[3] The Road

[Friend or Foe]

Piper
Kaden

Orion
Ares
Zena
Dimitri


"Pull over," Ares said, suddenly.

Orion quickly did as instructed, moving the jeep that they had comandeered just out of the abandoned town to the side of the road. They were in the middle of what the map listed as the Sandtrap, with slopes of sands on each side of the road.

They had pulled over because they were next to the wreckage of a destroyed vehicle, just like their own. "The fire is still burning," Orion noted, "This was a recent attack."

Ares, now recovered from his previous battle, hopped out of the car to get a look. Orion stayed behind the wheel, glancing back at the unconscious and drugged up Zena and Dimitri.

Immediately, Ares heard a grunt. He moved to the side of the road and smirked. "Hey, Orion," he called, "You mighta wanna come see this."

Just below them were their former comrades, the previous two hunters who had went inside the mansion with the changlings. They were there, battling for their lives against what looked like an enemy under the sand.









(The captured are barely conscious. Piper and Kaden are fighting sand scorpions just down the hill, off the road. The wreckage from Szar's teleportation and the jeep exploding are still there. If you can't figure out what to do, I'll update in the middle)

[Kaden]

Things happened way too quickly. Kaden heeding Piper's warning as quickly as he could, dropping his entire body to the sand. Against the sand, Kaden could clearly make out the shadow of a scorpion's tail sail past him. That was the second time that just acting, without bothering to think it through, had saved Kaden from certain disaster. This time, though, he had Piper to thank.

Scrambling to his feet, Kaden tried to put as much ground between himself and where he thought the scorpion was before stopping to take in the situation. From what he could see, there were three, maybe four, scorpions coming at the Hunters; gauging their exact numbers was difficult given their propensity for diving beneath the sand. Kaden's attention was quickly pulled from the insects.

From over a nearby sand dune, Kaden could feel the sudden and distinct appearance of... someone. Without his Sight, Kaden couldn't tell exact where they were, but he was sure they were nearby. It was several seconds before the courier thought to tell Szar to be on guard. Unfortauntely, Kaden was too late to do any good.

Atop the closest dune, Kaden could barely make out Szar's silhouette. It looked as though the changeling was getting ready to leap to Kaden and Piper's rescue. He never made it.

From over the hill, Kaden caught sight of the person he had sensed. It was almost impossible to tell anything about the person, other than their dark complextion and the fact that they were carrying a massive device of some kind over one shoulder. Without hesitating, the figure pointed the weapon -- at least Kaden assumed it was a weapon -- at Szar and, in a flash of light, caused the changeling to vanish.

"Szaaaaaar!" Kaden called out as his companion vanished.

Taking aim, threw an open palm towards the remaining figure on the sand dune. Before the courier could actually channel his energies, though, he was very forcefull knocked to the ground.

Already angry at the sudden loss of Szar, being tackled only added fuel to the fire. Kaden rolled on his back and, to his surprise, caught sight of Piper. The woman was looking over her shoulder at a giant scorpion tail that had been driving into the ground that Kaden had so recently been standing on. As understanding dawned upon Kaden, a good deal of the anger left him. He had to focus on what was actually going on around him.

"Thanks," the courier managed."

Piper simply nodded in response as she rolled away from Kaden and hopped up to her feet. Kaden was much slower to recover; his lack of physical prowess was beginning to catch up to him.

Despite the minor victories he may have had, things weren't going too well for Kaden. The events of the game, so far, had been controlled by someone else. Until he founda way to play to his own strengths, and not someone else's, Kaden would be fighting an uphill battle the entire time.

The heat, the sand, and his fatigue were all things that were working against Kaden. They made it difficult for the courier to focus, and even harder for him to feel out the subtle flow of energy within other beings. Without calming his mind and trying to push out the distractions, he might as well be powerless.

As he finally reached his feet, Kaden exhaled deeply. As he drew in his next breathe, he could feel energy surge through his eyes. He could see the light of Piper as she danced away from another scorpion's attack. To his surprise, Kaden could even see the scorpions that plagued them. The could still feel the heat of the sun, the sting of sand being blowing into his face, but they were distant.

The almost meditative state that the courier had attained was interrupted by the sudden report of a gun. Opening his eyes, Kaden turned his attention to Piper, who had already loosed half a clip into the nearest scorpion. The woman's slugs flattened against the scorpion's shell, doing no visible damage.

Insterestingly, Kaden noted that the insects seemed to have some control over the energies that flowed through them. As the bullets slammed into their bodies, the flowing light within them coalesced at the point of impact. It was probably an unconscious reaction to being attacked, but it gave Kaden an idea.

"Hey!" Kaden called to Piper. "How's your aim?"

"What?" Piper turned her head towards Kaden for only a second before training her focus back on the scorpions. "Good enough, I guess. Why?"

It took the courier a minute to reply, as his yelling had drawn the attention of one of the scorpions that had been lurking about underground. As it erupted from the sand, it struck at the courier with a pair of giant pincers. Waving his hand, Kaden managed to quickly erect a barrier of ki, Rejecting his opponent's attack and giving him time to run towards his ally.

"Think you can shoot the spots I hit?" Kaden asked as he approached Piper.

"There's an easy way to find out," she replied.

With a nod, Kaden pointed to the nearest scorpion and began gathering his energy. With a wave of his arm, Kaden expelled an arrow-like bolt of cerulean ki. The bolt crashed into the "face" of the scorpion, though it only seemed to confuse the insect. In the next instant, though, a hail of bullets crashed through the scorpion's outer shell and it dropped to the ground.

"What just happened?" Piper turned to Kaden, obviously taking note of her bullet's increased effectiveness.

"Well... basically, I make them weaker," Kaden answered after a moment of thought. "But it takes me a second to use that attack," the courier added with a glare up towards the sun and a wiping of his brow.

Both Kaden and Piper backed away as another scorpion popped out of the sand, practically taking the place of the one they had felled. To his surprise, though, Kaden found himself practically smiling. He and Piper were able to keep their distance and he found his thoughts coming much clearer and quicker. Kaden was finally finding his groove.

[Piper Juunanagou]

Szar…

The changeling was no more. All traces of the alien security officer had vanished into the sweltering sun of the Sandtrap. Furthermore, the vehicle that had served as their transportation and shelter had been reduced to a pile of twisted, smoldering steel. As if to throw salt into the wound, the being behind the final blow had escaped the situation effortlessly. Worst of all, however, was the fact that Piper hadn’t been able to save the changeling.

Great job there, Piper. The woman’s inner voice chided as a pair of the overgrown scorpions exploded up from the sand and set all of their beady eyes upon her. You abandoned your friend and now he’s gone.

“Damn it!” The redhead screamed as she lashed out at the nearest scorpion with a side kick right to its chest as it reared up on its hind legs to strike at her. The impact gave the creature wings for a few moments before it crashed onto its back a few feet away. Although not dead by any means, the scorpion bore extensive cracking on its armored chest stemming from the initial point of impact. The wounds were oozing a viscous black fluid that created tiny pillars of steam when it hit the sun-baked sand.

Oblivious to its comrade’s injuries, the other scorpion moved to attack as well. Still fuming from her self-depreciative internal banter, the woman could do little to compose herself. So with clenched teeth, the redhead leveled her weapon with the head of the creature and fired off enough bullets to kill a few grown men. Just as they had before, her bullets either ricocheted off of or exploded harmlessly upon the creature’s chitinous exoskeleton.

“This isn’t good,” Piper exclaimed as she calmed herself down and turned toward her remaining teammate.

“There’s just too many,” Kaden shot back as he knocked back a pair of encroaching arachnids with a large, vibrant blast of energy. Despite the visual intensity of the discharge, the overgrown scorpions were only stunned for a few fleeting seconds before they once again began to advance toward the courier.

“Tell me about it,” Piper replied sardonically as she tried to focus on dodging around one of the aggressive little creatures. Fortunately for the woman, her increasingly superhuman capabilities gave her a slight edge over the startlingly agile beast. On the flip side, however, all she had to defend herself with was the small handgun she kept hidden on her person, which wasn’t all that great at penetrating her targets’ dense exoskeletons.

“Ready when you are,” Kaden shouted as he dipped beneath an oncoming tail.

“Now!” Piper shouted as she took a small running start and vaulted up into the air. A few seconds after the redhead’s feet left the ground, a hooked barb ripped deep into the sand-covered earth. Whilst airborne, the woman’s eyes found the scorpion that Kaden had targeted for death. Leveling the gun, Piper squeezed off a trio of shots which all found their mark upon the slightly illuminated head of the creature. By the time Piper’s feet touched the ground, the beast had already settled into a slowly expanding pool of blackish fluids.

Stepping forward from her landing, the redhead ejected her spent clip and reached into her back pocket for additional ammunition. With a click, Piper’s last set of bullets slide into place, and without a moment of hesitation, she opened fire on the nearest scorpion as it reared back for a lunge. Although she aimed squarely at the arachnid’s face, her bullets alone could do little but irritate the lumbering monster.

This isn’t going to pan out well. Piper thought as she lowered her small handgun and once again found herself on the defensive.

“Fall back to the hillside,” yelled the courier as he unleashed a blast of energy right into the ground. The impact caused a large wave of sand to erupt forth and temporarily disorient the chitinous creatures. Nodding her head, Piper feigned away from a tail stab and proceeded to leap backwards toward the bottom of the nearby hill. A moment later, she was joined by Kaden, who seemed relatively calm and collected despite the rather incredulous situation.

“We’re not alone,” he whispered, leaning closer to the woman as he turned his eyes up toward the pillar of smoke that lie on the crude road. “There’s a small group on the road that’s been watching us,” he added as he diverted his attention back to the encroaching horde of unyielding arachnids.

“Who?” Piper shot back as she drew her firearm and aimed down at the nearest scorpion. Knowing that the bullets had little to no effect, she fought off the urge to unload the clip into the chittering maw of the disgusting, overgrown thing.

“I can’t tell exactly, but I can see them,” Kaden replied, emphasizing the word ‘see’ so that Piper would more clearly understand the dual meaning his unique abilities gave to it. With a nod, the woman let her gun arm fall back down to her side.

“Let’s spread the love around,” she whispered as she turned around and sprinted right up the sand-covered slope. When she reached the top, she found herself staring right into the lone eye of one of the other ‘Hunters.’ Despite her best efforts to the contrary, the redhead couldn’t remember the name of the grizzled warrior.

“You’re just in time to join the party,” Piper declared with a sarcastic enthusiasm as Kaden stepped up onto the road beside her. Behind the twosome, the mob of monstrous scorpions was skittering up the hillside.

[Celena]

Zena’s body felt numb as she lay in a crater against the side wall of a bank, which was a coincidence considering Orion had high hopes of a payday. Mentally, her thoughts were screaming, move!, but physically, she could not move a single muscle in her body. Her blurry vision, as a result of having the back of her head slammed into a wall, improved. Only then did she take note of what she believed was unmistakably, a tranquilizer dart, clutched in the hand of the tall saiyan. So it was a tranquilizer rifle he had brought to the battleground, instead of a rifle you would load with metal, cylinder projectiles. This meant that he did not intend to kill her, instead, sedate her and bring her back to Kai in exchange for his so-called prize. Although she had no choice now but to accept her fate that she had fallen prey to the one eyed warrior, she failed to agree with his method of elimination.

“What’s the meaning of this?” she grumbled quietly with hardly any strength to speak in a higher tone. “We agreed to fight to the death.”

“If I don’t bring you back sedated, no reward money, it’s that simple. I led you to believe we’d fight to the death, sorry.”

Zena growled so quietly it almost came out as a long hiss a scorned cat would make.

He aimed the weapon towards her chest, right hand on its long pipe and his left index finger drawing towards its trigger.

Moments away from her defeat, Zena took a trip down memory lane, halting her imaginary journey at the time she first laid eyes on the eyeless saiyan. She had discovered his motif and as a result, had preached to him about lacking honour, when hours earlier before she had been kidnapped, she had signed a contract, which declared her a professional assassin. She had taken it personally that he had been promised a large zeni prize for capturing any members of the two groups whom had been introduced to the game against their will, but yet as an assassin, she would be getting paid to kill targets. She had criticized him, notably called him a traitor for his desire to capture a person from the same race as him, but what Zena would be assigned to do in the future, if she would still be alive by then, was much worse. She would be allocated to assassinate human beings and since she was part human, that did not make her any different from Orion. As a matter of fact, that made her even worse than him; it made her a hypocrite.

“I apologize,” she said quietly.

The sincerity in her beautiful brown eyes caused Orion’s mouth to open a little in shock. Those were the last words he would ever have expected would escape the judgemental girl’s mouth. “Sorry?” he wondered.

“You and I aren’t that much different.”

As much as he wanted to know what she was getting at, he had a job to do and paranoia led him to wonder if she was procrastinating her defeat in order to gain as little as enough strength to overcome her catch-22 situation.

Orion had to admit, he had grown to respect her. For a girl her age, her talent as a warrior was rare. Out of respect for her, he felt it would be appropriate to be honest with her. “If it’s any consolation, you were worth the 100,000.” After a “goodbye,” he pulled the trigger.

Her vision captured a blur, which instantly became an image, more specifically, a mirage of a man standing in front of her with his back facing her. It only took a moment to figure out who this blonde haired man was. “Dad?” she uttered faintly. She was more shocked at what he had wrapped tightly between his left, balled fist. It was the silver dart with a red coating, which Orion had fired towards her.

“How?” wondered a voice from ahead, and then suddenly, the image of her father disappeared. Only then was she able to see what had left Orion in disbelief and wondering ‘how?’ There the dart was, floating in front of her chest.

“Im…possible,” she denied, staring at the dart in horror.

Judging by Zena’s statement and expression, neither could she muster a logical explanation.

No matter, thought Orion, snapping out of a disbelieving trance. While he reached for another tranquilizer dart from the insides of his garment, the hybrid curiously motioned her eyes downwards and amazingly, the dart followed her eyes.

Telekinesis, she realised with a smile, thanks to her knowledge as a scientist. She just could not believe that hidden within her was the ability to move objects with her mind or even her hands. Zena was sure nobody but she knew about this, because if anyone else knew, they would have informed her. This discovery was far greater and far more significant than any of her discoveries while working as a scientist. She never ever imagined she would be sharing the same ability as superheroes such as Jane Grey from the Ex-Men on TV. More amazing was the fact that Jane Grey was just a fictional character, while she was a real person.

Wait till Sage hears about this.

She was pulled away from her world of thought by a click noise from what sounded like Orion’s rifle. The distraction was enough to make her lose focus and also control over the dart and it dropped to the ground with a ping sound.

Orion aimed lower towards her gut and pulled the trigger once more, another dart soared towards her. She strained her eyes, hoping the mirage of her father was only a figment of her imagination and that she had actually been the one who had used telekinesis to stop the sharp, pointed object from penetrating her chest.

The moment of truth came sooner than she realised. To her joy, the dart floated a couple of centimetres away from her stomach.

“Not again!” the one eyed saiyan yelled furiously.

As good and as historical as this moment was for Zena, she could feel her eyes straining from the amount of concentration she was using to control the movement of the dart. She managed to turn it around so that it was facing Orion. “Go to sleep,” she chuckled weakly with hardly any energy left. That was when she remembered the flaw of using a rare ability like telekinesis. It consumed a considerable amount of energy. With a groan indicating her lack of fatigue, she blacked out, the tranquilizer falling to the ground just like the first one. Finally, she was undoubtedly Orion’s for the taking.

========

Zena’s eyes slowly opened while she continued to drool out of the left side of her mouth, mixing in with the dried up stain she had left on the leather seat at the back of the vehicle. Sweat, which had been produced from both her battle with Orion and the heat of the desert, drenched her clothes. Also, the car reeked of a combination of body odours. Only upon gaining full consciousness would Zena realise where she was, and the dangers ahead, and discover that Dimitri was below her, unconsciously spread across the jeep’s floor, due to being a victim of sedation too, and also discover that Kokukashin was not with them. It would be a matter of time before she fully regained consciousness, but until then, she would continue to be a liability.

[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.

[James]

With the dismantle of one gargantuan beast imminent, the group fell back to reform and prepare for the next assault that seem due with the rise and fall of the sand floor on the move. The tailless black mass leading a war band of its brethren up the slope gave the group but precious moments to devise a plan of action, this being somewhat easier if the entirety of the group had been present.

Voices chattered nearby possibly divulging critical information about these beasts that could provide an edge in combat but none of this reached the young warrior's ears. He noted out the side of his peripheral that Orion and the others had devised a way which struck critical against those behemoth shells of the scorpions but much beyond dealing with mass numbers quickly they had still to find. That gave potential to their catch waking and joining in which go prove useful to some degree if they cooperated.

His attention then turned towards the jeep deep within their line of defense, rocking ever so gently... no, they must still be immobile, it hadn't been that long since they were put down. And if not they would simply deal with them again just as last time.

Ares' hand slid beneath his shirt touching the fading wound across his chest admittedly less focus on the matters at hand than he should be. Those two offered quite the difficulty though it wasn't the healing scars that had set the Saiyan off balance, instead it was the verbal confrontation that set uneasy with him.

For as long as he could remember he wore the colors of his race proudly without any thought towards his additional heritage that flowed through his veins. Never in the face of battle did it matter- not even mentioned by comrades or foes alike, allowing the facts behind his 'mixed blood' to dribble away into the recesses of his memories. But that unconscious Saiyan in the back of the jeep play key to his past.

"Ares!" Orion's roar shook him awake as he instinctively placed his full weight on one foot, batting an oncoming stinger to the best of his ability with a forearm sending him into a spin. They were indeed noticeably strong least compared to what he thought capable of an insect of being.

It struck out with a large pincer towards the youth's exposed ankle baring his girth. At the last possible moment Ares kicked off the claw with his other foot sending him into a back flip over and onto the still retracting tail. Grappling the appendage gave ample time for a azure bolt of energy to pierce the broadest portion; Piper, using her ammunition sparingly, unloaded two shots into the beasts tail giving enough separating for Ares to rip. Tightening his core muscles, the hybrid twisted tearing the hulking mass from the scorpion and a shower of dark oozing bodily fluids.

Kaden seem adept with his talent or at least coming to fruition with it as his accuracy tightened with each pursuit... but one's reservoir could only sustain so much. By the looks of things they wouldn't be finishing off this hive anytime soon as others rushed for revenge of their fallen kin.

Retreat was never an option but given their two hundred thousand dollar payday sat in harms way taking to the road with their newly discovered acquaintances felt the better option.

"Kaden." ever so slightly the blond warrior turned a portion of his attention over to the beckoning Saiyan. "Can you do your little trick on the move?"

"So long as I've got space to aim, yeah." unleashing another blast at the beast Orion rode, the one-eyed Saiyan took the chance by jamming a fist deep within what appeared to be the creature's face. Holding the defiant stinger within inches of his body the scorpion fell to the ground relinquished of its life. "Why?"

Tossing a single bolt of ki against one of the fresh reinforcements to gain their attention, Ares swerved between oncoming pincers of one already dead set on having the teen's blood. "Our vehicle is mobile. If we continue relying on only you to take these things out we aren't going to last much longer should something happen to you. We'd don't want to be down a body." The scorpion he had previously enraged struck out violently with its tail missing the Saiyan entirely and piercing through the exposed mandibles of the one he rode.

"Where would we go?" Kaden asked over the roar of the dying.

"Where else?" jumping back he slid across the bloodstained sand, stopping in a pose. "We've got a transaction to fill."

[Kaden]

Sometimes, even in a fight for your life, there were things more unnerving than a giant scorpion trying to impale you. Orion -- if Kaden remembered his name correctly -- had made it clear that he intended to take his his captives back to Kai. Any doubt of this was erased when Ares told Kaden, though not in so many words, that they were headed back towards the mansion.

As best as Kaden could guess, their trip back to the mansion wouldn't be a short one. That would, hopefully, give the courier some time to figure out how to keep the "hostages" -- as Orion called them -- safe. Unfortunately, Kaden would have to worry about that later. There will still some scorpions to deal with and Ares was right, getting the hell out of there seemed like the best course of action.

An idea dawned on Kaden as he turned his Sight on his teammates. The light that flowed through them had dimmed considerably. Of the three allies that Kaden had, Piper's light burned the brightest. Orion's, though not as brilliant, flowed much more readily through his body, reacting to his actions as freely as Kaden could hope for. Nodding to himself, the courier made his way back to the truck.

"We need to get out of here," Ares sad once more.

"Hmph..." Orion frowned at the scorpions that were coming towards them. "Running from insects..."

Despite the distaste that the saiyan warrior seemed to have for the decision, he was quick to join Ares and Kaden by their vehicle. Piper was the last to arrive, having made use of her athleticism to distract the scorpions and buy a little more time.

Moving around to the back of the SUV, Kaden opened up the door to the trunk and hopped into the back of the vehicle. Reaching into his jacket, the courier produced the dagger he had, presumably, taken from Kai's wife, Trisha. Just like when Trisha drew the weapon, Kaden could See a glow in the blade. Jamming it into the roof of the SUV, Kaden was easily able to cut away the hinges that held the trunk door to the rest of the car. Tossing the door to the sandy ground, Kaden returned the dagger to his jacket.

"Orion," Kaden called out to his one-eyed ally. "Get in back here. Piper can drive."

Though the saiyan hopped into the vehicle beside Kaden, he considered the blonde hair human with a cocked eyebrow. As the vehicle roared to life, Piper gunned it down the road just in time to avoid the tail of an oncoming scorpion.

"Giving orders now, are we?" Orion turned his head to Kaden as he spoke.

"I... uh..." the sheer stupidity of telling a saiyan warrior what to do suddenly dawned on Kaden. The courier cleared his throat and kept his attention on the road behind them. "I just have an idea... that's all."

Not too far off, the group of scorpions had skittered onto the road and were pursuing the SUV with surprising speed. What drove these creatures to chase a car was beyond Kaden, but it didn't come as a huge surprise. No doubt Kai had some psychotic method of making these overgrown insects chase whoever he wanted.

"Ok," Kaden turned towards Orion. "Now all you gotta do is blow away the rest of the scorpions."

"That's your plan? There's over half a dozen of those things chasing us."

"If you can make some kind of big energy attack, we'll be able to stop them in their tracks. Trust me."

There was a short pause as Orion considered the human next to him. Kaden was sure that the sayian wasn't just going to magically trust him because he told him to, but complete trust wasn't what he needed right now. The fact of the matter was if they didn't do anything, the scorpions were going to catch up to them and the bounty that Orion thought he was going to get would be in serious jeoparody.

Finally turning his attention outside the back of the SUV, Orion held his hand aloft and began to focus his ki. As a ball of energy burst to life in Orion's hand, a grin appeared on Kaden's face. He had never actually tried this technique of his before, but if it worked the results should be quite interesting.

"Now what?" Orion asked. "You're going to weaken each and every one of them?"

"The way I figure it," Kaden began, "there are two ways to deal with these guys. Either weaken them, or hit them so hard it doesn't matter how strong they are."

As he finshed speaking, Kaden placed a hand on Orion's shoulder and closed his eyes. Almost immediately, understanding dawned on the one-eyed warrior. The ball of ki doubled in size as Kaden's energy Surged through Orion's body. With a grin, the saiyan redoubled his efforts. In a matter of seconds, the two ki-specialists had formed an energy ball of staggering size.

"Think that'll do it?" Kaden asked.

"Not quite," Orion replied, much to the courier's surprise. "Hrrrrah!"

The ball of energy in Orion's hand suddenly halved in size, though Kaden could detect no decrease in power. Normally the courier would have voiced a concern, but he figured that if anyone knew how to kill things effectively, it would be a saiyan.

Taking aim, Orion hurled the ball of energy into the midst of the scorpions. The ensuing explosion enveloped the remaining insects and threatened to take the SUV with it. Fortunately, Piper seemed to know when it would be a good time to accelerate.

"Condensing the energy," Orion turned to Kaden, "lets it pack a bigger punch."

"Good to know," Kaden replied once he realized what Orion was referring to.

The chance that any of the scorpions would be in good enough condition to continue their chance seemed slim. Taking a moment to relax, Kaden slumped against the side of the SUV and let the glow fade from his eyes. He still had a moderate store of energy in him, but taking a breather would definitely do him some good.

After standing watch for a minute or so, Orion followed the courier's example and leaned against the opposite wall of the SUV. A frown spread across Kaden's face as he decided on what would have to come next. He doubted things were just going to go smoothly.

"So..." the courier began. "What's your plan?"

"Hmmm? Take those two back," Orion hooked a thumb at the seat back seat, "and get paid."

"You're just going to give them to Kai? What do you think he's going to do with them?"

"Look," Orion sighed, "that's not my problem. We're getting paid to capture people, not worry about them."

"Not your problem?" Kaden's voice carried a slight edge. "You just beat them up, knock them out, and leave them to some psychopath and it's not your problem?"

"For this kind of money, no, it's not my problem," Orion answered calmly.

"Look at these people," Kaden hopped to his feet and thrust a figure towards the unconscious figures. "You're completely fine with beating up some little girl and..." Kaden did a double-take. "Dimitri?!"

"Oh?" Orion cocked an eyebrow at the unconscious kid. "You know him?"

"Yeah. I mean... he helped me out when I needed it," Kaden's thoughts took him back several weeks to his run-in with the preistess Sophia and the thug Marius. "He's a good kid. He doesn't deserve this."

"So what does he deserve? What should we do, boy? Just leave them out in the dessert?"

"No... they wouldn't be safe out here." The fact that Kai's goon had managed to sneak up on Szar and obliterate him while he was in the middel of the sand-trap gave Kaden the distinct impression that Kai had some way of tracking the players in his little game. "Give them time to wake... time to rest. Taking them back to Kai is not the right thing to do."

"Like I said, kid, for two hundred thousand zeni, 'right' and 'wrong' have very different meanings."

"Listen," Kaden mentally changed plans, his initial argument was obviously not going to work as well as he thought it would. "Szar, that alien that was with me and Piper--"

"The changeling?"

"Yeah," Kaden nodded, though he had no clue that was what Szar's race was called. "He was a cop. He went into the mansion to find evidence to arrest Kai."

"Your point?" Orion seemed to grow tired of listening to Kaden.

"He found something. Evidence that this Kai guy is into all kinds of... criminal activity. You think everyone in this game came here by choice?" While there was definitely some truth to what Kaden said, he was more than willing to elaborate. "You think a guy who lies and cheats and steals is just going to hand over hundreds of thousands of zeni because he said he would? Or do you think he's going to keep throwing you into fights until you're too worn out to defend yourself and just kill you off?" Kaden paused for dramatic effect. "What sounds more likely to you?"

"I can take care of myself just fine," Orion replied after a long pause.

"I have no doubt that you're capable, but look at what we've seen about this Kai guy. He obviously has the resources to hire a whole army of people if he wanted to... if he doesn't have one already. No offense, but I don't think you're that capable."

Orion considered Kaden's words for several seconds. The courier had no idea what was going on inside the warrior's head, his experience with saiyans was too limited to even guess. If he went by rumor and hearsay, the one-eyed warrior was more likely to attack Kaden right there than actually listen to him. Fortunately, Kaden only really put stock in first-hand experience.

"And what would you have us do?" Orion finally asked. His tone made it seem like he was simply humoring Kaden, but the courier had to hope that wasn't all he was doing.

"Like I said, let these guys recover. Give all of us a chance to rest and catch our breathe. And then go after Kai. Szar found proof that this guy's a criminal. We find it and use it to bring Kai to justice."

To Kaden's dismay, Orion didn't respond. The saiyan simply closed his eye shifted his weight against the side of the SUV. The only thing that Kaden could really do now was to rest. Whether or not he had gotten through to Orion would be known by the time they got back to the mansion. Until then, there wasn't a whole lot left to be said.

[Friend or Foe]

Orion had to take a walk. It pained him to leave his hostages, each worth a good hundred thousand zeni, but as long the vehicle was parked and the group was taking a breather, he may as well take a moment to relax and figure out what he was going to do. After all, he had been presented with a rather difficult choice. Take the money, or fight for justice? As a saiyan, the option seemed obvious.

"He makes a good point," somebody said, without warning.

Immediately the one-eyed saiyan turned around, one hand raised up in a defensive position over his chest. In front of him was a tall, lanky man with long brown hair, held in a ponytail. He was clearly human, mainly evident by the freckles and glasses atop his face. He looked very weak, but was standing confidently against a rock that protruded from a sandy dune, out of visible sight from the others near the vehicle.

"Who are you?" Orion demanded, "Are you spying on me?"

"My name is Sebastian," the human explained, "I'm one of Kai's lieutenants. He doesn't know I'm out here, though. I wanted to speak to you, personally, saiyan. If you don't mind."

Orion put his hand down. He looked around, preparing for something, anything, out of the ordinary. It didn't come. "If Kai doesn't know your here," Orion began, "That must mean you're doing something he wouldn't like."

The human shrugged and crossed his glove-covered hands over his chest. He looked up with red pupils, showing how little he seemed to care of the question. "I'll make it simple. Kai is paying you 100 grand each to get the hostages to him. But those runts, the redhead and the blonde...they're just chasing a ghost that's long gone."

Even though Orion was starting to get the situation, he wasn't going to throw his assumptions. Obviously, Sebastian here had something to lose if Kaden and Piper continued their hunt to stop Kai Demolic.

"You want them dead," Orion noted, "How much do I get if that happens?"

"Smart man," Sebastian said. "Two hundred thousand. Each."

He tried not to react, but Orion had to look away and click his gums, stopping himself from gasping or giving away surprise. He then looked up, raising his brows. "You people are quick to promise money with no proof it exists."

Sebastian nodded. "I wasn't about to leave you empty-handed," he said, pulling out a large bag from his pocket. "Fifty thousand zeni in large bills and coins. It'll fit in your backpack. You can count it if you want."

Still keeping his composure, Orion took it silently.

"You can keep that," Sebastian said, "Whether the job gets done or not. But you stand to make more if you play by my rules. Make sure Kaden and Piper don't get to that mansion."

The cycloptic saiyan stuffed the bag in his backpack that Kai had given all the hunters at the start of the game. "Are we done here?" He asked. Sebastian nodded without saying anything, and Orion turned to leave.

"Oh, wait," Sebastian said, "One more thing." He couldn't help it. He, like Kai, couldn't help but start trouble. It was the best thing in the world for him to pull the strings. Unlike Kai, however, he never had to a plan. He just did things and let the pieces fall where they may. "Your buddy, Ares. Keep an eye on him. I've been watching the cameras...he looks ready to cash in on your hard work...if you know what I mean."

Orion grunted through his nose and showed no sign of believing, or brushing off, the comment. He turned back around and walked away, contemplating what to do.

[Sullivan]

Dimitri stood in a barren wasteland covered in filth and desolation. In front of him: horizon. Behind him: horizon. In fact, there was horizon surrounding him as far as the eye could see. And not much else, aside from dirt beneath his feet and trees around him.

"Where the Hell am I?" he asked, scratching his head and then looking down at a bug scurrying on the ground.

The bug looked back up at him and replied, "This is your subconscious. That guy tranquilized the Hell out of you. You're out like a light right now."

One of Dimitri's eyebrows arched like a gymnast doing a ten point stunt. He blinked and wiped sleep from his eyes; yet, when he looked back down the bug was still looking up him. When a couple moments of unpleasant staring passed, Dimitri sat down and accepted the arrival of the bug. The bug crawled into his lap and spoke to him.

"I am Gerald. Some cultures refer to visions such as myself as spirit guides. I'm going to help you have a revelation or something," Gerald said, while drumming his feelers on his thorax.

"Gerald? Well, Gerald, what I'd really like right now is for you to go away and to go back to what I was doing. My body's about to be traded for cash," snapped Dimitri.

"You don't need it," said the bug with a shrug. "Anyway, what I'm trying to tell you is, the signs around you are all pointing towards manipulation. These guys are hunting you, yet, you were told to go hunt other people. Someone's getting lied to. See what I mean? What you all need to do, is get your shit in gear, band together, and get out of there through teamwork."

"That'll never work," replied Dimitri with a scowl. "I wanna kick people's asses. Nowhere in 'banding together' can 'kicking asses' be found."

"You can kick other asses."

Dimitri mulled this over for a moment before hastily getting to his feet, brushing the bug off in the same instant. It was not anybody's place to tell him how to deal with being stranded on a foreign island. Especially not a bug.

"I'm out of here," grumbled Dimitri. "Fucking bug."

*~*

Dimitri's watery eyes opened slowly to a blurred and distorted world filled with strange images. He was lying in a heap beneath someone else on what felt like cheap polyester. The humming around him sounded like an engine. There were people's voices, as well, chiming in and out, but not filtering through his heavy sedation. Then, suddenly, the world lurched and the body on top of him shifted enough that he could roll over.

A mess of blonde hair perched atop a familiar face swam into Dimitri's sight.

"Kaden?" he asked in a low voice. "What's going on?"

The courier looked over at Dimitri upon hearing his voice. "Dimitri? Are you alright?"

The saiyan shook his head. "No. These bastards drugged me...they're taking me for bounty. Get me out of...out of here..."

He tried to sit up, but his body was not responding in a reassuring manner. He found himself able to use the seat in order to rise to a sitting position. Any further movement was unspeakable in his condition.

Ares turned to look at him from another seat. "You walked yourself right into this," the halfling taunted. "If Orion wasn't off on a walk, we would be cashing you in right now."

The full-blooded saiyan's face contorted into a scowl. He lurched forward to grasp at Ares and toppled over Zena, while the halfling smirked at him.

"Save it, kid. You're no threat to me like that," he chided.

Kaden pulled Dimitri back up to a full-sit, while sliding Zena over to the other side of the backseat. He was in the trunk of the car, where hot desert air was filtering into the car in transparent tendrils.

"Just rest up, Dimitri. You'll do more good to us healthy," Kaden said coolly.

The saiyan sighed and looked around him. Zena was in a cold-sweat and looked comatose beside him. As light filtered onto her through the car window, she looked white as paper and sicker than a dog. He was certain at that point that if he could see himself, he wouldn't look any better. Tranquilizers were one Hell of a drug. How someone could jack themselves up on anything like that recreationally was beyond Dimitri. He felt like shit. Every single bone, vein, artery, and nerve ending in his body was throbbing painfully. They screamed in protest to every slight motion. Seldom could he remember such an unpleasant feeling. It was like he had just gotten knocked out and hit by a bus.

"This sucks," he murmured, massaging his wrists which felt like they were numb still. "I don't want to becoming pocket change."

"You won't," Kaden assured. "We've got bigger fish to fry."

Dimitri looked at him with a frown. It was difficult to fry fish without a frying pan.

[Orion]

Fifty thousand zeni. Fifty thousand zeni for doing absolutely nothing but listening to Sebastian's proposal. He weighed it in his hand, moving it up and down. Although he was expecting his drugged hostages to earn him in the market of two hundred thousand zeni, the new proposal was indeed enticing. Not only would he receive the aforementioned sum of money for Dimitri and Zena, but if he ended the lives of Kaden and Piper, another four hundred thousand zeni would be piled on top of that amount.

Orion had killed thousands of warriors in battle, demolished entire cities filled with innocent life with the blazing energy that coursed through his veins and never gained the amount of money that stared him blatantly in the face. Six hundred thousand zeni ... the one eyed fighter never even dreamed he would come across so much currency, let alone this easily. Two quick attacks and him and Ares were free to cash in on the biggest pay day of their lives.

Ares ... Orion's lone eye watched the hybrid mercenary as he made the trek back to the stationary jeep. What that skinny human said about him was intriguing. During the hectic battle with Zena and the ferocious scorpions, he hadn't paid a great deal of attention to him. Was he secretly about to end the saiyan and take his share for himself?

He watched him. Ares stood still, surveying the crew that rested in the jeep. His arms folded, he rested against the closed door of the vehicle, his back facing, awaiting the return of the cycloptic saiyan.

And there's where you made your mistake, Orion thought to himself.

He looked over his shoulder to where Sebastian had been standing, but he was long gone. Truly, weaving suspicions into otherwise solid foundations certainly was that lanky man's talent. Orion knew Ares' type. If there was some sort of plan boiling in the back of his head, there would definitely be some outward sign of the halfling's betrayal. Especially since, as far as he knew, Orion wasn't approaching.

There was something inside Ares that resonated with Orion. It wasn't obvious, nor identifiable, but it was undoubtedly present. That something was a character trait that was forged and twisted by the unmistakable misfortune of betrayal, of struggle and unjust hardship. Ares, despite his young age, suffered from an event or person that created a level of coldness and distance within him, yet at the same time, a sense of honour and loyalty to those that placed authentic trust in him. Indeed, that very event that damaged his openness spurned a greater appreciation for those whom honestly and truly worked with him and by him, and did no wrong to him.

The floodgates opened. It all started making sense to him now. Somewhere since the start of his journey, he heard that this entire competition was about making a movie, or perhaps television show. What better way to spice up the action and improve ratings than turning an otherwise trustworthy saiyan team against each other? Whatever cynicism the saiyan race had planted in Orion's heart was not absolute; Tirak and Cabbis were of his race, and he entrusted his life into their hands more than once.

So Sebastian was pandering to the warrior's greed to get a rise out of him. Yet, why was he doing it behind the back of Kai Demolic, the tournament operator? Surely any tension and team related conflict would bode well for him too. This was his production, after all.

But in that case, why would he want Kaden and Piper dead? Is he somehow afraid of what these two investigators might uncover in their quest to stop Demolic? If so, why does that affect him, if he's going behind the back of the man he seems to be trying to protect?

Not to mention the new enigma of Kaden, the ki adept human. How did such an battle inexperienced kid learn to harness his inner energy like that, to a degree where he could pump it directly into another to reinforce their strength? The blonde haired man gained a great deal of respect from Orion for his actions which, apart from his energy techniques, displayed a compassion and desire for justice. Orion held onto both of those things also, however much they managed to fade from his eye.

Then the thought of the zeni came back. Six hundred thousand zeni. If he ignored all of those thoughts swirling through his head, he would have all the money he needed to start rebuilding and restoring what he was responsible for losing. None of these people mattered to him before he entered Friend or Foe; yet, who was Aldrina to him before he crash landed on that planet all those years ago?

Orion grunted. This situation was far more complex than a simple walk to the jeep would fix. Two sides tore at him, pulling him in a separate direction, but ultimately, he could only take one.

As he approached the jeep, he knew he needed more time. Kaden was the first to acknowledge the presence of the full blooded saiyan, whom tapped Ares on the shoulder.

I hope the drive back to the mansion is a long one.

[Celena]

Her eyes opened once more, this time in a zombie like fashion. With a long groan, the pale woman raised her sweaty face from the backseat of the vehicle. Temporarily losing control of herself, she tipped onto the right hand side of the vehicle, her head hitting the window, not hard enough to put a crack in it, nor hard enough to wound herself. Her right hand pressed against the window, her sweaty palm leaving a moist hand print.

“You’re awake then.” Zena turned to the left, towards the voice to find a blue rucksack being held towards her by a blonde haired, young man.

What an awkward moment, thought Kaden as the woman did nothing but stare at the bag in a trance.

“It’s yours.” Immediately after he had informed her that it belonged to her, she snatched the bag from it, quicker than he even realised and then pulled it open, her hands trembling from hunger as she brought out ¾ of what remained of her loaf of bread. It felt like butter in her hands as it slipped out of it and onto her lap. Next, she pulled out her bottle of water. Something which she should have opened with ease, took her a lifetime to open in her feeble condition. “Hrrgh,” she struggled, desperately trying to open the one thing that would stop her from dehydrating.

“Need help?” a red headed woman asked from the driving seat. “My name’s Piper by the way.”

Zena was sure she knew this green eyed woman from somewhere. Her name seemed to ring a bell too. Nevertheless, the hybrid reverted back to the question.
Normally, she would have given a straightforward ‘no’ as she answer, but it was amazing what people would do if their life depended on it, and since she did not plan on dying without taking Kai down first, she would swallow what remained of her saiyan pride. Without gazing at the alleged driver, Zena lifted the bottle towards her, left hand trembling. Piper held onto her hand to stop the trembling but after a hostile hiss from the dark haired girl, Piper removed it, instead, holding held the top part of the plastic bottle, and even from using one hand to hold onto it, she could still feel it vibrating. Piper took note of the haggardness on the woman’s face and guilt immediately entered her since she was a hunter too after all. Even the blonde haired man showed a look of compassion. Poor girl, he thought.

Once Piper had opened the bottle for her, Zena hastily retrieved it from her and quickly placed it to her lips. You would have had to be a deaf person not her hear her deep gulps as she backed the contents of the water. As much as she wanted to consume everything inside the bottle, she knew she had to reserve some for another desperate time, which she more than likely predicted would arise. Impressively fighting the urge not to down it all, she pulled the bottle away from her lips, letting out a refreshing “aaah,” as some water dripped down her lips. She was sure not to let even the trails go to waste as she used her index finger to wipe them off her chin and then lick the same finger. Water never tasted so good. Next, it was the breads. She took a whole chunk of it and then stuffed it into her mouth. From her actions, it was not hard to tell that she and Dimitri were two individuals who had been deprived of food, as he too was devouring his piece of bread menacingly in a typical saiyan fashion. Fortunately, a bit of food and water was all it needed to bring some colour back into her face.

“You okay now?” the blonde haired man asked. “I’m Kaden by the way.”

“Zena,” she replied closing her eyes. After reopening them with a deep breath, she took a moment to observe the situation. There was Dimitri, who she had been travelling with, but after scanning the vehicle, was not able to trace the other saiyan. What was his name again?

Kokushan, she remembered, sure she had gotten his name right. He was not here among herself and Dimitri and that could only mean one thing. That bastard of a hunter must have killed him. His death would not be in vain though. She would make sure of it. Orion and his hunting partner would get their turn, all in good time. Patience was a virtue after all. Despite being a saiyan, who were known for their impatience, Zena lived by that virtue and others similar, such as ‘good things come to those who wait’.

Despite Kaden and Piper’s air of warmness, they were among Orion and his saiyan friend and in addition, they did not look like two people who had been sedated, which led Zena to believe that they were all members of the hunting group who were assigned to capture the other two groups, and because of that, she had to be extra careful and keep her guard up at all times.

“Where’s that guy we were with?” Dimitri asked Zena.

“Not sure,” she replied, glaring at the youngster who leaned against the side of the vehicle. Ares responded with a look of remorselessness.

“Blame me,” Orion replied. “He refused to stand down, even though his battle was lost.”

“Bastard,” cursed Dimitri to the elderly saiyan. He would have yelled it out had he the strength to. He went for Orion with his fist clenched in pace, which seemed like slow motion, but with an effortful groan, Zena pulled his arm back, saving her ally from embarrassing himself.

“It won’t do you any good in your condition.”

“But he killed that guy,” Dimitri mumbled. “We gotta make them pay.”

“Their naivety will lead to their own sweet destruction; that I can assure you,” she replied, turning her face towards the window closest to her.

[Piper Juunanagou]

Over the last couple of minutes, the situation in the car had gone from uncomfortable to nearly unbearable. Both Zena and the adolescent Dimitri were now partially alert, having begun the process of shaking off the sedatives that had been forcibly injected into them by the Orion. Ever since that point, the one-eyed man had watched his two captives like a hawk stalking its next meal.

I don’t like him. Piper contemplated as she stared at the man’s reflection in the car’s rear-view mirror. Why am I helping this man? He seems like such a heartless bastard… As if he could feel the woman’s accusatory glare, Orion moved his attention from his semi-conscious victims and up to the woman’s reflection. Piper feigned a heartfelt smile and moved her eyes back to the ‘road’ in front of her. Although a voice in the back of her head pointed out that she might be misjudging the man, the redhead just couldn’t shake the uneasiness she felt when Orion looked at her.

In an effort to prevent herself from getting lost in her random musings, she tried to focus once again on her driving. Over the last few miles, the once seemingly endless desert had begun to thin out—slowly giving way to the plains and forests that surrounded Kai’s mansion.

I can’t do this to them. Piper deliberated as she glanced over her shoulder toward the battered Zena. Although the woman had been rather standoffish, the redhead didn’t blame her. She probably thinks that I’m in leagues with those two in the back… Piper frowned as the thought ran through her head. Looking up into the rear-view mirror, the redhead changed its angle so she could look at Zena.

Don’t be frightened by this. Piper conveyed telepathically to the fellow female. Almost immediately, Zena’s head lifted up off the back of the seat, but the sedated woman didn’t say a word. In fact, she turned her partially glazed-over eyes toward Piper. I’m not in leagues with those two… I won’t let them hurt you again.

Clearing her throat, the redhead changed the angle of the mirror so it was back to its originally spot. When she cast a glance back toward the rear end of the vehicle, she was mildly taken aback to see that Orion was staring at her. Without a reaction, Piper simply turned her eyes back to the flat path through the dunes that served as their road.

“How much longer until we get to Kai’s?” Orion asked from the back of the jeep. For a moment, the woman fought the urge to lash out with something dry and sardonic, but before she had a chance to think up something, Kaden replied.

“It shouldn’t be too far from here,” he answered as he turned around to face the hunter.

Do something. Piper shouted to herself as Kaden and Orion began to half-discuss, half-argue what the group’s next move was, Piper turned over the car’s ignition and kept it there as she pressed down on the gas.

The jeep’s engine let out single, ear-splitting screech as the starter gave out and the car began to slow down. With a fabricated scream, the woman let go of the key and moved her hand back up to the wheel. From the edges of the car’s hood, smoke started to seep out as the vehicle came to a puttering stop in the middle of the deserts ‘road.’

“What the hell happened?” Orion shouted as Piper began to smack the wheel of the car in faux frustration.

“Must be something with the engine,” the woman shot back as she unbuckled her seat belt and popped the hood of the car. Without allowing anyone the time to throw another question at her, Piper hopped out of the car and made her way around to the front end of the car. The smoke had already dissipated, so the woman had some more time to analyze the inner workings of the jeep’s engine.

“Don’t need you,” she whispered as she pointed her hand toward the fan belt. As she focused her thoughts, the belt slowly split apart. Before Kaden and Orion had made it out of the vehicle, Piper had already broken the majority of the jeep’s sparkplugs and completely ruined its radiator, causing fresh smoke to billow up into their faces. By the time they joined her at the front of the vehicle, Piper had already ensured that the jeep was a derelict. Putting on a frown, she took a step away from the broken engine and sagged her shoulders in defeat.

“What happened?” Kaden asked, his eyes wide as he looked down at the broken engine.

“I think the heat got to it,” Piper sighed as she frowned and turned to face the blonde courier. “And I think that tussle with the scorpions wasn’t too good for her,” she added as she slammed her hands down on the front end of the car.

“Damn it,” Orion growled as he crossed his arms over his broad chest and took a step away from Piper’s subversive handiwork. Before the one-eyed man could add anything, his younger associate joined them.

“What do we do with them?” He asked, gesturing back toward the jeep. “They’re not going to be so out-of-it for much longer,” he continued as a tense scowl spread across his youthful features. Turning her attention back to Kaden, Piper frowned softly.

Sorry. She projected into his head as she walked passed him and over to the side door of the car. Looking through the window, she saw that the still mildly unconscious Zena was staring right at her. After a slight pause, the sedated woman flashed Piper a brief smile before turning her attention to her bottled water. Hoping that she had bought the two captives a little more time, Piper collected her gun from her seat and rejoined the others to contemplate their next move.

[James]

Their scents waft the air, each individual odor doused in equally unpleasant aromas that stifled the baked desert breeze coasting through the opened cabin they resided within.

The waking bounties gaining the attention of the two rejoined members of the original hunters, tending and otherwise nursing the fragile cargo from their dreary states. Their dull chatter from the back seats meshed with the droning engine formed a ballad that waned attention to all too swiftly from the more important matters at hand.

It was no surprise that there was a certain degree of resentment coming from the rescued pair picked from the clutches of the dune seas- their discovery that the foremost objective of cashing in on the two spurred a great deal of controversy with the blond while the female driver largely kept to herself.

Curiously the halfling watched Orion with his head turned back into the cab, the cycloptic warrior remaining vigilant over his catch that began squirming back to a commendable awareness given the probable strength within the darts. He hadn't eased since returning from the brief walk of his, more so to the point he acquired a new found pass time of keeping tabs on that of their driver, catching eyes in one of the mirrors casually.

Kaden spoke even more reluctant to bide by the rules which had been brought into this reality show under, bolstering his view with a story that the man they looked to profit from was woven into some crime syndicate, ready to pick them off at a moment's notice. It was apparent that there wasn't going to be a cut and dry settlement with the boss come time for a paycheck.

If worst comes to worst, decoding one face to another told of little value as the hybrid sized the woman and the blond minding their movements down to the twitch of a muscle. There shouldn't be a moment's hesitation for those two.

From what he had been able to gather on the battlefield it appeared both hunters held a degree of techniques enough to rival and possibly surpass that of the two Saiyan warriors, at the very least hinder any chance of escaping unscathed. The woman, Piper as he heard, hadn't shown the slightest bit of physical prowess in either her fist combat or her capabilities with a type of energy blast. It looked as though her strength lay mostly in that of her hand weapon that resembled not too different from their issued tranquilizer guns.

For a moment Ares quietly stared at her, watching her eyes refocusing on the road after only a slight glance in the mirror. A move seeming odd given her concentration couldn't have been that easily interrupted by Orion's callous stare, not when there was no direct threat against a group member to speak of.

Kaden... the youth's attention turned to the man with a renewed thirst for inward contemplation. In the back he sat uneasily with the recovering pair still the slightest bit crossed with the conversation he had passed with the elder of the group. Ares laughed the slightest bit to himself; did he think offering solace to their prisoners would abdicate whatever malevolence he was committing?

He was the greatest liability to their success- made clear by the display the blond put on back in the nest of those troublesome insects. To the best of his recollection there were two costly techniques that made him unique to the rest of the party; his power to ultimately weaken a specific point of a target and the power to enhance it. There was no doubt that the human was able to produce amazing amounts of energy at any given time shown as he kept up with disabling the scorpions, not to mention an accuracy only seconded by that of the Piper's marksmanship.

The only hope that they could be taken down with as little injury to themselves as possible would be a surprise close-quarters attack, one that would never be expected and, with luck, be effective.

A sudden high pitched squeal produced from the engine tore Piper from the road, herself adding to the noise with her own irritatingly loud scream coming to a stop along the side of a beaten path. Without delay she pounced out the car door and into the engine as if she had been doing this sort of thing for years.

Piling out of the car the group now stood unproductively fretting over the state of their immobile vehicle. In the back their living cargo stirred with the slightest bit of rekindled strength.

"What do we do with them?" Ares spoke strolling over from alongside the jeep as he motioned over his shoulder. "They're not going to be so out-of-it for much longer,"

They were no less than a half day's trek on foot back to the mansion through the growth and with less daylight than when they started with there was a chance that night would be on them soon. Undoubtedly both disoriented Saiyans would be at least up in about if not more in the time it would take to hike back but they were of little options to choose from.

The hybrid spoke without making eye contact with Orion, knowing full well the Saiyan knew who he was speaking to. "There's a chance we can make it. Your catch won't be at full strength yet meaning we can use the material from their bags to make crude restraints to use. From here it looks to be a simple march up the trail." Ares smirked. "From not killing targets to escort missions," he turned a slight glance to his brethren. "Not the most efficient use of a warrior race, is it?"

[Kaden]

Things could definitely be going smoother for Kaden's cause. Every minute they were on the road brought them that much closer to Kai's mansion. Orion's little jaunt into the dessert had bought some extra time for the young courier to figure something out, but with the "hostages" still incapacitated, there weren't a lot of options. Once they were back on the road, Kaden renewed his plea for Orion to do the right thing.

Sadly, it didn't do as much good as Kaden was hoping it would. Repeating the same argument over and over again was only so effective. Moreover, the one-eyed warrior seemed far more resilient to the courier's case. Either he had already made up his mind about what he was going to do, or his mind was on something he considered more important.

With a sigh, Kaden ran a hand through his hair and flopped onto the backseat of the SUV. On either side of him were the captives, neither of which looking particularly good. That they were conscious and lucid enough to scarf down whatever rations they had was a very good sign. While they ate, both Dmitri and Zena watched the people around them intently. Orion and Ares seemed to be their biggest concerns, for obvious reason, but Piper and Kaden didn't seem free from suspicion. Kaden was grateful that, while he may not trust him, Dimitri didn't seem overly suspicious of the courier.

Though it may have seemed pointless, Kaden tried to reassure their captives that no harm would befall them. First, the courier turned to Dimitri trying to reassure his "friend" that he would find some way to keep Kai from doing anything devious. As he spoke, the courier placed a hand on Dimitri's shoulder.

The young saiyan had just been nodding along as Kaden spoke, not particularly interested in what he had to say. When Kaden's hand fell upon his shoulder, however, Dimitri's eyes snapped towards the courier. Kaden smiled as his ki flowed from his body and into Dimitri's. The courier only wished that there was more he could do.

Turning to Zena, Kaden repeated the process. Zena's initial reaction to being touched bordered on anger. Once realization dawned upon her, however, she scrutinized the courier with a glare. She was definitely more suspicious than Dimitri, but Kaden couldn't fault her for that. He had no idea how he would feel in her situation.

Leaning back, Kaden looked at the two hunted. He was well aware that his energy had no curative properties, it wouldn't do anything to heal their wounds or ease their pain, but it might help sharpen their senses or, in a worst-case scenario, give them enough energy to be able to defend themselves. Either way, Kaden had done just about everything he could to help them given the situation. With a frown, the courier's eyes turned to the horizon. It seemed like they would be reaching Kai's mansion shortly. Until their vehicle screeched to a halt.

Orion was the first to question Piper, their driver. The one-eyed saiyan definitely seemed a little on edge. Following his fellow Hunters out of the SUV, Kaden walked around to the front of the SUV as Piper waved away a fresh plume of smoke with her hand. Orion cursed as he peered under the hood. Kaden had to restrain his eyebrow from rocketing upwards. He had seen cars simply give out before, but never like this. He turned to catch Piper's eye, but she was on the move.

Sorry.

The word echoed through Kaden's head. His head snapped towards Piper; it had clearly been her voice. That removed any doubt from the courier's mind that the car had simply broken down on its own. Piper was trying to buy time and Kaden didn't plan on letting it just go to waste. As she reached into the car to retrieve her weapon, Kaden was quick to follow. Before she could make her way back to the other Hunters, the courier stopped her by placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Something's off." Kaden leaned toward Piper and whispered to keep from being heard by either the other Hunters of the captives. "When Orion was gone, someone else appeared. Someone strong. I don't think there was any fighting or anything, but he was there for a minute, then gone, and then Orion returned."

Piper eyed Kaden for a second, processing what he had just told her, before turning her head towards the SUV and, presumably, the hostages. After another second she nodded to Kaden and made her way to the front of the car once more.

With a long sigh, Kaden pulled off his jacket. Though it seemed to be setting, the sun still wasn't doing the courier any favors. Before tossing his jacket back into the SUV, Kaden retrieved Trisha's dagger and tucked it into his belt. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he rejoined Piper, Orion, and now Ares.

Kaden could feel a large knot forming in the pit of his stomach. Both Orion and Ares seemed more than capable in a fight. If they decided to take Dimitri and Zena to the mansion, the choices left would be very few. The courier had to try and prepare himself for a fight. He had to try and prepare himself to take on two experienced saiyan warriors... with a deep breath, Kaden whispered to himself.

"I really hope they make the right choice."

[Piper Juunanagou]

The redhead walked away from the courier and lifted a forearm to shield her eyes from the sweltering heat of the desert sun. As she stared at the endless stretches of sand that surrounded the murdered SUV, Kaden’s words echoed within her head.

He has to be plotting something. The woman deliberated as she drew her handgun. A heavy frown spread across her pallid visage as she counted the bullets left in her clip. … six. Let’s hope I don’t have to use them. She thought as she slid the magazine back into the handle of the firearm.

“We should get moving before the sun sets,” Piper spoke aloud as she pivoted to face the two hunters and the blonde courier. “If we travel west we should be able to reach the mansion ahead of schedule,” she added as she pointed toward the direction of the slowly setting sun. It was a complete and utter lie, but she would need to stall the two hunters a little longer. Once their victims were a little bit helpless, they could take things from there, but for now, the injured needed time.

“Why don’t we just follow the road?” The younger of the two hunters declared as his countenance tightened into a heavy scowl. “Why should we believe you?” He added as his older companion stepped up beside him. The redhead let out a sigh as she struggled to maintain her composure. It was taking all of her mental strength not to shoot both the hunters in the kneecaps. Maybe after a few hours of dragging themselves across the sand they’d know how their two battered victims felt.

“I’ve been through this desert,” Piper fought back, her expression mirroring the frustration and mild avarice plastered across the faces of the two warriors. “You have a lot of time to study the scenery when you’re bound and gagged in the back of a jeep,” she added with an uncharacteristic degree of anger. “Then again, you wouldn’t know a thing about that, would you?”

As the woman stewed in her frustration, she was unaware of the particles of sand swirling around her feet. Despite the sunlight boring down upon the tension-laden quartet, the ki-sensitive courier could see a very thin blanket of energy slowly burning to life around the woman. Furrowing his brow, he took a step between the pair of hunters and his frustrated, female acquaintance. As he had done on other occasions earlier in the day, the man raised his hands in a show of civility as he collected his thoughts. Behind him, Piper let out a heavy sigh as the sand around her ankles settled down to the floor and the colorless energy soundlessly wafting around her lithe form dissipated.

“When I was coming through her to intercept Kai’s wife, I came from the same direction,” Kaden spoke with one of his warm, friendly smiles as he tried to sell the story and also keep the group from imploding. Piper admired the young courier for his ability to remain calm amidst all of the frustration and distrust.

“I’m going to check up on the two in the car,” the redhead said as she stepped around the courier and started back toward the side of the jeep.

“Why?” Orion inquired, causing Piper to stop in her tracks and stare back at the man from over her shoulder.

“I’m a medic,” she spoke through clenched teeth as she squeezed the grip of her handgun. She let out an exasperated sigh as she turned her eyes away from the two hunters and toward their human cargo. “I want to make sure their wounds haven’t worsened. It’s called compassion,” she spat as her knuckles turned white.

“Go with her, Ares,” Orion demanded as Piper vanished around to the other side of the jeep. “I’ll discuss directions with Kaden,” the one-eyed man added as he took a few steps down the crude, sand-blasted road. With a nod of his head, Ares moved to follow the woman. When he rounded the front end of the jeep, he could see the redhead leaning into the open doorway.

“What are you—,” Ares started as he sprinted the small distance between himself and the woman. He stopped in the middle of his sentence when he saw that the redhead was only playing around with the other woman’s bandages.

“I told you,” Piper offered warmly as she fished into her small side pack for spare medical supplies. “I’m a medic,” she added with a faint smile as she tended to Zena’s abrasions. As if scolding himself for his extreme level of paranoia, Ares took a step back and crossed his arms over his chest. Hiding her smug grin from the young man’s face, Piper leaned in closer to the injured female.

Hang in there. Keep acting like you’re worse off than you really are. The less those two know…the better off you’ll be. She spoke telepathically as the battered, still mildly sedated Zena subtly nodded her head in response. I’ll have your friend and you out of this situation in no time. Piper assured as she wrapped a fresh dressing around the woman’s arm. Although the wound had all but scabbed over, the redhead knew it better than to pretend like she was doing anything other than tending to an injured woman.

“These two are still really bad off,” Piper said as she leaned back out of the jeep and turned to face the younger of the two hunters. “But if you want them to remain that way, we may want to consider taking that side path.”

[Friend or Foe]

"How much longer?" Orion asked for what seemed like the tenth time in the last half hour. He was sitting next to Ares, who was driving along the side path that Piper had suggested. "I thought this shortcut was supposed to save time."

Behind them, Piper and Kaden were in the backseat, looking over into the ripped trunk that showed the two hostages, both hurt but not dead. They were clearly recovering, but at Piper's insistance, they were keeping quiet. "It is going to save time," Piper told him, "Chill out."

"Hmph," Orion grunted.

Kaden glanced at Piper, and she nodded to him. We need to figure something out, she thought at him, Soon.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, they wouldn't have to.

"What the fuck is that?!" Ares suddenly shouted to everybody. Their heads all snapped to where his finger was pointing, to a group of figures atop a sandy dune. Then a small blast was heard, and a hissing sound.

Kaden squinted and used his ki vision to take a good look. But you didn't have to have a remarkable sense of energy to know what that was.

"Oh shit," Orion said aloud.

"Is that...?" Piper continued.

"It's a fucking rocket launcher!" Ares concluded.

The jeep bolted to the right at Ares' movements, causing the entire jeep to jolt sideways. The rocket missed and caused a small explosion nearby, sending the jeep upwards in mid-turn. It crashed on it's side, then it's roof, and rolled a couple more times for good measure.

By the end of it's ridiculous, spinning journey, the jeep was crushed into pieces. Ares was the first to slide out of his seat, then a bruised Piper. On the other side, Kaden was helping Orion out.

"It's an ambush," Orion said, pointing out the obvious. He was already moving to the back of the jeep to check the hostages. Quickly, he kicked the opening to it open, only to find it already unlatched...and empty. He looked up in surprise, trying to find where they went, only to get a dropkick to his nose from Zena.

"That's what you fucking get!" She shouted, "God damn disgrace of a saiyan!"

Orion was quick to roll back up and prepare for a fight, but the others in the group already knew what was going on. There were some people with guns just over the hill nearby, and one of them had been sporting a nasty rocket launcher. As ki machine guns blasted among the ruins of the jeep, Ares, Piper and Kaden were all getting cover just under it.

The man called Dimitri was off to the side, extremely hurt from the crash. He had crawled only about five feet when Zena had turned to get a little payback on Orion. He had been looking when he saw a short but muscular black man sporting a huge blue weapon over his shoulder. It looked like a rocket launcher, but it far too fat to shoot anything like what had hit them.

It was aiming for Zena.

"Look out!" He shouted, and despite all the pain in his legs, and the movements in his limbs, the small saiyan launched towards the princess of his people.

Orion had lept under the jeep as he saw the blue weapon being blasted from under the black man's body.

Zena turned to see what was going on, but all she caught a glimpse of was a flash of blue light before Dimitri shoved her forwards. She hit the sand with a thud and watched helplessly as her rescuer was launched backwards towards the vehicle.

Before he could slam into the jeep, he was gone.
























(Dimitri is eliminated. He's been forcibly teleported far away. Everybody else advances to Round 4)