Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Illumination ❯ Mission 02: Sword-for-Hire ( Chapter 3 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Disclaimer: Dragonball Z and all related characters belong to Akira Toriyama and other respective owners.

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Three days later Trunks found himself getting into Armada's car again as she rounded the front and got in the driver's side. He adjusted the seat this time and settled in, because they were off to a city just under 400 kilometers away across the border and into the only other country on the continent, Juu. She said she would explain the mission on the way over, so he complied and just went along for the ride, as it were. As they started to pull away, Trunks glanced to his left at Amada's neck, and with her wearing her armor and jacket he couldn't see anything, but she didn't appear to be favoring the injury.

While that stab wound wasn't life-threatening, it was significant. He found it interesting that she moved as if it didn't bother her. Perhaps she had taken painkillers, but he doubted it; she didn't seem to be the type. Even if the pain didn't bother her, it was strange that she moved as if she were completely fine. An injury like that would at least affect the movement of her neck and right arm. He turned his gaze outward once more. There was something about her, something more to her than she let on, and he was both curious and worried.

-+-

Illumination

Mission 02: Sword-for-Hire

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Armada parked the car and turned off the ignition. After a four hour drive, they had arrived at their destination, and she opened her door to get out. Trunks followed suit and the pair found themselves in a city unlike Ute. This city looked more like what Trunks was used to on Earth; it was a bit run-down, dirty, and far behind Ute in the way of technology. They were in the capital city of Juu, the only other country on the continent that shared a small border with western Bmyhad, mostly over a mountain range. As they walked up the steps into the main building, Trunks recalled what Armada told him about their current mission on the drive over.

"In the country bordering Bmyhad, Juu, there's a rebel faction working to overthrow the government. Basically domestic terrorists, since they attack civil servants as well as civilians. Their plan is backfiring and people are fleeing into Bmyhad, but the local government is having trouble wiping them out. We're supposed to go in and take out their leader, along with their base. Local PD will provide more details when we arrive."

Once inside, Armada took her sunglasses off and placed them into a pocket of the cropped black jacket she wore over her armor, and Trunks stopped and stood at her side. Someone waved to the pair and they followed farther into the building, where they were led into a conference room with six other officials inside. Trunks noted as he sat down that two of the men were in uniform, and the others were in more casual suits. The guy who led them inside closed the door behind himself as he left.

"Thanks for taking this on," a dark haired man who stood at the end of the long table said wiped at his stubble-covered cheek.

Armada shook her head, "Payment is thanks enough."

"Quick to get to business," a younger brown-haired man spoke with a smirk, "I like this one."

"I thought it was just one," a blond haired man said and looked to his superior, the first to speak. "Why two all of a sudden?" he asked with guarded anger.

"I hired on a new associate since I took the contract," Armada replied without looking to Trunks who sat on her right.

"Doesn't matter," the first officer to talk spoke once more. "I'm Lieutenant Rune and you'll be reporting to me." He pointed to the blond haired man, "That's Sergeant Nadolsky," then to the younger brown-haired man who smirked, "and Sergeant Srinst. The three of us will be your contact points with the department." With that he looked to the other unnamed officers in the room, two in uniform and one in a suit, and they each stood and left. When the room was left to the five of them Lt. Rune walked over to close the blinds so nobody could see into the conference room.

Rune nodded to Nadolsky who opened a terminal in front of the two mercenaries. A map of the continent appeared and he immediately zoomed into the northern region of Juu, where the country bordered Bmyhad through a mountain range. "The rebels call themselves Tere," Rune spoke as Nadolsky highlighted a square area on the map. "We've estimated based on their movements that their base is somewhere in this area, about twelve square kilometers."

"You can't narrow it down anymore than that?" Trunks asked and turned to Rune.

"We're not sure if it's underground or possibly mobile," Srinst answered. "The few times we've had any men make it out there and come back we had conflicting reports on where exactly their base was."

"We know it's in this region," Nadolsky reiterated. He zoomed in on the map so they could see only the area they would need to search. "With your abilities it shouldn't take you too long to find it," he finished and turned to Armada.

"So that covers the base," Armada summarized while studying the map, "what about their leader?"

"He goes by the name Nero, though we don't know what he looks like," Rune broke in again. He turned to face both Armada and Trunks. "He's rumored to be an energy wielder, like you." He paused and took a deep breath. "Which is why we keep losing men when we try to take their fort."

"Can't afford the right equipment?" Armada asked. Trunks noted how detached and cold her tone was.

"It's still cheaper to hire someone like you ten times over before we could afford any of that," Srinst broke in. "And Bmyhad doesn't have anything, or if they do they're not sharing," he added sarcastically.

"That doesn't matter now," Rune cut off Srinst. He looked to Trunks and then Armada. "We need you to make sure Nero ends up dead, that's the number one priority. Without him the whole thing will fall into disarray." He turned away from them for a moment and looked to Nadolsky. "Taking out their base is a close second. If you can't get Nero, at least destroy facility to slow them down."

"If he's there, we'll get him," Armada reassured them and stood.

"We'll be dropping you here," Nadolsky zoomed out to show a waypoint on the map, "thirty-six point two kilometers southeast of your destination." He turned to look at Trunks who sat to his left. "The forest here is extremely dense. That coupled with the altitude makes this area avoided by the rebels. You should be able to hike through on foot without risk of exposure," he finished.

Srinst held a finger up to his left ear for a moment before he spoke. "Helicopters are ready to roll, sir," he said as he turned to the lieutenant.

"If you don't have any questions, Srinst will take you up to the roof where transportation is waiting. By the time you reach the drop point it'll be sundown. Good luck," Rune added before he turned and ran his hand down his face again. Armada and Trunks stood and nodded, then followed Sergeant Srinst out the door.

After they left, Nadolsky looked over to his superior. "You think they can do it, sir?"

Rune turned to look at Nadolsky. "Do you remember hearing about that weapons factory on the edge of Alliance space a few months back?"

"No way," Nadolsky said in disbelief and understanding. "She did that?" He shook his head. "I'm impressed she's not dead yet."

"Now you know why I hired her," Rune added with emphasis. If someone could get away with that kind of damage against a serious interstellar mafia, he was fairly certain a few rebels in the woods would prove easy to someone like that. Or at least he hoped.

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Armada stood right at the edge of the open door of the helicopter and kept her right hand glued to a rail just above the door. Her hair whipped in the wind and she yelled to speak to the pilot. "Don't fly too low or they might suspect something," she shouted. "We can take a long drop."

"Yes ma'am!" Trunks heard the pilot shout back as they neared their destination. He stood farther back into the vehicle, but the wind tore through and blew his hair all over the place too. Some days he missed when he had it short, but then he'd remember how much he hated the look. He felt the horizontal movement of the helicopter slow down and knew it was about time for them to drop out. He took a few steps over to where Armada stood and reached up for the railing she held on to as well.

"Here's your stop!" the pilot yelled over the sound of the engines and wind. Armada looked to Trunks and nodded before she casually let go of the railing she held and stepped out of the vehicle as if she were walking normally. She let herself fall feet-first, and Trunks hovered out of the helicopter and slowly descended.

His comrade hit the ground before he did by just a few seconds. They both turned to watch the helicopter fly away, though they could barely see it in the darkness of night—the pilot had turned off all the lights so they could go in completely dark. Trunks turned his attention back to his comrade to see her pull something from her belt that looked about six inches long and three inches wide. She flipped open the device to reveal a screen and a keyboard. On it he could see the map from earlier when they were briefed on the mission.

"Good job on his part, we're in the right spot," Armada said as she tilted the screen so Trunks could see better. "I suspect they thought we might walk, which is why they don't think we'll have a lot of time. However," she continued as she looked up in the direction they would be traveling, "we'll save a lot of time if we fly and then we'll have more time for recon." She shut the item and hung it on the back of her belt again, just a bit to the right of center.

"Let's go," Armada said rather flatly before she took off at a leisurely flying pace. Trunks figured she didn't want to create too much of a wake as they flew to disturb the surrounding areas—animals would flee and blow their cover. It took a little under ten minutes for them to reach their destination, and they softly landed in the woods and approached slightly closer on foot.

"You see it?" Armada asked quietly as she moved to stand next to a tree, putting fifteen feet between the pair.

"Yeah," Trunks replied as he stood by another tree as well. About one kilometer away he could see what looked like some type of bunker poking up from the ground. Trees and other foliage were growing from the top of the bunker, which was probably one reason it was so hard to find. That, and from their conversation earlier with Rune and the other officers he figured they just weren't funded enough to have the technology to locate something like this.

The pair stood and watched for close to an hour; Trunks kept track on his watch. In that time they saw a handful of people trickle in and out, but nothing major. Another hour passed with no activity and Trunks figured since it was getting later into the night the members of the group were probably sleeping. He heard Armada shift her weight on her feet and glanced over to her. He saw her putting a small set of binoculars away on the back side of her belt.

"Looks like there are a few emergency exits on the top of the bunker," Armada said and turned to face Trunks, "so that's probably our best way in." She nodded to him before she began to float above the ground a few inches, just enough to clear the low brush in the forest. Trunks mimicked her movements, and the pair flew toward the complex.

One they reached the bunker and floated up to the top they both landed very delicately on the surface. The roof of the base was covered in all kinds of overgrowth, but Armada seemed to know where she was headed. She knelt down and started tearing away vines and moss to reveal one of the emergency exits she spoke of only moments before. She studied it for a moment, since it was meant to be opened from the inside. Trunks was about to ask what they should do when she reached for two sides of the small door and began to pull at it. Within a few seconds the door came loose and she pulled it open gingerly. She pushed the door all the way open and floated down into the structure, and Trunks followed right behind her.

Inside they found themselves standing in the middle of a long corridor with dim lighting along the corners in the ceiling. Trunks studied their surroundings; everything was made with plated metal but a lot of it was rusted or in disrepair. Then again he figured a rebel group probably didn't have a lot of funds or other resources to keep the place in top condition.

"This isn't going to work," Armada shook her head and turned to Trunks.

"What do you mean?" he near-whispered as she did when she spoke to him.

"We don't know who Nero is," she stated flatly. "And look at this place," she motioned around herself, "they're not very organized so it won't be obvious."

"You don't sound that worried," Trunks started thoughtfully. "You have a plan," he stated rather than asked.

"You're a bounty hunter, and you chased me all the way out here," she began telling him her plan. "I broke in, you followed me. We'll stage a fight, you'll capture me, and with their attention you'll offer to hand me over as a sign of good faith that you're not here for them." Her gaze fell as she thought for a moment. "If they buy it, it should give us enough time to figure out who their leader is."

"What if they don't buy it?" Trunks asked the obvious question.

"We'll have to fight our way out," she said with dissatisfaction. It wasn't the ideal plan, but that's what contingency plans were for.

Armada turned her gaze away from Trunks. "Don't hold back," she said as she looked down the end of the hall.

"What?" he blinked.

She turned to look him in the eyes again. "It has to be believable, so we both have to look a little roughed up." Trunks looked at her in curiosity when she lunged at him. He jumped backward just in time to miss her punch and she suddenly used her energy to fly after him.

He turned and flew away from her, down a few corridors with her hot on his heels. "You're supposed to be chasing me!" she shouted as they flew. Realizing she was right, he immediately stopped, turned, and swung with his right fist for her face. He saw her eyes widen in shock and she couldn't stop herself in time. His fist connected and sent her flying backward to the end of the hall where her back smacked into the metal wall before she bounced off slightly and fell to the floor.

Shit,Trunks cursed mentally as he looked at his comrade down the hall. She wiped at blood seeping from her mouth. He hadn't meant to hit her that hard, but then again he wasn't sure exactly how strong she was to know right where to reign in his own abilities. Not to mention that it'd been a few years since he had a fight or even sparred with anyone. Sometimes he forgot his own strength.

She took off and flew at him faster than before and started swinging. He easily dodged and blocked all of her punches, and after a moment she jumped back and fired an energy blast at him. Trunks swatted it away with his left forearm, and it blew into a side wall causing a huge explosion. The sounds of footsteps and shouting greeted the pair, and Armada smirked at Trunks. He smiled in response before he flew after her once more.

He decided to pull his punches this time, and Armada blocked six of them in a row with her armored forearms before he faked a punch with his left and used his right hand to grab a hold of her arm. He spun them around in the hallway and used her arm like a piece of rope to throw her over his head and down into the ground. She landed on her back and the impact created a dent in the metal flooring. He put his left foot down across her neck but didn't press; he just needed it to look like he had her dead-to-rights.

The pair was in the middle of an intersection of two hallways and people started pouring in on their location, guns drawn and pointed. Trunks kept his eyes locked with Armada's and the pair didn't move as the shouts around them grew louder.

"What the hell is going on?!" Trunks heard a male voice scream. His head snapped up to the direction the shout came from as everyone else fell silent. People parted the way for the man to walk though and he made it to the front of the crowd, standing only two meters away from Trunks. He was six feet tall with dark brown hair shorn down to a few centimeters, and dark eyes—Trunks couldn't tell the color. "You have three seconds to explain why we shouldn't kill you," the man said and narrowed his eyes.

"Sorry," Trunks said and pretended to be out of breath. "I was chasing my latest bounty when she broke in here so I followed her," he motioned to the woman beneath his foot as he still held on to her left forearm with his right hand. "Honestly from the outside the place looked abandoned," he added with a glance to his right.

"A likely story," the man spat. He opened his mouth and turned back a bit, about to bark out an order to the men behind him with guns when Trunks cut him off.

"Come on," Trunks bit back with a cocky attitude that surprised even himself. "I'm just trying to get paid, no need for that," he nodded toward the minions armed to the teeth behind the lone man who stood without a weapon. Everyone stared at Trunks as he wracked his brain for what to do next. "Don't believe me? Check the bounty on her," he assured them. "Her name's Armada. I'll be set for a few years with this one," he tacked on at the end. Part of him really hoped she had a bounty and it was high enough for them to buy his story.

"I don't buy it," a taller man with more muscle spoke from Trunks's left. He was holding a large assault rifle and he turned to look at the man Trunks was speaking to. "He sounds like he's full of shit."

"All bounty hunters are, Lavelle," the man in charge responded with disdain. He seemed to be mulling it over so Trunks figured now he should try and sweeten the deal for them.

"Look," Trunks began and caught their attention again, "I'll let you guys hold on to her until you confirm the bounty," he tugged on her arm for emphasis, "and when everything checks out I leave with my newest pay check in tow."

"And if it doesn't check out?" the man named Lavelle asked in disdain.

"We'll just kill them both," the other man supplied with a crooked smirk. "Detain her," he ordered with a nod and several people from all sides around Trunks closed in. He released Armada's arm and removed his foot from her neck as the minions closed in. Two of them grabbed her hands and pulled her to her feet before they spun her around to hold her hands behind her back as they put shackles on them.

Lavelle, who was wearing what appeared to be the pants he slept in and nothing else, like much of the rebels, walked up to Armada and grabbed her hair at the scalp on the back of her head. He jerked her head back to crane her neck up at him and smirked. Armada glared at him before he released her hair. "Pathetic," he said with disgust. "Take her to the jail," he shouted and the men who had restrained her dragged her off behind Trunks.

The man who first showed any signs of authority approached Trunks as the rest of the rebels fell into step and moved out of the area. "What's your name, bounty hunter?" he asked with distrust in his eyes.

"Trunks," the Earthling replied honestly. No point in making up a name as they might call for him and he could forget his fake name.

"Nero," the man nodded to Trunks in return as he pursed his lips. "Our communications are all done via satellite, and it won't be in range for another two hours," he continued. "We'll have to wait a bit before we can verify your story," Nero turned to Lavelle who stood at his right, then looked back at Trunks. "I hope you don't mind staying near Lavelle and myself in the meantime," Nero continued with a glare. Trunks knew it wasn't a proposition, but rather an order.

Lavelle raised his assault rifle to point it at Trunks once again. "Let's go," Lavelle said as Nero turned and headed back down the hall from which he first came. Trunks fell in step behind Nero and Lavelle followed behind, gun pointed only inches from Trunks's spine.

We know who Nero is, Trunks thought, but now what? He gave himself time to consider the options because, as Nero said, they had a few hours before they would believe him anyway, which meant he would be cooped up with Lavelle's gun pointed at him in the meantime. That gave him some time to think up a plan. He only hoped one came to him before they released Armada back into his custody, or they'd be going with plan B which was guaranteed to be messy.

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Armada was pushed from behind into the small jail cell, and she kept up the act and stumbled forward before she caught her balance and turned around. "Behave and we won't have to shoot you," one of the men who closed the barred gates behind her laughed.

"I'd rather just shoot her anyway," one of the women with a large assault rifle similar to Lavelle's said and looked to the prison guard.

"We gotta wait until the boss says we can," the man sighed in disappointment. The rest of the group started to file out. "Shouldn't be more than two hours though." He turned to look at Armada when he noticed she was watching him. "That's right, we're gonna kill you shortly so you might want to take what little time you have left to piss yourself," he laughed.

"I call dibs on shooting the bitch," the female guard smirked slightly at Armada. "She interrupted a good night's sleep."

"Don't get trigger happy," the man walked away from the cell. "We wait for orders."

"Yeah yeah," the woman fell into step behind him. Within a few seconds they disappeared around a corner and Armada heard another set of gates close behind them. She walked over to the metal bench in the cell and sat down. Trunks, you better be as smart as I hope you are, she thought with a large sigh. He made the right call about there being a bounty out there for her, she was certain there was one from a while back and the reward was pretty steep. She just hoped he played along just long enough for them to get out, get the leader, and level the place. She wasn't fast enough to dodge bullets from the guns this group was carrying, in the narrow spaces of the bunker. And she didn't think he'd be able to, either.

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Trunks looked up from where he sat to Lavelle once more. Trunks wasn't restrained but the rebel still clung tightly to his assault rifle and stared down the mercenary from his post by the door. Trunks turned his gaze away once more and glanced at his watch. It had been almost three hours and still no word from anyone about the bounty. He wondered if they even bothered to check and just planned on killing him and Armada, or killing him and turning her in for the bounty themselves, if she had one.

They may have had conventional weaponry but Trunks wasn't scared of that in the least—he knew his own abilities, even if he assumed their guns fired like the ones on Earth. The real question for him was Armada; could she survive in the time it would take him to get to her? The handcuffs they placed on her looked easily breakable with her strength, but who knew if she could get away from close-quarters gunfire. He had to wait until they were together again before he did anything, otherwise she wouldn't be safe. And while Trunks wasn't exactly excited about his current situation in life, he wouldn't allow himself to leave her to die.

The door to the room swung open and another rebel walked in. "Lavelle, Nero wants to see him," the young man said and motioned toward Trunks. Lavelle nodded and turned to Trunks. The mercenary stood and followed the unnamed rebel and again Lavelle followed behind with his rifle pointed in the middle of Trunks's back.

A few minutes later they walked into a much larger and open area that Trunks immediately identified as a control center. Monitors lined one wall with terminals and individual consoles around the room. In the middle was a long rectangular table and Nero stood near it as the group approached. Trunks stopped a few feet from Nero; he knew when to stop because Lavelle jabbed the barrel of his gun into the Earthling's back to indicate he should stop. Trunks looked up to Nero who was now fully dressed in some light leather plate armor over his chest and one shoulder.

"You were telling the truth," Nero started. "But the conditions of the deal have changed," he said bitterly.

"Why is that?" Trunks's eyes narrowed at Nero. While he and Armada had both kept their energy masked to very low levels, Trunks could sense that Nero was starting to increase his. Lavelle still stood behind him with his assault rifle aimed at Trunks so he knew he had to be cautious.

"We need money to run our operation," Nero started to walk leisurely to Trunks's right. The demi-Saiyan's eyes followed closely as the rebel leader moved. "Just as anyone would," Nero stopped walking and looked to Trunks. "So we're going to turn in the mercenary for the bounty. And you're," Nero paused and charged a ki blast around his right fist, "going to leave."

"That doesn't work for me," Trunks replied as he watched Nero closely. If he was trying to intimidate Trunks, then the rebel leader was sorely mistaken. "I did all the work and you guys take the reward?" Trunks asked in disgust. "I don't think so."

Just as Trunks finished speaking, Nero fired. Trunks easily dodged and Lavelle was hit with the blast in the chest instead. As Lavelle fell backward his hands clenched on his gun and the assault rifle started firing. Trunks was already out of the way but Nero couldn't move as fast, and was shot three times across his left shoulder. Trunks turned and charged at Nero; he landed a painful right hook in the rebel's face. Nero flew backward into several consoles behind himself and left a dent in the metal from the impact. He coughed up blood and Trunks approached slowly.

Nero looked up to Trunks and was about to say something when Trunks silenced him permanently with another energy blast. Nero was dead, so part one of their mission was accomplished. Trunks heard shouts from farther in the building and turned toward them. They probably knew what had happened by now and were mobilizing. He took off flying out of the room and down the halls toward where he sensed his comrade.

-+-

"What?!" Armada heard one of the male voices scream. She stood up from where she sat and moved toward the barred door. Several people came running in to where her cell was, including the woman from a few hours ago who had wanted to shoot her.

"You bitch!" she screamed and raised her weapon, ready to fire.

"No!" another man Armada had not seen before ran in and put his hands on the barrel of her weapon to push it down. "She's not with the bounty hunter, and if we shoot her now we won't get the reward," he said with authority.

Armada knew it was time to roll, as she felt Trunks closing in on her location—after she sensed Nero fire at him. She narrowed her eyes at the woman who so desperately wanted to kill her. "Hey," she called out.

"What?!" the woman snarled and snapped her head around to Armada.

"Actually," Armada began while she discreetly broke her handcuffs apart behind her back. "I am with the mercenary," her eyes narrowed. The woman was shocked and went to fire her gun, but she was too slow. Armada immediately fired energy from both hands and wiped out both people standing in front of her cell, as well as the bars that were in her way.

Trunks flew in just as Armada stepped out of her cell. She looked over to him, "We've gotta get out of here." He nodded and the pair took off flying down the corridors again until they reached the highest level in the bunker once more. Armada stopped in a hallway and blew a hole through the roof of the bunker which revealed the night sky above. Plants and debris fell inside but it didn't matter, and the pair flew outside.

They continued up into the sky until they hovered a kilometer above their target. Armada glanced to Trunks and then charged up her aura around her. She turned and fired on the bunker below with both arms outstretched. Trunks was shocked by the amount of energy she fired; it was plenty to destroy the bunker but he was impressed with her strength, though she was still a far cry from his own, not that she would know that. She stopped firing and reached behind her back to pull out the small locator device she had used earlier.

Armada flipped it open and zoomed out on their previous map so she could see all of Juu. She closed the lid and looked to Trunks. "It shouldn't take more than an hour to fly back, if you can keep up," she said dismissively. Trunks wondered if she know how easy it was for him and was just joking, or if she was serious. Either way, she took off and he followed quickly after.

-+-

Back at police headquarters in the city, Trunks and Armada sat at the same conference table they were at the night before, with the same three officers they had originally sat with. "Good work," Lieutenant Rune said as he tossed a few bank cards down to the table in front of Armada. She reached forward and gathered the three cards into her hands before she placed them in a jacket pocket.

"How do we know Nero is dead?" Nadolsky asked. It was a valid question, there was no way for them to know.

"Doesn't matter," Rune broke in. "She accepted a lower pay scale in advance so that if she didn't get one or the other we wouldn't lose out." Trunks was surprised, it seemed a little strange for a mercenary to do such a thing.

"Oh, someone has a sense of honor, huh?" Srinst asked with a smirk. Armada didn't answer him and stood from her seat. "Hey, where are you going?" Srinst lost his sarcastic tone.

"They're free to go," Rune broke in. "Take care of yourselves," Rune threw in as Trunks stood and the pair headed out. Trunks wondered why the lieutenant would bother saying something relatively caring but dismissed the thought quickly as he followed Armada outside.

They quickly arrived at the car and got in. Armada started the vehicle and spoke as she pulled out into traffic, "We'll grab something to eat then head out," she said without looking to her comrade.

"How much money did we make?" Trunks asked. She never did tell him from when she first mentioned the mission, and the officers didn't mention a number either.

"Three hundred thousand betas," Armada replied flatly as she glanced to her left before making a right turn.

Three hundred thousand?Trunks thought in shock. Then again, they did a huge job, but he remembered them talking about how equipment would cost several times that. He wasn't sure what that conversation was about but he intended to find out. "When you mentioned yesterday that the police couldn't afford the right equipment, what did you mean?" Trunks asked.

"Seriously?" Armada glanced to him briefly before she turned her eyes to the road.

"What?" Trunks was insulted. "I don't know everything," he added sourly.

"What stops people like you and me from destroying everything in our way, and killing anyone who opposes us?" She didn't look at him because she was focused on the road but Trunks was stunned into silence. "What stops us from enslaving everyone else with the threat of death?" She paused and made a left turn at a light.

"The technology exists to suppress the manifestation and use of energy," she continued without looking to Trunks. Her eyes flashed to her right to glance at him briefly before she spoke once more. "It's hard to manufacture. It's expensive. But it works," she explained. "Some governments can afford it, and some can't. Some areas of the universe are safer than others," she finished.

Trunks sat back in his seat and thought about what she said. So it wasn't like Earth, where he could literally take control of everything if he wanted. Hell, the androids weren't any different, as they did exactly that. So in this more developed area of the universe, governments could keep people like him in line, because they did have ways of suppressing their power. In that case, that meant there were a lot more people out there like himself and Armada, people who could use ki. He had an ominous feeling that things weren't going to be as easy as he originally hoped.

-+-

Thanks for reading!

Silvia