Ranma kicked his legs up, leaning back in the chair and allowing his legs to land, crossed, on the table's polished top. This was the first formal request for assistance that the gods had made since Kami-sama occasioned Ranma's apotheosis, but Ranma, while he had loosened up considerably, was unwilling still to reveal weakness except to those closest to him, so he concealed his careful examination of his surroundings behind a veil of unconcern.
He knew, though in this environment his senses were too limited to allow certainty, that the dark mirror on one wall was an observation mirror, a one-way mirror, and that someone was behind it, watching him. From the look of it, however, he doubted that the room was ever used for interrogations . . . the hanging projector overhead, the expensive furnishings, the wet bar in the corner all belied the thought. Rather, he guessed, the room was used for both briefings and debriefings. While the briefings might be as easily conducted in other environs, the debriefing would need to occur somewhere where the proceedings could be both observed and likely recorded.
Probably the briefing was to occur in the same room so that the operative would be familiar with it already upon his return, thus being more relaxed and forthcoming.
It had only been about fifteen minutes, nowhere near reaching the limit of his patience, when his briefing officer entered the room, so he had shown no visible signs of noticing the passage of time. He recognized his briefing officer easily enough, though he had never encountered this universe's Urd before. The platinum hair, sensual body, and revealing clothing were all quite familiar; which, he supposed, was at least part of why she had been chosen. It had been Urd, after all, albeit not this particular Urd, who had trained him in the use of his deific and demonic powers, not to mention awakening the latent Talent, the telepathic and psychokinetic powers lurking in the dragon's blood he had been given.
She sat across from him, and favored him with a warm smile, just slightly short of being sultry. She set a folder on the table, unwound the cord that bound it, and opened it, setting beside it a black oblong device that Ranma guessed was the control for the overhead projector.
She flipped the first sheet over, and Ranma's quick senses caught an image of the sheet, pulling it up in full detail before his minds eye, though the lower regions were just a bit fuzzy due to the angle. It was his dossier, or a portion of it. He turned his attention from it, knowing that his eidetic memory, enhanced by the dragon blood and deification, would retain that image for later perusal without any conscious effort on his part, and focused instead on the remote control which Urd had lifted and pressed upon with one slim, tapering finger.
The projector whirred softly into life, the fan coming on first, so that when the bulb received power, the resulting heat would be drawn away immediately.
In moments the bulb flickered into life, and an image of a devastated world, its surface in ruins, sprang into life. As Urd began to speak, more images of devastation blinked past.
"We've uncovered a plot by a malicious First-Class Entity to cause the destruction of the Earth in a timeline of particular importance. Unfortunately, the nature of his interference was remarkably minor... he simply caused one single individual to be moved across dimensions."
The images showed innumerable dead bodies, cities razed to the ground, forests burning, mountains smashed into rubble. None of the images showed the slightest sign of life remaining.
"Our problem is that this particular Entity does not fall within the realm of our direct jurisdiction, and so direct action against him would not be bound by rules . . . meaning that it could easily result in the deaths of numerous gods, the destruction of worlds and possibly whole universes, and could draw other Entities into conflict."
An image of a man's face appeared, thin and wrinkled, the skin slightly discolored, and set off by a bushy white mustache. He looked like he had long white hair, though the length was impossible to determine from the photo, other than that it was greater than shoulder length. He had a simple gold earring in each ear, no eyebrows to speak of, and light grey eyes. He appeared to be wearing a yellow shirt with a black vest, and a tall black hat.
"However, the Entity has similar restrictions on his own actions, and as long as we reply in kind, we have a chance to recover. A certain God of Mischief who will remain unnamed suggested you as an appropriate counteragent to this Entity's agent, who is a force of Order, a scientist."
The slide projector displayed an image of a massive computer.
"This individual, Dr. Gero, is, as I said, a scientist, and upon finding himself in this new world, he promptly built a computer. Unfortunately for us, he apparently had with him at the time a capsule containing the DNA of the greatest warriors on the world from which he came. He will use this DNA to create a perfect warrior, a nearly unstoppable force of destruction."
The image changed to that of a tall being, mostly humanoid, with chalk grey skin around the face, and green skin mottled with black in most other areas. The creature had wings similar to those of an insect, dark black in color, and what seemed like a black chest-plate, black shoulder-plates, and black plates on his lower legs.
"Unfortunately, we cannot allow you to fight this creature directly either, for if you face Dr. Gero or this being, which is named Cell, head-on, the resulting display of power will attract attention from other hostile elements in the Earth's galaxy, before the Earth is ready to defend against them."
"With you gone, after completing your mission, they would be defenseless, and we would be lost, again. Therefore, we are authorizing you to make the necessary changes in the timeline to create a group of heroes capable of defending the earth, who can increase in power over time, so as to match the threats that will approach upon feeling the power used in the defeat of the current threat."
"It is up to you to select the warriors or heroes, and to choose how you augment them. Just recognize that your own direct influence must be minimized as much as possible."
"Do you have any questions?"
Ranma considered this. Clearly, given the leeway he had been given, there was no point in asking who he should select. They had their reasons for leaving it up to him. However . . .
"One question . . . Can you tell me what the critical event is that must be protected? You said this timeline is important, and yet my interference, while it may gain the timeline's continuance, will still leave it significantly altered from what it was, since you won't allow me to simply take out Dr. Gero directly, so can you tell me what I should ensure happens?"
Urd sighed unhappily, and shook her head. "Unfortunately, no, all I can tell you is that it is important that the Earth survive, that humanity survives."
"Very well," stated Ranma, standing, and bestowing a gleaming smile on Urd, who found herself momentarily breathless, "I am ready to depart."
"So you'll do it?," Urd asked happily. She hadn't really expected to be able to convince him. After all, everyone in Asgard knew that he had not really joined up . . . Kami-sama had granted him powers, true, but it had been as much a favor to Kami-sama and the other gods from Fey Ranma, whose only reason for accepting the power was to control the degree to which his unconscious powers of chaos affected the activity of the other deities, as it was a gift from Kami-sama to Ranma.
He had no real requirement to work for Asgard. Indeed, one of the points that had been made clear in the briefing the Asgardians had received on the new Midgard deities was that they were equal in rank among the Demons, and could as readily choose to work for Hild, without incurring any penalties from the Yggdrasil system.
She definitely hadn't been expecting him to be quite so . . . charismatic. It had been a long time since Urd had truly been affected by something so simple as a smile . . . she had jaded herself with her own constant posturing and sensual behavior, and the reactions they inevitably drew from gods, mortals, and demons alike. She wondered for just a moment if she mightn't find him attractive largely because of his ability to resist her charms so easily, but brushed the thought aside. What was important was that he had agreed, which meant she'd done her job successfully for once, without mishap.