Ranma: evolution: Talk, statues and food [Episode 110865]

In his command Center, Magneto sat looking at the poor reception on the monitor. Looking at the PC sitting on the floor with its wires running into the hole where his old system had been he snarled to himself. Or would have snarled if not for the steel molded around his lower face, holding his jaw immobile.

'Damn that Saotome!' He thought angrily. The monitor's image distorted briefly, then cleared as he cut off his instinctive surge of power. 'I can't even use my powers here because the magnetic shielding I spent so long working on was destroyed by him! And on top of that,' He raised one hand to stroke the smooth metal covering his lower face, 'HE MADE COLLOSUS HIT ME SO HARE HE BROKE MY JAW!!' Admittedly it was a hairline fracture, but when he had screamed his curses at Ranma for the destruction he had caused, the strain exacerbated it, forcing Eric to use his powers to immobilize the joint.

'Well, he's not my problem now, it's that Damn Brotherhood. Sent by Raven Darkholm, which means that Mystique was trying to remind me that she's only working for me because of Ranma.' The picture fuzzed briefly, then cleared. Magneto stood and walked out a nearby doorway, closing it behind him.

Magneto strode down the small corridor with a very brisk stride. He walked through the doorway at its end, and casually shut that door and brightened the lights with a brief surge of his magnetic power. Then he thrust his hand forward and a large chunk of twisted metal arose from the large piles scattered around the large room. He tightened his fingers in a squeezing gesture, and with groans of protest the mass of Iron bent, twisted and flowed in response to his powers. A few moments later a small bust shaped just like Mystique was floating before him.

'Won't trust me, will you Mystique? You've abandoned and manipulated both of your other children, and yet you think you’re a better parent than I am? I didn't have Wanda committed to an insane asylum because I wanted to, I just didn't have time to help her and prepare for the War of Mutant Ascension!' Indentations began appearing on the bust, like a large invisible hand was squeezing it tightly enough for the fingers to leave indentations. Then it stopped and the indentations were smoothed back out. 'No, I can deal with this. Besides, Mystique isn't my main concern.' Another lump of iron debris rose and began to twist and reshape. 'It's Ranma Saotome. Why couldn't I detect his X-Gene's awakening? I helped Xavier design Cerebro, yet my detector couldn't even detect his Mutation's use from 3 feet away!' If not for the metal restraint, Eric would have ground his teeth in frustration despite the pain.

Magneto began slowly walking, circling the two floating busts. 'Recriminations for later. Dealing with the Brotherhood is what's important now. I have to plan, have to think of a way to make them believe that I'm still holding Ranma. And am not mistreating him. With Wanda there I wouldn't have met them in person. I will have a more normal Father Daughter relationship with her some day, but not until after I've taught Humanity it's proper place, on it's knees before Homo Superior. Then it'll be safe to spend time with her, there won't be any risk if Mastermind's reprogramming falters.'

---

There was no central table that the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club gathered around. The large high backed wing chairs were arrange in a roughly circular format, each with a small table on one side with papers, and a table on the other side with a glass of wine and a plate of hors d'oeuvres.

"So," Sebastion Shaw said as he sat back confidently, pausing to adjust the ruffled sleeve of his burgundy jacket. "How is our. . . Guest, settling in?"

"Well he's just gotten here, so it's too soon to say anything for sure." Emma frost responded with equal confidence. "I haven't probed deep, but he certainly hasn't thought of anyplace else to go."

"Yet." Seline interjected as she picked up a piece of Sushi from one of the plates beside her, eyeing it contemplatively.

"It goes well with plenty of the green stuff." Emma offered. "And Seline does make a good point, Ranma is here because we're offering him a way to find his mother. Beyond that, he has an impressively short attention span, even for a sixteen year old."

"Well, I can remember what that was like." Harry Leland commented as he casually popped the last piece of Sushi on his plate into his mouth. "Tasty." He commented as he dropped a hand to pat his expansive stomach. "Jenkins, another plate if you please." He added to the man who reached in to pick up his empty plate.

Seline frowned. "Are you sure we should talk so freely?"

Emma smiled. "English servants are trained to ignore what's being talked about around them. I barely have to do anything to enhance it." She delicately lifted a piece of sushi of her own. "That new Chef we hired for Ranma's sake is certainly being appreciative of the salary we offer."

Another servant leaned by Shaw's Chair and whispered to him. "Really?" Shaw responded. "Well, tell everyone please."

"Ah, yes sir. Ranma had expressed a desire to have some food before sleeping, and while he was in the kitchen, the cleaning staff found this in the wastebasket." He held up a partially flattened manhandled Internal Hard Disk Drive. "Now it's clearly damaged, and we have no idea where it' from, but you mentioned being interested. . ."

"Yes, we are very interested." Shaw said quickly. "Now, do you have any means of repairing the damage and learning what's on this disk?"

"Well the damage can't be repaired, but there are a few specialty firms that can recover whatever data wasn't damaged." He pulled out a clipboard. "I took the liberty of researching those firms before coming here. Oh, and if you'll take note of the third item down, it's one of the firms belonging to a Mr. Worthington, who's been considered for invitation into the main club.

"Haha, perfect! We can give him his invitation with a little business as well!" Sebastion responded with a laugh.

"Of course, Mr. Shaw, I will see to it."

---

Ranma casually tossed the piece of Tuna Sushi into the air and caught it in his mouth. "{Good!}" he called.

A few feet away, the chef grinned, his hands blurring."{One good thing about these rich folks, they appreciate the value of good variety. Here, some Shitaki, some Mackerel, some smoked trout, you are definitely going to leave here full before you've had one of everything.}" The Chef said in Japanese.

"{I'll take that bet!}" Ranma responded with a grin