Hey guys! Sorry for the slightly longer wait for this chapter, things have been a bit manic since I've returned to work and I just haven't had the time or the energy to write. I haven't got a head start on the next one yet either, so there may be a bit of a wait for the next one – although I am starting it today so you might get lucky!
I hope you enjoy and please leave a review with your thoughts and any feedback is always appreciated.
Hana groaned as she was pulled from her slumber by an invasive bleeping sound. Reaching blindly towards the floor she felt around for her communication devise and, upon finding it shot up when she realised that the annoying tone had been messages from Bogart instructing her to come to the workshop immediately.
"Of course, he's probably pissed off he's only getting one bloody battery'" she thought to herself as she ran a hand through her messy silvery hair.
Reluctantly rolling out of bed Hana made her way to the tiny toilet and shower room, adjacent to the rest of her studio style flat. Stripping off her clothes she showered as quickly as she could in the chilly water before making her way back into the main room to get ready as quickly as possible before grabbing a thin hooded jacket heading out the door pulled her hood up as she went.
Hana rubbed her head as she walked up the crowded streets towards the workshop. There were so many powerful Ki signatures all over the city today, and having so many invading her senses all at once was just overwhelming, even more so with how tired she was from the previous day. Reducing the radius at which she could detect Ki to just within a few feet of herself she felt like an enormous pressure had been lifted from her head.
She was the opposite side of the city to where the Colds ship had been, and it was so crowded with various aliens she was confident she could travel around reasonably undetected provided she was careful. As soon as she had dealt with the shit storm that Bogart no doubt had in store for her she intended to lay low for a few days and let herself rest and recover. The planet already belonged to the Planet Trade Organisation and held a key strategic placement for them, so it was highly unlikely the Cold's would be so reckless as to destroy the planet over one stolen ship battery. They'd probably search for a day or so, then leave and get back to whatever it was they were doing before they landed on planet.
Walking into the workshop Hana frowned slightly when she found it to be vacant of mechanics and workers. Nevertheless, hands stuffed into her pockets she continued to stride across the shop floor full of partial vehicles, tools and engine parts. Reaching the door to the office she paused, Bogart was already in the office. As was Zee but his Ki felt... anxious? She could also sense Jungo who felt suitably panicked as well, and she wouldn't be at all surprised if she never saw him again, the poor kid was probably traumatised.
Drawing in a deep breath Hana knocked and then pushed the door open, striding into the cluttered room. Glancing around her eyes settled immediately on Zee, who looked as anxious as his Ki felt, her eyes drifted past Jungo to Bogart who had an almost stoic look about him, his toad like hands clasped together over his desk. Making her way across the room Hana settled herself in a chair across from her toad like boss as the room remained silent for a moment.
"Sir... about the batteries, we can..." she was cut off when he raised a mottled hand to silence her. Sighing, he typed something out on his communicator before placing it back into a draw and closing it. He looked up and moved his gaze over each one of them in turn.
"You'll appreciate..." he started, his voice slow "that there was no other option" he spoke carefully causing Hana to frown slightly. "Is he on about the batteries? Oh course we had no option"She begun to think to herself, but she was pulled from her thoughts when Bogart emitted a long sigh.
"Why didn't you get the car, or just blow the damned thing up?" he questioned rhetorically, rubbing his temples as if he had a headache. "The car?" At that moment Hana felt her blood run cold. Her eyes widened and she turned to look over to Zee she could tell that he hadn't caught up yet, but he had read by her expression and knew that there was something very, very wrong. Poor Jungo had felt so worried before, she wasn't entirely sure if he'd worked it out yet or not. The car belonged to the workshop, and if anyone had come across it and looked up where it was registered to...
"Zee, we need to go" Hana rushed to her feet but then immediately froze in her tracks, her eyes looking beyond the wall behind Bogart, panic evident all over her face.
"I'm sorry Hana" Bogart didn't really sound very sorry at all. He sounded like he was fed up of dealing with a massive inconvenience and wanted it over and done with as soon as possible.
Hana's body shook with rage as she moved her senses around the various Ki signatures that had now surrounded the building. Among them was the Icejin she'd fought yesterday, and she could feel his presence entering the front of the workshop.
"You fucking sold us out" Hana spat accusingly, glaring at Bogart who didn't look the slightest bit guilty by the accusation. Unease thick on her mind Hana turned as the door to the office swung open, revealing the last being in the universe she wanted to see; The purple Icejin from the previous day. She couldn't help but note that had to duck to get his tall figure through the doorway. His eyes searched her out and he glared directly at her as he entered the room, while Zee shifted in his chair in surprise. Hana was pretty sure Jungo was about to die of panic as she heard him start to hyperventilate.
Rage boiling up Hana launched her upper body across the table, grabbing the traitorous toad by the scruff of the neck and dragging him across the table towards her. She was about to land a punch straight to his face when she froze, arm still drawn back, turning to see the purple being standing perfectly still, a ball of light charged and ready in his hand and pointing directly at Jungo.
"I really couldn't care less if you kill the toad, but he's made a deal with my father, so if you do your friend here will die too" if was the first time she had heard him speak, as his deep, confident voice filled the room. Jaw clenched Hana hesitantly let go of Bogart, letting him slip hurriedly back into his chair which he immediately rolled back slightly in a bid to make sure she couldn't reach him again.
Hana didn't sit down as she turned her face back towards the Icejin, fists clenched, battling to keep her tone as calm as possible she spoke "what is it you want?"
She could hear the bitterness in her own voice and knew the others would too, but they hadn't been killed, nor had there been an attempt to kill or even attack them yet, which indicated to Hana that something else was going on here. She suspected it was probably to do with whatever 'deal' Bogart had made with King Cold.
The Icejin snarled at her, curling his lip to reveal sharp looking fangs before he continued, his blast still aimed at Jungo who had his arms covering his head in a desperate but pointless bid to try and protect himself; "Idon't want anything. If it were up to me you'd all have been executed already," glancing around at the four of them his eyes rested briefly on Bogart, indicating quite clearly that he wouldn't be off the hook either.
"However. My father wishes to speak to you and has agreed to pardon this..." he waved his spare hand as he searched for the word "establishment in exchange for the three of you" he turned back towards Hana, who didn't need to have any kind of sensory powers to know that he clearly disagreed with what his father had decided. "This must be Cooler or Friezer then..." she though to herself as she surveyed him cautiously.
"And what exactly are we being exchanged for? What happens to us after he gets his pardon'" she questioned as she narrowed her eyes at him as she threw a glance at the dirty window behind Bogart, eyes briefly meeting Zee's before she returned her gaze to the Icejin.
"That's for you to discuss with my father when you all come with me." he waved a hand vaguely toward Jungo and Bogart "Couldn't be more straight forward" The Icejin added, his voice laced with boredom as his tail flicked from one side of him to the other.
Hana returned her eyes to Zee, who met her gaze before her eyes turned again pointedly to the window beyond Bogart. Zee had hopefully picked up on her non-verbal cue. Hana felt a pang of guilt in her chest when she heard a sob escape Jungo. He'd likely not cope too well with a cross fire, and there were many henchmen outside but she couldn't see any other way out. She doubted very much that what the Icejin had said was genuine and was fairly certain he was simply retrieving them so King Cold could execute them himself, from what she had heard he was the eccentric type and very much liked to make an example out of any who crossed him.
Letting her Ki increase slowly, so as not to give anything away Hana turned her ruby coloured eyes towards the Icejin. He wasn't that far away from her, if she was quick, they may just be able to pull this off.. Just.
Moving at exactly the same time Hana grabbed the back of her chair she had previously been sitting on and hurled it at the Icejin, just as Zee grabbed Jungo with his two right hands, yanking him out of the way of the blast let off by the Icejin as the thrown chair fell apart upon contact with his armoured forearm into nothing more than splinters of cheap wood. Zee fired a blast through the window behind Bogart who yelled as dirty glass and debris showered down on him, his arms desperately trying to cover his head.
Using the commotion to her advantage, Hana leapt forward and landed a fierce blow to the Icejins jaw, following up with a blast to the chest with her other hand that sent him crashing through the thin wall behind him. With Jungo under his arm Zee disappeared out of the broken window, with Hana in hot pursuit as Bogart yelled unheard obscenities at their retreating forms.
Once out of the building they were immediately showered with blasts from above as they dodged through the air. Hana shot upwards, slamming a knee into the gut of one of the Icejins men, before grabbing hold of him by his chest armour and hurling his body with all her might into a second foe sending them both crashing backwards. Zee remained close behind her they flew upwards hoping to seek safety among the taller buildings of the city. Hana heard Zee collide and turned to see him locked together with what appeared to be a being of the same species as him.
Holding a screaming Jungo under his spare arm he seemed to be struggling to match the punches being thrown at him whilst also keeping a firm hold of Jungo. Hana dove downward and slammed the back of her heel into the back of the opponent sending him spiralling towards the ground.
Landing briefly on a nearby roof top Hana and Zee manoeuvred so that they were back to back and returned fire on the Icejins men, all of whom were wearing near identical white and blue armour. Jungo cowered on the ground between their legs as they quickly deflected the low level blasts, fiercely returning their own.
A stray blast hit the ground just ahead of Hana's feet causing Jungo to squeal, springing to his feet he started to sprint away across the rooftop, arms desperately trying the shield his head.
"No! Jungo! Stay down!" Hana yelled as she turned and went to grab him. Her fingertips just brushed his arm but he was too fast for her to get a proper hold of. Another blast grazed across the front of her shoulder, shredding the thin material of her shirt and burning the skin beneath causing her to cry out and stumble slightly.
She gripped at her injured shoulder, which she could already feel blistering from the intense heat when she turned in horror to see Jungo, face down in the dirt, his head to the side and eyes blank with a hole blasted though his back and a dark stain of blood slowly spreading over his clothing. Trying to quickly regain herself Hana felt Zee suddenly push her hard from the back out of the way of another blast.
The Icejins men had previously been using non-fatal, low level attacks, but were quickly starting to amp up the power as they continued to fight back. Standing and fighting simply wasn't working anymore, they were far too outnumbered.
"We need to split up!" Zee yelled as he pushed Hana again, further away from him. Her brain didn't even have the time to process if it was a good idea or not as she launched herself off the roof and took flight between the tightly packed buildings, feeling the presence of Zee fleeing in the other direction.
She dodged some lesser blasts that showered down from above and span though the air, her back to the ground and face to the sky to return a blast of her own to the attacking alien. Turning back to face the ground she turned a sharp corner into a smaller alley, keeping up the pace as best she could in the small and winding streets.
Suddenly a large shadow appeared on the ground along side her own, and Hana turned her head to see the figure of the Icejin directly above her, keeping pace from above the top of the buildings. She dodged the first blast, then the second but with inadequate room to move out of the way got caught on in the explosion of the third one, sending her flying through the air and crashing through the entranceway of a nearby building in a cloud of dust and debris. As she crashed through the door her body hit the shop counter with a thud, much to the shock of the poor shop owner as she crumpled to the ground.
Hana coughed as she pushed herself to her feet, gasping and winching as she held her injured side, her shoulder stinging as dust settled into the open burn. Knowing that the Icejin was descending down down towards ground level she rolled over the counter and allowed herself to sink to the floor leaning against the other side of it, hidden from view of the door way. Not that such a hiding place would hinder the Icejin for very long.
She wiped a trickle of blood away from her forehead with the back of her arm to keep it from getting in her eyes as the terrified shop keeper to her left stuttered as his body stiffened in panic as she heard heavy footsteps enter the building.
"I know you're in here. Come quietly and there's no one need for you to get hurt" the familiar deep voice sounded from the door way. "Bullshit" Hana mumbled to herself under her breath, not moving an inch.
A crash sounded behind her made her flinch as one of the ship display units was presumably smashed to pieces.
"Come out now!" the Icejin bellowed over the whimpers of the shop keeper, who remained petrified in his place hands shaking in front of him.
Hana moved herself up onto one knee, but made no effort to move out from behind the counter glancing around for anything that could be even vaguely useful, but coming up with very little. Her breath caught in her throat and she moved her arms up to cover her head, hair blowing around wildly when a section of the counter to her right exploded as a blast tore its way through it. Not being able to sense Ki the Icejin had had no guarantee that the blast wouldn't hit her. Or perhaps he was trying to hit her. Either way, staying where she was wasn't a safe option.
Grabbing the nearest thing to her Hana stood as fast as she could and hurled the tin of food she'd grabbed at the Icejin, before launching herself over the counter and directly at him. The tinned food did about as little as would be expected, and as Hana connected with her tackle the Icejin grabbed her by the back of her clothing and threw her almost casually into the wall to his right.
Smashing through the wall in an explosion of bricks and rubble Hana managed to right herself as she flew through the air, skidding to a stop on her hand and knees, covered in a thick layer of dust. Glaring up at the Icejin their red eyes met for the briefest of moments before she darted to her left hand side towards the window.
As if he had predicted her intentions the Icejin had already surged forward and intercepted her. In a flash he was before her again and Hana barely had the chance to lift both of her arms defensively as he aimed a blow at her head. Blocking the attack with her forearms Hana returned the favour with a punch of her own, only to have her fist caught in a large purple hand.
Gritting her teeth she took a swing with her other hand, only for him to catch that too as each struggled to over power the other. It was very clear in that moment that physically, he had the advantage. Roaring out her frustration Hana sprung forward, connecting her head with his lower lip in a ferocious head butt. Surprised, the Icejin let go of her wrists to press his fingers to his now bleeding lip.
Not having time to acknowledge the headache she'd just given herself Hana blasted the Icejin directly in the chest, with barely enough force to knock him back a few feet before launching herself into the air to smash through the glass fronting of the store. Arms protecting her head, she could feel the sharp shards cut at her skin as she made it back out onto the street.
Knowing she was starting to tire she shot up into the air, but barely made it a few feet when she felt a heavy body slam into her back, tackling her back into the ground. She squirmed and struggled against the heavy for above her, feeling the ache of the Icejins knee pressed hard into her spine. She tried desperately to get out of his grip which only seemed to annoy him more as she felt a strong hand grab her by the back of the neck, pick her up and then slam her back down into the hard ground.
Winded, aching and bleeding Hana tried again to escape from the powerful form above her. Kicking her legs and thrashing around as much as her injured body would let her. Suddenly the ground disappeared from underneath her as she was dragged upwards into the air and high above the city.
She felt the Icejin let go of her and turned her body in the air to face him, the world feeling like it was in slow motion. As she brought herself around and was finally face to face with him her eyes widened as the blast charged in his hand was fired directly into her chest. With no time to even attempt to block it the blast made contact, but the pain was so intense Hana couldn't even scream.
Beyond the agonising pain as the skin on her front burned from the blast, everything else felt like a blur as Hana slowly began to fall back towards the earth. Her vision going blurry and finally fading to black as she lost consciousness, the last thing she saw was the city falling up towards her.