Chapter 10: Thwarting the Execution

Warning: A lot of deaths in this chapter

"You can't be serious girl! That's not even plan!" yelled Launch looking at her new friend with a bewildered look.

"No it's not Launch, but with how little time we have it's the best thing there is." Replied Lazuli, her eyes red from bawling her eyes out till there were no tears.

It was three in the morning and the five inhabitants of Lapis's household had spent countless hours trying to form a rescue plan. They had already looked through the maps of the public square and surrounding area and called every single contact they knew. Thanks to Colonel Silver displaying dozens of dead militias who, according to him, had tried to bomb the public hospital along with Lapis, few of the raven-haired man's friends would dare assisting them with the operation.

"Yeah I agree with Launch, you are putting way too much faith in Goku it seems," Said Tien, earning him a look from Goku hearing his name being called, "not that he isn't capable or anything, but against the Red Ribbon Army you need a much better plan." Quickly fixed Tien.

"Look sis, your desire to not get others involved is admirable, but we need more manpower. I can try recruiting some of my people into this operation. We are a Red Ribbon Army watchdog organization after all, so none of my employees are fond of them to begin with." Said Launch trying to reason with her friend but her fellow blonde was adamant in her plan.

"Getting more people involved will just result in more corpses by the end of the day Launch...look, I have already dragged you two into this mess and don't want more to suffer. It's us three they want so we should lead the charge." Stated Lazuli sternly.

Launch and Tien gave each other a look and softly chuckled. She was so innocent to the point of naïve but it was exactly why they enjoyed hanging around with her so much.

"Alright Lazuli, my men won't fight in the frontline if that's what you want, but they'll still assist from the sidelines." Finally said Launch after giving this more thoughts. Lazuli looked like she was about to protest when the older blonde held out her palm stopping her, "no but sister, this isn't just about your baby bro, it's about sending a message to the world that the Red Ribbon Army isn't invincible and can be stopped. Just imagine thwarting this execution and embarrassing them in front of the whole world."

Afterwards, the would-be rescue party checked their weapons and tried to grab some sleep before the showdown. Launch and Tien, being veterans of numerous battles, quickly fell asleep in each other's arms getting as much rest and each other as possible. Lazuli was another story though, as she twisted and turned on the sofa unable to shake the image of her younger twin's battered face from her head and whenever she dozed off to sleep, she was haunted by nightmares of their failed rescue mission until finally the blonde woman jolted awake with cold sweats cover her face.

"I'm never going to get any sleep now am I?" asked the tired and emotionally stressed blonde rubbing her eyes but before she could get off the couch, she was stopped by a hand on her shoulder and saw it was Goku. She didn't know why, but the Saiyan was always able to make her feel calm even under impossible situations and this time was no exception as feeling his body close to hers quieted her down.

"Go to sleep Lazuli, here, I'll help you." Said Goku taking a seat beside her before wrapping his arms around her waist and brought her onto his lap. Immediately, the blonde woman wrapped her arms around his neck and began sobbing quietly in his chest until she fell into a deep slumber in the Saiyan's embrace.

Sixteen sat on his chair and observed the two couples sleeping peacefully with a gentle smile on his face. While Lazuli and Goku weren't officially an item yet, the orange-haired giant could tell they complimented each other perfectly. He only wished they could all make it out of this alive but, knowing the execution was obviously a trap to lure them in, they could only wish for a miracle. To make it worse, it was Colonel Silver, the no nonsense don't give a flying shit commander in charge of this execution.

His companions may not know Silver's reputation, but he sure does. Having worked with the guy on several occasions, the only word he could find to accurately describe him was "satanic". Colonel Silver's hand, more than anybody else in the Red Ribbon Army, was stained with blood of not just his enemies but innocents and allies. Heck, there was no guarantee Lapis was still alive at this point.

Letting out a deep sigh, No.16 got off from his seat and began dialing someone he knew. Hopefully she had already forgiven him and wouldn't mind lending him and his new crew a hand.

It was now morning and huge crowds and press have gathered to witness the spectacle about to unfold.

Colonel Silver stood in the center of the town square, checking his troop deployment. So far, he's got the execution site fenced off from the gathering crowd and had it surrounded by over five hundred armed guards. There were also machinegun nests and snipers stationed on all buildings overlooking the town square while attack helicopters were constantly circling above them.

If, and only if by chance all that wasn't enough, he's got them, yes them, the special agents sent by Dr. Gero to help him with his assignment. Those three, whatever they maybe, were truly monsters and all reeked of death. Colonel Silver knew he was very tough, but even he must admit he wasn't that tough. He may not know where they were at this moment, but the Red Ribbon Army officer never ceased to feel several ominous presences lurking around and as much as it hurt his pride, he couldn't deny the fact his skin was somewhat crawling knowing those three were around.

"Well tough luck kid, I guess there's no way for you to escape death boy!" said Colonel Silver to the raven-haired man tied up onto a wooden pole and to no one's surprise, his captive didn't bothered responding to him. In fact, this Lapis guy had been in a coma ever since he got dragged into Dr. Gero's lab struggling and screaming the night before.

"Whatever the good doctor did to the young lad, it sure was effective in shutting his potty mouth," thought Silver. Even now, the red-haired officer could still feel his fists sore and slightly bleeding from all the punches he had thrown at Lapis who had continued to swear at him without pause.

Suddenly, the colonel heard his watch going off and found it was already quarter to twelve. Deciding it was time to get the execution underway, for that this poor sob needs to be killed by twelve, Silver gestured the firing squad to take up position and the dozen or so men lined up in front of their would be victim with rifle in hand. The crowd and press began to get uneasy seeing this newest development, their gasps and murmurs music to Colonel Silver's ears as he basked in the attention.

"Welcome to the execution of the century my fellow citizens," began the red-haired officer with his arms out stretched as if introducing a grand historical drama to the audiences, "today, I, Colonel Silver of the Red Ribbon Army, has the honor of bringing this notorious terrorist to justice!" shouted the officer pointing at Lapis. Hearing this, a portion of the crowd burst out in protest as if disbelieving the young man was indeed a terrorist while others cheered Silver on.

Colonel Silver kept his hands high up and let the commotion build up a bit more before continuing with his speech "this merciless killer was friends of the trio who had bombed the train two nights ago. We were lucky enough to have caught him yesterday just when he was about to blow up a hospital full of innocent women and children!" said Silver faking disgust when in reality he was cracking up inside.

The onlookers who didn't know better erupted in outrage and many began hurling stones at the unconscious young man. Some even attempted to storm the execution site just so they could get their hands on Lapis. Soon loud chanting of "Kill! Kill! Kill!" filled the air.

"Let this be a lesson to all terrorists that the Red Ribbon Army will not tolerate your evil doings. If you dare disrupt the peace, we will be after you and will hunt you all down till the end of Earth!" finished Colonel Silver and was instantly met with loud applauses while camera flashes covered his face.

Like a conductor conducting the final musical act, Silver gestured his execution squad once more and the soldiers loaded their rifles. Another hand signal and they all pointed their guns straight at Lapis. The audience suddenly grew completely silent, no one wanting to miss the moment of this "terrorist" getting what he deserved.

"On the count to three fire! One..." said Colonel Silver began counting down.

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"

For the split of a second after the gun shots rang out, no one uttered a sound, their eyes trained on the victim trying to see how badly he had gotten shot up. Sure, the shots came prematurely, but everyone simply thought the firing squad had gotten a bit too trigger-happy. It wasn't until the executioners themselves hit the floor and smoke grenades landing on the stage did panic spread across the audiences like a wild fire.

"Get the assailants you imbeciles! Where are my snipers at? I thought I had the entire place covered!" screamed Colonel Silver angrily, his right shoulder slightly bleeding as he had tried dodging a bullet but still got scratched. Now pissed off more than ever, the Colonel tried drawing his own pistol, determined to finish the execution but his body wouldn't listen to him and it took him all his will power to stay conscious.

"Sleeping gas!" Silver gasped in surprised and hastily putted on a gas mask before ducking for cover. The other soldiers weren't as tough though and were asleep within seconds. Soon the five hundred or so guards had their number cut down by more than half as only the most able ones were able to flee the scene.

The Red Ribbon Army units already outside of the vicinity of the sleeping gas meanwhile began firing at random; targeting anywhere they suspect the shots could be coming from. Soon the place was turned into a battlefield with helicopters, tanks, and mask-wearing soldiers firing aimlessly prompting the audiences to flee for their lives.

Goku saw smokes popping up all over the execution site and knew it was time to charge in. Leaping down the building where he was hiding, the Saiyan warrior descended fast towards the execution site, his battle instinct on high gears ready snatch Lapis and then high tail it out of there. During his long years of being Dr. Gero's test subject, the Saiyan had already grown accustomed to sleeping gas and could function at full capacity even without wearing masks.

Too bad he wasn't the only person who could fight inside sleeping gas though, as the attack helicopters circling above him quickly took notice of the Saiyan and opened fire as he was free falling. The armored cars below witnessed the commotion above too and began firing their cannons at their foe.

For any human, being caught in the middle of a missile and cannon fire barrage would've been the last thing they saw but not Goku, who immediately formed ki orbs on his hands and threw them straight at the incoming barrage. Instead of merely destroying the projectiles, the orbs continued flying towards their targets even after the bombs had exploded. Soon choppers were falling from the sky and the smell of burning tanks filled the air.

Once Goku landed on the ground, he began dashing straight for Lapis, making short work of the few mask-wearing soldiers as he moved. If he was to be honest with himself, the smell of sleeping gas and burning wreckages sort of made him feel at home and he was glad of the change. The only downside of this, aside from the fact his romantic interest's brother got kidnapped, was that so far none of his opponents were of any challenge. Where were the three cyborgs he had fought days before? Why weren't they guarding the place?

The Saiyan warrior was so deep in thought that he didn't even realized he had stepped on a land mine until he heard the "click" sound it made. Rolling his eyes, the alien leapt up in the air so fast he was out of the blast zone even before the mine could explode.

"Too easy!" said Goku aloud landing on the ground once more and it was only then the sound of mine exploding rang from behind him.

"Too easy huh? Well get a hold of this you monster!" came the scream of someone sounding familiar and upon turning around, Goku found him face to face with a red head wearing mask pointing a rocket launcher at him. Although this despicable human's face was covered, the Saiyan knew from his voice this was the same asshole on television yesterday, the scumbag called Colonel Silver.

Anger filled the Saiyan as he could recall how this bastard beat up Lapis on TV and how it had made Lazuli crying in his arms the night before. "Anyone messes with Lazuli dies!" thought the Saiyan before letting out a deafening cry mixed with ki that made the ground tremble, knocking down a few soldiers in the process and causing land mines all around him to blow up prematurely. This Colonel Silver wasn't any normal soldier though, as he stood his ground and fired the rocket at him; not that it did him any good as the ki filled sound wave destroyed the projectile before it could reach the Saiyan.

"No fucking way! Who is this guy?" stammered Silver backing away from the Saiyan inching towards him

Just as it looked like the redheaded commando was about to meet his end, Goku suddenly stopped in his track feeling his head acting weird. But how was that even possible? Just before they commenced their attack, Lazuli had given him another dosage of her medicine thought Goku. Immediately, the Saiyan began channeling his ki, hoping to ward off the negative effect.

"Heh heh! So the good doctor's drug works after all!" exclaimed Colonel Silver, "the missile I have just fired contained the gaseous form of Dr. Gero's mind controlling drugs. You may have caused the rocket to explode mid-air, but the gas still gets t...ack!"

Before Silver could finish his sentence, Goku had already expelled enough of the gas to punch him square in the face, knocking him off his feet. Unfortunately for the Saiyan and fortunately for his opponent though, he hadn't fully regained his strength yet and only managed to knock out the Colonel rather than decapitating him.

"We'll take it from here Colonel Silver! Let's see how tough you are against all three of us monkey boy!" came another familiar voice belonging to none other than Thirteen, causing a satisfying smirk to appear on the Saiyan warrior's face "all is going according to plan." Goku thought.

Turning around, the alien warrior began retreating from the trio, an act that surprised the cyborgs but not enough to stop them from giving chase. No.13, being the more cautious one of the three, began slowing down just in case they were heading for a trap while Fourteen and Fifteen continued running forward. Soon the cyborgs were running at the Saiyan one after another in a line, an opportunity the Saiyan warrior had been waiting for.

Without warning, white aura suddenly flared up all over Goku's body in record high intensity, blinding the hulking killing machine known as Fourteen right after his heel. Spinning around, the Saiyan swung his foot at the cyborg in a speed far surpassing one he had demonstrated back in the motel and caught the pony-tailed attacker in the face with his kick, sending him flying back into the police station where he had come from. Next up was the diminutive bomber Fifteen who had snuck up behind Goku in the brief second the Saiyan took to dispose of Fourteen. The purple-skinned killer was just about to plant an explosive onto Goku's neck when he found a monkey tail wrapped around his hand and before the purple midget could protest, he was flung into a nearby building that then exploded into flames, blown up by No.15's bomb.

In less time than it took for an average human being to blink, the spikey-haired Saiyan had gotten rid of two of Dr. Gero's most fearsome creations and yet he didn't stop right there as he used his momentum to deliver a powerful punch against No.13. Still caught off guard by how fast his target had recovered from the poisonous gas, the ace of the Red Ribbon Army only had enough time to raise his hands to block the incoming strike, which nevertheless still sent him flying into a wall with how strong the punch was.

"How the hell did you manage to overcome that gas monkey boy? I thought Gero's gas had gotten to you?" asked the silver-haired cyborg getting up from the rubbles.

"I have good friends that's why!" was Goku's answer as he held out an empty injection device, the same kind he had used to recover from his headache back on the train. No.13's eyes lit up in anger upon seeing the injection device as he immediately knew what had happened, the Saiyan had injected himself with medicine made by the blondie and was just running away to buy time for it to work. If only he was faster, he could've prevented all this.

"Hmph, not bad, not bad for a failed experiment monkey boy," commented Thirteen clapping his hands in a fake gesture of politeness, "I'll be sure to kill you with full power and then finish off that blonde bitch for real this time!" finished the cyborg. Letting out a battle cry, he began powering up as his mechanical muscles increased in size until it was several times bulkier than it used to be.

"Lazuli is not a bitch you monster!" screamed Goku lunging at his enemy completely unafraid of the cyborg's demonstration of power.

Meanwhile, four people wearing safety masks charged across the battlefield following the trail of destruction the Saiyan had created.

"Wow! I never know this Goku guy is this good!" said Launch in surprise while picking off anyone dumb enough to show their faces. Her loyal partner Tien was right beside her, tossing knives at his opponents with 100% accuracy. Above them, Launch's helpers continued to lay down suppressive fire and shooting more sleeping gas onto the public square.

"See, I told you Goku is the real deal!" replied Lazuli right after shooting a soldier in the head who was unfortunate enough to peek out his head. The same fate would soon befallen on two more Red Ribbon Army goons as the blonde fired off two more shots and watched with satisfaction as their lifeless bodies hit the ground.

"Nice shooting sis!" said the curly haired blonde giving her friend a high-five.

Sixteen meanwhile was watching worriedly from the back. Sure, their crude plan had somehow worked; they were able to take out the snipers in the buildings without getting spotted, kill the firing squad, and Goku was able to hold the cyborgs off, but that wasn't what worried him the most. It was seeing his friend, the always gentle and kind Lazuli who didn't even knew how to hold a weapon properly just days ago finishing off opponents mercilessly today. The orange-haired giant could only hope this change in her personality was only temporarily, that she would revert back to her normal state after rescuing her brother.

Suddenly, Sixteen felt a burning pain and found his left arm had just been grazed by a bullet. Before he could spot his shooter though, Lazuli was on his attacker already, emptying an entire clip of pistol rounds onto the poor fellow.

"Get yourself together Sixteen! Now isn't the time to be distracted!" shouted his blonde savior shooting him a worried look.

"Don't worry about me Lazuli, just concentrate on saving Lapis for now!" reassured the gentle giant.

Soon the band of rescuers had made their way to where Lapis was at. Looking at her brother's bruised and battered face, Lazuli had to fight back tears as she reached for a knife and began cutting her brother loose. "They will all pay, every single one of them will burn in hell for messing with my family!" thought the blonde.

Just as she was about to release Lapis from his confines though, the raven-haired man's eyes suddenly snapped opened and before his sister knew what had happened, he had plunged a knife into her shoulder. A searing pain like no other burned on her shoulder and Lazuli's fighting instinct suddenly kicked in as she pushed the young man away from her.

"Lapis, what has gotten into you? I am your sister remember? It's me Lazuli!" asked the blonde woman trying to hold back tears not sure what's hurting more, the knife stuck on her shoulder or her brother attacking her.

"Oh I'm not your brother you little bitch!" came a familiar voice from Lapis's mouth, which sounded nothing like the young man. It took Lazuli a few seconds to find out to whom the familiar voice belonged to, her answer coming out of her mouth with a surprise yell "Gero!"

"Heh, that's right you traitor, it is your old boss Dr. Gero. You can consider that knife wound a payback for what you did to me!" said the mad doctor in Lapis's body, "oh, and don't you think I'm done with you, cause I'm about to get way more than even!" finished Gero before brandishing a machinegun and pointed it at Lazuli. It was only through Sixteen's quick movement that he was able to snatch his friend from harms' reach and hid them behind a destroyed tank

The Gero controlled Lapis began firing at the rescue party hiding behind the tank while laughing like a maniac. Many times Lazuli considered shooting the gun away from Lapis's hand but wouldn't dare pulling the trigger least she ended up hurting her brother more than she had to.

"What's the matter Eighteen? Don't you want to rescue your brother? Well here he is so come and get him!" taunted Dr. Gero as if reading her thoughts while continuing to fire away.

"Tien, can you take out the gun on Lapis's hand? If you can do that we'll be able to charge in and hold down Lapis." Asked Launch to her boyfriend.

"Of course love, I'm on it!" said Tien giving Launch a peck on her lips before untying the red bandana wrapped around his head, revealing a third eye on his forehead and making both Lazuli and Sixteen gasp in surprise.

"Oh, it's Tien's unique ability, his third eye lets him track and anticipate movements better than a cheetah!" said the curly-haired blonde looking at her boyfriend proudly.

The instant the raven-haired man stopped to reload his weapon, Tien made his move and threw his knife at the gun holding hand, piercing the back of his hand. Instead of dropping the gun though, the Gero controlled Lapis began laughing like a maniac once more.

"Nice one you brats, but I'm not Seventeen so not feeling any pain sorry," said Gero controlling his puppet to pull out the knife on his hand before taking another gun from his pocket and pointed it at Lapis's head, "but if you guys decide to attack him again, I'll blow his brain out!" finished the mad doctor as he continued to fire away using Lapis's bleeding hand.

Just as things couldn't possibly look any worse for the rescuers, No.14 and 15 have emerged once more and Dr. Gero quickly noticed it too. "Hey Fourteen and Fifteen, come and help me clean up these filths. Thirteen can hold his own but if we can get these people, then Goku will be forced to surrender." Ordered the doctor and the two cyborgs began charging at their new targets.

Goku and Thirteen were indeed about dead even as their ferocious fight levelled building after building all around them. While the cyborg had a slight upper hand when it came to the strength department, the Saiyan warrior's white aura let him deflect most of the energy attacks and granted him a healing factor that was slowly beginning to overwhelm the fully powered No.13.

"What the fuck is wrong with this monkey boy? He wasn't this hard to deal with just days ago so what had caused the change?" asked the silver-haired cyborg began panicking a bit, his offensive became less thought out and opening up holes in his defenses that the Saiyan warrior quickly took advantage of, landing several powerful blows on his opponent's midsection.

The Saiyan warrior was just about to deliver a crippling blow on Thirteen when suddenly he heard his friends' yelling from the back. Unable to resist the urge to check on them, the Saiyan instead found Tien and Launch battling Fourteen while Sixteen and Lazuli were pinned down behind a tank by none other than Fifteen and to his surprise, Lapis. The thing that really made the Saiyan's blood boil with rage though, was the knife sticking out from the blonde scientist's shoulder. Even with her face covered by the mask, Goku could tell she was under a lot of pain from her eyes.

"What did you do to her?" shouted the Saiyan warrior abandoning his fight against Thirteen and began rushing towards Lapis. The ceasing of attacks didn't go unnoticed by his opponent naturally, who immediately ram his whole body against Goku's unprotected back, sending him into a building.

Not giving his opponent a chance to get back up, the ace of the Red Ribbon Army quickly fired a series of super-charged blasts no weaker than the one he used back on the train. The discharge of so much energy left the silver-haired cyborg feeling a bit shaky but he could tell his attack was well worth it as when the smokes finally cleared, Goku's whole body had been bloodied and his aura much weaker than before.

"What's your problem Lapis?" asked the Saiyan getting back onto his feet and rather than worrying about himself, his eyes were set on the twin brother.

"That's not Lapis Goku, he's being controlled by Gero!" shouted Sixteen coming out of his cover to fire a few shots at Fifteen before ducking back, "just concentrate on your fight and we'll think of something."

The gentle giant's words fooled nobody though, especially not Goku whose well-toned battle instinct told him they were being pushed to a corner. While Tien and Launch were able to fight more or less to a draw with Fourteen with the bald martial artist engaging in a brawl against the mechanical monster while the blonde commando laying down cover fire for her partner and stopping the brute's killer blows with well-placed shots, Sixteen and an injured Lazuli were no match for a Gero controlled Lapis and Fifteen. In fact, the purple-skinned midget wasn't even fighting seriously and was just firing random shots enjoying his foes cowering behind their cover.

"Hey Fifteen, stop screwing around and finish your food already!" barked Thirteen angry at his teammate for goofing around.

"Well alright then, you heard the man!" chuckled No.15 to himself and began to charge up a giant energy bomb.

Sixteen attempted to disrupt the gathering of energy but Gero was quicker and forced the giant back into his hiding place with a few accurate intercepting shots. To make the matter worse, Colonel Silver, who was knocked out cold by Goku, had regained conscious and joined the firefight, the assault rifle in his hand made even standing halfway up difficult.

"Rawrrrr!" the Saiyan let out loud roar and flew at Fifteen without a care in the world, his animal instinct seemingly taken him over, allowing him to shrug off Thirteen's blasts and kept going forward.

If Thirteen was happy the Saiyan's momentary distraction had given him the edge, now he was annoyed beyond words. The elite cyborg had wanted a fair fight, well, fair as long as he still wins in the end. Now that he had the upper-hand though, a proper fight was what he wanted. Several angry veins popped up from his forehead as he began charging at the Saiyan at top speed not wanting to make the same mistake he had made last time.

Just when the Saiyan was about to come within his reach though, his prey suddenly ducked so low that he completely disappeared from sight. What followed was an excruciating pain on his abdomen as Goku delivered an earthshattering blow with his elbow, the sheer force of the Saiyan and Thirteen's incredible speed made the blow even worse and for the first time in his life after being converted into a cyborg, No.13 began to cough out blood. The Saiyan warrior then threw his stunned opponent at Fifteen, infusing his battle ki with the cyborg's body and turning Thirteen into a ki missile.

"Get out of the way Fifteen!" screamed the silver-haired cyborg but it was too late. No.15 was only able to turn his body towards the incoming projectile but not fast enough to dodge it nor neutralizing the energy bomb he had in his hands. The two cyborgs collided and the collision set off the charged up bomb, causing an explosion that engulfed half of the public square.

Lazuli and Sixteen, ironically thanks to being forced to duck under the tank, were completely shielded from the blast. The same couldn't be said about Colonel Silver though, as the infernal set him ablaze. The Gero controlled Lapis was standing a bit further away but was still tossed high into the sky before landing on his head with a loud thud.

Not wasting any time, Lazuli quickly emerged out from her hiding place and rushed towards her fallen brother who had been knocked out cold. In her hurry to check on her twin though, the blonde woman had forgotten to make sure that the coast was clear as the still burning Red Army Colonel slowly raised his rifle with the last remains of his energy. "If I'm going out today, I'm taking you all with me!" said Silver in agony.

An unusual calm came over the elder twin and she immediately turned her back towards Silver, covering her younger twin with her body before drawing her own pistol. Several shots rang through the air and when the smokes were cleared, the blonde had suffered several gunshot wounds on her shoulder and arm while Colonel Silver's still burning body laid motionlessly on the ground.

Meanwhile Launch and Tien, receiving a moral boost from their friends' victory, began attacking Fourteen even harder and if that's not enough, Sixteen also joined the duo. If this was a one versus one situation, No.14 was more than capable of handling anyone of the trio but the combined might of all three proved to be too much for him to handle. His left wrist soon suffered a devastating blow from Tien's palm strike before a shot from Launch blew the injured hand off. No.16 then took the opening and kicked him in the left side of the neck, making the cyborg's half-mechanical brain freeze up for a brief second as the strike had severed several crucial wires.

Sensing victory was at hand, the three-eyed warrior leapt up in the air and drop kicked the dazed cyborg in the neck, throwing his entire body onto the attack. No.14's eyes shot wide opened but wasn't able to mutter a single word, not that he ever said anything anyways, before his body gave out and his knees hit the ground.

"Well, this sure was a tough opponent," said Launch panting heavily, the barrel of her gun now smoking hot and burning red with how many rounds had been fired.

"I don't think it's over yet Launch," commented Tien looking at Fourteen trying to get back up on his feet but the damage to his neck was too great and the hulking monster remained kneeling on the ground. So instead, the not-so-dead cyborg raised his working right hand and started shooting red energy orbs at the trio, forcing them to duck for cover.

"Oh great, what are we supposed to do now?" asked Launch, her overheated gun had ceased working and Tien's throwing knives simply wouldn't penetrate No.14's armor.

As if on cue, a lone figure with long messy hair emerged from the building right behind Fourteen. "Fear not lady, Yamcha's here to the rescue!" yelled the desert bandit before leaping off the floor and aimed his extended leg right at No.14's neck, "Wolf Fang Kick!" he called out his attack just as his foot crashed through the cyborg's neck, decapitating his ponytailed enemy.

"So what did I miss?" asked Yamcha cockily with his hands on his waist.

"A lot actually, but I'm glad you showed up in time for the finishing blow, good job Yamcha!" teased Launch but in reality she was glad the goofy bastard is alive. Both she and Tien could tell the dead militias on TV belonged to Yamcha and had been wondering all night if the desert bandit himself was dead.

"Well, the hero always shows up last second right?" proclaimed Yamcha proudly when suddenly he felt a dark shadow cast over him and turned around to find the headless No.14 finally getting up on his feet and reached his right hand at him. Thankfully for him, Sixteen was faster and shot a RPG at the cyborg, blowing it up for good.

"You are welcome Yamcha." Also teased No.16.

Goku could see his companions were getting the job done and a smile emerged from his tired face but he dared not celebrate too soon. For some reason, he could still sense Thirteen's energy inside the explosion and sure enough, the now completely hairless and shirtless cyborg slowly emerged out from the flames, his black boxer once again being the only clothing on him.

"Not too shabby monkey boy, you actually managed to destroy Fifteen with that move but it will take much more to destroy me!" bragged Thirteen although he was looking much worse than he sounded as wires could be seem sticking out of his body.

"Let's get this over with then hairless boy." Snapped Goku back tired of being called a "monkey" and took up battle stance as did No.13.

Both fighters eyed each other as if they were gun slingers in an old western, knowing full well with the amount of damage they had endured, the next strike will most likely be their last. The hairless cyborg was the first one to make his move, his muscles bulging up again as red electric currents surrounded his body and he charged at his foe. The Saiyan warrior began gathering ki on his right hand, his eyes calculating the distance between him and his attacker to decide when to deliver the fatal blow.

The spikey-haired Saiyan threw the punch the moment No.13 was one more step from reaching him. The cyborg saw through the obvious attack though, and shifted his head sideways dodging the punch before grabbing Goku's extended arm and twisted it with all his strength, breaking the Saiyan's arm from his elbow.

"Score, now all I have to do is circle behind him and snap his neck," thought Thirteen with a smirk on his face knowing victory was at hand.

Too bad for the ace of the Red Ribbon Army though, the ki charged punch to the face had been a distraction and the real killing blow landed on No.13's already injured abdomen. Although the Saiyan's fist wasn't powered by ki, his raw physical strength was still more than enough to tear through the already cracked robotic armor and his entire left hand ended up cleaving Thirteen in half.

"No...no fucking way...me, the ace lost against a lab monkey?" asked Thirteen to himself before his eyes lost their signs of life and his upper torso stopped moving completely.

Goku collapsed onto the ground holding his broken right arm, trying not to groan in pain too much. He had won, the cyborgs were all defeated, and most importantly, Lazuli's twin brother was safe. The Saiyan could see his friends running towards him and soon found himself surrounded by familiar faces plus a wild looking man he had never seen before.

"Thanks Goku, we couldn't have done this without you." Said Lazuli with tears in her eyes while carrying her unconscious twin by his shoulder.

"Yeah no shit dude, glad to see someone putting that mechanical monster to his place. Serves him right for breaking my palms." Said the wild man who the Saiyan later found out to be Yamcha.

"Yeah Yamcha, it's a good thing your Wolf Fang technique works with your feet too," this time it was Tien chiming and patting his friend on the back.

While everyone was busy celebrating, Sixteen, the most stoic of the gang was keeping his ears opened and he didn't like what he was hearing at all. "We need to get moving folks! The Red Ribbon Army is sending reinforcements!" he announced.

Not a moment too soon, a tank bearing the Red Ribbon Army logo crashed through a burning building. The exhausted rescue party looked on at the tank and wondered even if they could take this vehicle out, how were they supposed to deal with more reinforcements that were sure to follow. Rather than firing at Goku and company or row them over though, the top hatch popped opened, revealing a purple-haired woman with an annoyed look on her face.

"What are you waiting for Sixteen, get your sorry asses inside or else I'm leaving!" shouted her.

"Violet, is that you?" asked the gentle giant amazed his contact had indeed showed up.

"Well duh, who else could it be? Also it's Colonel Violet, make sure you get that right!" shouted the woman.

The orange-haired giant's friends were staring at the two, surprised Sixteen had a Red Ribbon Army colonel friend all along but didn't complain much. All they knew was if she was with Sixteen, then she could be trusted. The gang quickly loaded their casualties into the tank before driving off into the sunset. By the time Red Ribbon Army's real reinforcement had arrived, they found nothing other than hundreds of dead soldiers, three dead cyborgs, and a Colonel Silver burned to a crisp.

Author's Note: Phew, this chapter took way way longer than I originally thought. To be frank, I have never written a combat scene this extensive and involving this many characters before and I hope the battle scenes connect well with each other.

A special thanks to:

777torn777 for supporting this fanfiction and letting me know the parts that stood out in each chapter. Your reviews are brief but to the point.

Dizzystrogg for leaving very detailed reviews and letting me know what you liked about each chapter and looked forward to seeing next. Your inputs have given me quite a few good ideas on how to continue.

zmacit73 for reading this story and leaving good reviews. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Also thanks to all my other readers who continues to read this fanfiction. Do let me know what you guys want to see or think about this story. Until next time.