Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Illumination ❯ Mission 14: Secret Weapon ( Chapter 21 )

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

Disclaimer: Dragonball Z belongs to Akira Toriyama and numerous other companies. This fanfic is only for fun, no monies are being made.

-+-

Closing the lid of the cargo crate, Dax turned and nodded to the men with him. "Looks good, everything is here," he added. Another member of Rieve nodded to him before marking down on the tablet he carried that they had received the entire shipment. Dax looked around the large open warehouse they were standing in; he counted a total of sixteen crates so it shouldn't take them long to get them loaded onto the truck.

They were in Mensa, another city in Bmyhad not too far from Ute. He let out a sigh; he didn't like being this close to Ute. He didn't know if Armada was still there, but had to assume so until he knew otherwise. He wasn't sure how much longer he could keep avoiding her, but he was going to try as long as he could.

Dax's attention then turned the young man with the flaming red hair styled up into a mohawk. Rouge was talking to another member of Rieve, clearly flirting with the woman. He smiled broadly while talking to her, his arms swinging nervously at his sides. Dax nearly rolled his eyes at the sight; they had work to do, there wasn't time for Rouge to be flirting with a local member in Mensa.

"Rouge," Dax called out, certain he had said the name loud enough for the young man to hear him. Rouge however made no move, so Dax yelled his name again, much louder. "Rouge!" he shouted, and many members of Rieve stopped and looked at Dax. The woman Rouge was talking to even seemed to notice, as her eyes drifted away from Rouge and back to Dax, who was standing in the distance behind him.

Frustrated, Dax's eyes narrowed and he scowled. "You little shit," he muttered before taking a deep breath and yelling even louder than the last time. "Rura!" Dax shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth to project his voice even further.

Rouge instantly tweaked his shoulders up before turning and running over to Dax. "Sorry man," Rouge huffed, "what's up?"

Dax smacked Rouge across the back of the head, and the younger man replied with an 'Ow!' before reaching up to hold the injured area with his right hand. "Open your ears, you dipshit," Dax reprimanded Rouge. He was already stressed from their current situation, and he wasn't feeling up to dealing with his red-haired subordinate today.

"Hey," Rouge whined, pouting his lips, "it's not fair when you call me Rura. Nobody calls me that, everybody knows me as Rouge. And I like it that way because Rouge is a much cooler name than my birth name," Rouge added, his lips curling up into a smirk.

"I yelled Rouge twice before I said Rura," Dax replied, still clearly annoyed. "Besides, nobody gives a damn what name you go by. I verified the shipment is good, so we need to get these crates back to headquarters," Dax finished, getting to the reason he was yelling for Rouge.

"Okay," the taller red-head replied. "Once we get these loaded then we'll stop by and visit the new team in Ute, right?" he asked, orange eyes bright with his admiration for Dax.

"No," Dax replied flatly. "We don't have time for that."

"But Ryan said—" Rouge started.

"I know what the comonstoro said," Dax cut in, his scowl returning. "The priority is to get these weapons and armor back to the fleet, so that's what we're going to do. The team in Ute is fine, they don't need our help," he finished.

"But—OW!" Rouge tried to protest once more but was cut short when Dax smacked him across the back of the head again.

"Go make sure the truck gets pulled around so we can load up these crates. We need to get moving," Dax ordered. Rouge nodded while still rubbing the sore spot on the back of his head, and wandered off to do as he was told.

Unbeknownst to Dax or any of the other members of Rieve in the warehouse, in the rafters above them was a special cloaking cloth that mirrored down to them what looked like the ceiling. The square cloth, two meters in length on each side, was tied down to a few beams to provide room for the man sitting above the cloth to spy on the Rieve members while hiding in open sight.

In his right ear, Nassas Reine wore a headphone that was playing back the live recording he was making with the device in his left hand. The night-vision goggles he wore helped him see the members of Rieve below him in the dark, including the man he was specifically tailing – the enforcer named Dax. Due to the conditions of the room and his position, Nassas was focused more on getting an audio recording than video, which wouldn't have been as useful. He needed to know where they were headed next, and for now that meant the local spaceport in Mensa to get their cargo loaded up and headed off-world.

For someone tailing our favorite mercenaries, you sure do want to stay out of Ute, the Taydran spy thought as he watched Dax walk to the other end of the warehouse. Nassas wasn't looking forward to a long trek through space, but he'd been tasked to find the mercenaries on a special mission assigned to him by Commander Tresia. So while he still suspected that his ultimate targets were in Ute, for now he needed to stick to Dax and see where the Rieve enforcer was headed. He just hoped it wouldn't be a long trip.

-+-

Right before your eyes

I am changing, changing

New life on the inside

I am changing, changing

-+-

Illumination

Mission 14: Secret Weapon

-+-

Almost two weeks after adding Naya to their group, everyone had fallen into a routine. Trunks had been out on two jobs with Laiserta, which they executed without any issue. Naya was working remotely, providing tactical support to the companies that requested it, still operating under the alias of General Ackermann. If she didn't have to reveal herself, she'd told Trunks, then she preferred not to. Money was coming in and everyone had settled in, including Marice. Although Armada had an argument with Laiserta about Marice's involvement in the job at Lind's Hammer, Armada eventually agreed to let Marice assist in purely support roles only. The Euphorian teenager was ecstatic to be of use.

Marice had continued her daily training with Trunks, and he was happy to work with her. She was a good student, she listened to him without arguing, and in general she was a sweet person. It was a lot like having a little sister, and Trunks felt protective of her just the same. He wondered if in some other version of events, he did have a little sister. What was her name? Was she like Marice? Was she different? Instead of making him sad, those thoughts actually made him smile. Even if he couldn't repair the damage done to his world, at least he knew he had saved another version of his world from the same fate.

When Naya joined their group, she chose the only bunk truly available to her – the third bed in Laiserta and Marice's room. Trunks felt a little bad that the three women were crowded into one room while both he and Armada had rooms to themselves, but he had to remind himself that everyone was probably better off leaving Armada to her own space. For him, well... it just didn't seem proper to be sharing a room with a woman, as silly as it seemed to him considering everything he'd gone through.

Regardless, those three ladies had retired for the evening, and Trunks met Armada in the bridge as she had instructed him earlier that day. She said she had information on their target, and he could only assume she meant Rieve.

Trunks took a seat at the navigation console to the left of where Armada sat in the main pilot's chair. He let out a tired breath upon sitting, and looked over to her. "So what's up?"

"I think we're ready to make our first move against Rieve," Armada replied. She turned her attention back to the main display in front of her, bringing up a map and what appeared to be satellite images of the physical terrain and buildings on that map. "I paid a good bit of money for this intel, but everything I've cross referenced comes up good. This is a map of a space port and shipyard on a planet called Belos, just across the border in the southeastern Republic. All these ships," she said, pointing to the images on the map in front of her before turning to look at Trunks, "they're Rieve merchant ships. This is how they make their money.

"The base of operations for Rieve's merchant fleet is this spaceport on Belos," Armada continued. "If we destroy the spaceport, ships, and anything else that's there, we'll hit them in their wallet, hard," she stressed.

Admittedly, Trunks liked the idea of damaging Rieve in their resources. It wouldn't bring Q back, but it was a start at ending their criminal enterprise. "They must have some kind of defense," Trunks began, turning from the monitor to look at his comrade.

"They do," Armada replied, "but it's not enough to stop us. They have two space fighter brigades, ships that we can easily take out once we're planetside. They have a number of energy fighters there as well, but they're rank and file. The problem is going to be a man by the name of Preva. He's one of Rieve's elite guard, just like Corvus was. So that means he's at least as powerful as Corvus, possibly more."

Sensing what he thought was a bit of nervousness in her, Trunks tried to give Armada a reassuring smile. "It's okay. We'll be working together, it won't be like the last time," he said, referencing Armada's defeat at the hands of Corvus. Luckily he had arrived in time to stop her from being killed. But this would be different. He was helping her now, and she had agreed to it.

Armada didn't seem to have much of a reaction to his words. "I've chartered a private shuttle. We'll head out in the morning," she added. "It should take about a day to get there if we fly at full speed once we reach dark space."

"What do we tell the others?" Trunks asked. Surely they would be gone a few days and would have to tell them something.

"We're taking on a job," Armada started. "We'll be gone a few days. It's too dangerous to bring any of them with us." She paused a moment. "I don't think we should tell any of them about Rieve at this point," she tacked on.

"I agree," Trunks said while nodding. He trusted Marice, but he didn't want her to worry needlessly about him or Armada. He didn't know Naya well enough yet to determine if he trusted her, and Laiserta... well, he wanted to trust her, but he still wasn't sure. And if he wasn't sure, then he knew Armada wasn't ready to trust her, either.

-+-

The next morning, Trunks met Armada in the bridge. He was wearing his Capsule Corporation jacket with his sword strapped to his back, feeling ready to tackle whatever lay ahead of them. Armada had already donned her armor, looking just as ready as he was. She gave him a knowing look and nodded toward the lounge, and Trunks knew what she was getting at. They needed to tell the others that they were leaving.

Trunks walked into the lounge first, with Armada following behind. Laiserta sat in the back of the lounge, her feet propped up on the table as she leaned back into the booth, watching the monitor across the room from her. Naya sat on the adjacent end of the table, working on a laptop sitting in front of her. And Marice was eating some fruit while sitting beside Laiserta but not behind the table, also watching the monitor.

"Hey everyone," Trunks spoke, drawing the three women's attention to himself. Before anyone could say anything, he continued. "Armada and I are leaving on a job. We'll be back in a few days."

"Heh," Laiserta laughed, tapping on her chin with the index finger of her right hand, "if you two wanted to have a romantic getaway you should have just asked me. I can recommend some great hotels," she chided, smirking as she stared at Trunks.

But Trunks didn't fall for the bait and her insinuation slid off of him, ignored. Naya was the next to speak, but she turned her attention to Armada. "What kind of job is it?" she asked, her face showing her concern.

"It's too dangerous for any of you to go with us," Armada explained. "We'll be dealing with a number of energy-fighters, so it's best that we handle this on our own," she finished.

Naya shook her head. "But what exactly is the nature of the job?" she asked again, still not getting a satisfactory answer.

"It's personal," Trunks supplied flatly. He hoped that would be enough of an answer for Naya.

Laiserta nearly guffawed. "Geez, if you two just want to fu—"

"Lai!" Naya shouted, cutting off her Taydran comrade as she gave her a disapproving look. Laiserta scrunched up her lips and turned away from Naya, clearly annoyed but not pressing further against the Tyrian general.

"Will it be dangerous for you, too?" Marice spoke up, drawing Trunks's attention to her. She was clearly worried, concern written across her face.

Trunks smiled; Marice was very sweet and caring and he appreciated that greatly about her. "We'll be fine," Trunks said reassuringly. "Armada and I are very strong. And we wouldn't take on something that we couldn't complete safely," he added. Marice seemed to relax a little, returning his smile though still showing her nervousness about the job.

"You can keep working while we're gone," Armada added, looking at Naya and then Laiserta.

"Like I needed your permission anyway," Laiserta muttered, raising her hands up and intertwining them behind the back of her head.

With their task of notifying their comrades complete, Armada turned and left the lounge, with Trunks following suit.

"Good luck!" Marice called out to them as they left. Trunks stopped in time to shoot her another smile, and Marice smiled again in return.

-+-

It didn't take long for Trunks and Armada to board their private shuttle and take off. What he didn't realize until he saw the spacecraft was how small it was. There was a little room for some cargo and that was it. They both sat up front at the piloting controls. He had asked her just before takeoff if she would explain how to pilot the shuttle to him. Much to his surprise, she complied. So after his flying lesson and once the ship escaped the gravity well of Bmyhad, Armada set the ship to auto-pilot to their destination, Belos.

"I researched more on our target last night after you went back to bed," Armada said, taking a data chip from one of the compartments on her belt and inserting it into the ship's console. She brought up the file system and more detailed satellite images of Belos and the Rieve base appeared on the monitor in front of them.

"I found a good spot for us to land and hide the shuttle. It's five-hundred kilometers away so the shuttle should be safe from damage during the operation," she started. "We'll land there and fly to the base. Rieve won't have any Minovsky generators on hand since they defend this base with energy fighters, so we won't have to worry about that." She switched to another image, this time a more detailed shot of ships sitting in a hangar at the shipyard. "These are the ships in their fighter squadrons," she explained. "We need to take those out first, then focus on destroying as much of everything else as quickly as we can before they launch a counterattack."

Something occurred to Trunks as he looked at the images and listened to Armada. “This base of Rieve's doesn't seem to be very well hidden. How come no one has seen it sooner?” he asked, turning to look at her.

“The entire southeastern Republic is relatively poor compared to the rest,” she began. “Belos is one of those poor nations. The country itself only takes up a fraction of the planet's surface. The areas outside of the nation of Belos are completely lawless. The Republican military doesn't patrol most of the southeastern Republic because they view it as a waste of money since none of the nations in the region bring in money to the Republic,” she paused a moment. “So it's easy for Rieve to hide behind the Republic's borders while simultaneously staying hidden.”

Trunks sighed and looked at the monitor in front of them again. It was sad, to say the least. He wondered about the Earth. After being nearly destroyed by the androids for almost twenty years, would the Earth be like Belos? Abandoned by the Republic and left for gangs to fight over? He very much wanted the Earth to stay in uncharted space, away from the Republic and anyone else who would do his world harm.

Trunks was suddenly brought out of his thoughts when Armada turned and looked directly at him. He turned to meet her gaze. Something about her eyes was different than normal, but before he could say anything, she spoke. "This is just the start of attacking Rieve," she said, her voice slightly softer than its usual hard edge. "If you don't want to do this, it's okay. We can back out now."

Trunks was shocked, to put it mildly. She was offering him an out? At this point? Didn't she trust him when he said he was in, back when she was in the hospital after the battle with Corvus? He almost laughed and had to bite his lip for a moment before responding.

"I told you, I'm in," he reiterated sincerely. "I know that destroying Rieve isn't going to be easy, but I think that together we both have the strength to do it," he finished.

"It's not just about us," Armada replied. "Once we attack their merchant fleet, there's no turning back. They will come after you in force. They'll try to find out who you are, and where you're from so they can attack anyone you've ever known, especially your family." She paused a moment, letting her words sink in. "If you can't protect them, then you shouldn't do this. I," she fell silent for a few seconds before continuing. "I don't have any family or friends, or a homeworld for them to attack. I don't have anyone I have to protect, which is why I can do this. It's not the same for you," she finished, true concern showing on her face.

For the first time since he'd met Armada, Trunks was truly touched by her words. If she didn't care about him at all like she often said, then she wouldn't waste her time explaining all of this. He knew the danger posed to himself, and she knew that. What she was trying to get through to him was the danger he would be putting others in. If she only cared about him as a tool to attack Rieve, then she wouldn't care if he was emotionally crushed by the deaths of anyone around him.

"Armada, my homeworld, it's—" Trunks began but she cut him off.

"You don't need to tell me," she said swiftly. "It doesn't matter," she added.

She had told him that once before, that where he was from didn't matter, but the context was completely different. She was angry, and frustrated. Now... was entirely different. Now it didn't matter to her, but for a completely different reason. Trunks didn't know what that reason was, but there was no anger or frustration in her voice. The change in her from the last time they had this conversation was striking.

"Okay," Trunks replied softly, nodding to her. He was going to tell her about the Earth, and explain that it was safe because it was tucked away in an uncharted area of the northwestern Republican Frontier, so she didn't need to worry. And suddenly he realized that he trusted her. He didn't know exactly when that changed, but it had.

"I understand the risks," Trunks started again. "I'm still in. We can do this. We can put a stop to Rieve," he finished.

Armada smirked. "Glad to have you," she said, her voice confident.

-+-

Naya closed her laptop and set it down on her bed beside her. She stood up and stretched, her shoulders aching from sitting, hunched over her computer for several hours. Despite the ache in her body, those several hours had netted her nearly forty thousand betas, so it was well worth the effort. Deciding she was ready to get something to eat for lunch, she left the room she shared with Laiserta and Marice, and headed for the galley.

The trip to the galley required that Naya walk through the lounge. She had taken several steps into the lounge before she realized that Laiserta had something taken apart in pieces on the table, and that the 'something' looked an awful lot like a rocket launcher.

Naya nearly jumped out of her skin when she realized what she was looking at. "What the hell is that?" she asked, her voice more surprised than demanding.

Laiserta looked up at Naya and smirked. "This thing has been hiding in the safe in the hallway for a while now. Since spider-head and wonder boy left this morning, I figured it was a good opportunity to free it from the safe and have a look at it."

"You broke into the captain's safe?" Naya asked, her face already showing disapproval.

"Hey, the better question is, why does she have this thing?" Laiserta said, lifting the large weapon slightly from the table top.

Naya's eyes narrowed at Laiserta. "Lai, you're dodging the question," she said, unamused.

"It's a Venetian prototype weapon," Laiserta explained. "And you won't believewhat this thing does," she added, her smirk growing wider.

"A Venetian prototype?" Naya repeated, clearly curious. "How do you know that?"

"Because," Laiserta said, moving her hand down to the end of the weapon. She pressed a button and a small compartment opened, revealing a data chip sitting inside. Laiserta picked up the data chip, holding it up for Naya to see. "The Venetians always include a manual."

Naya didn't want to be curious about what Laiserta was up to, but she couldn't help herself. She moved and sat down at the table next to Laiserta, and Laiserta turned her laptop to face Naya so that the general could see what was on the data chip.

Naya's eyes scanned the screen as she quickly read over the information presented to her. "Project Nadol'tonne," she read aloud. She scrolled down through the manual, looking for information on what the weapon fired.

"Long story short," Laiserta began, drawing Naya's attention, "this thing is like nothing I've ever seen before."

"What do you mean?" Naya asked, her voice guarded.

"It doesn't fire any bullets, for starters," Laiserta said. "Or grenades, or shrapnel, or anything like a conventional weapon would," she elaborated. She turned and lifted the weapon again, this time pointing to a large area near the butt of the weapon. "This is a small electrical generator that it uses to fire a shot," she explained.

Naya seemed even more confused than before. "What does it fire?" she asked. She had never seen or head of a weapon that sounded remotely like this one.

"To the naked eye, nothing," Laiserta answered. "The generator pulls in particles from the surrounding fluid, such as the air around us, and breaks them down at a subatomic level into protons and neutrons," she said, pointing to a small vent above the generator block on the weapon. "Harnessing the energy released from that breakdown, it charges the generator which then has enough energy to fire individual protons and neutrons from the barrel of the weapon," she continued, pointing down the long shaft. "Those subatomic particles are fired with a force great enough to break apart molecular bonds at the atomic and subatomic level of its target. Then those broken apart pieces fly off and hit other molecules and break them down, too."

"By the gods," Naya exclaimed, her eyes widening as she looked at Laiserta. "This weapon could disintegrate any material that you fired at," she said breathlessly, realizing that 'any material' also included people.

"According to the manual," Laiserta said, nodding toward the laptop, "with a high enough charge and enough subatomic matter to fire at once, this thing can cause the sudden release of energy associated with the dissolution of strong force."

Naya almost glared at Laiserta, though her shock was not directed at her comrade. "You're talking about a walking nuclear fission weapon," the general spat in disbelief.

Laiserta nodded. "Yeah. Now don't you wonder how spider-head got her hands on this?" Naya shook her head in shock, still in disbelief. "Anyway, the thing's busted so it's not firing anything anytime soon," Laiserta added.

"How do you know it's broken?" Naya asked, her eyebrows drawing together in concern.

"I tried firing it," Laiserta said flatly. Naya looked exasperated, but before she could say anything Laiserta cut her off. "Relax, I had the energy turned down super low. Besides, it has an electrical short from the generator to the firing chamber," Laiserta said, pointing to the location of the short. "I can see it with my eyes. I'll follow the manual and break it down so I can repair it. You never know when something like this might come in handy," she said, smiling broadly.

Naya sighed heavily, her eyes falling closed for a moment. "Should I ask what else you took out of the safe?" she asked drearily.

"Oh nothing," Laiserta said, still focused on the weapon. "She just had some bank cards and a couple bottles of fine liquor in there. Well, there was also a shielded case so I couldn't see what was inside but who cares about that when I've got this?" she finished, lifting the weapon again.

Naya slid down the seat until she was out from behind the table, and stood up. "I know I won't be able to stop you from what you're doing," she motioned toward the weapon, "so all I ask is that you be extremely careful not to damage anyoneor anything."

"Don't worry, I just plan on fixing this and then putting it back," Laiserta replied. "Besides, what spider-head doesn't know won't hurt her," she finished with a smirk.

-+-

After landing their shuttle on an empty street in an abandoned city just over five hundred kilometers from the Rieve base, Trunks and Armada took flight and headed toward their ultimate destination. Armada cautioned that they shouldn't fly too quickly, so they didn't go full speed. Still, it didn't take long for them to reach their target.

As they approached the Rieve shipyard and it appeared before them on the horizon, Armada turned and looked at Trunks before giving him a hand signal that meant they were to start their attack. He nodded in the affirmative and they split up. She flew straight for the space fighters in their hangar to the west, while Trunks stopped and hovered high above the shipyard and began firing at the ships below. He was the temporary distraction while she targeted the fighters to destroy them before any launched. They could still easily destroy the fighters in the air, but it would save time if they could destroy them while they were still grounded.

Trunks could sense Armada firing on the fighter squadrons before he saw the explosions below. She destroyed both buildings and everything inside in short order, faster than even he anticipated. He kept up his work, firing ki blasts at various spacecraft and buildings below. It didn't take long before Rieve tried to organize a counterattack, and Trunks saw about three dozen people start flying up toward him from below.

He stopped his attacks on the buildings and ships and prepared to defend himself as thirty-some-odd people flew straight at him. He was set in a defensive stance when the first three men reached him, all charging at once. Unfortunately for them, they were far too slow to have a hope of landing a hit on Trunks, and he still hadn't even transformed into a Super Saiyan.

Once his enemies were within range, Trunks easily dropped the first three with single, well placed punches in their abdomens. They immediately fell to the ground, their auras dissipating from around them. The next group approached and he repeated the same procedure, using hard, precisely executed attacks to knock each enemy out of commission. He hit the first with a right handed hook in the jaw, uppercutted the next with his left fist, turned and slammed his right elbow into another chest, kicked one approaching from his left with his left foot on the inside of his thigh to stop him, then planted his left foot into the man's chest to knock him flying away.

Before he realized it, Trunks had cleared through the entire group that had approached him. He watched the last few fall before turning to look for his comrade. He lost track of where she was temporarily, until she appeared in the sky not far above the space fighter hangar. She was doing the same as him, swiftly and easily taking out the energy fighters attacking her. It made Trunks wonder where the man named Preva was. He couldn't have been one of the men that Trunks had downed, if Preva was supposed to rival Corvus in strength.

Trunks suddenly sensed a much larger power than any of the others he had sensed thus far. Something about it was different, unlike anything he'd ever encountered before in his life. He didn't have long to think about it, when the person bearing that power came flying up at him. Trunks readied himself for an attack, but no attack came.

Instead, the man Trunks assumed was Preva stopped in the air about three meters away from him. Preva was a tall, lean man, with medium brown skin and dark brown hair styled into a loose mohawk on top of his head, the sides shaven off. He had dark brown eyes the same shade as his hair, and he wore a blue jacket and pants not unlike what Trunks recalled Corvus wearing.

"I suppose I have to congratulate you on finding this place," the man spoke. His voice was calm and he had a half-smile on his face, which Trunks found odd. "We have never been attacked at this location before."

"Who are you?" Trunks asked, wanting to be absolutely certain that this was Preva. If it wasn't, then they might have a bigger fight than they planned.

"I'm Preva," the darker skinned man answered as if he were introducing himself politely for the first time to a new acquaintance.

Before the conversation went any further, Armada flew up and stopped beside Trunks, opposite from Preva. The elite fighter from Rieve closed his eyes briefly and smiled knowingly, as if he anticipated her presence. "You must be the famous Armada," Preva spoke. "If anyone was going to find us, it would be you," he added, still smiling as if he was having a jovial conversation.

“You've certainly earned your reputation as a one-woman-army,” Preva continued. He slowly turned his attention to Trunks, his eyes meeting with the demi-Saiyan's. “We don't know who you are, but you must be the one who defeated Corvus,” Preva spoke. “I am obligated to stop you here, but Corvus was my friend, so I will consider it an honor to avenge him.”

Preva settled into a defensive stance and began to unleash his energy, his hair and clothing whipping around him from the burst of his power soaring. “Two against one is an unfair fight, but I suppose there's nothing that can be done about that,” he said, his voice still calm despite his rising ki.

Trunks glanced to Armada briefly before turning back to Preva. “You would prefer to fight us one-on-one?” Trunks asked.

“You misunderstand,” Preva replied. “The two of you have no hope of defeating me. The scales are unbalanced in my favor,” he finished, before suddenly charging straight at Trunks.

Trunks skidded backward in the sky; he had managed to block Preva's first punch by crossing his forearms in front of him. Preva hit harder than Trunks expected based on what he sensed of the Rieve fighter's ki, but something about that ki still felt off to Trunks. It felt like Preva was a much larger person than he appeared to be, as if his energy took a form around him. Regardless, Trunks knew who his enemy was and that the goal was to win, so he focused on that.

Preva backed off slightly and prepared to make another strike, when suddenly Armada appeared behind him and swung a hard right fist toward Preva's head. Preva saw her at the last moment, and was able to raise his right hand to block her hit. This left him open for attack from Trunks, who seized the opportunity and closed the gap between himself and Preva throwing several punches in succession. Preva was able to block a few hits with his left forearm but he couldn't stop them all.

As Trunks struck Preva, Armada wouldn't let up either. She mixed punches and kicks at Preva from his right side, keeping his right arm busy with her so he couldn't deal with Trunks. After getting hit enough to know it was time time to change tactics, Preva dodged hits from both Trunks and Armada and used his opening to fly backwards, away from the two mercenaries.

Deciding that he needed to deal with the weaker of the two so he could focus more fully on the stronger of the pair, Preva charged at Armada. She moved to dodge a punch from him, but instead of a punch he reached out and grabbed her arms. Preva pushed forward, and the two of them flew down toward the ground.

During their flight, Armada slammed her left knee into Preva's chest several times, but he took the hits without flinching. Preva prepared to charge a blast of energy in his left hand, and Armada sensed something odd about his power. Before Preva had a chance to do anything, Trunks appeared next to him and kicked Preva with his left foot, slamming it into the side of Preva's face, sending the Rieve enforcer flying away from them and into the rubble of part of the shipyard.

Trunks and Armada stopped in the air, not far from the ground of Belos below them. “You okay?” Trunks asked.

Armada nodded. “I'm fine.”

They both turned their attention back to Preva, as they sensed his energy moving again. Suddenly he came flying out of the rubble, charging at them at full-speed. Both Trunks and Armada had to jump back and dodge his attacks, as at the last second they realized he was now armed with a long metal staff. His reach was greater than theirs, even if he needed to use both hands to wield the weapon.

Preva then pressed forward after Trunks, and the pair flew up and away from the burning buildings below them. Trunks dodged several of Preva's swings with his staff, and with each attack Preva's speed increased. Trunks finally drew his sword, using it to block one of Preva's swings.

“I wondered if that was just for show or if you actually knew how to use it,” Preva said, gritting his teeth as he tried to force Trunks's sword backwards by pressing down harder with his staff.

“I don't do things for show, it's not my style,” Trunks replied. He turned his sword and moved at the same time, letting Preva's staff slide down and away before launching a powerful kick at his foe. Preva was able to dodge the kick, dropping just below Trunks before launching up at him, feet first. Trunks used his sword to parry Preva's kick, and the two of them separated once more.

Suddenly Armada appeared and charged at Preva, using a form that Trunks had seen recently. She threw a few punches at Preva, who easily dodged them, but Trunks quickly recognized that she wasn't truly trying to hit him. She made several more attempts to connect with her fists, and Preva moved away from each one. Finally having him where she wanted him, Armada moved as if she was about to kick Preva. He backed up and held up his staff to block, but she changed her movement at the last moment. Instead of hitting the metal staff, her foot veered underneath, landing a powerful hit against the inside of Preva's left forearm. His grip on the staff weakened, and Armada seized the moment. She pulled the lower end of the staff out of his hand and flipped it up, twisting it over Preva's head and away from his right hand, forcing him to let go.

Armada pulled the staff back and away from Preva, spinning it around once until she had her hands on it at the right position, and held it back in a defensive stance. Trunks had seen her use the technique against him when she was teaching him how to disarm someone using a long staff. He wanted to laugh; how unlucky for their enemy that he chose to use a weapon in which Armada happened to be nearly an expert.

Preva let out a breath, not much worse for wear but definitely looking frustrated. “I see,” he said knowingly, looking at Armada and then Trunks. Preva's eyes narrowed and he flew at Armada, his speed exponentially greater than it was before. As he pushed Armada backwards through the air, Preva leaned forward, his hands on the metal staff in between Armada's, and narrowed his eyes at her. “Hold on to the staff if you must,” he said, his power rising.

Armada's eyes widened as she finally realized what she sensed about Preva's energy that was different. She had no time to move, however, when suddenly his energy exploded from his hands in front of her, and she was caught in the blast.

“Armada!” Trunks yelled, flying after the two of them. If Preva had just unleashed his true energy, then Trunks knew he couldn't take this fight lightly. He transformed into a Super Saiyan, heading straight toward the site of Preva's energy release. He was stopped short however, when Preva appeared behind him and slammed his feet into Trunks's back, sending the Earthling flying down and into the ground.

After slamming into the ground, Trunks quickly picked himself up and looked behind him, up at Preva in the sky. Preva's countenance was grim, and he waved his hand at Trunks as if to say 'come and get me.' Trunks narrowed his eyes and flew after his enemy, sheathing his sword.

The two of them exchanged a flurry of punches and kicks, blocking some and missing others. Trunks still had the advantage, as for every hit he took from Preva, Preva took three more. They continued at this pace for a short minute before Preva flew backward, letting some space sit between them.

Preva brought his hands together in front of him, and his energy began to collect between his open palms, in a blinding bright white. Trunks stayed put, ready to deflect Preva's blast. Preva's energy glowed, and he growled as he brought his hands up. The Rieve enforcer let out a scream as he fired his energy directly at Trunks. Trunks held up both his forearms, preparing to block the attack. Just as Preva's energy was about to hit his right arm, something slammed into Trunks from his right, knocking him flying away from the blast.

Trunks was almost dizzy as he flew through the air, confused as to what was happening. Preva's release of energy nearly made the night sky over Belos light up like broad daylight. Trunks couldn't tell what was happening when suddenly he felt his back crashing through several layers of concrete before falling down through one more and coming to stop.

When Trunks sat up, he was ready to yell at Armada and demand to know what the hell she was doing. She must have anticipated this, because the moment he opened his mouth she clamped both of her hands down over it. Trunks blinked in shock as she brought her left hand off of his mouth to make a motion indicating that she wanted him to be silent. He was frustrated, but he complied.

Armada turned and flew just above the floor of the dilapidated building they had landed in, heading over to a hole in a wall. She crouched behind the partial wall, looking up and out from the building. They had fallen all the way over the cliff-side and down into the remnants of the destroyed city below. She didn't see Preva approaching them, nor did she sense his energy moving from where she last saw him.

She turned and flew back over to Trunks, kneeling next to him. “He can't sense our energy,” she whispered. “We need to leave now, while we can,” she added.

“What?” Trunks tried to whisper but his voice came out louder than intended. “Why the hell should we retreat?” he demanded.

Armada grabbed his right hand and lifted his arm up, showing him his own forearm. Trunks's teal eyes widened in shock; his blue jacket was burned partially away and the exposed skin was blistered and bleeding, clearly very terribly burned. He hadn't even noticed the injury; he wondered if the nerve endings were completely burned away.

“We can't win,” Armada stressed, still whispering. “We have to run, there is no other option!” Trunks finally noticed the blood running down over her right eye from a cut presumably disguised by her hair, and a small burn on her chin. She had taken some damage in that blast, but nothing terrible.

Trunks looked into her eyes and saw that she was serious. “You know what he is, don't you?” he suddenly realized aloud.

“That's why I know that we can't win,” she answered, her teeth gritted in frustration. “We have to retreat,” she reiterated.

“No way,” Trunks replied. “We can do this. Besides, if we leave now we'll end up having to face this guy later on. Better to take him out now, while it's the two of us against just him, in a place like this where innocent people won't get hurt.” He paused a moment. “You know all of that better than I do,” he said, his voice concerned. What did she know that had her so certain they would lose?

“Armada, what is he?” Trunks asked in earnest. She stayed silent, but never broke eye contact.

“We can do this,” Trunks repeated. “We can beat this guy. But I can't do it alone. I need your help. Please,” Trunks pleaded. “Trust me.”

Armada stared at him for a moment before finally relenting. “Okay,” she said, letting out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. “He's a d'partleidh,” she finally answered.

Before Trunks could ask her what that was, Armada gave him the courtesy of explaining it. “A d'partleidh is a special type of energy fighter,” she began. “Do you remember when we were scanned by the Hrimth police on Taydr, and they said we were both class B?” she asked. Trunks nodded; he hadn't forgotten that. “There are four types, or classes of energy that can be scanned by a latent energy mapper, or LEM tool. Class A is someone who doesn't hold any latent life energy. Class B is the majority type of energy wielder in the universe, you and I included. Class C was deprecated because it was later discovered to be a subset of class B. Class D is what d'partleidhs read as.

“They are an extremely rare type of energy fighter whose energy manifests mostly as light and heat. It doesn't condense the same way ours does, so it can't be blocked or deflected in the same fashion,” she explained. “I only ever ran into a d'partleidh once before. The only reason I didn't die was because I was able to escape,” she finished.

“Okay,” Trunks nodded, “so we can't get hit by this guy's energy. And you said he can't sense us?” Trunks asked.

“Most d'partleidhs can't sense the energy of fighters unlike themselves. It looks like Preva is the same,” she answered.

Trunks nodded again, his gaze drifting inward as he thought. He looked back up into his comrade's eyes. “We can do this. We just have to be careful.” Trunks suddenly winced as pain started shooting through his right arm. The nerve endings weren't burned away, and Trunks clenched and unclenched his fist, trying to move through the pain.

“Here,” Armada said before reaching down to open another compartment on her belt. She pulled out what looked similar to a small white capsule. Pulling his arm toward her by his hand with her left hand, she squeezed the white capsule, spraying a mist over the burns on his arm. “It's an anesthetic,” she explained, tossing the capsule aside once it was empty. “You're still hurt but you won't feel it, so be careful,” she admonished.

-+-

Preva heard movement in the sky and turned to find the two mercenaries had returned. “I thought you'd fled,” he said coolly, moving to face his enemies head-on. They said nothing to his remarks, only giving him a pair of stony stares in return. “So be it,” Preva said, slowly moving his arms up and around until he settled into an offensive stance. “I'll finish this now, for my friend,” he added, not waiting another second to charge at the mercenaries.

Trunks was Preva's target, and he began parrying Preva's attacks. Despite the gangster's words, his punches and kicks didn't feel as hard as they did earlier. Trunks's suspicion grew as Preva turned away from him a moment before launching a fist toward Trunks's face. The gangster stopped short and opened his fist, revealing a small bright white ball of energy which exploded in Trunks's face. Instead of finding himself injured, Trunks was blinded by the light and his vision turned completely white.

Realizing that his flash attack had hit its mark, Preva immediately charged after Armada. She was fast enough to block the hits he threw at her, so after attempting to attack her physically failed, he changed tactics. He didn't have much time to eliminate her before the more powerful of the duo would regain his sight and would likely not fall for the same trick twice.

Preva quickly charged balls of energy in both hands and started throwing them at Armada. She flew down and away, attempting to use the burning debris of the shipyard to take some of the hits for her. She was successful in dodging and redirecting Preva's attacks, but he was prepared for this. As she was still flying away from a few shots of energy that chased her, Preva suddenly appeared beside her and launched his assault.

Using both hands, Preva swung his fists down on top of Armada's back, sending her flying down into the same fiery rubble she was using to her advantage moments ago. No sooner had she hit the ground, Preva slammed down on top of her, his feet pressing into the center of her back. Armada was stunned for a moment, long enough for Preva to kick her in the ribs and knock her over onto her back. He reached down for her neck, but Armada managed to charge her energy and fire a ki blast directly into Preva's face.

Preva lunged forward through the smoke, snatching Armada up with both hands around her neck. Her attack had injured him slightly, and blood ran down from the right side of his forehead. Armada reached up and grabbed for Preva's arms, attempting to pry his hands off of her. Preva's goal was not to strangle Armada however, so he easily released his left hand, then proceeded to punch her in the face repeatedly.

It took a moment for her to get her bearings, but Armada brought her knees up to her chest and kicked forward with both feet, slamming into Preva's abdomen. It was enough of a strike that his grip on her neck loosened and she was able to flee his grasp. She didn't fly away, however, and instead used the opportunity to fire another ki blast with both hands directly into Preva's face. She realized that he wasn't very good at blocking her own energy blasts, probably because he adept at dealing with energy unlike his own.

Preva came out of her blast injured but overall not much worse for wear. He threw a flurry of hits at Armada, most of which she was unable to block. Instead of launching her with a punishing blow, he grabbed her by the black cloth of her armor and slammed her face-first into what was left of one of the buildings next to them.

Armada lost her breath, but sensed that Preva was about to fire his energy at her. She rolled and took off to the sky, just in time to avoid getting hit. She felt the wave of heat from his energy, its intensity nearly burning her as she fled. She didn't get far up into the sky when Preva appeared in front of her, another blast charged in his hands. Her eyes widened, and without enough time to flee she brought her own hands up and fired a counter-blast into his.

Trunks's vision finally cleared and he turned and looked up higher into the sky to see an explosion of white energy. He sensed his comrade had fired a part of the blast and was still in the vicinity of it. “Armada!” Trunks shouted. From out of the blast, he saw something dark go flying away at a high rate of speed. He realized it was Armada, and he watched as her body flew down toward the ground near the cliff-side on the other end of the shipyard. Her body hit the ground and bounced twice before falling over the edge of the cliff. His instinct told him to go after her and make sure she was okay, but the logical part of his brain told him that he didn't have time. He needed to focus on their enemy.

Trunks looked up to see Preva had moved directly over him, but still much higher in the sky. Preva's hands glowed white and he slowly moved them in a circle, up from his sides and over his head, leaving a white trail of energy sparkling in the sky. From within the halo of energy around him, Preva moved his hands into the center and fired with a yell. This time, Preva's energy was moving much faster than the first time he had fired on Trunks. It still wasn't nearly enough to catch up to him while he was a Super Saiyan, so Trunks quickly moved out of the way of the blast and flew up toward Preva.

Just as Trunks reached his adversary, he noticed that Preva's hands still glowed white and were giving off an intense heat. Trunks threw his first punch at Preva, who simply caught the demi-Saiyan's hand in one of his own. Immediately Trunks realized what Preva was doing, and yanked his hand away. Trunks shook his right hand before glancing down at it, to see that the outside of his fist had been burned in the shape of Preva's hand, and was bleeding.

Preva charged at Trunks, throwing dozens of punches and kicks. Knowing now that Preva was holding his energy in his hands to use it against him, Trunks was forced to avoid every one of Preva's attacks from his fists. With his superior speed, Trunks dodged each of Preva's punches and most of his kicks, blocking a few of the kicks with his left forearm. Preva's face indicated his frustration at failing to hit Trunks; he gritted his teeth while his eyebrows were tightened together over his narrowed eyes.

Preva growled as he tried to move faster to hit his target. His speed increased marginally but it still wasn't enough. He now understood just how Corvus lost his life to this man; he was in another class all by himself. The revelation didn't shock Preva so much as it made him sad. He now knew what he had to do. No matter what the cost, he would defeat this man and avenge his friend Corvus while protecting both of their honor.

Stopping his assault, Preva leaped back from Trunks, leaving ten meters between them as they floated in the air. Preva sucked in a long breath as he willed his energy to come forth from the center of his being. Trunks's eyes narrowed as he watched Preva building his energy, and the air around him started to hiss and steam as the temperature around Preva jumped higher and higher. Holding his hands out in front of him, Preva's body started to shake as he let out another scream. Trunks watched as the glowing energy in Preva's hands started to travel up his arms, to his shoulders. A white glow appeared on the center of Preva's chest, and traveled outward as well. Both lines coalesced at Preva's shoulders before continuing up, enveloping his head and hair.

The upper half of Preva's body glowed with a white outline, and his hands were almost completely white. Preva's shirt and jacket slowly started to burn away, and Trunks could see that Preva's own skin was starting to burn around his hands, the part of him that glowed the brightest. Above all, Trunks started sweating – the amount of pure heat that Preva was radiating was maddening. Trunks briefly wondered if Preva's true power was so great that he couldn't even use it without killing himself. If that was the case, then Preva was at least willing to severely injure himself in an attempt to win this battle, if not sacrifice himself entirely.

An opponent who would embrace death to earn victory was a dangerous opponent, and Trunks steeled himself mentally. He needed to fight smart, and make sure he didn't leave any openings that provided Preva an opportunity to strike. He realized that this was exactly what Armada had been preparing him for – a fight that required absolute precision. He had come to understand that despite her lack of pure power, Armada was able to defeat so many enemies due to her masterful technical skill. He was grateful for the time she had taken to work with him to tighten up his technique. He made a mental note to thank her when the fight with Preva was over.

Preva suddenly launched another assault at Trunks, propelling himself forward with all of his might. Trunks dodged the first few attacks, but he could tell that Preva was more determined than ever. Needing the ability to parry Preva's attacks, Trunks reached up and drew his sword, blocking one of Preva's punches with the wide side of the blade. Preva paused for a moment, his eyes a glittering white over brown as he stared into Trunks's eyes. Preva grunted before swinging several more punches, and Trunks twisted and turned his sword to parry all of the punches away from him. With each punch hitting the broadside of the sword, sparks of white glowing energy sparked away from Preva's hands, like water droplets falling away from a larger spill of water.

Suddenly Preva stopped again, this time with both of his fists embedded into the broadside of Trunks's sword. He then opened both of his fists and immediately grabbed the sword, cutting his fingers on the edges but ignoring the pain. Preva let out a scream as his energy flared and his hands glowed even brighter, to the point where the light was almost blinding to Trunks. The heat intensified, and Trunks had trouble catching his breath for a short moment.

Trunks then noticed the distortion of the air above his sword due to the heat, and the metal started to glow from the heat of Preva's energy. The long blade of the weapon started to dip, and Trunks could feel the heat in the handle, despite the leather wrap around the hilt. Knowing what Preva was doing, Trunks yanked the sword away and dropped it, letting it fall to the ground below. Preva lunged forward, swing his fists at Trunks who flew backwards and dodged the hits. Trunks noticed the skin around Preva's knuckles had burned away, and his fists looked like those belonging to a skeleton, despite their bright white glow.

Deciding to change tactics, Trunks took a larger leap backwards in the sky to put some distance between himself and Preva. Charging his energy in his hands, Trunks began firing small but deadly ki blasts at Preva in quick succession, quickly filling the space between them with his own attacks. Preva flew down and away in response, doing his best to dodge Trunks's attacks, while firing a few of his own to cause some of his enemy's ki blasts to explode in the air instead of hitting their mark.

After dodging the last ki blast, Preva turned and looked up into the sky at Trunks. He quickly charged his energy in his hands before bringing them together and firing a large wave of energy at the Earthling. Knowing he couldn't block Preva's energy, Trunks decided to fire a blast of his own in response. Neither man was prepared for what happened when their energies met. Instead of exploding like Trunks had expected, his energy, the denser of the two, cut through Preva's energy beam cleanly and went hurtling toward the Rieve assassin.

Preva's eyes widened in shock as he realized too late what was happening. Unable to move in time, Preva was hit with Trunks's energy directly, and a large explosion enveloped the area. The explosion of their mixing energies produced a bright light that Trunks had to turn away from so his retinas didn't burn.

Once the light died down, Trunks looked back down to where Preva had taken the brunt of his attack. Trunks saw nothing, though he still sensed Preva's presence nearby. Even just sensing Preva was difficult for Trunks, since his energy didn't condense down to his body size and with traces of it all over the battle field, he couldn't pinpoint the mobster's position with any meaningful precision.

Preva suddenly reappeared slightly higher in the sky than where Trunks had last seen him. Despite the glowing of his body hiding a lot of his injuries, Trunks could see that Preva had been hurt badly by that attack. Blood ran down from the waistband of his pants, presumably from what looked like a large open wound just right-of-center on his abdomen. Preva's breaths were hard and ragged, but his eyes were hard and determined. He was hurt, but he wasn't ready to quit.

Preva threw both arms out to his sides, his palms open in the air. Unsure what he was doing at first, Trunks raised an eyebrow at the odd motion until he realized that Preva was gathering energy, but it wasn't within him. A glimmer caught Trunks's eye to his right, and he turned to see a large glowing ball of energy growing in the air twenty meters away from him. He looked to his left to see the same.

Preva yelled as he threw both balls of energy at Trunks, his arms crossing in front of him from the motion. The energy moved faster than Trunks expected, but he was still able to flee both blasts before they collided. He flew up, looking down at the blast as he flew up higher into the sky. Trunks looked for Preva, but the enforcer had disappeared yet again. Suddenly Trunks felt a sickening heat behind him, and turned around just in time to see a third blast like the first two he had dodged coming for him. He didn't have enough time to flee, so all he could do was fire a blast in return to try and deflect the attack. This time, as soon as his energy mixed with Preva's, it exploded, and Trunks couldn't escape the blast.

When the dust cleared, Trunks bore some injuries from Preva's attack, but nothing as bad as what his opponent had suffered so far. But the blast had one more effect that Trunks wasn't expected – the energy mixture exploding in such close proximity had disoriented him, and his vision was blurred while he felt dizzy, almost drunk.

Preva appeared in the air in just in front of Trunks, the long metal staff from earlier in his hands again once more. He glared down at Trunks, who barely looked up in time to see Preva land a punishing drop-kick against his chest, knocking the wind out of him. Trunks struggled to breathe as he plummeted to the ground below, landing flat on his back and creating a small crater where he landed. Preva immediately followed, and before Trunks had a chance to react, he felt a pang of pain in his lower right abdomen.

"Deiviga Murippu!" Preva shouted, pressing the metal staff down even harder, despite it having already impaled his enemy's abdomen. A strange mist mostly blue and purple in color and glowing like the rest of him formed around Preva's hands which were still on the staff. The mist gathered around his fists before descending down the staff and into Trunks's body. The mist spread out over top of him, and Trunks felt a strange coolness descend over him.

It took only a moment for Trunks to realize what had happened, when his body suddenly would no longer respond to the commands from his brain. He struggled to breathe, and tried to lift his head. Trunks looked down at his chest and abdomen, finally seeing that Preva had indeed impaled him with the metal staff he had reappeared holding only moments again.

Preva let out a ragged breath, leaning forward on the staff before finally letting go and falling to his knees next to Trunks. The heat emanating from Preva's body was unbearable, but Trunks could do nothing about it. Preva struggled to hold himself up, his right hand against the ground in front of his right knee, while he lifted his left knee so his left foot was settled against the ground. He still struggled for breath as the glowing energy enveloping him slowly started to fade away, glittering pieces of white energy floating up and away from him, like tiny fireflies flying away from him.

With his energy dissipated, Trunks could see just how badly Preva had been injured. He was covered in burns and blood, even bleeding from the top of his head. Preva took several long breaths and swallowed thickly before looking over at Trunks, his head still hanging low. “I respect you,” he began, his voice genuine. “You are a formidable warrior. I am sorry that things had to be this way. Perhaps in another life we could have been allies, maybe even friends,” he added, coughing before letting his eyes fall away from Trunks's.

“I'm amazed that you can still breathe, even with difficulty,” Preva said, looking at Trunks again as his enemy struggled for air. “The holy paralysis is usually not so forgiving,” he added. Preva forced himself up to his feet, using the staff embedded in the ground as a hand-hold to pull himself up. “I am sorry my friend, but this is our fate,” he added, raising his right fist and preparing to end their battle with an energy blast.

Trunks suddenly felt a spike in energy that he hadn't been expecting. His eyes flew down toward his feet and the direction he sensed it. Despite laying on his back in a small crater, the landscape flowed down toward the cliff at the east, and Trunks saw Armada standing just at the edge of the cliff, a small ball of energy gathered around her right fist. Why didn't he sense her until now? Her energy didn't seem to have suddenly risen, but he hadn't noticed her.

Preva saw Trunks's eyes dart toward something in the distance, so he turned to see what the demi-Saiyan was looking at. Preva's eyes narrowed as Armada slowly marched toward him, a red sphere of energy formed around her right fist. Knowing that Trunks wasn't getting up any time soon, Preva started walking towards Armada.

“I thought that perhaps you'd already died,” Preva called out to her, waiting a response. Armada said nothing, taking off at a sprint toward Preva before she flew toward him with a speed he hadn't anticipated. Preva flew backward and up into the sky, Armada chasing after him. Preva expected her to throw her energy blast at him, but she persisted in chasing him. She was faster than him, and caught up easily. Instead of throwing the red orb of energy at him, she opened her fist, and holding the energy in her palm, she shoved it straight the center of into Preva's chest, never releasing it from her hand. Preva's eyes widened before the two of them were engulfed in a huge explosion of energy.

Trunks watched in horror from the ground as what felt like the entirety of Armada's power exploded in the sky above him. He gritted his teeth; he desperately needed to get up and help her, but his limbs still would not obey him.

He noticed a stream of smoke falling down toward the ground, and after falling halfway the smoke faded away to reveal Armada's body. She fell into the dirt below unceremoniously. Trunks closed his eyes and clenched his teeth; it was still difficult to breathe from Preva's paralytic attack, but at least he wasn't feeling pain from his injuries at the moment. He struggled, willing himself to move. Just when Trunks thought he finally felt the fingertips of his right hand twitch, he heard a noise off to his right.

Armada had flown over to where Trunks was pinned into the ground, and fell to her knees into the dirt and rocks next to him. Trunks looked up at her and almost didn't recognize her; her face was covered in blood and dirt, like a waterfall of blood had come down from the top of her head across her forehead, over her eyes and down her nose. She had some burn marks and small holes in the black under-armor she wore, but otherwise her body didn't seem to be in terrible shape from what he could see.

“It's over,” Armada breathed out heavily. “Preva's dead,” she added for clarity.

“What happened?' Trunks asked, his voice tight. “What was that attack?”

Armada smirked. “An energy-bomb. Unfortunately it takes a long time to build up. Luckily for me, you kept Preva busy long enough for me to charge it.” She paused a moment in case he wanted to say something else, but he didn't. She looked at the metal staff that had impaled her comrade and kept him pinned to the ground.

Trunks noticed her eyes wandering. “I can't move,” he said. “Preva did something that paralyzed me,” he explained.

Armada nodded. “Don't worry, you're not dying here today,” she said, her voice carrying an oddly calm lilt. She reached down for her belt and opened another compartment, this time pulling out a larger piece of plastic than the last time. She reached up and bit the small end of the white piece of plastic she was holding, before standing up. She deftly pulled the metal staff up and out of the ground, tossing it to the side. She knelt next to Trunks again, this time twisting the plastic piece in her mouth and tearing the end off of it. She then squeezed the contents of the tube into Trunks's wound, filling it up with an off-white foam.

“What's that?” Trunks asked, thankful that he wasn't feeling any pain at the moment.

“Bio-foam,” Armada replied. “It will help keep your wound shut while we get you back to Ute for surgery,” she finished. She threw the plastic piece away and stood up, then reached down to pull Trunks up from off the ground. After struggling for a few seconds to get a decent hold on him, she settled for hanging him over her back and wrapping his arms around the front of her neck, letting his head hang over her left shoulder.

“We're going to see Dr. Rema, I take it?” Trunks asked, a smile forming on his face. He knew Armada was frustrated with the quirky Utian doctor.

“He's an asshole but he's good at his job, so yeah, we're going to see him,” Armada explained, lifting the pair of them off of the ground and into the sky.

Despite his head hanging over her left shoulder, Trunks could look at Armada's profile from the corner of his eyes. “Don't worry,” she said, glancing over to meet his gaze, “you're gonna be fine.”

Trunks closed his eyes, laughing at himself. What had happened to Armada? This wasn't like her. This wasn't what he would have expected her to say in this situation. Suddenly it came to him, and he realized what was going on – she was changing. Right in front of him, and he hadn't noticed until now. Trunks laughed at himself again, the sound coming out of his lungs garbled as if he were choking. She had been changing, and he... he had been the catalyst.

-+-

Thanks for reading everyone! I hope this chapter was as fun for you guys as it was for me to write. I really adore Preva, it's a shame he died. Anyway, first of all, today's lyrical content was provided by Hoobastank from their song “Right Before Your Eyes.” It's a great song, I hope you give it a listen. Speaking of music, next up is Armada's theme song! Continuing on what I started last chapter with revealing theme songs for each of the main characters, we have Armada's theme song: “Fix Me” by 10 Years. It really fits her and her personality, especially with the roughness of the theme of 'this is who I am and I'm happy with it.' So I hope you all will give it a listen, the lyrics really fit her character – except for the line with “small crimes,” Armada's crimes aren't small at all, hahahah!

Thanks again for reading, please leave a review and let me know what you think.

-Silvia