Ranma watched intently, focused on Akane as she lay naked on a cold metal slab, her still open eyes staring upwards, lifeless. Hayate stood next to her, his hands fidgeting as he watched Ryuunosuke pull out a number of strange and fearsome looking tools and circuitry, placing them on a small trolley. Ranma's gaze hardened. Over the speaker system, a beautiful piece of music from some opera or other came, filling the air. It lent the proceedings an uneasy air as Ranma waited for Ryuunosuke to open her fiancée up and poke around her insides...
“You don't have to watch her, you know.” Shinobu said. She stepped closer to Ranma and Hayate. “We can send her for you once we're done. It's better for some people not to watch their loved ones...”
Ranma fixed a glare at Shinobu, who stepped back again, her lips thinned into a line. “Ryuunosuke, are you ready?”
Ryuunosuke nodded. “I'll open her up now.” She pressed the switches to unseal Akane's hatches, and pulled them away. “Oh, fuck me.”
Ranma grabbed Hayate's hand and squeezed.
“This wasn't just a conflict.” Ryuunosuke commented. “This looks like flat-out sabotage.” She reached inside with a screwdriver and started working. “The power pump seems to be still intact though. And nothing vital in Akane's C3N are damaged. But the power cell, CSAT and motor drive systems are shot.” Ryuunosuke put down the screwdriver, and Ranma watched in horror as she pulled Akane's ribcage apart, fully exposing her internals. “Where was she planning on being taken?”
Ranma spoke up. “Oda! Michiko Oda!” Shinobu turned to Ranma. “She's our school nurse.”
“Furinkan?” Shinobu asked. “We have been hearing reports of suspicious activity from there...”
“The Prime Converter might have made his base there after we drove him from Tomobiki.” Ryuunosuke commented as she pulled burned out circuitry from Akane's body. “I wouldn't put it past him.”
Ranma watched quietly as Ryuunosuke replaced the broken circuitry, her fingers working with confidence. Her eyes scanned Akane's internals, and little pieces of information rose up in her vision, overlapping each of the parts that Ryuunosuke replaced. As each new piece was inserted, Ranma thought that she had felt a sense of hope.
Shinobu approached Ranma again, carrying a chair with her. “Ranma... There's one other thing we have to do. And it has to be done to you, too.”
Ranma looked at Shinobu. “You mean the deprogramming.”
Shinobu nodded. “If you could just sit here and open your chest plate...”
Ranma exchanged glances with Hayate, who could only nod in response. Quietly, she sat down in the chair, and pressed in on her breastbone before pulling away the skin. Just like Akane. And Ukyou. And Kasumi and Nabiki. Ranma steeled herself and looked away, before thoughts of the others could overwhelm her again.
Shinobu pulled out what looked like an injection gun, with a jack like the ones used to connect into cyberlink ports instead of a needle. “Hayate-kun, keep hold of her. She might find what happens a little weird.”
Before Ranma or Hayate could ask, Shinobu plugged the jack into Ranma's CSAT port, and pulled the trigger.
And then a feeling of electricity washed over Ranma, starting from her chest and spreading like wildfire across her body. Every muscle in her body strained at once, and her hands gripped Hayate's as she stiffened throughout, and screamed.
The electricity coursed through her body, and it felt like her being was being burned away, layer by layer, the weight of them flaking away like ashes from her form, leaving her new. As her body quaked and trembled, she felt like an inner light burst out from inside of her, setting her free. Then she felt blackness overtake her vision, and she slipped into unconsciousness.
“Ranma! Ranma!”
Akane roughly slapped Ranma's still face. “She's not responding!”
Ryuunosuke nodded. “Her systems will take a while to come back online. The retrovirus must have gotten pretty deep. She would've felt something like an orgasm multipled by fifty or so.” Her cheeks flushed slightly. “Not that I'd really know.”
Shinobu was busy tending to Hayate's arms. Hayate had said that Ranma hadn't left anything other than numbness and some potential bruising, but Shinobu was checking anyway. “Well, we'll process and send you to the Bunker for further instructions. We'll come with you; our duty shift here is almost up anyway!”
“I want to go!” Hayate said suddenly, causing all three to look at him. “I want to follow my sensei. And you might need some help with this Prime Converter guy.”
“Well, you should come with us, then.” Shinobu said. “We'll leave as soon as the others are deprogrammed.”
A pair of loud screams came from beyond the wall.
“Sooner than we think!” Shinobu said brightly.
And now...
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(Posted Tue, 19 Feb 2013 19:52)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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