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Thanks for being here again today. Thank you all for your reviews on chapter 1!

Who is ready for the second chapter?

Chapter 2. Hidden Bars.

"Stop!"

The warriors were silent as they stared at Tobney. Shocked. The young warrior's gaze was poisonous as he directed it at the members of the Suta Team. Right after breakfast, Tobney announced that he wanted to discuss an important matter with the rest but the adult warriors disregarded this and started to leave the table.

Itoro was the first one to recover from the shock and he scoffed. "Get lost, kid." He stated. The man was about to turn away again when a hand curled around his throat. The man let out a gasp when the hand tightened to such an extent that he couldn't breathe anymore.

"Hey!" Kaon stepped closer and tried to place a hand on Tobney's arm but the younger warrior sent a blast in his direction. The blast was ruthless, blasting straight through Kaon's side. The blood splattered everywhere as Kaon let out a horrified scream. Gohan's mouth was wide open. Sianna placed a hand in front of her mouth and gasped for air when Kaon fell to the ground.

Tobney tightened his grip on Itoro's throat. The man clawed at his hands until chunks of white flesh came loose and blood started to ooze down his wrist. Tobney didn't budge. Comora and Suno seemed frozen too.

"From now on," Tobney started as he glared at Itoro, "you will obey my orders immediately. Do you understand me?"

"Tobney. Let him go. He'll die." Comora stated calmly. The only warning Comora received was the glance that was sent in his direction. Comora let out a gasp when his hands suddenly started to move on his own. Tobney's gaze was piercing as Comora's hands grabbed a knife from the table and positioned it against his own neck. Comora could feel his heartbeat speeding up when he realized what his own hands were about to do. When did Tobney's powers get so strong? When did Tobney learn to take over a mind and force a body to follow his orders?

Suno was kneeling next to Kaon. The man desperately tried to push back several organs that threatened to spill out Kaon's body. Tobney didn't take his eyes off Comora. His powers would falter if he let his gaze wander off. The knife punctured Comora's turquoise flesh and blood started to ooze out of the wound.

"Pledge your loyalty to me and my army." Tobney ordered loudly. Itoro widened his eyes a little. Suno looked over at Tobney. Comora frowned in response. "Now. Or you will all die."

"Fine." Suno responded. "I pledge my loyalty to you, lord Tobney, and your army." His hands were stained with Kaon's blood and he lowered his head to acknowledge Tobney's position.

Kaon could only nod faintly before he lost consciousness. Tobney figured that was enough. Itoro's hand tapped against his hand and in response Tobney eased the tight hold on his throat. Itoro let out a raspy "Pledge… loyalty…lord…." He fell back when Tobney released him. The man sank through his knees, gasping for air.

Tobney's eyes were still on Comora. The squad leader was still resisting. The knife was already quite on its way, slicing a bloody line across his neck. Tobney stepped closer to Comora. "You think I won't do it?" He asked. "You think that after all these years I got attached to you and I don't have the guts to kill you?"

Tobney grabbed hold of the knife while he forced Comora to lower his hands with just the power of his gaze. He easily worsened the cut, pushing the knife deeper in Comora's throat. "Do you not think there is a part of me that enjoys the suffering I can put you through? The little sixteen-year-old in me that was beaten up and humiliated imagined much worse to keep him going."

Comora's gaze was strong as he encountered Tobney's mind. The battle was tough. Tobney could feel Comora's mind pounding against his, trying to free itself from Tobney's powers, but Tobney was too strong. Tobney was supposed to have this power. It was part of him. It came natural to him. "Pledge your loyalty to me, Comora. Or die right now."

Comora was silent for a moment before he opened his mouth. "I pledge my loyalty to you, lord Tobney, and your army." He stated in a clear.

Tobney held his gaze for only a moment before he stepped back. Still keeping Comora under his hold, he lowered the knife. "Suno, Itoro, take Kaon to the rejuvenation center."

"Yes, sir."

Gohan watched as Itoro and Suno carefully helped Kaon up and rushed away. The half-saiyan glanced back to Tobney and Comora. Tobney now blinked and a smile appeared on his face. Comora let out a gasp for air as his body was released from Tobney's hold.

Tobney now turned his gaze on Sianna. "What about you?" He stated as he placed his pale fists on his hips.

Sianna was confused for a moment before she showed a grin and saluted to Tobney. "I pledge my loyalty to you, lord Tobney, and your army." She responded cheerfully. She encouraged Tobney to take over the army so she had no trouble to pledge her loyalty to him. He was the reason she could become a soldier, so she was loyal to him for that.

"Good. Now, Comora," Tobney looked to the squad leader. Comora was leaning on the table with his hand as he tried to catch his breath. He felt as if he just had a massive battle. "You can go heal yourself too. Sianna, please escort Comora to the rejuvenation center."

"Yes, sir." Sianna saluted before she turned to look at the general. Comora gave one last look to Tobney before he followed Sianna out the door.

Tobney now looked to Gohan. "How did I do?"

Gohan grinned. "You were amazing." He responded. "You'll have to keep behaving like this for a while or they will forget it."

Tobney nodded. "I will have to stay this strict for the rest of my life." He stated. "But that's okay. I chose for this job so I'll have to follow through." He was aware that his relationship with the members of the Suta Team would never be the same again. A part of him was sad about it but another part of him was eager to get to this new stage of his life. He would be an honest but strict ruler of the best army of the universe.

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"Well well." Vegeta's voice already reached out to him when Gohan entered the detention center. "It only took you a couple of days to visit me. Can't live without me, can you?" The half-saiyan made a face. Of course Vegeta already knew that he was coming in.

The detention center was a large brightly-lit room. The all-glass cells were lining the white walls on either side. Not many cells were occupied as Vegeta didn't tend to take prisoners. Vegeta was the only prisoner right now. Gohan raised an eyebrow when he noticed Stirania was lying on the metal bed, fast asleep.

Vegeta seemed to notice Gohan's glance. "Tiresome. Stupid woman wouldn't leave my side. Now she got herself locked up for something she didn't do." The Saiyan prince was sitting cross-legged on the floor. Gohan assumed Vegeta was meditating before Gohan appeared. "So, what are you doing here?"

Gohan sat down opposite Vegeta and he assumed a similar position with his legs crossed over each other. "Tobney won't bring the ship around to travel to planet earth. He keeps saying that these things take time and that we will eventually set course to planet earth. That I shouldn't worry. I fear that he is not planning on going back to Earth any time soon."

Vegeta showed the youngster a smirk. "There must be an air about you, kiddo, which makes everyone want to hold you against your will."

Gohan sent the man a glare. "I came here for advice. I have no interest in being teased."

"What makes you think I'm going to give you any advice?" Vegeta responded, raising an eyebrow. "You're the reason I am stuck in this cell."

"The faster we get to planet earth, the faster you can leave this cell." Gohan returned. "Besides, I can still decide to drop you off on a faulty planet." He was referring to planets that were known for not having a proper atmosphere, water or oxygen; all the things that Vegeta would need in order to survive.

Vegeta held Gohan's gaze. "You're not heartless enough to do something like that."

Gohan only grinned in response. "Are you willing to bet your life on that?"

Vegeta was silent for as he stared back at the half-saiyan. Gohan let out an annoyed grunt. "You know what? Never mind." He got up. "I don't even know why I thought coming to you was a good idea."

Gohan was already halfway to the entrance when Vegeta's voice called out to him: "Just ask him." Gohan stopped walking and looked over his shoulder to the Saiyan prince. "You two are such good friends, right? Just ask him what's going on and try not to let your anger get ahead of you. Listen to both sides of the story. I wouldn't be surprised if he needs you to take over the army. You can't just disappear that easily."

Gohan nodded. "Thank you. I'll make sure they'll give you a feast today." He gave Vegeta a genuine smile but the man only waved him away. Well, there was no love lost there.

Several hours later, Gohan tried to keep his breathing steady as he sat right next to his best friend. The half-saiyan felt uncomfortable, which was strange as he had done things like this more often. Under Vegeta's reign, Gohan was forced to give speeches for great audiences all the time. Still, back then he was Vegeta's so-called apprentice. Now he was sitting in front of a group of lieutenant-generals as Gohan; the warrior who defeated Vegeta. He had nobody to hide behind this time.

Tobney and Comora spent hours and hours preparing for this meeting. Tobney had to convince the lieutenant-generals that he had what it took to lead the army. They feared that the men would refuse to submit to Tobney's leadership. Comora suspected that, similarly to the Suta Team, the lieutenant-generals would rather support Gohan than Tobney.

Still, Tobney asked Gohan to join him during the meeting. Gohan was hesitant. He didn't really feel like joining in on meetings concerning an army that he was planning on leaving.

"Please." Tobney folded his hands together in front of him. "Please help me out here. Just this once?"

Gohan remember looking to Comora. The older warrior shrugged, saying it couldn't hurt. Gohan decided that he could join the meeting just this once… There was nothing that could go wrong, right?

"Who says that you are to become the leader of the army?" Asked a man with bulky arms and a dark moustache after Tobney's explanation about what happened during the rebellion.

"Right." This was added by a tall man with gleaming purple eyes. The man had a dark uniform on over his equally dark skin. His insignia indicated that he was the lieutenant-general of the third-class soldiers. "General Gohan defeated Vegeta so he should accept the leadership of the army."

"I agree!" The lieutenant-general of the second-class teams called out. "General Gohan fought with us during campaigns and battles. He's proven his worth. And he often enough acted on Vegeta's behalf during official meetings. Why not give him the position?"

Gohan looked to Tobney. His best friend grounded his feet. "Gentlemen. This is not the issue. Gohan and I have decided that I am to take over the leadership of this army. There won't be any changes for you. Your salary will remain the same and I'll add a little bonus to counter the emotional damage you will suffer from due to the current changes concerning your supervisors." The men around the table were already sitting up in response to this message and Gohan was once again surprised by how easy it was to bribe some men.

"Now, if anyone here has a problem with me as your ruler, there's the door." Tobney pointed to the doorway. "Instant relieve of your duty. You will leave here today in a space pod. Any takers?"

The men glanced to each other uncomfortably but they stayed silent. Tobney allowed this to go on for a moment before he nodded and lowered his arm. "Alright. Now, let's move on to more pressing matters…"

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"Now, if anyone has a problem with me as your ruler…." Comora took a dramatic gasp as he pointed to the doorway. "There's the door!"

The members of the Suta Team grinned and laughed in response to this. Tobney pursed his lips disapprovingly but he decided to allow it. The Suta Team always had a tendency to make fun of him and who was he to take that away from him? As long as they listened to his orders, they could tease him all they wanted.

Gohan fell down next to Tobney and the two exchanged a smile. Sianna walked in with a platter filled with beers. They all took one and stood up.

"A toast!" Comora announced. "Congratulations to our new and improved leader and the best army in the universe!"

They all smiled and cheered as they repeated Comora's words and toasted their glasses. The room was silent for a brief instance as they all sipped from their drinks. Comora was the first one to start talking again: "All jokes aside, you did well today." He caught Tobney's eye as he said this. "I'm proud of you."

Tobney returned the smile. "Thank you." He responded. "I hope they will give me their support. We need them to reorganize the army."

"They're not that important. We can do without them. It will give us an opportunity to place some of the men who are loyal to you on higher positions." Comora returned.

"We need to win the trust of every soldier in this army." Tobney stated. "We need their leaders, the people they trust, to vouch for me. If we start replacing everyone with new, younger soldiers, the veterans will not trust that I'm doing what's best for the army. They'll just think I am promoting the people closest to me."

Comora nodded. "Alright." The man took another sip from his beer. "So, why not allow Gohan to take the lead?" Tobney's expression faltered in response. Gohan frowned as he didn't like where this conversation was going. "You heard them; they are used to following Gohan's lead. If you want them to trust and follow you, you two should lead the army together."

"I don't want to do that." Gohan responded. This earned him Comora's undivided attention.

"What you want is not important right now." Comora said strictly. "You defeated Vegeta so you got the army. That's how it goes. If you didn't want the company, you shouldn't have started the fight. You were good where you were, Gohan, but you decided ruin all that."

"I just wanted to be free." Gohan returned. "All I wanted was to leave this army and the only way to do that was to get rid of Vegeta because he wouldn't let me go."

"That was not the only route, Gohan. Vegeta would have let you go to planet earth once in a while if only you were not such a pain in the ass." Comora's voice became harsher as he spoke. "And now you've ruined any chance of ever leaving this army. You can't go home now. Vegeta had enemies. Foes are still out for Saiyan blood and they don't care which Saiyan's blood it is. They will come after you and you'll lead them straight to planet earth."

Gohan frowned as he looked to Tobney. His best friend was avoiding his eyes and this made Gohan worry a lot. "Is that true?" He asked.

Tobney hesitated before he took a deep breath. "I eh… Comora did show me the threats made to the army. Apparently, Vegeta received them all the time. We receive numerous messages threatening to kill Vegeta, you, me and every members of the Suta Team. There is an entire team of soldiers devoted to trying to track down where these messages come from but it's difficult. They are concealed. Vegeta just… kept it a secret from us."

"Well, I knew about them." Comora chipped in. "I didn't really feel like telling Tobney about it. And Vegeta figured that you already had too much to think about without worrying about death-threats."

Gohan could feel his mind reel as he thought about this. Everything he'd ever done was to return to planet earth. All he ever wished for or dreamed about was seeing the planet again. The youngster felt nauseous and he fell back onto the couch. There he placed a hand on his forehead. Had everything been for nothing? Did he throw his entire world away for a dream that would never happen?

"Didn't think of that, did you kiddo?" Comora stated acidly. "Well that definitely proves that children shouldn't do anything more than just follow orders."

Tobney straightened his back. "Alright. You've said enough here, Comora." He said strictly. "Why don't you go back to your office and start preparing for our meeting with lieutenant-general Iko? I'll join you in a bit."

Comora's expression showed that he realized he was being sent away but he nodded and saluted. "Yes, sir."

Tobney looked over to the others. "The same goes for you all. Scatter." He ordered. The rest of the group silently walked away. Tobney waited until they all left the room before he sat down next to Gohan. The half-saiyan was now leaning on his knees with his elbows as he hid his face behind his hands. "Hey, chin up. We'll work it out. We always do, remember?"

"Bring me home, Tobney." Gohan sat up and met Tobney's gaze. "Turn the ship around and bring me home right now."

Tobney held Gohan's gaze for a moment. The 25-year-old lowered his gaze and placed his elbows on his knees. Gohan watched him to this. "Tobney…"

"I can't." Tobney responded. "Comora's right. You can't leave the army. Not yet at least."

"You promised me you would bring me home, Tobney. You promised me you would personally escort me back after we defeated Vegeta." Gohan stated. "You promised me…"

"I didn't think we would win!" Tobney snarled in return. Gohan's eyes were wide. "I just wanted to die, Gohan. I had nothing left to live for. The only reason I was still alive was because I didn't want to make you suffer the pain of losing your best friend."

"So you tried to kill us both on a suicide mission?" Gohan snarled.

"It gave me a reason to get up in the morning. The burning desire to make Vegeta suffer for what he did to me was what kept me going." Tobney returned. "Don't deny that you were in a similar position. You never really smiled anymore. Especially after you found out Vegeta was planning on marrying you off to Lizis. You were a walking shadow of your former self. But there was nothing you could do about it. Our plan to kill Vegeta and take over the army brought the sparkle back in your eyes. You needed something to live for just like I did."

"We were already dead, Gohan. We were being pushed around like puppets, maneuvered into whatever position Vegeta and Comora wanted us to be in. We had nothing left to lose."

"You're wrong, Tobney." Gohan responded. "We had enough to lose. I had my dreams. I had love and friendship. You had Solarus and you had our friendship. Reasons enough live for." Gohan took a breath. "Well, I guess we both lost something. I lost my dreams… And you lost your best friend."

Tobney watched as the look on Gohan's face changed to a harsh one. "Gohan…" He pleaded. "Gohan, please don't…."

"Safe it, Tobney." Gohan got up and walked away. Tobney got up since he planned on following his best friend. The warrior stopped himself as he felt the hostility in Gohan's mind. The man sank through his knees right there and he placed a hand in front of his mouth.

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It took her several hours to track him down. Tobney was lying on the couch in the Suta Team's common room when Sianna walked in. She smiled as she approached him. "Here you are." She stated

"I'm not going to talk about it." Tobney responded as he placed his pale arm over his eyes.

Sianna chuckled. "Oh, I do love how predictable you men are." She teased. "Gohan said the exact same thing when I tracked him down earlier. After I noticed the cold atmosphere during breakfast, I was pretty sure something was going on between you two and it only took me a couple minutes to get it out of my lover." She sat down on the edge of the couch, forcing Tobney to shift sideways in order avoid to being used as a pillow. "How long will you last, huh?"

Tobney moved his arm away from his blue eyes so he could glare at Sianna. "You do know you're talking to your superior, right?"

"As if that ever stopped me before." Sianna grinned in response. The female folded her hands together and placed them on her lap. "So, talk to me."

"Get lost." Tobney closed his eyes again. The man ignored the female's cat-eyed gaze for a few seconds before he got annoyed and opened his eyes again. Her smile infuriated him even more. "Go away now. That's an order."

Sianna pursed her lips. "Make me~" She cooed. Tobney's mouth fell open in response to her insubordination. "You won't because you have a soft spot for me. That's the case for all the men here. It's the reason I'm still alive."

"Not really. Vegeta just kept you alive because he wanted to make you suffer." Tobney returned. "I think it's practically the same for everyone else here."

"All the same. I'm alive because I caught their attention. Hence the soft spot you guys have for me. Now, are you going to tell me what's going on or should I get Suno so he can get it out of you?"

"Don't you dare." Tobney sat up. He noticed the grin on Sianna's face. She found her leverage. She was getting way too good at this. The man blew out a sigh. "You already talked to Gohan, didn't you? So you know what's going on."

Sianna shrugged. "I know his side of the story. But there are always two sides. I need all the information I can get if I'm going to rectify the situation."

"And you think you can rectify this situation?" Tobney shook his head. "You're in way over your head. I don't think you can do anything to solve this fight."

Sianna smiled. "Don't underestimate me. Now stop trying to postpone it and tell me what happened."

Tobney leaned back against the pillow and took a breath to start his story. He explained how he started the rebellion for the wrong reasons and how he betrayed Gohan's trust in him. He told her about the fight that occurred just a day before today.

Tobney fell silent, his mind filled with worries as he thought about Gohan's angry expression. Sianna nodded once. "So you didn't consider apologizing?"

Tobney shook his head. "He wouldn't listen to me."

"Not yesterday. Today. Once you two calmed down."

"He doesn't want to talk to me."

"Alright." Sianna smiled and got up. "Thank you for the information. You can leave it all to me now." She walked away after this.

Tobney frowned as he sat up again. "What are you going to do?"

Sianna only looked over her shoulder to address him. "Wouldn't you like to know?" She winked at him before she left the room. Tobney was left staring after her. The man shook his head and muttered something about strange women before he lay back down again.

Sianna met up with Comora and reported her information to him. The man nodded once. "Alright. They have to settle this fight if they are going to lead the army together. We need to make sure that Tobney apologizes to Gohan." The man crossed his turquoise arms over each other. "Gohan is sweet enough. He will accept the apologies easily and it will be over. I think it's going to be more difficult to convince Tobney that his apologies are enough to settle this. So, how are we going to do that?"

Sianna grinned in response. "Oh that's going to be easy. Come with me. We'll meet up with the others and I'll explain my plan."

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Thanks for reading! Please review and let me know what you think!