A/N: Please forgive my minimal editing for this one! Hope you enjoy anyways. :)

I heard an emergency blast door slam shut behind me as I halted, mere seconds before Korravi rolled through it.

"Almost caught my tail in that," she muttered as she got up.

"You could've just broken through instead of trying to get in at the last second," I said.

She silently dusted off her shoulders and then made eye contact.

"Not bad," she said. I realized she was referring to me.

"Tch. I told you. You think being Prince of All Saiyans is just a formality?" I replied as I looked around, powering down to the first Super Saiyan level for the time being.

We were in a very wide, very long and very empty hallway. Abandoned monitor stations sat along the sides, most nearest to the entrance, looking like they'd been left in a hurry. At the end of the room another large barricade stood blocking whatever was on the other side, decorated with a number code.

"Hmm. Smells like they were just here," Korravi said.

"Looks like it too," I replied, moving forward. My nose was not as good as a full-blood's, making it harder for me to pick up nuances in someone's scent that weren't either blatant fear or rage. I had already been thrown off by the sheer assortment of everything on the planet in general. But I didn't need smell to tell me if there were people still around – with my ki sensing I could feel the prison twisting with life ahead of us, a mixture of all kinds of power levels. My guess was that the soldiers who hadn't come outside thought they'd have a better chance against us further in. In fact, if I listened hard enough, I swore I could hear something distantly.

As I approached the door I turned to make sure Korravi was following and saw her take off her cloak, freeing her braid as the garment slid to the ground.

"Are you sure that's wise?" I asked after she removed her mask as well, but left the armour on.

"It's cumbersome. And they're already trying to kill me anyway."

"Yeah, but -"

"No lectures on being discreet when you're glowing yellow." Another small grin emerged. I turned back around and did my best to fight the retort on my tongue and focus, placing my hand on the door.

This close to it, I could definitely hear something. Movement, or voices, or –

"Something wrong with the door?" Korravi said over me as she leaned by and rested her large hand on the barrier, not too far from mine.

"No. I'm listening to what's on the other side before I just barge in," I stated. I stared at the cold metal. "They obviously know we're here, but I imagine they're trying to lure us into a trap of some kind. We're probably best off going forward with the same tactic as before. Those weapons they have can't hurt me like this, but they might hurt you, so as long as you don't get too careless..."

I glanced at her again. She was clearly waiting for me to either destroy the bulkhead or move.

"Give me room," I said, moving into place when she acquiesced.

I reared my arm back and then hit the door with a single punch – blasting a hole through, enabling me to grab the centre and throw it apart.

The sight that greeted us both as we took our first step in made us take a moment.

"Look, look!" someone shouted nearby. "There's two of them!"

A giant circular room yawned ahead, the size of a docking bay, lined all along the sides with prison cell after prison cell almost as high as the ceiling, a metal pillar dotted with lights and panels going from floor to roof in the centre of the area. Green electrical shields held the cell occupants contained, filling nearly all of the available units which now eddied with movement.

The distorted murmuring had become a cacophony of voices, some of which I could make out and the rest too lost in the cloud of noise in response to our presence.

"Where? I can't see!"

"By the door! They broke through!"

"They're humanoid!"

"What are they doing now?"

"Look at the dark one! Is that a..."

I couldn't help but jump my attention from place to place, walking forward to get a better view.

"Where are the guards!?"

"Hey, you strangers! You here to bust someone out?"

"Shut up! Are you idiots blind? That one's a Saiyan!"

"A Saiyan?"

I heard the word 'Saiyan' being passed around clearly now, among all the rest of the prisoners yapping in varying stages of curiosity, fear, anger, and everything else.

Choosing a random floor-level unit, I ran up to it and locked eyes with the being inside – well, eye, rather. Through the solid lens caging it I could see a very round head dominated by a single eye, large floppy ears on the side and a thin body curled beneath. It scooted back further in as I neared.

"Hey, you! Are there any Saiyans in here?" I demanded.

"Wahhh, I don't wanna get involved!" it wailed, covering its head and cowering away. "Leave me alone!"

"Please, I'm not going to hurt you," I said. The thing just wailed again so I scanned the surrounding cages in hopes another prisoner would help me.

"Any of you! We're not here to harm. I just need some answers!" I proclaimed, looking around.

"You brought that thing in here! I'd rather stay in prison where I know I'm safe!" another unknown voice said.

Korravi, beside me, remained silent, scanning up and around but not interacting.

"Please," I repeated. "We can free you!"

"Excuse me stranger," a soft voice called out, "but you're in the minimum security ward! If there are any Saiyans they won't be in this sector."

I looked up and around until I espied a figure waving its arm at me, several cells overhead and to the left.

"Over here! I'm the Arlian!" the voice said. I levitated up until I was eye level with the cage, confirming it was indeed an Arlian inside. It was smaller and more slender than the other one I'd seen, bright blue and with eyes less round. Its delicate antennae flicked as it spoke.

"Is that really a Saiyan down there with you?" it, maybe she, asked.

"Yes. But she's not a danger to you. Do you know if any more are in this prison at all?"

"I can't say for sure. But if there were, they'd been in maximum security. I wouldn't get your hopes up, though. I'm not certain if they left any alive on this planet. Actually, I thought they'd gotten them all everywhere. War criminals, you know. Not like me."

"What are you in here for?"

"Shoplifting."

"... Oh. Well, it's probably safest for you to stay here until we deal with all the soldiers, but I promise I'll free you on my way out. Just... don't go back to stealing stuff, I guess."

"You have my word!" she declared. "Please don't forget to come back."

"I won't," I finished as I descended back to the ground next to Korravi.

"We need to keep going," I explained, spotting the next exit. "This way."

After crumpling the door and continuing on, our exit lead us into a maze of hallways. Unlike before, these were sparsely lit, a series of lights near and parallel to the floor washing us from below in blue, making the place just light enough to mind our surroundings. Once again there was not a soldier to be seen. I'd released Super Saiyan altogether and made sure to steer us towards what seemed the thickest mass of the many energies around the prison.

I circled my thumb into my aching scar as we walked. I'd irritated it again somehow (though I still couldn't pinpoint anything specific I'd done this time to bother it).

It was quiet for several minutes, save the dull reverberation of our footsteps, our breathing, and heartbeats. It kind of made me wish Goten was there, easy chattiness and all, because I was ninety percent sure there would be no conversation of any sort unless I said something to the woman.

"Um... So," I attempted after rounding a corner, another identical length of corridor stretching ahead. "If you're a... If you didn't live on Planet Vegeta, where are you from?"

When she didn't answer I looked at her. She looked back and furrowed her brows.

"I didn't catch that," she replied.

"Oh. I, uh, I asked where you're from. What planet did you live on?"

"Nowhere," she said.

"Nowhere? You're telling me you lived on that old starship floating in space?" I said not seriously.

"When you put it that way, yes. I go from place to place," she said quite seriously.

"Really?" I'd always sort of harboured a desire to see the stars, courtesy of my upbringing, so I was curious. Arguably that's what I'd been doing for months now, but either way not having a home to come back to sounded solitary. "What about the place you were born?"

The hallway split into a Y. I glanced at both directions and chose left before continuing.

"I don't know where I was born," she finally replied. "I... suppose I lived on Planet Vegeta for several years when I was a child, before I left. There were other planets I stayed around longer than normal, but none permanent."

"But your – accent. You must have been somewhere long enough to acquire that." It wasn't from Planet Vegeta, that was for sure. "And... can I ask why you left?"

She abruptly stopped walking. I halted a step after, reconsidering my prying until she spoke into the shadow.

"I left," she replied, "because of you."

I frowned, heart skipping a beat. "Me? What did I do? We've never even met, although -"

"You didn't do anything." Her eyes cut through the dark and she began stalking towards me, crossing the distance in a few long strides.

The back of my heel was already near the siding so I stood my ground there, knowing it would appear like submission if I let myself be cornered any further.

Korravi put her hand past my ear to rest on the wall, then leaned down so that we were eye level. Like we'd been on the ship, though clearly she wasn't trying to physically threaten me this time. Maybe.

"Am I supposed to be scared of you?" I said. Being up close made it again more obvious that her concentration travelled around my face when I talked, kind of disconcertingly to be honest. I might even have suspected it was my eyes she didn't like except that she seemed to do this to the others too.

"Am I doing something you think is meant to frighten you? Or did you want me to strangle you again, Prince?" She lifted her free hand and put it around my throat, but her movements were slow and her touch was merely that – a touch, resting over my pulse that I vainly tried to calm despite truthfully not being afraid.

"My name is Trunks," I said, "and I think I already told you not to touch me."

There was a pause. "Trunks," she repeated slowly. "Is that how you say it?"

"Uh... yes."

She dropped the contact from my neck. "Well, Trunks. I promise I won't touch you again if you won't ask me any more questions. If we're still allies after this, maybe I'll explain what you didn't do. But here's a freebie to keep you off my back – the way I talk isn't a foreign accent. It's just how I learned. Happy now?"

I crossed my arms. "Happy as I'm gonna get, considering your shitty sidekick stole my sword and you somehow didn't notice him sneak off with it. And did I forget to mention the part where I broke into a prison with a total stranger, who's asking me for unconditional trust and not earning it? You apparently know about me and I know nothing about you!"

Korravi retreated, standing up straight.

"Knowing my past won't help you trust me. But you won't get any closer to your father standing here arguing about it, will you?" she said. Then she turned heel and continued on down the hallway as if nothing had happened.

I took a few quicker steps until I broke even with her gait. I did not say anything else until we reached yet another obstacle in the road – the end of it.

Another big door sealed our way, embellished with yet another series of digits. A mass of ki swirled beyond it.

"Here," I said simply.

The barricade got the same treatment as every one before it, and it lead us into a room much like the previous one – covered in cells full of people, wide and noisy. This time, oddly enough, the total sum of ki in the area was lower than that of the last one. I soon realized why when as we drew into the centre by the pillar, the inmates seemed to be wearing collars of some kind. Presumably to restrain their wearers as Broly's had helped do, though they looked different.

"It's the intruders!" someone declared from overhead.

"Where the hell are the guards and why haven't they done anything?"

"Are there any Saiyans in here?" I called out. "We're not here to hurt you."

I heard no clear answer and looking around, I couldn't spot any either. I wasn't even sure this was maximum security – my guess was that it was a middle ground. No sense in wasting any more time here, then.

"Wait! Let us out!" a few people yelled as I headed forward to the next door. I made sure to note Korravi's footsteps were trailing behind me before I broke through and went on.

The next batch of hallways were dotted with red lights, and there were considerably less twists and turns and ulterior directions. I jogged through this time without comment, Korravi easily keeping pace.

When we reached our final coded door I slowed, but only enough to not go barrelling through when it opened of its own volition.

"Well that's new," I muttered as I crossed the threshold. We must be getting close to the trap.

This room had even more differences from the last. There were far fewer cell units, each spaced generously apart, and in addition to the shield and collars the prisoners wore cuffs. It was also much quieter as we entered, the murmurs clearer.

"You made it to the end, boys!" one of the inmates cackled.

"Shut it, Pho."

"You shut it, Macro! I've been good all day!"

"Is this the maximum security ward?" I asked to none of them in particular.

"You're right on the money, stranger," the person who was presumably Pho said.

"Are you looking for someone?" another voice asked.

"Don't talk to it. It'll go away," two more voices said at once.

I flew up to where the first two seemed to have spoken from and hovered where I could get a good view of their cells. One held a seated, but clearly large bird-like being, plumed in royal purple and humanoid in posture, unlike any other avian race I'd seen before. The other unit contained a relatively normal sized humanoid covered in brown spines with a canine-like maw, who stood as close to the shield as he could get without presumably getting zapped.

"You wanna come in? Cot's only got room for one, but we could make it work," Pho, the barbed one, chortled. I decided against trying to ask this one any questions and drifted over to the bird's unit.

"Macro, right? Can you tell me if there are any Saiyans here?" I inquired.

"I am Macro, yes – eleventh prince of the Skotosi Moon Triad. What a twist of fate, asking after Saiyans when I am in here because of one," he replied.

"So can you tell me? Is this the end of the prison, or is there more where they could be kept?" I said, seeing below that Korravi was searching the other cells.

"Since you seem to know about them, I'll give you an answer if you give me one. Have you ever met a Saiyan that carries an engraved, mystical broadsword, by any chance? It was stolen and -"

"Oh, stop being dramatic, Macro," one of the other voices from a cell to the right interjected. "Anyone here could tell him the old man is still alive."

I glanced over to the speaker within the next cell, seeing only two glowing spheres twirling each other in pulses.

"What old man?" I said.

"The one that is dying," the orbs said. "His life force weakens every day, but there's nothing I can do from up here. We are all in this place for grave transgressions against the Cold empire, so perhaps he will be better off once he finally finds peace. The last of his kind, he says."

"And where is he?"

"Down there. At the bottom, six units from the door on the left side. It is not empty," the spheres finished.

I thanked the being and dropped down to where it had specified. Korravi crossed the room on foot behind me as I neared the cell, staring hard inside.

Something was lying in the corner. The tint of the shield made it hard to distinguish clearly, but I felt a jolt go through me when I saw a mop of white hair on one end and a dark tail on the other.

Quickly examining the outer perimeter of the containment unit, I noticed the small input pad next to it on one side. I darted over to it, decided I wasn't smart enough to hack it open and crushed it with a well-aimed set of knuckles.

Like I'd hoped, the shield flickered away, though an insistent alarm started up from the central pillar at our backs. I ignored it and moved into the cell.

Korravi got to the old man first. With surprising gentleness, she knelt down and put her hand on his forehead, not daring to move him yet while I knelt beside her.

"What..." croaked the man like an exhume of dust. "What do you... want now?"

"We're not going to hurt you," I repeated for the umpteenth time that day. The man's face came into view when Korravi shifted.

His hair was white as snow, his eyes half lidded and face so creased with age and stress that I was worried he'd break when my companion propped him more upright against her leg. He was thin as a blade of grass and didn't look capable of standing, much less sitting by himself.

"I'm the Prince of Saiyans," I said quietly. "I'm here to get you out. Can you tell us your name?"

The man opened his eyes a little more. He looked at me, blinked a few times, then seemed to focus.

"Prince..." he managed to say with more success. "Gods above." His eyes shifted up to the woman, trying to discern who was holding him.

"We're here to help," she said.

"Are you... a woman? You are, aren't you...?" he rattled out. "They said they killed them all. They... said the royal family was dust. Great gods... the Prince of Saiyans and the last woman alive have come to rescue me."

A/N: Excuse me while I geek out but have y'all seen the trailer for the new Broly movie? It seems like they're retcon-ing the Z movies with him in it and canonizing the new version to tie in with Super, but regardless I'm kind of interested to see where it goes. (Also is Frieza just permanently dicking around with the Z Warriors now or...?)