36Disclaimer: 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.
"Argh! I've never met someone who was so annoying in my life!" a certain pony-tailed, tightly-knit younger woman named Misaki Kirihara, exclaimed. Fuming, she took another bite of a burger in her hands like a lion.
Opposite of her with both of them sitting in a small booth, sat her most trusted friend, Kanami. The blond wavy-haired woman with bright lipstick couldn't help but drop a tear of sweat at her friend's obvious annoyance. It didn't happen on a lot of occasions, but when her friend was clearly pissed or highly annoyed, she usually was brought along to eat greasy fast-food and hear her friend's problems.
"C-calm down Misaki, you won't be able to burn all that calories you're gaining from that burger if you attack it like that," Kanami explained jokingly. She knew though that nothing would stop her friend's love for greasy food. Despite the unhealthy diet, she would always compliment it with the correct amount of calorie burning to keep fit. Personally, Kanami thought it was a hassle but it was apparent that her friend hasn't really cared since they were in high school. She would always balance herself appropriately.
With the last of the burger gone, Misaki quickly wiped her hands of grease with a napkin and then clenched it into her right hand, fisting the flat surface of the table. This caused Kanami to slightly flinch.
"You know I could care less about the calories. What I would care more is how the hell did this guy become a part of my team in a day!" Misaki shouted, insensitive to the other customers in the restaurant they were eating at.
Kanami sighed as she took a look at her plate which held a healthy salad, much to the opposite of her friend. She took a fork and began twirling it around the various leafs while looking at the police chief tiredly.
"What was so bad about him again?" the scientist requested.
Misaki grumbled as her mind went back to Trunk's words after the meeting with her boss.
'No...You clearly don't trust me, so I'd rather earn your trust before I say things that you'll probably find crazy...'
She had to admit it was sound reasoning, but she hated being left in the dark...and how was she supposed to trust someone who appeared out of nowhere? The head chief may have trusted him for his own reasons, but how could she? How was she supposed to believe his words of him saying he wasn't a contractor? According to her boss, everything she believed about time-traveling was wrong. It was apparently possible which meant Trunks came from a different time period. All this just boggled her mind. She needed more evidence.
Misaki groaned and leaned back against her chair. "I just...can't help but be suspicious. He's not willing to give much information about himself either."
Kanami finally picked up a leaf from her plate and plopped it into her mouth, swallowing it after a second of chewing. She then spoke.
"Sounds like a contractor, right?"
Misaki sighed as she nodded her head a little. "Yeah, but you told me yesterday that only two contractors was detected when I first met him. We were attacked by two clear contractors and yet he..."
The police chief couldn't seem to finish her sentence as it was confusing as hell, but her friend could easily understand what she was trying to say. Unfortunately for Misaki though, Kanami couldn't help come up with a way to support her friend. The astrology lab was very accurate when it came to ascertaining contractors. Whether or not the supposed contractor flew from her friend's witness would be in question.
Kanami shrugged. "It's clear this is bugging you quite a lot. I can't really help you though Misaki. If you say he did null gravity, then we would've seen activity,"
"Are you sure? No clouds in the way? Visibility problems? Anything?"
Kanami sighed as if this was the hundredth time her friend requested confirmation.
"No, Misaki...none of that," she answered slightly annoyed..
Misaki frowned and put her elbow against the table, allowing her head to rest on her standing arm as she could only think about the uncertain possibilities.
"Aren't...you being a little ungrateful here, Misaki?" Kanami asked hesitantly.
Misaki raised an eyebrow, slightly baffled by the accusation by her friend.
"Ungrateful?"
Kanami nodded as she pressed on. "Well, you told me you both escaped due to his flying ability...but doesn't that mean he saved you?"
Misaki furrowed her eyebrows. "That's hardly the point here. What if it's proven that he is, in fact, a contractor? If that's the case, I could hardly believe he'd save me for no reason. There has to be some motive...there always is."
Kanami laid back into the seat as she eyed her friend carefully. "...well, I suppose that's for you to find out. I'll admit, you got me curious about this individual. You'll definitely have to introduce me to him later."
Misaki closed her eyes hummed with uncertainty, relieving her mind for the moment of the questions she had. All of those questions could only be answered by Trunks. She would definitely be on guard and wary of her apparent new team member's actions.
...or else, it could turn out bad for herself and her teammates...
Swerve!
Automatic glass paned doors opened as one lavender-haired warrior came out of a store boasting new clothes. He wore a plain black-grey long sleeved shirt that did well to make his muscular anatomy less apparent. From his waist down, he wore blue jeans. He bought a couple of similar clothings in a bag which was hanging from his left hand. He was quite surprised to be honest. The currency hadn't changed much despite the split into separate sectors. Zenis were zenis so he was lucky that the clerk accepted it without much thought. Of course, he'd run out pretty soon if he stayed any longer here. The head of the police force and its investigation team, Yoshimitsu Horai told him that during his stay, he'd be compensated. Hopefully, it was enough to get along decently in this advance time but he didn't want to get too comfortable.
As for the change in apparel, it was in order to make blending in easier. He also figured he would have to wear some formal business apparel if he was to join the police force. With his usual apparel, there would be a lot of misunderstandings of him being a part of Capsule Corporation. He was a part of it, just not in this time. To be honest, he was even surprised to see that his grandfather's company was still booming. He was curious as to the individual running it but he'd forgo that curiosity as it may produce unintended consequences if he tried to find out.
Trunks exhaled a breath of air as he took to the sight of the busy streets and civilians moving about their day peacefully. Yet, thinking about the underlying activity and the history between his time and now, it didn't seem that the whole world had gotten better without adding more scars. While he would try to go back to his own time, he would not let the knowledge of this time pass him. He wanted to know exactly how these contractors came to existence.
From what the chief, Kirihara, told him. He could easily see there was more to what was going on. If anything, there were probably things she didn't know about either considering she learned earlier that time-travel was possible.
'This is troublesome,' thought Trunks as he looked to the sky. It was clear blue with a bit of clouds hovering and shadowing parts of the grown Central City. It was quite an amount to wrap his head around. Fake stars? Chaotic areas of space? Contractors?
...and everything was hidden from the public except to those within the government and public officials. Wasn't that a bad thing if contractors were deemed dangerous?
Trunks shook his head and scratched his head. Asking these questions was pointless if he couldn't answer them. He would have to be patient and slowly learn more. Hopefully with his new affiliation with this section's and Central City's police, he would find those answers.
'...and that concludes the reporting of the current financial state of this sector. In other news, sector 28 and sector 27's ministers, Goto and Kimura, have renewed their relationships as they continue to create a prosperous relationship between both sectors. A deal is ongoing which will allow citizens of both sectors to travel between the border freely which the ministers hope to create new opportunities for many businesses...'
Trunks couldn't help but smile a little as his attention focused to a large holographic plane atop a large building showing the sector news with a female anchor echoing her voice across the city. He still wasn't sure how to feel about this divide, but if the sector leaders are getting along without much problem and no mass civilian casualties like he'd seen with his experienced eyes, then it was perhaps a change for the better...minus the fact that a civil war had to occur to get to this stage.
'...On the topic of other sectors, particularly 18, there are several worries circulating about regarding the increase in military production. While sector 18 assures that they are just getting up to speed to protect their citizens, adjacent sectors are unable to feel relieved considering they cut military costs this year...'
Trunks decidedly tuned out the female anchor and started moving. The last thing he wanted on his mind was thinking about advance military technology which who-knows-what could do. If he learnt anything from the androids, it was that with the greatest minds and negative intentions, much havoc could be brought. He only hoped that there was nothing of that sort.
Of course, there would always be those with negative minds and bad intentions. If all contractors were like this, then he'd show no hesitation in cleaning them up.
"So that's him, huh?" a mysterious woman questioned.
This said woman was on top of a roof, crouching and overlooking the main shopping district of the region with a pair of advance binoculars. Since the sun was out and directly behind her, it would be difficult to describe the woman as her frontal body was shadowed as the sun rays hit her back. The only thing that could be described was that she had short black hair with bangs that covered part of her eyes, an ovalish head with a sharp chin. She seemed to have a well defined figure but nothing but shadows hid her wearable articles.
With her was a white, metallic and slender robot with white elastic padding on various parts of its body and tightly knit robes of wire between the paddings. It's face was mostly a white cap with two lens for eyes. Other than that, it seemed to be a rather weak robot with no other characteristics.
'SCANNING...UNABLE TO FIND DATA IN DATABASE.' the robot stated with clinking of its body. It's voice was nothing but static and stable with a poor rendition of a soothing low male voice.
"It's just as our employer said then," she confirmed in a flat elevated voice.
The woman stood up from her crouched position and took the binoculars away from her eyes. She gave a small grin and slid her hands across her head to bring a few strands of hair out of her eyes.
"Stange individual...this is our target?" she questioned, humming slightly.
'What will you have us do, sister?' a deep male voice with fizzled static spoke from one side of her head. It seemed she had a communication device lodged in her ears. With narrowed eyes, her face defaulted into a flat look.
"Once you are in position and are able to trap the police chief, I'll have the robot ready and in position for replacement. Considering she met him, she should be able to give us some information that our employers want. She should also be able to tell us on how dangerous this man is allowing us to meet with him, if necessary," she explained.
'Understood,' the man behind the device confirmed. The connection was then cut off. The woman and the robot simply left the top of the building, falling down several stories and disappearing with no concern evident on the mercenary's face.
Misaki and Kanami, only a few feet from the restaurant they ate lunch at, were walking down a sidewalk with other citizens passing in both directions. Hover cars quietly passed through the ears of the citizens, creating a breeze for many of the walking citizens. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the day with a sun beaming brightly on the city.
Misaki had calmed down enough, having her mental frustrations released after talking with her friend. She was glad to have Kanami. Who else would listen to her ramble on about her work and her daily peeves? Sure, she had her trusted team who she'd known for several years now, but still, it didn't feel right or professional to be having them listen to her. They were about taking action and she wasn't going to lay down her complaints on them.
Not to say Kanami should listen to her gripes, but they had knew each other since high school. They had both laid out their frustrations and annoyances to each other well before they started working, particularly with the government.
"So...you'll let me meet with him, right? If he doesn't seem danger-"
The chief of the police team and investigation glared at her. Kanami quickly re-worded her words.
"Ah! I mean, if you finally start to trust him, that is..."
Misaki sighed.
"I'm not sure if or when I'll start to trust him. Plus, I don't want to risk you getting involved especially when there's a whole mystery about him," she explained.
Kanami let her head down and sighed. "Fine...fine. Though, if that's the case, you have to be careful too."
Misaki gave a small smile and nodded with a hum.
"Don't worry," she reassured, "...part of the job is to always to be cautious."
Kanami chuckled inwardly and hummed in response. "I know you will be, but I've seen you take risks before so of course, I can't help but worry."
Misaki didn't respond this time. She couldn't argue against that, but so far, she was able to manage fine. Her team had been in tight situations before, but they always were able to pull through. It is for that reason, she trusted herself and her team to do what's necessary to get the job done.
They both stopped as they reached Kanami's white hover car which was parked next to the sidewalk and a reserved parking area for cars. Each spot had a colored emitting light beneath it that was red if the spot was in use or green if it was open. At the boundary of the spot, the light glowed straight up surrounding the car in a barrier.
Kanami put her hand at the boundary of the parking spot and waited. Symbols spread around her hand at the boundary as if it was processing her hand as input. The light below and the emitting barrier flashed green a couple seconds before turning green completely. An electronic voice sounded.
'KANAMI ISHIZAKI...ACCESS GIVEN. HAVE A NICE DAY!'
With that, she was able to push her hand through the barrier that was surrounding her car. She looked back at Misaki and grumbled.
"Well, I better get going. Who knows what was going on during our lunch," she said with a resigned sigh.
Misaki nodded.
"I'll give you a call if anything new comes up," she assured.
Kanami nodded and got into her car. The car lifted up as soon as she got into her seat and closed her door. She gave a small wave at her tightly knitted friend beside her door and drove out of her parking spot and into the hovering traffic.
Misaki watched as she saw her friend left. She then look down at her arm and lifted her sleeves revealing an old fashioned watch. It was time for her to get back to the police headquarter. No doubt, there would be many questions and to her dismay, he would probably be there.
Knowing that the police headquarters was only a few blocks away, she walked. Even if the headquarters were a few miles away, she would walk. It was one of the few things that helped balance herself from the greasy foods she could not and would not give up.
As she walked though, she saw a large figure blocking her view of the sidewalk. This person, which she assumed was male, was definitely not your average citizen being that he took the whole width of the sidewalk. Not only that, but his appearance was also strange. He seemed to be some sort of monk or martial artist with his nearly bald head which had several strands of hair tied into a knot. He wore a blue gi with a ying and yang symbol on his back.
She decided not to think much of it even though his size and his apparel was weird; however, as she kept moving, she noticed that he was walking much slower than she was and was quickly becoming a annoying wall in her way. She really didn't have time for this.
"Ah, excuse me sir. Would you mind letting me pass?" she asked politely not wanting to comment on his size.
The man said nothing and kept walking slowly without even turning to face her. Misaki narrowed her eyes and a low growl of frustration escaped her. Was this man deaf? Surely she could hear him, right?
"Hello, sir? Can I please pass you?" she asked, more affirmatively now while keeping a straight face though it was easy to see annoyance in her eyes.
No answer still.
Misaki groaned and put a hand to her face. This was so stupid. She'd just have to force her way through. She couldn't pass through a bit of the adjacent road since it was currently a metal railing. She wasn't going to jump over the railing just to get past this large guy. It really shouldn't get that complicated to pass a person, big or not.
She huffed and decided to use some force, squeezing between him and the neighborhood of white stone buildings. When she attempted though, his arm then moved and pushed her back!
She fumbled a bit, not expecting such a move and her eyebrows furrowed. This guy was either being an asshole or...
Her eyes and head turned slightly over her shoulder and to her surprise, she saw another man with a similar build and clothes except wearing his gi was yellow. His eyes were small and...cold. She also noticed that there was a ying and yang symbol on the top of his head.
What more? She was the only one standing in between these two large walking men. Her suspicion would soon be realized as soon as a dark alleyway was upcoming in her view and the large man behind her began moving forward slightly faster.
An ambush...and these two...could be contractors.
Her heart was beating fast and she could feel some adrenaline pumping into her system. Her eyes moved to the railing. No...she couldn't jump past and risk getting hit by car. Her eyes then moved to the buildings; however, she was unlucky to find a building with a door. It was just a wall with no sign of an exit.
Misaki cursed under her breath and before she could look for another option, a large hand clasped over her mouth, disabling her from screaming. A large muffled struggled ensued between her and the only guy behind her; however, the man was large enough to stay in control of the woman's movements.
Her eyes traveled everywhere and she realized that they had positioned themselves such that they could easily take her with their large size and nobody would notice. This was bad. What could they want? If they planned on killing her, how would that help them? There had to be a reason!
The dark alleyway came and she was hoisted a foot off the ground. Her captor casually entered the alleyway. Anyone who was behind him would see the kidnapping due to the large nature of the man. The large blue accomplice then turned around and blocked the alleyway, taking himself out of the sidewalk. Passersby glanced at the guarding blue man with awe and surprise in his size; however, they were either oblivious or unsuspicious of the activity that had just occurred.
In the alleyway, while keeping one hand shut against the police chief's mouth, put another hand to his ear and began to relay their success to their sister.
"Sister, we have captured the police chief," he relayed in a flat deep tone.
A small moment before the 'sister' replied through his device lodged into his ear.
'Good, I've already have the replacement in position. There's a warehouse nearby that's empty. We can use that while we have her.'
"Understood, sister," he answered without any smile or emotion.
Misaki cursed once again, this time in her head as she realized she had fallen into a trap. She should've been more careful and wary. Nobody really sees a large man dressed in a martial art gi. She had been far too relaxed. She looked to her waist where her gun was held. There would be no way of grabbing it in her current state.
'What...is their goal? If they are kidnapping me, they clearly don't want to kill me...yet' Misaki thought.
Trunks sighed as he entered the police building. At this moment, he was given a temporary card to prove he was an employee in this department. Much of his "employment" was classified to all except Misaki's team who knew who he was...well, some of them at least. He learned that he had only met two of the chief's four comrades.
He was a little nervous as they were no doubt going to be confused by the new addition. Much of the details such as being a time-dimensional traveler was to be kept classified. He was a bit peeved though at the information they were going to be given about him...in fact, probably already looked at his "new records".
His occupation was a spy for this sector. Apparently, his story about being a time traveler was just a cover-up so he could effectively meet the police chief and protect her from an unknown group...something of which, they were assigned in the long term to find out. As a "spy", he had done many undercovered jobs that specialized in portraying himself as a contractor.
He knew that when he went in, it would be awkward. What was he supposed to say to the two guys from before? 'Sorry for fooling you all but I hope to get along with you?'
Would they really buy all that? They probably would have to considering none of them believed in time traveling. He was also concerned about portraying himself as a contractor, surely they'd be really confused since how can one portray himself as a contractor without being a contractor.
Trunks put a hand to his face as he showed the receptionist his card who gave back a casual nod. Why did he even care what his future team members thought? If they distrusted him, he'd have to live with that but once he got back to his own time, all of this wouldn't matter, right?
The half-saiyan's thoughts would stop as soon as he entered a small conference room with a table that could fit six people and a whiteboard in front of it. Seated were all the members of the team excluding Kirihara. All of which were staring at him with mixed reactions and emotions.
He had already met Yuusuke Saitou and Yutaka Kouno; however, he saw two new people. One was a small faced, white female with large brown eyes,and a brown-chocolate hair that went down to the end of her neck. She wore a white coat which was different in attire from the rest of the group.
The other was a white male who looked to be the oldest of the group. His head was rigid and his face carried wrinkles and other sorts that showed some of his age. His hair was grey and cut short, edges sticking out at various parts of his head.
As all of them stared at him, Trunks could only flinch and sweat slightly. Just as he suspected, it got really awkward. Not to mention, he forgot to wear the business attire he bought and came to department without thinking...then again, Yukata was only wearing a grey t-shirt covered by his red jacket. Not knowing what else he could do, he decided that he should at least introduce himself.
"A-ah...Hi. My name is Trunks...Trunks Briefs," he greeted with his eyes closed and a forced smile that quivering slightly.
There was a moment of silence and the half-saiyan wondered if he was just doing it all wrong. Luckily, the female spoke up with a voice full of uncertainty.
"Um...yes, we were waiting for you and the chief. My name is Outsuka Mayu and I'm the liason officer with the Astronomy Bureau," she introduced herself, bowing slightly in her seat and never taking her eyes off him..
Trunks was thankful for her because she started the chain of introduction. Of course, it didn't relinquish the awkwardness and uncertainty that filled the air. It was better than the continual staring and silence though.
The older man greeted next and most simply with a nod. "Kunio Matsumoto."
The last two nodded with the squared-headed and big-nosed man speaking up. "We already...met, but my name is Yuusuke Saito."
The blond haired and probably youngest member of the team lifted his hand in greet and spoke with his eyes narrowed slightly. "Likewise, Yutaka Kuno."
Trunks exhaled a breath silently and took it upon himself to seat himself. He noticed the other members flinching slightly but otherwise, remained compose. They must've seen the "record". This was all too troublesome.
"So...I'm assuming you guys read my 'record'," he stated looking around him. Again, the members flinched except the older man who crossed his arms and closed his eyes. The only other female currently spoke up.
"Y-yes...forgive us for being wary; however, this was all sudden news to us...and yes...we've seen your record," she explained, looking down at the table.
Yutaka leaned in on the table with his arm and looked to the half-saiyan seriously. His lips were curled as he had mixed feeling apparent about him.
"The record said you were a spy and had portrayed yourself as a contractor before. I'm not aware of any business like that before. Are you really a contractor?" he asked.
Everyone flinched again and it seemed that was the most troubling question that had bugged all of them. Kunio opened his eyes and stared at his younger comrade with worry as his lips were curled. It seemed as if he wondered if being forward was best right now.
Trunks couldn't help but rub the back of his head and laugh nervously. A motion that surprised some of them a bit.
"Ah ha...well, the answer is complicated really, so you'll have to forgive me for not answering until we know each other better," he explained.
Much of the team relaxed a bit but they were still on guard, not quite satisfied with the half-saiyan's answer but didn't push on it any longer. There would be a lot of questions no doubt as the half-saiyan worked with the team, but he'd rather wait until it became easiest to explain.
He had told the chief as well since he didn't want to waste his time trying to prove himself only to be taken as a fool or a liar. He couldn't blame them. They had worked on capturing contractors and dealing with them especially. Of course, someone with abilities like him would have a hard time to prove himself otherwise.
First, he needed to find more about contractors. If he did, perhaps he could differentiate himself from them. Of course, even if they finally believed that he wasn't a contractor, they could possibly continue to wary after finding out he's something else. He'd rather have it like that though instead of emotionless killers who does everything in the end to survive.
Trunks turned his head left and right, raising an eyebrow.
"So...where is Ms. Kirihara?" the half-saiyan questioned, wondering if she was late.
There was the sound of a throat clearing by Yuusuke. He glared at the half-saiyan a bit disapprovingly.
"It's Chief Kirihara, Mr. Trunks," he corrected before answering, "...and we're not sure either. She could be slightly late."
"Ah, sorry," was all that Trunks could say. Clearly these guys really respected and trusted her. Heck, it could be seen in their eyes. How many situations has this team been through?
"Still," Yutaka began, "...isn't it a bit odd. I've never seen her late. It's just not like her, right?"
The eldest man nodded in agreement but didn't find any suspicion. "If she's not here soon, then we can wonder what happened but even if she's late for the first time, she'll have her reasons I suppose."
A hum and silence occurred. Trunks shifted in his seat and curled his lips to the side. This would need getting used to. Now that he thought about it, he never took time to socialize with other people other than the time he went to the past and with his mother. Even if he had gone around the world in his time to bring supplies to those in need, he never stood around to chit-chat with those people as there were others in need. It's not like he intended to be some kind of loner, it just sort-of happened with time and after coming back from the past.
"Sorry...I'm late."
Everyone turned to the doorway of the conference room to see the chief standing there all tightly-knit and professional as ever. There was slight smiles to the team's faces but it didn't last very long since there was important business to be had.
There was something wrong though. Only Trunks was able to see it...or rather, feel it. Though he had been around Misaki for only a little while, he knew subconsciously her ki or life force...even if he didn't take time to feel it.
Everyone had a unique and distinct life force in their life. By utilizing the ability to sense energy, he could pinpoint where they approximately were located and whether they were in danger or not. Between him and the z-fighters, it was essential to know.
This...couldn't be the chief.
"You're not usually this late, chief," Yuusuke commented.
'Misaki' nodded with her eyes closed.
"It won't happen again. I was just caught up in something stupid," she explained rather annoyed. The rest of the team looked at each other with raised eyebrows but didn't say anything more. Trunks couldn't help but glare at the 'chief' with wariness.
As the 'chief' moved into the front of the conference room, right next to the whiteboard, she took a look at everyone but especially the half-saiyan who continued to glare at her. Likewise, she glared back.
"Is there a problem, Mr. Briefs?" she asked.
Trunks began to formulate a plan. It was obvious the team didn't feel anything wrong. By the looks of it, this imposter seemed to have gotten the demeanor of the chief down; however, the half-saiyan searched for the real chief within the vicinity. When he finally caught hold of her ki relatively, he relaxed his glare and smiled, shaking his head.
"No, I apologize. You seem to be a bit off, that's all," Trunks answered her innocently. The 'chief' narrowed her eyes and harrumphed, deciding to get back to business...whatever that business may be.
Trunks had to play this cooly. Obviously, nobody was going to trust his word when he accused this imposter of being a fake. Who was she really? A contractor? What did she want?
He grumbled in his mind. He couldn't work out the details right now. Currently, he had to find the real chief and rescue her. He had to do this by himself as well seeing that nobody would likely agree with a person that just entered the team and had suspicions against him.
"Now then, as you are all aware, we have a new person entering our team..."
Trunks eyes widened and he shut out the imposter's talking. Clearly someone knew of his situation. How much information did this imposter know? How much did Misaki's kidnappers know? Were they part of the group that engaged him in the forest before?
So many questions. No answers. This was a troublesome situation too since he had no clue what the contractors who kidnapped the real Misaki was capable of. He had to be cautious. This may be exactly what they were planning although, they may not know that he could sense the energy of others.
He had to make a choice. Either play along or leave now and bring back the chief...without any injuries hopefully.
…
If he was fast enough in locating exactly where the chief was and rescuing her, he may be able to bring the chief back to the headquarters. If the imposter was still here by then, it would be easier to prove who was the fake.
Trunks closed his eyes and sighed deciding his plan of action. It had risks as he was going in without knowing who he was dealing with but it wasn't like he had the trust of others to make his case that this...woman...was an imposter. He wasn't sure how this person could replicate an exact image of Misaki but perhaps that was an ability which would mean she...or he was a contractor. Of course, the half-saiyan could know for sure.
As "Misaki" started talking, he immediately rose from his seat causing everyone to turn to him with confusion.
Trunks opened his eyes and smiled at the imposter. "Excuse me, but I need to move to the restroom. Can someone point me to it?"
The group blinked and there was a few seconds of silence before Yuusuke popped up and pointed outside the conference room.
"It's uh...just outside, left of this room," he replied with some uncertainty.
Yukata then opened up, a little worried. "Wait! Is it okay for him to just leave for a break casually?"
Everyone looked at each other but when they looked back to the half-saiyan, they all widened their eyes to see that he had disappeared, presumably to the restroom. The imposter looked forward and narrowed her eyes before she settled down into a seat and crossed her arms, knowing that she wouldn't be able to learn anything more about this half-saiyan until he came back.
"We'll wait for him to come back. In the meantime, has there been any new information regarding him?" she asked.
Yuusuke frowned and sadly shook his head.
"Unfortunately, everything I told you yesterday was it. Are you sure there wasn't a mistake in the system?" he asked.
"Misaki" closed her eyes and sighed, remaining composed. Her whole purpose was to gather information and report it to the employer. She would learn soon though that Trunks was not a fool.
Trunks needed to work fast as he exited the headquarters and quickly looked for an alleyway so that he could fly without alerting everyone. There was one right between the building he just exited and an adjacent cafe. Without anymore hesitation, he moved into the dark alleyway and took off, not realizing that there was a half-sleepy hobo near a garbage can who immediately was taken surprise by the sudden act of levitation.
The half-saiyan raised himself up high into the sky so that he could get a better feel and look of the area down below him. He furrowed his eyebrows and focused, pinpointing exactly where the tightly-knitted woman was.
To his surprise, they weren't that far from the police headquarters. He saw a large, one story building with a metal rooftop. It looked to be some sort of warehouse which was only a mile away. What more, he could feel four people inside. One was definitely the chief. The other three were unknown and Trunks couldn't tell whether they were dangerous or not.
One thing for sure was that none of these three people, to which any of them could be victims, were part of the the two contractors who attacked yesterday. He had to be cautious; If the abilities of contractors could vary according to what Misaki told him, he'd get a surprise gift every time. He'd like to know who he was dealing with, but it appeared that wasn't possible now.
The half-saiyan swooped down and gradually decreased his speed to the point where his foot lightly tapped the ground which was mostly sand and dirt. The warehouse, structured on the hard ground was your typical steel supported and tin facility. It looked to be some kind of storage house for construction equipment. It was pretty empty though. Perhaps everyone who worked around here was off?
Well, it certainly made it easier for Trunks as he didn't need to worry about getting others involved. if contractors thought rationally, they likely chose this spot because there was nobody.
He stared forward at the metal facility in front of him whose exits were closed, of course. There were two possible scenarios. This was a trap and they knew he would tell the "Misaki" at the headquarters was a fake or...they had kidnapped her here while the imposter supposedly went to learn more about him.
He really hoped it was the latter because how would they be able to know about him? Perhaps it wasn't him they were targeting? It honestly felt like it since he couldn't find another reason for this situation to occur...
...unless there was people who was pissed with her team...quite possible.
Regardless for the reason, he had to enter. No doubt, surprising them and quickly moving in to finish them would be best before they could use their abilities.
Trunks chuckled. He could be overreacting and the kidnappers could just be humans with guns; after all, from what he could tell, Contractors felt the same as an average person except when their abilities were used. Then he felt a surge of freakiness that he couldn't explain. It was funny how this time was really getting to him and in a day no less. In any case, Trunks would think the worst possible scenario just in case.
He moved in closer to the warehouse gate and listened in as well as feel the three life forces that existed inside.
"Our employer isn't going to like our information if it doesn't have its credibility from someone," a female voice spoke within the warehouse. It definitely wasn't Misaki. It held a flat tone that held some seriousness in it.
"I don't know much...and even if you tell me, I have no reason to tell you contractors. You're better off with gaining information with that shape shifter," another woman explained in a cool tone back. If Trunks could guess, it was definitely Misaki. She didn't seem the least frightened. Understandably considering she's dealt with her fair share of contractors.
So the half-saiyan could only assume based on the real Misaki that the three other people in there were contractors. His suspicion of the imposter at the headquarters was also proven if anything was to be given by a "shape shifter".
Seriously, how many abilities were there?
"True and we'll see. It's truly a shame someone like you aren't a contractor. You'd have given us any information immediately given your position right now," the female kidnapper replied with some amusement in her voice.
The half-saiyan sighed and stopped listening as he felt he gathered enough as to what was going on. This was all happening because they clearly wanted him. Were they part of the organization that attacked him last time? Perhaps not directly considering they were referring to their employers. He could only assume they were mercenaries of some sort.
He'd figure and piece it all together later. For now, it was time to step in and hopefully be able to end this as quickly as possible.
Misaki growled irritably as she laid tied into her chair while the apparent female leader stopped questioning for a moment and stared off into the distance filled with cardboard boxes and construction equipment. Ideally, she hoped her team would realize soon enough that there was an imposter filling in for her.
The lead captor and initiator of her job was a white fair-skinned woman with a pointy chin, short black hair with large bangs that were aligned to one side. Surprisingly enough, she had some makeup on as she bore eyeliner and lipstick. Normally, Misaki never saw much care for appearance in a contractor but there was a few times that appearance was important for a contractor...usually for a reason such as to lure the opposite gender depending on the job.
In addition and much to the opposite of Misaki, she wore very little clothes. She wore black heels along with black panyhose and a long red slit skirt kept with a black and white belt. Two knifes were positioned on the belt with ribbons hanging off the bases. Moving above, she wore only a red silk top with black and white embellishments. Finally, a jewelry necklace with emerald shards attached.
Overall, definitely the most stylish contractor the tightly-knitted woman has seen. Also the most immodest contractor in her opinion since she hated showing skin.
Thinking back to the half-saiyan, she knew Trunks was unwilling to give out information after being "inducted" into her team. While she didn't like it, perhaps this was favorable and the half-saiyan would continue to be unwilling in giving out more information about him.
The thing about contractors though was that they were patient. Who knows how long she may end up in the enemy's hands while "she", as in the imposter, would take as long as "she" needed to get the half-saiyan to open up to her team.
Her thoughts and concerns were put to rest however when a large bang filled the inside of the warehouse, seemingly coming from outside.
The female, who was known as Xiao Jie, narrowed her eyes and simply motioned her head towards her brothers. They both nodded insync and moved to door where the banging occurred, ready to act if needed.
Misaki bit her lips. Could it be a civilian? The last thing she wanted was to see civilian get involved or hurt. The contractors would likely not hurt whoever was banging unless he or she really compromised them. These contractors were not the typical ones her team had dealt with. She could see just how they planned her kidnapping and replacement that they were experienced.
Luckily for Misaki, civilian was quite an understatement.
As soon as the two brothers opened the door to see who it was and taken action if necessary, they were quickly sent flying several meters back, crashing into the resting wooden cardboard boxes that were stacked and piled together. The door completely opened up from the force as a strong wind forced through. Both Misaki and Xiao looked away as dust and dirt blew into their faces from the strong wind and the resulting crash of the two ying-yang brothers.
The chief coughed for a few seconds as dust from outside and now the result of the brothers' high velocity impact filled the room. She squinted her eyes towards the door where a figure stood, shadowed in dirt and dust that was slowly settling. As soon as the dust settled though, Misaki's eyes widened at the surprise guest.
It was Trunks!
Her mind began working in overdrive but she couldn't seem to find reason within her head as she wondered how he could've found her. More importantly at the current moment, how he was able to take two large men by surprise and push them back several feet into a stack of wooden boxes!?
It appeared even Xiao was surprised to see the person her employer wanted to find more about. She didn't ask questions though as her eyes glowed red, not taking any moment to find out how her brothers were knocked several feet.
Trunks, who couldn't help but cockily smirk at his surprise attack, was caught surprised himself as he suddenly felt his weight increase several times over. Fumbling a little, he fell to his knees and opened his mouth in slight shock. It was as if gravity had decided to increase! What was going on?
He forced his head up to look towards the female captor who was smirking victoriously at him. So it was her? Trunks could only guess she could manipulate gravity over a certain area. Thinking about the two large men who was hit with a high velocity, he could only hope that they were knocked out preventing them from using their ability, given they were contractors.
"Who knew our target had such strength. It was definitely not something we could've expected," Xiao commented, the pupils in her eyes still growing red. She gave a light smile that held little feelings, "Let me introduce myself. My name is Xiao Jie."
Trunks glared at her wondering if she truly didn't know about him as he was assuming from her expectations. If that was the case, he had little to worry about though this whole situation with gravity gave him a feeling of nostalgia. Now where did he-oh yeah...the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.
"Trunks!" Misaki called out, now filled with concern.
The female captor continued, now acting slightly unusual, as she started to bend down and take off her boots casually. "Either you have good deduction skills or our shape shifting friend was a poor contractor."
Xiao continued to apply an increased gravity over the half-saiyan. Trunks managed to keep himself from falling flat on the ground though as he attempted to move his legs a little. There was something that was distracting him though as he looked at the contractor with confusion.
The mercenary closed her eyes and gave a suppressed sigh as she now started to slide off her black pantyhose. At that moment, Trunks realized she was slowly stripping.
…
Why was she stripping in front of him!?
It seemed Xiao caught the half-saiyan's confusion and smiled slightly before shifting back to her usual poker face. "You must be some sort of contractor who can throw others many times your weight or perhaps reduce their weight. My price I have to pay to use my power is taking a piece of my clothes for however long I use it. Honestly though, if I had known I'd be dealing with someone like you who could push back my twin brothers, I would have worn more layers."
Price to pay? What did she mean? She had to strip to continue to use her gravitational powers? Did all contractors have a price to pay?
The woman started to walk towards him while taking off her jewelry. At this point, Trunks was able to get back how higher gravity felt. It had been a while, so naturally he was caught off guard but at least it wasn't something different from what he was used to. Truthfully though, this amount of extra gravity was hardly anything compared to the gravity of the time chamber. He had a feeling though that she wasn't applying all she could on him...probably because she wanted him alive. He wasn't going to complain though. If she underestimated him, he'd use that to his advantage.
Trunks let out a breath of air and wiggled his body a little. Yep, he could definitely jump if he wanted to; however, for now, he'd keep himself on his knees so that he could surprise the female mercenary.
"I'm quite surprise actually. Normally, people would be lay flat on the ground while I'm applying more gravity, but you're at least on your knees. Quite impressive," she complimented. Something of which the half-saiyan could do without. Rather, she should've been applying more if him being on his knees was a sign. It didn't seem the contractor thought quite well about it though. A mistake that would clearly cost her.
Xiao took out her knives from her belt as she stood, staring down at the half-saiyan with her red glowing eyes. "Now then, you'll tell me everything about yourself if you don't want your bones to be crushed."
Trunks couldn't help but chuckle while shaking his head. He glared back at her with a smirk. "You underestimate me, miss."
The half-saiyan then stood and the fact that he stood against her extra gravity was enough to cause her to widen her eyes and flinch. He caught the woman's hands, restraining her while she continued to look at the him very surprised. Only one word could utter out of her mouth.
"How?"
"I admit you caught me off guard, but truthfully, I had experienced much higher gravity than this. You should've applied more the moment you saw that I wasn't flat on the ground," he answered, explaining her biggest mistake. He then smirked, "Though I wonder how much more you could possibly increase?"
The half-saiyan applied more grip causing the woman to wince, clearly feeling the amount of force the half-saiyan carried. It was immediately understood by the contractor that he could break her bones easily.
She closed her eyes and Trunks felt the extra gravity on him lifting. Admittedly, now it felt weird to feel normal gravity even though it had been less than a minute. He was glad that the woman was giving herself up so easily.
What Misaki had told him before though was that the goal of a contractor was to survive. Given that a contractor is supposedly rational, he assumed she understood that she was outmatched by him.
That wasn't quite it though as Xiao's eyes glowed red again. A large crack echoed through the warehouse and a gasp was heard. Trunk's eyes widened and he turned his head towards Misaki where suddenly her chair collapsed and she was laying on the ground, gasping.
"Kirihara-san!" Trunks yelled. He then turned his head angrily towards the woman he held. He knew it was her doing, "Stop it!"
"Be a kind gentleman won't you and let go of my wrists then. If I feel your grip get any tighter, the chair won't be the only thing that collapses," she threatened, her face cool.
Trunks looked into her eyes, furrowing his brows deeply. She simply stared back with no change in emotion. It was like looking into lifeless eyes that held no anger...no sadness...fear?
Perhaps. He could try to knock her out quickly but he had no clue about the length of her abilities aside from the fact she could apply gravity at any moment and place. Did he want to risk knocking her out only to find out that her ability works even when she was unconscious?
No, he didn't.
"You'll just kill her if I let you go. What's stopping you from doing that?" the half-saiyan asked, hoping the chief could forgive him for not quickly ending this if he could. He was simply taking precaution. Misaki wasn't in any life-threatening condition with the extra gravity on him. In fact, it was much less than the gravity the woman added on him.
Xiao raised her eyes with slight surprise. A small smile played on her lips in amusement.
"You, of course," she answered simply.
Ah...survival was a top priority to a contractor. In other words, she was being smart. Even if she killed the chief, it would do her no good since the half-saiyan could kill her afterwards. The half-saiyan realized how rational these contractors could be.
Trunks' eyes softened a little but his gaze was still hard. He couldn't trust the woman in front of him. What he could trust was that she would act rationally and so far, he could clearly see that the woman in front of him knew she was outmatched.
The half-saiyan closed his eyes and loosened his grip. As he did, he saw her the red in her eyes fade and the extra gravity that was affecting the chief relented.
The woman slid her hands away from the half-saiyan and rubbed them. Trunks wondered what his next action should be? Let them go or should he…
Instantly, the half-saiyan put away his thoughts and his eyes widened when he felt an extra person enter the room. Not from the doorway...just...instantly.
A blond, slender woman somehow materialized behind the mercenary he had just let go. Her hair was long, loose and her body was fully nude, exposing some decently sized breasts.
Trunks hesitated until his mind recognized the individual. It was the woman who could teleport from before! He recalled her named being mentioned but couldn't remember it. Quickly, he leaned forward going to try to tackle the naked woman before an even more force of gravity quickly subdued him.
Trunks was able to keep standing as the gravity was still not enough to force him down. It did however managed to successfully surprise him a little. If he could measure in that moment, it was about half of the hyperbolic time chamber in terms of gravity.
There wasn't even a word spoken as the nude contractor simply smiled at him with her hand attached to Xiao and in an instant, she and the gravity-contractor glowed and vanished from his sight leaving nothing but the rest of her light clothing. The extra gravity was immediately pulled away that moment.
Trunks wasn't sure what how to feel that moment. His eyes scanned the area and then he remembered the two brothers that were originally knocked away. He looked towards the rubble of cardboard boxes and was relieved to see that the ying-yang duo was still here and unconscious.
"T-trunks!"
The half-saiyan knew there was a lot of questions but right now, he remembered his original intention of saving the chief.
He walked over to the tied up chief laying on the ground with a collapsed wooden chair base underneath her. She had a look of frustration and tiredness. Given all she was through, it was reasonable.
Her head motioned to the rope that locked her legs and arms. Trunks simply nodded and he quickly freed the chief. A low growl immediately sounded from her teeth as she slowly attempted to stand up. Her knees fell weak though and she wasn't able to stand up straight.
Trunks attempted to help her stand but was quickly rejected as the chief shuffled on the ground and put a hand up to stop him.
"J-just forget about me and help find my phone. It's somewhere around here," she stated, searching the ground.
Trunks pulled his lips to the side but nodded. He could see that the chief wasn't fond of being helped by the half-saiyan. Of course, the chief should know a little bit more about him given the confrontation. No doubt there would be questions. He had questions too so it would be good to exchange more information later.
"Sure," he responded and turned his head, scanning the area. He finally found what looked to be a phone that somehow slid away from her when her chair had collapsed.
He slowly walked up to the phone and picked it up. Biting his lips though, he found the phone to be damaged, perhaps unusable. He would let Misaki decide though as it appeared to be a phone slightly more advance and intricate than the ones in his time.
"Here," he spoke as he picked up the phone, turned around, and handed over to the tired woman.
His assumption that the phone was damaged was correct as the tightly knitted woman in front of him, groaned and slammed the phone into the ground.
"Great...I can't believe I got caught off guard like that," Misaki muttered.
Trunks felt sorry for the chief but made no comment. He'd rather not face an angry woman. Instead he decided to ask some questions given that she was kidnapped.
"Who were they?" he asked.
Misaki frowned and shook her head. "I had no clue since they approached me and kidnapped me well. Given that teleporting contractor came, I assume they work for whatever group that originally attacked you yesterday either as members or hired mercenaries."
Trunks closed his eyes and sighed. It appeared that was likely the case as it was hard to see any other reason. The half-saiyan felt more confused. Who was this group and how did they know about him? How could they know he was coming from the past? How could they know about the concept of time machines?
His eyes glanced over to the unconscious duo. While Xiao was able to escape with the teleporter, at least the brothers he surprised weren't able to. It was inevitable considering the teleporter wouldn't be able to escape the half-saiyan in time if she tried to escape with all three. Even then, Trunks knew that he wouldn't have let them escaped if he wasn't caught off guard by the sudden gravity change.
At the very least, he knew what to expect the next time gravity changed or shifted on him. He'd simply have to appropriate himself so that his movements are seamless whether in high or low gravity.
Misaki once again, attempted to stand and this time, her knees recovered a bit from the gravity change as it readjusted back to normal. She wobbled a bit but managed to stay up. She dusted herself off to remove any wooden debris before she turned toward the half-saiyan in seriousness.
"I'm not sure how you were able to find me or how you managed to take out two heavy contractors and remain under high gravity, but I expect to know soon," she said, glaring at the lavender-haired man.
Trunks curled his lips and nodded. "I would think so but first, how should we handle those two?"
He pointed his eyes towards the two unconscious males. Kirihara threw a disgusted look as she remembered being carried by them the whole way to the warehouse. She knew though that they could provide some useful information regarding the people who are after the half-saiyan.
"We'll take them into custody of course," she answered and then bit her own lips, grunting annoyed, "...the problem is contacting my comrades. Since the headquarters is not far, I'll go there. I want you to remain here though in case the ying-yang brothers wake up."
Trunks' eyebrows raised. "Is that such a good idea? There's a contractor in there that's holding your image."
Misaki couldn't help but smirk. "I'm going to assume that the imposter is gone given that she has found out one of her team members have escaped and the other two are knocked out. Even so, if I'm there, I trust my colleagues enough to figure out who is the real one."
The half-saiyan grinned in response. He really liked how she had people she could trust. Of course, he had a long way to go before getting the trust from her team, much less herself. He wondered though if it was such a good idea for her to walk all the way to the headquarters even if it was only about a mile away.
"Um...I could fly you there quickly if you want. It'll be much faster," he suggested but his solution was struck down.
The chief's eyes narrowed. "I refused to be carried again by you. I'm more independent than you think and I've gotten worse injuries than a simple weight change."
Trunks felt compelled to argue; however, Misaki's eyes seemed to emphasize her refusal to be carried again. He sighed and looked away, rubbing the back of his neck. Yep, it would be a long way before he could gain any trust in this time.
A\N: Finally! I got around to finishing a chapter I can actually post! I've had this chapter half-done for a while now and figured before I start the third semester of my university, I should post one update. I've been working on Rosario+Gohan so far in terms of rewriting most of the beginning chapters when I first started, but I held myself from updating anything in regards to it until my shame that is the beginning chapters are put to rest. I seriously cringe sometimes when I read it.
As for this fanfic, I've slowly started to see more how I want to approach this crossover. It became clear to me that the technology in this advance time will have a big impact.
For those who may not remember, Xiao Jie and her twin brothers were mercenary contractors that appeared in the OVA. Since I have no plans to go anywhere near the OVA storyline much less season two, those contractors are pretty much free to be used when appropriate.