Then of course that blasted Frost just had to arrive early to interrogate the boy. Magneto didn’t need to be a mind reader to realize the amusement the White Queen had at his predicament. He had no doubt that the story of his humiliation would be the talk of the Hellfire club for weeks to come.
As if to add insult to injury, after Frost left the search of the compound for the boy had discovered his escape route, and Sabertooth. There best chance of tracking the boy was still recovering from his dual fall down the mountain. Even with the mutant’s healing abilities, it would still be a couple of hours before he would be able to track down Ranma. Not that he wasn’t willing to. Sabertooth was already yelling about what he was going to do to the boy when he got his hands on him. Privately Magneto considered the benefits of leaving Ranma alone with Sabertooth for a while. Not long enough for the feral mutant to kill him, however Maiming sounded nice.
Magneto scowled as he headed towards the lairs computer room. There were only two bright points to this whole scenario. First of all the Brotherhood was still in Bayville and thus would not learn of this event. Magnus shuddered as he imagined the sort of taunts he would have to endure from those delinquent mutants. The other bright point was that Mystique was still out on her mission. Magneto just had to keep her in the dark about her son until his Acolytes had recaptured the boy.
Magneto turned to the door way and entered his computer room, planning to restudy his spies surveillance of Ranma, obviously there had been much he had overlooked. He would not underestimate the boy again!
As he entered the room he stopped and stared. His computer and main CPU sat in disarray, a huge gaping hole where its memory banks would normally be. Several cut and ripped wires swung freely, spitting sparks. As his gaze turned his eyes alighted on a piece of paper hanging from one of the shattered monitors. His eye’s narrowed as he read the sloppily written Kanji.
‘Hey bucket head! This stuff looked important, so I decided to deal with it. Hope you know a good repairman. You shouldn’t have messed with my Momma!.
Sincerely, Ranma Saotome the man who made you look like the dork you are!’
At the very bottom of the sheet was a crudely drawn face of Ranma sticking out his tongue while he pulled down a eyelid.
Magneto’s eye twitched. All his files... gone. His data on the X-men, His potential recruit list, his intelligence on Saotome, his PORN!!! Destroyed by that whelp....
“RANMA SAOTOME YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!!!!!!!!!!” Magneto’s cry of anger shook the mountain.
-----------------------------
Emma Frost grumbled as drove her car out of the mountains. Not only had she flown and driven out to this godforsaken rock for nothing, but then she had made the stupid mistake of reporting to the other Hellfire club members before she was back at her private jet.
----Flash back----
“Yes Shaw... The prisoner escaped. You really should have come along, it’s not often one gets to see the ‘Mighty Master of Magnetism’ beaten black and blue. I’ll be returning shortly.”
“No Emma.... You are to search for this boy. He sounds.... interesting.”
“Are you NUTS? Do you have any idea how hard it is going to be to track down one person in this backwater part of the country?” Emma snarled into her phone.
“Nevertheless you shall do it. Acquiring this boy appears to have become quite a profitable endeavor for the Hellfire club.” Shaw’s calm voice shot back.
Emma scowled at the phone. “I suppose the plan is to keep the boy for ourselves then?”
“Perhaps.... If we have the boy, then we have the Mutant Mystique after all. Of course we may want to give him to Xavier instead....”
“What? But why him?”
“It’s simple Emma. What with Mutants being revealed to the world at large, perhaps it is time to hedge our bets so to speak. Xavier’s X-men are much better regarded, especially by SHEILD and the government than Magnetos. If we were to ‘negotiate’ the boys release to Xavier and his X-men, then they would owe us a favor. Or at least a favorable reference should our own group come to the attention of the world. Being Magneto’s ally alone means we risk painting ourselves as one of his fanatics. Not to mention delivering Ranma to the X-men’s care would also make Mystique owe us a favor as well.”
The White queen grimaced as she reluctantly acknowledged the point; she could see the logic in Shaw’s argument. Any good investor tended to hedge there bets, especially with risky propositions. This Ranma might be just the hedge the Hellfire club needed. Still... “Fine Shaw.... but you owe me big for this.”
“Yes, yes... Of course Emma, you will defiantly get what you deserve.” With that the phone line went dead....
--------------------end Flash Back-------------
This of course sent her taking a long loop back to her private Jet. So at least she could claim she searched for the boy. Sure there would be some disappointment that she didn’t snag the boy, still what did Shaw expect? Her to snap her fingers and cause him to magically appear out of the woods?
Emma blinked as after she snapped her fingers in frustration a form appeared out of a nearby forest. Glancing closer she took note of the torn and scuffed outfit, making a quick mental match with the boy and outfit she had plucked from the acolytes minds. She then glanced down at her hand.
Shaking herself out of her shock, a slow smile spread across the White Queens face as she drove up to the boy.
------------------
Ranma grumbled to himself, keeping to the back roads wasn’t so bad. He’d traveled worse terrain when he was training with pops. Nor was he worried about bucket head and his buffoons. After all he pretty much bested them in there lair right? Why should he worry about them here in the wild? Especially with a distinct lack of metallic items for bucket head to use. No none of that was what bothered him.
“Man this shirt was a gift from Kasumi!” Rather it was the current state of his clothes. IT seemed he had misjudged the distance of the stream below a bit and had landed on the shore as opposed to the water. On one hand he didn’t activate his curse... on the other it really scuffed up his clothes. Right now Ranma was Dreading the look on Kasumi’s face when she saw what happened to her gift. Oh yeah and he was also pondering how he was going to find his mother.
Ranma jumped high as a car horn sounded behind him, whirling around in a defensive crouch. He blinked as the car behind him stopped and the door opened. Out of it stepped a tall blond woman. “If I am not mistaken you must be the infamous Ranma Saotome.....”
“How’d you know who I was?” Ranma blinked in surprise.
“That’s simple my young boy. It’s not everyday that a mere boy manages to humiliate the great Magneto and his minions. I make it a point to learn the names and faces of people with such... potential.” Emma smirked, as she lightly mentally scanned the boy’s mind. She was a bit non-plussed that he didn’t seem to notice her outfit. She was even more surprised at how quickly he shifted into studying her, trying to figure her out after she mentioned Magneto. Quite an interesting boy indeed, although she was curious as to why he had some feminine qualities to his mind to.... something about a curse? Emma scowled as her probe met increasing resistance. The boy must have a will of steel to be this difficult to read.
Ranma tensed at the mention of bucket head. Instantly he began to study the lady in front him. She seemed to be relaxed and confident. But was that because she wasn’t a threat or because she was confident she could beat him? “I ain’t going back to bucket head you know!”
“Of course, of course and I can help you with that and maybe.... find your mother?” Emma smirked as Ranma’s eyes lit up and then narrowed.
“Why would you help me?”
“Because I represent a group that bears some similarities to Magneto’s. Although we tend to prefer to coexist with humans than rule them like he plans to.” Emma paused and considered, then shrugged. From what she could tell being... mostly honest would be the best course to gain the boy’s trust. “As such a group on occasion we could use the services of someone like your mother. However unlike that fool Magneto, the Hellfire club recognizes that it would be far too dangerous to try and force someone like Mystique to do our bidding. If she were to owe us a favor however, like say for rescuing her son, we could establish a more ... beneficial mutual relationship. One where your mother could take on jobs that were.... less grating on her conscience.”
Ranma frowned... for some reason this woman reminded him of Nabiki. Still what she said made sort of sense. And if it were a favor than his mother could choose her job right? Better than to be forced by bucket head. Besides if this lady tries to double cross him he could just break out of her place to! “.... alright... I guess I’ll trust ya... for now....”
Emma smirked, just as she planned. IT was said that the best laid lie is one wrapped up in truth, and that proved true here as well. Just about everything she said was the truth, except for the small part of the jobs the Hellfire club would use mystique for being more ethical. Still no need to let him know that. “Very well, I suggest you hop in, we have to hurry before Magneto’s acolytes catch up. It’s best if we reach my jet and be off quickly.”
Ranma nodded and then paused. “I just got one question tho?”
“What?” Emma asked curiously.
“Ain’t ya cold driving around in your PJ’s like that?” Ranma blinked as he became the first male ever to see the White Queen facefault.
On one side we got the Hellfire club and its goons, on the other Ranma and the White Queen... Let the goon smashing commence!
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(Posted Mon, 01 Sep 2003 05:59)
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