FicWad

Mission 15: The Prince and the Mobster

"Where's he headed?" Trunks asked hurriedly, the group's sense of urgency wearing on all of them.

"I don't know; his ship hasn't even left the atmosphere yet," Armada quickly responded while hammering away at the console before her, trying to set up the tracking system to trace the ship in question. "Lai, are you sure this is the right one?"

"It's him all right," Laiserta replied from where she stood, eyes looking almost dead as she stared 'outside' of the ship with her special vision. "It's kinda weird though-looks like he's all by himself."

"Damn!" Armada cursed as she continued her frenzied operation of the main console in the bridge of the /Verdandi/. "I can't get the signal!"

"Keep trying; you'll get it," Laiserta again spoke in her normal tones but without any movement whatsoever. "If not, I can just watch him the entire way."

"If he hasn't exited the atmosphere by now, then he won't," Naya spoke. "But why would the prince stay on Virda, especially with all of the chaos going on right now in the city?" she asked aloud and to no one in particular.

"Gotcha you little bastard!" Armada exclaimed in victory. "Signal received; tracking is go," she stated aloud with what almost looked like a smile.

"Whew," Laiserta breathed as she closed her eyes and relaxed. "Glad I didn't have to follow him the entire way."

"Now we can drop back," Armada adjusted the ship's trajectory and fell away from Hamad's ship several hundred kilometers, "and just wait to see where he lands."

A sudden thought hit Trunks. "What if we're just following him into a Taydran fleet?" he questioned aloud yet in subdued tones.

"That's just a risk we'll have to take," Armada quickly replied without turning to face her comrade.

"Yeah but our risks don't always pay off spider-head," Laiserta shot at her captain, Trunks's doubts taking root in her as well.

"If you never take any risks, you'll never get anywhere," Marice spoke up from her seat at Navigation. "Back home, everyone spends so much time worrying about doing anything that might cause conflict that they end up spending their lives dying instead of living," the teenager spoke with wisdom far beyond her age. "You can't expect results if you don't do anything to get them," she turned towards Trunks with her last words.

I can appreciate what you're saying Marice, Trunks thought to himself, but that doesn't make the risk any easier to take.

"If it helps, we agreed that he's not in a Taydran ship, correct?" Naya added. "If he were trying to join up with a fleet, he wouldn't use an unidentified ship like the one he's in now--it's just not something Taydrans do," she finished, trying to reassure Trunks of their decision to pursue the prince.

"Oh, so now you're an expert on Taydrans, are you Naya?" Laiserta questioned sardonically.

"He's slowing down already?" Armada ignored the current conversation and voiced her thoughts in surprise as she adjusted the Verdandi's speed accordingly.

"I knew it," Naya added. "He plans to stay on Virda."

"Where are we at?" Trunks questioned while leaning over Armada's right shoulder to get a better look at whatever it was she was looking at.

"We're right outside of Mett'x," she read more, "on another continent an ocean away from the City."

"Mett'x is a pretty large metropolis, isn't it?" Laiserta inquired from her position on the other side of Armada.

"Yes," Naya answered, "but it's also known for the large amount of black market goods that are traded here. Quite a contrast to the City, no?" she slightly laughed.

"Well we're not in the city," Armada replied as she took manual control of the ship once more. "We're at some sort of compound not too many kilometers from the Mett'x city limits."

"Doesn't look like there's anyone else there," Laiserta added as she scanned the outside area of the building in question several miles ahead with her eyes. "All I see is the prince's ship; that's it."

"Whatever that place is," Trunks spoke once more but with much more resolve, "he's not getting away until we settle this."

***

The five mercenaries exited the Verdandi from the rear cargo hatch, thus giving those that couldn't fly a feasible exit that included walking down a large ramp to the ground without assistance from the more 'gifted' members of the group. The crew approached the nearby building cautiously, as it appeared fairly small from the surface but as Laiserta had revealed when they'd landed, it was several stories /deep/, indicating that most of the compound lie hidden underground.

"No way," Armada spoke in surprise before clearing the ten or so meters left between her and the entrance to the building in a sprint.

"What is it?" Trunks asked the question on all three of his comrade's minds as well as his own after he caught up to Armada and she continued to run her right hand over a small engraved symbol by the entrance.

She turned to face her shipmates. "It's a base of Rieve," she replied, masking the hint of worry in her voice. "It's a universal marking of theirs," she pointed to the small engraving by the door. "It lets any Rieve member know that it's a safe-house."

"So we've effectively marched into the hornet's nest?" Trunks asked cynically.

"I don't think so," Laiserta spoke as she stared into the building with her seemingly deadened eyes, indicating that she was using her enhanced optics once again. "I don't see anyone inside. I mean, I haven't totally scoured the place or anything, but... there's no movement," she finished, returning her eyes to their normal mode of vision and facing her comrades once more.

"A Rieve base of this size that's-according to Lai-at least six stories deep is completely empty? Excuse me if I find that hard to believe," Naya commented darkly while crossing her arms.

"We know that Hamad's in there," Marice added, "and we're going to find him. We didn't come all this way for nothing."

"In we go then," Armada turned and opened the door leading inside, the quintet taking their first steps into what none of them hoped would be certain death.

***

"Anybody else gettin' a creepy vibe here?" Laiserta queried of the three who walked behind her, as well as Trunks who strode at her right side.

"Whatever the reason, this isn't right," Trunks added concerning the fact that the group had made their way down three stories without a Rieve lackey to be found.

"If the complex has been abandoned, it must not have been too long ago," Naya spoke, "considering that there doesn't appear to be any deterioration due to a lack of occupancy."

"Could you not use big words?" Laiserta whined from her position at the forefront of the group.

"How long ago do you think it was abandoned?" Armada asked Naya, ignoring her Taydran comrade's complaint.

"It's hard to tell," Naya replied. "It could have been three months ago, or it could have just been three days. There don't appear to be any significant signs as to indicate which."

"Well the air seems pretty good down here," Trunks spoke, realizing that an underground compound such as the one in question would require some sort of special ventilation to supply air, "so it couldn't have been very long ago that someone was actually here."

"But why would Hamad come to an abandoned Rieve installation?" Marice queried. "Wouldn't he just go to one that actually had people in it?"

"It doesn't matter why, because he'll pay for his mistake," Armada added as the five continued their current walk down the corridor towards another elevator that would hopefully lead them farther down into the complex.

"Wait a minute," Laiserta stopped the group just in front of the elevators. She stared intensely at the ground for a moment before speaking. "They're down on the seventh floor," she added, squinting slightly while struggling to see clearly through the armor plating. "It's definitely Prince Gen, and... looks like somebody from Rieve. Whoever he is, he's in the uniform."

***

"How could you let them follow you?" an angered voice boomed at the only other presence in the room.

"I'm so sorry Ryan, I didn't realize they'd followed me," Hamad reeled, feeling rather guilty about leading the mercenaries directly to Ryan.

"It's okay," Rieve replied, turning to face Hamad once more. "At least now I don't have to go through the trouble of tracking them down to kill them."

"I didn't even know they were on Virda," Hamad continued, his gaze falling away from Ryan's. "After they'd escaped from the prison we couldn't get a handle on where they'd gone."

Ryan sighed in annoyance. "That whole prison debacle pisses me off to no end. How the hell did they manage to take them to a labor camp? And who the hell said they were to be executed before you or I got there?"

"I know, I know, Ryan," Hamad tried to calm his partner-in-crime. "It was a miscommunication-but at least if they're all here, you can finish them off for the both of us."

"You're right," Ryan said solemnly and paused for a moment. "Hamad," he reached into an inside coat pocket, "here's the key to my desk," and handed the prince a small keycard. "If anything happens to me, and you can't make it out in time, you can adjust the timer on the scheduled demolition that's located in my desk."

"Ryan, don't say that-"

"Hey, you've gotta be prepared for anything. Not that I intend to let the mercenaries go, but," Ryan rambled, trying to recover from the sinking feeling he felt upon seeing the look on Hamad's face at his previous statement.

"Make sure you get out, Hamad," Ryan continued. "I've had the place cleared out for about a week now, so don't worry about anyone else but yourself. Besides," Ryan's face became slightly more serious, "I don't want anyone to find out that you have connections to a mafia."

"Ryan," Hamad began but couldn't find the words. It was then that Rieve pulled the prince close and held him in an embrace, but with his forehead resting against Hamad's. The Taydran only stared at the closed eyes of his taller counterpart.

"Hamad," Ryan spoke through his closed eyes with a heavy sigh, "once this mess with your father wanting war on Ceva is over we'll finally be able to head off on our own, into LOKI where no one will find us..."

"I certainly hope so," Hamad replied wistfully, his eyes falling as he realized that their dreams of escape were still far off into the future.

***

Upon exiting the elevator, Laiserta stopped the group once more to check ahead with her eyes and try to decipher the path that needed to be taken to reach the crown prince on the end of the half of the complex set before the group. "Looks like a pretty straight-shot," Laiserta spoke calmly. "There are a few forks and branching paths, but this corridor should lead us there," she finished, her eyes returning to their normal outward appearance.

"Well let's not waste any more time," Trunks added as he started the trek onward. "I don't like the fact that there's nobody else here."

The quintet walked for some time in silence, passing through the first few 'forks' as Laiserta had called them with ease as she was able to tell which direction the crew needed to take at each intersection. Suddenly, Laiserta stepped ahead of Trunks and took the point. "Hold up," she stopped walking and indicated that her comrades do the same. "Something's not right..." she trailed off while taking only a few more steps forward.

"Lai, are you sure-" Trunks started in annoyance.

At that moment, a metal bar swung down like lightning from the ceiling on the left side of the hall, caught Laiserta in the abdomen, and pinned her forcefully against the wall on the right side of the hall.

"Lai!" Trunks shouted as the actions happened fast enough to catch even him off-guard. He lunged forward to try and pull her back but missed the opportunity by mere milliseconds.

Laiserta struggled with the bar, trying to pull out from underneath it to no avail. She coughed as blood seeped from her mouth and her legs lashed around wildly as she continued to try and pry herself loose. At the moment, her abnormal strength didn't seem to help her much.

Trunks quickly took hold of the bar and after less than a second of struggling, he'd pulled it off of her enough that her body slid down to the floor. After she was clear, he simply let go of the mechanism and it snapped back to its position as if it still had Laiserta trapped.

"Lai, speak to me," Naya knelt next to her comrade and tried to keep the Taydran's head up. "Calm down Lai; take deep breaths."

The raven-haired mercenary continued to struggle to breathe even after Trunks had freed her from the contraption's grasp, indicating that while that whole incident had only occurred in a matter of seconds, she remained seriously injured. She had her arms wrapped around her lower rib cage protectively and continued to struggle in breathing. "Go..." she tried to speak. "Go on... don't let him... g-get a... away..." the Taydran spoke to her comrades in a weak voice while blood continued to seep from her mouth.

"She's right," Naya turned from where she knelt to face her other comrades. "We can't let Hamad get away." Naya paused. "I'll stay here and help Lai get back to the ship; you three go on ahead."

"Come on, you know how much Lai weighs," Trunks broke in. "It'd be easier if I did it."

"You're also the strongest card we have, Trunks," Naya added. "We can't let you turn back now."

Why it was necessary for him to go onward, he didn't entirely understand. Really, what kind of a fight would a pampered prince like Hamad put up, anyway? However, Trunks's gut instinct was to listen to Naya and move on. He glanced between Marice and Armada behind him and Naya and Laiserta who were on the ground before him. She can't do it on her own, yet... she has a point, he mulled over the proposition momentarily before responding. "All right."

"Couple of... broken ribs doesn't... doesn't make me a, a vegetable," Laiserta choked and laughed, cracking an eerie bloody smile.

"Maybe I should stay and help," Armada spoke up, drawing the attention of her four comrades. "We don't need three people to go after one pampered kid," she added upon turning towards Trunks.

"Just go on ahead," Naya addressed Armada. "Lai said it didn't look like there were any others here, but that doesn't mean that there definitely aren't. Besides," she turned towards Laiserta once more, "it only requires one of us to get her back to the ship."

"Well let's go then," Trunks looked to Armada and Marice. "We don't want to waste any time and possibly let Gen escape."

Naya watched as the other three members of VDD headed on their way, and once they were out of sight, she turned toward Laiserta once more. "What... are you doing?" Laiserta semi-laughed. "You can't move... me, on your own."

"Actually, I can; and if you remember correctly, I've done it before," Naya replied with narrowed eyes.

"Oh yeah... I... forgot," Laiserta coughed. "You're..." she started coughing once more and cringed, the pain really starting to set in on her.

"I'll try and move you as gently as I can," Naya said as her eyes closed and her brows furrowed in concentration.

"We've got to be getting closer," Armada remarked as the group had continued to walk for several minutes after separating with two of their comrades. They'd followed the corridor as straight as they could, opting to not take a few left or right turns since Laiserta had said from the beginning that it was a 'straight-shot.'

After taking another slight turn with the hall they were traveling, it was clear up ahead about thirty meters that the hall ended as there was a large door on the left side, and slightly to the right another smaller door. Marice scampered forward while the two ki-fighters maintained their steady walking pace.

Marice headed straight for the smaller door and opened it quickly. "Look!" she shouted before taking a few steps in. Trunks and Armada both ran towards Marice's location only a short distance away and turned to look inside the room.

"An office?" Trunks queried as the trio looked at what appeared a large office for apparently one person.

"It's a Rieve base, right?" Marice spoke as she turned to face her two comrades. "Then this is probably Ryan Rieve's office!" she said with an excited smile.

"So?" Trunks queried with a look of annoyance on his face. "We already know that Rieve wants our heads."

"But she can always ransack his office for anything that might be useful," Armada answered.

"Okay," Trunks reluctantly approved. "But if anything happens, head straight back to the ship."

"We're only checking the door a few feet from this one," Armada semi-joked at her comrade's expense. "No need to be so worried."

"I guess," Trunks replied. Of course, that still doesn't explain why the longer we're down here, the more uneasy I feel, he thought briefly before turning and heading towards the large door. He approached, and upon seeing yet another all-too-familiar keypad to grant entrance, he proceeded to smash the small console with his fist, causing the door to open. What was the purpose of those things if that was all it took to open a door, anyway?

The pair stood in the doorway staring into the huge, empty room that contained only one person-the red-haired mafia don himself, Ryan Rieve. Rieve sat on a small chair at the far end of the room, at least one hundred yards away, looking their direction.

"So that's the other person that Lai saw," Trunks spoke as his eyes narrowed upon eyeing Rieve's form in the otherwise vacant room. What's he doing in there all by himself like that?

"Well, I'll leave this to you," Armada gave Trunks a pat on the back and turned to leave.

"What?" the demi-Saiyan turned to face her.

"Trunks, it's one guy in a suit," Armada laughed, "what's he going to do; cut you with the collar of his blazer?" After seeing the not-so-laughable reaction Trunks gave, Armada rationalized their situation even further. "Besides, after you take care of Rieve, you can keep looking for Gen this way and I'll head back and check some of the routes we haven't taken--Lai could have missed something, or Gen could've moved since she last took a look."

"Okay," Trunks answered, "but if you can't find anything then just head back to the ship."

Armada nodded curtly and headed on her way at a jog back down the hall in the direction they'd previously come from. Once she'd disappeared from sight, Trunks turned and walked into the vast metal room before him and headed towards Rieve only to stop once the crime boss spoke.

"Finally," he laughed as he rose from the chair he'd occupied. "I never thought you'd get here," he shouted as loud as his voice would permit from where he stood, nearly a hundred yards away from the mercenary that had just entered his domain.

"You shouldn't have waited for me Rieve," Trunks's eyes narrowed at the crime boss's cockiness. "But it's your mistake; not mine," Trunks shouted back.

"Funny you should say that," Rieve shouted as he lowered his gaze and laughed through his smirk. "'Cause you're the one that made the mistake," Ryan said quickly under his breath before shooting off like a bullet at Trunks.

What?! Trunks's eyes shot wide as Rieve came charging-no, /flying/-at him. Before Trunks could think, Ryan was upon him and landed a mean roundhouse to the demi-Saiyan's face, sending him hurtling backwards into one of the four metal walls of the room.

"Surprised?" Rieve laughed as he stood only meters from Trunks's fallen form.

How... how can this be? /Trunks thought hurriedly. /He... I never sensed anything from him!

"You should be," Ryan answered his own question as he proceeded to remove his dark blue unbuttoned blazer and toss it aside. "You see," Rieve continued on his rant as he rolled up the three-quarters sleeves of his white shirt to rest above his elbows, "you're not the only energy fighter around here, which seems to be your greatest mistake-overestimating your abilities." Once done with his sleeves, Ryan took a few steps backwards from Trunks and unleashed his energy, powering up for the impending battle.

Kami... Trunks hid his worry well underneath his battle-face as Rieve let go of all restraint. As the mobster's energy continued to rise, so did the concern in Trunks as Ryan slowly but surely changed from no problem at all, to somewhat of a challenge, to a decent fight, to a dead-even rival, to-well, when Rieve's energy level surpassed his own, Trunks stopped thinking about the difference in their power. Not to mention the fact that there was something strange about Rieve's energy... it just seemed, different somehow.

Well, better now than never, Trunks through briefly before he leapt to his feet charged at the red-haired fighter standing before him.

***

Armada soon found herself at another intersection of corridors and this time took a right turn. After heading a few feet forward, she stopped upon hearing the door to her left open suddenly. She quickly ducked away and against the wall to the side of the opening. "Come on out now and maybe I won't kill you," she shouted from where she stood, hoping to draw out whomever was inside. After receiving no response and hearing no movement from within, she took and chance and spun around to stand in front of the open doorway and look inside to find the room... empty?

It was then that Armada looked up and saw that the door was automatic, and that when she'd first walked by she had inadvertently triggered the door to open. /Way to get stressed over nothing/, she sighed to herself. After reflecting on her overreaction, she turned to leave but stopped once she noticed what was in the room she stood before. "Wait a second," she spoke aloud to herself as she headed in.

Armada found herself standing before some sort of large metal contraption hanging from the ceiling with a square about two meters long on the sides on the floor below the machine. She looked curiously at the blue flooring for a moment, noticing that the square area was indented below the level of the rest of the room and had a geometric pattern to it. After shrugging off the odd base of the room, Armada turned her attention up once more.

"A xenon fusion core!" she exclaimed upon seeing a small tube-like container inserted into the machine. They aren't exactly a dime a dozen, she thought briefly. What kind of technology has Rieve managed to get his hands on? It was then that she was drawn out of her musings as she suddenly felt something amiss. What the-?! She sensed an enormous power that wasn't coming from Trunks, and... it was /different/. Realizing that even Trunks was going to have some serious trouble on his hands if what she thought she sensed was indeed what it was, Armada turned quickly and headed for the door.

Before she'd taken a third step, she stopped and reached for the fusion core she'd spotted only moments earlier. /I can't just leave something like this behind! /she thought hurriedly. Armada stepped toward the fusion core, and in the process, actually stepped upon the odd blue flooring she'd noticed earlier. Suddenly, the flooring beneath her feet came to life and started to glow a strange yellowish color. "What?!" was the only word that managed to escape Armada's lips before she was suddenly thrust downward onto the floor.

I'm stuck... to the floor? Armada questioned inwardly as she realized that she wasn't pushed downward, but pulled by the now yellow square that lie just beneath her. /My... my ki... /she thought while cringing as she realized what was pinning her to the floor. Slowly but surely, she brought her arms underneath her chest and managed to push away from the floor enough to raise her head and chest somewhat.

/It's that machine, /Armada thought as she looked up and saw that the machine in the ceiling that contained her precious fusion core was now alive with a strange blue light. /I've got to... /she grimaced as she realized that to reach the machine that was only a few feet above her head, she'd have to do something that was going to be painful. With that in mind, she quickly used all of the ki she could muster and pushed herself upward against the strengthening current of the machine. After pushing with all her might for what seemed like an eternity, Armada was finally able to reach the very bottom of the machine. She grabbed whatever she could hold on to and pulled, ripping apart the bottom portion of the machine and causing it to shut down.

After disabling the torture device known as an 'energy sealer' in most parts of the galaxy to her recollection, Armada laid on the ground and tried to recover slightly before getting up. However, the intense pain in her upper abdominal cavity kept her where she lie longer than she planned.

***

Trunks must've caught Ryan slightly off-guard as he quickly landed one fist after another into the mobster's face. After about the eighth hit, Ryan finally ducked the next swing and let his upper body fall to the ground, where he used the sudden shift in his body's center of gravity to thrust a powerful right kick upwards at Trunks's face. The demi-Saiyan pulled back to dodge the hit, and managed to make it out of the way of most of the force of the blow, but not entirely. After the slight-connect, Trunks jumped backward away from Rieve and squared up in his fighting stance. While Rieve's blow had only grazed him, the force it had contained even in the fractional portion it had connected with was already bruising the left side of Trunks's jaw. Ryan stood up and squared up as well; he was looking fairly tousled with a bloody gash already visible on his right cheek among the numerous bruises already forming across his face.

"You're better than I thought," Ryan seemed to feel a need to fill the gap of silence between the two fighters with his own voice. "But not good enough."

"You were the one talking about overestimating," Trunks retorted, "so why don't you just wait and see what I've got."

Ryan narrowed his eyes. "Fair enough." He lunged forward at Trunks, in flight mere centimeters above the ground and began his assault. He fired a multitude of sharp kicks and punches, and Trunks's response was simply to block those that he didn't evade. This visibly angered Rieve, who then pump-faked with his right fist and brought up a powerful left knee, striking Trunks in the lower right portion of his ribcage. In response, Trunks recovered rather quickly and shoved his right elbow squarely into Ryan's abdomen. He heard the satisfying 'whoosh' of air as it left Rieve's lungs, and gave a slightly harder push upon hearing the sound. Ryan reached for Trunks's arm as if he were to grapple him but leapt away from his adversary instead, giving himself a good four meters distance from the mercenary.

After just a few seconds of repose, the two fighters simultaneous hurled themselves at one another, meeting in the air inches above the metal flooring of the room. Roundhouses, powerful jabs, and punishing kicks were exchanged between the pair, both receiving and blocking the shots of his adversary. Ryan suddenly stopped swinging at Trunks and pulled back just out of the reach of his latest punch. In milliseconds, he'd charged a fairly large white-hot blast of energy in his right hand and fired it directly at Trunks's face.

The demi-Saiyan was able to deflect the charge at the last second, only to realize that Rieve had no intention of the blast actually hitting its target. Trunks found himself temporarily blinded by the intense light of the shot, and pulled back accordingly until he could get his bearings. Ryan, of course, wasn't about to let that happen. In a slew of hits, Trunks became Rieve's punching bag as he blindly tried to block the mobster's movements. Normally, Trunks would have been able to sense even where his enemy's extremities were, but Ryan-his energy was different. He couldn't pinpoint it exactly, but Trunks just knew there was something about Ryan that was completely different from himself or any other energy fighter he'd encountered. And because of that difference, he couldn't sense where Ryan's arms or legs were, just a general sense of where his body was-which at this point, was more of a hindrance than anything else.

Ryan then reared back with his left forearm and swung it fiercely into Trunks's face. Trunks took the blow dead-on, and was forced backwards away from Rieve. Trunks blinked wildly, trying to somehow get the vision to come back to his now blackened sight. It was then that he felt the room's temperature rise and a spike in Rieve's energy-he was going to fire. Knowing that without being able to sense the shot exactly and he'd have to avoid it, Trunks stayed his ground, hoping to dash out of the way of the blast at the last second. It was the only chance he really had, considering that his vision still failed him.

After forcing his enemy away, Ryan took the opportunity to charge up to his maximum capacity. White-hot energy swirled around him as the loose-fitting dress pants of the Rieve uniform lashed against his legs. His hair pulled up and away from his face, standing on end, and taking on a maroon hue rather than its typical fiery red. He narrowed his eyes at his blinded target. Ryan's intent was only to see if Trunks could 'see' without his eyes, like most fighters of that caliber could. It seemed as if he could to some extent, as he managed to block a handful of Rieve's attacks. But what really satisfied Ryan was knowing that Trunks had never faced a fighter quite like himself-a D'partleidh. D'partleidhs were fighters in a category of their own. They manipulated energy slightly differently from those around them-causing more traditional energy warriors, like Trunks, confusion at the way their energy was focused. His adversary's actions thus far had indicated that indeed, he'd never fought anyone like Ryan before-a distinct advantage for the mobster.

After bringing his energy level up to where it should be, Ryan charged a blast in both hands before bringing the two together in front of him to create one larger charge. Let's see if he gets out of this, Ryan thought bitterly before firing, his shot leaving a blazing white trail in the air between himself and Trunks.

As soon as he felt Rieve release his energy, Trunks used all the strength that he could muster for the moment to dive to his right, just barely missing being hit by the blast-he could tell because he felt his back sear with heat and blister as the wave of energy passed by, just mere inches from incinerating him.

***
Marice reached down and pulled open another drawer of Ryan Rieve's desk-or at least she thought it was his desk. Regardless of whose desk it was, she looked inside the drawer hoping to find something of any sort of worth. It was then that she felt the building shake and she nearly fell out of the chair she sat in. What's going on?! she thought with anxiety. She closed the drawer she was initially inspected and stood, running for the door that led back into the hallway so she could get a grasp as to why the underground complex had rumbled. Right when she reached the door, she heard another door open from behind her in the back of the room. Without taking a glance behind herself, Marice ducked behind a small partition of the room that stuck out only a meter near the door, giving her barely enough room to hide. She didn't bother to look at who had entered, especially since she feared that whomever was there would hear her heart racing in her chest.

The building shook violently once more. It was then that Marice feared the worst-that Trunks was fighting someone. And if that was the case, then /who/...?

"Ryan," Marice heard a male voice worriedly sigh the name. "Please don't get hurt." Apparently, whomever was speaking was only talking to himself. Marice then decided to peer around the corner and steal a glance at who had happened upon her, and it was as she thought-Hamad Gen stood in full Taydran garb, leaned over the desk she was previously inspecting as he gathered belongings from inside its drawers. Marice immediately turned back around and maintained her position.

What do I do? Marice thought worriedly. Would it be better to confront him or simply wait until he left and continue on her search-and-seizure mission? Marice debated the thoughts for another moment until she heard a strange, mechanical noise, followed by footsteps headed across the room, farther away from her position. She stole another glance around the corner of her hiding spot to see that Hamad had his back to her as he watched something on a small monitor that had lowered from the ceiling. He seemed rather troubled to Marice, and she looked upwards to see what he was watching. Trunks! Marice thought worriedly as she saw her comrade lying on the ground only a short distance from Rieve in some other room. The way things looked, she felt now more than ever that she needed to be worried.

There was something about Hamad that bothered her. If he was such a staunch supporter of Rieve, why did he looked so troubled when it appeared that the mobster was /winning/?

***

"You sly bastard," Ryan turned toward Trunks and spoke with astonishment intermingled with anger. "You waited for me to make a move so you could react," he sauntered towards Trunks who had just picked himself up off of the ground. Ryan stopped only a meter from the demi-Saiyan. "Pretty smart, actually," Rieve added with a nod before he brought a powerful right uppercut into Trunks's abdomen. The mercenary began to double over, and Ryan took the opportunity to back up mere inches and launch a crushing kick to Trunks's chest, effectively knocking the demi-Saiyan to the ground once more.

Trunks wasn't taking the small beating Rieve was giving him without just cause. He merely wanted to stall for some time until his vision came back to him, then he'd transform and end this little dance with Rieve. Until then, he waited for the faintest sign that his vision was returning.

"I can't help but ask," Ryan began as he stood before Trunks in a rather grating voice, "how did /you end up with the mercenary anyway?" Rieve paused for a moment. "We'd been following her for months, and then all of a sudden you're on the scene. I mean, really now, you can tell me." Although Trunks couldn't see him, he could hear the sarcasm dripping from the mob boss's voice. "Was she just some floozy you picked up in Ute?" he laughed. "Or were /you the floozy?"

Trunks did his best to ignore Rieve's taunts as he slothfully began to stir. If he was playing along at getting knocked around by the mobster, he'd have to pretend to be "wounded," too. Once he was kneeling on one knee, his eyes started to burn. /Finally/, he thought in relief as light started to pour into his pupils. It hurt and it was only flashes of white at first, but if he played along just a little longer he could blindside Rieve and it would be over fairly quickly-or so he hoped.

"Mmm, I can't blame you for the Taydran, though," Ryan continued his rant about Trunks's harem of comrades. "I have a thing for Taydrans myself," his mind wandered briefly to his own raven-haired charmer.

As Trunks stood he tried to keep his eyes unfocused as before, but slowly Rieve's image started to clarify in the blinding whiteness around it. He could see the dark blue of the pants of his uniform and the maroon color of his hair. His face seemed pale, and Trunks's couldn't decipher where Rieve's torso was from the smearing whiteness around him-then he remembered the white shirt the mafia don wore. Rieve stood with his arms crossed; his piercing blue eyes stared at Trunks with a lack of worry. We'll see how long you keep that cocky smirk, Trunks thought bitterly as he wished at that moment to launch his assault on Ryan. No, he knew there would be a better opportunity, if he just kept playing along.

"I have to hand it to you though," Rieve continued. "Scoring an older woman like the general Chiro-I'll admit I was mildly impressed. Especially since word was that she was with the big man on Tyron," Ryan added, his entire aura letting Trunks know that he was not prepared for a surprise attack.

Trunks only had one word on his mind before dashing at Rieve once his vision had completely cleared: Perfect.

Ryan, caught completely off-guard, was sent flying after Trunks nailed the mobster with a plethora of punches and kicks. Once his enemy was a fair distance away from him, Trunks quickly unleashed his full potential and transformed into a Super Saiyan.

"What?!" Ryan exclaimed in both confusion and panic as he watched his adversary's physical appearance change before his eyes. He watched as his opponent's hair turned into blazing golden flames and his eyes-even his pupils-turned into a shade of aqua. What IS this...? Ryan wondered, stricken with a mixture of fear from what he sensed of Trunks's newfound strength, and an uncanny interest in what this new 'look' meant, and where it came from. No matter, Ryan found some resolve within himself. He had taken over Rieve twelve years ago when he was only fifteen; this should be a piece of cake compared to that battle. Or so he hoped.

Finally powered up and ready to give Rieve the beating he deserved, Trunks paused for only a moment before he charged at the mobster. It was time for him to end this, once and for all.