Oh hell everyone, how are y'all doing lmao. This week went by quite quickly, didn't it?

SO, is no one gonna mention how Alma was able to tell it was Zamasu flying, even though he wasn't physically visible? No? Okay…

Hope you enjoy this one!

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Put Into Place

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Alma was brewing up a fruity band of herbal tea for the both of them. At first Zamasu wanted to help her because he was afraid of her being near a fire, but she digressed. He watched her look at the metal kettle, the water within rolling just before she pulled it away from the makeshift stove and waited a few seconds to spill in some herbs. He admired her methods at her young age, for a moment it made him forget about all the chaos going on around him.

"You looked upset." Alma squatted before sitting down on the floor, looking up at the God who sat on the bed he manifested for her. "Did something happen up north?"

"I just needed to see someone." Zamasu raised a hand showing denial. "I wasn't upset."

Smart little Alma crossed her arms and tilted her head at him, her silly pigtails followed her movements. "Really, Zamasu? Because last time I checked, nobody would fly so fast looking like that, unless they were angry and in a rush."

"Well, I was in a rush." Zamasu leaned forward. "That's why I was flying so fast."

"Why didn't you teleport there, then?"

Zamasu pursed his damn lips… she made a good point; why didn't he do that from the get-go? "Well..." He started, and then he realized he couldn't finish his statement. She got him good with that one.

Alma snapped her fingers and pointed at him. "Exactly. What really happened?" She propped her palms on her chin and rested her elbows on her knees. "Is it personal?"

"It is, to some extent." Zamasu nodded. He summarized it for the curious child: "Someone got hurt, and I wanted to pay a visit to the culprit."

"Oh…" She nodded slowly, and got up to pour her tea into the two cute pink mugs on her table. He was surprised, she timed that brewing way too accurately for it to be a coincidence. She served his cup first (he commended her etiquette mentally), before settling back down on the ground with a scrunched face. "Do you need me to kick some butts?"

The way she said it made Zamasu nearly laugh into his cup. "Alma, I really would not want you to get involved. This person is dangerous."

"But can that person fight?" She placed her cup on the ground and stood up. "Because I can." And then she started doing a series of different martial art kicks and stances.

Zamasu laughed heartily, not because he found ridicule in her, but because he was actually impressed that she knew various roots of martial combat well enough to mix them together like this. Naz did indeed teach her well.

"They can't, but I care about you way too much to get you involved." He stopped himself from saying 'sweetheart' out of impulse. He also felt weird saying that out loud, but at the same time he knew he was resolute in that endearing term.

Alma, in the middle of doing a roundhouse kick, held her position and frowned at him. "I thought you didn't care about humans."

"I don't, I just care about you." And Thomas. And Terry. And Ambrose, Naz and Nousha, and Irene. At this point, he should just forego trying to deny that shit altogether, especially to a bright child. Alma had let it slide, but not without giving him that same calculating, elusive look that Ambrose gives him.

"I don't like seeing you mad." Alma shook her head, reclined her fighting showcase, and sat back down on the floor. "If you need me to crack bubs, then I will."

"Who taught you East City slang?" Zamasu chuckled. "Come, sit here. Why sit on the floor?"

"It's a habit." Alma shrugged, but she stood up, put her teacup on her table, and went to sit by him anyway. "I don't go to bed until I'm done with my day."

She was vaguely quoting her uncle, who said the same thing in regards to staying up late doing 'technological stuff'. Although, that was a productive motto to live by. "And you will need to sleep soon, it is getting late."

"Zamasuuuu…" She nearly whined, deflating in her sitting position.

The Kaioshin squeezed her shoulder and chuckled. "Why do you want to fight people so bad?"

"Because they are making you mad!" Alma jumped from the bed. "If you, as a God, get angry then that's not good."

That is quite thoughtful, and she was right. He learned his first mistake with his anger… he promised he would not make that happen again. However, he would not mind paying a few words and a couple palms to Rebecca for her insolence. "Alma, I know what I'm doing. I do not need backup." The idea of calling on her just for help in a fight made him laugh a little on the inside; that was cute, how she wanted to be his mini bodyguard.

"Okay." She laxed back onto the bed. "Where are you going specifically?"

He assumed giving her the name of the place wouldn't do much against him. "The Ultrapolitan."

At the mention of that place, Alma's eyes lit up. "The Ultrapolitan?! I haven't been there in a long time!"

"What?" He clocked his neck back. "You've been there before?"

"When Daddy used to have business trips, he took me and mommy there." Alma smiled. "That place has good food. I always wanted to go there again."

"Well, I will take you there one day, and you can spend the entire week."

"I only want to see the place, I don't really want to go there." Alma lightly hit his arm. "And besides, you need to have money to stay in, silly!"

"I know a few people that would oblige to your wishes, Alma." Like her uncle, who could buy the entire hotel thousands of times over. He had finished his cup and went to place it on her table, right beside hers. "Thank you for the tea. I must get going."

Alma's feet swung back and forth from her bed. Her hands were folded on her lap and she kindly regarded him. "You're welcome. Bye bye!" She was going to say 'Be safe', but the child knew she would later find out how he fared in his confrontation.

Zamasu gave the girl a hug before he phased out of her home, and continued back onto his trek. He wondered why Alma thought he was going to fight someone when his briefing made no notion towards violence.

Upon reaching the middle of North City, all of the mansions and such below him were quickly replaced with a large, grassy opening, one unpopulated by any human being aside from the small watchouses that appeared to be built and abandoned. He could make out some brilliant lights in the distance, and he knew from their yellowish color that he was getting close. He descended far enough to still be able to see a few miles ahead, and the Ultrapolitan was around 100 miles from where he is at this point. He slowed his pace, however, because he felt like he wasn't alone.

If somebody was going to hightail him, they ought to either make haste, or hide themselves better, because Zamasu knew they were gaining up from him.

They were doing so at a pace so fast that it made him completely stop, and he closed his eyes in waiting. Not feeling the need to turn around, his hand started to glow purple. No, he will not hesitate in putting a mortal in their place if they choose to run up on him.

Just like that, the aura he was sensing disappeared. He could not sense them anymore.

Zamasu frowned, turned around to see nobody in the air or on the ground, and turned back to his destination. His senses were not playing tricks on him, they couldn't be. Little did he know, the person he previously sensed was indeed right behind him, having turned around just when he did so that they would remain unseen, and without warning…

"BOO!"

Zamasu did a whole three piece cartwheel in the air, unsheathed his God Split Cut ready to fight the shit out of the person who cornily spooked him, until he registered that voice, and the person before him. "Alma?!"

Just how in the hell did she manage to hide her ki from him that well and that fast? That was near impossible for any Desnian to do.

Not only did she surprise him, but apparently she knew how to fly as well. Now there's two things he didn't expect. "Did I scare you?"

Yes, she had his adrenaline pumping, but Zamasu refused to admit that. His hand ceased its glow and he frowned at her. "How are yo-Why did-what-"

She shrugged so casually that it had shut him up. "I followed you."

Two blinks, a furrow of a white eyebrow, before Zamasu became paternally upset. "Alma, it's late, and it's cold out! Go back home!"

"Zamasu, I was born in Lyn, this weather isn't cold at all." Alma waved her hand. "I came because I thought you needed to know…"

He grew skeptical. "Know of what?"

"Of those houses." She turned and pointed to the ones on the ground, a couple hundred feet away from them. "Did you see anything, or anyone?"

He looked down, and then at her and shook his head. "... No?"

She frowned. "Well, did you sense anyone?"

He didn't. "Other than you, not at all."

Alma looked progressively shocked. "So they are hiding again…"

"What do you mean?" Zamasu asked.

Alma looked at the houses a bit longer before she answered him. "I don't know if you know this but… They're might be a group of people that know people like you can sniff them out. So they hide their ki with a certain device."

"A device that hides ki?" Zamasu came a little closer to her. "Alma, you really think a silly device would throttle my senses?"

"It can, because it's not made from humans." She explained further. "My uncle told me that these devices come from some of the Otherworlders and are very powerful. They hide the ki of every living being in a large, invisible dome."

To her, and she will not tell him this, the dome itself was very visible. Due to her lineage, she also knew that there were people hiding in those watch houses for a reason, one that they both didn't know of, so she wasn't speaking out of conspiracy.

"So you are saying there are people down there?" Zamasu pointed. "Why would they hide themselves then?"

"It can't be for good reasons, because hiding ki artificially is a feat made by Marauders." As expected, the Kaioshin was confused. "These are people who live in a different galaxy. They used to hide themselves in many planets in order to steal resources, but now their technology has been used by various species."

This was a mouthful coming from the six year old, and despite her already impressive vocabulary, Zamasu wondered why this was something he never read about. Was this information known to the rest of the world, or was it classified? If it was the latter, how did Alma know about it?

Before he could comment, his eyes widened when he saw something glow from the ground by one of the watch houses, it was so minute, that it could be mistaken for the reflection of a small material. Without warning, it shot out in Alma's direction.

Alma moved right before Zamasu could make an attempt to push her out of the way, the beam barely missing her right ring finger. They both looked down to now see several dark clothed figures slowly ascend towards them; now their ki was present, and one of them had a signature that he recognized. Alma stood right beside him as the leader of the dark group made herself known, dark blue hair and a beautiful face focused on the God with an alluring smirk.

"Looking for someone, Zamasu?" Jean's fingers grazed against her collarbone.

"What do you want with me, wench?" Zamasu, out of a fatherly instinct he didn't know he had, kept his arm in front of Alma, almost covering her with his own body.

She shook her head slowly. "Leave the girl alone. We don't want her for now, we were only waiting for you to show up."

Waiting? For him? He grew spiteful. "Why, just so you can try and coerce me again?"

"Not necessarily… But just to pass time." As she said that, the champion held an analog watch hanging from a gold chain before she threw it up to her hand. "Your target knows you very well, and she made sure to send a couple of powerheads to keep you from getting to her."

So Rebecca sent people out to set him up?! Not to mention, Alma was right next to him, so now he was obligated to smack these witless humans down. The nerve of that bitch

Alma moved Zamasu's arm from her and looked up at him, before facing Jean. She recognized the pattern of their black clothing, they were from the same group that wanted to abduct her before. "You think all six of you are going to stop us?"

Zamasu blinked out of his growing rage, Us? He didn't permit Alma to fight alongside him.

That's when Jean laughed. "Not six, Alma. I know you can sense more of us down there with how bright you are, honey." More people have arisen from the watch houses, and what was six became seventeen. For Zamasu, that was half of what he dealt with at Caplax, but these people were actually strong- well, not strong enough to take him down combined.

Alma, being the voice of the two now, stepped forward with her small hands balled into fists. "That's not enough."

"Suit yourself." Jean shrugged, and raised an arm for her posse to attack Alma. Jean herself quickly teleported, and ten of the adversaries charged at the both of them.

Alma zoomed forward, twirling like a torpedo as she singled out the very last one to make a rush at her; she dodged every kick and punch before she took the last man by his collar and threw him at two of the men that were chasing at her.

Zamasu was doing work to the rest with quick punches and kicks since they weren't powered up at all, wanting to keep Alma from getting injured. Even a single scratch was something he wasn't going to tolerate. As he closed in on Alma (who didn't need help at all, she was already mollywhopping several of them with ease) he was suddenly grabbed harshly by the back of his gi and ripped away from the scene. In fact, he got thrown almost half a mile away, and the same hands crashed down on his neck as two ki fused fists. Zamasu quickly righted himself before he would pummel to the ground, landing on dainty feet and looking up at the dark green aura encasing his main enemy.

"You are relentless." He shook his head at her. "Can't you see you have no chance against me?"

Jean's eyes were cold and her aura grew hotter, more turbulent as she zoomed right at him, attacking him with a barrage of kicks. They spun and swung, hitting the branches of trees and rustling the ground with their ki alone. One fell swoop of a single arm, and Jean was catapulted back into the sky with Zamasu following closely after her. She stopped her travel and zoomed at him, both their auras colliding as they passed each other. Jean swung around in mid-air and threw purple blasts at the flying God, teleporting just in time to stop him with a punch to the gut. Not that it hurt, but Zamasu was caught off guard and he backed away from her.

Jean knew that did nothing to him, but she masked her frustration (and almost arousal) with a smirk. "I would be damned if I were in Ms. Granger's shoes, with you flying around me like that. Did you only want to scold her for what you've just found out?"

"Don't heed me as culpable. She has done inexcusable things, and now that I know you and her are in cahoots, I'm doing more than just scolding her."

"It won't work, Zamasu." Jean shook her head. "That woman, in particular, has been long gone for months now. She won't stop until she is dead." She teleported to punch him but he held her wrist before she could land it, and Jean smiled in his face. "And we won't allow that to happen."

He threw her down quickly and send a disk of ki at her that barely grazed her left forearm. Zamasu took this opportunity to come at her with a hefty kick to her side, her flying body made a large crater in the ground. With that, the Kaioshin 'tssked' at the ground and flew in the direction at which Alma was.

The girl held one of the men's arms beneath her own, had her foot on the edge of another's neck and flipped to dislocate both arms in her release. She did graceful spins to counteract small ki bombs headed her way, and put both her hands outstretched at the middle of her brows.

A huge, low inaudible sonar wave racked the men's bodies and shook them to their bones, some of them cowered in the face of such great power. Its aftershock even managed to stop the Kaioshin mid flight, he shook his head from the near ultrasonic reverb that made his whole body vibrate; it seriously sounded like it was coming from the surface of the planet itself. Was that… Is Alma okay? He hoped that wasn't an attack she was faced with.

Some of the adversaries were so energetically throttled by the sonar that they fell to the ground, completely passed out. The rest were weakened to a point where Alma could flick them with no challenge, yet one in particular caught her fist and threw it back hard enough to make her lose equilibrium. Once she righted herself the adversary, who spoke with a heavy Efilian accent, eyed her through his veil.

"The amount of trouble my colleagues went through trying to get you… I can see why they turned tail and ran." He shook his head.

"You and your baddies won't catch me." Alma rebuked, fists tightly clenched together. "Why do you even try?"

"Your people," he spat out the word like hardened acid, "possess a power that you selfishly retain secret. All of you deserve to be exploited."

Her frown grew deep; she knew that this human would show low regard for her lineage, because that's all humans did towards her people; they've been killing them for centuries and now that they have found 'temporal peace' amongst themselves, they think they can come close to challenging a Mystic. Hell, the ability to manipulate energy was an art that was discovered by Mystics, passed down to the humans in its most basic form as ki.

It is not their fault though, Alma knew: even though they were of the same species, Mystics and Humans biologically grew to oppose each other because of the genetic discrepancy.

"That is unfair, even for you." Alma tilted her head. "We both come from a race that prides itself on being the most sensible in this galaxy, and you think trying to abduct me is going to do any good?"

"Your people are not us. Do not compare yourselves to us." He shook his head. The man was right though; Mystics were peaceful, understanding beings that comprehended life far beyond the materialistic concepts of their human counterparts. So no, she shouldn't compare her people to his, but Alma knew better than to be classist. "You can run all you want, but you cannot hide from us, little Alma."

He teleported behind her and kicked her square in the back. Alma caught herself and blocked off his incoming punch with a ki deflect strong enough to send him back to the ground, the dirt destroyed under the heavy impact.

"Ha!" Like a proud student, she put her hands to her hips and huffed confidently. "Daddy taught me well."

Her pride was short lived, however, as the man got up with yellow aura surrounding his entire body, finally deciding to power up against the girl. He brought himself off the ground several feet, watching as the girl held up a glowing fist, and zoomed at him with a building punch.

The man had a trump card just lying right in his cloak, and his hand that looked to be holding a major wound, held a curved blade tightly as he watched her zoom down on him. All she had to do was try to punch him, and he could critically subdue her with a serrated, sedative infused blade. This, will be easy-

Except he may have forgotten that she came equipped with a whole God who kicked him straight in the jaw.

His body hit loads of trees, breaking whole trunks and branches off before he broke his flight on a wall in one of the watchouses. Zamasu looked over and down at the curved blade that had sunken into the ground. The substances lined around it's inner bevel started to seep out, making the brown ground around it a deep dark purple hue. He looked at Alma, pigtails lessened their rustle as she powered down.

"He had a blade with him, Alma." He shook his head, putting his hands on his hips. "You should know better than to blindly charge at the enemy."

"I knew he had it with him, I was going for a trick hit!" Alma planted her feet on the ground, and gave Zamasu the same amount of sass he did with her. "You just came and interrupted it."

"Riiiight." Zamasu took the liberty of looking around the open premise; all of the men were unconscious, almost all were taken down by Alma, the six year old prodigy standing before him with her head in a silly tilt from his sarcasm. He had to give her props. "You are quite powerful for someone your age."

He had bet, that if this were a situation where only Jay and Adrian had to fight, both of them would have difficulty taking down at least seven of them. Hell, they probably would have lost, so this was a big feat on Alma's part.

That is only assuming if she was a normal human being like Jay and Adrian. Her and her close family could flick everyone Zamasu knew into unconsciousness with their pinky finger.

"Thank you." She nodded at him, and knew that he was more than likely going to ask about that sonar shock. He had to feel it, especially because he was stronger than her, so Alma switched the topic before he could even bring it up. "I think you need to go and find this person. It's clear that they wanted you to get distracted."

Zamasu looked up at the ascending moon, he knew it was just around 9 at dusk, so Rebecca either had to be at the Ultrapolitan, or she could be heading her scared ass to the West City Airport. The God nodded. "Indeed, and that only took a moment in time." He looked at Alma carefully. "Are you hurt anywhere, Alma?"

"Not at all." She dusted herself off like this was lightwork and hopped a bit when she stood straight, smiling brightly. "I'm completely scar-free!"

"Good." Zamasu pinched her cheek and her smile turned into a pout-frown. "Oh, don't look at me like that. You knew it was coming."

Alma adopted her uncle's mannerism for a moment by raising a finger and wagging it back and forth. "Uncalled for."

He chuckled. "Now go home, I would rather know you're safe than be out here so late." He knows that she can defend herself, but his paternal side was poking its shy end out at the moment. "I have business to attend to. I'll see you soon."

Alma smiled at him again. He adored her smile. "Bye, Zamasu!" She waved, and the young girl teleported right before his eyes.

Oh. Zamasu blinked, so she already knows how to teleport without using her hands? He shook his head, impressed as hell. Amazing…

The God took to teleporting at the Ultrapolitan, not even minding the fact that he teleported into a bathroom. It was the first scene from his phone that popped into his head, so he opened the stall and peeked around: no one was out at the moment, so the coast was clear. He left the bathroom and piqued when he sensed a familiar aura in the floor right above his.

Clasping his hands just ready to deliver some words of wisdom, he phased right above where he previously was, and went to the door where her damned aura led him, crackling with ready discipline at the tip of his Godly fingers.

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If there is something you must really know about the Hyperions, it is that they have evolved well beyond their human creators. They do not wage war, they do not compensate against the behalf of their own kind, hell… They don't even physically fight each other. The seven of them had set up an example for all the younger models to follow, and that motto was not to fight one another over anything, and to always seek compromise, unlike their older human creators.

With that being said, in Chandler's office there sat two Hyperions, along with Ambrose's guards Frank and Andrew and two of Rogue's bodyguards, both respectively standing by the ones they cowork with. Chandler, being a Kiliken (now Tychian) AI, and Rouge, as a Mandalan battle specialist turned FPICA superintendent, sat across from one another making no move to fight with their fists, but the lord would be damned if one said that they weren't throwing hands at each other verbally. Not even ten minutes into them settling down, Chandler asked Rogue about the restraining order placed on Naz and the red AI, in a not nice manner, answered in a way that made Chandler disbelieve him.

"Yeah right, swear on your database!"

"I'm not swearing on my database!" Rogue crossed his arms.

"Why not?"

"Because…" Rogue rapidly looked to the left, then to the right, and then he flailed a shrug. "I don't need to."

"You're lying to me." Chandler pointed at him.

Rogue placed his hands on his hips. "I'm not lying. I'm just not swearing, you idiot!"

Chandler started flailing this time. "I'm asking you to tell me the truth, and your toasted face won't open up!"

Rogue threw up a pointed finger at him. "You're the one with the toasted everything!"

"I'm not the one with a processor that overheats after receiving integrals higher than a power of 64!"

"Well, I'm not the one who's optical core can't see anything over 100 miles away!"

Chandler crossed his arms. "I can see quite well. I have optical cores that render sights at 640 megapixels with 260 DPI, and here you are, a talking cantaloupe, talking about my eyesight!"

Rogue's visor flickered red. "Your optical cores suck, just like your vials. They're weak."

"My vials are weak? They are stronger than yours, you're mechanically anemic."

Andrew, Frank, and both Rogue's bodyguards quietly watched the two go at it, they themselves exchanging looks. Frank shook his head. "This is the nerdiest roast session I've ever seen in my life."

"Two respective IQs of over five thousand each, and this is what happens when they encounter one another." Rogue's bodyguard to his right blinked, scratching his beard.

The other bodyguard, with short hair, looked at the three men for a consensus over this… Fight? "Should we uhh... break it up?"

"I guess…" Andrew shrugged, stepping in while Frank did the same. You know the situation is legit confusing when four bodyguards have to question taking action or not.

"-that's why you can't turn your arm to your back and hold it at an angle of less than 60 degrees!"

Chandler did this posh hand motion, as if he just got a banging manicure. "Unlike me, you and Bee have pirated crab hands for fingers-"

"Okay, that's enough, you two." The bearded bodyguard came in between them as a voice of reason.

"Nothing is gonna be accomplished if you guys punch each other with clapbacks." Andrew, the second voice of reason crossed his arms.

Chandler took a pseudo-exhale. "Fine." He looked back at Rogue, who was 'grilling' him as expected, but he ignored it. "So, crab-rocket with a low-'metaglobin' count, explain yourself."

Rogue crossed his arms, his wrist turned whizzing as they did so. "Well, shoe-polished contractor shineface, I ought not do so when the answer is obvious. But you wouldn't know that, of course."

"We're really trying to get information here. We really are." Frank reminded the two once again.

Rogue looked at the bald bodyguard, and then he took an exhale. "What I mean, by the case having 'ended', is that the order was called off upon short notice. There was no wager or any other reasoning behind it because one of the two parties involved had cancelled it within the buffer period."

The 'buffer period' varies for every case, it is the time period in which the restraining order can lifted without compensation to both sides. The more serious the case is, the shorter the buffer period is.

"I know Naz wouldn't touch that obviously. That meant… his wife, must have done so." Frank said, and he and Chandler looked at each other.

"When was it lifted, Red?" Chandler turned his attention to the AI in question.

Rogue folded his hands on the table, his visor flickered a line showing that he was thinking and accessing certain files. "Just under a year after its placement, so that's relatively early for its sentence."

Chandler frowned to himself: he came to know Ambrose's extended family, so he knew Naz's wife. The woman, when they had divorced, never seemed to be someone who would 'take back her flames'; if she did something when she was angry, she meant it. To know that she potentially lifted the restraining order within a year suggests a change of heart, and he had a feeling that would come. At the same time, he felt like that wasn't enough information for him because she has been MIA for almost two years now. Something had to happen to her before, or after she revoke the order.

"Red." Chandler flatlined Rogue's moniker, making the black-red AI sassily address him with a slight teetering of his tilted head.

"What do you want now? You said you had one question for me and I answered it." Rogue raised his arms in shrug. "It's a done deal."

"No it's not. I have one more question to ask."

Annnnd here came the snide remarks again. "Curious Contractor, aren't you?"

"Heed the question, booted console." Chandler raised a finger, and Rogue held his commentary out of courtesy. Sort of. "Can you give me any details on behalf of Ms. Judenov after the restraining order was placed?"

Frank and Andrew, and the other bodyguards raised a brow at each other before looking down at Chandler. Rogue pettily nodded but he did go through his files once more, his visor appeared to glow a dim red. "Nothing particularly striking happened during that time, if we're talking about in law terms, but…" He was now directly facing Chandler. "A little bit after the restraining order was lifted, she got into a horrible accident." He now accessed her medical files. "She was near death, but was recovered and had her heart, lower jaw, skeletal muscles and optic nerves replaced with prosthetics."

She may have made an attempt to right her wrongdoings and thought her family couldn't be united anymore, and could no longer handle the idea of that. Chandler had cast a look downwards; he wondered where she was now. "I see…"

"Why is that important?" Rogue asked, before Chandler virtually briefed it to him. As artificial intelligence, they share digital telepathy with each other. "Personal?"

"Seldom." Chandler shrugged, before leaning back in his seat. He didn't have to expand on that, and remains impartial on his expression. "Thank you for your service, you can go now."

"You could at least bid me farewell nicely, Yellow." Rogue stood up and leaned forward with a biteback tone before heading out Chandler's office with his guards in tow. "Good day."

Since they both compete all the damn time, Chandler took that as an invitation to out-nice him in bidding farewells. "Hope you have a blessed day."

Rogue made a rounding up motion with his hand as he sauntered into the joint office hallway. "Right back at ya! Have a grand one."

Chandler shot up from his seat. "You have a great day, and a great night!"

Rogue turned his metal ass around and emphasized his bidding while walking off and out of their view. His bodyguards were ahead of him now and they both appeared to be glancing at each other. "You and your boys have a splendid night! Tell Ambrose I said hi!"

Frank and Andrew exchanged looks at each other too: were they really competing over who's farewell sounded the nicest?

"Tell Mace I said hi, and tell his whole team I said hi, and tell Green I said hi t-"

Andrew put a hand on the yellow AI's shoulder. "Chandler… I think he, and we, get it."

Chandler paused, eyed the ground, and then slowly settled back down in his seat; he caught himself slipping around his human folks.

He recollected himself, as if he didn't become Petty Labelle just now. "My apologies."

"What was that all about?" Both Avery and Evan were standing right his office, the agriculture admin voicing the question. Ethan was currently at a food court but if he was here, he'd definitely be a peeping Tom too.

"He was chatting with Rogue." Andrew summarized.

"Chatting?" Avery cocked his whole neck forward. "All I heard were you two shitting on each other. Yeah, right."

"The action's mutual." Chandler crossed his arms. Unfortunately, they were both created to diametrically oppose each other. Him and Bee were sort of the same, but since Bee had everything down to his endoskeleton remodeled, much of his earlier programming has lost its potency. Not to mention, he was the oldest out of the seven Hyperions being 138 years old, so that counts too.

Avery shook his head, and both admins left them alone. The trio were left in comfortable silence before a gurgling noise came from Chandler's left. Both he and Andrew looked at Frank, who eyed them weirdly.

"So… Can we go now?"

Andrew shook his head at the bald man. "How are you hungry again? You just ate like two hours ago!"

Chandler waved them off. "You guys can go now. Thank you for acting like a viable defense." That wasn't sarcasm, the AIs seriously never fight each other. It was just required, by law, for any superintendent to have bodyguards present when they formally meet another person of authority and vice versa.

Frank and Andrew had stepped away from behind Chandler, who was shaking his head at the foodie bodyguard. "Two hours is one hundred and twenty minutes, and that is a lot of time." The bald bodyguard continued to justify himself. "I had a tiny meal!"

"You ate a whole steak!" Andrew argued as they left Chandler's office. "You even tried to steal some of my mashed potatoes."

There was an immediate silence and Chandler can tell Frank was getting animated, articulating comically before he spoke. "I did not!"

The yellow AI decided to instigate their argument. "I wasn't even there, and I even know that that's bullshit, Frank!" Their voices went distant as Frank retorted on him too, and Chandler chuckled to himself. Humans were funny creatures, he long surmised; that was one thing his 99 years of living taught him, and they only continue to get funnier as they evolve. So fickle and varied, indeed…

As for the information he was relayed, Chandler decided to call Nousha whenever he'd have the time to tell her that Naz could indeed reunite with her daughter again; it won't take long for Rogue to transfer the documents to him. Part of him was excited (he won't admit it) to see that Alma was indeed safe and that he could actually see her again. He knew she was safe, according to the chats Ambrose had with her in ways he is not allowed to explain, but to see that bright smile again, and to smartly banter with her over everything as she kept stealing his hat was something he could classify as… Nostalgia. It didn't matter if that stuff only happened over a year ago, there is something cherishable about a memory, so much so that you'd wish to go through it once more.

With his yellow hands folded against his chest, he smiled to himself. He truly couldn't wait for the day Alma would bust into his office pulling at his leg again…

•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•

"June?!"

Just how did Zamasu manage to sniff out Rebecca's scent, only to find out that it was June, clad only in a bra and lace briefs? He had nearly busted open her bathroom door thinking it was Rebecca but nope… Yet her aura seemed to be all over this woman.

The writer blushed heavily. Zamasu wasn't even peeping her lack of attire, but she still felt embarrassed. "W-were you looking for someone?" June was also shaking under the intensity of his angered face, despite now knowing that it wasn't directed at her.

Zamasu rescinded. "What are you doing in here?"

"I am staying here for the week, umm…" June scratched the back of her head before frantically reaching for a silk robe. "W-why are you upset?"

He sighed. "I'm not mad at you. Was anyone with you before I came here?" He had to ask, because despite June being the only person here, he still sense Rebecca's aura on her bed which was weird, since the doctor apparently wasn't here.

"Umm, yeah." June was oddly impartial in her answer. "Someone was here."

"Who?"

"A friend." She said.

"What friend?"

A pause. She appeared to be swallowing. "Someone I know."

He eased off of his questioning, knowing that June was certainly told to be tight lipped on behalf of Rebecca's location. He decided to cut to the chase. "I sense Rebecca in this room."

"She wasn't here." June quickly, poorly lied.

"Really?" Zamasu stepped forward, peeking into her mind. "She was indeed, if I can still sense her. Why are you lying to me?"

June had her robe on but she clutched onto herself, looking like she was holding back her fear. The Kaioshin tilted his head and she spoke with a shaky voice. "C-can I ask you something?"

He blinked but gestured. "Go on."

"Are you gonna tell anyone?"

He paused. "Tell anyone what?" Zamasu, at first corrosive, was now concerned. The poor woman looked like she was trying not to shake. "June, relax. I just want to know when Rebecca left and where she went. I won't tell anyone that you told me."

"Okay…" She nodded slowly, before recollecting herself to speak. "She left a little under thirty minutes ago… I think she is going to Nilan, West City."

She must have changed her course of destination in hopes of the Kaioshin not tracking her down, given that she would know of his conversation with Jay. Zamasu would have departed the room but he noticed that June was still disturbed. He couldn't put it beside him, he had to know why.

"June." He sat beside her. "Why are you scared? Did Rebecca threaten you or something?"

"W-well no, but," June shook her head, "She didn't threaten me with anything, all she did was tell me not to tell anyone where she was going." Zamasu knew she wasn't lying. "But when I tell you- like, I know it sounds silly but when she told me, she looked me dead in the eyes and… she just looked so terrifying then. I don't know what she's doing but she didn't look like herself at that moment and I was just-" She looked to cringe in remembrance.

Ah, June is a psychic so that makes sense, how she could be so sensitive to a single glare. Zamasu admires that about her, because at least there is another person who can tell that Rebecca is a little off. He has not seen her since but from what Terry told him, and now June, her dark side was slowly coming to the light.

"It isn't silly, you have a special gift. Don't downplay it." He told her, and then stood up. "I'll leave you alone to sleep it off but first…" He looked around the bed, wondering just how Rebecca's aura was accumulating around this specific area. He concentrated on one area and pulled the blanket to reveal pink bed sheets and… a pendant? Zamasu took the small item from the bed, and whatever frown he had on his face turned into a full fledged grimace.

Alma wasn't lying when she said that the Marauders and their artificial energy manipulation were indeed spreading around the universe like nothing, because apparently Rebecca was masking her ki with this little pendant. In fact, even June had some of her aura on her person right now.

"June," Zamasu turned to her, dead serious. "Do me a favor."

"Yeah?" June looked at the pendant and at him; she honestly never saw that before and was inquisitive. "What is it?"

"Remove your robe."

The command was so straightforward it caught her off guard, but the serious look on his face meant no harm. So she slipped the sleeves off looking flushed, and there it was; another pinned pendant against the side of her lacy bra cup.

"That wench." Zamasu shook his head and looked at June. "Do you see that little pin?"

He pointed to it, and June looked down. She also hadn't seen that either! "When did she-" June took it off, looking at its golden exterior with a heavy frown. "I never seen this before! Seriously!"

"That is all I needed to know." Zamasu slowly nodded, opting to take the little pin from June. If these were used to flagrant her presence, then Zamasu more than likely could reverse their function to show him where Rebecca could actually be. This was such a crafty feat on her part, he'll give her that. "Thank you, June."

"You're welcome." She shyly redressed the robe on herself as he stood up, watching the Kaioshin wave at her before he phased out of the room. Feeling a wave of relief poured down her once weighted shoulders for a reason she didn't understand yet, June pulled herself into bed to fall asleep.

Meanwhile, Zamasu took his ass to Nilan while rewiring the pendant with his own aura. Whatever magic was used in this was no match for the Kaioshin's vast knowledge, as he polarized the pendant in no time. He felt the tiny object pulse in his palm and he looked down at a particular area before descending to get a clearer read. Upon closing in on one bakery, the pendant pulsed harder.

God dammit, a big part of him did not wish to make a scene in a public place, he really hoped to isolate her in a space where they were alone. However, with the fact of it being a bakery, Rebecca would have less of a motive to leave on short notice. Not to mention… He could just act like he was meeting up with her, out of a kind gesture, just to politely put her in her place and scare her shitless.

This is literally the most evil Zamasu has been in his entire life. Dead serious.

He casually entered and looked around the place pretending to peep the scenery because he knew she would catch sight of him, and she did; when he reached another room where people were situated, he could practically feel two eyes on him. He knew where she was; in the far corner of the more isolated room mostly used as a study hall amongst college kids and such. It was not long before he finally locked eyes with her…

Though by the Gods, he was taken aback. She looked… She looked really goddamn pretty, like even more so than normal, and she was leaning in her chair with some complex looking coffee drink in her hand, just eyeing him with a tilted head and a confused look. Zamasu went over to her and slid into the seat across from her, keeping both the pin and pendant tucked away in his gi.

"Rebecca… long time no see." Zamasu smiled at her as genuinely as he can, even though he wanted to slap her senseless.

"Hi." She waved at him cutely. Her appearance could even give a beat-faced Lexi a run for her money right now. "How's everything?"

There was an evil laugh in his head, he couldn't wait to see the look on her face when he tells her off. "Everything is fine, never been better. How are Ollie and Loki?"

"I haven't gotten around to taking full care of them, so I sent them off to a petcare center, but I seriously miss them so much." Rebecca placed her coffee down. "It would be unfair for me to keep them home."

"Is that why you ask Thomas to take care of them?" Zamasu asked, slightly narrowing his eyes to look confused.

"Yeah, but… He got hurt the other day, sprained his leg while playing rough with his friends." Rebecca shook her head. "So yeah, he'll be laid off of that until he fully heals."

Bitch really just lied to his face, Zamasu's fist clenched underneath the table. Ooooh, Chile'… "Pity." Was all he said, or rather managed without sounding furious. "How long will it take until then?"

"Two, three-ish weeks." She shrugged. "His doctor told me his leg is getting patched up and since he was taken almost immediately, he won't need a cast when he's out."

She was… Actually right about that, surprisingly enough. Due to his knowledge of what really went down, his skepticism rendered him wondering if Rebecca was hinting at a double entendre whenever she spoke. He had to remember that she has no idea of him intervening. "Hmm…" He mused. "If I may ask, what have you been doing lately? Is your hospital very busy?"

"I'm kinda starting a little business on the side, but I have not been working at K. Greinhardt lately, like I think for the past week." She thought it over. "Yeah, for a week or so, but as far as I know there was no rush-hour at my hospital."

Holy shit, did she sound so convincing, if anyone else walked by they would not catch anything suspicious coming from her at all. Zamasu nodded slowly, again noting the elusiveness of her response. Her 'business' could mean many ventures and from the evidence he gathered alone, they were not pretty ones. "I see. How about Jay?"

Rebecca giggled. "You have his handle, why not text him? He's doing fine, I bet."

"I meant like… Your new budding friendship."

"Oh! I mean, he's a really cool guy. Showed me a lot of things, you should know how he is. Me and him are peachy." Rebecca took a sip out of her coffee and when finished gave him a long look before smiling. "You are really curious, you know that?"

"It is part of my lineage." He smirked. "I have not been out for a while due to Irene's condition."

"Condition?" Rebecca frowned, concerned. "How is she doing? Is she okay?"

Zamasu felt his whole mouth go sour. He had a sick feeling that Rebecca had something to do with Irene's trauma, and yet she was planting burden bombs as though she cared. How sickening… "She is fine, she is getting better. I just wanted to see how you were doing after all of that."

Now this is where he noticed her visage cracked. She blinked and raised a brow. "All of what?"

"All of everything." He shrugged, impartial. Then backtracked to make his statement sound innocent. "I heard from James that that party was a bit of a mess so…"

Rebecca chuckled. "Oh, no seriously, it was. Everyone was wasted." She shook her head. "I kept it light that night. I wasn't trying to get stupidly drunk, I have a lot more to do than wallow in alcohol."

Was that shade? He tried really hard not to frown at that, not to scowl at that, because it might have been an innocent statement. He regarded her with a nod before she spoke up.

"Do you want anything to eat, or drink while you're here?"

"Don't burden yourself, I am perfectly fine. I don't feel like eating or drinking right now." He really didn't, his stomach was in knots over how badly he wanted to lambast her. "I was just exploring this particular place until I came here and saw you." There was silence for a moment as Rebecca nodded at him while sipping.

"Speaking of which…" Zamasu closed his hand beneath the table before motioning for Rebecca to give him hers. As he dropped the items in her palm, he looked at her face. "I found these sitting in your hotel suite."

Her damn face when she saw both the pendant and the pin was so satisfying, she looked like a deer caught in headlights staring at her hand. He continued: "They looked quite valuable, so… I figured you would wear them around more often."

The double entendre was not lost on Rebecca. Her jaw went tight and her lips pursed and she refused to look him in the eye. Rebecca just took the little gems in her hand and continue to look down at them under the table.

Zamasu leaned forward, gauging her attention with his calm voice alone. "I know you aren't aware, because you've been so 'busy'… But I've had my eyes on you for quite a while now. Not only have you had your own brother nearly killed over your newfound hobby of drug trafficking, but you've been engaging with a group of criminal bandits. I know all of this 'business' talk is just you doing dirty work under the table, and as long as you continue hurting everyone and everything in your path, I will not let this persist. So for someone as weak and vulnerable as you- look at me."

He grasped her chin and forced her eyes to him before speaking: "You either quit everything you have waged… Or face being punished and serving jail time. That is me being courteous to your human laws, and I expect you to do the same when you're caught red handed, Rebecca."

She was frozen in her position even when Zamasu released her chin, and she stared at him for a long time. Zamasu crossed his arms, not waiting for a bullshit response that would deny everything he said when he had proof. "I will leave you to reflect on your actions, but don't think I'm not capable of disciplining you right here and now. I think we both know that would waste energy on my part, so I'll just leave you alone once more." He stood up from his seat and nodded in farewell to her. "Have a good night."

Not only does Rebecca now know that he knows she's up to some shit, but now she knows that he knows of all the collateral damage she has caused, and she knows just how easily disposable she is under both the law, and him. If she was going to escape the Desnian government's judgement, she sure as hell won't escape his.

Given where they were and how she is, if he threatened her, all she had to do was make a scene of him trying to assault her in order to pin him as an assailant. The last thing he wanted was a bunch of people to know their business, at least not in that way. It was only fair of him, to let her off with a warning in this situation. He may have scared Rebecca off this once, but the young doctor could count on both her ability to ghost everyone and the syndicate she's gotten accustomed to, to keep her hooked and safe. Under the eyes of a Kaioshin, even that level of security is fatally temporary.

The Kaioshin knew his strength very well, but he had forgotten one simple, and scary fact about the world around him: there are people, not necessarily only from this planet, that are much stronger than he is. Unfortunately for him, he won't foresee that truth, until it is a little too late...

llllllllllllllllllllll

I dunno if I ever said something to the effect of 'sometimes, the characters write themselves'; I swear I have and if I haven't, THAT is the reason why I didn't make Zamasu pummel Rebecca's face in. I want it JUST as bad as you guys do, I know, but circumstances, and changes to character, forbid that. Zamasu's more civil than you think, luckily; if this were like a few months back, the city of Nilan would be burning.

Or not actually, because he wouldn't theoretically care that much.

Despite Zamasu and Alma not sparring against each other, we do get to see a wider stretch of Alma's true powers. It is no surprise that she has Mystic descendents, with Naz and Nousha being half Mystics. By circumstance again, Zamasu could not see her perform that sonar attack, one she learned from Naz a couple years ago, so he has no idea just how well off she really was in that fight.

The reason why Zamasu could not sense Alma is because Mystics, in order to peacefully survive the humans trying to sack all of them and their children off, developed a way of hiding their ki within the atmosphere around them. Only the strongest of Mystics can fully hide their ki within the planet they live in, and their 'power levels' would read a big fat 0 if they were scanned. Those are the people you have to watch out for.

I hope this isn't a misunderstanding here; the Mystics were only drastically hunted down in the past because of religious superstition, mostly. They are not a malevolent group of people, but they are so powerful that merely upsetting a band of them is enough to cause earthquakes and large storms in Desna. They keep themselves level by choosing to stay away from the fickle human race, to better maintain the state of the planet. Fun Fact: the problem of radiation following the Seven Years War was not fixed by technological means. The Mystics got rid of it themselves, but the humans don't know that.

Chandler is interesting in that he's only spent eight years in close contact with beings other than government officials and AIs, and yet he's already grown a fondness of mortality in an eccentric way. His concern for Naz's ex-wife came from him primarily knowing her side of her story since he kept in contact with her after they divorced; she would get drunk, and then tell him long, almost incoherent stories of her and Naz. Nearing the days of her car accident she started becoming hysterical; she would call him crying about her past mistakes and getting angry at herself over everything. He had a feeling something terrible happened to her because he lost all contact with her around the same time the accident occurred. Just a lil' bit of backstory for y'all.

You really think this story is gonna have Zamasu be the strongest mans walking around the galaxies right now? You really think that he's gonna be the strongest being in THIS universe?

HA… bitch, that ain't happening. It didn't happen in Super, so it's not happening here.

See you all in the next chapter :)