To disclaim or not to disclaim... what a stupid question. To risk the errant lawyers and their petty lawsuits, or waste precious time and web space to secure the legality of my creations? Aye, but there's the rub. Or something like that.

Guardian
Chapter 2
First Day on The Job! Can This Get Any Worse?!
**********************************************************************************

It had been a long day and a hard one. Weapons had misfired, lights had gone out, and currently his best friend was some kind of hentai.
Of course, the rest of them didn't look much better.
Ranma fingered his police I.D., rubbing the hard laminated surface as the bus came to his stop. At least the pay was good, but still......
'Hmph. If I wanted money, I could've gone into professional basketball or soccer and made millions.'
He shook his head as he got off the bus and reached into his pocket, pulling out a crumpled sheet of paper. This was the place.

Stepping inside, Ranma was subjected to a number of unidentifiable odors, as well as the rather detrimental interior of the apartment building. He just hoped his room wasn't this bad.
Focusing on a fat, greasy looking man lounging in a chair next to the superintendant's office, he showed him the piece of paper.
The man stared at it for a moment, then reached for the wall behind him and took a key off its hook. The man tossed Ranma the key, then gestured upstairs.
Muttering his thanks, Ranma hefted his bags and headed for the stairs, avoiding any steps that looked ready to shatter at the slightest touch.
Finally reaching apartment #48, his apartment, Ranma jammed the key in the hole and turned it.
The door came down immediately, and Ranma was stuck, baffled, holding the bare knob in the air by the key still inside it.
Muttering curses under his breath, Ranma stepped through the doorway, tossing the broken doorknob onto the ground and putting the door back up before inspecting the interior.
Ranma sighed. It didn't smell, which was good, but other than that, it wasn't much more than he would've gotten sleeping out on the streets. It was devoid of furniture, save a single foam mat, complete with pillow and sheet. There were some very noticeable holes in the wall, which served to make the room about as cold as it was outside, and very drafty. A single lightbulb suspended by a plastic cord provided the only light in the room. What really confused him, though, was the entrance to the bathroom, which had a sign proclaiming it "out of order".
Setting the fallen door back into the frame, Ranma walked up to the bathroom door, curiosity getting the better of him. He opened it slightly, and when nothing came pouring out, he opened it enough to look inside.
He never got to see the inside, however, as he was immediately subjected to a massive stream of water hitting him in the face from an unknown source. Quickly shutting the door, Ranma stood there coughing for several moments before he looked down at his soaked body and groaned.
*Thud* Ranma turned at the sound of the door falling to see the same overweight man from before.
"I forgot to tells ya, yer bathroom faucet goes nuts whenever you opens the door. Can't do a thing about it, im'fraid." with that the man headed back down the stairs, every wooden step giving protest to the journey.
Ranma stood there stunned. And soaked. Then he got angry.
Of course, to take this out on the nearest available object was difficult. There was only the mat, the bathroom door, and his bags. None of which he wanted to destroy, lest his situation become even worse.
And so, bereft of options, he sat on the ground fuming until a large cockroach skittered across the floor. It was quickly incinerated courtesy of a concentrated ki blast.
Feeling slightly better, Ranma shoved his bags in a corner and then huddled onto the mat, wrapping the thin sheet around him.
'Well, maybe in a few weeks I can afford a new place.'
__________________________________________________________________________________

Sunday was not a day that Asuka liked. In fact, you could say that Asuka hated Sundays.
Of course, she had a good reason to hate it. While most people were at home relaxing, she was at work, trying to control the miserable group of human beings that through some fallacy in their legal system, had become police officers. Plus it came right before Monday, which everybody hated.
Sighing to herself, the police Captain put her key into the door of the police station, only to find it unlocked. Confused, she entered the station. Had Kyle or Snake come early? It seemed about as likely as the sun suddenly plummeting into the Earth. She briefly entertained the thought that the station had been burglarized, but quickly discarded it. Nobody in their right mind would rob a police station, even if there was rarely anyone there after dark.

Her musing was interrupted by the sound of a toilet flushing.
Standing where she was, she was in a perfect position to see Ranma exit the bathroom, in full uniform and looking extremely relieved.
"Eager to start work, Saotome?"
Ranma looked at her for a moment. "It's complicated. And weird. I doubt you wanna know."
Asuka shrugged and slid her I.D. through the card slot on the wall and then punched in a code on the keypad next to it. All at once the entire building seemed to activate, with doors unlocking, lights and computers turning on, and most importantly, the coffee maker starting.
As Asuka poured herself a cup, Ranma looked around for anyone else.
"Isn't there anyone but you?"
Asuka looked up from her coffee. "Well, you're here," she answered sarcastically.
v Only slightly annoyed at the response, Ranma thought about what he knew about the DAPC.
"I mean, doesn't anybody stay overnight?"
Asuka didn't bother to look up. "We're too understaffed to push for night shifts."
Ranma shot her a questioning glance. "I've been wondering, shouldn't we have a police chief? I thought there was usually someone that the Captain answered to."
This time Asuka did look up, annoyed. "Mr. Higashi 'retired' last year, disappearing without a trace and leaving a note saying only 'So long suckers'."
Ranma sweatdropped. "Uh huh. Was it that bad?"
Asuka raised her coffee mug to her lips as she spoke. "We needed you new officers for a reason. *Slurp* Last year, nine officers were expelled from the force, two were arrested themselves for highly illegal conduct, and three of them were eaten by something or other."
Ranma's sweatdrop grew. "Ouch."
Asuka shrugged. "It's a stressful job."

"Hey everybody! How's it goin'?"
Asuka grimaced as Tiro made his entrance into the station. What was he so happy about?
Tiro walked up to Ranma and gave him a good-natured punch in the shoulder. "So what's up Saotome? You wouldn't believe the great place I just landed! And the landlady is sooooo hot!"
"Glad to hear it," Ranma mumbled bitterly.
Tiro whirled around to face Asuka. "Cadet Yamazaki ready for duty, ma'am!"
She gave him a flat look. "You're out of uniform."
Tiro blinked at the unexpected response as Asuka sat down at her computer. Then, determined to keep a sunny disposition, he returned to Ranma's side.
"So! You just moved here too, right? How's your new place? Pretty cool?"
Ranma resisted the urge to remove the teeth from Tiro's smile. "It's a...... bit of a fixer-upper."
"Can't talk now man, babe alert!"
Tiro whirled away from Ranma and seemed to phase in front of Sakura the moment she opened the door. Which wasn't very bright, considering the door smacked him in the face.
"Hi everyone!" Sakura shouted her greeting to the office, as Kyle wondered why the doormat was so lumpy.
"C-c-can't b-breathe......"
"Kyle, I think your left foot is on Yamazaki's trachea." Snake had the courtesy to step over the struggling body.
Kyle turned to his sister. "What's a trachea?"
"Just... get... OFF!!!" Tiro managed to gasp out before Sakura started explaining it.
Junko paused upon entering the station, wondering what all the commotion was about.

"Is everybody here?" Asuka's question grabbed everyone's attention, and Kyle stumbled enough to allow Tiro to get up.
Ranma looked around. "Tycho's missing."
Asuka frowned. "We'll have to make do. Come with me to the briefing room. We've got an assignment." 'It's about bloody time we got something done around here.'
__________________________________________________________________________________

The briefing room was a large, soundproofed area, identifiable by the rows of chairs and the big, expensive-looking projector on the table in the center of the room.
After everyone except Asuka was seated, she pushed a button on the projector, and the whole thing lit up, emitting a low hum that accompanied its cooling fan.
Picking up the remote control, she pushed a button near the top and opened her mouth to speak.
*Blam!* *Blam!* *Blam!* *Rattattattattatta!!* *The high caliber machine guns are more suited to destroy large, but lightly armored targets such as-*
The projector stopped, and the picture showing a machine gun nest razing an artillery piece disappeared.
Asuka glared at the only two people not wondering what the heck just happened.
Snake gulped. "Er... Kyle did it!"
"They were your slides!" The tall blond retorted.
"Shut up! Just shut up!!" Asuka fumed, and noisily changed the slides in the projector. Everyone else wisely remained silent.
She pushed the same button on the remote control, and this time two dead bodies were shown.
"This is Shin and Temoe Takusemichiro. They were brothers in life and business, and ran an honest, clean industry. At least as far as we can tell. They were both on the board of directors at Shiromir Industries, have never been convicted of anything worse than speeding, and were healthy both in mind and body. They were both shot to death on June 8th, just last night, on a deserted street in downtown Tokyo."
Tiro looked partially stunned from the sudden influx of information, but still managed to ask, "Do we know who shot them?"
Asuka nodded somberly. "Yes. It was two detectives belonging to the Tokyo Police Force. According to the officers, both of the deceased attacked them without provocation, ignoring any and all warnings. Shin seriously injured one of the officers before he died of eight bullet wounds, five to the head, two to the chest and one in the leg. Temoe didn't get nearly as far, falling after two bullets, one to the neck and another to the heart."
Kyle raised his hand. Asuka groaned. "Yes?"
"How did they attack the officers if they were deceased?" Silence met his question.
Tiro coughed. "I, uh, think when she said 'deceased', she was talking about how they're dead now."
Kyle blinked, and then laughed nervously. "Oh, right! Heh, sorry! Go on, go on!"
"Yes..." Asuka turned back to the projector, though the sweatdrop on her head remained.
"The officers say that their attackers seemed unusually pale, uncooridinated, and unresponsive. They also said that other than the physical force of the bullet, they seemed able to ignore all but the final bullet wound which finished them off. The autopsy revealed only two formerly healthy bodies, with no traces of any kind of poison or drug. This is extremely unusual, and the DAPC been asked to contribute our services."
"They sound like some kind of zombies." Ranma was talking mostly to himself, but his statement had attracted everyone's attention.
Asuka gave him a flat look. "And I suppose you've some experience with zombies?"
Ranma had to think about that one. "Uh... no, not really. I've seen plenty of ghosts, but I've never really seen a zombie." He was really starting to get annoyed at all the weird looks he was getting.
"Gh-ghosts? For real?" Sakura squeaked.
"So...... they were already dead when they attacked!" Kyle ventured.
Asuka groaned. "Look, let's try and rule out the undead for a moment, all right? What we know is this: these people would never attack anybody, much less armed police officers, in their right minds. Something happened to them that not only made them unusually violent and aggressive, but also deadened them to a substantial amount of pain."

Looking around, and noting that most of those present were trying not to think of what they just heard, Asuka decided to change the subject.
"Does anyone know where Tycho is?"
Tiro spoke up. "I heard him say he was going to 'try out some of the equipment'. I think he broke into the garage and went joyriding last night."
Asuka forced herself not to sigh. "All right, it's time to get busy. Sakura, you'll be on patrol with me. Kyle will give the rest of you your orders.
__________________________________________________________________________________

Ranma stepped into the shiny blue car and strapped himself into the passenger side. He'd never really liked cars, as he had his own, more versatile mode of transportation (I.E. jumping from roof to roof), but like guns, they were something he had to get used to.
Looking around the interior, the thing looked almost new. Toward the front was a complex-looking mini-computer and radio, as well as a GPS link. Noting the thickness of the door, the car was probably armored too.

"Nice, eh?" Kyle slipped into the driver's side and fastened his own seatbelt before backing out of the garage. Soon they were speeding along the Tokyo streets, heading for downtown.
There was an uncomfortable silence as they scanned the roads together, watching for anything amiss.
"So...... ghosts, huh?"
The question had come out of nowhere, and Ranma found himself off guard. "Uh, yeah. I've met a few of them."
Kyle was more curious than skeptical. "You mean like tortured souls of the dead and stuff, right? Come back to haunt those responsible for their suffering?"
Ranma blinked. "Well, no. One was a cat that was looking for a girlfriend. Another was a girl that... sort of... came out of me. Then there was the ghost of this snake-woman who was looking for a husband. And the rest were just broken-up couples that wanted to break up everyone else as revenge."
Kyle looked surprised. "No kidding?"
Ranma shook his head. Everything he had said was true, but he still couldn't believe that Kyle was buying it. It sounded far-fetched even to him.

In a short time they had passed the commercial districts, and the crowds thinned out to where only a few people could be seen wandering the streets.
Kyle stuck his head out the window. "Well, this is the place. You see anything suspicious?"
Ranma scanned the right side of the street, deserted save for a small mammallian body lying on the sidewalk.
"Just a dead dog. You?"
"Nah, just a crowd of people attacking some guy in an alleyway." Kyle shrugged and started accelerating the car.
It took him exactly 7.4 seconds to realize what was wrong with that statement, and it took Ranma roughly the same amount of time to figure out that it wasn't some sort of weird joke.
"Jeezus! We gotta help him!" Kyle thrust the door open and jumped out of the car, and Ranma followed suit.
"Stop right where you are! This is the police!" Kyle drew his pistol and aimed at the nearest aggressor. Ranma stopped next to him, glaring at the backs of the thugs.
Then, as one, the entire group turned towards them, though some were quicker at it than others. Kyle gasped and took a step back, and Ranma's eyes narrowed.
There were five of them in all, four men and a woman. They matched the briefing's description perfectly: pale, uncoordinated, and several had wounds that they were obviously ignoring with little trouble.
Kyle found his voice again quickly. "Stop or we'll-"
The crowd apparently didn't care, and charged into the two, muttering only groans and growls as they ran.
Kyle was about to shoot when Ranma shot forward, kicking the first two each in the chest and knocking them flat on their backs. The other three quickly oriented on him, trying to surround him as they struck with clumsy punches and clawing swipes.
Without ceremony or fanfare, he laid the remaining three out with low sweeps and quick jabs, knocking them to the ground.
Kyle stared at the two bodies lying on the ground beneath him. "Uh, are they dead?"
Ranma dusted his hands off as he stepped over the unconscious woman. "Nah, it was a pressure point strike. They'll be fine in ten minutes, unless they really were zombies." Ranma turned toward the alley and sighed as he looked at the condition of the group's victim.
"He's dead." Kyle sighed, then reached into the car for his radio. "Yeah, Junko? We've got a corpse and five unconscious. They might need to be restrained too, so tell the meds to be prepared."

Ranma sighed and started berating himself for not noticing the attack earlier. Glancing around aimlessly, his eye just barely caught a small black thing squirming near Kyle's foot.
"Hey Leuitenant, what's that thing?"
Kyle looked up at him questioningly, then found what he was looking at. "I dunno. Some kind of slug, I guess."
Kyle picked it up off the ground, and the creature seemed to calm down in his hand, slowly making its way over the gloves and onto his bare arm.
"Anyway, the ambulances'll be here in about 2 minutes. There's a coffee place down the street, you wanna get something?"
Ranma shook his head as he watched the slimy little creature stop as it got to bare skin, then flatten itself out.
Kyle glanced down at it, then started to look nervous. "Uh, you don't think that this thing's a leech, do you?"
Ranma nearly laughed. "A leech? Here? I don't think so. Why?"
Kyle gulped. "C-cause I can't feel my arm. Or my legs. I-I think my other arm is starting to go... getting dizzy......"
Ranma sweatdropped and casually peeled off the black creature, which seemed to protest at being removed. About three seconds later, Kyle collapsed to the ground.
Ranma glances down at Kyle, then at the slug. "Weird." The slug wriggled fiercely in his hand; trying to escape he imagined.
"Ohhhh, my head..." Kyle slowly got up and rubbed his arm to try and get some feeling into it. After a moment he glared at the slimy organism as it thrashed around in Ranma's grip.

Ranma turned at the sound of sirens that signaled the arrival of the ambulances. Handing the small creature to Kyle (who protested loudly before remembering to close his hands over it), he made his way through the group of paramedics that poured out to load the unconscious onto stretchers. Noticing the police car that pulled up next to one of the ambulances, Ranma walked over to it just as Asuka stepped out.
"Saotome? What's going on here?"
Ranma put his hands in his pockets and shrugged. "Don't really know. A bunch of people killed a guy, then attacked us. I took care of them.
Sakura overheard the last part of the conversation as she stepped out of the car. "Oh no! You didn't kill them, did you?"
Ranma shook his head quickly. "Nononononono. Just knocked 'em out. They'll be fine."
Sakura looked relieved. Asuka was about to ask how he knocked out five attackers without taking a scratch, then decided it might be better for her peace of mind not to.
"That reminds me. Tekai, do a quick survey of the dead body. Find out if he was beaten to death or what."
Sakura looked fearful of the notion. "D-do I h-have to? I don't like blood......"
Asuka facefaulted. Ranma would have joined her, but found that he wasn't really surprised.
"Just do it! That's an order!" Sakura cringed at Asuka's voice, and quickly scurried over to where the paramedics were observing the body.
"A nurse that doesn't like blood... what have I done to deserve this?"
Ranma chuckled. Asuka glared at him, but he didn't seem to notice, which annoyed her even more.
"*Ahem* Saotome, do you have anything else to tell me, or are you just wasting my time?"
Ranma blinked, then remembered the slug/leech thing. "Yeah, there's some kind of wierd slimy thing that me and Kyle found. You might want to take a look at it. Yo, Kyle!"

The leuitenant made his way through the crowd from where he was comforting his sister (who had apparently had fallen to pieces at the sight of the mutilated body), with his hands still clamped shut.
Asuka looked down at where he obviously held something he either didn't want to reveal or didn't want to let loose. "If this is one of those 'open your mouth, close your eyes' pranks, I swear I'll have you all fired."
Kyle sweatdropped and scratched the back of his head with one hand. "No no, it's not that, I just..." it was at that point he looked down and noticed his palm was empty. "Oops. Hold on, he got away."
Ranma slapped his forehead. Asuka blinked. Kyle looked got on his knees and started searching the ground until someone screamed.
"Ahhh!! I-I can't move! Help!" The paramedic collapsed on the ground, twitching and pale, the others surrounding him, surprised.
"Ah, it must be over there." Kyle calmly pushed the panicking medics to the side, then pulled up the man's pant leg. Nodding his head, he pulled off the patch of black clinging to the man's leg, then brought it over to Asuka.
"See? It does something to you when it gets on your skin. I think it's a leech."
Ranma rolled his eyes. "It isn't a leech. There're no leeches around here."
"How do you know? Have you ever seen a leech before?"
"Yes! They only live in swamps and caves and really damp places! We're in the middle of the city!"
"Maybe it escaped from a pet shop."
"Who keeps leeches as pets?!"
Asuka rubbed her forehead. "Kami, why must I put up with these idiots?" Stepping between her two subordinates and giving each of them a glare in the eyes (an impressive feat since they were both nearly a foot taller), she snatched up the black creature and put it into a plastic container she kept in her car.
"We'll get this to the lab. You nitwits get back into your car and finish your patrols." Asuka waved over Sakura (who was looking rather shook up), and took off with the ambulances, and soon the two officers found themselves alone.

"............I still say it's a leech."
"With all due respect leuitenant... shut up."
__________________________________________________________________________________

"I'm telling you, it wasn't my fault! The steering column jammed up!"
Ranma just sighed as he dragged Tycho into the DAPC station. He didn't know what a steering column was, or what would happen if it got jammed, but he and Kyle had found Tycho at the park, next to an armored personnel transport that had been driven through four trees and into the pond.
At first Asuka was curious why Ranma and Kyle were back so early, until Ranma tossed Tycho on the ground in front of her. Eyes narrowing, she gave the driver her most deadly "this better be good" stare.
Tycho gulped. "Uh, I, uh, tried out some of the vehicles last night, and, well..." suddenly getting an idea, he stood up and saluted. "I'm sorry to report that I've found some defects in our equipment. The Nighthawk Attack Cycle has unusually bad cornering at high speed, and the Rhino Transport has a bad steering column. I suggest we report these flaws to the manufacturer immediately!"
Ranma and Kyle crossed their arms and frowned. Asuka's demeanor didn't budge.
Tycho swallowed deeper. "I'm in trouble aren't I?"
Kyle nodded solemnly. "Ohhhhh yeah."
Asuka finally spoke. "It was a good try, but nobody gets off that easy. You're suspended for a week. And when you get back, you can start paying for whatever damages you've done to the vehicles."
Tycho looked devastated. Starting to feel a little sorry for him, Ranma decided to defend him. "It wasn't really that bad. The car's all right, just a few scratches."
"Yeah, well you havn't seen the cycle..." Tycho muttered. It took eight seconds until he realized he had said that out loud.

"Aaaaaaaah!!" *Thud*

After tossing Tycho out of the building, Ranma dusted off his hands as he walked back outside, where Asuka appeared to be waiting for him.
"Saotome, Tekai, we've got something on that slug that you found, and-"
"Leech," Kyle insisted.
"It wasn't a leech! There are no leeches in Tokyo!"
"What kind of slug makes your arm numb?"
"That's what we're trying to find out!"
"*AHEM*!!" Asuka startled both of them out of there argument. "Sorry to interrupt your little debate, but we're still not sure what it is. Seras has been testing it, and says he found something he wants us to see. On top of that, all the attackers from the street have woken up, and none of them have shown any of the symptoms from before. Skin coloration is normal, they're perfectly coherent, they can feel pain, no aggressive tendencies, etc. None of them remember what happened."
Ranma raised an eyebrow. "None of them? What do they remember?"
Asuka sighed. "According to all five of the victims they were leaving work when a numbing sensation spread through the lower half of their bodies. After a short time they lost consciousness. The next thing they remembered was waking up in the hospital, restrained and sporting a number of heavy bruises."
Kyle glanced at Ranma.
"Better bruises than bullet-holes!" Ranma said, annoyed.
Asuka nodded. "True. The strange thing, however, is that they all work at the same place: Shiromir Industries."
Kyle scratched his head. "Isn't that the same place-"
Asuka didn't need him to finish the question. "Yes, the same place that the first two victims were from. The man that was killed had no connections to the company or any of the afflicted. It's reasonable to suspect he was just a random passerby."
Ranma turned back to Kyle. "Hey, didn't that slug cause numbness in your arm?"
"Yeah. But I still think it's a leech."
Asuka kept herself from groaning. "Yes, yes, shut up already. We're almost positive that whatever the hell you found is responsible for the state these people are in. Let's go to the lab and see what Seras found."
__________________________________________________________________________________

The laboratory, like the rest of the building, was expensive, complex, state-of-the-art, and nearly deserted. Only a single researcher had stayed with the DAPC, and that was only because he didn't have a degree, which barred him from many other research careers.
Seras had dropped out of medical college at age 22, not because he didn't understand the curriculum, but because his unfortunate fondness for alcohol often left him in poor condition to take tests the next day.
And so it was that Seras Tuko took a swig of sake as the police officers lined up in front of the lab observation table.

Tiro nudged Ranma and then gestured towards the table in the corner that held a complex distillery.
"Boy, this guy's set, huh? By the way, didn't you guys find Tycho?"
"Don't ask." Ranma grumbled.
"Attention! Attention everyone!" Seras tapped his empty sake bottle on the edge of the table, and soon all eyes were on him. Clearing his throat, he gestured to the slimy black creature flattened out on a metal sphere suspended by a metal pole holding a conduit.
"As you all know, this little bugger is our prime suspect for whatever the hell happened to all those people. Now you ask yourself, 'how does it do that?' Well, you see-"
Kyle raised his hand. "Actually, I'd rather know what it is. Is it a slug or a leech?"
*Stomp* "OW!!!" Asuka smiled as Kyle bent over to cradle his foot.
"Please continue, Tuko."
Seras sweatdropped. "Right... anyway, after some quick experiments, I've found out a lot."
Seras slipped on a rubber glove, then picked up the black organism. It started wriggling fiercely as soon as it left the sphere, trying to get a grip on Seras' hand.
"When I finally recieved this thing, less than 15 minutes after it attacked its last victim, it was almost dead. Then I attached it to a lab rat, and the thing was rejuvenated almost instantly." Seras reached under the table, and pulled out another sake bottle. "After some quick tests, I determined that it requires electric pulses to survive."
Ranma blinked. "So... how does it live on someone's body? Doesn't it have to be plugged in or something?"
Seras laughed, then took a swig from his bottle. "All creatures create some measure of electricity through their bodies, and this little sucker doesn't need much to live. Without attaching to a host at least as big as it is, I'd give this little guy half an hour 'till it dries up and dies."
Asuka was alarmed. "Half an hour? That's not much time to find a host."
Seras smiled. "Exactly! A creature like this couldn't survive long enough in the wild. Which suggests that this creature isn't natural, which I suspected in the first place."
Junko had looked bored at first, but now she was interested. "So, it's like a mutant or something?"
Seras nodded. "This creature is derivative of the common garden slug, but has a remarkably accurate genetic model added to its normal DNA pattern."
Ranma turned and pointed to Kyle. "HA!! Slug, not leech!!" Asuka tried to step on his foot, but he seemed to move it away without even noticing her assault.
Seras coughed. "Yes, well... anyway, what this thing does is secrete a fluid which is absorbed straight into the skin. This fluid creates a channel which absorbs electricity running through your nervous system. When this happens, messages stop running back and forth between the afflicted limb and the brain. This causes numbness and loss of function in that limb. Eventually electricity runs from other parts of the body into the infected limb, and it's absorbed too. This causes a total loss of body function. Understand?"
Everyone nodded. In truth, some of them didn't understand at all, but figured he'd be getting to the point sooner or later.
"Then the second stage begins. After the victim stops giving electricity to the slug, it secretes an enzyme which permeates the skin and is absorbed into the bloodstream. Eventually this enzyme runs into the brain, where it starts its work. It increases the bodies production of energy, stimulating the mitochondrion all throughout the victim. This makes sense. The creature needs electricity to live, therefore if its host isn't producing any, it either dies or has to find a new host. What doesn't make sense is the effect the enzyme has on the human brain. It afflicts certain brain centers, actually reducing the victim's ability to think. It increases the agressiveness of its host, and basically sends them on a killing rampage. 18 minutes after I attached it to snowball, he tried to rend his cage to pieces in order to bite me. This really doesn't make sense, as it doesn't benefit the slug at all, other than it assuring the host can't remove the little bugger. It suggests, unfortunately, that this creature was created solely as a weapon to make people violent and mindless." Seras shrugged his shoulders and took another swig of sake.
Asuka was the first to recover from hearing it all. "Can this thing reproduce?"
Seras shook his head. "The new enzyme completely sterilizes the slug, though other than that, there hasn't been any tampering with the reproductive system. This suggests that the effect wasn't intended, but the creator didn't really care. These things weren't meant to become a plague on the Earth that eliminates the human race, I'm sure."
"A biological weapon." Kyle said solemnly.
Tiro still didn't understand the whole thing, but ventured to ask the inevitable question anyway. "So... what are we gonna do about this?"
"Well, first, we're going to launch a full investigation of Shiromir Industries. I'm positive it's no coincidence that all the victims so far have worked there." Asuka left the room quickly to get a phone.

As soon as she left, Seras began tapping his now-empty sake bottle on the edge of the steel table to get everyone's attention again.
"Uh, did any of you see what happened to the slug?" Seras was currently scanning the ground below him nervously, and his gloved hand was indeed empty.
"EEK!! You mean that thing's crawling around in here?!" Junko scrambled onto the nearest bare lab table and started checking her legs.
Everyone but Tiro immediately began searching the ground. Tiro would have been too, but he was currently engrossed in watching Junko run her hands over her thighs repeatedly. Thus it was that he didn't realize anything was wrong until he found that his legs no longer possessed the strength to hold up his body.
"Argh! It got me!" *Crash* Tiro fell into one of the lab tables, showering himself with beakers and test tubes, and just barely managed to tear off part of his pant leg, exposing the vile creature.
Ranma tried to move over to help him, but found his hands suddenly full when Sakura screamed at the sight and jumped into his arms.
Kyle looked worriedly at Snake. "What should we do?"
"GET IT OFF ME YOU DOLT!!!!" Tiro yelled with what was fast becoming the last of his strength.
"All right, all right, you don't have to yell. I am your superior officer you know." Rather than stay conscious to listen to Kyle's lecture, Tiro opted to pass out instead.
Seras walked up to his prone form and peeled the slug off his calf, returning it quickly to the electric sphere, where it flattened itself out again.
Junko glared at Seras. "That thing is dangerous. Why don't we kill it?"
Seras shrugged. "We need it. It's evidence. Not to mention a completely new biological life form. A lot of people are going to be very unhappy if we were to just kill it."
"Uh, Sakura, you can let go now."
Sakura opened her eyes to find herself staring into Ranma's deep blue eyes, cradled protectively in his strong, muscular arms, held only inches away from his face......
"Hey sis, you okay? You're all red."
Junko climbed off her table and snickered at the sight of Ranma holding her. "Hey, get a room, you two."
Ranma just rolled his eyes as Sakura's blush deepened and she ejected herself from his arms.
At that moment Ranma had a moment of insight. "Hey, does anyone know what Shiromir Industries does?"
Snake blinked. "They make heavy machinery and do metalluragy research, as well as refining metal ores. Why?"
Ranma nodded. "So they don't do anything that involves messing around with genetics or mutating stuff."
Snake blinked again, as Ranma's case started to come into focus. "No... they don't......"
Seras swung his bottle from side to side in thought. "Yes... Shiromir doesn't have the equipment or facilities to produce this level of genetic manipulation. And there's no way they could create or buy that stuff in secret."
"Plus, why would they test it on their own employees?" Kyle queried.
Everyone looked at him.
"I think most of us were already wondering about that. Besides, it might have escaped or something." Snake said with a flat look.
"Oh yeah. Heh." Kyle rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, then cleared his throat.
"Well, I think we've all had a tough day so far, so why don't we all go home early!"
Snake stared at him. "Can you do that?"
"For all you know," Kyle muttered. "Anyway, who wants to stop by the bar? Drinks are on me!"
Snake and Junko cheered. Tiro tried to cheer, but had only recently regained consciousness and was too weak. Ranma sighed and left for the locker room to change.
__________________________________________________________________________________

The apartment superintendent barely looked up to acknowledge Ranma's entry into the building, at least until a wooden board lightly brushed by his head. Startled out of his half-sleeping, the obese man was rather surprised to find Ranma heading up the stairs carrying a pile of lumber and several plastic bags.

Ranma didn't bother to unlock or open the door, instead lightly tapping it with his foot. As expected, the door immediately fell to the ground, and Ranma merely walked in on top of it.
Setting the wooden boards on the floor, Ranma emptied the bags, which held several tools, some paint, and an assortment of other building materials.
"It's time to fix up this hellhole." Ranma said, determination oozing from his form as a blue aura enveloped him. Locating the nearest hole in the wall, he grabbed a board and went to work.
__________________________________________________________________________________

Sakura was quite surprised to see the state of the apartment building when she entered it. Looking around at the numerous broken light fixtures and shattered windows, she shuffled the bundle around in her arms to look at the slip of paper held tightly between her fingers.
"Well, this is the place... Excuse me, sir?" Once again the superintendent was startled from his slumber, and was about to severely chastise the culprit, until he saw it was a woman. And a stunning one at that.
"Er, hello there. What can I do for yez?" he said with a smile that was just a tad too friendly.
"Yes, I'm trying to find someone's apartment? His name is Ranma, Ranma Saotome. Can you help me?"
The man's smile only widened. "Yes, he's up there in #48. I'd better help you up there, though. The stairs 'aint as strong as they used to be."
Sakura sweatdropped as the man tried to get up with obvious difficulty. "Uh, no, that's okay, really. I'm sure I'll be fine." She was quite certain that if what he said were true, she wouldn't survive the trip with his company.
The superintendent shrugged, deciding it wasn't really worth the effort to stand up anyway. "Suit yourself."

"#48. This is it." Suddenly overcome with an unreasonable nervousness, Sakura gulped and gave the door two light knocks.
Or tried to give it two. After the first one the door fell down, hitting something on its trajectory to the carpet and leaving it standing up at an angle.
"Ow! Damn it! I turn around for a second and the stupid door falls right down on top of me! Who was the jerk that built this dump in the first place?" Ranma angrily got up from under the door, and was about to stand it up again, when he saw Sakura standing in the hallway. He immediately began to worry, as she had turned red again and her heart seemed be racing.
"Sakura? What are you doing here? Are you okay?"
Sakura was okay, more or less, but found she had lost the ability to talk. Her condition had little to do with her physical health, however, and much more to do with the fact that Ranma wasn't wearing a shirt at the moment.
Somehow she gathered enough her wits to shove the parcel in front of him. Swallowing the excess saliva that had gathered in her mouth, she managed to stutter "C-c-cookies."
Ranma looked down at the basket, surprised. "Hey, thanks! Come on in if you want, but I'm afraid there's not much here right now."
All at once she regained control of her body, and meekly stepped into the apartment.
Ranma took some of the plastic wrapping off the basket, and then inspected the cookies. Life with Akane and Shampoo had always taught him to inspect offered food carefully before eating (or attempting to eat) it. The cookies were simple, shaped into little hearts with a layer of pink frosting. Ranma took one from the bunch and bit into it as he held the door up again.
"Hey these are pretty good!" Ranma shot Sakura a smile before he put a hinge up to the doorframe, then started to wind in a screw.
"R-r-really? D-do you think so? They're my own recipe......" Sakura suddenly had the urge to look anywhere but at Ranma (pleasing as it was staring at his muscled back) and only started to notice how run-down the place looked.
"How can you live here? It looks awful!"
Ranma grimaced after he finished securing the door, and opened and closed it a few times to make sure it was safe. "Yeah, it's bad, but hopefully I can get a new place in a few weeks. I'm lucky the DAPC pays so well. I used the last bit of money I had to buy all this stuff."
Sakura blinked. "You used the last of your money?"
Ranma sighed. "Yeah, it'll be tough, but at least I won't have the wind blowing away my sheet while I sleep."
Sakura felt like crying for him as she looked at the numerous wooden boards nailed down over large holes in the plaster walls. "This is terrible! Do you even have any left for food?"
Ranma nodded and stood up, getting ready to apply some electric tape to the nearly bare wire that ran from the ceiling to the light bulb. "I already thought of that. I have enough instant ramen to last a few days."
He finished applying the tape and smiled at her. "Plus I have your cookies."
Determination to help fought against shy embarrasment from Ranma's words. "Ranma... why don't you stay with me and Kyle? Until you're back on your feet?"
Ranma was honestly surprised. Actual sympathy was something he encountered little of in his experiences. "No, it's all right. I've put up with worse."
Sakura was convinced though. "Ranma, you can't live like this! Animals live like this! Most animals live better than this! Come stay with us!" She stared at him sternly with a look that dared him to argue.
Then she realized who she was yelling at and why, and she immediately retreated back, blushing and twiddling her fingers. "I-I mean i-if you want to......" Sakura retreated further back and lowered her face, her blond hair showering over her face.
Ranma was more confused than anything else from the whole display, only really understanding that she wanted him to stay with her and her brother. She also seemed quite determined on that point. Or at least she did. "Well, I mean, if you insist. But only until I can afford a better place, all right?" Ranma wanted to freeload as little as possible. After his "liberation" from his old life, he had decided to make it on his own, and that's just what he was going to do.
"Really?" Sakura stood there stunned for a moment as Ranma put on his red Chinese style shirt and picked up his bags, packing up some of the more expensive tools in the process.
"Well, lead the way!"
"Uh, r-right." 'Gosh, it's warm in here! He must have done a better job with those holes than he thought.'
__________________________________________________________________________________

The superintendent was once more sleeping away the remainder of the day, and was once more interrupted from his rest, this time by a key lightly impacting his forehead and landing on his gut.
Curious, he lifted up the key to find the number 48 clumsily embossed on it, and raised his head to see Ranma, bags in hand, following Sakura out the door.
'Lucky bastard.' He thought to himself. Shooing away a fly and adjusting the cap which kept the sun out of his eyes, he prepared to drift once more into a deep slumber.

It didn't happen though, as Ranma returned through the front door and kicked one the legs of his chair, causing the whole thing to collapse and spilling its occupant onto the floor.
"That's for the damn bathroom! And lose some weight!!" Ranma then stormed out of the building, slamming the door hard enough to loosen a vital screw in a suspended light fixture. *Crash!* The janitor was soon out cold.
Angry at the disturbance, a wrinkled old woman opened her door and yelled out into the hallway.
"Hey, you stupid kids! Keep quiet out there! Rotten little terrors have no respect for the elderly..."

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Author's notes:
Well, here's the second chapter. Kudos to those that sent me positive reinforcement (and didn't threaten me) after the first one. This turned out to be shorter than I thought... oh well.
As for the whole "mutant slug" thing, it really doesn't sound as cool or exciting now as it did when I thought of it, but it's the only semi-original idea I've had so far (who wants to see Ranma fight Arigami? No one?). It'll get better. Really. Well, maybe not, but it can't get much worse, I promise.