A Feather in the Wind
Chapter 12

      Feather woke from a fitful sleep and shivered. The cell she and Ryouga shared was cold and damp. She stood slowly and stretched before she tried to rub some warmth back into her arms.
      "Geez, it's freezing in here," she muttered as she started pacing back and forth. The flimsy hospital gown she had on did very little in the way of keeping her warm. For a moment, she was tempted to pop her wings out and wrap them around herself, but decided against it. Ryouga was still knocked out, whether he was still under the affects of the tranquilizer or asleep, she couldn't tell. After what seemed like an eternity, Ryouga finally stirred.
      "Man," he groaned as he sat up, "I feel like I did during the Bakusai tenketsu training."
      "Ryouga! You're finally awake!" Feather cried out as she knelt next to him. He turned towards her groggily, his eyes did not quite focus on her.
      "Feather? What happened? Last thing I remember is pushing a guard out of the way so that I could go with you."
      She sniffled a little as she recanted what had happened the day before. "They shot you in the back with some sort of tranquilizer. After they got you, Tsukabe ordered one of the guards to kill Naoli because she objected to how they were treating us. Naoli ran, but they say she's dead. They killed her, and they'll kill us too if we don't do what they want!" She buried her face in his shoulder and began to cry.
      "We'll figure something out." Ryouga said quietly as he gently hugged her, suppressing his giddiness at her close proximity. He finally glanced around the cell and burst out laughing, causing Feather to give him a sharp look.
      "What?" She asked irritably as she pulled away from him. :: He's cracked!:: She thought to herself. After a minute Ryouga stopped laughing.
      "These guys really don't know that much about me!" He waved his arms excitedly before he whispered in her ear. "Remember, I can break rocks with the touch of my finger, cement too. Maybe if I practiced I could use the baksai tenketsu on metal." His grin threatened to split his face. Feather looked at him blankly for a second until realization struck.
      "Ryouga, I could kiss you!" She exclaimed happily. His faced turned a bright crimson at the thought.
      "Now now, we haven't decided if we're going to breed you or not, at least not yet." They turned and saw a smiling Tsukabe and a few of his scientists walking down the corridor. Feather's face turned a bright red from embarrassment, while Ryouga was now red with rage rather than embarrassment.
      "You even think about touching her like that and I'll kill you!" He snarled as he grabbed the bars, his anger burning away the lingering effects of the tranquilizer, but he still couldn't gather the focus necessary to do the baksai tenketsu. Tsukabe waggled his finger in Ryouga's face.
      "Such a rude boy," he admonished, "But, you're in no position to make threats of any kind. After all, you're in there, and I'm out here. What are you gonna do about that?" Tsukabe slammed his briefcase against Ryouga's fingers, expecting to seriously hurt him. All he succeeded in doing was making Ryouga mad.
      "Why don't you step in here and let's see how brave you really are?" Ryouga snarled at him. Tsukabe shook his head.
      "Temper, temper." he admonished.
      "Sir, I must object to how you are treating them!" One of the scientists moved to stand between Tsukabe and the cell. "How do you expect to learn anything if you take the subjects out of a properly controlled environment?" Tsukabe gave the man a cold look. The scientist quailed for a second before he stood straight again.
      "Scowl all you want sir," another scientist spoke up, "but I must agree. This is intolerable, not to mention extremely inconvenient to our research." A general murmur arose from the rest of the group. Feather glanced at Ryouga and gave him a wink before she began to cough and hack.
      "Feather!" Ryouga cried out in concern and then spun to glare at Tsukabe. "This is all your fault!" he snarled.
      Tsukabe gave him a derisive look. "How could her getting sick possibly be my fault?"
      "You idiot!" Ryouga yelled as his arm flashed between the bars to snag Tsukabe's tie, "You put a girl like her in this cold, damp dungeon with nothing but that hospital gown on and you expect her not to get sick?" Ryouga yanked hard on the tie, bouncing Tsukabe off the bars. Several of the scientists applauded as the older man sunk to the floor.
      "Are you guys going to let us out of here or what?" Ryouga asked bluntly while Feather shivered. One of the scientists chuckled.
      "Not until an escort has arrived."
      "Why not now?"
      The scientist shook his head. "You seem to have forgotten. We all watched you two practice yesterday, not to mention your little display with Tsukabe just a moment ago. I have no doubt that you could easily beat us up and run off, so let's just say I'd rather be safe than sorry, we really can't let such prime specimens run off now can we?" He pulled a cell phone out of his pocket and punched a few numbers.
      "Hello, security? I need an escort for our guests back to their regular chambers. Yes. No, Tsukabe is not authorizing this. He has no authority in this matter! Fine!" The man sighed as he slipped the phone back into his pocket.
      "What's going on?" Feather asked.
      "Our security chief wants to come down here and 'assess the situation' as he calls it." he shrugged. A few minutes later, the sound of several booted feet echoed down the corridor. One of the scientists moved down the corridor to speak with them. After a hushed conversation, the security chief moved to where Feather could see him. Feather fell over backwards in shock.
      "You!" she squeaked as she pointed at the man. Ryouga looked dumbly between Feather and the man.
      "You know this guy?" He asked.
      "Ah, so you do remember. It is so nice to see you again Feather. I've been regretting letting you go." Yama said with a smile as he tilted his hat back with a thumb.

      Somewhere on a country road, Naoli hugged herself to try and stay warm as she trudged wearily along.
      "Stupid trains," she muttered through chattering teeth, "Why did they have to de- rail right at the town that was closest? I don't have any time to waste!" She stuck her thumb out towards a passing car, but all she got was a face full of cold water kicked up by the tires. She sneezed and walked onwards, hoping that someone would give her a ride. She glanced idly at a car that was heading in the other direction before she faced forward again. A few seconds later she heard screeching tires. She spun around and saw that the car had made a sharp U turn and was coming for her now. She ran away from the highway and towards the forest. She heard the car drive off the road and the adrenaline rush gave her the speed to reach the woodline. Shouting behind her let her know she was now being pursued on foot. With cat-like grace, she climbed into a tree with thick foliage and waited.
      A short time later, three men stopped under the tree and talked softly. They were wearing Fukuzai security uniforms. One of them stayed at the base of the tree while the other two split up and began to search the bushes. The one standing at the base of the tree pulled out a cell-phone and began to talk. Naoli jumped out of the tree and landed a flying elbow at the base of the man's neck, rendering him unconscious.
      "Hey! Stop!" One of the other security men said as he pulled his gun and fired off a warning shot. Naoli dived through the bushes and rolled down a hill into a stream. She quickly broke off a reed and used it for a breathing tube as she clung to the bottom of the stream.
      "Now where'd she go?" One of the men asked as he stood at the top of the rise.
      "Great, we lost her." The other one sighed. "The boss ain't going to be too happy when he finds out she's still alive."
      "Yeah, but I kinda feel sorry for Tsukabe," the first one said as he turned to pick up his fallen companion.
      "Why?"
      "'Cause he's been messing up lately. This might just be the last straw. Call in a report." They walked back to their car, unawares of Naoli climbing out of the stream.

      The first class was about to begin at Furinkan high when Ranma and Akane dashed into their homeroom. Ukyou flashed them a thumbs up as they hurriedly took their seats. Ukyou watched the door for a second or two, expecting Ryouga and Feather to dash in next, but they never showed. She leaned over to whisper to Akane.
      "Hey, where's Ryouga and Feather? If they don't show up soon, they're gonna be late!"
      "Uncle Saotome made some kinda deal where they would get some private tutoring for two weeks or so." Akane whispered back right as the bell rang. Ukyou looked like she had more questions, but they had to wait until after class.

      Lunch time found Ranma, Akane and Ukyou sitting with their desks moved together.
      "So," Ukyou said between bites of her lunch, "What kind of deal did Genma make to get those two some private tutoring?"
      "Some scientific group wanted to learn more about Feather's wings, and they offered to tutor her and protect her from other, less scrupulous people. Ryouga went along to keep her company." Akane offered. Ukyou frowned just a little bit.
      "That's it? They just want to learn about her wings?" she asked unbelieving. Ranma nodded.
      "Yeah. The weird part is this mercenary chick has been keeping an eye on Ryouga since he made that little side trip to China," he shrugged, "there was also these two goons that that tried to kill us at the concert Saturday."
      "Wow, I wonder what they wanted?" Ukyou wondered.
      "They wanted to get Ryouga out of the way, they thought for some reason he was Feather's only relative. They were sent by some people in China that wanted to learn about her wings too, and they didn't care to get her to cooperate willingly." Akane shuddered as she talked about it.
      "What's wrong, Hon?" Ukyou asked, concerned.
      "I don't know, I just got this really weird feeling about this..." Akane shook her head. "It's probably nothing." She tried to shake off the feeling, but for some reason it lingered, souring her appetite for lunch.

      A cold wind howled through the streets of Nerima as school let out. Akane shivered as she and Ranma made their way back to the dojo.
      "It's getting colder out here!" Akane shivered as a particularly strong gust of wind blew by.
      "This ain't that bad." He quipped from the top of the fence. Akane glared at him before kicking the fence. Ranma struggled to stay on the fence.
      "Whoa! Hey! What're you so mad about you tomboy?" He yelled at her as he continued to try and keep his balance. Akane scowled as she whapped him off the fence with her book bag. Ranma yelled a strangled curse just before he hit the water in the canal.
      "What'd you go and that for?" Ranma-chan yelled as she broke the surface of the water. Akane stuck her tongue out.
      "Maybe you should just swim home if it's so warm!" Akane leaned on the fence as she yelled down at Ranma-chan.
      "You are so uncute!" Ranma-chan shouted as she scrambled out of the water, only to shiver violently when the wind picked up again. Akane smirked at her discomfort.
      "Feeling the cold a little more, Ranma?" she asked in an overly sweet tone.
      "Aww, just shut up Akane." Ranma-chan muttered as she wrung her shirt out a little before dashing for the Dojo.
      "Hey! Wait up!" Akane yelled after her. Ranma-chan slowed slightly and let Akane catch up before pulling away again. Akane grit her teeth and ran as fast as she could. Ranma-chan looked back and waggled her tongue at Akane.
      "Come on Akane! Can't you run any faste... Oof!" Her breath was knocked out of her as she collided with what appeared to be a businessman, sending both of them tumbling.
      "Ranma! You really should watch where you're going!" Akane scolded her as she moved to help the person Ranma-chan bowled over. "I'm terribly sorry about that." Akane let out a startled gasp when she saw that it was... "Naoli?"
      "A, ka, ne?" Naoli asked confusedly as she looked at Ranma-chan.
      "Whoa! You don't look so hot, what happened?" Ranma- chan asked as she helped Naoli to her feet. "Geez, your hands are like ice!"
      "C-c-c-cold." Naoli said through chattering teeth as she shivered in the harsh wind.
      "Come on, Ranma! We gotta get back to the dojo where it's warm!" Akane said as she picked Naoli up. Ranma-chan nodded and followed her mad dash back to the dojo.

      Kasumi smiled at her father as she brought out the last kotatsu. "Here you go Father," she said sweetly as she twitched the last wrinkle out of the quilt.
      "Ah, thank you Kasumi dear. It is getting colder, isn't it?" Soun laughed as he slipped his legs under the quilt. Genma picked up the game board and followed suit.
      "Yes Tendo, it is getting colder. Nothing like the chill of a winters night to make one seek a warm companion..." Genma trailed off and winked.
      "Of course Saotome! Our bickering children will grow together as the weather gets colder, shared warmth and all that."
      "And our schools will finally be united!" Genma grasped his friend's hands.
      "We must succeed! Saotome!" Tears began to leak from Soun's eyes.
      "Tendo!" Genma exclaimed. They looked at each other for a second before they sprang to their feet, inadvertently knocking over the table and scattering the game pieces across the floor.
      "Right! Now for operation 'Chilly rooms, warm Fiancee' to begin! We cannot fail!" They yelled in unison.
      "Oh my..." Kasumi held one hand to her mouth to conceal her smile. She knew where this was headed, and knew it was doomed to fail like all of their other plans. It would be amusing to watch their antics though. The two men dashed upstairs and sounds of comforters and blankets being gathered up were clearly heard downstairs. Kasumi righted the table and picked up the game pieces before she gathered her skirt and walked quickly upstairs. Soun was just coming out of Akane's room with a large bundle of blankets when she turned down the hallway.
      "Father, what are you doing with all of Akane's blankets?" She asked innocently, "Do they need to be cleaned?"
      "Ah, yes! Cleaning! What a wonderful idea Kasumi! Here!" He handed her the blankets. "Take your time cleaning them!" He dashed off to some other part of the house leaving Kasumi to ponder whether or not she should just put them back. A call from downstairs solved that dilemma for her.
      "Kasumi! We need some blankets fast!" Akane yelled as she and Ranma-chan brought a shivering Naoli into the house. Kasumi ran down the stairs and dropped the blankets when she saw Naoli.
      "Akane! What's wrong with her?" Kasumi asked. Akane wrapped one of the blankets around Naoli.
      "We kinda ran into her on our way home from school. She's really cold." Akane said.
      "Yeah, her hands felt like frozen fish!" Ranma-chan quipped. Kasumi knelt and placed her hand on Naoli's cheek for a second.
      "Ranma, help me get her upstairs to Akane's room." she commanded. Ranma- chan easily scooped Naoli into her arms and dashed upstairs. Kasumi and Akane gathered up the blankets and followed. They entered Akane's room just as Ranma-chan was putting Naoli down on the bed.
      "Ranma, be a dear and guard the door for a few minutes, Akane and I have to get these wet clothes off of her." Kasumi said as she shooed Ranma-chan out. Once Ranma- chan was out of the room, the girls carefully stripped Naoli out of her wet clothes. "Poor dear must be half frozen."
      "Oh wow! Look at this tattoo, Kasumi!" Akane gasped. Covering most of Naoli's back was an intricate tattoo of a western style dragon rolling playfully on it's back. The colors and art were so vivid it almost seemed alive. Entranced, Akane found herself tracing her finger along the dragon's 'back', half expecting it to squirm and look at her.
      "Never mind the tattoo Akane, and tell Ranma to make some tea, but not too hot ok?" Kasumi said as she finished wrapping Naoli in several blankets. Akane shrugged and passed the request to Ranma through the door. A few minutes passed and Ranma- chan returned with a teakettle and a cup.
      "Here ya go." Ranma-chan handed the cup to Kasumi, who held it against Naoli's lips.
      "Drink this, it will help warm you back up." She urged her to drink slowly. Carefully, as if she wasn't sure she could move her arms, Naoli took the cup from Kasumi and began to drink.
      "Must find Ranma..." Naoli muttered before Kasumi hushed her.
      "Shh... Don't talk. Wait until your better." She soothed as she refilled the cup.

      "What the heck are you doing here?" Feather asked as she stared at Yama in shock. Yama grinned at her and shook his head.
      "Isn't it obvious?" he snorted, "I've always worked for Fukuzai." He unholstered a pistol and took aim at Ryouga. "Now, you stay put, boy. Feather is going to come with us. We'll be back for you once Feather is settled in the lab." Ryouga snarled at him, but stood his ground. He felt that he only had to wait a few more minutes before he could get the focus he needed for the Baksai Tenketsu. One of the security guards opened the cell and roughly yanked Feather from the floor.
      "That hurt!" She cried out as she nailed him in the jaw with an uppercut. The guard snarled, and moved as if to hit her with the back of his hand when Feather kneed him in the groin. Feather crossed her arms and stepped over the ashen faced man as he writhed in agony on the floor. Yama shook his head as the remaining two guards pulled their fallen companion out of the cell.
      "Oh well. Time enough to teach you the proper respect, I guess." He closed and locked the cell door as one of the other guards secured Feather's arms behind her back with a pair of handcuffs. With a jaunty wave to Ryouga, Yama led Feather and the guards out of the prison block, leaving the scientists to ask Ryouga some questions.
      "Well now, why don't you tell us about yourself Mr. Hibiki? We really don't know too much about you, and we need to do something to fill the time before they come for you."

      "What you did back there was totally unnecessary, you know." Yama said evenly as the elevator door closed and they began to move up.
      "Maybe, but I felt a lot better by doing that, traitor!" Feather spat. Yama spun on her and landed a stinging slap on her cheek. Feather recoiled, but returned her gaze to his angry face with a look of defiance.
      "Watch your tongue, or I'll rip it out of your head!" he snapped. Feather glared at him and fought to hold back the tears.
      "What kind of man guns down his superior merely because he felt belittled by a reprimand?" Feather grumbled. Yama's eyebrow shot up, and then he began to laugh.
      "You don't understand it do you?" He chuckled, "I was a spy inside the Viper clan the whole time! The charade you saw in the basement created the confusion that enabled me to steal all of the plans for the machine, not to mention a few very critical components and other documents. In particular, all of their records concerning you and your parents." He frowned a little at this point. "It was also supposed to deliver you right into our hands at the same time, but your friends managed to defeat all of my allies."
      "You mean, those goons that tranked us at the dojo worked for you?" Feather asked.
      "Not really. There were quite a few dissidents there. I used them to accomplish my goals. It really is too bad Maruyama was killed. We could have used his expertise here, but like I said, I was using dissidents. Once I turned them loose there was no reeling them back in." The door to the elevator opened at this point and he pushed a stunned Feather out. She stumbled forward a few steps before she regained her balance. She spun to face Yama, acutely aware of how little that hospital gown really covered.
      "You... You..." She stammered, her face starting to turn red with rage. Yama looked at her with a curious look and raised one eyebrow.
      "You _BASTARD_!" She screamed as she launched a roundhouse kick at his smug face. Her foot connected solidly with his cheekbone and sent him sprawling to the floor. The other two guards moved to restrain her while Yama struggled to his feet. Feather continued to scowl at him as blood dripped from his mouth onto the white tile floor. Once he finally gained his feet, he stalked towards her with murder in his eyes. He grabbed her ponytail and yanked her off of her feet and held her level with his eyes.
      "If you ever..." he trailed off when he saw her pupils shrink down to tiny points, despite the dimness of the corridor. Feather began to scream in unspeakable terror and thrashed in his grip. Yama dropped her like a hot iron and she collapsed bonelessly on the floor as she suffered from a severe flashback...

      It was during one of the infrequent times when Feather's so called guardian, Nobuso, would rent a room in the basement of an office building and allow her to go to school. She was thirteen at the time. After school had let out one day, a few of the girls in her class had tried to convince her to go shopping with them.
      "Come on Feather, don't be such a stick in the mud!" One of the girls, Takiko, scolded her.
      "But, I don't have any money with me." Feather protested mildly, her head hung in shame.
      Another one of the girls put her hands on her hips and scowled a little, "You don't have to buy anything, you know. Just come with us and have a little fun!"
      "Yeah! Besides, I don't think I've ever seen you smile since you came to our school." Takiko held a finger to her cheek in thought and looked up at the sky. "Nope, never seen you smile. So come on and have a little fun and maybe we'll see how pretty you are when you smile! Give me a hand, Kagumi!" She grabbed Feather's hand and started pulling while Kagumi pushed her shoulders.
      "Ok! Ok! I'll go with you!" Feather gave a half smile walked willing with them towards the shopping district.
      The time seemed to fly by as the girls moved from store to store looking at everything. At one boutique, Feather got the nerve up to try on a very adult looking party dress. The other two girls giggled outrageously as a red faced Feather ducked into the changing room. A few minutes later, Feather stepped out of the changing room, and the other girls gasped.
      "Oh, wow Feather! That dress looks so gorgeous on you!"
      "You really think so?" Feather asked as she posed this way or that in front of a mirror.
      "Backless too, how shameless!" The other girl mock scolded her before all three fell into giggling again. Feather sighed as she returned to the changing room and took the dress off and reluctantly put her uniform back on.
      "What's wrong Feather? Didn't you like it?" The first girl asked. Feather hung her head.
      "I don't have any money, remember?"
      "No problem, right Takiko?"
      "Right! We'll buy it for you!"
      "You mean it?" Feather asked, hope beginning to fill her voice.
      "Sure, but on one condition! We'll buy dresses as well and we'll all go and get some glamour photos done!" Kagumi said as she strode confidently towards the racks to find something for herself. Feather and Takiko giggled as they decided on dresses, paid for them, and tried to find one of those glamour photo places. After a fruitless search, they gave up.
      "Oh well. There's always later. We'll see you at school tomorrow!" Takiko waved as they boarded their train. Feather practically danced her way back to the basement rooms that she lived in.
      As soon as she opened the door, she was roughly grabbed by the front of her blouse and thrown into the middle of the room. With a shriek of surprise she tried desperately to keep her balance, but failed.
      "Where tha heck have you been!" Nobuso yelled as he slammed the door. "It's been hours since school let out, and I told you to always come straight home!"
      Feather stood and looked at him defiantly, "I went shopping with some friends after school. Nothing to get worked up about."
      Nobuso didn't bother yelling, he grabbed her hair and lifted her up to eye level. "If you ever disrespect me like that again, you will regret it." The stench of alcohol on his breath made Feather cough. He seemed to notice the dress she had on for the first time.
      "Is this what you made me worry for? A dress?" he howled, "A _dress_?" he hauled her about by her hair, slamming her into walls and furniture with bone shaking force. "You spent an obscene amount of money on some stupid dress you'll outgrow in a month or two, money that could have put better food on the table!" Each word was punctuated with blows to her chest and shoulders.
      "My friends paid for it!" Feather cried out her defense. Nobuso ignored her and threw her into another wall by her hair.
      "Not good enough, you lying little wretch!"
      "I'm sorry!" Feather wailed as she grabbed his wrist in a vain attempt to get him to release her hair.
      "Still not good enough!" He yelled as he stood on a chair and tied her hair to one of the overhanging pipes. Once that was done, he gagged her and tied her hands behind her back. He hopped down from the chair and proceeded to rip the dress off of her. She tried kicking at him, but she had no leverage and could do little more than tap him. After a minute, she was left hanging there by her hair in her bra and panties, sobbing softly through her gag.
      "There. You be quiet tonight and maybe I'll let you go to school in the morning." he said before he killed the lights and sprawled out on the futon to sleep. Every now and then he would throw an empty bottle of booze at her, whether or not she actually made any noise.
      The next morning, he let her down from her hanging position by cutting off the hair that was tied to the pipe. He untied her hands and roughly kicked her shoulder so she rolled onto her back.
      "Get changed and get your sorry butt to school!" he yelled and leveled a kick at her stomach. Tears streamed from her eyes as she staggered behind her partition to get into clean clothes. She swore to herself that she would defiantly run away once she got to school. As she tried to leave the room, he grabbed her arm.
      "Almost forgot," he mumbled as he expertly jabbed various pressure points, suppressing her memory of the dress, the cruelty of the night before and her conscious will. "You're too damn willful for your own good."

      Feather writhed on the floor as she relived that night over and over again in her mind. Yama and the two guards stared at her wide-eyed.
      "What'd you do to her?" One of the guards asked.
      Yama spun on him, "You saw everything I did! Now get downstairs and get those scientists up here, maybe they know what's going on!" he yelled. The guards hesitated until Yama yelled again. "Move it you sorry screwballs! Get down there now!" As they dashed away, Yama crouched next to Feather.
      "I don't know what's going on in that pretty little head of yours, but I hope for your sake you snap out of it soon."

      The two guards ran up to where the scientists were still trying to question a reticent Ryouga.
      "You guys better come up to the lab now!" One of the guards half yelled as he ran up to them, "That Feather girl is having some sort of fit and we need you up there!" The scientists scrambled to their feet and Ryouga grabbed the bars to his cell.
      "Hey! What's going on!" he yelled at their retreating backs. Tsukabe snarled at him.
      "You'll stay put if you know what's good for you. We'll tell you what we think you need to know!" And with that parting shot, he ran to catch up with the scientists.
      Ryouga snarled and jabbed the floor several times, calling out his strike. "Baksai Tenketsu!" The stone floor exploded, but instead of just freeing the bars, the whole floor of the cell gave way, dropping him into another tunnel. Ryouga shook his head and looked around. The tunnel was cement braced by wooden beams. A glance up showed that he had fallen too far to jump back up, even if the bars of his cell hadn't fallen into a criss-crossed mess over the opening.
      "Now where on Earth am I?" He asked as he started down the dark tunnel. Along the walls at various points there appeared to be piping, electrical conduits and valves. Glass pipes containing some oddly colored liquids adorned another wall further along.
      "What's with this stuff?" he wondered as he tried to read the labeling. "Minds Eye? Lightwater? Blood of mine enemies? What kind of stupid names are those?" Ryouga shrugged as he inadvertently started back the way he had come from. After roughly a half hour of wandering in the dim tunnels, Ryouga punched one of the walls in frustration. To his surprise, the floor began to shake rather violently.
      "Earthquake!" He yelled as he threw himself onto the ground as bits of dirt fell from the ceiling and the pipes jumped violently about. One snapped off and began spraying steam about the tunnel. Ryouga yelped and scrambled to his feet to ran headlong down the tunnel. He turned a corner and ripped open an air-vent and began to climb up inside of it.
      "This thing's gotta lead somewhere. If I keep going up, I can't lose!" He said triumphantly to himself as he relentlessly climbed the vent.
     
      The scientists burst out of the elevator behind Yama and ran as fast as they could towards the prone Feather.
      "What happened?" One of them asked.
      "I picked her up by her hair to yell at her for kicking me in the face when she freaked out!" Yama said as he moved out of the way. One of the scientists muttered a curse.
      "Damn. You, go get a sedative from medical! Yama, undo those cuffs. You two restrain her if necessary." He ordered briskly. Tsukabe opened his mouth to object, but Yama was in his face immediately and tossed the keys to the cuffs to one of the guards.
      "I'm sorry, sir," Yama drawled the last part, making it more of an insult, "but you have been relieved from your position as head of this project. The higher ups were very unhappy to hear about how you have handled things. You screwed things up for the last time when you didn't insure that that Naoli woman was killed." He gave the shorter man a shove that sent him sprawling.
      "How dare you!" Tsukabe gasped as he looked up at the chief of security. "Do you have any idea how much weight my opinion carries with the Board? You'll lose your job for this!" Tsukabe ranted. Yama looked at one of his men and nodded. The guard nodded back grimly and raised his assault rifle.
      "So sorry Tsukabe, but you're being terminated." Yama turned his back and lit a cigarette as several bursts of automatic rifle fire thundered behind him. Silence reigned in the corridor, save for the clinking of spent brass against the tile.
      "That takes care of that." Yama turned back to the scientists, "Now, what's wrong with her?"
      One of the scientists looked up, "From the looks of it, she appears to be suffering from a recurrent recollection of some traumatic experience. My hypothesis is that certain external stimuli triggered a latent memory thread."
      "Try that again in layman's terms." Yama shook his head in confusion.
      "OK, something happened that triggered a bad memory, kind of like shell shock. Something to do with being picked up by her hair and a dress judging by her mutterings." He replied as one of the other scientists administered the sedative. Her tremors ceased almost immediately, and the haunted look on her face smoothed out. Cautiously, they moved her onto a stretcher and moved her to a different part of the lab.
      "Take care of that, would you?" Yama said to one of the guards as he motioned towards Tsukabe's body. As the guard bent to pick up the corpse, the floor began to shake. Several alarms rang as people scrambled to check varied equipment. As the quake subsided, Yama yelled for a report.
      "Sir, all of the equipment was protected by the shock absorbers. Minor structural damage was detected in two of the sub levels."
      "Where, exactly?" Yama asked. The guard swallowed nervously before he spoke.
      "Specifically, Hibiki's cell has collapsed. It's odd considering none of the other cells show any signs of dam..." he was cut of abruptly when Yama shoved him aside and headed for the stairs.
      "Have a rescue team down there on the double, and remind them to use the stairs until the engineers have double checked the elevators. We don't want to have another group caught in an elevator crying for their mothers."
      "We're going to pull him out?"
      "Or look for his remains. Not a word of this to the girl." Yama snapped.
      "What should we tell her when she wakes up?"
      "Just tell her we're keeping them separated for the time being, now move!"

      Moiri was worried as he took up his nightly perch on the roof of the dojo. He hadn't heard anything from Naoli since the day before yesterday. He noted that there seemed to be more activity than usual inside, judging by the muted conversations. Curiosity got the better of him, and he leapt to the ground and moved under the house to listen. He smiled to himself as the conversation became clear.
      "...So, they betrayed you and the others at the same time?" A female voice asked. Moiri thought for a second before he identified the voice as Akane's.
      "When I get my hands on those bastards, they're gonna pay! You comin' pop?" Ranma sounded angry. Moiri started to wonder just what had happened.
      "Of course. We shall show them their folly." Genma declared. The floor creaked slightly as he stood.
      "Wait! You need to be careful! They didn't hesitate in trying to kill me, who knows how they'd react if you try to storm in there." Moiri nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard Naoli's voice. He did push the tatami up and jump out of the floor when he heard her voice though. He ignored the surprised and shocked expressions as he walked up to Naoli.
      "I think you had best start from the beginning again, me girl. I believe I missed part of this." He said calmly as he sat down in front of her. He noticed that she was wrapped up in blankets, and paler than usual.
      "Who the heck are you?" Ranma loomed over the short ninja, "And why tha heck were you spyin' on us?"
      "Calm down Ranma!" Naoli snapped. "This is Master Moiri. He's been keeping watch over you and the Tendos while I was to keep an eye on Ryouga and Feather." Naoli explained.
      "Quite. Now, why don't you tell me what the hell's going on here girl!" Moiri sounded impatient.
      After Naoli explained what had happened again, Moiri began to pace back and forth, deep in thought.
      "I hate to admit it, but we are going to need some help on this one." Moiri said after a long time.
      "Yeah, but who?" Ranma asked.
      "Hey, didn't someone from the Viper clan give Feather a book with information on how to contact them?" Akane asked. Soun hit one fist into his palm.
      "Of course! Why didn't I think of that?" He stood and ran to his room. He returned a moment later with the case he had hidden in the back of his underwear drawer. "Here we go." He opened the case and pulled out the leather bound book that was inside. Everyone else gathered around him as he opened the book and began to read.
      "Well, what's it say Mr. Tendo?" Ranma asked impatiently. Soun closed the book and looked up at the ceiling before he spoke.
      "It's a method of hiding the true meaning of a message inside an otherwise harmless conversation. By using certain key words and phrases, we can let someone in one of their fronts know of the situation and they will send someone here."
      "What do we do if they don't seem to understand what's going on?" Akane asked.
      Soun held one finger up. "I... Haven't read that far yet." he admitted. Everyone else facefaulted.
      "Gimme that!" Ranma snatched the book from Soun's hands and started reading. "This is too easy! I got it covered." He declared as he closed the book. He stood and walked quickly to the phone and consulted the book for the number before dialing.
      'Hello, Nerima pets, may I help you?' A pleasant sounding woman answered.
      "May I speak with the manager please?" Ranma asked. He waited patiently on hold until the manager picked up.
      'May I help you?' The person on the other end of the line sounded bored. Ranma smiled to himself as he checked the book for his line.
      ::This'll be quite a wake up call for him!:: He thought to himself before he spoke. "Yes, I'm interested in a pet snake, maybe a viper. Do you have any?"
      'I'm sorry, but we do not have any poisonous snakes. Vipers are much too dangerous to be a pet.' The voice on the other end of the line had a sudden intensity to it.
      "Ah, that's too bad," Ranma paused to turn the page in the book, "I guess it might be too rough on my fine, feathered friends."
      'Undoubtedly. Perhaps we can interest you in some other service?'
      "There is no doubt of that, I definitely need your help. May I have directions to your store so that I may speak to you in person?" Ranma closed the book and pretended to write down the directions.
      'Anything else sir?'
      "Yeah, how long would it take to get there?"
      'About thirty minutes. Have a nice day.' Ranma hung up the phone and returned to the living room.
      "How did it go, Ranma?" Kasumi asked as he sat down.
      "The guy I talked to let me know that someone would be here in about a half hour." Ranma said as he tossed the book back into the case.
      "How did they know where to come?" Akane asked before she took a sip of tea.
      "Must be part of that so called code of theirs. Something in my comments must have told the guy that Feather was in need of their help." Ranma laid back with his hands behind his head. "I guess all we can do now is wait."
      "Don't you ever worry about anything?" Akane sounded exasperated.
      Ranma snorted and turned onto his side. "Of course I worry 'bout stuff. But there ain't much point in getting worked up over something we can't help." Akane glared at him for a second before she turned away in a huff.
      "So, what are you doing instead of worrying?" She asked.
      "I'm thinking of how many different ways I can hurt those guys." He replied without hesitation.
      "You'll need to be very careful, Ranma." Naoli said quietly. "They have automatic weapons, and they aren't afraid to use them."
      "You can handle them boy!" Genma laughed from where he sat. "After all, only cowards hide behind guns."
      Ranma looked over his shoulder at his father. "Your still coming along? I thought you'd be cowering down the hall as a panda by now."
      "Have some faith in your father, boy!" Genma roared as he stood. He clenched his fist to his chest. "It wounds me to think that my only son would think so poorly of his own father."
      "Right, like I can forget about all those times you chickened out and ran for the hills while I got stuck dealing with the old freak, that crazy sword guy and I forgot how many others!" Ranma glared at Genma before turning away. "Face it pop, ya ain't given me much reason ta have any faith in ya." Genma shook in rage as Ranma calmly walked outside and leapt onto the roof.
      "You really shouldn't let yourself get worked up like that, Mr. Saotome. You're not as young as you used to be." Kasumi smiled at him in an attempt to get him to calm down.
      "Besides, we don't need you and Ranma to be going toe to toe right now. Save it for those guys that are keeping Feather and Ryouga captive." Soun laid a hand on his old friend's shoulder. Unnoticed, Akane slipped out of the room.

      Ranma was laying on the roof and gazing up at the darkening sky. He didn't want to admit it to anyone, but he was worried about Feather. He figured Ryouga could take care of himself, and was tough enough to take just about anything that those people could dish out. Although he knew that Ryouga had been toughening her up physically, he was concerned about how she was going to be reacting.
      "Damn! We never shoulda let her go.." He muttered to himself. He didn't move when he heard the thump of a ladder against the side of the house. A few seconds later Akane climbed onto the roof.
      "Hey there." Ranma said without moving.
      "Ranma," Akane started as she kneeled next to him, "You are worried, aren't you?"
      Ranma looked away before he answered. "Yeah, I am." He sat up and looked at Akane, his concern evident on his face. "I'm worried about how much all this is going to mess up her head. You remember how much she wigged out in class when everyone found out about her wings?" He waited for Akane to acknowledge that before he continued. "Who knows how much more those guys are going to mess with her before we get a chance to get her out of there."
      "Ranma..." Akane tentatively reached for him, "We'll get there in time, I hope."
      "Akane, I..." He trailed off, trying to come up with a way to say what he wanted to say without making her mad at him.
      "What is it Ranma?"
      "Akane, I, I want you stay home for this one." He saw Akane starting to get mad, so he held a hand up to stall her. "I ain't tryin' to say that you can't take care of yourself, but I don't want nothin' to happen to you! These guys are playing for keeps! You heard what they did to Ryouga and Naoli, what do you think would happen if one of these guys managed to get their hands on you?" He paused to let that sink in. "I don't want anyone else tagging along on this one either. I don't want to worry about anyone on this."
      "Ranma, I... I want to help!" Akane looked like she was ready to cry.
      "I know, but I don't want to see you hurt. Let's see what the guys from the Viper clan say before we talk about this any more, ok?" He looked down, unwilling to face her right then. Akane scooted a little closer to his side and put a hand on his shoulder to get his attention.
      "Don't do anything stupid, ok?" she whispered as she leaned against him. They sat that way for sometime, with neither of them saying a word until Kasumi called for them to come inside.
      "Ranma! Akane! Come inside, we have a visitor!" Kasumi said from the porch. Ranma gathered Akane into his arms and leapt down from the roof before she could protest. Inside the house, a rather thin looking man was sitting with his back to the outside and was rummaging through a briefcase. When Ranma and Akane stepped into the house, the man stopped looking through his briefcase and turned to look at them.
      "Ah, there you are Ranma, I was beginning to worry." Ryuunusuke nodded towards them.
      "Hey, I remember you! You're the guy that came here and gave Feather that case right after we trashed that place!" Ranma said as he pointed at Ryuunusuke. Ryuunusuke smiled at him and adjusted his eye patch.
      "Yes, and I wish we could have met again under more pleasant circumstances. Now, we have a lot to discuss. We were aware of Fukuzai convincing Feather to allow their scientists to study her unique condition and..." he was unable to finish because Ranma had him by the collar and was lifting him off of the floor.
      "You mean you knew about this?!? And you didn't do nothing?" He yelled.
      "Ranma! Stop it, this isn't helping!" Akane yelled, grabbing at his hands in a futile attempt to break his grip. Ranma looked at her, his anger still evident on his face, but he released Ryuunusuke's collar.
      "Anyway," Ryuunusuke said as he sat back down, "We did nothing since it is her life. Our spies inside their compound let us know when they had become, shall we say, inhospitable. We were waiting for your call, since we had already come up with a plan to get her and Ryouga out." He pulled several sheets of paper and a photograph from his briefcase and laid them on the table. The photograph showed a rather young looking Chinese woman.
      "Her name is Shi Zhining, a specialist in obscure Chinese cultures that Fukuzai summoned not very long ago. We have, convinced, her to go elsewhere on a vacation while we send in someone who resembles her and has enough knowledge of her work to make them believe the charade. She usually travels with a bodyguard, but the identity and appearance of the bodyguard are malleable other than the fact that the bodyguard is always a female." Ryuunusuke placed a picture of a woman wearing ninja garb from head to toe on the table.
      "So, you want some of us to take their places and go in there after them?" Akane asked. Ryuunusuke nodded.
      "All of our best undercover operatives are either in the middle of missions, or still recovering in a hospital from an... unfortunate building collapse." He sighed as he reclosed his briefcase. "I'm sorry, but the best we could do was set up a way for two people to get in."
      "Wouldn't it be dangerous for someone to try and act like Zhining-san who doesn't know very much about what she does?" Kasumi asked as she poured some tea for him.
      "Very much so." Ryuunusuke nodded as he took the tea. Akane stared hard at the picture for a few minutes before she put it back on the table.
      "I think I can do it." Akane said.
      "Are you nuts?!" Ranma screamed as he leapt to his feet. He towered over Akane with his fists clenched.
      Akane rose to her feet as well. "Why shouldn't I do it? I happen to good at acting and besides," she gave a sly grin and nudged him in the ribs, "I'll have the best body guard a girl to ask for, right?" Ranma glared at her for a moment before shrugging.
      "Yeah, you are pretty good at acting." He conceded.
      "Well then, all we need to do is find someone who knows about obscure Chinese cultures to brief you." Ryuunusuke said as he sipped his tea.
      "Wouldn't Shampoo's great grandmother know a lot about that kind of thing?" Soun asked.
      "Indeed, that old woman constantly talks about her three thousand years of Chinese history." Genma agreed.
      "I'll call the Nekohanten." Kasumi said as she stood. There was a tense silence in the living room after Kasumi left to make the call.
      "Akane," Ranma broke the silence, "Are you sure that you can do this?"
      Akane glared at Ranma. "Of course I can do it!" She half yelled.
      "Now now Akane," Soun tried to soothe his daughter, "There's no need to fight each other! You two need to be working together at a finer level than you two have ever done before!"
      "That's right!" Genma said as he rose to his feet. "Feather and Ryouga's lives are in the balance and the two of you are the only ones that can possibly save them! Ranma! Akane!" He struck a particularly noble pose, "The future of the School of Anything Goes Martial arts is at stake! Well, maybe not, but you two still need to stop fighting like this!" When Genma finished his ranting, he found that Ranma and Akane were busy poring over surveillance photos and blueprints with Ryuunosuke, totally ignoring him. His noble pose melted away like wax under the flame of a welding torch.
      "Check it out! They got this huge room in the third basement!" Ranma pointed to one of the pages. "I wonder what they need that kind of space for?"
      "That was supposed to be a reception area, but they emptied it out to give them the room they needed to test Feather's flying ability." Naoli pointed out. "That's one of the most likely places to find her. And here," she picked up a different sheet, "is where you'll probably find Ryouga."
      "It kinda looks like a dungeon." Akane said.
      "It is a dungeon."
      "What?!" Akane yelled, "Why would they throw him in there?"
      "He got a little, violent, when they refused to let him accompany Feather to one of their tests." Naoli looked down as she spoke. "I had to run at that point, they would have shot me then and there if Feather hadn't distracted them somehow."
      Ryuunosuke rubbed his chin. "Hmm... If they are separated, this could be extremely difficult. It's too bad there's no way we could sneak in more than two of you."
      "Maybe there is a way." Everyone at the table practically jumped out of their skin when Cologne seemed to appear at the table with them.
      "Hey! What hole did you crawl out of you old ghoul!" Ranma shouted. Cologne gave him a hard look and whacked him on the head with her staff. Shampoo and Mousse walked in a moment later.
      "Ranma! Shampoo come to help!" She rushed to where Ranma had fallen and glomped onto him.
      "Kasumi told us what had happened. I may hate your guts Ranma, but I do owe you and Ryouga my life." Mousse declared to Naoli.
      "Excuse me, but who are you?" Naoli asked as she pulled the blankets a little tighter around herself.
      Mousse lowered his glasses over his eyes. "I'm sorry miss, I thought you were Ran... OOF!!!" Mousse was sent sprawling by a jump kick from Moiri.
      "Back up boyo. What an idiot." Moiri shook his head. Cologne noticed the ninja and began laughing. Moiri spun on her. "And what are you laughing... at?" His tirade trailed off as he finally recognized the old woman.
      "Still playing the watcher Moiri? Or have you been trying to train a replacement?" Cologne asked with a small amount of amusement in her voice.
      "Cologne! I never thought I'd see your shriveled face again. How many years has it been?" He asked with a smile.
      "Watcher? What the heck are you talking about?" Akane asked.
      "Never mind that for now. Come with me Akane, I have to get you ready for your part in this." She motioned for the Tendo girl to follow her into a different room.
      "Ok, how the heck do you two think ya can help us get Ryouga and Feather outta that place?" Ranma asked after Cologne had left with Akane.
      "That simple Ranma! Mousse and Shampoo can hide in luggage."
      "Wouldn't it be difficult to explain why you're carrying luggage that large?" Ryuunosuke asked while shaking his head.
      "You needn't worry about that. We will deal with that when the time comes." Mousse said as he sat down at the table.
      "Great, now all we need is that old freak to sh...mmph!" Ranma was cut off by Shampoo clamping a hand over his mouth.
      "No mention old pervert. Him show up at worse time," she said seriously. A few seconds passed in silence before Shampoo screamed in rage. The aforementioned pervert was glomping her chest and chuckling lightly.
      "How sweet of you to call for me my dear Shampoo!" Happosai said as he rubbed his head between her breasts.
      "How dare you cling to my darling Shampoo like that! You'll pay you old freak!" Mousse yelled as he leapt to the attack. Unfortunately, he attacked Ranma by mistake.
      "The freak's over there, moron!" Ranma yelled as he kicked Mousse to the far end of the room. Shampoo finally pulled herself together enough to slam an elbow into Happosai's head, knocking him to the floor.
      "Stay away from Shampoo!" she shrieked as she crossed her arms over her chest and backed away from the old man.
      Happosai bounced to his feet immediately. "That wasn't very nice of you, Shampoo. I thought you of all people would be more kind to your elders," he brushed some dust from his clothes. "Now, where was I?" He said as he glanced about the room. "I know! Why don't I go find that sweet Feather girl!"
      "No can do gramps, she ain't around right now," Ranma said as he crossed his arms.
      "What!" Happosai screamed. He jumped up to Ranma and clung to his shirt, his eyes getting huge and watery. "Don't tell me she left before I could give her something to remember me by! Where is she, boy! Where! Tell me right now if you know what's good for you! I haven't even seen what kind of bra she likes to wear yet!"
      "Get offa me!" Ranma flung the old man into a wall. "If ya gotta know, we were just getting ready to go and get her, and we ... Hey! That's it!" Ranma slapped a fist into his palm. "Hey gramps, how would like to help us rescue Feather?"
      Happosai bounced up to the table, a skeptical look on his face. "What? You're saying you want my help? What's in it for me?"
      Ranma gave him a thumbs up and a wink. "Why, you'll get a chance to grab all the panties and bras you want from this one place without me gettin' in your way. What d'ya say, gramps?"
      "You mean it? You really mean it?" The little pervert clasped his hands to his face while his eyes got huge again.
      "Sure I mean it. We need someone to help with a distraction, and I can't think of a better one than you running rampant. I'll even throw in a bonus, all the women in that place, except for Akane, Feather, Shampoo and well, you know, are fair game."
      "Aiyah! Why Shampoo not think of that? Airen very smart," Shampoo said.
      "That takes all the fun out of it!" Happosai declared as he turned his back to Ranma. "What good is it to finally be undisturbed if I can't cop a feel on sweet Akane, or grope a little on the glorious Shampoo?"
      "Come on, ya old goat! I thought you wanted to help?" Ranma growled.
      "I do, but what else is in it for me?" He looked over his shoulder.
      Shampoo sighed before she spoke. "Shampoo make great sacrifice and give Happy all bra she own after we back. Is ok?"
      "But Shampoo! You don't...Oof!" Mousse was silenced by the firm application of Shampoo's elbow in his gut.
      "Well, it's not as much fun as stealing them, but I guess it's ok." The old man leered at Shampoo a little before he turned to look at Ranma. "What do you want me to do there?"
      "Just what you do best, but only when I tell ya, ok?" Ranma smirked.
      "OK!" Happosai and Ranma shook hands over it.
      "Why Shampoo get bad feeling?"

      Feather stirred slightly before waking up in a hospital style bed. It only took a few seconds for her to realize that she was strapped to the bed.
      "Hey! There anyone around?" She yelled as struggled futilely with her bonds. She felt a hand placed gently on her shoulder and quickly turned her head.
      "How are you doing now?" A middle aged female doctor asked her. "You gave us quite a scare there for a while," she soothed as she undid Feather's restraints. "From what I understand, something happened that caused a flashback. Do you want to talk about it?" She asked gently as she sat on the side of the bed. Feather looked at her blankly for a second as she rubbed her wrists. Suddenly, she grabbed her head and leaned forward as she remembered. She felt comforting hands around her shoulders, so she leaned into the woman and began to cry.
      On the other side of a one way mirror, two scientists were busily taking notes on Feather's reaction and the conversation she was beginning to have with the psychologist in the room with her.
      "Hmm, abducted at young age, abused and forced to work in a side show," the first said with no emotion in his voice.
      "Pity the man who abducted her regularly used mind controlling techniques on her. Her psych eval is starting to show a real emotional mess," the second stated as he reviewed the file on Nobuso.
      "On the contrary, it's probably kept her as mentally intact as she is. The memories seem more like nightmares to her." They lapsed into silence again as they changed tapes in the video cameras.
      "How long until we can begin the physical examination? I would like to compare her current physiology with the reports on her mother's autopsy we acquired from the Viper clan," Another scientist said as she entered the room. The first scientist looked up at her.
      "It will probably be another hour or two. We are almost finished with the psyche evaluation."
      "Oh?" The female one asked as she took a seat. "What does it look like so far?"
      "Well, she suffers from repeated repressed trauma due to the mind control techniques used by Nobuso during her formative years. However, due to that, she shows very little in the way of the normal symptoms of an abused child. She seems sociable, even cheerful most of the time. She displays a remarkable amount of confidence, but is given to extreme mood swings."
      The female scientist raised an eyebrow. "Are you certain there is no physiological reasons for her mood swings? A few of my associates suffer from that during their time."
      The second scientist shook his head. "No, during the brief exam after her seizure, it was determined that she is not currently menstruating."
      "Anyway," the first scientist coughed to regain their attention, "She does have a fear of being crowded by people, understandable given her background."
      "Look, there's one of her mood swings right now!" The scientists watched with interest as Feather exploded at the psychiatrist.
      "WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN'T SEE HIM?!?" She screamed as she stood and got into the face of the older woman.
      "Calm down, we are merely keeping you separated until we can be assured that the both of you will co-operate with us."
      "The hell with you!" Feather slammed the woman onto the bed and dashed for the door. Two side kicks took the door off the hinges.
      "Damn it! Security! Exam room three on the double!" The first scientist yelled into an intercom. Outside in the hall, Feather was running for her life, knocking over anyone unfortunate enough to get in her way. She turned a corner and found the elevators. She punched the buttons and waited nervously.
      "Come on, come on!" She said to herself as she paused to knock down an unfortunate janitor that tried to grab her arm. She spun around when one of the elevators dinged. When the doors opened, a group of security guards poured out. She didn't flinch, but opened up with roundhouse kick that leveled the first guard and knocked the men into a pile. She didn't stop there, and she mercilessly attacked any that managed to regain their feet.
      "Where's Ryouga?" Feather screamed as she kicked one in the ribs. "Where?" Unnoticed behind her, another elevator opened and allowed another group of guards to attack her from behind. She struggled violently in their grip, but was quickly overwhelmed. One of the guards that Feather had attacked was being helped to his feet.
      "She sure can hit hard for a girl."

      The next morning, a cold gray light illuminated the front of the building as a black sedan slowed to a stop. The man in the driver's seat looked back at his passengers.
      "OK, remember your roles and you'll get out of here alive." His passengers, Ranma-chan and Akane nodded. Akane was wearing a tan business suit with a knee length skirt. She made a last minute adjustment on the wig she was wearing and took a quick peek in her compact to check on the makeup that made her appear older. Ranma- chan looked every bit a kunnoichi, she had even persuaded Mousse to loan her a sword and some throwing knives to complete the look. A muffled mew and a rather indignant quack revealed that Shampoo and Mousse had heard and understood, but Ranma-chan involuntarily jumped at the sound. They heard nothing from the bag Happosai was hiding in, or at least the one they thought he was hiding in.
      "Don't do that Shampoo!" Ranma-chan complained, her voice shaky. "It's bad enough that I know your close, don't make it worse!" Shampoo mewed again, causing Ranma-chan to squirm to the far side of the car. Akane sighed as she moved her slightly oversized purse to the side furthest from Ranma- chan.
      "Ok, take a minute to compose yourself. Grit your teeth if you have too, but for Kami's sake, don't freak out in there Ranma!"
      Ranma gave her a sloppy salute and proceeded to grit her teeth. The resulting twist of her features gave her a no nonsense look that bordered on the psychotic.
      "Here goes," The driver muttered as he got out of the car and opened the door for Akane. She exited with as much dignity and grace as she could muster. Ranma-chan exited with more alarcity and gathered the luggage, taking special care with the bag that contained Mousse. Akane haughtily regarded several men wearing suits as they approached in the grey morning light.
      "Ah, Zhining-san, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance," one of the men said as he bowed to Akane, "The portrait on your last book doesn't do you credit, you are much more beautiful in person."
      "You are quite the flatter, aren't you?" Akane smiled at him, "But you have me at a disadvantage, might I have your name?"
      "Of course, I am Yama, chief of security. Let me escort you to the room we have prepared for you." He moved to take her arm, but he found his wrist in an iron grip. His startled gaze fell upon Ranma-chan's masked face shaking almost imperceptibly, her blue eyes icy. Akane slowly turned her head to look at her bodyguard and nodded. Ranma- chan released her grip and bowed.
      "Please forgive my bodyguard, she can be a little overprotective sometimes." Akane said apologetically. Yama merely nodded as he rubbed his wrist and turned to lead them into the building. They gazed upon the fountains with mixed feelings. Akane gazed with appreciation upon the fountains, while Ranma-chan shuddered a little internally.
      "Your letter requesting my advice was unclear as to exactly what you wanted to know about. You know I don't normally do consulting without knowing what I'm dealing with," Akane spoke with an under tone of irritation in her voice. Ranma-chan silently admired how well Akane was acting out her part. Yama looked a little uncomfortable, but he dismissed the other men. Ranma-chan squinted just a little when they only moved a few meters away. She almost sighed with relief when they turned away and began to talk amongst themselves.
      "The truth of the matter is this. We have found a young woman who has several unusual characteristics. You see, she has wings." Yama nodded at the feigned look of shock Akane gave him. Akane glanced at Ranma, who nudged one of the bags she was carrying. Akane moved to block Yama's view of Ranma and diverted his attention with a question.
      "And you somehow think there might be an answer to her condition within my knowledge of the more, obscure, cultures in China?" She sneaked a peek out of the corner of her eye and saw Happosai slip out of the bag and literally disappear into the milling crowd of employees.
      "Exactly. The pictures we have of her mother shows Chinese facial features, but the fact that her hands and feet were taloned, along with her wings baffle us."
      Akane did not have to feign surprise at this information. "What about the Father?" She asked.
      "We have determined through DNA testing of his remains, as well as photographs of his general appearance, that he was of Scottish origin. There is something that puzzles us greatly though. There is a rather distinct difference in his skeletal structure from that of an average man."
      "What do you mean?"
      "Well, either he was a throwback, or he was roughly three hundred years old."
      "Interesting." Akane stifled a yawn. "If you would show us to our quarters, I would like to freshen up from my journey."
      "Of course. I must inform the board of your arrival." Yama bowed to her again and then barked a few orders to one of his men. The guard gestured for them to follow and turned to lead them down one of the many corridors. Yama retreated at a much quicker pace. They turned a corner and were out of sight just before one of the vents above the fountains gave way.

      Ryouga shook himself awake and ignored the grumbling sound that emanated from his stomach. He had wandered the air- vents until he had fallen asleep the day before. He started moving again and sighed as he came to another junction in the air- vents. There seemed to be no end to them.
      "Are these vents, or some kind of sick maze?" He muttered as he continued to climb upward into the building. He followed a turn to his left and the vent got abruptly smaller. Ryouga grunted as he squeezed his way through. A glimmer of light up ahead caught his attention.
      "Anything's gotta be better than crawling around in here!" He said as he redoubled his efforts. The metal of the vent creaked and groaned from the strain of supporting his weight. After what seemed like an eternity, he managed to reach the vent. He peered down through the vent and saw Yama with two women he didn't recognize. One of them was dressed in a tan business suit and appeared to be listening intently to what Yama was saying. The other appeared to be a kunnoichi carrying several bags. One of the bags opened on it's own, and a shriveled form popped out that Ryouga could recognize easily.
      "Happosai! That means that those two must be here looking for Feather! But who?" He watched as the woman in the suit kept Yama's attention as Happosai slipped away unnoticed. After a few moments, the small group headed off down one of the corridors. Ryouga's ears perked up as he heard a slight creaking noise. Hastily, he gathered himself to back down the vent.
      Unfortunately, the brackets holding the venting in place broke before he could back away from the grate. With a yell, he broke free of the venting just in time to see one of the large fountains in the lobby rushing towards him. He hit with a tremendous splash and the people in the lobby gathered around the fountain, talking excitedly amongst themselves. A few seconds later, Ryouga-chan emerged from the water holding her head.
      "Ow... Man my head hurts," she complained and closed her eyes in an effort to clear the spots from her vision. Her eyes snapped open again when she felt someone pulling her from the water.
      "Hey! Are you all right?" A man in a suit asked as he finished pulling her from the water. "That was quite a fall, lucky for you this fountain is deep."
      ::Lucky, he says.:: Ryouga-chan thought sourly to herself. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little shook up."
      "What were you doing up there? I thought maintenance had finished upgrading the vents..." Another person asked.
      Ryouga-chan laughed nervously. "I was... I was inspecting the upgrades, yeah. Had to crawl around inside to check all the seams. Well, I'll be going now..." Ryouga- chan started to stand, but was held back by the man in a suit.
      "Just lie still until medical gets here and makes sure you aren't injured," he said, concern in his voice. Ryouga- chan groaned internally, but lay back all the way before springing to her feet and dashing off down a random corridor, ignoring the surprised shouts behind her.
      "Alright, now which way?" she muttered as she looked at all the doors lining the walls. After following the corridor for a while, she heard what sounded like some sort of pursuit. In a panic, she ducked through a door and slammed it shut. She put an ear to the door and listened until the sound of her pursuers faded away.
      "Uhm, excuse me?" A female voice asked. Ryouga-chan slowly turned around to face the person that spoke to her, and jumped backwards into the door when she saw she was being addressed by a woman wrapped in a towel. A panicked glance around the room confirmed that she was in a locker room of some sort, and there were women in various stages of undress all around her. The women let out a startled gasp as a pair of furry ears popped out of Ryouga-chan's hair as her face turned completely red, right before her eyes rolled back into her head and she slid down the wall in a faint.

      Inside the cavernous reception area, several scientists made a few final adjustments to their equipment. Just as they finished, Feather was escorted over to them by a security team. She was now dressed in a form fitting jumpsuit, and the only skin exposed besides her head was her back.
      "Now what? And what's with this crazy outfit?" Feather demanded as one of the scientists secured a belt with several boxes attached to it around her waist. He ignored her and began running electrode patches from the boxes to several points on her head and other cords to different points on the jumpsuit.
      "OK, bring up the EKG and EEG," he gave a thumbs up to the man seated with the equipment. Several displays flickered to life and showed several distinctive waveforms.
      "Heart rate showing normal, bringing up temperature display." Another screen glowed as he spoke. "Temperature display normal, bringing up the displacement and density mapping." A holographic projection of a wireframe version of Feather appeared above one of the tables.
      "Wow!" Feather exclaimed as she moved to take a closer look at it, curiosity overriding her apprehension. She noticed that it mimicked her actions exactly. "How are you doing this?"
      One of the scientists looked up from a clipboard he was writing on. "The jumpsuit your wearing is filled with sensors. It allows us to create this holographic representation. OK, bring up the musculature overlay." As he finished talking, the hologram Feather was peering at shifted slightly and blurred before it came back into focus. This time, it didn't appear as a wire frame, but instead showed her muscle structure. She giggled as she posed a little and flexed her biceps and watched the little hologram do the same thing.
      "This is cool!" she smiled and walked over to look at the other monitors. Each one had a different display showing some sort of statistic on how her body was currently running. The scientist with the clipboard cleared his throat to get her attention.
      "OK, we have started recording, extend your wings please," he gestured at her with the clipboard. Feather crossed her arms and shook her head.
      "No way! I don't want to," she said angrily, her earlier wariness returning full force.
      The man with the clipboard sighed. "I'm sorry you feel that way. Guards, escort her back to her quarters and execute Mr. Hibiki immediately."
      "WHAT?!?" Feather screamed as one of the guards moved to restrain her.
      "It's very simple, either you co-operate, or we will kill your friend. Now, will you extend your wings for us?" He asked with a tone of boredom. With a resigned sigh, Feather did as she was told.
     
      Inside a large, wood paneled room, a group of twelve old men impassively listened to Yama speak to them about the current situation.
      One of the board members glared at Yama after he had finished his report. "Are you sure there was no trace of his body in the wreckage?"
      Yama nodded solemnly. "Yes sir, we didn't even find a speck of blood. We suspect that he's running loose in the building, or managed to escape entirely through the ventilation."
      "How can you be sure he used the air-vents?"
      "One of the main shafts was ripped open on the maintenance level. We are not sure exactly how he did it, but the evidence remains that he's somewhere in the vents," Yama glared at the newest member of the board. He stood stiffly at attention as they conferred amongst themselves.
      "Increase the security patrols, and let it be known that we want him alive. We must find out how he was able to survive such incredible odds." The chairman said shortly to Yama and gave him a peremptory gesture of dismissal. Yama gritted his teeth as he bowed and backed out of the room. He silently swore to himself that someday he would be the one giving the orders, and then things would change. Oh, how they would change! He laughed out loud as he closed the door behind him.

      Ryouga-chan heard what seemed to be a faint buzzing noise as she slowly regained consciousness. The buzzing clarified into women talking, an occasion bass rumble indicated that there were men there as well. She tried to move slightly, but found with little surprise that she was restrained somehow. Carefully, she cracked one eye open. She was still in the locker room, and several of the women were talking to security guards. Her hands were bound with plastic cable ties, and she surmised that her feet were probably similarly bound. Slowly, she tested the strength of the ties and discovered with some surprise that they had absolutely no give to them. She re-closed her eye and began to try and figure out how to get away. If only she could shift into wolf form and make good use of the flexibility and powerful jaws! She tried concentrating on the previous times she had shifted to wolf form thanks to cold water. She imagined the feeling of fur sprouting, the not quite uncomfortable feeling of her bones twisting and compressing.
      Her eyes snapped open when she felt the familiar tingle that heralded a change. In a split second she found herself in wolf form. Not one to waste such an opportunity, Ryouga-okami quickly bit off the plastic ties and scrambled to her feet ignoring the startled shouts from the other people in the room. She turned and gave them a wolfish equivalent of a grin; she could smell the fear in the air. The room was heavy with that sharp reek. With a powerful leap, Ryouga-okami slammed her furry shoulder into one of the guards' chest, knocking him off is feet. After landing on top of him, she snarled and bounded from his chest into the showers. Fortunately, there were no women in there showering as Ryouga-okami pawed at the valves. One of the guards burst into the shower just after Ryouga-okami had managed to turn on the hot water.
      "Surprise!" Ryouga snarled before he delivered a rock- shattering blow that knocked the man out.
      Ryouga peeked out of the showers and saw that the locker room was now deserted save the unconscious guards. A quick peek into the hall confirmed that it was empty. He dashed down the deserted hallway in search of Feather.

      Akane and Ranma-chan looked about the apartment the guards showed them to with feigned looks of boredom. The opulence of the apartment was staggering. There was deep carpeting on the floors, and the furo was luxurious and spacious.
      "This should be adequate. Please leave us." Akane spoke in that haughty tone to their escort.
      "They're gone. Sounds like they left two guards at the door though. Perfect." Ranma-chan said from where she was listening through the door. Akane nodded and rummaged through her bags until she came across her gi and a lab coat.
      "Ok, I'm going to get changed."
      "Sure... Just don't take too long. The old perv should be running wild in about an hour, and we wanna try and be close to where they have Feather when he does." Ranma- chan grumbled as she struggled out of the kunnoichi outfit and changed into a Fukuzai guard uniform after applying a splash of warm water from a thermos. He bundled up the kunnoichi outfit and tapped on the door to the bathroom.
      "I got the other outfit ready. I'm gonna leave it at the door." He waited until he heard an affirmation before he moved away. He opened the bag that Mousse was concealed in and doused the duck with the rest of the warm water in the thermos.
      "Alright duck-boy, you know the deal. Get into that other guard uniform pronto!"
      "I know what to do Saotome!"
      "Then shut up and do it! I'm gonna take out the guards at the door."
      Ranma moved to the door and swiftly opened it. The two guards standing in the hall barely had the chance to realize something was wrong before Ranma had knocked their heads together with a hollow sounding thud. He dragged the inert men back into the room where he and a now clothed Mousse tied them up and took their weapons and radios.
      "OK, Akane," Ranma grunted as he hefted the rifle with a look of disgust, "We're all set. Whenever you and Shampoo are ready, we'll do this."
      Akane opened the door to the bathroom and she and Shampoo stepped out. Shampoo was now dressed in the Kunnoichi uniform and was tucking the last of her purple hair into the back of her hood.
      "Shampoo ready," She glanced over at Akane and frowned, "Shampoo think violent girl need adjust pants. Shampoo see pants from under lab coat."
      Akane blushed slightly as she opened the lab coat, revealing her gi, to look at legs.
      "Ok, what do you suggest?" She asked, a slight edge to her voice.
      Shampoo glanced up in thought before she moved with blinding speed to cut the legs off of her gi, leaving Akane in a pair of very short shorts.
      "HEY!" Akane screeched, "What did you go and do that for?"
      "Now violent girl show much leg, distract stupid mens while fighting." Shampoo shrugged as she pulled her mask on to conceal a grin. Akane continued to scowl as she re-buttoned her lab coat. Ranma and Mousse stepped into the hallway and took up the positions that the guards had once held. Akane spent a few extra seconds touching up her makeup before she picked up the phone.
      "Switchboard," A bored sounding voice answered.
      "This is Shi Zhining. I am ready to begin, why don't you send an escort up here?" Akane said in her most haughty tone.
      "Right away Ms. Zhining."
      Akane hung up the phone and waited. Shampoo began to pace a little bit, her impatience clearly visible on her face despite the mask.
      "Remember Shampoo, don't say a word and try to look as intimidating as Ranma." Akane chided.
      "Shampoo no like this. Have bad feeling something go very wrong." Shampoo replied just before there was a polite knock on the door.
      "Yes?" Akane asked through the door.
      "Chief Yama is here to see you."
      Akane opened the door and gave a curt nod to Yama. "Good, we can get started. May I see the subject?"
      Yama chuckled a bit as he answered. "Not right away, she is undergoing certain tests at the moment, but I can show you all of the data regarding her parents."
      "By all means then, lead the way." She gave peremptory gesture to him. Yama bristled a bit, but turned to walk down the corridor. Ranma and Mousse surreptitiously fell into the back of the group. After walking a ways, Yama turned down a side hallway that abruptly dead-ended in front of an elevator.
      "This is the only elevator that leads directly to the research level," he explained as he punched in a code, "I must ask that you keep a reign on your curiosity until we are in the data room." He glanced at the faces of his guests and stared a little.
      "What's wrong?" Akane asked, her nervousness almost audible in her voice.
      "Your bodyguard... her eyes used to be blue and she's taller," Yama said as he drew his gun. "Ok, Ms. impostor, where is the real Zhining?"
      "I don't know what you're talking about!" Akane almost screamed.
      "Don't lie to me girl! Men! Detain them!" Yama barked. Ranma and Mousse exchanged glances and moved to restrain Akane and Shampoo, but at the last second turned and attacked Yama. Mousse disarmed the startled man while Ranma landed a solid sidekick into his stomach. Yama flew back from the blow into the elevator door. Ranma yanked Yama to his feet.
      "Ok, jerk! One chance! Where is my sister?" He growled.
      "Who are you talking about?" Yama asked, stunned.
      Ranma slammed him into a wall. "I'll ask again, where is Feather?"
      Yama's eyes suddenly widened as he realized whom he was facing. "Ranma Saotome! I should have known you would try something..."
      Ranma shifted his grip into a pain hold. Yama let out an involuntary cry of pain as Ranma applied pressure on the elbow joint. "I will ask you nicely only one more time before I start breaking bones," His voice seemed to drip with malice and implied violence causing Akane and Shampoo to back up a step, "Where is she?"
      Yama chuckled as the elevator doors opened. "She's down there, but you'll never get out alive!"
      "We'll see about that!" Ranma said as he knocked Yama out with a sound blow to the back of his head. They crowded into the elevator and punched a button labeled 'Lab'.
      "Airen scary when angry." Shampoo stated as the elevator started moving.
      "No kidding," Akane shivered as she spoke.
      "Never mind that, we need to find Feather quick. Who knows how long that guy will be out cold, and the freak is supposed to be doing his stuff right about," he paused as alarms began to wail, startling the others, "Now. When we get to the lab Akane, you and Shampoo will go one way, Mousse and I will go another."
      "Shampoo want go with Airen!"
      "Humph! Go with that hussy for all I care."
      "But Shampoo! I want to go with you!"
      Ranma shook his head as the others fell to arguing again. He tried to interrupt a few times, but he was being ignored. Finally, he took in a deep breath before he bellowed.
      "SHUT UP! We already had this out at the Dojo! Akane and Shampoo still look like Zhining and her bodyguard while Mousse and I look like guards. We gotta split up to make it easier to find them, or for them to find us! And we only have a little while before Yama wakes up and blows our cover, so let's make the most of it!" The elevator stopped and its doors opened soon after he finished speaking.
      "Let's go!" Mousse cried as he dashed out of the elevator with Ranma fast on his heels. Akane and Shampoo walked down the hallway at a more sedate pace, generally ignoring the alarms. After a few minutes, they ran into a man wearing a black business suit.
      "Excuse me," Akane paused to read his security badge, "Quincy. Our escort ran off when the alarms started ringing. Could you show us to the records room?"
      The man drew himself up into a haughty posture. "Of course. It is down that hallway, third door on the left."
      Akane bowed to the man and gestured to Shampoo to follow her. Quincy watched them leave and raised an eyebrow. ::They shouldn't be so calm in this racket... Something is wrong.:: He thought to himself as he pulled out a radio.

      Happosai leered from the shadows at the few women roaming the halls. He glanced at an antique pocket watch and frowned. Two minutes remained before the time when Ranma said he could indulge himself. Swiftly and silently, he stole from shadow to shadow, seeking prime prey. He worked his way deep into the bowels of the building. Soon, he heard what sounded like laughter and giggling.
      "Ah! Jackpot!" He chuckled to himself as he glanced at his watch again. It was time. He ran up to the set of double doors that the laughter seemed to be coming from and kicked them open.
      "Swee..." He trailed off as he looked at the barracks for the guards. "Uh oh. Don't mind me boys! I just got turned around in this place. I'm the new janitor!" He quickly pulled out a battered cap and plopped it on his head. "If you'd kindly direct me to the ladies locker room so I can get started?"
      The men in the room looked at each other blankly for a second.
      "You hear anything about a new janitor?"
      "Naw, but they never tell us nothin'," another shrugged, "Go down the hallway to the right, and then turn left at the third junction. Go down that hallway to the fifth door on the left. Can't miss it!"
      "Thanks boys!" Happosai bounded away, leaving one of his happodaikairin behind. The guards looked at it blankly for a minute before it exploded. Happosai practically danced down the hallway. One woman was unfortunate enough open the door to the room she was in.
      "Sweeto! Hiya toots! I don't think we've met." He leered as he latched onto the surprised woman. She let out a screech of pure terror and flailed ineffectually at the old pervert. Happosai dropped to the ground and dashed off.
      "It's too bad, she was almost middle aged. There has to be some sweet young thing around here somewhere..."
      He ran through the halls to where the guards had told him of the women's locker room. When he got there, all he found where male guards searching for something, or someone. He dashed around another corner and sighed.
      "I don't believe it... There doesn't seem to be any sweet young things around..." He wandered the halls and occasionally found a middle aged woman or two and the odd old hag. Disgusted, the ancient pervert dashed down a set of stairs. Alarms were now ringing throughout the building, drowning his already silent movements with the din. Eventually, he sat in a corner and sulked, disappointed at the lack of even mildly cute girls. Disappointment slowly morphed into depression that quickly changed to rage.
      "Ranma..." He growled before standing, "You'll pay for tricking an old man like that!"

      Somewhere else in the compound, Ranma sneezed as he and Mousse finished changing out of their guard uniforms and into their more familiar clothes.
      "Don't get sick on me, Saotome." Mousse said lightly as he cut another door off its hinges.
      "Shut up man! Come on, we gotta move... That reception area is just ahead! We'll probably find Feather there!" Ranma said as he turned to look at the master of hidden weapons. Ranma tensed when he saw Mousse pull out a few egg bombs.
      "Duck!" Mousse yelled as he threw them. Ranma became one with the floor as the bombs went off behind him. Ranma sprang to his feet and was in Mousse's face in an instant.
      "What'd ya go and do that for?"
      Mousse merely pointed to the knocked out figure of a guard, an automatic rifle still clutched in his hands. Ranma laughed and rubbed the back of his head.
      "Oh, heh. Uhm, thanks."
      "You saved my life before, now I am that much closer to repaying that debt." Mousse said simply before stepping over the unconscious man. Ranma shrugged and followed, a lot more alertly than he had before. The building seemed to shake from time to time, causing them to look at the ceiling in apprehension.
      "I hope this place don't just collapse on us." Ranma said as he peeked around a corner before waving Mousse forward.
      "Let's do what we came here to do and get out of here!" Mousse grumbled
      "Ranma!" Happosai yelled as he burst through a door on the other end of the hall, "You tricked me! Now you'll pay!" His battle aura flared to life as he leapt forward to attack.
      "What tha heck are you talking about you old freak?!?" Ranma shouted as he dodged.
      "You said that this place was full of pretty girls! I've only found old hags in this place." Happosai snarled before he attacked again.
      Mousse backed up a few steps and watched as the old pervert and Ranma began to fight it out in the hallway. After a few minutes of fighting, Mousse pulled a small handful of dark black spheres from his sleeve and threw it into the midst of the fight. The spheres exploded into a chokingly thick roiling black smoke. Mousse ran into the smoke and grabbed the first person he came into contact with.
      "Come on Ranma! We don't have time for this!" He yelled as he ran down the hallway.
      "Who're you calling Ranma?" Happosai asked from under Mousse's arm. Mousse held him out where he could see him and gave a startled shout.
      "You're not Ranma!"
      Happosai swiftly hit the Chinese boy upside his head, knocking him out.
      "Of course not. Now, where are you Ranma?" Happosai yelled as he turned to face the cloud of smoke. He waited a moment for the smoke to clear, but there was still no sign of Ranma.
      "Huh? Where did he go?" He asked as he turned around. Mousse was nowhere in sight either, but there was a scribbled note where the boy had been. Happosai picked up the note and glared at it.
      'Hey freak, we don't got time for this. Let's discuss this once we get Feather and Ryouga outta this place. I'm sure there is at least one babe hanging out in this place. Go bug her for a while or something.'
      Happosai crumpled the note in his fist.
      "You are making me angry, Ranma!" He howled. He spun when he heard the door behind him open. When he saw who had opened the door, his eyes got huge and doe-like before he leapt, yelling out, "Hello nurse!"
      The young nurses' screams of terror and outrage echoed throughout the hallway.

      Ryouga nearly jumped out of his skin when the alarms started going off. Guards seemed to flood into the corridor and they pulled out what looked like clubs. Ryouga smirked as he flowed into them with all the power and fury of a barrel of high explosives. A few of their attacks hit home, but Ryouga ignored their weak attacks. Suddenly, his back arched with pain as an electric shock jolted through his system. He collapsed onto the floor, his still form smoking slightly.
      "And I thought that cute chick hit hard." One of the bruised men said as he approached Ryouga cautiously. With a roar, Ryouga leapt back to his feet and loosed a roundhouse kick that snapped a few ribs on one unfortunate guard.
      "That actually hurt. Now you'll pay!" He yelled as he tore into their midst once again, but much more wary of their stun batons. They did manage to get a hit or two in, but now that Ryouga was ready for the shock, he was able to grit his teeth and remain conscious. A few seconds later, the guards were scattered about the hall, knocked out by his furious assault.
      "Jerks." Ryouga muttered as he clutched his side and panted to regain his breath. The shocks had hurt him more than he had expected, and he would need to be much more careful from now on. After he had regained his breath he continued down the corridor, bits of his charred shirt flaking away. After Ryouga had left, a few of the guards slowly struggled to their feet.
      "What did you have your shocker set to?"
      "The max! It should have stopped his heart!"
      "He ain't human!"

      Several interns followed Feather with video cameras as she flew about the cavernous room. She snorted to herself when she saw that they were panting to try and keep up with her high-speed maneuvers. With a derisive little laugh, she picked up the speed a bit.
      "Astounding, isn't it?" One of the two scientists at the console said to the other. "Using what we know about birds, she shouldn't even be able to get off the ground."
      "True enough, but just given individual characteristics, a bumblebee shouldn't be able to fly either. That's why we are collecting all this data, to try and explain this phenomena," he glanced up at the interns futily trying to keep up with Feather, "One would think that they would have figured out that all they have to do is stand at a few points around the room and follow her with the cameras the best they can." They shared a few laughs before turning their attention back to the displays.
      The piercing wail of the alarms caused the interns to tumble to the ground in a tangle of arms and legs, while Feather capitalized on the distraction. She made a speed dive towards one of the exits, folded her wings at the last moment and flipped over to make a flying kick into the chest of one of the men guarding the door. His startled companion turned to shoot her with a tranquilizer, but he received a chop to his throat for his trouble. As Feather dashed off down the corridor, the scientists looked back to their console.
      "Astounding," one murmured as he took note of the readings associated with her most recent feat, "Keep the recorders going, we're still picking up the signal from the transmitter."
      "The readings we'll get from her combat with our guards will prove to be most valuable."
      "Do we report it to them?"
      They looked at each other for a second...
      "Nah..."

      "This not feel right," Shampoo muttered, "Stupid mens following us now."
      Akane nodded, "I see them, Shampoo. There's the records room, let's knock these bozos out and see if there's anything in there about Feather." She stopped at the door to the record room and turned to face the guards that had followed them. "Can I help you?" she asked with an acid tone.
      "That depends on whether or not you want to answer my questions." Quincy said as he moved from behind the guards.
      "I don't think so." Akane answered coldly.
      "Very well, we'll do this the hard way then." Quincy snapped his fingers and two of the burly guards approached them. Akane ripped the lab coat off and threw it in the face of one of them before attacking while Shampoo simply kicked her opponent in the face. Quincy gaped a little, but motioned the rest of the guards forward. The fight was short and brutal. Despite their superior numbers, the guards were unable to lay a finger on either of the girls. Akane and Shampoo turned angry glares on the now frightened Quincy. His briefcase fell from numb fingers as Shampoo grabbed his collar and yanked him towards her.
      "Now, listen Shampoo! Where winged girl? Shampoo get very angry if no tell!"
      "I... I don't know!" Quincy stammered, visibly sweating.
      "That not right! Try again!" Shampoo yelled in his face.
      "Honest! I don't know! I'm with a different branch! You must believe me!"
      "Fine then." Akane growled as she pulled off the wig. "You can help us get all the files in this room that have anything to do with Feather. She motioned towards the door and Shampoo promptly kicked it in. Once inside, she roughly shoved the man towards the file cabinets.
      "Get papers now, or else Shampoo make big mess..." She trailed off as she drew the sword strapped to her back. Quincy gulped audibly and tried to open one of the cabinets.
      "It's locked!" He exclaimed.
      "Shampoo have key!" She shoved him aside and made a precise cut with her sword. The lock fell away from the cabinet. "Now get papers!"
      After only a few moments of searching, he pulled out a fairly thick file. Shampoo nodded as she took the file and then promptly hit him in the head with the hilt of her sword.
      "I got his briefcase." Akane said as she dumped the contents out, "We can put that in here."
      "Disguises no work long." Shampoo commented as they left.
      "I just hope they worked long enough."

      Ranma dragged an unconscious Mousse into a closet and shut the door. A quick glance around showed he was in a storage closet of some sort, the shelves stacked with sacks. Ranma turned the light off so it wouldn't betray their presence there. A soft glow came from an emergency lamp, barely enough to see.
      "Come on man, how long you planning on restin'?" he asked, irritably. The only response he got was a bit of a snore. Ranma sighed, and then began slapping him. He stopped after a while when he noticed there was no effect.
      "What's it gonna take to wake you up, huh? I ain't gonna splash ya, and I sure as heck ain't gonna start yellin'." He sat in thought for several minutes, listening to the guards running out in the hallway, the alarms having long been silenced. An idea slowly formed, and he got a wild grin before he leaned close to Mousse's ear and whispered.
      "Shampoo's in danger."
      The reaction was instantaneous. Mouse had leapt to his feet, his sleeves bristling with weapons. Ranma ducked to avoid the blades that tore into the sacks. A small trickle of something granular began to seep out.
      "Where? Where?" Mousse asked as he looked about rapidly, his weapons continuing to tear into the sacks on the shelves until one burst and dumped rice all over the floor..
      "Oh, I'm sure she's in a bit of danger wherever she's at." Ranma replied nonchalantly as he got to his feet and shook the rice from his hair. Mousse seemed to deflate as the weapons disappeared back into his sleeves.
      "Come on, we gotta find..." Ranma trailed off as the door opened and someone threw themself into the closet with them and then slammed the door shut.
      "Hey!" Ranma barked as he groped for the light switch. He found the switch and flicked it on to reveal that it was Feather that had joined them in the closet.
      "Feather!" Ranma cried out as he grabbed her shoulders, "You're all right! Where's Ryouga? And just what tha heck are you wearin'?" he asked as he looked at the skintight black jumpsuit with the wires running throughout it.
      Feather looked at Ranma for a second before crushing him in a hug and bawling uncontrollably. Ranma gave the look of death to a snickering Mousse and proceeded to try and calm Feather down.

      Ryouga smashed through a door to find himself in the cavernous reception area. The scientists and interns were still gazing at the readings from the console in amazement, and didn't seem to notice his dramatic entrance. He shrugged and walked up to them, noting the holograms, but not paying much attention to them.
      "Hey guys, wanna tell me what you're doing?" he asked in a menacing tone.
      One of the interns looked at him. "Get lost, bozo!"
      Ryouga gave him an irritated look before he snagged the young man's collar and pulled him to within a few centimeters of his face.
      "Tell me what you're doin' before I get really mad!"
      As the intern stammered and struggled futily, one of the scientists spoke up.
      "We are currently recording the physiological effects of combat conditions on our subject."
      "And just who is your subject?"
      "Oh, the girl... What's her name again? Feather. We are still getting readings from the sensor suit we had her wear, so when she decided to try and escape we merely let her."
      "Can you tell where she is now?" Ryouga ignored the intern that struggled futily in his grip.
      "Let's see... Ah. She is in the first basement, sector four."
      Ryouga nodded and turned to the intern in his grip. "Ok you, take me to the room you guys gave to Feather and I when we first got here."
      Ryouga glanced around the suite that he and Feather had shared that first night. With a negligent shove, he sent the intern sprawling to the floor.
      "Stay put while I get my stuff," Ryouga growled as he began stuffing his and belongings into his pack. The intern scrambled back to his feet and dived into the elevator. Ryouga glanced over his shoulder and threw his umbrella at the same time. It imbedded into the floor of the elevator, blocking the doors open.
      "Thanks for holding the door." Ryouga smirked as he regarded all the luggage Feather brought with her. ::No way am I gonna be able to fit all that in this.:: He thought to himself as he began to stuff as much of Feather's clothes as possible into his pack. He had to hold his nose to keep it from bleeding as he transferred her underwear. He glanced around to make sure he got everything important when he saw it.
      There, on the nightstand, was the choker with the large emerald that Feather always seemed to be wearing. With a stupid looking grin on his face, he stuffed it into the pack before closing it. ::I wonder what kind of look will be on her face when I give it back to her...:: He mused and almost slipped into a daydream before he shook himself out of it.
      "I gotta find her first!" He shouted as he began looking for the elevator again. After a few side trips, he found it again. The intern was passed out on the floor, and a pungent reek exuded from him. Ryouga scowled as he pulled his umbrella out of the floor with the screech of protesting metal accompanying the action.

      "Akane! You keep up or Shampoo leave behind!" She yelled over her shoulder as the two girls dashed around another corner.
      "You don't have to tell me twice," Akane muttered to herself as she sprinted to catch up with the purple haired amazon. They burst through another door to find a group of about ten people armed with what looked to them like clubs or tools. Akane leapt into their midst and attacked. Shampoo merely leaned against a wall and watched. She raised her eyebrow in surprise when no more than a few seconds later all of Akane's victims were out cold.
      "Violent girl not so bad against groups," Shampoo said with a touch of begrudged respect in her voice.
      "It would have been nice if you had helped!" Akane snapped.
      "No time! Winged girl need help too much to waste time with stupid talking!" Shampoo replied as she dashed off.
      "Hey! Wait up!" Akane practically screamed as she sprinted to keep up with the amazon girl. Shampoo kicked open another door, and was momentarily blinded by a bright light from the other side of the door. Akane caught up with her just then, and she too paused and looked with wide mouthed horror at what was before them.
      In the center of a pit like area, there stood an exact replica of the teleportation device that she had seen in the basement of the Viper Clan's compound. Scientists and techs seemed tiny compared to the overall bulk of the device. Several armed guards were among them, but they hadn't noticed the girls yet.
      "Now I understand!" Akane said as she pulled Shampoo back through the door, "They really wanted Feather because they know she's the only one left alive that had gone through one of those things. They want to know if stuff like her wings are a side effect of that thing."
     
      "Aiyaah, that scary thought. Shampoo think we close to where bad men keep Feather though. Look map, Akane, Shampoo want know how close we are."
      Akane nodded and set down the briefcase as she unfolded a small copy of the blueprint. "Ok, the room we're looking for is on the other side of this one," She pointed across the pit to a darkened corridor, "and the elevator down to where they're probably keeping Ryouga is right around the corner. Let's get Ryouga first, then we can come back up and get Feather."
      The two girls ducked back through the door and moved along the terrace until they were in front of the elevator doors. Akane pushed impatiently at the buttons, irritated at the delay. Shampoo glanced around and then let out a sudden gasp.
      "What?" Akane asked, turning her attention from the elevator. Shampoo was staring at a spot on the floor with a look of disgust on her face. Akane followed her gaze and gasped as well. The floor was riddled with holes and a long, bloody smear ran across the floor to another area. Some attempt had been made to mop it up, but they didn't appear to have had much luck with the dried blood. What was really disturbing where the number of shoe prints that tracked away from it, as if the people walking through it had no concern for what had happened there.
      "You don't think...?" Akane trailed off as a commotion broke out down in the pit where the machine stood in monolithic silence. They rushed to the rail and looked over. Below them, they saw Ranma, Mousse and Feather engaging a large group of security guards. One of the guards raised his rifle, only to have it shoved down by a scientist with a few angry words and frantic gestures. The guard said something in reply and drew what looked like a club from his belt. Arcs of electricity played across its tip as he advanced on the melee.
      "How do we get down there?" Akane asked aloud. She looked around and saw a cross beam that ended at a column that was near the fight.
      "Come on Shampoo, follow me!" Akane yelled as she dashed over to the cross beam and clambered on top of it.

      Ryouga snarled as he smashed another wall out of his way. He glanced around and saw that he was in some sort of storage room. Boxes were stacked neatly in rows from floor to ceiling. He heard noises from the other side of the door. He walked over and opened the door a crack and peeked out. He saw Ranma, Mousse and Feather in a fight with a group of guards, all of them wielding the same stun batons they had used on him earlier. Without a second thought, Ryouga burst out and attacked with a flying kick into the closest of the guards.
      "Watch out for those clubs! They're electrified!" Ryouga yelled as he pressed the advantage of surprise.
      "Nice to see you too, Ryouga!" Ranma quipped as he swept the feet out from under his opponent.
      "We gotta get outta here before we get overwhelmed!" Feather screamed as she planted her foot in one man's groin, folding him neatly around her foot. Suddenly, guards began pouring out of doors all over the room. Leading them in was a battered Yama who carried a very large rifle.
      "Give it up, Saotome. It's over." He snarled.
      "Like hell it is!" Ranma shouted back.
      "Suit yourself," Yama raised the sniper rifle and took aim at a distracted Ranma.
      "No!" Akane screamed and she threw herself from the crossbeam she and Shampoo were crawling across straight at the unsuspecting Yama. She crashed into his shoulders, causing the gun to jerk upwards and go off. The bullet ricocheted wildly about the vaulted ceiling, forcing Shampoo to leap from the crossbeam, and smashed into a pipe. The pipe exploded from the impact, spraying frigid water over a surprised Shampoo before slowing to a trickle.
      "Shampoo!" Mousse cried out as he used his opponent as a springboard and leapt to catch the disoriented Shampoo-neko.
      "Get her some hot water and fast!" Akane yelled before she turned her attention back to the fight just in time to get hit in the stomach by Yama's rifle butt.
      "That's it, you're gonna be the first one to die!" Yama snarled over the gasping form of Akane. She looked up in time to see the barrel of the rifle in front of her face, looking a lot more like a howitzer at that point. With speed that she didn't know she had in her, Akane's foot lashed upwards and struck the rifle from his hands.
      "Not yet, jerk!" She yelled as she scrambled to her feet and attacked, using the briefcase much like how she used her book bag during her old fights back at Furinkan High. Yama didn't stand a chance against the cold fury that infused Akane. He had only managed to block one blow before she had slammed the briefcase on top of his head and then promptly kicked him into the air. Despite his surprise at his sudden flight, he managed to grab onto a pipe where he dangled. Akane smirked and waded into the mass of guards, leaving broken bodies in her wake.
      "You know," Ranma commented to Ryouga as they watched her go to work, "I'd forgotten just how good she is fighting against groups."
      "Could you fight a group that easily?" Ryouga asked as he casually threw a few bandannas into the fray.
      "Nah. Pops concentrated on training me to fight one on one, but it's nothing I couldn't learn in a day or two."
      "Go Akane, go!" Feather cheered as she clambered up a platform to attack a few guards that were trying to get a clean shot at Akane with their rifles. She grinned ferally as she attacked.
      "Hey now, don't forget about us!" She said cheerfully as she knocked them both out. She regretted those words a few seconds later when the platform she was on was practically swarmed under with guards.

      Mousse pulled back behind some equipment racks and produced a thermos to pour over Shampoo.
      "Shampoo thank. Now turn back so Shampoo can get dressed," She said acidly to the gaping Mousse. Reluctantly, he turned his back and she struggled back into the kunnoichi outfit.
      "Whenever you are ready my darling Shampoo!" Mousse said over his shoulder. She shuddered despite herself, and remembering her great grandmother's words, bit back the retort she normally would have given him.
      "Shampoo ready," She muttered as she leapt onto the top of the racks and surveyed the room. The others had all claimed the high ground of a platform near the monolith like machine, and were keeping their area clear. Shampoo looked up then and noticed a few guards taking up positions along the terrace and bringing rifles to bear.
      "Come on, Mousse!" She cried out, pointing at the guards on the upper level. Mousse threw a grappling hook onto the railing and climbed up quickly with Shampoo right behind him. They attacked without a word, just as happy throwing them over the railing as a clean knockout.

      "This is getting messy," Akane noted to Ranma during a slight lull in the fight, "We can't get to one of the doors, and they can't get up here."
      "A stalemate," Ryouga growled, "at least until one of us wears out. There's just too damn many of them."
      "I can fly us out one at a time," Feather suggested.
      "No way! That would leave who ever's left here at a big disadvantage. I ain't leaving anyone behind!" Ranma slashed his hand through the air as if cutting that idea off. He looked up to where Shampoo and Mousse were. "Shampoo, Mousse! Get out of here! If we ain't out of here within two hours, go to plan B!" He shouted. He didn't like the idea of waiting for the Viper clan to marshal its forces for an all out assault, but he knew it may be their only chance.
      "Here they come again!" Akane cried out as another group formed up to attack.

      Yama had a good spot to watch the fight from, seeing as how he was holding onto a pipe for dear life. After a few minutes of watching, he realized that unless his men were allowed to shoot, they were going to lose. It seemed that all of the kids were martial arts experts, even that Feather girl, though it was obvious that she was not as skilled as her rescuers. He turned his head when he heard screams from a different direction and saw Shampoo and Mousse knocking more of his men off the balcony in their haste to follow Ranma's bellowed order. One of the men tried to grab onto the same pipe as Yama, but failed to get a solid enough grip. The resulting vibrations caused his grip to slip. He fell with a curse onto a panel, smashing it entirely, and lay there motionless.
      The lights in the room dimmed noticeably, and a high pitched whine seemed to come from everywhere at once.
      "What is that noise?" Feather asked as she covered her ears. She gaped as the area in the center of the platform was engulfed in a multicolored ball of light. Electricity arced across the platform and dissipated harmlessly into poles set up at regular intervals. Mousse and Shampoo paused to gape at the spectacle below.
      "Aiyaah! Is light dangerous?"
      "I don't know, but Ranma is awfully close to it..."

      Ranma took a sidelong glance at the ball of light that was pulsating not even a meter away. His eyes bulged a bit when he say pictures of different places appear to hover deep within the sphere, only to be replaced by a different scene a split second later. He began to move away when he felt an almost imperceptible pull from it. Suddenly, gale force winds started pushing him into the sphere. With a yelp, he tried to jump away, but the winds caught him and he hung motionless in the air for a split second.
      "Ranma! Hold on!" Ryouga yelled as he grabbed his hand. Ryouga stamped his feet into the floor and grasped Ranma's other hand before leaning against the winds howling through the room. He was dimly aware of Akane and Feather grabbing onto him around the torso and pressed tightly to his back. The force of the winds swirling through the chamber was flinging about anything not bolted down. Yama's limp form was lifted from where it lay and was flung across the room and disappeared into the sphere.
      "I can't hold on much longer!" Ryouga yelled to be heard over the winds and the booming discharge of electricity into grounding rods all around him.
      "Don't you dare let go, Ryouga!" Akane yelled as Ranma struggled to get his feet back onto the ground.
      "I'm losing you!" Ryouga gasped as one of Ranma's hands was pulled from his grip.
      "Damn it! Let me go and save the girls!"
      "No way Ranma!" Ryouga snarled, "I ain't giving up!"
      "That thing is getting bigger!" Feather screamed. Ranma glanced behind him and swore. The multicolored ball of light was slowly getting larger and now was only a centimeter or two away from his dangling feet.
      Without warning, Feather lost her grip on Ryouga and was quickly being pulled in. Ranma managed to grab her around the stomach with his free arm, but the force of him catching her caused Ryouga to lose his footing. With a superhuman effort, Ryouga twisted and dug his fingers into the metal floor. Unfortunately, the winds were too strong and his fingers slowly gouged through the metal. Ryouga winced as he felt his fingers being cut before he finally lost his grip and the four of them tumbled into the ball of light with a shout of surprise. Just as quickly as the winds had come up, they died off. The ball of swirling lights disappeared, revealing a small crater in the platform, mute evidence that it was once there. The only sign of the martial artists who were on the platform was four bloody furrows ripped into the metal...