---Disclaimer---

	I disclaim that I don't own anything in this fic except the 
story.  Ranma 1/2 and El-Hazard are copyrighted in North America by Viz 
Entertainment.

---Title---

Hazards of War
A Ranma / El-Hazard fusion
By Dr. Suekeiichi Kaiton

---Mt. Muldoon---

	"Mistress Shayla!  Mistress Shayla come quick!"  A disrobed 
acolyte came running through the doors leading to the High Priestess's 
main audience chamber where Shayla-Shayla, Afura Mann and Miz Mishtal 
were lounging after their return from Roshtaria.  The acolyte was 
holding a wet bath sheet in an attempt to cover her nudity and rushed 
to Shayla's side.  "A man is in the baths!"

	"A man is _in_ the baths?"  Afura gaze a perplexed look to her 
follow priestesses, no male was allowed past the great reception hall 
unless they were a dignitary or physician and since there were no 
elemental priests the appearance of a man in the baths was disturbing, 
in more ways than one.  "That's ridiculous!  There are no men on Mt. 
Muldoon, no one came through this chamber for hours."  The only passage 
to the rear of the shrine from the entrance was through that chamber, 
and they had been talking for a few hours.

	"No, I swear!  A half naked man walked out of the steam in the 
baths!"  The acolyte was one of Shayla's students and as such she clung 
to the Priestess's rather short skirt.

	"Maybe you'd better start from the beginning."  Shayla pried the 
girl off her clothes and settled her down on a couch, wrapping her in a 
blanket.

	"Yes, then maybe we can figure out what happened."  Miz looked 
rather bored, compared to the excitement of Masamichi Fujisawa's 
proposal and the vaporization of the Trigger of Destruction, the 
trivial hallucinations of shrine maidens were particularly dull.  It 
was bound to happen sooner or later, eventually all shrine maidens 
suffer a breakdown from the utter lack of male contact.  Daydreams 
about men and the hormonal urges simmering inside led to all sorts of 
troubles, especially hallucinations brought on by the heat of the 
baths.

	"I was washing up from today's lessons when I heard the man smash 
into a pile of pails lining the wall on the other side, I hadn't seen 
him yet mind you, and so I toweled off and walked over to see what had 
happened.  He came out of the steam, stumbling, I am sure he was a man 
for even though he was half-clothed he had the broad shoulders and 
chest of a male."  She was patted on the shoulder by Afura and Miz then 
allowed to go upstairs to her dorm and dress.

	Shayla's eyebrow was twitching, Afura seemed puzzled and Miz 
didn't really care, it seemed to her fair time they were all screwed.

---Two days later---

	Ranma awoke nestled into an overstuffed comforter with 
unbelievably puffy pillows supporting her neck.  Finding herself in 
female form, she decided to enjoy the comfort with the dangers of 
looking weak behind her.  Needless to say, she was quite surprised when 
a beautiful redhead appeared at her bedside.  Sitting up, she eyed the 
girl with a certain degree of trepidation, it was obvious the girl had 
some combat training and she could sense a fiery aura surrounding the 
stranger.

	"Awake I see..."  The girl had bright red hair and was garbed in 
only an extremely tight, white tanktop and a pair of black bikini-style 
panties.  "So who the hell are you?"

	Ranma leapt out of the bed, twirled in mid-air and fell into an 
Anything-Goes stance.  Her eyes immediately fell to the odd, mechanical 
contraption hanging from the girl's left flank, a gun of some sort-
Ranma prepared for the worst.  The girl's hands twitched to the gun, 
her face growing more and more feral, and her fingers withdrew a 
pullcord and a bracelet with an odd, luminescent red jewel embedded 
into it.  Not giving her opponent a chance to use the aforementioned 
weapon, Ranma flipped over the redhead and executed a neck chop which 
crumpled the girl at her feet.  Giving the fallen girl a once over, 
Ranma drew up her clothes, dressed, and ran out in search of an exit.

	The place looked like a palace, or an image from an Arabic myth, 
Ranma thought as she paced the hallways leading to the entrance.  
Originally planning to leap out a window and make a clean getaway, she 
reconsidered when she saw the apocalyptic drop off of the Muldoon 
mountain.  Even a world-class martial artist wouldn't survive a fall 
like that.

	The women walking around were eyeing her strangely, not even 
commenting on her clothing, which was a great departure from their own, 
but simply bowing to her and addressing her as Shayla-Shayla or some 
such garbage.  After peeking in several rooms, most notably the storage 
vault where all kinds of discarded wedding gifts were stored, Ranma 
arrived at the baths cloaked in steam.  The desire to be male once more 
outweighed the danger sense blaring in his head and he took a headlong 
dive into the hot fountain.

	Afura and Miz were sitting at the far end of the baths, away from 
the pools where lower maidens bathed, in the pool sectioned off for the 
private use of the High Priestesses.  After the eventful day each 
needed a long soak to wash away the pressures of the day and the 
rantings of Shayla.  Afura saw on the periphery of her vision a red-
haired woman enter the baths, mistaking her for Shayla, she began 
walking forward to admonish her for her treatment of the stranger and 
was shocked when the girl stripped off her clothes and leapt at her.

	Before she could utter a scream or call for Miz, the girl was 
upon her, and there was no mistaking it was a girl as her breasts 
squished into Afura's hands.  Ranma was shocked to fall on a woman and 
tried to extricate herself before the change occurred but the woman had 
an almost vise-like grip on her breasts.  The change began to occur and 
Afura screamed at the sensation of the female's breasts deflating like 
balloons in her hands.  With a scream, a splash and a gurgle, Ranma and 
Afura fell into the hot water.

	Realizing that the woman had fainted, Ranma supported her back 
and lifted her head above water as he walked the upward incline of the 
bath to the edge.  Miz, who had watched the events unfold as if in slow 
motion, gratefully took the fallen priestess from the stranger who she 
could easily see was no woman any longer.  If anything he was a most 
virile man.  Given time to process the data, her mind eventually 
stopped taking in the view and informed her he was a man, and she was 
naked.  Swiftly taking up a towel and activating the lamp of water, she 
took a defensive stance.

	"Who are you?"  She called forth a waterspout to envelop the man 
in a swirl of liquid.  "Answer me!  Who are you and how did you come to 
be here?"

	"Listen lady, I don't know how I got here but there's some crazy 
chick after me with a gun!  I don't have time for this!"  His battle 
aura sprang up around him, evaporating the water and awaking Afura with 
the bright strobe of crimson which exploded behind her eyelids.  The 
man was floating off the ground, swirling magenta and red flames 
erupting around him, he was using a sealed technique, Eastern Capitol.  

	During the times of the Ancient El Hazardians there existed four 
major empires, North, South, East, and West.  The Elemental Priestesses 
of Mt. Muldoon inherited their fighting styles from one of each 
powerful country; Wind learned Southern, Water learned Western, and 
Fire learned Northern.  The techniques of the Eastern capitol where 
forever sealed away as being too dangerous for the safety of the entire 
world, the techniques were later lost as they required a male to 
perform them.  The Elemental Priests had died out long ago, and nothing 
remained of their Shine save the pillars of a great garden.  "GET OUTTA 
MY WAY!!!"

	Ranma stared down the stupefied gaze of Miz as his aura blazed 
around him, the normally icy blue mingling with veins of black and red.  
Ranma felt a different surge of power when he embraced his ki, 
something almost living and writhing in his body, eager to be released.  
The water around him evaporated into mist swirling around his floating 
form before resolving itself as a halo.  Afura called forth a wind to 
push him out, but he was unmovable, his face hard with anger.  Shayla 
Shayla had slumped in after him, gazing at the pulses and bursts of 
light twirling in the air.

	"Hey there buddy!  Wanna try that again?"  Shayla pulled her Lamp 
of Fire from the leather pouch hanging at her knee and, after pulling 
the rip-cord and taking her trademark pose, willed the flames into a 
fiery dragon around her body.

	"Don't Shayla!  You don't know what you're fighting!  You can't 
win!"  Afura pulled herself out of the green-lined bath, empty now that 
the scented water was swirling around their mystery guest.

	"Shut up, Afura!  I can take on this guy - no problem!"  She 
leapt up into the air and focused the flame around her right foot, 
planning to pulverize the intruder with a red-hot kick, before Ranma 
moved she had struck.  She slid slowly off the barrier of blue, black 
and red.  "Dammit you bastard!  Just play nice and die why dontcha?"  
She pummeled the shield until her hand bled.

	"That was real nice!  Why don't you see what I can do!"  Ranma 
let the reins go on the power, the surging life-force wrapped around 
his ki, and projected it off his body.  Tendrils of power lashed out 
and grasped the polished columns around the room, lifting their chosen 
host two feet off the ground as dragon wings of flame erupted from his 
back.  Ranma was in heaven, no power before had ever felt that that, a 
rushing torrent of burning mercury in his veins, scorching all the 
weakness out of his body as the light blinded him and yet brought new 
sight to his eyes.  To the eyes of the priestesses, he was the demon 
incarnate, an Elemental Priest revived from hallowed antiquity.

	The raging dragon that enveloped Ranma began to break against the 
stone pillars of the baths, a screeching roar arose from everywhere and 
knocked the three women out onto the terrace.  The overgrown garden 
which greeted his eyes seemed vaguely familiar, as if through a cloud 
of dense fog deep within the inner recesses of his memory the image 
curled into focus.  He looked at the high spires and broad columns, the 
polished marble of the new temple and the pitted stone of the decrepit 
courtyard, and clutched his head in pain as knowledge was inserted into 
his head with a burning needle.  The history of the land was pushed 
into his brain, squeezing out the meaningless memories and replacing 
them with images, thoughts, faces, and words, all of time immemorial.

	Shayla and Afura stood off to the side near the jagged precipice 
of the mountain, Miz across the courtyard from them, swirling razor 
sharp blades of water around her frame. All three watched in amazement 
as the stranger clutched his head in obvious pain and swooned slightly 
before crumpling to the ground in a heap.  The aura of power, that 
iridescent dragon of the Eastern Capitol, dispersed from the plane of 
existence leaving its hollow avatar on the cold stone of the ruins.

---Days later---

	"So what the hell are we going to do with him?"  Shayla jerked a 
finger back at the unconscious but tightly bound body of Ranma.

	"I contacted Princess Rune and Makoto, they want him taken to 
Roshtaria.  Apparently he has something to do with Makoto's home 
dimension."  Afura floated down from the second floor balcony, gently 
coming to rest before her short-tempered partner.  "Miz wanted to 
return anyway to finish the plans for her nuptials."

	"Thanks right!"  Miz appeared from her room, carrying a short 
bundle of clothes clasped with a blue crystal.  She was wearing her 
blue uniform with sea-green tights and the translucent chemise she was 
so fond of wearing.  "Why for all I know Mr. Fujisawa is off 
gallivanting around the town, enjoying his last few weeks of 
bachelorhood, we have to go so I can keep an eye on him."

	"You mean keep him on a short leash."  Shayla smirked and saw 
Afura crack a slight smile before Miz stomped down and got right in her 
face.

	"And what do you mean by that, Shayla-Shayla!?  It's important 
that a man understand his limitations!"  A vein budged grotesquely from 
her forehead and tell-tale wrinkles appeared around her mouth and eyes.  
"I just want my Masamichi to be properly 'trained' before the wedding 
night!  Is that such a bad thing!?"

	"Uh no...not when you put it that way..."  Shayla backed away 
from the enraged priestess and checked their 'guest', the man who 
hadn't so much as moved for the past five days, the man who could 
summon powers of frightening proportions.  "Anyway, so how are we going 
to get him there, the transport's worth shit and unless-"

	"Princess Rune is sending a yacht for us, after all we are 
heroes.  Why shouldn't we go in style?"

	Afura placed a placating hand on her comrade's shoulder.  "Calm 
down Miz, there's no reason to get upset, just because Shayla's missing 
a few brain cells doesn't mean she's a complete moron."

	"Thanks Afura."  Shayla went back to check the prisoner's 
restraints, walking back into the darkened room.  Miz settled herself 
and sat back on a couch, splaying her arms and legs all about.

	"I wonder when she'll realize what I just said."  Afura sat next 
to her, crossing her legs demurely and ticking off the seconds before 
Shayla stormed back in, steam pouring from her ears.

	Miz took a sip of juice from the cup and pitcher next to her and 
looked back at the fire priestess.  "Oh, I give her thirty seconds.  
The way you worded it and all."

	"AFURA!!!!!!!"

	"See?"  Miz set the cup down and moved her clothes away from 
Afura, if Shayla was going to have another distasteful display she 
didn't want any of her good uniforms to be ruined.  "You made her this 
angry, you deal with it!"  Afura simply sweatdropped and began edging 
away towards the garden when Shayla appeared through the threshold, 
pulsing crimson with power and looking wicked pissed off.

	"HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT ABOUT ME!!!!!!!!"  Shayla blasted the 
tiles under Afura's feet and stalked across the lobby, her aura shaking 
the crystal chandeliers overhead.

	"Miss Miz, Miss Afura, Miss Shayla, come quickly!"  A maid's 
voice called from the kitchen, breaking Shayla's concentration.

	"What is it!?  I was in the middle of something!"  The fiery 
priestess called back into the shrine.

	"Come, come, now Shayla-dear, if they called us then that means 
something's wrong.  I just hope this doesn't end up like the last 
surprise."  Miz looked back at the comatose Ranma and shuddered at the 
remembrance of his power as he called the Serpent of Plasma from the 
earth.  "If you two are quite finished, let's go see what the cook's 
screaming about."

	Afura walked back inside from the pillared garden and brushed 
soot from her leggings, striding past Shayla with nary a glance in her 
direction.  "Next time Shayla try not to destroy the floor, you know 
how much it costs to have it repaired."  The younger woman seethed in 
anger as her enemy joined Miz in the passage to the kitchens.  Afura 
would get hers one day...

	As the three priestesses finally reached the open room that 
served as a kitchen, with wide counters and stone ovens, smelling of 
freshly baked bread; the head cook motioned them over to a corner of 
the room.  The head cook was in her middle age, plump and jovial, but 
was a stern taskmaster - otherwise she wouldn't have been head chief 
since before Miz became a priestess.  All three noticed that all of the 
other maids were huddled in the corner, as if blocking something 
between the stone walls.

	"What is the problem?"  Afura pushed her way past the standing 
crowd and witnessed one of the strangest scene she would ever see.

	"Hey stop pushing!"  Shayla was temped to power up just to 
scatter the girls but thought better of it when she met the gaze of the 
mistress of the maids.

	The cook just folded her arms across her chest and gestured 
towards the corner with a wooden spoon.  "I think we've got a Phantom 
Tribe member here."

	The image was one that shocked the maids to no end, those that 
had never seen a Phantom Tribe member, but to the priestesses it 
brought back memories of Ifurita's Isle and Galus.  There was a loaf of 
bread floating in thin air.  Miz and Shayla power up, prepared to mash 
the loathsome spy into jelly if he dared try to escape.  Afura merely 
observed with interest as the loaf was lifted with invisible hands to 
(presumably) the mouth of the creature and a chunk more disappeared.  
The maids around them gasped and screamed, scattering further back and 
away from the freak in the corner.  Miz began gathering water from the 
basins around her, the pearly droplets coalesing into a pulsing blue 
softball between her hands.

	"No don't!"  Afura threw her hand out, halting Miz's attack in 
mid-swing.

	"Why, Afura?  It's a member of the Phantom Tribe, they all 
deserve to be destroyed for what they tried to do!"  Shayla screamed at 
her friend, still rather peeved about her sarcastic comment before.  
She too had a ball of energy in her hands and she too was barred from 
using it by Afura's arm.

	"I don't think that this is a member of the Phantom Tribe."  The 
other two priestesses powered down their attacks but kept their 
talismans active, just in case Afura was wrong.

	"The damn worm is invisible!  What more evidence do you need!?"  
Shayla was losing her patience rapidly, if she didn't get a chance to 
destroy something she was going to explode.

	Afura looked back and addressed Miz, it was apparent that talking 
to Shayla was useless.  "Think about it, if he was a Phantom Tribe 
member don't you think he'd just create an illusion of the kitchen and 
not risk being found?"

	"You do have a point there, when Nahato attacked us at the Royal 
palace we couldn't see him or the knife he held."  Miz powered down 
completely and regarded the floating loaf.  "I think you're right, 
Afura."

	"I think this could just be some kinda trick meant to make us 
vunrable!"  Shayla really needed to vent her frustrations bad or else 
the whole kitchen was likely to explode into flames.

	"If you're just going to jump to conclusions and destroy 
something why not go back and watch the prisoner, okay?"

	"Aw shut up Afura, I can handle this."  The fire priestess 
powered down.  Abruptly the bread began to move, sliding across the 
wall towards the door.  "Oh no you don't!"  She fired a small blast at 
the area where the body would be and was rewarded with a thin scream as 
the figure was thrown against the wall.  The bread fell off to the 
side.  "See?  I told ya I could handle this!"

	"Yes, and you might have almost killed him."  Afura replied 
dryly.  She crouched by the impact site and ran her hand along the 
cracked wall, moving in concentric circles until her hand encountered 
something hard.  "If this was a true Phantom Tribe member then he would 
have either diappated or become visible when unconscious or dead."  She 
grasped one of the invisible arms and hoisted him off the floor.  
"Would someone please help me get this thing into a room?"  Shayla and 
Miz took hold of the figure and helped Afura drag him into the bedroom 
where Ranma was calmly sleeping.

	"For an invisible man he sure is heavy!"  Shayla threw him 
roughly onto the bed.  "Should I bind him?"

	"Yes, we don't want him escaping before we know who and what he 
is."  Afura and Miz wrapped the figure to the bed, tieing the ropes 
securely so he couldn't escape.  Shayla just stared at the unconscious 
Ranma and sniffed distainfully.  "If you're finished staring at the 
handsome man, we could use a little help!"

	"Sure."  Shayla blushed deep crimson at Afura's comment.  She 
hadn't meant to stare, really she hadn't.  What business was it of 
Afura's to yell at her for appreciating the finely sculpted muscles of 
the stranger, or the way the thin white sheet became transparent when 
the light streamed through it - giving her a clear view of what lay 
below his waist?  She wasn't being dirty, she just wanted to know more 
about her attacker, was that so bad?

	Afura rapped her hard over the head.  "If you're finished 
daydreaming, Miz and I are finished tieing the prisoner.  Make sure the 
other is secured and meet us back in the kitchen, I have a few 
questions."  The teal-dressed wind priestess strode out and left the 
red-head to tuck Ranma back into the bed.

	"Bitch."

---That night---

	"Alright!  I'll get to bed after I check on the prisoners."  
Shayla called up at Afura who had just finished reminding the fire 
priestes that they were leaving the next morning for Roshtaria.  She 
wasn't going in to do anything perverted, really she wasn't!  She was 
just going to check on the invisible assailent and make sure he was 
still there, if the other prisoner's sheet was thrown off his nude body 
when she walked in, what did it matter to Afura?

	Needless to say, Shayla was very surprised when she opened the 
door and saw Ranma practicing katas in the moonlight while a pale-
looking boy with short brown hair sat on the edge of the other bed.  Of 
course it took a few moments for her mind to register the fact that he 
was naked as he did those aireal flips, when she did; however, it only 
took a moment for her to strap on her talisman and power up.

	Ranma looked at the newcomer and ripped the sheet off his bed, 
covering his nudity as best he could under the circumstances.  The 
other boy just sighed in defeat and began strapping himself back onto 
the bed.  Shayla was just a little put off by that, where had the 
invisible man gone?

	"Great, just great I get the crazy chick with the gun again!"  
Ranma tucked the corner of the sheet under his arm and took a defensive 
stance in front of the other.  "Before you try to kill me could I get 
my clothes back?"

	"DIE!!!!!!!"

	"I guess not."  Ranma dodged her clumsy rush and retaliated with 
a neat chop to the back of her neck, sending her sprawling onto the 
stone floor.

	"What's all this noise!?  Shayla-Shayla, are you doing something 
perverted to the prisoners!?"  Miz and Afura appeared in the doorway to 
the darkened room, Ranma couldn't make out their features as the light 
was coming in from behind them.

	"Who the hell're you?"  Ranma, ever the elloquent gentleman, 
asked before his sheet fell off.  He hastily reclaimed his covering and 
grinned at them sheepishly.  "Uh, sorry about that, the name's Ranma 
Saotome, nice to meet you."  Shayla was picking herself up off the 
floor.  "You aren't gonna kill me or nothin' are ya?"

	"Kill you?  Of course not!"  Miz and Afura helped Shayla to her 
feet.  When all three of them were standing and ready, they 
simultainiously powered up and fired varied blasts at the rogue man.  
Ranma took one look at the blasts of power barreling towards him and 
cursed as he dodged desperately.  The vacuum blades narrowly missed, 
the spiral of flame was easy to dodge but it was the flood of water 
that finally struck him.  "But we never promised not to hurt you!"  
Afura sent thousands of wind blades into the storm of water.

	"I think I've had just about enough of you girls!"  A distinctly 
feminine voice called from the waterspout before a red blur shot out 
and tackled Miz to the ground.  "Why don't ya stop hiding behind those 
fancy guns of yours and fight me man to man?"  Afura and Shayla looked 
down at the fiery bush of pubic hair and looked back to the red-framed 
face.  "Figuratively speaking."

	"I'm gonna fry your sorry ass to kingdom come!"  Ever the 
eloquent speaker, Shayla let loose a burst of power and leapt towards 
him.

	Ranma watched the red-head close in on her with interest.  "I 
recognize the technique...Southern Capitol?  Heh!  Amateur!"  Like a 
flashback from their first meeting with Ifurita, Ranma forced his arua 
out and took to the air, meeting Shayla in mid-flight.  "You're two 
hundred years too early to beat me girl!"

	"Shut up and fight, bastard!"  She winced as her opponent smashed 
through her defenses with a powerful blow and sent her rocketing back 
down to the floor.  "D-damnitt!  J-just like Ifurita!"

	Afura stepped back and circled the glowing prisoner, memorizing 
any blemish on her body until she came to her back, where twin circular 
indentations stood out on her pale skin.  "It's a Demon God!  Everyone 
get back!"  She fired her 'Super Big Gab Slash' at the girl's back and 
withdrew to the relative safety of the pillars.

	"Give me some warning why don't ya?"  Ranma dodged the blast 
easily, the beam of wind blowing through the temple wall and scattering 
debris down the jagged peaks of Mt. Muldoon.  "Mokou Takabashi!"  A 
massive ball of energy formed in her hands before she launched it at 
Afura, demolishing the library in an instant.  "Get out here so I can 
kick your ass!"  Afura simply groaned from underneath the chunks of 
stone pinning her to the floor.

	"Water Spout!"  Miz thrust her open palm at the destructive God 
and a wave of water appeared from the mortar of the stones themselves, 
hurdling towards him in a wall of death.  Ranma spun on her heel and 
fired a ball of heated ki into the wave before letting the attack 
overwhelm her, emerging as a man once again.

	"STOP THIS AT ONCE!!!!!"  Eveyone froze at the authoritative tone 
as Princess Rune Venus of Roshtaria stepped in from the landing pad 
with two flanks of guards.  "I GAVE SPECIFIC ORDERS FOR THE PRISONERS 
NOT TO BE HURT!  WHY THEN ARE YOU ALL FIGHTING!?"  Her 'cat', Dura, was 
wrapped around her midsection.  From the white craft outside came 
Makoto, Nanami, Fujisawa, Fatora and Allielle.  No sooner had Makoto 
entered the room than he rushed to Ranma's side, shaking his hand and 
elated that his plan worked.  Nanami looked away blushing at Ranma's 
nudity while Allielle openly drooled, her mistress Fatora looking away 
in disgust.  "Do you know this man, Makoto?"

	The boy in question stopped examining Ranma's markings when Rune 
called his name, jarring him back to the situation at hand.  "Yes I do, 
Princess Rune, he is the one I called."

	"Than why has he desicrated the Temple of Mt. Muldoon?"  Rune 
watched as Londs and two other guards helped pull Afura from the rubble 
and helped Miz and Shayla to their feet.

	"These crazy women are trying to kill me!  First this red-haired 
one," he pointed to Shayla, "starts running after me with a gun and 
then the other two started attacking me when I came to earlier."  Ranma 
pulled a pair of his pants from the demolished room and tied the 
drawstring tight.

	"D-don't listen to him, princess, he's a Demon God!"  Afura leapt 
up from the stretcher and stood in front of the Queen protectively.  
"He used the sealed techniques of Eastern Capitol!"  Miz and Shayla 
dragged themselves in front of the Queen as well, even though they were 
on their last legs they would protect Rune with their dying breath.

	"No wait!  I can explain!"  Makoto leapt in front of Ranma.  "All 
this is my fault!"  The priesteses relaxed...just a little bit.  
Princess Rune was finally the one to break the awkward silence.

	"Explain yourself, Makoto."
	"It is time..."  The man spoke from the safety of an alcove next 
to the oak desk.  "The outbreak has started...our mansion laboratory 
has been discovered."

	The man hidden by the shadows swiveled in his chair, dark hair 
pulled back as the moonlight hit his chiseled, intense gaze.  "Indeed, 
activate the Acheron Terminus project and inform Dr. Lydon that we will 
be requiring the use of his new virus much sooner than expected.  See 
to the details concerning the witnesses...I want them silenced."  The 
tall man rose from his chair and activated a holoscreen map of 
Burtonville, Oklahoma.  A timer appeared beside it, counting down 
towards the final moments as a red area burned it's way across the map.  
"Burtonville is a loss, the facilities have been shut down and all 
employees evacuated."

	"But what about the chance one of the researchers could be 
carrying the virus?"  The shadow man folded his arms in front of his 
chest, dark sunglasses glinting in the dark as he leaned back against 
the wall.  "We can't risk a major outbreak within one of our 
installations."

	The tall man chuckled lightly.  "The evacuated researchers will 
be quarantined and observed for signs of contamination...then they will 
be shot and their records destroyed.  There can be no link between the 
B.O.W.'s and our organization.  The town water supply has been spiked, 
and the virus has been transmitted as an airborne contagion, within 
twenty-four hours the town should be infested by ZOMBIES."

	"I see...I'll return to Burtonville and make sure the ARMS 
members have been dispatched."  The shadow man disappeared, the only 
indication of his departure the tell-tale rap of his boots against the 
cold marble floor.

	James Landry, President and CEO of Umbrella Inc. (American 
Division) sat back in his chair, watching the red area completely 
devour the lively green of Burtonville.  After a few moments he poured 
himself a glass of wine and began going through his reports concerning 
the new Tyrant modification system to the computer firewall.  True, 
Umbrella did keep it's B.O.W. research under wraps, but that didn't 
mean that governments all around the world wouldn't give an arm and a 
leg for a fast, disposable army of ZOMBIE carriers.

	Brilliant in its simplicity, Landry's plans were simple.  Create a virus that when introduced into a 
population breeds with symptoms associated with a rash, after a gestation period of 72 hours the infected 
carriers become ZOMBIES and destroy the area around them.  After every living thing in the area has been 
killed or ingested, the ZOMBIES can be easily dispatched by sub-orbital laser or firebombs.  Why waste 
men to fight and get killed when the enemy's own population destroys itself?  After the word has spread, 
give a little demonstration and soon all the governments in the world would be vying for the T-Virus and he 
would have the power to rule the world.  A deep chuckle hung in the air as the first bombs began to fall.