Chapter 4


Its showtime, Dive excitedly thought as he landed on a roof facing the alleyway. The gang of aliens weren't much to look at, but by the looks of the knives that they were brandishing, he knew that their immediate threat to the poor sap that bumped into them was serious.

Counting the six thugs, he slowly began to think of a cool way to approach the situation. He wasn't the only one since the man that the thugs were cornering looked to be stoically assessing the encroaching aliens. Appearance wise, the man resembled a human with white spiky hair and blue eyes. Figuring that things would only get worse should the man act, Dive decided to step in.

"Hey!"

"What the hell?"

"Who are you!?" The alien thugs spotted the saiyan.

"Just some guy, who's here to kick ass and chew bubble gum. And I'm all out of ass."

"Don't you mean bubble gum?"

Immediately blowing and popping a bubble in his mouth, Dive hastily chewed his stick of gum.

"I know what I said, and thankfully, I can fix that problem by using all of you guys."

"Listen here, kid, if you don't want to get shanked with this asshole here then I advise you-!"

Dive shushed the thug with a big grin on his face.

"Kick your asses, well, I was going to do so regardless, but thanks for the invite!" Jumping off of the roof, Dive smirked as he finally decided upon a cool move to use against these punks for fun. "Multi-form!" Cloaking himself in his ki, Dive created a double of himself as he lands on the ground.

The alien thugs were surprised as even the man, who's been quiet up until now looked rather intrigued by the strange ability. Grinning, Dive's double charged ahead at the first thug, he saw. The alien panicked and attempted to plunge his knife into him, but strangely forming out of the double were another pair of Dive's, who wore the exact excited grin.

"What the-!? Hey, let go!" Caught off guard, the two new doubles grabbed the alien's arms as the charging double swung a single punch to his gut, the blow sent the alien tumbling back into a nearby garbage dumpster. The metallic bin now outlined with the alien's body as he unconsciously slumps down to the ground.

Looking pale, the thugs looked back at the saiyan in fear as Dive and his doubles threw a few mock punches in their directions.

["Come at me bros!"] All four of the Dives beckoned.

"Screw this guy, run!"

Running away in fear, the aliens took off running, they weren't foolish enough to mess with someone that powerful. Sadly, for them, that someone wasn't satisfied with their response since two of Dive's clones blocked off the other route of the alleyway.

"C'mon, running already? We just started, you know…"

The four Dives raised their hands and prepared to fire a blast of ki at them. Trembling in their boots, the gang of aliens grew pale as they got cornered like a pack of rats. The sudden display of their cowardice was enough to visibly annoy Dive, he couldn't believe these punks lacked so much gumption despite being the ones who wanted to fight in the first place.

Well, they started to pick a fight with the white haired man, not him, but the matter still stands.

"Y-You-!"

"Me?" Dive blinked as he saw one of the punks bravely take a few steps forward. He grinned, maybe they weren't all talk after all. As he and his doubles prepared to fire their ki blasts, all of the punks dropped to their knees and bowed their heads to Dive.

"FORGIVE US!"

"E-Eh?" Dive sweatdropped.

"W-We promise not to cause anymore trouble for anyone ever again!"

"I see…" Dive coughed, he couldn't bring himself to beat up such lily-livered cowards, who couldn't put up a fight. It's not his style. After telling them this, the punks sighed out of relief and wore smiles on their faces.

But…

"You know, I still feel like I have the urge to punish you guys. So instead of a beating, how about I just take you to the police after I finish doing a few of my favorite bullying skills on ya?" Dive slyly smiled.

"What?"

"Are you kidding?"

"No way!"

The delinquents voice out their disapproval but stopped upon hearing the blood curdling sound of one of their own getting an intense wedgie from one of Dive's doubles. Shakily looking back to the original, they shivered in fear upon looking at his playful grin, which only made things even more frightening.

Maniacally laughing, all of the doubles slowly encroached upon the crying group of aliens, who met their cruel, humiliating fates. The white haired man watching had to look away as their screams alone were enough to bear, not to mention the sounds of skin getting twisted and fabric tearing. It was excruciating just to bear witness to this twenty minute long torture and by the end of it, they were all tired together by their collective overly stretched underwear as their heavily twisted skinned arms laid uselessly to both of their sides.

"Good job, me!"

"No, you did most of the work, me!"

"But Dive there really showed some team effort!"

"Nuh-uh! The one who really was the MVP was Dive."

"Fellas, fellas, look we all did pretty amazing and we were looking cool just doing it." Dive chuckled amongst his group of doubles.

"Yeah!"

"You said it."

"We're just so strong and handsome!"

"We should all get jobs as models!"

"Fighting Models!"

After a couple of more minutes gloating, Dive called back each of the doubles with a bit of trouble since he was a bit shaky with using the Multiform technique. His Nana did warn him about it being an Upper Rank technique to learn and it was true, unlike her, he couldn't quite distribute the power for each of his doubles equally. If this had been a serious fight, he, the original, might have accidentally created one with more energy than he could spare while the others were made with less or quite the opposite with it not being enough to maintain all of them.

Noticing the man walking towards him, Dive puffed out his chin and grinned. He always loved this part of the job, getting the much needed thanks for saving a victim, he could actually use the positive reinforcement after the day he's having.

Except the man completely walks past him with a strange sway of the hips that Dive found odd for a dude. Crouching down, the man reached out towards one of the thugs and quickly retrieves an object before quickly pocketing it. With that, he soon began to leave.

"Wait!"

"…?"

The man looked visibly distressed upon having Dive pop up right in front of their face. They didn't even notice the guy make any movements toward them. Looking a bit exhausted, Dive cursed himself for using "that" out of the blue, it would expend a ton of energy just to use it and now he had wasted a valuable "second" that could have been used for a fight.

"Ahem! No need to thank me, dude! As a passerby it wouldn't be any good to be a bad Samaritan and leave you to get mugged." Dive continued.

Rolling his eyes, the man groaned, "Oh, that…thanks. Bye." Dive raised an eyebrow at that, the guys voice seemed soft despite being a little rough and those eyes of his looked weird too. Was he sick or something.

Anyways, "No need to rush. I know that you were just frightened but when you're around me nothing will ever bother you again! Hi-five!" Dive raised his hand but received no feedback from the man, who was dryly looking at him. Shaking it off, Dive laughed and decided to simply pat the man's chest in order to pass off the rejection.

"…E-Eh!?"

"Huh?" Dive noticed something off, it wasn't the man's red face which was weird, but the feeling of his chest. It felt bumpy, not the kind of bumpy you would expect on a man's muscular chest, but a soft bumpy. It was hard to make out since something was in the way.

"One moment…"

"Hey! What in the are you-!?" The man reeled back upon Dive stuffing his hand down his to touch at his chest. There were bandages in the way and based on how tight they felt and the obvious lining and gap that his fingers entered it all came full circle for Dive about why he was acting so weird.

"You're a woman!?" Dive screamed.

"…Mmmmmgrgh!"

The ma-woman was now a steaming red mess of anger. The saiyan had been in situations like this before with his main squeeze, so he instantly thought of a way to get out of this mess.

"Hold on!" Dive grabbed the woman's hand and forced her to touch his pectorals through his shirt.

"Look, we're both touching each other now. So, it's only fair that you don't hit me or else I'll be given the right to rightfully defend mys-!"

One moment, he was standing on his own two feet, and the next moment, he found himself smashed through a wall with a burning hand print on his cheeks. She was strong and…heartless… The moment she had finished beating him up, she left him all alone in the damp alley. Was that any way to thank someone who saved you? Well, he did grope her and after thinking about it, he kind of forced her to grope him so a lot of mistakes were made that day.

But before any thoughts of an apology could pop up, he jumped out from the hole of the way and grinned, "She's really strong…" He rubbed his cheek, he couldn't feel anything from her through her energy signature which was weird, but he left that all up to him simply not really focusing on her. Perhaps, he could try to break the ice with her and get a potential sparring partner, he needs to get stronger and with his suspension, he'll at least have something to do.

"Thanks a lot, Miss!"

Peeking over the corner, Dive looks to see that the woman was now talking with a little alien girl, who was a sniffling mess holding onto what seemed to be a stuffed animal.

"You can thank me by not walking out here in public by yourself! Don't you have a parent that's around to watch you?" The woman's scolding seemed harsh that made both the girl and even Dive flinch back.

The girl's eyes teared up as whimpered, "M-My Mommy promised that we would go to the park today, b-but because of work she said that she wouldn't be able to make it today and broke her promise…so I wanted to go myself…"

"I see…I get where you're coming from." The woman's expression darkened, "Is what you expect me to say?" The girl stuttered but the woman was having no backchat as she urged, "So instead of understanding that your mom can't always keep her word because life gets in the way, you decide to go out alone and potentially get kidnapped or mugged by some shady people just, so you can go to the park?"

"U-Uh-huh…"

"I know that you feel disappointed, but your mother must be worried sick since you're not home. I bet, if she were here, those guys wouldn't have taken your toy like that."

"R-Really, why?"

Calming herself down, Dive sees the woman's face had softened as she crouches down.

"Because mothers tend to act crazy whenever their kids are threatened. So your Mama Bear would have honestly kicked their asses if they so much as touch one hair on your cute little head." The woman patted the girl's head, "Trust me, us girls will basically do anything when it comes to family and she definitely won't be an exception. So come on…"

Standing up, she took the girl's hand and started walking off, "We'll go apologize together and apologize to her."

"O-Okay…" The girl rubbed her nose and teary eyes before trying to wear a smile.

"Do you know where you live from here?"

"Uh-huh, I always make sure to remember the streets that Mommy and I take when going outside of the apartments. Mommy can get a bit lost so I'm always there to help her out."

The woman laughed, "Why aren't you the dependable one, well then, I'll be counting on you."

"L-Leave it to me, Miss…uh…"

"Percy, call me Percy, kid." The woman smiled.

"Okay then Miss Percy, lets go~!" The girl happily sang as she tugged at Percy's arm to follow her much to Percy's false chagrin as she followed along with a coy smile on her face.

Huh, that was actually pretty sweet, thought Michael as his mind wandered off from fighting to actions of that woman. So, it would seem that she engaged the thugs just to get back the girl's stuffed toy and considering how strong she is, he didn't really need to butt in. But most of all, he was…a bit shaken from how she treated the girl, she had an elderly sister kind of vibe to her.

Yeah…it was easy for him to pick that out considering…

Nah, he can't get all caught up in his feelings. Now he had to figure out a way to get that so called wanted "Lightning Thief", he'll have to worry about going to see that Percy girl later. Now it was finally time for him to bring in the perp completely solo.

Snagging himself a pair of sunglasses, he looks up to the sky and says, "I better hurry and catch this guy or else the trail will go cold because…Lightning never strikes twice in the same place…"

"Lame…and give me back my sunglasses!" The bounded alien thug growled.

Licking his finger, Dive smirked, "You said what now?"

"…S-Sorry?"

"Wet willy time…"

"N-No, no, no, no, no, no!" "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, YES!" Both Dive and the thug chanted.

"GUAAAAAAAAAAGH!" The thug cried from the horrid torture.


Cabba was just not allowed to enjoy the day at all. From the collected payments that he'll have to pay off, his wasted ice cream and his and Dive's totaled spacecraft; he received one hell of an earful from Arctic and Zenya after arriving a little too late to their meeting area in the center plaza of the great city planet known as Gaia.

To be an *ASTERISK* member means that you'll have to be punctual with your attendance on missions, and this problem would usually be Dive's to shrug off but not to Cabba. In fact, his two superiors found it odd that he was late to begin with. Keeping it to himself, Cabba was so engaged in a conversation with the quiet saiyan girl he had just met that he completely lost track of time.

Despite her meek nature, she was quite a conversationalist and a good listener who didn't mind that Cabba was getting some of frustration off of his chest. There were road blocks with her suddenly apologizing for every little thing, but he didn't mind. Heck, he usually does that on a daily basis, usually for Dive's sake after he creates havoc, but it's still the same.

He had managed to get her contact number but was a bit puzzled since her phone seemed to be rather plain with the bare minimum functions. She told him that she would be on the planet for a few days on business so that gave him all the time that he needed to meet with her again. He didn't know why but something about her felt odd in a good way to him which made him feel drawn to her a bit.

N-Not to say that he actually is infatuated with her in the slightest, he's just really interested in her is all. That misunderstanding would have spelt two different reactions from Zenya and Arctic. Zenya would have teased him to death while Arctic would have ordered him to commit seppuku for getting too distracted before a mission. Okay, that Arctic part might have been an exaggeration, but the Frost Demon was always so serious that it actually left Cabba guessing to make various terrifying punishments that Frost could potentially give him.

So, after giving some lackluster excuse which got him scolded either way, the three reviewed the situation that the city faced. A few days ago, one of the city's precious energy sources, the Voltage Cores went missing without any traces. Workers at the power plant returned the very next morning to find that it was gone.

All of the workers were interrogated before the mission was handed to them. They couldn't rely on the surveillance cameras since they got short circuited by some outside force that fried all of the footage following that night. Meaning it was either someone who worked for the company or some outsider, who stole the Voltage Core.

The bounty for the "Lightning Thief" seemed contrived to Zenya at first since there wasn't a confirmed thief yet, but Arctic surmised it being a simple strategy by the Galactic Federation since it could frighten them to no longer act out, or if they loved the attention, they'd immediately go back to committing the same crime again. Meaning, they'd have a chance to catch them and retrieve the stolen voltage core.

Confused, Cabba asked why the city wasn't covered in darkness since one of the cores were missing and to that Zenya answered by saying that there were countermeasures planned by the planet's Electrical Appliance teams to hold a temporary back up supply that could stand in for the cores but only for a limited time. They estimated that it would take a week before it would run out.

The voltage cores were special since it was crafted by the smartest tuffle in the world, the Tuffle King, who crafted the cores from collecting pure electricity from the raging storm filled planets of Jupiter and Neptune. The four Voltage Cores were given to the city planet as good faith after joining the Galactic Federation since Planet Gaia always had a Black Out problem with how much electricity is constantly used.

Devising a plan, Arctic suggested that they split up to watch over each of the three Electrical Plants holding the cores. To avoid causing any suspicion by collaborating with the security guards there, they snuck into each plant and kept watch all the way until midnight.

Now all that they needed to do was stay alert and keep an eye out for any signs of a break in.


Entering through the same facility twice was child's play for them, thought the mysterious figure cloaked in their black hooded coat. Dampening their Ki and very presence was able to help them avoid garnering the guards' attention. Upon entering the long hall leading to the massive closed quarantined doors ahead, they stopped in their tracks taking a deep breath as they focused their ki into their eyes in order to spot the varied red lights that littered the hall ahead.

"Infrared lasers, again?" They cracked their neck as they approached the mess of lasers with adept flexibility. Just touching one would set off the whole place and give their location away, but at this point worrying about that would naturally cause them to accidentally slip up. So, they approached the lights like a quick warm up before attaining the core.

With one last back flip, they narrowly slip through a tight angle before graciously landing on both of their feet. Thankful that they were alone, they nonchalantly patted themselves on the back along with a quick, "Nailed it" before reaching the door and inputting the code to unlock the doors.

The security was a bit too hard to crack at the first plant, but after filching the passcode for the first time from the personnel that worked there, they were able to figure out a pattern based on the 4 digit codes with each passcode holding the first number for every street that surrounded the individual plants. Placing in the data, they were able to get in, but the process of opening the doors took longer than expected like last time.

Looking at their hands, a small spark of electricity ran through her fingers before ceasing the idea to speeden the process, it would have just led to some noticeable altercations to the system.

Other Ki users would be able to identify her lingering presence on it and use it to track her down.

Disengaging with a hiss, the two doors immediately opened and within the vast space was the illuminating Voltage Core plugged into a large chamber surrounded by Liquid Coolant.

Like before, this would be a piece of cake for them. However, as they took a step forward, their senses immediately pick up on an incoming threat as she immediately jumped into the air and landed on a nearby generator as a blast of ki expunged the ground.

Shouldn't have jinxed it, they thought as they managed to take a good peak at their attacker.

Threads danced and billowed around the room, "Sorry, Lightning Thief but you'll have to pay for your electricity bill like everyone." Floating into the light, a female Heranian in a suit revealed herself.

"A member of the Hera race?" That alien race consists of only the universe's most dangerous space pirates and assassins, they did not want to compete for the core because Heranian's hold deadly grudges.

The female Heranian didn't dignify an answer and pulled out her badge, "Zenya Bordeaux, officer of the Galactic Federation's Special Task Force, ASTERISK. Lightning Thief, you have been accused of stealing one of this planet's vital energy cores. Give yourself up, otherwise, I will be use force."

Galactic Federation's special task force, they inwardly gasped? They knew that stealing the planets energy source would force the authorities to bring in the big guns, but not these BIG GUNS! However, they couldn't help but feel a sudden swell of pride from getting this much acknowledgement. Making a name for themselves left them feeling quite conflicted.

Pulling off their hood, the thief revealed themselves wearing a yellow tactical helmet that covered their entire face and in an instant that took Zenya off guard, they pulled out a custom pistol and aimed it at their opponent.

Clicking back the hammer, they laughed, "Sounds like a good time for…"

*BANG!*


Well, I hoped that you guys enjoyed the chapter! The helmet as described above is sort of reminiscent to Jason Todd's Red Hood helmet from the Arkahm Knight game, so yeah…

Welp, I hoped that you all have a wonderful day! I'm Out so Peace Out and have a lovely day!