And he said, "Let there be protection from unintentional copyright infringements." And lo, there were disclaimers for all.
Just for reference, dialogue in { } indicates a second laguage being spoken, while / / indicates a third. The languages themselves vary from scene to scene, and will be explained. As usual, [ ] indicates signs or writing, and ' ' is thoughts.

Guardian
Chapter 8
Tsunami

**********************************************************************************

John Remerick glanced once again at the readouts. "No, it just doesn't make any sense. There's something we're not seeing here."
Admiral Morimoto, who had called the meeting, snorted in disdain. He had always despised the fact that the American had managed to attain and hold a high position in their military ranks despite being a foreigner. The fact that he had also proven to be quite capable at his job only made the insult worse.
"Well of COURSE there's something we're not seeing! What is their target? They can only be here to attack us!"
John shook his head. "I'm telling you, they're NOT here to attack. It doesn't make any sense. Six Russian subs, all taking positions around Tokyo harbor. No attacks, no threats, no demands, no reinforcements..." he sighed, "and ultimately, no explanation."
The Vice Admiral shook his head as he looked at the large table-top contour map that showed the foreign vessels' positions. "How can you be so sure they're not here to attack? Perhaps we should prepare for an invasion from the west. We only contacted Russia yesterday about the presence of their war vessels, and they have yet to give us any kind of response."
Remerick jabbed a finger at the two subs nearest to the harbor. "I think they're looking for something. Russia can't possibly be preparing for war with Japan just out of the blue like this, and even if they were, there's simply no point in starting it by moving six very expensive war vessels deep into enemy territory."
Morimoto snorted again. "They are enemy war machines and they are in our territory! There is no reason that we cannot destroy them immediately! This is a clear violation of-"
"ADMIRAL," Remerick interrupted, earning a furious glare from the decorated officer, "though we would be in the right to eliminate a possible threat to the mainland, there's no reason to. Russia wouldn't put those subs there to attack us, but they wouldn't put them there without a good reason, either. We must go into this with both eyes open."
The Vice Admiral noticed that Morimoto was practically grinding his teeth and prepared to intervene. "I still think it has something to do with our new off-shore oil drilling platforms."
Remerick sighed. "But that hardly makes sense either. The subs' formation doesn't even take the platform into account."
Morimoto glared hard at the general. "And why else could they be here? Do you think it's a coincidence that they showed up just after information was leaked to the public, and when they are so near to completion already?"
John stared somewhat balefully at the Japanese officer. He was well aware that he wasn't widely accepted or well liked among the executive officers, but Morimoto made a point of creating conflict with him. The only reason he had been invited to this meeting was because the Prime Minister had ordered it, as he was far more well-versed in Russia's military strategies and procedures.
"Coincidences DO happen, Admiral. The Russians simply have no reason to care about-"
"Oh?" Morimoto interrupted, "Really? What about sabotage? Without those new platforms, we are almost totally dependent on imported oil supplies!"
"And why would the Russians want to sabotage us?" John shot back tiredly.
"Who knows? But we need to 'keep both eyes open'," he mocked. "Or perhaps it's not sabotage. Perhaps they mean to steal the plans for the drilling platforms? Russia could benefit greatly from a fully efficient drilling platform."
"Somehow I don't think the thermal carbines will work as well in Siberia's water," John muttered wryly. "But it doesn't matter. I suggest we wait until they state what it is they want, and if it's in our interest to do so, assist them and get them out as quickly as possible." Morimoto sneered at him as he got up and put on his hat.
"Personally, I think the oil platforms are in far more danger from the Freedom's Angels. But that's my concern, not yours." He smirked slightly as the Admiral twitched, and the Vice Admiral cast him a wary glance.

John Remerick emerged from the war room, and immediately nodded to his left. An obviously female figure stepped up next to him, keeping pace as the general walked from the room.
{"That man is a fool,"} John said in English, and shook his head. {"If he tries to oust those subs by himself, he'll get half the Japanese navy annihilated."}
The woman next to him smiled. She was a devastatingly attractive brunette, and her formal business suit just seemed to hug the contours of her body and chest and show off her figure. {"He'll be in for a hell of a surprise if he tries. I've seen the new sonar systems on the G-12 Typhoons. Capable of full 3-D rendering of the surrounding area, providing infallible target acquisition data. State-of-the-art silent running systems. Real neat stuff."}
John nodded. {"We can't be rash about this. There's something we haven't hit upon yet. A piece missing..."}
He stopped, and the woman slowed down ahead of him before stopping to wait.
After a moment, John shrugged and began walking again. {"Ultimately, it's not my decision. What IS my decision is what I'm going to do about the off-shore platforms. They make a very attractive target."}
The woman nodded. {"Right. We'll need to reposition our forces if we're to make sure nothing will get through. I'm sure the FAs will try SOMETHING to destroy them."} She hesitated, then slowly continued. {"By the way, what are we going to do about..."} She trailed off, and John grimaced.
"Nothing Mia," he answered in Japanese, "we'll just leave them alone, and hope they don't get in the way. There's only one department for this job, and it's NOT-"
__________________________________________________________________________________

"So as you can see," Snake continued on, hefting the large vulcan cannon onto his lap, "the vulcan cannon's longer barrel allows for much greater accuracy at long range. It's upscale model is the phalanx, which is actually used to shoot down missiles." Snake put down the cannon and pointed to the blocky chaingun on the ground below him. "The vindicator minigun, on the other hand, is simply engineered to spray as many bullets around as possible. Which makes it better." He smiled, and lifted up yet another gun among the pile scattered on the floor. This one had a hefty-looking barrel with a copper finish, but still appeared light. "This is the Pancor Jackhammer, the most powerful automatic shotgun ever built. It's my personal favorite for corridor fighting."
Junko yawned. Ranma scratched his chin for a bit. "Man, where do you get all this stuff, anyway?"
Snake grinned. "I have several... 'friends' in various R&D labs across Japan. They get me access to the really neat stuff. I've also got a mail-order catalog from this military collector in the States, who ships me some inventory from decommissioned US ammo dumps."
Ranma blinked. "Isn't that illegal? In both coutries? Like, on several different levels?"
Snake shrugged. "Nobody's complained so far. In any case, weaponry will frequently prove a vital part of our operations. I mean, think about it, what do we have that, say, the FAs don't?"
Ranma thought for a moment, moving past the obvious answer that Snake was looking for. "Brains?"
Junko and Snake both turned to look off to the side, where Kyle and Tiro were trying to fix the Rhino, and tearing it apart in the process.
"Right, right, never mind. Guns, then?"
Snake smiled and patted Ranma on the head, a gesture which he quite heartily resented. "Exactly! We have hundreds of millions of yen invested in just about every kind of military weapons system ever created! When all else fails, hit the C4! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!"
Ranma sweatdropped. "I think the lieutenant's lost it."
"I'm not sure the lieutenant ever had it," Junko mumbled in response.

Over by the workbench, Tycho was flipping idly through a magazine while waiting for Kyle and Tiro to give up and ask him to do it. He turned the page, and his eyes bulged.
"Whoa! She is HOT!! You guys! Check this out!"
*Zip!* Tiro was by his side instantly, even as Kyle was still standing up from his crouch.
Ranma looked over and blinked as he saw the cover of the magazine. "Business Weekly?"
Tycho shrugged. "What can I say? I'm a stockholder."
Ranma moved over to the bench along with everybody else, noting that for some reason, Tiro looked disappointed. He couldn't imagine why, as the woman in the full-body photograph looked liked something straight from the Playboy Mansion, only dressed in a business suit.
"Oh, it's Alex." Tiro looked at the caption as everyone else stared at him. "New president of Wraith Labs? Wow, she's doing pretty well for herself."
Tycho gaped at him. "You... YOU... know her?"
Tiro shrugged. "Actually, she's my cousin."
Kyle stared at him, then at the picture, then back at him. "Distant cousin?"
"Don't get smart," Tiro remarked, annoyed, and forgetting who he was talking to, "she's my cousin, okay? End of story. Though I am surprised to see her in business."
"What do you mean?" Tycho asked, "And is she single?"
Tiro rolled his eyes. "Well, she's always played the rebel, you know? She was kind of the black sheep of the family. While just about everyone in our family gets jobs with the government or positions in helpful non-profit organization, she was preaching the overthrowing of the established government and anarchist theories and supporting local crime gangs by smuggling automatic weapons into Japan."
Everybody continued staring at him.
"When she was in sixth grade, she made a complete plan for the internal invasion of Japan as a presentation for class. In tenth grade, she formulated a working anarchist economy for a social studies project. When she entered college, she turned the football team into her own private army overnight and seized control of the entire campus."
The staring continued.
Tiro noticed this time, and gave another shrug. "Like I said, black sheep."
Tycho looked back at the photo. "Whoa... so... what was her number again?"
Junko leveled a flat stare at him. "You still want it, after all that?"
"Personality is overrated."
"At least it sounds like she HAS one," Ranma muttered, rolling his eyes and walking out of the garage. Tycho ignored him, flipping through the magazine to look for more photos of Tokima.

Sakura checked the mirror one last time, going over every inch of her face for smudges of makeup or any remaining imperfections.
'Okay girl, this is it. Just like Junko said; thanks for saving my life, could I treat you to dinner? Then make your move.' She smiled radiantly into the mirror, then turned around and headed out of the locker room. She was really more used to being chased than doing the chasing, but she had to admit, this was fun too.
She caught sight of him chatting with Asuka, and rushed up to meet him, opening her mouth to call his name...
"Ranma!"
Sakura frowned. That had sounded far too excited, and oddly low pitched for her voice. Had she accidentally swallowed some makeup?
It wasn't until Ranma turned toward the DAPC headquarter's front entrance that she realized it hadn't been her at all.
"Ranma, it's been so long! How have you been?"
Ranma blinked and smiled. "Hi Mizu! What are you doing here?"
Sakura twitched. Tall woman, long, raven black hair in a style not unlike her own, conservative business suit coupled with a very non-conservative miniskirt. And while she didn't seem to be as... gifted as Sakura, she had a curvaceous figure that would get any man's attention as well.
The woman smiled and ran up to Ranma before trapping him in a full-body hug. Sakura twitched some more.
"Friend of yours, Saotome?" Asuka asked with a hint of ice in her voice.
Ranma disengaged himself from Mizu and smiled, even though he was bit set off by the tone of voice and narrowed eyes. What was with that, anyway? "Yeah, this is Mizu Kotetsu. We were at the same academy. Mizu, this is Asuka Takami. She's the captain around here."
Mizu looked around, grinning. "So, this is the infamous DAPC, huh? Not too bad. From what I heard, I would have thought you'd be brewing methanphetamines in here or something."
"Yes, well, you know how rumors are," Asuka remarked dryly.
Mizu nodded absently. "You're not kidding. I even heard you guys destroyed twelve blocks of sewer and subway systems!"
"No, that's true." Ranma said.
Mizu started. "Are you serious? Do you know how much explosives it would take to destroy that much steel and concrete?"
"Plus the other subway station four miles away," Ranma added.
Mizu gaped. Asuka sighed and covered her face with her hands in exasperation.
"Oh! Hello Ranma! Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?"
Ranma turned around, noticing Sakura's presence for the first time. She was smiling uneasily, and for some reason that Ranma couldn't possibly conceive, her left eye was twitching sporadically.
"Oh, sure. This is Sakura Tekai. Sakura, this is a friend of mine, Mizu Kotetsu."
Sakura bowed stiffly. "So NICE to meet you, Kotetsu. Any friend of Ranma's is a friend of mine!"
Mizu's eyes narrowed as she bowed back. This woman was practically shouting a challenge. "Nice to meet you too, Tekai. I'm sure we'll be VERY good friends."
Ranma stared as the two women stood, smiling sweetly at each other, and a jolt of electricity sparked between them.
'What the hell?' "So Mizu, where'd you go off to?"
Mizu broke eye contact to smile warmly at Ranma. "Well, my instructors were very impressed by my scores, so they offered me a chance to get into a special operations force in the internal military forces. It's sort of like a high-tech SWAT team. We do heavy assault and precision raids."
"Special operations?" Asuka mused. "You mean Core?"
Mizu nodded happily. "Yup! Most powerful infantry force in Japan!"
Asuka sighed slightly. "I've heard a lot about them. That's the division I was originally trying to get into." 'I would have made it too, if that asshole of unit inspector had kept his hands to himself. So what if I bruised a few pelvic bones? He totally had it coming!'
As the police captain trailed off into mental rants, Mizu turned back toward Ranma. "So Ranma, I was thinking you and me could have dinner tomorrow, maybe catch up on old times?"
Ranma was about to answer, when Sakura suddenly grabbed his arm and tugged him slightly toward her. "That's not possible, I'm afraid. You see, I'm treating Ranma to dinner tomorrow, to thank him for saving my life last week."
Ranma blinked. "You are?" Sakura smiled sweetly and nodded.
Mizu's eyes narrowed. "Well that's a shame, but I'm sure you can reschedule. You see, I had to fight to get an evening off work, and I already have reservations set up. I'm sure you understand."
The false smiles disappeared, and the glaring started. Ranma stared blankly at the confrontation, then grimaced as both women turned their sharp gazes on him.
"Well Ranma?" They spoke in unison.
'Oh, bloody hell. Why me?' "Um, look, Sakura, thanks for the offer, but don't worry about it, okay? I haven't seen Mizu in a while, and she did make those reservations already..." Ranma trailed off as Sakura bristled.

Over by the hallway, Tiro and Tycho chuckled as they watched the engagement. "Man, this is a monster cat fight waiting to happen."
"Thousand yen says there'll be hair pulling."
"You're on."

Mizu smiled warmly. "Why thank you Ranma, that's very considerate of you. I have this great place in mind too."
Sakura's glare, now redirected onto Mizu, had dropped to arctic level. "Well Ranma," her voice was honey over ice, "maybe now we could go back to training? I want to learn those neat holds you showed me."
'Holds? What holds?' Ranma was tempted to speak the inquiry aloud, but a little voice in his head (one that he too frequently ignored) warned him not to.
Mizu frowned for a moment, then cleared her throat. "I really should freshen up for a moment. Where is your bathroom?"
"Oh, let me show you! It's right here, through the locker room." Ranma noted that Sakura's eye was twitching again as she led Mizu away.
He then noted that Tiro and Tycho grinned as the women passed, shared a chuckle, and then followed them.
Ranma could only look on in puzzlement. "Why don't I ever know what's going on?"
"I suspect your mother dropped you on your head at a tender age," was Asuka's swift reply.

Mizu traveled toward the washroom section of the locker room for a bit before twirling around to face Sakura, who had entered the room behind her.
"Okay, listen up Barbie, I don't know what's between you and Ranma right now, but as far as you're concerned, it just ended. Got that?"
Sakura growled at the taller woman. "Who do you think you are? What gives you the right to just march in here and declare him yours?!"
Mizu crossed her arms over her chest. "What gives me the right? Hours of talking and supporting each other. Weeks of trying to get his attention and break down the emotional walls he's built, all wasted because some moron of a self-defense instructor thought he was a cocky smartass! I know Ranma! I care about him!"
Sakura stiffened. 'Emotional walls?' "Well that's too bad! I'm not going to step down and give him up just because you think you deserve him more!"
Mizu's stare hardened. "I don't THINK I deserve him more, I know it! Listen Barbie, I'm not some tramp out looking for a hot bod for my next fling. I... I love Ranma! He needs someone! And not some empty-headed little blondie looking for a place to hang her insecurities!"
Little wisps of steam started shooting out of Sakura's ears. "What?! I DO care about him! More than you can possibly know!" She stopped shouting and frowned. "And why do you keep calling me 'Barbie'?"
Mizu grinned. "Because you look nice, but when you get right down to it, nothing's real."
Sakura blinked, wondering if she'd just been complimented or subjected to a complex, subtle insult. "What?"
Mizu smirked. "Not too bright either, eh? I guess silicon kills brain cells."
Understanding snapped into place, and Sakura turned red like a flashing police siren. "THEY ARE NOT FAKE!!! You take that back!! These are 100% natural and totally organic!!" She thrust her chest out for emphasis, glaring hatefully at the other woman.
Mizu was about to come up with another biting remark, when she noticed that they weren't alone in the locker room. "What the-?"
Sakura blinked, then turned around to see Tiro and Tycho standing just inside the room and grinning like idiots. "Hey! You perverts! What're you doing?"
Tycho shook his head slightly. "Oh, come on. It's not like you're getting dressed or anything."
Tiro waved for them to go ahead. "Don't mind us. Just go back to what you were doing. Pretend like we're not even here."

"Ah yes. Women. Man's greatest challenge." Snake took a sip of beer as he stood in the hallway with Ranma and Kyle.
"I just don't get it, you know?" Ranma started, sighing. "Everything I do is just, well... wrong. I don't understand them at all."
Kyle shook his head, and chugged his own beer before responding. "A woman's mind is a terrible, ancient mystery. One of those mysteries that we've never been able to unlock or understand, and possibly never will. Like geometry."
Snake leaned back on the wall. "Personally, I've totally given up the whole thing. It's pointless. Every single woman I've ever dated has, over varying periods of time, stopped returning my calls, just like that. And whenever I keep trying to reach them, I get a restraining order in the mail. It's weird." He took another sip of his beer. "Sometimes I'll see one of my ex's on the street, and for some reason they usually scream and run away."
Ranma stared at him, then shook his head. "I'd like to say I'm surprised, but..."
"In any case, there's no point in thinking about it too hard," Kyle began, "your best bet is to just try to stay out of their way and not make 'em mad."
Ranma snorted. "Like that ever works."
Kyle shrugged. "Yeah. Sometimes it seems like anything'll set them off."
There were suddenly the sounds of a struggle coming from the locker room, and the door burst open as Tycho and Tiro were tossed into the opposite wall, one right after the other.
Mizu and Sakura exited the locker room immediately afterwards, and left the area in different directions.
Ranma stared at the two men groaning in a heap on the floor. "Then again, maybe it IS us."
__________________________________________________________________________________

Alexandra frowned as she got out of the cab and was immediately pelted by the heavy rain. Bei exited the other side, and rushed the umbrella over to her superior, who ignored her assistant's apologies as she walked to the appointed meeting place.
Although the man she was meeting claimed the matter he was calling on to be important, Alex had other things on her mind. The government had done an unbelievable job with hiding as big and instrumental a project as the new thermal drill off-shore oil wells, and now they were almost complete. A project like that was practically BEGGING her to de-rail it. With the projected values of the new platforms, Japan could refine almost all the oil it uses year-to-year, an already diminished figure due to new power cell systems becoming more easily available throughout Japan. And most of the revenues would go straight to the corrupt, oppressive bastards that held her country under their thumb.
Alex sighed. Defenses around the platforms were bound to be tight, and though the Freedom's Angels represented a substantial military force, there was no way they'd win a straightforward attack on such a heavily fortified position. There were various ways to destroy the platforms, each of them flawed and with the possibility of being prevented, but Alex thought it a waste to destroy facilities that took so much time, effort, and money to construct. But in order to take them over, much less keep them, she'd have to get creative...
She banished the thought as she reached the assigned meeting place, a lot in front on an abandoned warehouse by the docks, and watched warily for signs of movement in the shadows. Bei sensed her unease, and slipped her hand under her jacket, where her 9 mm. lay. It wasn't that the man she was meeting had anything to gain and nothing to lose by killing, or even trying to intimidate her, but there were other threats to be wary of.
Alex straightened as she heard footsteps, and a man stepped into the glare of the dock lights, the heavily rain pummeling his umbrella.
Yoki Hono was one of the local heads of Yakuza, and the owner of the largest illegal weapons cache in all of Japan. Short, with a lined face, Yoki wasn't very attractive or even particularly clever, but he was cautious and ruthless, not to mention smart enough to deal with Alex without staring at her cleavage the whole time. He wiped off his black business suit, moist from stray raindrops, then frowned as he saw Bei's hand still tucked into her jacket.
"Feh. Just take out the gun. We're all packing heat, there's no reason not to have them handy." Yoki always spoke in the same sardonic tone, as if life was just one huge irony, or perhaps a prank. Alex liked dealing with Yoki.
"I assume you called me here for a reason, Hono?" Alexandra asked, letting the slightest bit of impatience seep into her voice. Then she raised an eyebrow as another man walked into the light directly behind Yoki, no doubt a bodyguard.
"Yes... well, it's a couple of things, really." Yoki trailed off as he caught his view panning down and away from Alex's face, and cleared his throat as he again made solid eye contact. Just because he knew that Alexandra was dangerous didn't mean he couldn't appreciate a look every once and again.
*Click* Everybody turned to stare at Bei, who blinked in surprise, realizing that she had unconsciously cocked the pistol in her hand at the sight of the other man.
The 'other man' was fairly tall, with locks of sandy hair poking out from a cap of bandages wrapped around his forehead. In fact, his entire body seemed to be wrapped in bandages, which were now soaked because he held no umbrella. Where the bandages ended at his wrists, he wore gloves. And where the bandages wrapped around his neck ended, he wore a full-face gas mask with the filter replaced by a small circular grill.
"So now the Yakuza are employing Tusken Raiders? Really, you people shouldn't watch those American movies, they rot your mind." Alex smiled at the barb, though the body guard didn't move.
"Yes yes, very clever," Yoki spat, annoyed. "Look, we have a deal with you. The Yakuza cooperates with the Freedom's Angels not because we believe in your fanatic rantings about freedom and anarchy, but because you have money, and keep the police in disarray." Yoki looked around nervously. "Now we've seen some of your work, and to be perfectly blunt, it's crazy! The mutants and the zombies..." he shuddered, "the Yakuza doesn't give a damn what you do to the government, but I don't know about all this crazy shit with the biological weapons. I've seen those videos with the T-virus..." Yoki shuddered badly.
Alex's voice lost all humor in it. "And how, may I ask, did you find out about all that?"
Yoki snorted. "Please. You Angels are all military and science. But the Yakuza still rule the streets. Information is one of my specialties."
Alex stared for a moment, then nodded. "Fair enough. I agree that recent tests have... gone too far. But we are moving forward, and every effort is being made to contain our weapons."
Yoki narrowed his eyes. "All right Tokima. I trust you. Just remember, you anarchists aren't doing anybody any good if you kill off the whole goddamn island..." Yoki again trailed off as he realized that Alexandra was no longer even looking at him, but at his bodyguard.
"Something wrong, Tokima?"
Alex frowned. "Just a feeling..." Then she smiled. "Wolf, is that you?"
The man stiffened noticeably.
Alex smiled warmly, which alone was enough to send the two experienced men back a step. "It is you! I knew it!" She took in the whole setup with the bandages and giggled. "Did Saotome turn out to be a little bit tougher than you expected? I was wondering why you never showed up to collect your pay."
The head moved, and the goggle's wide glass lenses flashed for a moment in the light. "I didn't complete the job, so there was no reason to show up again." The voice came out scratchy, but whether it was distorted by whatever injuries he had sustained or by the mask, Alex couldn't tell.
Yoki looked back and forth between Wolf and Alex. "You two know each other?"
"She's a former client. Nothing more." Wolf replied almost mechanically.
Alex frowned a bit. "What happened, anyway? That looks like quite a big band-aid for a bullet wound."
"There was an explosion. A big one. Saotome was closer than I was to the source, but as I got out alive, I see no reason why he wouldn't."
Alex nodded. "Oh well. Can't say you didn't try." Alexandra grinned, sensing Wolf's frown behind the mask. "Come on now, let me see. I've seen fire do all sorts of interesting things to skin."
Wolf turned to look at his current employer.
"What? What're you looking at me for? I don't care, we have some time before he arrives."
Alex frowned. "He?"
"A friend of mine. 'He' is what makes this meeting so important."
Wolf turned back to Alexandra, and a leaden sigh came from behind the mouthpiece grill. First he unwrapped the sodden cloth around his head, letting his soaked hair fall down over his head. Then he slowly moved his hands to the back of his skull, and with a swift motion of his fingers, snapped the strap off his mask before clasping the front of it around the goggles and slowly lifting it off.
Alex stared. "Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me. After a mask removal that dramatic?"
Wolf looked pretty much the same, though his hair was obviously shorter, and his neck had some tender-looking spots that a licensed doctor could probably identify as healing burns.
Wolf shrugged. "What can I say? I heal fast. Hurt like hell the first day, though." His voice was also normal, and Alex deduced that the earlier distortion was in fact the mask.
The squeal of car tires echoed in the distance as a car parked on the other side of the warehouse.
"Ah. My friend has arrived. You'll want to meet this man, Tokima."
There were footsteps, and another man walked into the lights, the now lessening rain splattering against his long woolen coat. He was tall, dark, and clearly not Japanese at all. He had a pointed beard of thick brown hair, and the rest of his hair was covered by a tall wool cap. What was most odd about him though, was that his left eye was covered (or replaced, Alex couldn't tell) by a strange, red-lensed metal eyepiece that appeared to be clasped onto the side of his head, over his ear.
"Ah! My good friend! You are well, yes?" The man raised his arms as if to embrace Yoki. Yoki merely nodded at him, then turned back to Alex.
"This is Igov Yuchtzky, a... former... Russian military leader and weapons expert. I supply the Angels with grenades and bombs, the chainguns and rocket attachments for those junk mechs of yours, and enough AK-47s for most third-world armies. Igov is my supplier. Or was."
Alexandra looked at the Russian speculatively as he turned around and looked at her. He grinned.
"Yoki! You have such beautiful women here in Japan!" The man smiled warmly at her, in an almost fatherly way with no lechery behind it. "Tell me, beautiful flower, what is your name?" The view from his single eye encompassed both Alexandra and Bei.
Alex decided that she liked him. Well enough, anyway. "You can call me Tokima. This is Bei." Her assistant and bodyguard bowed. "Now what do you mean, 'was'."
Yoki sighed. "Well, I-"
"It is okay, my friend. I will explain," Igov spoke. His Japanese was good enough, but it was still fractured slightly. "Igov is long time friend of Yakuza. Igov is also enemy of capitalist dogs that now run the motherland in their hateful iron fists. I give weapons to many many people, but after long time, Igov's luck has run out." The man chuckled, and Alex could swear that the red lens over his eyes glowed for a moment. "Igov escaped to Japan to ask for help. And maybe job."
Alex frowned. "Explain."
"I left Russia quickly, but Igov has many friends in high places, and many soldiers are more loyal to their commander than to their motherland. Igov took many things that Mother Russia wants back."
Alex's eyebrows appeared to be climbing her forehead. "The Russian submarines... those are here looking for you?"
Igov grinned and nodded. "Smart girl! The ignorant dogs left to try to prevent me from landing transport in harbor, but Igov is always one step ahead of reaper! They attack and sink transport just little while ago, kill maybe two men." He jerked his head to the side and shrugged, obviously deeming the loss insignificant.
Alex nodded slightly in thought. "I see... what does all of this have to do with me?"
Yoki coughed slightly, moving between Igov and Alexandra. He knew his politics, and in order to have any sway in the current situation, he would have to place himself as the mediator. "Mr. Yuchtzky is asking for a position within your organization, Tokima. The Yakuza cannot offer him asylum against Russian war machines, and you Angels could probably make better use of him anyway."
Igov simply smiled and waited, hands clasped behind his back.
Alexandra frowned, considering the possibilities. "And what does 'Igov' have to offer the Freedom's Angels in exchange for our protection?"
Yoki stepped back next to Wolf, and Igov's grin came back in full force.
"Igov has many gifts for new friends! Let me show you!" He pulled out a remote garage door opener from his heavy coat, and pushed the button.
There was a loud grinding noise as the doors to the supposedly abandoned warehouse opened slowly.
Alex tried to control her reaction, but she couldn't help the look of pleasant surprise on her face.
"Twelve old tanks for you. They are IS-2. Is older model, but I'm sure you can make use of them. Igov also has 100 men waiting in old shipyards in harbor, all armed and trained soldiers." Igov's grin grew along with Alex's pleased look. "I have other gifts for you, but first we see about job, yes?"
Alexandra let out a sultry chuckle, delighted, and sauntered up to the tall man. "Oh yes, I think we have a position for you all right." She raised her hand to his face gently traced his jawline with her index finger, smiling seductively. Oddly enough, Igov's grin faded into a more somber expression.
"That is very good. Have your superiors contact me at this address." Igov moved away from Alexandra and handed her a slip of paper. "The tanks will be left here; you are free to do with them what you wish and pick them up at your leisure." Igov turned around, and then pointed to Wolf. "Now, if you will excuse me, I must speak to the German." This evidently surprised Yoki as much as it did Alex.
Wolf didn't appear surprised, and idly took a pair of black sunglasses from his pocket before slipping them on. Igov nodded and moved away, and Wolf followed him silently. Yoki watched nervously as his bodyguard left, trying to keep a straight face as he was stripped of protection.
Alex shook her head slightly. These Yakuza types were all homicidal control freaks or paranoid morons. She waved absently to Bei, and the buxom brunette handed her boss the umbrella and backed away into the shadows.
"Now Hono, I have a... favor to ask of you."
Yoki snorted, overcoming his nervousness at being unprotected. "Spare me. The Yakuza does not do 'favors' for the Angels. Tell me what you need, and I'll give you an estimate."
Alex chuckled. "Ah, that's what I like about you Hono. You're so... down to Earth." She paused, and pursed her lips. "Tell me... is Yuchtzky... trustworthy?"
Yoki nodded immediately. "I would swear my life by his allegiances. He despises traitors."
Alex raised an eyebrow. Yoki shrugged. "He is a Communist. His allegiance is to the old Soviet Union, apparently. He claims he owes no allegiance to Capitalist Russia. And I certainly have no reason to complain."
Alex scratched her chin in thought. "Good, good. The Yakuza basically owns the docks on the north edge of Tokyo Harbor, correct?"
Yoki nodded cautiously.
"Good. I have need of a large loading dock..."

Igov turned once he was sure they were out of earshot of the lot, though the rain helped to conceal noise.
{"It's been a long time, friend,"} he spoke in Russian, {"How have you been?"}
Wolf scratched the back of his head. {"Can't... complain."} Wolf frowned as he tried to remember the bits and pieces of Russian he had picked up during his work in Siberia.
{"From the look of those bandages, I think you could be doing better. What are they making you do here, that's so dangerous?"}
{The martial artist tougher than believe you..."} Wolf trailed off, frowning. That hadn't sounded right. {"I supposed to kill man and fail... big bomb, uh, explosion."}
Igov nodded, smiling. {"Ah, the life of a mercenary. Working for the Japanese mafia now, eh? I didn't think that was your style."}
{"Need money,"} Wolf stated simply, slipping his hands in his pockets. /"The girl is watching us."/
Igov blinked at the sudden switch from Russian to German. /"Which one?"/
/"The short one. I'm pretty sure she can't speak German."/
Igov nodded. /"Right. In any case, I have a business proposition for you. If you ever get tired of protecting second-rate thugs, contact me through Tokima. I have a job of the utmost interest."/
Wolf nodded. /"Sure. It'll be a while though. There's some... business I need to take care of first."/ He stopped talking, then frowned. /"I didn't know you knew German so well. Why didn't we just talk in German?"/
Igov laughed. /"It's best to always have the home field advantage, my friend. Besides, I needed a break from this Japanese. I swear, a man could swallow his own tongue just trying to say hello."/ He chuckled some more. /"Do you think Bei understood Russian?"/
Wolf smirked slightly. /"Let's find out."/ He jerked his head to the side, as if just noticing a pair of eyes peeking through a darkened window. {"Hey! Someone watching!"}
Igov turned around, and activated his left eye as a mass of body heat, partially distorted from the cold rain, darted through a warehouse. The yellow-red blob of light faded into the distance, and Igov put a hand on the side of his head where the metal visor was attached and deactivated it.
Igov turned away and stared into the sky, unmindful of the rain that poured into his eye. /"It's a beautiful night, is it not?"/
Wolf blinked, though it was impossible to tell from beneath his shades. /"Sure. If you're from Siberia, I guess anything but golfball hail is nice weather."/
Igov laughed uproariously, and then shook his head as he slipped a plastic-coated box from his coat. Taking out a cigarette, he then covered his lighter with his palm to keep the rain from interfering as he lit it.
Wolf looked about absently as he spoke. /"Those things'll kill you, you know."/
Igov smirked. /"Spoken like one who has never been to war. If only we could all be so lucky as to die of cancer."/ Igov took a few puffs, then breathed out a thick cloud of smoke. /"You are strong, my friend, and brave, but you are no soldier. Go now, and enjoy the night."/ He looked upward again and breathed deeply in satisfaction.
Wolf's smile slowly faded, and he walked back toward his current employer, occasionally stealing glances back at the one-eyed Russian, who merely continued staring at the moon.
__________________________________________________________________________________

Alexandra ran a hand through her hair, splashing little bits of water onto the white tile floors of the science lab.
"I'm sorry Miss Tokima. I couldn't learn much... my Russian isn't very good and-"
"It's all right Bei," Alex sighed, "it isn't important. So don't bring it up again." She smiled slightly at her assistant and friend, to let her know she wasn't being chastised.
The dimly lit, empty halls of Wraith Lab's science facility loomed about them as they walked to Yoshi Konta's main lab, located in the center of the facility. It was there, and only there, that the last tankards of the deadly T-virus could be found.
Alex punched the button to open the environmentally-sealed room, and walked in without further warning. As expected, Yoshi was happily typing away on his computer, modeling some gigantic, super-complex molecule or gene that was (grudgingly) far beyond Alexandra's formidable intelligence.
"Hello. Do you want something?" Yoshi didn't even turned around.
Alex smirked. "Actually, yes. You see, I have a plan involving those new oil drilling platforms that everybody's making such a fuss about. I need a sample of the T-virus. A large one. 100 gallons, about. But I need it in a special form that will be able to spread easily and quickly through water, and cause mutation when passed through something's respiratory system. It also needs to burn itself out forty eight hours after coming in contact with air or water." Alexandra's smirk grew. "And I need it in six hours."
Yoshi nodded absently, and turned to another computer station.
"Remember Konta," Alex continued, "that this is a vital part of my plan, and our superiors would be very disappointed to hear that you failed to live up to our expec-"
*Tak* *Tak* "Done."
*Thud!* Alex hit the ground with a vengeance. "Done?! What do you mean?"
Yoshi turned around and smiled. "Well, how else can I put it? Finished? Complete? Task accomplished? Mission completed?" A large, steel-reinforced glass tank on the other end of the room started to fill with a thick, green goo. "How much did you say you needed?"
Bei looked uncomfortably at the tank as it began to fill. She too had seen the tapes of Umbrella's experiments, and she didn't have the stomach for such things that Alex did.
Alexandra picked herself off the floor. "But... but..."
"How?" Yoshi guessed, then snorted. "Please. Such a simple variant isn't THAT hard to make. Besides, I saw this coming a mile away." Yoshi checked a few instruments next to the filling tank, nodded in satisfaction, then turned back to the still-reeling woman. "I knew you would only need me for one of two approaches: you would either hijack one of the Russian subs to use as cover to move forces onto one or both of the platforms, then put the virus in the underwater power turbines, effectively turning much of Tokyo harbor into something from a hellish sci-fi movie, or you would simply have me put the stuff in a rocket and launch it onto the platform, turning the workers and defenders into zombies. I made preparations for both."
Bei sweatdropped and moved away as Alex's eye began to twitch again. "You... can't... I... and you..." 'He guessed my entire plan! I don't believe this! And he even... wait. That rocket thing sounds pretty good... NO!!! I won't give him the satisfaction!'
She grinded her teeth together, trying to regain control of her voice. "Good... Good job, Konta. You've... outdone yourself this time." Muttering under her breath, she turned around to leave.
The little scientist nodded absently. "Yes, thank you. I'll have the virus delivered to the Yakuza's dock that you rented to load up the submarine."
Alex stumbled on her way out, and fell flat on her face. Bei winced, and moved to help her up until she saw the way her boss was trembling and turning red.
"Oh, and watch your footing. The floors around here can be a little slick." Yoshi spoke with that same infuriating grin on his face, and chuckled.
'One day, mark my words, I won't need him any more, and then BLAM! Right in the forehead! Or maybe in the leg, so I can watch him bleed to death and suffer...' Alexandra's angry flush gradually faded as she fell into insane giggles, and Bei decided to walk further behind her.
__________________________________________________________________________________

"So we have confirmation sir. The Russians haven't pulled out, but we now know what they're after." Mia finished her report and stood at attention, and John started pacing.
"Six top-grade Typhoons, all to try and kill one man before he reached the shore? I find that rather hard to believe." John Remerick frowned as he stared once again at the map displaying the Japanese coastline.
Mia shrugged. "Well, that's all the explanation they're giving us. They said that they wanted to make sure they destroyed the transport he escaped on before he got into Japan. They did manage to destroy the transport, but they're not sure that Yuchtzky was on it. They were trying to get in and out quickly."
John nodded. "It makes SOME sense, I guess. And at least it'll keep the Admiral from sinking anything. Do we have absolute confirmation that none of the Typhoons are packing ballistics?"
Mia nodded. "I was aboard each inspection team personally. All the submarines are harmless to anything that's not in the water."
"Even so..." John muttered. "Well, what about the security on the platforms?"
Mia smiled. "Airtight, general. A boat or diver can't even come close to the platform without being detected and alerting the whole guard unit."
John nodded. "Excellent. If anybody can keep those things safe, it's Core." John grimaced. "So, on to the next order of business."
Mia smiled and shook her head. The business he was referring to was the latest report on the DAPC's activities. Remerick demanded reports on them because, as he put it, 'we need to know what kind of damage they're causing, so that we can clean up their messes'. Personally, Mia didn't see what all the fuss was about. Sure, there was an unnatural measure of collateral damage in almost every one of their operation sites, but they got the job done, more often than not. She suspected it was because of their recent successes dealing with the Freedom's Angels, who were under Remerick's jurisdiction.
"The DA's latest bout of terrifying destruction created the incident just last week, in the sewers."
John hung his head as he dropped down into his chair. "It figures. It really figures. Mark my words, one of these days they'll get themselves killed. And if they're not careful, someone else too. Casualties?"
"Captain Takami reported that all missing civilians were killed before the DA's intervention, though she didn't say anything more on the matter. She also reported that there was a mutant infestation in the area that necessitated the use of heavy explosives."
John frowned. There had been a recent string of mutant attacks, and it all left him uneasy. "No other casualties?"
"Well... there was something else, but I didn't get much on it. Apparently one of the officers left the main subway tunnel and starting fighting someone else. Both were caught in the gas main explosion."
John nodded somberly. "So they did lose somebody."
"No sir. Apparently he survived. They're not certain about his opponent, but I've seen the damage inflicted, So I doubt it."
"Oh. Well... that's good. And what about that explosion that took out the other subway on the edge of town? Unrelated?"
Mia sweatdropped. "Not exactly. Captain Takami firmly blamed her second lieutenant for that."
John massaged his forehead. "Those idiots... have a sweeper team set up and comb the area around the collapsed sections. And get a small military guard for the construction crews. We have enough problems without fighting off monsters from the sewers."
"Yes sir. And the Russians?"
John waved it off. "Leave them alone. Let them search all they want, and don't get in their way. If they want assistance from any of my teams, give it to them."
"Absolutely sir. Anything else?"
John smiled. "Actually, yes. Intel just recently uncovered the location of a small FA weapons cache stashed away here, next to the train station. I want to organize a strike..."
__________________________________________________________________________________

Getting into position, the soldiers all crouched together in the alleyway, staring hard at the large railway house before them.
"All right, snipers, get on top and give us cover, the rest of you prepare to bust through on my signal. All right? Move in three! Two! O-"
*Screech!* The soldiers all turned at the noise, to see a police car swing into the alley, then accelerate through.
"What the hell?!" The men all jumped to the side, allowing the car just enough room to pass by without hitting anything but a few stray garbage cans.
*Rrrrrk!* The car spun 45 degrees in a controlled skid, ending with the car parallel to the wall of the target building.
The commander blinked as he looked at the side of the car. "Department of Abnormal Phenomenae... oh, HELL no..."
Snake popped out of the back sunroof on the car, pulled out a rocket launcher, and aimed it at the wall of the railway house. "Fire in the hole!!" *Vooosh* *Kablam!!*
The army personnel all covered their ears as the explosion rang out. The dust cleared, and the military commander stood up.
"What the hell is going on here?! What do you think you're doing?!"
Snake pulled off another shot that detonated deep within the building. He grinned. "I like to call it 'taking out the trash'."
The commander glared at him. "Evacuate the area immediately! This is a military target, and therefore a military operation!"
The doors opened, and Tycho, Kyle, and Ranma all stepped out. Kyle waved at the commander in apology. "Sorry, but we've got dibs!" Kyle took a Pancor Jackhammer from beneath the seat cushion as Ranma and Tycho armed themselves with a rail gun and pulse rifle, respectively. Snake merely ducked back inside and reloaded his rocket launcher before stepping out.
They entered the building, and gunfire immediately rang out, followed by an explosion that flashed light through the hole in the wall.
The soldiers simply stared at it from their position in the alleyway, stunned.
"......... Dibs?"
__________________________________________________________________________________

{"Yeah, they're sure now. Yuchtzky's not here. Neither are more than two of the traitors he escaped the homeland with, or any of the tanks he stole!"} The Russian soldier spat onto the ground, growling. {"I swear, this man is impossible to catch! It's like he knows what we're going to do before we do!"}
His companion idly nodded as he watched the crews go in and out of the nuclear submarine docked next to the pier. {"It is troubling. But why do you think he fled here? I heard he had three divisions in the Ukraine offering him protection."}
{"Bah. Who knows?"} The soldier shook his head, and looked out over the pier. {"I can't see how these people live here. All the women are short and flat-chested."}
The other man chuckled. {"And you would know, being cooped up underwater for the last week, eh?"}
The first man snorted, but smiled.
*Toom!!* The short, sharp sound of a sniper rifle being fired cut through the air, only moments after blood sprayed from the second dock guard's shoulder.
The man screamed, and his companion reacted immediately, grabbing him around the waist and then moving him behind the nearest piece of cover, which was between two storage warehouses.
{"Quickly! Get down on the ground! Don't move!"} The wounded man nodded, clenching his teeth to avoid crying out.
The other soldier was about to call for help, when the *clink* of metal impacting concrete came from behind him. He twirled around, his rifle at the ready, only to find a grenade rolling on the ground toward him.
He blinked. {"What the hell? The pin is still in there!"}
{"Hey! You! Over here!"} The soldier turned to look at who was speaking his native language, and smiled in relief as he saw a tall figure in a long coat.
Dropping his rifle, he waved over to the fellow soldier. {"Over here, he's woun-"} The man was cut off as the newcomer raised his rifle and fired.
Three bursts later, both soldiers were dead on the ground.
Three Russian soldiers, placed under Alexandra Tokima's command by Igov, rushed into the alleyway.
One looked at the dormant grenade and shook his head as several Japanese terrorists rushed past, yelling at each other and firing on the men around the submarine. {"I swear, these Japanese are idiots. What does Yuchtzky want with them?"}
One of the Freedom's Angels rushed into the alleyway and snatched up his grenade irritably before rushing off again.
{"Who knows. But this is still better than guarding old ammo dumps. The food is much better here, too."}
The first soldier grinned. {"Eh, after a year serving in Mother Russia, anything but stale bread and soup tastes like ambrosia!"} The soldiers shared a laugh until someone cleared their throat behind them.
Bei stared neutrally at the group of armed men as several other Russian soldiers passed behind her. {"You now to submarine! Hurry! Instructions yours!"}
The men took a moment to put together her broken Russian, then moved toward the submarine.
{"Well, at least she got the noun right this time. I had a hard time trying to arm my sock."} The others grinned.
{"Enjoy it while you can, comrade. She's the only one of these monkeys that understands more than 'nyet'. I can't understand a single syllable of that twisted gibberish they call a language."} He smiled widely. {"And she's the most beautiful girl I have seen in two years."}
One man snorted. {"Don't get too close. I've heard all kinds of things about these Japanese. If a woman's husband does something she does not like, I've heard she makes him stab himself in the bowels!"}
Another one laughed. {"Really? Well then, it seems they are much more patient and forgiving than Russian women!"}
Bei resisted the urge to walk over to them and kick them into the submarine personally. She supposed they either assumed that she didn't know enough Russian to understand them, or that she just wouldn't care. Either way they were idiots.
The Russian needed to pilot the sub climbed inside, and the huge black mass slowly sank into the water. She walked over to where the remaining sailors were being held; all the soldiers had resisted, and were therefore already dead.
She looked over the captured men imperiously, as they sat around staring, terrified, with their hands over their heads.
{"You men guilty... work as... er, for government... if... uh... when..."} Bei frowned, trying to collect her thoughts, her dramatic speech ruined. "Ah, screw it. Kill them."
The terrorists raised their rifles and started firing into the block of prisoners. Many of the sailors jumped up and dived toward their attackers, doubtlessly thinking they might as well make an attempt to fight if they were going to die anyway. They were cut down by bullets, their attempts in vain.
Bei turned away from the bloodshed, and started to walk toward her car. "Make sure they're all dead, then hide the bodies in the warehouse two blocks from here. We don't want any evidence that the sub left here under somebody else's ownership." Another man nodded, and several other men ran by with a large tarpaulin to haul the dead.

Bei exited her car at the Yakuza's dock. It was a private dock, protected by a huge reinforced bunker of sorts that opened up toward the sea. It was made to house anything as big as oil tankers, so the submarine was hardly a tight fit. Entering, she saw that the sub was already in place, and that the Freedom's Angels were already entering the ship.
She shuddered involuntarily as she caught sight of the tank of thick, green goo being unloaded off of a pickup truck. She wasn't the only one who felt uneasy, apparently, as the men holding it were trying to face away and breathe as little as possible, while still be as careful with it as humanly possible. Both were unnecessary, of course. The tank was totally air-tight, and this particular virus couldn't be transmitted through the air anyway. On top of that, the container was reinforced well enough to withstand most jostling, short of an explosion of some type.
Still, they darted away as soon as they handed the container to two of the Russian soldiers.
{"What are they so afraid of? They act like this stuff will burst into flames."} The man looked at the tank critically, then shook his head as he took one end and hauled it to the loading dock.
The man on the other end rolled his eyes. {"I heard it's some sort of virus. The cowards are afraid of a little cold."} He chuckled and knocked on the glass for emphasis, an action which caused several of the Japanese men (those who had heard of the T-virus) to lock up and step away. The Russians laughed at the sight, and took the container into the sub.
Bei released a shaky breath, and cursed herself for reacting like that. Though she had to smile slightly at the Russians' actions; their ease came from their ignorance, not from being brave or level-headed. She wondered what they would say if they had seen the same things she had.
"I... m-my throat feels scratchy!" One of the Japanese loaders started coughing, and the others looked at each other before tearing off their gloves and throwing them to the ground.
Shaking her head, Bei walked up to the man who was looking around fearfully, and grabbed his chin to look him in the eyes. "You're fine. If you had caught the virus, your eyes would be cloudy." She really had no idea if that was true or not, but she was sure that he hadn't contracted the virus. And it shut him up.
Bei turned toward the Japanese commander. The Russians were professional soldiers; they had been given their orders and they would not forget them. Besides, she didn't feel like taking another tumble through her Russian vocabulary. "All right, there is only one more item to load, and you are on your way! Remember your mission! Take the platform, load the virus, then leave! Surprise and speed is the key! The future of our country, the freedom of our people, rests on your shoulders! Go!" The Freedom's Angels let out a spontaneous cheer, and hefted their guns as they rushed into the submarine. The Russians merely looked around and shrugged at their new companions' enthusiasm.
Bei left the dock, and smiled as she saw the next truck, this one a moving van, pull up to the loading bay. Then, without another word or gesture, she climbed into her car and drove off.
__________________________________________________________________________________

Kyle hit the ground as a stitch of automatic fire cut a line above him, and switched his shotgun onto burst mode as he opened fire in the general direction of his attackers.
*Ko-Ko-Ko-Ko-Koom!!* Multiple bursts blasted the far wall, and Kyle could see two shapes slowly slide to the ground through the shadows.
"Hit the deck!!" Snake screamed, and braced himself against an overturned table as another terrorist poked his head and gun out from behind a wall to spray the room with bullets.
Kyle was too close to get away in time, and was thus surprised when he was jolted to the side and found himself slammed into the opposite wall, safe from the gunner.
Ranma growled as he put Kyle down and fired into the wall that the enemy was using as cover. The rails easily tore through the thick wood and aluminum bracing, but it was impossible to tell where his target was. Tycho sat next to him, reloading his rifle.
Snake suddenly called out from behind his table. "Hey Ranma! Is that an ordinance room?"
Ranma blinked, then fired on the door between the room they were in and the room that protected the terrorist, blowing off both hinges. As the splintered barrier fell to the floor, Ranma could clearly see belts of ammo and a few rockets and explosives scattered about. He ducked back once the man on the other side revealed himself, again firing his AK-47.
"Yeah! Looks like it!"
Snake grinned in a very disturbing way. "Excellent." He waited for the latest bursts of fire to cease, then stood up and hefted his rocket launcher. "Everybody loves bar-be-que," he sang, then released the trigger.
*KAABOOOOOM!!!* The explosion wasn't as impressive as Ranma had feared, but it still shot a huge burst of flame into the room, lightly toasting everything in it, including its only occupants.
The smoke cleared, and Tycho coughed up some smoke. "Nice going, Rambo." He muttered.
Snake coughed lightly into his fist, then grinned as he leaned his launcher over his shoulder. "What? I always liked 'em well done."
Ranma shook his head, while Kyle merely dusted himself off. "Thanks for the save back there, Saotome. Nice work guys!" He stopped, then appeared to think of something. "Hey! This is the first time in three weeks we've completed a mission without destroying a civilian structure!"
Ranma looked around at the various holes that now adorned the railway house. "I guess that means that this doesn't count as a civilian structure?"
"No, not really." Kyle started to followed Snake outside. "Wattai, you look around and take note of what weapons are left. Make a list."
Ranma followed Kyle out. "What are you going to do with it all?"
"Police auction." He answered simply.
Ranma stared incredulously. "You're going to auction off automatic weapons?"
Kyle blinked, then slapped himself in the head. "Oh! Right! No guns, huh? Well... I dunno... Snake, you want 'em?"
"Always!"
Ranma facefaulted.
"All right scumbag, you're coming with us! Get down! Did you hear me? I said GET DOWN!!!" The DA officers all turned at the noise, and after Ranma got up, decided to investigate.
When they reached the room of the rail house where the noise was coming from, they found the soldiers from before, jabbing their rifles at a tattooed man in his thirties who was on his knees and not looking too happy about it.
Snake crossed his arms over his chest. "And what do we have here? A survivor, eh?"
The soldier turned to look at the police officers almost dismissively. "Yeah, yeah, you're finished here. We'll take care of this guy."
"Oh no you don't!" The man on the ground struggled to his feet, despite the many automatic weapons aimed at him. "I'm a Japanese citizen! I know my rights! I wish to be tried in a court of law like any other criminal!"
The military commander snorted. "Oh, so now the little Angel wants to hide behind the system, eh? Fine. This was a total waste of time." The commander grabbed up his weapons and walked out, followed by the rest of his generally disgruntled company.

The terrorist smirked as Ranma came up behind him and slipped on a pair of handcuffs. Anything, even the toughest court in Japan, was better than facing a military tribunal.
Snake looked around at the room they were in. A corner of the room was reinforced with metal plates, and had several large cords and plugs strewn about. along with a lot of general scrap metal and tools laid around the floor. It looked like something fairly big had been stationed here, though he wasn't sure what.
"All right little boy, we've got five FAs here, not including you. For a major munitions house, that seems pretty light to me. Why don't you tell me where all your little friends are?"
The terrorist turned away pointedly, still being held by Ranma. "I also have the right to remain silent."
Snake raised an eyebrow, then gestured to Ranma. "Saotome, bring him down, would you?" The prisoner blinked.
*Thock!* Ranma hit the man hard in the back with his knee, then twisted the gunman's torso as he forced him to the ground, creating an excessively painful position for the poor fool, who screamed out in pain and surprise.
Snake smiled warmly and kneeled down to look their prisoner in the eyes. "Now, I'll ask again nicely. Where are all your men? If you don't answer, I might get angry. You won't like me when I'm angry..." Snake giggled almost girlishly, wringing his hands.
The already frantic prisoner became even more frantic as he saw the look of unease that crossed Kyle's face at Snake's act (which Kyle knew not to be an act). "H-Hey! Yo-Yo-You c-can't do this! It-It's against the l-law!"
Ranma snorted. "Since when do you morons care about the law?"
Snake seemed to consider this for a moment. "Against the law, huh?" He then turned to Kyle. "Commander, tell me, what exactly are the laws regarding interrogation of prisoners?"
Kyle stared back blankly. "You mean they really have rules for this sort of thing? I thought he was making that up."
Snake turned back to the prisoner. "He's my superior officer." The terrorist whimpered.
"Now, I'm going to ask you just one more time..." Snake removed his sidearm, and started stroking it almost lovingly.
"All right! All right! I'll talk!! Just... just get me away from this maniac!" The prisoner tried to crawl behind Ranma, who nearly stumbled at the man's sudden squirming.
Snake snorted and put away his pistol. "Wuss. I haven't even shot him in the leg yet."
Ranma pulled the terrorist up by his collar and glared into his eyes. "All right, so tell us!"
"They're all on the sub! The Russian one!"
The DA officers blinked collectively. "Sub? What Russian sub?" Snake asked, getting his sidearm back out. "If you're making stuff up..."
The terrorist shook his head fiercely, pure terror in his eyes. "No! I'm serious! Our guys all armed themselves and captured the Russian Typhoon that was down by the harbor checking out that wreck of a transport! They're going to use it to launch a surprise attack on the oil platform!"
Kyle frowned. "Yeah, I heard about that whole thing with the submarines... go on."
"And-And then they're going to use the platform's power turbines to spread the T-virus into the harbor! That's all I know! I swear!"
"Well, that doesn't sound too good," Ranma muttered.
Snake nodded. "No, that doesn't sound good at all... Let's move! The captain needs to know about this!"

The terrorist soon found himself being tossed into one of the DAPC's armored cars, and then crushed uncomfortably between Ranma and Snake's empty rocket launcher.
"Hey Wattai! Move it! We need some serious speed here!"
When Ranma saw the look on Tycho's face when he emerged from the weapons dump, he wanted to cry.
"Sure thing! Where to?" He stepped into the car and flexed his fingers experimentally.
"Back to HQ! As fast as you can possibly go!" Snake paused to think about that statement. "Without getting us killed."
"Aw, you're no fun!" Tycho joked. Or at least, Ranma hoped he was joking.
*Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrk!* *Screeech!!*
__________________________________________________________________________________

"Uh huh. Really. Now why did you do that? Let the military handle it!" Asuka shouted into the phone, exasperated. "Dibs? What are you, five?"
Asuka listened for a moment more, then frowned. "Wait, they're taking a sub? ............ They're WHAT?!" She listened intently, then frowned. "What's the 'T-virus'? ...... Well of course you don't know, Kyle. It was a rhetorical question! No! Rhetorical! That's not what it... oh, forget it!" She took a deep breath to calm herself. "Okay guys, you've done a good job. I'll contact the right people. You just come home. Hello? What was that noise? A train? A SUBWAY train?! What are you doing in the...... no, on second thought, I don't want to know. Goodbye." Asuka hung up the phone, then scratched her chin in thought.
Then she picked up the phone again and dialed.
"Hello? I need to report something to General Remerick. I think this will be of considerable interest to him. Asuka Takami." She gave her name, and after a moment she grimaced. "DAPC, yes. No! Wait! Don't hang up! This is important! We have reason to believe that terrorists have captured a Russian submarine and are using it to transport troops to one of the oil drilling platforms off the coast. Yes! Really! We captured one of their men! No, I can't confirm it! Look, we think they might be trying to inject a biochemical agent into Tokyo harbor using the platform somehow. What do you mean you can't interfere with the Russians?! It's the Freedom's Angels in the sub, not the Russians! The Russians are probably all dead! No, I don't know how a bunch of Japanese militants are planning on running a Typhoon!"
Asuka flushed red with anger, and twitched slightly. "Well, fine! If you won't do anything, we'll just go ourselves! No?! What's stopping us?!"
Sakura had, up until this point, been quietly observing Asuka yelling at the receiver, but her curiosity was piqued to the point that she walked up and hit the speaker phone button on the phone cradle.
*-have strict orders from General Remerick himself to keep all DAPC officers and operations far away from the platforms, to eliminate the chance of them becoming yet another 'collateral damage' write-off. We'll contact the Russians and check this out. You girls just sit tight, okay?* *Click*
Sakura winced. 'He's going to regret that last comment.'
Asuka stood there furiously for a moment, her teeth clenched. *Crack!* The phone receiver shattered into plastic shards in her grip, and Sakura yelped and jumped back.
Asuka blinked as her stress seemed to melt away into the broken phone. "Wow. That was actually quite theraputic." Sakura whimpered.

The screech of car tires alerted Asuka to the rest of the team's arrival, and she dusted off the phone fragments into the trash can as Ranma and the others entered.
"No!! Please!! No more!! I wanna go with the soldiers!! Let the military take me, please!!" The man was pale and crying like a little girl who had been threatened with a knife. Or like an adult human who had experienced Snake's law enforcement and Tycho's driving when he wasn't used to it.
"What's his problem?" Asuka asked. She could easily guess, but she needed to make sure.
"This is the prisoner," Kyle said, turning the weeping terrorist slightly so that she could see the cobra tattoo.
Asuka started to nod, then stopped. "Why'd you bring him here?"
Kyle blinked. "To put him in jail."
"We don't HAVE a jail," Asuka deadpanned. "Take him to one of the police stations on the east side, they should-"
"No, there's no time!" Ranma yelled. "Those guys are gonna do some serious damage if we don't stop them!" He frowned, then shoved the terrorist toward Tycho. "Take him upstairs and put him in a cage or something." The man started crying anew, and Tycho muttered to himself as he dragged the prisoner to the stairs.
Asuka frowned. "Well, I agree we have to do something, but what?"
"Well, what sort of support can we expect?" Snake asked.
"We can expect any available Japanese police or military units to point guns in our faces and tell us to stay away from the platforms being attacked." Asuka stated flatly.
"Wow... that's not very helpful." Kyle speculated.
Snake mulled it over. "Eh, I can work with that. The big problem is the sub. They've got a fully operational Typhoon, luckily without any ballistic missiles. We don't have any real way of destroying or disabling it. Even if we manage to sweep the platform, they can still destroy it from the water."
The five officers frowned collectively, each delving deep into thought.
Finally, much to everyone's exasperation, Kyle spoke up. "What if we got a sub?"
Asuka rolled her eyes. Leave it to Kyle to think of something so dumb. "Our own forces want us as far away from the platforms as possible, remember? You think the Navy will help us?"
Kyle remained thoughtful. "Not one of ours. What if we got another Typhoon? There are five others in the harbor, right?"
Everyone turned to stare at him.
"That... that actually sounds like it could work..." Snake was amazed.
"Kyle, are you feeling okay?" Asuka pressed a hand to her second's forehead in worry, trying to detect a fever.
"You guys..." he whined.
"I don't know... how are we going to get ahold of a Russian warship?" Ranma was skeptical, and getting frustrated. He was used to knowing who his opponent was, with the goal being to simply defeat him or her, or in recent cases, it. This battlefield tactics stuff just wasn't his shtick.
Snake grinned. "Leave that to me. I've got a plan. Captain, gather the troops and meet me at Shio's Boat Rentals at the edge of Tokyo Harbor." He hefted a box, which was marked with several warnings indicating high explosives. "It's time to go fishing."

Suppressing a shudder, Asuka ordered the others into the cars and then left for the hall in search of the remaining two officers.
"Chikiko! Yamazaki! Where are..." She trailed off as she heard some thumping noises just past the armory, and rushed into the room right past it, not bothering to first look through the partially closed blinds that mostly hid the interior.
"All right guys, we need to-" Asuka froze suddenly and her eyes bulged out. "Wha..."
Tiro poked his head up from his position on the desk and under Junko. "Hey! Can we get a little privacy here?!"
Asuka stared, gaping. "Buh... how... whe... er..." Then, giving up, she turned around and exited the room, closing the door firmly behind her.
Once outside the room, she started to recover from the sight she had just seen and collect her thoughts.
One such thought snapped into place, and she froze.
"Wait a minute! That's my office!" Growling, she yanked the door open and stomped inside.
After a bit of yelling and crashing, Tiro flew outside and rolled to a stop next to the armory. Junko merely landed on her rear right outside of the room, only to be hit in the face a second later by her shirt.
Asuka stalked out of her office and glared at them. "You two stay OUT of my office! And if you absolutely HAVE to partake in this sort of behavior, keep it outside of headquarters! Or at least keep it to Wednesdays and Fridays!!"
She took a deep breath, and then turned to Junko. "And YOU!! I knew you were loose, but come on! TIRO?!?!"
"Hey! I'm right here, you know!" He whined, trying to get up and readjust his pants at the same time. The two women ignored him.
Junko looked annoyed. "He's not THAT bad. Actually, he's better than average in the sack. He doesn't look like much, I know, but he gives as good as he gets."
Tiro blinked, trying to decide exactly where that placed on the insult/compliment scale. Asuka simply grimaced and covered her ears with her hands.
"I'm not hearing this! I'm not hearing this!" She sang, then took a deep breath and crossed her arms, looking at the two (now fully clothed) officers as if the last two minutes hadn't even happened. "Get some body armor on and get in a squad car. We have a job to do. Lieutenant Tekai will brief you on the way, so chances are you'll have no idea what's going on. I recommend following our lead." With her current task complete, Asuka turned and headed for the garage, leaving the two DA officers to gather the shattered remains of their dignity (what little there was to begin with) and follow.
__________________________________________________________________________________

"Sir, we're reading an emergency distress call!"
The commander in charge of security at the oil drilling platforms frowned beneath the heavy mask, and stepped over to the communications booth, his heavy armored boots ringing against the steel floors.
The man stationed in the booth shuddered. He understood the need for security, and he was glad for the protection, but these Core fellows looked creepy! In their fully-body armor complete with filter mask, which had the glowing red goggles to allow vision in little or no light, they looked more like robots than men.
The commander finally stopped just inside the communications booth.
"What's going on?" The voice was heavily distorted by the mask, but it was still easy enough to understand him.
"One of the Russian subs that have been posted in the harbor is coming at us full speed sir. We also have a transmission indicating that somebody aboard is wounded. I think they need assistance and we were the closest place to get help, but I can't be sure. I don't understand Russian very well..." He turned and suppressed another shudder as the blood-red goggles stared back at him. "Shall I tell them to turn around and find someplace else?"
"... No. We have orders to assist them if at all needed. Get some of your workers down near the port, along with a few of my men. Get the first aid station ready, too." Without another word, the commander turned and walked heavily out of the booth.

The massive black shape slowed into position along the huge metal bays alongside the platform, intended for oil tankers, and then seemed to burst upward, roughly breaking the surface of the water.
One of the Core units noticed with some confusion that there was a large object attached to the rear of the submarine and covered with a thick blue plastic sheet that was firmly bolted to the main body of the vessel.
The hatch opened, and a Russian man came out, pulling his AK-47 behind him.
As another started coming up, the first looked up and regarded the men waiting at the dock. {"Hey! Could you give us a hand with our injured man, here?"}
The men on the steel dock stared back at him blankly, though it would have been impossible indeed to tell how the Core men were looking at him.
{"I don't suppose you worthless apes know a word of Russian, eh? You, in the armor, are you so ugly you have to wear a mask on the job?"} His four companions who had already scrambled out of the sub laughed.
"What did he say, do you think?" One of the rig workers asked.
The mass of armor shrugged. "Don't know. They're probably happy that they managed to reach a safe port in time."
That happy little misconception died a painful death as another man, this one clearly Japanese, burst out of the submarine with a bazooka resting on his shoulder.
*Shoom* *Kaboom!!* Two of the workers and one of the soldiers were lost as the shell hit, and exploded fiercely, sending whatever may have survived the initial blast into the water.
By then the Russian soldiers had already aimed their weapons, and stitched the pier with automatic fire, immediately cutting down the remaining rig workers. To their surprise, however, the bullets tore into the remaining two armored Core soldiers with little ill effect, and they in turn brought their own heavy machine guns to bear.
*Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta!* Three of the Russian defectors were cut down, the last two managing to hide behind the sub's control tower.
{"Damn it! They've got some sort of armor! We can't hurt them!"} He tried regardless, moving aside to fire another burst into the defenders, only to duck back behind the tower, shaking his head.

In the sub, the Freedom's Angels listened to the sounds of gunfire being traded, unsure if it was time to head up.
"Well? Is it safe?"
The man who had fired the bazooka and ducked back inside frowned. "How should I know? They're yelling something, but it all sounds like gibberish to me."
"Well, then go up there and look!"
The man rolled his eyes, then moved up the ladder once again, unlatching the main hatch and pulling himself up.
Before he had gotten all the way out, his body shuddered repeatedly, and fell back down into the sub, blood pouring from several large bullet holes.
One of the terrorists raised an eyebrow, then lit the cigarette in his hand. "I think it's a fair bet it isn't quite 'safe' yet."
The surrounding men frowned deeply. Finally, one turned to the others. "Launch the machine."
"Already? Are you sure-"
"Yes! Unless you are volunteering to go up there and remove the defenders yourselves!"

The Japanese soldiers stopped firing to reload their weapons, pulling heavy belts of bullets from the boxes attached to their belts and feeding them into their guns.
One of the Russians who had survived the retaliation renewed his assault, and one of the soldier stumbled back and grunted as automatic fire peppered his torso. The protect-gear completely prevented the bullet from ever touching the skin behind it, and served to mostly blunt the impact, but getting blasted by an automatic rifle was still a punishing experience.
The soldier finished reloading his machine gun, and was about to open fire once again on the submarine tower, when a loud grinding noise came from the oddly covered hump on the rear of the sub.
The sheet was torn off from within, and the soldiers' eyes widened from behind their masks.
*UNIT 475 ACTIVATED. LOADING OPERATION PARAMETERS... UPLOAD COMPLETE. TARGETS LOCATED. TERMINATING."
A triple-barrelled 45 mm. gatling cannon took aim. The protect-gear never stood a chance.
__________________________________________________________________________________

Ranma helped Snake unload the back of the car, making sure to be careful with everything he picked up; with Snake's equipment, only he knew whether it would explode or not, and under what conditions.
He stacked four pulse rifles onto a small crate, and lifted it all over to where Asuka appeared to be arguing with Shio, the owner of the boat rental establishment. The others were waiting as well along the pier that held the multiple watercraft, so he stopped and listened to what the Captain was complaining about.
"We HAVE to have access to these boats! I don't care if it's your day off or something!"
The heavy-set man shook his head slowly. "Sorry ma'am, but there's a strict curfew in force, apparently because of those fool Russians snoopin' around the place. I'm not allowed to rent out any boats or allow any boats to leave until they do."
Asuka growled several choice curses under her breath, and fished around in her pocket before pulling out her badge and practically shoving it into the man's face. "As a police officer, I'm afraid I'll have to confiscate these vehicles then, as I am permitted to do in case of an emergency!"
The man stared at it for a moment, then scratched his chin. "Well... I suppose if it's an emergen-wait a minute! DAPC? Now, I have special orders from the fellas that told me about the curfew that I'm not, under any circumstances-" Asuka cut off the man's slow ramblings by pushing him into the water.
She turned to Ranma and Snake. "Get the boats loaded up. Those two, over there. Tekai, get the keys from the booth. Chikiko, Shio's getting out of the water, push him back in please." *Splash* "All right. Snake, Kyle, Ranma and Tiro will go on the second boat. You're the strike team, and you'll be responsible for securing the platform. Sakura, Junko, and Tycho are with me. We'll take the sub and try and get the captain to help. All right? Let's go!"

Ranma dropped the crate into the rear of the small speedboat, and jumped in the front right before Kyle turned it on, taking the boat into a slow cruise.
They were soon completely overtaken by a wave of water as the second speedboat rushed past.
"WATTAI!!! SLOW DOOOOOOOOOooooooowwwwn..." Asuka's yell faded away along with her image as the watercraft blasted through the water into the harbor.
Kyle pushed his dripping wet hair from his eyes so that he could clearly see where he was going. "Did you know that Tycho's been cited more times and been given more tickets than most street racers?"
Ranma shook the water from himself, and started squeezing out his pigtail. "I'll bet."
"No, I mean put together." The others stared. Kyle could only shrug. "I got bored, so I looked through the personnel files." He turned to Ranma. "I read your book too. Is it true you're engaged to the future ruler of the Earth, Queen Serendipity or something?"
The others turned to stare at Ranma, who sweatdropped.
"Look, just drive, all right? And speed up a little, we'll never catch them at this rate."

Tiro did slow down eventually, and started to cruise along at a more reasonable pace as they reached the center of the harbor.
"Oh... I think I'm gonna be sick..." Junko groaned and leaned onto Sakura for support, who was still clutching the chair in terror.
Asuka forced herself to let go of her own handhold, then leaned over to stare into the water. "Okay, these guys can't move much or go too deep without getting the entire Japanese Navy up in arms, so we might be able to see them from the surface..." She scanned her side of the boat, not seeing anything in the fairly clear water.
Junko was about to search her side, when the distant oil drilling platform caught her eye. Or more specifically, the smoke coming from it caught her eye. "I think we'd better hurry..."
"Hey! There it is!" Sakura leaned over the edge of the boat, pointing to a barely visible silhouette in the depths of the water. Several meters away, right above the ghastly shape, Kyle's boat started to slow down.
"Right. Good work. Snake, you see it?"
The man nodded and waved.
"Good! ...... How are we going to get it to surface?" Asuka frowned, realizing that the DA's weapons expert had never shared his plan with her.
"Just leave that to me!" Snake grunted, lifting a fair-sized barrel and dumping it into the water.
Asuka blinked. "What was that?"
"A depth charge!" Snake shouted back. Everyone's eyes widened.
*Blooosh!!* Water exploded upwards from the detonation, rocking Kyle's boat wildly.
"You idiot!" Asuka yelled, trying to keep her balance as the shock wave hit her boat, "Why did you do that?!"
Snake shrugged. "We needed to get their attention! Don't worry, it was a small one anyway! Good luck!" He tapped Kyle on the shoulder. "All right, we're done here. Head for the platform, commander."
Kyle nodded and did as he was told, and the speedboat sped away toward the distant structure.

Asuka muttered darkly to herself as she covered her face with her hand. Sakura and Junko merely watched as the Typhoon began to surface, slowly breaking the surface of the water with its mammoth hull.
The hatch on top of the control tower opened, and a man dressed in the uniform of an officer of the Russian navy poked his head out.
{"What's going on here?! What is this?!"} He shouted angrily.
"Oh, bloody hell... do you speak any Japanese!" She shouted back hopefully.
{"Who are you?! Where did that depth charge come from?!"}
Junko frowned. /"Hey! Do you understand English?"/
The man blinked, along with Asuka. /"Yah, I can speak some English! Now, who are you people?"/
Asuka smiled. "Good work Chikiko!" /"We're part of the Japanese police forces! We are requesting permission to board your vessel and speak to your Captain!"/
The Russian officer frowned, then ducked back into the submarine. After a few moments, he poked his head back out. /"Yes, the Captain will see you! Move your boat to the side and step up!"/
Asuka nodded and gestured to Tycho, who brought the boat along the side carefully.

Asuka walk up to the captain, who was looking over a map of Japan's coastline. Turning around, she spoke to her escort, the officer from before. /"Does he speak English?"/
/"Yes, I do,"/ the man answered, turning to face the police captain. /"Now what is it you want? Our target has already gotten away, one of our accompanying ships is missing, the Japanese government is practically screaming at us to leave, and now little speedboats are dropping explosives on us. I am not happy man."/
Asuka bit her lip. /"Well, I think I may know what happened to the other submarine..."/
__________________________________________________________________________________

The Russians idly checked over the Typhoon's control systems as several of the Japanese terrorists re-entered the sub, several of them yelling and arguing.
{"What is their problem?"} One asked, gesturing with his chin toward one man who was pointing fearfully at the well-secured tank of green goo.
Another rolled his eyes. {"Who knows? These idiots get excited over nothing, I tell you."}

Over at the other end of the sub, a very different atmosphere dominated.
"No! I'm not going to carry that thing! Make someone else do it!"
Another man snorted. "I'll carry it if you open it. I'm not afraid of that thing as long as it's sealed."
The terrorist in charge growled and took the cigarette from his mouth. "You are cowards! You jump at the chance to enter a firefight, but you run at the thought of carrying a tank of green water?!"
Another man sneered at him. "Don't speak to us like that! YOU have not volunteered to carry or open it! I have seen the tapes! There are fates worse than death!" Many of the surrounding Angels nodded in agreement.
"Why don't you get the Russians to do it?" One man asked. Several others nodded at the idea.
The commander took out his cigarette and ground it in his fist, frustrated. "These idiots can barely understand universal hand signals, much less Japanese! You try getting them to do what you want!"

The Russian soldiers continued listening to the Japanese argue, except for one fellow, who was checking the sonar panels.
{"Hey! Look at this!"} His companions all turned to look at him.
{"Yeah? What is it?"} A few men walked over to stare at the display with him.
{"Well, I barely know how this thing works, you see, but look what happens when I do this!"} He flipped a switch on the control board, and the view quickly changed to show a swiftly moving ellipse coming from the rear of the sub. The advanced sonar computer quickly locked onto the shape, and outlined it in red, while marking it as another submarine.
{"Oh no... it's another Typhoon..."} Several of the men started to panic behind him, and someone tapped him on the shoulder.
{"There's a man trying to contact us! Russian! He says he's a captain, and he's demanding to know our status!"}
Several of the men looked at each other, and the one who had been observing the sonar readouts turned to stare momentarily at the arguing Japanese. {"Let me talk to them."}
__________________________________________________________________________________

Asuka waited patiently next to the communications board as the captain tried to contact the rogue submarine. The man had been skeptical, but had been willing to at least listen to her, and check if the situation was as she said it was. Sakura and Tycho stood back near the entrance, looking unsure of themselves, while Junko kept drawing the eyes of the numerous sailors and enjoying it way too much.
{"Yeah, what are you doing? Why are you docked at the Japanese oil rigs? We were warned specifically by the navy NOT to approach them!"}
*{There... There was an emergency sir! We needed immediate assistance!}*
The captain frowned. {"Why does the platform appear to be damaged? What's going on there?"}
*{I... I don't know myself, sir! But one of the men says that it's nothing to worry about!}*
{"I see... and the search for Yuchtzky? Nothing?"}
*{Nothing, sir.}*
The captain nodded. {"I see. We will pull up alongside and offer our assistance."}
There was a strangled noise at the other end of the radio. *{No! No! That's not necessary! The injured man is being reloaded even as we speak, and... ah... the captain wishes to leave immediately! Yes, we cannot stay here!}*
Asuka turned momentarily to the larger man, wishing she could understand what they were saying.
The captain sighed, then shook his head. {"I would like to speak to Captain Ivan immediately."}
*{That's... That's not possible, sir. The captain is very busy, you see!}*
{"There IS no Captain Ivan,"} The Russian officer deadpanned. {"That was a test, which you failed. You also do a very poor imitation of a naval officer, traitor."} He flicked off the control board, cutting off the transmission. {"Prepare to fire torpedoes!"}
Asuka turned toward him. /"Well?"/
The captain nodded. /"You were right. They will be destroyed within moments."/
{"Torpedoes armed and ready, Captain!"}
{"Fire!"}
__________________________________________________________________________________

The Freedom's Angels had finally managed to bully a few of the less popular men into hauling and dumping the virus, when they suddenly noticed that their Russian allies began panicking and evacuating the submarine.
"Hey now, what's going on here?!" The commander of the terrorists shouted around his new cigarette.
One of the soldiers rushed up to him, and started waving his arms about.
{"Torpedo! Torpedo! There's a torpedo coming! Torpedo!"}
The tattooed men simply stared back at him blankly.
The soldier began to get frustrated, and an idea hit him. English was more or less an international secondary language, right? /"English! English you speak?"/
The terrorist blinked, then smiled slightly. /"Yes, I speak some English. This good! Now we talk! What-"
/"Coming! Bomb coming! Bomb! No... missile! Missile! Understand missile? Or bullet?"/
The Japanese man looked confused. /"Bullet and missile different..."/
The Russian growled. /"Not right word! Water missile!"/
The commander scratched his head. /"You mean like a torpedo?"/
/"YES!!! YES!!! Torpedo!!"/ The Russian looked delighted.
The terrorist shook his head, and then turned to his men. "Okay guys, it looks like a torpedo's heading for us..." He looked about to see looks of shock and surprise blooming on the faces that weren't already shocked and surprised; he wasn't the only one who understood English. "Torpedo... oh, shit."
*BWOOOOM!!!*
__________________________________________________________________________________

Ranma, Snake, Kyle and Tiro all watched together as the rear of the submarine exploded violently, throwing those still trying to get off into the water, and bowling over the men on the reinforced metal dock.
In actuality, there were two torpedoes that were fired, and the second one tore apart the inside of the vessel, causing the entire thing to sink in a huge, wrecked heap.

Snake whistled. "I gotta get me some of those!"
Ranma rolled his eyes. "Later. Let's just get up there first."
Snake nodded, and fitted the grappling hook into the spring-powered harpoon gun they had brought before shooting it up and lodging it firmly into the grated metal floors of the oil platform.
Ranma shimmied up first, followed by Kyle.
Snake turned to Tiro. "Make sure to look after the boat. We might need to get out of here in a hurry. All right?"
Tiro nodded, and Snake slung a bag over his shoulder before clipping his pulse rifle to his belt and following Kyle up the rope.

Tiro waved to them as they lifted themselves onto the platform one by one, perfectly content to remain as he was, out of the line of fire.
He idly glanced out at the water, which was rippling badly due to the explosions. Then he blinked. A darkish green cloud seemed to be spreading out through the new currents.
He looked up, shook his head to clear it, and then looked back down. Now the entirety of the water under him looked faded green.
"............ Nah," he decided, then leaned back into his seat.
__________________________________________________________________________________

{"All right! It's a hit! She's sinking!"} The sailors started laughing and cheering at the news, and a few crowded around the sonar station, to watched as the sonar rendered the small pieces of submarine sinking to the bottom of the harbor floor.
One at a time they all turned to smiled at the captain, only to have those smiles fade as they saw the deep frown on his face.
{"You cheer,"} he began, his frown deepening, {"you cheer the destruction of one of our own vessels. You cheer, although the original crew of that vessel is dead, captured, or perhaps was being held on that submarine as it was destroyed. The mission lies incomplete, our quarry lost and most likely escaped without a scratch. And because of our delay in acting upon the information that these men and women have brought to our attention, the workers of the platform we seek to save probably lie dead as well."} He sighed, and turned tired eyes upward. {"We have gained nothing with out 'victory'. Why do you celebrate? Because the situation cannot get any worse?"} Every sailor began to look depressed and somber, lowering his eyes to the floor.

Asuka and the others could only watch and feel the atmosphere change, as they couldn't understand a word that the captain had said.
"Wow... that was... probably very moving," Junko ventured.
"Yeah, whatever. I don't speak a word of Russian and very little English, so I'm pretty much lost," Tycho muttered.
Then they started as one of the officers cried out.

{"Captain! There's some sort of... disturbance in the water! Some kind of chemical agent seems to be playing havoc with the water temperature and pressure!"}
The captain blinked. {"What? A chemical agent?"}
{"Sir! I'm picking up something odd on sonar! There seems to be... a lot of activity all of a sudden. Like the fish are getting restless, or something."}
Asuka stared from one sailor to another as they spoke their concerns, then turned to Tycho. "Ever feel like there's something important going on, but you're out of the loop?"
Sakura, being close enough to see the complex sonar display, blinked as she saw a large object move into view. "Wow! Is that a humpback whale! It's so rare to see those this close to shore!"
"I have a baaaaad feeling about this," Junko muttered.
__________________________________________________________________________________

Snake moved to the center of the platform, rifle raised and at the ready. Then he blinked as once again, there was nothing to shoot at. Well, sure, there was the dead bodies of a few workers and soldiers, but there wasn't much that could be saved there.
Ranma passed him as he looked around, and the martial artist grimaced in disgust. Kyle immediately headed toward the central drill, but soon stopped as it became apparent how much heat was blasting out of the large hole that accommodated the drills and pumps.
Snake took some time to look at one of the dead soldiers, and frowned. That looked like serious armor he was wearing; not the simple, light kevlar vests that the DAPC issued. What looked even more serious was the holes that went straight through to the other side, having punched through the thick metal chestplate and the heavy backpack. That had to be military-grade armor-piercing rounds, and in no small caliber, either. The kind made for putting holes in tanks. He should know; he liked to practice with that type of ordinance in the parking lot.
"Hey! I think I found our guys!" Ranma pointed down the stairwell leading down to the base of the platform, as he took cover just next to it to avoid being seen from below.
Snake nodded. "Kyle, you find the turbines yet?"
"Yes!" He shouted back.
"Well? Any sign of a the chemical agent?"
"Not really! Though someone did shoot a hole in the floor!"
Snake frowned as Kyle joined him and Ranma next to the stairwell. "Well, if it hasn't been dumped already, then they either must still have it at the docks, or... oy..."
Ranma's eyes widened in realization. "Oops... I hope that stuff isn't too dangerous..."
Kyle blinked. "What? Where?" The others ignored him.
Ranma carefully moved over to the railing caging in three sides of the stairwell, then looked down. After a moment, he frowned. "What the hell?"
__________________________________________________________________________________

Tiro was rather enjoying the peace and quiet, and was currently leaning back on the seat of the speedboat, staring at the huge column that allowed hot gases to flow down and crude oil to flow up.
His peace and quiet was effectively interrupted as there was a loud splashing noise from the side of the boat.
Tiro grumbled and got up, wondering what was causing all the commotion, and found one of the Russian soldiers gripping the edge of the watercraft's fiberglass hull. He was pale and shaky, and for some reason that Tiro couldn't even began to fathom, his skin was actually cracking in certain places. He also looked scared out of his wits, as he babbled in fast-paced Russian.
Nonetheless... 'I can't just let the guy drown.' Tiro grudgingly extended his hand out for the soldier to grab.
The man eagerly reached out for the hand, but he didn't quite make it.
Tiro's eyes bulged from their sockets as a huge shark suddenly came up from nowhere, clamped down fiercely onto the man's waist, and dragged him under even as he screamed. A cloud of blood mixed with the strange green tint that was beginning to spread fairly thin throughout the water.
Tiro stood shock-still, his eye twitching occasionally. That shark's teeth looked like they were all jagged and twisted up. It had red eyes. It's skin was cracked and bulging. It looked almost... dead.
Tiro fell back heavily. "I think I need a drink. Or some sleep. I swear, I'm seeing things." That thought brought forth several memories of fighting off zombies and mutants in sewers, along with another mutant that appeared behind a demolished bank. He banished them. "Yeah. Seeing things."
*Crunch!* The boat lurched backwards, and Tiro almost fell onto the floor. Getting up and turning toward the back, he could clearly see that the engine mounted on the rear of the boat had been torn off. Looking into the water, he could see a few large shadowy forms, surrounded by several smaller ones, many of them with odd protrusions coming from what seemed to be their heads.
He stumbled back in surprise as the shark from before suddenly surfaced, its jagged mouth painted red with blood. Tiro stared at it with wide eyes, and it merely sat in the water, staring back.
Then it slowly turned over onto its back, to reveal that its stomach had been completely carved out of it. Two of the culprits, fish with long, hooked teeth that could once have perceivably been tuna, thrashed and writhed to jump out of the chest cavity as it was suddenly exposed to air.

Tiro twitched. Then he twitched again. Then he leapt for the rope that still hung suspended above him, and climbed up as if there was a fat, nasty gym instructor standing next to him with a bullwhip.
Halfway up the rope, he looked back down at the boat that he was supposed to be guarding.
*GOOSH!* *SNAP!!* The giant maw of a humpback whale, complete with an unusual set of bloody teeth, snapped upward, totally encompassing the tiny speedboat and even snapping off some of the rope Tiro was holding onto before falling back below the surface.
The poor man, still holding onto the gently swinging grappling line, would've fainted, but his own powerful survival instincts recognized that he'd probably fall into the water then.
With a new love for life and new dislike of sushi, Tiro hurried up the rest of the line.
__________________________________________________________________________________

Ranma, Snake, and Kyle all stared at the mass of Russian and Japanese militants that had gathered onto the docks in one huge, armed, panicked mob. Apparently they were trying to recover their companions who had survived the destruction of the Typhoon, but were having little success now that those that were still in the water seemed to be being pulled under by several sharks and unreasonably large fish. Blood was pooling in the water all around them, and several soldiers had fallen to their knees in shock and terror.
The terrorists were merely huddled together near the back railing of the long metal pier, unwilling to try to help those who had survived the explosion. Being terrorists, they didn't feel anywhere near the same level of comradery with their peers. Besides, while the Russians still had confusion tampering with their judgement, many of the Angels had a fair understanding of what was going on, and were even now staring at the group of pale, shivering survivors with fear and anticipation. Many of the Russian soldiers were currently debating why they were pale and shaky, as the water here wasn't nearly cold enough to cause hypothermia.
One Russian managed to make it within arm's reach of the pier, and another reached out and grabbed his shaky hand to lift him to safety. The man in the water screamed out in pain, and just as his would-be rescuer asked what was wrong, a large fish jumped out of the water and clamped onto his arm with hooked fangs, causing him to stumble and fall into the water himself. Within moments, both men were dragged under, and more blood clouded the water.
By this time the Russians too had back away from the edge of the docks, as the last of the men in the water were yanked under by the shadowy forms now completely obscured by the red-green taint.

Snake shook his head, then moved into the stairwell and aimed his pulse rifle at the mass, which was too traumatized to notice the loud footsteps on the aluminum stairs.
"All right, drop your weapons! Nobody move!" Snake yelled, and aimed his rifle at the thickest pocket of armed men. Behind him, Kyle and Ranma moved into position, weapons ready.
Everybody on the pier turned to look at them. The Japanese nodded in an almost trance-like state, and dropped their rifles before raising their arms in surrender. The Russians had no idea what the man in blue armor had said, but they dropped their rifles and raised their arms regardless, their morale broken.
Snake nodded seriously. "Okay, now you-"
*GOOSH!* *Rrrnk!* *SNAP!!* The massive, toothed maw of a humpback whale opened up over the pier and clamped down hard, tearing right through the metal with its teeth and swallowing the whole thing before diving back underwater.
Ranma, Snake, and Kyle all stared, their eyes wide as dinner plates.
Finally, Kyle shook his head as if to clear it. "Wow. Now THAT was a Kodak moment!"
The others nodded their heads, not really paying much attention to what he actually said.

The assembled officers all turned and pointed their weapons at the sound of approaching footsteps, only to lower them as Tiro scrambled to a stop, gasping for air.
"You guys! There's a giant-"
"A giant mutant whale," Ranma finished for him. "Yeah, we know."
Tiro blinked. "Oh... well, do you guys know about the giant robot?"
Snake scratched his head. "No... that would be new."
Tiro nodded somberly, jabbing a thumb behind him as a huge metal monstrosity lowered itself down onto the metal deck of the platform, using the rocket boosters built into its rear to slow its descent. It was blue and humanoid, with its right arm ending in a triple-barrelled cannon, and its left into a rocket launcher. It also had two heavy cannons mounted on its back that stood straight up, but were hinged to fall into firing position.
The boomer's head, tiny in comparison to the huge bulbous shoulders, swiveled slightly to shine a red laser sight onto Kyle's chest.
*TARGET SIGHTED. ELIMINATING.*
"That CAN'T be good," the lieutenant muttered, and rushed down the stairs, swiftly followed by the rest of his team.
They swung around onto the maintenance deck of the platform, which was right below the main deck, just as several armor-piercing rounds and explosive rockets tore apart the sturdy aluminum stairs behind them.
"Well, now what?" Kyle could hear the boomer moving down the stairwell, and the aluminum supports creaked as they tried to support its weight.
"Well," Ranma started, "We could engage this thing in a long, drawn-out battle using weapons that will barely scratch it, and then just barely overcome it at the last moment with an incredibly lucky, opportunistic shot, or perhaps a brilliant, spur-of-the-moment plan that nearly gets us all killed."
The others stared at him. "Or?" Tiro asked hopefully.
"Or," Ranma continued, "we can do the smart thing." He then turned around, and aimed his rifle at the supports that connected the stairwell to the main deck.
*Tststststststststs!* The aluminum tore and twisted as the bullets cut into it, and very quickly the stairwell no longer found itself capable of supporting the boomers formidable weight. It tumbled toward the waters of the bay, along with the mass of twisted metal scaffolding.
Kyle was about to cheer and clap Ranma on the back, when the boomer's rocket pack activated, suddenly slowing its descent and completely stopping it just inches from the water.
"Aw, man!" Tiro whined.
"Wait for it..." Ranma said quietly.
*GOOSH!* *SNAP!!* The whale instantly crushed the killer robot in its jaws, and once again dove into the tainted ocean.

The others stared at the sight. Snake shrugged. "Eh, it works, I guess. I would've preferred the long, drawn-out battle, myself."
"You would," Ranma muttered.
Kyle looked out into the harbor. "Hey look! The sub's surfaced!" He started to wave to it, when a large, dark shape in the water started moving toward the submarine, slowly picking up speed.
Ranma gaped. "Oh NO..."

The others could only stare in shocked silence as the mutant humpback broke the surface of the water, opened its great jaws... and was suddenly yanked down into the water so suddenly that the sub was nearly tossed onto its side by the great ripples left in the water.

Kyle scratched the back of his head. "Well... that's... good?"
"There's always a bigger fish," Snake muttered.
"What?"
"There's something ELSE down there, obviously..." Snake trailed off, staring at his companions.
"Whoa..." Tiro gulped nervously, then his eyes darted over to Snake. "Giant shark."
"Giant squid."
"10,000 yen?"
"Deal."
It all happened so fast, it left Kyle and Ranma completely confused as Snake and Tiro watched the resting submarine intently...
And Tiro cursed loudly as several suckered tentacles broke the surface of the water, wrapping around the thick hull of the Russian submarine.
__________________________________________________________________________________

Asuka nearly hit her head on one of the many metal pipes that criss-crossed the interior of the Typhoon as the room shook violently, and did some cursing of her own. She really had no idea how these people moved around without splitting their skulls open.
{"What's going on! I want a status report!"} The captain secured himself firmly next to a table as the ship continued to shake.
{"I don't know! Pressure readings are off the scale! We're breaking apart!"}
Asuka managed to work her way over to the sonar station, where the officer was staring at the display slack-jawed. It was hard for the sonar to work at such close range, but it was still capable enough to render the creature attacking the sub recognizably.
Asuka's eye twitched. "God dammit... not again..."
/"What? What is it?!"/ The captain demanded.
The sub lurched again, and a loud *Clang!* was heard as Tycho slammed his head into a work station. Junko and Sakura were helping each other brace against the periscope tower, and the captain himself nearly collided with the wall.
Asuka regained her balance, then took a deep breath. /"It's... a giant squid."/
The man twitched himself. /"A WHAT?"/
/"It's a giant squid."/ She saw the man's look, and glared at him. /"Hey, what do you want from me? Just a moment ago we were being attacked by a killer humpback whale!"/
The captain continued staring at the blue-haired woman, when two sailors came rushing into the control room.
{"Sir! There was a hull breach down in the engine room! You'll never believe this! There was a BEAK! I swear, it just burst through! We already sealed the room!"}
The captain stared at his men, and fought to keep his footing as another heavy tremor shook the submarine. {"May God help us all..."}
__________________________________________________________________________________

"There's no way," Tiro muttered as he continued handing bills to Snake. "How did you know?"
Snake smirked. "Ah, young grasshopper, you have much to learn." He took his money, then started counting it.
Kyle sighed. "Actually, it's happened before. A few times, really. In fact, ever since the DAPC's startup four years ago, we've ended up having one water-based operation per year. And every year, we end up having to fight off a giant squid."
Ranma and Tiro stared incredulously.
Snake smiled again. "Yup. We call it the 'Curse of the Calamari'."
Ranma blinked. "Calamari... food... shoot!! I totally forgot!! I'm supposed to meet Mizu for dinner today!!"
Kyle stared at him. "You're thinking about your date at a time like this?"
"Yes!" Ranma shouted. "I need to talk to her, or she'll think I stood her up! Can I borrow your cell phone?"
Kyle sighed and fished it from his pocket, and Ranma snatched it away with thanks.
Meanwhile, Tiro turned to Snake. "So, it's nice that you have some spending cash and all, but shouldn't we do something?"
Snake's smile grew into a grin. "Oh, I have a few ideas..."
__________________________________________________________________________________

Mizu hummed to herself as she finished applying her makeup and smiled into the mirror. Stepping back, she admired herself in the strapless evening dress she wore. Fire truck red, it seemed to shimmer and really set off her hair. Of course, it also showed off her legs and breasts more than was appropriate for a meeting with a friend, but if she played her cards right then she and Ranma would be firmly breaching the friend/lover threshold that night.
She flushed faintly just thinking about. All the nights they had spent together, studying for tests. Well, Ranma was studying for the tests mostly, and she had been helping him. He just seemed so helpless and vulnerable then, and yet, could be the strongest and most able man in the world when he needed to be. He had experienced the pain of a break-up, but to a degree far greater than the few failed relationships she had known. He was fun, kind, and above all, trustworthy. He was everything she wanted in a man, and perhaps even more than she had hoped she would ever find.
*Bring! Bring!* *Click* "Hello? Oh, hello Ranma!" She smiled, and then her smile began to fade as she sensed the panic in his voice.
"What? What was-WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN'T SHOW?!?!" She shouted into the receiver.
She growled as she held it back to her ear. "A squid? A giant squid is attacking your boss?" Her voice went flat. "Ranma, do you have ANY idea how hard it was for me to get tonight off? My unit was supposed to be on duty guarding one of those new oil drilling platforms! What? I should be glad that I took the night off anyway? What's that supposed to-no! Don't hang up! Ranma! Don't-" The phone went dead, and she let her arm fall limply, the telephone receiver falling onto the floor of her apartment.
Then Mizu herself fell onto the bed. "Dammit Ranma, why?! How could you do this to me?!" She stared at the ceiling for a few moments, running possibilities through her head. Eventually, it settled on one top-heavy, overly perky, extraordinarily blonde possibility that she didn't like one bit.
Getting up, she grabbed her jacket from the coat rack and headed outside.
__________________________________________________________________________________

Ranma sighed and handed Kyle his cell phone back. That hadn't gone well at all, but Mizu would have to understand. Giant monsters simply came before dinner in Ranma's book (actually, it depended on who exactly the giant monster was attacking, but in this case there was no discussion).
"So, have we got a plan?"
Snake nodded. "Here it is. This platform works mostly by injecting super-hot gases into the ocean floor, right?"
"Uh... yes?" Kyle guessed.
"Right! So if I can get the generators to go overtime, and then destroy the mining tube, the carbines will superheat the surrounding waters, hopefully killing the virus and the mutated sea creatures."
Ranma rolled that plan over in his head. "Will that work?"
Snake shrugged. "Probably not."
Kyle nodded and stood up. "Well, let's do it!"
The four rushed up one of the access ladders onto the main deck, and Snake quickly found the generator controls and started pushing buttons.
"Is it getting hotter?" He yelled out of the booth.
Ranma leaned in closer to the central mining tube that led straight down to the ocean floor. "I don't know! Can't you tell?"
"I can't make heads or tails of these displays!" Snake frowned, then pushed some levers up. Suddenly, red lights started flashing, and a klaxon blared above him. He smiled. "Sounds about right." He lifted his rifle and blasted the offending objects, then went back outside.
Ranma backed away from the mining shaft, trying to shield himself from the heat with one arm. "That did it! Now what?"
Snake walked up to the bag he had discarded earlier, and pulled out several blocks of C4 before tying them together and arming the detonator.
Before he moved very close to the shaft, he turned to address his fellow officers. "Now remember, I'm a trained professional. Don't EVER try this at home!" Nodding decisively, he tossed the block into the shaft, then walked away.
*KABLAAAM!!!!* Fire poured out of the shaft, shattering the drill and siphoning tube, along with a few other instruments that were injected down into the large hole. The entire platform shook violently, and everyone except for Ranma was knocked to his feet.

After a moment the shaking stopped, and steam seemed to slowly start rising through the metal grating that made up the main deck's flooring.
Ranma rushed to the edge of the deck, and looked over.
The others joined him, and Tiro whistled. "Damn... the ocean's actually boiling..."
Snake clapped his hands, "Ha ha! It worked!"
Kyle nodded, and then turned to glance at the power generators, which were shaking violently and sparking. "Something tells me that the guys in charge aren't going to be too happy with what we've done here..."
Snake snorted. "Eh, screw them. When's the last time they killed a giant, mutated kraken? Huh? 'Cause I've got TWO on my record now!"
"Speaking of which..." Ranma began, as he watched the steam rise from around the submarine being slowly crushed by the creature's massive tentacles.
The squid seemed to squirm about for a moment, and then released its prey and slipped underwater.
"Yes! Success!" Snake stared cheering himself on, and laughed as he walked away from the edge of the platform.
*SPLOOSH!* A great tentacle seeped up from the water, and slammed firmly onto the floor of the main deck, barely missing Tiro. Several more came up from the steaming waters below, wrapping themselves around supports and towers.
Snake stared at the huge, torpedo-shaped head of the creature was lifted up into the air. "Well, nuts..." Tiro whimpered, and then ran.
Kyle and Ranma held their ground together, watching as the twisted image of what was once a squid searched the platform for prey. Its eyes were deep red, and veins seemed to pulse all around the head, which had grown spines at some point in its mutation.
Its beak stretched out and let loose a feral screech, causing the entire platform to shudder.
Kyle looked down at his pulse rifle and frowned. "I think I need a bigger gun."
Ranma sighed, and lowered his rifle. "I think you're right." He frowned, then brightened. "Get Snake and Tiro, and get them inside somewhere! I've got an idea!"
Kyle blinked. "Is it a good idea?"
Ranma shrugged. "It's better than Snake's."
Kyle nodded and ran, just barely missing being crushed by an errant tentacle.

Ranma jumped over one of the slimy whips that was meant for him, and grinned at the gigantic beast before him.
"All right ugly, time to play follow the leader!" Ranma turned and ran, heading for the shaft in the middle of the platform. The squid screeched and lifted itself fully above the oil rig, and released a few tentacles to crush its opponent.
Ranma dodged one that smashed into the remains of the drill motor, sweeping it away into the ocean. Waiting until he saw his companions enter the communications booth and close the door, he then jumped over another tentacle strike and started running around the overheating oil shaft.
This served to confuse the somewhat-dead kraken, as it tried to aim its strikes, but with little success.
This also served to create a cold spiral outside a single super-hot point. Ranma grinned, then thrust his fist into the sky. "Hiryu shoten ha!"
*WHOOOOOOSH!!!* A massive whirlwind swirled into existence, and the heat from the water below soon found itself sucked into an ever-widening tornado, along with the steam that was coming off it in clouds.
The giant squid shrieked in agony as it was pummeled with scalding steam, as well as torn forcefully into the full blast of the tornado. Within moments, it was but a speck in the sky.
From within the tornado's eye, Ranma was beginning to get worried. His tornadoes didn't usually last this long, nor were they this powerful...
For a moment his mind flashed back to his fight with Kirin... back there, his attack had taken so much energy from the hot water geyser that he had ended up destroying the entire palace.
*Gssshzt!* *BOOM!!!* The generators exploded violently, and their remains were instantly sucked into the ever-growing spiral.
Ranma's train of thought continued. Not only did he have a lot of hot water powering his tornado, but also the shaft...
"Oh, nuts..." Ranma muttered miserably, as the entire oil platform started groaning from the stress of staying together.
__________________________________________________________________________________

Asuka popped her head out of the hatch of the submarine, and pulled herself out so that the others could follow.
Junko scrambled out quickly, and wobbled onto the surface deck. "Oh man... no more sea missions for me... I never want to go underwater ever again." She held her stomach and grimaced.
Asuka watched blankly as the squid thrashed the surface of the oil platform. "Where's Tekai?"
Junko groaned. "Still down there trying to wrap up Tycho's head." She turned to look at the battle going on at the oil rig, and blinked as a huge tornado formed and swept the squid upward. "Whoa... now there's something you don't see every day."
Asuka twitched slightly as the tornado continued to build, and the entire platform collapsed in on itself, falling apart just as the tornado died, and sending large metal constructions flying in all directions. "Oh, yes. I'm gonna LOVE explaining this one to the supervisor..."
__________________________________________________________________________________

Mizu fumed as she stalked down the street, causing stray pedestrians to get out of her way quickly, for fear of attracting her attention.
Sakura. That had to be it. Mizu had managed to get Ranma for the night, so of course that little blonde twit would try to keep Ranma from going by any means necessary.
'Including blatant seduction,' she thought, her scowl deepening. But would Ranma really fall for it? Mizu wasn't sure. She knew that Ranma would never pick up on subtle hints, and even if Sakura started stripping for him, he'd probably try to run away. But if she really tried to force herself on him, would he stop her? She'd thought so. Maybe she had been wrong?
Mizu frowned. 'But that's the only explanation! It has to be Sakura! The lie too! I mean, even Ranma's a better liar than that! A giant squid! Who'd be stupid enough to fall for that?!'
*Whooo* She was almost knocked off her feet as a strong, hot wind suddenly blew into her, and she stumbled a bit before looking around in wonder.
*WHAM!!!* The wind was followed by a gigantic, rubbery form smashing into the thankfully empty road, crushing a few parked cars before it rolled to a stop in front of a fire station.
Mizu stared wide-eyed at the dead squid, before deftly turning around and heading back to her apartment.
'On second thought, maybe I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. Just this once.'

**********************************************************************************

Sea creatures char-broiled: 1, 274
Enemy war machines scrapped: 2
Terrorists butchered (including sub explosion): 23
Rogue soldiers taken out (sub explosion only): 9

And for those of you who were wondering; yes, the Core armor suits are the same ones from Jin-Roh.

End Chapter 8