An Unburdened Fury
Chapter 27: Clash of Titans, Part Three
Cooler entered the room where his brother waited. It brought him no small pleasure to see his sibling's state. Several state of the art machines kept an eye on his vitals while fresh bandages adorned his body. Apparently the medics were only just able to get him stable by the time Frieza demanded they leave and to get him.
He closed the door behind him. Why would Frieza want to see him so soon after being patched up? Did he somehow find out about his plan? No, that wasn't possible; every inch of his plan was in his head. Not a word of it was spoken out loud.
Maybe the fight humbled his young brother, showed him the error of his ways or something like that. That thought amused him. 'Like anything could force him to change.' Thought the elder as he crossed his arms.
"Typical of you. Barely alive and still as demanding as ever."
Frieza scowled but didn't rise to the mocking. He reached to his right and lift a tablet. "Read this and explain yourself."
Cooler took the device and looked through it. As his eyes traveled down the screen, his blood began to boil and a cold feeling infected his hands. It was the movement patterns of the elites he sent out and transcripts between himself and the Vegeta Force.
"How did you get this information? You were almost dead just-!"
"I set this up right before their suicide mission. Vegeta is a wild card but Ginyu is loyal to only one and that is me. He contacted me immediately after you gave them the order to fly to the edge of the galaxy to inform me."
Frieza's head tilted forward which sharpened his visage to a menacing point. "You were so focused on setting whatever this was up that you failed to take every precaution necessary to keep this a secret. You didn't notice the encrypted feed he was feeding directly towards my ship. I know you sent them to get Broly and, judging from what is going on out there, I know why."
Cooler lunged at his brother and pulled him from his bed by the neck and slammed his sibling against the nearest wall.
"GIVE ME ONE GOOD REASON I SHOULDN'T KILL YOU RIGHT NOW, YOU SNIVELING LITTLE WHELP!"
Frieza smirked as he pointed to a monitor in the corner of the room closest to the door. "That's one."
The elder looked at the feed to see his father standing above a seemingly finished Bojack and Broly nowhere to be seen. Panic gripped him but he stopped it from overcoming him.
"I can fake your death," He mumbled as the rest of the words came to mind. "Let him think you succumbed to your injuries. No one on this ship would risk their necks to let father know how you really died and he wouldn't murder his remaining heir even if he did find out that I did it."
"You really think I hadn't thought of that? I've sent several copies of this file out to some of my officers. The moment I die, they will push their buttons and everyone in the Planet Trade Emperor will know that you planned to kill him. I highly doubt he would let a would be assassin live when everyone knows. Even if it was his son."
Cooler dropped his brother and turned around. His brother couldn't see the effect this conversation was having on him or he would pounce on it. "Why are you even showing me this? You're not one to show a trump card so soon."
"There was no chance of father listening in on the conversation; there wouldn't be a better opportunity soon." Frieza chuckled, mirth just oozing off the noise. "And I could put you under my thumb the moment he wins."
This was too much; the anger was making him quake where he stood. "You will regret this. I was planning to end it quick but should father die, you'll suffer for it!" With that, he stomped out of the room.
Cooler reached out as he turned the corner and grabbed a random grunt as he passed him. The birdlike soldier struggled in his grasp and begged to be let go as the Arcosian went into a random room. A loud scream was suddenly cut off by loud impacts and what sounded like a muffled metal being dented with the occasional wet splash of something.
The noise attracted the attention of numerous, understandably nervous personnel.
Cooler came out of the room soaked in green blood with rage etched on his face. "SOMEONE CLEAN UP THIS MESS OR ELSE!" The emperor continued walking down the hallway, his anger making him oblivious to the anonymous grunts who were slammed into the walls by his tail or whose feet were broken when he stepped on them.
One individual looked inside the room that Cooler walked and gawked. Everything in the room was smashed to bits or covered in blood and gore. An arm was stuck in the ceiling.
"Oh my."
The feeling one got from becoming conscious once more was both an unfamiliar and all too familiar one for Broly. The struggle to remember what happened before his world became black, the pain around his body, and the slight blow to his pride were all there.
He immediately sat up, a terrible fury lit within him, and tried to open his eyes but found them forcibly closed. He felt at them only to find something, probably blood, caked on them. Each touch stabbed at him like a knife. His heart began racing.
A low growl rumbled in his throat and he closed his fists. The puddle of rain around him began to swirl. That fucking lizard got him good. He hadn't even realized it was still holding back!
He forced his eyes open again, the action making him hiss in discomfort, to immediately close them at the painfully bright light that assaulted him. A sharp, hot feeling spread through his veins. He could feel Bojack and Cold in what looked to be a stale mate hundreds of miles away.
The pain hit him like meteor and he screamed. Everything felt like he was just dipped into the sun; that energy wave hurt him. As he forced himself back on his two feet, a burst of invisible ki cleared his surroundings of loose debris.
The sharp feeling suddenly turned dulled to an extreme pressure. It was his ki; it was overflowing! Broly brought his arms close in as he summoned a barrier. The ground imploded underneath him into a crater.
'Don't waste this'
In the next instant, the Saiyan flew off like a missile at his future victims.
Cold rushed in once more and his leg struck against the larger man's jaw. The blow sent him into the dirt with a satisfying crunch.
"This is what happens when you defy the strongest." The king said as he stalked towards the Hera. "When you try to disturb the natural order."
Bojack suddenly turned, a geyser of ki spewing forth from his hand, but it was avoided almost casually by the Planet Trade leader. In spite of how fast he moved, the pirate had telegraphed the move too much.
Cold came in from the right side. He made sure to drag his knuckles across the large bruise on the Hera's face. He dipped down, Bojack's instinctual swipe flying by, and buried his fist into the giant's abdomen.
As Bojack bent over from the pain, the Arcosian's tail came up and collided with his head in a barbaric fashion. Blood dripped down from his forehead.
Cold's right arm became engulfed in ki that sharpened to a blade's edge. It was a technique he saw Cooler use a couple times and decided to appropriate.
He grabbed onto the pirate's knee and reared back the energy sword. "Sauzer Blade!" It was rough going in. The blade usually sliced cleanly through pretty much everything without fail but it seemed his opponent was made of tougher stuff. Though not the toughest if his scream was anything to go by.
The king spun around at an attempt at a follow up strike but Bojack caught his damaged tail and slammed him into the ground.
"Don't talk to me," Heavy breaths followed as the Hera snapped the limb in his hand into a near perfect right angle. The shock of the sudden turn around and his tail's injury left the emperor speechless. "About the 'natural order'."
Bojack pulled the Arcosian from the earth and held him above his head.
"If I believed in that shit, I would be dead like the rest of my kin."
The plunderer brought the hapless alien onto his good knee. He hmm'ed at the lack of any indication of real damage. "I wonder what will break first," He lifted the lizard above him once more. "Your will or your body?"
Bojack brought him down again, the extreme angle at which Cold bent bore no good news. A choked gasp of struggle was all that he could manage despite white hot fury going through his lower back. He had to get out while he still could.
Cold aimed for the bruise on the brute's face and shot with his eye beams. While it missed, it still had the intended effect as the Hera let him go to grasp at his now missing earlobe.
"AAAGH! I'll skin you alive for that!"
The two stopped as a green blob of potent ki stopped high above them. King Cold scowled as he knew exactly who that was.
"I thought that was enough to kill him."
It was impossible to not hear the exertion in the titan's voice as he seemingly screamed to the heavens.
A chuckle from Bojack. "You know what they say about carefully laid plans."
A hail of emerald blasts fell onto the planet, their destinations random but their purpose singular. Seeing one heading directly for him, Cold sought to avoid it but a vice grip on his ankle stopped him. He looked at the Hera who held onto him with panic evident on his face.
"What are you doing?! We'll both be caught in the blast!"
The pirate merely grinned.
"I've survived worse."
Cold could only try to endure his doom by putting his arms in front of his face. In the last instant before impact, the pressure on his leg relented.
'Coward!'
She saw what was coming before her friends did. Kogu was still fixated on Bido's ashes and Bujin was barely keeping it together. There's no way they would see it in time to survive so she did the only thing she could do. Zangya turned and grabbed the two by their collars. "We need to get out of the fucking way!"
It was madness dodging explosions capable of wiping cities off the map and keep a tight grip on her comrades but luckily they regained use of their legs quick enough.
"We're going to die today." Kogu almost whispered as the siege on the planet died down.
Bujin and Zangya had no response.
Bojack let go of his barrier once the last explosion died out. If the lizard survived, it would be prudent to find him and kill him while he's down.
It took a few seconds to find him but the unmistakable ivory of his rising form was impossible to miss. It brought a smile to his face. As he limped closer to the Arcosian, he could see the damage Broly's attack did. His forearms were burned black and the biogems on them were falling apart. Purple blood oozed out of scorched tears in his skin.
Cold fell back into a defensive pose once he saw the pirate approaching him. He instinctively tried to open his left eye but was callously reminded that it was destroyed.
"My, aren't you looking pretty?"
The Arcosian glanced up before meeting his eyes again.
"And you're looking flat."
The movement was subtle but it was enough to clue him in. Bojack turned in time to see Broly knock the wind out of him.
The two brutes crashed into the mud not far from the point of impact. The pirate felt the Legendary Super Saiyan's momentum falter and he tossed him away with a shout.
Bojack's thoughts raged as he rose alongside the Saiyan. Could he just get a few seconds to finish someone off?! That's all he asked for!
"You're really getting under my skin, Broly!"
The scarred giant grinned despite his apparent lack of vision. "You should appreciate that there's any left for me to get under at the moment, Bojack." Broly's aura exploded out and the flames of his ki picked at the plunderer. "Because flaying you is a very tempting idea."
The two went at each other once more. Bojack landed more hits than not, it seems like Broly truly was blinded, but his fists weren't having the effect he liked. It made the Saiyans bruise and bleed like he wanted but the crazed warrior bounced back instantly as if the blows never happened.
The Saiyan's punches were far sloppier than they were previously but they hit harder. A fact he confirmed as he took a fist to his shoulder. He was compensating for the lack of sight by putting more behind each attack but it was obvious that it came at the cost of technique.
Bojack slipped under the blinded man's guard after an overextended hook missed. The satisfying sound of the Saiyan's mouth slamming shut from his uppercut brought a smile to the Hera's face. Broly retaliated with a hammer to the pirate's temple. The Saiyan grabbed onto Bojack's head with his hands and he began to squeeze.
The ancient plunderer rained blows onto whatever part of the Legendary Super Saiyan's body he could reach but son of Paragus held firm. A blood vessel popped in Bojack's right eye. "You'll die like the bug you are." Broly began laughing but was cut of by a sudden loss of breath. The Hera fell from his grasp.
Bojack, in between the fingers that covered his face, witnessed the beam of violet ki that pierced Broly's side.
Broly gasped for air as his hair turned black. His body shrunk. He looked down at the hole on his side. Terror crept onto his face as he tried and failed to look for a way to save himself. The pirate, bewildered at the turn of events, turned to Cold. The Arcosian smiled as his hand fell to his side. At some point, the monarch had fallen to a knee.
Bojack held out a hand and blew Broly's body away with a blast of ki. There was no point in beating a corpse.
"I...I killed him." Cold breathed out, an edge of happiness to his tone. "I killed the Legendary Super Saiyan!"
Bojack roared as he charged at Cold. "That was my kill!" The Hera stopped as his prey sped past him and an intense pain exploded from his side. He looked down to see a clean slice through the right side of his abdomen about a quarter of the way in. He palmed the wound and his hand came away covered in blood.
"And you," The Planet Trade Emperor turned as a Sauzer Blade formed in his other hand. "Are mine!"
King Cold closed the distance between them and sliced at the pirate with a viciousness that lacked the refinement previously seen. The larger fighter found himself struggling to avoid the blades with the occasional strike nicking him. The Arcosian lunged at him in an attempt to gut him but the pirate react just quick enough.
Bojack caught the limb under his arm and raised his fist. The hammer of a blow came down onto Cold's head where his eye used to be. The strike seemingly knocked the wind out of the emperor as his swords of ki dissipated instantaneously. The Hera struck him twice more across his socket before swiping him away with a backhand.
The jade giant was on his prey instantly, his hands ready to tear the lizard apart, but he grabbed nothing but air. Cold blasted him with an energy wave that sent him hurtling into the sky with a satisfying explosion at the end. The Arcosian launched himself after the brute as he knew it wouldn't be so simple to kill Bojack.
He saw the brute before he could see him. His knuckles tore at the plunderer's cheek. Bojack reached out for him but he dashed back out of his reach. He went in again and slammed his fist into the mass that was the Hera's abdomen. He bowled over into a follow up jab from Cold. With a heave of effort, the Arcosian crushed Bojack's nose with his shin.
As the pirate fell back from the kick, his hands covering his broken nose, Cold reached out with an open hand and took aim. A concentrated beam of purple ki shot from his palm into the pirate's injured knee. The howl of agony from Bojack was easily the highlight of his day. The Hera looked down with a mounting horror on his face.
Bojack reached down, his shock preventing him from fully processing what he was seeing, and felt for his missing leg. "It's gone!" Cold grinned as he aimed a Death Beam. "And the same will be said of you."
The violet ray shot off, straight for the pirate's head, only to be stop by a shield of green.
"Wha-?!" Cold was cut off as a massive hand wrapped around his throat and he was carried off against his will. He was thrust into the cold, wet earth, the impact knocking what little breath he had in his lungs out, and he was dragged through the stone and dirt for what seemed like miles.
Another hand joined the first and he saw his assailant. Bojack.
His eyes were bloodshot and his expression crazed. "How's this for the natural order?"
The pressure on his throat increased tenfold and Cold began to claw at the vice grip on his neck in a panic. The Hera's face remained uncaring.
Bojack didn't know about his race's ability to live without air so if he held up the charade for just a few moments! The pressure grew until the pain was unbearable and Cold struck.
He lifted a finger as a crack deafened him and the world became nothing.
Bojack didn't let up as Cold's body became limp in his hands or when the bones in his neck were seemingly crushed to dust. He only let go once the Arcosian's head fell off what little remained of his neck.
He picked up Cold's corpse and tossed it as his skin turned back to blue and his hair orange. He started chuckling at his luck that his transformation held out as long as it did.
It took a moment for everything to come into focus. Fearful whispering filled his ears as he made out a woman seemingly arguing with someone he couldn't see.
"What do you mean there's nothing to worry about?! I can see his insanity from here!"
"Kugo, I know you're still grieving over Bido but-."
"Shut up, Bujin! We're staying and that's final!"
"Final, my ass!"
From what it sounded like, they hadn't surrounded him. They probably hadn't even gotten close enough to check if he was alive which was lucky for him.
The pain came in gradually this time unlike earlier with the most agonizing coming from his sides. The last moments before he fell unconscious played again in his mind. The struggle to breath, the horror as his vision slowly darkened, and the final flash of green.
'I almost died. Hell, I could be dying right now.'
The realization made his stomach turn. He knew this was a possibility. He wrestled with it on the way here for the love of Kami! Yet when it came down to it, he simply wasn't ready. He didn't want to die.
Broly shifted, looking for a modicum of comfort, and the arguments stopped.
'Fuck.'
He pushed himself up as fast as he could to defend himself. He was a sitting duck like he was now; anyone of them could kill him.
Threads, invisible in the rain, wrapped around the Saiyan and bound him tight. He struggled as much as he could but more threads gripped him and he fell to a knee. An alien buzz emanated from these strings; he was paralyzed.
"Holy-," A voice from behind him exclaimed. "He's still alive!?"
He recovered only a modicum of ki; barely enough to go Super Saiyan. Broly transformed, the struggle akin to an ember reigniting on spent fuel, to set himself free only for the threads to tighten on him.
"Let me go!" He struggled against his bindings again but found himself weakening from their touch. His hair shifted from gold to black and back again.
The ones he could see were fearful but they stayed their ground. "Like hell, we'll do that!" His head snapped to the swordsman.
"If you don't right now, I'll slaughter you all!"
The man scoffed. "You don't have any leverage here. We'll hold onto you nice and tight until Bojack comes to finish you off." It was easy to tell that he couldn't move. He glanced over the woman's shoulder to see Bojack tossing away Cold's corpse.
Broly looked between the two and Bojack with alarm evident in his form. He had to break out of these bindings but he was just too weak!
Maybe he could force one of those sudden refills of ki he got sometimes and use that power to escape. He grit his teeth. He'd never done something like that so there's no telling if he could do that or if it was even possible!
He looked over at Bojack again who seemed to just be catching his breath for the moment. What could he do?
Zangya looked past the struggling Saiyan to Kogu, her mind reeling. What were they doing? Why were they still here? Why are they helping Bojack?! He met her eyes and it was easy to tell he saw the uncertainty on her face. He shook his head as if he read her mind.
'Don't you try anything.' The action said.
"Why are you even helping him?" Broly choked out the words that unintentionally mirrored the woman's thoughts as he fought to maintain his form. The sweat pouring down his face was invisible amidst the rain.
He looked to Zangya. "I heard you when I was on the ground. You're worried that he'll be your death one day." She looked away from him, his words hit her hard.
"Don't listen to him, Zangya!"
Broly turned back to the swordsman. "He killed your friend like a hapless civilian."
That angered Kogu and he sent a current of electricity down his strings that shocked the Saiyan unexpectedly. "Don't you talk about him!" Broly let out a cry of pain. When the lightning under his skin dissipated, the Super Saiyan fell to his side. It was hard to think through the blistering agony.
He could see Bojack in the distance looking at all of them apparently having heard his cry. He had little time.
"Do you- ngh, do you really believe," He looked at Kogu. "He wouldn't do that to you?"
The anger was still there but if the lack of any further shocks showed anything, he'd reached him somewhat.
"You say that," The voice behind him spoke. The smallest one of the three he believed. "Like you are any better."
Broly rolled back onto his knees. Bojack was slowly making his way to them. The man was floating on fumes and missing a leg. His heart was pumping. "Trust me when I say that I'm not." The Saiyan reached within himself as much as he could and brought whatever dregs of strength he could to the forefront.
'Come on, come on! Work for me!'
"Earlier, after Bido was killed, you had the perfect opportunity." Zangya spoke. "You could have killed us all and gone back to the fight without a problem; why didn't you?"
Broly looked away to see Bojack's progress; a little over halfway at this point but he had collapsed to the ground. The blood loss had to be getting to him. The Saiyan's eyes met hers and found the look in them unnerving but he forged ahead. "It would've been a waste of time and energy."
"I don't believe you."
"Do you have to?"
The pirate was close, having regained some strength, too close. "If you let me go, Bojack dies and you'll be free of him." That's when Broly felt it, a flicker of ki within himself.
Zangya looked to Kogu who was shaking his head. "Zangya, don't."
The flicker turned into a raging flame that pushed against the draining nature of the threads. It was working!
"He killed Bido, Kogu," She relaxed her strings. "He didn't even blink when he did it!"
"How do we know this guy won't turn around and kill us the moment we let go?!"
The swordsman looked out of the corner of his eye to see Bujin release his own strings quickly followed by Zangya. "Really, you two?!" He cried out in exasperation.
"Bojack's gone off the deep end," Bujin forcibly interjected with a sharp edge to his voice. "It's when, not if, he'll kill us too."
Without the additional threads, Broly felt his reserves fill at an exponentially faster rate. He focused what he could to his right arm.
"The deep end, huh?"
The group turned to Bojack who was mere feet from Zangya. The rage that permeated his being was clear to everyone. "You're wondering when I'll kill you?! HUH?!" The Hera held out his hand. "HOW ABOUT NOW?!"
The green of the attack that should've ended them dimmed. Bojack grabbed at his chest with his free hand. "W-what's happening?"
Broly turned to Kogu, his own heart feeling like it was going to give out from exhaustion. "Decide now or we all die!" The last strings fall from him and his suddenly unrestrained ki burst through the skin on his arm.
It all happened in the blink of an eye. Broly charged Bojack with a roar born of desperate fury to which the pirate's eyes widened. "You won't win!" Bojack fought through his arresting heart and unleashed his wicked rage on the landscape. The Saiyan knocked a stunned Zangya away as his fist crashed against the energy wave.
The attack held for but an instant before it split against the Devil's Hand. Bojack was shocked for a moment before felt his organs shatter as Broly's fist crashed into his chest and the ground beneath them opened up. The Saiyan's momentum sent both of them rocketing away with fountains of toxic ki bursting forth from the ancient plunderer.
Bojack's screams lasted until his lungs were burned away.
Broly stopped their momentum and pulled the Hera back before he plunged him into the earth. The emerald of Bojack's skin turned a charred black in the instants prior to the Hera simply rupturing and his power spewing forth. From their positions, the Galaxy Soldiers witnessed a geyser of jade energy a hundred feet wide pierce the storm clouds above in an exhibition of light and violence.
The green faded with the evaporated clouds and a clear sky greeted them all. Broly pulled his arm, useless and limp at his side, from Bojack's corpse. The Hera collapsed into ashes. Darkness encroached around his vision.
This was it. The Saiyan's power left him. His body was too injured to properly contain his ki and so it simply leaked out of him. Broly fell to his side before rolling onto his back.
He could feel his heartbeat in his head; his breaths grew heavier and harder to take in with each passing moment.
As he looked up into the emptiness above him, Broly found himself not knowing how he felt about this battle. He won, and the feeling of victory- of conquest!- was there, but an underlying shame struck through it. There were times, too many, where he let his innate arrogance overcome. The last six years of training and disciplining himself were just a waste of time.
His vision shrunk. The sky become a mere light at the end of a tunnel.
A vision of Nere'Se passed him. A hallucination caused by being so close to death.
Maybe he would see her. Ah, who was he kidding? If an afterlife existed, she would be in a better place than him. Maybe a passing glance would be possible. That'd be nice.
The lights dwindled away.
Author's Note
This one took a little longer than expected but it's here! The conclusion to the Bojack/Cold arc! The next few chapters are gonna be some cleanup and the tying of loose ends and then the next arc! Can't wait for that.
So uh, y'know, leave a review or something; it keeps me nice and healthy.
Ent out.
Review Responses!
Raos: I like writing moments where Broly shows some humanity. Part of his appeal was how tragic his backstory was in the first movie so if one fails to write in something beyond just the great big rage monster, it kinda feels meaningless you know? Now I'm just rambling, thanks for the great review!
FutureShock: And you guessed right!
Blake2020: Cold in his final form (at least for this story) is much stronger than Frieza. He was comfortable being around his son in what looked to be his 2nd form so it stands to reason he's pretty powerful.
Qchronicles: Broly plz.
Gunmetal The Immortal: That's great to hear! Getting inspiration from my writing is one of the greatest compliments.
Godzilla327: Here you go!
fightingchampion: Thanks for the review!
enarmonios: That's good to hear! Cold was relatively easy to figure and flesh out given how his sons acted but inventing a good motivation for Bojack was a different beast entirely.
Pls: Because reasons.
genesicgaogaigarvsgodgundam: Why thank you!
