[7] vs. Trisha

[Kaden]

Plans were a funny thing. Kaden's plans, in-particular, always seemed far more fragile then they should be. More than once over the course of Kai's game show, the blond haired human had wondered whether or not he was actually trying to get himself killed -- that he had something of a death wish was another issue for another day. It wasn't always the big plans that made Kaden reevaluate the goings-on around him, but also the small ones.

He had planned on running back to Piper and chastising her for employing such lethal means against Trisha. He had planned on trying to restrain his teammates so that they might avoid any more bloodshed. He had also planned on whittling away at Trisha's strength so they might be in a position to reason with her. And then all of that went out the window.

"Did... did she just catch a bullet?" Kaden turned a particularly dumbfounded expression to Sophia.

"Yeah," came his answer.

"Fuuuuuuuck."

"... Yeah."

Whether it was a display of sportsmanship -- Kaden doubted it -- or for the cameras, Trisha holstered her gun and made a show of checking her nails while Piper, Sophia, and Kaden regrouped. There was also the chance that she wanted to display her advantage in an attempt to undermine the confidence of her opponents, but Kaden wasn't about to give her that much credit.

"Y'know," Trisha spoke off-handedly, her eyes locked on Sophia, "teaming up with these two isn't the smartest move you could've made, blondie."

Instead of responding, all three contestants visibly tensed. Whether Trisha was simply rambling or actually had a point to make, the trio were going to wait for her dialoge to play itself out. A chance to catch their breath was another thing they weren't about to pass up.

"How many was it?" Trisha inclined her head towards Piper and Kaden. "Four? Five?"

"What are you talking about?" As she spoke, Piper finsihed reloading and pointedly snapped her gun shut.

"I'm just wondering how many of your 'allies' have ended up dead." She tapped her chin with the barrel of her pistol in mock thought. "There was that ugly alien --"

"Szar..." Kaden said under his breath.

"-- and then that saiyan kid, though it was nice of him to protect his dearest friend--"

"Dimitri..." Kaden voice rose.

"-- after that, the boy over there actually talked his one-eyed hunter pal into getting himself killed--"

"Orion..." The name escaped Kaden's throat as more of a growl than anything else.

"-- and I got a message just before coming to fight you guys: that playboy of a saiyan got Rosemary to kill him, that other saiyan hunter that was with you thought he could out smart one of the Four Demons, and Sebastian captured that saiyan princess."

A tense silence filled the space between the Trisha and her trio of opponents. The food court around Kaden seemed to grow as Trisha's words sank into his mind. Or maybe it was that he was shrinking. Trisha seemed to loom before him as a monument to his weakness, his inability to actually use his power to help or protect others. Fortunately, Kaden's downward spiral of mental self-loathing was cut short.

"Oh well," Trisha shrugged. "Time to die."

In the process of diminishing his own self-worth, Kaden had diverted his attention away from his opponent. He hadn't even been looking in her direction. By the time Kaden's eyes turned towards his on-coming adversary, she was only feet away. Clutching her dagger tightly, the woman drove it straight for Kaden's throat. A quick, clean kill.

Luckily -- though luck had nothing to do with it, Kaden didn't know any better -- both Piper and Sophia had been paying attention. With her adrenaline flowing, and her mind focused, Piper was prepared for Trisha's speed and, fortunately, Kai's wife had chosen a simple, predictable method of attack. Trisha's eyes snapped towards the medic in surprise as Piper caught her wrist and stopped the attack mere inches from it's target.

Reaching under her outstreched arm, Trisha aimed her pistol at Piper, and would have had an easy shot if not for Sophia's follow-up. Thrusting her hands forward, the priestess expelled a blast of energy. As the blast struck, Piper released Trisha's wrist and spun to the side, allowing Trisha herself to be thrown sideways from the force of Sophia's assault.

As she hit the tiled floor of the food court, Trisha curled into a roll and vaulted gracefully back to her feet. Brushing herself off, Trisha took a moment to regain her composure before dashing forward once more. Unfortunately for Trisha, her opponents weren't stupid. Just rushing forward wasn't going to work forever.

Sopiha thrust both her hands forward once more, firing a blast of impressive size. As the blast traveled towards Trisha, Piper vaulted high into the air. Trisha herself was able to slide out of the way of Sophia's attack as she continued forward, but was less prepared for Kaden's attack. The courier thrust both his hands forward, firing off two beams of cerulean energy. Trisha prepared to dodge, but instead came to a stop and locked eyes with Kaden. The beams shot past Trisha, only inches from either of her flanks. With a smile, Trisha opened her mouth to say something -- presumably taunt Kaden's aim -- but she never got the chance.

Kai's wife tilted her head to the side as Kaden flashed her the briefest of smiles, seemingly pleased with his poor aim. Realization dawned upon Trisha, but it came a moment too late; she only had enough time to look up. Trisha's eyes widened as Piper came barreling towards her.

With her hands clasped together, Piper threw her momentum behind a massive axe-handle. The medic's fists slammed down onto Trisha's shoulder, a sickening pop filled the food court as Trisha began to buckle under the force of Piper's attack. Unfortunately, that tiny victory would be undercut as Piper's blood sprayed into the air.

In a display of uncanny reflexes, honed through a lifetime of killing, Trisha managed to not only keep her footing after Piper's strike, but actually spin away from the medic. As she did so, Trisha lashed out with her dagger haphazardly and her blade found purchase. In an upward arc, Trisha's blade caught Piper just under the breast and slashed upward, reaching her collarbone and coming dangerously close to the medic's neck.

"Piper!" Kaden hollered.

Trisha stepped towards the medic, wincing in pain as her arm dangled out of its socket. The woman brandished her dagger, preparing to finish Piper before moving on to her other pray. Before she got the chance, however, she was swept aside in a wave of cerulean ki. The attack had been intended to simply distance Trisha from Piper, and it did that remarkably well. Trisha was sent skidding along the floor of the food court, in an ironically similar fashion to the way Kaden had been only moment ago.

Kaden rushed to Piper's side, with Sophia only a step behind him. The courier's hands shook from the sheer amount of energy that he had summoned, but that was secondary to Piper's health. The medic herself wore an expression of fear as she gazed down at her blood-stained top. Fortunately for both of them, Sophia was less fazed by the injury. A soft green light surrounded her hands as she extended them towards Piper.

Turning his attention away from Sophia's healing -- in a rare show of being able to ignore his curiosity -- Kaden's eyes locked onto Trisha pulling herself off the ground. With a sickening grunt of pain, Kai's wife grabbed her dislocated arm and forced it back into its rightful place in her shoulder. The trophy wife returned Kaden's stare with a fierce glare.

As Sophia stepped away from Piper, and Piper examined her healed wound, Kaden noticed that one of Trisha's hands was noticeably empty. She had lost her grip on her pistol, presumably when Piper dislocated that particular arm. Unfortunately, Kaden didn't consider that to be particularly helpful. Given both his and Sophia's recent attacks, she would be more than foolish to engage them in long-range combat.

Reaching into his jacket, Kaden withdrew his dagger, Trisha's dagger, and extended it towards Piper. The medic hesitated for only a second before taking it and tucking it into her belt. Kaden was useless when it came to close-range combat; him having a weapon as potent as Trisha's dagger only put him next to useless. In Piper's hands, however, she would be a considerable threat. Or so Kaden hoped. Regardless, the thought of Trisha being struck by her own weapon, one that Kaden had taken from her, gave the courier a sick sense of amusement.

"Well well well," Trisha said as she watched the brief exchange between Kaden and Piper. "You saved me the trouble of having to buy a replacement. I wouldn't get too attached that thing, Red," Trisha glared at Piper. "I'll be taking it back."

Plans were a funny thing. Some of them, often the best ones, formed without any conscious thought at all. The pieces would simply fall into place in the back of one's mind, surfacing only when the entire puzzle was complete. That moment of realization, that moment of forehead slapping "ah ha!" brought many emotions along with it. Maybe elation, maybe frustration, and maybe even fear.

It was fear that gripped filled Kaden's mind as realization dawned upon him. It was a cold thing that gripped the young courier's heart. It was not something he shied away from, but neither did he embrace it. It simply was, and he would be left with no choice but to accept it. Running a hand through his hair, Kaden narrowed his eyes at Trisha.

"No, Trisha," Kaden's voice was soft, barely reaching the ears of his allies. "You won't."