Vegeta sat in the corner like a child being kept out of the parents' way, his wrists still bound together behind him. His legs crossed under him, he watched with a hard, flat expression as more red shirts were added to the cluster at the center of the courtroom. Everywhere else was filled with guards on full alert, ready to lash out at any prisoner who dared to sneeze. On the outer edges of the courtroom, others could be seen tending to their fellows or their own wounds. But mostly, Vegeta's eyes were on Un, separated from the others and surrounded by at least a dozen guards, not even able to move under the amount of whips that held her. Her eyes glimmer and his teeth clenched.

"Pris…Prince Vegeta?" He turned his head, looking up at the guard who had spoke. He recognized his species but couldn't recall the name – biped with a standard body frame, leathery grayish blue-green skin and a thick tuff of feathery orange hair and round eyes. The guard studied him with nervousness and curiosity. "My name is Juri-dur." He gestured with the tray he was carrying. "Must have been some fight. I'm passing out healing supplements, but you look like you could use it even more than most the guards." Vegeta eyed him silently for a moment. Finally his gaze drifted away and he nodded his acceptance. Juri-dur sat the tray aside and crouched down next to him, deactivating the binds. Vegeta pulled his arms out from behind him, waiting as Juri-dur offered him the transparent cup filled with pink liquid. The prince took it and drained it all in a few gulps. "You honestly look like you could use a go in a rejuvenation tank, but those are all occupied with emergency cases."

Vegeta grunted, sitting down the empty glass. "I've been worse."

"I can tell, most people wouldn't still be sitting up in your condition." He took the empty glass back and stood up. "I'll get you some bandages later if you need it. Oh. And here." He reached into one of the pouches on his belt and offered him a little red ball. "You definitely could use a change of clothes."

Vegeta stared at the offered item and shifted his eyes sharply up to the guard. "What do you want, boy?"

"Uh," Juri-dur started slightly, turning his head away with embarrassment, "Nothing, I just…" He looked back at him. "I…was one of the guards fighting to stop the invasion of the Hammer. Some bastard was about to turn my head into a smoking nothing when something took him out…and according to a friend it was you." Vegeta watched him silently as he spoke. "I admit, it's kind a hard for me to wrap my head around…you being who you are…but I see you here being kept by yourself and…well that's enough for me to know." He offered the red sphere to him again. "I know you're probably not the sort who's used to hearing this…or even likes hearing it maybe. But thank you. Thank you for doing what you did. For all of us. Even if no one else says it…I want you to know I'm grateful."

Vegeta was silent for a moment and finally grunted, taking the red ball from him and pressing it to his chest. The red gummy liquid spread over him, absorbing the remains of his old uniform and leaving a fresh, new one in its place. Juri-dur nodded to him, taking his tray and walking away. Vegeta looked off as he left, bringing up a knee and folding his arms, a little more relaxed now as he felt the medicine already beginning to repair his body from the inside. His gaze drifted to the other prisoners, who seemed to be doing quite a lot of staring at Un. Not surprising, after all as far as they knew they had been following the real Nettelish. He could only wonder what that monstrous freak must be thinking now that her secret was out.

The relative quiet of the courtroom was disrupted as the main doors opened and four imposing figures entered – Nevrrest, Oom'Bagu, Horkion, Laswe. Vegeta squinted at them, surprised not to see the plant one there as well. All the prisoners gathered in the center cringed and cowered at the sight of them. But there was one who did not.

"Ehehehehehehehehehe!" Un giggled and laughed at the sight of them.

Laswe's translucent body turned a shade darker, snarling as he darted in her direction. "You have some nerve, you little rat!" he squawked at her, "I outta—!"

He turned silent as Nevrrest held out an arm in front of him, Oom'Bagu standing grimly behind her.

"Tee-hehehe! Tee-hehehe! TEE-HEHEHE!" Un resumed her laugh, the guards binding her looking darker by the moment.

Nevrrest eyed her coldly. "What are you?" she demanded.

"Her name is Un," Oom'Bagu answered, stepping up, "A former covert agent of Frieza. I was able to gather that much from my bond with Vegeta."

"Awww, don't be silly Oom'Bagu," Un purred, flicking an ear at him, "You all know exactly who I am. I'm your friend and fellow justiciar – Nettelish!"

"No you're not!" Horkion lurched at her this time, a hand on his shoulder from Oom'Bagu holding him back, "You murdered Nettelish! Didn't you?!"

"Hehehe…oh Horkion…you were always the smart one," she mocked, tipping her head to the side.

The feathers on the end of Nevrrest's tail fanned out as she stepped forward, holding out a hand palm first. "Step away from it. The Justiciars will handle this."

"It?" Un remarked with curiosity. She glanced up thoughtfully as the guards obeyed, dropping their whips and stepping away from her, the electric binds retaining their hold on her. "I suppose that is technically the appropriate term. But after spending so much time as Nettelish, she really made me feel like a woman."

Oom'Bagu eyed her carefully. "How…long were you assuming Nettelish's form?"

"Oooh, clever, clever, Oom'Bagu," she tittered with a wicked little grin, "I see what you're all about now. You want information! Cause you are so in the dark right now, aren't you?" Her eyes seemed to shift over every single one of them, from justiciar, to guards, to prisoners , and even Vegeta in the far corner. "All of you." Her tiny lips puckered pitifully, shivering her long ears up at the four justiciars. "But why should I help you? I've been your companion all these long years and this is how you treat me?" She tipped her head back, leaning away from them. "I'm hurt and tired and soooo hungry right now…"

"Tsk," Vegeta angrily turned his head to the side as he listened.

Nevrrest's eyes narrowed and she stepped forward, absolutely towering over the tiny creature. "You think that's cute, do you?"

She craned her head back to look up at Nevrrest and her smile turned cruel. "I think that's honest."

"Damn—do you have any idea how much trouble you're in, furball?!" Laswe buzzed past Oom'Bagu, snapping his head down at Un.

"I wouldn't be much of a justiciar if I didn't, now would I, Laswe?" Un mildly returned, shrugging under her binds.

Oom'Bagu's expression darkened. "You have no claim to that title."

"Oh don't I?" She waddled forward, her movement awkward under the binds. Her mouth closed in a nasty smirk. "Hm. Look at you all. My dear friends…so helpless and lost without your Nettelish." She looked off with disinterest. "But again, what reason do I have to help you?"

"How about you answer our goddamn questions or we throw your ass in the gas chamber?!" Laswe snapped, "Reason enough for you?!"

"Haaaa…" Un cutely yawned, "I suppose it will have to do." She flopped back on her bum, her big feet sticking out in front of her.

"Now…" said Nevrrest sternly, her talons gripping the flooring, "How long were you masquerading as Justiciar Nettelish?"

"Oooh…" she purred, her ears rising slightly. She leaned forward with a coy grin. "The real question is how long have I been in this fleet?"

Horkion blinked his stony lids in apprehension. "…How long?"

"Tehehehehe…five years."

"That's not possible," Nevrrest bluntly stated, "The fleet wasn't even formed then."

Un's eyes shifted wickedly to the Blecha. "It was under construction though."

Oom'Bagu's eyes lit with anger. "You mean to say—"

"That Nettelish wasn't the first person I replaced? Hardly." She wobbled her feet from side to side. "After all, disposing of bodies in the vacuum of space is ridiculously easy. Originally, I was going to find a way to steal the core before the Hammer was completed, but no real opportunity presented itself. So, I decided the only real chance I'd ever have to obtain it…" She looked at the Justiciars. "Was to become one of you. Nettelish was the obvious choice. She had always been the most secretive of the six of you, no one would think twice were she caught doing something strange."

"And…" said Nevrrest with realization, looking over at the gathered prisoners, her gaze focusing on Lacor who swallowed, "You were able to hand-pick prisoners for your insurrection. Particularly ones that were considered for execution."

"But when did you start pretending to be Nettelish?!" Laswe demanded.

Un shrugged indifferently. "I don't see how that particular detail matters."

"You don't, eh?" he hissed. His hand roughly seized one of her ears. "You murdered one of my best friends and you don't see how that matters?!"

She squeaked as he yanked her ear and glared at him. "You wish to know, Prince Laswe? Fine. Three years ago I drained every drop of blood out of your friend in her sleep, stripped her naked, and dumped her pale, lifeless body out of an airlock. And in the morning we laughed over a glass of kelga!"

"Narrr!" Laswe screamed, seizing her head and slamming it into the floor, creating a small dent. The guards and prisoners winced back a little.

Vegeta snorted and clenched his teeth with disdain. Fools. Can't any of them see they're being played with?

Horkion's expression grew even more helpless. "Three years…but that means…" Oom'Bagu rested a hand on Horkion shoulder, but he continued. "We…we only knew the real her two…"

Despite the pain of Laswe's grasp, Un suddenly busted up in the most horrendous, squeaky laugh. "What makes you think you ever knew the real Nettelish?" She scowled, her expression distorted as her cheek was held against the floor. "Do you actually think that was even her name?"

Nevrrest finally grasped Laswe's wrist and made him release Un's head. "Of course not," she calmly stated as Laswe angrily retreated, "Nettelish was a Libra Monk. Those in that order are given new names upon initiation. We knew that from the beginning – you do not impress."

"Mmm, yes, and how easy that made it for her," Un remarked, cracking her neck as she sat up again, "Never had to answer any hard questions." Her eyes narrowed. "But the truth you don't know is that a Libra Monk may be released from their vows should they feel aspired to a noble cause."

Horkion blinked his normally unmoving lids. "So…she didn't have to keep being a monk after she joined us?"

"That's right, Horkion!" Un praised, wiggling her big feet, "Any other Libra in her position would have asked to be relieved of her vows in service of the Justice." She grinned coyly. "But not Nettelish…no, you see, she had a terrible secret she had to keep. A very dark…terrible…secret."

"This does not pertain to your interrogation," Oom'Bagu snapped, glaring, "Whatever secret Nettelish may or may not have had was her own." His face saddened. "And she took it to her grave."

Un shrugged again. "True enough."

"What we want from you is a confession of every single act of sabotage and coercion you have committed against the Justice," Nevrrest darkly hissed, pointing down at her with a talon.

She sighed, lightly rolling her eyes with irritation. "But of course…I'd suggest you get comfortable, this could take a while…"

Vegeta watched with a deepest scowl as Un continued to cooperate with the interrogation. He didn't care whatever Un had done to this fleet. All that mattered to him was Kakarot was dead and his murderer was standing helplessly just outside his reach. His eyes shifted down, glaring at his shackled tail as it lay in his lap. There had been a short period where he had hoped he could overcome its bind on him, but it had proved impossible. It was honestly far more effective than the standard dampener, according to the blathering of Dr. Tottle – the brace reducing the energy flow and the pin completely cutting it off. Vegeta slipped his fingers under the shackle and wrung it in his grasp as though he could crush it.

As he did so he felt those eyes on him and he jerked his own gaze up with a quiet snarl. Sure enough, Un was subtly grinning at him from the corner of her eye as she spoke, holding his gaze for a brief moment before returning to her captors. Vegeta hissed, his hands wringing the folds of his pants. Damn them all. Did they really think they could imprison that creature? It wasn't a matter of power. Powers they could take away. Bodies they could contain. But Un was far more than any of these things, he'd seen that in their fight. She had a genius level intellect – probably absorbed from far more beings than just Sepis. And she had full and complete knowledge of the interworkings of the Justice. They were playing the devil at her own game.

As if to confirm these thoughts, Un's long bunny ears stretched and swayed as she smoothly spoke. "The greatest issue with that, of course, was deceiving Misado's keen sense for—" She stopped suddenly, looking over the justiciars with a little frown. "Oh. That's funny. Misado's not here. Is the weed afraid it won't resist the urge to kill me…?" Her eyes shifted to Oom'Bagu. "Or…is there another reason we lack its presence?"

Oom'Bagu's brow lowered slightly. "You were saying…?" he threatened.

She shrugged. "Only that I had make certain to constantly coat myself in positive energy to shield my dark, corrupted core from the avatar." Her eyes sly narrowed with a little smile. "It reacts very violently to such things, after all." She looked up at them. "But still, judging by your faces, I'd say that Misado's absence is more than meets the eye." Her eyes suddenly and viciously shifted at Vegeta in his corner. "It was cause of him, wasn't it?" she loudly accused, "You were so desperate, you unleashed your most evil, dangerous criminal – one so vile and uncontrollable that even I wouldn't recruit him – and forced the sacred Misado to share energy with him!" A silent horror could be felt moving through the guards as they heard this. Vegeta could only clench his teeth and seethe at their idiocy.

Laswe's wings gave a roaring buzz. "That is not the case!"

"Isn't it?" She held Laswe's gaze intensely for a moment, but then tipped her head away with apathy. "Of course, I'm only making assumptions based on what I witnessed. If I am wrong, please, disregard my remarks."

Nevrrest's head craned around, her piercing magenta eyes zeroing in on Vegeta with vice. Vegeta glared flatly back at her. He could see in that gaze she alone agreed entirely with Un's statement. That was the madness in her that Kakarot had never been able to understand. That no matter what, Nevrrest would accept every and any reason to hate him. But suddenly, a corner of his mouth lifted, seeing something else in those eyes behind the rage. Terror. Confusion. No matter whatever blame could be placed, there was no questioning the fact – that she and her entire organization still existed in this moment because of him.

Nevrrest's gaze turned away as Oom'Bagu firmly struck Un across the face. "YOU WERE SAYING," he reaffirmed.

Un hissed, that side of her face twitching with pain. "Ah Oom'Bagu. We can always count on you to be steadfast, assertive, and self-controlled." She sucked on her lip a little and straightened up. "But, there is nothing further to tell. Except for one important detail."

"And what detail would that be?" Nevrrest pressed, her thick, muscular tail slowly weaving behind her.

"Well…" said Un mildly, shutting her eyes with a little smile, "It's not something I can really tell. It's something I'd have to show."

"Why do I not like the sound of that?" Laswe irritably snarked.

"Ehehehehe…because that's why you are Grand Guardian, Laswe," Un eyed him, still smiling, "You are distrustful and cautious. But rest assured, I am physically incapable of doing any of you harm. What with all my energy gone."

"Energy you stole from Goku!" Horkion pointed, "Not to mention the rest of us!"

"Getting a little sidetracked, aren't we, Horkion?" Un gave him a chiding look.

"What is your point, Un?" Oom'Bagu demanded, folding his heavily furred arms.

"My point…is if you want to understand all that has happened here," Un stated, her high, squeaky voice taking on a lower tone, "If you wish to comprehend every detail of my insurrection, you will allow me to show you a most important aspect – who I was the last three years."

"Again, you're speaking in nonsense riddles," Nevrrest remarked, unmoved, "That is no mystery to us."

"Is it?" She looked up at Nevrrest. "Tell me. How can you know who I was in this fleet…if you never knew who I replaced?" The Blecha's dark, feathered brow lowered slightly. "You say she was your friend, and yet she kept so much from you. You say she was your ally, and yet I stood by your side far longer than she did." Un leaned forward. "Don't you want to know that final puzzle piece?" Her eyes narrowed and Nevrrest's plume ruffled. "And why you…my dear Nevrrest…need me."

"And I say you're talking shit again," Laswe barked, his tail stretching out like a gummy and slamming the floor, "We've heard all we need for now – just throw her in a cell!"

"No, I…" Horkion protested. He look at Un and his little body steeled. "I want to know."

Oom'Bagu looked sharply at him. "That is unwise."

"Maybe," Horkion sighed, looking down, "But Nettelish is gone. We'll…we'll never even get to put her to rest. I…I have so many memories of her that aren't even true." He shut his pebbly eyes and shook his head. "At least…even if it means something bad…I want to know who she was."

"She was our friend, that's all we need to know," Laswe countered.

"No." They all turned their heads as Nevrrest suddenly said this, her gaze extremely intent on the little, fluffy monster. Her talons dug into her biceps. "I want to see this last piece of information."

Un grinned.

Oom'Bagu's hand immediately grabbed her shoulder, turning her. "This is a being I know to work through manipulation and subterfuge. Allowing her to proceed is against my better judgment."

"Horkion is Grand Guardian and I am Grand Marshal," Nevrrest returned, grasping his hand and pushing it away, "Until she is an official processed prisoner, our authority supersedes yours in this matter."

"And what about my goddamn authority?" Laswe snapped, flying up into Nevrrest's eye level.

"Laswe, this is not the time," Nevrrest scolded him, "A ruling has been made. Accept that." Laswe's jelly-like flesh wrinkled at her, but he backed down. Nevrrest tipped her head back down at Un. "Very well. You will reveal this last piece of information to us and explain its importance. But I am warning you, you attempt anything unwarranted and you will die."

"I would never do anything so foolish," Un coyly assured.

Vegeta's face wrinkled with disgust as he watched. They were getting suckered, knew it, and were still going along with it. Though, all the same, he had to admit, he was curious as well. He too wanted to know what manner of creature had been under those robes. Whatever it was, it must have been a horrendous thing. After all, using that form Un had been able to…do something to him. He could still feel those fingers as they delicately ran over his muscles, feel those lips and sweet, intoxicating breath brush against his neck, her rock-hard form pressed to his back. What manner of beast could have such power over him? It seemed he would soon see. And he hoped Un's plan, whatever it was, succeeded. They deserved whatever damnation that was coming for stopping him.

All eyes were intent on Un as they waited for whatever was about to unfold. Her little bound body relaxed, her eyes closing as fleshy slits opened up on her cheeks – like a fish's gills. From these slits poured that gray slime. Expressions grew more curious as Un curled up, her body transforming into a heart as the slime coated and wrapped around her, her black unitard undulating. Veins grew from the heart into the thickening slime and from there the formation grew more rapid.

True to their designs, the electric binds never released their hold even as a swelling body formed underneath them. Filled with veins, the slime started to take the general shape of a woman. A muscular chest topped with tight breasts. Wide, powerful hips. A slender waist adorned by abs. Muscle after muscle knitted together under light tan skin. These were all traits they fully knew to be Nettelish. There were no surprises until a tail suddenly sprang forth, long, thin, and powerful. The fleshy tail started to grow fur. Brown fur.

Vegeta stood up.

No on uttered a single word as the rest of the transformation took place. Every slim, powerful muscle in place, hair started to grow from her broad forehead. It sprang up like a wondrous spiky mane, sticking up and then drooping down to encompass either side of her head. It grew long and wild, incredibly thick and black as night, drooping down past the mane into a large split like a pair of claws or a forked tongue that hung all the way down to her broad hips and whipping brown tail.

Vegeta's jaw hung, his breathing stiff and his eyes quivering.

Eyes opened under dark lashes, black at first but then started to glow with that familiar violet hue. These eyes gazed upon her old friends and comrades with a chilling sweetness. At last, Un Nettelish bent backwards, cracking her neck and spine.

"Oooh, yes. It's like putting on an old glove that's conformed to your fingers just right," she groaned.

The silence that filled the courtroom was deafening, no one could move or make a sound. Finally, a voice rose up from the cluster of prisoners. "Well hell," Lacor opened his mouth in a smile.

Horkion's body creaked. "You're…you were…she was…"

Un Nettelish shrugged her shoulders forward, her elbows hugging her modest breasts. "Come on. You can say it."

But no one wanted to say it. They wanted to deny it, call it a lie. But they all recognized every line of that face. It was their Nettelish, and the truth was all too obvious now.

Oom'Bagu could see it in his mind. A devilish burly man, a remnant of the former PTO, stood surrounded by bodies, the Gregorik and his company observing from a safe, silent distance.

"This one is a mark stronger than the rest we faced," Oom'Bagu observed, his arms crossed.

Nevrrest nodded, standing next to him. "We take him in pairs. Keep him disillusioned to our strength."

But Nettelish only smiled under her mask, her glowing violet eyes twinkling. "No…I'll be taking this one."

Oom'Bagu looked at her sharply. "That would be most unwise. The risk is too high, we should assault him in force."

"Hmm…that may be true," she purred, delicately rest her chin against the back of her hand. She looked at him, a fire and glee burning in her eyes. "But think of the fun!"

Horkion could see it in his mind. Sitting with Nettelish in the mess room of their ship, he watched as she zealously devoured her fourth platter of food. She paused, looking at him, and blushed, pressing a hand to her cheek with a sheepish giggle.

"I'm sorry, I must look like an absolute pig to you," she remarked.

"Huh? I don't know what you mean," he replied, blinking once at her, "I don't mean to stare. I'm still getting used to seeing this act of eating. It's very strange to me."

"My 'acts of eating' are strange to most," she giggled and then sighed whimsically, resting the side of her head into her palm, "Where I came from, we used to have the grandest feasts. Nothing dainty to be seen; giant roasted piles of meat! And we'd bicker and tussle for the best bits and that made every bite all the more to be savored…"

"Oh," he said with curiosity, his eyes trained on her fleshy lips, "What planet was that?"

Her eyes saddened, her head turning aside. "You know I can't tell you…"

Laswe saw it in his mind. Resting around a campfire on some world they fought to protect, he related his story for the first time to the newest member of their group.

"Aaaand that pretty much sums up how I got here," he tersely remarked, his transparent wings resting over a rock, "Course, I'll admit, apart from the coming back to life part my story's hardly shocking. Most everyone in our little posse lost their home to Frieza. Nevrrest, Oom'Bagu, hell, even Misado." He tipped his head back at Horkion. "Gravel brain over there didn't, but poor dummy was raised to take the Planet Trade Organization on. Heh, that would have gone well." He scratched at one of the puffs of white fuzz at the side of his head. "Which leaves you."

Nettelish hadn't look at him once as he related these things, her gaze trailed off to the side and chin propped up on a fist. "…Well. You can count me in. I lost my world to Frieza too."

"I'm guessing by your tone it wasn't recent."

She almost smirked through that black fabric. "No. No, it was some…twenty-five years ago now. I was lucky enough to be off-planet but the rest of my race wasn't. They were…very intentionally made to gather there as I understand."

Laswe's wings fluttered. "Really?" he asked with interest.

"Yes." Her eyes shut and her free hand clenched into a quivering fist. "When I learned what had happened…I pounded my fists through mountains until my knuckles gushed blood like a river…and then all I could do was scream."

But in Nevrrest's mind all she could see was that Blecha chick with the bleeding hole in her chest, her eyes filled with tears and every inch of soft down trembling in rage.

Finally, amidst all the stillness and silence, a prisoner suddenly stood, his brow knitted as though he'd just had an epiphany. "She's a goddamn Saiyan!"

"One hundred percent, pure blooded, homegrown monkey," Un Nettelish confirmed, her tail flicking as she coyly smiled.