But there was another reason to take it easy. She'd never expected the other Senshi to be able to do what they'd done, yet, she could not doubt that they did. After all, they were the reason that she was having to work through aches and pains. Just the broken and bruised ribs were a challenge to breath with, and she knew that she had to take it easy. However, all she had to do would be to get the boy into the right position, and she could zap him. Then there would be no more Ranma, and she'd have gotten rid of a major hurdle to her plans for future.
Of course, she knew that the others would try to stop her, but she was expecting them now. If they tried to get involved, she would be on guard for anything they might try. Sailor Moon had surprised her though, as the girl had never shown the backbone to do something like what she had. That gave some hope for the future, as she would be, if properly... 'guided', could handle what had to be done a whole lot better than the dark senshi had originally thought.
And all she had to do to get to work on her would be to get a little pigtailed boy out of her way, and there was no one out there to stop her.
The aide asked for confirmation and cursed as the information turned out not to be a bad joke. Knowing that it was neccessary to get this done, the aide turned to the officer in charge. "We've just got a report from one of our observation posts."
"Yes?" asked the General.
"It's the woman in the fuku."
"The one from the hospital?"
"That's affirmative."
The General's eyes narrowed. "She's just become our number one priority."
"Understood."
"We've spotted the assassin!" Natasha told her fellow agent in a harsh whisper.
Inga scowled. "What? Here?"
"Just as she was in the hospital footage. A little more banged up than what we saw then, but it's definately her."
"Great. I just wish that whoever beat upon her was here."
"Why?"
"Because they would be able to help us take her. Let's prepare to stop her."
"Now this is interesting," the aide murmured.
"What is it?" the General asked.
"Others are moving to intercept the assassin."
"Is that so? Let me guess. They aren't ours."
"No, they're not."
"It doesn't matter," the General said. "Our objective is still that woman."
"We're being watched," Natasha murmured.
Inga's lips curved up on one side. "Understandable. Locals?"
"Armed forces."
"Ah."
"We have more important things, don't we?"
"Exactly."
Genma had planned on taking his son to an isolated area to train. It wasn't merely to get the space and terrain to do so, but for other reasons. Rather, it had to do with the fact that he had to handle how their situation was. After all, males were a pretty desirable commodity, and his boy and he were running around in public. That meant that women tended to give him odd looks, and dote on his son. Little girls always wanted to play with the boy, and had a habit of wanting him to play games that his father would have a hard time allowing.
So going to someplace, like a cabin in the woods, would allow him both the privacy to train his boy, and the land to do it with him. There would be forests for running, water for endurance, and plenty of work to build stamina. All that would make the boy quite strong indeed.
That was why they'd taken the bullet train. Doing so allowed them to move quickly, and get to a place where they could isolate themselves. A simple walk across the platform, and they could begin the next step of their journey.
He just never expected to see a blonde girl in a sailor fuku standing in front of him.
"Mister Saotome?" she said to him in greeting.
"Yes?" he replied uneasily.
"You and your son are in danger. A woman calling herself Dark Pluto wants to zap you both."
"She does?"
"Yes, she does. You remember that nasty video from the hospital?"
The elder Saotome male thought for a moment before he remembered what the girl with the odd balls of hair was meaning. "You're talking about the girl dressed like you!"
"Yeah... She's a woman, and she's my friend. Well, she used to be. Now she's gotten into something nasty, and gone really bad."
"And you're telling me this because..."
"She's here, and she's after your son."
"Oh."
"We've tried to stop her, and have caught her before, but she's escaped," the blonde explained, "So we can't know where she is, other than she's around where you are."
"What do you want me to do about it?"
"Keep an eye out, and protect yourself and Ranma. She'll come after him, and she won't care about anyone else, including you. She just might zap you to get you out of the way."
"That wouldn't be good."
"No, it wouldn't. We'll try to do what we can, but..."
The meaning didn't have to be verbalised for the portly man to get it. If he didn't keep an eye out, then there was a real possibility that he could get killed. And even with his own slacker nature, the idea of just waiting around to get killed was not an alluring one.
So even as the girl disappeared, he was looking warily around him.
Atsuko turned to her partner as the girl vanished. "Did you get that?!"
"Pretty much, though the girl's face isn't going to be quite clear," the camerawoman replied, and then smirked. "But I got it where it counted."
"Terrific! Now we'll not only have the scoop about the Saotome kid and his father, we have more information about the assassin!"
"Do you believe that she's a renegade?"
"I don't know, but it is reasonable. For all we know, she could be some twisted 'do-gooder' who's gone around the bend. But it doesn't matter. Figuring out the exacts can wait for later. Right now, we have breaking stories to catch!"
Finding a position, Pluto prepared herself. Standing there, seeming oblivious to the situation he was in, was Ranma. All it would take would be one shot, and he'd go down. He didn't have the fighting abilities that he would have later in life, and so wouldn't be able to handle the attack.
Taking precise aim, she prepared to fire...
Then the air rushed out of her lungs as a blow landed just under her breasts and sent her flying backwards. As she looked up, she saw Genma Saotome standing where she had been. Obviously, he had noticed her, and seen her intentions. Not that it mattered, since she could still move, and handle herself.
She still had to catch her breath though, and she took a few moments to do so while:
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(Posted Sat, 25 Sep 2004 23:20)
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