[Episode 244177] [Episode 244177]"My God! What WAS that?!" Ron McLean demanded.
"Most likely, some psycho-religious nutcase that wanted to kill Miss Lum because she does, unfortunately, have horns on her head," Don Cherry noted. "And I must say, I've never seen a more gallant show of sportsmanship than what Ranma displayed today! He made the tag — that's the important thing, of course! — but he made use that whoever that lunatic was that just tried to blow Miss Lum up, he did NOT succeed!"
"Indeed. But that now begs the question: Was it a legitimate tag?!" Ron stated. "Much that I — and I believe, everyone on Earth — would want this whole thing over with, the Urusians are challenging us in a sportsman-like manner. And we responded to that in a sportsman-like manner. Would Ranma tagging Lum after she was distracted by that bomber — in other words, outside interference — be seen as having won the race?"
Don nodded. "Good question. I'm sure Mister Zed — representing the United Nations in this situation — will be discussing this with Captain Invader shortly…"
Aboard Kashin…
"Good morning, Captain."
Invader smiled. "You must be Kay!" The large Oni lumbered over to take the hand of the balding, grey-haired American in the black business suit who just stepped onto his bridge. "I heard all about your involvement with the Light of Zartha being hidden on Earth. That was some damned fine trickery you pulled back then, sir!"
"Ah, it was nothing at all," Kay stated with a shake of his head. "Well, seems we've got us a problem now. Ranma made the tag, but some pundits — the good Mister Cherry and Mister McLean being two of them…" — here, he waved to the view screen, which was displaying the CBC feed — "…will say it's not a proper tag."
"Pundits on MY planet, you mean," Invader mused as he gazed knowingly at the MIB agent as both walked over to the sensory station. "Okay, Lookout, what have you got?"
"Scanning everywhere in Welland now, Boss," the young woman stated. "I've picked up three other potential suicide bombers, all moving in on Miss Lum's, Miss Benten's and Mister Ranma's location close to city hall."
"Break into this frequency," Kay said as he held out a sheet of paper for the ship's communications officer to read. "This is the Canadian's hyperspace tactical frequency; all Avalonian-augmented units are equipped with radios that can lock in on it."
The young Seishin-Urusian man gaped. "You use hyperspace frequencies on a PLANET?! How the Fates do you get away with avoiding radiation from the transmitters…?!"
"It is called 'mesonium,' young man. Otherwise known as the material that went into the Power Jewel once worn by one Major Deannette Raeburn not so long ago. The Avalonians' creators found ways to manufacture that stuff artificially. If you people are patient, we might share the technology with you," Kay stated.
He laughed. "Thanks!" He tapped controls. "Urusian battlewagon Kashin to Canadian ground force commander, please respond on this frequency."
A second later, "Chief Beaver here. I assume Mister Zed's friend is with you?"
"He is!" Invader called out with a grin. "Colonel, we've marked three potential walking time bombs closing in on city hall as we're speaking right now. I'll put you through to my lookout; she'll triangulate you people in!"
"Appreciated, Captain," the commanding officer of 10 CER replied…
"Star Flare Bravo-670 to Tiger Base, come in!" Tariko called out as she ran across the Main Street Bridge close to
"This is Tiger Base!" Sakai Yuki replied. "You don't need to tell us what's going on, Tariko-san; we saw it on the television! Kyōko-san's dispatching three Star Flares down to do a city-wide sweep of anything that could be seen as out of the ordinary."
"Right! Make sure one of you stands by in case I have to do an emergency beam-up!"
"Roger that!"
As the link closed out, Tariko ran off the bridge and began to thread her way through the gathering crowds now moving onto East Main Street around her wife…
Near Market Square (two blocks south of City Hall)…
"Chief Beaver, this is Queen's Duce. We have one of the targets in sight right now."
"Wait until the Ravens get close to them," Claude Freeman called out. "If they succeed in a stun, do not engage. Say again, do not engage. If they don't…"
"Roger that, Chief Beaver," the master corporal in charge of one of the sniper teams from the Queen's Own Rifles of Canada in Toronto called back before she put binoculars to her eyes as she gazed on a single woman — also dressed a little too heavily for the season — make her way between the market buildings towards the parking lot beside a local church and the former site of the downtown K.F.C. on the south side of Division Street. If the target kept walking towards the back parking lot of the downtown branch of the Royal Bank of Canada, which was beside an alleyway which led onto East Main Street, she had a clear shot right at Lum and company. "Take aim!" she ordered.
"Acquiring target," the corporal on the C14 Timberwolf sniper rifle stated…
"Chief Beaver, this is Grizzly 14B," a sapper from 10 CER called over the links. This team was composed of two women, just like most of the "Grizzly" teams currently with boots on the ground in Welland. "I have the target in sight; he is now proceeding across the Alexandria Bridge towards King Street. Moving to intercept right now."
"Grizzly 14B, this is Badger One. He's walking right under us right now," the voice of a young woman with a strong Scottish accent called back. "We'll stun him."
"Badger One, engage now!" Claude ordered. "Engage NOW!"
A second later, a hissed "Stupefy!" crackled over the communications links. Ahead of the two field engineers, the man they were following seemed to jerk for a moment, and then collapsed to the deck of the Alexandria Bridge, a swing-span replica of the predecessor of the Main Street Bridge that crossed the canal before 1930, when the modern vertical lift span was put up (the Alexandria Bridge was moved to connect Division Street to Bald Street on the west side of the channel to make way for the new bridge). The modern span had been built by 10 CER to replace a normal slab concrete span that had been built in a curve to connect Niagara Street with Division; these days, Niagara, Bald and Division formed a T-junction. As the crowds nearby all turned to look at the unconscious man, the two sappers ran over to his side. "It's alright," one of them called out. "We've got paramedics coming in right now!"
Many of the crowd nodded…
"This is Raven One; Raven Three is right atop the target and engaging."
As the two Queen's Own snipers watched through binoculars and a targeting scope on the C14, a pretty Tamilar girl in normal clothes was walking quickly to get close to the woman that now was mere metres away from experiencing the sniper credo of "one shot, one kill." Before the other woman could notice what was happening, Padma Patil gently drew out her wand to aim it up at the back of the woman's neck, and then she whispered, "Stupefy!" That sent a bolt right into the target's head, which made her jolt before she fell face-first into the ground. On seeing that, Padma shrieked as she immediately jumped down to her side. "Oh, my God! Are you alright?! What happened?!"
"This is Grizzly 2C! We're moving to assist Raven Three," crackled over the lines.
"Grizzly 2C, this is Queen's Duce. We're covering," the master corporal stated.
"Appreciated," came the reply from another team of engineers — a sergeant and a sapper — as they jogged over to render "first aid" on the downed woman…
Aboard Kashin…
"We've got two targets down, but the third one is proceeding west on East Main Street, now passing the courthouse, range thirty metres from Miss Lum," the sensory officer warned. "Grizzly 4A, you should be able to see them!"
"Negative, Kashin! We can't see them at all! Are you SURE…?!" came the reply from a VERY exasperated Tanaka Misa on the ground.
"Wait a minute."
Eyes locked on Kay. "What?!" Invader asked.
The MIB agent clicked his collar mike. "Zed, this is Kay! We've got a problem…"
Just east of City Hall…
"Two of the others are down."
Hearing that from his young companion, the middle-aged man blinked as he calmly fixed the final circuit onto his bomb-vest. "You sure about that, David?"
"Yes, sir," David Perry, a fifteen year-old from suburban Texas, said with a nod as he looked around. Despite their walking calmly down the centre of the street in the middle of a rather big crowd, no one seemed to be reacting to either of them, which was what the man now with the young psychic wanted as he prepared himself to destroy the devil-girl that had presumed to openly expose herself on God's Earth. "They're being tracked by all the telepaths in this place. This city's crawling with them."
The older man scowled. It had truly been a show of God's favour when a friend of his had informed him about David and his special gifts. And while many people like him would view such strange powers as a sign of the Devil's influence, he personally saw it in a totally opposite light. He had taken David under his wing and began to mould the young, impressionable man into becoming a soldier in the Lord's Army of Justice (which was what their group, including the poor martyred soul that had been flung into the old Welland Canal by that heathen alien girl with her machine, called themselves) so they could do the Lord's work and ensure His Truth and Justice was fulfilled. Eventually, so the leader of the Army hoped, David would be sent out to Afghanistan to track down the infidel monsters that had killed so many on 9/11 and see them all punished. And when that was finally over with, the sky — and Heaven — was truly the limit.
He then blinked. "Have you been able to probe these telepaths?" he asked.
"No, sir. I'm afraid if I get too close, they may notice me…"
"Hey, Parvati…"
Parvati Patil blinked. "What is it, Lav?"
Lavender Brown nodded to her right. The Tamil native now in Gryffindor blinked before she looked over…and then found herself staring at a middle-aged man with a rather BIG jacket on, accompanying a teenage boy who (if he was magical) could have been a third-year at Hogwarts. As the two witches watched, the two men calmly walked through the crowd as if all the other people weren't there. A quick glance towards the teams of soldiers on foot patrol and the muggle Aurors used for law enforcement work showed that NONE of them had taken notice of this odd pair. "What the hell…?" Lavender breathed out, and then she tapped the transmitter unit given to her by the members of 10 CER before they all hit the streets. "Gryffindor Two to all stations."
"Go, Two!" Hermione called back.
"Myself and Three are now looking on two people, a middle-aged man and a boy who'd be a third year at Hogwarts, now walking down East Main Street towards where Lum, Ranma and Benten are standing," Lavender reported. "They just walked past the southwest corner of the courthouse; they're just five or so metres from hitting the east crosswalk at Cross Street, about fifteen metres from Lum. Can't ANYONE see them at all?!"
"Gryffindor Three, this is Riley Thirteen!" came the voice of a corporal from the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry, one of the 10th Brigade's infantry battalions, who was currently with her team atop the Dexter Arms apartment building right across from City Hall. "We're scoping where you're looking at and we don't see anyone matching that description, Lavender! Are you SURE you're seeing them?!"
"It's possibly magical!" Hermione stated. "Harri, where are you?!"
"With my cloak and moving in on their position now, 'Mione!" Harri Evans replied.
"Snake One, where's your location?" Claude called out.
"Just passing City Hall now…wait!"
"Talk, Harri!" Hermione stated.
"Spotted them both! Confirm Lavender's sighting! Let me do a scan!"
Not ten metres away from Harri Evans, David Perry suddenly felt his breath catch in his throat as he sensed someone LOOKING at him — which was simply impossible since he had learned how to use his powers to create a sort of telekinetic "notice me not" field around him so that he couldn't be spotted — and then he stopped. His companion walked ahead several feet, and then he stopped, turning back. "What's wrong?!"
"Hey!"
He spun right to see two female soldiers in CADPAT glaring at him…
"This is Riley Thirteen!" the spotter on the roof of the Dexter Arms called out. "I have one target in the open now! He's being challenged by Grizzly 4A right now!"
"What's his status?" Claude barked.
"He's confused and…oh, shit! He's reaching for his…!"
"Engage! ENGAGE NOW!"
"Taking the shot!" the other corporal on the Timberwolf said.
The whole of downtown Welland echoed with the sharp crack of a .338 Laputa Magnum round bursting out of a C14 barrel at well over 800 metres per second, covering the distance in the flash of an eye as the leader of the Lord's Army of Justice suddenly found himself with a rather big bullet hole in his skull. As the now dead body collapsed onto East Main Street, the echo of the shot was soon drowned out as the screams of dozens of bystanders filled the air as people began to race away in any direction from where the poor man was now lying, his lifeblood pooling around his head.
Still within his psychokinetic cloak, David was blinking in shock on seeing his mentor now dead on the street before him. As he tried to process what was happening, Lavender was quick to draw out her wand and take aim. "REDUCTO!"
The red bolt of the Reductor Curse leapt out of her wand to slam into the shield that surrounded David, shattering it immediately as he was flung to his right a metre or so, landing right at the feet of a blinking Tanaka Misa. Before he could do anything, the infantry captain dropped to one knee and rabbit-punched him hard in the sternum, knocking the breath out of his lungs as her companion instantly locked her C7A2 rifle right at mid-body. As David cried out, he tried to force the pretty girl in the army uniform away from him, but couldn't concentrate hard enough to muster any power… …before a fast-moving figure in red-and-black appeared right over them, diving down as his own poised fingers slammed into various shiatsu points on David's head and chest, which knocked him out in an instant. As soon as he noted the young boy with the very odd ki signature was down, Ranma then got back to his feet. "He won't hurt anyone now," he stated before looking over and nodding thanks to Lavender.
The wavy-haired witch waved back before she was dragged off by a blushing Parvati and a grumbling Hermione into the crowd before anyone could lock a camera on them. As Ranma watched them go, he then looked up, flashing a thumbs-up to the snipers on the roof some metres away, and then he looked back at Misa. "Is that it this time?"
Misa laughed. "I hope so…"
"My God! What the HELL is going on here?!" Don Cherry demanded as we…
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