[3] The Road

[Orion]

Zena finally fell unconscious. Orion dropped the barrel of his rifle and tossed the weapon into the front seats. Whatever drug Kai filled the darts with was not potent enough to keep their targets from staying sedated. However, Zena imparted a few words that he didn't expect to hear from the hot headed half breed. After her enraged plea and her equally furious reaction to Orion's speech, she quietly shrunk back and apologised? What kind of attitude was that from a saiyan?

Orion didn't have time to dwell on the details. Clouds of sand flew up from the sandy embankment. The ground shook as something massive burrowed its way through, chasing its nimble prey. In a moment, they dashed up the slope and onto the road.

It was the two Hunters from their beginnings at Kai's mansion. The changeling, fortunately for Orion's blood pressure, wasn't with them anymore. The blonde haired kid, Jayden, and the socially embarrassed woman whose name escaped him for the moment sprinted up onto the road, drawing whatever ferocious, aggressive sand beasts were chasing them.

"You're just in time to join the party," the woman remarked dryly. It was odd that she spoke with such frankness, when before at the mansion she shied away from any contact whatsoever. She also held a pistol tightly in one hand; judging by the way she gripped it, it was obvious that she was proficient in its use. Meek one moment, alert and combat ready the next ... strange.

Jayden came charging up behind. His demeanor saw little variation than the one Orion recalled, however he seemed on his toes and at least somewhat prepared now that his life was in immediate danger.

"What the hell is chasing you two?" Orion inquired blatantly. "And more to the point, why the hell did you lure them towards us? I have 200,000 zeni's worth of hostages in that car!"

Before either of the newcomers could answer to the demand, a massive scorpion tail exploded from the side of the hill. With lightning fast movements, the needle sharp stinger snaked towards Piper. At the last moment, she deftly leapt away, finding her footing by the jeep. The stinger penetrated the weathered road easily, becoming embedded into the bitumen for a second before a mighty jerk backwards broke it free of its rocky prison.

Ares entered the fray. "Whatever it is, it's not going to last long against us!" Opening a hand, a ball of energy coalesced. With a hefty yell, the hybrid mercenary flung the orb directly into the stinger. The explosion shrouded the arachnid's tail for a moment, but a few quick sways blew away the resulting smoke. The tail was still very intact.

"What?" Ares blurted.

"It's got some sort of energy shield around it," Piper informed the crew. "Direct attacks aren't going to anything to them."

"Except royally piss them off," Orion muttered, taking note of the arousal of rage within the sand scorpion.

Its entire body erupted from the slope, spraying a fine mist of golden sand grains into the air. Hissing furiously, the gargantuan insect spotted the pink haired woman who dodged its first attack. Locking onto its prey, it shrieked before retracting its barbed appendage and thrusting it at her.

Predicting the strike with ease, Piper dodged to the side.

Leaving the car full of Orion's blood money exposed.

"Oh hell no!"

The cycloptic saiyan rocketed to the car, putting himself directly between it and the fatal stinger of the mutated beast. Focusing as best he could, the threw his hands upwards, just in time to catch the hooked barb at the end of the tail.

The strength within the scorpion's tail was enormous. Muscles tensed, straining with all his might, Orion could barely keep that poisoned tip from piercing his face. But he didn't come all this way to lose his easy money to some mindless insect, no matter how carnivorous or deranged it might be.

Orion grimaced, trying to slide his hands beneath the bulbed tip of the tail to push it upwards. Unfortunately, his entire physical power had to stay leveled at keeping the razor sharp stinger at bay.

Out of the corner of his eye, the eye patch clad warrior noticed a faint glow of cerulean. A light coloured energy bolt struck the gigantic tail about halfway down it's length, however nothing seemed to happen.

"Do it! Now!" Jayden ordered.

Quickly following his dire instructions, a beam of energy collided with and penetrated through the thick carapace of the creature's tail.

"Nice going, Kaden," Piper congratulated. Ares stood with his arms outstretched, steam wafting from his palms.

So that's what Jay ... er, Kaden's ability was. Despite having no hand-to-hand experience, he possessed some intimate knowledge about the way ki functioned. If the motley crew escaped this situation alive, he made a note to definitely speak to the blonde haired kid.

Black blood poured from the detached tail, oozing onto the road where it sunk into the bitumen like thick, boiling tar. The hideous screeching of the mutated arachnid in pain was almost unbearable. Throwing the removed stinger away, Orion soared away from the car, hoping to catch the beast's attention and draw it from his bounty.

Landing next to his comrades in arms, he dropped into a fighting stance.

"So, what exactly is known about these ... things?" Orion asked as the rage fueled scorpion made its way towards them. Judging by the earth tremors, its previous shriek brought more of its kin to the roadside.