Breaking Away
Two Months Prior, Cooler's Ship
As Cooler rushed him, Tercres leapt forward, already channeling energy into his left leg, and grabbed for the tyrant's head. His right hand found purchase on one of the horns protruding from his enemy's skull, and he latched on with all his might. Cooler quickly began to pummel Tercres' torso with his good hand, but the saiyan merely gritted his teeth and kept his grip, as his left knee began to glow with energy. Seeing what his adversary had planned Cooler started thrashing in Tercres grip, desperate to escape. Rearing back, he slammed his foot into Tercres right knee at an oblique angle, jamming it out of place with a squishy POP. Tercres could feel the kneecap edging out of his skin, and every slight motion of the leg caused it to slide more and more, increasing the blood flow and worsening the pain. But he gritted his teeth and held on, he needed to hold out or else he was a dead saiyan. Sensing his freedom was close Cooler retracted his foot, only to immediately lash out with it again, this time lower on Tercres leg. At the third strike, a CRACK rang through the room, and Tercres nearly shattered teeth clenching his jaw at the pain.
When Cooler continued to kick at his now doubly broken leg Tercres reached his limit, "AHHHHHHGH!" he screamed, pain escaping his body from years of quiet suffering. He continued screaming as he pulled Cooler downward with his body, bringing up his knee in a massacre sledge, impacting the tyrant right under the chin with the energy he had been focusing while holding his opponent close.
Cooler had exalted in the scream he had finally cajoled out of his rebellious and long quiet pet, and continued to laugh as he repeatedly kicked at Tercres' right leg, further mangling it. When he found himself being pulled downward by his opponent Cooler's laughter only hitched slightly, so distracted was the ruler.
When Tercres' knee hit, it slammed Cooler's jaw shut. He had the briefest moment of confusion at what had happened before energy exploded from the impact point. With a red flash of ki Cooler's head was blown clean off his body, ripping from its threadbare neck to bounce against the ceiling before coming to rest next to the collapsed body it sat atop until now.
Hobbling to the prone body of his lifelong oppressor, Tercres scanned the room out of habit before letting a grim smile cross his features. As he stood over his fallen adversary his mind seemed to cloud. Suddenly dizzy, Tercres knelt next to the corpse, reeling from his wounds as well as the bizarre impulses filling his head. Leaning over the body, his stomach seemed to growl, and as his blood pounded through his temples his mouth began to water as well. Responding to some primitive desire locked in his saiyan genes, Tercres formed a ki blade with his functional hand and brought it to bear on the body, slicing a generous chunk from the edge of the ravaged torso. The first bite was hesitant, the next one considerably less so, and soon Tercres found himself sated at the remains of a decimated carcass.
His mind suddenly seemed to clear from its fugue, and Tercres shoved himself to his feet, ignoring the compounding pains in his leg with his desire to flee the scene of his brutality. He knew that he needed to get as far as possible from the scene before anyone with any power came around and found him so weakened. The only bargaining chip he had was his killing of Cooler, and he needed some proof of that much. Thinking for a moment, Tercres turned towards the communications center. After a painful hobble, the door to the center stood in front of him. As he entered, Tercres took a brief glance around and almost imperceptibly sighed in relief. The only other person in the room was Brax, and the technician would easily bow to his whim. "Brax." At his name the diminutive purple alien turned around, and visibly paled at the bloody saiyan before him. Before he could say anything Tercres continued, keeping the same menacing monotone "Write a bounty, someone killed Lord Cooler."
If Brax had paled at the sight of Tercres, this news turned him almost white. Swallowing his terror for the moment, Brax set down to typing out the report, after all the Organization was filled with stories of those who angered the saiyan in front of him. "Certainly Tercres," Brax responded, eager to get this trial over with, "do you know who killed Lord C-Cooler?" he asked hesitantly. At that, Tercres' lip curled up slightly in what could be considered a grin, though the scarring on his jaw made it anything but a cheerful sight, "I did." Brax's eyes somehow widened even further, and his shaking nearly made him redo an entire paragraph of his report. No one had ever seen Cooler's saiyan with any expression on his face, or at least seen it and lived to tell others, and now Brax feared he might be joining that latter group. Finishing his report, he swallowed heavily before stuttering "w-would you like m-me to send it out to th-the PT-T-O?" Tercres thought for a moment, 'it would be nice to let everyone know how strong I am, it's not like there are any that would actually look for such a fight,' Looking up at the trembling tech before him, he grabbed the proffered paper report then strode out, "Yes," His last words as the door closed on a Brax shuddering with relief.
Luck was with him; the saiyan didn't encounter anyone in the halls as he shambled to the pod bay. 'Of course,' he thought, 'after the power discharges during our fight, only an idiot would want to meet whoever won.' Pulling himself into the first available pod, he entered the coordinates to 3-86 N. Tercres couldn't think of anywhere else to go, the PTO would hunt for him, and he needed time to heal, 'if I can,' Tercres thought, after all, he had always had a regeneration tank at least, when injured previously. 'I'll get to this place, then we can play it by ear,' He decided, finally settled with the pod navigation system locked in. As the pod activated its suspended animation hardware for the journey, Tercres patted himself to make sure the bounty was in his possession, if the planet proved as dangerous as its reputation he might need it.
Present
Cooler rose from the ki strike seemingly unaffected, and advanced on him, seemingly unhurt. "So weak, so pathetic," The tyrant gloated, as he grabbed Tercres' bad arm and began to pull, "This way you'll never raise arms against me again." Tercres tried not to but he couldn't help but scream at the pain, and as he felt a ripping in his shoulder, he woke up.
Gasping for breath, and wiping a forehead dripping with sweat, he frantically looked around, eyes dilated to pinpricks and tail seemingly double its normal width as he scanned for threats. He found the room as he last left it: empty, and began to somewhat calm down. 'It was just a nightmare,' he thought to himself, 'nothing new, just one that you haven't seen before-' His thoughts were interrupted as the door slid open and the blue haired woman practically ran in. Striding to his side, she quickly began to ask "What happened? I heard screaming!" At her look Tercres wanted to groan in dismay. She had heard him during his one time of weakness, when he couldn't control himself: in his sleep. As she stood over him, Tercres did his best to turn away from her. Twisting as best he could with the bandaging, he grunted "Nothing happened, I'm fine." Bulma almost sighed, '10 years and once again I'm playing nurse to a saiyan that wants no part of it,' she thought, remembering Vegeta's hospital attitude all too well. She recognized much in common between her husband and Tercres, and she knew that she wouldn't get anywhere with sympathy or attention. Turning around, she started to exit the room, addressing Tercres as she did, "Well if you need anything let me know okay?" She almost snorted with laughter as a gruff "hn," was all that met her words, 'oh he is just like 'Geta!'
After the one slip up, Tercres managed to keep the terrors at bay, at least controlling his volume to prevent any more embarrassing revelations. The remainder of the week he spent alternating between stuffing his face and sleeping, unaccustomed to such bountiful food and amenable conditions. After years of Cooler starving him, his feasts now bordered on hedonism. The first meal had been splattered across the room by the time he found himself momentarily sated, but old lessons on custom quickly reasserted themselves, and by the third sitting Tercres had regained a grasp of (somewhat) polite eating.
The other occupants of Capsule Corp were constantly watching their guest, and all found something of him most interesting. Bulma couldn't help but see the similarities between Tercres and Vegeta when he first landed, and found herself drawn into nostalgic memories when around the surly guest. Vegeta meanwhile found himself back in less cheerful reminiscing, Tercres' manner and appearance calling him back to his servitude under Frieza, and the elder Trunks warily observed their guest for any signs of danger to the world. Of course, young Trunks thought his parent's houseguest had the coolest scars, and as Tercres acted just like his father in many regards the youth thought him a person to become friends with.
Tercres' wounds prevented any but the most passing contact with any of the Briefs, and aside from Bulma none of them ever spent any time with the mysterious saiyan. This would change today, as Goku finally arrived with the promised senzu bean. Even after Goku explained the function of the bean, Tercres merely stared at it suspiciously, as if the innocuous green bean in his palm would attack him. Vegeta understood, but he was tired of this interloper taking up a room and staying in his house, and he angrily exhorted Tercres, "Just eat the damn thing, if we wanted you dead we wouldn't have to resort to treachery!" The prince had a point, and Tercres saw the logic. Biting the proverbial bullet, he thought 'here goes,' and gulped it down. The miraculous healing left him awestruck, and as he stood and felt the new power in his veins he almost let his features warp into what might have one day become a smile. His mood soured however, when he looked down at his left hand. The arm was practically good as new, but the hand had been injured long before his last battle, and he found it as it had been for six years: missing a pinky and shortened in the palm. Following his sudden glare, Bulma and Goku were likewise shocked. "I wonder why it didn't heal your hand all the way," Goku wondered, "it healed everything else from your fight." Tercres turned his baleful gaze back from his hand to the people in front of him before starting, "I lost this years before my battle with Cooler," he coolly stated. At that Bulma jumped in, "oh! That makes sense, senzu beans don't heal old wounds, like scars, or your tail Goku!" At Bulma's words Goku seemed to brighten from his previous confusion and dismay, "Oh you're right Bulma! Phew, I was worried senzus weren't working so good anymore!" With the issue seemingly resolved, the naïve saiyan turned to Bulma and Vegeta, and with a "Let me know if you need help," to the former, and a "Tell me when you next wanna spar buddy!" to the latter, raised two fingers to his forehead and disappeared. Bulma stayed only to pull out the medical devices, and Vegeta left after warning Tercres that they would spar the next day.
Now that their guest had recovered, Vegeta intended to gauge what kind of fighter he was, and so he dragged Tercres out into a rocky outcrop far from civilization for a little spar. "Come at me with everything you have!" The prince shouted at Tercres, "Hold nothing back!" Still unsure if he was truly bluffing, Tercres nevertheless decided to humor his opponent. Widening his stance, he began to grunt as a red aura build up around him swirling while he harnessed his full power. The sight of Vegeta nonchalantly standing across from him, not even bothering to get into a stance, infuriated Tercres, and with his rage fueling his power higher he shouted and rushed for Vegeta.
