Did Jason Canmore use a false name?  Someone tell me!

 

 

New York, New York

 

            Dawn.  Somewhere in this city seven Gargoyles turned to stone and slept.  Somewhere another Gargoyle became human through a painful transformation.  But we are not concerned with those groups.  The part we are concerned about is currently at a warehouse near the docks.  The warehouse, used primarily for storage was the scene of a break in the night before.  The police had shown up sometime after and did some investigating.  Currently there are no police officers on sight.  Instead two people are looking over the area.  Both wear large cloaks that hide most of their bodies.  They are Saotome Ranma and Kiima.  Ranma whistles in amazement as he looks at the door.  <”Whoever did this was really strong,”> He said.

            Kiima motions to the metal door.  <”No kidding.  Claw marks kinda give away what did this.”>

            Ranma nods.  He sniffs the air then the door.  <”Nope.  Not him.”>

            <”Really?  How can you tell?”> Kiima asked.

            <”Whoever did this was female.  I think.”>  He moves to the entrance and begins to go in.  He stops, however.

            <”What’s wrong?”>

            Ranma turns around.  <”A car’s coming.”>

 

 

            Elisa Maza snuck a peek at her new partner, Jason Canmore.  He was handsome, nice, well built, did she mention handsome?  She shook her head clear of those thoughts and returned to her problem.  Matt was the ideal partner.  He knew Elisa’s secret, he knew about the Gargoyles.  Consequently he covered for her when there was Gargoyle business.  Jason didn’t know about the Gargoyles so if something happened she’d have to be careful.  She drew herself out of her thoughts and returned to her job.  They arrived and moved to the warehouse and found the door.  “Look at this Elisa,” Jason said as he traced the claw marks.  “What could have done this?”

            “Don’t know.”  She shrugged her shoulders.  “But I wouldn’t want to run into it.”  She looked into the warehouse and was a bit surprised to see Owen Burnett, Xanatos’ right hand man.  Her expression immediately turned to sour.

 

 

            <”What do you think, Ranma?”> Kiima asked.

            Ranma shrugged his shoulders.  <”Well whoever did this isn’t the one we were told to find.  We should probably go home and try again tonight.”>

            Kiima nodded.  <”We’ll have to wait until they leave, though.”>

            <”Right.”>

 

 

            “Something wrong?”  Jason asked.  Elisa had returned from her talk with Owen a bit angry and confused.

            “Huh?  Oh, I’m fine.”  She moved back towards the car.  “Look lets get…,”

            “Freeze!”  Someone yelled.  The two police officers whirled to find two masked men, one heavy set the other thin, with some sort of rifles leveled at them.  One of them, the heavy set one, stared at Elisa for a moment.  “Lookie here, we were told that we might find a cop matching your description here.”  He brought the weapon to his eye.  “Added bonus if we get rid of you.”  His finger began to squeeze the trigger.  But before he could fire a fist connected with his jaw.  Elisa, Jason, and the other man were shocked as a young woman had suddenly appeared, almost out of thin air.  The other man’s shock lasted only a second.  He moved his rifle to the unknown attacker.  He was also knocked back, this time in a flurry of clothing as the cloak the woman had been wearing was tossed at him.  The cloak, however, was not what knocked the rifle out of his hands.  Her wings had struck the weapon and done the damage.

            Unknown to each other, Elisa and Jason’s thoughts mirrored each other.  (“A gargoyle?  In daylight?”)  Even as they shared the same thought their police training kicked in.  Each reached for their guns ready to arrest, and if necessary, shot their assailants.  The gunfire from their right caused all three of them to run for cover.  Jason and Elisa dove behind her car, while their winged savior used the roof to spring into the air.  The gunman who had been knocked down earlier was up and firing giving his buddy the time needed to get his gun.

            “I say we get outta here,” The skinny one said.

            The fat one nodded.  “I agree with ya there.”  They continued to fire as they ran to the car.  One would fire was the circling woman, while the other kept the police pinned down.  They dove into their can and began to pull away.

            Elisa and Jason emptied their clips into the car doing no damage.  They were replacing their clips and getting ready to follow when the woman from earlier landed.  She frowned and looked back at the warehouse roof.  Elisa and Jason were a bit surprised to see a young man sitting on the edge of the roof.  She yelled back at the roof in a language Elisa didn’t understand.  <”Aren’t you going to help?”>

            Jason frowned.  (”A Japanese gargoyle?”)

            The young man smiled.  <”All right already.”>  He stood and disappeared in a blur.

 

 

            The gunmen smiled as they noticed they weren’t being followed.  Their smiles disappeared as they saw what was in front of them.

 

 

            “What is he doing?”  Elisa yelled.

            Kiima shook her head.  “Showing off.”

 

 

            Ranma smiled as he pulled his hand back as the car sped towards him.  He thrust it forward and right into the front of the car.  The front of the vehicle crumpled and was forced into the concrete by the force of his blow, while the back was tossed into the air.  The gunman stumbled out of the ruined car and opened fire once their heads stopped swimming.  Ranma casually dodged the automatic fire.  As it became obvious that they were going caught the gunmen became desperate.  One of them smiled as an idea formed.  He aimed off to the right and opened fire.  Ranma, for his part, was confused, at least until the explosion went off.  (“He was aiming at the warehouse!”)  Ranma turned and beheld the blazing inferno.  He turned back to the gunman.  “Next time.”  And with that he rushed back to Kiima.

            Kiima frowned as she and the two police officers hid behind the car.  Her frown only increased as Ranma returned.  “Had to show off didn’t you?  Couldn’t just beat the hell out of them?”

            “Sumania,” He said as he scratched the back of his head.

            Kiima sighed.  <”Take care of the fire.”>  She hopped onto the roof of the car and into the air once more.

            Ranma nodded and moved in front of the car.  He closed his eyes and held his hands out towards the fire.

 

 

            “What are you…,” Elisa’s question died as her eyes beheld the awe that is Saotome Ranma.  The flames from the warehouse literally leapt from the building and rushed towards the boy.  Elisa could only look on in horror as it became apparent that the boy would be killed.  But the flames caused him no harm.  The flames that came towards the boy became two streams and spiraled about the lad’s arms, and then they disappeared into his chest.  It took mere moments for the flames to be completely absorbed into his being.  The warehouse was all but gone, but no one and nothing else had been harmed.  The boy let his arms drop to his sides and sighed.

            It was about this time that Elisa noticed that Jason was moving forward with his weapon drawn and in the ready position.  “Hey!”  He yelled.  The boy turned and for the first time allowed them to see his face clearly.  He was indeed young but no boy.  “Who or what are you?”  Jason was angry; it was obvious, even though he tried to hide it.

            The boy smiled and allowed his wings to spread out of two slits in his cloak.  “A friend.”  Saying nothing else he jumped some 40 feet into the air and then flew off in the direction his friend had gone in.