Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Illumination ❯ Mission 15: Executioner ( Chapter 22 )

[ 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.

-+-

At fourteen years of age, a boy with bright red hair and light blue eyes stared as the gangsters and murderers around him filed through line to pick up their meals. Despite the rumors ranging from opulent and lavish accommodations to men living in the dirt, the place functioned in a very straight-forward, military-like manner. The boy had already picked up a tray and passed through the line. Now he stood among the tables, conversations filling the air with sound as he glanced around the mess hall. He needed to find a place to sit, but he had yet to spot an empty table. Despite passing his audition only a few hours ago, he didn't feel like he belonged. He wanted to ease into this new life, this new journey he was embarking on.

He heard someone whistle, and his head immediately turned toward the sound. He saw a man with white hair standing up from his seat, waving his arms above his head. He shouted for the boy to come over, so the teenager complied. He didn't know what influence or pull any of the men in this room had over the Rieve family so the last thing he wanted to do was piss off the wrong person only moments after he had been invited to join the organization.

Once he reached the table, he stood at the end while holding his tray of food, unsure if he should sit. Sure, he had been waved over, but that only meant that someone intended to speak with him. He didn't want to assume any more than that and find himself on someone's shit-list.

“Hey kid, that fight was pretty impressive,” the man with the white hair spoke excitedly. His uniform fit loosely, but the teenager assumed it was intentional. He didn't sense much energy coming from the man, but he moved with the grace of someone accustomed to fighting. “I haven't seen anything like that in a while,” the man finished, a large lopsided smile taking up most of the real estate on his face.

The red-haired boy simply stood stone still, saying nothing in return. “Hey, it's okay,” a darker skinned man sitting next to the white-haired man spoke. “We're your comrades now. You can talk to us,” he added, flashing a small but genuine smile.

“Aw, shit,” the white-haired man cursed and rubbed the back of his neck. “I forgot to introduce myself,” he quickly corrected. “I'm Corvus,” he declared, pointing to his chest with his thumb. He then tapped the chest of the man sitting next to him with the back of the same hand. “And this is my buddy Preva. He's like you, you two will get along great,” Corvus added, while Preva waved when his name was spoken.

“I'm sorry, but I don't recall what your name was...?” Preva trailed off, hoping that the young man before him would answer the question.

“Ryan,” the fourteen year old answered flatly, his face betraying no emotion. “My name is Ryan.”

“Well Ryan, nice to meet you!” Corvus nearly shouted, his excitement getting the better of him. “Have a seat,” he added, holding out his hand toward the empty side of the table nearest Ryan. Ryan nodded mechanically and did exactly as he was told, sitting down on the bench at the table opposite from his two new comrades.

“Welcome to Rieve,” Preva added, his tone genial but more restrained than his boisterous friend. “Based on your audition this morning, we are very lucky to have someone like you join us,” he finished, nodding at the end of his sentence to emphasize the meaning of his words.

“Shit,” Corvus cut in, glancing at Preva and then back to Ryan, “I've never seen anything like that before in an audition.”

Ryan was a bit confused by Corvus's statement. “How did you join?” he asked.

“Preva and I were born in,” Corvus quickly answered. “We haven't had too many auditions for an energy fighter before, and yours was pretty badass,” he added, still quite excited. “Anyway, stick with us kid, and you'll do fine. Preva and I will have your back,” Corvus finished with a smile, while Preva nodded in agreement.

Ryan Rieve had to sometimes stick his tongue in-between his teeth to stop himself from clenching his teeth so hard that he cracked them. He knew he would crack them from previous experiences doing so, and he didn't have the time nor the patience to deal with dental repairs in his current state. He needed to stay calm; the center of his chest burned as he desperately tried to chill his rage. He was thinking of his friends and the first time he met them, the memory bubbling up from nowhere only to frustrate him more. It did him no good to make important decisions while angry. As the elevator finally descended to its destination and slowed to a stop, he inhaled a long and deep breath through his nose before letting it out through his mouth. He was in control. He was in control of Rieve and of himself, and he would not, could notlet the mercenary unravel him like this.

The elevator doors opened and he strode forward, headed straight for Palmer's intelligence hub. Rieve members were scurrying around the floor, busy with their own tasks in the wake of the destruction of more than eighty-seven percent of the merchant fleet. Some noticed him walking through, but said nothing. Perhaps they could feel the anger roiling off of him; anyone who could sense his energy would certainly feel it.

A door in front of Palmer's hub opened as Ryan charged toward it, barely lifting in time to get out of his way. He didn't care who or what he barreled over; Palmer had called him down here with 'something big' and if it was what Rieve thought it was, he knew he wanted the information as soon as physically possible. He had the death of his friend Preva to avenge now, along with Corvus.

Palmer immediately turned toward his leader. “We got a scan,” he said briskly, then immediately turned to the computer console in front of him to bring up the information on the screen.

“We already have a scan of the mercenary,” Ryan spat. Palmer should know better than to waste his time like this.

“Not her,” Palmer looked at Ryan. “The guy that was with her,” he clarified.

Despite his foul mood, Palmer had managed to gain all of Rieve's attention. “Show me,” he ordered.

Palmer did as instructed, opening up the scan on the unknown energy fighter responsible for Corvus's and now Preva's deaths. “We got a full spectrum scan and were able to analyze the scan relatively quickly,” Palmer began. “To start, we still don't know who he is because his individual scan didn't match against any database we've searched so far.” Palmer expanded the scan data into three different charts, each showing an erratic line graph.

Ryan Rieve gritted his teeth as he glared at his tech lead. “You brought me down here to tell me that you have nothing?” he demanded, clearly angry.

“I didn't say we had nothing,” Palmer quickly corrected. “We broke the scan down into the three zones for further analysis. Zone 1 was no surprise, it indicates that he's a class B energy-type,” Palmer stated, highlighting the chart labeled 'Zone 1.' “Zone 2 is his individual identifier, and we ran both his overall scan and his Zone 2 data against everything we have on file, and nothing matched to identify him individually. Zone 3,” Palmer continued, highlighting the last chart on the screen, “tells us where he's from genetically. Every race of energy fighters has their own specific data embedded in their scan, which is broken out as Zone 3.”

“So where is his home world?” Ryan demanded, hoping that this could at least lead them somewhere.

“We don't know, we didn't get any matches on Zone 3 to tie it to a location,” Palmer started slowly. Rieve opened his mouth to shout but Palmer cut him off. “However, we got a hit in our database. Fifty-one percent of this guy's Zone 3 matches a scan we have on file,” Palmer explained. His visage fell as he brought up the matching scan, as well as the photo of the person to whom the data belonged.

Ryan Rieve immediately recognized the face that appeared on screen. He slowly clenched his fists, and had to bite his tongue again to contain his rage. To think that he had been betrayed from the inside filled him with an especially toxic type of rage. After a few seconds, Rieve was able to gain control of his senses long enough to bark out one order to Palmer before he turned and left. “Find him,” Rieve spat, venom dripping from his voice.

Palmer watched the comonstoro leave, staring at his back with a defeated expression. Turning his attention back to the photo on the screen, Palmer sighed heavily. The smiling face of his friend Dax shone brightly in the dim lighting of Palmer's tech lab.

-+-

Illumination

< /p> Mission 15: Executioner

-+-

The day after Trunks and Armada had left to go wherever the hell they went, Laiserta finished pulling on her black trench coat. She reached down and picked up her black metal staff and then lifted it up, securing it in its special pocket along the center back seam of her jacket. Lastly, she picked up the black bag she had packed with a few extra items she would need and slung it over her left shoulder. Laiserta spun around, ready to leave her room but was stopped by the Euphorian standing in the doorway.

“Hey,” Laiserta said in her typical jovial voice. Marice didn't respond, and Laiserta noted the concerned look on the teenager's face. “What's with that face?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Where are you going?” Marice asked, her voice conveying the same concern as her visage.

Laiserta closed her eyes and smiled while shrugging her shoulders. “Geez, you had me scared for a second,” she began, opening her eyes. Laiserta then walked over to Marice and set her right hand on the girl's head. “I'm just headed out on a job, that's all. Nothing to be worried about,” she finished, giving Marice's head a soft pat.

Marice wasn't buying Laiserta's lie. Marice's frown deepened, and her eyes seemed to glimmer in defeat. “Just be careful,” she said softly. “I'm worried about you. Don't do anything dangerous,” she added.

Laiserta stood back and set both of her hands on her hips. “Hah!” she mocked. “You've got it backwards; danger is afraid of me, kid.” Laiserta flashed Marice another smirk. “I'll be back in a few days,” she said before stepped around Marice and headed for the door to the ship.

Marice turned and watched Laiserta leave. Despite Laiserta's attempts to hide it, she could tell that something was wrong with her friend, ever since they left Taydr. She just didn't know exactly what it was that bothered the Taydran assassin.

-+-

After taking off from Bmyhad, Laiserta laid back in her reclining seat on the private shuttle she had chartered to take her to Taydr. The flight would be a few hours at a minimum, so she closed her eyes, intending to try and get a little rest. She had been listless since she was last in Hrimth and saw the news broadcast about Dr. Ibrahim three weeks ago. She thought she had kept up a pretty good facade, but apparently Marice had seen through it. The kid annoyed her sometimes, but she thought that the teenager was a good kid overall. Laiserta was a little sad that Marice was worried about her, but it wouldn't do anyone any good if she spilled the beans about where she was really going. Everyone would just feel sorry for her and look at her like she was a fragile, broken little thing and Laiserta hated that. She didn't need it. She had come to terms with her own past a long time ago.

Letting out a deep breath, Laiserta relaxed her muscles and sank into the comfortable chair she was laying in.

-+-

Xyros ached everywhere. It wasn't just the pain of the most recent surgery, although that was present – the bigger problem was her inability to move. Laying in bed for days and sometimes weeks on end, this time on her stomach with her head turned out to her right side, made her ache all over. Her body was rejecting everything that had been done to it, and she could understand. Her mind knew she couldn't fight her fate, however miserable it had become. But her body still refused to adjust, refused to give in to the wishes of Dr. Ibrahim and his team.

She heard the other kids yelling and running down the halls. It must have been break time after lunch. She couldn't keep track of time when she was laying in bed like this. She couldn't sleep and her room was dark. She would float in and out of her own delirious lucid dreams, laying in bed and unable to move. This time they had worked on her back, which was why she was stuck laying face-down. They had her hooked up to more intravenous drips than Xyros could count. She knew they kept her fed, hydrated and alive. Unfortunately.

Something moved in front of Xyros's eyes, but her vision was unfocused so she had to concentrate to look at what it was. She saw a pair of bluish-green eyes looking back at hers, followed by a cheerful smile.

“Hey,” Saya said softly, waving and smiling in front of Xyros's face. She knew that the other girl couldn't move in her current condition, which is why she approached the way that she did. “I finished my book,” Saya added, lifting up a small booklet of paper that she had folded in half and tied together at the center. “I brought it over to read it to you,” she added, smiling brightly. Her black hair that seemed to shine purple in the dim light of Xyros's room bobbed up and down as Saya laughed lightly.

Xyros closed her eyes and smiled while nodding. Saya took a seat on the floor, her shoulders against the edge of Xyros's bed. Saya held her book up in front of her, making sure it was also within Xyros's line of sight. She began reading her story, and Xyros smiled, glad to focus on something other than the excruciating pain she was left in on a daily basis.

Laiserta's eyes shot open and she glanced up at the older man who had reached for her shoulder. He stopped short once her eyes opened, and then retreated. “We've arrived in Hrimth,” he announced politely. “It's time to disembark.”

Laiserta nodded, quickly picking up her and things and exiting the ship.

-+-

After making a quick stop at her apartment to gather some more information, Laiserta set out for the prison at Freising. She stood in the dark, outside as rain drizzled down from above. She had setup at an abandoned guard outpost along the southeastern side of the farthest and last fence around the facility. Standing under an awning, she avoided getting rained on while she used the magnification abilities of her eyes to watch the prison transport in the distance.

She watched closely as guards moved around the heavily armored vehicle that had been backed up to the prisoner transport dock on the south side of the building. Eventually she was able to catch a glance of the prisoner in question being wheeled into back of the vehicle; he was bound and strapped down into a special type of wheel chair. The information she was able to obtain about his departure appeared to be correct. However, in her research she discovered that the leaked data about him being transferred to Uslar was fake. He was being transferred, but to which prison was the mystery.

Laiserta had long studied Freising and knew that she had no chance of making it inside and killing the doctor. He would remain in prison for the rest of his life, and if he was going to remain in Freising then he would be out of her reach. The transfer was lucky for her, in a sense, but it also presented another problem. By herself, she would never be able to take the transport vehicle and the prisoner inside – it was too heavily armored and guarded. She needed to know wherethey were taking Ibrahim. If she knew the destination, she may have a shot at taking him out.

Laiserta heard a noise behind her, and she immediately spun around and attacked. It took her a moment to change her vision back to normal and focus on what was immediately in front of her, so as she waited for her eyes to adjust she threw several punches at the murky humanoid figure before her. The person counter-attacked, but Laiserta easily read his moves – she had seen them many times before, and knew exactly how to counter them.

Pulling one of the arms of the person away and pinning it behind their back, Laiserta planted a few well placed punches in their chest, and heard the satisfying sound of air rushing from their lungs. She spun around, dragging them with her, before pushing them up against one of the outside walls of the outpost, no longer protected from the rain by the awning she was standing under earlier. Holding tightly to their arm pinned behind them with her left hand, Laiserta grabbed the person by their collar and lifted them up slightly, her balled fist pressing into their throat.

Her vision finally refocused, Laiserta gritted her teeth and glared at the Taydran man she had pinned up against the wall in front of her. “Who the hell are you?” she demanded, clearly angry.

The man's medium length black hair was plastered down on his head from the rain, his bangs partially obstructing his green eyes. “Hey, you attacked me,” he began, his voice strained by her fist pressing into his throat.

“Don't give me that bullshit,” Laiserta growled. “you're TSIA. You use the same stupid close quarters combat maneuvers that they do,” she spat. Laiserta then laughed bitterly for a moment, the sound more sarcastic than anything else. “After all this time, they send someone after me? Haven't they learned by now that none of you assholes can beat me?”

The man grimaced, closing his right eye. “Okay, you got me,” he admitted. “I'm TSIA, or at least, I was until a few months ago,” he added. “Forced retirement,” he said, his voice growing hoarse.

Deciding that he was hardly a match for her, Laiserta released her grip on both his collar and his right arm, letting him fall unceremoniously to the ground. He immediately rubbed at his neck, and looked up at her. “Thanks for letting me go,” he said, flashing her a small smile.

“I dropped you, I didn't let you go,” Laiserta explained, glaring down at him. “Start talking,” she ordered. If she could get him talking, she could watch his vitals and see if he was lying. And if he was lying, she would have no remorse about putting a bullet in his brain.

“I turned thirty-one ten months ago,” the man explained. He laughed, “Did you know they have a retirement policy based entirely on age? It's garbage,” he complained. “I was still the top operator there, and could have taken out any one of the other guys. But noooo,” he emphasized dramatically, “suddenly I'm too old despite being more capable than people ten years younger than me. What a bunch of crap, right?” he asked, hoping to find a sympathetic ear. Laiserta merely glared at him silently.

He coughed slightly. “Anyway, I came here looking for you, because I heard about the leak on the news and thought you might show up,” he explained. A large smile spread across his face as he looked up at her, admiration shining in his eyes. “I mean, wow, you're a total badass and legend! I mean, the break in at Voltos? And the crazy shot you made at Den Mel? I just,” he stuttered a second, “I just had to meet you.”

Laiserta didn't notice any significant change in his vitals until he started talking about her, and then his body reacted to match his equally excited voice when he spoke about her. She didn't trust him any farther than she could throw him, but his body wasn't making any of the tell-tale signs of someone lying. She scowled; she hated the idea that someone was following her every move because they thought she was cool. “Well now you've met me,” Laiserta began, “so piss off and get out of here.” She turned and walked away from him, back over to her original spot under the awning.

The man stood up and tried to brush some beads of water off of his chest and thighs. “Well, there's also a very specific reason I'm here,” he said, walking toward Laiserta once more.

She turned and narrowed her eyes at him. He reached inside of his jacket and she instinctively drew one of her pistols, pointing it directly between his eyes.

“Whoa,” the Taydran man raised both of his arms, including the hand that was now holding a small data chip that he'd retrieved from the inside of his jacket. “Hey, I don't have any weapons on me, you can check,” he added. Laiserta quickly changed vision modes and looked him over. He didn't appear to be lying; she found no weapons on his person. She lowered her pistol and holstered it.

“You're here for Dr. Ibrahim, I know that,” the man started again. “More importantly, you're here right nowbecause you don't know where he's being transferred to. But I do,” he added, making a motion in his right hand which held the data chip.

Realizing he may be lying or that his information may be bad, Laiserta still couldn't let the opportunity get away. “What do you want for it?” she asked, her voice hard. She despised the idea of paying a ransom for the information, but whatever number he threw out she was certain she could afford it. She had a nice bit of money saved up from before she started running with spider-head and wonder boy. She didn't want to spend it like this, but executing the doctor was far more important to her than all of the money to her name.

“Just to come with you,” he replied, a sly smile creeping into his features again. “I mean, to say I got to work with Death's Shadow on a job, that's worth more than anything else I could dream of!” he exclaimed, his green eyes still lit up brightly as he looked at her.

Laiserta rolled her eyes. Ugh, not one of these idiots from the guild again, she thought, beyond annoyed with the way he used her stupid guild nickname that she never picked. “I'm not even a member anyway!” Laiserta shouted, frustrated with the smiling clown standing in front of her. Still, she needed the data that he had, on the off chance that it was accurate.

Laiserta shifted on her feet and let out an exasperated sigh. “...fine,” she said quietly, hardly wanting to drag this idiot along with her. “You give me the data, and you can come with me,” she finished.

“Not so fast,” he replied. “You need me to stay with you if you want this data,” he added. “I'm the only one who knows the encryption key, and it would take approximately two years with a large enough computer system to crack the encryption.” He smiled. “I'm not dumb enough to hand everything over before we even leave, you know,” he added, his face turning sly.

Laiserta grimaced. Did the universe hate her? She knew she had done some bad things, but they were mostly to bad people. So why was she being taunted in this way? Was Fate a callous bitch, or what? Laiserta closed her eyes and clenched her teeth and fists for a moment. This idiot was just smart enough to be a pain in her ass, and as much as she wanted to just punch him in the face and knock his teeth out, she needed that data. Even if there was only a one-percent chance that the data was accurate, she couldn't let it slip away. She didn't know when, if ever in her lifetime, she would get another chance to take out that bastard doctor.

She sighed again, opening her eyes. “Okay asshole, you've got a deal,” she begrudgingly agreed. The man in front of her made an excited motion with his arms and smiled brightly. The sight made Laiserta want to punch him even more.

He walked over to where she stood under the awning. “You won't regret this,” he said excitedly, putting the data chip away inside his jacket again.

“You have no idea how much I alreadyregret this,” Laiserta grumbled through gritted teeth, regretting her decision from before she even made it.

The idiot in front of her wiped his bangs out of his eyes with his right hand, and then held the same hand out to her. “I'm Nassas Reine, nice to meet you!” he said excitedly, smiling broadly at her.

Laiserta simply scowled at him before turning and walking away into the rain. “Hey,” Nassas called out to her, “you're supposed to introduce yourself!”

“You already know who I am,” Laiserta threw over her shoulder. “Let's get moving.”

Nassas smiled to himself, before running to catch up to Laiserta and falling into step beside her.

-+-

Nassas Reine stepped into the chartered shuttle that Laiserta had told him to meet her at, and his eyebrows rose in surprise. He whistled, “This is a pretty swanky ship,” he commented upon boarding. It was a small ship, but a luxury liner. He could see into the back where the master suite was, but instead chose to walk over to the tiny bridge. Laiserta was already seated at the piloting console, apparently prepping the ship for launch.

Nassas dropped his bag to the ground and fell into the chair next to Laiserta, quickly lifting his legs and propping his feet up on the console in front of him. “You got the honeymoon suite for us, I see,” he teased her, the same smirk he constantly wore present on his face.

“Your blood will blend in easier with the red décor,” Laiserta replied flatly, still focused on her task of preparing the ship for launch. She started the engines and all the doors sealed shut with a hiss.

Nassas gripped his chest with his hands over his heart. “You thought of me?” he asked, his voice tight as if he were about to cry tears of happiness.

Laiserta could feel her own blood pressure rising with the idiot next to her trying to do everything he could to get under her skin. Unfortunately for her, his tactics worked, as she wished to strangle him at the moment. “I agreed that you could come with me, I didn't promise you wouldn't leave with broken bones and missing teeth,” Laiserta bit back, sparing her temporary comrade a dark glance.

“Well,” Nassas said, smiling sheepishly, “I thought we would get to know each other more before moving on to thattopic, but just so you know, I can take it rough,” he replied, a blush creeping over his nose and cheeks.

Laiserta's face fell into flat lines as her mouth shrunk into a tiny scowl. “What is it?” Nassas asked in earnest, his eyes opening up wide.

“I'm trying to convince myself to notkill you right now,” Laiserta answered darkly, turning in her seat to glare at Reine.

He raised his hands up in front of him in defense. “Aw come on, you don't really want to hurt me... right?” he tacked on at the end, a bit nervous now.

Laiserta turned away from him and back to the piloting controls. She gripped the controls and pushed one lever forward, the engines of the ship roaring louder. She then switched to another pair of joysticks , taxiing the ship down the public runway in front of them. “You're here now because you're a necessity,” she said to Nassas. “Once this is done, and your necessity goes back to zero, I can't make any guarantees for your safety,” she said darkly, her face betraying no emotion.

Nassas laughed to himself, his own gaze turning away from her. “Hahah, I wouldn't expect any less from you,” he said softly, more to himself than to her.

Thirty minutes later, after launching from Taydr and clearing the gravity well, Laiserta configured the ship's auto-pilot to take them to Ostia, another world in Federation Alliance space. “By the time we get there,” Reine continued explaining their destination, “Ibrahim will already have been moved into his new cell. So we should be able to confirm via prison surveillance footage that he's there, just in case you don't believe me.”

Laiserta leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms and closing her eyes. Nassas blinked at her a few times, confused by her actions. “Uh... Lai?” he queried.

“What?” Laiserta replied, her eyes still closed.

“You okay?” he asked. His visage fell, and he seemed genuinely concerned.

Laiserta opened her eyes, her mouth tightening into a scowl. She turned to look at the man beside her, her eyes narrowed as she glared at him. “I agreed that you could come with me in exchange for the information you have on Ibrahim's exchange. I didn't say I'd be your friend and chit-chat with you and make you feel okay,” she said, adding a large dose of sarcasm into the last part of her sentence. “This is a job for me, and I don't give a shit about you, so you can cut out the baby-bullshit,” she spat.

Nassas appeared hurt at first, before his expression quickly faded into a sly smile. “Ah, I should have known that approach wouldn't work with you, anyway,” he said, his tone relaxed. “But I figured it was worth a shot.”

“I know a lot of spies like you, all of them much better at this than you are,” she explained, and Nassas looked annoyed. “So don't bother wasting your time and mine with your stupid manipulative bullshit, because I won't fall for it,” she finished, turning away from him again.

“Fair enough,” Reine said and shrugged. He paused a moment, before asking one more thing he just had to know. “So... I gotta know,” he began, his voice low, “why haven't you joined the guild?”

Now that was a topic that would set Laiserta off. “Mio den verkkanna tos,”Laiserta swore in Taydran, gritting her teeth in frustration.

“That's not very nice,” Nassas quipped, understanding exactly what she had said.

“What is it with you idiots and the assassin's guild?!” Laiserta demanded angrily. “Shit, you're a member, aren't you?” she asked, realizing that would be why this clown was so insistent on discussing the stupid guild.

Nassas closed his eyes and smiled, before flipping his bangs out of his eyes and opening them. “Nassas Reine, The Derelict Blade,” he announced himself happily, before reaching down to the knife holstered on the inside of his left thigh and pulling it out. He spun it around in his hand quickly before grabbing the dull side of the blade in his fingers to stop the knife's motion. “At your service,” he added with a small bow of his head.

“That,” Laiserta began flatly, “that is exactlywhy I hate the guild. That dumb shit.”

“It's not dumb!” Nassas countered defensively. “The guild is cool,” he said, pouting as he put away his knife.

Laiserta sighed and Nassas continued speaking. “Besides, they gave you a ridiculously cool name. I mean, Death's Shadow? Everyone in the guild kills people, but only the most badass of the badass get a name including the word 'death,'” Nassas explained excitedly. “The stuff you have done is legendary,” he continued, motioning excitedly with his hands as he spoke.

Laiserta grimaced and closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose with her right hand. “This is so embarrassing,” she said aloud.

“You have nothing to be embarrassed about,” Reine cut in.

“I'm not embarrassed about me!” Laiserta shouted angrily. “I'm embarrassed for you!”

“I'm not embarrassed,” he answered honestly. “I don't get what your problem is.”

“You should be!” Laiserta replied in a yell. “And it's called second-hand embarrassment!” she explained, her face feeling warm. Was she blushing? She couldn't remember the last time she had felt like this. “You're so much of an idiot that it makes me feel bad on your behalf,” she explained bitterly.

Nassas's eyes lit up. “You feel sorry for me?” he asked excitedly, smiling broadly.

“No!” Laiserta shouted, then quickly realized she made a mistake in denying his question so quickly. He smiled happily at her, his eyes shining with unshed tears.

“I never thought this day would come,” he said wistfully while gazing at her.

“Ugh!” Laiserta growled and turned away from Reine completely. “Shut up before I kill you and mess up this opportunity,” she said, her tone lower but still frustrated.

Nassas kept smiling at Laiserta as his face settled into a more contented expression. “Okay,” he agreed. He'd finally met the woman he had admired from afar for yearsand it was going much better than even he expected. He'd give her a break for now, at least.

-+-

The trip to Ostia lasted through the night, and the pair of Taydran assassins landed in the early morning. Still needing some time to plan the operation, Laiserta found them a place to setup shop and Nassas finally revealed the full extent of the data he had on the prison. Using a tool on the same data chip, Nassas was able to hack into the security system of the prison at Piciaullas, not far from where they landed on Ostia. Through the security system's cameras, they were able to confirm that Ibrahim was brought directly to the prison and transferred inside. Satisfied, Laiserta used the prison's blueprints and other information that Nassas brought with him to plan the operation. He had already acquired an ID badge for the prison, so that covered him as far as getting in. Laiserta assured him that she was fine, and he would see when they left the next evening.

After their plan was complete, Laiserta decided to rest before they left after dark. Nassas sat nearby her sleeping form, next to a window in the bedroom of the small house they had rented. The sky was dark as rain poured down, a summer thunderstorm in the southern hemisphere of Ostia. As Nassas looked out the window at the storm, he rolled a small blade over and over again through the fingers of his right hand, and old habit of his when he was pensive while waiting for an operation to start.

He stopped moving the knife as thunder crashed again, and the sky flashed with lightning. He turned and looked over at Laiserta's sleeping form. She was lying on her side and facing him, but he could tell by her breathing that she was asleep. With her eyes closed and her hair pulled back away from her face, she looked like any other beautiful woman on Taydr. But she wasn't the same as anyone else, and that was what drew him to her.

They had far more in common than she knew, but he also knew that she wouldn't care so he didn't bother with the details. Like her, he didn't want people feeling sorry for him if they knew about his past. He'd been lucky, though; despite being a war orphan, he had at least landed in an legitimate orphanage, even if it wasn't in the nicest part of Hrimth. Laiserta was not so fortunate. His position in TSIA enabled him to read more of the official story of what happened, so he knew far more of the gory details about what happened to Laiserta and the other children kidnapped by the Lorraine Medical Company.

He didn't, couldn't blame her for exacting revenge. While their operation was eventually busted and all of the people involved tried and imprisoned, Taydr did not enact the death penalty. It was still on the books, sure, but no one had been put to death in Taydr for several hundred years, ever since the nation had joined the Federation Alliance. The thought of those people essentially living out their natural lives, even while incarcerated, could certainly cause pain to those who were victimized. Nassas Reine would never stand in the way of anyone getting their own personal revenge against those people, least of all the woman he'd been infatuated with since he was a teenager.

Something moved in his pocket, knocking him out of his thoughts. Reine reached down and pulled out the new phone that he was assigned before leaving, hoping it was finally a reply from his superiors. Unfortunately the notification just stated that signal had been lost, which wasn't surprising given the storm. Nassas sighed before shutting off the phone completely and pocketing it once more. He wouldn't be taking it with him when they left in a few hours anyway, so he may as well conserve the battery while he was out of signal range.

Reine's eyes drifted back over to Laiserta's sleeping face. He didn't like lying to her, but he also had a job to do. Perhaps one day when he really retired, he could meet her again. He laughed at himself; she'd probably just shoot him in the face.

-+-

Well after dark and near midnight, Nassas Reine and Xyros Kikulade made their way toward the outer perimeter of the Piciaullas prison on the planet Ostia, on foot. Having already hidden their rental car, they approached the fence around the outside of the western edge of the prison's property. Laiserta walked in front, with Nassas following behind. She stopped short of the fence, and grimaced. “The fence is electrified,” she said softly. They both wore radios on the inside of their ears so there was no need to speak loudly to be heard.

“I've got this,” Nassas replied all too happily. He stepped forward, and reaching into one of the small packs he had strapped around his right thigh, pulled out a small dark object. He approached the fence, and slid his hands against each other, breaking the object in his hands down into four parts. Carefully, and without touching the fence directly, he held each one of the pieces a centimeter away from the fence. The pieces then latched onto the fence. He moved in a high arc, and once all four pieces were in place, Laiserta could see what he had done. The object was a sophisticated electromagnet which modified the path of the electricity running through the fence. In this case, he placed the four magnets in a pattern resembling a door, which left the fence inside the arc of the magnets safe for Laiserta to grab and rip open.

After breaking apart the fence carefully to let them in but not be obviously disturbed from a distance, Laiserta and Nassas ran toward the outer wall of the prison, hiding under the cover of darkness. Once they reached their destination next to the wall, Laiserta pulled a small pistol from the bag hanging on her back. Nassas smirked as she loaded the special ammunition into it. “You're not going to make that shot,” he said softly. Her plan was to shoot two cameras at the top of the inner wall once they climbed to the top of the outer wall, where they currently stood. The distance was over a hundred meters away. The cameras were tiny, and the special pistol she was using to fire the equally special gelatin bullets couldn't possibly be that accurate from that distance.

“Watch me,” Laiserta said, handing him the pistol while she retrieved a rope from her backpack. She tied a loose loop in the end before throwing it up and snaring the top pillar of the wall. She pulled the rope tight before using it to scale the wall, with Nassas following behind her.

Once Laiserta reached the top ledge of the outer wall, she held her left hand down to Nassas. He handed her the pistol again, and her head and left arm just barely over the wall, Laiserta found the two cameras she needed to block out for their infiltration to be successful, and fired. Two quiet shots from the pistol each made a dull thud, and Laiserta watched closely as both hits landed home. The gelatin bullets hit the lenses of both surveillance cameras and exploded in a small mess, blotting out the vision of the cameras.

Laiserta hefted herself up on top of the wall and reached back to help Nassas up and over. “Lucky shot,” he whispered as she dragged her rope over to the other side. Laiserta merely flashed him a toothy smirk as Nassas grabbed hold of the rope and rappelled down the other side of the wall. Laiserta untied the loop in her rope and grabbed on to both open ends as she descended the wall. Once her feet were on the ground, she pulled one side of the rope all the way down, dragging the back half along with it. She rolled up the rope and hung it over her left shoulder.

Knowing they didn't have much time, Nassas nodded to Laiserta before taking off in a sprint. Despite running, Nassas knew how to step quietly, so his footsteps barely made a noise as he ran for the last fence. Laiserta followed after him, also stepping as softly as she could, but due to her weight she couldn't run as fast as Reine while maintaining their stealth. Once she arrived at the final fence next to him, Nassas had already used another set of magnets to clear a space of fence no longer electrified. He pulled out his knife and quickly cut through the chain link of the fence, allowing them to step inside.

They had reached a door on the outer wall of the actual prison itself. The door provided access to the guard towers around the building. After putting away his knife, Nassas Reine knelt in front of the door. The lock was physical, not digital, so he needed to retrieve his lock-picking kit from a small pouch on his belt. After finding the right lock-pick, it took him only a matter of seconds to unlock the door. They knew from their research that this door would not set off any alarms once they broke in, so they quickly entered the prison and shut the door behind them.

Nassas and Laiserta found themselves inside a windowless corridor, leading to another door at the end. Laiserta quickly scanned for guards, and noticed one coming toward the other end of the hall. “We've gotta hurry, there's a guard coming,” Laiserta warned her comrade. While Laiserta wound up her rope as small as she could and stuffed it into the special backpack she wore, Nassas took off his gloves and flipped them inside-out.

“How long?” Nassas asked softly, watching the door on the other end of the hall.

“Four seconds,” Laiserta responded before pressing on the inside of her left forearm. Her camouflage activated and she shimmered before disappearing.

Nassas used the special grips outlining the inside of his hands and fingers on his gloves to hold on to the brick wall on one side of the hallway. Holding his hands in place, he jumped and pressed his feet back against the wall behind him. With no time to stabilize himself, he started walking up the wall toward the ceiling.

The door at the far end of the hall opened and guard walking casually through. He never bothered to look up, but Nassas held his breath just to be sure. Laiserta had stayed on the ground, near the door the guard was headed for. Once he was within reach, Laiserta grabbed him, placing one hand over his mouth to stop him from screaming. She quickly stuffed a small piece of plastic with a needle on the end into his neck, and after a few seconds the guard's eyes rolled back in his head and his body went limp.

While Laiserta had subdued the corrections officer, Nassas had scaled back down the wall and dropped the last few feet to the floor. He looked to the distortion next to him, knowing it was Laiserta. “The uniform's a little large for you, but it should work,” she said. Nassas knelt down and set about stripping the guard of his uniform.

A few minutes later, Nassas was now dressed as a corrections officer for the Piciaullas prison. He dusted himself off and set the ball cap upon his head before removing the other officer's ID badge and clipping on his own with his picture. Nassas casually strolled down the hallway and used his ID badge to open the first door. The system acknowledged his access and he heard a click, letting him know that the door unlocked. “Would you look at that?” Nassas said lowly, glancing to where he thought Laiserta was standing just behind him.

“Stay focused,”Laiserta whispered, and Reine heard her mostly through the radio in his ear. Nassas led Laiserta through the door before she pulled it closed behind them. Laiserta placed both of her hands against the door near the handle, and suddenly pressed in as hard as she could. Checking the damage with her eyes, Laiserta was satisfied that the door was damaged enough it would prevent anyone from finding the guard inside, at least for a few hours, giving her plenty of time to complete her mission and flee.

Nassas had memorized exactly where he needed to go. They had broken into the prison in, unfortunately, the central security wing. They needed to walk around to the opposite side to head to the cell block that Ibrahim would be housed in – solitary confinement. Reine walked slowly, but not too slow to draw attention. Laiserta followed behind him, hidden by the camouflage of her special suit. They casually passed by six guards heading in several different directions. Some of them nodded to Nassas, who nodded back. When he finally reached their destination on the other end of the building, Nassas swiped his badge in front of the security control at the door. The control blinked green and the door unlocked, allowing him to open it and head through with Death's Shadow in tow.

Now the Taydran pair had to head through a cell block before they would finally reach the intersection to the solitary confinement block. Nassas looked up to see that from the floor, there were at least six floors of prison cells on each side of him. “Move,”he heard Laiserta whisper into his radio. He nodded and started walking.

Luckily for Laiserta and Nassas, most of the prisoners in the cell block were asleep. Walking down the long corridor with prison cells on either side was turning out to be much easier than either of them had anticipated. Once they reached the far end and Nassas swiped again to get out of the cell block, the noise of someone coughing stopped him. He turned to his left to see an elderly man sitting behind the glass of the last cell before the exit.

The elderly man was wearing a special visor that Nassas recognized was often worn by people who were blind but chose not to have an eye transplant. “Hm,” the man said softly, “now there's something new. We don't get visitors of your type very often,” he said, looking from Reine to the spot behind him where Laiserta stood.

Nassas smiled and winked at the old man, bringing up an index finger in front of his mouth to indicate he should be quiet. The elderly prisoner returned the smile and laughed. Nassas held open the door so Laiserta could walk through in front of him, and he saw a glimpse of the distorted field in front of him when she passed by.

Once they were out of the cell block and back into another section of intersecting hallways leading to other buildings of the prison complex, Nassas let out a breath. Saying nothing, he started walking again, this time headed down a few hallways to the entrance to the solitary confinement cell block. They saw no other guards on this trip, and quickly found themselves at the door leading to their ultimate destination.

Nassas casually swiped his badge in front of the card reader, not giving it much thought until the light flashed red before turning back to its neutral amber. Nassas narrowed his eyes and swiped the badge again, and again the light turned red. “Shit,” he cursed under his breath. He didn't want to keep trying to get in and draw attention to himself, if the two denials weren't already sending guards their way.

“Stay here,” Laiserta said softly. “I can get in.” She walked a little farther down the hall, past the door into the cell block. Nassas wasn't sure what she was doing until he saw a ventilation shaft on the wall near the ceiling.

Laiserta took a quick look around, using her eyes to look through the nearby walls into other hallways. She didn't see any guards headed their way, so she opened the special backpack she wore made of the same material as her suit. She pulled out the rope from earlier, and looked up. Seeing a group of pipes running along the ceiling, she threw one end of the rope up and over the pipes. She pulled down on both ends, trying to gauge if the pipes would hold her.

Nassas glanced back down the other end of the corridor before turning back toward Laiserta. “Do you need a boost?” he asked with a smirk.

“I weigh more than six times what you do,” Laiserta spat, still whispering, “I'd crush you.”

Nassas laughed softly to himself. “If there's any good way to die, it's underneath a beautiful woman,” he teased.

Laiserta ignored him and began climbing her rope, holding on to both ends. Within moments she was at the ceiling. She reached out and pulled off the metal ventilation grate. It was heavy, but not nearly heavy enough to slow down someone with augmented strength like Laiserta. She held on to the grate with one hand and jumped from the rope, landing in the tall ventilation shaft. She pulled the rope in behind her before pulled the ventilation grate back into position.

The ventilation ductwork was tall enough for a person to stand in, specifically to make it easier to maintain. It made Laiserta's job of breaking into the cell block much easier. Using her eyes to look through her surroundings, she followed the ventilation shaft until she was over the solitary confinement cells. She looked around and quickly saw her target, several cells down from where she currently stood. Laiserta felt her heart skip a beat, knowing she was this close to him after all this time. She still felt like a small, weak child, afraid of what Dr. Ibrahim would do next. She clenched her fists; this wasn't about her. She needed to focus. She drew in a long breath and let it out quickly.

Despite the time, Ibrahim was sitting on his bed in his cell, wide awake. The time difference between Taydr and Ostia had thrown the doctor off, and though it was the middle of the night, he was not able to sleep. His thoughts were busy when suddenly a small grate fell from the ceiling, clattering against the concrete floor of his cell. The doctor looked up just in time to see a dark figure drop down from the ceiling and stand before him.

Her red eyes almost glowed in the dark, and he would recognize his own work anywhere. “Xyros,” the doctor said softly, smiling at her. “To what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you again?” he asked. He already knew why she was here, but he wanted to hear what she had to say.

Laiserta glared at the man, still seated on his bed as she stood towering over him. She reached into her backpack and pulled out two items. The first was one of her pistols, and the second item was a silencer that she quickly screwed into the end of the barrel of her weapon.

Ibrahim closed his eyes and smiled. It was the same smile that haunted Laiserta's dreams on bad nights, often accompanied by the screaming of her friends. He opened his eyes and looked back up to her. “Your eyes are still as beautiful as the day we gave them to you,” he said wistfully.

Laiserta finished preparing her weapon and transferred it to right hand. She cocked the pistol and pointed it directly at Ibrahim, aiming it between his eyes. “I suppose it was only a matter of time until you came for your revenge,” Ibrahim said softly. He made no move to hide from her. There was nowhere for him to go. He had heard about the others, who were all executed in their cells. He knew it was her, and now it was his time to die at her hand. Besides that, he was an elderly man; he couldn't fight against her even if he wanted to.

“This isn't about me,” Laiserta said flatly, her voice hard and cold. “This is for all of the other kids that you tortured and killed.”

“Yet you are the one here,” the doctor replied, his voice still even and calm.

“That's right,” Laiserta answered him. “I am here. I'm here for all of the others who couldn't be. I'm here for all of those whose screams I still hear in my dreams, for all my friends who dared to hope for some kind of life outside of the hell you put them through, and didn't make it. I got off easy,” Laiserta continued. “I survived because you didn't do much to me. So I owe it to the rest of them to send you to hell, personally.”

Ibrahim closed his eyes and laughed briefly. “From the life you have lived, Xyros,” he began, opening his eyes and looking directly into hers. “I expect you will receive the same fate as I on the other side.”

“That may be true,” Laiserta replied, her eyes and voice as cold as ever. “That's why I always keep my pistols on me, so that when I die and wake up in hell, I'll have another bullet to put into your brain.”

The prisoner laughed yet again. “Killing me won't change anything. You know that,” he said softly, still smiling at her.

“It won't,” Laiserta agreed with him. “But I can't let you live. See, after I got away from that hellhole, I used to think that good and evil was bullshit. They were words too easy to use to describe people when the truth was much more complicated and nuanced. And depending on your perspective, a hero could also be a villain. Good and evil didn't exist, just people who did bad things and people who didn't. But as I grew older, I realized that evil does exist, it's just very rare. And you, doc, what you did – inflicting intentional pain on people who couldn't defend themselves against you, who had no choice in the matter, for pride, glory, or money, it doesn't matter the reason – that's evil. And for the sake of all of the souls that you tortured,” Laiserta's voice cracked and she paused a moment. “I can't let you live,” she finished in a breathy whisper.

Ibrahim merely stared back at her, with the same eyes she used to see when she was a child. He smiled at her, and Laiserta fired, the bullet from her weapon leaving a hole in the center of the doctor's forehead. He fell backwards in his bed, his body slumped against the far wall just enough that his head was propped up slightly. Laiserta's hand shook for a moment, and she fired again, shooting six more bullets into the doctor's brain.

Her hand shaking even more, Laiserta lowered her pistol and let out a breath. She felt sick, like she wanted to vomit. She looked down, her gaze turning inward as she tried to get her emotions under control.

Outside the cell block, Nassas felt something vibrate in his pocket. He realized it was the guard's radio, and quickly pulled it out of his pocket. Looking at the screen, Nassas's eyes widened. A silent alarm had been set off by the death of the doctor in solitary confinement. “Lai, a silent alarm was triggered by the doc's death, we've gotta go,” he said quickly.

Laiserta heard Nassas's voice, but his words meant nothing to her. She heard the sound of her own blood rushing in her ears, and nothing could penetrate the noise. She looked at the doctor's bloody face, her mind feeling like it was out of her body, watching herself as she stood in the prison cell, unmoving. She heard some more noise in her ear, when suddenly something came through. “Lai! We have to go now!”

Snapping back to reality, Laiserta turned and looked out toward Nassas's location. She could see guards coming from several different directions. There wasn't time for her to go back through the ventilation system. They had to run. Turning to the special glass that provided the front of the cell she stood in, Laiserta knew what she had to do. She stuffed her pistol back into her backpack. With a yell, she ran the two steps she had toward the glass, pulling back her right hand to throw a punch into the center of the glass. The glass shattered under the force of her punch, falling to the ground in a hail of small pieces of glass, like crushed ice cubes.

Laiserta ran out of the cell and down the corridor toward the locked door where Nassas stood. “Move away from the door!” Laiserta shouted into her radio. She charged as hard as she could at the door and lowered her left shoulder, slamming into the metal door. The force knocked the door off of its hinges and broke the lock apart, spewing parts all down the hallway.

Nassas blinked at the metal door which was now embedded into the opposite wall from where Laiserta had busted it open. He turned and looked at her, the cloaking functionality of her suit turned off for the moment. “Holy shit,” Nassas said, still in shock at what he just witnessed.

“Let's go!” Laiserta shouted, taking off in a sprint down the hallway away from the cell block. Reine finally snapped out of his daze and dashed after her, the pair headed back the way they came.

-+-

Luckily for Laiserta and Nassas, there was mass confusion at the prison when the alarms went off. They were able to escape without incident, except for two guards that Laiserta shot. Nassas noticed that she shot them in their shoulders and legs, specifically aiming to disable them but not kill them. Once they were out of the prison, returning to their chartered ship taking off from Ostia was incredibly easy. Nassas figured that by the time they had already left Ostia's star system, the guards still hadn't figured out what had happened. He smiled to himself; he and Laiserta made a great team.

After the ship was set to auto-pilot, Nassas tried to make small talk with Laiserta, but she merely ignored him and went to the ship's bedroom to lay down and get some rest. He never heard what the doctor had said to Laiserta before she killed him, but he'd heard her half of the conversation. He knew that Laiserta had been victimized by the doctor and just exactly how bad it was, but he didn't know it still affected her so deeply. She seemed perfectly well-adjusted to him. Perhaps Laiserta was just someone who carried her own demons silently, disguised behind smiles and laughter so that no one knew.

Nassas was in the bedroom to retrieve several of Laiserta's belongings as she slept. On his way out, he stopped and looked down at her face. She was sleeping on her right side, her arms tucked up under her head beneath her pillow. He knelt down next to the bed, and carefully brushed a few stray hairs out of her face and tucked them back behind her left ear. He leaned forward, closer to the top of her head, and hesitated a moment. He finally decided to place a soft kiss on the top of her head, against her black hair, a kiss so light she may never have felt it even if she was awake.

Nassas rose from his knees and walked out of the bedroom, closing the door softly behind himself. He headed to the front of the ship and sat down in the bridge, setting down Laiserta's black trenchcoat and a tablet she had with her on the piloting console in front of him. Nassas then reached down to his own pack on the floor by his chair, and pulled out a small sewing kit. He set the sewing kit on the console in front of him next to the tablet, before picking up Laiserta's jacket once more. He turned the item inside-out, searching for a suitable pocket. He found that her right pocket had a little extra fabric around the edges where the pocket had been sewn together.

Despite the dread that rose up in him at his task, he set about removing the stitches in the bottom of the pocket. With the stitches removed, he reached down into pack again and pulled out a small metal tracking device, the size of a button. He placed the device inside of the pocket and stitched the edges of the pocket together again. The first task complete, he stitched another closure in the pocket, this time much closer to the original stitches that he had torn out. When he was done, he examined his work.

The purpose of his mission was to plant a tracking device on Laiserta's person, to hopefully lead him back to the other mercenaries. The truth was that Nassas wasn't necessarily the one to go after them; once he had the device planted and confirmed it was working, he was to turn the information in to his superiors, and to whoever else wanted it from there.

Noticing that Laiserta's jacket had some minor tears in it in several spots, Reine decided to repair the damage. It wasn't part of his mission, but he thought he would do something nice for Laiserta, even if she never noticed. As he set about stitching up the small tears he found, Nassas picked up Laiserta's tablet and powered it on. He began looking through her files for anything of interest, while he worked on her jacket. Eventually he stumbled across a file that caught his attention.

He put his needle and thread down, and lifted the tablet up so he could read the information on the screen more closely. He had found a shipping manifest of some sort, but the odd thing was that it was written in Taydran, and written to be intentionally vague about what was being shipped. He flipped through a few of several similar shipping manifests, until the last and most recent one caught his attention.

The manifest mentioned Alphonse Drouet by his code name, which Reine recognized. The items being shipped were not mentioned directly, but based upon the grammar used, he knew it was something dangerous or hazardous. The manifest also mentioned something about orders from a devoult lerche, which could translate into a few different terms, but one of them was 'admiral.' He checked the dates on the shipping manifest, and a conversation floated up from his memory.

“I had a mission handed down from Admiral Malketh. Had to rescue these three activists, kids really, who'd crossed into some bad territory in the Republic.”

Nassas's eyes narrowed and his face grew stern. Drouet had been on a mission assigned by Admiral Malketh at the same time the shipping manifest indicated that items were on the move. He didn't know what this was about, but his intuition told him that whatever it was, someone was up to no good. He retrieved a data chip from his belongings and inserted it into Laiserta's tablet, copying the files over to his data chip so he could take them with him. He had a feeling that Drouet knew more than he was letting on, and Nassas was determined to find out the truth.

-+-

Nassas Reine was lost in thought but still managed to follow behind Laiserta carefully through the spaceport. She had docked at a spaceport orbiting Taydr to deliver the ship she had chartered. The two of them were now headed down toward the public shuttles. Or at least, Laiserta was headed for the public shuttles. Nassas followed her, his chest tight. Something about this whole mission now seemed off to him. He wondered if he was too suspicious, but then he remembered how many times his intuition had gotten him out of one scrape or another because it was always right. He suddenly found himself in the unenviable position of trusting the target he was after, while doubting the commander who had sent him on the mission.

“You're going to get on a shuttle back down to Taydr,” Laiserta said as she walked, not bothering to look back at the man with her. “Because I'm not leaving until you're already gone, so you don't follow me,” she continued, still walking.

Nassas was listening to her, but her words weren't reaching him. He clenched and unclenched his right fist, over and over, as he battled himself internally over what to do. Yes, he knew his admiration for Laiserta was clouding his judgment, but at the same time he refused to let his loyalty to Taydr also cloud his judgment when it came to his own allies. Someone was up to something and had gone to great lengths to hide it, which meant it was definitely not sanctioned, and most likely illegal.

Laiserta had stopped walking and so did Reine, though he was hardly paying attention to her. She turned around and looked at him, since he didn't respond to her last command. “Hey,” Laiserta said, snapping her fingers to get Nassas's attention. He still didn't look up at her or say anything. “Okay, whatever,” she said, rolling her eyes and turning to walk away.

Without thinking, Reine leaped forward, grabbing Laiserta's left arm and pulling her back toward him. She instinctively turned toward him, about to yell at him for suddenly grabbing her. Before she realized what was happening, Nassas kept pulling her toward him as he moved forward, his eyes cast downward away from hers. Laiserta was too confused to react in time. Nassas's right hand came up to hold her left cheek as he kissed her.

Laiserta was stunned and unable to move for a brief moment before she regained her senses. She harshly pushed Nassas away from her before throwing a mean right hook right into the center of his face, connecting with his nose.

Nassas stumbled backward from the force of her punch and fell down, landing in a seated position. He looked up at Laiserta in surprise, who glared at him while sporting a bit of a blush across her cheeks and nose.

“You stupid prick!” she shouted. “If I ever see you again, you're dead!” She immediately turned and stormed off, heading down a long corridor to the lower level in the spaceport.

Nassas watched her walk away until she was out of sight. Despite the pain in his face and the blood running from his nose into his mouth, he smiled. He was able to grab the right pocket of her jacket and crush the tracking device between his fingers, while she was distracted by the kiss. Nassas wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and sighed. The tightness he felt in his chest was telling. He liked her, and he knew it was only going to be trouble from here on out because of it.

-+-

Thanks for reading! Please leave a review, I love any feedback at all, feel free to be critical as well, I won't get mad. So initially I wanted to post this along with the next chapter, but I realized I wanted to break out some content from the next chapter into two chapters so there isn't too much going on in a single chapter. For that reason, I'm posting this update now while I sort out the next two chapters. Hopefully it won't be a long wait for the next update. :]

Now, for Laiserta's theme song! Very appropriate since this chapter was all about her. I promise that in the future, there will not be any chapters without Trunks in them at all. Ahem, anyway, the theme song. I've had trouble picking a song for Laiserta, to be honest, because she's hardly ever serious about anything, hahaha. But I'm going to go with the theme from Bayonetta 2, “Tomorrow is Mine” for Laiserta's theme. The lyrics are a good match for her playfulness, though admittedly she's not as cool as Bayonetta (WHO I ADORE, by the way). So go give “Tomorrow is Mine” a listen, it's a great track.

Thanks again for reading, and please leave a review!

-Silvia