay's, approached closer, the surprised young man dived downward with a series of chi-balls he hurled down to the location Ranma would reach.
Ranma grimaced as he recognized the Ryu Sei Hisho coming and wondered if her theorized counter would work. As the chi blasts struck the ground and started to bounce into her, she was already whirling into the dance.
"Kijin Gun-Dai Ranbu!" Ranma shouted as vacuum blades lashed out in all directions, obliterating the buildings on either side of the red-headed martial artist and disrupting the chi bombs that had been about to smash her into unconsciousness.
Basil stared in shock as the unbeatable move of the dragon princes was so thoroughly demolished.
"Saidaiky? Kijin Raish? Dan!" Ranma shouted launching a salvo of vacuum blades upwards at the prince.
Basil barely dodged aside dipping low as the fatal projectiles passed inches in front of his face.
Concentrated as he was on the projectiles, he failed to note the martial artist leaping to the highest point of the ruined structures around her and then upward again.
As the vacuum blades vanished harmlessly into the sky, he looked down and in front for Ranma as the peak of her second leap came in above and behind the young Musk.
In the rain, he failed to note Ranma's presence until the woman slammed into him from above, a kachuu tenshin amaguriken fist striking repetively into his shoulder until he felt it crack multiple times in multiple spots.
They landed with Ranma in control, her feet striking the ground as she slammed Basil into the ground first and then a piece of debris.
She couldn't hold back against the Musk, she knew from experience that the dragon princes had to be overwhelmed with skill and tactics and not allowed to bring their inhuman chi levels to the fight.
Basil for his place barely had time to recover from the surprise mid-air assault as he slammed physically again and again, something his father had assured him no outsider could possibly do. He was cognizant enough to know that his attacker was actually avoiding the most vital locations and instead focusing on causing pain and bruises.
And finally, the brutality stopped and he was facing the female's face that had so thoroughly humiliated him.
"Your Herb's son I'm guessing," Ranma said darkly. "He and I have an understanding, and that's the only reason I'm letting you live, Musk. If I find one of you Musk bastards has even touched one of my daughters, you're going to wish I'd killed you here."
Bleary but conscious, Basil slashed out clumsily with a chi sword, forcing Ranma backwards and giving him more than enough room to unleash a blast of chi that the martial artist was hard pressed to dissipate at such short range.
She just managed the Kijin Raishu Dan to create two vacuum blades across his position, affording her a small safe place in the powerful chi blast.
When it faded away, Basil was a speck in the sky.
Ranma sneered at the retreating form, Herb would never have run like that.
****
AN: I figure Naiki and Deimosu have the potential but not the experience or skill to take an AS with their powers. Sousuke in an AS would be quicker even when they get powerful enough. None of them can do anything to Gauron+Lambda Driver.
I think Ranma is going to be able to attack the joints with vacuum blades or something similar, but might take two or three minutes and would have a lot harder time with a skilled opponent.
Also, I've decided, in retrospect, that Ranma's overall power level (chi at least) is less than Herb and loads less than Saffron. She's definitely got a lot less potential than her children do as well (being demigods they're potentially up there as well). However, she's got skill, tactics and adaptability. In this case, she knew all the Musk tricks already and didn't even try a hiryu shoten ha, even with the hiryu korin dan. At this point, Basil probably has multiple hairline fractures across his body so that he's in lots of pain and in a vulnerable state, but not beyond his ability to recover via chi healing.
Vacuum blades versus chi blasts. Chi is based on the reaction of all things in the world. The vacuum blades are a small area of nothing. When the chi blast meets the vacuum blade, the fraction of nothingness causes it to fracture and dissipate.
Also, I figure that Eija can heal via chi-healing which is more like professional medical treatment in effect, not an instant heal. Or she can do a miraculous style healing, but that takes a lot out of her, as is apparent.
also, Sousuke's willingness to accept they can keep up, by this time, Eija's told him how fast they can travel (as per mother's instructions)
Also, the Musk resilience to gunfire being less than Naiki's
Bakusei Tenketsu is a very powerful body hardening technique...
by comparison, the Musk tough-guys are mostly born that way, so while still tougher than base human and able to survive small arms fire, it isn't something they can ignore.
Comment of who's attack Ranma first witnessed edited to fit Ranma's personality