The Sun And The Moon

by dirtyShoes

A random shift of events results in Kara Zor-El accidentally ripping into the DBZ Mirai timeline. Surviving Trunks' dystopian reality is merely the first leg of a long journey of self-discovery, love, and hardship. As new bonds are forged and old ones get tested, intersecting worlds will come to respect (or fear) the might of a Saiyan and a Kryptonian standing in unity.

2. The Unlucky Number

A/N: It's back! Thanks to everyone who are keeping up with this! I won't bore you with a long note, but I do want to say that, although this chapter is going to start off kinda slow, it WILL heat up significantly. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: All characters/settings/trademarks referenced from Dragonball/Z/GT and DC entertainment are the respective properties of their original creators.

"The Sun And The Moon"

Chapter Two: The Unlucky Number

It had been two weeks since Kara's return to Earth and subsequent encounter with her new allies. With Trunks and his mother's help, she had gotten a grasp of their spoken language so she wasn't as dependent on the scouter as she initially had been. With a visual aid program, developed by Bulma, she had learned to associate common images with their human terminology. It had been a surprise, both to her and them, that she possessed a photographic memory and was able to easily assimilate the information she was given. There were still some culturally specific word combinations and slang that she didn't understand, but she got by. She considered that a stroke of luck after learning how fragile the scouters were. Bulma assured both her and Trunks that, if they were to have another encounter with the androids, the helpful gadgets would most likely not survive.

She had been quite shocked to learn that, although it was the androids who had struck first, it was the humans who were responsible for the widespread degradation of the planet's ecosystem. According to Bulma, the world government had chosen to use it's military's arsenal of nuclear weapons in a several months long campaign against the artificially enhanced humanoids. This was done in the wake of the Earth's best super powered defenders falling against the might of the two hell raisers.

Kara recalled the conversation between Bulma, Trunks, and herself on the first night of her arrival.

(The three scouter wearing individuals sat around the, now cleared off, coffee table in an official gathering to exchange stories and get themselves on the same page. Kara and Trunks sat, with a space open between them, on a newer sofa that had been pulled out of a capsule, to replace the one Trunks had broken earlier, while Bulma made herself comfortable on a plush armchair opposite them.

The oldest member of the group took a sip from her fresh cup of caffeinated beverage before setting it atop a coaster on the withered surface of the table. Now that the excitement had mostly worn off, the telltales of sleep deprivation were more noticeable on her. Eyes dry and bloodshot, from being open for too long. Slight tremble of her hands. Frequent yawning. It was all there, Kara noticed, as the bluenette began her story.

"It was fifteen years ago that our world began to change into what you saw out there...and it was those two people, the ones you helped my son fight against today, who got the ball rolling. The twins, Seventeen and Eighteen, are the only two successfully constructed cyborgs, that we know of, in a long list of androids built by a madman for a terrorist organization called The Red Ribbon Revolutionaries.

"There's a lot of history with the Red Ribbon so you'll have to excuse me for not going through the entire lengthy explanation of it right away. The gist, however, is that they were all arrested and put on trial for crimes against humanity after a personal friend of mine thwarted their attempt to overthrow the, then current, administration. That happened about eight years before the twins made their first public appearance," Bulma added before taking another sip of her coffee.

"Yeah, it was my master Gohan's father, Goku, who took them out," Trunks supplied, for Kara's benefit. "He was only like twelve or thirteen years old at the time. I remember hearing stories of all the amazing things he did before he got sick..."

Bulma cleared her throat while giving her son a mild glare, in reprimand, for his interruption. "Yes, Goku was truly an amazing person and I'll get to him in a minute.

"The Red Ribbon, on it's own, had been nothing but an overzealous group of thugs, with a wealthy backing, until Doctor Gero took up with them. Doctor Gero was the madman, that I mentioned earlier, who was responsible for Seventeen and Eighteen's creation. He also was, it shames me to admit, the former head researcher for a small medical subsidiary of my father's company, the Capsule Corporation. That branch was supposed to have been developing an artificial intelligence that, coupled with advanced robotics, would be able to perform difficult surgeries with consistent accuracy never before seen from human doctors. It was supposed to have been the next big thing that allowed Capsule to take another industry by storm.

"If only my father had been more involved in that project...but he hadn't the slightest interest in trying to break into the medical industry. The board members wouldn't let it go, though, so he eventually relented. He left them in charge and trusted them to keep a close watch over the project while he focused on getting his aerospace division kick started. When news broke about Gero's indictment, our family was one of the last to find out. We eventually learned that the board had caught on to him and his side projects early on, but decided to keep quiet and sweep it under the rug as long he continued to produce the results they wanted. It was a fiasco. The media slandered the whole of Capsule Corporation, the courts dragged my father into the witch hunt, and the people boycotted us. We nearly lost everything.

"And, in all the chaos, Gero managed to skip town after posting bail. He went so deep underground that nobody could find him. I can only assume that he stayed hidden for so long because of Red Ribbon's protection. For all we know, he could've been in league with them even before his time at Capsule came to an end. So, in the end, my family is indirectly responsible for all of this. My husband, our friends, and millions of people are dead because of my family's failure," she added, choking back a sob.

Kara fidgeted uncomfortably as the woman poured her heart into the tale. The weight of responsibility she carried for the lives of her people almost mirrored that of her father when he took it upon himself to try and save Argo City. The woman clearly had a big heart.

"It's okay, Mom," Trunks said after quickly abandoning his seat so he could pat her on the back, reassuringly. "Why don't we tell her about Goku now, yeah?"

Bulma smiled even as tears continued to roll down her face. "Goku, that's right," she said after releasing a breath in an attempt to compose herself. "Goku was a good man and a hero to many. He accomplished so many terrific and difficult feats during his life. He was our champion. He never gave up; even in the most hopeless of situations, he would find a way to keep on going until he succeeded. Unfortunately, he didn't even have a chance to defend us when Gero's legacy was unleashed. Even my husband who was, at one point, Goku's bitter rival had a hard time dealing with his passing. I didn't mention it before but, Goku and his son, Gohan, and Trunks and his father, Vegeta, all belong to a race of warriors from the planet Vegeta. My husband was next in line to inherit the throne before their planet was destroyed - which is another story entirely.

"Anyway, Vegeta confided in me that he felt Goku had gotten robbed of his chance for a true warriors death and he, himself, felt cheated that they were never able to truly settle the score. I wish you could've seen him, Trunks. Your father, I mean. He had trained relentlessly to close the gap between himself and Goku, but still had not unlocked the Super Saiyan transformation when the androids struck. He went willingly into a battle against a foe designed to kill a Super Saiyan without having even attained the legendary power for himself. He was so brave...I still resent him for ignoring my pleas to stay, but that was the kind of man he was - he couldn't stand by, idly, without even trying to do something."

Trunks blanched at the revelation. "Are you for real? You never told me that!"

"Because I didn't want you to get any ideas about recklessly sacrificing yourself like he did!" Bulma replied in an authoritative tone. "Your father knew he couldn't win against them, so he planned to go down with them. He...he..." Bulma hiccuped as she was wracked with another wave of sobs. "The last words your father ever said to me were that he was finally able to let go of the anger and pain left from Frieza's destruction of the Saiyan home world. He said he finally realized that, without those events having transpired, he never would've met me or had you for his son. He thanked me and made me promise to protect you! So, you see, as many times as Goku saved the Earth - even against your father - it was Vegeta who ultimately made the heroic sacrifice! I - I meant to tell you sooner but...after Gohan died, you haven't been the same and I was afraid... Trunks, I was afraid you would leave me the same way your father did! If you were to throw your life away, like he did, I'd be all alone! You're my boy, Trunks! You're all I have left! If I lost you, then I would have no reason to continue the struggle..."

Kara's fists trembled as she clenched them tightly. She missed her family so much! Nothing got to her more than a family being torn apart by catastrophe. It may have been too late for her parents, but she had seen Kal alive, grown, and healthy before foolishly running off on her own and getting caught up in this situation. She had to get back to him somehow.

Trunks stood up with his back turned to his mother. "I wish you would've told me the truth sooner, Mom," he said as he hung his head. His hair defied gravity as static electricity arced in the heat warped atmosphere that had sprung up around him. It took several calming breaths before his hair settled back down. "But, you were right in waiting," he added. "Seventeen and Eighteen will pay for what they've done, but I will not settle for a sacrifice. I intend to have a true victory over them. I promise you that I will see this through to the end - an end in which the Earth is finally free and it's people can once again live normal lives."

Kara took the opportunity to speak up after that. "Your cause is noble. Forgive me for asking, though; what do you intend to do afterward? That is - what will become of the Earth after you defeat those people? The surface seems void of flora and your oceans are nearly dried up. It seems unlikely that life would return to such a harsh environment so easily. Those cyborgs...they were once human, right? Political reasons or not, why would they choose to destroy the environment that nurtured their growth and which they dwell in?"

Bulma released a heavy sigh before taking another sip of her coffee. "It wasn't them who poisoned Mother Nature," she said after setting her cup back down. "After our strongest fighters went down, the twins hijacked a news camera and broadcast their beaten corpses for all the world to see. It was sick, what they did, but it succeeded in causing widespread fear and panic. The government foolishly decided to enact their nuclear weapons protocol and began to launch continuous strikes at them every time they could pinpoint their location. The nuclear bombardment lasted for nearly six months and affected every corner of the globe. I don't think they even considered developing a contingency for the toxic fallout. They were so focused on eliminating the threat that they didn't even evacuate people from the cities because it would have tipped off the twins."

Kara's eyes went wide as disbelief spread across her face. "Y-Your government sacrificed it's own people just to get at two individuals!?" She tried but just couldn't wrap her mind around such an unforgivable act. What kind of creatures were these humans?

"It's horrific, I know," Bulma admitted, leaning forward to rest her elbows on her knees. "That's why I've been working tirelessly to undo this mess. I'm currently in the midst of constructing a machine that will allow a person to travel back in time and hopefully stop those events from ever occurring, but I'm still short of several vital components. I've had Trunks helping me collect the materials piece by piece for a while now, but the twins and the toxic atmosphere make it unsafe to spend extended amounts of time on the surface. He was supposed to be collecting the last round of parts for me when you broke up his scuffle with those two."

"Bad luck, I guess..." Trunks muttered with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Anyway," Bulma continued, "that's pretty much where we're at right now. What about you? You claimed to have come here from another planet, but you were able to identify us as human and you seem to know a little bit about the Earth so I'm guessing you've visited before? Your race must be pretty strong if you were able to fight at my son's level. Thanks for helping him out, by the way. I owe you for that."

Kara nodded her head in acknowledgment of the older woman. "I was just following my instincts. To answer your earlier question, though; yes, I have been to Earth before. However, I only spent a few days on it - not really long enough to become truly acquainted with your culture. I wasn't exactly warmly welcomed either. There are many hostiles among your species; more, it seems, than you friendly types. As for my power...I'm not entirely sure as to it's extent. You see, I've only just developed most of it over the last several days..." Kara knew it was because of the yellow sun, but she didn't want to divulge everything to these people despite their apparent openness with her. Not yet at least.

"You're telling me that you developed THAT much power in just a matter of days!?" Trunks asked, incredulously. "It took me YEARS to get to my current level. Holy shit..."

Bulma had picked up on the obvious omission, Kara noticed, but decided not to interrupt. Kara continued. "Krypton was destroyed in a cataclysm many years ago. My father and uncle were scientists of the highest caliber and they chose to evacuate my cousin and I to Earth while they stayed behind to continue their efforts to save the planet. If they succeeded, I imagine we were supposed to have been sent for afterward.

"When I landed on Earth, I met my fully grown cousin and learned that I had been stuck in suspended animation aboard my escape pod. He had been an infant when I last saw him which, from my perspective, had been just days earlier. Imagine waking up from a bad dream only to discover your life has become the nightmare... actually, I suppose you guys can relate. My parents, friends, and everyone I ever knew was dead... and had been so for years while I remained ignorantly asleep. My cousin tried to tell me the truth, but I didn't believe him; my memory of events leading up to the launch are still fuzzy, in fact.

"Bottom line is, I had to find out for myself what happened. So I followed the beacon my father had left for me inside of my pod. It led me to a portal just outside of this solar system which transported me to the still intact ruins of my hometown. When Krypton broke apart, my father had managed to preserve Argo City inside of an experimental shield. The blast propelled the dislocated city into the orbit of a nearby blue star before the shield failed. When I got there, it had already been a graveyard for years. I was able to use the equipment in his lab to play back a recording he had left for me. His words left me with no choice but to accept the truth that my cousin had tried to convince me of..." Kara paused as she recalled the end of the recording. "The message he had left for me ended with someone breaking into his lab and shooting him," she said, in a trembling voice, as she clutched the ends of her cape within her fists. "Someone in Argo City murdered him..."

Bulma and her son looked upon the girl with concern. She had had her eyelids clenched shut right before she described her father's death. Now open, they saw her formerly brilliant blue irises had been replaced with a menacing red that glowed with a barely restrained energy. Bulma set her cup of coffee down and vacated her seat.

Kara was caught off guard when the older woman enveloped her in a hug and held the back of her head with one hand while rubbing her back with the other. "Hey...everything's gonna be okay, you hear?" the woman said into her ear. Her tone was soothing in a motherly kind of way. The heat that had collected behind her eyes slowly faded away as she cried into Bulma's shoulder. Kara let herself stay like that for several minutes while the woman reminded her of the healing power a mother's embrace had. When her ragged breathing finally calmed, Trunks' mother took a step back to look at her. "Listen, Kara...you don't have to tell us everything right now just because we shared so much with you. I understand if it's difficult for you. We've had years to cope with our situation...but yours is still raw. As far as I'm concerned, you earned my trust the moment you helped my boy fight off those two monsters. We'll help you however we can, I promise you that."

"You're damn right we will," Trunks said as he stood beside his mother. The determined expression on his face left no room for argument. He extended a hand toward the last daughter of Krypton. "Allow us to make up for the lack of warm welcome you experienced on your first visit to our planet. Welcome to Earth," he said with a warm smile.)

Since then she had shared, with Bulma, her theory of possibly having been displaced in time by the portal on Argo City's side. The older woman had agreed and assured her that her machine would be able to detect the particles associated with time travel, once it was completed, and had promised to run a scan on her after it was. Thus, Kara found herself recruited into the hunt for Bulma's special list of parts.

Few words were exchanged between she and Trunks as they carved a path through the gloomy sky toward their first stop. They were too focused on keeping their eyes open for any sign of activity from the twins. As her eyes continuously darted across points on the horizon, she still marveled at how thoroughly the humans had ruined their own planet. There wasn't a single spec of greenery in any direction. The, once massive, bodies of water that used to cover two thirds of the globe were reduced to a mere scattering of puddles. Trunks had said that he had encountered other survivors before, but that had been years ago; back when he and Gohan fought as a team to defend the small human settlements from the twins' destructive games. After his master died, his mother had forbid him from actively seeking out the two non-humans in favor of helping her finish constructing her machine. Kara spared a glance at the teenage boy flying beside her. His face was a mask of chiseled determination.

"There," Trunks said as he pointed a finger at the crumbling city ahead of them.

Orange Star City. The techno-industrial capital and formerly most populated human settlement on the planet was now nothing more than a piece of art painted over a ghostly mountainous background. The picture was of a moment in time; a glimpse of history hinting at it's fall from glory. Rotting spires of it's skyline were, like it's dead citizens had surely done, reaching upward to grasp for a helping hand and falling tragically short. Kara focused in that direction, unconsciously employing her telescopic vision, and zoomed in on the cluster of buildings until she spotted the weathered Capsule Corporation sign hanging loosely from the side of one of the most intact looking structures left.

The two teenagers slowed their descent before they carefully navigated the air between the decrepit skyscrapers and finally touched down on the debris littered pavement just outside of Capsule's former headquarters. The domed tower was separated from the street by a courtyard with dead flower beds and dried up fountains surrounding the stylized sculpture of a giant capsule. As they approached the building, they had to leap over a wrecked bus that looked to have been driven off of the road, judging by the tire tracks, before being granted entrance through the shattered glass doors. The inside of the establishment was in no better shape. Exposed to the elements for years, the tiled floors had moldy grout and the chic lobby furniture had been blown about by stormy winds until breaking point.

Trunks had to pat Kara on the shoulder to break her out of her trance as she surveyed the broken skylight above the atrium. "Come on, it's this way," he said, indicating a darkened corridor with a hand gesture. The blonde followed him as he led them into the darkness. The lack of light was remedied when he summoned a small orb of glowing Ki into the palm of his left hand. Capsule shaped lighting fixtures hung from the arched ceiling of the spacious hallway and the long windows of abandoned offices ran the length their path until they came to an intersection. Trunks paused so he could remove a thin plastic case from his jacket pocket and flipped it open to reveal rows of capsules within. His Ki ball remained floating there as he took that hand away to pull out the first capsule and pop it open. He offered his companion one of the two scouters that had been stored within.

Kara accepted the gadget without question before affixing it to her head. She was well aware of the plan. Bulma would monitor them from her end, after they split up, and all three would be in constant communication in case they ran into trouble or found something important.

"Finally online, I see," Bulma's voice said into their ears. "Good." There was a pause. "Okay, I've got your locations pinpointed and I'm forwarding you map data for the Capsule tower. It should be coming up on your oculars right...about...now." The two teens' faces became awash with the greenish glow emanating from the lenses covering both of their right eyes. In their line of sight, a bird's eye view of the ground floor layout appeared with two glowing blue dots right next to each other. "Those two blips are you guys, by the way."

"Yes, Mom, I know that," Trunks said, rolling his eyes.

"I know you know, dear," Bulma said emphatically. "I'm just making sure Kara is up to speed. I mean, for all we know, they never had blips on Krypton so-"

"We had blips," Kara said, cutting the woman off.

"They had blips, Mom. There you go," Trunks added. "Can we move on?"

"Right...okay then, you two. The main elevator shaft is right around the corner from you. It should give you access to all fifty-two floors, as well as the twelve sub levels. It doesn't really matter which of you goes up or down so I'll leave you to decide amongst yourselves who does what."

Trunks made eye contact with Kara before grinning slightly. "Remember that thing I showed you the other day?" Upon receiving her nod, he continued. "Right now is the perfect time to use it. Ready?"

"Rock, paper, scissors - shoot!" the two teens announced in unison as they bobbed their fists in front of each other. Two papers. They went again and Kara came back with a scissor crushing rock.

"Damn, how did you get so lucky?" Trunks muttered.

"There's only skill here, actually," Kara replied, confidently. "You're the one that needs luck. Have fun going through all fifty-two of those floors, by the way. I think I might have time for a nap while I wait for you to finish."

"Hah! We'll see who's faster," Trunks said before popping into Super Saiyan. "Fifty-two floors is nothing compared against my speed."

"Calm down, children," Bulma interrupted. "The building isn't as sturdy as it used to be, so you'd better not overdo it. Contact me as soon as you find something. Bulma out."

With a sigh, Trunks let go of his transformation before speaking. "She's right. I guess this round goes to you, Kara. Though, I bet I'll find more parts than you do since I have more floors to go through."

"You just might," Kara said, offhandedly, as she walked around the corner and into the adjacent corridor. The stainless steel elevator doors were still somewhat shiny underneath all of the dust and grime that had built up over the years. She reached her fingers into the seam and effortlessly pried the two doors open before glancing over her shoulder to see Trunks doing the same to the opposite set of doors behind her.

The boy wasted no time in propelling himself upward and disappearing while Kara took the time to peer down into the seeming abyss before levitating herself over the ledge. As she descended, her vision auto adjusted for the dark and everything she saw became tinted red. She clicked a button on the scouter and brought up the list of materials with a visual description for each. Kara scrolled through the list, memorizing each item, before switching back to the map. She hovered stationary at the first sub level as she focused on her eyes and activated her X-Ray vision. Then, twirling slowly around, she ran a visual sweep of all the offices, storage closets, and labs. Finding nothing, she dropped to the next level and repeated her procedure. She ended up going through eleven of the twelve levels before spotting anything of interest.

After bypassing the twelfth level elevator doors, Kara walked directly to the warehouse at the furthest end of the basement. "Bulma, I found something," she said as she entered the warehouse and navigated around the stacks of wooden crates.

"What is it?"

Kara reached the end of the warehouse and placed her flattened palms against the smooth wall. "There's a corridor beyond this wall. It's not on the map. Do you know about it?"

"That's impossible..." Bulma trailed off before pausing. "I oversaw the renovations myself. There shouldn't be anything else connected to the sub levels..."

"Okay, then. I'm going in," Kara said before backpedalling far enough to get a wider view of the obstruction. She squinted her eyes and used tightly focused eye beams to cut a door sized hole for her to pass through.

"I don't know what's beyond here, so I won't be able to help you. Stay on your toes."

"I got this," Kara replied as she passed through the newly created entrance. As soon as she did, she noticed how stale the air tasted. This passage had no doubt been sealed off for many years. Another thing she noticed was how large the corridor was. It was as wide as some of the roads she had seen on the surface and about as tall as a house. She tried to employ her telescopic vision to see how far it went, but discovered a limit to her enhanced senses; she had been using combined vision enhancements repeatedly and the fatigue had dramatically reduced her range. Without sunlight to recharge her batteries, she was going to have to find out the old fashioned way. Kara took to the air and propelled herself down the path at a careful pace.

The map on her ocular had gone blank the moment she passed the threshold, but it was still measuring the distance she traveled as she flew deeper into the tunnel. One mile passed quickly and turned into ten, then twenty. After fifty, she arrived at a giant roll down door. Instead of wasting energy cutting a hole, she opted to lift the door into it's rolled up position; breaking the locks in the process. What she saw left her astonished.

Dusty old Red Ribbon banners hung from the walls of the brick and mortar bunker. The stadium sized chamber reached several stories high with suspended metal catwalks connecting a dozen or so smaller corridors near the top. On the floor were rows of tanks, humvees, and mobile artillery that were haphazardly covered with dingy tarps.

Kara X-Rayed the walls surrounding her and saw that many of the smaller tunnels led to barracks or offices. However, there was one that led to a lab with a server room attached. She immediately recognized some of the items she was looking for inside of it. "Well, Bulma, I have good news and bad news for you," she said as she elevated herself toward one of the catwalks. "The good is that you can cross off a few things from that list," she added as she halted outside the door of the lab. "The bad..." she continued as she pushed the door open "...is where I found them."

No sooner than she had finished that statement, the derelict facility suddenly lit up with power as an automated recording was broadcast from speakers hidden throughout the bunker. /-/Lab breach detected. Security protocol Delta has been enacted. Squads are authorized to use deadly force/-/. Kara whirled around and spotted dozens of identical human-sized robots rushing into the corridor from both ends. They had bony limbs connected by round joints and oval shaped skeletal heads with glowing red eyes.

The teenager cursed inside her own head as the automatons sprinted toward her with claw like hands transforming into blaster tips glowing with red energy. She had to hurry and capsulize the things Bulma needed before the ensuing conflict wrecked everything. In a burst of super speed, Kara pulled out a small capsule case from her belt and ransacked the lab before the first robot made it through the door. Then she blasted the lead robot with her eye beams, ripping into the cluster of it's comrades behind it as well, before she exited back into the corridor. More came and they started blasting but, against her indestructible Kryptonian attire, she barely felt it. Even the ones that got her skin felt as weak as insect bites. She walked casually back toward the main chamber, slapping the flimsy robots into pieces as she did so. More fell against her overwhelming strength as they proved to be nothing more than a nuisance that barely slowed her from reaching the catwalk. By the time the toe tips of her boots touched the ground floor, there were none left standing. However, before her heels made contact with the concrete surface, she was knocked forward by a punch to the back of her head.

/-/Security protocol Charlie activated. Sergeant Fifteen in effect/-/.

Kara straightened herself back up as she identified her newest assailant. The purple skinned man of short stature was clad in baggy camouflage pants tucked into black boots, forest green tank top, and had a backwards facing camo hat resting atop his head. The glare of the overhead lights reflected off of his aviator sunglasses as he folded his arms over his chest and spoke to her in a deep, threatening, voice. "You will stop resisting."

"It speaks," Kara said to him, mockingly, as she identified his status as an android with little more than the blink of an X-Ray scan. "But not for much longer," she added as she launched herself at the artificial man with a fist cocked back.

Fifteen managed to catch her left fist in his right palm before his face was thrust to the side by her right hook. One of his artificial teeth flew out of his mouth as a result.

/-/Threat assessment updated. Security protocol Beta activated. Lieutenant Fourteen in effect/-/.

"Your presence here is unauthorized," the second newcomer said as he descended from an opening in the ceiling. Like his comrade, he wore camo pants tucked into black boots but that's where the similarities ended. He was very tall, had pasty grey skin, brown eyes, and long black hair tied into a thick braid which hung over his left shoulder. He was also shirtless and heavily muscled. "Die!" he cried as he rushed in to engage her.

Kara avoided his uppercut by tilting her head away from his fist but caught his knee in her chest right afterward and was sent flying into the ceiling. She had gained control in time to stop herself from penetrating the roof, though. A cave-in would be bad. She let her outstretched arms fall back down to her sides as her eyes lit up with red. "You first," she replied before blasting him with a full powered beam. His grey skin bubbled as the heat sizzled his chest. She grinned as he reached a hand up to nurse the wound.

/-/Threat assessment updated. Security protocol Alpha activated. Captain Thirteen in effect/-/.

"Well, well, well. What have we here?" said a voice with a distinctive drawl.

Kara turned around to watch as a man rose up from a hole in the floor. His skin was the same shade as her own. He wore black cargo pants tucked into combat boots and a brown utility vest over a bare chest. His shoulder length silver hair was tied into a loose ponytail behind his head. "How many of you are gonna show up before you realize you can't stop me?" she asked.

"No more will be needed, I can assure you that," Thirteen said with a confident smirk.

Before Kara could reply, both of her arms were grabbed by Fourteen and Fifteen, who held her in place long enough to catch Thirteen's fist in her stomach. Spit flew from her mouth as she was doubled over. Her wide eyes narrowed in anger as she fought to regain her breath. "That was...cheap," she growled out.

"I never was one to ignore a bargain," Thirteen replied dryly. He hammered her abdomen with a few more heavy fists before breaking out into laughter. "This is great! I been asleep for far too long. I owe ya one for wakin' me up. If it weren't for my programmin', I'd probably be offering to buy ya a drink right about now!"

Kara winced as the Captain reveled in the pain he was causing her. 'Must get into the sunlight,' she thought. "Bulma... Trunks," she coughed out. She wondered why nobody had come to her aid yet.

"Aw... poor blondie missing her friends?" Thirteen asked. "A jammin' signal went up when ya tripped the defenses of this base. All wireless transmissions are blocked until we dispose o' ya. Just thought ya should know, ah-hahahahahahhh!"

Having caught her breath while Thirteen was talking, she quickly pulled both of her legs tucked up against her body - knees to her chest - before uncoiling into a double booted kick that sent the gloating android flying away. He crashed into the far wall at about the same time she closed her arms to smash Fourteen and Fifteen's heads together. She then rolled her body in the air and launched herself back into the fifty mile long tunnel at her best speed. "Bulma or Trunks, can you hear me!? I need help!" she yelled into the scouter as she approached the hole she had cut into the wall of Capsule tower's twelfth sub level warehouse.

"Yo, where have you been?" came the voice of Trunks. "We've been trying to get ahold of you for the past ten minutes. Are you okay?"

"Praise Rao," Kara said as relief flooded her voice. "Get ready for a party. I'm bringing guests with me," she added as she blew through the warehouse and back toward the elevator shaft. She heard the crash of the androids below her as she rocketed up to the ground floor and out into the lobby. "Trunks, where are you?"

"He's packing up the last of what we need," Bulma said. "Hurry up and meet her outside, would you?"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it. Almost done," Trunks replied over the comm.

Kara's brow furrowed with effort as she flipped over the crashed bus at the tower's doorstep and bounded straight up into self propelled flight. "I'm literally sweating here, guys. Waiting on you, Trunks," she said seriously as she pushed herself passed the skyline and made a break for the black clouds. She looked over her shoulder to check the gap between her and her pursuers. Fourteen and Fifteen were halted near the peak of Capsule tower, but she didn't see-

Thirteen sent her on a horizontal trajectory with a powerful backhand as he blocked her path to the clouds. "Where do ya think yer goin', honey?" he said with a smirk. "We ain't done with ya yet, hahaha. Not by a long shot."

Kara recovered from the aerial spin just in time to avoid crashing into the roof of a squared skyscraper. She wiped her mouth and came away with blood on her hand. Not good. She was expending energy much faster than she had anticipated and the small amount of solar radiation that penetrated the thick cloud layer wasn't enough to recharge her. 'Come on, Trunks...'

Thirteen opened his mouth to say something else but was interrupted by a white Ki blast exploding against his vest. It had come from a window in the top floor of Capsule tower. "What the hell was that?"

"...aaaaAAAAAHHHH!" The echoing war cry accompanied the explosion of the domed roof as Trunks called upon his Super Saiyan transformation. Golden light washed over Kara and the three androids as the son of Vegeta levitated out of the wreckage with his right hand gripping the hilt of his sword. "Who are you guys and what do you want with my friend?"

"We..." Thirteen started, "are Doctor Gero's elite android guard. Yer girlfriend was kind enough to wake us up so we could have some fun. Yer welcome to join us, though. My two subordinates need a punchin' bag of their own after all." Fifteen cracked his knuckles while Fourteen rolled his head side to side to pop his neck. "He's all yers, fellas. I got the cheerleader."

Before the Lieutenant and Sergeant got within arms reach, Trunks had withdrawn his blade from its sheath while unleashing a Ki wave with his left hand that sent the two androids crashing into different buildings. He then launched himself at Thirteen and came down on him with a heavy two-handed vertical slash that the man narrowly avoided. Trunks had managed to slice a few strands of his silver hair off as he leaned his upper body to the side. The Super Saiyan followed through with the swing, to continue his momentum, and flipped himself over before coming back with a diagonal slash, a spinning horizontal slice, and ending in an energy-tipped blade thrust that pierced through his enemy's brown vest, leaving a long gash on the side of his abdomen, before the energized tip exploded into a wave that sent the Captain hurdling miles away.

Kara whistled in appreciation as she floated over to Trunks' side. "Wow... even I can't see where he's gonna land," she said.

"These ones aren't as strong as Seventeen and Eighteen," Trunks said, re-sheathing his blade. "Are you sure you're okay? I thought you were stronger than this."

"About that... I didn't mention it before but... my powers are derived from the sun. These passed two weeks I've been with you have been spent mostly in that cave or under cloud cover from the fallout. I didn't realize until today how diminished my abilities have become, though," Kara admitted.

"So, all you need is a little sunshine to make you big and strong? Like a plant?" Trunks asked as a humorous smile broke out on his face. "Do I need to water you too?" he added as laughter overcame him. "Ouch! Not cool..." he said, rubbing the spot where she had punched his shoulder. "Can't take a joke..." he muttered.

"I can take a joke, for your information," Kara said adamantly. "Yours are just so lame that I can't stand to listen. But seriously, I need to get above these clouds like five minutes ago. Will you finish off the other two while I go bask?"

"Not a problem, Miss Sunshine. Leave 'em to me," he replied, giving her a confident thumbs up.

Kara rolled her eyes, shaking her head, as she ascended the final distance to her solar bath. She spread her arms wide as the tingling warmth of the sun washed over her body and tickled her skin. The cut on her lip vanished and her fatigue evaporated under the yellow star's heat. She closed her eyes as calm relief came over her and counted the seconds as her body metabolized the nourishing radiation. Below her, she could hear Trunks enjoying the unique situation of having the advantage over the androids. She twirled around and focused her vision below the blanket of clouds to watch Trunks play around.

The young Super Saiyan had an ear to ear grin plastered onto his face as he effortlessly parried, blocked, and dodged the combined onslaught of Fourteen and Fifteen. He then decided to fold his arms over his chest and use only speedy upper body movement to evade their continuous flurry of punches. He let his left leg be in charge of halting any attempted kicks or knee strikes. Trunks could only enjoy their humiliation for so long before growing bored, however. His grin dropped until it disappeared entirely. His sudden change in attitude made the android duo flinch in response. "It's time you pieces of junk went to the scrap heap," he said as he caught their fists in each of his palms. His hands began to glow hotly as he refused to let go of the struggling Red Ribbon soldiers. "Sayonara," he said before he unleashed twin blasts that blew them each into pieces. He dusted his hands off before adding, "Maybe they can be recycled into something useful; like a toaster oven."

"Recyclin' sounds like a great idea, but I think I got a better use in mind," Thirteen said as he dropped out from the black clouds. He was burnt all over and his clothes were in tatters but he was still in one piece. "Come to daddy!" he yelled, with a wild look in his eyes, as several small pieces of his comrade's remains rushed toward him like a magnet. Microchips, silicon boards, transistors, and power cells were absorbed through his skin as he laughed out loud.

'This doesn't look good,' Kara thought as she watched the crazed android shake with laughter. The damage he had taken was disappearing rapidly while his muscles bulged to grotesque size. 'Whatever he's trying needs to be stopped,' she decided before leaving her sunbath, earlier than intended, in favor of dropping a devastatingly powerful axe kick to the top of Thirteen's head. The concussive force of her boot against his skull sent out a shockwave of wind that leveled a few of the weaker standing buildings around downtown Orange Star and also created a significant parting of the clouds above her. He remained, shockingly, unmoved however.

"Tut-tut, little lady," Thirteen tsked as he glanced back at her. "Hasn't anyone ever told ya it's impolite to interrupt someone else's turn?" He then caught Trunks' blade between the thumb and forefinger of his right hand; effortlessly halting his swing. "HAAAAAaaaahhh!" he shouted as the blast of energy from his completed transformation knocked both of them away from him. His, now orange, hair stood on end as synthetic muscles rippled under his new blue skin.

Trunks shook a small chunk of concrete off of his blonde head as he pulled himself out of the wall he had become embedded into on the side of a tall building. "Ugh... what just happened?"

"AH-HAHAHAHAHAAAA!" The thunderous laughter of the transformed Thirteen echoed across town.

Miles away, near the edge of the city, Kara lifted a slab of fallen steel off of herself and tossed it aside before looking back up to the air above the city. Her eyes went wide when she spotted not just Thirteen, but also Seventeen and Eighteen as they approached him. The twins must've been drawn in to investigate after all the racket that had been going on with energy beams and explosions having disrupted the atmosphere for miles. She focused her hearing until she tuned in to their conversation.

"Well, if it ain't the two deserters who betrayed our maker. Come to play?" Thirteen asked in a monstrously deep voice.

"Excuse you," Eighteen said, in an offended tone. "I don't seem to recall ever having had the displeasure of meeting your disgusting mug. Are we supposed to know who you are or something? You recognize this clown, Seventeen?"

"Really, Sis?" he replied with an incredulous expression. "I never hung out with muscle headed freak shows like this idiot. You know me better than that."

"There you have it, then," Eighteen said, laying the matter to rest, as she addressed Thirteen once again. "So, are you the one who's been wrecking our property?"

"Hahaha, I never expected ya fools to recognize me," Thirteen said as he leveled an index finger at them. "Besides, I have since transcended my previous form so, even if ya had known me before, ya wouldn't realize it with the way I am now."

"He didn't answer the question, Sis," Seventeen pointed out. "What do you think we should do about this uncooperative freak?"

"Well, I think the responsibilities of ruling a planet should involve putting dissenters in their place," Eighteen said as she unfolded her arms. "Don't you agree?"

"Naturally," Seventeen replied as he removed his hands from his pants pockets and began to crack his knuckles. He shared a silent glance with his sister before they both went on the offensive.

"Not so fast, children," Thirteen said as he caught both of them by clamping his massive mitts over their faces before squeezing their skulls just hard enough to make them squirm. "There's a new sheriff in town."

Kara's jaw hung open in shock as she watched Thirteen toss the twins around like rag dolls while laughing like a mad man. She realized her throat had gone dry when she tried to swallow the lump of tightness that had collected around it. Her eyes shifted and found Trunks frozen into a similar state of disbelief. If this newcomer was making playthings out of their former terrorizers, so casually, what was he going to do to she and Trunks when he got through with them?

xxxxxvvvvvvvxxxxx

Find out next time on... Dragon's Ball Sackz! Cue the theme song! "Cha-la... Head-cha-la..."

ANSWERS TO BOTH ASKED AND UNASKED QUESTIONS RIGHT HERE:

Q: Is Kara going to travel to the DBZ past timeline with Trunks?

A: I would love for that happen! If I can come up with a legitimate reason for it, then you can bet I'll make it so.

Q: Will Trunks accompany Kara back to her native universe?

A: All I can say is that Kara's return to the DC universe is a long way off and a lot can happen between her (potential) visit to the DBZ past and eventual return home.

Thank you to Ulquiorra Shiffer 007 for posing those very important questions. Now, here are some you might be asking after reading this chapter.

Q: Why such a melodramatic flashback?

A: I felt that it was important to demonstrate that to counterbalance the sometimes out-of-place or exaggerated humor I have and will continue to write into character dialogue.

Q: The universal translating scouter idea was a stroke of genius. How do you come up with these amazing original ideas?

A: I make sure to eat all of my vegetables and keep my mind sharp while conveniently forgetting where I saw these things pop up first.

Q: Why is Kara too... (Weak, strong, trusting, distrusting, slow/quick witted, etc)?

A: Whoa, whoa, calm down DC fans. This is my first time writing any DC character in or out of their home setting AND I've only read up to issue 7 of her comic. The only DC I've read more of is Batman and he's not in this story...yet. (Maybe)

Q: Why did you choose to depict certain aspects of DBZ history/characters differently?

A: If you remember the author's note before Chapter One, I mentioned that I had always wanted to see either Kara or Kal travel to a VERSION of the DBZ realm. This is exactly that. I never claimed this to be a canon interpretation of DBZ. Hence my choice to take certain liberties with character names, histories, choice of attire, story setting, etc.

Finally, I would like to thank everyone who reviewed the first chapter as of this posting.

Screaming Dean

Sicof this

Lord Sigfry

TD Master

itheone

Ulquiorra Shiffer 007

Sir Thames

Guest 1 and Guest 2, I didn't forget about you either.

It's thanks to all of you that I cranked out Chapter Two so fast. See you next time.