Going Native (DBZ/DC Comics) (Complete)
- Thread starter Ideas-Guy
- Start date
- Location
- Germany
for a good fight call Guy Gardner and give him a red Ring.
Regular Lanterns are more geared towards Cop-work than real war or battle.
Feeling of the Unseen
- Location
- USA
Fasha sighed, the sound nearly drowned out by the sounds of war. She hovered above a city, ready to throw herself into the mix if needed. Her kids, her army, were strong but so were their enemies. As much as Fasha would love throwing herself headfirst into the fight, she wasn't Tarble who could somehow be aware of the entire battlefield no matter how deep in a fight he got. It was easy to chalk it up as more Tarble weirdness, though, and Tarble she was not.
If she got involved in the fight, Fasha knew she would completely lose track of the battle and her kids would end up dying because of it. So, as much as she would like to, it just wasn't worth it.
Explosions rocked the planet below, her soldiers darting around in teams of five. Fasha had drilled Bardock's lesson into them -- the team, the mission, then pride -- and so far, it seemed to be working. There had been losses initially, but as her kids grew stronger, they got increasingly rarer.
It was weird. So very weird. And that weirdness had creeped up on her so slowly over the past decade that she hadn't noticed until it was too late. For the longest time, Fasha couldn't have cared less about anyone. She was a true Saiyan -- only the fight mattered. Everything she did, everything that she was, revolved around searching for that next fight that would push her to her limits and make her stronger by the end of it.
Then came the team. At first, it was just Gine. Dumb, stupid, weak Gine that Fasha had relentlessly bullied, who had lied and covered for her when Fasha made a stupid mistake because she thought she had been strong. At the time, Fasha hadn't been able to understand it. Especially when she was put on a team with Bardock, who she thought at the time would be the weirdest Saiyan she would ever meet, and their weirdness drew them together. Years passed and Bardock's weirdness infected her -- the Team, Shugesh, Borgos, Tora, Gine and Bardock.
Later came Tarble. At the start, the kid just seemed lost. He fought, desperately attempting to grow stronger to the point he nearly fought to the death in every spar simply because he refused to go down to anything less. He did what they told him to do, he came through when they needed him to -- in time, he carved out a spot in the team before he started leading it.
But, in time, Tarble would prove to be even weirder than Bardock. A true freak of nature, not just in strength but in the mind. Over the past ten years, he infected her with a new strain of weirdness, one far broader than the strain that Bardock had given her. Which is how she found herself in the situation that she was.
"I wonder if Teach feels like this?" Fasha muttered, watching her kids dart around to combat the Khuds. They were powerful. Ten years ago and Fasha would have lost against them. Even with the Wrath State, her kids were struggling. The only reason that they hadn't lost was because they were working together seamlessly. Worry gnawed at her heart because for the dozens that she was following, there were hundreds that she wasn't. And thousands off on their own missions.
Fasha hadn't been aware just how scary that reality was until the warfront grew too large to stay grouped up. Of her ten thousand kids, her soldiers, nearly ten thousand of them were sprinkled across the empires they had been waging war against for the past six months. At the very least they were being reinforced with armies and the like, but her kids had to be the heavy hitters for their battles.
The kids had left the nest, off to fight battles so very far away -- Fasha was proud and terrified in equal measures.
And it was all Tarble's fault.
"Champion!" One of her kids yelled out, spotting a Khund wearing unique battle armor. It was bright red, an odd blend of magic and science. Fasha couldn't make heads or tails of it, but she knew that they were strong. Not the kind of strong that her kids could handle, which was the entire reason that she was here.
Fasha descended in a blur, flipping sharply as she neared the Khund champion to deliver a devastating axe kick. However, the armor had some kind of sensor that warned it that she was coming, so it managed to shift an oversized sword up to block the blow. Wind kicked up and the clash sounded like a clap of thunder, the ground buckling underneath the champion, yet it remained standing.
Champions were rare. The kind of warriors that the Khunds couldn't afford to place on every front and every planet. They were the best that their empire could offer . Fasha was the only one in the system that could beat them.
"Get going," Fasha roared at her kids, ki gathering in her hands as she flipped off and sending a blast of it in the champion's face. Her enemy swung at her, a massive slab of metal racing towards her to cut her in half at the waist. She narrowly dodged, the narrowest dodge she had in some time. Her kids hesitated for the briefest of moments before they flew to complete their mission.
The champion didn't bother to give chase. It hefted its weapon, its eyes narrowed. Fasha touched down on the ground, settling into a stance. For the first time in a long time, she was fighting an enemy that couldn't fly. Not without technology, at least, which was something that the Khunds almost seemed to scorn. The champion's lips curled upwards into a savage smile, matching the one on her face before they both rushed forward so the fight could begin.
Fasha ducked underneath a slash from the taller alien, twisting underneath it before she used a hand to push herself off the ground and launched a foot at its stomach. She wouldn't fly to give herself the edge. So, she was stuck using the light gravity. The Khund blocked the blow with its sword, but it was still sent flying back through a building before it dug its feet into the ground to slow down. While it did that, Fasha sprinted forward, holding her hands out.
Ki gathered in the palms of her hands, but instead of becoming an attack, it lengthened and solidified in her grip to become two yellow short staffs. One was longer than the other by a quarter with a length of five feet, matching her height. Her grin grew as she threw herself at the champion, bringing one staff down on its blade while she thrust with the other.
You could only spend so much time around Tarble watching him invent techniques before you started to consider your own arsenal of techniques. Even Shugesh was starting to experiment. But, Tarble could keep his ki blades. She had something better.
The Khund let out a laugh as their weapons clashed. Her staffs were dense with ki, which made them heavier, but it also allowed them to maintain their shape. Fasha twirled her longer spear, misdirecting the champion before she lunged with her short spear. The blow was blocked, but as the Khund countered by shifting its blade to rush towards her neck, Fasha lashed out with the bottom half of her long staff and skewered the Khund through the leg while leaning out of the way of the sword.
Continuing with her momentum, Fasha flipped and lashed out with a foot meant to catch the champion in the side of the head, only for it to catch the blow with its forearm. In that same instant, it reversed it's grip and slammed the pommel of its sword into her stomach hard enough that it nearly tore through her. Fasha grunted, folding around the grip of the sword, and flew back. She landed on her feet and spun her ki weapons to show that she was still in the fight.
"You fight with honor," The Khund remarked, but Fasha shook her head, trying to speak, plotting her next move and keeping an eye on her kid's progress all at the same time.
"Honor has nothing to do with it. It's just not any fun fighting with an advantage," Fasha dismissed the praise. She wasn't Tarble. Or Bardock. Ruthlessly exploring every advantage and stacking the deck with plans within plans, with contingencies for the enemy plans within plans and so on. Fasha was a warrior first and foremost.
The champion just smiled away. They did that a lot, she noticed. It was like every single one of them was just overjoyed to fight them. And it would be a lie to say that Fasha didn't feel the same way if only a little. The Khunds got it. Of all the races that Fasha had encountered in her decades of life, the Khunds were the closest in mentality to Saiyans that she had found. They had that same urge to just… fight. Not for any reason or justification, just for the sake of fighting. Because fighting for the sake of fighting was all the reason that was needed.
Fasha's boot dug into the soft concrete of the planet they fought on before a huge dust cloud was kicked up when she launched herself at the Khund. The champion settled in a stance and took her first blow head-on, blocking it with the flat of its blade. Its feet sunk into the ground, causing it to crack like glass, but it remained standing. Her short spear made a lightning-fast thrust at the Khund's face, only to barely scrape it's cheek as it dodged before countering.
Their weapons of choice moved in blurs, attacking and countering so seamlessly it was as if it were a rehearsed dance. Fasha's spears spun in her hands, offering distractions and feints as she pressed the attack, attempting to overwhelm the enemy. Her ki weapons slipped through the gaps of its defenses, but the Khund's reactions were just as fast -- every fatal blow was avoided, reduced to a shallow cut and every advantage vanished before it could be capitalized on. Her arms began to burn from maintaining the onslaught, but Fasha savored it and used it as motivation.
Their weapons clashed in a shower of sparks, its sword wedged in an X between her spears. The Khund brought down its impressive strength, forcing Fasha to sink into the ground as its sword sunk into her shoulder as her arms trembled to keep the blade at bay. Even as crimson blood dripped from the wound and her collarbone felt like it was on fire, Fasha simply smiled a savage smile before she lunged forward.
The Khund dodged the thrust at its abdomen by leaning out of the way, so Fasha pivoted, using her other spear as leverage to slam the flat of the spear into its stomach and folding the champion around it. The champion quickly recovered, landing on its feet but Fasha hadn't moved. Gathering ki at the tips of her weapons, she sent an arc of ki at the Khund. The two of them made a large X that carved their way through a building behind the Khund when it dodged.
However, Fasha simply sent more of them at the Khund, forcing it to go where she wanted. That was until it decided to slash at the ki attack to find that its sword was sturdy enough to break through. It unleashed a mighty war cry as it rushed forward, thinking that it had the best of her, but it was thoroughly unprepared for Fasha to dart forward, switching her grip on her short staff before she launched it like a spear.
There was a clap of thunder and the wind fanned the flames around them as the spear of ki shot forward, breaking the sound barrier. The champion tried to react, but it was too late. The spear of ki punched through its sword and through the arm holding it, severing the arm at the shoulder. The Khund reacted well by keeping hold of the weapon and simply letting its other arm drop to the ground as it continued its rush forward, but it understood that death was near.
Fasha ran forward, wielding a singular staff with both hands. Using the top of it to deflect a wild and desperate swing, Fasha spun her staff so the bottom arced up and closed in on the champion's neck. There it cut through armor, flesh, and bone. The champion's head flew free and the body dropped, rolling for a second before it slammed into a ruined building with enough force that the building collapsed.
She had won.
Rolling her shoulder to test the damage, Fasha found that it worked fine enough. Now that her attention wasn't divided, she focused on the information on her scouter to find that her kids hadn't managed to get themselves killed the moment she stopped watching them. Surprisingly. It felt like they were determined to do exactly that most of the time.
Floating up, Fasha went to catch up, only to stop when the sound of rubble shifted. Twisting to look behind her, her eyes widened to find the headless Khund rushing her with one arm clutching the stump of a greatsword. In that same moment, a flash of blue pierced its chest. A hole was burned through its bulky armor, telling her that the blast was powerful. The body slumped over dead. Probably. Glancing up, she saw a face that she hadn't seen in a good long while.
"Kill thief," Fasha pointed out, looking up at Bardock's too smug face as he floated above her. She rose to greet him, her own smile on her face. He looked good.
"Had to make an entrance," Bardock explained with a smirk and a shrug. His gaze drifted to her shoulder, but he knew better than to comment on the wound. "Their armor acts like some sort of back up consciousness or something. Destroying the centerpiece does the trick."
Huh. "So, you're fighting on this front now?" She asked, wondering just what Bardock was doing here. It was great to see him. Really great. And Gine and Kakarot would be happy to see him too. It was just a question of why he was here. "Is the Ginyu Squad all here?"
To that, Bardock jerked his head, gesturing for her to fly with him. He took off his scouter, but Fasha couldn't bring herself to do the same. Not with her kids still fighting. But he didn't comment on it, "The Ginyu Squad is all here. Frieza assigned us to Tarble, who sprinkled us all out across the front. Though technically, I'm supposed to be a few systems over, but I finished early and figured I had time to touch base."
That wasn't reassuring to hear. From what Fasha understood, the war was going well. In the past six months, the Thanagarian Empire had splintered. With Queen Teach having eaten the royal family, succession became an issue on top of their pile of problems. Vassals jumped ship, some going to Tarble, but most tried to strike out on their own. The loyalists were buckling under the weight of the Khund empire, civilians were protesting everything under the sun… Tarble might have been too generous with his predictions for how long the Thanagarian Empire was going to last.
There shouldn't be a need for the Ginyu Squad to get involved.
"Is the situation turning south?" Fasha questioned, spotting one of her kids demolishing a soldier. Their task was nearly complete -- eliminate the Khund forces stationed on the planet, cutting off a staging ground for reinforcement to clear a path for a main offensive led by Tarble.
"The vassals of the empire are reaching out to make alliances," Bardock explained. "Not just with each other but their neighbors too," He continued when she didn't get it. And when she still didn't get it, he explained further. "The Khunds aren't the only ones watching how aggressively that Tarble is expanding. From the look of it, he's about to devour one empire and subjugate another while having the backing of the TO. There are a lot of kingdoms and empires that are looking at the situation and realizing that Tarble is about to become their new neighbor."
"Ah," It clicked into place. The vassals making an alliance with an empire like… one of the ones she couldn't bother to remember, then… "How big is the war becoming?" Fasha questioned, sending a glance at the child blowing up a weapons depo.
Bardock could only offer a shrug, "Too big if we aren't careful. I'm expecting Tarble to get curtailed by Frieza as a show of power to remind everyone that he's on a leash. That should be enough for most, but Frieza isn't exactly known for his ability to make friends." That wasn't good. That wasn't good at all- "I'm sure it'll just be a show. Tarble has become Frieza's number one customer in terms of buying slaves since the war started."
Slaves for armies, to set up his empire, and to support the war effort in ways that weren't fighting.
Fasha let out a sigh, tearing her eyes away from her kid to look at Bardock. "Are we still doing it?" She asked a question that weighed heavily on her mind for years now. Their reasons for wanting to perform a coup rang hollow when they had Tarble in the mix. Tarble, who was second in line to the throne but controlled his own empire. All he had to do was talk to Frieza and he could get himself made king.
Performing the coup… It felt like it wasn't worth it anymore.
Bardock's reaction surprised her though -- he let out a small laugh before he offered what Fasha could only describe as a clueless shrug. "I don't know," He said, and that wasn't the answer she wanted to hear from the man that had been orchestrating a coup for as long as she's known him. "The reasons for it are still there," He said, gesturing to her kids that were fighting a war. "The bar is just going to keep getting higher. Ability and talent won't mean a damn thing to the class system. It's gotten easier to increase our strength to jump a class thanks to the Medicine Ball, but there are always going to be Saiyans like Leek who just aren't any good at fighting."
Fasha's lips thinned. Since she took command of ten thousand child soldiers, she learned a thing or two. Some just had talent while others had none. A power level didn't reflect that. Some lagged behind the group while others were miles ahead. They might have been born stronger, born in a higher class, but the talents that they did have still weren't recognized.
"If anything, it's going to get worse. The ones under your care -- they've all risen to elite class. They've been trained by you, Tarble, and the others. The gap between them and the kids that didn't get picked or make the cut is vast." Bardock pointed out, and Fasha frowned at the reminder that for all of the children that had been attached to Tarble, however indirectly, was a small fraction of the saiyan population.
The classism that they fought against was still there. Just in a different form.
"Part of me just doesn't want to let it go. I've dreamed of being king for decades at this point, but that's just my pride talking," Bardock admitted with a smirk that slowly fell into a deep frown. "The best option is just to put Tarble on the throne. It's the cleanest way to get what we want." Fasha agreed with that -- since he came out of the tank, Tarble seemed dead set on completely throwing Saiyan society on its head.
Yet, Fasha also saw the problem with that. "He won't go for it." It didn't make sense. Absolutely none. Tarble was in the perfect position to just take the throne. People wanted him to. People urged him to. As the strongest Saiyan on paper, the throne should be Tarble's by right. But she knew that he would never reach out and take it. He wouldn't make a move to accept it. The throne didn't mean a damn thing to him. "He won't betray his family like that."
Bardock nodded, "No, he won't." It went beyond his attachment with Teach and Elery. It was with Vegeta jr. as well. For him to become king, Prince Vegeta wouldn't and neither would accept that.
"So, as I see it… we have two ways to venture forward," Bardock began, his voice solemn. "We continue as planned. We use your and the other's troops as soldiers to perform the coup. Paragus is still on board, so Broly is as well. I have my own support in the TO, and while I'm not Frieza's favorite monkey anymore, he's still backing my claim." They spent years gathering the pieces for the coup, and now it was nearing the promised hour… performing the coup would just be so messy. So incredibly messy compared to what it was before Tarble entered the picture.
Fasha was silent for a moment, letting the sounds of war fill the silence. "And the other?"
"No matter what, King and Prince Vegeta have to go. To put Tarble or me on the throne, they have to be removed." That much Fasha could agree with. Both of them considered them enemies and their relationship with Tarble or not, they would take them all out if they could. They simply weren't enemies that they could afford to leave alone. "So, we assassinate them both instead. Frame the Reach or someone, leave Tarble in the dark, and if he wants the throne then… then great. If not, I'll take the chair."
Assassination. The idea of it rubbed her pride the wrong way. But if the alternatives were all worse…
At least this way Tarble wouldn't have to pick any sides.
"Let's do it. When?" Fasha voiced her decision. Her lips were pressed into a thin line, ready to do it now if it came down to it.
Bardock looked at her for a moment, his mouth opening before he snapped it shut before glancing sharply to the side. Fasha looked over as well, and a second later her scouter flared to life as an awe-inspiring power level of ten million was marked as an ally. Another member of the Ginyu force? But how did Bardock know before she-
"When the war ends," Bardock interrupted her train of thought. "We wait until the war ends. No point in making things more complicated until then."
When the war ends. Yeah, she could accept that.
…
"Oh, this simply won't do at all," Koter heard Frieza say, his voice filtering through a listening device one of his agents had placed. Their scans for them were through, but when his agents were the ones searching for them, it became increasingly simple to miss one or three. Though, listening devices were sadly all he could plant in the tyrant's throne room. Even his best attempts of assassination had failed, costing him time and agents. "That's hardly the resolution I was wanting."
Koter interlocked his fingers, listening in intently on Frieza who had just overheard a conversation not meant for his ears. A coup amongst the Saiyans? That was very interesting. He had missed his chance to eliminate the Saiyans as a threat years ago, but that was a promising opportunity. What's more, Frieza sounded like he had a stake in it.
"Who knew a lack of ambition could be so infuriating?" Frieza continued to grumble to his aid, Berryblue, who listened patiently. To that, Koter knew he was speaking of Prince Tarble. Koter's exact opposite as things were. Koter would stop at nothing to reach the peak of the Reach society to accomplish his goals and Prince Tarble stubbornly refused to even consider usurping his father and brother. "I wanted drama, dammit."
Berryblue let out a patient breath, "Are you dead set on sabotaging your greatest support?" She questioned, sounding like she knew the answer. Koter glanced at the video feed of the throne room to see Frieza sitting in his floating throne, one arm propping up his head as he glared balefully at a planet that was being ravaged by Prince Vegeta.
Frieza answered by turning his glare to Berryblue. The elderly alien met it and looked like she was swallowing a disappointed sigh. "I can't say I understand or approve, but if it is your will then it will be done. Bardock is attempting to defuse the situation. Give him reason to escalate instead."
What Koter was hearing was the height of luxury, he realized. And wastefulness. Frieza raised two empires -- Tarble and Vegeta's -- and all for the sake of his own amusement. Just so the explosion would be that much bigger when two brothers collided. Now he was pushing Bardock to complete his rebellion?
"Hm. There's an idea," Frieza hummed, lazily flicking his tail. Koter couldn't begin to imagine what was going through the tyrant's mind. "But I'm wanting something… bigger." There was a slow smile that tugged at the edges of his lips, his eyes narrowing even as a chuckle rang out in the command room. "And I think I know just how to get what I want."
Koter waited for a moment, hoping that Frieza would be so foolish to reveal his plans, but no such luck. The tyrant simply giggled to himself at the thought of what he intended. Letting out a small sigh, Koter closed the feeds. Recordings would be made, reviewed, and flagged if anything important was being discussed, but he had more important things to deal with than listening to small talk.
Leaning back in his chair, his eyes focused on a map of the Reach Empire. Colors marked how far they had fallen in a mere decade, solid proof that they were undoubtedly losing the war. A red line marked the second Shield Wall, a larger and far more grand one he spent years defending. A handful of years had changed his fortune greatly. With his agents in the Frieza-force, it had been simple to engineer victories that justified his quick ascension up the ranks until he reigned supreme over military matters.
The only ones above him now we're the heads of the great families. One was an agent, one was his father, and another was in the process of being removed. It was nearing the promised hour. Years of work were to be paid off with unlimited power. If only he could bring himself to be happy about it.
With his position, it was easy to misplace supplies for his own ends. The Ghost Fleet was swelling in power, his armies growing in size… but it wasn't enough. He ran the calculations again and again, but the answer wouldn't change.
"A century," Koter muttered, looking at the red line that surrounded the core of the Reach Empire. As far as he was concerned, everything beyond that red line was real estate to bleed and delay the Frieza-force. It would take him a century to turn the Shield Wall into what he wanted. To gather the strength needed to venture out again to reclaim what was lost.
That was too long. He would be discovered and dead before the century passed. The Shield Wall would be breached again before it was ready and all would be lost. He couldn't afford a century. So, he was forced to cut corners. Then shave off plans. Then sacrifice quality. All to decrease the timer to something feasible.
Five years. If he and the Reach Empire could hold out for five years, then the empire would survive. They would withdraw, huddling behind their wall as their enemies defeated themselves trying to break through them, whether they be Green Lantern, Saiyan, or Frost Demon.
It was just a case of giving themselves five years. Prince Tarble's distraction from the Reach front was a blessing. The moment he vanished from the fight, it was like the pressure that the Reach had been creaking under suddenly vanished. There were others, of course, but it was only once Prince Tarble was gone that it become clear that he was the driving force behind the Frieza-force advancement. In an ideal world, Koter could eliminate him entirely, but his attempts at assassination had met similar failure.
Koter's faceplates twitched into a grin. He couldn't claim credit for creating the opportunity before him, but he would be a fool to not capitalize it. The blow dealt to the Green Lanterns was a major one. They had replaced their numbers like nothing happened -- and there was even an intriguing rumor about Blue Lanterns being sighted -- yet the giants of the galaxy were waking up. The Green Lanterns operated as a scythe that beheaded any empire that grew too tall, in theory, but now the blade had dulled. Weeds were shooting up.
He gave an order to his Wraiths to seize control of some notable ex-vassals of the Thanagarian Empire. It had been shattered in everything but name, and Prince Tarble wouldn't be the only one eager to sweep up the pieces. The Prince had spread himself thin already. Adding more weight might be enough to make him falter. And the more distracted the Trade Organization was, the more time the Reach would have to build its strength. His agents would reach out to powerful empires or kingdoms, forming coalitions and swearing fealty to new masters to drag them into the war with the TO.
A galaxy-spanning war. Tarble had been so kind to set the dominoes up, it would be a shame to not knock them over-
"Your father wishes to see you," The voice of his AI aid informed him, breaking Koter out of his thoughts. He glanced at a security feed that popped up to reveal that his father was coming here to him rather than the other way around. Meaning something had gone awry. How unfortunate.
Koter tapped a finger on his desk, his thoughts moving as fast as lightning. There was only one obvious answer. "Send him in," Koter ordered, his tone flat. He had known this day was coming but it would be a lie if he said he expected it so soon. The only good side to this was that it was his father rather than a rival.
His father was a dignified man and he looked the part. Ceremonial robes, deep blue faceplates that matched his eyes, both carefully blank as he moved with a natural grace. Perfectly in control of himself, his actions, and as far as he was aware, the situation. His father looked down at him for a moment, and nothing about him gave any outward show of emotion except for the fact that he was here.
"What have you done?" He questioned, probably the most direct he had ever been in his entire life. There was no mistaking what he meant.
"What needed to be done, father," Koter answered, his own voice just as in control. He had learned his lessons well. His father fell silent. It wasn't in his nature to gape, scream or shout. That silence, the lack of a sharp retort might as well be all three rolled into one.
The silence stretched on for a few seconds, an eternity as their gazes were locked in a battle of wills. "You admit it?" He questioned and the fact that he was caught so off guard that he had to ask for clarification almost got a smile out of Koter. Almost.
How was he supposed to last five years when the secret was already starting to surface? Had he been too reckless with his agents?
"There's no need to hide it from you. You aren't in a position to reveal anything, else our dynasty will crumble," Koter dismissed the possibility. He was Koter Ve'sk, but his father was simply Ve'sk. Everything that he did, everything that he was, was for the dynasty. He had no other identity beyond being a tool to avenge slights and further their splendor. Meaning that he would die before revealing that secret.
"Knowing that you still-"
"Don't waste my time with pointless questions, father," Koter interrupted sharply. "Not when it has become so valuable. Every second you waste is a second I can plan our survival."
His father fell silent again. This was… Koter had imagined confronting his father throughout his childhood. He imagined this conversation more times than he cared to count. Yet, he hadn't expected it to feel so… dissatisfying. Koter had always wondered what it would take to get an actual reaction from his father, but if learning that he had been brainwashing the Reach high society couldn't do it then nothing could. "Survival? The Reach has-"
Koter couldn't do it. He couldn't swallow those same words that were shoved in his face despite all the evidence they were lies. "No. Enough. I won't pretend to accept your delusions any longer," His voice was like steel and just as cold. He tapped a holographic button on his desk and in response, a Wraith appeared.
His father flinched. He knew what was going to happen next. Still, he remained in control of himself for as long as he could. "What is your plan?" He demanded to know, and there was actual emotion in his voice for the first time.
Koter considered not answering, but… for a decade, he kept this secret. And his father did deserve to know.
"I will lead the Reach as an uncontested dictator for as long as I'm able. The great families will fall, stripped of their power… or, as much of it as I can take. The Reach will survive under my rule, but eventually, I will die. Likely by assassination. Our dynasty will suffer the same fate as the rest that have fallen -- utter annihilation and reduced to a footnote." His father trembled, or at least Koter thought he did.
But he didn't tell him everything. Souske carried an heir to their dynasty. The Ghost Fleet was hers. Even if the Reach fell, a legacy would be left behind.
"Damn you," His father cursed. There wasn't any screaming or shouting, but it was more than Koter ever expected.
"And damn you for pushing my hand like this, father." If only someone had listened… but this was not the time to think about regrets and what-ifs. "Your assassination at the hands of the third great family will be arranged. I will become the family head, the third family will fall and the second is my puppet."
The Wraith seized his father, bending his mind to Koter's will. He watched dispassionately until the task was done. There was nothing to be said and his father had his orders, so he simply turned around to leave his office.
"Give mother my love," Koter said, sinking into his chair.
It was for the Reach. Everything was for the Reach.
That made it worth it.
It had to.
...
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If she got involved in the fight, Fasha knew she would completely lose track of the battle and her kids would end up dying because of it. So, as much as she would like to, it just wasn't worth it.
Explosions rocked the planet below, her soldiers darting around in teams of five. Fasha had drilled Bardock's lesson into them -- the team, the mission, then pride -- and so far, it seemed to be working. There had been losses initially, but as her kids grew stronger, they got increasingly rarer.
It was weird. So very weird. And that weirdness had creeped up on her so slowly over the past decade that she hadn't noticed until it was too late. For the longest time, Fasha couldn't have cared less about anyone. She was a true Saiyan -- only the fight mattered. Everything she did, everything that she was, revolved around searching for that next fight that would push her to her limits and make her stronger by the end of it.
Then came the team. At first, it was just Gine. Dumb, stupid, weak Gine that Fasha had relentlessly bullied, who had lied and covered for her when Fasha made a stupid mistake because she thought she had been strong. At the time, Fasha hadn't been able to understand it. Especially when she was put on a team with Bardock, who she thought at the time would be the weirdest Saiyan she would ever meet, and their weirdness drew them together. Years passed and Bardock's weirdness infected her -- the Team, Shugesh, Borgos, Tora, Gine and Bardock.
Later came Tarble. At the start, the kid just seemed lost. He fought, desperately attempting to grow stronger to the point he nearly fought to the death in every spar simply because he refused to go down to anything less. He did what they told him to do, he came through when they needed him to -- in time, he carved out a spot in the team before he started leading it.
But, in time, Tarble would prove to be even weirder than Bardock. A true freak of nature, not just in strength but in the mind. Over the past ten years, he infected her with a new strain of weirdness, one far broader than the strain that Bardock had given her. Which is how she found herself in the situation that she was.
"I wonder if Teach feels like this?" Fasha muttered, watching her kids dart around to combat the Khuds. They were powerful. Ten years ago and Fasha would have lost against them. Even with the Wrath State, her kids were struggling. The only reason that they hadn't lost was because they were working together seamlessly. Worry gnawed at her heart because for the dozens that she was following, there were hundreds that she wasn't. And thousands off on their own missions.
Fasha hadn't been aware just how scary that reality was until the warfront grew too large to stay grouped up. Of her ten thousand kids, her soldiers, nearly ten thousand of them were sprinkled across the empires they had been waging war against for the past six months. At the very least they were being reinforced with armies and the like, but her kids had to be the heavy hitters for their battles.
The kids had left the nest, off to fight battles so very far away -- Fasha was proud and terrified in equal measures.
And it was all Tarble's fault.
"Champion!" One of her kids yelled out, spotting a Khund wearing unique battle armor. It was bright red, an odd blend of magic and science. Fasha couldn't make heads or tails of it, but she knew that they were strong. Not the kind of strong that her kids could handle, which was the entire reason that she was here.
Fasha descended in a blur, flipping sharply as she neared the Khund champion to deliver a devastating axe kick. However, the armor had some kind of sensor that warned it that she was coming, so it managed to shift an oversized sword up to block the blow. Wind kicked up and the clash sounded like a clap of thunder, the ground buckling underneath the champion, yet it remained standing.
Champions were rare. The kind of warriors that the Khunds couldn't afford to place on every front and every planet. They were the best that their empire could offer . Fasha was the only one in the system that could beat them.
"Get going," Fasha roared at her kids, ki gathering in her hands as she flipped off and sending a blast of it in the champion's face. Her enemy swung at her, a massive slab of metal racing towards her to cut her in half at the waist. She narrowly dodged, the narrowest dodge she had in some time. Her kids hesitated for the briefest of moments before they flew to complete their mission.
The champion didn't bother to give chase. It hefted its weapon, its eyes narrowed. Fasha touched down on the ground, settling into a stance. For the first time in a long time, she was fighting an enemy that couldn't fly. Not without technology, at least, which was something that the Khunds almost seemed to scorn. The champion's lips curled upwards into a savage smile, matching the one on her face before they both rushed forward so the fight could begin.
Fasha ducked underneath a slash from the taller alien, twisting underneath it before she used a hand to push herself off the ground and launched a foot at its stomach. She wouldn't fly to give herself the edge. So, she was stuck using the light gravity. The Khund blocked the blow with its sword, but it was still sent flying back through a building before it dug its feet into the ground to slow down. While it did that, Fasha sprinted forward, holding her hands out.
Ki gathered in the palms of her hands, but instead of becoming an attack, it lengthened and solidified in her grip to become two yellow short staffs. One was longer than the other by a quarter with a length of five feet, matching her height. Her grin grew as she threw herself at the champion, bringing one staff down on its blade while she thrust with the other.
You could only spend so much time around Tarble watching him invent techniques before you started to consider your own arsenal of techniques. Even Shugesh was starting to experiment. But, Tarble could keep his ki blades. She had something better.
The Khund let out a laugh as their weapons clashed. Her staffs were dense with ki, which made them heavier, but it also allowed them to maintain their shape. Fasha twirled her longer spear, misdirecting the champion before she lunged with her short spear. The blow was blocked, but as the Khund countered by shifting its blade to rush towards her neck, Fasha lashed out with the bottom half of her long staff and skewered the Khund through the leg while leaning out of the way of the sword.
Continuing with her momentum, Fasha flipped and lashed out with a foot meant to catch the champion in the side of the head, only for it to catch the blow with its forearm. In that same instant, it reversed it's grip and slammed the pommel of its sword into her stomach hard enough that it nearly tore through her. Fasha grunted, folding around the grip of the sword, and flew back. She landed on her feet and spun her ki weapons to show that she was still in the fight.
"You fight with honor," The Khund remarked, but Fasha shook her head, trying to speak, plotting her next move and keeping an eye on her kid's progress all at the same time.
"Honor has nothing to do with it. It's just not any fun fighting with an advantage," Fasha dismissed the praise. She wasn't Tarble. Or Bardock. Ruthlessly exploring every advantage and stacking the deck with plans within plans, with contingencies for the enemy plans within plans and so on. Fasha was a warrior first and foremost.
The champion just smiled away. They did that a lot, she noticed. It was like every single one of them was just overjoyed to fight them. And it would be a lie to say that Fasha didn't feel the same way if only a little. The Khunds got it. Of all the races that Fasha had encountered in her decades of life, the Khunds were the closest in mentality to Saiyans that she had found. They had that same urge to just… fight. Not for any reason or justification, just for the sake of fighting. Because fighting for the sake of fighting was all the reason that was needed.
Fasha's boot dug into the soft concrete of the planet they fought on before a huge dust cloud was kicked up when she launched herself at the Khund. The champion settled in a stance and took her first blow head-on, blocking it with the flat of its blade. Its feet sunk into the ground, causing it to crack like glass, but it remained standing. Her short spear made a lightning-fast thrust at the Khund's face, only to barely scrape it's cheek as it dodged before countering.
Their weapons of choice moved in blurs, attacking and countering so seamlessly it was as if it were a rehearsed dance. Fasha's spears spun in her hands, offering distractions and feints as she pressed the attack, attempting to overwhelm the enemy. Her ki weapons slipped through the gaps of its defenses, but the Khund's reactions were just as fast -- every fatal blow was avoided, reduced to a shallow cut and every advantage vanished before it could be capitalized on. Her arms began to burn from maintaining the onslaught, but Fasha savored it and used it as motivation.
Their weapons clashed in a shower of sparks, its sword wedged in an X between her spears. The Khund brought down its impressive strength, forcing Fasha to sink into the ground as its sword sunk into her shoulder as her arms trembled to keep the blade at bay. Even as crimson blood dripped from the wound and her collarbone felt like it was on fire, Fasha simply smiled a savage smile before she lunged forward.
The Khund dodged the thrust at its abdomen by leaning out of the way, so Fasha pivoted, using her other spear as leverage to slam the flat of the spear into its stomach and folding the champion around it. The champion quickly recovered, landing on its feet but Fasha hadn't moved. Gathering ki at the tips of her weapons, she sent an arc of ki at the Khund. The two of them made a large X that carved their way through a building behind the Khund when it dodged.
However, Fasha simply sent more of them at the Khund, forcing it to go where she wanted. That was until it decided to slash at the ki attack to find that its sword was sturdy enough to break through. It unleashed a mighty war cry as it rushed forward, thinking that it had the best of her, but it was thoroughly unprepared for Fasha to dart forward, switching her grip on her short staff before she launched it like a spear.
There was a clap of thunder and the wind fanned the flames around them as the spear of ki shot forward, breaking the sound barrier. The champion tried to react, but it was too late. The spear of ki punched through its sword and through the arm holding it, severing the arm at the shoulder. The Khund reacted well by keeping hold of the weapon and simply letting its other arm drop to the ground as it continued its rush forward, but it understood that death was near.
Fasha ran forward, wielding a singular staff with both hands. Using the top of it to deflect a wild and desperate swing, Fasha spun her staff so the bottom arced up and closed in on the champion's neck. There it cut through armor, flesh, and bone. The champion's head flew free and the body dropped, rolling for a second before it slammed into a ruined building with enough force that the building collapsed.
She had won.
Rolling her shoulder to test the damage, Fasha found that it worked fine enough. Now that her attention wasn't divided, she focused on the information on her scouter to find that her kids hadn't managed to get themselves killed the moment she stopped watching them. Surprisingly. It felt like they were determined to do exactly that most of the time.
Floating up, Fasha went to catch up, only to stop when the sound of rubble shifted. Twisting to look behind her, her eyes widened to find the headless Khund rushing her with one arm clutching the stump of a greatsword. In that same moment, a flash of blue pierced its chest. A hole was burned through its bulky armor, telling her that the blast was powerful. The body slumped over dead. Probably. Glancing up, she saw a face that she hadn't seen in a good long while.
"Kill thief," Fasha pointed out, looking up at Bardock's too smug face as he floated above her. She rose to greet him, her own smile on her face. He looked good.
"Had to make an entrance," Bardock explained with a smirk and a shrug. His gaze drifted to her shoulder, but he knew better than to comment on the wound. "Their armor acts like some sort of back up consciousness or something. Destroying the centerpiece does the trick."
Huh. "So, you're fighting on this front now?" She asked, wondering just what Bardock was doing here. It was great to see him. Really great. And Gine and Kakarot would be happy to see him too. It was just a question of why he was here. "Is the Ginyu Squad all here?"
To that, Bardock jerked his head, gesturing for her to fly with him. He took off his scouter, but Fasha couldn't bring herself to do the same. Not with her kids still fighting. But he didn't comment on it, "The Ginyu Squad is all here. Frieza assigned us to Tarble, who sprinkled us all out across the front. Though technically, I'm supposed to be a few systems over, but I finished early and figured I had time to touch base."
That wasn't reassuring to hear. From what Fasha understood, the war was going well. In the past six months, the Thanagarian Empire had splintered. With Queen Teach having eaten the royal family, succession became an issue on top of their pile of problems. Vassals jumped ship, some going to Tarble, but most tried to strike out on their own. The loyalists were buckling under the weight of the Khund empire, civilians were protesting everything under the sun… Tarble might have been too generous with his predictions for how long the Thanagarian Empire was going to last.
There shouldn't be a need for the Ginyu Squad to get involved.
"Is the situation turning south?" Fasha questioned, spotting one of her kids demolishing a soldier. Their task was nearly complete -- eliminate the Khund forces stationed on the planet, cutting off a staging ground for reinforcement to clear a path for a main offensive led by Tarble.
"The vassals of the empire are reaching out to make alliances," Bardock explained. "Not just with each other but their neighbors too," He continued when she didn't get it. And when she still didn't get it, he explained further. "The Khunds aren't the only ones watching how aggressively that Tarble is expanding. From the look of it, he's about to devour one empire and subjugate another while having the backing of the TO. There are a lot of kingdoms and empires that are looking at the situation and realizing that Tarble is about to become their new neighbor."
"Ah," It clicked into place. The vassals making an alliance with an empire like… one of the ones she couldn't bother to remember, then… "How big is the war becoming?" Fasha questioned, sending a glance at the child blowing up a weapons depo.
Bardock could only offer a shrug, "Too big if we aren't careful. I'm expecting Tarble to get curtailed by Frieza as a show of power to remind everyone that he's on a leash. That should be enough for most, but Frieza isn't exactly known for his ability to make friends." That wasn't good. That wasn't good at all- "I'm sure it'll just be a show. Tarble has become Frieza's number one customer in terms of buying slaves since the war started."
Slaves for armies, to set up his empire, and to support the war effort in ways that weren't fighting.
Fasha let out a sigh, tearing her eyes away from her kid to look at Bardock. "Are we still doing it?" She asked a question that weighed heavily on her mind for years now. Their reasons for wanting to perform a coup rang hollow when they had Tarble in the mix. Tarble, who was second in line to the throne but controlled his own empire. All he had to do was talk to Frieza and he could get himself made king.
Performing the coup… It felt like it wasn't worth it anymore.
Bardock's reaction surprised her though -- he let out a small laugh before he offered what Fasha could only describe as a clueless shrug. "I don't know," He said, and that wasn't the answer she wanted to hear from the man that had been orchestrating a coup for as long as she's known him. "The reasons for it are still there," He said, gesturing to her kids that were fighting a war. "The bar is just going to keep getting higher. Ability and talent won't mean a damn thing to the class system. It's gotten easier to increase our strength to jump a class thanks to the Medicine Ball, but there are always going to be Saiyans like Leek who just aren't any good at fighting."
Fasha's lips thinned. Since she took command of ten thousand child soldiers, she learned a thing or two. Some just had talent while others had none. A power level didn't reflect that. Some lagged behind the group while others were miles ahead. They might have been born stronger, born in a higher class, but the talents that they did have still weren't recognized.
"If anything, it's going to get worse. The ones under your care -- they've all risen to elite class. They've been trained by you, Tarble, and the others. The gap between them and the kids that didn't get picked or make the cut is vast." Bardock pointed out, and Fasha frowned at the reminder that for all of the children that had been attached to Tarble, however indirectly, was a small fraction of the saiyan population.
The classism that they fought against was still there. Just in a different form.
"Part of me just doesn't want to let it go. I've dreamed of being king for decades at this point, but that's just my pride talking," Bardock admitted with a smirk that slowly fell into a deep frown. "The best option is just to put Tarble on the throne. It's the cleanest way to get what we want." Fasha agreed with that -- since he came out of the tank, Tarble seemed dead set on completely throwing Saiyan society on its head.
Yet, Fasha also saw the problem with that. "He won't go for it." It didn't make sense. Absolutely none. Tarble was in the perfect position to just take the throne. People wanted him to. People urged him to. As the strongest Saiyan on paper, the throne should be Tarble's by right. But she knew that he would never reach out and take it. He wouldn't make a move to accept it. The throne didn't mean a damn thing to him. "He won't betray his family like that."
Bardock nodded, "No, he won't." It went beyond his attachment with Teach and Elery. It was with Vegeta jr. as well. For him to become king, Prince Vegeta wouldn't and neither would accept that.
"So, as I see it… we have two ways to venture forward," Bardock began, his voice solemn. "We continue as planned. We use your and the other's troops as soldiers to perform the coup. Paragus is still on board, so Broly is as well. I have my own support in the TO, and while I'm not Frieza's favorite monkey anymore, he's still backing my claim." They spent years gathering the pieces for the coup, and now it was nearing the promised hour… performing the coup would just be so messy. So incredibly messy compared to what it was before Tarble entered the picture.
Fasha was silent for a moment, letting the sounds of war fill the silence. "And the other?"
"No matter what, King and Prince Vegeta have to go. To put Tarble or me on the throne, they have to be removed." That much Fasha could agree with. Both of them considered them enemies and their relationship with Tarble or not, they would take them all out if they could. They simply weren't enemies that they could afford to leave alone. "So, we assassinate them both instead. Frame the Reach or someone, leave Tarble in the dark, and if he wants the throne then… then great. If not, I'll take the chair."
Assassination. The idea of it rubbed her pride the wrong way. But if the alternatives were all worse…
At least this way Tarble wouldn't have to pick any sides.
"Let's do it. When?" Fasha voiced her decision. Her lips were pressed into a thin line, ready to do it now if it came down to it.
Bardock looked at her for a moment, his mouth opening before he snapped it shut before glancing sharply to the side. Fasha looked over as well, and a second later her scouter flared to life as an awe-inspiring power level of ten million was marked as an ally. Another member of the Ginyu force? But how did Bardock know before she-
"When the war ends," Bardock interrupted her train of thought. "We wait until the war ends. No point in making things more complicated until then."
When the war ends. Yeah, she could accept that.
…
"Oh, this simply won't do at all," Koter heard Frieza say, his voice filtering through a listening device one of his agents had placed. Their scans for them were through, but when his agents were the ones searching for them, it became increasingly simple to miss one or three. Though, listening devices were sadly all he could plant in the tyrant's throne room. Even his best attempts of assassination had failed, costing him time and agents. "That's hardly the resolution I was wanting."
Koter interlocked his fingers, listening in intently on Frieza who had just overheard a conversation not meant for his ears. A coup amongst the Saiyans? That was very interesting. He had missed his chance to eliminate the Saiyans as a threat years ago, but that was a promising opportunity. What's more, Frieza sounded like he had a stake in it.
"Who knew a lack of ambition could be so infuriating?" Frieza continued to grumble to his aid, Berryblue, who listened patiently. To that, Koter knew he was speaking of Prince Tarble. Koter's exact opposite as things were. Koter would stop at nothing to reach the peak of the Reach society to accomplish his goals and Prince Tarble stubbornly refused to even consider usurping his father and brother. "I wanted drama, dammit."
Berryblue let out a patient breath, "Are you dead set on sabotaging your greatest support?" She questioned, sounding like she knew the answer. Koter glanced at the video feed of the throne room to see Frieza sitting in his floating throne, one arm propping up his head as he glared balefully at a planet that was being ravaged by Prince Vegeta.
Frieza answered by turning his glare to Berryblue. The elderly alien met it and looked like she was swallowing a disappointed sigh. "I can't say I understand or approve, but if it is your will then it will be done. Bardock is attempting to defuse the situation. Give him reason to escalate instead."
What Koter was hearing was the height of luxury, he realized. And wastefulness. Frieza raised two empires -- Tarble and Vegeta's -- and all for the sake of his own amusement. Just so the explosion would be that much bigger when two brothers collided. Now he was pushing Bardock to complete his rebellion?
"Hm. There's an idea," Frieza hummed, lazily flicking his tail. Koter couldn't begin to imagine what was going through the tyrant's mind. "But I'm wanting something… bigger." There was a slow smile that tugged at the edges of his lips, his eyes narrowing even as a chuckle rang out in the command room. "And I think I know just how to get what I want."
Koter waited for a moment, hoping that Frieza would be so foolish to reveal his plans, but no such luck. The tyrant simply giggled to himself at the thought of what he intended. Letting out a small sigh, Koter closed the feeds. Recordings would be made, reviewed, and flagged if anything important was being discussed, but he had more important things to deal with than listening to small talk.
Leaning back in his chair, his eyes focused on a map of the Reach Empire. Colors marked how far they had fallen in a mere decade, solid proof that they were undoubtedly losing the war. A red line marked the second Shield Wall, a larger and far more grand one he spent years defending. A handful of years had changed his fortune greatly. With his agents in the Frieza-force, it had been simple to engineer victories that justified his quick ascension up the ranks until he reigned supreme over military matters.
The only ones above him now we're the heads of the great families. One was an agent, one was his father, and another was in the process of being removed. It was nearing the promised hour. Years of work were to be paid off with unlimited power. If only he could bring himself to be happy about it.
With his position, it was easy to misplace supplies for his own ends. The Ghost Fleet was swelling in power, his armies growing in size… but it wasn't enough. He ran the calculations again and again, but the answer wouldn't change.
"A century," Koter muttered, looking at the red line that surrounded the core of the Reach Empire. As far as he was concerned, everything beyond that red line was real estate to bleed and delay the Frieza-force. It would take him a century to turn the Shield Wall into what he wanted. To gather the strength needed to venture out again to reclaim what was lost.
That was too long. He would be discovered and dead before the century passed. The Shield Wall would be breached again before it was ready and all would be lost. He couldn't afford a century. So, he was forced to cut corners. Then shave off plans. Then sacrifice quality. All to decrease the timer to something feasible.
Five years. If he and the Reach Empire could hold out for five years, then the empire would survive. They would withdraw, huddling behind their wall as their enemies defeated themselves trying to break through them, whether they be Green Lantern, Saiyan, or Frost Demon.
It was just a case of giving themselves five years. Prince Tarble's distraction from the Reach front was a blessing. The moment he vanished from the fight, it was like the pressure that the Reach had been creaking under suddenly vanished. There were others, of course, but it was only once Prince Tarble was gone that it become clear that he was the driving force behind the Frieza-force advancement. In an ideal world, Koter could eliminate him entirely, but his attempts at assassination had met similar failure.
Koter's faceplates twitched into a grin. He couldn't claim credit for creating the opportunity before him, but he would be a fool to not capitalize it. The blow dealt to the Green Lanterns was a major one. They had replaced their numbers like nothing happened -- and there was even an intriguing rumor about Blue Lanterns being sighted -- yet the giants of the galaxy were waking up. The Green Lanterns operated as a scythe that beheaded any empire that grew too tall, in theory, but now the blade had dulled. Weeds were shooting up.
He gave an order to his Wraiths to seize control of some notable ex-vassals of the Thanagarian Empire. It had been shattered in everything but name, and Prince Tarble wouldn't be the only one eager to sweep up the pieces. The Prince had spread himself thin already. Adding more weight might be enough to make him falter. And the more distracted the Trade Organization was, the more time the Reach would have to build its strength. His agents would reach out to powerful empires or kingdoms, forming coalitions and swearing fealty to new masters to drag them into the war with the TO.
A galaxy-spanning war. Tarble had been so kind to set the dominoes up, it would be a shame to not knock them over-
"Your father wishes to see you," The voice of his AI aid informed him, breaking Koter out of his thoughts. He glanced at a security feed that popped up to reveal that his father was coming here to him rather than the other way around. Meaning something had gone awry. How unfortunate.
Koter tapped a finger on his desk, his thoughts moving as fast as lightning. There was only one obvious answer. "Send him in," Koter ordered, his tone flat. He had known this day was coming but it would be a lie if he said he expected it so soon. The only good side to this was that it was his father rather than a rival.
His father was a dignified man and he looked the part. Ceremonial robes, deep blue faceplates that matched his eyes, both carefully blank as he moved with a natural grace. Perfectly in control of himself, his actions, and as far as he was aware, the situation. His father looked down at him for a moment, and nothing about him gave any outward show of emotion except for the fact that he was here.
"What have you done?" He questioned, probably the most direct he had ever been in his entire life. There was no mistaking what he meant.
"What needed to be done, father," Koter answered, his own voice just as in control. He had learned his lessons well. His father fell silent. It wasn't in his nature to gape, scream or shout. That silence, the lack of a sharp retort might as well be all three rolled into one.
The silence stretched on for a few seconds, an eternity as their gazes were locked in a battle of wills. "You admit it?" He questioned and the fact that he was caught so off guard that he had to ask for clarification almost got a smile out of Koter. Almost.
How was he supposed to last five years when the secret was already starting to surface? Had he been too reckless with his agents?
"There's no need to hide it from you. You aren't in a position to reveal anything, else our dynasty will crumble," Koter dismissed the possibility. He was Koter Ve'sk, but his father was simply Ve'sk. Everything that he did, everything that he was, was for the dynasty. He had no other identity beyond being a tool to avenge slights and further their splendor. Meaning that he would die before revealing that secret.
"Knowing that you still-"
"Don't waste my time with pointless questions, father," Koter interrupted sharply. "Not when it has become so valuable. Every second you waste is a second I can plan our survival."
His father fell silent again. This was… Koter had imagined confronting his father throughout his childhood. He imagined this conversation more times than he cared to count. Yet, he hadn't expected it to feel so… dissatisfying. Koter had always wondered what it would take to get an actual reaction from his father, but if learning that he had been brainwashing the Reach high society couldn't do it then nothing could. "Survival? The Reach has-"
Koter couldn't do it. He couldn't swallow those same words that were shoved in his face despite all the evidence they were lies. "No. Enough. I won't pretend to accept your delusions any longer," His voice was like steel and just as cold. He tapped a holographic button on his desk and in response, a Wraith appeared.
His father flinched. He knew what was going to happen next. Still, he remained in control of himself for as long as he could. "What is your plan?" He demanded to know, and there was actual emotion in his voice for the first time.
Koter considered not answering, but… for a decade, he kept this secret. And his father did deserve to know.
"I will lead the Reach as an uncontested dictator for as long as I'm able. The great families will fall, stripped of their power… or, as much of it as I can take. The Reach will survive under my rule, but eventually, I will die. Likely by assassination. Our dynasty will suffer the same fate as the rest that have fallen -- utter annihilation and reduced to a footnote." His father trembled, or at least Koter thought he did.
But he didn't tell him everything. Souske carried an heir to their dynasty. The Ghost Fleet was hers. Even if the Reach fell, a legacy would be left behind.
"Damn you," His father cursed. There wasn't any screaming or shouting, but it was more than Koter ever expected.
"And damn you for pushing my hand like this, father." If only someone had listened… but this was not the time to think about regrets and what-ifs. "Your assassination at the hands of the third great family will be arranged. I will become the family head, the third family will fall and the second is my puppet."
The Wraith seized his father, bending his mind to Koter's will. He watched dispassionately until the task was done. There was nothing to be said and his father had his orders, so he simply turned around to leave his office.
"Give mother my love," Koter said, sinking into his chair.
It was for the Reach. Everything was for the Reach.
That made it worth it.
It had to.
...
The next chapter is currently available on my Patreon and Subscribe Star, so if you want to read it a week early, all it takes is a single dollar in the tip jar. Or, for five dollars, you can read the chapter after that two weeks before its public release! I hope you enjoyed!
Cybandeath
Lord Darkness, and Representative of Mad Science
- Location
- The United States of America
probably both at the same time in my own humble opinion on the matter.
Feeling of the Past
- Location
- USA
Having a Nth metal mace opened up a lot of doors for Shayera, and not just because she was knocking them down. Outside of Thanagar, the metal was mythical to those that knew about it at all. And the Frieza-force, more specifically Tarble's empire, most certainly knew about the metal. Some had tried to take it from her. They had failed and in doing so, they made themselves great examples to those that witnessed not to try again.
Shayera looked down at her mace, having been without it for so very long. The sizable ball at the other end of the grip was covered in spikes, giving the weapon a deadly appearance. She had killed with it before, but only when she had to. Closing her eyes after a moment, Shayera leaned back in her chair, her wings fanning out. They drew some attention as well, but not for the reason most would assume.
The spine of her wings were covered in Nth metal. Interlocking plates bound to her wings to give her full range of movement. It could never be removed. Not without ripping her wings from her back, and such an action would kill her. The metal came from a mace that was once so similar to her own. The weapon of her love, Katar. Dual-wielding had been a thought at first. Just not a feasible one considering that she needed all her strength to wield one mace.
So, the mace was melted down and bound to her. Now Katar would be her wings for the remainder of her life. He would have liked that, Shayera thought.
"Next combatant!" A voice bellowed, prompting Shayera to look up. The number displayed didn't match her own, but it wasn't far off so she bothered to watch the match. They sat in a stadium, hundreds of them, a stadium once used for sport. Not even that long ago based on the final score of a game that got interrupted by an invasion. There were a few different matches being held, all between various aliens, each with a unique ability.
They were the ones that had earned the right to be here. The ones that had impressed during recruitment. They were the ones that earned an invitation to join the legendary 501st, Tarble's fist.
"And what an honor it is," Shayera muttered under her breath as she watched two contestants fight. One was able to control the ground beneath them, which meant little when their opponent could fly and fire some manner of energy beams down. For all the good it did when they couldn't penetrate stone. Never in her life would she had expected to be auditioning to join an empire's military that wasn't the Thanagarian Empire's. Yet here she was.
War, by its very nature, was death. From what she had heard, Tarble took inordinately good care of his men, especially compared to the rest of the Frieza-Force. Even still, losses were inevitable. Men were lost here and there despite their training and equipment. The 501st was no different. And considering that Tarble had really managed to kick the hornet's nest, he needed every soldier he could get.
As much as she wanted to go off halfcocked, kidnap Broly, and get him out of this special kind of hell, she couldn't. To start with, he was stronger than her so if he didn't want to go, then she couldn't make him. Shayera didn't even know if Broly would want to leave. What she did know was that Broly needed to be protected -- if she couldn't whisk him away from the battlefield, a place that seemed to destroy him, then she could at least shield him from it as much as she could.
Saving a person was a difficult thing. Truly saving someone was so much harder than simply rescuing them from a burning building.
"Next!" Shayera looked up to see that her number was displayed and her battlefield was dictated. It would seem that the rock user had won the fight while the flying one was being healed off to the side by an incredibly annoyed-looking Saiyan child. Standing up, she flapped her wings once and flew over to the ring. Her enemy looked like a rock -- gravel skin and a blocky build. It was difficult to tell, but he also seemed annoyed. Probably because she could fly.
Touching down, she hefted her mace and glanced at the kid. He sighed like he had lost the will to live and was just going through the motions, "Begin." He said.
Shayera leaped into the air to avoid a spike of earth erupting beneath her before she even saw spikes of Earth racing towards her, launched from the ground. Her grip tightened on her mace and electricity crackled around it as she slammed it into the spikes, reducing them into dust. She sailed forward with a flap of her wings, through the dust and towards her enemy.
The alien made of gravel glared up at her, erecting a shield before him to protect himself. It might be enough to shield him from energy blasts, but it wasn't enough to stop a Nth metal mace. With a war cry escaping her throat, Shayera brought the mace down on the shield of earth and tore right through it. Forcing her way through the opening that she made, she saw the alien's eyes widen, his arms shifting to a secondary shield, but it mattered little.
She had to win.
Gritting her teeth, Shayera slammed her mace into the alien, folding him around it where it crashed into his side. Pivoting to give herself a little more power, the alien was sent flying away. He shot out of the ring, nearly crashing into the Saiyan child if it wasn't for him using his tail as a chair as he dully watched the fight.
"Winner is Thirty-three," The child announced in a dull tone. "Do you require any immediate healing or would you like to forfeit?" He might have been watching the fight but he didn't see a single thing. Shayera glanced at the purple ball being used to heal the energy bolt user from his considerable wounds. The same technique that Broly used on her.
"I'm fine. What's the matter with you?" Shayera questioned, standing on the ground as she stood in the defender's spot. She was never going to get used to Saiyans. The child next to her was a warrior, a cold-blooded killer, but he was also just a child.
The child heaved a sigh, "I got in trouble. The Khunds showed up in the system I was in with my team, and I really wanted to take it out all by myself. But our orders were to withdraw when reinforcements showed up… I didn't listen and I got in a whole bunch of trouble with Commander Tora. So now I'm here." The child explained his punishment and…
She never would understand Saiyans. To disobey a direct order would have been execution in the Thanagarian Empire. How could a species that seemed to bask in death and destruction be so lenient? Of course age would be a factor for her empire, not that the child would be on the battlefield in the first place. Shayera was glad that was the case, but she didn't expect 'because they're children' to be a valid excuse to a Saiyan.
"You're… mad that you have to heal aliens?" Shayera questioned -- she might never understand Saiyans but she needed to learn.
"Yeah. And I'm stuck here instead of the front lines. And I can't even fight the winners…" The child unleashed a sigh that had far too much in common with her sighs at the height of her depression. After the sigh, he clicked a button and another enemy was summoned for her to defeat.
The spots for the 501st weren't just handed over to the victor. Though, that did increase your chances. You fought for a place in the ring, and you fought to stay in the ring. The more fights you were in, the more chances you had to display your abilities, the more chances you had to impress someone that decided if you were worthy to join the 501st.
Her enemy touched down on the ground -- a hunched back wolven alien with claws that were deadly sharp. Shayera settled into a stance, calming herself, as she waited for the match to begin.
"You can start-" The child began before her enemy blurred forward. Just not as fast as Elery was. Or her mother.
The claws lunged for her throat, but the last thing the alien expected was her to thrust forward with her mace and bury it in his gut. The alien's momentum worked against the it, making the blow devastating even before Shayera clenched a fist and slammed it into the alien's jaw. She might not have the strength of a Sayian, but with the Nth metal she carried, she could hit far harder than a Thanagarian had any right to.
"Victor Thirty-Three," The child announced, his voice as monotone as ever. "Do you require healing or would you like to forfeit?"
Shayera shook her head, looking out at the crowd of aliens, and wondered which would be her next enemy. No matter who it was, she had to win. Every alien in the crowd was thinking the same thought, each motivated by the same goal, but it had to be her that earned that spot in the 501st. With it, she could get close to Broly. And from there, if it was possible to save him, then she would.
She had to do it. For years, Shayera had been aimless. Purposeless. It had nearly killed her. Now the love of her life was gone. The empire she served might as well be too. Shayera had a choice between two paths -- one of vengeance on Queen Teach or one of a hero by saving Broly from the hell he was in.
Shayera wanted vengeance. Craved it. If the very last thing she did was to kill that rotten queen then Shayera could die happy. But Katar wouldn't want that for her. As much as she wanted vengeance, the only thing she wanted less was to see Katar in the afterlife with shamed filled stories of what came after.
An alien touched down, the child said to begin and Shayera fought.
…
It was impossible to tell how much time had passed as Shayera fought. The aliens started to blend together until only their abilities stood out. Some were long-range, others could fly while others couldn't, some secreted acid or burped clouds of poison while some boasted near invulnerability. It didn't matter. All she had to do was swing her weapon. The only thing that determined the length of a match was how long it took her to get close to deliver devastating blows.
Her fight with Elery had shaken Shayera's belief in Nth metal. The fact that the girl could get up and continue fighting… but that wasn't the case for most. A solid hit wasn't enough to put some of them down, but a second and a third hit usually did.
The muscles in her arms burned with effort as she hefted her mace again to smash it into the shoulder of an alien. It went down, crying out in pain, yet as it fell it shot some kind of spike from its wrist at her. One of her wings dipped down, blocking the blow before she slammed the shaft of her weapon into the alien's face. Sweat dripped from her, her helmet not helping in the slightest, nor did her armor. Even still, she walked over to her defender's spot and waited for her next opponent.
Shayera heard the kid sigh, throwing another Medicine Ball at the wounded alien as they were dragged off the ring. "You win again. Someone up top wants to talk to you," He informed, sounding bored out of his mind. Shayera blinked before she looked up at where the child had gestured. She pressed her lips into a thin line, wondering if this was a good thing or not.
There was only one way to find out.
Nodding, Shayera willed herself up and flew over to an observation deck where the commentators would sit. The windows were tinted, preventing her from seeing who was inside, but there was a convenient hole in the building that she was able to fly through to enter . A hole caused by an explosion, from the looks of it.
As soon as she touched down on the ground, she looked over to see a reptilian alien. Large black eyes, a tad too wide mouth to fit its narrow skull -- the alien wasn't large or small, skinny or muscular. The alien wasn't what she imagined a member of the 501st to look like, but the emblem of the unit was marked on the alien's chest.
"Greetings -- I am Technician," Technician greeted, his voice confirming him as male. Probably. "You are Shayera Hol, correct?" Technician questioned and Shayera took a moment to take in her surroundings. The room looked like it had suffered some serious damage, but it also looked like they were the only two people in the room. So it wasn't an ambush. Most likely.
Shayera nodded slowly, "I am," She confirmed and nothing more. Technician nodded, a hand going to a hologram that appeared from his forearm. He was fishing for information.
"Have no worries -- your abilities have earned you a spot on the 501st," Technician said, misreading her nervousness. "But, before I can welcome you as a comrade, one issue must be taken care of first. Please follow me," He said, gesturing to a door that would take them directly into the commentator box. He started walking, expecting her to follow, which she did after a second of hesitation.
There were a few things that could be the problem. She was the only Thanagarian native she had seen, so perhaps it was a race issue? Given the sheer number of species that were being recruited, Tarble didn't strike her as a racist but given that most of their empires hadn't just been shattered like glass… That was a problem she could work with. If it was an issue with her weapons and the metal on her wings, that was less so. And if it was the final problem she could think of… then there was a good chance she was walking into a trap.
Still, she walked into it all the same. She was in too deep at this point. Inside, the commentator box had been repurposed. Monitors covered a wall, each displaying a fight and data. A half dozen people ran around, analyzing the fights. Her confusion must have shown because Technician chuckled, a rattling sound.
"501st is a special ops unit. We're searching for abilities that will synergize well with others to increase the unit's power," Technician explained. "Those that don't make the cut will be put into other specialty units. No need to waste powerful people because they had a bad matchup or impressed less than others. Please step on the platform," He continued, standing on a platform that was shaped like a disk.
Shayera thought that over for a brief second before stepping onto the platform. That would make sense. The war was getting increasingly out of control from what she heard. The defeat of the Green Lanterns had no small part in it -- ancient empires and kingdoms that were forced to toe the line for generations saw them weaken and they wasted no time declaring wars they had prepared for generations.
They weren't just declaring on the Trade Organization. They were declaring on each other, some declaring on what was left of the Thanagarian empire and some even declared on the Reach as well. The war was just spiraling out of control. The Green Lanterns kept the peace through force, and the moment they had weakened, those they kept down rose up and refused to be contained again.
Shayera's thoughts were cut off when her vision went white for a moment, and when it faded, Shayera saw that she wasn't in the same location. The makeshift room was exchanged for a high tech surrounding, dozens of people running around, testing various things. None even noticed them as they stepped off the platform. Shayera swallowed her anxiety and hoped no one would notice how her grip tightened on her weapon.
Now she was someplace she didn't know, surrounded by what could become enemies. It was a bad situation all around.
"Please follow," Technician said, breaking out into a brisk power walk, leading them out of the room to a narrow hallway. It was suspiciously empty, but Shayera said nothing as she followed him for some minutes. He led her down a labyrinth -- long hallways, elevator rides, and through wide-open rooms. There were people roaming the halls, but they were few and far in between. Everything about it was starting to scream trap to her, the only saving grace was the fact they hadn't tried to take her mace. Or her wings.
Eventually, Technician led her to a door, which he paused at. Looking at her over his shoulder, his solid black eye seemed to stare a hole right through her. "I would recommend honesty," He said and before she could question him, the doors slid open to reveal a large open room. Various aliens sat around performing a task, but her attention was stolen by a child standing at the end of a platform that overlooked battle plans.
"Did we get any war declarations today?" The boy asked, taller than most of the children she had seen in the Frieza-force, but most of his body was hidden behind a red cape.
"None. So far," Someone answered. The boy nodded, seemingly pleased with the answer before he turned around to face them. And for the first time, Shayera came face to face with Prince Tarble. It was… odd, standing in front of him. His visor was off, displaying the yellow eyes that she had learned to hate. The red cape was draped over his shoulder, clashing his black and white armor except for the symbol marked over his heart.
Most noticeable was the two rings dangling from a necklace. A green and yellow power ring.
Shayera had followed the war even if she couldn't fight in it. As the years ticked by, it became increasingly impossible to not hear about Prince Tarble. Even if half of the news about him was nothing but propaganda, he was still a legendary commander. A powerful warrior and a brilliant general. That opinion was only solidified when he crushed her empire effortlessly and fought an increasing number of enemies. Even if he wasn't winning, it didn't seem like he was losing.
Despite his appearances in shows and the like -- Shayera expected Tarble to be a mountain of a man, regardless of his age. Looking at him, it really drove it home. Tarble was a child. A child that grew up in war. He was molded by it until he became… what he was.
"Who are you? Technician?" Tarble questioned, making Shayera blink. There were dark bags under his eyes that brought out the harshness in his gaze. His lips twisting into a frown as he looked at her. This was the most powerful Saiyan alive. His mother wasn't even second place.
"This is Shayera Hol, previously a Thanagarian military police officer. She performed admirably during a placement test to join the 501st, though there is one issue," Technician informed and Shayera knew what he was about to say before he said it. "She was one of the two officers sent to planet Earth in an attempt to steal it from you."
Tarble blinked, turning from Technician to look at her. There was a silent demand in his gaze for an explanation, so she gave it.
"That's true. My… my husband and I were ordered to go to Earth and endear the human population in favor of becoming vassals to the Thanagarian empire when the offer came. I think the plan was to uplift the humans to take over the sector, but that's just guesswork," Shayera admitted. There was no point in hiding it. The records of her involvement had been sealed, swept under the rug -- she hadn't expected there to be any mention of her, much less that the Freiza-force would learn of her.
Tarble said nothing, so she took the moment to continue. "I was just following orders…" No. She wouldn't hide behind that excuse. "But I thought it was the right thing to do."
Tarble tilted his head, blinking at that. "Stealing from me was the right thing to do?" He questioned, sounding a bit put out by the accusation rather than angry. She thought he would be angry.
"I have no love for the Trade Organization. The Thanagarian empire was far from perfect, but we didn't have slaves. Or slave soldiers that we sent to die by the millions. If it's a choice between who the humans were better off under the protection of, I believed it was the Thanagarian Empire." She continued, standing her ground. There was so much that she regretted about that mission, but most of it stemmed from where it led her. Years of depression, drinking, and letting her skills rust.
"Yet here you are," Tarble pointed out. "If you're still loyal to your empire, then I'm afraid you're in the wrong place."
To that, Shayera shook her head. "The empire… after the mission, my husband and I were swept under the rug. For half a decade, we could do nothing. They took our weapons and badges, muzzled us, and clipped our wings. Because they wanted to hide evidence of wrongdoing. Because of that, my husband is dead. And… from what I have heard of you, Prince Tarble, you are not the Frieza-force."
He wasn't. There was evidence of it everywhere, but Tarble shone that much brighter compared to everyone else. The generals that treated lives like numbers, who waged unmitigated slaughter and butchery. Rumors and hearsay painted Tarble as ruthless, but never cruel. He broke the enemy, but he did not slaughter them needlessly. A simple thing. Something that shouldn't have meant anything, and it only did because he was surrounded by those that didn't treat the enemy with that same respect.
Tarble hummed at that, "I see. If I put you on a battlefield against your empire, would you be able to kill them?" He questioned, cutting right to the heart of the matter.
Despite herself, Shayera hesitated. It wasn't an easy thing, betraying her empire. Even if it had betrayed her first and the remnants of it were fading like smoke in the wind. "I would. I wouldn't like it, but I could do it." She admitted, following Technician's advice about honesty.
Tarble's gaze lingered on her for a moment before he nodded curtly, "Then I will do my best to avoid forcing you to fight your previous comrades. Luckily for you, we have a surplus of opponents," He said before he turned around. "Welcome to the 501st, Shayera Hol."
Shayera blinked, surprised that she wasn't dead, much less now a part of a near-legendary force. "I… thank you… Prince Tarble," She said, quickly recovering from her shock. Glancing at Technician, he offered a small smile and a nod, confirming that it had actually happened. That was… not what she expected.
Technician began to lead her out of the room, only for Prince Tarble's voice to make her go still. "Wait," He started, making her look over to see that his gaze was still firmly on the battle plans of a world. "Earth… what was Earth like?"
It was impossible to guess his thoughts from his neutral tone. Shayera considered the question or, rather, she considered how to respond. She had fond memories of Earth. It wasn't a perfect place by any stretch of the imagination, but her time on the planet was well spent. So, how did she make Earth sound like a place that Prince Tarble, a Saiyan, would never want to visit even if it was his property?
"Earth was… peaceful," Shayera told him.
Prince Tarble seemed to consider that for a moment but he didn't respond. And Shayera took her leave.
…
We were stretched thin. So very thin. It had been days since I last slept because I couldn't afford to have my attention lapse for a second. I hadn't stopped fighting enemies for just as long, even now was a brief respite to another fight. Armies needed to be crushed, fleets needed to be turned to scrap and I was one of the few that could halt an advance cold.
My armies were scattered, as was my team. And in turn, my team's armies were scattered across a madhouse of a front that seemed to change by the day. In the eight months it had been since the Khund empire declared, countless others had as well. It got to the point that holding the front on my own was an impossibility. The problem just became something that was beyond me and it concerned the entire Trade Organization.
The Supreme Commander offered aid. The problem was so big that he couldn't be seen to not be doing what he could. Even still, I felt his feet trying to trip me up every step of the way.
"The droid armies?" I questioned, flying forward towards a planet with my scouter in place. Ki gathered in my hands as I predicted to take out their defensive platforms. The shields did their best to hold out, but I didn't have time to waste. There was no time to savor a victory or a challenge. I needed to constantly be moving, leveraging my power to the best of my ability to help with the armies and squads fighting what felt like every empire in the galaxy.
The Ginyu Squad was a great help. Captain Ginyu was definitely mad at me, but he worked just as tirelessly as I did, and his squad was also sprinkled across the front. Including Bardock. The front was in shambles to the point I didn't have time to call him. They were a help but it just wasn't enough.
"Lord Cooler is sending them over. Several of your core worlds have begun production on them as well," Ada'la informed me as I blasted through the atmosphere. I wasn't a fan of droid armies. Their limits were too clear, they had no drive and they could easily be subverted. Yet, I was buying as many as I could.
I was lucky that I had listened to Ada'la about how to utilize my planets. I had been resistant to the idea at first, thinking all of them should be optimized for supporting the war. If I had done that, then I would have bankrupted myself ten times over at this point. Buying slaves by the millions for armies, to populate planets, and to keep the peace at the harsh influx of civilians. Domestic problems were rising -- they were a conquered people, and not everyone wanted to support the enemy who had conquered them.
So I was forced to buy droid armies on the cheap from Lord Cooler. I had to. To keep the peace, to hold the planets that I took, and to absorb losses to buy time for my thinly stretched forces to retaliate.
The planet I was at was a Khund world and it showed. Cities were dotted about, but they were kept small and distant. Yet they had tamed the wilderness and harnessed the planet in their own way. Their own version of an Industrial World. Wasting no time, I flew down to a city and picked out my targets. Ki gathered at my hands and I started blasting away.
The simplest thing to do was to just drop a massive ki blast and wipe the city off the face of the planet. It was the simplest, but I wouldn't do it. Not for moral reasons, but simple practicality -- the Khunds had to want to join me. If I slaughtered their citizens then they would never respect me. Of the planets I had taken, it was because of that respect that the Khund citizens were the most cooperative. And I needed them more than I ever thought possible.
So, I focused on industrial centers. I destroyed their air crafts, their hangars, and the like. Making a show that I was destroying their equipment rather than killing their people. And no sooner than I was done, I flew off to another city to repeat the process. All the while a transmission bombarded the planet, announcing my arrival and demanding their surrender.
"Sinestro?" I said, trying to keep tabs over the entire front. Sinestro helped immensely. As much as them taking planets and defeating armies helped, they distracted the Green Lanterns. Eight months was a long time to recover, and recover they did. They chased Sinestro down like a bloodhound, doing their best to whittle away at them.
"Reports of Blue Lanterns have been confirmed, Prince Tarble," Ada'la said, confirming what I had hoped was a rumor. An image appeared of an alien in a blue rendition of the Green Lantern suit with a different emblem on their chest. "They act as support units to the Green Lanterns, greatly increasing their capabilities. Sinestro is requesting reinforcements."
Damn it.
"Their numbers?" I questioned grimly, rushing to take out the cities as fast as possible. The planet would be crippled before they had a chance to respond at this rate.
"Impossible to tell, but based on reports I would say there is at least one blue for every green," Ada'la informed. I hated that prediction because I thought much the same. So, the number of enemy lanterns jumped from thirty-six hundred to seventy-two hundred.
"I-" I started before I picked up on a power level. A high one. My gaze snapped in the direction of the source, reaching out with my ki sense, but I only found a paltry power level. Something I learned meant that a Lantern was nearby. My gaze landed on a portal of some kind, red as blood that swirled in place. A figure was walking out of it and my lips thinned as I saw that I was right.
A red ring was on their finger and they wore a red rendition of a green lantern's uniform, though the sleeves were missing to reveal scars that ran up their arms. They glowed with a red light, matching the color of his uniform. His skin tone was a dark gray and he had a mane of hair that was stark white pulled back.
A red Lantern. Were we going to go through every color on the spectrum?
The Red Lantern floated forward, gazing down at me. His dark eyes were narrowed into a glare and there was hate in them. I could feel it on my skin. "We meet again, Tarble," The Red Lantern spoke, his voice filled with ice-cold rage.
What?
I blinked in surprise, the action hidden by my visor. We had met before?
"I had hoped that your brother would be first… but you will have to do," The Red Lantern said, holding up a fist that had a red ring on it. It shone with a malevolent light.
He thought I should know him. "My brother?" I questioned, searching for a hint as I hovered in place. This was going to end with a fight. I knew that much. Still, any information about a group of Red Lanterns would be invaluable. I had enough enemies as it was without more lurking in the shadows.
"Your brother purged my planet. He butchered everyone down to the smallest of children. My species… I am the last," The Red Lantern informed and… it said a lot about Vegeta that… well, that sounded just like him. Enough so that the information didn't really narrow it down. Still, the more I looked at him, the more familiar he did seem. I just couldn't put my finger on it. "And now… I am here for vengeance. I shall rid the universe of evil like you, not with my people's magic… but with my rage!"
Yeah, I was drawing a blank. I could feel his anger growing, and I could guess what that ring was fueled by. So, even if it was a mistake that I knew would set him off, I couldn't help myself.
"Who are you?"
...
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Shayera looked down at her mace, having been without it for so very long. The sizable ball at the other end of the grip was covered in spikes, giving the weapon a deadly appearance. She had killed with it before, but only when she had to. Closing her eyes after a moment, Shayera leaned back in her chair, her wings fanning out. They drew some attention as well, but not for the reason most would assume.
The spine of her wings were covered in Nth metal. Interlocking plates bound to her wings to give her full range of movement. It could never be removed. Not without ripping her wings from her back, and such an action would kill her. The metal came from a mace that was once so similar to her own. The weapon of her love, Katar. Dual-wielding had been a thought at first. Just not a feasible one considering that she needed all her strength to wield one mace.
So, the mace was melted down and bound to her. Now Katar would be her wings for the remainder of her life. He would have liked that, Shayera thought.
"Next combatant!" A voice bellowed, prompting Shayera to look up. The number displayed didn't match her own, but it wasn't far off so she bothered to watch the match. They sat in a stadium, hundreds of them, a stadium once used for sport. Not even that long ago based on the final score of a game that got interrupted by an invasion. There were a few different matches being held, all between various aliens, each with a unique ability.
They were the ones that had earned the right to be here. The ones that had impressed during recruitment. They were the ones that earned an invitation to join the legendary 501st, Tarble's fist.
"And what an honor it is," Shayera muttered under her breath as she watched two contestants fight. One was able to control the ground beneath them, which meant little when their opponent could fly and fire some manner of energy beams down. For all the good it did when they couldn't penetrate stone. Never in her life would she had expected to be auditioning to join an empire's military that wasn't the Thanagarian Empire's. Yet here she was.
War, by its very nature, was death. From what she had heard, Tarble took inordinately good care of his men, especially compared to the rest of the Frieza-Force. Even still, losses were inevitable. Men were lost here and there despite their training and equipment. The 501st was no different. And considering that Tarble had really managed to kick the hornet's nest, he needed every soldier he could get.
As much as she wanted to go off halfcocked, kidnap Broly, and get him out of this special kind of hell, she couldn't. To start with, he was stronger than her so if he didn't want to go, then she couldn't make him. Shayera didn't even know if Broly would want to leave. What she did know was that Broly needed to be protected -- if she couldn't whisk him away from the battlefield, a place that seemed to destroy him, then she could at least shield him from it as much as she could.
Saving a person was a difficult thing. Truly saving someone was so much harder than simply rescuing them from a burning building.
"Next!" Shayera looked up to see that her number was displayed and her battlefield was dictated. It would seem that the rock user had won the fight while the flying one was being healed off to the side by an incredibly annoyed-looking Saiyan child. Standing up, she flapped her wings once and flew over to the ring. Her enemy looked like a rock -- gravel skin and a blocky build. It was difficult to tell, but he also seemed annoyed. Probably because she could fly.
Touching down, she hefted her mace and glanced at the kid. He sighed like he had lost the will to live and was just going through the motions, "Begin." He said.
Shayera leaped into the air to avoid a spike of earth erupting beneath her before she even saw spikes of Earth racing towards her, launched from the ground. Her grip tightened on her mace and electricity crackled around it as she slammed it into the spikes, reducing them into dust. She sailed forward with a flap of her wings, through the dust and towards her enemy.
The alien made of gravel glared up at her, erecting a shield before him to protect himself. It might be enough to shield him from energy blasts, but it wasn't enough to stop a Nth metal mace. With a war cry escaping her throat, Shayera brought the mace down on the shield of earth and tore right through it. Forcing her way through the opening that she made, she saw the alien's eyes widen, his arms shifting to a secondary shield, but it mattered little.
She had to win.
Gritting her teeth, Shayera slammed her mace into the alien, folding him around it where it crashed into his side. Pivoting to give herself a little more power, the alien was sent flying away. He shot out of the ring, nearly crashing into the Saiyan child if it wasn't for him using his tail as a chair as he dully watched the fight.
"Winner is Thirty-three," The child announced in a dull tone. "Do you require any immediate healing or would you like to forfeit?" He might have been watching the fight but he didn't see a single thing. Shayera glanced at the purple ball being used to heal the energy bolt user from his considerable wounds. The same technique that Broly used on her.
"I'm fine. What's the matter with you?" Shayera questioned, standing on the ground as she stood in the defender's spot. She was never going to get used to Saiyans. The child next to her was a warrior, a cold-blooded killer, but he was also just a child.
The child heaved a sigh, "I got in trouble. The Khunds showed up in the system I was in with my team, and I really wanted to take it out all by myself. But our orders were to withdraw when reinforcements showed up… I didn't listen and I got in a whole bunch of trouble with Commander Tora. So now I'm here." The child explained his punishment and…
She never would understand Saiyans. To disobey a direct order would have been execution in the Thanagarian Empire. How could a species that seemed to bask in death and destruction be so lenient? Of course age would be a factor for her empire, not that the child would be on the battlefield in the first place. Shayera was glad that was the case, but she didn't expect 'because they're children' to be a valid excuse to a Saiyan.
"You're… mad that you have to heal aliens?" Shayera questioned -- she might never understand Saiyans but she needed to learn.
"Yeah. And I'm stuck here instead of the front lines. And I can't even fight the winners…" The child unleashed a sigh that had far too much in common with her sighs at the height of her depression. After the sigh, he clicked a button and another enemy was summoned for her to defeat.
The spots for the 501st weren't just handed over to the victor. Though, that did increase your chances. You fought for a place in the ring, and you fought to stay in the ring. The more fights you were in, the more chances you had to display your abilities, the more chances you had to impress someone that decided if you were worthy to join the 501st.
Her enemy touched down on the ground -- a hunched back wolven alien with claws that were deadly sharp. Shayera settled into a stance, calming herself, as she waited for the match to begin.
"You can start-" The child began before her enemy blurred forward. Just not as fast as Elery was. Or her mother.
The claws lunged for her throat, but the last thing the alien expected was her to thrust forward with her mace and bury it in his gut. The alien's momentum worked against the it, making the blow devastating even before Shayera clenched a fist and slammed it into the alien's jaw. She might not have the strength of a Sayian, but with the Nth metal she carried, she could hit far harder than a Thanagarian had any right to.
"Victor Thirty-Three," The child announced, his voice as monotone as ever. "Do you require healing or would you like to forfeit?"
Shayera shook her head, looking out at the crowd of aliens, and wondered which would be her next enemy. No matter who it was, she had to win. Every alien in the crowd was thinking the same thought, each motivated by the same goal, but it had to be her that earned that spot in the 501st. With it, she could get close to Broly. And from there, if it was possible to save him, then she would.
She had to do it. For years, Shayera had been aimless. Purposeless. It had nearly killed her. Now the love of her life was gone. The empire she served might as well be too. Shayera had a choice between two paths -- one of vengeance on Queen Teach or one of a hero by saving Broly from the hell he was in.
Shayera wanted vengeance. Craved it. If the very last thing she did was to kill that rotten queen then Shayera could die happy. But Katar wouldn't want that for her. As much as she wanted vengeance, the only thing she wanted less was to see Katar in the afterlife with shamed filled stories of what came after.
An alien touched down, the child said to begin and Shayera fought.
…
It was impossible to tell how much time had passed as Shayera fought. The aliens started to blend together until only their abilities stood out. Some were long-range, others could fly while others couldn't, some secreted acid or burped clouds of poison while some boasted near invulnerability. It didn't matter. All she had to do was swing her weapon. The only thing that determined the length of a match was how long it took her to get close to deliver devastating blows.
Her fight with Elery had shaken Shayera's belief in Nth metal. The fact that the girl could get up and continue fighting… but that wasn't the case for most. A solid hit wasn't enough to put some of them down, but a second and a third hit usually did.
The muscles in her arms burned with effort as she hefted her mace again to smash it into the shoulder of an alien. It went down, crying out in pain, yet as it fell it shot some kind of spike from its wrist at her. One of her wings dipped down, blocking the blow before she slammed the shaft of her weapon into the alien's face. Sweat dripped from her, her helmet not helping in the slightest, nor did her armor. Even still, she walked over to her defender's spot and waited for her next opponent.
Shayera heard the kid sigh, throwing another Medicine Ball at the wounded alien as they were dragged off the ring. "You win again. Someone up top wants to talk to you," He informed, sounding bored out of his mind. Shayera blinked before she looked up at where the child had gestured. She pressed her lips into a thin line, wondering if this was a good thing or not.
There was only one way to find out.
Nodding, Shayera willed herself up and flew over to an observation deck where the commentators would sit. The windows were tinted, preventing her from seeing who was inside, but there was a convenient hole in the building that she was able to fly through to enter . A hole caused by an explosion, from the looks of it.
As soon as she touched down on the ground, she looked over to see a reptilian alien. Large black eyes, a tad too wide mouth to fit its narrow skull -- the alien wasn't large or small, skinny or muscular. The alien wasn't what she imagined a member of the 501st to look like, but the emblem of the unit was marked on the alien's chest.
"Greetings -- I am Technician," Technician greeted, his voice confirming him as male. Probably. "You are Shayera Hol, correct?" Technician questioned and Shayera took a moment to take in her surroundings. The room looked like it had suffered some serious damage, but it also looked like they were the only two people in the room. So it wasn't an ambush. Most likely.
Shayera nodded slowly, "I am," She confirmed and nothing more. Technician nodded, a hand going to a hologram that appeared from his forearm. He was fishing for information.
"Have no worries -- your abilities have earned you a spot on the 501st," Technician said, misreading her nervousness. "But, before I can welcome you as a comrade, one issue must be taken care of first. Please follow me," He said, gesturing to a door that would take them directly into the commentator box. He started walking, expecting her to follow, which she did after a second of hesitation.
There were a few things that could be the problem. She was the only Thanagarian native she had seen, so perhaps it was a race issue? Given the sheer number of species that were being recruited, Tarble didn't strike her as a racist but given that most of their empires hadn't just been shattered like glass… That was a problem she could work with. If it was an issue with her weapons and the metal on her wings, that was less so. And if it was the final problem she could think of… then there was a good chance she was walking into a trap.
Still, she walked into it all the same. She was in too deep at this point. Inside, the commentator box had been repurposed. Monitors covered a wall, each displaying a fight and data. A half dozen people ran around, analyzing the fights. Her confusion must have shown because Technician chuckled, a rattling sound.
"501st is a special ops unit. We're searching for abilities that will synergize well with others to increase the unit's power," Technician explained. "Those that don't make the cut will be put into other specialty units. No need to waste powerful people because they had a bad matchup or impressed less than others. Please step on the platform," He continued, standing on a platform that was shaped like a disk.
Shayera thought that over for a brief second before stepping onto the platform. That would make sense. The war was getting increasingly out of control from what she heard. The defeat of the Green Lanterns had no small part in it -- ancient empires and kingdoms that were forced to toe the line for generations saw them weaken and they wasted no time declaring wars they had prepared for generations.
They weren't just declaring on the Trade Organization. They were declaring on each other, some declaring on what was left of the Thanagarian empire and some even declared on the Reach as well. The war was just spiraling out of control. The Green Lanterns kept the peace through force, and the moment they had weakened, those they kept down rose up and refused to be contained again.
Shayera's thoughts were cut off when her vision went white for a moment, and when it faded, Shayera saw that she wasn't in the same location. The makeshift room was exchanged for a high tech surrounding, dozens of people running around, testing various things. None even noticed them as they stepped off the platform. Shayera swallowed her anxiety and hoped no one would notice how her grip tightened on her weapon.
Now she was someplace she didn't know, surrounded by what could become enemies. It was a bad situation all around.
"Please follow," Technician said, breaking out into a brisk power walk, leading them out of the room to a narrow hallway. It was suspiciously empty, but Shayera said nothing as she followed him for some minutes. He led her down a labyrinth -- long hallways, elevator rides, and through wide-open rooms. There were people roaming the halls, but they were few and far in between. Everything about it was starting to scream trap to her, the only saving grace was the fact they hadn't tried to take her mace. Or her wings.
Eventually, Technician led her to a door, which he paused at. Looking at her over his shoulder, his solid black eye seemed to stare a hole right through her. "I would recommend honesty," He said and before she could question him, the doors slid open to reveal a large open room. Various aliens sat around performing a task, but her attention was stolen by a child standing at the end of a platform that overlooked battle plans.
"Did we get any war declarations today?" The boy asked, taller than most of the children she had seen in the Frieza-force, but most of his body was hidden behind a red cape.
"None. So far," Someone answered. The boy nodded, seemingly pleased with the answer before he turned around to face them. And for the first time, Shayera came face to face with Prince Tarble. It was… odd, standing in front of him. His visor was off, displaying the yellow eyes that she had learned to hate. The red cape was draped over his shoulder, clashing his black and white armor except for the symbol marked over his heart.
Most noticeable was the two rings dangling from a necklace. A green and yellow power ring.
Shayera had followed the war even if she couldn't fight in it. As the years ticked by, it became increasingly impossible to not hear about Prince Tarble. Even if half of the news about him was nothing but propaganda, he was still a legendary commander. A powerful warrior and a brilliant general. That opinion was only solidified when he crushed her empire effortlessly and fought an increasing number of enemies. Even if he wasn't winning, it didn't seem like he was losing.
Despite his appearances in shows and the like -- Shayera expected Tarble to be a mountain of a man, regardless of his age. Looking at him, it really drove it home. Tarble was a child. A child that grew up in war. He was molded by it until he became… what he was.
"Who are you? Technician?" Tarble questioned, making Shayera blink. There were dark bags under his eyes that brought out the harshness in his gaze. His lips twisting into a frown as he looked at her. This was the most powerful Saiyan alive. His mother wasn't even second place.
"This is Shayera Hol, previously a Thanagarian military police officer. She performed admirably during a placement test to join the 501st, though there is one issue," Technician informed and Shayera knew what he was about to say before he said it. "She was one of the two officers sent to planet Earth in an attempt to steal it from you."
Tarble blinked, turning from Technician to look at her. There was a silent demand in his gaze for an explanation, so she gave it.
"That's true. My… my husband and I were ordered to go to Earth and endear the human population in favor of becoming vassals to the Thanagarian empire when the offer came. I think the plan was to uplift the humans to take over the sector, but that's just guesswork," Shayera admitted. There was no point in hiding it. The records of her involvement had been sealed, swept under the rug -- she hadn't expected there to be any mention of her, much less that the Freiza-force would learn of her.
Tarble said nothing, so she took the moment to continue. "I was just following orders…" No. She wouldn't hide behind that excuse. "But I thought it was the right thing to do."
Tarble tilted his head, blinking at that. "Stealing from me was the right thing to do?" He questioned, sounding a bit put out by the accusation rather than angry. She thought he would be angry.
"I have no love for the Trade Organization. The Thanagarian empire was far from perfect, but we didn't have slaves. Or slave soldiers that we sent to die by the millions. If it's a choice between who the humans were better off under the protection of, I believed it was the Thanagarian Empire." She continued, standing her ground. There was so much that she regretted about that mission, but most of it stemmed from where it led her. Years of depression, drinking, and letting her skills rust.
"Yet here you are," Tarble pointed out. "If you're still loyal to your empire, then I'm afraid you're in the wrong place."
To that, Shayera shook her head. "The empire… after the mission, my husband and I were swept under the rug. For half a decade, we could do nothing. They took our weapons and badges, muzzled us, and clipped our wings. Because they wanted to hide evidence of wrongdoing. Because of that, my husband is dead. And… from what I have heard of you, Prince Tarble, you are not the Frieza-force."
He wasn't. There was evidence of it everywhere, but Tarble shone that much brighter compared to everyone else. The generals that treated lives like numbers, who waged unmitigated slaughter and butchery. Rumors and hearsay painted Tarble as ruthless, but never cruel. He broke the enemy, but he did not slaughter them needlessly. A simple thing. Something that shouldn't have meant anything, and it only did because he was surrounded by those that didn't treat the enemy with that same respect.
Tarble hummed at that, "I see. If I put you on a battlefield against your empire, would you be able to kill them?" He questioned, cutting right to the heart of the matter.
Despite herself, Shayera hesitated. It wasn't an easy thing, betraying her empire. Even if it had betrayed her first and the remnants of it were fading like smoke in the wind. "I would. I wouldn't like it, but I could do it." She admitted, following Technician's advice about honesty.
Tarble's gaze lingered on her for a moment before he nodded curtly, "Then I will do my best to avoid forcing you to fight your previous comrades. Luckily for you, we have a surplus of opponents," He said before he turned around. "Welcome to the 501st, Shayera Hol."
Shayera blinked, surprised that she wasn't dead, much less now a part of a near-legendary force. "I… thank you… Prince Tarble," She said, quickly recovering from her shock. Glancing at Technician, he offered a small smile and a nod, confirming that it had actually happened. That was… not what she expected.
Technician began to lead her out of the room, only for Prince Tarble's voice to make her go still. "Wait," He started, making her look over to see that his gaze was still firmly on the battle plans of a world. "Earth… what was Earth like?"
It was impossible to guess his thoughts from his neutral tone. Shayera considered the question or, rather, she considered how to respond. She had fond memories of Earth. It wasn't a perfect place by any stretch of the imagination, but her time on the planet was well spent. So, how did she make Earth sound like a place that Prince Tarble, a Saiyan, would never want to visit even if it was his property?
"Earth was… peaceful," Shayera told him.
Prince Tarble seemed to consider that for a moment but he didn't respond. And Shayera took her leave.
…
We were stretched thin. So very thin. It had been days since I last slept because I couldn't afford to have my attention lapse for a second. I hadn't stopped fighting enemies for just as long, even now was a brief respite to another fight. Armies needed to be crushed, fleets needed to be turned to scrap and I was one of the few that could halt an advance cold.
My armies were scattered, as was my team. And in turn, my team's armies were scattered across a madhouse of a front that seemed to change by the day. In the eight months it had been since the Khund empire declared, countless others had as well. It got to the point that holding the front on my own was an impossibility. The problem just became something that was beyond me and it concerned the entire Trade Organization.
The Supreme Commander offered aid. The problem was so big that he couldn't be seen to not be doing what he could. Even still, I felt his feet trying to trip me up every step of the way.
"The droid armies?" I questioned, flying forward towards a planet with my scouter in place. Ki gathered in my hands as I predicted to take out their defensive platforms. The shields did their best to hold out, but I didn't have time to waste. There was no time to savor a victory or a challenge. I needed to constantly be moving, leveraging my power to the best of my ability to help with the armies and squads fighting what felt like every empire in the galaxy.
The Ginyu Squad was a great help. Captain Ginyu was definitely mad at me, but he worked just as tirelessly as I did, and his squad was also sprinkled across the front. Including Bardock. The front was in shambles to the point I didn't have time to call him. They were a help but it just wasn't enough.
"Lord Cooler is sending them over. Several of your core worlds have begun production on them as well," Ada'la informed me as I blasted through the atmosphere. I wasn't a fan of droid armies. Their limits were too clear, they had no drive and they could easily be subverted. Yet, I was buying as many as I could.
I was lucky that I had listened to Ada'la about how to utilize my planets. I had been resistant to the idea at first, thinking all of them should be optimized for supporting the war. If I had done that, then I would have bankrupted myself ten times over at this point. Buying slaves by the millions for armies, to populate planets, and to keep the peace at the harsh influx of civilians. Domestic problems were rising -- they were a conquered people, and not everyone wanted to support the enemy who had conquered them.
So I was forced to buy droid armies on the cheap from Lord Cooler. I had to. To keep the peace, to hold the planets that I took, and to absorb losses to buy time for my thinly stretched forces to retaliate.
The planet I was at was a Khund world and it showed. Cities were dotted about, but they were kept small and distant. Yet they had tamed the wilderness and harnessed the planet in their own way. Their own version of an Industrial World. Wasting no time, I flew down to a city and picked out my targets. Ki gathered at my hands and I started blasting away.
The simplest thing to do was to just drop a massive ki blast and wipe the city off the face of the planet. It was the simplest, but I wouldn't do it. Not for moral reasons, but simple practicality -- the Khunds had to want to join me. If I slaughtered their citizens then they would never respect me. Of the planets I had taken, it was because of that respect that the Khund citizens were the most cooperative. And I needed them more than I ever thought possible.
So, I focused on industrial centers. I destroyed their air crafts, their hangars, and the like. Making a show that I was destroying their equipment rather than killing their people. And no sooner than I was done, I flew off to another city to repeat the process. All the while a transmission bombarded the planet, announcing my arrival and demanding their surrender.
"Sinestro?" I said, trying to keep tabs over the entire front. Sinestro helped immensely. As much as them taking planets and defeating armies helped, they distracted the Green Lanterns. Eight months was a long time to recover, and recover they did. They chased Sinestro down like a bloodhound, doing their best to whittle away at them.
"Reports of Blue Lanterns have been confirmed, Prince Tarble," Ada'la said, confirming what I had hoped was a rumor. An image appeared of an alien in a blue rendition of the Green Lantern suit with a different emblem on their chest. "They act as support units to the Green Lanterns, greatly increasing their capabilities. Sinestro is requesting reinforcements."
Damn it.
"Their numbers?" I questioned grimly, rushing to take out the cities as fast as possible. The planet would be crippled before they had a chance to respond at this rate.
"Impossible to tell, but based on reports I would say there is at least one blue for every green," Ada'la informed. I hated that prediction because I thought much the same. So, the number of enemy lanterns jumped from thirty-six hundred to seventy-two hundred.
"I-" I started before I picked up on a power level. A high one. My gaze snapped in the direction of the source, reaching out with my ki sense, but I only found a paltry power level. Something I learned meant that a Lantern was nearby. My gaze landed on a portal of some kind, red as blood that swirled in place. A figure was walking out of it and my lips thinned as I saw that I was right.
A red ring was on their finger and they wore a red rendition of a green lantern's uniform, though the sleeves were missing to reveal scars that ran up their arms. They glowed with a red light, matching the color of his uniform. His skin tone was a dark gray and he had a mane of hair that was stark white pulled back.
A red Lantern. Were we going to go through every color on the spectrum?
The Red Lantern floated forward, gazing down at me. His dark eyes were narrowed into a glare and there was hate in them. I could feel it on my skin. "We meet again, Tarble," The Red Lantern spoke, his voice filled with ice-cold rage.
What?
I blinked in surprise, the action hidden by my visor. We had met before?
"I had hoped that your brother would be first… but you will have to do," The Red Lantern said, holding up a fist that had a red ring on it. It shone with a malevolent light.
He thought I should know him. "My brother?" I questioned, searching for a hint as I hovered in place. This was going to end with a fight. I knew that much. Still, any information about a group of Red Lanterns would be invaluable. I had enough enemies as it was without more lurking in the shadows.
"Your brother purged my planet. He butchered everyone down to the smallest of children. My species… I am the last," The Red Lantern informed and… it said a lot about Vegeta that… well, that sounded just like him. Enough so that the information didn't really narrow it down. Still, the more I looked at him, the more familiar he did seem. I just couldn't put my finger on it. "And now… I am here for vengeance. I shall rid the universe of evil like you, not with my people's magic… but with my rage!"
Yeah, I was drawing a blank. I could feel his anger growing, and I could guess what that ring was fueled by. So, even if it was a mistake that I knew would set him off, I couldn't help myself.
"Who are you?"
...
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- Pronouns
- She/Her
its nice to see that Hawkgirl is still tryign to be a hero despite everything.
- Pronouns
- he/him
Bet it's that guy that attacked Planet Vegeta to rid the Universe of evil or whatever. This is concerning though. At this rate, only the Orange Lanterns, Indigo Lanterns, Black Lanterns, and White Lanterns are left. Of these, unless you decide to involve the Illustres Paul's version of the OLC, you're facing mad Larfleeze and his legion of constructs. And you're facing Khunds, so he's actually a possibility.
Also I'm loving the Vader references. 501st? Scary intergalactic warlord's fist? Sounds familiar...
- Location
- A Tropical Island in the Pacific
How would an Indigo Ring work on a Saiyan?
Neruz
Rogue Spiderbanana
- Location
- The Land of Fire and Poison
- Location
- A Tropical Island in the Pacific
Poorly.
Would it be the Saiyan taking pity that people aren't as strong as them and proceed to just end them earlier?
Neruz
Rogue Spiderbanana
- Location
- The Land of Fire and Poison
Probably something like that, yeah. Indigo Rings can 'force' compassion on someone, but 'compassion' can take many forms and despite appearances and genetic compatibility, Saiyans are very much not human and are unlikely to interpret 'compassion' exactly the same way that a human would.
I also doubt that having compassion for others would actually stop a Saiyan from killing people, only slow them down a bit because most Saiyans aren't used to thinking that hard.
- Location
- Earth
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Wouldn't Indigo Rings actually be extremely effective for Saiyans? Causing the production of S-Cells and all...
Neruz
Rogue Spiderbanana
- Location
- The Land of Fire and Poison
Maybe? S-Cell count is determined by the 'spirit' of the Saiyan, Saiyans with gentler spirits have more S-Cells. This is why Broly is so ridiculously powerful and can access the unique Legendary Super Saiyan line of transformations; he was born with a uniquely gentle spirit, rather than 'learning' gentleness as Goku did. (Baby Goku was a goddamn hellion.)
Whether using an Indigo Ring to 'force' compassion on a Saiyan would make their spirit gentle and trigger S-Cell production is unclear.
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The Violet lanterns (Star Sapphires) are involved? I don't remember seeing them. Was it just a minor mention of them or something?
- Pronouns
- he/him
Oops, forgot to mention them. But I don't think they're going to fit the timeline - far as I can tell from Hal's dialogue, Carol hasn't gone obsessive yet, and that would be something he'd report, which he couldn't if he was on probation. And Zamarons aren't starting their Corps without the Ferris Experiment.
Feeling of Old Animosities
- Location
- USA
That was the wrong thing to say, I quickly learned, because the alien was really set off by that. A wordless scream of rage escaped his throat. His ring glowed an ominous red before a red beam of light raced towards me. I dodged effortlessly, sailing forward towards him to put an end to this fight before it could begin, only to be put off when five red flames appeared above him.
Now I remembered him, I thought as the flames fired off beams of light that gave chase to me as they moved erratically. He was the alien that had fought Vegeta way back on Planet Vegeta. I pretty much forgot all about him. Actually, I thought he was dead, so it wasn't completely my fault that I didn't recognize him.
Ki gathered in my hands and I fired at the speeding red flames that gave chase. The moment they collided, extreme heat washed over me as they exploded. The heat was powerful enough that I felt my eyebrows get singed despite the fact that the harsh red fire never touched me. I didn't have time to linger because the other four flames raced through the fire to slam into me.
Deciding that I had to treat them like black hole missiles, I backed off to give myself room to maneuver. Only for the alien to give chase, blasting through the fire with a blood-red blast that reminded me of a ki blast. It raced towards me, far faster than the flames. My eyes narrowed into slits as I reached out to catch the construct, intending to break it, and instantly I realized the difference between the other colors and the red.
The palm of my hand sizzled, the skin cooking, then burning to a charred black. It was like it was poison. Something volatile that cared nothing about durability or resistances. It was something that had a singular desire -- to destroy the enemy. My face twisted into a snarl as I sunk my fingers into the construct, warping the blast before I threw my hand to the side. The alien met my snarl, not slowing down as more red fire gathered in his hands while the shots he fired before were closing in.
Ignoring the pain in my hand, I gathered ki in them and fired off four blasts as I rushed to meet the Red Lantern head-on. Fire washed over us, burning my cape and armor while the hard plastics of my visor began to swelter. A sword appeared in the Red Lantern's hands, a construct that he used to slam into the ki that gathered around my hands. It ate away at the ki, forcing me to constantly reinforce them to avoid losing a limb.
"I…" The Red Lantern began, glaring pure murder at me. That question really did set him off. "Am!" He continued, trying to push me back with pure strength. He couldn't. In a contest of strength, there was no comparing us. "Wrath!" He screamed as another half dozen red flames bloomed above him in a half-circle, making my eyes narrow.
Just as they surged forward, intent on tearing through me, I lashed out with a foot and caught Wrath in the chest, undercutting his dramatic proclamation before I quickly backed off. The flames chased after me, leaving behind a trail of smoke before I detonated them with a quick ki blast. As heat washed over me again, I smelled smoke and looked down at my cape to see that it was on fire.
"Ada'la?" I started, tearing the cape off and letting it fall down to the planet's surface. The fire began to clear to reveal Wrath hovering on the other side, his ring glowing and the scars on his arms doing the same. In response to my question, I heard jumbled words -- the speakers were damaged. "Warn Lord Frieza that we may be dealing with Red Lanterns as well for me," I ordered before I took off my visor as well and tossed it away.
I had others. There just wasn't a point in bringing them out if they were just going to get melted. Even my armor had suffered, so I tossed that off too, leaving my upper body covered only by a black long sleeve undersuit. Keeping it on wasn't going to help with the heat, and if the ambient heat was enough to melt it partially then a direct hit would destroy it. The last thing I needed was melted armor in a wound to make it more difficult to heal.
"I remember you now," I told him as I wrapped my tail around my waist. After years of having it stuffed and protected by armor, it was rather freeing to have it out in the open again. "Your race was the one that preached about how evil my race is while trying to commit genocide on us."
Wrath's eyes narrowed into slits, likely thinking I was mocking him when I wasn't. He seemed like an angry guy, so there wasn't any point trying to reason with him. "I thought my brother had killed you?"
Wrath seemed to shake with… well… wrath as he glared at me, "I teleported myself out of the way of the blast. But I was too weak to continue the fight. My people… you… you slaughtered them. You refused their surrender and hunted them down like animals."
I met his gaze evenly, recalling that moment when I made the choice to do exactly what he said. "I did," I confirmed.
Beyond the hate and rage, pain shone in his eyes. A wound that hadn't healed regardless of how much time had passed, and it was unlikely that it ever would. My brother and I… we were the source of his rage. And I'm guessing that it was that rage that attracted that ring to his finger, and why he was before me now. A lesson to be learned.
Kill your enemies, else you will face them again stronger than they previously were.
"Why?" He questioned, his tone… desperate. And angry. And sad. He was a volatile mix of emotions, but all of them fueled his rage.
I wished I had a decent answer for him. The truth wouldn't satisfy him and it would only make him stronger. Still, he deserved honesty. If only because lying to an enemy to make them weaker left a poor taste in my mouth. I met his gaze evenly, unwavering, and gave him the truth. "Because it was convenient for me."
Wrath blinked, his lips parting like he couldn't understand the words that I had just said. So, I clarified. "I had recruits that needed to be tested by fire. You were an enemy that was attempting to wipe out my race. The test I had planned for my recruits didn't pan out, so you were a convenient alternative." I didn't have a hand in Vegeta wiping out his race, but I hadn't exactly done a whole lot to stop him. I gave a vague reason not to by bringing up Lord Frieza, and that was about it.
"You…" There were tears in his eyes and his scars glowed brightly with a sinister red light. There was a tremble in his voice and he faltered for a moment. After that moment, his gaze hardened and his face settled on a blank mask as his anger transcended mere rage. "You're dead." It was impressive how much hate he could fit in two words.
With that, he moved. Fire formed and launched itself at me in a steady barrage, forcing me to dodge as I raced to clash against him once again. A chain construct emerged from his ring that lashed out at me, and when I dodged, more chains erupted from the links to follow me. I slashed at them with a ki blade, driving them away to get in close.
A familiar symbol appeared before me before I could land a blow. I curled my hand into a fist and slammed it into the red symbol, knowing that I was too closed in to back off. Wrath flew backward, forced back from the force, but I paid the price. I felt bones snap in my arm, the force I delivered returned tenfold. My muscles were more than tough enough to keep my bones in place, so it mattered little.
Vegeta had whittled Wrath down until that symbol became ineffective. That was before he became a Red Lantern, so I don't think that was in the cards anymore.
The flames continued to follow me, circling around to give chase and I waited until the last moment to dodge. Throwing myself up, I flipped out of the way to dodge, ki gathering in my hands. With one hand I detonated the flames, setting off a chain reaction to destroy the others and the same moment incredible heat washed over me, I formed a bubble shield to protect me from the blast. It forced me back from the point of impact, but my shield held up. I took a moment to glance at my arm to find that it was bleeding but functional.
That didn't make sense. For the past six years, I had engravings marked onto my soul to make me resistant to magic. What should have happened was that I broke through that symbol and killed Wrath. Instead, my arm was the one to break. So, either Narra had lied to me, or that wasn't magic.
I had practiced with her a fair bit on dealing with magic, and it had worked then. I don't think she was lying to me, so what was different?
Spiked red chains erupted from the fire, wrapping themselves around my shield, telling me that Wrath wasn't dead. The opposite, really. He flew through the fire, unbothered by it, while a large red flame gathered around one hand before shaping itself into a burning red lance. The tip was aimed for my chest, intent to skewer me through the heart while the chains kept me in place.
Wrath, I thought as I expanded the shield, forcing a gap between the chains so I could slip through it, was a tricky enemy to fight. The chains attempted to grab hold of me, but I cut them away to gather ki in my hands. That symbol of his meant that long-range wasn't viable and between his magic and his power ring, he could dominate at long range as well. Close range was the best bet that I had, but the same problem persisted.
Meaning I had to make use of small gaps in his defense, like when he attacked.
With ki coating my hand, I reached out to grab the tip of the lance. The palm of my hand burned, the tip of the lance barely poking through on the other end, but I was able to hold the magic. The lance bulged, buckling at the sudden stop, and through his rage, I saw surprise flash over Wrath's face while a grin spread over mine.
Before he could react, I clenched down on the lance while I lashed out with a ki covered hand. The tip of my blade slid under his ribs, cutting through the red aura that covered him. Purple blood erupted from his mouth, but he was too angry to let a blow like that kill him. Knowing that, I slashed to the side, intent on bisecting him, and I half managed the task. Only for glowing red thread to trace over the wound, burning it shut to keep his body intact.
There was the difference, I thought as I pressed the attack. Wrath retreated, trying to put some distance between us, and to buy that time, a glowing red symbol appeared between us. Instead of hitting it with my fist, I grabbed hold of the symbol and crushed it in my fist. I could destroy magic attacks and defenses.
"Damn you!" Wrath screamed, so pissed that he didn't seem to notice as another ki blade punched through his chest. He grabbed onto my arm, the symbols on his flashing a moment. Then I felt a tug in my gut, but I resisted it. He screamed at me, a wordless mad howl of rage and hate before he recalled that he had a ring. It flashed as I went to sever his head, and both of us fell into a portal of swirling red.
One moment we were in atmosphere above a planet and the next we were in space, a thousand miles above our previous location. There was a savage grin on Wrath's face because he knew only one of us could breathe. A hand went to a pocket that contained a capsule that carried my mask and spare visors, only for a chain of red to wrap itself around my leg.
I hastily destroyed it, but the damage was done. The capsules were destroyed.
Turning to glare at Wrath, I saw that his lips were moving but I couldn't hear him. I didn't have a scouter to pick up what he was saying and there was no sound in space. Not that I could respond in the first place. I had half a lung full of air, so I either needed to defeat him or get back planetside before I suffocated.
Gritting my teeth, I raced forward -- I had to cut off his arm, then his head. With that thought in mind, ki coated my hands and I sent an arc of it at Wrath. A symbol appeared between us as flames sparked to life above him, ignoring the lack of air to burn brightly. He rushed forward to meet me, his ring firing blasts as my ki arc hit his symbol. I felt pain lacerate my body, cuts appearing, and even the probing strike could cause some damage.
The flames fired out, attempting to drive me away from the planet, while he used his ring to the same effect. He had learned his lesson, annoyingly. He wasn't letting me get close to him. The ki in my hands shifted as I shaped it into a different attack. Six ki balls raced from the palm of my hand to slam into the flames, bathing me in fire but I pressed forward as my undersuit was being burnt off. Sailing through the flames, I caught a glimpse of a red flash before I saw that Wrath had teleported himself further away from me.
Okay. That was irritating as all hell. If he learned that lesson so well then he wasn't going to make the same mistake as he did last time. Meaning I had to bait him into making a new mistake.
He was angry. Furious. He wasn't thinking rationally. How could I use that?
The answer was obvious.
A hand went to my throat, my mouth opening to show that I was gasping for air. I attempted to breathe in, expecting to be unable to take anything in, and the shock on my face only sealed the deal when I felt air enter my lungs. My mask was off, I was in space… my necklace? It was made of Nth metal, but I had thought it wasn't near enough to let me breathe in space. While I took in a deep breath of fresh air, Wrath's eyes narrowed into slits.
The symbol faded as he cupped his hands together. A flaming ball of red light was dyed a multitude of colors until red was just another one in the mixture. The attack that destroyed evil. I had been unsure if that attack would do any damage to me before, but now there was no question that it would. My list of sins was long and soaked in blood.
It all came down to what mattered more -- the runes etched into my soul or the evil I had committed.
He raised the blast up high, cradling it like the sun in his hands before he thrust the spiraling colored attack at me. I flew forward, expecting this attack, and reached out with my hand. A split second later, we made contact and I slipped inside of the stream of magic. The runes allowed me to push through the attack, but… I felt it. The attack washed over my body, even as I pushed through it.
The pain was… different. It should be something that I could brush off -- between the Wrath State and the etching on my soul, my pain tolerance was vast. Yet, the pain was sharp and near-crippling. Like I was suffering countless wounds all at once. It was trying to destroy something in me, something that would kill me and reduce me to ash, but the runes on my soul were a stalwart defense.
I guess I had my answer now. I was undeniably evil.
With that thought spurring me forward, I surged through the attack until I emerged on the other end. I saw Wrath's eyes widen, but he was too late to react. My arms were still too short, so I borrowed a technique from Fasha and ki condensed in my hands to become two twin spears. One lashed out at his hand, severing the ring from him, while the other bit into his neck. Even as the ki staff cut through flesh and bone, his lips moved. I couldn't hear his final words, but I could read his lips.
"Damn you."
The blade emerged from the other side of his neck, beheading him(,) and with that he was dead. The last of his race, wiped out trying to achieve vengeance. If he had attacked my brother first, then he might have had a chance.
A sigh escaped me as I looked down at his body that was gently floating away. Then at the ki spears in my hands. Fasha was going to be mad, but I kinda liked them. Letting them fade into nothing, I went to the hand and pulled off the ring on the finger -- it matched the rings on my necklace. Yet, I didn't feel the need to add it to my growing collection. The green power ring came from Kaylark, a Green Lantern that I respected for what she tried to do. The yellow came from Sinestro, one of the best Green Lanterns there was and when he turned green into yellow, his abilities only seemed to grow. I respected them both.
I didn't have that same kind of respect for Wrath. I met him when he was attempting to wipe out my race, and while I did respect him trying to distract Vegeta in a one on one match... who he was with a red ring seemed like a diffrent person entirely. So his ring would no be placed on my necklace. That being said, it was a neat trophy.
So, I simply gazed down at my latest trophy, a single thought going through my head.
I was fighting half of the galaxy and now two separate lantern forces.
…
Shayera flew forward, smashing her mace into a Khund soldier while energy blasts smashed into her personal barrier. Looking to the source, she saw a tall Khund soldier rush towards her as he fired from the hip, his energy rifle spewing energy blasts while a group behind him fell back. In response, she threw her mace and it slammed into his knee, breaking it and making him fall while she flew forward.
Slamming a knee into the Khund's nose, knocking him out, she scooped up her mace and continued forward with a flap of her wings. More bolts hit her shield, but on her scouter she saw that the shields had barely been scratched. It would be shocking if it was anything different -- Nth metal was at the core of the energy shields, and even with her wingspan, she was protected.
She had been right. Prince Tarble did take care of his soldiers.
"Breakthrough, breakthrough at twelve o'clock. Vas?" Commander Avery called out, running forward as he fired a gun that should be too powerful for him. Around them was a once-proud military compound. Fires raged, lightning cackled in the sky above, and the sounds of uncontrollable combat rang out in her ears.
In response to Commander Avery, a massive lightning bolt fell from the sky. Shayera had seen lightning impacts before and it truly wasn't anything special, but what Vas unleashed on a building was more of a high yield missile than a lightning bolt. A clap of thunder nearly defeated her and the shock wave ruffled her feathers. Regardless, Shayera flew forward.
Khund soldiers staggered out of the building. "Surrender!" She demanded as she approached, giving her position away and the soldiers responded by firing at her. And she responded by breaking their legs.
Behind her, Avery and Canda, another member of Avery's squad, approached. Their weapons tore through the enemy with deadly pale blue blasts. The Khunds had good armor and weapons, just not good enough. The 501st got the best of the best in terms of equipment and it showed. Vas flew over, touching down not far away. The purple-haired woman glanced at the fallen bodies, lightning crackling in her hands.
"You good?" She asked the fallen enemies, a quiet sigh in her voice.
"We shall recover. Our thanks for your restraint. We will submit to prisoner protocols," One of the Khunds answered, offering Shayera a thankful nod. She returned it even as she thought it was odd.
The Khund empire was weird. They were hyper-aggressive expansionists that kicked off any native species they found on a planet they conquered, they were relentless in their attacks and would fight until the absolute bitter end… then they would just surrender when they knew they were beaten. More than that, Shayera knew she didn't have to leave a guard with them or tie them up until they could be escorted to a prisoner camp. They would stay there or they would escort themselves.
It was like it was a game, almost. It was the only way she could think to describe it. They were model prisoners and they would obey every rule unless provoked. The only problems there were when they believed they were not being treated properly or if a Khund unit performed a rescue to free them. It was unlike anything that she had ever seen before.
"They respect the pipsqueak," Vas informed her with a careless shrug, probably thinking the same things she was. "He's following their rules of war -- not bombing cities, targeting soldiers only, as much as he can at any rate."
"This isn't the time for chit chat," Avery remarked as he continued to sprint forward. A waypoint was pinged on her scouter. "The general has been found." Shayera nodded, floating up while the others did the same. Neither Avery or Canda could fly naturally, Nth metal gave them the ability.
Avery, Shayera found, was a good commander. He was the commander for all of the 501st and from what she could tell, he led them well. He leveraged their diverse abilities well, and even if he was not the strongest, fastest, smartest, or oldest of their number, all seemed to respect him.
It was a lucky break that she was assigned to him. Prince Tarble's armies were spread out, meaning that she wasn't even in the same solar system as Broly, but given that he was assigned to Elery's squad, it was only a matter of time before their paths crossed. It was simply a matter of waiting until then. And surviving, of course.
"Vas, make a flashy entrance. Canda, you're with me. Shayera, support Vas. Rocky, drill up on the coordinates I gave you," Avery ordered as they spotted the enemy fortress in the distance. Vas gathered her energy while similar lightning crackled around Shayera's mace. Their final squadmate was currently below the surface, but the order had been confirmed.
The fortress was on high alert, so it didn't take them long to get spotted. Beams of light were fired up at them, forcing them to scatter. Vas and Shayera dove forward, intent on breaking through the defensive line while Avery and Canda fell back. Vas gathered up her lightning into a ball that she condensed into a hand before she thrust her hand out towards the fortress. White lightning blinded her for a second, through her closed eyes, but when she opened them she saw a line carved through the fortress.
The defensive line was cut in two, a jagged line carved upward from the point of impact that continued over the ground and through the fortress. The metal glowed an angry red, and they had their entrance. The defensive line faltered, recovering from the shockwave that hit them, and her team used the moment of respite to sail directly into the building.
Smoke billowed up from the blast, but Shayera flew through it, and on the other side she saw a command center. More of a throne room, really. At the center of it all, on top of a half dozen platforms that got smaller the higher they were stacked, was a large white throne with a sizable woman sitting on it. A mane of red hair, her skin a light pink while she wore armor of gold and red.
There was a smile on her face as she rose from her throne, "Welcome warriors! I am Warlord Gilguk," Gilguk introduced herself as her team landed just after her. She was the warlord in charge of the armies that were based in this sector. As she rose, she hefted a massive axe -- over twelve feet tall with the axe head the size of a Thanagarian. An unwieldy weapon. Just not for Gilguk because she lifted it with ease. "For what reason have you come here?"
"Your immediate and unconditional surrender," Avery answered, taking aim with his rifle. They all knew what the response would be. Shayera tensed her muscles while Vas covered her arms in electricity. Canda split herself into three copies, each taking aim at the Warlord.
Gilguk smiled brightly, "I refuse!" She exclaimed and that was the cue for the battle to begin. Shayera flew forward, swinging her mace while Gilguk rushed to meet her. In a blur, she swung the huge axe, slamming it down upon Shayera. It would have cleaved her in two if she hadn't placed the shaft of her weapon between the axe's sizable edge and herself. Shayera's feet sunk into the ground, the metal warping and tearing under the force, but Shayera didn't falter.
The smell of ozone filled the room and a blast of lightning shot towards Gilguk, forcing her to defend. The bolt of lightning slammed into the flat of the axe, but Shayera heard no pained scream. Ripping her feet free, she used the opening to race forward to press the attack. Gilguk hefted her weapon and her eyes widened a fraction as Shayera swung. In the split second, Gilguk switched her grip so the shaft of her axe absorbed most of the blow.
All the while the others flanked around. Canda opened fire and the pale blue bolts slammed into Gilguk as she was knocked back from the blow. At first she attempted to tank them, only to realize that she couldn't -- Shayera wasn't sure how Canda's ability worked, but everything on her was duplicated by her clones. Down to her weapons. The Nth metal powered energy bolts packed a punch, no matter how tough you were.
Gilguk used the flat of her axe as a shield, and Shayera guessed that was a decent enough reason for it to be so oversized. Just over the edge of the axe head, she looked at them, her eyes following Canda. Knowing what she was planning, Shayera dove to place herself between Gilguk and Canda the same moment that the Khund warlord moved to take her out.
Gilguk was faster than Shayera, but a bolt of lightning that Gilguk was forced to dodge delayed her enough that Shayera was able to reach Gilguk in time. As the warlord swung, Shayera did as well, only her target was the oversized axe. Her mace slammed the axe's edge into the ground, sinking it in deep to save Canda's life. The triplets simply rolled out of the way, backing off as they fired in unison like a well-oiled machine. Gilguk reacted, keeping one hand on the axe's handle, she twisted to lash out with a foot that she planted in Shayera's gut.
Every trace of breath was knocked from her lungs and it felt like her organs had just taken terrible damage. Even still, Shayera grabbed onto the ankle of Gilguk as she grit her teeth, her wings flapping once to help her pivot. Gilguk made a noise of surprise when she felt herself being lifted, then quickly slammed into the ground with all the strength that Shayera could muster.
It was then that Avery made his move. He appeared from nowhere and jabbed the barrel of his gun in her face. And, at that same moment, Rocky made himself known. Cables erupted from the ground, wrapping themselves around Gilguk to keep her in place. "Will you reconsider your surrender?"
Gilguk glared, "I will not. It will take more than some petty energy blast to end my life."
Avery nodded, "It will. Which is why I'm going to use a Nth metal slug fired from a railgun at hypersonic speeds." That wiped the smile off of Gilguk's face. She opened her mouth to answer, only to be cut off by the sound of someone clearing their throat. The team reacted instantly, Canda pointed her guns at the source, Shayera's wings fanned out to fly, Vas gathered energy in her hands. Only Avery kept his gun pointed at their defeated enemy.
Shayera's heart sunk when she saw the source. Two men. She didn't recognize either of them, but it was impossible to mistake who they were. One was a Green Lantern -- dark skin, dark eyes with dark hair cut short. He appeared to look like a Thanagarian, but his appearance had too much in common with that of a human. Floating next to him was an alien she did not know.
Pale blue skin, his face lacked a nose and his eyes were pitch black. Instead of hair, he had a long tendril of some kind. There were markings on his face that seemed to follow the curves of his face, going around the eyes and curving where the bridge of his nose would be, flowing near the edges of his mouth with markings at the corners going up to join. Most notably, however, was his uniform. A blue and black version of a Green Lantern with a different emblem at the center of his chest.
The blue one offered a small smile, "Please forgive the interruption -- I'm Bro'dee Walker, and this is John Stewart," He introduced himself and the Green Lantern next to him, who looked down at them with his arms crossed. He had a soothing voice, Shayera found as she clutched her mace tightly. Two Lanterns was a tall order. "Please, lower your weapons and surrender. You will be treated kindly. I swear it."
Shayera glanced at Avery, who seemed to be mulling it over as he continued to look down at Gilguk. "Will you surrender personally?" He asked her, ignoring the Bro'dee's request. Gilguk's eyes narrowed into slits before she craned her head back to look at the Lanterns. Her thoughts were her own as she stared at them before looking back at Avery.
"I, Warlord Gilguk, offer my personal surrender," she said, and the cables holding her in place released before Avery removed the gun from her face. Gilguk stood up with little trouble and ignoring the growing tension, she walked over to her axe and picked it up. Once it was back in hand, she walked up the steps to her throne and sat down in it. Feeling all eyes were on her, she smirked at all of them. "Avery, Commander of the 501st, you have proven your valor and your actions reflect well on Prince Tarble. Prove your worth now and your Prince shall receive the surrender of my armies."
Her voice rang out over the large room. Shayera looked at Avery, who simply pointed his rifle at the Green Lantern. She turned to glare at them as well, readying herself for the fight that was to come. Their rings glowed in response, realizing that it would be a fight. Shayera's muscles tensed, ready to attack and dodge, waiting for the signal-
"Sorry to ruin the moment," A voice said from above the Lanterns, a smirk in their voice that broke the tension that had grown so thick that Shayera could barely breathe. Emerging from the smoke was another Lantern and, to her shock, she recognized him.
Hal Jordan descended from above, dressed in a Red Lantern suit, but one of his hands were green. On it resided a green ring. It shined brightly as green lines, almost like circuitry, crawled up his arm where the green construct began. Almost as if the green was infecting the red.
Both of the Lanterns recoiled in shock at his sudden appearance, but Hal just threw on an easy-going smile.
"But I need to have a talk with these two about the Guardians and what they've been getting up to the past couple billion years," Hal explained his reason to be here, his gaze lingering on her for a moment. That smile of his grew a fraction as he took in the situation.
"So, how about we talk this out?"
...
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Now I remembered him, I thought as the flames fired off beams of light that gave chase to me as they moved erratically. He was the alien that had fought Vegeta way back on Planet Vegeta. I pretty much forgot all about him. Actually, I thought he was dead, so it wasn't completely my fault that I didn't recognize him.
Ki gathered in my hands and I fired at the speeding red flames that gave chase. The moment they collided, extreme heat washed over me as they exploded. The heat was powerful enough that I felt my eyebrows get singed despite the fact that the harsh red fire never touched me. I didn't have time to linger because the other four flames raced through the fire to slam into me.
Deciding that I had to treat them like black hole missiles, I backed off to give myself room to maneuver. Only for the alien to give chase, blasting through the fire with a blood-red blast that reminded me of a ki blast. It raced towards me, far faster than the flames. My eyes narrowed into slits as I reached out to catch the construct, intending to break it, and instantly I realized the difference between the other colors and the red.
The palm of my hand sizzled, the skin cooking, then burning to a charred black. It was like it was poison. Something volatile that cared nothing about durability or resistances. It was something that had a singular desire -- to destroy the enemy. My face twisted into a snarl as I sunk my fingers into the construct, warping the blast before I threw my hand to the side. The alien met my snarl, not slowing down as more red fire gathered in his hands while the shots he fired before were closing in.
Ignoring the pain in my hand, I gathered ki in them and fired off four blasts as I rushed to meet the Red Lantern head-on. Fire washed over us, burning my cape and armor while the hard plastics of my visor began to swelter. A sword appeared in the Red Lantern's hands, a construct that he used to slam into the ki that gathered around my hands. It ate away at the ki, forcing me to constantly reinforce them to avoid losing a limb.
"I…" The Red Lantern began, glaring pure murder at me. That question really did set him off. "Am!" He continued, trying to push me back with pure strength. He couldn't. In a contest of strength, there was no comparing us. "Wrath!" He screamed as another half dozen red flames bloomed above him in a half-circle, making my eyes narrow.
Just as they surged forward, intent on tearing through me, I lashed out with a foot and caught Wrath in the chest, undercutting his dramatic proclamation before I quickly backed off. The flames chased after me, leaving behind a trail of smoke before I detonated them with a quick ki blast. As heat washed over me again, I smelled smoke and looked down at my cape to see that it was on fire.
"Ada'la?" I started, tearing the cape off and letting it fall down to the planet's surface. The fire began to clear to reveal Wrath hovering on the other side, his ring glowing and the scars on his arms doing the same. In response to my question, I heard jumbled words -- the speakers were damaged. "Warn Lord Frieza that we may be dealing with Red Lanterns as well for me," I ordered before I took off my visor as well and tossed it away.
I had others. There just wasn't a point in bringing them out if they were just going to get melted. Even my armor had suffered, so I tossed that off too, leaving my upper body covered only by a black long sleeve undersuit. Keeping it on wasn't going to help with the heat, and if the ambient heat was enough to melt it partially then a direct hit would destroy it. The last thing I needed was melted armor in a wound to make it more difficult to heal.
"I remember you now," I told him as I wrapped my tail around my waist. After years of having it stuffed and protected by armor, it was rather freeing to have it out in the open again. "Your race was the one that preached about how evil my race is while trying to commit genocide on us."
Wrath's eyes narrowed into slits, likely thinking I was mocking him when I wasn't. He seemed like an angry guy, so there wasn't any point trying to reason with him. "I thought my brother had killed you?"
Wrath seemed to shake with… well… wrath as he glared at me, "I teleported myself out of the way of the blast. But I was too weak to continue the fight. My people… you… you slaughtered them. You refused their surrender and hunted them down like animals."
I met his gaze evenly, recalling that moment when I made the choice to do exactly what he said. "I did," I confirmed.
Beyond the hate and rage, pain shone in his eyes. A wound that hadn't healed regardless of how much time had passed, and it was unlikely that it ever would. My brother and I… we were the source of his rage. And I'm guessing that it was that rage that attracted that ring to his finger, and why he was before me now. A lesson to be learned.
Kill your enemies, else you will face them again stronger than they previously were.
"Why?" He questioned, his tone… desperate. And angry. And sad. He was a volatile mix of emotions, but all of them fueled his rage.
I wished I had a decent answer for him. The truth wouldn't satisfy him and it would only make him stronger. Still, he deserved honesty. If only because lying to an enemy to make them weaker left a poor taste in my mouth. I met his gaze evenly, unwavering, and gave him the truth. "Because it was convenient for me."
Wrath blinked, his lips parting like he couldn't understand the words that I had just said. So, I clarified. "I had recruits that needed to be tested by fire. You were an enemy that was attempting to wipe out my race. The test I had planned for my recruits didn't pan out, so you were a convenient alternative." I didn't have a hand in Vegeta wiping out his race, but I hadn't exactly done a whole lot to stop him. I gave a vague reason not to by bringing up Lord Frieza, and that was about it.
"You…" There were tears in his eyes and his scars glowed brightly with a sinister red light. There was a tremble in his voice and he faltered for a moment. After that moment, his gaze hardened and his face settled on a blank mask as his anger transcended mere rage. "You're dead." It was impressive how much hate he could fit in two words.
With that, he moved. Fire formed and launched itself at me in a steady barrage, forcing me to dodge as I raced to clash against him once again. A chain construct emerged from his ring that lashed out at me, and when I dodged, more chains erupted from the links to follow me. I slashed at them with a ki blade, driving them away to get in close.
A familiar symbol appeared before me before I could land a blow. I curled my hand into a fist and slammed it into the red symbol, knowing that I was too closed in to back off. Wrath flew backward, forced back from the force, but I paid the price. I felt bones snap in my arm, the force I delivered returned tenfold. My muscles were more than tough enough to keep my bones in place, so it mattered little.
Vegeta had whittled Wrath down until that symbol became ineffective. That was before he became a Red Lantern, so I don't think that was in the cards anymore.
The flames continued to follow me, circling around to give chase and I waited until the last moment to dodge. Throwing myself up, I flipped out of the way to dodge, ki gathering in my hands. With one hand I detonated the flames, setting off a chain reaction to destroy the others and the same moment incredible heat washed over me, I formed a bubble shield to protect me from the blast. It forced me back from the point of impact, but my shield held up. I took a moment to glance at my arm to find that it was bleeding but functional.
That didn't make sense. For the past six years, I had engravings marked onto my soul to make me resistant to magic. What should have happened was that I broke through that symbol and killed Wrath. Instead, my arm was the one to break. So, either Narra had lied to me, or that wasn't magic.
I had practiced with her a fair bit on dealing with magic, and it had worked then. I don't think she was lying to me, so what was different?
Spiked red chains erupted from the fire, wrapping themselves around my shield, telling me that Wrath wasn't dead. The opposite, really. He flew through the fire, unbothered by it, while a large red flame gathered around one hand before shaping itself into a burning red lance. The tip was aimed for my chest, intent to skewer me through the heart while the chains kept me in place.
Wrath, I thought as I expanded the shield, forcing a gap between the chains so I could slip through it, was a tricky enemy to fight. The chains attempted to grab hold of me, but I cut them away to gather ki in my hands. That symbol of his meant that long-range wasn't viable and between his magic and his power ring, he could dominate at long range as well. Close range was the best bet that I had, but the same problem persisted.
Meaning I had to make use of small gaps in his defense, like when he attacked.
With ki coating my hand, I reached out to grab the tip of the lance. The palm of my hand burned, the tip of the lance barely poking through on the other end, but I was able to hold the magic. The lance bulged, buckling at the sudden stop, and through his rage, I saw surprise flash over Wrath's face while a grin spread over mine.
Before he could react, I clenched down on the lance while I lashed out with a ki covered hand. The tip of my blade slid under his ribs, cutting through the red aura that covered him. Purple blood erupted from his mouth, but he was too angry to let a blow like that kill him. Knowing that, I slashed to the side, intent on bisecting him, and I half managed the task. Only for glowing red thread to trace over the wound, burning it shut to keep his body intact.
There was the difference, I thought as I pressed the attack. Wrath retreated, trying to put some distance between us, and to buy that time, a glowing red symbol appeared between us. Instead of hitting it with my fist, I grabbed hold of the symbol and crushed it in my fist. I could destroy magic attacks and defenses.
"Damn you!" Wrath screamed, so pissed that he didn't seem to notice as another ki blade punched through his chest. He grabbed onto my arm, the symbols on his flashing a moment. Then I felt a tug in my gut, but I resisted it. He screamed at me, a wordless mad howl of rage and hate before he recalled that he had a ring. It flashed as I went to sever his head, and both of us fell into a portal of swirling red.
One moment we were in atmosphere above a planet and the next we were in space, a thousand miles above our previous location. There was a savage grin on Wrath's face because he knew only one of us could breathe. A hand went to a pocket that contained a capsule that carried my mask and spare visors, only for a chain of red to wrap itself around my leg.
I hastily destroyed it, but the damage was done. The capsules were destroyed.
Turning to glare at Wrath, I saw that his lips were moving but I couldn't hear him. I didn't have a scouter to pick up what he was saying and there was no sound in space. Not that I could respond in the first place. I had half a lung full of air, so I either needed to defeat him or get back planetside before I suffocated.
Gritting my teeth, I raced forward -- I had to cut off his arm, then his head. With that thought in mind, ki coated my hands and I sent an arc of it at Wrath. A symbol appeared between us as flames sparked to life above him, ignoring the lack of air to burn brightly. He rushed forward to meet me, his ring firing blasts as my ki arc hit his symbol. I felt pain lacerate my body, cuts appearing, and even the probing strike could cause some damage.
The flames fired out, attempting to drive me away from the planet, while he used his ring to the same effect. He had learned his lesson, annoyingly. He wasn't letting me get close to him. The ki in my hands shifted as I shaped it into a different attack. Six ki balls raced from the palm of my hand to slam into the flames, bathing me in fire but I pressed forward as my undersuit was being burnt off. Sailing through the flames, I caught a glimpse of a red flash before I saw that Wrath had teleported himself further away from me.
Okay. That was irritating as all hell. If he learned that lesson so well then he wasn't going to make the same mistake as he did last time. Meaning I had to bait him into making a new mistake.
He was angry. Furious. He wasn't thinking rationally. How could I use that?
The answer was obvious.
A hand went to my throat, my mouth opening to show that I was gasping for air. I attempted to breathe in, expecting to be unable to take anything in, and the shock on my face only sealed the deal when I felt air enter my lungs. My mask was off, I was in space… my necklace? It was made of Nth metal, but I had thought it wasn't near enough to let me breathe in space. While I took in a deep breath of fresh air, Wrath's eyes narrowed into slits.
The symbol faded as he cupped his hands together. A flaming ball of red light was dyed a multitude of colors until red was just another one in the mixture. The attack that destroyed evil. I had been unsure if that attack would do any damage to me before, but now there was no question that it would. My list of sins was long and soaked in blood.
It all came down to what mattered more -- the runes etched into my soul or the evil I had committed.
He raised the blast up high, cradling it like the sun in his hands before he thrust the spiraling colored attack at me. I flew forward, expecting this attack, and reached out with my hand. A split second later, we made contact and I slipped inside of the stream of magic. The runes allowed me to push through the attack, but… I felt it. The attack washed over my body, even as I pushed through it.
The pain was… different. It should be something that I could brush off -- between the Wrath State and the etching on my soul, my pain tolerance was vast. Yet, the pain was sharp and near-crippling. Like I was suffering countless wounds all at once. It was trying to destroy something in me, something that would kill me and reduce me to ash, but the runes on my soul were a stalwart defense.
I guess I had my answer now. I was undeniably evil.
With that thought spurring me forward, I surged through the attack until I emerged on the other end. I saw Wrath's eyes widen, but he was too late to react. My arms were still too short, so I borrowed a technique from Fasha and ki condensed in my hands to become two twin spears. One lashed out at his hand, severing the ring from him, while the other bit into his neck. Even as the ki staff cut through flesh and bone, his lips moved. I couldn't hear his final words, but I could read his lips.
"Damn you."
The blade emerged from the other side of his neck, beheading him(,) and with that he was dead. The last of his race, wiped out trying to achieve vengeance. If he had attacked my brother first, then he might have had a chance.
A sigh escaped me as I looked down at his body that was gently floating away. Then at the ki spears in my hands. Fasha was going to be mad, but I kinda liked them. Letting them fade into nothing, I went to the hand and pulled off the ring on the finger -- it matched the rings on my necklace. Yet, I didn't feel the need to add it to my growing collection. The green power ring came from Kaylark, a Green Lantern that I respected for what she tried to do. The yellow came from Sinestro, one of the best Green Lanterns there was and when he turned green into yellow, his abilities only seemed to grow. I respected them both.
I didn't have that same kind of respect for Wrath. I met him when he was attempting to wipe out my race, and while I did respect him trying to distract Vegeta in a one on one match... who he was with a red ring seemed like a diffrent person entirely. So his ring would no be placed on my necklace. That being said, it was a neat trophy.
So, I simply gazed down at my latest trophy, a single thought going through my head.
I was fighting half of the galaxy and now two separate lantern forces.
…
Shayera flew forward, smashing her mace into a Khund soldier while energy blasts smashed into her personal barrier. Looking to the source, she saw a tall Khund soldier rush towards her as he fired from the hip, his energy rifle spewing energy blasts while a group behind him fell back. In response, she threw her mace and it slammed into his knee, breaking it and making him fall while she flew forward.
Slamming a knee into the Khund's nose, knocking him out, she scooped up her mace and continued forward with a flap of her wings. More bolts hit her shield, but on her scouter she saw that the shields had barely been scratched. It would be shocking if it was anything different -- Nth metal was at the core of the energy shields, and even with her wingspan, she was protected.
She had been right. Prince Tarble did take care of his soldiers.
"Breakthrough, breakthrough at twelve o'clock. Vas?" Commander Avery called out, running forward as he fired a gun that should be too powerful for him. Around them was a once-proud military compound. Fires raged, lightning cackled in the sky above, and the sounds of uncontrollable combat rang out in her ears.
In response to Commander Avery, a massive lightning bolt fell from the sky. Shayera had seen lightning impacts before and it truly wasn't anything special, but what Vas unleashed on a building was more of a high yield missile than a lightning bolt. A clap of thunder nearly defeated her and the shock wave ruffled her feathers. Regardless, Shayera flew forward.
Khund soldiers staggered out of the building. "Surrender!" She demanded as she approached, giving her position away and the soldiers responded by firing at her. And she responded by breaking their legs.
Behind her, Avery and Canda, another member of Avery's squad, approached. Their weapons tore through the enemy with deadly pale blue blasts. The Khunds had good armor and weapons, just not good enough. The 501st got the best of the best in terms of equipment and it showed. Vas flew over, touching down not far away. The purple-haired woman glanced at the fallen bodies, lightning crackling in her hands.
"You good?" She asked the fallen enemies, a quiet sigh in her voice.
"We shall recover. Our thanks for your restraint. We will submit to prisoner protocols," One of the Khunds answered, offering Shayera a thankful nod. She returned it even as she thought it was odd.
The Khund empire was weird. They were hyper-aggressive expansionists that kicked off any native species they found on a planet they conquered, they were relentless in their attacks and would fight until the absolute bitter end… then they would just surrender when they knew they were beaten. More than that, Shayera knew she didn't have to leave a guard with them or tie them up until they could be escorted to a prisoner camp. They would stay there or they would escort themselves.
It was like it was a game, almost. It was the only way she could think to describe it. They were model prisoners and they would obey every rule unless provoked. The only problems there were when they believed they were not being treated properly or if a Khund unit performed a rescue to free them. It was unlike anything that she had ever seen before.
"They respect the pipsqueak," Vas informed her with a careless shrug, probably thinking the same things she was. "He's following their rules of war -- not bombing cities, targeting soldiers only, as much as he can at any rate."
"This isn't the time for chit chat," Avery remarked as he continued to sprint forward. A waypoint was pinged on her scouter. "The general has been found." Shayera nodded, floating up while the others did the same. Neither Avery or Canda could fly naturally, Nth metal gave them the ability.
Avery, Shayera found, was a good commander. He was the commander for all of the 501st and from what she could tell, he led them well. He leveraged their diverse abilities well, and even if he was not the strongest, fastest, smartest, or oldest of their number, all seemed to respect him.
It was a lucky break that she was assigned to him. Prince Tarble's armies were spread out, meaning that she wasn't even in the same solar system as Broly, but given that he was assigned to Elery's squad, it was only a matter of time before their paths crossed. It was simply a matter of waiting until then. And surviving, of course.
"Vas, make a flashy entrance. Canda, you're with me. Shayera, support Vas. Rocky, drill up on the coordinates I gave you," Avery ordered as they spotted the enemy fortress in the distance. Vas gathered her energy while similar lightning crackled around Shayera's mace. Their final squadmate was currently below the surface, but the order had been confirmed.
The fortress was on high alert, so it didn't take them long to get spotted. Beams of light were fired up at them, forcing them to scatter. Vas and Shayera dove forward, intent on breaking through the defensive line while Avery and Canda fell back. Vas gathered up her lightning into a ball that she condensed into a hand before she thrust her hand out towards the fortress. White lightning blinded her for a second, through her closed eyes, but when she opened them she saw a line carved through the fortress.
The defensive line was cut in two, a jagged line carved upward from the point of impact that continued over the ground and through the fortress. The metal glowed an angry red, and they had their entrance. The defensive line faltered, recovering from the shockwave that hit them, and her team used the moment of respite to sail directly into the building.
Smoke billowed up from the blast, but Shayera flew through it, and on the other side she saw a command center. More of a throne room, really. At the center of it all, on top of a half dozen platforms that got smaller the higher they were stacked, was a large white throne with a sizable woman sitting on it. A mane of red hair, her skin a light pink while she wore armor of gold and red.
There was a smile on her face as she rose from her throne, "Welcome warriors! I am Warlord Gilguk," Gilguk introduced herself as her team landed just after her. She was the warlord in charge of the armies that were based in this sector. As she rose, she hefted a massive axe -- over twelve feet tall with the axe head the size of a Thanagarian. An unwieldy weapon. Just not for Gilguk because she lifted it with ease. "For what reason have you come here?"
"Your immediate and unconditional surrender," Avery answered, taking aim with his rifle. They all knew what the response would be. Shayera tensed her muscles while Vas covered her arms in electricity. Canda split herself into three copies, each taking aim at the Warlord.
Gilguk smiled brightly, "I refuse!" She exclaimed and that was the cue for the battle to begin. Shayera flew forward, swinging her mace while Gilguk rushed to meet her. In a blur, she swung the huge axe, slamming it down upon Shayera. It would have cleaved her in two if she hadn't placed the shaft of her weapon between the axe's sizable edge and herself. Shayera's feet sunk into the ground, the metal warping and tearing under the force, but Shayera didn't falter.
The smell of ozone filled the room and a blast of lightning shot towards Gilguk, forcing her to defend. The bolt of lightning slammed into the flat of the axe, but Shayera heard no pained scream. Ripping her feet free, she used the opening to race forward to press the attack. Gilguk hefted her weapon and her eyes widened a fraction as Shayera swung. In the split second, Gilguk switched her grip so the shaft of her axe absorbed most of the blow.
All the while the others flanked around. Canda opened fire and the pale blue bolts slammed into Gilguk as she was knocked back from the blow. At first she attempted to tank them, only to realize that she couldn't -- Shayera wasn't sure how Canda's ability worked, but everything on her was duplicated by her clones. Down to her weapons. The Nth metal powered energy bolts packed a punch, no matter how tough you were.
Gilguk used the flat of her axe as a shield, and Shayera guessed that was a decent enough reason for it to be so oversized. Just over the edge of the axe head, she looked at them, her eyes following Canda. Knowing what she was planning, Shayera dove to place herself between Gilguk and Canda the same moment that the Khund warlord moved to take her out.
Gilguk was faster than Shayera, but a bolt of lightning that Gilguk was forced to dodge delayed her enough that Shayera was able to reach Gilguk in time. As the warlord swung, Shayera did as well, only her target was the oversized axe. Her mace slammed the axe's edge into the ground, sinking it in deep to save Canda's life. The triplets simply rolled out of the way, backing off as they fired in unison like a well-oiled machine. Gilguk reacted, keeping one hand on the axe's handle, she twisted to lash out with a foot that she planted in Shayera's gut.
Every trace of breath was knocked from her lungs and it felt like her organs had just taken terrible damage. Even still, Shayera grabbed onto the ankle of Gilguk as she grit her teeth, her wings flapping once to help her pivot. Gilguk made a noise of surprise when she felt herself being lifted, then quickly slammed into the ground with all the strength that Shayera could muster.
It was then that Avery made his move. He appeared from nowhere and jabbed the barrel of his gun in her face. And, at that same moment, Rocky made himself known. Cables erupted from the ground, wrapping themselves around Gilguk to keep her in place. "Will you reconsider your surrender?"
Gilguk glared, "I will not. It will take more than some petty energy blast to end my life."
Avery nodded, "It will. Which is why I'm going to use a Nth metal slug fired from a railgun at hypersonic speeds." That wiped the smile off of Gilguk's face. She opened her mouth to answer, only to be cut off by the sound of someone clearing their throat. The team reacted instantly, Canda pointed her guns at the source, Shayera's wings fanned out to fly, Vas gathered energy in her hands. Only Avery kept his gun pointed at their defeated enemy.
Shayera's heart sunk when she saw the source. Two men. She didn't recognize either of them, but it was impossible to mistake who they were. One was a Green Lantern -- dark skin, dark eyes with dark hair cut short. He appeared to look like a Thanagarian, but his appearance had too much in common with that of a human. Floating next to him was an alien she did not know.
Pale blue skin, his face lacked a nose and his eyes were pitch black. Instead of hair, he had a long tendril of some kind. There were markings on his face that seemed to follow the curves of his face, going around the eyes and curving where the bridge of his nose would be, flowing near the edges of his mouth with markings at the corners going up to join. Most notably, however, was his uniform. A blue and black version of a Green Lantern with a different emblem at the center of his chest.
The blue one offered a small smile, "Please forgive the interruption -- I'm Bro'dee Walker, and this is John Stewart," He introduced himself and the Green Lantern next to him, who looked down at them with his arms crossed. He had a soothing voice, Shayera found as she clutched her mace tightly. Two Lanterns was a tall order. "Please, lower your weapons and surrender. You will be treated kindly. I swear it."
Shayera glanced at Avery, who seemed to be mulling it over as he continued to look down at Gilguk. "Will you surrender personally?" He asked her, ignoring the Bro'dee's request. Gilguk's eyes narrowed into slits before she craned her head back to look at the Lanterns. Her thoughts were her own as she stared at them before looking back at Avery.
"I, Warlord Gilguk, offer my personal surrender," she said, and the cables holding her in place released before Avery removed the gun from her face. Gilguk stood up with little trouble and ignoring the growing tension, she walked over to her axe and picked it up. Once it was back in hand, she walked up the steps to her throne and sat down in it. Feeling all eyes were on her, she smirked at all of them. "Avery, Commander of the 501st, you have proven your valor and your actions reflect well on Prince Tarble. Prove your worth now and your Prince shall receive the surrender of my armies."
Her voice rang out over the large room. Shayera looked at Avery, who simply pointed his rifle at the Green Lantern. She turned to glare at them as well, readying herself for the fight that was to come. Their rings glowed in response, realizing that it would be a fight. Shayera's muscles tensed, ready to attack and dodge, waiting for the signal-
"Sorry to ruin the moment," A voice said from above the Lanterns, a smirk in their voice that broke the tension that had grown so thick that Shayera could barely breathe. Emerging from the smoke was another Lantern and, to her shock, she recognized him.
Hal Jordan descended from above, dressed in a Red Lantern suit, but one of his hands were green. On it resided a green ring. It shined brightly as green lines, almost like circuitry, crawled up his arm where the green construct began. Almost as if the green was infecting the red.
Both of the Lanterns recoiled in shock at his sudden appearance, but Hal just threw on an easy-going smile.
"But I need to have a talk with these two about the Guardians and what they've been getting up to the past couple billion years," Hal explained his reason to be here, his gaze lingering on her for a moment. That smile of his grew a fraction as he took in the situation.
"So, how about we talk this out?"
...
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Stratagemini
Totally a Fire Ferret.
- Location
- Central Park
- Pronouns
- He/Him/They/Them
So... Is Hal joining Tarble's armies? because... It feels like there are 37 different fronts and they all hate Tarble except the Khund (who are fighting him because they like him).
More like he's going to a third(fourth.. fifth?) Party I think.
Modus_Tollens
SCREAMING AT THE APOCALYPSE
- Location
- ALSO SCREAMING.
Adversarial but with its own list of priorities. Tarble is on the list but is perhaps not number one.
An easy smile on someone with liquid hate for blood is particularly terrifying, I must say.
- Pronouns
- he/him
Well, he's always been one with great amounts of willpower. Makes sense that he'd be able to control himself with liquid rage still flowing through his veins.
Modus_Tollens
SCREAMING AT THE APOCALYPSE
- Location
- ALSO SCREAMING.
I'd expect that to cause him to maintain his moral code through persistent tooth-grinding. Going full zen during the experience, when he should have been far more bitter even with only a willpower ring, is... unexpected.
Feeling of the Edge
- Location
- USA
"What would we have to talk about?" John Stewart questioned, the tension in the room ramping up despite Hal's best attempts to break it. Avery sent a message to her through her scouter, telling Shayera to wait it out while sending a set of coordinates to Rocky. The bio-android couldn't hide from the likes of a Power Ring, but if they didn't have a reason to look for him then he could go unnoticed.
Bro'dee turned to give Hal his full attention, going as far as to turn his back to them. "I have heard of you, Hal Jordan -- Ganthet held you in high regard. He was saddened by your passing," He offered, speaking of someone that Shayera didn't know. That didn't matter. She rolled her shoulders and waited for the pain in her gut to fade a bit, using the precious time just in case it did come to a fight.
Hal offered a lopsided smile, "Well, rumors of my demise have been exaggerated," he said, gesturing to himself.
John's eyes narrowed, "And that's something we have to talk about. Last I heard, you were killed in action. What's with the red get-up?" As he said that, Shayera's gaze drifted to the green construct hand. It was like it was infecting his body, almost, fighting against the red. The green lines of circuitry traveled up his arm, over his shoulder, and seemed to be inching towards his heart. It looked like a bad thing, but given that green was will power, maybe it was a good thing?
At that, the smirk fell off of Hal's lips. "I nearly did. I would have if it wasn't for Kilowog," There was quiet anger in his voice. His hand made of flesh, that wore the red ring, clenched in anger. "But he made a last-ditch effort to save my sorry ass and a few others. There, I got picked up by Atrocitus ."
That's a name and a half. "That's a name and a half," John remarked, echoing Shayera.
"Not his given name, from what I understand," Hal returned with a shrug. "One that he chose a couple of billion years ago when the Guardian's slaughtered his sector until only he and about four others survived." Shayera flinched back at the news, blinking in shock, and she saw that the others were trading questioning looks. "Before there were the Green Lanterns, there were the Manhunters. And the Guardians made that classic mistake of not installing a guideline of 'don't kill everyone in the sector to preserve the peace' so hundreds of trillions of people died."
There was an uneasy silence, even Gilguk seemed disturbed by the information. "Long story short, Atrocitus was imprisoned to sweep the thing under the rug, and he spent billions of years stewing in his resentment and rage. A couple of years ago, he created the Red Central Battery and rings fueled by rage."
To demonstrate the point, he held up his hand, showing off the red ring on his finger. Bro'dee looked disturbed, "The Guardians wouldn't do such a thing." He said the words like they were a fact. Then he shook his head, "But no matter -- we can help you Hal Jordan."
John seemed to have different priorities, "I'm guessing that the Red Lanterns aren't on our side." That was a promising point. Shayera didn't like their chances fighting three Lanterns. Fighting two with one on their side sounded a lot more reasonable.
"Depends," Hal hedged. "Me and Atrocitus had a few personal differences, so I split from the group. His faction is probably rushing to Prince Tarble for an alliance -- that guy would ally the devil himself if he thought it would give him a shot at the Guardians."
"And yourself?" Bro'dee questioned, sounding hopeful.
"I think the Guardians have a lot to answer for, good intentions or not. The Guardians are my enemy. Not the Green… or Blue Lanterns," Hal stated, giving both of them a sharp look.
"I don't think it works that way Hal," John responded quietly in a deadly serious tone. The ring on his finger glowed and he ignored a look from his blue partner.
Hal looked back, his expression flat. "I think it does. They sent us to die, Stewart. It was a massacre, and the Guardians swept us under the rug like they did with trillions of others that have gathered over the years. They've murdered more people than everything that they claim to fight against twice over. And they've gotten away with it for too damn long. Even if they aren't evil, they need to be held accountable."
"So, you're going to join up with Frieza? Just let him win?" John questioned, his voice hard.
"If I have to pick between two evils, I won't choose at all. The Green Lanterns are needed. Necessary even, but not in the Guardians' hands. They go away, and we can protect the universe like we should have since the beginning. The Guardians fall, then Frieza, and everyone else who tries to murder innocent people for power. I'd say between the colors of Lanterns, we can manage that better than Green ever could."
An idealist, Shayera realized. In her brief memories of Hal, and the reports she had read about the newest Green Lantern at the time, he never struck her as an idealist.
"You're asking me to buy a whole lot on blind faith," John refused flatly. "I won't betray the Green Lanterns."
Hal frowned, "I'm not asking you to. Just the Guardians." Their gazes met for a long moment, a battle of wills. Surprisingly, it was Hal that gave up first with a sigh and a small shrug. "I guess I can't blame you. I wouldn't have believed me either," he admitted.
Shayera heard Avery prime his gun, and a target was sent to her through her scouter. Hal Jordan was marked as Low, John was High while Bro'dee was Mid. Hal seemed to take notice as he was the one looking at them. There was conflict in his eyes, torn between something.
"Prince Tarble isn't someone I can forgive," He told them. Meaning that he was an enemy as well. A three-way fight. "Surrender -- either to me or to these two." His gaze lingered on her, likely recognizing her. They had never fought side by side, but they knew of each other.
Avery spoke up, his voice firm as he took aim at Hal, "Can't do that. You heard the lady -- this entire sector surrenders if we put on a good show. That opens up the capital planet, and that's the shot Prince Tarble needs to win the war." Avery informed, and Shayera glanced at him, surprised by the information. Her gaze slid over to Gilguk to find that the information wasn't a surprise to her at all.
"I'm not restricted by the Guardian's rules. You push this too far, and you could die," Hal informed while Bro'dee blanched, his face scrunching up in distaste. Shayera frowned, but it was telling that he wasn't threatening to kill them either. Just because the restriction wasn't in use, that didn't mean he was eager to act on his new freedoms.
"Doesn't matter. I have a job to do, so it's going to get done." Avery retorted, his gun unwavering.
Bro'dee was the one that spoke up, "Death isn't something one should be eager to embrace," he stated solemnly.
"Some things are worth dying for," Avery returned, shifting his aim and John had just enough time to widen his eyes before Avery pulled the trigger. A deep green shield appeared, but it meant little to a Nth metal slug being launched at hypersonic speeds. It was a financial waste of epic proportions, but it was hard to hold that opinion when it punched through the construct and blew a hole in the Lantern's chest.
Shayera moved, knowing that was the cue for the battle to begin in earnest. Bro'dee turned to John, his ring flashing blue as she sailed towards them, Vas at her side. She thought he was going to attack, but instead, the flesh and bone that were shot out, leaving behind a gaping hole, replaced itself. Behind them, Hal moved in, his contract ring flashing, but John reacted too quickly. He saw Hal move and responded, considering him an enemy.
John and Bro'dee flew up, John formed a construct, a massive dark green fist that launched itself at Hal, who blocked it with a green shield tainted with red. "I'm on your side," Hal snapped, the red in his shield glowing.
John didn't have time to answer before Vas unleashed a torrent of electricity at Bro'dee. The smell of burning ozone filled Shayera's nose as she flew towards John. There was blood on his lips, but he seemed strong. His gaze darted to her, and she expected Bro'dee to respond but he didn't. The green fist faded to be replaced with a shield that sent the two flying back.
Their shield slammed into the wall behind them, forcing them outside. Shayera went to pursue, but she found herself blocked off by a red construct -- a grasping claw that nearly snagged her out of the air. Vas continued forward, chasing down the other two Lanterns, while Avery loaded up another shot. Hal glared at her, the action visible without his mask. "Been a while, Hawkwoman," he greeted, visibly struggling to contain his anger.
"It has," Shayera returned. Hal had looked better. There were bags under his eyes, a beard was starting to grow in… he looked tired, Shayera thought as she hefted her mace. "If only it could be under better circumstances."
Hal leveled a red ring at her, his gaze hard. "If only," he agreed before a red chain erupted from his ring that surged towards her. Avery and Canda began firing from below, fanning out and giving her covering fire while Shayera flew forward. Her mace slammed into the chain, knocking it away but not breaking it. In response to that, Hal fired off a green energy blast from his ring, deftly dodging the blasts from her comrades. Just in case Avery had another Nth metal slug.
Shayera broke off, falling back as she bashed one green ray away, knowing that Vas couldn't handle two Lanterns on her own. As she fell back, Hal pursued, firing blasts at her while the red chains sought her out. Using the hole that Vas formed earlier, Shayera flew out into the courtyard and saw Vas flinging powerful bolts of lightning at the two Lanterns, only to be stopped by a dark green shield.
"The blue one is support only!" Vas shouted as Shayera neared. She looked to find that Bro'dee's ring flashed, but nothing emerged from it. Though, judging by his expression, it seemed that Vas was right.
In response to the proclamation, Bro'dees' target ranking was set to High. If Shayera had to guess, he was strengthening John's constructs, and since he had proved that he could heal him as well…
That didn't sit right with Shayera. Attacking someone that couldn't defend themselves. In battle or not. Vas and Avery held no such reservations, Shayera quickly learned when Vas prepared a massive charge while Avery started firing at Bro'dee with his rail gun. The shot bounced harmlessly off of the dark green shield that surrounded them. Her gaze landed on John for a moment before she was forced to dodge a construct.
Nth metal was the only thing that they had that could deal with a construct. But what about another construct?
Shayera twisted in air, finding Hal in hot pursuit. The chains lashed out, trying to bind her. She bashed them away, her arms rattling from the force, but she couldn't afford to stop. With each failed attempt, the red seemed to darken and the scowl on Hal's face slowly became a snarl. The chains became more erratic, their blows falling harder and faster. His movement became reactive, lashing out at anything that attacked him.
The ring he wore was empowered by rage. The green with will. How he acted before compared to him now, it was easy to see that he was using the will to check the rage, but that was a balance that was easily broken by frustration.
Shayera used that to her advantage. A chain struck out at her, only for her to counter it, sending it flying into the green shield of the other Green Lantern. John's eyes narrowed, and Hal was too long in his growing anger to stop himself. He barely paid the action any mind, mindlessly attacking Shayera, only to be stopped when John took a shot at him.
"Stop! Hal, I believe I can help you!" Bro'dee exclaimed as the two Lanterns began to clash. Vas and Shayera backed off, taking a brief moment of respite. "I can purge you of the red taint within you!"
"Avery?" Shayera questioned while Hal snarled, his rings flashing dangerously. Avery didn't respond as he hovered nearby, but she saw him hold out his hand before a familiar metal slug appeared in it hand. There was a symbol marked on it. Magic. Teleportation, maybe? It would make sense. Otherwise, Avery was shooting away billions of credits.
"And let the Guardians take my ring?" Hal spat, his lips thinning as he tried to control his anger, even as he fought against John. "No. I should have told the Guardians to get fucked when they put me and a thousand others on probation for trying to save people. Now their strings on me have been cut, I won't let them be reattached." Their constructs clashed -- green enhanced with blue and red enhanced with green.
They watched the battle above the compound. Below them were Khund soldiers that seemed to be cheering and taking bets rather than shooting at them. That was comforting at least.
"Canda," Avery said, tossing the original the Nth metal slug. Her eyes widened as she caught it, the two clones of herself fading before being quickly replaced, only now each of them had a Nth metal slug. Two of them were fake, but if they could mimic the properties then it mattered little. "Rocky?"
They received a green light on their scouters. Rocky was ready. Avery looked at her and Vas -- Shayera nodded firmly while Vas had lightning crackling between her hands. Shayera turned her attention back to the two fighting lanterns to find John firing away with a gun while Hal defended with a red baseball mitt.
Bro'dee was focused on them as if he was trying to warn them off with his expression alone. Shayera didn't like it, but he was an enemy. She preferred it when her enemies were thoroughly terrible people so she could bash them with her mace without any feelings of guilt.
"Let's end a war," Avery said, taking aim, reminding them why they were here. Shayera gripped her mace tightly and flew forward to throw herself in the fray. The war… Shayera was beyond the point of caring about it. Prince Tarble seemed… fine, all things considered, but a victory for him was a victory for the Frieza-force. And the last year of war taught her that there were no good empires in the galaxy.
They all had fallen on the corpse of the Thanagarian Empire like scavengers, and they fought each other for the scraps left behind.
Bro'dee took aim with his ring, his lips pressed together into a thin line before he started firing at them with blue rays of energy. So he could at least defend himself. That was better, Shayera thought as she flapped her wings and dodged the blue beams of light. Hal let out an enraged snarl that echoed through the air as he clashed against John. Shayera paid it no mind as she neared, gripping her mace with two hands before she smashed it against the enhanced green shield. It cracked, barely, under the blow but it was enough to distract John.
A red drill slammed into the bubble shield that protected Bro'dee and John, and it had much better luck tearing through the construct. Bro'dee was the one that reacted instantly, shoving John out of the way while placing himself in the path of the drill.
And Shayera's body moved on its own. A foot lashed out that caught Bro'dee in the ribs, probably breaking some of them since his guard was down, and the blow sent him flying out of the way. The red drill passed her by, Hal turning a murderous glare in her direction, turning towards her, but before he could do anything, a massive bolt of lightning hit him in the chest.
"Shayera, now isn't the time for mercy," Avery rebuked her action coldly, and she knew that she was going to suffer for that later, but Shayera couldn't bring herself to regret what she did.
John and Bro'dee reacted in sync while John sent a construct at Vas when she attempted to hit them both with lightning. It sparked over a metal claw that raced towards her, intent on plucking her from the sky, but it was bashed away when Shayera hit it with her mace.
"We do not need to be enemies," Bro'dee pleaded as Hal flew back up, looking a bit scorched(,) but otherwise fine. "This violence is pointless and unnecessary," he exclaimed, sounding almost angry.
Vas answered with a bolt of lightning that slammed into the construct that John had, an arm-mounted gun. "Maybe for you!" She shouted, flying forward in a blur to the naked eye. Bro'dee hesitated to fire off a shot to drive her away, his hand outstretched and steady, and it was because of that he lost his arm.
A Nth metal slug tore through flesh and bone, severing the arm that had the blue ring on it. Canda had taken her shot. John grabbed onto the alien, purple blood escaping the stump(,) but Bro'dee simply clamped a hand on the wound to stem the bleeding. Shayera heard the sound of another gunshot, and she wondered if she was going to see a Lantern die.
It was Hal that saved Breo'dee's life. A red construct appeared between the slug and the Blue Lantern. The slug tore through the construct, but the trajectory changed enough that Breo'dee's life was spared. "Hal?" Bro'dee questioned and Shayera knew that Canda had one shot left. Or, that was until the sound of two more slugs being fired echoed in her ears and two holes punched through the constructs.
"I said I just wanted to talk, you couple of…" Hal snapped at Bro'dee, placing John and the Blue Lantern at his back. A temporary peace brokered between them? That was bad. Now it was three Lanterns on her squad again.
Shayera pressed the attack while Canda tried to make her shots count. Avery flanked wide, peppering Hal with shots from a rail gun. Hal wrapped a green shield around the other Lanterns and flew up, his mouth moving, but Shayera couldn't hear the words. She must have interrupted the conversation when her mace slammed into that shield.
His gaze narrowed dangerously, and a flash of red was all the warning that she had before a red blast nearly punched a hole in her gut. Shayera twisted to the side, narrowly dodging, but she wasn't able to dodge the green anvil that came from John's ring and hit her in the face. Her head snapped back, her nose flattening with a spray of blood.
"Wait!" Bro'dee shouted, "killing her is unnecessary. Shall we leave, Hal Jordan?"
Shayera flew back, recovering from the blow with ease. Hal met her glare, even as he dodged lightning and bullets. Then he looked away sharply, "We're leaving," he announced without warning.
In response to his words, a swirling ooze of green erupted behind him. The red constructs faded, showing that the three Lanterns stood together. Her lips thinned, noting that Bro'dee had a blue ring on his finger. And two arms again. He offered her a small smile that disappeared when all three of them vanished into the swirling green ooze. And when it swirled into an imaginary drain, they were left alone.
"I'm counting that as a win," Vas decided, as she hovered nearby.
"Technically, we drove off three Lanterns," Canda remarked, a small smile in her voice. "I'm sure that's worth a special episode." The highest of prizes for the 501st -- an episode revolving around their exploits.
Avery didn't respond while Vas chuckled, "You'll get your chance to shine soon, Rocky," She consoled the final member of the team that hadn't been able to participate.
"Form up in the throne room," Avery ordered, flying off back into the building. Shayera shared a look with Vas, who simply nodded before they all flew back. When Shayera cleared the opening, she saw that Gilguk was smiling as she lounged on her throne. Her gaze roamed them, a finger tapping on the arm of the throne.
Then her smile grew. "This sector surrenders to the might of Prince Tarble."
…
I had no clue what my opponent was. I'm not even sure that it had a name. I floated above a city located on Thanagar, one on the lower plate. Below me, sprinting in the streets were twisted monstrosities. Things that had once been people, but something had turned them into something else. Their entire bodies became weapons. Their blood, or the gas they released spreading the infection.
One lashed out with a claw, it's arm stretching to impossible lengths, and the twisted and blackened claws tore through a soldier like he wasn't even there. His squad fired, attempting to kill it, but they knew it was a pointless endeavor. I saw that their armor had been punctured, so they had breathed in the spores. They were dead.
The soldiers were not Thanagarian. Or Frieza-force. Based on their species and build, I recognized them as one of the many empires, kingdoms, or pirates that were trying to invade Thanagar. The planet became hotly contested as the largest source of Nth metal. When the Thanagarian Empire fell apart, the entire galaxy's eyes turned to Thangar because it was now up for grabs. So everyone tried to grab it using any means necessary.
Weapons of mass destruction. Chemical warfare. Now a biological plaque of some kind. Something that turned people into monsters that desired nothing but the death of others, to spread the plague and infect more. The more infected, the stronger it became.
"I take my eyes off of this planet for five minutes," I remarked to myself as ki gathered in my hands. I stretched my awareness out, covering the city in search of any remaining life. There was a presence below, a massive sprawling presence that hinted that there was something inhabiting the sewers, so I would have to clean them out while I was here. But I did feel a few others.
Years of fine-tuning my ki sense let me sort through them a bit easier. To pick out familiar ones, and to not let a single massive presence blot out my ability to sense others. My scouter wasn't able to pick up any friendlies, so they probably weren't Frieza-force, but… I watched as a soldier was disemboweled in a gush of blood, screaming all the while.
I started flying towards the presence, but not before a ki blast slammed into the position of the rest of the squad, killing them instantly. The lower plate of Thanagar had been a sprawling slum that covered most of the city, so it had been in rough shape long before our raid. After it, after Elery armed every rebel group, extremist, and dissenter… things were in worse shape. Add about a year of near-constant war, and now some kind of plague that had black tendrils creeping up the walls and covering the roads?
Thanagar looked like it had been to hell and back a couple of times before deciding to stay in hell.
It only took a few seconds for me to reach the other presences. It was a squad sprinting through a half-collapsed building, firing all the while at a creature that gave chase to them. It was pitch back, no skin or hide, only tendrils that made a mockery of muscle. The energy bolts slammed into it, doing little damage, and not enough to stop its pursuit. It ran on all fours, gray metallic claws digging into the ground, and let out a bellow that had physical force behind it. A hunting call, I'm guessing(,) because I saw movement below me.
"Come and get some-" One of the aliens shouted, standing their ground while the others fell back. A Sayian-like alien woman with dark skin. She tossed a familiar piece of tech at the monstrosity, and a blue shield blocked off the hallway. Its claw slammed into the shield with a deafening crack, but the shield remained firm. The Cooperative tech. A federation of thousands of planets, most of which were highly advanced.
Still, it meant little because the creature went around it instead. Tendrils uncoiled from its thick front arms, and it tore through the ground, going under the shield. It seemed to slide through the hole, several tons of muscle squeezing through a few holes the size of my fist, and it reformed on the other side of the shield. The woman threw a grenade, attempting to destroy it while it was half-formed, but the concussive blast did nothing to the creature.
She screamed a warcry, preparing herself for death, and I decided that she had proven her valor twice over. Raising a hand, I fired a blast of ki at the creature as it lunged at her. The blast faded in moments, but the creature was gone, reduced to nothing. Anything less than that, and it would find a way to come back.
"Wha-" the woman cut herself off as she scrambled to her feet, her squad taking aim at me. "You… talk about unlucky," the woman remarked, also taking aim at me. I met her gaze for a moment before a ki disk formed in my hand, a platform.
"Get on," I ordered them, knowing that more was on the way. The woman hesitated and I glared behind my visor. "Before I change my mind," I warned, an edge to my tone.
They traded a look before the woman shook her head in disbelief as she lowered her gun, "A rescue from Prince Tarble himself. Never would have thought that would happen."
"That's because we're at war," one of them said, his gun still pointed at me. Even as he approached the platform. I didn't have time to play nice.
"Get on, or die when I destroy this infection. I couldn't care less," I told him as the others got on. Oddly, that got a crooked smile from him.
"That sounds like the Saiyans I've heard about," he stated before he joined the four others on the platform. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes before I started flying upward, one hand raised to the sky. A ki ball formed that grew larger and larger. A city buster that would reduce this place to a hole in the ground.
The ones on the platform awed over it, but that was nothing compared to when I dropped it on the city. The infected city was enveloped by blue light, an explosion that crawled forward and expanded block by block. Wind battered us, nearly blowing the squad that I had rescued off the ki platform I made before I put them in a bubble.
"And that… is what I heard about a Saiyan's strength," the guy commented, looking down at the hole in the ground with eyes filled with awe. A hole was all that was left of the city. My scouter searched for traces of the infection but found none. It hadn't managed to spread beyond it.
Good. I had enough problems as it was without some idiot trying to start a galactic plague.
"Why did you rescue us, if you don't mind me asking?" The woman questioned as I lowered the squad to the ground. I spared them a glance to find they looking at me with cautious expressions, clearly expecting another shoe to drop.
I doubt if I said that it was because I wanted to it would satisfy them. "To take a message to your leaders -- get off my planet," I answered curly as I flew up. "That is your only warning," With that serving as my parting words, I flew up and away, in search of the next battle.
There were no shortage of them, I found when movement caught my gaze. In the sky above was a near-constant battle between fleets. While mine was distracted fighting the tattered remnants of the Thanagarian fleet, another empire had moved in to hot drop armies. They streaked down from the sky, intent on landing on my planet.
Ki gathered in my hands, intent on taking them all out before they could, only for someone else to beat me to it. Countless green streaks of ki went to meet the armies halfway, destroying the drop ships mid-air so the soldiers would only touch Thanagar as corpses. It was obvious who had done it, if not by the color of the ki, then by the power needed to manage that.
Broly was on the planet. He had to be. He was powerful enough to be worth a hundred armies, and I needed a thousand on the planet to keep my grip on it.
My gaze drifted to where the blasts had come from, then to the bodies falling to the ground. Making a split second decision, I flew towards Broly and took in the battle raging around me. The planet was in chaos. My soldiers dug in as deeply as they could, supported by machine soldiers, but they were getting overwhelmed with sheer numbers. And the fact that the invaders were fighting each other as much as they were fighting us.
I saw battles raging in the streets between factions, urban warfare at its absolute worse. The battles raged all across the planet, some more dug in than others, but everyone in the galaxy wanted Nth metal. For all those that I passed who lacked a friendly tag on my scouter, I killed. It was little more than a drop in a bucket, but eventually, with enough drops removed then the bucket would empty.
Something had to change. This couldn't last. I couldn't come back here every other week to reduce the progress our enemies made. The Supreme Commander was proving especially useless -- it was the fact that I kept having to come back to Thanagar, stalling my progress, that he refused to offer any aid since I clearly had the situation in hand.
Something had to change. Something had to give.
As I flew forward, I cleared a building and saw Broly. He stood surrounded by corpses of various aliens, blood on his hands, and his eyes seeing nothing even though he was looking in my direction. His skin was pale, like all of the blood had drained from his face…
Something had to give before Broly did.
...
There won't be any updates from the 11th to 18th for any of my stories. I'm taking a Christmas break a little early to avoid the worst of the Christmas traffic, thus lessening my chances of catching Covid.
The next chapter is currently available on my Patreon and Subscribe Star, so if you want to read it a week early, all it takes is a single dollar in the tip jar. Or, for five dollars, you can read the chapter after that two weeks before its public release! I hope you enjoyed!
Bro'dee turned to give Hal his full attention, going as far as to turn his back to them. "I have heard of you, Hal Jordan -- Ganthet held you in high regard. He was saddened by your passing," He offered, speaking of someone that Shayera didn't know. That didn't matter. She rolled her shoulders and waited for the pain in her gut to fade a bit, using the precious time just in case it did come to a fight.
Hal offered a lopsided smile, "Well, rumors of my demise have been exaggerated," he said, gesturing to himself.
John's eyes narrowed, "And that's something we have to talk about. Last I heard, you were killed in action. What's with the red get-up?" As he said that, Shayera's gaze drifted to the green construct hand. It was like it was infecting his body, almost, fighting against the red. The green lines of circuitry traveled up his arm, over his shoulder, and seemed to be inching towards his heart. It looked like a bad thing, but given that green was will power, maybe it was a good thing?
At that, the smirk fell off of Hal's lips. "I nearly did. I would have if it wasn't for Kilowog," There was quiet anger in his voice. His hand made of flesh, that wore the red ring, clenched in anger. "But he made a last-ditch effort to save my sorry ass and a few others. There, I got picked up by Atrocitus ."
That's a name and a half. "That's a name and a half," John remarked, echoing Shayera.
"Not his given name, from what I understand," Hal returned with a shrug. "One that he chose a couple of billion years ago when the Guardian's slaughtered his sector until only he and about four others survived." Shayera flinched back at the news, blinking in shock, and she saw that the others were trading questioning looks. "Before there were the Green Lanterns, there were the Manhunters. And the Guardians made that classic mistake of not installing a guideline of 'don't kill everyone in the sector to preserve the peace' so hundreds of trillions of people died."
There was an uneasy silence, even Gilguk seemed disturbed by the information. "Long story short, Atrocitus was imprisoned to sweep the thing under the rug, and he spent billions of years stewing in his resentment and rage. A couple of years ago, he created the Red Central Battery and rings fueled by rage."
To demonstrate the point, he held up his hand, showing off the red ring on his finger. Bro'dee looked disturbed, "The Guardians wouldn't do such a thing." He said the words like they were a fact. Then he shook his head, "But no matter -- we can help you Hal Jordan."
John seemed to have different priorities, "I'm guessing that the Red Lanterns aren't on our side." That was a promising point. Shayera didn't like their chances fighting three Lanterns. Fighting two with one on their side sounded a lot more reasonable.
"Depends," Hal hedged. "Me and Atrocitus had a few personal differences, so I split from the group. His faction is probably rushing to Prince Tarble for an alliance -- that guy would ally the devil himself if he thought it would give him a shot at the Guardians."
"And yourself?" Bro'dee questioned, sounding hopeful.
"I think the Guardians have a lot to answer for, good intentions or not. The Guardians are my enemy. Not the Green… or Blue Lanterns," Hal stated, giving both of them a sharp look.
"I don't think it works that way Hal," John responded quietly in a deadly serious tone. The ring on his finger glowed and he ignored a look from his blue partner.
Hal looked back, his expression flat. "I think it does. They sent us to die, Stewart. It was a massacre, and the Guardians swept us under the rug like they did with trillions of others that have gathered over the years. They've murdered more people than everything that they claim to fight against twice over. And they've gotten away with it for too damn long. Even if they aren't evil, they need to be held accountable."
"So, you're going to join up with Frieza? Just let him win?" John questioned, his voice hard.
"If I have to pick between two evils, I won't choose at all. The Green Lanterns are needed. Necessary even, but not in the Guardians' hands. They go away, and we can protect the universe like we should have since the beginning. The Guardians fall, then Frieza, and everyone else who tries to murder innocent people for power. I'd say between the colors of Lanterns, we can manage that better than Green ever could."
An idealist, Shayera realized. In her brief memories of Hal, and the reports she had read about the newest Green Lantern at the time, he never struck her as an idealist.
"You're asking me to buy a whole lot on blind faith," John refused flatly. "I won't betray the Green Lanterns."
Hal frowned, "I'm not asking you to. Just the Guardians." Their gazes met for a long moment, a battle of wills. Surprisingly, it was Hal that gave up first with a sigh and a small shrug. "I guess I can't blame you. I wouldn't have believed me either," he admitted.
Shayera heard Avery prime his gun, and a target was sent to her through her scouter. Hal Jordan was marked as Low, John was High while Bro'dee was Mid. Hal seemed to take notice as he was the one looking at them. There was conflict in his eyes, torn between something.
"Prince Tarble isn't someone I can forgive," He told them. Meaning that he was an enemy as well. A three-way fight. "Surrender -- either to me or to these two." His gaze lingered on her, likely recognizing her. They had never fought side by side, but they knew of each other.
Avery spoke up, his voice firm as he took aim at Hal, "Can't do that. You heard the lady -- this entire sector surrenders if we put on a good show. That opens up the capital planet, and that's the shot Prince Tarble needs to win the war." Avery informed, and Shayera glanced at him, surprised by the information. Her gaze slid over to Gilguk to find that the information wasn't a surprise to her at all.
"I'm not restricted by the Guardian's rules. You push this too far, and you could die," Hal informed while Bro'dee blanched, his face scrunching up in distaste. Shayera frowned, but it was telling that he wasn't threatening to kill them either. Just because the restriction wasn't in use, that didn't mean he was eager to act on his new freedoms.
"Doesn't matter. I have a job to do, so it's going to get done." Avery retorted, his gun unwavering.
Bro'dee was the one that spoke up, "Death isn't something one should be eager to embrace," he stated solemnly.
"Some things are worth dying for," Avery returned, shifting his aim and John had just enough time to widen his eyes before Avery pulled the trigger. A deep green shield appeared, but it meant little to a Nth metal slug being launched at hypersonic speeds. It was a financial waste of epic proportions, but it was hard to hold that opinion when it punched through the construct and blew a hole in the Lantern's chest.
Shayera moved, knowing that was the cue for the battle to begin in earnest. Bro'dee turned to John, his ring flashing blue as she sailed towards them, Vas at her side. She thought he was going to attack, but instead, the flesh and bone that were shot out, leaving behind a gaping hole, replaced itself. Behind them, Hal moved in, his contract ring flashing, but John reacted too quickly. He saw Hal move and responded, considering him an enemy.
John and Bro'dee flew up, John formed a construct, a massive dark green fist that launched itself at Hal, who blocked it with a green shield tainted with red. "I'm on your side," Hal snapped, the red in his shield glowing.
John didn't have time to answer before Vas unleashed a torrent of electricity at Bro'dee. The smell of burning ozone filled Shayera's nose as she flew towards John. There was blood on his lips, but he seemed strong. His gaze darted to her, and she expected Bro'dee to respond but he didn't. The green fist faded to be replaced with a shield that sent the two flying back.
Their shield slammed into the wall behind them, forcing them outside. Shayera went to pursue, but she found herself blocked off by a red construct -- a grasping claw that nearly snagged her out of the air. Vas continued forward, chasing down the other two Lanterns, while Avery loaded up another shot. Hal glared at her, the action visible without his mask. "Been a while, Hawkwoman," he greeted, visibly struggling to contain his anger.
"It has," Shayera returned. Hal had looked better. There were bags under his eyes, a beard was starting to grow in… he looked tired, Shayera thought as she hefted her mace. "If only it could be under better circumstances."
Hal leveled a red ring at her, his gaze hard. "If only," he agreed before a red chain erupted from his ring that surged towards her. Avery and Canda began firing from below, fanning out and giving her covering fire while Shayera flew forward. Her mace slammed into the chain, knocking it away but not breaking it. In response to that, Hal fired off a green energy blast from his ring, deftly dodging the blasts from her comrades. Just in case Avery had another Nth metal slug.
Shayera broke off, falling back as she bashed one green ray away, knowing that Vas couldn't handle two Lanterns on her own. As she fell back, Hal pursued, firing blasts at her while the red chains sought her out. Using the hole that Vas formed earlier, Shayera flew out into the courtyard and saw Vas flinging powerful bolts of lightning at the two Lanterns, only to be stopped by a dark green shield.
"The blue one is support only!" Vas shouted as Shayera neared. She looked to find that Bro'dee's ring flashed, but nothing emerged from it. Though, judging by his expression, it seemed that Vas was right.
In response to the proclamation, Bro'dees' target ranking was set to High. If Shayera had to guess, he was strengthening John's constructs, and since he had proved that he could heal him as well…
That didn't sit right with Shayera. Attacking someone that couldn't defend themselves. In battle or not. Vas and Avery held no such reservations, Shayera quickly learned when Vas prepared a massive charge while Avery started firing at Bro'dee with his rail gun. The shot bounced harmlessly off of the dark green shield that surrounded them. Her gaze landed on John for a moment before she was forced to dodge a construct.
Nth metal was the only thing that they had that could deal with a construct. But what about another construct?
Shayera twisted in air, finding Hal in hot pursuit. The chains lashed out, trying to bind her. She bashed them away, her arms rattling from the force, but she couldn't afford to stop. With each failed attempt, the red seemed to darken and the scowl on Hal's face slowly became a snarl. The chains became more erratic, their blows falling harder and faster. His movement became reactive, lashing out at anything that attacked him.
The ring he wore was empowered by rage. The green with will. How he acted before compared to him now, it was easy to see that he was using the will to check the rage, but that was a balance that was easily broken by frustration.
Shayera used that to her advantage. A chain struck out at her, only for her to counter it, sending it flying into the green shield of the other Green Lantern. John's eyes narrowed, and Hal was too long in his growing anger to stop himself. He barely paid the action any mind, mindlessly attacking Shayera, only to be stopped when John took a shot at him.
"Stop! Hal, I believe I can help you!" Bro'dee exclaimed as the two Lanterns began to clash. Vas and Shayera backed off, taking a brief moment of respite. "I can purge you of the red taint within you!"
"Avery?" Shayera questioned while Hal snarled, his rings flashing dangerously. Avery didn't respond as he hovered nearby, but she saw him hold out his hand before a familiar metal slug appeared in it hand. There was a symbol marked on it. Magic. Teleportation, maybe? It would make sense. Otherwise, Avery was shooting away billions of credits.
"And let the Guardians take my ring?" Hal spat, his lips thinning as he tried to control his anger, even as he fought against John. "No. I should have told the Guardians to get fucked when they put me and a thousand others on probation for trying to save people. Now their strings on me have been cut, I won't let them be reattached." Their constructs clashed -- green enhanced with blue and red enhanced with green.
They watched the battle above the compound. Below them were Khund soldiers that seemed to be cheering and taking bets rather than shooting at them. That was comforting at least.
"Canda," Avery said, tossing the original the Nth metal slug. Her eyes widened as she caught it, the two clones of herself fading before being quickly replaced, only now each of them had a Nth metal slug. Two of them were fake, but if they could mimic the properties then it mattered little. "Rocky?"
They received a green light on their scouters. Rocky was ready. Avery looked at her and Vas -- Shayera nodded firmly while Vas had lightning crackling between her hands. Shayera turned her attention back to the two fighting lanterns to find John firing away with a gun while Hal defended with a red baseball mitt.
Bro'dee was focused on them as if he was trying to warn them off with his expression alone. Shayera didn't like it, but he was an enemy. She preferred it when her enemies were thoroughly terrible people so she could bash them with her mace without any feelings of guilt.
"Let's end a war," Avery said, taking aim, reminding them why they were here. Shayera gripped her mace tightly and flew forward to throw herself in the fray. The war… Shayera was beyond the point of caring about it. Prince Tarble seemed… fine, all things considered, but a victory for him was a victory for the Frieza-force. And the last year of war taught her that there were no good empires in the galaxy.
They all had fallen on the corpse of the Thanagarian Empire like scavengers, and they fought each other for the scraps left behind.
Bro'dee took aim with his ring, his lips pressed together into a thin line before he started firing at them with blue rays of energy. So he could at least defend himself. That was better, Shayera thought as she flapped her wings and dodged the blue beams of light. Hal let out an enraged snarl that echoed through the air as he clashed against John. Shayera paid it no mind as she neared, gripping her mace with two hands before she smashed it against the enhanced green shield. It cracked, barely, under the blow but it was enough to distract John.
A red drill slammed into the bubble shield that protected Bro'dee and John, and it had much better luck tearing through the construct. Bro'dee was the one that reacted instantly, shoving John out of the way while placing himself in the path of the drill.
And Shayera's body moved on its own. A foot lashed out that caught Bro'dee in the ribs, probably breaking some of them since his guard was down, and the blow sent him flying out of the way. The red drill passed her by, Hal turning a murderous glare in her direction, turning towards her, but before he could do anything, a massive bolt of lightning hit him in the chest.
"Shayera, now isn't the time for mercy," Avery rebuked her action coldly, and she knew that she was going to suffer for that later, but Shayera couldn't bring herself to regret what she did.
John and Bro'dee reacted in sync while John sent a construct at Vas when she attempted to hit them both with lightning. It sparked over a metal claw that raced towards her, intent on plucking her from the sky, but it was bashed away when Shayera hit it with her mace.
"We do not need to be enemies," Bro'dee pleaded as Hal flew back up, looking a bit scorched(,) but otherwise fine. "This violence is pointless and unnecessary," he exclaimed, sounding almost angry.
Vas answered with a bolt of lightning that slammed into the construct that John had, an arm-mounted gun. "Maybe for you!" She shouted, flying forward in a blur to the naked eye. Bro'dee hesitated to fire off a shot to drive her away, his hand outstretched and steady, and it was because of that he lost his arm.
A Nth metal slug tore through flesh and bone, severing the arm that had the blue ring on it. Canda had taken her shot. John grabbed onto the alien, purple blood escaping the stump(,) but Bro'dee simply clamped a hand on the wound to stem the bleeding. Shayera heard the sound of another gunshot, and she wondered if she was going to see a Lantern die.
It was Hal that saved Breo'dee's life. A red construct appeared between the slug and the Blue Lantern. The slug tore through the construct, but the trajectory changed enough that Breo'dee's life was spared. "Hal?" Bro'dee questioned and Shayera knew that Canda had one shot left. Or, that was until the sound of two more slugs being fired echoed in her ears and two holes punched through the constructs.
"I said I just wanted to talk, you couple of…" Hal snapped at Bro'dee, placing John and the Blue Lantern at his back. A temporary peace brokered between them? That was bad. Now it was three Lanterns on her squad again.
Shayera pressed the attack while Canda tried to make her shots count. Avery flanked wide, peppering Hal with shots from a rail gun. Hal wrapped a green shield around the other Lanterns and flew up, his mouth moving, but Shayera couldn't hear the words. She must have interrupted the conversation when her mace slammed into that shield.
His gaze narrowed dangerously, and a flash of red was all the warning that she had before a red blast nearly punched a hole in her gut. Shayera twisted to the side, narrowly dodging, but she wasn't able to dodge the green anvil that came from John's ring and hit her in the face. Her head snapped back, her nose flattening with a spray of blood.
"Wait!" Bro'dee shouted, "killing her is unnecessary. Shall we leave, Hal Jordan?"
Shayera flew back, recovering from the blow with ease. Hal met her glare, even as he dodged lightning and bullets. Then he looked away sharply, "We're leaving," he announced without warning.
In response to his words, a swirling ooze of green erupted behind him. The red constructs faded, showing that the three Lanterns stood together. Her lips thinned, noting that Bro'dee had a blue ring on his finger. And two arms again. He offered her a small smile that disappeared when all three of them vanished into the swirling green ooze. And when it swirled into an imaginary drain, they were left alone.
"I'm counting that as a win," Vas decided, as she hovered nearby.
"Technically, we drove off three Lanterns," Canda remarked, a small smile in her voice. "I'm sure that's worth a special episode." The highest of prizes for the 501st -- an episode revolving around their exploits.
Avery didn't respond while Vas chuckled, "You'll get your chance to shine soon, Rocky," She consoled the final member of the team that hadn't been able to participate.
"Form up in the throne room," Avery ordered, flying off back into the building. Shayera shared a look with Vas, who simply nodded before they all flew back. When Shayera cleared the opening, she saw that Gilguk was smiling as she lounged on her throne. Her gaze roamed them, a finger tapping on the arm of the throne.
Then her smile grew. "This sector surrenders to the might of Prince Tarble."
…
I had no clue what my opponent was. I'm not even sure that it had a name. I floated above a city located on Thanagar, one on the lower plate. Below me, sprinting in the streets were twisted monstrosities. Things that had once been people, but something had turned them into something else. Their entire bodies became weapons. Their blood, or the gas they released spreading the infection.
One lashed out with a claw, it's arm stretching to impossible lengths, and the twisted and blackened claws tore through a soldier like he wasn't even there. His squad fired, attempting to kill it, but they knew it was a pointless endeavor. I saw that their armor had been punctured, so they had breathed in the spores. They were dead.
The soldiers were not Thanagarian. Or Frieza-force. Based on their species and build, I recognized them as one of the many empires, kingdoms, or pirates that were trying to invade Thanagar. The planet became hotly contested as the largest source of Nth metal. When the Thanagarian Empire fell apart, the entire galaxy's eyes turned to Thangar because it was now up for grabs. So everyone tried to grab it using any means necessary.
Weapons of mass destruction. Chemical warfare. Now a biological plaque of some kind. Something that turned people into monsters that desired nothing but the death of others, to spread the plague and infect more. The more infected, the stronger it became.
"I take my eyes off of this planet for five minutes," I remarked to myself as ki gathered in my hands. I stretched my awareness out, covering the city in search of any remaining life. There was a presence below, a massive sprawling presence that hinted that there was something inhabiting the sewers, so I would have to clean them out while I was here. But I did feel a few others.
Years of fine-tuning my ki sense let me sort through them a bit easier. To pick out familiar ones, and to not let a single massive presence blot out my ability to sense others. My scouter wasn't able to pick up any friendlies, so they probably weren't Frieza-force, but… I watched as a soldier was disemboweled in a gush of blood, screaming all the while.
I started flying towards the presence, but not before a ki blast slammed into the position of the rest of the squad, killing them instantly. The lower plate of Thanagar had been a sprawling slum that covered most of the city, so it had been in rough shape long before our raid. After it, after Elery armed every rebel group, extremist, and dissenter… things were in worse shape. Add about a year of near-constant war, and now some kind of plague that had black tendrils creeping up the walls and covering the roads?
Thanagar looked like it had been to hell and back a couple of times before deciding to stay in hell.
It only took a few seconds for me to reach the other presences. It was a squad sprinting through a half-collapsed building, firing all the while at a creature that gave chase to them. It was pitch back, no skin or hide, only tendrils that made a mockery of muscle. The energy bolts slammed into it, doing little damage, and not enough to stop its pursuit. It ran on all fours, gray metallic claws digging into the ground, and let out a bellow that had physical force behind it. A hunting call, I'm guessing(,) because I saw movement below me.
"Come and get some-" One of the aliens shouted, standing their ground while the others fell back. A Sayian-like alien woman with dark skin. She tossed a familiar piece of tech at the monstrosity, and a blue shield blocked off the hallway. Its claw slammed into the shield with a deafening crack, but the shield remained firm. The Cooperative tech. A federation of thousands of planets, most of which were highly advanced.
Still, it meant little because the creature went around it instead. Tendrils uncoiled from its thick front arms, and it tore through the ground, going under the shield. It seemed to slide through the hole, several tons of muscle squeezing through a few holes the size of my fist, and it reformed on the other side of the shield. The woman threw a grenade, attempting to destroy it while it was half-formed, but the concussive blast did nothing to the creature.
She screamed a warcry, preparing herself for death, and I decided that she had proven her valor twice over. Raising a hand, I fired a blast of ki at the creature as it lunged at her. The blast faded in moments, but the creature was gone, reduced to nothing. Anything less than that, and it would find a way to come back.
"Wha-" the woman cut herself off as she scrambled to her feet, her squad taking aim at me. "You… talk about unlucky," the woman remarked, also taking aim at me. I met her gaze for a moment before a ki disk formed in my hand, a platform.
"Get on," I ordered them, knowing that more was on the way. The woman hesitated and I glared behind my visor. "Before I change my mind," I warned, an edge to my tone.
They traded a look before the woman shook her head in disbelief as she lowered her gun, "A rescue from Prince Tarble himself. Never would have thought that would happen."
"That's because we're at war," one of them said, his gun still pointed at me. Even as he approached the platform. I didn't have time to play nice.
"Get on, or die when I destroy this infection. I couldn't care less," I told him as the others got on. Oddly, that got a crooked smile from him.
"That sounds like the Saiyans I've heard about," he stated before he joined the four others on the platform. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes before I started flying upward, one hand raised to the sky. A ki ball formed that grew larger and larger. A city buster that would reduce this place to a hole in the ground.
The ones on the platform awed over it, but that was nothing compared to when I dropped it on the city. The infected city was enveloped by blue light, an explosion that crawled forward and expanded block by block. Wind battered us, nearly blowing the squad that I had rescued off the ki platform I made before I put them in a bubble.
"And that… is what I heard about a Saiyan's strength," the guy commented, looking down at the hole in the ground with eyes filled with awe. A hole was all that was left of the city. My scouter searched for traces of the infection but found none. It hadn't managed to spread beyond it.
Good. I had enough problems as it was without some idiot trying to start a galactic plague.
"Why did you rescue us, if you don't mind me asking?" The woman questioned as I lowered the squad to the ground. I spared them a glance to find they looking at me with cautious expressions, clearly expecting another shoe to drop.
I doubt if I said that it was because I wanted to it would satisfy them. "To take a message to your leaders -- get off my planet," I answered curly as I flew up. "That is your only warning," With that serving as my parting words, I flew up and away, in search of the next battle.
There were no shortage of them, I found when movement caught my gaze. In the sky above was a near-constant battle between fleets. While mine was distracted fighting the tattered remnants of the Thanagarian fleet, another empire had moved in to hot drop armies. They streaked down from the sky, intent on landing on my planet.
Ki gathered in my hands, intent on taking them all out before they could, only for someone else to beat me to it. Countless green streaks of ki went to meet the armies halfway, destroying the drop ships mid-air so the soldiers would only touch Thanagar as corpses. It was obvious who had done it, if not by the color of the ki, then by the power needed to manage that.
Broly was on the planet. He had to be. He was powerful enough to be worth a hundred armies, and I needed a thousand on the planet to keep my grip on it.
My gaze drifted to where the blasts had come from, then to the bodies falling to the ground. Making a split second decision, I flew towards Broly and took in the battle raging around me. The planet was in chaos. My soldiers dug in as deeply as they could, supported by machine soldiers, but they were getting overwhelmed with sheer numbers. And the fact that the invaders were fighting each other as much as they were fighting us.
I saw battles raging in the streets between factions, urban warfare at its absolute worse. The battles raged all across the planet, some more dug in than others, but everyone in the galaxy wanted Nth metal. For all those that I passed who lacked a friendly tag on my scouter, I killed. It was little more than a drop in a bucket, but eventually, with enough drops removed then the bucket would empty.
Something had to change. This couldn't last. I couldn't come back here every other week to reduce the progress our enemies made. The Supreme Commander was proving especially useless -- it was the fact that I kept having to come back to Thanagar, stalling my progress, that he refused to offer any aid since I clearly had the situation in hand.
Something had to change. Something had to give.
As I flew forward, I cleared a building and saw Broly. He stood surrounded by corpses of various aliens, blood on his hands, and his eyes seeing nothing even though he was looking in my direction. His skin was pale, like all of the blood had drained from his face…
Something had to give before Broly did.
...
There won't be any updates from the 11th to 18th for any of my stories. I'm taking a Christmas break a little early to avoid the worst of the Christmas traffic, thus lessening my chances of catching Covid.
The next chapter is currently available on my Patreon and Subscribe Star, so if you want to read it a week early, all it takes is a single dollar in the tip jar. Or, for five dollars, you can read the chapter after that two weeks before its public release! I hope you enjoyed!
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Poor Broly.