The Reality Vortex: Red Reputations

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Bernkastel scowled from the insult to her stature, crossing her arms and hunching until part of her irritated expression was obscured by her bow tie. The sight itself unintentionally made her look even smaller than she already was. Forcing herself to stay quiet and let Spawn handle the guard, Bern tapped her fingers along her arms as she remembered why it was such a pain to interact with strangers. They only get this bold when they know Bernkastel is in a position where she is unable to retaliate, verbally or otherwise.

"Load of hogwash," Bern grumbled under her breath as she shuffled past the guard, grumpy from the brief exchange. The commentary about Vegetto having a better public image lost its punch considering what she knew of him now, but hearing about it still got on her nerves. As they walked her tail flicked behind her irritably. "And a leash...? The nerve of that guy!" she grumbled.

Berserk tilted her head in curiosity when Avalon stopped, seemingly surprised at the sudden appearance of a canary from the sky. "Huh. So they're like your own little surveillance system! Guess my old man was onto something with that bird conspiracy..." she eyed the scroll as Avalon recited the information he finished collecting, a grin spreading across her features. "So ya mean this place is fulla heroes! Isn't that awesome?! Too bad we're busy... guess we'd come play with him and Atomic Flare another time," she said in a hushed voice out of the guard's earshot. She pouted at the prospect of having fun only to be thwarted by their current task at hand... and the Agency.

Bernkastel maintained her grumpy glare as she eyed the image of Atomic Flare intently. This person was the 3rd time she had seen a costumed hero; why was it they all ran around in colorful tights and underpants? Atomic Flare was definitely someone they had to watch out for if there was a famous hero training her; and for some odd reason she didn't seem like a total stranger despite the mask obscuring her face. 

...I decided I really don't like this place, Bern thought with a troubled expression that matched Gogeta's. Pondering the assorted bits of information they received seemed to give her time to simmer down, glancing up at Avalon's observation of Zenta's discomfort.

The witch looked over to the crowded traffic of vehicles before shaking her head. "No way. You'll end up lost just trying to figure out how to cross the street without getting hit," she said skeptically before pausing to observe how Lilith was hanging onto Lucifer's arm. "Hmm... usually I don't do this, but it'll work fine." She whispered, slowly reaching over to grasp Zenta's free hand, looking a bit sheepish. "Here. This way we can go together without you tripping somewhere or getting caught in a crowd."
 
As the group exited the Portal, Bage followed Spawn in leading the group to the city. He smiled awkwardly as Spawn shot his venom at the group of Breakers to make sure they behaved, but for the Saiyan detective, he believed shouting curses at them would only fuel them more. He came a bit closer, speaking softly to the senior detective to get him to remain hopeful. "Now, now Spawn... Maybe some words of encouragement would be better to keep morale up." He nudged his partner softly and continued. "Like you told me, We're gonna get through this no matter what happens. I know they're the last ones who deserve a second chance but let's have a little faith in them."

However, once they reached the entrance, Bage tensed a little. It was already looking like the city guards were suspicious of the Breakers. But that was to be expected. Everything should go according to plan, especially since they were coming along with them. At the reluctant yet successful entrance into the city, Bage let out a sigh of relief. Step 1 complete. They were within the city's walls. The Saiyan was very amazed by the size of this city, but it wasn't anything to gawk at. The sound of the hustle and bustle of the crowds and machinery did little to phase Bage. They had a job to do here. 

All while the group conversed, he couldn't help but overhear the group's talk of heroes, The one, in particular, being the big star Atomic Flare. He glanced back at the poster Avalon was displaying, catching a glimpse of the rust-red and black costume. The others may have found the outfit silly, but to the detective, he found the mysterious nature of superhero costumes kind of cool. It reminded him of a story Panich had told him about Gohan's superhero days as a teenager. And hearing how great of a hero she was made him smile. 

If Panich could be anywhere, she would be here. Surrounding herself with strong individuals like Vortex Man and Atomic Flare. Just like she had done with the Breakers before.
 
When Avalon tried to rebuttal the hero image of Vegetto, the guard brush him off when Cayde approached him. “Who the hell is that guy? Tsk…” He turned to Avalon and pointed his finger at him. “Go play with marbles or something, kid. I’ve seen way better ninjas running around!” The guard jumped back to his chair and focus on the monitor. “With Vegetto and the Detectives here, I’m comfortable. Good luck! You’ll need it.”

As the others were focusing on the worship of heroes in this city, Lucifer pay more attentive towards the detail of these alleged kidnappings. Though it raises a question: how was the Xy’phers able to infiltrate the city and take the civilians if they had this powerful defense system in place? Something was clearly at odd here. Though, Avalon didn’t address whether or not the kidnappings continued now since the Task Force and their new hero gotten involved to air away these incidents. “That is quite an informative detail about this city. I have no doubt that is possible that Xy’phers could have laid their groundwork here, but it seems that these “heroes” managed to handle it. Perhaps once we bait them out, their strength can prove to be at use.”

Following Avalon’s suggestion that the fastest way to the Reflection Café is by train, that was the next step. Since the city is quite large, it made sense for it to have a train system; and it has various locations laid across that anyone can get to by walking distance. Spawn turned to Bage when the latter spoke to him about his treatment to the Breakers. “Hmph. I’ll try to be let harsh, but I have a sinking feeling that something is about to happen upon these idiots. That’s why I’m preparing to put them in line just… in case.” But Bage was right; berating them won’t do anything, so it was time to switch it up now since they’re all going to work together and ease conflicts. “Alright… we’ll ride the train to get there quickly.” Spawn tried to instill a positive spin with that last statement. And thus, he pushes forward, leading the group to head towards the train station.

Bage’s fears was practically confirmed when they enter the city. Practically everyone stopped in their tracks of whatever they were doing the moment they laid eyes on the Breakers. With the combination of fear, anger and sometimes, relief.

“Wait… are those the Breakers?”

“Damn! It is! What the hell are they doing here?”

“Look at that guy [Spina]… he looks like he’ll kill if you look at him the wrong way…”

“They’re not going to blow up my house, right? I’m halfway done with my mortgage…”

“I hope they set fire at the company I worked at… tired of that crappy job…”

However, the moment they laid eyes on Bage, Spawn and Vegetto, their tune changed. “Ah… I bet the Breakers are going to jail!”

“Nah, I bet Vegetto knocked them into shape and force them to be good, haha. See? I told you that Vegetto was the superior one. That slob couldn’t fight his way out of a paper bag, haha!” One spoke. “You go Detectives and Vegetto!!”

“Yeah! Damn devils… serves them right for acting like they’re the strongest of all time.” One man mumbled to a middle-aged woman. “I wonder if Atomic Flare will show and finally knock some sense into these clowns. She can easily destroy those arrogant clowns.”

“Hell yeah! I want her autograph if she shows!!” She shouted. “I already got Vortex Man and Null Knight’s autograph! She’s my favorite one! Screw it… I’mma do it. I’m going to ask her out!”

“Idiot… she’ll jut step on you like a bug.”

“That’s a bad thing?”

“Quite a noticeable difference.” Lucifer said. “In Rogue city… I hardly heard so much praise from your folks, and yet, people are rolling out the red carpet. “False imagery can get one so far.” He paused for a moment. “For a few months, they really seem to like these heroes.”

“Guahh… this is why I prefer to work away from cities.” Spawn was clearly annoyed by the onlookers commentary, arriving at the train station. “We just need to hop on, and it’ll take us to Reflection Café. Don’t pay attention to the onlookers and keep on moving.” The Detective said, jumping on the train and waiting for the others.
 
Brachi, Bara and Jize ignored the onlookers and whatever comments would be thrown their way.

"Remember," Brachi told Bara, knowing she was the more sensitive one, "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words don't hurt me ever. Besides, they have absolutely no idea of who we really are and are only judging by what they have simply seen or heard, without doing proper research or fact-checking. It's the same thing you've seen on our Earth after all; people are quick to judge there too and have simply no idea on what's real, simply because they fear what they don't know." 

Majin Bara nodded at that.
 
May thinks "One the reasons way I prefer my mall was reinforced today and its hard not to feel slightly sorry for the breakers. Come on they have no oblation to prevent the external circus form taking out this city." May was not impressed and it showed that she was not impressed.

May says in a quite and professional voice "Despite there lack of professionalism you all need to keep your heads. Do keep in mind that shit will get quite real once those Xy'pher things make there moves."
 
Avalon twitched when Cayde called him a liar and jealous before shaking his head and rolling his eyes. Even when Cayde went to him to talk to him, the elf only shrugged at the downplay.

"I don't have a problem, people deserve to know what happened and make judgements on their own. But whatever, man, I ain't the one lyin' to look good here. They'll find out the truth sooner or later, it's just a matter of time, you can't stop that... and you can't stop me." Avalon said while giving Cayde a pat on his shoulder before walking ahead and tossing his scroll up and down in one hand. "Anyway, we should hurry after Spawn. He'll probably get mad if we get distracted."

Zenta felt Bernkastel's tiny hand wrap around his own, and he squeezed it gently. In the current situation, where he was overwhelmed and needed time to adjust himself to the environment, he looked and felt helpless. He kept by her side constantly, trusting she would guide him well, as his ears twitching wildly in every direction. He lowered his voice, whispering to the Witch.

"Please forgive me, my Lady... I apologize for being such a burden to you."

As the crowd gossiped about the Breakers, Avalon overheard some of the remarks. He wasn't happy about how the people looked down on them but there was nothing he could do on his behalf. Fighting them wouldn't prove anything and would make things worse. In a way, he felt bad for the Breakers and began to feel the shame and humiliation that came with them, even if he was not recognized by the people or mocked by them. Still, he had grown to like them and their weird quirks. He tried to pay no mind to the crowd by leaning over to Berserk.

"You seem pretty comfortable! Was your town like this, or are you just used to this crazy stuff?"

Zenta listened to the mumbles and criticisms of the crowd, ignoring most of them, at least it looked like he did. The ones he reacted to were clearly the ones that spoke ill of Bernkastel and even Gogeta. His growls were loud enough to be heard by Bernkastel as he squeezed her hand slightly as a means to control himself. Next to Bernkastel, Zenta appeared like a giant fox-dog, occasionally baring his teeth as he growled at the rude comments, all while keeping up with Bernkastel.
 
As the group walked, Gogeta clenched his fists together while his arms visibly trembled. The outpour of disdain from the onlookers fueled his rage, his narrowed eyes glancing between each onlooker. At the pair of onlookers that specifically called out the Devils title in their insult, Gogeta immediately stopped in his tracks. His balled fists tensed tightly, glaring down the pair. However, the fusion was unsure of which one spoke: the man or the middle aged woman, but soon he moved forward and loomed closely over the middle aged woman in choosing to focus in on one target.

His hateful stare intensified as he loomed over the woman, seemingly preparing to strike. However, in his power pose, he suddenly stumbled back from a gloved hand yanking him by the back of his vest. Stumbling forward shortly after from a push, Gogeta whirled around to stand off with the source of the movement: Vegetto. In the intense stare down, Gogeta and Vegetto's energies both mounted slightly; a rising surge threatening to undo the entire disguise. Golden particles radiated off Gogeta's wrists and hands in the tense grip he kept for his fists.

Vegetto glared down Gogeta with a firm stance, his muscles contracting visibly in anticipation.

"This is part of your training. Let it go now."

Gogeta grunted.

"Why do you care? Just try and destroy me already; anything is better than listening to you talk. You have no emotions."

Vegetto's glare sharpened.

"And you are a slave to them. Stop being a child and focus on the mission."

Gogeta kept a strong glare, yet at the command, he still seemingly complied and slowly turned on his heel to walk up towards the train. Gogeta flicked his wrist shortly after, dispersing a bit of the golden pixie dust like energy off his hand as his energy diminished down to near nothing while the golden particles slowly cascaded up into the skyline of the massive city. However, he turned his glare onto the middle aged woman once more, however, threateningly pointing at her with his right pointer finger.

"You! I'm gonna beat you to a pulp next time I see you!"



Cayde frowned at the responding comments, seeing Avalon attempt to walk off after speaking his piece. The android groaned a bit, pausing to rub his eyes that were made of complete metal and could not itch, before breaking out into a brisk power walk to rush back up to the ninja's side.

"Ok, look, I get it kid. I really do: you want the truth to get out. But!-"

He held his hands out in fully straightened motion, as if to focus on some imaginary item in front of him.

"-your truth is NOT helpful right now. Because if everyone listened to you and hated the boss, we'd be getting gunned down by security right now just to satisfy your ego. Remember what the detectives said: don't do anything to jeopardize the mission."

Cayde lowered his right pointer finger and thumb close together, nearly pinching them together as he raised his mechanical voice to a high pitch for the first part of his sentence, then throwing out his hands to mockingly depict a massive belly with his arms.

"So let's all stop being little people, and be big ones, m'kay?"

The android whirled around, however, the small surge of energy from Gogeta and Vegetto's stand off catching his attention. He stepped up onto the train near Beserk and Avalon, clutching on the side rail with a heavy frown.

"Damnit, here we go..."

He blinked in confusion, however, as the pair of fusions brushed past him to step onto the train without a massive brawl or building toppling over from the near outburst. Cayde blinked hard, shaking his head slowly.

"Whew...man...and I thought I was the king of being petty and narcissistic. Jeez, you Breakers really take things to the next level; I gotta step up my game after this is all over."
 
"Hm?" Berserk snapped out of thinking about the places Lucifer told them about within the city, particularly wanting to see the arcade. She grabbed onto something as she entered the train with Avalon and Cayde.

"Oh, this? It's nothing really-- you get used to it, the place I grew up in was fulla people who talked just like that. I've heard better trashtalk from a garbage bin, but that's cause normal people are too nice," Berserk explained casually. "People like this take advantage and say things they wouldn't, knowing their favorite heroes will come running to defend them once they piss off a 'bad guy'."

"In reality... they're just making needless messes like this for the heroes to clean up," she quietly spoke in a chastising tone while nodding towards Vegetto and Gogeta. "Busybodies who hide their fear of the inevitable; one day their hero is gonna fall and won't get back up. People like Ultraman are just exceptions to that rule. So don't worry too much what little mice like that have to say." Berserk smiled cheerfully at him, though part of it tilted into a smirk.

=======
Bernkastel forced herself to stare ahead, resisting the urge to go over and restrain Gogeta herself. Vegetto seemed to have beaten her to it at any rate; ever since they had arrived at Rogue City it seemed like an unspoken arrangement occurred where Bernkastel was no longer Gogeta's caretaker. She sort of allowed it to happen, but for some reason it still bothered her.

"Yes ma'am..." Bern kept her head down so her bangs could obscure the faces of the crowd as she followed behind May. "Let's go, Zenta. Ignore them-- the train isn't far from here. Just follow me and my voice instead." She gave a reassuring squeeze of the hand in return as she led the beastman down the street and towards the train. Bern was used to being feared, but the way the passerby would sing praises about Vegetto caused her jaw to clench. "The ride is five minutes long. And straight to that damned cafe," she recited between grit teeth. Once they entered the car, she immediately sat down.

"Sit here. You can put your tails on my lap, I don't mind."
 
Brachi, Bara and Jize also entered the train with the others, but Brachi overheard the commotion with Gogeta.

"I swear, I should have brought a frying pan with me so I could whack that fool over his head with it..." She muttered.

"Feeling he's going to make things worse?" Jize asked, having heard what Brachi said.

"Wouldn't you know it...," Brachi said, "it's almost as if he's just as bad, if not even worse than Gotenks with his mannerisms... I have to give Vegetto props for remaining so level-headed, despite what has happened..."

She then turned to Spawn.

"What's the stop where we have to get off?" She asked him, being genuinely serious about following his plan.
 
Both the young man and middle-aged woman was knocked off her feet and fell on her behind when Gogeta merely approached her. The other tried to help her up, but he, too, was shaken by the fusion’s action.
 
“T-that guy was about to knock my head off.” The woman was hit with fear after seeing the man balled his fist. Even though Vegetto prevented a brawl from happening, she immediately jumped when Gogeta threatened to beat her up if they were to ever meet again. Logically, one would remain quiet when there is an obvious gap of power between the Breakers and a civilian.

“What an asshole… punks like that needs to be turned to coins already…” The young man held venom in his voice as Vegetto and Gogeta took their leave and got on his feet. He helps the middle-aged woman as well. “Good on Vegetto for controlling that maniac.”

“Tch… lucky for us, Null Knight is currently in the city… so if things get hairy, they’ll straighten those jerks and assist with the Vegetto on kicking their behinds.”

As the rest headed to the train station and boarded the train, Spina stood still for a moment to assess the situation. Seeing Gogeta’s behavior and Vegetto effectively got the former to stand down, and the two gossipers chatting away by hurling insults to the Breakers. Despite his changed demeanor as of late, the Saiyan turned his head towards the two. His eyes narrowed as he made a smirk.

“Huh…? You got something to say?” The man said, noticing the scars across his body since he wasn’t wearing a shirt.

A sudden purse of dark presence emitted his body as he placed his right hand over his jaw. Immediately, he ripped it off from his face, roaring at the two as blood slightly poured outward. Once again, fear settled in, causing the two to flat out run away in terror. “Monster!!” One of them shouted.

Scaring them off, Spina toss away the ripped flesh as he cackled; the presence disappearing quickly as it appeared and made his way to the train station. Naturally, anyone that witnessed his action were terrified and got out of his way. Once he enters and took his seat next to Berserk, his face had already regenerated.

Lucifer had already taken his seat, but he did enjoy the show Vegetto and Gogeta displayed out there. And especially how Avalon was ready to express the truth, until Cayde persuade him not too. “A good show but needs a little more spice to complete this full course meal.” He added on. “And I have a feeling that it will come.” Of course, he agrees with Berserk’s sentiment. “When one become too overreliance on an outside force, they started to lose their way and become pawns that stroke the egos of their “heroes”. And if those people fail to provide such ego boosts… the heroes, use to being drown in constant phase become drunk for continuous boost.” Lucifer turned to Vegetto with a smile. “But you’re not like that at all, right? You’re different, right?” He made a light chuckle.

Detective Spawn nodded towards Brachi. “It’s only one stop since it’s so close. So, when it stops, we’ll get off there and head straight for the Reflection Café.” He noticed that other passengers have huddled up with one another and staying away from the Breakers. Unlike the gossipers on the streets, they didn’t want to say anything to avoid the Breakers from lashing out. “We’ll be there, shortly.”
 
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