Seras watched the trio depart, letting out a deep breath of air. “That’s it, no more being alone ... with anyone.”
“You did handle yourself quite well,” said Integra, her hands currently in the Gendo Ikari position, hiding her lips behind them. “And I must say our newest possible recruits are much better than I would have expected, given their ages.”
Seras nodded, turning back to face the video screen. “I didn’t recognize the attacks or the weapons used.”
“Nor did I,” admitted the smoking blond. “The air-walking stunt the female showed was extremely unique. Add to that her words which allude to a healing talent to reverse a ghoul change, an attack that can flash-fry a FREAK, and we have a very promising addition.”
“And her Master?”
“Yes, that part does trouble me a bit,” admitted Integra. “But I will reserve judgment until we learn of how they were changed into what they are now. Be certain to get that when you meet with them.”
“Understood.”
“Then pack up and return to base. I want your teams to go over the footage of tonight.
“And be certain you show the battle to Alucard,” she finished, a smirk hidden behind her hands. “I’m sure it’ll ... make up for his missing them.”
Seras sighed. Sometimes, it didn’t pay to survive.
“Damn,” muttered the vampire in question, wiping his sleeve over his nose after a quick sneeze. “Their school spirit sucked.”
Around him were the decaying forms and dust of the dead ghouls and occasional FREAK he had exterminated.
He felt a little sad. No new vampire, no plant girl, and what he did run into wasn’t really a challenge for him.
But ... he did have a Zamboni to play with.
And he still either needed to secure the scene ... or eliminate it, whichever would be more fun to do.
“Not like I have anything else to do,” he said. “But I was so looking forward to fighting that guy.
“Then again, I did get to see the Judas Priest get trampled by the new girl.”
Ah yes, that memory put a smile on his face.
That was, until he felt a very familiar presence, one which he wanted to thank for his imprisonment by the Hellsing family.
“Hello, Pluto,” he growled, as he grabbed his gun and leveled in the direction he felt the Senshi.
“What?” asked Pluto, walking onto the red-tinged ice. “I thought you would be thanking me.”
“For sealing me away?”
“No, for guiding a young Ms. Hellsing so that she would awaken you to deal with her Uncle,” smirked Pluto.
Alucard glared at her, not removing his hand from the trigger.
“Besides, my dear Vlad,” said the only women who truly knew of Alucard’s sorted past, “we have other things to discuss.”
After securing the cell phone in the loft of an empty store—they weren’t about to take a chance it had a tracer in it or some other way to track them—the duo made their way back to the Dojo on foot. After all, the last thing they needed was someone recognizing Nabiki roof-hopping, this close to the Dojo. Truthfully though, it was more for him to discuss Nabiki's performance that night with her.
“I’m sorry, Master,” she muttered, her Lady in White clothes replaced with her house clothes.
“You should be,” replied Ranma. “You were sloppy out there.”
“I know.”
“If it wasn’t for Seras, you would have been injured or worse,” he continued as they walked along. “And you forgot your weapons. I hope you remember what we had to do to get the money for those things so we would have a better chance at wiping those things out. I don’t want to see you without them again. You know enough of the Hidden Weapons style never to be caught without them.”
“I understand.”
He paused a bit, before staring at her ... hard. “This isn’t a game anymore, Nabiki. We can’t afford to ever be caught like we were today. While I’m fighting, I need to know you are able to defend yourself. If you can’t, then I get distracted, and I get caught.
“If you can’t remember that, then we are as good as dead out there.”
She nodded, trying not to show any sadness at how his words were stinging her. She knew she royally screwed up tonight. Worse, they had done so in front of a prospective employer, something that would be very difficult to gain now that they had changed. It wasn’t like they could get a CEO job, or become legends in the business or movie world.
Well, they could, but this duty came before all of that. She didn’t want to think of how many people would soon report their friends and family as missing, considering the size of what attacked them tonight. Luckily, if it involved Kolkhoz, then it was likely she didn’t know any who were involved.
But that was beside the point. Tonight, a great many families had lost loved ones, and would never really know what had occurred.
If I had been stronger...
If I had had better control over my power...
If only...
“Stop thinking like that,” said Ranma, snapping her out of her inner turmoil, as he looked into her eyes with care. “We would have saved them if we could. Don’t blame yourself too much for not saving them. The real blame lies with the ones who changed them.”
“The FREAKS,” she muttered.
He nodded, hugging her. “Don’t think this means I’ll go any easier on you when we train. Think of the earlier training as a light practice for what’s next.” She cringed a bit in the hug.
That was ... before her Master was knocked out of her grasp by a happy and slightly winded rollerblader.
“YEAH! Little Azusa found you!”
Nabiki’s open hands cracked a bit, as she struggled not to gut the klepto slut happy survivor.
“Get off me!” cried Ranma.
“No!” cried Azusa. “Little Azusa isn’t leaving her savior again!”
“But I gotta go home!”
“Then Azusa is coming with you! She doesn’t want to go to her home!”
Of all the times to forget my weapons, I had to do it today... Nabiki now had a very good incentive to keep her weapons on her.
“At least put on a shirt!” cried Ranma, quickly whipping out a spare shirt from his Hidden Weapons stash.
“Ooooo, Pierre!” cried Azusa, glomping onto the shirt now.
She paused in doing so, as she felt a strong hand grab the back of her sweater and what remained of her costume, and lift her up, before she was staring into the scarlet eyes of Nabiki.
“Listen here, little girl,” growled the female vampire. “If you try this shit in our home, I swear to God I will cut those kleptomaniac hands off, understood.”
“Eep,” said the little girl, before she slipped out of her sweater, ripping the rest of her top, and running behind Ranma, who was currently trying not to blush at seeing how developed the only living member of the Golden Pair really was. “She’s scary.”
“You have no idea,” said Ranma with a sigh. “And for the love of... PUT ON THE DAMN SHIRT I GAVE YOU!”
It was the early morning by the time the trio made it to the Tendo Dojo. It was still late enough where Ranma and Nabiki could get more than enough sleep to feel better in the morning and allow the others to believe everything was okay.
The fact that a third person was clutching Ranma’s arm, wearing one of his silk shirts, was an added threat to their safety.
“Can you let go now?”
“No.”
“He said to let him go,” growled out Nabiki.
“Quiet,” said Ranma. “Last thing we need is to wake up anyone.
“Azusa, you’re staying with Nabiki tonight,” he said, smirking at Nabiki, telling her subtly that this was also part of her punishment for her performance that night.
“But I wanna stay with you...” she whimpered.
“Can’t,” said Ranma. “So it’s either with Nabiki, or I guess you can stay in the cold, open, dojo, where anyone could pop in and—”
“Um ... Azusa stay with Nicolette.”
“My name is Nabiki.”
“Can we just go to bed,” said Ranma.
“I really need a bath,” Nabiki said, flexing the hand that had ‘bobbitized’ Mikado.
Ranma nodded, wanting to smirk a bit at the end of the former Emperor of the Ice. “I’d tell you to cut off the hand and burn it, if we knew it would grow back.”
“Well now,” said a familiar female voice, “I guess I know why you weren’t in your bed.”
Ranma gulped, before turning back around, cursing himself for not having been on constant vigilance himself, and spotted his mother, wearing a robe, holding a glass of water, and looking at him through the open doors to the backyard, where the trio would have had to pass to get to the roof and sneak into their rooms.
“Dear,” said Nodoka, looking at Azusa, “is that one of my son’s shirts?”
“He gave it to Little Azusa,” she said happily. “My other one was all torn up.”
Smirking, Nodoka went to her son and hugged him. “Being manly with another girl, and ripping her shirt off. Yes, you are truly manly, my son.”
“Can Azusa sleep with him tonight?”
“Gah!” cried Ranma, still in his mother’s embrace, which tightened as she heard Azusa’s request. I should have let them kill her first!
Nabiki glared at the girl, hand flexed, ready to hack the threat to pieces, witnesses be damned.
“You can both go to Nabiki’s room,” smiled the Saotome matriarch. “Just please keep it down, I do need to get some sleep.”
Ranma groaned. I just can’t win tonight!
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(Posted Wed, 14 Feb 2007 12:07)
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