Assignment


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.