Part 1 – A Deal to Make

"To not do what you can to protect someone, that's cowardly." - Jodi Lynn Anderson

Kiso Yukisane, Macey thought as she looked at the torn down apartment building that her target was hiding out in. Wanted for military treason and terroristic threats. Said to have an arsenal of weapons stashed. Now, how hard are you going to make this for me? After looking around, Macey went transparent in order to search the outside of the building without being spotted. After noting that the front could only be opened by someone from the inside or a key code, she made her way to the back of the building. So, if I were a paranoid, unstable, traitorous person – which floor would I hideout on. I'd want to see everyone that was coming to and from, and the best spot to see everything is on the top floor. However, if I were on the back of the top floor, I'd only see the other buildings around me, so if I wanted to see people coming to and from the building, I'd be in the front. Great, now I just need to find a way into the room. "Roof latch?" She asked herself as she undid her Transparency and leapt up to the top of the building. "Of course not," she annoyingly sighed. "Dammit." She quickly jumped down from the building and walked back around to the front of the apartment where the buttons for each apartment sat in front of her. Maybe someone will let me in if I just keep mashing these buttons, she told herself, and she quickly began hitting all the buttons – starting from Apartment 1. With no luck, no one was answering, but then, when she got done pressing the Apartment 9 button, a small voice came on through the other side.

"Who are you?" A little girl's voice on the other end of the speaker said. "My mommy told me not to let anyone in."

A child? Macey shockingly thought as she realized that the voice was that of a little girl.

"Hello?" The girl's voice said again. "I said, 'Who are you?'," she repeated.

"Oh, uh, sorry," Macey cleared her throat. "My name's Macey, and I'm looking for a friend. Do you think you could buzz me in so that I can find my friend? I really miss him."

The little girl got excited. "Your friend?!" She happily asked. "Who's your friend? Can I be friends with you?"

"Uh, yeah, sure," Macey said nonchalantly as she scanned the area around her, "but I need you to let me in first, okay?"

The little girl cheerfully chuckled. "Okay," she agreed, and instantly, the door buzzed – allowing Macey to walk through it. As she made her way through the front lobby, she looked at the mailboxes that were on the wall, and she scanned each one for the name of her target; however, she quickly turned up nothing. Coming from the stairs that were across from the door and to her right, Macey heard the small footsteps heading towards her.

"Hi there!" A little girl with blonde hair, brown eyes, wearing a green pajama set and white slippers said as she ran up towards the teenage Assassin. "Are you the lady that I let in?"

Macey turned her attention away from the mailboxes and towards the little girl. She can't be more than eight, she realized. "Uh, yes," she smiled. "That was me. Thank you. Now, I might be able to find my friend."

The little girl laughed as Macey turned her attention back to the mailboxes. "My name's Asa. What's your friend's name?" She asked.

"I don't think you'd know him," She answered. "He's a lot older than you – even older than I am."

"Wow, then he must be really old," Asa laughed which cause Macey to kneel down to her height.

"And just how old do you think I am?" Macey playfully asked.

"Hmm," Asa thought. "I'd say 20."

Macey laughed. "No, not quite. You're just a few years off."

With Macey still kneeling down, Asa looked at the daggers that were strapped to the sides of Macey's thighs and saw her crossbow on her back. "Why do you have all of those weapons?" She asked as she started to get excited. "Are you and your friend going to play with weapons?! I love weapons!"

"Really?" Macey asked with a smile. "You do?"

"Yeah!" She replied. "My daddy has a ton of them! You should come look at his collection!"

Before Macey could say anything, Asa grabbed her by the hand and began leading her upstairs, and as they passed each floor, Macey began to make a realization.

Weapons, she thought as Asa dragged her. Kiso Yukisane is said to have an arsenal of weapons. Could this girl's dad be my target? Instantly, Macey's anger began to rise, and while she tried to figure out what was infuriating her, Asa had led them to the apartment door. "Hey, what floor are we on?" Macey asked.

"The top," Asa smiled. "My mom and dad like living at the very top – they say it's safer."

"Right," Macey awkwardly replied. "So, Asa, is your mom or dad home?"

"My mom works during the day, so my daddy stays with me, but he's asleep right now. He sleeps a lot, and then when he wakes up, he starts yelling. It's loud, but I go to my room, so we need to be quiet and not wake him up," she explained. "Maybe we could hang out in my room for a little while!" Asa excitedly offered.

Macey smiled down at the girl. "I'd love to, but I'm in a bit of a hurry, so let's just see your daddy's weapons, and then we can hang out another time, okay?"

"Really?! You mean it?!" Asa cheerfully confirmed.

Macey nodded and Asa smiled bigger as she started to turn the door knob to the apartment. Carefully, she opened the door and made sure to not make a sound because right inside the door and to the right was Asa's dad, who was fast asleep on the torn up blue couch. Catching Macey by surprise, she saw the small apartment walls lined with military grade weapons – everything from assault rifles to RPGs. Slowly and quietly, she walked around and looked at the weapons and remembered that her target was said to have had military grade weapons, and once she got close enough to the couch to look at Asa's father, she could confirm that the sleeping man was in fact her target. Damn, she thought as she looked at the man, the weapons surrounding her, and then back at Asa, it's him alright. I can't just murder a little girl's father right in front of her – God knows what that'd do to her. Macey took a second to realize that a similar situation had occurred several years ago. This is what my dad did to Kaiser – killed our mother right in front of him. Macey turned towards the still-smiling Asa and crouched down to her level. "Hey, so, Asa," she began in a whisper, "do you think that you could go get your favorite toy out of your room and bring it out to me?"

Asa smiled. "Of course," she happily and quietly replied. "I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere," she stressed. Asa ran into her room that was only a few feet away from the living room, and when she did, a battery-operated robot that was on the floor turned on when she accidentally tripped over it. "Oh no," she said with fear in her voice as she picked up the robot. "No, no, no. Turn off, turn off."

Suddenly, the two of them heard grunting coming from the couch, and the happy, cheerful girl from earlier turned into a frightened one.

"Asa!" The man angrily yelled as he started to get up from couch, but instantly, he was pushed back down by Macey. "Who the hell – get off me!" He shouted at Macey, and as he did, she realized what was going on.

"Macey, leave him alone!" Asa pleaded as her eyes filled with tears. "He'll hurt you like he hurts my mom!"

"Oh, will he now?" She said angrily through her teeth as she glared at the man who was trying to get her off him. "So, tell me," she began as she leaned in closer to him as if she didn't want Asa to hear her. "Are you still drunk from last night, or did you get drunk this morning? I must say, you smell like a bar."

Kiso spat at her. "You know, little girl, you're a pretty -," he began; however, his sentence was cut off by a right hook to the face by the angered half-Saiyan.

Macey chuckled. "Let me stop you right there," she angrily began as she grabbed a hold of his shirt neck, stood up, and pulled him up with her. "First off, I'm not little," she asserted as she threw him into the kitchen and up against the counters. "Secondly," she continued as she started towards the angry drunk, "you should know better than to try to hit on a teenager," Macey said as her left fist met the right side of Kiso's face which successfully knocked him to the ground, and as he was on the ground, he began laughing. "Care to share with the rest of us what's gotcha laughing?" Macey sarcastically asked. Instantly, Kiso pulled a pistol out from underneath one of the counters, and before Macey could react, it was cocked and aimed at her forehead.

"You should've listened to the little brat and ran," he laughed as he forced Macey backwards back into the living room. "I know who you are. You're one of them military spies that have come to take me back to the war. That's who she is," he insisted as he glared at Asa who was fearfully standing behind Macey. "I figured it all out. It's her and her mom. They've come to take me back. That's why they exist. They were created by the military and they have to take me back. I won't let them! They are not taking me back there!"

"You done?" Macey sighed after a few seconds of silence went by. "Because, if you are, then I'd really like to get this over with. You know, I only attacked you because you were going after Asa, but then, when I smelled the entire bar on your breath and remembered what Asa told me, I realized that you're a raging abusive, alcoholic father and husband. This might not be hard for you to believe, but I've been tasked with killing you, but then, when I realized that you were this little girl's dad, I didn't want to do it, so then, I wanted to make a deal with you – you give me your weapons, and I'd spare your life, but then, when you went after your daughter for accidentally turning on a toy and waking you up, I went back to the whole, 'I'm here to kill you' thing. You see where I'm going with this?"

"You were going to kill my dad?" Asa heartbreakingly asked.

"I changed my mind when I found out that you were his daughter," Macey insisted as she kept her eye on the gun aimed at her forehead. "I have a dad too – he's my best friend, and if someone took him from me, I'd never forgive them. That, and if someone took my son's father away from him, I'd hunt them down."

"You want my weapons?" Kiso asked.

"Just give me all your weapons, run away, and I'll let you live," Macey bargained. "I'll tell them that you're dead – all they need is a sample of your blood."

Kiso laughed. "You must think I'm an idiot! I'd never give you my blood. They're going to take it and use it to track me so that they can take me back."

"Dad, please," Asa begged. "Just listen to her. Just do what she says, and she'll let you go."

Kiso turned his attention to behind Macey, and he looked at his daughter. "So, you are one of them!" He yelled, causing Asa to jump. Suddenly, he pushed Macey out from in between them, caused her to fall to the floor, and when she looked back up, she saw the gun that had been aimed at her was now being aimed at Asa. "Make sure you say, 'hi' to your spy-mother when you see her in Hell," he chuckled. Without thinking, Macey quickly unsheathed one of her daggers, leapt up towards the man, knocked the gun out of his hand with her right hand, and with her left hand, she drove the dagger through the right side of his neck which caused him to collapse. From habit, Macey pulled out her white cloth, took a sample of Kiso's blood, pulled the dagger out of him, and disintegrated his body. Moments later, she remembered Asa, and when she turned to look at the little girl, she realized that she had seen everything.

"Asa," Macey quietly began as she walked up to the shaking and scared child. "I'm so sorry, Asa. I didn't want you to see that."

Asa looked at Macey with tears in her wide eyes. "He was going to kill me," she began with a crack in her voice. "He aimed his gun at me."

"I know," Macey agreed as she tried to comfort the girl. "I couldn't let him hurt you – I had to do it, but you're safe now."

"What did he mean when he said to tell my mom, 'hi'?" She asked. "My mom is at work. Where is my mom?"

"Your mom is fine," Macey assured her. "Tell you what, I'll take you down to her work, and you can see her yourself."

"O-O-Okay," Asa stuttered. "You're not going to hurt me, are you?"

"I'd never hurt you," Macey smiled. "Can I ask you something?"

"I guess," the little girl said weakly.

Macey smirked. "Have you ever heard your dad talk about a warehouse or anything? Or how about something underground?"

Asa shook her tearful face. "I don't think so," she answered. "He might have, but I don't know."

"Okay, that's okay," Macey assured her. "Let's go find your mom, alright?"

Asa nodded, and when Macey reached out her hand for the young girl to grab hold, she did so even though she was rightfully hesitant. Slowly, the two walked towards the apartment door – walking over the area where Kiso Yukisane's body once was in the process.

"I'm just going to say that he left," Asa said quietly and with a trace of sadness in her voice as the duo walked towards the main door of the apartment building. "I don't want you to get in trouble. You saved me."

"I think that'd be best," Macey smiled as she looked down to her right and looked at the young girl. "Just remember, I'll never let anything bad happen to you, okay? Ever. If anything ever happens, you just call me, and I'll be there before you know it. Got it?"

Asa nodded. "Got it," she confirmed. "So, do you really have a son? You said something about your son's father." The main door of the apartments opened up, and the light hit both of them in the face as if they had just entered a new, bright world after being in the cold, dark one.

Macey tried to hide her growing smile. "I do," she admitted. "He's not born yet, but he will be soon."

"Are you excited?" Asa questioned while they made their way to her mother's work place.

"To be honest, I am," she smiled in replied. "I didn't have a, what you would call "good" childhood, so I'm looking forward to giving my son the best one possible."

"Kind of like me?" Asa quietly asked her new friend.

"I guess you could say that," Macey replied. "I spent my life looking for an escape, and I finally found one, but now that I've found one, I'm having to work harder than ever to keep it."

"You'll be a good mom," the young girl said with a hope-filled voice. "Your son is lucky to have a mom like you. I know you'll protect him."

After walking through the city towards Asa's mom's work for roughly 15 minutes, Macey began to feel uneasy and a tad bit anxious; however, she knew that if she acted on it, it would only scare Asa more than she already was.

Just ignore it, she told herself and kept on walking with the young girl. Whoever-whatever it is can wait. Just ignore it. Successfully, she was able to keep her attention towards where they were headed even though the feeling didn't go away. "Is this it?" Macey asked once the two stopped in front of a local diner called "Golden Egg".

"Yes," Asa nodded as she opened up the door. "My mom is a waitress here."

Inside the diner was a bar and a few booths that went along the windows. Behind the bar stood the waitresses and the cook, and with a relieved smile on her face, Asa ran up to the bar, jumped on one of the stools, and called out for her mom. Once her beloved mom turned around, Macey, who was still standing by the door, couldn't help but to smile at the reunion. With her tiny arms wrapped around her mother, Asa didn't notice when the door slowly opened back up, and Macey began to walk out of it to make her way back towards Capsule Corp.

Part 2 – We Each Have Our Own Tyrant

"Never hide things from hardcore thinkers. They get more aggravated, more provoked by confusion than the most painful truths." - Criss Jami

"You're not going to give her the Senzu Bean?" Bulma quietly asked Vegeta as they stood in the door of the room that Nemei was lying unconscious in.

"No," he answered with his arms crossed. "That'd wake her up, and then she'd be more apt to try it again."

"I wonder why she did in the first place," Bulma pondered quietly. "She doesn't seem like the type to try something like that. She seems like she has her life going where she wants it to go."

Vegeta glared down at his wife. "Go," he told her. "I'll handle it from here. If Macey comes home tell her I'm out. Don't tell her about this."

Bulma nodded in understanding. "I know you don't want to give her the Senzu, so just tell her to be careful," she said. "I stitched her back up the best I could."

Without saying a word, Vegeta walked to the bed that his eldest daughter was lying on, and slowly, Bulma backed out of the room and closed the door behind her.

I know exactly why she did it, Vegeta answered Bulma's question to himself while he looked down at Nemei with his arms crossed. For the next hour, Vegeta couldn't do anything but quietly sit in the chair in the corner of the room with his back facing the wall. With his head leaned up against the wall, he couldn't pull his eyes away from his unconscious daughter. The longer he sat there, the more impatient he became and the angrier he got. I can't give her the damn bean, he reminded himself. As his impatience grew over the next hour, the anesthesia began wearing off of the young half-Saiyan.

"Hey," Nemei said quietly towards Vegeta, who had his eyes closed, in a hoarse voice once she realized that her father was in the room with her. Immediately, his eyes flew open, and he looked to see his waking up daughter. "I'm sorry, dad," she quietly apologized with tears beginning to fill her eyes.

Vegeta stood up and walked closer to her. "That was stupid, what you did," he began. "But as stupid as it was, I know why you did it."

Nemei scoffed. "No, you really don't," she replied as she turned over to have her back to him.

Vegeta chuckled. "Let me take a guess, and you tell me if I'm in the ballpark or not," he began. "As a child, you watched Arikane murder your mother, so then you carried on her mission which was to find out what Arikane was hiding. You spent years looking and searching the Earth to find his old Assassin villages, and now, you're finding yourself having to work with him. How's that?" Nemei turned back over to look at her father. "I'd say pretty close," he continued. "Now, imagine if you were forced to work with the tyrant who blew up your entire planet."

"I think that's something you should ask Dea to imagine," Nemei said quietly and seriously. "After all, that's what she's doing, is it not?"

"You just proved my point even more," Vegeta chuckled. "I did it, she's doing it, it's a curse in our family – we each have our own tyrant, but you, however, got lucky. Your tyrant murdered someone who was trying to kill you."

"You're not a tyrant," a quiet voice said as the door to the room slowly opened. "Stop being stupid."

"What're you doing here?" Vegeta asked Macey as she walked into the room towards the him and Nemei.

She pulled up another chair and sat next to Nemei's bed. "Bulma said you went out," she started as she made eye contact with her father. "You don't go out. I knew you were hiding something, so I made her tell me."

"Typical," he scoffed.

"My tyrant is Kaiser, not you," Macey clarified. "Don't call yourself my tyrant."

"You can't sit here and say that you didn't want to claw my eyes out when you found out that I destroyed Phonoi," Vegeta insisted.

Macey chuckled. "I wanted to claw my own eyes out because I look exactly like you, and I didn't want to look at myself anymore, but that was before I learned who the real enemy was. Nemei, why would you do this to yourself?"

"I can't work with him," Nemei tearfully shook her head at her sister. "I can't do it. I can't be in the same room as him, and I don't want to breathe the same air as him."

"Yes, you can," Macey told her with a smile with her right hand on Nemei's left shoulder. "Trust me, if dad could work for the monster that killed the Saiyan race, and if I can be around the monster who's trying to kill me and our family, then you can work for the monster who killed your mother who was trying to kill you." Nemei slowly closed her eyes. "You alright?" Macey asked in a worried tone.

"Yeah," she tiredly replied. "Just really tired."

"Good," Vegeta said as he went to stand up out of the chair. "Go back to sleep. You're not getting the Senzu."

Almost immediately, Nemei was back fast asleep, and Macey and Vegeta started to head out of the room.

"So," Macey began after the door had closed behind them, "were you planning on telling me about this?"

Vegeta chuckled and started to walk away from her. "You're my daughter, not my mother. I don't have to tell you anything."

"But she's my sister," Macey said quickly and with anger in her voice. "She's my older sister, and if I knew she was that upset, then I would've stayed and watched her instead of going on that stupid assassination."

Vegeta stopped in his tracks. "Speaking of which, care to explain why you accepted that frivolous contract?"

Macey walked towards her father. "No," she answered with a glare towards him. "It doesn't concern you. Since we're in the habit of keeping things from each other, then we're even."

Vegeta scoffed. "You're acting as if we're friends. We aren't friends. I'm your father, and you're my daughter. I don't have to tell you everything that goes on."

Macey felt her heart sink to her feet. "Nice," she said quietly with hurt in her voice. "You know, I uh, think I'm going to skip training today – not feeling too well. You know, pregnant and all."

"You'll never get stronger with that attitude," Vegeta told her as she walked past him and towards her room.

Macey replied with a shrug, and a few moments later, she opened her bedroom door, closed it, and locked it.

"Pfft," she scoffed while she made her way to her bed and lie down. Once there, she took her phone off of the charger and picked it up from her nightstand. Promptly, she logged into her school social media account. I really hope that Angela didn't post that video, she worriedly pleaded to herself. When she finished typing in her login information, she was relieved to see that she hadn't become the center of the school gossip; however, someone else was. As she scrolled through her news feed, an image of her blond-headed beau popped up which further proved his reputation. In a selfie with the jock, the orange-haired rival of hers was seen smiling and clinging over the father of her child. "Baseball practice my ass," she mumbled under her breath before throwing her phone across the room and into the wall. Angry and upset, Macey sat with her knees held to her chest and stared at the hole she had created. Gohan was right, she told herself. What kind of pig goes to hang out with his blackmailing ex and then posts a picture of the two of them? I'm having his damn kid, and he decides to push me to the side? Everyone is always hiding things from me. First Kaiser, then my fath – Vegeta, and now the father of my child. Maybe I've lost touch with what's really important. Maybe these stupid ties to people are only making me weaker – time to break them. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

"Hey," a tired Nemei said from the other side. "I heard a loud bang. Are you alright?"

"Go back to sleep," Macey ordered her sister. "You don't need to be up."

"Come on. Let me in," the older twin insister as she jiggled the door knob. "You can't keep hiding from everyone."

"Why are you out of bed?" Vegeta's deep voice said from down the hallway. "Go back to sleep."

"A loud bang woke me up," Nemei explained to him. "She won't unlock the door."

Vegeta turned his attention to the door. "Open the door," he ordered. "Now."

Macey chuckled. "What're you going to do? Break it down?" As soon as she got the words out of her mouth, her wooden door was met with Vegeta's right foot, and standing on the other side of the door was Nemei and their father.

"I swear, the two of you are going to lose your doors forever," he threatened. Immediately, he looked at his visibly angry daughter and the hole in the wall.

"It was just my phone," she told him. "I think it's a few rooms down."

Nemei walked up to her sister's bed. "What's going on?" She asked with concern.

Macey jumped out of the bed. "Come on, Vegeta," she said while walking through the hole that replaced her door. "Let's go."

"Hey," Nemei said, grabbing her sister's attention. "Please, talk to me." Upon her request, she placed her left hand on Macey's back, and quickly, Macey's adrenaline shot up, and her fists began to clinch.

"Move your hand," Vegeta quickly ordered his eldest daughter. "Get it off her back." Without questioning, Nemei moved her hand, and Macey continued to make her way out of the door. "I just saved your life again – you're welcome," Vegeta said as he followed Macey. "Go back to sleep."

Once outside, Macey took to the sky and headed out to the field that the two of them had trained in once before, and it didn't take long for her father to catch up.

"What the hell was that about?" Vegeta demanded to know.

Macey scoffed. "As if you really care. I just want to train so that I can kill Kaiser, so stop playing the pretending-to-care-father and start acting like my trainer."

"As you wish," Vegeta replied, and suddenly, he appeared above her and knocked her to the ground below with right elbow to the back. Landing on her left knee and right hand, she watched as her father slowly floated down in front of her with his arms crossed. "Good enough for you?"

Without a reply, Macey shot up from her landed position and charged after her father. "Just don't kill my son," she warned him with threatening eyes.

…

"What have I done?" Sharpner mumbled under his breath once he realized what had occurred. To his right and on his shirtless chest was his orange-haired ex. "What the hell have I done?"

"Had a fun time – that's what," Angela giggled. "Now, isn't this much more fun?"

Sharpner shook his head and jumped up from his bed. "What? No. No, no no. Get out of my bed and go home."

Angela crossed her arms. "I think you're forgetting what I have on my phone," she reminded him. "I will post it."

"No, you won't," he argued as he started getting dressed – throwing her clothes at her in the process. "You'll leave me, Macey, and our son alone, and you'll delete that video."

"You can't have it both ways!" She insisted.

"I can have it whichever way I want," he argued. "Get dressed and go home. I have to get ahold of Macey. I have to tell her."

Angela chuckled. "I think she might already know."

"What the hell are you talking abou -," Sharpner began as he picked up his phone but what cut off when he noticed the stream of notifications from a picture posted on his social media account. "Angela, what the hell did you do? Did you post that picture on my account?"

She giggled. "Of course I did. Your password is way too easy to figure out. I just wanted everyone to know that you're mine."

Sharpner locked his phone and started to back out of his room while he finished putting his shirt on. "You're insane. Stay the hell away from my family." Quickly, he left his room – leaving Angela in there alone, bolted down the stairs, and made his way to find Macey.

Next Chapter: Kaiser/Cut all Ties