Chapter 1 Gathering of Heroes and Darkness. by Man in the shadows. Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Ranma 1/2, DBZ, Nightwing, Gundamwing, or SaliorMoon. Gundamwing is owned by Sunshine, I think. DC Comics owns itself as well as Nightwing. I forget the wonderful guy who came up with DBZ, one of my favorite animes. Ranma 1/2 belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. Whoever makes Sailormoon is one hell of a better artist then I. God Bless these people. I'm also low on cash. Please don't sue. God bless these people's lawyers. ~ ~ These shall be used for communication Via technology. [ ] This is for thoughts. WARNING: Spoilers, Foul language, and you better believe there'll be violence. ********************************************************* 15 stood in a graveyard as the rain came down. Water dripped from his pigtail and ran down his back. He calmly walked to a grave that read: Tendo Kasumi. He set a single red rose on the grave. "Hello, love. I know it's been a while, but so much has been happening. With the Buu crisis, Goku coming back to life, learning Kaioken, and trying to keep Serene from blowing up her ex-boyfriend... I miss you..." He stood there for a few minutes. "I wish you would have told me... If we knew about your curse we could have used the Dragon Balls to rid you of it. We could have gone a bit longer without using the other wish for 17, 18, and myself..." A few more minutes went by and a few tears ran down the android's face. "Tom is doing well. He and his sister are really learning a lot from your sister and me... And they graduate in a few months. They're really smart... Probably got it from you..." The Android took a few moments to collect his thoughts. "Well, I better be going." He kissed the tip of his fingers before setting them on the gravestone. Then he turned to leave. Near the entrance to the Cemetery stood a rather wet figure with wings on his back. There were also two curved blades on his back. "Who are you?" ********************************************************* There was a knocking at the door. Ranma pulled on a black satin robe and walked from his bedroom in the loft apartment. He want's very happy today. The Tendo wouldn't leave him alone. Ranma had made his standpoint that he didn't want anything to do with them. But the old man wouldn't let it go. From there things went to hell. The girl, Akane, wouldn't quit bitching at him. Nabiki would keep staring at him and analyzing him. And Kasumi... Well... She was more of a passive in the mess till Nabiki suggested they dump Ranma onto Akane. Then Kasumi turned on him too. Ranma just left. He didn't give a damn about the yelling behind him. He just went to a bar and tried to get a drink. But their sake sucked. He had time to kill before his friends arrived at his place, so he went and hired a whore. She sucked, but she wasn't good at anything else. And now, just before he killed the bitch, there was someone at his door. "Alright! Keep your fucking shirt on, damn it!" The yelling was for his benefit. The place was sound proofed. He opened the door. "Oh God..." ********************************************************* Lady slapped Tatewaki across the face. "How could you lie to me," she screamed at him as she gestured at the devastation about them. "You're supposed to be a samurai, damn it! Why did you lie? Tell me!!!" Kuno Tatewaki slowly looked up, his eyes barely meeting those of the woman. "Thou deserved a moment of peace... As thy were loosing conciseness, I couldn't tell thee that the Earth itself hash been destroyed... It would have shattered thou... I know it was wrong of me to be so presumptuous, my lady... I woust not blame thy if thou never forgive me." She just sat there, staring at the warrior. He had changed a lot since she first met him. And now, the world was just dirt and water. Not a man made object, plant, or animal had survive outside the bubble her father had created. She started to curl up, and cry. Her father had destroyed the world. She blamed herself for hesitating in killing her own father. Now everyone had paid for her mistake. Beyond the tears, in the distance, she thought she saw a figure with wings on his back. ********************************************************* Ranma whistled as he finished mopping up the mess in his bathroom. He always felt much better when he cut lose like he did three hours earlier. There was a knock at the door and Ranma went to answer it. "Hey, guy!" Mousse and Ryouga walked in with smiles. "How are you, Ranma," asked Mousse. "Better then ever." Ryouga had a bit of a grin on his face too. "Oh Ranma, I hope you don't mind, but I asked a date to meet me here." Ranma froze. "Oh God..." Mousse knew that tone. He shut the door. "What's wrong?" "Ryouga... Did this girl... Did she used to have long black hair?" "Used to?" Ryouga groaned. "Ranma, please don't tell me..." "Tendo Akane?" "Damn it, Ranma!" "Sorry," said Ranma with a sheepish grin. Mousse smiled brightly. "Tell me you videotaped it." The other two looked at him. "Mousse, sometimes I don't know who's more fucked up in the head. You, or Ranma," said Ryouga as he crushed an errant paperweight. ********************************************************* Nightwing swung on his cord. There was a grace to his arc. It was all sort of like an art form to it all. And it was made to look easy by the acrobat. He felt energized that night. He had gone through an entire dinner with Babs, without interruption. Afterwards she had a meeting with the JLA as Oracle, so they had planned for that, meaning they went through an entire date. He then changed into his costume and cracked down on a few minor crimes as a work out. He followed up with foiling a bank robbery, and he capped the night off with busting the Scarecrow. Now, at the end of his night, he intended to take a nice shower. He entered his apartment and was shocked to see an angel there. And he looked nothing like Zauriel. ********************************************************* Kasumi sleepily answered the door, not expecting to see a police officer there. "Oh my." "Hello ma'am." "Hello officer. Is there anything I can do for you?" The officer hatted this part of the job. "Are you related to Tendo Akane?" ********************************************************* Ranma sat on the roof. Things had been going rather well for him. Akane didn't mallet him as often these days. Ryouga and Mousse didn't want him dead anymore. He had finally decided to forgive Ukyou for the wedding incident. And both Soun and Genma were away on a camping trip with Happi. Now if they only remember to make sure to use a bigger charge this time... Suddenly he saw a winged figure in the distance. Ranma got up quickly and took a combat stance thinking it was a Pheniox. It landed on the roof and Ranma relaxed. The guy didn't have a beak, or claws. But the two curved swords on his back we disconcerting. "Hi." "Hello," the stranger responded. "My name is Quatre and I'm and angel." "Uh-huh... You're not here to kidnap anyone or challenge me, are ya'?" Quatre blinked. "No. But I am here to ask you to help me and a few others in an attempt to stop a conflict that can hurt your world." "Oh... Kay. Let me just get a few things and say goodbye." "Alright..." Quatre as a bit off balance now. The others were more defensive when he showed up. He didn't actually expect one to come with him without asking more questions. ********************************************************* In the morgue at the police station, Soun, Nabiki, and Kasumi stood before a window as a gurney was wheeled over a covered body, on the other side. The coroner lifted the blanket from the face. Soun went straight into shock. Kasumi simply collapsed. And Nabiki stood there, tears running down her face. "She simply said, "It's Akane..." The detective motioned to the coroner and he covered the face up. "Who did this," asked Nabiki. "Some hooker. Kami only knows what got into her. Your sister shot her, just before she died." Nabiki suddenly grabbed his shoulder and looked straight into his eyes. "Akane would never use a gun!" "Her prints were on it. And I don't blame her. Musta' been desperate." ********************************************************* Saotome Ranma looked about the blue crystal disk, in the darkness. To his shock, there was his female-self wearing a red shirt with wide sleeves and a long black skirt, with a white clad Kuno at her side, katana in his hands. Another was a very much older version of himself. Last was dressed up like a comicbook superhero from the states. Quatre walked over to a figure shrouded in shadows. The shadowy figure spoke then. "Welcome. I've spoken to higher powers of your dimensions and brought you all her to prevent a conflict that will spill out into your worlds." "And why us," asked the one dressed as a super hero. "You're all alternate versions of Saotome Ranma, the worst threat in the other world." The others became a bit more attentive at this. "You all are important to this conflict. Nightwing for his experience. 15 for his shear power. Ranma for his potential. And this lady Ranma has her own shining light." "The name is Lady," said the female Ranma. "What about Kuno," asked Ranma. "Mr. Kuno the White Cloud here-" "White Cloud," asked Ranma. "Peace and understanding before the storm," simply said Tatewaki. Ranma blinked. "As I was saying," said the shadowy figure with a hint of irritation. "Tatewaki is here because it was convenient. Oh, and Miss Saotome, Tatewaki, your world is safe. All that happened was only japan was eradicated." Lady didn't exactly look relaxed. "Okay, Quatre will be passing out files with your cover stories." ********************************************************* Serenity sighed as Jadeite went on with the long report. These matters bored her. And she never trusted this Negaverse General when they unfroze him. But sacrifices must me made on the way to her goal. Crystal tokyo... The perfect world that she would design. And she would do anything to make it to her goal. "And, your majesty, Akane Tendo was recently found dead." This caught Serenity's attention. "What do you mean, she's dead?" "She was found to have been tortured to death, having shot her killer before bleeding to death." The queen to be bit her lower lip and looked to Sailor Mercury. "See the Tendos don't look into it too deeply. I don't want them finding out Akane's link to this organization." "Yes my queen," was the reply. Serenity then addressed Jadeite again. "What's the status of the orbital heist?" ********************************************************* Nabiki sat down in the living room. Kasumi and Soun had gone to bed. Nabiki couldn't cry herself to sleep like the other two members of her family. Too many questions preyed on her mind. {Why was Akane in that neighborhood? Why was she killed? Why-] A crash in the kitchen grabbed her attention. She grabbed the closest thing she could use as a weapon, a chair. She moved in with the chair raised over her head. With a free hand, she flipped on the light and let out a scream. She almost swore the cat screamed back. There it was before her. A terrified cat covered in leftovers that Kasumi never actually had the time to cover. It's eyes were locked on the chair Nabiki held over hear head. She couldn't help herself. She fell over backwards laughing. [Why me,] thought the cat. [I just needed a bite to eat... I don't deserve this...] Nabiki slowly calmed down and reached out for the orange cat. It shrunk back a bit. "Hey, I'm not going to hurt you." The cat gave her a skeptical look and she started laughing again. She reached out again and this time the cat started to let her clean him off. "You need a name... Orion seems right." Orion raised and eyebrow and Nabiki broke out laughing again. [She actually came up with my name... Well, at least she isn't calling me Fluffy.] Orion shivered at the thought. Nabiki picked up the cat and started to scratch him behind the ears, much to Orion's delight. She looked over the odd crescent yellow patch on his forehead due to the poor lighting and the food. ********************************************************* Quatre and Trowa walked towards the bay. As they entered they bay, they noticed three figures getting into Their Gundams. "Hey, what are you doing," called out Trowa as he reached for his gun. One figure held out a hand and an energy blast hit Trowa in the chest, separating an arm from the shoulder and sending out a large spray of gore. A hail of knives hit Quatre, sending him flying back. In the zero gravity slammed him back through the air lock. He turned on his communicator. "The Gundams are... being stolen..." He coughed up some blood. "Trowa's dead... I need... A medic..." *** DeathScythe and Zero were on their way back to the asteroid, when the call went out. ~The Gundams are... being stolen...~ "Is that Quatre," asked Duo. ~Trowa's dead... I need... A medic...~ "Let's move," shouted Heero as he made a beeline for the dock. *** Wu Fei ran through the air lock in time to see Sandrock about to cut through the main airlocks for the bay. Trowa was obviously beyond help so Wu Fei quickly grabbed Quatre and yanked him into the airlock behind him, shutting the doors. Sand rock cut through the bay doors and the explosive forces ripped the doors free. And then the Gundams started to get out. *** Duo saw the Heavyarms getting into a dropship. "Okay, I see em'! Let's kill these bastards." "Duo! Behind you," called out Heero. Duo looked at his aft monitor to see the Altolong suddenly Come up behind him. An arm stretched out and a gold Globe of energy started to form inside the Dragon Fang. "Oh shi-" The blast was fired and impacted against the back of Deathscythe. Duo could feel the explosions behind him and the cockpit started to suffer problems. Suddenly a mechanical piece pierced the metal shield behind his chair, went through the chair itself, and pierced his abdomen. He starred in shock at the bloody piece of machinery protruding through his body while Earth's gravity claimed Deathscythe. *** Heero faces off against AltoLong. "Power down or-" ~Shut up,~ came an electronically altered voice. ~Two pilots, dead. One, going to burn if you don't save him. What you goina' do, Zero?~ A second passed. Heero frowned and took off at high speeds for the Atmosphere, while Altolong headed for the Dropship. ********************************************************* The shadowy angel seemed preoccupied as the others spoke among themselves. "Dick Grayson... I know the guy," said Nightwing as he went over his folder. "He was lucky that his parents were sick and my parents had to fill in..." He just trailed off. "So, your parents died," asked Lady. "Yeah... It was due to an extortion racket." 15 sighed. "My father was rather imposing on my brother... Thought he was dead thanks to the Red Ribbon Army. His mom revered him as a hero... Ranma is now training on the higherplane with other dead warriors." "My pop is a jerk," simply said Ranma. "Mom has always been a housewife..." "You lucky bastards..." Their heads turned to Ranko. "My father was a killer. He beat me and sold me to a pimp... I had to fight my way for my freedom. My mom was a good lady, but afraid of my father. My brother at least had the will to defy him. Too bad father slaughtered everyone back home... I just hope my girls got away." "Your girls," asked Ranma. "A group of prostitutes, who I watched over," she said with a bit of sadness. "They were forced into the business and had no family names. I did my best to protect them. Even got them on a plane to the States, when my father broke out of jail... I pray they made it." The group went into silence. Then Ranma asked Tate, "What's your story?" The white clad samurai looked up. "I... forced Tendo Akane's decision to run away when I pressed unwanted advances. It too her sister, Nabiki, to yell at me for it to dawn that I hath not been the virtuous warrior I hath envisioned myself to be. I went to a monastery and learned a different way. Not I am a servant to all, and master of none." ********************************************************* Heero sat on a bench in a hall. He had to carry Duo to the hospital. Outside the Wing Zero was parked. Quatre and Trowa were dead. Duo was in a room not far away, on heavy life support. He might never be able to move under his own power, ever again. Hirde hadn't been told yet. Heero would do that later. The drop ship with the stolen Gundams had crashed. Three bodies and lots of Gundanium had been found at the crash site. It should have made Heero feel better, but it didn't. ********************************************************* Nabiki was now asleep, but it wasn't a peaceful one. Orion had been cleaned up and now he was looking over the room. "Not bad... Lot better then the last place." He noticed Nabiki's computer and grinned. "Oh yeah." He hopped up on the seat and started to boot it up, alternately checking if Nabiki was asleep. The Operating System came online and Orion grinned even wider. "Yes! This is the good stuff!" He booted the navigator, brought up a prompt, and 'borrowed' a blank CD from a stack, slipping it into the burner. He started typing at high speed, his paws becoming a blur. "Time to hack." ********************************************************* Quatre looked at where the shadowy angel was looking, seeing what the Ranma's didn't see. "Things don't look like they're getting better." "We'll have to wait to introduce our champions in their morning. Be ready to visit the Tendos. And remember my instructions." "I will." ********************************************************* Author's notes: Well, this is a big mess. Going through a lot of bodies and we've only just begun. Only one Gundam confirmed as operational. Two pilots are dead. One crippled for life. The Senishi have gone amuck. Jedite is alive and well. Nabiki with a mooncat who is into hacking. Ranma is a killer. Akane is dead. Ryouga and Mousse are his good friends. And We're just about to put the water into the acid. For those of you who haven't taken chemistry, that's a bad thing.