This chapter is brought to you by ShadowMajin.

...

Videl, Janus, and Maid stepped out of the airport, each carrying their own suitcase. Neither of them spoke, simply content to worming their way through the crowd of people awaiting their rides. Since none of them were expecting a ride, they made their way to the street curb, crossing the road through its slow-moving traffic, and reached the other side.

From there they entered a parking garage. Rows of cars reached as far as their eyes could see, below signs of various car rental agencies hanging from the ceiling. Reading the signs, they soon found one that had their rental agency's name and headed for it. Soon after they found a silver sedan, unlocking it and opening the trunk with the car clicker. Once their luggage was packed into the trunk, the three climbed into the car, Videl taking the driver's seat and starting the car up.

"It's been a long time since I've been in North City," Janus commented once they pulled out of the parking garage, hitting the street to leave the airport terminal.

"Any idea where we're going?" Maid asked. The blonde was seated in the backseat and was leaning over to poke her head between the front seats. Considering Maid was usually logistics, it made sense that she wanted a home base so she could be more effective.

"There's a hotel not too far from here," Janus replied. "It's nicer than the motels and just out of the way from prying eyes-a good place to go unnoticed."

"More importantly, we need to figure out where your son is," Videl responded, speeding the car up to keep up with traffic. "This is a pretty big city after all; he could be anywhere."

At this, the dark-haired girl peeked up at the rearview mirror, mainly to see Maid's reaction. The blonde had been stunned to hear of Janus and Gohan's connection and perhaps even more shocked to learn that she wanted a reunion with him. No emotion registered on her face, so Videl wasn't sure how Maid was taking it. Was this just a normal assignment to her, or did she have an ulterior motive in mind? Videl had hoped to get a good idea at the briefing, but had come away disappointed.

Even now, the blonde kept her poker face up, showing no sign of her inner thoughts. "What sort of tech do we have available to us?"

"Only what we have on us right now," Videl was quick to answer. Considering they had flown in instead of driven, it was too much hassle to bring their usual equipment-namely computers and weapons. However, those wouldn't be a problem to remedy; every city and town had shops tailored to their specific needs. In Orange Star, it had been Krillen's Just-4-U Thrift Shop; in Blue Star there was the Titan Recreational Store. Videl hadn't had too many jobs in North City, so she wasn't sure what the place was here.

"Once we check in, we can hit up the supply depot," Janus spoke up. "Fortunately, the depot owner was one of my assets. We can get some intelligence from him."

That made Videl frown. "What makes you think he'll tell us what we want to know? You said yourself that it's been awhile since you've been here."

That made the older woman pause, slowly nodding in acknowledgement of that fact. "A fair point, but I haven't been as active as I used to be."

"Is that before or after you were assigned Kakarot?"

Janus' narrowed eyes told the dark-haired girl she had struck a nerve. Good, she thought. If the two of them had a somewhat antagonistic partnership, it would make Maid none the wiser to what they were really up to. "I was referring to when Goku died," the older woman replied through gritted teeth.

"So when were you last here?" Videl pressed.

There was a deep breath on Janus' part as she reigned in her anger. "Three, four years," she answered flippantly. "No way he's forgotten about me."

"How come?" Maid asked, an obvious attempt to reduce the growing tension in the car. Videl let the blonde do it, opting to focus more on her driving. They were on highway now, approaching the outer limits of the city.

"Let's say we have history."

"Is that a good or bad history?" Videl questioned. There was no way she was going into a situation where this contact wanted to blow Janus' head off, along with anyone with her.

"It's cordial. The man is reluctant to give out what he knows, so you do have to pressure him a little," Janus gave in. "Fortunately he doesn't hold grudges...much."

That made the younger woman scowl. "I just hope you didn't leave on bad terms," she grumbled before she asked, "so where's this hotel of yours?"

Maid seemed grateful for the change of subject if her reflection in the rearview mirror was any indication. For Janus, she merely pointed down the highway. "Two exits down, take a right and follow that road for a few blocks, then take a left. The place we're looking for is called Vacation Inn."

Again, Videl glowered. A chain hotel? That's where they were going? Videl had been expecting something a little better than that; heck, Maid looked like she was expecting something fancier too. Whatever, it would do for as long as they were in this city.

As it turned out, Janus' contact owned a Chinese restaurant. When Videl pictured a weapons depot, sweet and sour pork and eggrolls were not what she had in mind.

Chiaotzu's Chinese Buffet was a gaudy-looking place. Someone had gone to effort of making it look like one of those oriental palaces and failed miserably. It stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the fast food restaurants and office supply stores.

Janus casually strolled around the back, where the employee entrance was, instead of through the front like a regular customer. Videl and Maid trailed behind her, following the older woman into a small hallway. It was a messy hall, mostly due to the boxes on the floor and a timestamp clock hanging from the wall. There was a door to the right with a small window in it. As the three women passed by it, Videl was quick to note that a hectic kitchen laid beyond that door.

Further down the hall, Janus came to a stop, opening a door on the left. Stepping through, the women entered what looked like a break room. Again, Janus plowed forward, heading to another door in the corner of the room. At least, Videl thought it was a door since she could see a rectangle shape in the wall. Strange thing was, it lacked a door knob.

That was until Janus stopped in front of it, reached out a hand to the wall next to her and pushed in a section of the sheetrock. The wall section sunk inward before it slid aside, revealing a small keypad, to which the older woman responded by tapping in a sequence of numbers. Whatever code she used worked as the knobless door swung open.

"Watch your step," Janus warned them as she shoved the door aside and moved through its threshold. Maid was quick to follow her, Videl taking up the caboose. The soon found themselves heading down a set of stairs, the door behind them closing.

Janus led them all the way to the bottom, where she opened another door-this one with a knob-and entered a small office. Once Videl was in, she immediately focused her attention on the men in the room.

There were...several large, bulky men in suits, each one holding a pistol in their hand. Already Videl felt at a disadvantage and she didn't like it. Prying her eyes from the security detail, she then found what was best described as a small mime sitting behind a ridiculously large desk. The pale-faced midget looked surprised at the three of them, though most of his attention was right on Janus.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Chiaotzu," Janus greeted the small man.

"Agent Janus," Chiaotzu returned, his high-pitched voice sounding as surprised as he looked. "I wasn't expecting you."

"Because of the Royal and Rayne bust?" the older woman prompted.

"Well, yes. I figured your agency was done for."

"Oh, it is. Fortunately we survived." Janus then took a step closer to the desk, something that made each of Chiaotzu's bodyguards twitch. Oh great, Videl was betting these guys had itchy trigger fingers. "I hope you will allow us to pick up some supplies, yes?"

Chiaotzu's eyes lit up. "Why yes, I can most certainly do that. I'm sure you know where to go?"

"I do. But there's one other thing I must ask you." Janus then leaned towards the mime guy, bringing her face closer to him. "I was hoping you could tell me the location of an agency."

Whatever eagerness the small man had disappeared in an instant. "Sorry, I can't help you," he said with dull interest. "You know as well as I do that all agencies keep their whereabouts secret."

"That's never stopped you before."

There was an uncomfortable silence where Chiaotzu looked like he was torn between telling a deeply-guarded secret, or ordering their heads on a silver platter. Fortunately, he seemed to pick a middle ground. "Why are you asking me of this?"

It was then Maid stepped up. "You've surely heard of the rouge agent out there taking out the agencies." When the little mime slowly nodded in answer, the blonde continued, "We believe he may be in the city and if we're right, he's heading right for an agency located here."

"Just imagine all the lost business you'll have if he does get to them," Videl was quick to add. Had it not been for the guards, the dark-haired woman would've demanded he tell them what he knew, but that obviously wouldn't work here. Hopefully appealing to his wallet would do something.

Surprisingly, Chiaotzu shook his head. "Sorry, that won't work," he said with a small grin.

Damn it, so money wasn't an issue for this guy. Videl wished she had known that before she had said it. However, Janus didn't seem to think of it that way. Instead, her eyes narrowed in consideration. "So you don't do a lot of business with the local agency."

That made Chiaotzu freeze, eyes widening in realization. That only confirmed Janus' theory. "So, if it's not weapons and electronics, then the agency here belongs to Gero."

Videl had to raise an eyebrow at that. How had the older woman known that? In fact, how much did she know of the other agencies. That was a conversation that was going to happen very soon.

"Well...I-I…" the little man sputtered.

"All we want is a location," Janus pressed, her voice almost pleading. "Everyone here knows you know. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can stop Dormant." She then leaned away, standing tall. "Or you can bet your little oriental place here that Dormant will come here next and he'll want to know what you know. We can't guarantee you'll be safe if that happens."

That broke through the mime's reluctance. "Ribbon Labs," he spilled out. "East side of town, warehouse district."

"Thank you," Janus said before she turned away, once more leading the three away. "We're going to have a brief stop at your armory," she called out over her shoulder, right before they exited the room.

The moment they were on the stairs, Videl said, "That's on the other side of town. Think we can get there in time?"

"We have to," Janus replied as she neared the top. "Once we have what we need, we'll drop Maid off at the hotel. She can get to work on that other agency in Gingertown, the one Hawkeye said was in accounting. You and I will stake out Ribbon Labs until Go...Dormant shows himself."

Videl was about to retort how that wasn't on the way, but held her tongue. Perhaps it was best if they unloaded Maid so they could...talk...more freely. Besides, there were things they needed to discuss.

...

They were under attack.

Agent 16 was alerted the moment the complex shook with a violent tremor, followed instantly by an alarm through the ethernet. Someone had slipped through the main laboratory-the front for the Master- and entered the hidden corridors beyond it.

Accessing the security network, Sixteen sought out visual confirmation of the attacker. Puzzling, there weren't any current shots that he could see as he shuffled through the multitude of cameras. However, he did find evidence of wreckage in one part of the facility and from there he searched for more, finding what he sought.

Compiling what he discovered, 16 created a program to predict where this mysterious attacker was going, adding to his program more data as other security cameras suddenly went out or captured explosions. Another tremor rippled through the facility, 16 feeling it through his legs. It was stronger this time, meaning its source was closer.

Plotting an intercept point, Agent 16 made his way out of his barracks. His long strides carried him through hallway after hallway, closing in on his destination. All the while he could feel more quakes and louder roars of explosions. Hypothesizing, the giant man came to the conclusion that the invader must have some heavy firepower, most likely grenades or potentially a rocket launcher. Those would have the necessary power to cause such damage.

A sharp beeping sound made the redhaired man pause in his walking. It seemed one of the other agents had confronted the attacker-Agent 19. It was doubtful anyone could defeat the pudgier being, but 16 had been programmed to never leave anything to chance. Restarting his walking, he continued to his original destination, turning into a new hallway. It was here he reached the midway point between the previous corridor and the one ahead. If his calculations were correct, then if Agent 19 failed, his conqueror would be arriving here.

Standing still, Agent 16 once more accessed the security feeds. This time he had more success, finding Agent 19, or at least an image of his back. If the redhead wasn't mistaken, he was lunging over and over, forward, to a side, back, as if he were trying to grab something, yet failing. Then, what was best described as a blur, blasted through the feed, ramming 19 and slamming him through a wall.

16 frowned. What was that blur? It didn't register in his database at all, and no viable explanation was adequately calculated, analyzed, or accepted. Shifting through the feeds again, he was unable to find one in the location Agent 19 was with the enemy.

Then Agent 19's biometric signal ceased.

The giant couldn't help but widen his eyes, a purely human action he had been unaware he could do. Everything he had known could be inputted, calculated, and a logical conclusion would be forthcoming. This...blur being able to defeat 19 was not logical. There wasn't-

Another tremor interrupted his processing. It was closer again. If 16 wasn't mistaken, then the invader would be here soon. Steeling himself, he awaited the attacker calmly. There was no need to become panicked over the unexpected. Any rational being would shove the unexpected aside and continue on without difficulty.

That was when the wall at the end of the corridor blew apart.

Backing away with a step, 16 held an arm up to shield his face as large pieces of debris flew through the air, clattering on the floor once they landed. Ignoring them 16 zoomed in at the new opening in the hallway, immediately identifying a man emerging through the threshold.

Tall, young, spiky black hair-16 analyzed his foe's appearance and searched for any form of identification in his database. In turn, he was rewarded with old scans, one of which a police sketch from Orange Star City, another being video footage of a crime scene at the Candlewood Hotel. Further analysis was unnecessary as the giant realized who was before him.

"Agent Dormant," he greeted.

Dormant stared at him blankly before he took another step into the hall. "Are you a robot as well?" he replied, ignoring the greeting.

16 would have answered had he not captured the sight of an object in Dormant's hand. Zooming in on it, he was rewarded with the identification of what appeared to be Agent 19's arm, its mass crumpling in on itself where Dormant grasped it. The hand was open, revealing a circular jem extending from the palm.

This was merely further evidence of Agent 19's defeat. Returning his attention to the dark-haired youth, he answered, "I am. I am designated Agent 16 and I warn you, you will go no further."

"Is that a fact," Dormant stated more than asked as he relaxed his hand, dropping 19's robotic one to the floor with a loud clattering.

"It is. All intruders must be exterminated on sight."

"Then give it your best shot."

Without further hesitation, 16 charged down the hall, raising a hand up and forming a fist with it. As he closed within hitting distance, he swung his punch at his target… only to see Dormant's features fade into a blur, darting to a side as 16's fist sailed through the air harmlessly. The youth came into focus, standing with his body to a side as his head tilted to regard the giant coolly. Then, he ducked down and lunged, slamming his own fist into the Android's torso.

Red emergency lights flashed over 16's vision, alerting him to significant damage to his body. His face twisted with what was best described as pain before he found himself sent flying through the air backwards. Determined, 16 stretched his legs down as far as he could until he felt his feet begin to skid across the floor. The friction slowed his flight until he was able to fully touch the ground with his entire feet, coming to a complete stop moments later.

Going through his damage assessment, the giant was surprised by the report he received causing him to glance down. He was greeted with the sight of his green armor damaged beyond repair, a fist-sized hole exposing his abdominal muscles. Dormant's strength, to cause that significant amount of damage with only one blow, must have been tremendous.

Looking back at his opponent, 16 froze as he saw Dormant holding an arm up, a bright glow radiating from his hand. Immediately a target symbol appeared around the glow in the giant's eye, a number flashing repeatedly as it calculated its strength. Already the number was three digits long...four digits...five…

No, it couldn't be five digits. He did not have the defensive capabilities to withstand a blast above 15,000 and yet the count was still climbing. 13,000...14,000...15,000…

All the while the glow grew bigger and bigger. If 16 were the one firing the impending blast, he would have made sure it filled the entire hall; it was the only logical reason for gathering so much power, to make sure nothing escaped. However, there was always a way out.

Activating a series of programs, the giant redhead felt the soles of his feet transform, opening up without being seen. Power from his core was drawn into his feet, ready for when he activated it.

That was when Dormant unleashed his attack, firing a large blast that filled the entire corridor, just as 16 predicted. Immediately, fire erupted from beneath his feet, the giant angling them to a side. Exhaust ports were revealed firing the flames, the energy behind the fires propelling him to a side. Bracing himself, 16 rammed his shoulder into the wall, bursting right through it mere seconds before the energy beam raced by him.

As debris from the wall flew about him, 16 continued his flight until he turned off his boosters, landing moments later as he skidded across the floor until he came to a stop. Turning around, the giant saw the hole he had created, the last of Domant's beam fading from sight. A second later, the entire room shook violently, a loud explosion erupting nearby.

Bracing himself, 16 weathered the tremor, waiting until it was over. Once he was positive it was, he reached to his left forearm with his opposing hand, grabbing it and giving it a twist. Audible clicks were made as his forearm and hand turned at an unusual angle. Then he pulled his appendage away, revealing the innards of a power blaster. Pointing his blaster at the opening in the wall, 16 began powering up his own blast, a glow appearing at the end of his stump.

"So, you can do it too."

The world around 16 froze. Im...Impossible. That was Dormant's voice coming from behind him. But how? There was no other way he could be in here, not without him noticing. Dropping his disconnected hand, he balled up his other into a fist and swung it through the air as he twisted his body. His backhand attack was deftly blocked as Dormant held up an arm, catching the blow with his forearm.

That was to be expected, especially given the new data 16 incorporated into his battle schematic. With his other arm, he moved it to point his blaster right at his opponent, revealing the bright light radiating from it.

"Blaster fire!" he shouted just before he initialized the firing mechanism. His energy blast shot forth, crashing right into Dormant at point blank range. Instantly an explosion erupted, tossing 16 backwards as he let out a pained grunt. He lost sight of Dormant in the flames, but he was positive that the man was incinerated on the spot.

As flames gave way into smoke and smoke slowly began to dissipate, 16 awaited positive confirmation his foe was down. Yet, when the smoke faded away, he was greeted with the sight of a wall smashed through on the other side of the room. The edges of the hole were crumbling, dropping small pieces to the floor.

Even more important was the sight of Dormant climbing back through the hole, his shirt in tatters as it revealed singed skin. The young man didn't look the least bit annoyed, merely staring blankly at the giant Android calmly. "It's been awhile since I've been hit like that," he commended the redhead. "I guess I can't take you lightly anymore."

That was when his features blurred once more, then shot off to 16's left. Eyes wide, the giant realized this was what had hit Agent 19 in the security feed. However, instead of going on the attack, Dormant seemed to race all over the room, darting this way and that way, forcing 16 to twist and turn his head and body to keep up. What was the purpose of this? Was Dormant trying to make him lose sight? That had to be it. So where did he plan to attack-

Behind! Whipping his body around, Agent 16 held up his remaining hand, balling it into a fist. "Rocket Punch!" he announced before the hand and forearm disconnected, blasters firing off as it sent the fist flying through the air.

And just as he predicted, Dormant's blur appeared right in the path of the flying fist. However, the blur came to a stop, the dark-haired youth's features filling in as he appeared in a low stance, legs spread apart. Raising one arm, he caught 16 fists with his hand, holding off the power of the engines fought to overcome his strength.

Then the engines gave out, the flames erupting from the ports dying out and leaving Dormant holding the fist. He began to tighten his grip, the sound of protesting metal ringing out into the room as the helpless fist was bent and twisted into scrap metal. Letting go, the ruined hand dropped to the floor, landing with a clatter.

"My turn," the youth said and faster than 16 could track, Dormant leapt from where he was, charging through the air until his extended knee slammed right into the face of the giant. Stunned by the blow, 16 went stumbling backwards as Dormant flipped through the air above him, landing on his feet somewhere behind the redheaded Android.

Without hesitation, Dormant then launched himself again, ramming his shoulder right into 16's back, knocking him off his feet as he felt himself being carried through the air. Helpless, the Android could only let out a cry of pain out before Dormant suddenly pulled back, leaving him flying helplessly until he crashed onto the floor.

Laying on his stomach for a moment as he assessed damages, the redhaired giant slowly turned his body until he was sitting up, propping up his upper body with one of his handless arms.

Suddenly, Dormant was crouched in front of him. On instinct, 16 shot his right arm up, pointing it right at the youth as he prepared to fire the blaster. In response, the dark-haired man shot a hand up and grabbed 16's, forcing it to point up at the ceiling. Realizing that firing his beam would bring the ceiling and every subsequent floor above them down onto them, the giant refrained from firing.

He only had a second to regret that action as he saw Dormant's fist pull back and come flying at his face. That was the last thing he saw. The last thing he felt was that same fist smashing through his head and all of his systems failing.

…

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