The Return
A Ranma Sailor Moon fic thingy.
By Sunshine Temple
Naturally, I own neither Sailor Moon nor Ranma. So here's the disclaimer
Ranma 1/2 and its characters and settings belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Kitty, and Viz Video. Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi, Koudansha, TV Asahi, and Toei Douga, and DIC.
Previous chapters and other works can be found at my fanfiction website.
http://jtemple.florestica.com/
Temporary Backup Site.
http://www.fukufics.com/fic/
Other website Temple of Ranma's Senshi Seifuku
http://fukufics.com
C&C is appreciated.
Book 4: Capital Offense
Chapter 6: Bottoming Out
Formerly: Reserve and Release Part 2ii
The succubus dropped down the
stairwell. Her boots lightly hit the concrete. Sickly gray smoke oozed before
her. Lifting her arm to signal the troops behind her, the redhead slipped past
the landing and into a short corridor that ran deeper into the basement. There
was a gentle pull to the north, which made the floor feel like it tilted down.
Horns quivered with a tingling itch that seemed to run right down her spine and
churn her stomach.
The basement was dank. Water
and other fluids had spilled and splattered onto the floor. The lights
flickered and many were simply out. Smoke also drifted and sank near the floor
in lumpy drifts.
Her nostrils flared at the
deep tang of blood and the spicier scents of various viscera. She went down the
empty corridor following the scent. It was decidedly human, there was only a
slight undercurrent of the mint-like smell the aliens gave off.
Glancing over to the open
door, Ranma knelt down. Idly, she summoned a couple DarkStar bursts and sent
them down the junction where the corridor crossed with two other hallways.
She could see streaks of blood
along the floor. Overlaying the gore was the whisk pattern the alien's
tentacles made on the floor. Ranma slipped into the room. It had been a storage
and shipping room but it had been repurposed.
Sheeting had been pulled out
onto the center of the floor. It looked like a matte plastic. To one side was a
small pile of rounded containers. They looked like they were made out of the
same material as the squid's armored suits, but without any blue sections. It
was all stiff matte-black material. On the other were three piles.
One was a haphazard stack of
various computers, binders, books, data drives, and other electronic odds and
ends. The middle was a neat pile of little matte black balls. The final was a
stack of corpses. It was a mix of civilian and military personnel. Some were in
a bloody pile on one end of the plastic sheeting while others had been propped
up against the wall.
The latter group were
especially ghoulish. Most had had their skulls sawed off at the top and their
eyes were removed. Some had their lips peeled back and their tongues cut out.
Others had everything inside their skulls scooped out, and the skin on their
faces and hands flayed off.
"Fuck, those're the worst
Jack-O-Lanterns I've ever seen," MacDowell swore as he strode into the
room. His eyes went to the plastic sheeting itself and the... processing that
had been going on there. A laptop had been meticulously disassembled, so had a
young clerk. Her skull had been cut open and a neat incision went down from her
sternum to her hips.
MacDowell's rifle jittered
slightly in his hands. He knew... he knew shit like this could happen. He knew
it was not something that only happened "over there". Still... this
was military HQ. If the ultimate rear echelon was not safe then the shit had truly
hit the fan.
He glanced back, his squad was
in position at the corridor and the hallway. The demon was still crouched down
over by the line of corpses.
Corporal Cordell Giddings
looked in the room. Face ashen, he forced a grin. "Making a bag lunch?"
he asked.
Ranma whipped her head back to
face the tall soldier and the grizzled non-com.
"I somehow doubt that
Cord," MacDowell said. His dark walnut eyes briefly met her glance before
looking into the empty eyes of an navy lieutenant. "That what they're
doing here? Bagging up some snacks to send back... back wherever it is they
came from?"
The demon forced a laugh.
"And you think they like to eat computers?"
"They're
squid-fucking-aliens."
Ranma stood up. "No, I'm
thinking this is an intel op."
MacDowell looked at the first
pile and kicked over a bound photocopier manual. "Yes quite the trove
they've found. Can they even read this shit?"
The demon shrugged.
"They're squid-fucking-aliens. Maybe they're real good at languages, maybe
they'll take this stuff back home and decode it later. Maybe there's a reason
they like taking human brains."
"They're eating
them?"
Ranma snorted. "Taste
lousy."
"Maybe they don't have
the same tastes as you?"
The redhead nodded, and knelt
over the clerk. "True, the squids taste like shit to us..."
Inspecting the cuts that had been done to the young soldiers, the demon frowned
MacDowell noted her casual use
of the word "us".
"Yup, this ain't surgical
or culinary cutting. They're just poking around for whatever's...
interesting?" The redhead picked up the clerk's head. And peered into the
skull cavity. "Save for this. Delicate work in here. Guess they figured
that much." She eyed the pile of matte-black containers the squids had
left. "Wonder how they preserve the brains... or maybe they didn't think
they needed to..."
MacDowell stared. "You're
telling me we don't just have an alien invasion, but we've got a brain-eating
alien invasion."
Ranma lowered the body back to
the floor. She wiped her gloved hands against a clear spot on the plastic
sheeting. "You're really fixated on the eating part? Look Sarge, next time
I'll be sure to save the brains of something tasty for you."
MacDowell laughed at her
earnest expression, until he saw her sincerity. "Fine maybe not eating,
but absorbing, preserving, maybe they're just tossing them into jars. Shit.
This is an intel mess."
Standing up, Ranma's brow
quirked. "Yes, the whole invasion thing. And anyway, it's a lot easier to
get data out of that stuff-" Ranma pointed to the pile of binders and
computer equipment. "than out of a bunch of brains."
"Now who's making
assumptions," MacDowell grumbled.
"Right, right."
Ranma's headset then clicked over. "Red here."
"This is Sifton. Contact?
Cultist or Commie?" the head of JTF2's black Devil's unit demanded.
The demoness looked down at
the bodies. A frown flickered across features. "Negative."
Major Sifton swore. "Same
up here." There was the sound of a helicopter engine thrumming in the
background. It was followed by the burp of a door-mounted machine gun.
"Fuckit Winston, Tahnee. Lead with the damn tracers!" Sifton ordered
the door gunner.
He returned to the comm.
channel. "No one else has seen 'em yet, they either got out before the
quarantine fell or they went to ground."
Ranma looked up and met
MacDowell's eyes. He nodded and pointed out of the room and down the hallway.
She summoned a DarkStar burst. The obsidian orb flared and bobbed out of the
room streaking violet flames. She exhaled and summoned another orb.
"Status?" Sifton
ordered.
"We found a chop shop.
Squidies cutting stuff up to send back home: computers, papers... people,"
Ranma's voice wavered slightly. There was more pressure from the rift down here
and she had to force that headache down. Guiding her DarkStar bursts towards it
did not help either.
"I see." A wave of
distortion shrieked over the channel. "Leave it for cleanup, unless..."
Sifton's voice was weary. "No one's... no one's getting back up?"
Concentrating on where her orbs
were going, Ranma sniffed the air. "No, sir."
"If they do burn
'em," Sifton's voice hardened. There was a hiss of a rocket being launched
of one of the helicopter's racks.
A few seconds later Ranma felt
the explosion. It was above her and maybe fifty meters to the North "I've
narrowed down the gate location, its between Site E and Site H. Repeat sites
Echo Hotel. Echo Hotel. Is Beta team-"
"Getting into position,
Red." Sifton cut off her question. "We're done screwing around."
Ranma's lips curled up.
"Good," she purred as she mentally controlled the DarkStar burst. The
orb bobbled down the hallway and then....
Her pupils dilated. The orb
detonated. "Contact! Contact North!"
A few armored troops from the
hallway lunged into the room and took position. "What's going on?" a
shorter troop lugging a heavy recoilless rifle asked.
"Evil brain eating
aliens; standard fun stuff, Winston," Private Tahnee laughed. There was a
strained edge to it.
"We were looking for
their gateway right?"
Swearing, MacDowell knelt down
and switched to his squad channel. "How many?"
Ranma's lips peeled back,
flashing her bright fangs. "Uh... all of 'em?" she asked as her horns
erupted into a pricking tingle that made her eyes water slightly.
There was a whistling sound in
the air as a barrage of incendiary rounds began to pelt down the hallway.
"Jones you better have
that beast ready with short fuses this time!" MacDowell demanded.
Corporal Jon Jones nodded he
nodded to his loader, Corporal Bishop "Check my back-blast will you."
Bishop pulled a face but
looked out the door. "Oh no Jon... looks like you don't have to worry
about anyone... behind you at least."
The bright phosphorus rounds
the squids favored began to the door frame and go against the stairwell where
the rest of MacDowell's squad was. Their machine gun and rifles opened up.
Eyes slightly glowing, Ranma
blinked. She flexed her hands. A fresh pair of DarkStar Bursts appeared in her
hands. Purple light began to pool around her eyes. Purple and red flames raced
over her body. She stood up and bent down next to Jones.
The soldier inched aside,
automatically drawing the large artillery tube away from the demon's
combustible aura.
Fighting down a wave of
nausea, Ranma didn't seem to notice. "I'll go out, draw fire and shoot my
load. You'll get an opening. Use it."
Jon Jones nodded. Standing in
front of a Carl Gustav was almost as stupid as standing behind one, but this
was the scary demon lady.
He blinked and the demon was
gone. She had lunged out into the hallway. Burning phosphorus rounds splashed
against her aura. White flames fought against violet. Her hands whipped out and
the twin obsidian spheres launched.
They raced down the hallway
towards the Squids. The aliens had taken position at the end of the hallway and
were using a pallet load of filing cabinets and other office equipment as
makeshift cover, though they seemed more keen on firing from behind the corner
of the wall.
The demon's spheres simply
flew over the barricade and around the corner and blew up in a meaty splat. The
incendiary fire increased as smoke began to choke off the hallway and the walls
started to smolder. That's when the dribbling purple light around the demon's
eyes flashed over and a pair of thick purple beams shot out.
They lanced straight through
the barricade and cut squid, armor, and concrete with ease. However the fire
only slackened slightly. More alien reinforcements were boiling down from the
side hallways.
A missile cluster launched
from one of the larger creatures and the demon dropped down her burning aura
taking the brunt of the hit.
Running on auto-pilot, Jones
took the opportunity and stepped forward. Ignoring the incendiary rounds, one
of which hit and began to burn through his vest, the solider planted his foot,
aimed his recoilless rifle, and pulled the trigger.
The Carl Gustav fired with a
loud prang. The 88mm shell launched down the corridor and tumbled through the
mass of squids. It crossed at least three ranks of the alien soldiers before
the shell tripped
Ranma had thought the
detonation in the elevator lobby had been bad. From her position on the ground
this was far, far worse. The pressure hit her like a giant foot stomping on her
back and pushed all the air out of her lungs.
Wheezing she rose up and a
vicious smile crossed her face. As bad as it was for her, it was far worse for
the enemy.
The elevator lobby had been
different. It was spacious compared to this cramped corridor stuffed full of
squids. Bodies crumpled against the massive concussive wave. Bits of alien
splattered about, some splashing against her face.
Broken black, red, and
blue-sheathed forms pressed against the floor and the walls. The shattered
cases of white-grey gleaming metal-ceramic weapons pods dotted the floor. Ichor
dripped from the calling, and an overpowering black and blue flecked wave of
greasy mint wafted down the hallway.
Gasping, Ranma pulled herself
up to her knees. Her stomach growled but when she looked at the mass of meat
around her it turned. She licked her lips and gagged. It was strange, being in
a fight without any... food.
One JTF2 fireteam ran past her
and secured the opposite end of the hallway while the other hovered near her.
Private Sherrise Tahnee had already gone down and dropped her machine gun on
its bipod.
"Go on!" Ranma waved as she stood up. Her earrings tingled as power trickled from the magical capacitors. Her hands flexed and she dumped more energy into her jammer. Her stomach also growled.
Her horns buzzed, she could
still feel the twisting pull of the alien rift. "Shit." She exhaled
and flicked one of her jammer's antennae.
"We still locked
out?" MacDowell asked as they advanced to the next position. Soon they
were up to their ankles in battered barrel-like bodies, tentacles and torn blue
and black environmental suits.
Ranma nodded. The tingle
pulsed down the length of the inner arc of her horns. Part of her wanted to
extend both pairs of horns but the wave of nausea from the greasy prickling
sensation held her back..
"Well we'll just have to
take out their countermeasures." MacDowell looked down the hall. The
slithering, brushing noise increased. "
The redhead flicked her hands
and a trio of DarkStar bursts flew off. She hoped MacDowell was right. She
hoped that these squids had some powerful counter-jamming gear setup. She hoped
they were stabilizing their gateway.
The alternative was far worse.
An inter-dim Jammer forced a degree of dimensional stability. It was like
nailing a plywood sheet over a hole in the floor. However, sometimes the floor
was too rotted for the nails to hold and sometimes... the hole was too big.
She pushed as hard as she
dared. Not only was there a rapid diminishing returns on signal strength versus
energy drain, but the jammer rig, a kludge of WIC tech and Pattern Silver
magic, could burn out if it was redlined for too long.
Ranma's concerns were cut
short when one of her DarkStar bursts was hit by a wave of incendiary bolts.
The demon growled and directed the remaining two to a white-grey missile pod
being carried by one of the larger squids.
"Contact!" Ranma
cried. Her horns buzzed again. It was hard getting a feel for the squids, but
when enough were packed together their scent
became easy enough to pick up.
As she launched another brace
of obsidian orbs, Ranma's radio clicked on. "Bonhomme here with Beta
team."
"Status," MacDowell
barked out as his two heavy machine gunners opened fire.
"In position. Light off
in four," Bonhomme stated. There was a rattle of small arms fire in the
background, though nothing at the level of what was happening in the basement.
"We're clearing
back!" MacDowell ordered his men. "Grenades!"
The eight forward members of
MacDowell's team, minus the two machine gunners, switched to the under slung
grenades on their rifles. A clutch of 40mm grenades lobbed out followed by the
minty smell of battered squids. The incendiary fire paused, but not before
several of the Canadians were hit.
Jones and Bishop flashed an
irritated look, but firing a Carl Gustav was not a wise move when your men were
behind the recoilless gun. Instead they grabbed one of the wounded. Jones
taking the trooper while Bishop covered.
MacDowell knelt down and
helped a limping trooper. There was a burning tear through his leg and his
rifle's foregrip was melted and its barrel was slightly bent. "Come on
Pete... you can let go," MacDowell gently said to get the trooper's hands,
one of which was bleeding though the glove, to release the rifle.
The FAL fell out of the
trooper's hands and hung from the strap attaching it to his harness. Eyes a bit
glassy Specialist Pete Verger's hand went to the pistol strapped to his thigh.
Still withdrawing, MacDowell's
attention went straight to the battle. He was down another man, but the
remainder were pulling back in good order. However in front of them...
"Red, what the fuck are
you doing!"
While the other troopers had
been pulling back, out of the danger radius, Ranma had advanced. Flames
cascaded down her hair, sparked off the tips of her horns and billowed down her
arms.
The bare concrete floor and
walls had started to char and the paint had begun to curl and peel adding a
large burnt zone to the stippled burns and gouges from the squid's weapons'
fire.
One of the larger missile-bearing squids had
surmounted the mass of fallen comrades. It was supported by a fresh squad of
the smaller squids. The redhead flashed into motion. Incendiary rounds blasted
against her flaming aura.
As the missiles launched her
arms shot up and a fountain of red flames stabbed out. The beam wobbled and
even dribbled bits of flames. It hit the larger squid, knocked it down, and
then the flames leaped off its armor splashing around in a burning mess.
There was a piercing shriek as
half the Squids cooked in their own suits which then ruptured spewing out hot
gas.
The demon raced forward and
MacDowell swore again. The flames around her began to sputter and flicker out.
Her long red hair hung limply on her back and she gave a labored gasp. At the
same moment she leapt in and kicked a dying squid to the side while slashing
through another with her claws. It was brutal, economical work. They flailed at
her, one of the squids managing to land on her back where it was eviscerated by
her tail and had two of its tentacles bitten off.
The alien was flung to the
side where it hit the wall like a garbage bag full of wet newspaper. Sniffing
the air, she made a displeased expression and spat to the ground. She glanced
back and saw MacDowell's carefully neutral expression and the remainder of the
JTF2 troops. She turned and started running back to their position.
And then the wall right to her
left blew apart. Concrete block showered her as a hole large enough to drive a
golf cart was suddenly blasted into existence. One of the larger chunks slammed
into her face, first hitting her cheek then bashing her forehead as it tumbled
through the air. She wobbled; her boots slipping on the slick debris strewn
floor.
An avalanche of Squids boiled
out of the opening. A quartet of the smaller incendiary and blade-bearing
invaders were immediately upon her, tackling her to the ground, while a pair of
the lumbering missile carriers were right behind her.
"You cheating bastards!"
Ranma growled as she thrashed. Already two of the squids on her had been
killed. One was gutted by her tail while the other made the mistake of
wandering under her eyes. She was less angry at the trap and more the Squids
had sprung theirs first.
Ranma flicked her hands over
and sliced through the two squids that were trying to pin her arms down. Blades
flailed and slashed against her sleeve's Kevlar weave but one managed to stab
through. Using a wing, she pushed herself into a tumbling roll and slid under
one of the heavy missile squids.
Her claws sprung out and she
sliced through a sensor cluster while her tail battered along the creature's
barrel-like body. Writhing mono-filaments scoured the armor and with flickering
sparks and the scream of tortured metal, tore several steaming holes in the
alien's environmental suit.
Clearing the screeching being,
she popped into a crouch and punched another squid with an open palm strike.
Five claws sunk into the alien's "head" and it violently shuddered
firing off incendiary rounds as she wrenched it to the side.
Rising up, she kicked one
squid, knocking it over. Drawing her pistol she gave a quick twist, and fired a
sweep at the lunging creatures. Over half a dozen 500 S&W rounds were
fired, and each hit a grasping, grappling squid at the base of the cluster of
sensor organ tendrils at the front of their bodies.
Finishing the elegant rotation,
she popped out the spent magazine, rammed a fresh one in, and stomped on the
squid she had originally kicked. Vomiting blue and black fluid one of the
"head"-shot squids rose up.
A blast of incendiary rounds
burst out and slammed into her skirt. Kevlar began to smolder and some ceramic
plates rattled. Gasping, she shot another team of squids, while she kicked the
interloper.
However, its tentacles sprung
out, and wrapped around her right leg. Securely gripping Ranma, the creature
began to cut through her boot at the ankle. Screaming, Ranma arced her leg up
and slammed it into the missile rack of the dying refrigerator-sized squid to
her left. Red and black armor crumpled.
The remaining missiles in the
rack detonated. The blast flashed, shrapnel shot out, and Ranma was blinded.
One shard of metal crossed next to her right eye while a smaller piece lodged
right into her left. She felt a wrenching pain as the squid was torn from her
leg and her body was once again knocked to the side.
Her horns throbbed as she
momentarily focused on her other senses. She could smell the old-mint and
sulfur of the enemy; she could feel their buzzing, pressing wills. Her second
pair of horns had slid out and proudly curled ram-like on the sides of her
head.
Gunfire was all around her. It
sounded like the Canadians were holding their position. There was a burst of
heavy machine gun fire and she felt a group of squids about to flank her get
torn apart.
There were plenty more; they
mobbed her. Tail, wings, and claws lashed out. She concentrated less on killing
them and more on disabling and diverting. She blinked and like a nightmarish
tear, a long sliver of metal popped free. Her eyesight just returning, she
tossed another squid and tried to rise to her feet.
The demon screamed in pain,
and nearly stumbled. She glanced down; she saw that it was not just a squid
that had been blown off of her leg. Leaning on her good foot, she narrowed her
eyes and a pair of purple beams shot out. Squids fell before her in a wide
twitching arc. Her head swam.
Another blast of incendiaries
hit her in the vest which tore open exposing her composite plate armor. Kevlar
began to burn through and the skin on one of her hands began to blacken. The
burning material oozed down, and a couple ceramic plates on her skirt broke
loose and tumbled onto the squishy floor.
Her stomach screamed in protest; her earrings throbbed. Ranma gutted a pair of squids to her left, tried to reform her missing foot, and then turned to shoot the swarm leaping from her right. In the center of that mass was one of the lumbering refrigerator-sized creatures.
She turned too slow. The gun
fired; the bullet was heavy and, for a handgun, very powerful, very fast.
However, it was still slower than the 7.62 NATO rounds the Canadians had for
their rifles. Instead of slicing through the micro-weave of the squid's armored
environmental suit, the bullet deformed, slowed, and then pierced through the
suit. It still left a tumbling wound track but only wounded the creature
instead of blowing through its organs.
The manic, pained alien wrapped
its tentacles around her arm. The creature found the tear on her sleeve,
slipped a bladed appendage in, and ripped down the length of her forearm.
Its companions then fell upon
her. Claws and beams shot out while her tail thrashed and her remaining boot
stomped. Aflame, and chewed apart she still managed to scythe through the
squids.
Then the lumbering giant
flopped down onto her. There was a sickening crunch and the demon screamed. Her
chest was pounded by pressure worse than a Gustav going off next to her in a
confined hallway. Ribs snapped; armored plates buckled; organs mashed.
Howling, Ranma's eyes flared.
A twin gouts of flame shot from her flayed arms. The heavy creature squirmed as
alien plate and woven armor boiled and burned through. Its thrashing grew when
the Canadians shifted their fire.
Tracers splashed against the
creature's hide as a machinegun tore into it. There was another sproing-like
thud of the recoilless gun going off followed by a flat explosion. The demon
gave a wet, mushy scream as the weight doubled on her chest then suddenly
relented.
Vision blurred she found
herself being dragged away as familiar and human scents filled her nose. A pair
of soldiers had taken her harness and dragged her away while the rest of
MacDowell's men gave cover fire.
A medic rushed over to her and
froze for a moment. The pale woman's ribcage was crushed, her entrails spilling
out; she should not be alive, let along attempting some rude joke of breathing.
Gasping, the demon held up a hand before rolling over and vomiting a gout of
black smeared blood with pulpy pink chunks.
The ropey fluid splattered
onto the concrete with an iridescent purple sheen. The demon's breath caught as
her chest creaked, popped and rose a bit higher with each pained labored
breath. She tossed off a shattered canteen and munched on a mashed ration-bar.
As she was dragged off she eyed the medic's kit.
"You've got any blood...
or plasma?" the demon wheezed hoping her nose was wrong. Silver dripped down her limbs and oozed out
of her broken torso.
"Upstairs at the
station..." the medic hesitated watching the blood swirl around the
demon's mangled limbs. The woman's er foot was slowly forming back and tight
skin was knitting on her arms.
"Light Off. Light
Off," Bonhomme declared in a loud steady voice that distant and distorted
in Ranma's headset. A part of her was surprised that her comms had survived in
any shape. She blinked at the familiar tingling of an active Jammer field.. It
seemed that had survived as well.
Above them Bonhomme spared a
glance at his emplacement and grinned. Concrete could be a pain to work with...
that is unless you cheated. Concrete was heavy, it took a lot of momentum to
move; it was prone to fracture, which also absorbed energy.
But... it was not solid. Not
in buildings anyway. Holes had to be cut for electrical conduits, for water
pipes, for ventilation. The latter were especially handy since they were
already pockets of air.
"Fire in the Hole," Bonhomme shouted
with something akin to glee. The squids had holed up in a power vault. A room
full of generators. Generators that needed plenty of air and had to vent a lot
of exhaust. Sure the vents were small and secured from infiltration, but they
were not that small.
There was an explosion.
It was not particularly loud.
Especially not when it was a couple dozen meters away and separated by several
concrete walls. However, it did come with a cracking, earthquake like vibration
as a couple tones of poured concrete flooring broke loose and fell.
The squids had concentrated
their forces where the walls of reality were thinnest. Protected on all sides
by several heavy squads with missile-support the former power vault was also
guarded by stabilization drives that had been pulled through the rift.
And Corporal Richard Bonhomme had blasted a rough meter and a half wide hole in the roof right above them. An exhaust vent had been cut into and stuffed with explosives. The remnants of which hung listlessly from the ceiling cables.
Before the smoke could clear,
elements of Beta team rushed forward and, standing at the crumbling edge fired
tube-launched rockets right through the hole. They were then followed by a
squad launching their 40mm grenades.
Behind them, Bonhomme ran up
lugging a bulging, jangling duffle bag that he had tied his half-empty
demolitions satchel onto. Corporal Green helped him carry the massive bag. The
demolitions man bore a serene if manic grin. Green, for her part, was a bit
worried.
His comrades were already
withdrawing from the smoking hole. They seemed more afraid of him than the
incendiary fire coming up towards them.
The duffle bag was full of
loose hand grenades, rifle grenades, a belt of machine gun ammunition, some
shaped charges, a couple Carl Gustav rounds that he'd gotten from Bishop, a
pair of warheads stripped out of helicopter rocket reloads he had stolen, and
whatever else he had managed to stuff inside.
Compared to that, his satchel
was simply a bunch of blocks of plastic explosives with a remote detonator.
However, it had been tied to the duffle bag using det cord. With a heave he
tossed the explosive kludge over the lip of the hole, spun on his heel and
started running back. Pulling the detonator out of his harness, the soldier
sniggered.
Near the doorway that gave
some cover he tripped on a bit of greasy concrete. Green and one of the jammer
technicians from Beta team picked him up. Bonhomme hardly noticed as he turned
back towards the crater. "Fire in the hole!"
He took out a remote, flicked
back the molly-guard, and pressed the detonator.
The satchel detonated. As it
blew, a concussive flame-front knocked apart the various explosive odds and
ends that had been stuffed into the duffle bag. Some immediately detonated,
while others, like the helicopter rockets, took a bit longer to cook off.
Sounds of rippled explosions
and squalling shrieks came from the hole. The detonations destroyed
stabilization equipment, containers, and Squids alike. Greasy smoke smelling of
charred mint rose in a meandering plume.
Beta team cycled the power on
the bulky jammer that had been wheeled in and called in the other units. There
was a deep vibration that rose in pitch like an electric motor under a heavy
torque-load. The demolitions specialist could almost feel his teeth shake.
Suddenly a metallic twang
echoed up from the hole and the vibrations dampened down. As he was lifted up
by Green, Bonhomme no longer felt like his fillings were about to come loose.
"Did we get it?"
Green asked as she looked towards the hole.
Bonhomme shrugged. "A bit
above my pay grade." He tapped his headset.
Seeing the destruction,
Warrant Officer Francis Young turned and nodded to Sergeant Olsen Brummet. The
Sergeant and a few corporals under him made for the stairs. The enemy was bound
to be angry, and the troops down below would probably appreciate some
reinforcement.
"This is Bonhomme,
package has been delivered, but has not been signed. Repeat. Delivered. Not
signed."
***************
In the sublevel, the remaining
squids... hesitated. The incendiary strikes had trickled off and they backed
away from the intruders. The remnant hovered over the broken, battered bodies
of their comrades. Many were pulped with blood leaking out of holes in their
suits.
Others had sections torn away
exposing blue-green skin to the toxic, alien atmosphere. They tried to drag
their wounded back, but still left plenty of matte black, blue and red armor
and gleaming white weapons pods.
Confused communications
bounced between them. The gateway had been closed. The insidious presence of this world pressed even
harder upon them. They were trapped.
Armored vest torn apart, ribs
shattered arms stripped, hand and foot mangled, the demon pulled herself up. A
couple empty IV packets fell down. Exhaling she coughed up thick bubbles; her
lungs were ripped up and the rest of her organs were not much better.
The queasy buzzing in her head
had been replaced by a different vibration, one that flickered about her horns.
Despite the bleeding from her scalp, her head had cleared. Without the
interference, she could feel her family stronger than before. Other connections
popped up as well.
Ranma gasped, inhaled, and then lazily smiled.
Wobbling, she rose up on one
foot. Seeing the Squids flick their "heads" back towards the gateway,
her grin turned feral. "Yeah! That's how WE do a diversion yah boneless
bastards!"
She exhaled, coughed, then
whispered "Earth Power Make-Up!" A bright green Earth symbol flared
on her forehead surrounded by the violet energy.
Her hair began to flare about
as violet flames sprung up and her aura rekindled. Silver began to bleed into
the purple flames and a four pointed silver star flared on her forehead.
Liquid silver light began to
pour out from her skin as shadows billowed out from her hair and wings.
Darkness eagerly bounded across the floor, pouring over the dead and dying
Squids.
Silver coated her Kevlar
bodysuit and began to infiltrate the weave, repairing and filling in. The
coating reached her limbs and her body shuddered as her healing flared. There
was a shortage of raw materials but the magic could make do with what it had.
Retreating, gravid shadows
left the stripped, mint-smelling barrel-shaped bodies of the invaders in their
wake. Dark, violet tinged shadows swirled around gleaming silver.
Giving a toothy smirk, the succubus straightened her right leg. Billowing hair pulled back, split to either side and began to braid and wind around her rear-most pair of horns. Her body flowed and reduced in height and size, the excess flesh being greedily consumed by her burning muscles and organs.
A long, slightly stiff, navy
blue skirt extruded out of the shadows. Made out of a dense, strong weave the
matte-blue material ran down to above her ankles. There dark, almost bronze,
red shin guards had formed. Gold crescent moons shined on the guards.
Polished, almost pearlescent white, a
bodice-like armored vest molded around her torso. Thicker than her composite
amour, it had the ceramic insets built-in instead of separate plates.
More of the blue armored
material formed a protective collar and tiered shoulder pieces. Beneath the
blue cloth armor pauldrons, her gleaming, almost wet-looking, chest armor went
up to her neck where it buckled in place. The heavy clasp at the neck bore a
four pointed amethyst star over the Willard International Consulting logo in
silver set in an obsidian backing.
Sleek, smooth green-trimmed
gauntlets made of white armor matching her sculpted chest-piece went from her
elbows to the tips of elongated, pointed fingers. Sparkling purple flames
flared down the lengths of the long, claw-like digits.
All together this made her
face and ears the only exposed skin on her entire body. Even her thick silver
woven under-armor was only visible between her gloves and tiered pauldrons and
on the bits of her legs not covered by her skirting or her crimson leg guards.
Flashing bright silver fangs, she stomped down
a gleaming silver hoof echoing across the concrete floor. Thickly swaddled in
ribbons of crimson armor, her lengthened tail lazily looped behind her. Having
grown at least longer than she was tall, it ended in an array of bow-like fins,
all extruding razor-sharp filaments.
A gleaming heart-shaped ruby
adorned the tip of her tail, centering the nest of armor and cutting threads.
Its twin formed the center of a little bronze bow pinned above her left breast.
A deep green v-shaped belt wrapped around her waist. Secured in a glossy
blue-green, and mint-smelling, thick leather holster was her SSP.
The giant handgun had been
polished to a gleaming silver and its grips were a pearly white similar to her
bodice. The rest of her equipment and ammo had been moved to various pouches
along the belt.
The one exception was her jammer rig. The
dull-red oval stone formed the center of a diadem-like gold tiara on her
forehead. Her little curving forward horns had been integrated into the crown
and had been gilt.
Woven silver and violet braided cables
branched from the tiara and to a pair of pointed hair buns that alternated
between braids of white-gold and ruby red tresses.
The cables wrapped around the
horns and then both were covered by the buns. Little green bows summited the
horn-buns. A pair of ponytails tumbled out nearly reaching the floor and
brushed against her skit and hooves. A matching pair of green bows tied off the
ends of the ponytails.
The jammer antennae had been woven down the
braided length of the long white gold and ruby ponytails, making them easily
triple the length of the chest-mounted antennae. And her horns throbbed, now
being able to directly feed the jammer channels, instead of the earlier remote
transmission of demonic energy.
Cheeks hollow, her face looked
as it if had been dusted silver, especially the elongated points of her ears
and the contrastingly glossy metallic-plum lips. Her sharp, almost bony chin
also gave a stark division against the unaccented curves of her bodice armor
and the rounded flare around her billowing pleated skirting.
"Move up!" MacDowell
ordered as JTF2 troopers began to filter past the succubus. "Get that
Tahnee MG in place!
A trooper paused and looked up
and down the length of Ranma's form. As if in a light breeze, her ponytails
swayed. He could feel the buzzing pressure coming from them. It felt like
standing next to a vehicle-mounded jamming station. Bemused, she nimbly, almost
daintily stepped aside.
Sherrise Tahnee looked back at
the tiny silver succubus. She shook her head and focused on checking her
rifle's ammunition linkage. Let the higher ups deal with the crazy magic
demons.
Sergeant MacDowell slapped
Ranma watched the tall soldier
pass before turning back to MacDowell. He could have sworn he saw her tongue
dart out for a split second. She stayed to one side to let the rest of his men
pass. Her smile quirked at the appreciative if... confused looks she got.
It was then that Sergeant
Olsen Brummet had caught up with the rearguard. He blinked and went to
MacDowell. Corporal Lily Green and several other troops were at his heel.
Lily peeled off to the side
and found Corporal Giddings. "Cord what the hell's going on?"
Cordell Giddings exhaled.
"The more she fights, the more she burns out, the more she..." he
shrugged. "You grab any smokes from that dapper Lieutenant topside?"
Lily patted him on the
shoulder and watched the other troops try to make it past the demoness and into
position.
Eyes down, one trooper,
Winston, almost tripped over her long looping tail. Cheeks flushing a pinkish
silver, she pulled the thick appendage over so it hugged the wall. However, the
end of the tail still curled off to one side and hung in midair like an alert
cobra.
For his part, MacDowell
stared. It was not the armor, or even the demonic extras. He had seen enough
magical girl silliness, and he had seen her with hooves and extra horns before.
But forcing himself to look into her slitted violet eyes, he had never seen her
this... hungry.
"Such polite boys,"
she said after Jones and Bishop passed. She ran a long finger over the shaft of
their Carl Gustav recoilless.
"Secure the next
position! These bastards may be on the run, but they're gonna regroup and
they'll be pissed! Now Olsen brought some more of his boys and girls, which
means that the brass think things are going to get even worse!" MacDowell
ordered.
He then leaned in towards the
demoness. Standing on hooves, at the tips of what had been feet, her height had
increased and her head was now just a bit below his. "Red, I know today's
been... you wanna go back and watch the wounded?" It had not been quite
the meat-grinder he had feared, but there were more than enough burns and KIAs.
Uncertainly flickered across
the demon's eyes for a split second.
"Are you contained?"
he asked, after discretely making sure his headset was live. If the mercenary's
pet slipped a gear, then the least he could do was ensure the officers
listening to the command channel knew about it.
The flames went out on the
fingers on her left hand. She reached up and cupped his chin. Wriggling her
hips she straightened her knees and ankles to eke out a few more centimeters of
height. Silver flashed across her sharp face as she licked her lips.
"My dear Sergeant, I am
quite contained. That's why we're having this lovely chat instead of something
even more... lovely." She gave him a quick kiss on the lips, and this time
MacDowell was certain that her tongue had darted out.
"But your concern is most
appreciated," she said spinning on one hoof and marching up to the next
position.
Stunned, MacDowell watched her
for a couple paces and wondered if she was deliberately swaying her gait or if
that was just how her new legs worked. He radioed a quick status and caught up
to her.
She glanced back and smirked.
"Status? I heard the package has been delivered but-"
"Not signed,"
MacDowell completed. Bonhomme's bomb had destroyed the counter-jammers but
there was no confirmation that the gateway was down. "What about
your..." MacDowell gestured to her tiara with its dull-red jammer gem.
"I'm not getting any
pushback. It could be due to the upgrades on my gear."
MacDowell eyed the swishing
long armed clothe skirt and the waving two-tone meter and a half long ponytails
"Upgrades. Right."
"I'm thinking we need to
see if the package has been signed."
Signaling to his men,
MacDowell nodded. His team was still at half strength.
Ranma tapped the little bow
above her left breast. The heart-shaped center gem glowed and a tiny bone-white
ruby-tipped headset flashed over one pointed silvery ear. "Sifton?
Major?"
MacDowell kept his face
neutral. At least she had a headset. Voices coming out of that little bit of
magical girl frill it would be a bit much.
"Good work Red,
William." Sifton's voice drawled.
"Sir, " Sergeant
Billy MacDowell replied.
"The few bastards topside
are freaking out. I think they know they're cornered. I'm sending in everything
we've got."
Ranma's slitted pupils
widened. "Everything?"
There was hesitation in
Sifton's voice. "Everything... I've got. I don't think we'll need the good
Agent Gagnon's help today."
MacDowell had caught up and
was even with the demon. He wondered what Gagnon and those other spooks had
cooked up. What they had that the Major, who had let a demon loose, was
reluctant to use.
Ranma exhaled. She did not
know exactly what were the Options that Agent Gagnon had offered Major Sifton,
but she knew that they were on the more extreme end.
"And the Fifth NH?"
she asked, amused that a brood of mercenary demons were one of the more mundane
"options" at hand.
"Fifteen out,"
Sifton grumbled. "There was a delay, something about teleportation risks
being too much and them going back into the air." Five hundred kilometers
was a frustrating distance. It took a couple hours for helicopters to make that
distance, half that for a jet plane.
Even the fastest transport
jets would still take a half hour to make that time, and while those mercenaries
did have such high speed business jets; one was not at their
Ranma grinned, she missed her
daughters. They should be here. She touched on her connection with her brood,
her family, and it was getting stronger. They were coming. "Good, they can
help keep a lid on things. We'll push on through down here."
"And we'll catch whatever
tries to run out," the Major agreed. "Sifton, Out."
"Red, Out." The tip
of a long clawed finger tapped the heart gem above her left breast. Her tail
trailing behind her like a crimson kite, the clopped forward. Her dress slowly
swished reflecting its armored weight.
MacDowell also signed off and
switched back to his team's channel.
"Shall we?" Ranma
turned to the Sergeant. "You and your men have had a bad enough day, let's
finish this." The bowed and finned tip of her tail drifted forward and
brushed past MacDowell's hip and thigh before settling just below the demon's
waiting hand.
The sergeant's mind sharpened.
He had casualties, at least three KIAs. A good third of his team. She knew it
too. It was then that he saw what her... flirting really was. MacDowell looked
the demoness in the eye. "I'm not sure you're fully contained... Ma'am.
You're leaking a bit."
"I know," Ranma
exhaled. Something other than playful hunger entered her eyes. Her
embarrassment and fear were pushed aside.
Her stomach growled. It was a deep, churning,
needy noise. The demoness looked away from MacDowell and down towards the
Front. Swallowing, the purple star on her forehead flashed and the silver
dusting on her face increased.
Now her pointed ears were
fully silver and it looked like she used a metallic foundation on her cheeks.
This made the silver under-armor visible on her upper arms and lower legs look less
like armor and more like a gleaming, stiffer type of skin.
Sporadic gunfire had resumed
head of them, but there was none of the tell-tale crackle of the enemy's
incendiary weapons.
Meter-long white and purple
claws idly scratched the tail-head. A blissful smile grew contrasting with her
gaunt, taunt cheeks. "Now that we've got a second wind let's show our
guests a proper greeting," she purred before darting forward, past
MacDowell and towards the forward lines.
MacDowell almost whistled. She
was more agile than he had expected. Her lopping, almost cantering, gait
continued. Despite her legs never going fully "straight" she rapidly
put distance between them. Her long skirting was no encumbrance to what must be
powerful legs.
He wondered if it was because of how her
ankles were higher up due to her hooves, or if it was because she had to walk
on "tip toes". He was pretty sure the Major would know. He had grown
up around horses and other hoofed animals.
Many paces ahead, the demoness
slowed, turned back, and gave the Sergeant a grinning wink and a beckoning
claw.
***************
Less than a hundred kilometers south of
Within a half an hour, the
black two-door compact car was driving down the 401. Mal was behind the wheel
and had the radio on.
Shest gave the frenetic French
language news broadcast a cursory listen.
"Are you going to
call?" Mal asked. His tone was gentle, almost jovial, but Shest was
well-aware of the hidden barb.
"Giving me orders
now?"
The large man turned slightly.
Even divested of his ugly suit, Mal still looked the brute. "Heaven
forbid." He gave a mocking smile.
Shest glared. She knew he no
more believed in heaven than she did.
His attention returned to the
road. "But maybe you should consider my advice. I did warn you against
firing that Pulse."
"I didn't have a
choice!" Shest's eyes flashed. She did not relish the idea of having to
spend at least five more hours on the road with this man.
"Perhaps." Eying the
road, Mal let his shoulders drop. "At least we achieved our primary
goal."
Shest glared at the man. She
reached to the bags between her feet and checked that the jammer core was still
present. She then went to one of the bags that had been stashed in their
previous car and pulled out a pre-paid cell phone still in its plastic
packaging.
She slit the clamshell
packaging apart, pulled out the phone, and inserted the battery. Once it booted,
she popped open a cover on the side and ran a cable from the data jack to a
plug just above her wrist.
She engaged her communications
system, dialed a long number that routed through several phone switches, and
connected. Only after she received the proper handshake and password did she
open the one digital time pad Arisha had given her during the mission briefing.
It was nothing more than a long
text file full of random strings of numbers that were demarcated into little
time blocks. There was a brief check as she made sure her internal clock was
synchronized with her caller's.
Each block was then used in
sequence to encode the voice data before being transmitted. As long as no one
else had a copy of the file, and they did not repeat any of the time blocks, it
made for an unbreakable code.
However, its presence as an
encoded message was somewhat obvious, which made it less than desirable from a
statistical signals analysis standpoint.
There was a hiss on the line
almost as if someone was breathing.
Shest wondered who would
answer. Arisha and Desyat were busy working with their Bulgarian mercenaries
today, but they might pick up if they were on break. The thought of talking to
the former filled Shest with dread.
Ideally, she was hoping that
Sem would answer. The other girl hated using the one time pads and would make
the conversation as brief as possible. Shest would not have minded Dve'nadtsat
either, though she would have felt a bit guilty at interrupting her research.
"Combat Cyborg Klara Shest what were you thinking?" Galina A'deen's voice transmitted.
"There were complications. I completed the mission." Shest
replied back. Her heart sank. She would have preferred dealing with Arisha.
While their group's second in command was more vehement and... political she
was also more understanding of failure.
"Complications you say?" Galina's transmission sounded
like it should be accompanied with a snort.
"I should scoop out your brains and strip you down for parts. Dve'nadtsat
could always use a spare set of eyes for example."
Shest closed her eyes. "If that is the best use for me."
Mal took his eyes from the
road. He saw her distress and gave a tiny chuckle.
"Like you would bow down and let me slice open your skull."
Galina paused. "Maybe you would. You
acquired the core?"
"I completed the
mission."
"No you disobeyed orders, deploying a proscribed weapons system,
and thus caused an international incident."
Shest could imagine
Galina's grim, mocking smile, and see the taller cyborg give a thin laugh.
"An incident that we were ill prepared to exploit."
Shest exhaled. That was the
true tragedy. Yes, she and Mal de Veste had unleashed alien horrors into a
capital city, but they had done so without coordination. With a bit of planning,
the others could have made quite the mess as the Company tried to deploy their
demonic and magical girl assets.
The pixie-haired cyborg
frowned. The opportunity would have been sudden, yes, but there was still
fighting going on in
"Was Zaika moved?" If Tsukino had been sequestered
somewhere then an attack would be futile. Ensuring that they could prevent such
an egress was the whole point of Shest and Mal's mission.
"She is now, you might have crossed her."
Shest frowned. The Company
was moving her to
"I made a honey-pot," Shest muttered as she transmitted.
"Yes, if only I had known
you were going to draw her towards a strange city..." Galina paused.
Scenarios played across
Shest's mind. There were significant Canadian forces present, but if the Thracian
Union was pre-positioned and had their heavy weapons ready...
"The opportunity had passed us by. Our sources indicate that the
Red Demon was already deployed. In fact, you just missed her."
Shest's heart stopped.
Galina's anger was still present, but there was wistfulness in her words as
well. Wistfulness and jealousy. She knew her superior had unfinished business
with the demon DarkStar. But she assumed that such... indulgences were
contained.
"I did? That would have been troubling." Having helped
install it, Shest knew all about the intelligence network they had emplaced
around
Galina's comment about Shest
and Mall passing her indicated that Tsukino had not simply been teleported into
"Yes, I would have been
out a jammer core and a valuable, if incompetent, asset."
The cyborg glanced over to the
brutish man driving the car. There was
a question she wanted to ask; one she was afraid to ask; one that would, no
doubt, make de Veste laugh.
But it was a question that had
begun to eat at Shest: Was Galina letting their mission drag, letting more of
their number die, all in the hope of getting a second chance to fight DarkStar?
End Chapter 6
Author's Notes:
I'd like to thank the prereaders for their help in this project: J St C Patrick, DCG, Pale Wolf, Kevin Hammel, and Crimson Vixen.
Revision notes: And things keep getting worse.