(The next morning)
(Elsewhere)
Gasping when she felt a surge of life flood through her entire body like a current of electricity, Videl sat bolt upright from the spot she was lying in shock. Due to the sudden nature of her awakening, her lightning fast movement startled the person who was helping her and caused them to take a really big step back for safety.
Blue sapphires darting about in paranoia, Videl expected to see her body still lying in the middle of a street in downtown Satan City. As it turns out, not only did she find herself surrounded by the familiar tiled surface of Kami's Lookout, but the faces of all her closest friends and martial arts instructors. These took the forms of Dende, Piccolo, Mr. Popo, and Gohan, the former of whom was sitting comfortably on her right-hand side.
After clearing the spots of grogginess from her eyes, the teenager groaned and squinted across at her boyfriend, who she saw had come to kneel alongside her.
"W-What happened?"
The demi-Saiyan smiled, "You passed out just a few seconds after I arrived. That attack you received across the chest must have shocked you a lot more than you initially thought." He then gestured to her top, which he could see had been sliced right through. When the crime fighter reached down and ran her finger over the cut and the now perfectly healed wound, Gohan continued without missing a beat. "However, your adrenaline rush kept you awake long enough for me to teleport to your position and get you out of there. It's a good thing you dodged whatever it was that hit you… otherwise you would have been in serious trouble."
A nod of understanding was the girl's immediate reply. "Damn it! This is literally the second time this has happened to me. I've really got to watch my back out there so that I don't have to go through this crap over and over." She then directed her gaze towards the earth's guardian and smiled warmly at the young Namekian. "Thanks, Dende."
The overseer of the planet beamed in response, "No worries. Always glad to help. I only wish I could do more."
"I'm sure you do more than enough for us," the raven haired girl remarked.
As the female Z-fighter inspected her wounds and thanked her boyfriend for saving her, she was then interrupted by the firm and commanding voice of the former overseer of the planet speaking up from the sidelines. "Now that you're feeling a whole lot better, do you mind telling us what the heck happened to you down there that almost ended with your body being cut in half?"
Blinking up at the serious looking Piccolo, the raven haired teen's brain quickly rewound the footage of her death-defying encounter with her assailant. As soon as her memories returned and her processors kicked, Videl's gaze then switched over to her half-Saiyan schoolmate in panic, "Gohan… that guy that attacked me… he got Erasa."
Despite having heard this part already over his communicator, the hybrid's eyes narrowed gravely. "What guy? Who was he?"
"I… I don't know," the girl stammered, her expression becoming just as dark as she looked the boy square in the face. "He just showed up out of nowhere."
"Can you tell us what happened?" Piccolo asked, wanting to hear the story with his own ears in order to find out how things for Gohan's friend managed to spiral out of control so quickly.
Looking up at the rest of the group, it took Videl a couple of moments to get her flashes of events in order. The moment she did so, she then began a thorough retelling of her few-second skirmish in the middle of her city. "It was just several minutes after I left school. I followed Erasa into town and after I caught up with her beside the station, the two of us had a chat. When our conversation ended and we were about to go our separate ways, this freak in a giant metal suit literally appeared out of thin air and attacked us. After I tried to fight him off, he sliced open my chest with an energy sword, grabbed Erasa, and then took off with her to Kai knows where."
Sharing a look with Gohan, one that reflected extreme concern over the matter, the older Namekian then looked back at the teenager inquisitively. "You're one of the strongest people on this planet and probably the entire galaxy. How can some joker in body armor harm you?"
Videl scrunched her face up in thought. "This wasn't some ordinary costume or tactical gear that was thrown together by some loner in a backyard shed. The thing was tough… like… super-human tough. It looked like one of those big, military, Iron Man type mechs I remember reading in a comic book not too long ago. The tricks this thing could pull were unreal. Not only could it turn invisible and hide its movements, but it was also able to completely mask the ki signature of the man inside it. The creep who was piloting the thing looked like some scar-faced, ex-military jokey, but he knew exactly how to scrap using both stealth and close-quarters. So I think it's safe to say he was trained to operate it."
This information had Gohan bring a hand to his chin and rub it anxiously, "If it's anything like those robots Cooler brought with him when he attacked New Namek all those years ago, I think I can see why he was able to beat you. Those things were tough and hit like a train."
"That's not all," Videl interjected, surprising her boyfriend and drawing the attention of all the men standing beside her. "The suit also did something else I'd never seen before. Not only was it able to render all of my attacks useless, but when I tried to shoot it the suit absorbed every single one of my blasts. It's almost like they were sucked into it."
Eyes narrowing, Piccolo and Gohan looked at each other with beads of sweat appearing on their faces.
"That sounds just like…" the demi-Saiyan murmured.
"Yeah. Like the first two androids we encountered seven years ago," the Namekian finished with the bottom of his right eye twitching.
His student reflected a similar look of trouble, indicating how dark their situation had become. "But it seems like whoever designed the technology for this guy made some improvements."
Full-body energy absorption? The last enemies they encountered that could absorb energy blasts had that capability confined to the palms of their hands and that trait was easily circumvented by chopping off said hands. From a fighter's point of view that was an extremely effective defense to have in combat. But from a hero's point of view… that meant nothing but bad news.
Videl, hearing this exchange of words loud and clear, looked towards her Saiyan boyfriend with an apprehensive frown. "Doctor Gero and Android 19#, right? Those were the androids you said were able to absorb energy and were able to move around without being detected." When she saw the nods from both senior fighters, the girl clenched her fists. "That would mean this guy must be incredibly dangerous."
"All we know thus far is that the suit this mercenary is using is extremely durable and can take energy blasts like a champ. As to how strong he is, we don't know," Gohan said, rising to his feet and turning his gaze towards the horizon. With his game-face fully set, his charcoal colored eyes burned fiercely against his whites with fury and intent. "But I'm going to find out."
Sensing the determination in her crush's voice, the still shaken crime fighter from Satan City stood up and faced him with her foot firmly on the ground. "He said he'll be in Satan City's Central Plaza at nine o'clock tomorrow morning, waiting for you. Since he's also got Erasa as a hostage and will likely be holding her at point, he'll be expecting you to come alone."
"Then that's exactly what I'll do," the demi-Saiyan said, glancing back at the group to see the concerned stares he was receiving from them. "I don't want her or any of you guys getting hurt… so I'll go along with this creep's demands, for the time being. If his tech's as good as I think it is then I don't think we'll be able to mount a successful rescue mission without him catching wind of us." Even if they could suppress their energy, not only did they still run the risk of being picked up by whatever sensors the guy had installed in his armor, but Gohan wouldn't put it past this assassin to plan for an attempted snatch-and-grab maneuver.
After all, he was able to catch Videl, one of the sharpest fighters on the planet, completely off guard and knew exactly how to fight someone of her specialization and skill set. That screamed 'dangerous' on a number of different levels.
If he even smelled that there was someone else in the area, then there was the absolute possibility that he would straight up kill his prisoner. That was an eventuality Gohan wasn't going to let happen.
Piccolo stepped forward, "Are you sure you want to do this alone?"
Gohan nodded, looking back at his friends for a moment before a small smile graced his lips. "If anything goes wrong… you know where I'll be."
With her grip still firmly enclosed around the gash in her shirt, the raven haired crime fighter gave her boyfriend an understanding nod as her stare remained fixated upon his person. "The two of us will be watching from a distance. In case things go south, we'll be there to help." She then spared a look up at the Namekian, who also gestured affirmatively and unfolded his arms as a sign that he was ready for action. "Erasa's my friend too. There's no way I'm going to let you carry the weight of this mission all on your own."
When he saw the two most active members of their team step forward and vocally announce their intent to support him, Gohan, with determination burning in his eyes, responded to their decisions with a smile and a nod of acknowledgement.
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