The Umisen-ken didn't provide true invisibility; it just made Ranma very, very hard to notice. So he took care to avoid cameras whenever possible, until he reached the base of the tower. Some JSDF troops were sitting around the elevator and lobby entrance, weapons at the ready, occasionally looking up towards the deck Tarou had vanished onto.
Dropping his cloak, Ranma pulled out his ID card, which made the soldiers first start, and then stand at attention. "Sir!" one of them barked. "Orders?"
Ranma wondered briefly what they had seen, and pocketed the card again. "As you were," he said, not really knowing what they were up to. "What can you tell me about the situation?"
"You haven't been briefed, Special Operative?" one of them asked, blinking in confusion.
Special Operative? He could deal with that. "I just got here," he said dryly.
"Ah, sorry, Sir!" the man gulped. "Um, as far as we know, the beast just showed up about five minutes ago, it looked like he was carrying two girls. We've got a telephoto lens covering the scene, and snipers on standby, but the monster is gone, now it's just some boy and two girls who he's tied up."
Ranma grunted. "Call off the snipers," he said. "I'm going up to handle this myself."
"He crushed the elevator shaft," the soldier warned. "Unless you want to climb the tower, or go for an aerial insertion, that's a no-go, Sir."
"Climbing it is," he decided, leaping for one of the curving struts that lead upward, and vanishing into the Thief's Mantle again.
***
"Come on!" Akane protested. "This has never worked before, why would it work now?"
"Shut up!" Tarou growled. "I'm all out of pantyhose to gag you with, but if you don't be quiet, I'm gonna find out how you like the taste of your own panties!"
Akane struggled against her bonds; she'd broken them before ... but it wasn't herself she was as concerned about as much as Ranma's daughter. For her part, Hotaru seemed to take it perfectly in stride, and didn't seem that upset. Akane wasn't certain how long that would last, as Tarou had trussed the pair of them up swiftly, and then retrieved a kettle he'd hidden there earlier.
"Stop that!" Tarou grumbled. "What is with you? You're the worst damsel in distress ever."
"Why you..." Akane growled, narrowing her eyes. "Ah!" she gasped. "Ranma!"
Tarou spun, sinking into a defensive stance. Akane had intended to use the distraction to try and burst her bonds and escape; she had not expected Ranma to suddenly appear in front of Tarou. "Have a taste of the one I used on Herb!" Ranma yelled, diving towards Tarou with a fist extended.
The Chinese martial artist dodged backwards, and countered with a perfect axe-kick. "Ranma!" Akane gasped.
"Papa-san!" Hotaru echoed.
"Ow," Tarou groaned, hobbling on one ankle and glaring at the steel girder wrapped in Ranma's shirt. "What the hell?"
And then Akane found herself tucked under one of Ranma's arms, Hotaru under the other, and the world turned a startling gray, with no real color in it. But the time she was able to make sense of things, color was returning to her field of vision, and she dimly remembered hurtling down the side of the tower before leaping to a nearby rooftop.
Currently she was sitting behind a billboard, hidden from sight of Tokyo tower. "You alright, Akane?" Ranma asked, leaning over her.
"Yeah," she said dazedly. "Um. Thanks, Ranma. I--"
"Not a lot of time," Ranma said, shaking his head. "If I don't beat Panty-fiend Tarou into a smear real quick, he's gonna get sniped." Then he shoved her father's naganita into her hands. "Take care of Hotaru-chan for me, okay?"
"Papa-san?" she asked worriedly.
He smiled, and tousled her hair. "I'll be back," he promised. "Real quick. You listen to your Akane-nee-chan, okay?"
"Okay!" she chirped, just before Ranma swirled his bath-towel over his shoulders like a cloak, and vanished from sight.
"Is Papa-san going to be okay?" Hotaru asked, peeking around the edge of the billboard. Akane peeked out too, her head just over her 'little sister's'.
"I'm more worried for Tarou than Ranma, I can tell you that much," she murmured.
Meanwhile....
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(Posted Tue, 19 Jul 2005 15:14)
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