[00] The Control Room

[DA 2009]

FOUR HOURS AGO…

Damon stared into nothingness, fingertips pressed hard against the smooth, polished surface of the conference table. The host had long since read through the stack of papers in front of him. The last few hours played on a loop in his mind, over and over again. Everything progressed so well, but how did it come to this? Up until now, very little could shake Dukes as soundly as this undertaking. He always prided himself on remaining cool, confident, composed. Now, the host felt as if all of his efforts meant nothing. He sighed, shifting his weight back on his heels and smoothing out his hair. Damon looked around, noticing that Audric had quietly slipped off during his very tense reflections. The board meeting had gone anything but as expected. Dukes walked over to a corner shelf, picking up the phone and dialing the extension for the control room.

“Took you long enough,” Audric’s voice said immediately.

“Time for a little improvisation,” Damon instructed firmly. “Send in the Eliminators. All of them.”

-----

PRESENT TIME…

Alexander, Ashe, Sage, and Sophia all felt the familiar pull of teleportation as they were shifted away from their present location. This time, they weren’t even granted the leisurely warning of a collar beep. The backdrop of the city blurred, some features changing, some remaining the same. They realized that they were still stuck inside the City Sector, but no longer where they found themselves before.

“I’m definitely not going to miss that,” Ashe said, looking around.

“This is new. Why did they teleport four of us together?” Sophia inquired.

“I-I d-don’t like this,” Sage stuttered.

Trafford said nothing, but his hands surreptitiously strayed close to his pistols.

Suddenly, again without any prior warning, a field of energy shot from their collars, surrounding them in a stasis bubble, as if they were in a final battle.

“You’re the only four left!” somebody hollered.

All four of them simultaneously looked to the top of a drugstore building. A figured leapt up, tucked into a roll, and fell to the ground with the grace of a diver, landing dramatically in a crouch. The one who stood was none other than Hollywood. He flashed a pearly white grin, peering at them with his baby blues from behind designer shades.

“You are the last ones standing,” he chuckled, chewing obnoxiously on some gum.

“Yeah!” somebody else laughed. The group’s attention was redirected as the enormous saiyan Vale Dura lumbered in from around a corner, smashing a chunk out of the brick building with his fist. “The rest are all dead.”

“But do not mourn for them, for some of you will be joining them soon, no?” a sultry voice crooned. The quartet whirled around, noticing a man in armor smelling a rose perched between his middle and index finger. Pierre picked Sage out and gave her a knowing wink, which immediately caused the girl to recoil in disgust and confusion.

From out of the sky, a green giant descended and smashed down into the concrete, causing a spider-web of cracks to break along the pavement. A towering namekian known as Caracol stood to his full, impressive height, simultaneously folding his tree-trunks-for-arms over his barreled chest. He uttered nothing but a growl of authority.

Trafford whipped out his pistols and trained them on two of the eliminators, but turned his wrists up in submission when he felt the barrel of a gun pressed against the back of his skull.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Kristanna warned politely. She looked at Ashe, who appeared surprised to see the android there.

“So what, you’re just going to kill us all, then?” Sophia demanded. “After everything we’ve been through? I’ve had enough!”

“No, we’re not going to kill you,” Hollywood laughed. He brought his arms up grandly. “We are the ringmasters of the main event.”

“You’re all going to fight, four on four!” Vale Dura bellowed happily.

Alexander seemed indifferent to this proclamation, but the three girls were exchanging looks.

“And if you don’t fight, then we’ll kill you,” Ray Norris added.

“Don’t forget what you’re fighting for,” Kristanna stated.

With that, the five of them moved faster than eyes could track, surrounding the four of them in a circle.

“BEGIN!”