Her hand was mere millimeters from the door knob, where it had been for several minutes, just waiting to complete the act that would open the door into the room the three survivors shared.
But she couldn’t do it.
Opening the door would allow her into the room.
Being allowed into the room would mean she would see Ranma.
Seeing Ranma, she would be forced somehow to tell him that the odds were very likely that everyone they had known and ever loved were now dead.
She had to tell him that very likely, his own mother was dead. And … she couldn’t do that.
There was still a chance, still a chance the rescue teams from the Kuno Enterprises facilities all over Japan would act and find survivors, and not just board members.
Board members were easy to track, as they all had to carry Kuno Enterprises bracelets, which allowed their movements to be tracked, so no ‘you just couldn’t find me’ excuses could be made. It also allowed for safe identifying in case of kidnapping and such.
No use paying ransom for a dead man.
Of course, she knew a way around them—it was nice that a few of the hardcore tech-masters from Furinkan owed her favors. More than a few times, it had allowed her to set some things up that would have been impossible otherwise with the all-seeing eye upon her.
But after seeing if the signals existed and if anyone remained at their last reported locations, they’d search for those Nabiki had listed in the files. With any luck … some survivors would be found.
She hoped at least Cologne survived, even if the ancient Amazon’s ‘package’ died. She would need the old woman’s expertise in dealing with Gendo.
If that fool wasn’t behind everything, he was connected to the people who were, people she planned to deal with, extracting more than the customary pound of flesh from.
She wanted their lives! She wanted them to know the torture she felt, the pain she experienced … and with Cologne’s help that pain would never end.
They had taken everything from her, and after attempting to take her life, not only that, but her existence. They had left the Katsuragi expedition to die, left her to die, Ranma to die, all of them to die over some botched attempt for glory and power. She would grant them the power they sought … if it existed past this life.
But opening that door … she’d have to tell her savior that the only blood family he had known—unless Natsume and Kurumi were actually Saotomes, and given their lack of history was entirely possible—were gone, as well as much of Tokyo Proper. Vengeance was needed, vengeance would be given.
She didn’t want to do that, not to him. He had risked everything to save her life, which was something she couldn’t forget … as much as she wanted to. If not for him, she’d have been a casualty as much as the rest of the Katsuragi expedition. Without him, her life would have ceased that day.
And in all likelihood, she was the last Tendo to carry on their father’s stupid pledge.
But if it meant avenging them, avenging her own issues against those that caused this mess, that supported Gendo, that caused the attack on Tokyo—like someone could do that without deep support in the governmental structure—then so be it. No matter what it took, one did not raise a hand against Nabiki Tendo and expect to survive.
But like it or not, Ranma was still her best card, her best tool against these people. Even Ranma would have no trouble using his father’s so-called forbidden schools to execute such people. Unlike Ryoga, these people really meant for death.
And if being an incarnation of the Grim Reaper was necessary, so be it.
Tears? She couldn’t cry, not yet. With Ranma … she felt she could. He had suffered like she did, like she would when this all finally hit her. Ice Queen could only hold off so much, but on a ship still in the Pacific… she felt she could surrender to her emotional side and suffer, at least in private.
Opening the door finally, she saw that once again, Misato was in Ranma’s bed—one could make a argument for the fact she sought older males if the moment needed some levity—and once again Ranma was comforting her. The purple-haired teen was lying on his side, Ranma’s hand rubbing her head. He didn’t have much experience offering consoling, but then Misato wasn’t asking for much.
She just wanted someone to hold her. Nabiki knew how the young teen felt; right now she needed held too.
“They’re gone.”
Blinking, she stared at him, his eyes alert, his face … unemotional. “Who’s gone?” she asked, wondering if someone had already told him.
“Don’t know,” he said, his crimson-blue eyes focusing on a distant point for a moment, before they realigned with the room. “I know … some of them are gone now, but I don’t know who.”
“How do you know?” she asked.
He shrugged lightly, focusing on Misato. “I’m changed, not sure how, but I didn’t get out completely unscathed.” He turned back to her for a second, his eyes focusing on the white tuft of hair on her head. “We … didn’t get out unscathed. Adam … Adam did something … something I fought … something … I couldn’t quite prevent,” he finished, turning back to Misato.
“There … was an attack on Tokyo, a high-yield device,” Nabiki whispered out. “They don’t know how many are dead. I don’t know if anyone we know made it.”
“So many gone,” he said. “We lost people in it, but I don’t know who.”
Nabiki slowly made her way to his bed. He was definitely different, changed by the blast. Maybe he was still in shock, his mind trying to grasp what had occurred. Maybe Adam’s little hissy-fit changed him, changed in a way beyond what the tattered medical wing on the ship could discover.
And she felt a bit of fear, wondering if perhaps … she too would end up like that. “I have people looking for survivors, family, friends, people we cared for. There are facilities they can use for the injured, places we can stay, hopefully ride out the chaos.”
Ranma just nodded. “Changes are coming,” he said. “We … we need to prepare.”
“Prepare for what?” asked Nabiki.
Ranma just shrugged again. “Something big.”
Nabiki just sighed. She certainly hoped for the best, hoped that people she cared for were safe and alive.
She also hoped that someone would still be alive to explain just what the hell was wrong with Ranma.
Ranma just stared at the girl beside him, her occasional whimpers telling him that her dreams were still haunted, haunted by what she survived.
His dreams … seemed almost as frightening. He was different, he knew that now. His chi senses were a mess, stuff that had once been easy was now insanely difficult to do. Most of his time aside from eating was taken by meditation, trying to get a grip on what had happened.
Something had changed, something big, something he didn’t have a clue how to handle. His chi seemed warped, his mind was hazy, as if something had been crammed inside too tightly, and only came out in his dreams. He felt both stronger and weaker from the event, no clue what that meant to him now or in the future.
It was telling him something, something he needed to know, some sort of connection that he was now a part of.
And it scared him to hell, because he didn’t know if this was good or bad.
Back in Japan, a computer in Nabiki’s hidden home turned itself on. It had received a signal from a program Nabiki had buried in the Kuno mainframes, one that couldn’t be destroyed unless all of the mainframes were destroyed, not just the main one in Tokyo.
As such, it received a new set of instructions. It wasn’t from where Nabiki was now, but a plot she hatched early on when she first ascended to power in Kuno Enterprises. After all, one could never have too much power, especially over those in charge.
The program brought up an account with a stock-trader website, one of several accounts it could access depending on varying circumstances—not that the Nerima techies knew too much about stock markets, but they did know how to fill out a client’s demands. Between the event now being dubbed Second Impact by the media—and those who controlled them—as well as the resulting devastation and fighting, many markets were tanking. With them tanking, stock values plummeted.
And it was just enough for the program to be triggered, for funds Nabiki had secreted away with her side-businesses to purchase what stocks she had her eyes on at the time.
Businesses that SEELE were also planning to acquire for their own desires.
Luckily, Nabiki’s program didn’t have to worry about anything else—like safety, avoiding riots, etc—to keep it from doing its one job.
Not even in her home, Nabiki Tendo was already wreaking havoc against her attackers’ desires.
And the Kuno Wills had yet to be read.
Once the stocks had been purchased, the hidden funds emptied, the trades finalized, the computer shut down, waiting … for its next use.
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(Posted Sat, 22 Nov 2008 11:38)
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