S M Other Tales: The Spring After

[Hela]

The machine floated through space-time.

Its pilot and companion was embroiled elsewhere, and try as she may, she still struggled to heal herself from the ravages of his regeneration and her forcible arrival in these Crossroads.

Yet, the TARDIS was no without cause or purpose. The ship healed gradually, even as the Worlds around it seethed and raged. Deep in the depths of the vessel, entire timelines danced and sparkled in all their glory. A veritable miasma of hopes and dreams splayed out across screens of rooms that hadn't been visited in ages untold.

One such chamber, deep in the TARDIS, centered on the life and times of an extra-human woman whose timeline had been twisted, splintered, and mirrored in untold ways. The woman and her two companions, their lives occasionally overlapped in more ways than one, would have balked at the representation of their lives as they played out on the unwatched screens of a wounded time machine drifting through the cosmos. Little could any of those people know or understand that their shared reality as it played out was just one of many parallel lives.

***​

Eight months after war …

Eight long months since Earth had emerged from the crucible.

What came out from the war only sparsely resembled the society of a year or two years ago. Cities had fallen—East City was still a mass grave that would require years of repairs to clear away the rubble and corpses of the fallen. Satan City’s downtown districts had been destroyed, but even with its heart gutted, the small metropolis had endured thanks to the efforts of a few valiant warriors.

Central City, once the de facto capital of the Earth, had been torn to pieces during the climactic battle of the war. The urban warfare had claimed the lives of thousands along with the majority of the city’s military, political, and economic leadership. As one of the senior leaders left after the bloodletting, General Gauger found himself pressed into an unwelcomed role as a shepherd to a shattered flock.

In the aftermath, the center of the planet’s power and influence had shifted to the south and west. South City and West City, both relatively untouched by the fighting, found themselves in positions of vast influence. Yet, as human beings are want to do, the bickering between the two prevented any sort of substantial collaborative effort. The difference in culture made it too difficult for either metropolis to set aside differences for a brighter tomorrow, even after a war which had claimed nearly a billion souls.

To the far north, what had once been North City was now something entirely new. The remains of the Ragnarok rested across the region which had once been the quiet, northern town. In the aftermath of the peace, the Stallions decided to forge their new society from the relic of the one they were intent to leave behind. After the weapon, defense, and propulsion systems had been gutted and confiscated as part of the peace accords, what remained of the Ragnarok was gradually used to construct a city within the scorched shell of the massive capital ship.

In the months since the final flight of the Ragnarok, Piper Juunanagou had settled into her own unwanted role in the new world.

Her new position found ‘Captain’ Piper Juunanagou stationed in new North City as an adjunct of the South City military. She was one of several military aides in the city who were there to provide counsel and support to the Red Stallions and their despondent king, who had lost nearly his entire family in the war. While noble on the surface, Piper was a glorified spy—a set of eyes and ears to ensure that the Stallions honored the peace treaty and that none of the other cities tried to do anything shady. With the balance of power utterly fucked, there was no telling when something could disrupt the status quo and plunge Earth back into another intra-city war.

One of the only solaces in her job was that Piper didn’t have to deal with the constant murder and mayhem that had dominated her life for so long. The initial armistice had been a blip mired in continued battles as the diehard Red Stallions “died with their boots on,” but after the peace treaties, the ravaged world had settled. People were just too tired and too emotionally broken to want to beat the living shit out of one another over mundane things. It also helped that the body counts were still piling in every day, even months after the cessation of hostilities.

Earth had lost more than cities and commerce. Thousands of heroes—small-scale and the sort that used to dominate the television sets—had fallen in the fighting or vanished from sight. Some had been confirmed among the valiant dead, but there were plenty others who had just fallen off the radar.

For their part, the Sentinels had emerged from the fighting mostly intact. Piper’s unit had survived, even the sour-faced Master Sergeant Wolfe, but the 102nd had been devastated in the fighting in Central City. The group had rallied to defend a stadium filled with displaced citizens from an armored unit of Red Stallions. Six of the eight members had perished protecting the stadium while the people were evacuated, and of the two survivors, one had committed suicide shortly thereafter. The sole survivor, likewise suffering from PTSD and survivors guilt, had been confined to a therapy ward at Sentinels Main. Piper, who had her own share of suppressed demons, had been by to visit the man a few times while she had leave. She had been shocked by how young he was—barely twenty-four. His face was lined with wrinkles and his eyes seemed dulled by the horror he had seen firsthand. He constantly babbled about watching his sergeant be torn in half before his eyes.

The other solace to her job?

Piper had been able to select her staff from whoever she wanted. After initially being amused that she was important enough to have her own set of retainers, she had ruffled every single feather in South City (and the Sentinels for that matter) by selecting Vad Zulenka and his wife, Trixie. Along with the two ‘wildcards’, the woman had selected Hoffman, Cruise, Cooper, and Reckne—all for entirely biased reasons. Along with the four Sentinels and the pair of ‘rogue elements’ (a second of the many politically correct monikers used for the tandem in official reports), Piper took several of the young men and women who had served in her platoon in South City.

While most of North City existed within the remains of the Ragnarok, the military attaches all lived in a small community outside the ship-city. Fortunately for all the men and women of the various city-states, they had separate living quarters. South City’s attachment had a little five-story hotel a few blocks from the shuttle bay that led into North City. Piper had a two-bedroom suite, and even though she often had overnight company in the form of Abigal, the other bedroom was empty the majority of the time, unless a guest had to stay.

Adjacent to Piper’s suite was that of the Zulenkas. The trio’s living quarters comprised the entirety of the top floor, and they were even connected by a set of doors that were often left ajar. Neither Piper or the Zulenkas had much need for privacy from one-another—the three had shared one body on more than one occasion. The doors were often only shut when Piper or her neighbors had more ‘private’ matters to attend. Since their arrival in town, that had been their life.

Try as she could to find something to complain about, Piper found it hard to do so. The most exciting thing in their lives right now was whether or not to go clubbing or see a new movie after finishing an eight-hour workday at the office.

It was a weird little slice of heaven for a trio of soldiers with enough stories of bloodshed and violence to make a butcher feel ill.

On a somewhat chilly day in later December, a screech filled the captain’s suite. A haughty, terrifying wail that could be heard all the way on the other side of the floor. For nearly a minute, the warbling scream resonated through what had once been a beloved silence.

By the time Piper’s hand smacked down on the snooze button, a frowning Vad Zulenka had already risen from his bed and started toward his closet.

“These damn women could sleep through a fucking orbital bombardment,” the saiyan mumbled under his breath as he glanced over to his bed at the gently snoring form of his wife, tangled up in blankets she had stolen from him during the course of the midnight hours.

 

[Beatrix III]

Hailey yawned through her fatigue as she arrived in the sixth sub level of the hotel Vad was staying in with Piper and friends. The once white energy masked and absorbing tiles that lined the entire room were scorched with burn marks and cracked in several places. Vad shut the vault door behind them and spun the lock, sealing the duo in the room.

“You sure it’s a good idea to keep this from your wife and Piper?” The blonde said, rubbing her eyes.

Vad pressed one his hands to his shoulder and began rubbing the muscle. “I definitely think they wouldn’t approve of me pushing Super Saiyan Two to it’s limit. Nor of the fact that I’ve only just began to tap into Super Saiyan 3 for seconds at time. Despite the war being…I’m a soldier. I’m going to be prepared for the next Stallion invasion.”

“Yeah, if but Trixie found out that you had surpassed her in secret…” Hailey dropped into a split to stretch her legs. “Not only that, if the Earth government found out that its biggest rogue element was actively improving himself to planet killing levels. You’d reignite a whole ‘nother conflict.”

Vad gritted his teeth and erupted into Super Sayian One.

“Luna’s last posthumous message hinted at a threat from outside our known reality. I need to be ready Hailey and you’re the only one who can help me. You have the same exact training I do.” Vad explained, pushing himself into his next SSJ level.

With a sigh the blonde dropped into a deep Dragon Stance and nodded. “Fine. Just promise me you’ll be more careful. Whatever memory is keeping J3 locked for you is strong enough to stop your heart. I can’t keep Trixie’s awareness of you blocked for very long and if I lose you, I may not be able to stop her from finding out next time.”

Zulenka nodded and charged the blond standing before him. Feinting around punch she sent her elbow to his chin, which was immediately caught with his free arm. Dropping low he swept her legs out from under her. Using the momentum, the Reaper Assassin sprang to her hands and flipped out of harms way of an oncoming knee to her lower back. Returning to her feet she slid on her heels as Zulenka righted himself and ignited his aura. The whole point of this dance was to force Hailey to break through Vad’s defense to forcefully draw out the memory that would awaken his next form using her telepathic abilities. It was quite the workout that the two had been doing every morning for the past seven months. Hailey Richards had seen herself improve infinitely.

Her first task had been to help Vad control Super Saiyan Two and get it on lock down. Around the fourth month of their secret training Zulenka had finally mastered it on a level like his mother. During one of their sessions she had managed to accidentally awaken a third transformation that had sent the Saiyan into a blind rage that almost killed him. That five seconds had nearly killed them both. Vad had gifted Hailey with Luna’s journal from her time in the Afterlife. The blond had discovered that while Super Saiyan 3 was a transformation by itself, it had the potential to consume the other two and become the only one a warrior could access, at varying degrees of drain on the soldiers’ energy and stamina. Using her numerous doctoral degrees, Richards made the educated guess that the reason Vad got such a dramatic increase in power when she had unlocked it was because it was consuming the first two levels and pushing his body to a level that it couldn’t sustain.

As the blond countered the Sayian’s punch with a flat strike to his nose she followed with a knee to his stomach. They were running out of time. Trixie was usually up about an hour after her husband and they needed to attempt another transformation before she was fully awake. Unlocking her Potential, Hailey’s eyes turned blue in color and she broke through the Saiyan’s defense. Shattering his arm with a vicious counter, she took hold of his face and delved into his mind with her abilities. Finding the memory involving changelings and experiments she forced that one to his conscious mind before sending a snap kick to his chest. Almost immediately Vad’s aura exploded outward and his arm mended itself. His pupils had gone black and as the man screamed in horror at the memory surfacing in his mind he dropped to his knees.

“That’s it Vad! Fight it! Push that power out!” She shouted, shielding her face from the intense heat coming from her ally.

Vad roared in anguish, his power sky rocketing and radiating off the special tiles in the room. As the floor began to crack.

“Shit.” Hailey thought to herself. “This room may not be enough to hold him.”

The blond watched as the Saiyan’s golden hair had lengthened down his back. As quickly as it had arrived Vad passed out and collapsed into a heap on the floor. Having expected this Hailey had walked over to the medical kit on the wall and retrieved a syringe of adrenaline. Turning Zulenka onto his back the blond jammed the thick gauge needle into his heart and depressed the plunger.

With a cough the Saiyan came back to the world of the living and sat straight up.

“Close, but no cigar. We gotta get back upstairs anyway.” Hailey said tossing her previous target a

 

[Hela]

The woman sighed as she rested her head on the desk.

“Everything okay in there, Captain?” A soft voice asked from the other side of the cubicle wall.

Piper lifted her head just enough to not muffle her response. “Blue screen of death again. They really need to stop cost-cutting with these tech people. Third time this week.”

“Did you lose anything important, Ma’am?”

“I always do, Lieutenant Hoshi.”

The woman on the other side of the wall tried to stifle her laugh, but she was always awful at it. “What do they say when this happens, Ma’am? Something about working overtime to ensure stability in the peace accords?”

The captain laughed at that. “Yes, someone who isn’t me will be working overtime, dear Lieutenant.”

That remark silenced the younger woman in the adjacent cubicle, who went back to her own work with a little more gusto than she had for the first seven hours of their shift.

Now left unable to do anything productive at the office, Piper mashed the power button until the blue screen went black. Once the machine was powered down, she retrieved her PDA from the desk and quickly put in yet another tech request. At some point, they would have to cave and just buy up-to-date machinery that wouldn’t implode every other day. Once the form had been transferred and the colonel had been notified via yet another passive-aggressive email, Piper slid the device back into the desk. With some luck, she might be able to ‘work from home’ tomorrow, rather than come into the sea of little cubicles.

“Have a nice day, Captain Juunanagou,” Lieutenant Hoshi spoke from beyond the wall as her superior finished preparing for departure.

“You too, Carina,” Piper replied as she turned her focus to the southern corner of the room, where the exit sign was happily emblazoned over the white plaster wall. Every month, the people up above kept mentioning that they’d send in a company to paint or put up wallpaper, but the interior design had yet to materialize. Didn’t they know that people worked a lot more productively when they felt comfortable in their surroundings?

With nothing to intercept her, Piper made her way out from the ‘hive’ and gave polite nods to the staff who worked at the front desk and reception areas. The three girls were all university students enrolled in the ROTC, and the trio of officer cadets had been transferred here to make up for some previous incidents on their record. Piper had looked into it, and she had discovered that the girls had just been written up too many times for parties and violations of curfew. All three were near the top of their class, so this reassignment had been a compromise to keep them in the program.

“Have a nice day, Mom,” one of the cadets—a brunette named Janice—shouted as Piper neared the door.

Captain Juunanagou turned and flashed a warm smile to the trio at the desk. The nickname, something that only the girls could do in person (even if it was commonly used anytime the captain wasn’t present), had started just a few weeks after the operation from South City had established itself in the embassy. Piper, in an effort to keep everything running smoothly those first few days, had gone slightly ‘overboard’ in her micromanagement of schedules and assignments. While she had cooled off substantially once everything was set and operating normally, the nickname had stuck regardless.

After a quiet cab ride, Piper found herself back at the little hotel that housed the detachment of South City personnel. She gave a gentle wave to the driver, who was a former Red Stallion soldier from a planet in the adjacent quadrant. How strange it must have been to go from pseudo-enslavement to driving a cab in a multi-cultural city-ship and its attachment of military villages.

At this time of day, the hotel was mostly empty. Most of the soldiers who worked the night- and graveyard-shifts would be asleep in their beds, desperately hoping to gather up the energy they would need to grind through their time at the embassy. It wasn’t that the job was unbearable—it was the simple fact that eighty percent of the South City staff had been front line soldiers. Of that percentage, nearly two-thirds suffered from some form of post-traumatic stress disorder. The hotel housed three live-in trauma counselors, a psychiatrist, and two psychologists.

Piper met with the psychiatrist, ‘Dr. Lynda’, every other Tuesday. Oddly, the meetings were informal more than anything else. While the redhead’s files contained her entire litany of prior diagnoses, Dr. Lynda and some psychologists in what was left of Central City had already cleared her of any requirements for mandated therapy and medication. While the professionals weren’t certain of the cause, Piper knew it had to do with Viper.

The first time that Vad, Trixie, and their empathic third wheel had fused together, all three of them had experienced ‘hangovers’. Piper’s had manifested as a one-track mind bent on the destruction of a man who had run afoul of her in Ja City. In her compromised mental state, she had failed to see that the retired soldier and his followers weren’t mercenaries but people who had kept the corrupt Namekian city a little closer to the straight and narrow. It had taken Piper too long to gather her senses—she killed them with all the fury of an unleashed and unhinged Zulenka.

While the ghost of Commander Jackson Arminius occasionally haunted her subconscious, Piper had eventually recovered from that incident. The situation had forced her to pull herself back together and suppress those foreign impulses. The fact that she had rebounded so quickly after killing the commander was a testament to how strong she had truly grown since arriving on the sands east of South City three years ago.

After that first incident, Piper had never expected to go down that same rabbit hole. The three of them had been mauled and brutalized on Namek, so in a sense, that had been their desperation maneuver. With no idea if they’d ever be back, they had gambled hard and ultimately won the pot (or, in that particular case, the Dragon Balls). The gestalt sacrificed itself to save a small child, and the three had been reborn from its ashes.

Then the Stallions had invaded.

Their praetor had thrashed Vad Zulenka within an inch of his life, leaving him comatose. Trixie, severed mentally and physically from her husband in a costly attempt to save her own life, had lived as a ghost those following days.

Viper’s second coming had never been intended to be anything but an epitaph. It had been a desperate gamble by Piper to save the life of the most precious thing to her, and Trixie’s way of reuniting with her comatose husband. That the fusion had broken down this time had been a surprise to the demon and the soldier. In the aftermath, the same haze had been there, but Piper was also certain that she was different in more than a few ways. The fusions had broken down, but even so, the process had scrambled bits and pieces of the three people.

While she knew she was still Piper, that didn’t change the fact that she hadn’t needed medication of any sort in the last eight months. Unfortunately, the last thing she wanted to do was say that her anxiety and other prior medical conditions had been treated by ‘a three-way fusion with a demon and a super saiyan.’ That sort of stuff would either result in her being a guinea pig or locked away.

Best to let the trio’s secrets lie with them.

When she settled into the hotel lobby to enjoy a soda from the vending machine, Piper wasn’t surprised when she heard the thud of boots. A look showed Vad Zulenka exiting from the stairwell. He made it a few steps passed the small collection of couches before he even noticed the woman sitting there sipping a Diet Mountain Dew.

“Hello, Piper, you’re shift ended a little early?”

She nodded her head and smiled. “Tech issues. How was training with Hayley?”

The saiyan, who had already appeared tense, furrowed his brow. He glanced around before taking a step closer to his friend. “Excuse me?”

“How was the training? Nothing exploded, so I assume that you’re taking babysteps toward your goal?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Vad replied, remaining adamant.

Piper smiled. She wasn’t angry—she had known about the training since shortly after it had begun, and she was actually happy that Vad had found something to pour his energy into. She knew that saiyans started to get cabin fever if they didn’t have a goal or an objective or at least something to punch a lot. “You think you’re the only one whose gotten stronger, Vad?” Piper tapped the side of her head with her free hand.

There’s more than just physical strength, Sergeant Major Zulenka.

Vad scowled. “Just because your telepathic doesn’t mean you read minds, Piper.”

“It’s not mind reading,” Piper replied as she took another sip. “You know how I could touch things and get memories and emotions?”

“Of course,” Vad replied. He recalled their first meeting, when the woman had tapped memories that even he was unaware that he had buried deep in his head.

“It’s like that, but I can tap it freely. Or at least, I can sometimes. With you and Trixie, it’s pretty easy.”

“Are you calling us easy?” Vad asked as his demeanor lightened just a little.

Piper rolled her eyes between sips. “Viper,” she replied. “Like I told you… we all got scrambled up between the three of us, so in a sense, it’s like solving a puzzle I helped make.”

“I see,” Vad responded. “Don’t tell Trixie. She doesn’t need to know. It will only agitate her.”

“I won’t tell her,” Piper replied. “But do you really think this is something you should keep secret from your wife? You know the dangers if it goes south.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Vad groaned as he dismissed the grinning woman’s sermonizing with a wave of his hand and made for the door.

 

[Beatrix III]

Out of the sheer level of respect he had for his wife, Vad let the redhead’s punch strike him square in the cheek. The force of her strike nudged his head to the right slightly. He could see the clear tears flowing down her face, her lips trembling as she fought back the emotion within. Hailey had already been assaulted. She was sitting at the bar in their kitchen holding an ice pack to one side of her face.

“Why would you hide such a thing from me!?” The distraught female shouted, so the whole floor could hear.

Piper knew when to butt out of a situation and crossed her arms, leaning against the wall that she shared with the Zulenka Family, but out of sight so she could listen. Vad and Trixie hadn’t truly worked through the events of the war together. It was an immense surprise that the Saiyan had been alive when the fusion between the four of them had split off from Viper in her enhanced form. Beatrix had been beside herself as she cradled her barely functioning husband in her arms that day. It had been a year and the team had just pushed everything into the past.

“I just didn’t want you to worry.” The Saiyan said dejectedly.

“Worry?” Trixie shouted. “You are pushing yourself to death and you didn’t have the courtesy to tell me! You think I haven’t sensed that you’re suppressed! I knew you wanted to spar with Hailey because she has the same training as you, but….you could have told me.”

“I’m telling you now. Babe, I truly just didn’t want you to worry. This wasn’t malicious. I knew you wouldn’t approve of me cutting it so close each time.” Vad explained.

“Of course I wouldn’t approve, but you seem to have forgotten that I inhabit your mind. I could have easily prevented your death.”

She was right. She could have easily kept him safe and probably offered better insight than Hailey, even if Hailey’s were just as tuned. Vad sighed and stared at his upset wife who had retreated to one side of the room.

“Come here.” He said, holding out his hand.

Trixie took his hand and pulled him into a hug. She cried on his shoulder. Vad had been dense. She had nearly lost him during the invasion. The fusion with Viper had done something to keep him alive and here he was a year later trying to unlock a transformation that was going to literally kill him. She had every right to be mad. Vad took hold of Trixie and peeled her off and looked her in the face.

“Nothing is going to take me away from you again, okay? I’ll cease this attempt. We obviously need to try something else anyway. Me and Hailey will just go back to sparring normally.

“Let me spar with you too.” Trixie sniffled.

This time Hailey jumped in. “A three-way spar would work. God knows it never hurts to practice taking on more than one target.”

Vad thumbed away the tears from his wife’s cheeks. “I’m sorry, babe. I promise…I promise on my mother’s grave that I will never keep anything from you again.”

“So quick to count me out, are we?” Luna said, entering the room from the back.

Everyone turned to look at the woman who had a halo above her head. She was dressed in her usual fatigues and wore a smile on her face.

“Mom? What are you doing here? You died…”

“Ye of little faith.” Luna said as she walked over and embraced Trixie in a hug.

“Good to see you, Trixie. Son. Piper. Hailey.”

Luna turned to face the group and crossed her arms. “You’re stuck with me for a while. The status of my life is currently pending. Yemma is working to get it restored, because of the threat looming over us.”

“What threat? Your message was cryptic at best.” Vad said.

“We’ll have plenty of time to worry about that. I think it’s best for you guys’ rest for now. Train as you wish. I can help with that as well. We’ll talk once I know more.”

Luna was a god among men. The female Saiyan had been resurrected more times than anyone they knew. Due to her nature, she had been chosen to act as an enforcer for Yemma and Heaven. She was usually embroiled in multiple universes and problems that would affect the realm of the living, but whatever thread was on its’ way to the group Yemma had deemed it appropriate she stuck with them.

“Plus, we know my power has limits now. That bastard Red Stallion got the best of me. That won’t happen again.” She clenched her fists, crackles of electricity sprouting up.

“Well, that’s settled.” Vad said, turning back to his wife.

“Are we okay?” He asked nervously.

Trixie looked him in the eyes and moved in for a kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close.

“Promise me you’ll never leave me again.” She whispered.

Vad pulled away and rested his head on hers. “I promise, babe. I’ll never leave you.”

“I’m hungry.” Hailey said.

“Good! I’ll cook!” Luna said, pulling out some pans from the cabinet and firing up the stove.

“Food will be ready in 30 minutes. Do what ya gotta do.”

“Narrowly escaped a fist fight, eh Vad?” Piper said, still standing in her corner as Trixie left to shower.

“Yeah, of all the stupid ideas I’ve had. Lying to the wife?”

“You’re an idiot.” Luna said from behind the kitchen counter.

“Thanks, mom.” He said with a sigh.

This caused Piper and Hailey to laugh. Everything was going to be okay. Right?

 

[Beatrix III]

Vad closed the doors to their bedroom and went in search of Trixie. Deciding to shower he stripped himself out of his clothes and piled them into the hamper. He turned to ready some new clothes when he felt a pair of hands gently take hold of his tail. He spun around to find his wife standing before him naked. She placed both of her hands on his chest and pushed him against the dresser. She looked up at him with her pink eyes. She pressed herself against his body and moved in for a kiss. At first it was a soft touch of the lips, but it evolved quickly into something much more passionate.

“Do you promise?” She whispered, after pulling away.

Vad nodded. “Yes.”

“Then get on the bed.” She said, pulling at him.

Vad sat down on the edge of the bed and scooted until he was in the middle of it. Trixie climbed on top of him and slid herself along his body. She lay flat on his chest, pressing her ear to his heartbeat. She closed her eyes and smiled.

“Babe…”

She could feel him under her. Trixie looked at husband and bit her bottom lip. “Tell me what you want.”

“I’m sorry, babe.”

Trixie smiled and shook her head, lifting herself off her husband, putting her bosom in his face.

“I’ve already forgiven you, my love. Tell me what you want.”

“I want you to have me. I want you to tell me it’s going to be okay.”

Trixie leaned over and put her lips to his ear. “I can do that.” She whispered.

She slid her hips forward and stood ever so slightly, taking hold of her husband. It didn’t matter how mad they were. They could never get enough of one another. Trixie bit her lip as she slid her way down, straddling his waist. She twisted her hips playfully before leaning over and wrapping her arms around Vad’s neck, placing her chin on his shoulder.

“It’s going to be okay, my love. I promise. I forgive you. It’s like nothing ever happened. We’ll figure out how to get you to transform together, okay?”

Vad breathed a sigh of relief. Trixie took hold of his tail and wrapped it around her waist before putting two hands onto the bed. She looked down at her husband and he looked up at her.

“Now fuck me.” She ordered.

Vad sat up and wrapped Trixie’s arms around his waist. He stood up carrying her, her wrapping around him as well. He pushed her up against a wall and began thrusting his hips against her. She clawed his back, biting her lip to keep from moaning. This just made him fuck her harder. He kissed her neck as he pushed her into the wall. Trixie clasped a hand over her mouth, little mumbles and moans escaping from her lips. He pulled away from her and threw her onto the bed. Vad climbed on top of her, pinning her arms to the bed. He fucked her hard than before.

“Go ahead, babe. Let it out.” He teased.

Trixie bit her lip and shook her head, visibly showing that she was enjoying herself. She was red in the face and holding her breath. Before she could exhale Vad kissed her. He released one of her arms which she immediately placed on his chest and moved his hand down to her groin. She knew what he was doing and once his hand got there, she felt herself practically melt into the sheets. It felt amazing. She accidentally let out a loud moan forcing Trixie to cover her mouth with her free hand. He looked her in the eyes and knew she was close. He could feel it.

“Cum for me baby. C’mon.” He whispered, leaning in to kiss her neck.

She did just that. Trixie let out a muffled moan through her hand as she climaxed. Vad removed his other hand and cupped one of her breasts, he wasn’t done yet. He continued his rhythm against her hips, quickening his pace as he too was getting close. Trixie moved her hands to his butt and pulled him in with each thrust.

“Yes, baby. That’s it.” She whispered to him, encouraging him.

She was going to climax a second time at this rate. Just as Vad reached orgasm, she did too, and they both hung on to each other paralyzed by the pleasure rushing over their bodies. He pulled out and rolled onto the other side of the bed onto his back. Wiping the sweat from his brow he looked down in surprise when he felt his wife grab hold of him again. She kissed him.

“Your turn again.” She said with a wicked smile, before going down on him.

Trixie was the best in the world. He finished again rather quickly. At this point he was out of breath. Trixie swallowed and wiped her mouth, pulling him to his feet and into the bathroom to shower.

“Looks like we have a mess to clean.” She said giggling.

***​

Trixie was the first to emerge from their room dressed in jeans and a capsule corporation t-shirt. She adjusted her bra strap as she sat down at the kitchen table. Three large cheese pizzas, with the works, were ready on the table.

“I decided not to cook and got us pizza instead. Hailey should be out of her shower in a few minutes. I don’t know where Piper went, but dig in.” Luna said, setting plates in the middle of the table.

Vad exited the room next in a pair of black jeans, a white T-shirt and a white unzipped hoodie. He sat down next to his wife and took a plate from the center of the table. The food looked so good. Trixie was already munching on a pepperoni, sausage, extra cheese, onions, peppers, and olive filled slice. Vad took two of the same slices and put them on his plate. Rolling one piece into a burrito he took a giant bite. Food after a spar was always the best and his Saiyan appetite could almost never be filled. Luna sat down and took a giant slice for herself, taking a bite. Vad reached onto the table and grabbed a cold can of some Earth brand cola his mom had set out. Cracking open the can he took a long drink, burping, then taking another big bite of his rolled up pizza slice.

“I’m glad those manners we taught you stuck around.” Luna said sarcastically.

“I try my best. I really do.” Trixie said with a laugh.

Hailey came in followed by Piper.

“Pizza eh? Remember that pizza place on Namek? Where-“ Piper started.

“Where I was dying on a table? Yes. Shame I didn’t get to have any.” Vad interjected.

Piper laughed, grabbing herself a couple of slices. Hailey sat down in a free chair and did the same, grabbing a can of cola for herself.

“I’ll be honest. Sitting here with you all of you. Knowing we’re okay and not being hunted for some reason or another. It’s a good feeling.” Vad said.

“Wow. Is someone developing actual emotions?” Piper jabbed.

“Oh shut up. You know what I mean.” Vad replied, throwing her a look.

“Even though I’m dead, I agree. Nothing in the immediate future for you guys to worry about.” Luna said with a laugh.

 

[Hela]

“… Nothing in the immediate future for you to worry about.”

Even hearing Luna speak those words made Piper feel a twist of unease in her stomach. As she reached for the nearby can of soda, she felt the slightest bit of a shudder from the solid, linoleum-coated floor underneath her feet.

Eyes wide, she opened her mouth to shout but only managed to spat out a chunk of partially chewed pizza before all hell broke loose in the Zulenka’s apartment.

The explosion ripped through the wall of the apartment with enough force to reduce the brick and cinder block façade to atomized slivers. In the split seconds before the wave of concussive force and searing heat erupted through the apartment, Piper managed to slid from the stool and get herself in front of a wide-eyed Vad. All the demon saw was a flash of red hair, a shimmer of green, and then she was off her feet.

***​

Luna snapped up off the ground. An instant later, she winced at the sudden amount of sunlight beaming down on her. With her eyes clenched, she lifted her forearm and tried to calm her heightened breathing back to normal. After a few moments of that, she suddenly recalled that it had been eight o’clock in the evening.

Before she could bolt up off her backside, a familiar voice intoned down at her.

“Luna… We need to stop meeting like this.”

She grimaced at the sound of the ogre’s voice as her eyes snapped open and she came bolting up off the ground. It took her all of five seconds to see that she was standing in the lobby of King Yemma’s palace. With her back to the great king’s desk, she could see the long line of souls winding their way through the stanchions and out through the enormous double doors.

“That war on Earth has resulted in me working overtime for months.”

Turning away from the doors of the check-in station, Luna looked up at Yemma and frowned deeper than she had ever frowned in the last few years. “Why?”

“You died.”

Luna recoiled as if she’d been struck in the face. “I did not.” She even reached up to poke at the ethereal halo that hovered above her head to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating the last few months.

The ogre shook his head. “Okay, technically you can’t die if you weren’t alive in the first place, but if doesn’t change the fact that the corporeal form you had was destroyed.”

“How? Why? … What?”

King Yemma gave a faint smile. How many times had this woman and he had this particular conversation? “Do you remember a flash of light?”

After a few moments, Luna slowly nodded her head. “A bomb of some kind.”

A laugh escaped the ogre king. “Of ‘some kind’, indeed. The four of you were hit with…” Yemma paused to reach down into his desk to retrieve a small pamphlet. After retrieving his reading glasses, he found the portion of the text and tapped his finger onto it to guide his process. “A katchin-infused quantum bomb.” He tapped the document a few times and nodded his head. “It ‘creates a concentrated detonation designed to fundamentally destabilize the reality of targets within a given area without causing widespread devastation or long-term environmental hazards. It says here that such technology doesn’t even exist in your quadrant.”

“Bullshit,” Luna glanced around. “Did I forget my birthday again?”

Yemma shook his head as he set down the pamphlet and grabbed his book. “You should be proud, Luna. You shielded your son from most of the blast.”

The woman’s expression softened a little, but her nerves were still shot. “I can’t stay here, Yemma, you know that.”

He nodded his head. “I know.” He scribbled something into one of the pages near the front of the book before rifling back to his previous section. “This doesn’t count against you, but I also can’t send you back just yet.”

“Why? I’m clearly intact.”

Yemma rolled his eyes. “You’re interlacing, Luna.” He pointed to a mirror over near one of the exits to the lobby. She couldn’t get a good look with all the souls still impatiently milling around, but the warrior knew what the term meant. She’d been violently shunted back to the afterlife, and it would take time for her soul to stabilize enough to return. She lifted a hand and saw for herself that her present form was translucent at best.

“There has to be a way to speed this up… What if my son is in danger?” She scowled as she clenched her fingers, and with a puff, they vanished for a few beats. “The war down there is barely a year old! He had to spend half that time getting clearance to simply live without being under constant watch. It isn’t fair.”

The ogre king nodded. “Luna, you’re talking to me. You think I’m not aware of what is fair and what is not? Your son lives, and you are more than welcome to return to stay with him and his wife once you’ve recovered. I don’t have a magic wand to deinterlace you.”

Luna clenched her teeth to the point where they destabilized.

“I could use your help with some of this backlog, y’know.” Yemma said with a smile as he gestured to one of the smaller desks next to his tall podium.

“Pass,” she said after the comment managed to make her grin. “I might be dead-dead, but there’ll still be ways to help my son.”

Yemma, who knew Luna’s MO more than most demigods, nodded his head and pointed her toward the fourth exit door. “Good luck.”

***​

Piper woke up screaming in the hospital of Ragnarök City.

A pair of wide-eyed nurses nearly leapt out of their skin as the captain jolted upright with a wail and proceeded to reflexively rip the handful of IVs from her body. By the time they were moving forward to try and assuage her, Piper was already on two feet and lurching toward the door.

“Ma’am!” One of them shouted as the other raced for the call button. “Ma’am, you need bed rest! You had a traumatic ord—” A confused and groggy Piper plucked her up off the ground after clasping hold of her upper arms. Lifting the medical staff woman, the redhead turned and moved her out of her way just as the door burst open to let in a handful of security and doctors.

“Captain Juuanangou,” the central doctor spoke calmly.

“Wh-what happened?” Piper finally managed to spit out as the initial blast of adrenaline quickly burned out and she found herself slumping backwards toward the bed. Fortunately, the pair of nurses grabbed hold of her and helped her to a sofa in the corner of the hospital room.

“We’re okay,” another of the doctors spoke softly before ushering away the armed security guards. “The captain naturally woke up confused and under the lingering effects of anesthesia and other medications.”

Once the quartet of armed guards had left, the two other medical officers exchanged nods and left the room as well, leaving Piper with a single doctor and the pair of nurses.

“What happened?” Piper repeated as she accepted a glass of water and a pair of pills from one of the nurses. When the redhead glanced up at the face of the young woman, it took the nurse only a few moments to understand and gesture to a bottle that read ‘anti-nausea pills’ on the nightstand.

“We gave you liquid nutrition, so it’s likely that your stomach is going to be unsettled,” the doctor explained as he walked over to the white board that dominated one of the room’s walls. He plucked up a dry eraser marker and underlined his name—Doctor Malenkov (Col.). Piper noted that the two nurses must be Patty and Margot and that both of them were noncommissioned officers.

“How long have I been unconscious?” Piper asked as she sipped on the water and grimaced at the discomfort in her throat.

“No more than thirty hours,” Doctor Malenkov spoke as he scribbled some notes on the whiteboard. “How much do you remember, Captain Juunanagou?”

Piper grimaced once again as she felt fresh pangs of pain from her back and shoulders. “We were eating pizza in the Zulenka’s apartment… and then there was this strange shaking…” She frowned. “A bomb. Or some type of artillery blast.” Her frown became a look of mild horror. “Vad and Trixie!” She bolted up out of the chair and immediately experienced a sensation of vertigo that almost caused her to topple forward.

Once the redhead had been coaxed back into the reclining chair, the doctor nodded his head. “You were the victims of some type of experimental weapon, Captain Juunanagou.”

Piper frowned. “A what?”

It was then that the doctor looked at her and shrugged his shoulders, and by the look in his eyes, she knew the expression and words were genuine. “They’re still digging around in the wreckage for any remains of the actual device, but the bomb squad reported that it was some type of high-powered explosive. Beyond that, they have no clue. The three of you were the targets, we do know that.”

“The others in the building?”

“Safe. Relocated to the barracks inside the Ragnarök City facility. Tensions are naturally high.”

The redhead rubbed the sides of her head. “The Zulenkas?”

“It was touch and go,” the doctor spoke. “Eventually, they healed themselves, I guess.”

Piper scowled. “What does that mean?”

“Truthfully, Captain, I assumed you would know more on this matter than me. They discharged just a few hours ago.”

“What about Luna?”

“Who?”

“There were four of us in that apartment.”

Colonel Malenkov turned to the nurses, who only offered quizzical expressions. He then turned back to the officer. “We only recovered the three of you from the wreckage, Ma’am. No others.”

Fuck.

“She must have got out,” Piper mumbled as she pointed toward the door. “Can I be discharged? I’ll need to find the Zulenkas before they do something brash in response.”

“I highly recommend that course of action, Captain Juunanagou. You wouldn’t want your friends once again causing widespread destruction.”

Piper was one hundred percent sure she didn’t like the tone of the doctor’s remark, but she opted not to push back as she received a clipboard with paperwork from one of the nurses.

***​

Twenty minutes later, Piper found herself walking out of the medical facility on legs that were very much still aching and partially compromised. In front of her, there was a plaza for foot traffic that was dominated by a large, decorative fountain that also doubled as a way to add a little humidity to a portion of the partially indoor city.

Fortunately for the woman’s sake, she spotted a very familiar man pacing back and forth in front of the Medical Center Fountain.

“Vad?” Piper half-shouted as she gingerly jogged the distance to the scowling, fuming saiyan warrior.

“You look like shit,” he muttered as he paused to glance at the handful of people milling through the square.

“Thanks, Pal.” She shot back. “You don’t look half-bad for someone who got bombed.”

“Luna.” He replied.

“They didn’t find her.”

Vad gestured to himself. “Yes, I know. I am why.”

Piper nodded her head. “Where is Trixie?”

The former assassin tapped the side of his own head. “She said you shielded her from much of the attack, but … the two of us were too weak on our own. She’s up here for now. Once we regain our strength, she’ll re-corporealize. In the meantime, we need to find out who was behind that bomb and eviscerate them.”

“Agreed,” Piper answered. “After all, there’s no telling if this was just the first action in a broader campaign of terror in the city.”

“Fuck this city,” Vad rasped. “They tried to shred us apart at an atomic scale. I’ll burn this city to the ground if I have to.”

The woman had to fight the urge to roll her eyes. “Relax. More than either of us, I’m sure your wife understand that we need to approach this situation with tact and finesse.”

Vad continued to frown, but his postured noticeably relaxed. “We’ll play it your way, but once we find out who did this…”

“Yes, you can eviscerate them. And only them! This place has seen enough violence and dealt with enough stress over the last year.”

Now the saiyan smiled.