Chapter 23
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After Ume had gotten a confirmation from Ix'bet, he had left his scouter turned off in his apartment. He was jittery and aggravated, which Vegeta exploited in their morning session. They were in the country, away from doing any serious damage to the nearby cities. This was a full-out brawl day, and the two Saiyans zipped across the horizon, limbs and bodies moving almost too fast to track properly. Vegeta kept attacking, and Ume was having a problem with keeping his anger in check, which was making his power level spike and settle. Every time Ume would settle his power level, Vegeta would score another hit, making it spike sharply again. The older Saiyan was also verbally encouraging him; no doubt he wanted to see if Ume could be pushed to the next level. By midday, Ume was a filthy mess. He left Vegeta and Tomma, who were engrossed with his sudden 'progress' towards more power, to shower. After scrubbing the dirt and grime from his body, he made sure all the nicks and cuts on his face had been closed, then pulled on a fresh blue jumpsuit. He'd been wearing the blue ones since his grey one had been destroyed in the first week of him being there. His armour sat untouched in the closet. He tried his best to be patient during the lesson with Serori. His impatience was compounded with the fact that using Ki to sense others was a very mentally challenging task at first - something his genetically enhanced body wasn't designed to help him excel at. He genuinely struggled through the lesson, but was starting to get the hang of it by the time the children came home. He was grateful that his relationship with Serori was good, something that had surprised him. She seemed almost protective of him. He was waiting when the children came; they clung to his arms as he lifted them over his head. He grinned as they giggled and squealed. In that moment he knew he was making the right decision. These children were innocent. There was no need to take them away. He wasn't going to let anyone rob them of their childhood. He was able to cut his session with Trunks short. He claimed that he was simply exhausted after his session that morning. Vegeta had mentioned to Trunks that he felt Ume was on the verge of breaking through to the next level, and the lavender-haired man remembered how exhausting those breakthroughs were. At his normal time, he mentioned to Bra that he was going to go flying. She nodded, and he took to the sky, arcing over the horizon to a half-way point between where he was, and where the main ship had landed. It was a bit farther than he'd gone before, but he doubted Bra would be concerned. He'd been pushing his radius further for a day or two now. Ume stopped in mid-air, closed his eyes, inhaled, and exhaled. It was only then that he realized that he'd forgotten his scouter back at Capsule Corp. He rolled his eyes at himself, and began focusing a bit harder, and soon felt the familiar energy of his adopted father. "I really hope this was worth risking the mission." Ix'bet could not hide the slight irritation in his voice. Ume was silent for a moment. He'd been practicing what he was going to say all day, and now his mind was completely blank. "Ix'bet..." he started. Ix'bet held up his hand. "It's very obvious to me that you don't agree with the mission." Ix'bet listened to his adopted son sigh in relief. Ix'bet inhaled sharply, "The Generals at Refuge are aware of the situation. They wish for me to force you to complete the mission." Ume stared at Ix'bet for a second, anger rising in his throat again, "You cannot seriously think that -" Ix'bet raised his hand again. "Ume. I cannot disobey the orders from Refuge, and neither can Yu'tai. You know that." Ix'bet paused. His scouter began blipping as Ume's anger rose. "Calm down a moment. I am not finished." Ume struggled to contain his reaction, but stayed silent. "I have raised a clever, strong, and morally conscious creature. I cannot stop you from doing what you wish. However, you must understand...decisions will have repercussions." "I won't do it." Ix'bet smiled sadly. "I know." He turned and looked over his shoulder. "I am very proud of you...and very sad." Ix'bet headed away back towards the ship, and Ume quickly headed back towards Capsule Corp.
She had patiently waited for his return. She had felt stressed when the boy sent them a message - it was vitally important that they were not found out before it was completely necessary - and even more so when he left. She had received orders when he left - a backup plan in case their so-called 'secret weapon' decided to defect on them. She was so relived when he returned, but saddened when she found out the boy refused to do his duty. He'd tried to explain to her why, but she had tuned him out. They were children, the boy had said, they were innocent. Yu'tai had scowled. The Originals hadn't thought twice about killing Talisian children. Also, they didn't want to kill the children! Just retrain them! She had waited a week since that meeting to follow through with her orders, planning and then re-planning until she knew she would not fail. Her hair was braided, and she wore a more simple circlet to minimize noise. Her long white gloves were stocked with diluted tryonide, and the tip system was set up properly. On her side hug the stun device that she had used on Talis, just in case. Her scouter was set to silent, so that nobody would hear it blip. She was ready. She waited until it was deep into the night before she flew close to her destination, then landed to run the rest of the way as to not attract attention with her Ki. She did not want to alert them - she knew that they did not use scouters, but instead something else to detect life forces. She had no need to burst into the modest home. The door opened easily with a soft click. She hovered above the floor to avoid noise. Her scanner picked up two resting power levels in one room, and a single in another room. She shivered slightly. She had never wanted to get this close to an Original ever again. Flashbacks of the grinning face of an Oozaru and then immense pain danced in her head. She floated towards the child's room. The door was open just a crack, and the young child slept soundly in the bed. Yu'tai held up one finger, and bent over the girl. All she had to do is prick the child on the neck, making sure she hit one of the main veins. It only took moments for the substance to work its way through her system, and the girl sighed into a disconnected slumber. The next part would be the hardest for Yu'tai. She softly floated towards the master bedroom, which also had the door cracked open. Her scouter told her both Originals were still asleep: their power levels were unchanging, and their heartbeats held steady. She pushed on the door, and slipped through into the large, bare room. Tomma and Serori slept soundly. Yu'tai rotated her body so that she was horizontal to the floor. She floated towards the head of the bed, then folded her hips upwards, quickly straightening her legs so that she was upside down. She extended her hands downward, aiming for their throats...She hadn't been watching her hair. The long braids fell and hit the sleeping Saiyans' faces, and their eyes shot open. Yu'tai dove, her hands grabbing around their necks and the tips of her gloves piercing their skin. Tomma was able to grab and throw her, and took a step before the effects of the tryonide began to hit him; he staggered and forced out a guttural growl before his legs buckled. Serori leapt forwards at Yu'tai but miscalculated, ramming into a wall and landing in a heap. Yu'tai blinked for a second, realizing the near miss, and pulled her sore body up from the ground. "You still...ah...pack a punch," she murmured, staring at the twitching face of the Saiyan female beside her. She could not resist taking a small amount of revenge on Serori. The Saiyan had caused her months of pain, and permanent scars on her body from where she had been lacerated. She grabbed Tomma's limp body, fully aware that he could see what she was doing. She propped him up against the bed. She then moved to Serori, and propped her up against the wall. "You don't remember me. I remember you. You killed my family and you almost killed me." She knelt in front of Serori. "I wish I could show you how I felt." She patted the device at her side. "I could stop his heart with this if I chose to, but it would give me away. Instead, I'm going to steal what is most precious to you." Yu'tai could only imagine the horror Serori was feeling as she figured it out. She had to move fast, and rushed out of the bedroom. A note was laid down on the kitchen countertop, proclaiming that Serori and Tomma had felt like they needed to keep searching for the last Talisian colony and had taken Kinomi with them to further her training. She moved the limp bodies of Serori, Tomma and Kinomi to the living area as she re-made the beds and made sure the house was just the way it had been before she came in. Then she picked up the three Saiyans, heaving a bit under their combined weight, and headed back to the ship. It took only a couple minutes to reach the ship, but Yu'tai was feeling the pressure. She set Tomma and Serori down so that they were facing one another. She wanted to do it one at a time, but she had to make their Ki fade out at the same time to avoid suspicion. She crouched between the two Saiyans, and pointed her index and middle fingers. She then placed each set of fingers on their chests. She formed a Ki blast on their skin, and then shot it through their unprotected chests, and levitated out of the way so they could see each other. The wounds flushed with blood as life drained out of them both; Serori could hear Tomma's erratic heartbeat, and he could hear her dragging in wet, raspy breaths. Their pupils began to dilate, attempting to see yet unable to... She quickly loaded the sleeping child into a pod, set the coordinates for a small colony they had established outside of Refuge, and watched the small ship arc into the night sky. If they could trace her Ki, they didn't want them finding their last safehold. She then picked up the corpses of the two Saiyan Warriors, stuffed them unceremoniously into another pod, and set coordinates for the sun. The small ship blasted off. She stood outside for a few moments. She felt odd, as if she was still hollow. It hadn't been fair. Serori had died in a form of relative peace. And Yu'tai still had nightmares from her rehabilitation after Serori had broken almost every bone in her body. Serori had long minutes of agony, but there had been no outward reaction that Yu'tai could get closure from. She opened the ship, walked up the ramp, and stood outside of Ix'bet’s room. She inhaled, and knocked on the door. Ix'bet open it to see his teary-eyed ally; he held her as she wept. |
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