So there were things he was quite sure he was missing, but other indications he was able to pick up on.
There had been a fight here in the foyer. The bullet spray indicated someone had been shot at, not random fire. Over here, an old stain. Someone had been hit. No body and no nearby grave, so it was unlikely the person had died.
Drawers were empty. Pantry scavenged.
The conclusion was obvious. The Tendos had survived the initial blast, the fireball, and the loss of power by being here in Nerima and not in Shinjuku or one of the other main target zones. They had stuck it around but likely their use of water or power had drawn the Machine and the Machine had sent its troops.
There were no parts of a kill-mech so they hadn't escaped by destroying the attacker, instead they'd fled, returned, gotten ambushed, and fled again this time for good.
Scorchmarks indicated that the ambusher had been one of the T-10s, the attack drones that had the blades and the flamethrower and the dart launcher.
Going out back, Genma found the remains of the dojo. Make that a T-12 as that had the grenade launcher.
More stains, old dark blood in cracks in the stone where rain hadn't touched.
So more than one of the Tendo family had been injured here, and more than one had fled into the night - pursued by at least one T-12 unit. His skills in tracking weren't sufficient to follow the old trail, and he wouldn't be able to tell which of the bodies he ran across would turn out to be a Tendo after one hundred days and the T-12 torching any body to ensure it wasn't a human playing dead.
It was a wonder any buildings were still standing, fire had gutted a large swath through Japan's cities.
Genma stood, a glint in his eyes. Maybe fifteen days after Judgement, the Tendo compound had been abandoned. There was only one place he could picture Tendo going, and one terror he never thought he'd face again.
First though, he had one more stop to make.
Bombs began hitting from above, a spiral pattern that wiped Mishima's R&D plant from the face of the Earth.
Machine-1 considered using a nuclear weapon, but many of the remaining missiles were antiquated and not terribly accurate.
Which was when a signal bleeped and if the Machine had been human it would have cursed a blue streak. Something had just left Taiwan at high speed and making high-g turns that would have made a human pass out. Its first mistake (in its own judgement) had not been eliminated after all.
Machine-2 was a higher priority than any Japanese factory. Otherwise Machine-1 knew it was facing a war it might actually lose as it was against an opponent that wasn't as inferior as a mere human unit.
Sooner or later, the probabilities would be in its favor as far as elimination of the human infestation. Once the fimbulwinter hit, they'd have their hands full trying to survive the weather.
Soun Tendo stood outside the cave and debated once again the wisdom of the course of action. There was the boulder, there the rope, there the spirit wards.
"Let's do it, Tendo."
Soun whirled and saw Genma, GENMA of all people, and a woman he didn't recognize but realized must be Genma's wife. Like himself, she was limping but she still seemed in better shape than him.
"GENMA MY OLD FRIEND," said Soun, rushing forward to hug the fellow student of Anything Goes, genuinely delighted at this turn of events. "I'm so glad you survived."
"What of your family, Soun? Any survivors?" Genma asked gently, returning the hug.
"I've no idea, I looked for them but there were patrols everywhere," said Soun, joy turning instantly to grief. "I can't see how they could have..."
"I understand," said Genma. "We've all lost so much. I'm part of the Resistance now, we're fighting the Machine."
"You are?" Soun asked, his mood shifting again. "Then?"
"I got away when I could," said Genma. "I've been very busy with the Resistance. Before I knew it we were at the two hundred day mark. We had just recovered a new weapon to use against the Machine. My son is involved in that right now."
"Ah," said Soun, hanging his head again. "This should have been so joyful. My daughters being engaged to your son, we'd have had the marriage right away, and then our futures assured."
"True Tendo," agreed Genma. "Our future is anything but assured now. We're in a fight for not only our lives, but the survival of our species. Join with us, my old friend. Accompany me back to base."
"If I can make it," said Soun sadly. "The poison nearly killed me. You know those darts those flying monsters throw?"
"If we hadn't gone through the harsh training by the Master, no doubt it would have killed you within hours," pointed out Genma.
Soun nodded and then turned back to contemplate the cave.
"Let's do it," said Genma, opening a sack that showed lacy underthings. "There is an evil loose in the world beyond even the Master's wickedness."
"Fight fire with fire, evil against evil," said Soun.
Reluctantly, the two turned to remove the spirit wards surrounding the burial place of Happosai.
Ranma looked over his "troops" and wondered if his life would forever be bizarre and beyond his control. "You're sure about this?"
Kousuke Natsume nodded. "Their programming was simple to alter, finish, and lock down. Now they'd have to be physically ripped apart and have parts replaced to change it, part of the anti-viral defenses the Machine itself implaced."
"At ease," ordered Ranma, rewarded by the sight of the girls moving into a more relaxed stance.
"They have some individual skills and enhancements and self-adjusting programs for their personalities," said the Professor. "After all, the more human they can act the better to infiltrate a human position and carry out their mission."
"Makes sense, so they'll get more personality as they go along," said Ranma. "Part of my job is to get 'em to act more human?"
"Yes, we are a tool-using race and after the Machine is defeated we'll have to rebuild society. I've been working on something to that end but you understand how many precautions I have to take."
Ranma nodded.
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(Posted Tue, 29 Jun 2004 09:58)
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