Chapter Fifty - The Cabal

A short young man with blonde hair and blue eyes, wearing black pants, a red jacket, and white gloves made his way through the streets of Xentron city, keeping his senses open for any sign of danger. There had been none since the escape from Avo and Kado, at least not for him, but that didn't mean it couldn't rear up at any moment. He'd heard tell of the battle that had happened in the city mere hours after he'd left it, though he'd not sensed it during his trip south. Understandable, since his mind had been on other matters. His home, his friends, the mission he'd left on, and the situation he'd since found himself involved in.

Pushing the door open he stepped inside the store and stopped, furrowing his brow slightly. There were three more powers present inside the shop than there had been before he'd left. Three energies he didn't recognize, all located near the rear of the structure, in the area of the construction hangar. None of the levels were particularly large, though he could tell by the way they felt that two of them were suppressed levels. He pushed aside the mystery of the new powers after only a second, if they were any kind of danger then something would have been done about them already, and searched out the power he wanted. He hadn't need bothered, almost as soon as he'd locked onto his ki the man walked into the room.

"Tao." he called, reaching an arm up and tapping his chest. The image of the blonde boy shimmered and then vanished, replaced a moment later by Nail. A faint and fading glow still coming from the silvery blue vest of the holographic image inducer as it powered down.

"Ah, Nail, you're back sooner than I expected." Tao said, spying him. "How did it go?"

"He wasn't there." the Namek replied, shaking his head and following him downstairs. "He's gone off world for some reason and they don't expect him back until some time next month. I was told they'd contact us when he returned and we could have our audience then."

Tao nodded. "That's fine. There's still a while to wait before the ship is completed, even with the extra help I've picked up." Reaching the lower level Tao made his way to Eve's room and knocked on the door even as he opened it. Stepping into the room Nail wasn't surprised to see Eve at her computer, or Xeno setting behind her and a little to her right so he could look over her shoulder at the screen. She'd likely hacked into the network again and was digging around for more information. He'd already learned more about the Empire from his short time around Eve than he had in all the years he'd been Frieza's prisoner. Despite the Changeling's love of gloating and complaining.

What he was surprised to see, however, was a blonde woman he couldn't sense sitting in a chair to the left and just behind Eve, looking at the computer screen over her other shoulder. "Did you find anything new while I was gone?" he asked, closing the door behind him and Tao as he glanced toward the Human. The three at the computer glanced toward him but, while Eve and Xeno soon returned to the computer screen, the blonde continued to stare at him. He wasn't sure who she was but he figured if she was here she was an ally of Tao's, or maybe of the passengers they'd picked up.

"Nothing relating to Slug, unfortunately." replied Tao. "Though we've made quite a few discoveries elsewhere." He then proceeded to fill the Namek in on the events of the last two days. Brolly taking over the Delta Seven and setting out for Saiya. The appearance of 13, 14, and 15 in the city and their battle with 18 and Pan, and the reasons for that battle. Plus the discovery that Angira was on his way to hunt for them.

"Sounds like you've been busy while I was away." Nail said, crossing his arms and looking toward the woman he now realized had to be 18. "I can hardly belive that five of the Masters have changed sides."

"Tell me about it." said Eve, still looking at her computer screen. "I've spent the last two days around them and I'm still not used it. And if you ask me, the rest of the Imperial structure seems to be hanging together by a thread."

"What do you mean?" asked Nail.

"Just the various reports I'm seeing in here." she answered. "Problems cropping up all over. Like, Master Vegeta ordered Master Piccolo to go to Master Cold's world and take over his duties and affairs until the Changeling can be found. Apparently Masters Cooler and Frieza couldn't come to a compromise between them and so Master Vegeta cut them out completely. Master Trunks is still listed as alive and pursing planet pirates, and there's no public record of the defections yet, though the private communications channels are flooded with speculation about it."

"And all of that speculation and rumor," added Xeno. "Is stirring up trouble all over. Several different Resistance factions have recently stepped up their operations. Most of them haven't lead to much but the Empire's hold on a few world's is starting to slip. This is the most unstable the Empire's been... probably ever. It's hard to believe."

"The Empire is unlikely to collapse from this unrest." said Tao, as 18 stood up and made her way over to the pair, still staring at Nail. "Even if the Masters fracture further, and the Empire loses control of a few worlds, they'll eventually rebound. Being unaging, time is on their side."

"Yes?" Nail asked as she reached them.

"It's been so long..." she said slowly as she rolled something between her thumb and forefinger. "So long since I last thought of the Dragonballs that I had completely forgotten about them. I... When I saw you I remembered them, remembered what I'd heard they could do. The Dragon could bring her back..." she cast a glance toward the ceiling for a moment and then continued. "Both of them."

Nail frowned, realizing at least some of what she wanted. A wish, at least one, from Porunga. "Porunga's powers are not to be used lightly." the Namekian said. "Misuse of the Dragonballs is dangerous."

"I don't want to misuse them." she said. "Just... if it's possible... to bring back my daughter, and Faith's sister Hope."

"Possible, yes." Nail said. "Whether it is wise is another matter. Just because something can be done doesn't mean it should. I do not mean to sound callous but Porunga's powers are not something to trifle with. No wish is made without the approval of the Elder's council, and it is unlikely they would give it for such wishes. They are too much of a personal nature." 18 closed her eyes then and seemed to deflate. It was clear she'd gotten her hopes up when she'd remembered the Dragonballs.

"You may not have access to Porunga," said Tao. "But Shenron should be able to do something about your daughter, and this Hope person, once the Earth's Dragonballs recharge."

"Shenron?" she asked, turning her gaze toward Tao. "I thought that set had been lost. It vanished from the Empire's radars a long time ago."

"The others discovered a means with which to shield them from detection." Tao explained. "The set still exists. Shenron is how everyone would have managed to escape from the Earth, and I assume the balls would have gone with them. It..." he trailed off as his eyes settled on what 18 held in her hand. He had a strong suspicion he knew what it was, though he wasn't sure how it was possible. "What is that?" he asked her. 18 glanced down at her hand, to see what he was talking about, and realized she'd been playing with the energy inhibitor again. It was starting to become a nervous habit with her and she frowned a little.

"It's called an Energy Inhibitor." she said. "I picked it up on Leberion. The Resistance there had used it against me, to paralyze me."

"Come with me, we need to see Ferri." he said, turning around and leaving. 18 and Nail watched him go for a moment, both puzzled about what was going on, before following him out. The Human lead them back upstairs and off to the hangar were his ship was under construction. When they entered the hangar Nail looked up at the under construction ship and was at once awed by it. The frame work had already been fully completed and they were at least half way through constructing the shell. The shell wasn't the hull of the ship, that would come later, but was more like a foundation for the hull. It also helped to hold the framework stable while the interior of the ship was being constructed.

The ship was amazing already, and he could tell it would be even more so when complete. It would also be much larger than the old one had been. From what he could see of it it appeared to be W shaped. The long and narrow center 'body' likely the ship itself, while the 'arms' on either side appeared to be related to the propulsion systems. Considering how much space it took up inside the hanger the Namekian figured it was about four hundred feet long. The main body about a hundred feet wide, each arm close to the same. Then maybe seventy feet at its tallest point.

Storm, Rain, and four others were moving around the ship, working on the shell and the various systems that had to be attached to it. He could only sense two of those four others and he figured they were Pan and the Sai-jin Princess, while the two he could not sense were the other two Cyborgs. 18's brother, 17, and Pan's mother, Videl. Lowering his gaze from the ship he saw Tao several feet ahead now, 18 a couple of steps behind him, nearing Ferri's position at a work table.

A bald person with a horn on their head, the owner of the lowest sensable power in the room, was standing beside her, going over whatever was on the table with her. A dozen or so feet ahead of them stood Zukina, who was calling out instructions as she watched the on going construction efforts. It was a considerable change since the last time he'd seen the Sai-jin woman and it seemed things between her and Storm had subsided some during his absence. Starting forward again he caught up to Tao and 18 just as they human reached Ferri.

"Ferri." Tao said, drawing her attention.

"Oh, Tao, I was just about to have Faith come get you. I need your input."

Tao held a hand up to stop her. "In a moment." he said. "First, I want you to look at something. 18?"

The Cyborg hesitated for a moment before holding her hand out and showing the Energy Inhibitor to Ferri. The short woman blinked a few times, staring at it, then looked up at 18, meeting her eyes. "Where'd you get this?" she asked.

"Leberion." answered 18. "They used it to paralyze me."

Ferri turned her focus then from 18 to Faith. "How'd you get this?" she asked.

"Valor had them made." she answered with a shrug, not sure what the fuss was about. "It's just another of the things he invented."

"No, it's not." said Ferri, turning her gaze back to the device. "It's not quite right, but I still recognize it. That's Ancient technology."

"I thought as much." said Tao. "Things on Leberion just became much more interesting, and complicated. If this Valor was employing Ancient technology the question becomes where he got it from. Slug had managed to develop and manufacture a few items, but he was attacking the planet so it's unlikely it came from him. It could be the cause for Slug's interest, however. My research of Ancient outposts was strictly for locating the artifacts. Slug may be after more."

"After their technology, too." Ferri said, frowning. "Possible."

Tao nodded. "Which means there has to be an Ancient ruins on the planet somewhere. Something else for us to look for when we get there."

"Yeah, and about getting there," began Ferri, turning back to the table. Nail looked past the two women at what they were working on and saw a holographic computer display depicting scrolling lines of code that he couldn't make out. "Faith and I have been going over the installed software on the flight control computer that Storm and Zukina bought for the ship. It's... well..."

"Garbage." said Faith. "The software is at least ninety percent corrupted. The computer's operating system is completely nonfunctional so it wont even boot properly. We had to get in through the data restoration sub system, which is barely even functional."

"So the computer is no good?" asked Nail.

"The hardware is fine." said Ferri. "The problem is with the software. And with the damage to the restoration sub system we can't revert the software back to a functional state. Normally I'd recommend obtaining new software for it since I'm no good at programming, but Faith says that she can write a whole new custom flight suite, as well the rest of the computer and ship software, if you'd like."

"Can you manage all of that before you leave?" Tao asked.

Faith sighed. "If you'd like my help I can stay behind and then travel back to Leberion with you." she said. "There's nothing I could do to help the others, I'm a scientist and a computer tech, not a fighter. I'd just be in the way if I went, and 18 would have to keep me safe from both the invaders and many of my own people." she glanced toward the Cyborg in question as she finished.

"Because you helped her to stop Valor." Tao said, more than asked. "Alright. If you want to stay here and do the programming for the ship that's fine with me. And you may want to ask Eve to help you, she's good with computers as well and likely knows this hardware and its limitations better than you would."

"Ok." Faith said, nodding. "Thanks."

XXX

15 pressed his flask to his lips and took a few swallows as he walked into the maintenance bay. He'd gotten a page from 14 a moment ago, a text message telling him to report to the maintenance bay as 13's repairs were nearly complete. Recapping the flask and slipping it back into his pocket 15 came to a stop beside his much taller companion and turned to look at the read out on the repair bed. The computer estimated about forty seconds until completion.

"Finally." 15 said, smiling. "We get to take another crack at the half-breeds." He heard a grunt, or maybe a snort, from 14 and turned to look up at him, frowning. He'd not said one word since they'd met and it was getting to be annoying. He'd tried to start up a conversation a few times, to try and kill the boredom, but the large man wouldn't bite. And now that he was a machine he apparently didn't need to sleep, which had left him even more time to be bored. He'd tried to pass the time with some training but it was pointless, he couldn't get stronger that way, and so he'd given up on that after a few minutes.

There was a hiss and click and the machine opened. A second later 13 sat back up, good as new. No signs remained that he'd even been damaged. Climbing off the table he rolled his head around to check the repair work and then smiled. Everything was back to proper working order. Gero had warned them that the automated repairs, while of quality work, would not be a hundred percent perfect. It was close enough not to matter right now, but he'd need Gero to take a look when they got back to Saiya. Maybe need a few small adjustments to make everything perfect again. For now, though, it was sufficient.

"Are they still in the area?" he asked. While he'd been under repairs his systems had been powered down, he'd basically slept the entire time and had no knowledge of what had been happening during that period.

15 frowned. "No idea." he replied. "About two days ago, the day after our last battle, the tracer signals from Videl's nano-bots suddenly cut off. We don't know if they found a way to deactivate them or block them, but either way we've lost our means to track them."

13 nodded. "Considering we're in the fringes, I'm not surprised."

"I've had soldiers in disguise patrolling the city and the surrounding area for some sign of them, or the ship they stole, but nothing's turned up. Either they made a run for it as soon as the tracer was lost or they've holed up somewhere."

"Either is as likely as the other." agreed 13, heading for the doors. "I'm not willing to just give up yet, however. We'll see if we can't draw them out into the open."

"What do you have in mind?"

"We'll attack the city. Knowing 18, Pan, and Bra's personality types, they're unlikely to stand idly by while 'innocent' people are dying because of them. If they're here, they'll come out to try and stop us."

15 grinned. "Sounds like fun."

XXX

Zukina frowned as she watched the on going construction of Tao's ship. Following Nail's return the day before she'd enlisted his aid in the work as well, and it had increased their work speed a little. Between that afternoon and this morning they'd managed to complete about a quarter more of the shell, leaving only a quarter of it left to finish. Once it was completed they could begin the real meat of the construction process, the interior work. Creating the frame work for the rooms and corridors of the ship, installing the internal systems, and laying the floors and erecting the walls. Only after the interior was complete would they start on installing the exterior systems and assembling the hull.

All of that was fine, and not why Zukina was frowning. In fact, all of that, coupled with the change Storm had undergone since the Avo and Kado incident, had her in good spirits. The best she'd been in since meeting the Wathor, possibly even longer. No, what had her frowning was the Princess, who was struggling to lift the next shell panel, and who looked like she was about to fall from the sky at any second. Ever since she'd gotten the promised PGM from Ferri the day before she hadn't switched it off.

Which was fine. Sure. Training was good. But it meant she was tiring out extremely fast, especially since she insisted on having it set to twenty times Saiya gravity. A level twice as high as anything the Hybrid ever actually experienced before. Zukina understood the girl's desire to get stronger to try and avenge her Mate, to be a help and not a burden in any future battles with 14 and 15, but at the same time it was really starting to annoy her. Her usefulness in the construction effort had been cut exponentially the minute she'd turned that damn PGM on.

"Not that I'd ever say as much." Zukina thought, frowning even more as Bra nearly dropped the panel she and Rain were trying to place and install. She could bark out orders to any of them just fine, she had no issues telling the former Masters what to do or when they were screwing something up, and quite enjoyed doing so with Storm. But she couldn't tell Bra to shut the PGM off, or that she wasn't welcome on the project anymore so long as it was running. Though no longer one of the Masters the girl was still her Princess and there were simply ingrained limits to what her Sai-jin upbringing would allow her to do or say. Thinking it, however, was an entirely different matter, and she'd cussed the Hybrid out in her thoughts more than once already today.

"That's enough!" she called up, finally reaching her limit as Bra's hold on the panel slipped, the large sheet of metal shifted, and Rain's welding work buckled and snapped. "Videl, take over for Bra. Bra, take a break before you break the ship!"

The Hybrid nodded and floated down to the ground, panting and sweating heavily, her legs shaking as they tried to support her weight when she landed. She was even more exhausted than she'd realized while she'd been working, and she had to smile. This PGM was exactly what she'd needed for her training. Especially while working on the ship like this. She figured the shell panels probably weighed a good two or three tons. That weight, her suppressed power level, and the PGM came together to make a workout far more intense than anything she'd ever done before, and it felt good.

She'd just picked up one of her feet, to take her first step away from the ship and toward one of the chairs, when a loud explosion cracked through the air and the ground suddenly and violently shuddered beneath her. It was too much for her weakened legs to deal with and she fell backward, fell like a rock as the force of 20 times Saiya gravity pulled her to the ground, and landed on her ass with a thundering crash, cracks snaking out from under her as she gasped in pain from the impact.

"What was that?" Pan called from above, looking around. Another loud explosion resounded a moment later, the ground quaking violently from the force of it.

"I doubt it's anything good." Bra said, frowning, as she floated unsteadily into the air. Flying was difficult, but if the ground kept shaking like this walking would be impossible. "Let's check it out."

"Yeah." Pan said, nodding. The construction work momentarily forgotten all of those in the hangar, Bra, Pan, Videl, Rain, 17, 18, Nail, and Zukina, made for the front of the shop. Another thundering and ground shaking explosion erupted before they reached the front of the store. They could see Ferri and Tao already standing just out in the street, looking skyward and to the left. Eve, Xeno, Faith, and Everfrost came up from below as the group from the hangar moved outside.

"What's going on?" Faith asked, a fourth explosion rocking the city. Now that they were outside they also caught the blinding glare from the blast.

"Is that...?" Pan wondered, eyes narrowing, as she thought she spotted two figures off in the direction Tao and Ferri had been looking. There was a spark of blue light from that point, and then it surged toward the ground and another violent explosion errupted. At their current distance she couldn't make the figures out for sure, but she had a strong suspicion as to who it was.

"14 and 15." 18 said, confirming Pan's thoughts.

"What, what are they doing?" asked Faith as another energy blast rained down, destroying another chunk of the city.

"Probably trying to draw us back out again." said 17.

"We've got to stop them, they're destroying the city!" Pan cried, two more energy blasts surging down. She was just about to take off when she felt a hand grab her arm. Glancing back she saw that it was Tao, and he was shaking his head.

"That is what they want." he said. "To lure you out into the open again, to resume their mission."

"We can't just stand around and do nothing." she said. "Now that 13 is gone, 18 and I can take the two of them easily. We can stop this."

"And then you would have to deal with the Cabal." said Tao. "They already warned you against further fighting once. They wont be so generous as to give a second one."

Pan hesitated then. She partly agreed with Bra's earlier disbelief that this 'Cabal' could really do anything to hurt them but... She was also unwilling to take the chance. She didn't really know Tao that well but he seemed to know what he was talking about, and he knew more about this world and its leaders than she did. 17 also seemed to think there was at least some merit to the Cabal's threat. She didn't want to put any of the others in danger, but, at the same time...

"And speak of the devil." Tao said, turning his gaze off to his right. Pan reached out with her senses and soon found them. The three powers from before were approaching again, at a much higher rate of speed than last time.

"They must have stayed in the area." said Ferri, also looking in that direction.

"Probably expected a tactic like this from Imperials." Tao said.

"They don't know what they're getting themselves into." Bra said, shaking her head. "They can't sense those two, they have no idea what they're up against. They're going to get themselves killed."

Tao glanced back at her for a moment, then floated into the air. "Come, follow me." he said, flying upward, and toward the Androids. Bra and the others watched for a moment, then followed him, 18, 17, Nail, and Pan carrying Faith, Eve, Xeno, and Everfrost up with them. The human came to a stop still several blocks away, where he felt they'd go unnoticed, and landed on a high roof that, two stories above the others in the area, provided a good vantage point to watch what was about to happen.

"Now, watch closely." he said, looking toward Bra as she landed. "If you truly intend to get stronger and to challenge your father again you need to open your mind to new possibilities." Bra frowned at him but didn't say anything. She was too tired to argue, and it would be a moot point in a few moments anyway. No matter which of them was right.

The Androids either hadn't noticed the approach of the Cabal, or simply didn't care, as their attack on the city continued. 15 held both arms out and generated another ball of blue energy at the end of each. A second later he launched them, but unlike the rest these two never made it to the ground. Three streaks of light came surging through the sky across the city and two of them, one blue and the other red, veered off toward the attacks. There were twin cracks a second later as the two Cabal members deflected the energy blasts off into space.

Meanwhile, the third streak, this one also blue, came to a stop a few dozen feet in front of the Androids and faded to reveal Nouva. The other two flew up to join him, floating on either side of the yellow man.

"Your presence is not welcome here." said Nouva, crossing his arms. "I must insist you leave at once."

15 smirked. "Is that so?" he asked. "Well, tough. We're on Imperial business and we're not going until we've finished."

"This is your only warning. Leave now or we will be forced to take action."

15's smirk grew and he laughed. "You couldn't hurt us with such measly powers." he said. "Though I suppose you wouldn't realize that, since we've got no detectable power levels. 14, kill these three while I get back to work, would you?" 15 asked, turning away from the Cabal. 14, meanwhile, raised an arm and pointed it at the trio, charging his own attack, though the three did not seem concerned. There was a flash as he launched it and Pui Pui quickly moved forward, getting between the others and the approaching attack. Thrusting out his right arm he grinned as the attack hit his open palm and then vanished. No explosion, no sign of impact, nothing. Just gone.

"What the...?" Bra wondered, blinking in shock.

15, who'd just been about to launch another attack at the city, turned back toward the three of them, the energy he'd charged still in his hand. Pui Pui, still grinning, turned his gaze to the short purple Android. 15 scowled, raised his arm, and fired the energy blast at the three of them. Once again Pui Pui thrust out his right arm and, once again, the attack hit his palm and vanished without a trace.

"It looks like you've made your choice." Nouva said, uncrossing his arms. "Soki, if you would please."

The green woman nodded and floated forward, as Pui Pui floated back to join Nouva. "It's been a while since I've been in real fight." she said. "I hope you don't disappoint me."

"Bah, I don't know what that little freak did but we can still tear you apart." 15 said. "Come on 14, let's get rid of these three and get back to work!" The two Androids lunged in toward Soki but before they reached her she suddenly vanished and then reappeared twenty feet behind them.

"I see the Empire still isn't teaching it's soldiers any manners." she said, turning to face them again, the wind catching the hood of her cloak and blowing it off her head. Her skin was green, her eyes were black, her ears square and box-like, like those of a Changeling, her lips were pink, and her head was covered in oddly shaped black spots. She reached a black nailed hand up then and untied the string that held her cloak in place. Once the knot was free she shrugged her shoulders and the fabric began its two hundred plus foot descent, falling at incredible speed. It slammed into the ground with a thunderous crash a moment later, her boots soon following suit.

"Whoa..." Pan breathed, shocked. Not just at the apparent weight of the clothes, each one had to have weighed several tons to hit like that, but also at the fact that the woman's power had just doubled. And then the woman clenched her hands into fists, doubled over, and let out a scream as she began to power-up. Neither 17 or 18 were overly surprised by her power, having witnessed levels like it while on missions before, but as it neared Bra's Super Sai-jin power both she and Pan were staring up at the green woman in shock.

"No... way..." Bra said as Soki's power matched, and then exceeded, her own. It began to slow then, and stopped rising a moment later as the woman relaxed. She was stronger than Bra's maximum by enough that the Hybrid knew, in a one on one fight, she'd have to give it her all to have any chance of winning. The woman was far more powerful than any non-master she'd ever sensed. Ever heard of. Even so, though, she was unlikely to be any match for the Androids. The large one was about as strong as Pan's maximum, and she doubted the little one was all that much weaker.

15 raised an eyebrow as his own systems computed her power increase. "You're a lot stronger than I'd thought. Still, you can't beat me."

"So, come. Let's see what you've got." she said. 15 smirked and shook his head, then charged at her. He pulled back his right arm as he charged and, reaching her, launched a punch for her head. Her left arm came up and she caught his fist with a crack, her arm not giving even a little under the force of the blow. "Hmm, not bad." Soki said, the Android staring at his captured fist in shock. "I was hoping for more, though."

"How, how did she do that?" Bra stammered as 15 pulled his fist from the green woman's grasp and floated away from her. Tao didn't reply, merely clasped his hands behind his back and continued to watch. 15 scowled but didn't hesitate, he went on the offensive right away. A flurry of punches and kicks were targeted at Soki and, though she was clearly having some difficulty keeping up with his speed, she blocked them all, one after another.

And each and every attack had as little affect on her as the one before. She didn't even seem to feel the impacts of the blocks. This continued for nearly a minute, until 15 scowled and moved back. He turned then and looked back at his partner. "You going to just float there, are you going to help me?" he asked.

14 raised his head a little, eyes locked on Soki, then turned slightly and looked back at where the other two members of the Cabal floated. His gaze focused on Pui Pui first for a moment, then drifted over toward Nouva. He met the yellow man's gaze and held it for several moments, before turning back toward 15 and Soki. He frowned a little, then crossed his arms and shook his head.

"No?" 15 asked, shocked. "What do you mean no!? Bah! Whatever, fine!" he cried, turning back to Soki. Reaching a hand down into his pocket he pulled his flask out, opened it, and took a few gulps. At the same time, his other hand came up and tapped the side of his glasses. Lights and symbols danced across the lenses as he closed his flask and dropped it back into his pocket. A moment later the dancing symbols and lights stopped and faded and he frowned. He continued to float there for a moment and then, suddenly, lunged in at Soki again.

The green woman was ready and, once again, vanished before he reached her. She reappeared above him this time, however, and her foot suddenly shot down. There was a thundering crack as it slammed into the back of his head and knocked him hurtling toward the ground. The Android thrust his arms out toward the ground and released a blast of energy that slowed his descent and sent him shooting back up again. Reaching Soki he tried to punch her in the stomach, but she blocked it and then slammed her elbow into his face, driving him back several yards.

"This is incredible." Pan said, barely over a whisper. She'd fought with the purple Android, she knew just how strong he was. Based on what she was sensing from the green woman what she was witnessing shouldn't be possible. The woman didn't have nearly the power needed to successfully block 15's attacks, let alone for her attacks to have any effect on him. And yet both were happening.

15 recovered from the elbow to the face, scowled more, and then lunged in again. Soki blocked his kick, spun around behind him, and then slammed her foot into his back driving him down toward the ground at high speed. This time he was unable to recover before he slammed into the street below with a thundering crash. As the dust cloud blossomed upward Soki crossed her arms and waited. She didn't have to wait long, 15 came surging back up out of the dust a few seconds after he'd hit. However, his latest charge came to a sudden halt when a new voice sounded.

"That's enough." 13 called, floating up from somewhere within the city.

"What the hell?" 18 wondered, watching him float upward. "I cut his head off. Completely off."

"Apparently he's been fixed." said Tao, frowning a little at this turn. "It would seem severing his head is not enough to kill him."

"He's an Android." said Eve. "A robot. I'd imagine the only way to 'kill' him would be to destroy his central computer."

15 stopped and turned to face 13. "I can still handle this."

"Your results thus far would argue differently."

"She has magic assisting her." 15 countered. "I hadn't realized it initially, and I'm still working out its properties."

"Magic?" asked 13.

15 reached up and tapped his glasses. "My systems don't lie. They can't define what the power is, or even its source, just that it's there. Whatever the source, whatever the power, its what's causing the issues."

"Interesting." he said, glancing at Soki for a moment, but then turning his gaze toward Pui Pui and Nova. "But moot. This battle is irrelevant. We don't care about the three of you, we are here after others."

"I know." said Nouva. "You are the ones sent after the former Masters."

"So, you've heard?"

"I have."

"And would you know where they are?"

"No. For all I know they have already left. Following their fight with you we gave them a week to leave the planet. I do not intend to give you the same. You have extended no courtesy to us, I shall extend none to you. I want you off this planet immediately."

13 frowned. "A week still gives them about four days." he mused to himself, then he turned his focus back to Nouva. "Fine. There's nothing more we can accomplish here, anyway. 14, 15, let's go." he said, turning and starting off.

"What? We're just going to leave?" 15 asked.

"Yes." was all 13 said as he flew away. 14 turned and followed without a word or hesitation. 15 floated there, scowling, for a moment before flying off after the others. Soki relaxed, her power dropping back down to its relaxed level, and descended to the ground to recover her cloak and boots. Once they were on again she rejoined the other two and the three of them departed.

"That was... unbelievable." said Pan.

"Do you still doubt they could make good on their ultimatum?" Tao asked, glancing toward Bra.

The Hybrid looked up at him, still clearly shocked. "Did you know she could do that? How she did that?"

"No." said Tao, turning his gaze in the direction the Cabal had gone. "I've never before seen her fight, though I have heard tales of some of her battles. Of the Cabal, until today I have only witnessed Nouva in battle. Well, shall we return to our work?"

XXX

15 was still in a sour mood as the trio landed at the entrance to their ship. He hated leaving battles unfinished, and was certain that he could have figured out the nature of the magic the woman had been employing, and how to circumvent it, given the time. Once she'd been dealt with they could have taken out the other two as well, and continued with their intended mission. Until the two cyborgs were dead the three of them were still nothing more than soldiers. The sooner they finished this mission, the sooner they would be Masters.

"I could have beaten her and drawn the others out." he said, no longer able to keep his frustration inside, as the three of them walked up the boarding ramp into the ship.

13 glanced back over his shoulder. "I'd say your chances against her were maybe fifty-fifty, all depending on that magic of hers." he said, turning his gaze forward again. "But our targets wouldn't have surfaced no matter if you won or not. It's unlikely they've left the city, let alone the planet, but they wouldn't have come out, either. My calculations assumed that their emotions would overcome all reason. Given that they had not yet emerged by the time I ended the confrontation it would seem that reason overcame emotion.

"Either 17 convinced them to remain hidden or some unknown factor was at work. Perhaps this refugee that 18 picked up on her last mission was the cause, I have no data on her or any idea of her influence on 18's mind and actions. In the end, it's all moot." The three of them walked onto the bridge then and moved to the center of the circular room. "The cause is unimportant, only the result. And the result is they chose not to stop the attack. Continuing it would have been futile."

15 frowned. He wasn't entirely convinced. The half-breeds could have noticed the other three approaching and chose not to emerge until after that confrontation was decided. In which case continuing the battle would have drawn them out once he'd won. "So, what are going to do then? You already said you think they're still here."

"Fume, status report." 13 said, ignoring the shorter man's question.

"All systems are still green." replied one of the bridge crew. "Engines are hot, intakes are clean."

"Good. Get us off this rock. Take us out about fifty thousand miles and then set us on a monitoring course." He turned from that alien to another at a different station. "Halrod, put all of the sensors to maximum power and sensitivity. Lock them onto Xentron. Narrow the focus to Xentron city and the outlaying areas, a hundred mile perimeter. The ship they stole is nearly as well shielded as this one but with the sensors maxed out and focused they should be able to pick up something when they launch. Don't bother tracking the obvious readings, just look for the ones that are trying to hide."

13 turned his focus forward again, toward the large monitor that displayed the world outside. The ground was already shrinking away below them, the distant city little more than a speck. They would be out of the atmosphere in a few more moments. They would leave the planet, but they would not leave the system. When 18 and the others launched again they would be waiting. It wouldn't be easy detecting and tracking their stolen ship, but it was possible. Their ship wasn't as fast, they wouldn't be able to catch up to them in space, but they could tail them to where ever they went, and have little chance of being noticed along the way.