Episode #4: A New Ally, The Future Changes

It was a reunion unlike any that the NESF had ever seen before. Nadie and Zukai actually went way back...

"Yeah, so that's it." Nadie nodded. They were inside the base of the military peoples. Zukai nodded, "Yeah.....that's exactly how it went.

"Now, I'm really sorry about what happened. I was never meaning to kill anyone. I was planning to knock you guys out, then take pictures, and present them to my client."
-

"And whose your client..." Zach questioned.

"The SIA..." Zukai said, looking down. The group didn't seem to surprised.

"Why...I don't understand..." Nadie seemed to tear up.

"So you were an assassin working for them, then..." Drew processed quietly. "But then...you said five...counting Nadie, there were six. How'd you not know of her when you knew the rest of us perfectly?"

"I don't know." Zukai extend hand which has the folder of the information, "This is all that was given."

"Maybe the file fell out? Or she wasn't registered?"

-----------
Utonium is holding the paper, "Well shit..."
-----------

"Hmmm?"

Makuta had dragged Corey into the white tiled training room. It was one of the four within the underground base. The metal tiles blocked ki from being tracked from within and outside of it. Basically meaning that you can not sense energies in the room from outside, and you can not sense the energies from outside when within.

"So...why are you so suddenly keen on sparing with me?" Corey wondered, slightly scared. Makuta wasn't truly paying attention, looking the other way and throwing punches and kicks.

"Well...after I saw your strength against that assassin..." Makuta punched the air once again. He then turned, baring his sharp fangs. "I want to see the power again..."

"I don't know what...your..." Corey stuttered, backing up slightly. Makuta immediately charged at the boy.

Corey flinched as soon as Makuta charged, and didn't have time to react to a backhand across the face, which made him stumble back in pain. Makuta didn't let up.

"C'mon!"

-Whack!-

"C'mon!"

-Bam!-

"What happened to all that--"

-Random punch noise!-

"vigor you had against Zukai?"

-Biff!-

"What are you talking about?" All Corey could remember was seeing his comrades in various states of injury, and then getting angry. After that, he blacked out, and didn't wake up until well after the battle was over.
-------------------

"I still don't understand," Nadie began to wipe a tear, "How could you do any of---"

"I don't intent for anyone to die." Zukai quickly objected, "I.." He looked away in disgust of himself.

"The reason I deemed myself a mercenary; I was trying to find a particular other in the same line of work. Someone I had 'unfinished' business with."

"..." Both Drew and Zach listened. Zach not sure if he was convinced by anything Zukai said or not. Drew trying to find anything that would be 'wrong' in a way to call any bullshit.

"Strength isn't a fluke...so show me!" Makuta shouted, kicking the Saiyan boy away. Perhaps he was being a bit brutal to others, but not in his eyes.

"I don't know what your talking about! I'm not as strong as you say I am!" Corey shouted back, standing back up. With a few blows, Makuta had damaged him a fair amount. Makuta looked at him, pondering.

"Alright...if that's really how it is..." Makuta changed his stance. He brought his left arm behind his back, and extended his left forward with his palm facing upwards.

"Attack me...and I will fight you without the use of one arm..." Makuta finished, activating his En.

Corey blinked. He wasn't sure what was going on at all. What was Makuta talking about? There was a huge blank spot in his memory. The next thing he knew, the assassin was on their side and...well, Makuta had somehow taken an interest in training him.

Corey rushed forward, aiming to throw a punch with his left arm...
-------------
Elsewhere, Streak was practicing his lightning abilities on several training dummies. Those poor sandbags...
-------------
Drew watched Zukai carefully.

"So...you became a mercenary...to chase down another mercenary?" Drew asked carefully. "...I see..."

Zach and Drew looked to each other.

"Well...if you've joined our forces, they're probably going to get more mercenaries to try and kill all of us anyway..." Zach said. "The fact they hired you is proof of that much. So...why not hang around here. Perhaps this mercenary will show up?"

"Well. There isn't much choice now is there? I feel as if I should repay you for what I've done." Zukai breathed out as if a big weight was off his shoulders.

Nadie's tears began to fade as a smile grew on her face, "That's good to hear!"

Zukai looked away for a moment, "Will we meet again?" his eyes furrowed as his face expressed his anger. He tried to shake the thought.
------------
"I've done some research..." Utonium looked at a folder with the caption 'Zukai'. He began to place the file to the other end of his desk, "One of your targets from years ago."

"Hmm?" A man said, he was in the shadows, so you couldn't see him very much, "There were only two individuals to escape me."

"Zukai. Ring a bell?"

"I don't memorize names."

Utonium reached into the folder, pulling out the picture of Zukai.

"...Heh..." He chuckled, "I think this is about to get interesting."
--------------

Makuta lowered his hand somewhat, and the boys fist past over it. He suddenly jerked it back upwards, parrying the Saiyans punch. Corey stumbled for a moment, and the Namekians hand moved in a circular pattern, coming up to backhand the Saiyan in the side of the head.

The hit wasn't strong, but it sent the unsuspecting Corey flying to the side. Corey tried to grasp what had happened, but decided it was more important to continue the attack. He charged once again, Makuta not turning to meet his rush.

Corey jumped and through his leg out, but his opponent simply took a supersonic step back to evade.

Corey looked around.

Why can't I hit him? I'm doing everything I know...

Corey tried again to hit Makuta, but it seemed all his attempts were being rebuffed with little to moderate effort on Makuta's part.

Drew looked towards Zukai, "Why exactly are you seeking this other mercenary out? There must be a reason."

"Hmm?" Zukai shook his thoughts, cringing at those words, "Zeno. His name is Zeno. He's a mercenary well known as 'The Crimson Whirlwind'. He..." He cut himself off.

Nadie blinked tilting her head waiting for Zukai to continue.

"Well, go on then." Zach suggested, his tone of voice very commanding.

"He....He was hired to assassinate a group of saiyans." Zukai paused once again, taking the time to catch onto his collective memories of the event.

Makuta began dodging Coreys blows now more so then blocking or parrying them.

"If you brought a scouter out..." he ducked, "You would probably find out...", a step to the side followed by a spin to the right, "that our power levels are pretty close..."

Corey jumped back, and fired a ball of green ki. Makuta slammed his arm into it and, after some fair resistance, reflected it upwards. It exploded on the ceiling of the room.

"How...is nothing working..." Corey said, charging again.

"Your movements are horrible... my eyes can see it all so clearly. My ears can follow you with ease, and even your ki gives away your next attack." He caught Coreys next punch, and then twisted the boys arm around his back. Planting his foot on the boys back, he sent him flying into the nearest wall.

"You've got strength, but you have no idea how to use it..."

Corey still hadn't the faintest idea of what Makuta was talking about. Strength? The word was practically foreign to him. Sure, he could take out the fodder opponents like everyone else, but when it came to real battles, he just couldn't perform. But that didn't mean he didn't want to.

"Using...strength...?" Corey asked. "What exactly do you mean by that?"

"He attacked them at random. All of them. Battered and bruised. Slaughtered. One by one they fell to his speed." Zukai began his eyes were closed. He wasn't just telling it, he seeing it in his head.

Nadie held her hand over her mouth.
-----------------------
No one was a match for him. Almost no one anyway.

A red blur followed by sparks. The saiyan fell to the ground, arm severed, body bloodied, and a stab wound within his chest.

"Another one down!" he appeared by the body. The saiyan was still alive barley, he would have died in time, but the man in the red suit wouldn't take that, "Fear me! I am Zeno! The Crimson Whirlwind!" He aimed his index and middle finger towards the saiyan. His thumb curved as well. The two fingers out began to slightly bend to the right, while the them extended to the left. As they moved, a trail of energy followed them, but stayed in place. Then the two fingers and the thumb diagonally crossed and met each other, the energy that followed them had formed a "Z". The energy then shout out like a beam, but sustained it's shape, engraving a Z shaped scar onto the saiyan's chest.
----------------------
Zukai tried to shake the thought, but he had to continue.
----------------------
Yes, he enjoyed to kill, engraving his mark afterwards. A standalone "Z" that stated "Zeno Was Here" in a sense....

Everyone I knew had been killed. Yes, I too was part of this group of saiyans. I was four years old....

My parents had been knocked down, along with my uncle. My cousin Brandon had also seemingly fell to him. Standing there, amazed by...no...terrified by his might. He looked at me---

"You aren't so tough! What a worthless saiyan!" Zeno aimed his two fingers at Zukai, same as the other saiyan, forming a "Z" out of light, "Die!"

If it weren't for my mother's last words, I wouldn't have made it out alive---

"Zukai!" Grea, Zukai's mother shouted in agony, watching as her only child was about to be killed in front of her. She extended her hand towards him, putting the last bits of her strength into creating a bubble of ki around her child, "My son! Don't--" she began

She had told me not to die. To run away as far as I could. Do whatever it took to live another day...

"M..Mom?!" The young Zukai shouted, as the beam hit his body. He cringed in pain, but was still alive. His mother had protected him from the attack, not by much but it wasn't fatal. He felt like he had been touched with a branding iron, the heat propelling him back.

I called for my mother, no response. My father, no response. My Uncle had been cut in to moments before. And Brandon, I remember him trying to get up. Which enlightened me. But the anger began to well up inside me. I...I lost control. I thought about running. I was for sure I could, but Brandon would have been killed...

Makuta frowned, annoyed. "What have those two been teaching you..." he asked rhetorically.

"Basically if you fought someone with equal or greater strength, you'll lose as you are now. Your impressive at first glance, but that all falls apart when you actually get going..."

The Namekian brought his right arm forward from behind his back, finished with his sizing up of Corey. "If you want to get anywhere, you need experience and form. Temper the strength you already have into a blade that can accomplish what you want..."

Temper the strength I have into a blade...? Corey had never heard those words from his cousins. He was still learning the ropes. Drew had a bit to pull together as team tactician, and Zach had his own hands full with doing his end of the work as one of the strongest members of the team. Not to mention how often they sparred...sometimes it was like he wasn't even there when they started to go. What do I want to do with this strength...? Win, I guess, but...what do I do after the war's over? After having this strength come out, I don't think I could resume being normal...

Corey remained silent. "...My...own style?"
------------
Streak continued to abuse the sandbags like they all owed him money.
------------
"Saiyans...? Just...Saiyans?" Drew asked, almost outraged. "From the sounds of things, these Saiyans didn't do anything to deserve being slaughtered by a mercenary..."

"Neither did we, Drew," Zach pointed out. "Yet we just got one sent after us...and now he's an ally."

"The 'Crimson Whirlwind'...I feel like a guy with that kind of track record is someone the school's going to be looking out for sure."

"That's why I took this particular job. Rumors had spread that Zeno was with the same client, so I came in search for him."

"That's all very horrible. But did you ever think you were hurting people?" Nadie asked.

"Yes. I knew what I was doing, but as I said before...I never have the means to kill someone..."

Not unless it's Zeno....

"Alright, well i'm done here..." Makuta concluded, closing his eyes. He turned and began to walk. He began to leave the training room.

"I've got to continue my own training...and Nadie needs some refresher courses to...damn girl is getting sloppy..." the Namekian said to himself, loud enough for Corey hear. He left the training room, and began to walk down the hall.


"You don't have that strength I saw against Zukai...but maybe now i've put you on the path for it."

Zach and Drew left the two alone.

"So, what now?" Zach asked. "You wanting to spar?"

"...I need to make sure Corey's not half-dead from training with Makuta first. You know how he gets..." Drew responded.

"Alright. I've got to go see what's up, what our next mission will be. I'll be along in a minute..." Zach replied.
-----------
"Alright...hopefully he's alive..."

When Drew got to Corey's location, he found himself surprised to see the boy training. Normally, the boy would be idle unless Drew and Zach made him train.

"...what did Makuta tell him..."
--------------
Meanwhile, Streak continued to abuse the sandbags. Yeah. Pretty much he's been doing this all this time.

There was a silence after the two left. It wasn't quite awkward, just a lack of anything to say.

"So...." Nadie started.

"..." Silence.

"How have you been?" Nadie asked, "Other then....you know...the whole mercenary thing"

"Uhh. Fine...I guess?" Zukai began to stand up.

"Err...Why don't I take you to your room?"

"Oh...Sure. I guess..."

Makuta walked through the hall.
-----------
Streak concentrated his lightning into arms, pulling in the sandbags before his did a spin kick to hit he all back away
-----------
Nadie reached the dwelling of a former member of NESF.

"I doubt you just had this room waiting for me...given..." Zukai awkwardly noted, stepping in. The room was simple, just a bed across from a large monitor. A dresser was on the wall opposite the door. Nadie expression looked glum, as she thought on Zukais words.

"This room...belonged to a former member of the Neo Earths Special Forces...well...the founder..."* she stated sadly. Zukai looked to her, analizing her expression. Seeing her saddened made him feel likewise...

-----------
* The human who gave Corey his headband

"Belonged?" Zukai began, he didn't want to chose the wrong words, but he wasn't to sure either way. However, seeing Nadie's expression, he could already tell what the answer would be, but in an attempt to 'possibly' lighten the mood, "Did he retire? Or..."

Nadie continued to stare down, her hands down, slightly pulling on her leggings.