Chapter 11: Come Together

Sunday 13th November Age 797

As per usual, Vegeta had been training in his gravity chamber. Darting around the place under intense conditions, hitting targets and avoiding blasts. Training, the only way the prince new how to; by putting himself in dangerous situations. Once he had finished, he grabbed a towel, wiped himself down, grabbed his bottle of water, made sure to stay hydrated, and then he left the chamber. As he walked through the halls, heading towards the showers to get cleaned off and freshen up after another intense situation, he could hear a weird sound nearby.

It was a sort of whirring, almost robotic sound. It wasn't natural whatever it was, and it didn't belong in those halls. Vegeta was all too familiar with his home so whenever something was unusual or out of place, he certainly knew about it. He kept his eyes and ears on the lookout for whatever happened next, ready to either have to fight or defend himself, even though there wasn't any Ki. With everything that had happened in West City, and Satan City, Vegeta couldn't help feeling slightly on edge. He hoped nothing would threaten his family, and he was prepared for anything to come his way.

Vegeta started to lock on to the whirring sound and he rounded a corner, coming face to face with some sort of drone, with a camera. The drone made no effort to fly away or avoid the Prince, it just stayed in the air, hovering right in front of him. Vegeta scowled into the camera and lifted a hand, grabbing the front of the drone, and he simply crushed it. The machine fell to the ground, broken. Vegeta scooped it up and walked on through the halls.

He arrived in the lab, where Bra and Dom were busy working on whatever they were working on. The Prince dumped the drone on a table, with a loud thud, gripping the attentions of his daughter and her boyfriend.

"I found this in the hall, is it one of yours?" Vegeta asked. Bra walked over and looked at it.

"Definitely not Capsule Corp., this is a terrible design," Bra said, scoffing and turning to her boyfriend. "Dom, come and see what you can salvage from this thing."

"It was flying through our halls," Vegeta elaborated. Bra's brow furrowed and Dom shrugged as he walked over and looked down at it. "Well, figure it out, I need to shower."

Vegeta turned and left, leaving the youngsters to deal with it.

"Do you see anything that can identify it?" Bra asked.

"It seems similar to King's Systems tech, so something to do with the Royals," Dom said, looking at the computer. "It's a surveillance drone of some sort, let me see if I can figure out why it was here…" Dom said, as he started to access the history of instructions within the machine. Bra walked away to her computer.

"I'll send a message to someone at King's Systems, see if they can help identify it," Bra said, as she got to work on writing an email.

They'll figure all that stuff out by themselves, no problems. But meanwhile, somewhere else in West City, and by somewhere else, I mean Noca's and Pan's apartment. Noca was in the bedroom, just sitting at the edge of the bed, contemplating the decision he had made, and the people that had been put at risk because of his arrogance and belief in himself. He couldn't allow it to go on, and Holline was right. Not everyone was going to be his enemy.

Pan gently knocked on the door and entered the room.

"You still sure about this?" Pan asked, leaning on the door frame.

"I think so. They want what we want; to stop all this shit from continuing," Noca replied, sighing and standing up. He looked to his girlfriend and smiled weakly. "Should have done this sooner," Noca said, fiddling with his left wrist, the one that had been broken. (I totally didn't forget about it).

"Better now than never, huh?" Pan questioned, smiling weakly back at her boyfriend. He scoffed and nodded. He moved his fingers slightly, almost trying to clench into a fist, but it seemed to cause him some discomfort. "Don't make it worse than it already is," Pan said, walking over and gently taking his hand in hers.

"We should probably get going," Noca said, grabbing his jacket, opting for just his casual navy-blue bomber jacket, accompanied by a white t-shirt with a small Capsule Corp. logo on the left side of the chest, a pair of black jeans with his white trainers. It was a casual outfit because it was all he needed.

Pan was also dressed casually. Pan was wearing a baggy red t-shirt, which she had tucked into her light blue jeans that stopped a little above the ankle, accompanied by a brown belt, and she was wearing her black, white, and red high-top trainers. Pan threw on a black leather jacket over the top.

They were ready to leave, and Pan was about to switch off the television but there was some breaking news happening.

"No one is sure what caused the explosion in the house but there was been quite some severe damage and we can confirm that both occupants were killed. We can confirm their identities as Karen Marshall and Daniel Garrett," the news reporter explained. Two photos popped up onscreen and Noca stopped, looking dead at the TV.

"What is it? Another attack?" Pan questioned.

"Daniel Garrett was the person Officer Aman was going to look for, and Karen Marshall was one of the receptionists at Alpha that day," Noca explained, hooked on the screen.

"Earlier on we were able to speak to Rushan Kalari, a member of the King's Secret Service, as he was visiting these premises as part of the investigation into what has been going on in West City and Satan City. He was accompanied by a West City Police Officer by the name of Dean Aman. They couldn't give us any other details but said the explosion itself had been caused by Daniel Garrett in what can only be described as a suicide bombing," the reporter continued.

"Aman is working with the Secret Service now?" Pan asked, looking to Noca. He was fixated on-screen. He saw some details on the screen such as Karen Marshall being a part of management staff at the Alpha Industries compound and her husband, Daniel Garrett a former employee of the company, meaning that the public may start to suspect Alpha.

"This may help the case against Alpha," Noca said, turning to Pan. "We should head to Satan City."

That's exactly what they did. They flew over to Satan City quickly, it wouldn't take them long and it gave Holline the chance to get ready because she would definitely want to be involved, considering that the Secret Service had basically targeted her as well.

They met up at Holline's home and the three of them travelled to the Satan City park. Walking through the city was different to what it had been like in the past. Considering it was a Sunday, the streets were almost completely empty. Aside from people going about some ordinary tasks, such as going to the store, and people that worked on Sundays, the streets were quiet. The city had experienced tragedy. The first attack saw only one death, but a death, nonetheless. The second attack led to people being injured. But the third attack, that was the one that people really felt. Many people were killed in that double attack.

The city had certainly seen destruction at times, and Noca had certainly contributed to some of that, but this was truly a strange time for everyone. Noca felt like he shouldn't be walking down those streets. He still felt that he was very much one of the reasons why those deaths had happened, even if his friends tried to assure him it wasn't the case, and that they were just as complicit, Noca couldn't shake the feeling. It wasn't an unfamiliar feeling though. Noca seemed to have been plagued by guilt ever since he left his home all those years ago.

The trio soon approached the makeshift headquarters that the Secret Service had set-up in the park. A park that once thrived and looked beautiful all year around, now it was looking far worse for wear. There were barriers put up to stop civilians from entering, and the trio noticed a lot of flowers had been left. Photos of victims of the attack. Candles were burning. There were a couple of civilians around, but they were keeping their distance at that point.

One of the members of the team was standing out by the barrier, rifle in hand, blocking anyone from entering. It was the medical officer, Abe Halaya. He did a double take and pushed his glasses up when he saw Noca and friends. He beckoned for them to approach.

"Have you come to turn yourselves in?" He asked, seemingly confused as to why Noca and friends would show up, voluntarily. "The Captain will certainly be happy about that."

"We're not gonna turn ourselves in," Noca said, almost offended by that comment. He remained composed. "We want to hand over all the information we have so we can help sort all of this out."

Abe Halaya seemed lost for words in that moment and fumbled around to get his communicator.

"Hey, so, that Noca and his friends have shown up, for some reason…" Abe said, awkwardly into his communicator. Nobody answered but from back at the main part of their HQ, the truck, a woman stepped out. It was Brie Wagasi. She walked up to the trio.

"My Captain really isn't happy with you guys, you shouldn't have run off like that the other day," She said, almost lecturing them. Holline stepped up.

"He attacked us! We're not bad guys," Holline snapped. Brie was taken aback by that, but she was used to people being defensive and she stood strong.

"He wants the two of you arrested," Brie said, turning to Pan, her face turning to one of confusion. "Who's this?"

"I'm Pan," She answered, giving a little awkward wave.

"She knows everything," Noca confirmed. Brie was about to say something else, but Cas Babka stepped out of the truck.

"You!" He yelled, thundering over and taking out his pistol, aiming it at the teens. They all stood their ground and, even though none of the Secret Service could feel it, the teens had raised their power levels to protect against any shots. "I'm glad you came here, save me the trouble of hunting you down."

Babka brought himself face-to-face with Noca, both men were glaring at each other.

"I'm willing to work with you," Noca said, trying to ease the tension and get to the point.

"Ha, us, working with you?" Babka questioned, laughing in Noca's face. "Now why would I want to work with a criminal?" Babka said, gripping his gun.

"Because I know more than you," Noca replied.

Babka didn't like that and he continued to glare right at the boy. It was only the sound of a nearby car door slamming and rushing footsteps that brought everyone back to reality. Everyone turned to where the sound had come from and saw Rushan Kalari and Dean Aman rushing over.

"What's going on?" Dean asked, going straight to Noca. "Are you all ok?" He asked the trio. They all nodded but were very confused. Babka shared that confusion.

"I told you to arrest him, and I see you on the news with him! What's going on, Rushan?" Babka asked his subordinate.

"Look sir, he came willingly, and, boy, there's a lot to this that we've missed," Rushan said, turning to Dean.

"Sir, there's a very, very strong case to be made against Alpha Industries. Their fingerprints are all over these attacks," Dean said, presenting his notebook. Noca stepped up beside him.

"Did you make any progress?" Noca asked. Dean turned to him and scoffed.

"Not as much as I hoped, you?" Dean replied. Noca shook his head. Holline stepped forward.

"Actually, we can identify one other person involved," Holline clarified. Everyone turned to her. "Shai…" she said, acting like Noca should have known that, sending him a questioning look.

"Another person from the tournament?" Babka asked, "There's a lot of you involved in this thing."

"That's not all," Noca said, Babka looked at him again, his eyes still full of animosity. "They probably came to the tournament to gauge my power and to try and beat me, they're committing these attacks to try and draw me out," Noca explained, feeling like there was no other explanation for everything going on.

"What?" Dean asked.

"As I have explained to Dean, and Pan and Holline know this, I have come into contact with the COO of Alpha before, I have encountered their tech before, I have had a few altercations with Shai in the past, and I'm starting to believe there's a lot more going on over there than we know," Noca said, dropping everything he believed would connect those attacks to him specifically. "I don't want any of this, but for some reason I think I'm at the centre."

There was an uneasy silence. Babka looked over Dean's notes.

"Three Alpha employees dead, one seen in Soniso bank, one had the getaway car in his name and tried to blow himself up, killing his wife, and four martial artists attacking Satan City on three separate occasions," Babka said, mulling over everything. "There's certainly evidence against them, but there's not much to go on."

Noca pulled attention back to himself.

"The Alpha tech I encountered a few years back was able to give people increased power, seemingly out of nowhere. At the time that machine was providing Shai with a lot of power that wasn't naturally his own, now, it's different, he has more power, but it feels almost real," Noca explained, but soon realised the concept of energy was probably lost of these people. He sighed, until someone stepped up to help him.

"You mean like Ki energy?" Brie asked. Noca looked up in surprise.

"Exactly," Noca said, "It's where we get our power from," Noca elaborated, motioning to himself, Pan, and Holline.

"It's still not enough to go on," Babka reiterated. Noca hung his head and sighed. He put his hands on his hips and scoffed.

"If it were up to me, I'd burst through the Alpha Industries main entrance and get an answer out of Teki myself," Noca said, in muttered low tone.

"Well, it's not up to you, and that would be a criminal offence," Babka replied. Noca scoffed again and looked up.

Before anymore words could be said there was a sudden spike in energy nearby and the Ki users all looked amongst each other and then turned to look behind them. All of them seemed spooked by something and it only confused the people who weren't able to sense Ki.

"What is it?" Dean asked, reaching for his gun.

Noca looked up as two figures dropped out of the sky. Two large men, wearing black gear, similar to the soldiers that had attacked Soniso bank. They were both large in stature and looked strong. The Ki coming off of them was familiar. It was Joji and Shai. Noca, Pan, and Holline all readied themselves for a fight, raising their Ki but keeping their auras hidden.

Shai and Joji were both wearing similar masks, but somehow the trio could feel who was who. Babka, Brie, and Abe all readied their weapons. Rushan and Dean slowly drew their pistols but felt they would need better weapons if a fight was to break out.

"You all need to get back," Noca said quietly, speaking back to the Secret Service members and Dean. "We can handle these guys."

Shai and Joji didn't do anything. They just stood their ground, silently, as if they were waiting for something to happen. Babka didn't like the order from Noca and walked forward, but not too far.

"What do you assholes want?" He asked, yelling over to the two men. Neither of them replied. It was a very strange and awkward situation. Babka was close to losing his cool.

"Captain, fall back!" Brie called out to him. Babka scoffed and kept his eyes on the two strangers. Within the next thirty seconds, four big black vans pulled up and out of each van emerged about twenty men, adding up to eighty or more in the end. They all had rifles and aimed them towards the Secret Service, Dean, and the trio of fighters. Babka went for his gun but started to step back.

One of the strangers lifted his hand, the trio of fighters knew it was Shai. He pointed towards Noca.

"We want the Saiyan," Shai called out. Noca and Pan both winced at hearing their species' name said out loud, around people who didn't know what that meant. Noca stepped forward, walking past Babka and flashed Super Saiyan immediately, flaring up his aura.

"Come and get me then!" Noca said, the tone of his voice turning to one of anger and frustration. He had had enough.

"Whenever you're ready," Shai said, very quietly, so Noca couldn't hear, because he wasn't talking to Noca. He was talking into an earpiece that was underneath his mask.

Up on a building, not too far away from the scene, looking down over the park, two more people were waiting. Yaiko and Sofia. Yaiko had his headphones on and was sitting, legs dangling over the side, head bobbing along to a song. Sofia took off her earpiece and crushed it. She walked to Yaiko and nudged him gently with her foot. He took his headphones down and stood up, looking at her.

"It's time for you prove yourself," Sofia said, sounding almost strict but her face was telling a different story. She looked down at Yaiko and saw that the soft expression he normally wore was gone, replaced by something more… fierce. He was angry, broken, and determined. It was new and it was exactly what they had all hoped to see, but Sofia didn't like it. She sighed. "Remember, he killed your father, the only family you had. He's the reason you're alone."

As Sofia said the words, she felt wrong. Yaiko was never alone but she had been instructed that those were the best words to use. The trigger words, essentially. This was all part of a plan that had long been in motion. Yaiko was about to step up. He had turned down the mask and lifted up his hood. He tossed his headphones to the side and stepped up to the edge of the building, looking down on the scene. He stared at the park. His eyes fixated on that one target.

"I'm ready," Yaiko said, clenching his fists.

Back on the ground, Noca was moving into a stance ready to take on Shai and Joji, but taking everyone by surprise, there was another spike of energy from the top of a building and a Ki blast exploded down on the ground, right by everyone. It didn't hit anyone, but it did kick up a dust cloud that impaired vision temporarily.

That meant Noca was completely open when Yaiko had blasted down and grabbed onto the Saiyan, taking him into park, crashing through loads of trees and coming out of the other side in another part of the city. He released Noca and the Saiyan went flying back into a building, crashing through a wall. Pan and Holline turned to try and go after him but both Shai and Joji charged from their positions and the girls had to defend against them.

As Shai crashed into Pan's defence, and Joji into Holline's, there was a call made for the soldiers to open fire. All of the black-suited soldiers began to shoot towards the Secret Service and Dean, whom all had to jump behind cover as they were woefully outnumbered and unprepared for that conflict.

Shai and Joji began their fights with Pan and Holline, and the firefight had begun between the soldiers and the Secret Service. Noca was taken away from the scene by a newly enraged Yaiko, and Sofia remained on top of that building.

The real attack had begun.

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