A fan fiction story revolving around the world of "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures" and "Ranma 1/2." No infringement of ownership is meant. It is just for fun. Archived at http://www.geocities.com/supermanunbound/index.html and http://www.fanfiction.net/~arthurhansen

With a crack-snap, noxious smelling-salts were waved under the two Japanese young adults. "It is time to wake up and smell the roses, " an obnoxiously smug voice said with almost no accent in Japanese.  "Although you two seem to have picked up a fragrance of some sort. Odeur de l'enlèvement, perhaps."

Ranma blinked and then looked around unsteadily. He was tied up to a very heavy metal chair with some sort of very strong cord.  Fifteen feet in front of him was his new fiancée, similarly bound.  "What?" They seemed to be in some sort of underground warehouse. The floor was concrete, but the walls were lined with some dull metal. A false ceiling and bright lights high above them illuminated the strange and arcane scientific equipment in the room in caged off areas.

"Ah, the boyfriend. Inconsequential." Lex Luthor walked over to Akane and tilted her head up with surprisingly strong fingers. "You, on the other hand, have something I want."

The young woman just glared at the criminal. "Who are you? Whereare we? Release us at once!"

"You are in no position to demand anything. Quite the opposite, actually. No one knows where you are. No one, in this country, cares who you are. Your life hangs on the knife's edge, young lady," Lex said suavely, his voice steeped in danger.

"So what do you want then?" she spat out. "I'm just a school girl!"

"What I want, is the girl that can fly. Someone in the Orient is enhancing people with the power of Superman. I need to know who she is or whom she works for. Gretchen!" He gripped Akane's chin with painful intensity.

A youthful-looking woman in a lab coat exited one of the caged off areas from out of sight. She snagged a syringe and ampoule of clear liquid from a nearby counter. "Are you sure of this? There's only one way to cure this poison," Gretchen said a bit uncertainty.  She quashed her uncertainty with sudden ruthlessness.  "It will give her incentive to remember all of the facts, now won't it?" the mastermind criminal said with a soft laugh. Behind him, Gretchen filled the syringe with three milliliters of the poison.

"I won't tell you anything!" Akane retorted hotly.

"Perhaps." Lex took the syringe. "This is a particularly nasty poison from your islands actually. Invariably lethal. The only cure is to have an instant superman enhancement. Anything less is futile." He grinned disarmingly at Akane. "Luckily, I happen to be someone that can grant this cure."

"Stop it! She doesn't know nothing!" Ranma yelled out. He tried to break the cords, but they seemed to be some sort of metal cable that was tougher than chains.

Lex stopped with the needle a mere inch away her skin. "Oh, and you do?"

"I might!" Ranma snapped back with a murderous glare.

"Might? You know the young lady in question? How to contact her?  How to bring her here?"

"Ranma! Don't say anything!" Akane shouted.

"Yeah. I guess you could say I'm pretty close to her," he replied with a smirk.

Something about that phrase churned anger deep within Lex Luthor. The haughty smirk angered him almost beyond reason from this boy in front of him. "Gretchen, bring him to the Enhancer." Casually holding the syringe in one hand and Akane (chair and all) in the other, he walked into one of the caged off areas and set Akane on a yellow 'X'.

Gretchen picked up Ranma just as easily and set his chair down to the side, next to a long bench with chemicals and electronic components. "You- you are enhanced like the American Ultrasoldiers?" Ranma sputtered in surprise.

"That limited thing? No, I aspire to Superman's full power, thank you. And soon, with your help, I will have it. This device is the keystone of that ability, is it not, my dear Gretchen?" Lex said as he waved his free hand at the large electrical device connected to many power capacitors.

"Yes, indeed! Once I have perfected it, we will rule the world!" the scientist said with a cruel smile.

Luthor just nodded with a perfect poker face. "I will let you in on a secret. Ranma, wasn't it? This device does not give Superman's power. It merely transfers a copy of the power from one person to another. Gretchen managed to copy some of Superman's power from an insipid fool known as Resplendent Man. From there, it eventually ended up here in myself." Lex stepped on a small 'X' painted black on the ground. "This girl that can fly will be forced to stand here and have her power stolen into myself here to save poor Akane's life from this insidious poison."

Gretchen walked over to a control panel. "It only needs to go to 10% of Superman's power to cure that poison, but I will just turn it up like so that we take all of her power into Lex or myself."

"But you don't need to poison her if I tell you everything, right?" Ranma shouted in sudden worry.

Akane looked very pale as Luthor sauntered over to her. "Of course. But I'm sure you will be much more truthful after I inject this neural poison into her." Without further preamble, he jabbed the needle into her neck and pushed the injector. "Now she has roughly four hours to live."

Gretchen winced but did nothing more. She knew where her loyalties lay.

"Akane!" her fiancé shouted. "You bastard! I would have told you without doing that!"

"It's just insurance. Depending on what you say will determine if I save her. Who is that girl?" he demanded.

He was going to kill them afterwards, Ranma suddenly realized. Unless he managed to stall and get them free while not letting him know that 'she' was actually Ranma. "She's nobody important. Just a... kid that traveled around China."

"So the Chinese are working on enhancement technology?" Gretchen asked curiously. "I was not aware that they had succeeded with any research like that."

"Uh, I don't think so. She was a martial artist and was training in secret and dangerous martial arts. She had been dragged to a place called Jusenkyo. A place of cursed pools. There she fell into a pool that granted her these powers," Ranma continued to explain.

"She fell in a magical pool that granted her Superman's powers?" Lex asked incredulously. It was obvious he had a problem believing any of what he was hearing.

"I've seen magic myself. It's real. Why couldn't magic duplicate Superman's powers?" the Japanese kid replied belligerently.

"It's useless to me. Unless you know where this 'pool' is?" Lex demanded as he walked over and grabbed Ranma's chin roughly.

Ranma looked over at Akane who was visibly weakening, her head hanging loosely. "I just know the name. China's a huge place, after all." A half-truth, as he didn't know exactly where it was.

Lex started to grip harder, but was suddenly interrupted by a beeping at his waist. He checked a pager. "Ah. Saved by the bell. We will be back in an hour, Ranma. I suggest you decide which is more important. Your ridiculous story or her life."

Gretchen followed Lex towards a door over a hundred feet away. "Are we safe leaving them there?"

"Quite. They are in a veritable fortress teaming with our enhanced guards. I doubt they can even move those chairs they are bound too. And with the machine that can cure her poison looming over them, he will crack within an hour. Enough time to deal with the Saudi royalty and their pending deal with us."

"Akane?" Ranma called out.

"Ranma? I don't feel good." Akane's voice was very slurred already.

"Hold on. I'm going to try and get free." He took a deep breath and strained at the cords, trying to break them. Much tougher than chains, he found out to his dismay. He looked around frantically.  There had to be something that he could use to get free. No knives or cutters appeared to be handy.

His eyes lit on a faucet half-hidden behind some beakers.  "Water!" He tried rocking the very heavy chair. Finally, he got it tipped forward. Bare toes touched the ground and allowed him to slowly tiptoe towards the counter and the sink. He almost overbalanced twice because of the heavy metal chair and his being bound hand, foot and torso to the solid chair.

Only to find that he was inches short of his goal of pulling the large handle and filling the sink with water. Thinking furiously, he turned his head suddenly and flipped his pigtail around to catch the lever and pull. Cold water started to fill the sink. With a deep breath, he stuck his head under the water and with an eye-watering shimmer, shifted forms.

With a clatter, Ranma crashed to the ground as her new form unbalanced her. She wiggled her hands, realizing that she could just slip loose of her bonds. With a grin, she wriggled free of the cables. She'd leave them there for them to try and figure out how 'he' had managed to escape.

"Akane?" Ranma asked, lifting her head. She looked very pale. "Don't worry, I'm gonna get you free."

"Poison?" she asked weakly.

That stopped Ranma. What was he going to do? Her eyes drifted towards the large machine. "I'm going to use his machine to cure you, okay?"

Akane nodded limply. Looking over the controls, Ranma found the one that Gretchen had adjusted for different power levels. He dialed it back a bit. Suddenly she bit her lip. How far had that been? Better to be safe than sorry. She moved it back up a bit until she was sure it was past the point that would cure Akane. With a quick scan, she found the start button and it started counting down. She blurred over to the little black 'X' and stood tensely.

The machine made a small popping noise and a very small jolt of electricity arced to her, but not past her and into Akane only three feet away. "Dammit!" There was no way that was a large enough burst of energy. She'd seen enough movies to know that much!

"Idiot... Power switch..." Akane mumbled while nodding her head towards a large power switch on the fence for this caged off area.

"Hey! Who's an idiot?" she snapped back. Instantly she felt bad, as Akane didn't even retort. Ranma grabbed the switch and pulled it. Instantly massive generators roared to life. "Uh oh."

"And at five million dollars apiece, American, each of your family can be endowed with the power of Superman. Or at least part of his power. No longer will his amazing abilities be controlled by strictly the United States Government," Luthor said as he felt out the tricky negotiation.

The man that he knew only as Abdul frowned. "You are an American, Lex Luthor. Surely you care for your country?"

"I've been a man of the world for quite a while. As a matter of fact, I have-" Lex was interrupted by a loud rumbling noise from below his feet. "What?"

"Is it an earthquake?" the Saudi Arabian asked worriedly.

"No! It's an intruder!" the criminal shouted, his face suddenly showing his anger. Somehow, that girl had shown up and was attempting to save his hostage. He should have just killed them both. In a blur of super-speed he left the Arab sitting in his office and headed down the stairs just in front of his security. In a fit of anger, he kicked the thick steel door off its hinges.

In the caged off area a figure could be seen cradling another figure. Blue eyes snapped up to stare at the approaching criminal and his thugs.

"Let go!" Akane finally said angrily, pushing herself free of Ranma's grip. She was startled by her strength as she sent the other girl sprawling over thirty feet away.

"Ah, good. You transferred you powers into this girl and she hasn't had the proper training to use her new abilities. Once we've captured you both, you'll become living batteries," Lex said with a gloating look on his face. "Your boyfriend couldn't have gotten far, I'm sure."

"Only problem with that, is that I've still got some of my power!" Ranma shouted as she cartwheeled to her feet. Her loose boy's school uniform was unrecognizable, as the electrical charge had burned the shirt and slacks quite badly. Her hair was loose and very frizzy from the shock she'd just endured. Only ragged strips of cloth covered her boxers and white tank top.

Luthor looked at the settings on the machine, noting that it was just above what was required to 'cure' the poisoning. "Perhaps. But with my men and weapons, you don't have a chance to escape! No chance at all!"

For emphasis, the thugs chambered rounds in their AK-47s. Each of them aimed at the strange, red-haired girl.

Who just grinned back at them savagely! She slowly pivoted to the side, cupping her hands next to her stomach.

"Are you a fool and an idiot?" Lex demanded from behind his armed men. He suddenly had a prickling of worry. She seemed so confident. So self sure.

He'd seen that expression on television far too often, on himself.

"EAGLE... AIR... STRIKE!" Ranma yelled out as she sent a blazing ball of ki shooting towards the gunmen. It seemed to explode when it hit the first man sending him flying over the frantically dodging Lex Luthor and sending his other men scattering.

Akane blinked, then smiled. She realized that she was feeling much, much better. She stood up just as one of the men skidded under her skirt. "What?" she asked, then realized he could see under her skirt. "PERVERT!"

Lex and his men looked up at the sudden distraction, startled to see Akane kick the hapless thug through a concrete wall. Thinking quickly, Lex yelled out in Japanese, "Don't let them escape up those stairs!"

In a blink of their eyes, Ranma had snatched up Akane and ran for the said stairs as fast as she could go. Stinging bullets managed to find her form, but were unable to affect her.

They went up the three flights of stairs in just a few seconds, to end up in a palatial office area. An Arab blinked in astonishment as the 'intruders' zipped past him towards the front doors and into the evening outside in Nueva Laredo.

"This is a very nice house," Lois commented as they opened the gates back to the walled compound. A large two story house sat in front of them across a well tended yard.

Clark strode up to the house quickly and pushed the doorbell. In just a moment, the last daughter of the household opened the door. An expensive MP3 player was clipped to her belt and she turned it down casually. "Oh, your back! Come in."

"Thanks." Clark shared a quick glance with Lois. "I'm afraid we might have discovered that something has happened to your sister."

Nabiki rolled her eyes. "She didn't get challenged again, did she?"

"Um, no-"

"It wasn't that temple up on Nijou asking for help again was it? I swear that they let loose more ghosts than they exorcise," she continued blithely.

Lois crinkled her forehead. That sounded interesting, but that wasn't why there were here. "Actually, that isn't it either."

"Ninjas kidnap her again?" she asked with a drawl.

"Um, close. Actually, we think a criminal mastermind kidnapped her," Lois said.

"Really? That's new," Nabiki mused. "Why?" "We think it has to do with a super powered young woman that appeared at her high school. Witnesses stated that they seemed to know each other. Unfortunately, Lex Luthor has a very big interest in acquiring super powers like that girl had." Clark shuffled uncomfortably. "He may have felt that because it was in Japan, that he was more likely to succeed at kidnapping her."

"I can't believe it! That's crazy even by Nerima's standards. I can't believe that jerk is bringing even more trouble into the house!" the young woman said, fuming angrily.

"Brought this trouble?" Lois prodded.

"Ranma Saotome! Akane's betrothed! He's..." Nabiki suddenly stopped. Should she tell them about the curse? Kasumi had asked her not to, for some reason. "I think he knows that girl."

"Well, it looks like he's been kidnapped too."

Rising Sun stood in General Worthington's office. "Has there been any word on Ranma Saotome and Akane Tendo?"

"Not at this time. Why are you so certain that Lex Luthor was involved? You keep insisting that, but you haven't stated why," the general asked curiously.

"I have some information that makes me believe Lex Luthor may have been behind their kidnapping. The incendiary device that was used to cover their disappearance was produced by a Luthor company in Japan."

"So why aren't you searching Tokyo for their kidnappers?" he asked.

Kasumi opened her mouth under her helmet then paused. She thought for a moment. It had been sheer instinct that had brought her to the United States. "I... am not sure. I don't feel that they were in Tokyo any more. Somehow, I just know that they were not in Tokyo or even Japan."

General Worthington III nodded. He hit an intercom on his desk. "Mrs. Newtrich, if you could come into my office. I need some advice." He leaned back in his plush leather desk chair, looking over the young woman clad in her countries white and red colors. That helmet concealed her entire face and muffled her voice. He didn't believe the story that the President had bandied around. He had access to the classified information of Ultramen capabilities. No scarring would withstand their regenerative ability. If they weren't killed, they would recover. "Ah, Lucille. Thank you for coming."

"General. Rising Sun. What can I help you with?" Lucille Newtrich asked as she sat down.

"Rising Sun believes that the two Japanese kids that are missing were kidnapped and shanghaied out of Japan. She doesn't have any proof, other than her feelings."

Lucy narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. "Not absurd, of course. The Neo Kryptonians were believed to have full telepathic abilities. But generally only with fully empowered people of their race. The Presidential Enhancement might be potent enough for mild empathetic ability. Perhaps to someone they know closely or are related to." The reformed criminal almost winced at the unseen glare under the helmet at that comment.

Thinking carefully and clearly, she responded by totally ignoring what she was implying, "So, operating under the idea that they were removed from Tokyo over a day ago, where would Luthor take them?" The Presidential Ultramen and the military ultra program were rivals to a degree. Dan Barr had mentioned that General Worthington had requested all of the information on the Presidential Package and how it worked, but had been stymied. They had barely told herself how it was possible, but only after all of the training she'd undergone and so she didn't accidentally enhance anyone. Her secret identity could be just the start of trying to worm other information from her.

Lucy raised an eyebrow. "Well, knowing Luthor, he's probably taken them to his base in Mexico."

"Luthor International's Headquarters in Neuvo Laredo?" Rising Sun winced.

The United States, Superman and Ultrawoman had all been trying to nail Luthor for his criminal acts in Metropolis and from his suspected backing for replacing the President with a flawed clone. Which led Luthor to flee to Mexico and his national base there. Throwing up legal roadblocks to being extradited and expanding the base into his world headquarters of his financial empire were just a few of the things that had happened.

Unfortunately, Mexican authorities had been very receptive to bribes and to assisting him, for the proper kickbacks and financial increases to the Mexican economy.

"Correct. And according to our sources, Luthor has been there the entire time." Lucy turned back to General Worthington. "It looks like he has another double covering him again."

Lois lowered the baseball cap to keep the sun off of her delicate looking nose. Off in the distance, she could smell the Rio Grandé. She looked over at her husband as he doffed his own disguise.  Their loose clothes would let them fit in anywhere rural. As a matter of fact, it was some of his old working clothes from the Kent farm.

She looked out over the river to the east. The farms beyond it looked normal to her, but that was probably just the city-girl part of her not being able to tell one type of farm from another. "Ready partner?" she asked Clark.

He nodded as he slipped on his clip-on sunglasses to his frames.  "I'm glad we could convince Perry to let us take a detour on the way back to Metropolis." He raised his hand to shade his eyesight unnecessarily. Telepathically, he asked her, 'Do you see Rising Sun floating up in the air?'

'Yes. Scrupulously staying on the United States' side of the border too. But it will be a nice alibi if she were to be able to come and rescue us instead of Superman or Ultra Woman, wouldn't it?' she telepathed back to him.

"Well, let's get on our way then." Clark opened the driver side door of their rented Ford. As always, Lois had to be the one in charge of driving. They drove for about twenty minutes before ending up in the parking lot of a very disreputable bar.

Their meeting with their contact at Luthor International was not as fruitful as they'd hoped. About the only interesting thing they'd discovered so far had been Building Seven. Supposedly this was the heart of Luthor's new enhancement facility. Nestled on the west side of the complex, it had the same security that made breaking into any of Luthor's buildings impossible. Motion sensors, cameras and double- locked doors like airlocks. Even super speed couldn't allow them passage.

Exactly like Luthor wanted. As a military contractor for the Mexican government and their military, it was unobtrusively shielded by lead panels. Purely against the 'new Kryptonian menace' and not Superman and his ilk.

Clark shaded his eyes and zoomed in on nearest doorway from the car as they drove by on the nearest road. He wasn't sure what Luthor actually planned to do with the young woman from Japan, but it was probably nefarious. And deadly to the kids that were embroiled in his insane plans. It seemed not even death could keep Luthor down. If only they knew where they were. If only they could escape out that particular door-

CRASH! The door splintered outwards as a red-haired young lady caromed through it and came out with a skid. She was carrying the other girl. With hardly any pause, she charged the fence. Low concrete boxes suddenly sprouted robotic machine guns that tracked the fleeing targets with precision.

Lois suddenly revved the car and spun a u-turn even as the red head made an impossible seeming ninety-degree turn to dodge the heavy gunfire. In two quick bounds, she leaped the fence to land on the road.

Ranma almost turned away from the brown Ford Tauris as it skidded to a halt, but the back door was opened for her. With a shrug, she dove in there with her precious burden. She had barely entered when the car squeeled off, leaving tracks of burnt rubber.

"It looks like those guns aren't programmed to fire at cars on the road!" Clark called out as he hung on to the dashboard.

"Domo arigato!" Ranma gasped. She held Akane close to her while taking in deep breaths.

Akane looked up carefully. She was still slightly woozy from the poison

Lois switched to Japanese for their 'guests' benefit. "You are welcome. Hold on! It looks like Luthor has his security team after us already."

Black security vans with red and blue lights flashing were exiting the building compound. External loudspeakers were calling for their surrender even as their guards rolled down their windows to point machinegun pistols at them.

Lois hunched over to keep her head from catching any bullets accidentally. Not that they would hurt, but it might look odd if someone checked this out closely. "Hold on!" She spun a quick turn to the east and swerved around another security truck that tried to block them.

"Head for the river!" Clark called out. They were already doing sixty and still accelerating. "Lois?"

"Don't worry! Hang on!" Lois shouted. Suddenly, she realized that she wasn't getting her deposit back on this car. The light ahead of her turned red. With a sudden x-ray glance at super speed, she estimated exactly where she needed to go to avoid any cars as she cut straight across the "T" intersection. She drove straight over the fence and with a bounce, roared over the edge and jumped like they were the stunt doubles for Dukes of Hazard.

Ranma grabbed Akane again and with a burst of super speed, opened the door and threw her out. "Swim for the far side," she yelled as she dove in after her. If she had waited a bare moment later, she would have seen a white and red blur catch the Ford before it hit the water and carefully carry it to the United States side of the river.

Akane wasn't expecting it so slapped into the river with stinging force. She immediately panicked and started to thrash. Water foamed up spectacularly and failing to increase her buoyancy even slightly. Can't SWIM! she mentally screamed.

Suddenly, sure and strong arms lifted her out of the water like a small child. "Don't worry, I have you," a muffled voice in Japanese said soothingly to her.

"Rising Sun?" Akane said as she looked over her shoulder. "Thank the gods!"

Kasumi grinned as a huge weight lifted off of her heart. "You are safe now. Can't you swim?" she asked. Kasumi knew that she couldn't, but Rising Sun would have no idea.

"No. I sink like a rock. Always have," Akane replied softly. What a way to not impress the super-heroine.

"You might want to get some lessons then," the super heroine said as she landed next to the pair of reporters and their rented car.

Ranma suddenly exited the water in a reverse dive and skidded to a halt next to everyone else. "Hey! It's Rising Sun again!"

Akane suddenly walked up to the smaller girl and lashed out with a slap. "You idiot! I can't swim! You nearly drowned me!" She, unfortunately, misjudged her strength sent Ranma back in the river.

"Hey! Why'd you do that!" she shouted back while holding her hand to her stinging cheek. Ow, that hurt.

"That's what idiots deserve! Didn't you think before you acted?" she shouted back.

Lois and Clark shared a bemused glance. Luthor probably needed to be rescued from these two, not the other way around.

"Well excuse me for trying to save your life! How I supposed to know your unfeminine body sinks like a rock?" Ranma shouted right back.

Rising Sun coughed suddenly. "Excuse me. I know that you've been kidnapped, but we do have a border violation that needs to be dealt with. If you would please ask me for refuge here into the United States, we can look at getting you home as soon as possible." She had to stifle a laugh.

"What about Ranma Saotome?" Lois asked suddenly. Something about this situation seemed off to her, but she couldn't say how.

"Umm..." Ranma muttered. How was she supposed to hide that 'he' was free already? "He, um, got loose already. Probably running around out there.

"Mrs. Lane? I'll take a quick scan when I get back. I'm sure I'll be able to find him in no time," Rising Sun said in her normal, pleasant tone.

Rising Sun guided the two bickering young adults into the high security facility, OZ. "General Worthington?" Rising Sun said in introduction. "I understand this is the person you were expecting." He pointed out the female Ranma.

"Yes. And you are Akane Tendo?" the general asked as he looked over the young woman in slacks and a T-shirt.

Akane bowed. "Yes. Thank you for helping rescue us," she replied.

"You are welcome. We have lodged a complaint with the Mexican authorities, but Lex Luthor seems to have an air-tight alibi. He was seen at a luncheon with the Mayor Alvaredo. So no charges are being pressed against him at this time. An investigation is being launched to find out what happened, of course."

Ranma looked around. This place sure was ugly. And there were a lot of people in military uniforms.

"Please, this way. I understand you are now enhanced Miss Tendo?"

"I guess so. I'm really strong."

The general led them both to a laboratory that seemed to include several fitness machines. "Dr. Newtrich here will be more than happy to run those tests and then we can see about getting you home."

"I would be more than happy to give them a lift, general," Rising Sun said. "I have to drop in on the White House to brief the President, but I should be back in time for that."

Lucy Newtrich waited for Rising Sun to depart. "Well, let's see what you can both do. I'm also interested in the machine that was used to enhance Akane. We will start with your strength."

For the next hour or so she tried to test their abilities, but they consistently maxed out the devices she had for testing strength and speed.

"Well, I'm a bit stymied here. I'm having a hard time testing your physical limits, though I think that Ranma here is maybe a quarter again as strong or fast. She seems to be having a much easier time of it. But I'm seeing a very unusual situation. You seem to both be finding it tough to get past a certain level. Akane more than Ranma." 

"She's probably just learning how to push herself to her limits. It's kind of weird, but I can't fly anymore, no matter how hard I try."

Lucy snapped her fingers. "That's it. We can do the lead test!"

Ranma and Akane shared a confused look. "Lead is heavy, but how is that going to test us? We've been lifting tons easily!"

"Hundreds of tons, actually. Actually, we test to see how much lead you can see through." The scientist smiled at the two kids.

"I have x-ray vision?" Akane asked mutely. Was she becoming an alien? Suddenly, a reoccurring thought came back to her. "You never peeked with your x-ray vision, did you?" she suddenly shouted at Ranma.

"What?" the other girl replied, looking confused and starting to get upset.

"You pervert!"

"Miss Tendo? If you would both follow me?" Lucille said, suddenly getting worried. This bio-lab would be quite expensive to rebuild and restraining two people enhanced to their level would totally break her secret identity.

Akane continued to glare at the other girl, her mind suddenly suspicious of the other girl's use of x-ray vision.

"X-ray vision isn't that hard to use, if you have it at all. It's actually one of the last 'super-senses' but first real super-power that you can develop," Lucy blathered on, trying to distract. "All you have to do is focus on an object and try to force yourself to look beyond it."

The young woman held up her hand to look at her hand. She stared at it intently. "Wow, it works. I can see that crack where I broke my finger just a few days ago!" She clenched her fist. The finger only twinged slightly. It was almost fully healed.

The scientist had Ranma sit down first in a chair and explained the principle. Lead foil sheets would be interposed between her and an object, measure how much lead she could see through. Ten minutes of checking and Lucy had her information, although she was surprised to find that Ranma and Akane both wavered on how far they could see.

It was like their sight was elastic and they were forcing it to work with some muscle. This was quite different than anyone else she'd tested. Even Superman's vision was pretty solid and wouldn't waver. It would require some more thought and testing.

There was a knocking at the door of the vision lab. Without waiting for confirmation, Rising Sun walked in. "Hello there. Are you two ready to-"

"Kasumi?" Akane screeched.

The helmet seemed to turn to look at her. With a sigh, she closed the door behind her and locked it. And then she doffed her helmet. "I see your X-ray vision is working now," she commented dryly.

"Wait a second!" Ranma asked. "How could she tell? All you can see through your visor is your eyes!"

"She's my sister! That's all I needed to see to recognize her!" Akane snapped back. "And I'm still not happy with you! Or you!" she said turning on her sister. "How could you hide this from us? We're your family!"

"I hid it because you are family. How many Yakuza would want to know where Rising Sun lived? Who her defenseless family was?" Kasumi snapped back. "I was given these powers to save my life, but now I have a chance to really help the world."

Akane blinked in shock. Kasumi never raised her voice. "Wha-?"

"Since I've become Rising Sun I've become a target. I wanted to shield you from that world, where madman and criminals want to try to take over the world with terror, but it doesn't look like I can do that anymore."

Lucille kicked up her feet and put her hands behind her head. "So what are you going to do now? Are you going to help your sister or are you going to sulk like a child."

Akane suddenly saw red. How dare this American say that to her?  She wasn't a child! Unfortunately, she lost what little control of her strength she had and her slap sent Lucille straight through the wall, surprising everyone. She just stared at her hand in shock. "I've killed her!" she whispered in horror.

Her eyes rolled up in her head and she fainted dead away.

"Akane!" Ranma and Kasumi yelled.