Commander Heidern as a tall man, with military cut short hair that was balding some what in front. He face bespoke of great seriousness, only marred by an eye patch that covered the eye he had lost long ago, when he had failed to protect his wife and child. He was dressed in a suit of Class A Uniforms, if that Uniform happened to be similar in design to the officers of Hitler's Third Reich and happened to be a dull green, instead of the oppressive black.
He was also the leader of the Ikari Warriors, a militaristic mercenary group that operated mainly in third world countries, their headquarters however was rumored to be in the jungles of Brazil, however since no one has been able to discover their secret base, this fact remains largely in question.
Jiro Yamada thumbed threw the suitcase of money, sitting on the table between himself and Heidern, their bodyguards off to the side. He gave Heiderns bodyguards a quizzical glance, lingering overlong on the long blue haired woman who simply returned his gaze with a cold emotionless stare.
"The agreement, Heidern, was two million American dollars in exchange for a shipment of military grade weapons, and ammunition." He gave the tank sitting behind them a curious glance, "The M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank was not part of the equation."
Leona Heidern, adopted daughter of Commander Heidern, second in command of the Ikari warriors simple stood there in a at ease position, legs spread slightly with her arms behind your back, one fist holding the other. She was a tall woman 5'8, 5'9, with a shock of long blue hair that, even with it tied up on top her head, still hanged loosely down her back. She hadn't cut it since she was a child, and it showed. She wore a similar uniform as Heidern, only instead of pants she wore comfortable shorts. Her uniform jacket was a bit short, exposing her mid riff, the sleeves only flowing down to the middle of her arm. She also sported similar colored military boots, with black leather gloves completing her apparel.
Heidern's frown didn't lessen, "I believe the Ambrams tank was a gift from the Oyabun, in exchange for services rendered."
Jiro blinked, surprised. "What services would that be?"
"Confidential services." Heidern answered coolly. "I'm sure, however, that a simple call from either you, or me, to the Oyabun would clear this situation up for all involved."
Jiro frowned, glaring at the one eyed solider for a moment. When Heidern reached for his cell phone on the table, Jiro grunted, "No need.." he sighed.
Heidern restrained a smirk, merely nodding coldly, "Understood." he stood up from his chair, "I will have two of my most trusted soldiers come by tomorrow to pick up the purchases."
Jiro nodded, closing the briefcase containing the money and standing up himself, "I'll inform the Oyabun of successful delivery."
Heidern nodded, turning around and simply walking out of the warehouse, his bodyguards following.
***
Maison Heidern, Temporary Base of Operations, Chugoku Region, Okayama.
Heidern gave his daughter a glance as they stepped into the large, mostly empty, house. "Lieutenant."
Leona came to attention, "Sir!"
"Inform Sgt. Jones and Steel they will secure our merchandise tomorrow afternoon at 1600 hours, shipment to take place at 600 hours the following morning. Understood?" Heidern ordered.
"Sir, yes sir!" Leona acknowledged.
"Very well. Report to my office after you have informed them. Dismissed." he said, turning around and walking away towards his office.
Leona saluted, about facing, and walked away as well.
***
Later.
Leona saluted her commander, "Lieutenant Heidern reporting as ordered, sir!"
Heidern spared his daughter a glance, before returning his gaze to a set of papers on his desk. "At ease, Lieutenant."
The lieutenant fell at ease, an uncomfortable silence descending for a few moments, Leona dared not speak in the presence of her commander.
Heidern grunted, rubbing his chin as he closed the folder on his desk, "In 1994, during the King of Fighters tournament, Rugal Bernstein sunk his own carrier, the Black Noah, in an attempt on the lives of everyone present."
Leaning back in his chair, he grabbed the folder on his desk, and thumbed through it again, "For the last few years the Black Noah remained at the bottom of the ocean, however, a group of deep sea divers recently discovered the remains and even now are salvaging what they can. Of particular interest to us, however, is the Noah's computer core."
He offered the folder to the woman, who took it and began looking through the information within.
Heidern continued speaking while she examined the information, "The state of the computer core matters little in your mission. Out of all information we were able to salvage, however, we determined Rugal had been watching a certain individual. One, Ranma Saotome, for reasons unspecified."
Leona gave the picture of the boy a look over, memorizing his general features before moving on to more pertinent information.
"He is located here, in Japan. Nerima prefecture, Tokyo." Heidern sighed a moment, picking up another folder from his desk before flipping it open. "We performed our own research into this individual, and until recently you could consider him all but a ghost. Little to no school records. Spent most of his years moving from one wilderness to another, training in the martial arts and various survival skills." he shrugged, that was actually pretty basic training as far as he was concerned, "We didn't think much of him, until a contact within the Chinese Government sent me this file." He handed it to Leona.
"The Chinese government has, for some time now, been attempting to detain the young man. Seems he was involved in some type of trouble in one of their problematic Provinces. The specifics of his problems there has been classified and deemed top secret. However, every time the boy's presence was confirmed, he managed to slip out with out taking established routes of transportation before the military could apprehend him. How he managed to enter and leave China, is unimportant towards your mission." Heidern explained.
Leona frowned. The information she had been given was sparse at best. Birthday, hair/eye color, name of parents, ect. ect. Nothing that described what type of danger he could represent, motivations, and his marital status was left as 'SNAFU' for some reason.
"Your mission is to locate Ranma Saotome, observe him until such time as you can determine if he is to be considered a threat, and, at your discretion, approach him with an offer to join the Ikari Warriors." Heidern finished.
Leona frowned. Join the Ikari warriors? This kid? She didn't think he would make the cut, judging by his picture alone. Outwardly, she coldly said, "Understood."
***
Later.
Leona watched the comings and goings of this little restaurant, enjoying the entirely homely and welcoming atmosphere of the Ramen shop. She sat near the doorway, coldly monitoring the top-heavy waitress, the nearly blind waiter and bus boy, and what she could only identify as an old ghoul cooking up the delicious meals being served within.
She had observed the boy from a distance for the last week. By distance, of course, meant from really far away and with binoculars. She had witnessed many interesting things since her observation began. To name a few, his Jusenkyo curse was on the top of her list. The ability to change genders with the application of water would make for a very interesting soldier, especially if he became trained as an Assassin as she, Ralph, and Clark had.
Most of the fights he had been involved in were short and too the point, the young man simply outclassing everyone involved. The battles had only required his skill, so the Lieutenant was left wondering if the boy had any special maneuvers like many of the other fighters she knew had.
Given her deadline for observing the boy was fast approaching, another two weeks, she had decided now was the time to make her offer to the boy, and see how things went. If he agreed, he should have more then enough time to get his situation in order.
Supplying a small amount of cash to the local Yakuza member, one Nabiki Tendo, had proven very valuable to her. She pondered momentarily if this Nabiki Tendo was really of the Yakuza, or some independent information loan shark, but then shook that thought off. It just didn't matter.
"Nihao! Welcome to.. RANMA!" the waitresses chirrup brought the woman out of her thoughts.
Leona stood up, and began moving towards her target. She was just about to reach him when, out of the corner of her eye, she detected a sudden sharp movement. Back stepping by instinct, the bag of flour missed her head barely.
Her target stiffened suddenly, turning to see the flour bag heading directly for him. He quickly glanced behind him, wincing as he saw a young mother and her kids sitting at a table behind him. Turning to face the projectile, he brought his arms up and covered as best he could the people behind him.
Leona pondered the point of defending a family from a bag of flower for a moment, and only a moment as the bag smacked against the boy, a cloud of shimmering dust erupted from the bag, spreading impossibly quickly through out the room. She saw the threat, and even though she tried to hold her breath and shield her eyes, it was too late. A wave of nausea caused her to stumble forward a bit, slamming into the boy who also stumbled forward as the effect of the dust began to take hold.
Opening her eyes, she caught a glimpse of ocean blue eyes staring into her own, and then her mind was lost on a wave of impossible lust and desire, all directed at the boy she had been ordered to observe.
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(Posted Wed, 11 Feb 2004 01:31)
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