Planet Sadal
Age 772
Mr' Cress bank was a fairly unusual sight considering its surroundings. The well-maintained, wide wooden building was nestled on top of a grassy hill, from which huge fields of grain and vegetables and clusters of smoke from cottage chimneys could be seen for miles from the top of the landmass. The interior of the building resembled a fairly conventional office space, with multi-colored stone floors, waiting chairs along the frontmost walls and a front desk where hundreds of deposits and withdrawals were made each and every day. Despite its relatively humble appearance compared to some of Sadal's more prestigious banks, Mr. Cress' establishment played an invaluable role as one of the few worthwhile banks for the farmers and rural of the Sadal countryside. Prior to its introduction some 24 years earlier, many had had to take hours-long drives to Sadal City and back to go to one of their banks. Ever since then, that voyage which had become a matter of jokes and horror stories among the farmers of the area had been practically entirely extinguished, making the bank a celebrated part of rural life.
On this particular day, Mr. Cress himself was sitting in his office, attending to some paperwork he had been stalling on. While the stubby, gray-haired man with a white shirt and black overalls muscled his way through the mundane task, he was able to listen in on the muffled hustle, bustle and chit-chatting of the bank from within his office. Seeing as this his only loose form of entertainment at the moment, he was listening in very closely while he worked. As such, it immediately grew concerned when he heard the commotion simmer down shortly after the front doors were flapped open more viciously than normal. Then, there was a click; the distinctive chime of a blaster being loaded.
"THIS IS A ROBBERY!" said a booming voice on the other side of Cress' office door. "WHOEVER RUNS THIS PLACE BETTER SHOW UP SOON BEFORE I LOAD A BULLET FROM THIS SUCKER INTO SOMEONE'S HEAD!" Then, another voice chimed in, saying something the old banker couldn't make out.
With a great sigh, Cress opened his office door to face the intruders. The two armed men seemingly hadn't bothered to bring masks with them, leaving their faces exposed. The first one who had likely bellowed the order was a tall, burly man with a thick, shaggy black beard and an equally dark layer of hair on his head. In his hands was strapped a long, shiny steel rifle which was currently being held at ease. His partner was of a more normal stature, with sharp eyes, as well as black hair of his own which was slightly dyed red at the tip. His eyes were thinner and sharper than those of his comrade, and he wielded a more conventional blaster in his left hand. Both of them were wearing near-identical black suits of battle armor with white edges and shoulderguards. Upon Cress exiting his office to meet with them, the bigger man smiled and pointed his rifle at him.
"You have 10 seconds to show me the safe, or else you're a dead-"
"Brussel!" shouted the smaller man indignantly. "For the last time, we are not killing anyone."
"Oh c'mon, Zucchi!" Brussel replied. "You weren't supposed to say that aloud!"
"I tried to tell you earlier, but you just wouldn't listen."
"But why give the witnesses more leeway?"
"No. Killing. Not even threats. Boss said so."
Cress noticed the burly Brussel tremble slightly at the mention of his so-called "boss". He put away his gun in a backpack he hadn't noticed earlier and huffed in frustration.
"Gah, fine! Nobody here's gonna die. If you don't give us the money, then I guess we'll have to go for the next best thing: Permanent crippling!" said Brussel, smashing his fists together with his last remark. Cress almost exhaled out of amusement as he saw Zucchi roll his eyes at the new threat, as well as the incompetent choices they had made by not masking their names or faces. The watered-down, but still grave danger presented to him stopped him from doing so.
"Very well. I am clearly outmatched." Cress said in his elderly, raspy voice while holding up his arms. "I will show you the way."
Brussel and Zucchi gave crooked smiles as they walked behind him, nudging him over to the door to his office. When they entered, Cress flapped open a secret hatch in the wall, revealing an opening where a big metal cube with a red button on its front was located.
"Just press the button. The money is in there."
Without giving a shred of doubt as to what the device did, Zucchi pressed it. Instead of opening to reveal a stash of gold and money, however, a clang was heard as the office's one window was totally shut by a metal curtain. Now concerned, the two criminals sprinted outside the room to find the natural light that once seeped into the main lobby via the windows had almost totally vanished as the surroundings revealed by its windows were also covered by a metallic sheet. In frustration, Brussel pulled his rifle back out and fired a series of shots at the covers. Even after nearly depleting his clip, however, there wasn't so much as a dent in the sheet. Zucchi then fired a Ki blast at one of the walls, whizzing just past some of the citizens trapped inside the bank. When the smoke cleared, the newly formed hole in the wall revealed that there was more of the metal cover, likely enshrouding the entire building.
"Don't bother." Cress uttered in a confident tone from behind them, his arms crossed behind his back. "It's Kachin. I actually only installed it about a month ago. Either way, you're trapped in here until the cops come."
Brussel and Zucchi did not move, keeping their backs turned towards him as they slowly lifted their guns.
"Go ahead, kill me if you'd like." Cress taunted. "At least I'll die knowing I ended your career before it even began."
Finally, the two Saiyan bandits did react. They didn't shoot him from rage, nor did they make another futile attempt to get out. Instead they stood in place and started… ...laughing? It began as a low giggle, but within moments they began chuckling heartily.
"You really have gone senile, haven't you?" Zucchi said menacingly as he and Brussel turned towards him. "Don't get us wrong, we've certainly made plenty of mistakes thus far, but did you really think we wouldn't plan for a trick as obvious as this?"
Cress lifted his eyebrow in confusion. That's when he noticed two extremely thin glowing yellow disks slip right under the miniscule opening at the bottom of the sealed-off door, dragging across the floor as they eventually stopped in the room between him and the robbers. While he backed away, Brussel and Zucchi reached into their bags only to pull out sunglasses, which they fastened on before smirking at the old banker. Then everything went white.
Cress lifted himself off the bank's floor in a daze. His vision was still spotty and his ears were ringing, but he could make out three differences. For one, many of the hostages trapped in with him were still writhing on the floor in visible discomfort. Second of all, Brussel and Zucchi were gone. And thirdly, the door, including the barrier, had been ripped off its hinges. This last observation chilled Cress deeply; who or what could have managed a feat like that?
As his hearing cleared, he could begin to make out a conversation occurring just outside the bank. With extreme caution, he snuck over to the rim of the destroyed door and took a peek outside. Parked directly front of of the establishment was a gray-armored, mildly scratched-up speeder bike hovering just above the ground. Two figures, one much taller than the other, were standing at the bike's side, their backs again turned towards Cress. They seemed to be looking down at something.
"Thanks for helping us out there." said Zucchi.
"Don't mention it, knucklehead." replied a voice that Cress had never heard before. It was a high-pitched, feminine voice, somewhat muffled as if something was in its mouth. "Now, lemme get this stuff on the bike and let's get outta-"
"Hey, Zucchi, who's that guy over there?"
Cress froze in place as the two goons looked back at him. As they turned to face him, he could finally see who they were talking to. The third criminal was dwarfed in size by her companions, wearing a pink top, baggy gray pants and with tall, pointed black hair. She was holding a bag of money in her mouth as if she were some sort of animal. It was clear this person could not be older than 15. It didn't even immediately dawn upon him that this was possibly the same person who made the flash grenades and helped rip off the door, for now he was being filled with a whole new kind of rage.
"How… How could you?" he shouted in a tone just loud enough to startle the three. "How could you use a child for your dangerous, illegal schemes?! Do you have not a shred of shame? Does your BOSS have any guilt that he or she has roped in a minor into their violent, dysfunctional gang?!"
The two parties stared each other down. Then, Zucchi and Brussel made that same taunting laugh while they and the girl piled on to the bike, with the latter spitting out her prize into the backseat.
"I got some bad news for you, pal." the teenage girl said. "I'M the boss. I rounded up these guys to work for me, and they're expected to listen to my every order. Right, boys?"
Zucchi and Brussel nodded while Cress' eyes widened at the revelation.
"Don't ever call me a child again, by the way. My name's Caulifla, and the next time you see my face, it'll be on a 'Most Wanted' list. See ya!"
With one final unified laugh, the three bandits stormed off on their vehicle, leaving Cress to languish in shock as dust was kicked up on him. A few minutes later, he heard police sirens coming over from the other end of the street at the foot of the hill.
Night had dawned on the Sadal badlands, which themselves were a desolate place. The appropriately dry area was mainly occupied by pink-tinted rock formations, clustered tightly enough to create a complex network of narrow pathways through the towering stones. While there weren't any notable patches of wildlife or bodies of water in the badlands, there were a surplus of caves that lead inside the rock formations, typically leading to ends just as dead as the rest of the region. However, if one were to travel up to one particularly high cave entrance lead up to by an all-too-convenient set of stone steps, they would hear a peculiar sound; the sound of feet rapidly tapping against the floor.
The makeshift den for Caulifla's gang was a messy place. Being composed of one wide room, many of their stolen treasures and knick-knacks were messily stashed and crammed at the sides of the den's walls. Above the bunkbeds at the northern-most end of the lair was a series of chalk etchings denoting the amount of the days the gang had been active; in two days, the ragtag group would hit 2 months of age. In the very center of the room was a single wooden table where their leader was currently sat, tapping her leg on the floor, her subordinates not currently with her. In due time, however, they returned carrying something in a bag.
"What took you so long?" Caulifla asked, her young age's lack of patience being particularly transparent.
"Sorry about that, madam." Zucchi replied. "A gust of wind came about while we were cooking it and we had to light up the fire again."
Caulifla was marginally more sympathetic. She wouldn't stand for having an open fire around in her lair even for cooking, and she appreciated her servants' effort. She sat back as Brussel opened the bag and dumped out a still-smoking steak on her table. She didn't even bother waiting for them to pull out the customary pair of slightly-cracked silverware from one of the many bags scattered around, for she was so famished that she elected to rip apart and gobble down the meal with her bare hands. Brussel and Zucchi bowed to their captain before heading off to get something for themselves. As they started foraging the food reserves stashed in one of the stolen coolers lying around, however, Caulifla called them over.
"What's the problem, boss?" Brussel said in a slightly over-enthusiastic tone.
"This steak smells funny." she replied while squinting and poking at it. "It smells like smoke, though it doesn't look like you burnt it…"
"I don't think it's the steak, madam." she heard Zucchi say. When she looked up, she saw the red-and-black-haired goon was pointing out the cave entrance. She groaned when she realized what he likely meant. Sure enough, when she dipped her head outside, she saw multiple trails of smoke rising into the sky a few rock formation chains away as if they were coming out of chimneys.
"Ok, that's it." she said with frustration. "Who the heck are those guys? They've been keeping this crap up for nearly a week now."
"No idea," Brussels replied. "but regardless of who those bozos are or what they're up to, we can't let them interrupt our queen's meal, now can we?"
Caulifla's rage gave way to a childish giggle. "That's the spirit! Let's go pay those losers a visit and show them what happens when you intrude on the territory of the great Caulifla!"
"Are you sure about that, madam?"
Caulifla turned to glare at Zucchi, who had made the proposition.
"Why would I do that?"
"We've never actually bothered to take a look at their camp or meet with them at all. We have no idea what they're capable of."
Caulifla scoffed and began to discuss her plans with Brussel. Zucchi stood there awkwardly trying to figure out how to convince the indomitable crook to back off on the mission. Suddenly, a lightbulb went on his head. He quickly ran back into their den and came out with a poorly-maintained, messy stack of newspapers.
"Mistress Caulifla," he began, "I think I might know who those guys are."
"Oh?"
"About a year ago, there was a bombing at one of Sadal City's major embassies." he said, holding up a paper with the front cover showing a building whose side was belching smoke. "The Defense Force investigated it and linked it to cult activity. They've been trying to track them down ever since, but every time they seemingly find a lead, the cult manages to get away and hide."
"So, you're implying that that group is actually at least associated with this cult." Caulifla replied skeptically. "And your evidence is…?"
"Well," Zucchi began again, "judging by the amount of smoke they're creating, it does seem to be a very large settlement. Besides, nobody else would wanna live in a place this isolated from civilization and lacking in natural resources unless they're either on the run or very weird people. Both descriptors would fit a cult like that quite handily. Either way, I think that gives us more reason to stay out of their business. They're clearly deranged, dangerous people. If they catch you trying to steal anything from them, who knows what they'll do!"
Caulifla pondered this statement. "That sounds…"
"That sounds AWESOME! I bet they have all kinds of ancient voodoo goodies and stolen tech tucked away somewhere which we can make a killing off of! Get ready boys, we're off at nightfall!"
Brussel saluted Caulifla before he and his master went off to get ready. Zucchi let his arms fall limp and groaned before doing the same.
When night dawned, the badlands were as silent as they ever were at that odd hour. There wasn't so much as the calls of any nocturnal creatures or the scampering of any other people. On any other day, Caulifla, Brussel and Zucchi would be fast asleep in their bunks, tucked away from the rest of the world inside their den. But on this night they were flying up to the very top of the last rock pillar between them and their target. When they reached the top, they got a good look at the cultist encampment they would be marauding for the night.
Their first sight was the tents. Throughout the wide, rounded stretch of the land tucked away between the rocks were bunches of scarlet red tents, scattered about with no discernible pattern or formation. While the tents themselves were rather small, there was one much larger one at the very north of the base, at least the size of a circus tent. It too was a bright red color with a golden banner wrapping around it near its top.
"So what's our plan of action, boss?" Brussel said with gumption. Unlike Zucchi, he did not seem very worried at all by what they were about to attempt.
"Those tents seem rather fragile." the younger girl replied. "Besides, now that I think about it, Zucchi may have had a point earlier. I don't think brute-forcing our way through is gonna work this time around."
"Brussel, Do you think you can manage stealth?"
At this question, Brussel immediately nodded his head side to side, shaking his beard across his chest. "With a body like this? Not a chance, boss."
"Then you'll stay here and perform look-out duty. And what about you, Zucchi?"
"I suppose I could do it with my smaller stature. Besides, one extra hand can only do you good."
"In that case," Caulifla said, "we're ready. See ya later, Brussel!"
And with that, Caulifla dropped down to the encampment, with Zucchi following her.
Caulifla and Zucchi quietly made their way around the smaller tents. As they walked, they immediately noticed that pretty much all of the tents had their entrances shut for the night. This relaxed them a fair bit, and let them be just slightly less careful. Caulifla herself found the mission to be much less exciting than she thought it would be; for her, the greatest challenge was not giving in to boredom and blowing their cover by going berserk on the place. In due time, however, the two bandits made it out of the main group of tents and reached the entrance of the bigger one. Instead of a zippable door, its entrance was two drapes that one merely needed to walk through.
"Should we scan for traps before we enter, madam?" Zucchi whispered.
"Strategy would be beneficial, yes. But it's no fun!" And with that witty retort, Caulifla stormed into the base. Zucchi shrugged and followed suit.
The place they walked into was about as bizarre as it could get. The circular room had a red carpet with messily scrawled-on patterns covering the inner half ot the floor. Unlit candles, pottery and small gems were scattered haphazardly across the floor in such close proximity that Caulifla and Zucchi had to thread extra carefully. In addition, there was a set of stairs that seemingly went up to a second floor, but it was blocked off by a trap door that appeared to be locked; even Caulifla didn't feel like taking that risk, albeit for different reasons.
"This junk is worthless!" she exclaimed at a normal voice level, which for their stealthing standards was basically a scream, while picking up and letting a diamond ring filter through her fingers onto the ground. She then turned to Zucchi with an unsatisfied expression.
'Thanks for hyping this place up for nothing."
"Don't be so sure, madam." Zucchi replied. "I know how these places operate, and I bet they have some secrets lying about."
"I appreciate the optimism, but I don't see how-"
As she said this, Caulifla had stepped back slightly. This had caused her foot to accidentally kick one of the vases behind, smashing and going through it until her foot hit a secret lever, causing the floor beneath her to open up and making her fall into the deep hole that had just appeared.
Caulifla flipped her body and faced straight down the hole as she freefell. As she got closer to the bottom, she could see a bed of spikes at the very bottom. Now reassured there was nothing to worry about, she turned on her back and letting herself fall. When she looked back up, she saw Zucchi looking down through the hole. With a confident smirk, she flipped around and touched down on the ground next to it right before she could fall on the spikes.
"You can come down here, it's just a spike trap!" she called up to Zucchi, who promptly floated down. When he arrived, he quickly took note of the hallway that led out of the trap into another room. The room itself was metallic and ancient, reeking of moss and fungus that trailed across its decrepit, stained steel walls. At the rims of the room were 6 steel doors with small, barred peepholes at the top of each.
"You think there's any treasure in there?" Zucchi asked, pointing at a few of the doors.
"Well, only one way to find out!" Caulifla replied jovially. "Stay where you are and keep guard, I'm going in!"
As her subordinate saluted, Caulifla went up the first, leftmost door. Upon seeing that it was locked, the Saiyan girl reached into her pants pockets and pulled out a small metal bobby pin. From there, it only took a brief bit of tinkering and fiddling around with the device before the door squeaked and creaked open.
Caulifla's eyes magnified at the sight in front of her. Throughout the entire storage room were piles upon piles of brilliant golden coins and bizarre artifacts, among them bejeweled busts of strange creatures and even a sarcophagus. Ancient wealth wasn't all there was, for there was also bits and pieces of scavenged technology littered about, including scouters, computer parts and tablets. Never had the girl seen so many riches concentrated into one place, certainly none that had mesmerized her quite like this. The only thing that knocked her out of her stupor was the realization that there were still 5 more rooms to go.
"Zucchi," she said turning to the relatively meek Saiyan, "get out all the bags. We're gonna need to double-dip anyway, but for now let's get all we can!"
Brussel was seated awkwardly on top of the rocky ridge. With his head slumped over his arm, he looked on at the dull, lifeless camp, waiting for Caulifla and Zucchi to return, assumably with some good loot. He was so bored at that point in time that he was just about ready to fall asleep.
That was when candlelights began to flicker on inside the tents in a chilling, startling unison. Now paying attention once more, Brussel watched on as a bunch of red-robed figures began to walk out of each of the tents. The only other features that could be distinguished beneath their garments was their height, for even their faces were blocked by the shadow their hoods cast over them.
Brussel stood up. Did they catch them? He thought to himself. If so, this might get a bit bloody…
Caulifla was now laughing cheerfully, almost hysterically. She utterly ignored the tired warnings of Zucchi who was now burdened with bags of treasure, opting to generate more and more noise as she pranced around to the fourth of the 5 doors, and one of two that had not been opened and at least partially emptied. As she picked open this door much more brutally and noisily than she had the others, idealized thoughts of intergalactic cruises and bustling, luxurious mansions flowed through her mind while she stared at the seemingly-endless sea of gold, jewels and beautiful knick-knacks and ancient weapons interspersed in the storage area. And when she dumped as much as she could into one of two remaining brown bags, she continued to fantasize about serving as the right-hand woman - possibly the leader - of the most legendary criminals and feared mafias of Universe 6. Eventually the bag was filled, and so there remained one last unopened steel door in the musky, dark room. By this point, Caulifla had become so high, so thrilled by her newfound riches that she couldn't care less about taking even the most basic precautions to avoid detection. With a great pull, she used her prodigal strength to rip the door clean off its hinges, and as the partially-rusted bolts that used to hold it in place popped out, clanging and bouncing across the floor, she spread out her arms, ready to dive headfirst into the spoils of the final room.
But there was no treasure. Not one golden coin glistened, nor was there a single rare statuette staring back at her within the steel-laden room. At the same time, however, the room was not totally empty, for in the leftmost corner Caulifla noticed that the shadow cast over it did not look quite right. It took a few moments for her eyes to adjust and realize it was the figure of a person curled up in the corner. The Saiyan was less disturbed and more disappointed at first; the high from earlier was gone, and it hadn't been the first time she had had to deal with dead bodies. Then she noticed the being's head slowly move; when it stopped, a trembling, fearful black eye was looking back at her, the vibrant white around the pupil and a long ponytail at the back of its head being the only other discernible features in the dark room. While the variety of unsettling implications nestled themselves into the young girl's mind, Zucchi tiptoed over to her and tapped her on the shoulder.
When she turned around, she realized that her comrade was not alone. At the end of the room from whence they had entered was a tall, red-cloaked figure, a mask covering the top half of her face, leaving only slitted blue eyes, bright red lips and small strands of hair that ran from behind her back exposed. While Caulifla's gusto was somewhat dulled by her bizarre discovery in the fifth room, she continued up to the mysterious woman with the closest she could muster to her usual confidence.
"What do you want, loser? I've already taken what I want, now get out of the way."
The figure did not answer.
"What's wrong? Don't got any sarcastic quips to match those of the great Caulifla?"
The figure did not answer.
"C'mon, it's no fun if you don't talk to me! I'm stealing your stuff, just show some emotion, c'mon!"
The figure did not answer.
"Alright, I'm getting tired of your brooding practice. Now, let's see if I can smash that mask with my fist!"
Caulifla proceeded to charge head first at the mysterious woman. Standing from the sidelines, Zucchi cringed as the figure flicked up a leg, kicking Caulifla in the stomach mid-flight. The younger girl touched down back on the ground and looked back up at her assailant while she gagged from the blow. Before she could counter, the other woman wrapped a gloved hand around her throat and lifted her up. Caulifla expected some sort of intimidating line at this point, but the woman did not speak. Instead, she flapped open part of the inside of her hood, revealing white writing within its folds.
I DO NOT HAVE THE TIME OF DAY TO PLAY THESE GAMES.
Caulifla felt her throat being crushed by the mighty hand of the cultist. She tried to call for help, but all that came out was a weak, high-pitched aberration of a call.
Suddenly, she felt the grip released from around her throat, watching as the woman fell down from the impact of a bag that had been tossed at her head, which spilled out coins as it too fell. Before Caulifla could ponder as to where the bag came from, Zucchi grabbed her and flew out from out of the spike trap they had come in through.
"Wait a minute!" Caulifla exclaimed after panting a bit in Zucchi's grasp. "Where's the money?"
"Madam, I'm sorry," Zucchi replied, "but at this point I value our lives over the money!"
Both of them eventually reached the top. Caulifla released herself from Zucchi's grasp and sprinted out of the tent with him. They were soon halted by a swarm of red-robed cultists that had assembled outside the tent. The weapons they wielded were mixed; some opted to use their fists, others had daggers and makeshift swords and maces, and yet others had simple blasters and other firearms. Just then, they heard a loud crash as two of the goons in the back were launched up in the air by an unseen force.
"Outta my way!" Brussel bellowed as he cleaved through a line of off-guard cultists, meeting back up with Zucchi and Caulifla. Within seconds, the gap he had left in the crowd of people was sealed.
"Boss!" he said to Caulifla. "Thank goodness you're ok." He then turned back to the cultists and prepared a fairly basic battle stance, with the other two doing the same. To their surprise, however, the cultists did not prepare themselves for a fight. Instead, they did the exact opposite, spreading out and making a pathway for the trio to leave the camp. Almost instinctively Caulifla turned around, backing up upon seeing the masked woman from earlier just a few feet behind her. Zucchi and Brussel followed suit. The woman then flapped open the right side of her robe, underneath which even bigger text was scrawled on.
WILL YOU LEAVE AND NEVER RETURN?
YES NO
Brussel was utterly dumbfounded by the display, while Zucchi was too unsettled to respond. To the surprise of nobody, it was Caulifla who gathered the courage to reply.
"And what happens if we don't?"
The woman closed the robe and opened up the left side. This time, instead of text, there was a painting. The overly angular, unshaded drawing depicted a titanic, muscular figure with red clothes and long green hair. Behind the humanoid was a sea of fire in which small black marks resembling people could be seen writhing in the flames. Under normal circumstances Caulifla would've laughed at the display of insanity, but considering the power she had shown earlier she restrained such laughter for fear of the repercussions.
"Alright," she said with a bit of relief, "we'll leave you guys alone. C'mon boys, let's get outta here."
Using the path that had been fashioned for them, Caulifla, Brussel and Zucchi began to leave the camp. But something felt off to their normally fearless leader. Being careful not to be noticed, she craned her head and eyes just far enough to see behind her. Where the masked woman had previously had the left side of her robe stuck up, there was now a much smaller person standing there. The little girl looked even younger than Caulifla did, she too wearing a red robe, although hers didn't have the hood up. When Caulifla took note of the girl's ponytail and black eyes, however, that was when it dawned upon her it was likely the same figure she had seen in the fifth room of the bigger tent's basement. What disconcerted her most was the girl's face: With every step she walked away, the neutral face seemed to morph into a look of sorrow; by the time the gang was getting ready to fly away, it looked like she was on the edge of tears. Before she could see what would happen, however, the masked woman shuffled in front of her and slightly extended both of her arms, totally blocking the helpless girl from sight. Finally, Caulifla and her subordinates lifted themselves off the ground and flew over the mountain, and for the first time ever, their leader opted to stick to the back of the party.
The atmosphere in the gang's den was quieter than usual. Tired from their previous excursion, Zucchi sat in the corner, wolfing down on some leftover meat. He was so invested in his meal that he hardly paid notice to the developing conversation between Brussel and Caulifla.
"Look boss," he began while looking down at the drained, depressed-looking captain, "I know the raid wasn't successful, but you can't win 'em all, right? Just be glad we made it out with our scalps!" he said cheekily.
"It's not that." Caulifla replied. "At least, not entirely. That girl..."
"And what about her?" Brussel asked.
"When I left, she looked like she died on the inside right at that moment. To be locked up in a windowless storage room like that... ...who knows what they've been doing to her."
"Boss, listen. You may be stronger than either of us, but we've known the crime world for longer. When you see a young person in a situation like that, I know you wanna play hero; believe us, it doesn't get any easier to cope with stuff like that. But oftentimes you just can't do that. I was only able to knock around those cultists by catching them by surprise; even then they didn't seem too phased. And don't get me started on their leader; I didn't even see the fight you had with her, but just the description you gave chilled me. Someone who can do that to you is not to be trifled with."
Caulifla entered a pensive state.
"Well, that settles it." she said after a minute while raising her head up. Brussel smiled and reached over to pat her on the shoulder.
"I'm going back over there and rescuing that girl."
Brussel's smile faded and he jolted his hand back slightly. At this point, Zucchi's interest - and fear - was piqued.
"Madam Caulifla," he said, "You can't be serious. We just got let off the hook by a murderous cult leader and you want to go back and provoke her on the same night you attempted a robbery?"
"It's not an ideal situation for sure," Caulifla replied, "but I don't think I'll ever be able to get over the guilt and shame if I abandon that girl to suffer."
"They will overpower you, madam. Please, if you must go, at least take a week or so to train."
"No can do. If they're unhinged enough to do something like that to someone so young, there's a 99% chance they'll try to punish her somehow for just seeing me. One week of waiting is one week for them to kill her or break her spirit further in some insane ritual."
Zucchi and Brussel looked at each other, not knowing what to say as Caulifla slowly stepped her way to the moonlit entrance of the den. When she looked back at them, the ominousness of her next statement contrasted with the typical, overly confident smirk she now donned.
"If I don't come back in about 4 hours, your next move is totally up to you. Look for me or go your separate ways, I don't really care."
And then she turned back around, leapt down from the cave entrance and landed on the ground before running towards the remaining clumps of smoke in the sky that denoted the location of the unlit camp.