Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z or Darker Than Black. All are written respectively by Akira Toriyama and Tensai Okamura. All characters portrayed are of their respective anime and manga.
Central City glowed in the night with its high, white stoned buildings towering over the citizens that filled the city like ants, and high energy lights that brightened the ground below them. Many types of buildings filled the view of the half-saiyan, Trunks Briefs, as he stared in awe at the amount of work that has gone into reconstruction in about two centuries. Nothing much changed about the buildings with its variety of shapes and domes, but you'd be a fool if you didn't notice that they really got bigger with time. In addition, he saw the various roads and tunnels that were spread on the ground and above. It looked like a circuit board from the altitude he was at. Overall, he was amazed at how much variety had gone into the architecture...other than of course, the same plain colors.
"Put us down there in small dark alleyway," the woman in his arms, Misaki Kirihara, spoke as she pointed below them at a small passageway between two buildings, unattended by light or people. The half-saiyan nodded and slowly drifted down, keeping any eye out below for anyone who may be watching with their mouths agape.
With a light tap to the ground, both of their hairs floated for a moment before it settled down to the gravity. Misaki promptly pushed the half-saiyan's chest as she lifted herself off of the man's arms. Her legs were slightly shaking, but Trunks wasn't going to mention considering the hostility he felt from her.
It was only moments in silence as the woman recouped herself and let out a heavy sigh. Her composure was regained and she glared at the "contractor" with great distrust. The half-saiyan was able to see the woman's scrunched up facial features despite the darkness of the alleyway that covered them.
"We're only a few blocks away from the headquarters, but I'm warning you, if you try anything, I won't hesitate to shoot," the stern woman warned with venom clear in her throat.
The half-saiyan sighed and raised his arms in understanding as he got her message though it was possible she couldn't see with the dark.
"Yes, yes," he answered in a pretty solemn tone. Of all the people that could have came to greet him, he got a police woman and two others who he could only assume were 'contractors' since they had powers too. Not exactly a welcome party although he wasn't expecting to get any really.
Still, he would get his answers one way or the other, but right now, he would comply with the woman's demands. If it turned out to be that he wasn't getting anywhere, he wasn't afraid to escape and do things on his own.
The woman glared daggers through her petite glasses and then stepped to the side of the half-saiyan, raising her hand up in front of the saiyan.
"I'll need you to give me that sword as well," the woman requested.
This time, Trunks wasn't so reluctant to just hand out his trusted sword. He glared back at the woman and shook his head.
"Sorry, the sword stays with me," Trunks answered firmly.
Misaki seemed to keep her professional mannerism in check and simply frowned. "This isn't only because I don't trust you, I can't have a dangerous weapon like that out in the open. People will become suspicious," she explained.
Trunks sighed, realizing that the woman did have a point though it wasn't like he had to worry about it before. He shifted his hands into a pocket of his purple jacket and pulled a small tiny item. Luckily, they were in the dark and Misaki couldn't see very well what the half-saiyan was pulling out. Nevertheless, she had backed slightly away and pulled her hand close to her glock in case he tried anything suspicious.
A second later and a small poof of smoke, Misaki widened her eyes and quickly began to clear the smoke away with one hand while putting a sleeve close to her mouth in case, not wanting to inhale any of the particles that was slowly dispersing.
"Trunks!" she shouted, calling out the half-saiyan's name for the first time. Her voice was wary as she wondered what the half-saiyan was planning. Her questions would be answered though as she saw the half-saiyan holding a capsule in his hands once the smoke fully cleared. She came to realization that he had stored the sword as it was no longer visible behind his back. The man promptly dropped it back into his jacket pocket.
"There shouldn't be any problem now?" he asked plainly which earned another glare from the woman. Though she expected compliance from those who wanted her help or were in custody, she wasn't going to push the man knowing full well that it would be easy for him to escape since he could "null gravity".
"Fine, just as long as it stays hidden," she replied with an annoyed huff. After a moment of venting mentally, she walked ahead a bit and then turned around to Trunks.
"You start first. I'll walk behind you and point you in the right direction. It'll only be a short while," she instructed. The half-saiyan curled his lips as the woman only seemed to emphasized how much she didn't trust him. It made him wonder how dangerous these 'contractors' were. He'd definitely want to clear his name from that title though as he had no intentions of getting these kinds of attitudes.
The half-saiyan sighed begrudgingly and started walking forward, glancing behind him as he heard the taps from the woman. With the sight of bright lights filling the his view increasingly, it wasn't long before he came into the arteries of a lively city.
The standard hover cars buzzed as they swiftly passed through the streets. There were a variety of new cars and shapes that the time traveler had never seen but the concept of hovering hadn't changed. One thing particular he noticed was the lack of the old-wheeled cars that people in his time occasionally drove. Then again, it would be quite silly if there were people who hadn't adopted in two centuries.
The sidewalks were surprisingly lively with groups walking to have some fun, business men and women who were likely walking back home after a long day of work, and even children who laughed and played in between the people walking.
It was a surprisingly refreshing change as opposed to the cracked sidewalks and the abandoned streets that filled many cities in his time. He could only gaze in awe at the warmness of the city at night. It was quite beautiful.
"Hey! Let's get going, we don't have all day here!" Misaki lightly pushed the half-saiyan to get moving. The half-saiyan blinked in response and smiled sheepishly at himself for getting distracted. It couldn't be helped though...it had just been so long since he'd seen a city with this much liveliness.
He pressed forward and dived into the foot traffic of street travelers. Kirihara kept up closely behind at a brisk pace. He assumed that she would let him know when to turn or to stop. Until, then he took the time to absorb the environment that surrounded him. It was, of course, noisy and normally the half-saiyan never enjoyed this kind of environment. That's not to say he still wasn't comfortable, but at the very least, it was so much better than abandoned, ghost streets.
A couple people passed by him in the opposite direction who were talking by themselves. It was likely that they were on the phone but the weirdly enough, they weren't holding anything to their head or had a device lodged into their ears to hear and speak into. It was as if they just were talking and responding without any form of device. He wasn't sure whether that talking by yourself was a common trait in this time or he that was certainly missing something with his sharp hearing and observable eyes.
Then he saw some people actually carrying their phones to their head like normally or had some sort of medium to talk with. So it seemed that actual visible mediums of communications hadn't gone extinct. That made him a little relieved which meant if he needed to get some communication, he didn't have to worry about some new technology such as non-visible devices.
"Hey hey! Where do you want to go, tonight?"
Trunks ears perked as he heard a girl ask a question to what looked to be her boyfriend. As he passed by them like everyone else, he caught a glimpse of something...different.
"Hm? Well, let me pull up some interesting restaurants," the boyfriend replied and somehow opened up a holographic plane of information just a foot away from his face. His eyes were scanning intently as pictures and words floated down in a contained space. With a small buzz, the holographic plane disappeared in front of him and he smiled, apparently finding the perfect place for his date.
Trunks, at this point, was quite astonished. He had seen nothing like that in his time! It...it almost looked like a computer except it just sprouted in front of him like nothing and holographic no less! To say he was curious was an understatement.
I could definitely tell my mother about what I've seen when I get back! Trunks thought with awe.
Something was amiss though...and as he looked on between the passing people and drivers in the hover cars, it became obvious. It wasn't long before his eyes widened to some shocking revelation.
They were all human...
There wasn't a single sign of any wolf-man, dog-man, or any sign of intelligent animals mixing with the humans. This didn't go well in the pit of his stomach and he could only worry why that is. His thoughts continued to the royal dog family in charge of Earth...surely they still were still in charge, right?
"HEY!"
Trunks stopped as he was pulled out of his thoughts and soon noticed that Kirihara wasn't following him anymore. He turned back and saw her a few feet away from some building steps. He realized that he had drifted a bit after being too preoccupied with the strange, new technology and environment.
"Eh..." Trunks began, rubbing his neck a little embarrassed while the police chief only glared at him.
"So...you're saying that this man is a contractor and he willingly came with you here?" a large man asked confused in a low, deep voice. The man, Yuusuke Saito, had a squarish face, short-cut black hair, and a large nose. He was the subordinate of Chief Kirihara.
Chief Kirihara nodded, standing with him in front of a low-reflective mirror, separating two rooms. Behind that wall, the half-saiyan Trunks was situated in an interrogation room along with a young, ruffled blond haired and green eyed male opposite of him and asking him questions. Both of them were looking at each other with lazy eyes, apparently wondering to themselves why they were in the room for different reasons. It didn't help much to Trunks that in one of the corners stood a muscular guard with a gun ready at his hand in case he made any kind of assault.
"I know it sounds weird, but it's the truth. In addition, when I first met him in a forest near the star laboratory, two contractors attacked us. Luckily, he was able to null gravity and I had no choice but to escape with him," she explained.
Yuusuke chuckled nervously as he began rubbing his head, wondering the best way to respond. He wasn't doubting the chief, but the details were a bit unclear.
"It um...sounds like he saved you, Chief," the man responded, instantly regretting the words as his superior glared at him under her petite glasses.
Yuusuke began sweating and taking a tiny step back with his arms in front of him. "I-I mean, I'm not doubting you or anything chief, but why would he want to be here!? Personally, this would be the last place to go to if he is a contractor," the man questioned.
Misaki let up her glare and sighed. She was quite tired and what was left of her "time off" had gone completely to waste. She inwardly wondered if this was her fault for being too curious and letting her chief duties get the best of her.
"I've never said he wanted to go here, but he needed some answers. Why he complied though is something that makes me wonder as well. Regardless, we need to find out what happened. There were two other contractors that wanted him for some reason," she explained.
Yuusuke dropped his shoulder and let out a breath of relief. Seeing the chief get mad was scary and you never wanted to be in the direct line of sight when that happens. He glanced at the semi-transparent glass where his colleague, Yukata Kono, was asking questions to this...contractor.
To be honest, everyone was skeptical and then completely shocked when they found out that Kirihara had brought in a contractor. It was...quite a scene to be honest. At first, everyone was up in arms about a contractor at the headquarters but so far the 'contractor' had complied nicely.
"Well, let's see if Yukata can get anything out of him," he said though, by the looks, it doesn't seem like neither of them were getting anywhere. He had to admit though that he was a bit curious about this unusual man. Firstly, he never seen someone with a hair color as lavender as his and secondly...
"What did you say his name was again?" Yuusuke asked.
Kirihara's eyes twitched a little, but that was all the amount of movement that was received. "Trunks...Briefs..." she answered hesitantly with a peeved voice.
...and that was the second most unusual thing. Who the hell would call themselves 'Trunks Briefs'? If that was just a fake name to keep his identity hidden, it was an extremely poor attempt.
Misaki sighed knowing what her subordinate was thinking. "Yeah, I know..."
Then, on cue, her pocket buzzed with the vibration of her phone. She pulled in out and checked the number in one motion. She immediately recognized it to be her friend, Kanami. Most likely, she was worried. In all that had happened, it was she must have heard the explosions.
She activated the phone and put it to her ear, turning away from Yuusuke as he watched the questions being asked behind the window.
"Kanami," Misaki acknowledged and was received with a loud sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness! What happened out there?! I heard some loud explosions just outside the laboratory and got worried. Not only that, but my colleagues immediately warned me that there were contractors that had appeared close in the forest you were in! Where are you...and more importantly, are you okay?!"
Misaki couldn't help but smile, appreciating the concern her friend was emitting through the phone. Her face returned to her normal, serious outlook and hummed in confirmation.
"Mm...yeah I'm okay. I'm currently at the headquarters so you don't have to worry anymore. Were you able to identify the contractors?" she asked.
Kanami sounded quite annoyed as she responded. "Ah I see, straight to business right? Not even describing what happened..."
Misaki let out an apologetic smile and moved to a more sincere tone. "Sorry Kanami, I'll definitely fill you in on the details later, but right now, I need to get any information possible about the contractors that were present in the forest," she explained hoping that her friend would understand.
The woman behind the phone sighed again and relented. "Kay, just give me a moment..."
Misaki nodded and waited patiently. Having her friend as the head observer of the stargazing laboratory did have its benefits. She had helped the police force capture many contractors by using the activity of the stars as a consistent navigator.
"According to our information at the time, two contractors were active near the forest. They're unknown so we don't have an official messier code for them at the moment," Kanami answered.
This shocked Kirihara a bit. Two? It was obvious that the nude woman and brutish red-haired male that attacked them were contractors, but being a witness to Trunks ascent to the sky, she was sure that there should have been a third.
"Misaki? Hello, are you there? Don't leave me hanging here, what's going on?!" her friend asked incredulously.
Misaki blinked and then fought hard against the amount of questions that had now appeared in her mind. It could have been easily a mistake with the system out there.
"Are you positive, Kanami? Are you sure that there were only two?" she asked once more to reaffirm.
Kanami was a bit confused but she nonetheless continued to answer her friend. "Yes...we're positive. In fact, there were actually no activity at all within the stars except two at the time so there isn't really any chance for error. Are you okay, Misaki?"
Misaki bit her lips, thinking back to the quick escape Trunks made and how he was able to fly in the air with her. Certainly she wasn't disillusioned with what happened. Not wanting to worry her friend again with silence, she decided that there wasn't really much to talk about left right now.
"Yeah, I'm okay, Kanami. I'll meet up with you later and explain the details," she concluded.
The scientist behind the phone gave a reluctant sigh. "Yeah okay, don't trouble yourself though. Remember, stress never does a complexion good, kay?"
Misaki gave a genial laugh and nodded, "Don't have to remind me twice now. I'll see ya soon, Kanami. Bye," she ended and then stopped the communications with her phone. She was glad that she and her friend used the traditional methods of talking rather than...well...the other method.
Right on time, Yukata finally appeared out of the interrogation and immediately slipped his hands into his pockets and drew out a long sigh. It was apparent he was a bit annoyed and tired with the lavender-haired man he was talking to.
"Are you sure this man is a contractor? He sounds crazy if you ask me," the young man commented.
Both Misaki and Yuusuke frowned at the lazy attitude of their colleague but focused on material of the mysterious man.
"Crazy is irrelevant here, don't forget that contractors are manipulative. What did he tell you?" Misaki asked, putting away the fact that only two stars were active during her time with him. She would find out what's really going on.
Yukata scratched his blond hair and recalled the talk. "He says he's not from this time period and that he came here accidentally by mistake. He also says that he's not this 'contractor' you speak of and that there's some mistake being made. Right now, it seems his intention is just getting information and he refuses to answer anymore of my questions until he gets his answers," he explained.
Yuusuke looked at Misaki with one eyebrows raised. Even he was a little bit confused. A time-traveler? He had enough common sense to know that contractors are rational beings and they wouldn't claim something that wasn't possible.
Misaki looked down at the floor and narrowed her eyes as she thought. It was possible this guy was a fake; however, already his claims of not being a contractor was being supported by her friend's analysis. If he wasn't a contractor, then how was he able to null gravity?
She raised her head with a serious outlook and then turned towards her two subordinates. "I need you guys to do a search on 'Trunks Briefs' and see what you can find in the database," she ordered.
Both Yukata and Yuusuke gazed at their boss in shock. The younger out of them chuckled in disbelief. "Are you kidding me? How will any result pop up from that name?"
Misaki growled. "It doesn't matter, okay! We'll play along with what we have. As preposterous it sounds, we can use that as a solid base to see if he's only in a cover or not," she explained.
Both of them dropped their shoulders and nodded. Before they returned to their desks though, Yuusuke glanced at the chief.
"What are you going to do, chief?" he asked.
"I'll talk to him. Return to me if you find anything. Let's not report this to the head chief yet, okay?" she answered.
Yukata nodded reluctantly and went to work. He looked at the sky in a nearby window and frowned, realizing that he may not get any sleep tonight.
Misaki then proceeded to the interrogation room that Yukata had just been in. There was a scanner next to the door knob where she pulled out her authorization card to be granted access into the room. With a green light from the scanner and a beep, the door unlocked and caused one half-saiyan to perk up as he laid in his chair with crossed arms over his chest.
"You're not making this easy, Trunks," she commented as she entered the room and sat in a chair across from the half-saiyan.
Trunks simply frowned with a vein visible on his forehead. "I've already figured out that you probably won't believe me when I say that the yellow capsule machine you saw me with was a time-machine," he replied back, annoyed.
Based on her colleague's reaction, it was kind of shocking to find out that time machines hadn't been available after two centuries. It was either that or it was hidden from public knowledge. He wasn't sure which. This didn't make it easy at all and complicated things a lot. Not to mention, this could be bad considering that his machine was likely in the hands of the two mysterious attackers in the forest.
Misaki kept a poker face though she wanted to more than ever scoff. "Can you blame us? Time machines isn't exactly an available good," she said only to emphasize the half-saiyan's assumption.
He looked at the chief known as Misaki with surprise. "Are you saying that nobody has tried building it before?" he asked.
Misaki furrowed her eyebrows, partially in disbelief and partially in impatience. Most everyone in the world knew about the attempts at time-travel. Each one failed and cost billions of zenis. After a few decades of research and development, it was finally concluded by many industrial companies that it wasn't possible and not worth the financial expense. This guy surely knew that it wasn't possible.
"Look, you can drop the cover alright? Nobody has successfully built a time machine or capsule. I'm beginning to doubt that you're even from Capsule Corporation. Who are you, really?"
Trunks sat there a bit dumbfounded. From what he assumed Misaki was telling him, people had attempted to time travel...and everyone of them failed. If that was the case, then his mother had likely kept the time capsule a secret the whole time and destroyed the blueprints to the machine...algorithms...everything. He could understand why; allowing people to time travel was risky business. It was already proven that it won't affect current timelines but it can affect alternate timelines, thus it wasn't to be toyed with.
...and he just brought one here...
The implications wasn't good. Now more than ever, he needed to find a way to get back and prevent the secret from being found out. He began regretting the decision to escape and leave the capsule behind. Luckily, he had locked it which meant it would take a while until who ever his attackers were would figure out how to unlock it.
Focusing back to the situation at hand, he looked at Misaki who was awaiting his response and sighed.
"I haven't been lying, Miss Kirihara," he answered a little bit more politely knowing now, more than ever, he could use some aid, "Can you tell me what a contractor is, please? I overheard you talking with your friend about these stars and contractors..."
Misaki blinked for a moment and then caught on to what Trunks was saying. She opened her mouth in shock but didn't say anything. Closing it, she then glared at the half-saiyan.
"How did you know? There's no way you could have heard me," she asked with a glare and a low growl behind her teeth.
Trunks blinked and then realized his mistake in admittance. He was able to hear sharper than an average human thanks to years of training. Sometimes though, he forgot the relative wall between him and an average human. He knew this wasn't going to make it easier and only raise more suspicion. He certainly didn't want that.
Despite his mistake, he wasn't going to worry about it right now. He glared back at the suspicious woman to show her how serious he was about this.
"Look, it doesn't matter how. What matters to me is finding out about this time line, why I was attacked, and how I can get back to my own time," he answered simply.
Misaki continued her glare for a moment before closing her eyes and sighing. There was no way he couldn't be a contractor. Though something about him told otherwise and she knew that contractors were manipulative. Underneath that clueless mask was a contractor who had plans. She was beginning to wonder if taking him into 'custody' was the right decision.
For right now, she would give him the answers he wanted to know. Maybe then, she could find more about this man.
"Fine, I'll tell you," she said, closing her eyes and earning a small but relieved smile from the half-saiyan.
She told him briefly about contractors, beings with supernatural powers who had a common characteristic of thinking rationally and only for themselves. She also told him some details of the stars and how they were aligned with each contractor in the world. The real stars were replaced by fake ones after the rising of Hell's Gate, a chaotic area of space. Overall though, she kept everything relatively small in comparison to the bigger picture.
The half-saiyan took this new information with surprise and found out why he had been regarded as a contractor. In all honesty, he wasn't sure if the situation with the citizens of Earth had changed much. Compared to the fearful attitudes of his own time, people here was isolated from the existence of contractors for their own sake. He couldn't help but feel that everything pointed to the same reason, "fear". He wasn't exactly sure what to think about these contractors...they do anything they can to survive, ,but was it because they were not accepted?
"So after hearing that, can you say that you are not a contractor?" Misaki asked, narrowing her eyes.
Trunks curled his lips to his side and then slowly shook his head. "I'd like to say I can act rationally, but...the way you're describing these contractors is different. I understand why you think I'm a contractor, but I assure you that my abilities are not to the same degree. From your conversation, your friend said that only two stars were active right? Shouldn't that prove me otherwise?"
Misaki widened her eyes for a moment but then remained composed as a chief would. She still couldn't believe how he was able to hear that from this enclosed room. While she couldn't deny that he was making sense, she was unable to lift her suspicions.
"Okay, if it is as you say and you're not this 'contractor', what are you?" she asked.
At this moment, Trunks was glad that this was actually getting somewhere as oppose to the blond haired guy he met. As he was about to explain himself, the sound of the door unlocking stopped him.
"Chief!"
Peaking from the door, Yuusuke with eyes of disbelief looked on at the chief. The chief in return growled, a little annoyed that her colleague didn't have the common sense to know that you never interrupt a meeting in the interrogation room, ever.
"What is it, Yuusuke?" she replied with a sharp tone that made her colleague wince.
Yuusuke stammered a bit, glancing between Trunks and her before he cleared his throat and continued. "Y-you're not going to believe this. We found...uh...some information," he said, carefully rewording himself to make his findings as ambiguous as possible. Unfortunately, he did a poor job and Trunks could easily tell that the information found was something about him. Whether it was good or bad was something he'd have to find out later.
Misaki huffed and then stood up from her chair. She glanced at me one more time before walking towards the door and moving out of the interrogation room with her poor colleague. The half-saiyan winced a bit as he heard from the other side of the wall a harsh snatching, most likely of his records or something. It would be quite surprising if that was the case considering how long it had been.
"!"
There wasn't much to listen on to, likely because Misaki knew that he'd be listening in. He did feel her grow quite surprised though as he heard a slight gasp. What came next was an order to her colleague.
"I'll need to report this to the head chief. In the meantime, I need you to keep him busy," she ordered.
"Huh? But-"
"Don't worry, he's been pretty obedient so far. Just for a little while until we find out what to do," she explained.
He heard the the man, apparently named Yuusuke, sigh reluctantly, something of which seemed to be a pretty common action of late, and nodded. With that, he heard the Misaki walk away and her fellow colleague get closer.
He bit his lips. He wasn't sure what was going on and he wondered what was going to happen. For now, he would wait patiently and hope for the best.
Yuusuke entered the room looking pretty forlorn. Instead of taking a seat, he seemed to feel a bit awkward now with having to work with the half-saiyan with him...along with an armed guard who had so far done nothing but stand like a statue.
He didn't look at the half-saiyan in the eye except for a couple times, opening his mouth once or twice, but unsure of what to talk about. The half-saiyan simply curled his lips wondering if this was a good time to see if he knew anything about the city changes.
"Hey uh. I hope my presence here hasn't caused too much problems," the half-saiyan stated sincerely.
Yuusuke seemed to loosen up a bit with the purple-haird man starting off first. He gave a slight chuckle and shook his head.
"All part of a day's work, I'm afraid," he answered.
"Well, in the meantime, do you mind telling me why only humans are here in this city?" Trunks asked.
This made Yuusuke quirk an eyebrow in surprise as if it was common knowledge. He answered anyway knowing that it wouldn't hurt. The truth of the situation and history was harsh though and it could only end up badly with the saiyan.
After a quick discussion and revealing of the information that had been gathered in a short time, the chief of foreign affairs was quite surprised when the head chief of the department, Yoshimitsu Horai, requested her to bring the lavender haired boy. Normally, it was beyond stupid to bring someone with a high threat level to a high official, but her employer seemed adamant about meeting him personally. His typical demeanor had also leveled to an small amount of urgency. This only made her worry and wonder what exactly was going on. It was obvious that there was a lot more going on than she may have anticipated.
Just who are you, Trunks? she thought as she began closing in on the interrogation room. Once again, using her id to gain access to the room, she was met with a bit of a surprise to see Trunks looking down with wide eyes and clenched teeth. His hands were also clenched tight as he pushed them against his legs.
"You've got to be kidding me...how...how could that have happened?!" he almost shouted though not really expecting an answer as even Yuusuke wasn't sure.
"T-that's just how it happened though...as sad as it is unfortunately," Yuusuke explained.
Misaki looked between the two with an eyebrow. What was surprising was the anger that was felt from Trunks. What were they talking about that made him so...angry?
"What were you guys talking about?" she finally asked, glaring a bit at Yuusuke as if he had done something wrong.
Her colleague began sweating a bit as he raised his hands in defense. "N-nothing chief! He wanted to know what happened with the non-humans that once lived here. I thought it wasn't much harm in telling him that kind of public history," he defended.
Misaki raised an eyebrow and then turned back to a furious sitting half-saiyan. She was a bit...confused to the reaction of the half-saiyan. It was a known, tragic history for the relationship between humans and intellect non-humans, but it was long ago and normally wouldn't sprout this much anger as she was seeing with Trunks. Not to mention that contractors would care the least regarding the history...any history even.
What happened was several years after the mysterious fall of the androids and reconstruction, years of tensions between various sectors of Earth and the royal dog family finally blew out of proportion. All of the sectors agreed to get rid of the world monarchy in place of divided but democratic sectors which would promote independence and growth of security for their citizens.
The royal dog family refused to step down peacefully though, arguing that a unified nation and military was the best option despite what happened with the androids. In the end, there wasn't any option but for a civil war. More specifically though, most of the non-humans supported the world monarchy and sided with them. The rest sided with each individuals' sector they lived, believing that sectors would be able to better provide for them in the future rather than one whole government.
It was a tragic but a necessary battle where eventually the sectors won resulting in the fall of the world monarchy; however, many non humans died leaving only a small percentage of them alive who survived the battle or sided with the sectors in the belief of separate rule.
It didn't stop there though as racism came about in the belief that those who sided with the monarch should not be able to enjoy the benefits of democratized sectors. This caused many to more to be unlawfully punished as well as others to flee from their homes. At this time, remaining non humans were given their own sector as a way of apology by the sector leaders.
Trunks was more angry at himself as he learned the future and the result that would occur. There should have been a better way though to resolve such political differences. The non humans shouldn't had suffered because of the ending result, especially when the population was already quite low.
"Trunks?" Misaki called out, cautiously.
The half-saiyan blinked and looked up at the worried woman who he hadn't notice in his furious state. He quickly put the history behind him for now and resolved to ensure nothing of that sort would occur when he returned.
He tried to clean up as best as he could and gave her a small apologetic smile.
"I-I'm sorry...I...uh...I got a bit carried away there," he responded though he knew that most people wouldn't have reacted the way he did. None of these people though had lived through what he had to endure, seeing all of his family, friends, and innocent people die because of the androids. More unnecessary future bloodshed was the last thing he wanted to hear about.
Misaki frowned, not believing for a second if that was true. She would discuss it later with him though since her boss wanted to see this man in person.
"Let's go, the chief of this department wants to see you," she ordered.
Trunks raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"Me? Does he know what's going on?" Trunks asked as he got up.
Misaki sighed. "You're guess is as good as mine. This doesn't mean though I'm not keeping my eye on you or that I've let my suspicion slide. I expect you to tell me who you are, Trunks," she reminded with a authoritative tone.
Trunks grinned a little, clearly amused. "I can't say you're making this easy for me, miss Kirihara," he replied back, mimicking the tone that she used earlier.
The woman turned around with a harrumph, but he could have sworn seeing a small smile to the lips from her as well.
When Trunks was let out of the interrogation room, he was happy to be somewhere else and be given some freedom of movement without the feeling of a guard about to raise his arm and shoot. He found out that it hadn't gotten any better though as guards followed he and Kirihara like machines, always watching him. When they got to the head office, he nearly fell over at the number of guards that surrounded the room.
Standing and looking out from a window was a man in his late forties or early fifties who had black hair that extended to long sideburns. When he faced them, Trunks was able to get a good look at the sheer number of facial features the man had. He had a mustache that extended from his black sideburns and a white beard underneath his chin. The man's eyes showed of much police force experience and just as serious, if not even more than Kirihara.
"I apologize for the trouble we caused, mister Briefs," the head, known as Yoshimitsu Horai according to Misaki, apologized.
Trunks held a poker face and simply nodded. His eyes floated down where a stack of papers and a picture of himself and his mother laid. He narrowed his eyes at that. How were they able to find something as old as that in this time period?
"You must be wondering to yourself how we were able to retrieve your information and I'll go ahead and tell you that we took precaution to keep all of the citizenship records in the royal monarch age. The most surprising thing though is that you're supposed to be dead," he explained.
Trunks eyes narrowed and nodded once to affirm what the head chief was relaying. Chief Kirihara immediately spoke up with a respectful tone.
"Sir, are you saying that this man isn't an impostor?" she asked.
Yoshimitsu held a straight face and narrowed his own eyes. "I can't rule that out as it could be true; however, under the circumstances and information we know, it is likely that is not the case," he explained.
Misaki's eyes widened a little as she could only stare at her boss with a bit of confusion.
"But sir..how-"
Yoshimitsu raised one of his hand, immediately stopping what he knew Misaki was going to ask. He then put both of arms behind him and looked around the room.
"Would the guards here dismiss. I can assure you that you don't have to worry about our safety for now," he requested to the room.
All the guards flinched or provided some form of confusion. They nonetheless complied and exited the room leaving the three alone.
When the last guard left and shut the door behind him, the head chief continued.
"What I am telling you now is to be kept confidential and within this room only. While the public was set to believe that time travel was not a possible feat, we have the necessary evidence to prove otherwise..."
The half-saiyan eyes widened. "So you're saying you actually know how to build one?!"
Yoshimitsu stood silent for a moment and then shook his head. "Unfortunately or fortunately, however you think of it, we only have evidence that your mother, Bulma Briefs, was the only one who successfully built a time capsule. We kept hidden this information though to discourage others who have tried and failed. If word gets out that it is possible, then there would be more activity involved with a possible risky technology," he explained.
The half-saiyan wanted to smile, but kept it controlled. At least one thing was going in the right direction.
"...but," he continued further, "...chief Kirihara informed me you were attacked by two unknown contractors after you landed with a yellow cylindrical capsule. Is this true?" he asked.
Trunks, once again, began to worry about the implications of leaving it alone. He was careless and shouldn't have assumed that time travel was a public commodity.
"You're correct. That was the time capsule...and it's likely in their hands now," he stated a bit fiercely.
The head chief closed his eyes and shifted his arms to cross over his chest. He nodded slowly with a hum and then opened his eyes back to Trunks.
"This is troubling indeed. It will be only time before the other sectors find out. Again, I want to make sure that this doesn't get to public at all cost, not even to your team, Kirihara," he warned.
Kirihara nodded firmly. "Of course, sir," she answered.
"...we also have suspicion of Trunks as one of the possible suspects who could have killed the androids two centuries ago..." he began.
Trunks didn't flinch nor say anything as he stared at the head chief. How much did they know? Somehow...he wasn't sure why...but this man gave a unsettling feeling as he talked. His own mind told him to be suspicious, however, he knew well that at this point, it wouldn't matter considering the suspicion was on him.
Kirihara eyes glanced to Trunks who kept his eyes steadily towards the head chief. She wasn't going to ask as it seemed that the man beside her wasn't as totally crazy as she and her team previously believed. That didn't mean her suspicion was gone, but it did mean that she had a lot of questions that the half-saiyan needed to answer.
"...this is only a suspicion and a historical rumor though. The chief admitted though that you could fly which doesn't help your case as you say you are not a 'contractor'; however, this may very well prove to be our advantage..."
Trunks furrowed his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"
"Here is the deal we're offering you, mister Briefs. You'll be hired to our department and force as well as be granted citizenship to this sector we're in. In return to helping us, we can guarantee that you'll be able to find your time capsule before it becomes publicly known," he offered.
Surprise was an understatement to the half-saiyan as he heard this. Warily, he spoke. "...and if I refuse?"
Yoshimitsu closed his eyes again pointed his hand to the exit of the room. "You are free to leave and try locating your machine by yourself; however, we cannot guarantee or provide for you if something happens. You'll be likely legitimately regarded as a contractor and that will in itself be a hindrance to your goal returning," he supported.
Trunks sighed. "So you're basically saying that you want me to be an undercover contractor, is that it?" he asked.
The head chief didn't show any sign of acknowledgment, but he replied. "Our duty in this special department is to protect the citizens from the uprising and threat of contractors. You'd be doing this in the favor for everyone and will help yourself in the end. The choice is yours though," he concluded.
Trunks bit his lips. On one side, he could be wrongfully mistaken as a contractor by others and likely hunted down while on the other hand, he could help the department by being their guinea pig...or at least, that's what it seemed like, and help them against legitimate contractors. While neither of them seemed to be great as he'd rather get help without much in return, the prospect of finding out what investigating the rising of contractors and these...chaotic areas of space could prove to be helpful when he returned back.
This may be the biggest chance to prevent what was going to happen...everything from the civil war to the dangers of contractors.
He didn't have much time though but knowing the security system that was in place on the capsule, he knew he'd have a couple of months before someone could figure it out. The authorization system on it was not standard according to his mother and that meant he could safely assume that it wasn't something that a person could not figure out on his own.
...in addition, he'd rather play it safe. He could tell that there were a lot of things he didn't know about yet and that he could very well be going in uncharted territory if he did things on his own. Even if it had only been two centuries, he could barely recognize Central City!
With that set in mind, he looked towards the head chief who would be very likely his new boss. Something was troubled him a bit. He would save suspicions for later though, right now...
"When can I start?"
A\N: ...and that sets things in motion. I tried to make everything future-future but not to the extent that it was overly-the-top-future...ah...I'm probably not making sense here.