The Reality Vortex: Red Reputations

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"Alright, let's get this rollin'! C'mon Berserk, I'll make sure to find you the biggest baddest Xy'pher to beat up. ...Unless you're a chicken!" Avalon chuckled before slipping through the portal Spawn created.

When the Breakers would enter and appear the other side of the portal, they would see a vast sea of huge buildings, vastly taller than any they have seen in Metropolis. The streets were crowded with people walking to and from their destinations. Some buildings had large TV monitors on them that displayed advertisements of various products. There were many flashing lights to catch people's attention to certain buildings. Between these large skyscrapers were small shops that were busy with customers. Scattered throughout some pockets of the city were several construction sites, each building and adding more to the highly condensed city. Slithering throughout the city were transportation lines such as metro trains and monorails that helped take people to their destination anywhere in the city. The streets were congested by cars that were zooming by, honking and swerving at anything that happened to get in their way. There were also buses, trucks, and trams using the roads as well.

In the very center of the city was the largest building, easily towering far above the ones that surrounded it. It had hundreds of windows and many forms of transportation heading in its direction. On its top was a large antenna and several satellite dishes along with the logo "Reality News Network (RNN)." Just like the other buildings, it also has a large TV monitor that primarily displayed the news with subtitles. It was so large that it can be viewed from anywhere in the city.

jose-arias-mega-city.jpg

Avalon appeared by the other side of the portal and he gasped at the sheer amount of what there is to see. He had never seen anything like this before, and it was almost like a new world to him. His eyes flicked from building to building, catching glimpse of every bit of detail the city had to offer. He'd never been to a city before, so this was something almost from another world.

"Whoa! This place is a lot bigger than Metropolis! I mean, wowza!" Avalon looked all over and was captivated by the several food shops nearby. "Maybe when we're done with this mission, I can take a snack."

The next to exit the portal was Zenta. He held his head up to get an idea of where they were, but there was too much going on. Since his senses were enhanced far beyond their threshold, the city was a sensory overload for him. All the sounds made his ears flick and twitch, the air ruffled his fur, and the various smells clogged his tiny nose. He let out an annoyed growl and yanked at his ears, not being used to this much stimulus, or maybe he has grown used to the quiet life.

"How... vexing." Zenta sighed, keeping his ears low.

"Can't handle the city life, Zenta?" Avalon questioned. "It's a bit of a culture shock to me too... Don't worry, I'm sure you'll adapt quickly!"

"By the time we finish here, I will have a headache..." Zenta said as he pointed to the street in front of him. "There is something going past us very quickly... It is small."

"You mean the cars?" Avalon tilted his head to see nothing but large vehicles rushing past them. He can see the driver but not the car? Huh, I guess he still needs to get used to this environment...
 
Reflection City

Exiting the portal, Spina stared ahead and seen an astounding city that far surpass of what was seen from the previous cities in terms of technologies, design and of course, the population. Although he was around in Reality Vortex far longer than others, including being there since its original depiction, how Reflection City is structured was something he hadn’t seen before. Crossing his arms, he was tapping his foot multiple times, waiting for the others to come and join already. With a city of this many people, there will be bound something capable of giving him a good fight, and he wants to make a mental note of them for future matches.

Detective Spawn, already there before the others, checked his phone. “Alright, she’s still waiting.” He turned to the others as they were coming in through the portal. “We’re not here to be sightseeing. Do not get distracted by small things that aren’t part of the mission. Remember, you are not very well like, so just shut the fuck up and do not do anything Goddamn stupid once we enter the city. We’ll go to the front entrance, and head straight to the café. Trying to stray away, and I'm putting a bullet between your eyes.” Spawn looked towards the entrance of the city. "This is gonna be hell." He muttered under his breath, already anticipating something bad is going to happen.
 
Brachi nodded at this, remaining silent as she focused solely on the task ahead and following Spawn as per his instructions.

It was as if Brachi was now like a machine, driven to complete her objectives and not let anything petty get her attention. She trusted that Bara and Jize would be just fine without her, feeling that by splitting in those two groups, they had more ground to cover and hopefully make their plan execute flawlessly. She couldn't help to remain suspicious of both Spina and Gogeta, knowing their antics from earlier and hoped that they too would remain in line, so that Murphy's Law would hopefully NOT come to pass.
 
Bernkastel squinted her eyes as she entered the city through the portal, almost immediately wanting to go back inside to the quieter Rogue City. Her senses weren't anywhere keen as Zenta's but the level of modernity at display was a dizzying sight. She couldn't wrap her head around it all, much less how noisy it seemed; instead of being something to marvel at, Bern felt like she was surrounded by cluttered imagery.

Berserk however was the opposite, floating above the group so she could get a good view of everything. "Relaaaax, will ya? You can't just expect us NOT to look at everything-- this place really makes Metropolis look like a hole-in-the-wall trash dump. If it weren't for how super-secure this place is, I'd have gone here first for... reasons. Maybe after all this is sorted, we come back here and see if they got an arcade!"

Bernkastel tilted her head at Spawn's comments, frowning with a quirked brow. "You say we're not here on a leisurely stroll but we're going to a café? I figured we would meet with this informant of yours someplace more... clandestine." Her tone showed clear puzzlement with a hint of impatience. She had the impression this was supposed to be a professional mission. Of all places, why something so ordinary as a coffee shop even with their energies masked?
 
Upon Lucifer's approach, Vegetto remained caught up in his confident boast over Bernkastel. The jab meant to coerce the fusion further did little to phase him, but once Lucifer raised his hand to pat Vegetto's shoulder, the Potara fusion turned his eyes onto the angel. His entire cocky expression vanished in a flash; a stern and fierce stare replacing it in an instant.

Vegetto stood still; the projected sense of death upon the group unphasing his expression. Yet the mounting annoyance and frustration in his face clearly indicated the angel was getting to him, Vegetto letting out a small scoff in a dejected shake of his head once Lucifer walked through the portal. Gogeta kept his frown throughout the exchange, turning on his heel as soon as Lucifer disappeared through the portal.

Vegetto shook his head once, his attention forward for a bit.

"Come Gogeta, let's-"

He blinked in confusion, having turned mid sentence and seeing Gogeta already stepping through the portal. Vegetto stood silent for a few moments, scoffing once more and walking through shortly after.



Reflection City

The two fusions joined the group, both remaining mostly silent throughout Spawn's explanation of the situation. Gogeta stared up, the loud city streets and buildings off in the distance inspiring his awe in the same manner that Reality Metropolis had in the past. He stood with his arms at his sides, his wide eyes taking in the city for only a brief moment before getting ready to follow after the group.

Vegetto crossed his arms, a more stern and less excited expression on his weathered face. However, he quickly spoke a rebuttal to Bernkastel, his dual voice flat.

"She wouldn't have chosen it if she didn't have a reason. Let's get moving."
 
“Ahh, this place is absolutely stunning. Both in terms of pure visuals and the amount of busyness you can see here.” Lucifer sang praises for Reflection City. “Though, I can live without the loudness though. So much noise.” Lilith agreed with the sentiment expressed by Bernkastel, Lucifer and Zenta in regard to the loudness and slithered within Lucifer’s suit.
 
While Vegetto quickly made a rebuttal against Bernkastel regarding the informant’s reasoning for meeting in a café, Lucifer jumped in as well. “If this informant is willing to pay for our drinks, I’ll happily accept such. Reflection Sweet Caffe is the most sought for when you visit this city, and you’ll have to be a fool to pass on that offering. It such a delightful drink. And the arcade? Oh, Berserk. You’ll get lost in no time with the amount of gaming it contains in their various malls. Nanashi was singing high praises when he ventured here for a week.”

Seeing that there was a general consensus among the group about their behavior once they enter the city, Detective Spawn motion everyone to follow as they went towards the front entrance to enter the city. There, a security guard was standing in a booth, mindlessly playing a video game on the monitor. Another aspect of the city is that there’s actually one way to enter the city: through the main entrance. It was designed specifically to ensure that any new travelers entering the city will automatically be scanned. Any other means of travel through the city will automatically alert its defense system and deployed the Task Force. Of course, once they have been cleared and express no criminal activities and/or dangerous acts, they are free to enter the city as they please.

The guard look over from his monitor to see the group coming in. He recognized Spawn since he was wearing his Detective attire. “Ah, the Detective Agency is here… most be something important—” He slurred his final word before eyeing onto the Breakers. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. What the hell is going on here!?”

“Don’t be alarm. They’re with us.” Spawn said. “Relax.”

“No way! I saw the news. Metropolis just wasn’t enough for you guys, huh!? Gonna trash this city too?! Go to Federation City for that! Not here.”

“Listen. Bage and I have a very important task we need done. Now. And we need the Breakers for this. I’ll give you our word that these bumble fucks won’t do anything rash as long we’re here. Calm down and we’ll be on our way.” 

The guard gritted his teeth, but since the Detective Agency had a good reputation, there must be a reason why they are bringing in the Breakers. “…Okay but keep an eye out.” He took another look at the Breakers one by one: Right away, he didn’t recognize Berserk, Avalon, Jize and Zenta. Bernkastel, Gogeta and Spina look the most frightening, and there was something off with Brachi and Lucifer. However, his eyes trailed off to see Vegetto was among them. “Oh! You’re that hero guy! You look like that guy", the guard points at Gogeta, "but clearly better and with actual morals. Always so caring and not so demeaning like these chumps." The guard praise. "I hope you got a lease on these animals... especially that blue hair little dwarf over there. There's a couple of people missing... here... I bet they got wise and got the hell out. Good." 

Lucifer was on the verge of cackling and had to place his hand over his mouth to prevent himself from laughing outright. “Yep. The light in the darkness, V-Vegetto!”

With the Detectives and Vegetto present, maybe it won’t be so bad. “Hmph. You should be grateful Breakers; if the Detectives and Vegetto weren’t allowed, I would’ve sent the Task Force and Vortex Man on you. Consider yourself lucky you were bless. You can go on ahead.”

Spina raised a brow and mumbled to himself and mostly didn't pay too much attention of the guard's rambling. “Vortex Man…? Hmph… sounds like a worthy opponent… I’ll shall remember that name for the future…”

Detective Spawn rubbed his head after such exchange, but at least the guard change his tune. "Thanks..." He turned to the others with relief off his chest that it went off without problems. "Now we just go to the café. Cayde and May will ensure us our safety and examine any strange activity. Keep your guard up, but don't do anything without our say so. Let's keep on moving."
 
May thinks "The locals really don't get that the breakers at best are just some merks drooped in doing good and at worst just fools that did not realize that they could pack up."

May faced palmed wend the guard mentioned vertex man. May thinks "I know told these people over a year ago not to suggest powerful fighters to a Saiyan. Really the lack of professionalism come on."  
 
Brachi, Bara and Jize all nodded, remaining silent as they moved on and followed Spina.

It was apparent that Spawn had a plan set in motion and they were intent on following, with Brachi and Bara looking around on occasion to keep a close watch on their surrounding area. Jize had her trident strapped on her back for the time being as if it were a sword.
 
Zenta groaned and gripped his ears at the millions of things he was picking up. It was clear that everything around him caused a sensory overload and he could not focus properly, at least for now. He carefully moved to Bernkastel's side, his head snapping to the whizzing cars, not knowing what to make of them. The beast grew defensive and kept himself between Bernkastel and whatever he interpreted as a threat. Avalon was still in awe at the sheer amount of things to do and see within the city. Everything was literally calling for his attention and with Berserk talking about things to do, he grew incredibly curious.

"Ar...cade? What's that?" Before he even managed to get an answer out of her, his head darted to the guard talking about the Breakers and then Vegetto. Unlike Lucifer, who was nearly on the burst of tears, he frowned at the idea Vegetto could be looked at as a hero, especially after what he did to them and what he said to his own people. As usual to for him, he felt the need to try to set things right and tell the truth. "Ehh, I think you're mistaken, Mr. Guard. Vegetto here isn't as great as you think. He drove the people of his own city away because he didn't care if they died and--"

Before he finished, his ears twitched and his attention quickly turned to the sky. His eyes scanned the clouds as he continued to focus on something that only he could hear. He started to whistle, almost sounding entirely like a bird, as he took a step forward. Suddenly, a smile formed on his face as a tiny bird flew in his direction. Identical to the paper ones he made a while ago, this little canary was a beautiful blue color with tail feathers that matched the wavy strands of hair Avalon has.

"Hey little guy! Did'ja learn some cool stuff?" The ninja held out his finger for the tiny bird to land on. The bird answered by singing a cute song, to which Avalon nodded. "Got'cha. Why don't you tell me everythin'!" Avalon took out his scroll and opened it, allowing the bird to fly inside and making the scroll compile words and pictures of all the information it gathered in its entirety of being in Reflection City.

"You have a bird?" Zenta questioned.

"More like a spy," Avalon replied. "See, my little canaries gather information on everythin' they see and report it in detail back to me if we are to reunite. They got a pretty unique song that I can understand. They sing, I whistle back, and they follow the song like a magnet. Anyways, when I first arrived here I literally had no idea where I was, so I created a ton of these little birds and released them out into the wild by the hundreds to find any sort of civilization. That's how I managed to find Metropolis! From there I did some reconnaissance and sent out a few more of these guys throughout this realm. I use small animals since they can hide and sneak in the tiniest of cracks or holes, always watchin' and listenin'." A snorted laugh came from his nose. "I even sent out a few while we were in Rouge City."

Once the scroll was done compiling the words and pictures, Avalon lifted the scroll to take a better look. He read carefully what was written and then turned the scroll to the Breakers so they can see for themselves as he explained.

"Says here that Reflection City has had a huge kidnappin' problem, no doubt the Xy'phers are behind it, but get this!" He pointed at a few pictures of some of the citizens. "Lots of those missin' people came back! They appear to be traumatized and seem to not a very good recollection of what happened to them. The only thing they all have in common is memory-loss for a day or so before returning to their normal lives as if nothing happened. The small percentage that talks about what happened all mention some sort of small town not too far from here." Avalon paused before reading his scroll and speaking up again. "Law enforcement went to investigate for a few days but found nothing there other than a small market selling goods and locals. The RNN sent some reporters to investigate as well and made a broadcast about it. They deemed it safe and told the public they can go there without any problem but to be careful on the way there since there were 'weird rock-like creatures' running around. Those have to be the Xy'phers!"

"It seems the kidnappings are taking place on the path to that town," Zenta added.

"Mhm! It even caught the attention of the superhero of this city. She calls herself Atomic Flare and she's got a huge fanbase here in Reflection City. Take a look! She's a celebrity!" Avalon closed his scroll before reopening it vertically to show a poster of a woman. She had black hair up to her shoulders, black pants, large muscles, and a red costume with an atom in the center as her hero symbol. She wore two gloves, both being darker red than her shirt, one reaching to her elbow and the other near her shoulder. The shoes were the same color as her gloves and she had a brown fuzzy belt that wrapped around her waist. Lastly, she had a red mask that completely hid her face and identity. "Says here she's Vortexman's apprentice and people say she's got a fiery personality. They say she can go overboard but they just love the fact that she's defending the city."

"Perhaps she can help us."

"I doubt it, she's taken a huge interest with the kidnappings and has been looking for the missing people. She was gone for a while but came back with a ton of people that were missing and helps escort others safely around the city. Seems like she goes in and out of the city a lot and is focused on keeping the citizens safe. Now that's a real hero!" He stared at the poster of Atomic Flare and smiled. "And she's totally hot! Haha, get it?"

The words and pictures distorted again to show one final dump of information Avalon's canary gathered.

"There has been a 'hero boom' here in Reflection City that's been goin' on for a few months, all of which just suddenly appeared. I guess they're hero fanatics here. Finally, this city is pretty insane with its security. There was an incident where an unidentified energy source entered this city and the Task Force immediately took them out. No second thoughts. Yikes..."

"My, my... that is quite an interesting and powerful scroll you have. It can tell you everything your birds saw and heard..."


"Yep!" Avalon said as he closed the scroll once he finished reading the information to the Breakers. He scoffed confidently. "A little birdie told me that the fastest way to the café is by train. We should be there in less than five minutes. Cayde's got a map of this place, so he should know where the nearest station is." He then pointed at Zenta. "Someone's gotta help Zenta; I think he's havin' a hard time makin' out the people's energy from the cars and stuff. Last thing we want is for him to fall on the train tracks."

"I will get used to it shortly... but yes, I could use some... assistance." He cleared his throat bashfully.
 
Vegetto and Gogeta both held disinterested expressions once they had reached the gate, letting Detective Spawn begin the conversation with the guard. However, as the guard berated and talked down to the Breakers, Gogeta stood with his arms at his sides with a heavy frown. The fusion typically would've held an aloof nature, but after the intense training mere moments ago with Vegetto taxing his body, the fatigue was clearly reducing his ability to ignore the conversation once he was directly singled out.

Vegetto raised an eyebrow once the guard mentioned his heroic status, but kept his arms crossed and soon broke out into a small smirk.

"That's right. I'm here to help this peace mission with the Detectives; together, I'm sure we can change the Breakers around for the better."

His smirk vanished however, first at Lucifer's taunting. Then as Avalon launched into a direct attempt to undermine his image, Vegetto narrowed his eyes fiercely until the distraction of the bird interrupted the motion. A small look of panic painted Vegetto's features as he glanced around for a moment, but before he could speak further, Cayde chuckled loudly over Avalon's explanation and moved up to the booth, leaning closer towards the guard.

"Haha, don't mind that guy. He's kinda new to the Breakers; he's kinda got a nasty problem with lying and he's a little jealous about our fearless hero here. Just ignore him!"

Cayde turned from the booth immediately, locking his mechanical eyes on Avalon. The three waited for the explanation to finish, taking in the information of the city's heroine, Atomic Flare. However, as Avalon and Zenta discussed the details more, Gogeta's expression contorted more and more into a building frustration at the situation. He clenched his fists tightly together not only from the mention of Vortex Man, but of the city's fanaticism with heroes. Gogeta's narrowed eyes glared at the image of Atomic Flare, Avalon's mention of her attractiveness doing nothing to phase the look of near hatred and contempt on Gogeta's face. Vegetto turned his head slightly to Gogeta, his dual voice low in a stern warning.

"We're not here to fight him."

Gogeta scoffed.

"If he's here, I'm taking him and his new friend down."

Vegetto's eyes narrowed fiercely, his dual voice in a sharp hiss of a whisper.

"No, let it go this instant."

Gogeta kept his scowl, the contempt stare turning onto Vegetto.

"Fine...whatever you say, hero."



Once Avalon finished his explanation on the situation, Cayde quickly walked up and leaned into his right shoulder, his mechanical voice in a low whisper.

"Hey pal, listen: you gotta cool it on this whole beef you got, ok? Half the reason why we're getting into this city is cause at least, these people like him more than you. So just stay quiet and don't blow our cover with these people."
 
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