Chapter Forty-three - Orders
"I... I... I... Uh, I don't know, er, what you're, um, talking about." Bra stammered, trying to regain her composure. Had her father sent these two? They'd only been on the planet for five days, how could word have possibly gotten back to her father and him have someone on the planet already? Or maybe they were just bounty hunters who'd already been on the planet? Had her father issued a bounty on 17 and 18? No... that didn't make any sense. There weren't any bounty hunters in the Empire that had enough power to fight against 17, let alone 18's new power.
"I think you have us confused with someone else." Pan said, her voice even.
"Oh, I don't think so." replied the little man, grinning. "The change in hair and eye color was a nice try but your faces are still the same. I've got a 100% match on you, Pan. Now, are you going to cooperate with us or not?" he asked, taking a swig from his flask.
"Go to hell." Bra said.
"Ooh, such language Princess. Very well then, if you wont take us to them we'll just have to bring them out to us."
Bra's eyes widened then as the little guy suddenly flew right at her. She dropped her bag with a loud thud and powered up, her light purple aura flaring up around her as she did. She blocked his punch with her arm, stinging pain shooting through it as she did. "No way, he's stronger than me!?" she thought in shock. Hearing a loud crack beside her she turned and saw Pan dropped her bag as well and now her fist was against the large man's chest. She'd powered up to her maximum in base before attacking, but he hadn't even budged. "But... I don't sense anything..." she thought.
Suddenly her eyes snapped wide in pain as a foot slammed into her stomach. She stumbled back and thrust an arm out firing off a blast of energy but the purple man suddenly vanished and the ki sped off to slam into a building across the street. It exploded with a resounding crack, blasting a hole in the wall of the structure as people started running, but she ignored them and turned to find out where he'd gone. As she did she just managed to dodge around a punch she saw coming at the last second and then countered with her own, but he deflected it with ease.
"You can't beat me, Princess." he said, grinning, before punching her in the face. The blow sent her sailing down the road and then through the hole her ki blast had made earlier.
Meanwhile Pan had slammed her foot into the side of the large man's head but that attack had had as little effect as her first. Floating back away from him, eyes wide in shock, she tried to think of something else to do. Transforming was always an option but she didn't want to blow her disguise, and a Super Sai-jin suddenly appearing on Xentron would let the entire Empire know where they were. She let out a gasp of shock, then, as the large man suddenly went on the offensive, a massive fist heading right for her head.
She slipped around it and then fired a blast of blue energy right into his face but, yet again, he was unfazed. "What is this?" she wondered. "I can't sense anything from him at all. How can someone with a power so..." Suddenly her eyes widened as an idea hit her, a very distressing one. "He's a machine! An Android! Damn, that leaves me no choice!" She drifted back from him, clenched her hands into fists, and let out a yell as her aura flashed yellow. Her hair stood up on end and shifted to blue, to green, and then to yellow as the hair dye was destroyed by her sudden surge in power. Her eyes remained gray, however, as the special contacts she wore quickly adjusted to her new eye color.
She charged in at him again and pulled back her fist, but before she even got close enough to launch her own attack his arm snapped out, his fist cracked into her face, and she surged off down the street. Bra was just climbing back out of the hole she'd been knocked through when Pan slammed into her and drove her back inside. The two of them slammed into the wall at the back of the building and Pan climbed to her feet first, groaning. Bra did the same a few seconds later.
"You... transformed?"
Pan nodded. "And it's still not any help." she said. "I think we're in trouble, here."
Bra scowled and flashed gold as she transformed as well. "I'm not giving up that easy." she said, reaching a hand up to pull out her contacts. Pan watched her for a moment and then did the same herself. They were just an added hazard, now. "We have to get rid of these two before our fight draws 17 and 18 out into the open."
"Let's go." Pan said, shooting off out of the building again. Bra followed her out but both pulled up to a sudden stop once back on the street. The two men were gone but a group of four others now stood gathered around.
"Fighting is strictly prohibited inside the city." one of them said, stepping forward. "You are ordered to come with us at once."
"P-Princess!?"
XXX
Storm sighed as she saw just how large of a place Tremo Ship Supplies actually was. Apparently the store took up the entire interior of the large warehouse sized building it was inside of. They'd likely be hours just finding all of the supplies they needed.
"We could split up." Zukina suggested, looking over the expanse of the room herself. When she didn't get a response from Storm she turned to look and found her frowning. "I'm not going to try and take off or get you guys into trouble." she said. "Even if you don't trust me yet you know I still want to know what Eve's found on the Talon. I can't get that information if I run off or cause you guys problems, now can I?"
Storm sighed. "I'm not turning off the restraint system, just the same. But I'll enlarge the field. What do you think, two hundred feet?"
Zukina glanced around the large warehouse again. "Maybe two fifty." she said. "I'd rather not get shocked by accident, thank-you."
Storm pursed her lips for a moment and eyed the Sai-jin up. She'd been a lot less trouble as of late, and hadn't fought her on anything, not even the few 'play dates' that she'd wanted, since the incident with Avo and Kado. She wasn't entirely sure what to make of it, it was a rather sudden change in attitude. Still, she didn't want to be here all day and, so long as the restraint system was on, it wasn't like Zukina could really go anywhere. "Alright." she said, touching the ring on her hand and adjusting the range, setting to two hundred and fifty feet. "But if you cause me any trouble I'm taking you back on the leash, got it?"
"Fine, fine." Zukina said, waving her off and starting off down one of the aisles.
Storm sighed and rubbed her temples. "I have got to teach her some respect." she muttered, starting off down another aisle. She'd only gone two steps when a sudden explosion shook the building and nearly knocked her off of her feet. She turned around to find where Zukina was and saw the Sai-jin on her ass down the other aisle, and knew it wasn't her. "Zukina!" she yelled, hurrying toward the door again.
The Sai-jin muttered and climbed to her feet, rubbing her sore butt. "That wasn't me!" she yelled back.
"I know that!" Storm said, coming to a stop near the door. "But it could have been Avo and Kado, they might have followed us."
Zukina's eyes widened and she hurried over to stand beside Storm. From where she was she could see a large hole in the wall in the building across the street. Then, suddenly, something surged through the opening. She caught a glimpse of that gray man again before he suddenly vanished and the guys that had been shadowing her and Storm moved out toward the hole. "I don't think it's them." she said. "Still, maybe it best we leave and not get associated with whatever's happening."
Storm nodded. "Yeah, good idea." she said, opening the door. "No reason to give the locals any more reason to mistrust us." As Zukina followed the Wathor out of the building one of the four Enforcers spoke.
"Fighting is strictly prohibited inside the city. You are ordered to come with us at once."
The voice drew Zukina's attention and her eyes widened as she realized who was standing there. "P-Princess!?" she cried in shock.
"I should have known." the Enforcer said, turning to face Storm and Zukina. "They're with you, are they?"
"No." Storm said, eyeing up Zukina, who still looked utterly shocked, and then glancing over to the two blonde women. She didn't recognize either of them, herself. "I'm not sure who..."
"It's the Princess..." Zukina said, slowly. She was about to say more but a bright blue glow suddenly filled the streets and she looked up, along with the others, and her eyes widened even more. The gray man was up there about a hundred feet, along with a smaller purple guy, and they were charging a large ball of energy between the two of them.
"The hell...!?" Storm cried, seeing the attack.
"Shit, Pan!" Bra yelled, spying it as well. "We can't let them set that off in the city!"
"I'm on it!" she called, charging up into the sky toward it. She was only halfway there when the two moved away and then thrust their arms down firing off the attack. The energy ball was nearly eighty feet across and Pan's eyes widened as it surged down toward her. With a cry she thrust her arms out and caught it but it started driving her back down again. "No way!" she thought in shock. In a flash of gold she transformed to the second level and let out a grunt of effort as she shoved the attack back up and off into space.
She turned her eyes from the deflected attack to the two machines in the air with her. The smaller one scowled and then looked down toward the ground, smirked, and shot off toward Bra. Pan was about to follow but the large one suddenly charged in at her and she had to focus on fighting it. "There's just... no way!" she thought in disbelief, deflecting a kick aimed for her head and then kicking it in the stomach, forcing it back a few feet. "It's at least as strong as me!"
Meanwhile, Bra's eyes widened as the purple man charged her at high speed. "I really should have trained more often before this." she thought, thrusting her arms up and firing a blast of yellow energy into the man's face. He just plowed right through it, though, and slammed his fist into her face causing her to stumble back. She lashed out with a punch but it dodged around it, faster than she could even see it move, and then kicked her in the head knocking her over. "Damn it, he's toying with me!" she realized as she just barely rolled out of the way before being hit in the back with an energy blast.
"This is... incredible..." Storm said, eyes going wide, as she tried to follow the two fights as best as she could. The hair, the eyes, the auras... they had to be Super Sai-jins, but that didn't make any sense to her. The Enforcers had all pulled back several blocks but hadn't yet left. They were talking to someone, though, on some sort of communications system. The Wathor figured they were contacting this 'Cabal' she'd heard mentioned before. "Zu-Zukina... do you know who they are?" she asked, turning to the Sai-jin.
She nodded. "The one down here is the Princess." she said. "Mistress Bra. And... the one up there must be... Mistress Pan."
Storm's eyes widened in shock and she turned back to the fights. Pan and the one in the sky were apparently fighting on fairly even ground, the girl giving as good as she got. Bra, on the other hand, was getting kicked around like a rag doll. Completely unable to defend herself or counter attack. "Are... are you... sure?"
Zukina nodded. "I recognize the Princess. I thought I had earlier but her hair..." she shook her head. "It's definitely the Princess. And she called the other one Pan, so..."
"Look out!" Bra yelled, suddenly charging at them. The two had the air knocked out of them as she shoved them out of the way and took a blast of red energy to the back for her efforts. With a cry of pain she fell to the ground. Her aura sputtered for a moment but she held her transformation and, grimacing, climbed back to her feet. "You two should go." she said, panting. "Get out of here, get to safety."
Before Storm could say anything Bra shot back in at her opponent. As the girl took a hard kick to the side of the head that knocked her through a wall Storm turned to Zukina again. "I think... maybe we should go." she said.
Zukina was torn. Terrified by the power on display here, anything that could stand up to a Super Sai-jin would tear right through her, but at the same time she wanted to know what was going on. Why were two of the Masters on Xentron? Who were they fighting against? Who could possibly smack around Mistress Bra like the little guy was doing, or fight evenly with Mistress Pan? "I want to stay..." she said after a moment. "I want to see..."
"I know how you feel." Storm said. "Or at least, I've got an idea. But it's not a smart idea to stay here. We almost got wasted by a stray blast once, she may not be able to get in the way next time. And even if she does we're putting her at an even bigger disadvantage."
Zukina swallowed and then nodded. Storm was right, it was too dangerous to stay where there. "Just a few blocks, then?" she asked, starting off down the street.
"Yeah, alright." she replied. Truth was, she wanted to know what was going on too.
As the two of them pulled to a stop several blocks, and about three hundred feet, away and turned to watch the fight, another voice sounded behind them. "Do either of you know what's going on?"
XXX
"Tao, I think we've got a problem." Ferri said as her head came up from her work.
Tao turned from the circuit board he'd been working on and looked over at the other woman. "What is it?" he asked.
"This just isn't working." she said, holding up the item that she'd been working on. "It was a great idea but I just don't think the material can take it. I've got some stronger stuff but not nearly enough for what we need."
"What about using a composite of the two materials?" he asked. "A fifty-fifty mixture, perhaps?"
"Hmm, probably more sixty-forty." she mused, gazing at the material in her hand. "That might work. At the very least it'll give us more leeway than what we're getting with this stuff. You may not be able to get the system up to full spec in the end, though."
"I don't expect to need full spec for quite a while anyway." he said. "We can do the best we can now and upgrade when needed later."
"Alright, I'll head down stairs and get... by the Creator!" she cried, turning to look off at a wall. Tao followed her gaze as well, having felt the same thing as her. A massive power had just flared up and slammed into his senses. One far larger than anything normally on Xentron. Far larger than any power Tao had ever personally sensed, for that matter.
"Ferri, keep working. I'm going to go and investigate." he said, setting down his tools. "If this is more trouble I'd like to have some advance warning this time."
"Right." she said, leaving the room to get the stuff she needed. Meanwhile Tao made his way out the front door and found the shadows he'd had were missing. The Enforcers that had been overtly watching the shop for the last few days were nowhere to be seen. Obviously these new powers had drawn them in as well. To be expected, the natives got restless when anyone strong came by, especially when they were stronger than the members of The Cabal. As he lifted into the air over the buildings he saw a large ball of energy floating in the sky. And then it was surging down toward the city and a streak of yellow was coming up to meet it.
Tao pulled to a stop an instant later as the streak of yellow flashed and the larger power he was sensing shot up even higher, and then the energy ball was repelled. "A Super Sai-jin?" he mused. "No, second level, I recognize that aura. But who are they and who are they fighting? I sense only one other large power and it is on the ground." He shot off toward the area of the fight but, as he neared, he started making a wide arc around it. Both to avoid being noticed by the fighters and to bring himself closer to where he could sense Storm and Zukina. "Do either of you know what's going on?" he asked, descending to land behind them.
Storm turned at the sound of his voice but relaxed as soon as she saw who it was. "Not really." she said. "Zukina's convinced that it's Mistress Bra and Mistress Pan out there. No clue who they're fighting, though." She turned back to the fights, though all she'd been able to see of them since the start had been blurs of yellow. "I can't believe these two are fighting so well against Super Sai-jins without even putting out an aura."
"Hmm, I don't think they can." said Tao. He couldn't really see the fight either but he could tell the two he could sense were fighting people he could not. "I can't sense any ki which means they're using an artificial power source. Whoever they are fighting must be some sort of machine."
"A machine?" Zukina asked. "With this kind of power?"
Tao shrugged. "18 is supposed to be on the same level of strength as Bra." he said. He couldn't say for certain, he'd only met her twice. Once on Earth when he'd stopped there for a short while several years back, to inform those still there about the Potaras, and once since then when the Empire had nearly captured him, neither time witnessing her power. "17, 16, and Gero are, of course, stronger."
"Well, I've seen all of them, and 19 too, on various visits to Saiya." said Storm. "And that's not who they're fighting."
"Resistance built machines, perhaps." said Tao. "That was the reason 18 went to Leberion, according to the reports. If they and Gero can do it I'm sure someone else can as well."
Further discussion was cut off as an explosion erupted down the block, destroying over a hundred square feet of the city. When the light of the explosion faded away they could see Bra standing at the center of the crater, panting heavily. There were tears in her clothes now but she didn't really look hurt. Something that made little sense to the Wathor. With as much of a strength advantage as the little guy had over the Hybrid he should have been able to kill her, with ease, a long time ago. Unless, of course, he wasn't trying to... But then, why fight them at all?
Suddenly a loud crack directed her attention back up into the sky where she saw someone else, a woman who looked quite a lot like Pan, now floating beside the Hybrid. The man she'd been fighting was just pulling to a stop a few feet away, having been knocked aside by a sudden hit. And then someone else appeared beside Pan, someone that Storm recognized, even with the changed hair color, and her eyes widened. "That's 17!"
"And 18, too." said Tao. Storm lowered her gaze and saw the other woman, her hair a different color as well, scowling at the small purple man while helping to hold Bra on her feet.
XXX
The six of them had been forced to get a single room, none of the other rooms in the small motel had been empty. Two beds and a small sofa were the only places to sleep, but that was fine for them. He and 18 didn't actually need sleep, and Videl only need a little, so it wasn't much issue. Faith had one bed while Pan and Bra alternated between the remaining bed and the couch, refusing to let Faith alternate with them. Videl just got her couple hours of rest a day napping at the desk where 17 was currently sitting, going through public news streams for information.
The fact that their defection hadn't been made public wasn't too much of a surprise to any of them. Four Masters defecting, especially the four that had, was a major black eye that Vegeta obviously wanted to avoid. The fact that Trunks's death hadn't been reported yet and that he was, in fact, listed as away on a mission tracking down the 'pirates' that had supposedly attacked and raided Gorneo, however, was a surprise. Goten's death had been reported the day after it had happened, though the general public thought he'd simply gotten sick and died of some new strain of heart targeting virus.
They had all expected a similar story for Trunks. Not something about him flying around the galaxy chasing after pirates. A story like that could only last so long, eventually he'd have to turn up somewhere and when he never did... Word had gotten out, however, about Cold and Inferna being missing. Their disappearance was a lot harder to keep quiet since there were now 48 ships roaming around in the Eye of the Universe for some sign of their ships or occupants. What's more, Inferna's daughter, Phyre, was making a lot of problems. Apparently, based on what he could find on the news nets, she wasn't nearly as interested in joining the Empire as her mother had been, and was blaming the Master's for her disappearance.
"What the...?" 17 wondered, suddenly getting up from the desk and walking over to the window. He had set his scanner to trace Pan's power while she was out and it had just suddenly spiked up to her natural maximum. He made a quick adjustment and found that Bra had powered up as well, but he wasn't detecting any other large powers in their area. He turned as he heard the door open and saw Videl and 18 enter. Both looked concerned, which meant that 18 had also noticed the sudden power-ups.
Not surprising since she'd been keeping an eye on Bra's level. Videl didn't have a scanner system, Gero had been in a rush when modifying her and only really doing it to keep her alive. The woman had some basic ki sensing ability, however, but her cybernetics interfered and she wasn't able to sense levels over much of a distance, or ones that weren't blatantly obvious. Neither of the girl's base levels were high enough for her to sense so 18 must have mentioned something to her.
"Ideas?" 17 asked, drawing Faith's attention from where she lay on one of the beds, reading.
"I don't know." 18 said. "I'm not reading anything else around them of any real significance. I..." She, 17, and Videl all turned to look at the west facing wall then, all of them picking up the sudden leap Pan's power took as she transformed. "Something is definitely wrong if she's going that far."
"What's up?" Faith asked.
"Not sure." said 17. "But Pan and Bra have powered up and Pan trans... and now Bra just transformed as well. Stay here, we'll go check this out." Faith nodded as the three Cyborgs walked over to the open window and flew out into the city. "18?" he asked, glancing over at his sister, as a ball of energy suddenly flared to life in the sky.
"I'm not picking up anything either." she said, frowning. "Do you think Vegeta managed to track us after all? It could be Gero or 16..."
17 frowned as his scanner switched to an ERROR notice for Pan's power and the ki ball was shoved off into the sky. "Maybe, but neither of them would require Pan to go this far." he said. He turned his focus forward again and, a moment later, they were close enough to make out who Pan was fighting with above the city. "That's not 16 or Gero." he said.
"Resistance?" Videl suggested.
18 moved her eyes from the fight in the sky down to the ground as a loud explosion drew her attention. "I don't know." she said. "But I know how to find out. Let's go!" And with that she charged down toward where Bra was fighting some small guy. Meanwhile Videl and 17 charged in to help Pan. Videl reached her first and kicked the large man in the head knocking him a few feet away. A second later 18 fired a blast of energy at the purple guy, who was currently kicking a prone Bra in the side, and he dodged out of the way as she landed beside the Hybrid and picked her up, eyes locked on the unknown attacker.
"I can't leave you alone for five minutes." 17 said, shaking his head as he, Pan, and Videl floated down to land with 18 and Bra. The gray man watched them for a moment, then vanished and reappeared standing beside the purple guy. "So, what have got here?"
"They're after you two." Pan said. "The gray guy is at least as strong as me..."
18's eyes suddenly narrowed as she spotted the bowtie on the small man and the belt on the large one. "RR?" she said. "Red Ribbon? Did Gero build you?"
The purple man grinned. "In a manner of speaking." he said. "The bodies are his design, our minds..." he reached up and tapped the side of his head. "We already had those. So nice of you to come out to us since these two were unwilling to take us to you."
"So, that explains that." Storm thought. "Fighting Mistress Bra and Mistress Pan had merely been a means to lure Master 17 and Mistress 18 out into the open. But why? According to the purple guy they were built by Gero, so why...?"
"Vegeta too scared to come after me himself, then?" 18 asked, scowling at the two before her.
"Why send in a battle ship when just a few guns can get the job done?" asked a new voice from above and behind them. 18 and the others all turned to look and saw another man standing on the corner of a roof at the edge of the crater. Green pants, yellow vest, baseball hat with the RR logo, white hair, and no power level.
Zukina's eyes widened. "That voice... how could it... it can't be..." she thought in shock.
"Another one!?" Bra cried in surprise. "Pan and I were getting our butts kicked by just two of them..."
"13 at your service, Princess." he said, grinning and bowing slightly.
"To have better luck against me than Vegeta did you'd have to be stronger than him." 18 said. "And I highly doubt you are. Not if the big guy is only as strong as Pan."
The man on the roof grinned. "I'm good at winning fights even when out gunned by the enemy." he said. "Been doing it for years. It's why Vegeta picked me to lead this little soiree. Now, how about we get down to business so we can get this over with? Our orders are to kill you two and I intend to be finished with that and on my way back to Saiya by nightfall."
"Well, I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to change your plans." 18 said as she began to glow. A moment later there was a flash of light as she finished transforming, her wig falling to the ground. "Let's see what you've got!" she called, launching up at him.
"14, 15, deal with the other one!" 13 ordered as 18 charged at him. She launched a punch for his head but he slipped around it, grinned, and then slammed a knee into her stomach. The blow hurt, but not very much, and 18 grinned as well. She'd been right, this guy was weaker than her. With as well as she'd done against Vegeta she figured she'd have no trouble against this Android.
She snapped a kick out for the side of his head and he deflected it away before launching a punch at her face. 18 dodged around it and countered by smashing the heel of her right foot into his back. The blow knocked him down toward the ground and she quickly cupped her right hand and charged a ball of ki. "Shredder Mine!" she cried, pitching it at him. Suddenly he seemed to shimmer and then he vanished, her attack surging on down into the ground before exploding. "He can teleport!?" she thought in surprise. She'd just started turning around to look for him when two feet slammed into her back, the force of the blow driving her down into the crater her attack had just made.
"Deadly Bomber!" he called out from above her. Off to the side Zukina's eyes widened again.
18 climbed to her feet quickly and her eyes widened as the large ball of energy, nearly twelve feet across, charged down at her. "Kamehameha!" she cried, thrusting her arms up and firing off a wave of blue energy. Her attack slammed into the red ball above her and began to slow it. Just as the attacks were about to stalemate a foot appeared in front of her face and impacted with a loud crack. The hit caused her to stumble back but she lashed out with a hard left kick that caught him in the chest and knocked him back from his attempted charge. She then dodged to the side as the red ball of energy resumed its downward plunge, hit the ground, and exploded.
Pulling to a stop she raised her arm, palm flat, and a disc of golden energy formed. "Destructo Disc!" she cried, throwing it. Just before it hit 13 shimmered and vanished again. 18 whirled around and lashed out with a back hand but he blocked it as he appeared behind her and then jammed his knee into the small of her back before reaching out, grabbing her head, and then slamming her face first into the ground.
"No... way..." Bra said slowly, in shock, as she watched the battle. "Is... is he stronger than her?"
"I don't think he is. It's like he's anticipating her moves, reacting to them before she even makes them." Videl said.
They both turned, then, at a grunt from behind them. Pan was floating in front of 17, arm up, one of 14's large fists pressed against her arm. The Hybrid scowled as she kicked him in the head, dashed off to the side, and then kicked 15 in the back knocking him away from 17's location. Turning around she saw 14 with his arm up about to fire an energy blast at the Cyborg and shot back in at him, kicking his arm as he fired and causing the attack to miss. "Damn it!" she thought, seeing 15 charging in again. "I can't keep up with both of them!"
A resounding crack sounded a second later as Videl slammed her foot into 15's head and knocked him into a near-by building. Pan gave her a quick glance and smile but then turned her focus back to the Android in front of her. She slipped around another of his large fists and then kicked him in the chest driving him back a few more steps. She had to force him away from 17. She'd just slammed a fist into his face, knocking him onto his back, when she heard her mother cry out. Turning to look she saw Videl doubled over 15's fist, eyes wide.
The small Android then jammed his elbow down into the back of her neck slamming her face first into the ground. Turning from Videl he charged in at 17 again. Pan scowled and fired an energy blast at him that made him swerve off to the side. "17!" she cried, blocking a kick from a once again standing 14. "Get out of here, you have to hide. I can't protect you and fight both of them at once, and they're too strong for anyone else!"
17 hesitated for a moment, he really didn't want to leave when both 18 and Pan were in danger, but he knew she was right. She couldn't keep them both away from him for long and trying to was just putting her in more danger than she would be otherwise. He gave her a nod and then took off down the road, quickly getting out of sight. With him gone Pan glanced over at her mother and saw she was starting to get back to her feet. She then turned her full attention back to her two opponents. Both of them were scowling. However, her focus was drawn skyward then as she heard a loud crack and gasp of shock.
The crack had been Bra smashing her fist against the face of the man 18 had been fighting, the gasp of shock had been 18's. The fist hadn't seemed to effect him at all, though. He just floated there, scowling at her. Suddenly he shimmered and vanished again, reappearing a few dozen feet away from them. "I suggest you all stop interfering." he said.
Bra snorted. "Yeah, like that's going to happen." she said. "I'm not going to just let you kill 18, and there's no way Pan's going to let you kill her Mate. So why don't you just go running back to my father and tell him to come after us himself?"
"You just don't get it, do you?" 13 said, crossing his arms. "Our orders are to kill 17 and 18, but they aren't our only orders. We're also supposed to try and convince the three of you to return to Saiya. If you refuse, or if you persist in protecting the two of them, we are authorized to eliminate you as well."
"Wh-what?" Bra cried, eyes widening.
15 laughed. "You didn't think Master Vegeta would just let trash like you waltz around the universe doing whatever you pleased, did you?" he asked. "There is but one law all members of the Empire must follow, Masters included. Those who defy the Masters die, period. Especially Hybrids."
"But... my father and grandfather..." Pan said.
"Confirmed the order." said 13. "So, you all have two choices. Stop interfering and return to Saiya or stay here and die with these two."
Pan stared at him, wide eyed. "They... they've been given orders to... kill us if we protect 17 and 18?" Pan thought. "Dad... Grandfather... how...?"
Bra had her eyes closed tight. "I should have expected it." she thought. "I should have known that just because he didn't do it back on Saiya didn't mean he wouldn't order it. Bastard!"
"So, what do you say?" 13 asked.
"You can tell my father I said to fuck off!" Bra yelled, opening her eyes.
"I'm not leaving 17." said Pan, shaking her head. "No way. Not now, not ever."
15 grinned. "It's cleaning time, all the trash must go." he said. "Filthy half-breeds. 14, let's get rid of them! I've got the 'Princess', you take the other one."