Knight Writer wrote:
 > Ranma Nibunnoichi used without permission
 >
 > Spider-Man used without permission
 >
 > Both are properties of Rumiko Takahashi and Stan Lee, respectively.
 >
 >
 >
 > Hikaru Gosunkugi: The Amazing Spiderman Issue twenty-three
 >
 > The Spider and the Man, Part Two
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 > The laboratory was, if nothing else, state of the art. The banks of

What does "if nothing else" mean?

 > Cray-2 supercomputers which lined the left wall were all far and away
 > superior to the ones he'd used at Tokyo University, or even at the
 > old Gen-U-Tech labs. The electron microscope arrays looked to be
 > brand new as well. Everywhere Ryo looked, he saw only the best
 > equipment money could buy. In the center of it all was a vague shape
 > beneath a plain drop cloth.
 >
 > Billions of yen worth of machinery, he thought, for what?
 >
 > "Ah, Doctor Sanzaki, good to see you again!"
 >
 > "Oh, my..." Ryo felt a sudden, violent chill as the voice rang out
 > and the owner stepped into view. "Otto?"
 >
 > "You *do* remember me. I'm touched."
 >
 > "What is this? What's going on?"
 >
 > "My dear apprentice," Otto replied in a condescending voice. "You're
 > here to assist me. I think you realize what for."
 >
 > "It can't be!" Ryo cried as Otto removed the drop cloth with a
 > tentacle. It sat there, fully assembled and connected directly to the
 > supercomputer banks via thick black cables. The one thing he had
 > spent his life trying to build, the one goal that had been stolen
 > from him twice.
 >
 > "Look familiar?"
 >
 > "The... Recombinator? Otto, how did you get this?!"
 >
 > "Allow me to introduce to you my employer," the German said with a

comma after "you".

 > wave of his hand.
 >
 > The man was on the tall side for a Chinese, his body beneath the
 > expensive suit lean and fit. He moved with poise and grace, a tiger
 > ready to pounce without warning. Next to him was Ryo's own niece:
 > Miku Tachibana.
 >
 > "Uncle?" she asked dumbly. Her eyes were dull and clouded, barely
 > focused.
 >
 > "Why is she wearing that collar?" Ryo demanded. "What have you done
 > to her?"
 >
 > "So rude," the Chinese man said. "This collar is my insurance that
 > neither of you try to run. If either of you leave this place, or if I
 > feel like it, the collar will explode."
 >
 > "Bastard! Let her go!"
 >
 > "I really must warn you," the Chinese man went on, "that my patience
 > is rather limited."
 >
 > Ryo fumed, but held his tongue.
 >
 > "That's better. Now, as I was about to say, I am Pao Leung. As you
 > may have guessed by now, I am the one who had your precious project
 > brought here, as well as the esteemed Doctor Octopus."
 >
 > "Why?"
 >
 > "A fair question, but one I am not obliged to answer. There is only
 > one reason I bothered to bring you and your pretty niece here.
 > Doctor, if you would?"
 >
 > "You will tell us how you did it," Otto said.
 >
 > "Did what?"
 >
 > "Do not play the fool with me, Sanzaki. How did you create him?"
 >
 > "Create who?!"
 >
 > "Spiderman! How did you create Spiderman?"
 >
 > "Wh... what? I never..."
 >
 > "Do not lie to us," Leung snarled.
 >
 > "Honestly, I had nothing to do with him! Otto, you should know that I
 > hadn't run human trials of the recombinator! I was only about to
 > start simulating treatments with computer models!"
 >
 > "Doctor?"
 >
 > "Mister Leung, I swear it's the truth! The recombinator was years
 > away from human trials! There was no way I could have used it to make
 > Spiderman!"
 >
 > "Sanzaki, it is the only explanation," Otto said in a reasonable
 > voice.
 >
 > "Listen to me. I never ran any human trials!" He was practically
 > begging, now, pleading with his captors to understand. "The last test
 > I ran was only to confirm that the systems were functioning properly!
 > I'm telling you the truth, for God's sake!"
 >
 > "Very well, Doctor," Leung said. "If you are unwilling to..."
 >
 > "Wait, Leung," Otto interjected. "He is telling the truth."
 >
 > "And how would you know?"
 >
 > "I know this man better than you, Leung. He would not run human
 > trials without proper research and authorization." Otto paused for a
 > moment, a tentacle scratching his chin in a grotesque parody of a man
 > in thought. "Yes... perhaps that's it...."

Er...Otto IS a man in thought.

 >
 > "Would you mind filling me in?"
 >
 > "Loathe as I am to admit it, it would seem that Spiderman was indeed
 > an accident. I had thought such to be a possibility."
 >
 > "Then these two are useless to me."
 >
 > "Not quite. After all, Ryo did modify the recombinator you brought
 > here, and my hypothesis on recombinant genetics and Spiderman is
 > still valid."
 >
 > "Very well. Doctor, fit him with a collar and get to work." To Ryo,
 > he said, "Doctor Sanzaki, you will find that I demand results. You
 > had best not disappoint me." With that, Leung turned and half-dragged
 > Miku with him.
 >
 > Ryo Sanzaki stared after them, filled with impotent anger at his own
 > helplessness, and found himself beginning to wish that he had never
 > even begun recombinant genetics research all those years ago...
 >
 > "Put it on," Otto commanded as a tentacle bearing a thick black
 > collar came into view. "There is work to be done."
 >
 > Focus! Ryo shouted at himself. He had to be clear headed, now more
 > than ever.
 >
 > "What made you think my research?"

"research--"

 >
 > "Your research?" Otto growled as Ryo snapped the collar in place.
 > "YOUR research! Most of the ideas you built on were MINE!" He whirled
 > about, face twisted in rage. The four tentacles rose menacingly,
 > pincers clacking open and shut.
 >
 > "Okay, okay!" Ryo exclaimed while waving his hands in a warding
 > gesture. "I'm sorry!"
 >
 > "Bah," Otto grunted, lowering the metal serpentine appendages and
 > turning toward the equipment once more. "We have much to discuss,
 > Ryo. First off, this is my research. You were merely my assistant
 > back then, and are now."
 >
 > "I understand." Otto was dangerously unstable, Ryo realized with
 > growing terror. He suddenly doubted Miku's or his chances of seeing
 > another day alive.
 >
 > ---------------------------------
 >
 > Keiko Megumi's apartment was rather small, William Pate noticed on
 > setting foot inside after removing his shoes. He was rather surprised
 > that she had the place all to herself. Real estate was at an all-time
 > premium in Japan, and no matter where you were in the world; a cop's
 > salary wasn't that great.
 >
 > "I didn't have time to fix anything," Keiko said as she guided him
 > over to the sofa which sat before a small television set. The walls
 > were painted an off-white color; the thin and worn carpet a dull
 > shade of blue. The walls were bare of any pictures - landlords didn't
 > like tenants making holes in the walls - yet a few rested atop the
 > modest stereo next to the TV.
 >
 > "I popped into a Beef Bowl stand on the way," he replied as he held
 > up the plain white paper bag in his right hand. "It's not bad once
 > you get used to it."
 >
 > Keiko made no reply as she sat on the sofa. William joined her and
 > began to remove the two bowls of soup and plastic ware. "What's got
 > you so quiet all of a sudden?"
 >
 > "William," Keiko said in a low voice, "tell me the truth. You're
 > thinking that Chief Toju is... what's the expression?"
 >
 > "On the take. I'm starting to think something along those lines. How
 > about you?"
 >
 > "Would it surprise you if I said that I've been thinking that for
 > months?"
 >
 > William swallowed a mouthful of noodles before replying. "Not really.
 > The new techie in the evidence locker couldn't even find the backups
 > or the logs relating to them."
 >
 > "Erasing all of that requires a system administrator login and
 > password. Toju has them."
 >
 > "Tampering with evidence and records, is he? If we were back in the
 > States, we'd have enough to call in Internal Affairs and the SBI."
 >
 > "Don't you mean FBI?"
 >
 > "No, State Bureau of Investigation. Depending on what turned up, the
 > FBI would probably get a piece of it as well."
 >
 > "He did have a legitimate reason for firing the last officer in
 > charge of the data systems and evidence," Keiko said. "Having your
 > own office broken into by Spiderman of all people while you're taking
 > a piss can really derail your career."
 >
 > "So, when did you first start to think something was up?"
 >
 > "I was working a homicide with my first partner, a Yakuza-related
 > hit. When I looked at the patrol records for that night, I noticed
 > that not a single officer was anywhere near where it happened."
 >
 > "That's not a whole lot to go on," William said with a skeptical
 > look.
 >
 > "I didn't think much of it at first, but it kind of nagged at me. I
 > looked back at other known Yakuza killings and operations and found
 > the same things."
 >
 > "That's interesting. The Kabudosai works out of here, right?"
 >
 > "Here and, to a lesser extent, Nerima."
 >
 > "Uh-huh." William ignored his cooling soup, his mind comparing
 > Keiko's information to his own experience. The girl was as sharp as
 > they came, even if she was still a little green. "All of those
 > operations were Kabudosai, right?"
 >
 > "Yes."
 >
 > "When Odaiba Koban made a major bust, it was on the other guys?"
 >
 > "I see where you're going with this," Keiko said, he lips folding
 > into a small smile. "The Kabudosai uses Toju to weed out any
 > infringing rivals from other Gumis. But, we've also made busts on the
 > Kabudosai. That doesn't make sense."
 >
 > "Keiko, have I ever told you that you're one of the best detectives
 > I've ever worked with?" William saw the comment catch his partner
 > completely off-guard. Her face flushed slightly, eyes wide and
 > staring as if she had never seen him before.
 >
 > "W-William!"
 >
 > "I have some experience with these things, Keiko," he explained. "I'm
 > gonna explain what I think is going on, and when you feel you know
 > what's coming up next, I want you to jump in."
 >
 > "Alright." she said uncertainly.
 >
 > "Criminals," he began, "can be smart as hell when they want to be. A
 > lot of the ones cops catch are the dumb ones. There are some smart
 > enough, and powerful enough, to use the cops to their advantage. The
 > way you do that is?"
 >
 > "To win over one who is the most advantageous," Keiko said.
 >
 > "Good!" This kid was pretty smart. "Getting the precinct chief on the
 > payroll can be great, but is kind of a double edged sword, know what
 > I mean?"
 >
 > "If he gets caught, the scandal would be horrendous. It could get
 > traced back to you very easily."
 >
 > "Right again."
 >
 > "I see where this is headed. The Kabudosai is controlling Chief Toju,
 > and through him keeps the rest of the Koban out of their way. Then
 > anything we get on them is the unimportant stuff."

My problem with this is it is firstly overexplained, and also not 
exactly news.  Japanese cops have have chummy relationships with
Yaks who "behave themselves" (not making a mess and not killing
non-members) forever.  It is only recently that cops have started
treating Yakuza as enemies rather than partners in keeping order,
and that's because the Yakuza have grown increasingly rambunctious.
Chief Toju may not even be corrupt, just unwilling to start a war.

 >
 > "Keiko, I am impressed. If the Kabudosai are the only ones working
 > here with impunity, someone's gonna catch on pretty quick. So, every
 > now and then they have him take down one of their own, someone pretty
 > minor or a loose end to tie up."
 >
 > Keiko shook her head for a moment, eyes closed and face drawn. When
 > she looked at William again, those eyes were filled with
 > determination.
 >
 > "We know he's on the Kabudosai's payroll," she said, "and we've got
 > good deductions about how it works, but there's one thing we don't
 > have."
 >
 > "Proof. None of this is enough to call in Internal Affairs."
 >
 > "That won't be easy to get. Any digging we do will have to be
 > discrete."
 >
 > "Looks like we're gonna be working off the clock for a while,"
 > William said with a grin
 >
 > "Well, while we're here, why don't we go over what we know about
 > Tatsu Ishikawa? He was in the Kabudosai, for starters, and was
 > turning a rather tidy profit in the flesh trade."
 >
 > "And now all the evidence that related to him is gone. Those things
 > had data someone in the Kabudosai didn't want to get out, but what?"
 >
 > "It is odd," Keiko said as she stretched languorously, "that no one
 > knows exactly who the leader of the Kabudosai really is. That has to
 > be what was on those hard drives."
 >
 > "Along with records of who Ishikawa sold his girls to. If Interpol
 > started snooping around, then that would be all she wrote." William
 > paused for a moment. Something wasn't right with the whole picture.
 > "Ishikawa got wasted in his car, by some kind of lightning bolt. What
 > was up with that, anyway?"
 >
 > "It's clear that some hardcore people wanted him dead. What
 > information I got from my contact before Ishikawa was killed
 > indicated that he'd tried a major power play and failed."
 >
 > "We know that the Kabudosai wanted him dead," William began, "and
 > that at least one other organized crime group wanted him greased as
 > well. Who were they?"
 >
 > "They could be Triads," Keiko replied. "I've heard rumors that a
 > rather powerful group of them is operating here. Looks like Ishikawa
 > was trying for something big."
 >
 > "Looks that way. There's one other loose end here."
 >
 > "Spiderman."
 >
 > "Now there's a mystery. What was he after Ishikawa for?"
 >
 > "He copied the case file on those two murdered girls, along with
 > other case data on them. Maybe they were friends of his?"
 >
 > "Who knows? All we know for certain is that the whole thing turned
 > into a huge slugfest when he met Doctor Octopus there."
 >
 > "I remember a newspaper article from a few months back," Keiko said,
 > "that showed photos of Spiderman and Doctor Octopus fighting."
 >
 > Keiko glanced at the clock on her stereo and grimaced when she found
 > it was nearing three in the morning.
 >
 > "I hate to cut this so short, but..."
 >
 > "I know. Either way, we've gotta be real careful on this."
 >
 > "It's starting to look a lot bigger than just a corrupt Koban chief."
 >
 >
 > "Yeah. Anyway, Keiko, time to call it a night." William rose,
 > grimacing at the pins and needles in his legs, and gathered up what
 > was left of the food before taking his leave.
 >
 > ---------------------------------------------
 >
 > Miku was absent that day, Hikaru discovered once the first class of
 > the day started. It was odd, not seeing her in her seat in the
 > morning, not looking at him, ignoring him...
 >
 > Gosunkugi turned his eyes back to the teacher, who was droning on
 > about more dead English people, but his attention was still
 > elsewhere. Being Spiderman was taking its toll, and mid-terms were
 > coming up fast. He knew his grades were only a few centimeters away
 > from officially being in the toilet, and spending his nights in
 > tights wasn't helping.
 >
 > Maybe it's time to give Spiderman a rest for awhile, he thought, at
 > least until mid-terms are over. I can't afford to flunk these.
 >
 > He would miss web-slinging, but it wouldn't be permanent. Even
 > superheroes needed a break.
 >
 > Hikaru made an earnest effort to pay attention to the lecture and
 > pushed Spiderman out of his mind.
 >
 > --------------------------------------------
 >
 > Ryo stumbled down the bare corridor with the two guards that had been
 > assigned to him, fighting to stay awake. He hadn't slept in almost
 > thirty hours, and his body was beginning to demand its rest. Caffeine
 > and fear could only carry one so far.
 >
 > The hallway itself was made entirely of concrete which amplified each
 > footfall to an echoing thud. Banks of glaring bulbs hung from
 > overhead, pouring harsh light down to the floor and walls. Pao Leung
 > hadn't spent much on amenities, obviously.
 >
 > It was amazing what Otto had discovered about the recombinator.
 > Splicing and recombining genes with resistance to cancer and other
 > genetic diseases such as ALS had the potential to wipe those maladies
 > from the face of the earth forever, but that wasn't what Otto and
 > Leung had in mind.
 >
 > Ryo and his entourage rounded a bend in the claustrophobia-inducing
 > hallway, and he stifled a yawn. He had never been so tired before.
 > His drinking couldn't have helped any.
 >
 > Could it be possible? Could recombinant genetics also splice animal
 > DNA into a human with results similar to Spiderman's? Otto's
 > hypothesis certainly had some merit on that point. Spiderman's powers
 > and the seemingly natural way he used them could hardly be the work
 > of gadgets and trickery. But animal DNA ... while composed of the
 > same four amino acids as human genetic material ... was still animal
 > DNA. Even if it could be recombined into a host organism, would the
 > changes take without killing the patient? None of Otto's simulations
 > had worked, but if he was right about Spiderman?
 >
 > "This is it," one of the guards said as he slid a keycard into a slot
 > next to a dull metal door.
 >
 > Miku started when the door slid open to reveal her uncle and two men
 > in black suits. He was exhausted, shoulders slumped and head hung
 > down as he was roughly shoved into the cramped cell.
 >
 > "Uncle Ryo!" she cried as she rushed to catch him. He fell into her
 > like a sack of concrete, nearly knocking her over with his weight as
 > the door slid shut again.
 >
 > "Miku," he said as she eased him over to one of the two cots that
 > were attached to the walls. "I'm sorry."
 >
 > "Uncle Ryo?" She laid him onto the cot, grimacing at the black collar
 > he wore. "What did they do to you?"
 >
 > "I'm fine," he replied. "Have they hurt you?"
 >
 > "No, but I'm still a little groggy."
 >
 > "Sedative," he said around a yawn. "They had you drugged earlier. I
 > saw it. At least you're okay..."
 >
 > "What do they want with us?"
 >
 > "They want me..." he was drifting into sleep rapidly, his words soft
 > and slurred. "They want... Spiderman" Think I made him...."
 >
 > Miku knelt down as her uncle began to softly snore, her own fear
 > growing at his cryptic mutterings. What did Spiderman have to do with
 > her and her uncle being kidnapped? Who were their captors?
 >
 > Spiderman, Miku thought. How was he involved? Miku forced her mind to
 > focus on him, anything to keep it off of the terror of being
 > kidnapped.
 >
 > She remembered when Shigeru, her psychotic ex-boyfriend, had abducted
 > her and Spiderman had come to her rescue. Miku remembered the feel of
 > his arms around her, when he had carried her clear of Shigeru's ki
 > attack.
 >
 > Hikaru Gosunkugi had been responsible for Spiderman coming for her,
 > she knew. Would he send the man again? Would he know that she had
 > been kidnapped again? Miku sat back on the cold concrete floor and
 > rested her chin on her knees. Somehow, Spiderman was involved.
 >
 > Maybe Hikaru was right, she thought in the silence. Maybe getting
 > involved with anything to do with Spiderman is simply too dangerous.
 >
 > -----------------------------
 >
 > Gosunkugi closed the textbook, congratulating himself for a night of
 > study and not crime fighting. He really needed to pass these
 > mid-terms if he wanted to become a junior, and he had no intention of
 > being a sophomore two times in a row. His chances of going to college
 > would drop straight to hell for sure then.
 >
 > College, he thought. I haven't even thought about that. I want to go,
 > but can I do that and be Spiderman at the same time?
 >
 > Hikaru heaved a weary sigh and opened another pepsi. College was too
 > far in the future to even consider, especially tonight. He took a
 > swig and glanced back at the blank screen of his computer. It was no
 > longer the confidant it had been when he had first gotten it. There
 > was no point in keeping a journal now, especially with skilled
 > hackers out there. If one managed to get into his system and read his
 > files, having documented evidence of his forays as Spiderman saved
 > would only do more harm than good. Even writing them down on paper
 > was too dangerous.
 >
 > "Only eleven o'clock," he said as he glanced at the clock. Still a
 > few hours before bed, and his wallet was getting thinner than
 > usual...
 >
 > "Oh, what the hell."
 >
 > No matter how many times Hikaru did it, web slinging always gave him
 > a thrill. The feel of the wind ripping at him, the exhilaration of
 > being able to move through the air so freely, of feeling so strong,
 > it made him feel so alive! Busting up a mugging or a rape just made
 > the package so much sweeter. Times like this made him forget the
 > dangers of being Spiderman and allowed him to focus on what he loved
 > about it.
 >
 > Hikaru anchored a web on the side of one of the many buildings in the
 > city and tensed his body. He bent his legs forward as he fell,
 > smiling beneath the mask as he curved upward. Gosunkugi released the
 > web and soared higher before twisting his body into the form of a
 > swimmer performing a simple swan dive.
 >
 > He rocketed down to the street and reveled in the feeling of total
 > freedom. He was weightless, unattached to anything as he fell until
 > he fired another webline to alter his trajectory forward again.
 >
 > He came to a rest on an isolated rooftop, muscles tingling from the
 > exertion of swinging around and performing death-defying acrobatics
 > so high up. The night had been quiet, much to his relief. All Hikaru
 > wanted was some exercise, which he had gotten. He nearly turned to go
 > home when the spider sense began to tingle.
 >
 > "Uh-oh," he muttered as he leapt in the direction it pulled him.
 > Whatever this was, it couldn't be good. Gosunkugi dove toward the
 > sidewalk, shedding altitude before swinging away to where his spider
 > sense pointed.
 >
 > It was a fountain in the middle of a small park, he saw a few moments
 > later as he swung as far out as his web could take him before
 > releasing it to sail toward the circle of light. Within it were five
 > shadows, one kneeling with the others surrounding it. Hikaru couldn't
 > hear what was being said, but the image was more than enough. He
 > twisted his body about as they came into view: four young punks and
 > one middle-aged salaryman.
 >
 > "I SAID, hand over the wallet!" Hikaru heard one shout as he prepared
 > to land.
 >
 > "Please... stop..."
 >
 > "You hear that?" another asked. "Please stop! As if..."
 >
 > "I hear you punks want a fight!" Hikaru shouted as he landed behind
 > them. "Why don't you try me?" Four sets of eyes locked on him at once
 > as he came to his full height. In the dim light, Gosunkugi quickly
 > studied all four of his opponents. None looked to be carrying any
 > weapons, and all stiffened with surprise as he stepped into the glow
 > of one of the lights.
 >
 > "Aw, jeez, it's him!"
 >
 > "Damnit! What're we gonna do?!"
 >
 > "Just for the record," Gosunkugi said as he came to a stop near the
 > whimpering man, "giving up would be a good idea."
 >
 > "Fuck that!" a long-haired boy in baggy clothes hollered. "You think
 > we're scared of you?"
 >
 > Jeez, these guys are *my* age, Hikaru thought. "Listen, kids, I'm
 > willing to cut you a little slack. Turn around, walk away, and I'll
 > pretend this never happened. Sound good?" He saw three of them trade
 > nervous glances, each tempted to take his offer. He nearly thought
 > that common sense would break out and this wouldn't come to blows
 > when the fourth shouted out.
 >
 > "We're not afraid of you!" their leader, a gangly boy in loose
 > clothes and unkempt hair, said. "You probably ain't the real
 > Spiderman anyway!"
 >
 > Hikaru didn't bother to reply, instead firing a stream of webbing
 > that slapped into the leader's chest with a loud thwack. The boy
 > looked down in stunned suprise just before Hikaru snatched the web
 > line taut and yanked him forward.
 >
 > "Not the real Spiderman, huh?" Hikaru caught him by the collar of his
 > black vest and held him aloft as if he were a doll. A fist cocked
 > back, ready to deliver the knockout blow.
 >
 > "Don't kill him!" one of the others, a girl in a plaid skirt and
 > blouse, cried. "Spiderman, don't!"
 >
 > What am I doing? he asked silently as he lowered his arm. He looked
 > into the other's eyes, now filled with terror, and felt ashamed. This
 > wasn't right, it just couldn't be right...
 >
 > "That's not what I do, kid," Hikaru replied as he set the boy down
 > and snatched off the web. The leader, he saw, was now as scared as
 > the others. "But I want you to keep this in mind: If I ever catch you
 > at this again, I'm not gonna be so easy on you. Now get outta here."
 > Gosunkugi watched as the four teenagers turned tail and ran into the
 > night. His age, they were *his* age!
 >
 > "Hey, are you okay?" he asked the man, who had regained his feet by
 > then.
 >
 > "What's wrong with you?" he replied hotly. "You just let them go!"
 >
 > "They're kids! I'm not gonna smack around a bunch of kids, okay?"
 >
 > "They're thugs! Malcontents! They deserve to be in prison, right next
 > to you!" The man was shouting, now, jabbing a finger into Hikaru's
 > chest. "You think a stupid costume gives you the right to play hero!
 > You..."
 >
 > "Know what? I'm sorry I saved your ungrateful butt!" Hikaru shouted
 > back just before leaping back into the trees.
 >
 > The *nerve* of that guy! Gosunkugi thought as he sprung from a branch
 > and launched a web. I save him from a bunch of muggers, and he gets
 > an attitude! That's gratitude for ya!
 >
 > He swung upward into the cold night air, still fuming over the man's
 > words and puzzled that his opponenets this time had been no older
 > than Hikaru himself. Why had they done it? What made them mug some
 > defenseless guy in the park? What was to blame?
 >
 > Was anything really to blame? It was an interesting question.
 > Gosunkugi released his web and fired another, changing his trajectory
 > enough to carry him past the corner of a skyscraper and higher above
 > the streets.
 >
 > "I almost hurt him," he muttered as the emotions bubbled inside his
 > chest. That girl had been afraid that he would kill the teenager in
 > his grip. Were people really so scared of Spiderman, even after all
 > the times he had saved others? Was Spiderman doing more harm than
 > good in Tokyo?
 >
 > "Am I really so eager to use my fists?" Hikaru asked himself as he
 > swung over the brightly lit streets of the city. "Am I really that
 > bad?" Gosunkugi had to admit, he had been perilously close to
 > punching that boy out and going off on the others.
 >
 > Hikaru knew how dangerous his strength was, he knew how much power
 > one punch of his spider-enhanced muscles could deliver. He always
 > held back on the general lowlifes, knowing that he could easily kill
 > them with brute force alone. The thought that he could have used such
 > strength on someone no older than him...
 >
 > "With great power," he uttered as he cleared the roof of another
 > building, "comes great responsibility. Even Ranma doesn't go all out
 > on any of his enemies. Heck, he never even raised a fist to me."
 > Hikaru landed on a nearby wall and stared down at the moving lights
 > below, his mind inexplicably stuck on the pig-tailed martial artist.
 > Hikaru had to admit that Ranma truly wasn't such an asshole as he had
 > first thought. Not many would have come back to help against a giant
 > robot spider, yet Ranma had.
 >
 > After that battle, and especially after discovering what his lust for
 > Akane had been doing to him, Hikaru had seen Ranma in a different
 > light. He was still a jerk, true, but not all that bad.
 >
 > "Heh, heh. What am I doing?" he asked before swinging toward home
 > again. "It's not like we could ever be friends or anything."
 > Gosunkugi yanked himself even higher before launching another web
 > before saying, "But at least we aren't enemies." That counted for
 > something, didn't it?
 >
 > ---------------------------------------------
 >
 > Magnificent.
 >
 > It was the only word that came to Ryo Sanzaki's mind as he reviewed
 > Octavius's data. While the mind that spawned it was twisted, and the
 > purpose of the project evil, it was still a thing of beauty. To think
 > that it could be done!
 >
 > "Elegant, is it not?" Otto asked from behind. "With this power, a man
 > could become a god."
 >
 > "But it doesn't seem to work, no matter how elegant it is." A metal
 > tentacle appeared on his shoulder before Otto replied.
 >
 > "That is a problem, yes, but one that shall be rectified."
 >
 > But how? Ryo thought. If recombinant genetics created Spiderman, how
 > the hell had it happened?
 >
 > "According to your data," Ryo began, "the rate of cellular mutation
 > was too rapid for any organism to deal with."
 >
 > "Yes, it was. So... perhaps..."
 >
 > Ryo knew his former partner well, and knew that he was thinking the
 > same thing that had occured to him.
 >
 > "A gradual mutation, then?"
 >
 > "No, that's not it!" Otto raged. "I have weakened the recombinator as
 > far as the technology allows!"
 >
 > "Wait a moment!" Ryo went back through the data, calling up the
 > numerous lines of text and equations on the main screen of the
 > supercomputer. He had seen something earlier... what was it...
 >
 > "I never meant for it to be used this way," he muttered absently.
 > Splicing in genes resistant to disease was a far cry from changing
 > one's genetic makeup entirely...
 >
 > THAT WAS IT!
 >
 > "I think I have something..." Damn it, where was that data?
 >
 > "Oh? So you have solved this puzzle, then?"
 >
 > "Here it is," Ryo said as he studied the data again. "I don't think
 > gene splicing is the proper technique for what you have planned."
 > Despite the horrid nature of this research, Ryo could not help but
 > feel a tingle of excitement. On the terminal, several diagrams of
 > chemical and amino acids appeared and danced in a three dimensional
 > model of what the recombinator was meant to do.
 >
 > "What is... yes... Yes, I see it!" Otto exclaimed. "How could I have
 > ever missed something so simple?"
 >
 > "Using raw DNA from another organism simply won't work," Ryo began.
 > "Even though human and animal DNA are composed of the same protiens
 > and amino acids, the two configurations are simply incompatible."
 >
 > "So, what is needed is augmented DNA. We shall set to work
 > immediately!"
 >
 > Ryo glanced at his watch, and nearly groaned at the time. How much
 > longer before they made it work? No, how much longer before he and
 > Miku outlived their usefulness?
 >
 > What could he do, other than dance to their tune and wait for the
 > inevitable?
 >
 > "I am not a man..."
 >
 > "What was that, Sanzaki?"
 >
 > "Nothing." He hadn't known that he had spoken aloud.
 >

Not much to correct really,




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