The Reality Vortex: Red Reputations

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Majin Bara and Jize looked at Detective Goku.

"If it wasn't for whatever rules are binding us here, we would gladly help in using our respective healing magic to help you recover faster," Jize said, offering her and Bara's aid to the detective, "and considering you're a Saiyan, that should make you also stronger in the process, unless we could still use it only when specific circumstances allow it."

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Brachi smiled at this as she watched the exchange between Vegetto and Brainstorm.

"Finally it appears we're getting somewhere..." she muttered.
 
The Reality News Network Headquarters

Vegetto's expression visibly lightened under President Beard's decision, sighing lightly and relaxing his tense shoulders. His eyes glanced between the guards that voiced their concerns, yet shame quickly led to his eyes darting away and avoiding contact in a similar mannerism to Beard's. A massive weight had seemingly lifted off his shoulders on an emotional level; the black energy disappearing nearly entirely while he remained firm in his stance.

He kept his stare firmly down and away from any potential look towards Bernkastel and Zenta; the shattered pride still smoldering in a bid to avoid any chance of potentially wounding taunts or comments. His eyes travelled down, however, at the gentle grip on his hand and Brainstorm now staring up at him in an intimate position, a small blush forming on his cheek.

"But why? This city...this world...only wants heroes. I'm not a hero...no matter how badly I wanted to be. Why would you waste your time, writing about a fraud?"




The Recon Hub

Despite Emilyn being quiet and actually avoiding any bout of providing any distraction, Cayde wildly flailed his free arm towards the woman while he made a loud hissing noise from his mouth before speaking in an angry loud whisper.

"Hey shush!!! I'm trying to talk to the detectives!!"

His gloved hands turned towards the console, dancing around the keyboard and inputting strikes to bring up two more holo images above the render of the giant city. One pulled up a 3D video playout of the current situation in the Reality News Network Headquarters, zooming in on Detective Spawn while he spoke.

"We read you loud and clear, detective. The generators are feeding us good footage here; you might wanna straighten up that collar there. And...oh wait what is-"

A loud whistle rung out over the comms, Cayde pulling the image closer inward to Vegetto and Brainstorm standing together.

"-Hey!! Get your hands off him, he's got the best buddy in the world in me, thank you very much!"

The mechanical voice was more playful than most, a mock pretend of jealously laced with a somewhat proud and congratulatory voice. Cayde chuckled once more, shifting his attention towards the image.

"Good for you buddy, but stay focused on the mission! I bet she won't be a very good girlfriend if she ends up a Xy'pher because you couldn't focus up."

However, Cayde focused in on the second image on the plaza, expanding and zooming in on another 3D render of the Breakers gathered with Bage and Goku. He blinked in confusion, Bage's response filling his ears.

"Uh, well why don't you just use that two finger teleporty move to get him here? Anywhere near you is a danger zone."




The Plaza

Gogeta glanced over his shoulder, his own eyebrows lifting in shock at the sight of Detective Goku joining the group. He lowered his eyebrows down a bit, however, quickly straightening himself out and frowning back at the detective while Bage spoke into the comms unit.

"Tsk, can you even fight? You're just gonna get in the way with a wound like that."
 
RNN Headquarters 

Bernkastel relaxed her posture with a silent sigh of relief, stepping back to let the guards go ahead and take the scroll. "Something actually went according to plan. Isn't that a first?" she deadpanned in a light jest, seemingly not yet willing to become overtly optimistic considering their track record. "Let's see how the rest of this mission goes..." Bern stood by the glass window observing the city bustling below, moments away from becoming a battlefield under Beard's authorization. 

I never noticed until now just how many people's lives are going to depend on us today... Last time the stakes were this high, she only worried about the her own survival and the lives of their ragtag group in Doom's Castle. There was the other time where she and Gogeta also tore up the Metropolis with little to no regard of the citizens; this was a massive leap of faith the President was taking on them. The anticipation made a pit form in her stomach and almost made her queasy, unsure if it was because she simply didn't want to be put in this position or because she was being forced to work with Vegetto. She made her way back toward the group as Cayde checked in on them through the comms.

"Looks like things are falling into place... I have yet to see swathes of smoke plumes or helicopters swarming off in one direction, so I take it Gogeta's behaving? Well, as behaved as he can be, anyway."

=========

"Yeah! Even if you're strong enough to still be kickin', you'd just be a sitting duck hanging around us! You're benched as far as our plan's concerned," Berserk chimed in. "And what the heck is a Composite Being anyway? You can't just say stuff like that and expect me to know it!"
 
Avalon continued to examine Goku before staring at the scar left by the Xy'pher that supposedly killed him. Something did not seem right to him, and he scratched his chin before looking around the plaza at the few who were left. Nothing out of the ordinary other than a few nasty looks from civilians. He remained silent, trying to quell his confusion with Detective Goku as well as the other odd things happening in the city. The ninja took a few steps away from the group to gather his thoughts and reexamine the evidence on his scroll.

Somethin' seems a bit off... I imagine the Xy'phers would be tryin' to push their way in here but I haven't seen a single one. Not even those Coin goblins showed their faces. Could it be that the Task Force got rid of them all before they entered the city? Cayde and May's surveillance haven't reported any Xy'phers either. That's so weird... The Xy'phers aren't that hard to spot, they're big crystallized people with weaponized bodies, so why hasn't anyone in this city seen 'em?

Avalon looked up towards the buildings, then at the crowded streets, and finally at Detective Goku.

Then there's Detective Goku; what the heck is a Composite Being? Is that was prevented him from dyin'..? Even if it did, how did he sense us if Spawn is maskin' our energy..?

The ninja narrowed his eyes and glanced at the RNN, sensing a horrible omen, one of which they could not prepare for. As he looked around the bustling city, everything looked as normal as it can get. The streets were calm and people were just ready to have lunch. Laughing was heard and distant talking. Avalon crossed his arms as people were making their way into the plaza, avoiding them like a plague. Finally, his eyes landed on Goku's wound. It was brief, but he could make out a fist. There was a moment of silence from him before something clicked in his head.

"Spawn said that Goku was stabbed from behind by a Xy'pher," Avalon moved over to Goku, adamant about his belief, pulling Bage and Gogeta away from the man. "In all the battles we've been in, I've never seen the Xy'pher use their fists since they prefer to impale their victims." Avalon then pulled out his scroll, bit his thumb, and drew a line of blood across the white paper. "And to make things more suspicious, Spawn masked our energy, so someone told you we were here." He zipped the scroll shut as it began to glow a radiant blue color. "Who are you..?"
 
Reality News Network Headquarters

Detective Spawn let out a sigh of relief, seeing the President making calls to the Task Force, and organizing a broadcast after getting all the evidence. “Hmph. I wasn’t so sure about you, but just like Avalon, you shown to have some considerable skills. Perhaps when this is over, I’ll put in an order to have you guys work for us. We need people like you—” Detective Spawn praise the android’s efforts. Similar to Bernkastel’s thoughts, there were few issues that nearly blew the mission, everything was going according to plan. But he felt a sensation that something was entirely off here. “Wait… what am I sensing? That can’t be…”

Brainstorm’s eyes soften when Vegetto’s confidence; like a mother caring for a crying child, the woman pushed the fusion closer to her until they’re practically mere inches away from each other. “Heroes are not made… they are born out of the circumstances.” She tightens her grip on Vegetto’s hand. “And they rise to occasion when their spirit can no longer coexist… with the injustices done to them or others. And once they are at that point, incredible things happen; like a miracle.” Hearing Cayde sound jealous of what’s occurring made her chuckle.

“You just need that drive again. Something needs to happen for you to rise to such occasion… only then, you will find the strive to become a hero, and I have the perfect solution to your problem, that will get you in that right mindset.” She tilted her head; the bangs sway a bit, covering her left eye. “And you know why? It’s more than just writing a simple article. I wish to see that spirit at its lowest, so from the ashes a hero is born—and I’m sure you can do it. You did it once before, especially that blue form, or blue devil, of yours.”

Her grip on Vegetto’s hand tighten even further, as Brainstorm started to smile. “Now, please once again show that state of anger and desperation. Just like you did to Doom when he killed your pathetic wife, that foolish Lambdadelta, and the rest of those insects.”

Detective Spawn narrowed his eyes when heard Brainstorm’s name. “Wait, what are you doing?!” He rushed over there to sperate the two.

“I, Valeria Meghan von Doom, wish to see that broken spirit flare up.” She said with a smile, as her left eye, using similar technology of that of Doctor Doom, scanned his entire body, along with the other Breakers, replaying Vegetto’s statements in the café where he thought about murdering people in his surroundings.

Spina had finally awoken from his slumber, hearing the name moments after.




The Plaza

Detective Goku went silent once they shown concerns over his wellbeing and his ability to assist them in battle. “…I … See… I … don’t… want to be… a bother…” He took notice of Bage, seemingly communicating with someone, and sensing that Spawn was indeed with the other Breakers. He looked around for a while, seeming looking for something until he was fixated on a particular direction from afar. After staring for a while, the Detective simply nodded his head.

Once questioned by Avalon on his identity, Detective Goku gave out a raspy laughter, but there was some skipping in between in. He shifted his position to stare at the Breakers once again, more specifically, Avalon. “You… are quick… on the uptake… But…”

In a flash, Detective Goku appeared in front of Avalon, forming an energy ball on the palm of his hands against the ninja’s stomach. Generating a powerful shockwave from the impact, He launched Avalon towards the direction of a gas station nearby, resulting an gigantic explosion. “Not… quick…e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-enough.” Like a fiery storm, the cloud of black smoke billowed upward towards the sky--it managed to covered both Detective Goku and the Breakers nearby.
 
May takes out one her maids and says "you know the drill by now 07." 07 says "yes mistress." May dos not know how long the three them are going be in recon hub. 07 is there to get food and drinks for the three of them so they can consternate on there work.

May says in a professional tone "I need to remind you all that saving you coins are not a 100% so don't take any needless risks."

May says "I think we found our capture target(Goku)."
 
As Avalon was flung away and the gas station exploded, there was a tiny moment of silence before a wave of desperate screams and yells. In a moment, the streets were flooded with people running in every direction, terrified by the explosion that happened. People ran out of buildings, joining the mass of people running for their lives. Many of them ran in random directions, but a grand majority of them ran to the plaza, almost ready to stampede the Breakers that were there. But they didn't. Instead, they surrounded the Breakers but kept their distance, like the scared civilians they are. The look on their faces showed horror, and terror. The two young boys Gogeta scared off earlier were part of the mass and had tears rolling down their eyes.

"P-Please! Help us, Gogeta..!"

However, before anyone had time to respond, the large crowd copied what the boys said in perfect unison. They took a step closer to Bage, Berserk, Lucifer, Jize, Bara, and Gogeta. Something was wrong! They were scared of the Breakers this entire time, but now they show no fear; instead, they were happy.

[video=youtube]

"Continue to help us... achieve our goal, Brea-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-akers."

Suddenly, from below, arms shot out and gripped the ankles of Bage, Gogeta, Berserk, Bara, and Jize, holding them in place. The mass of people were even closer than before until a few children came out of the mass, some would be recognized as the ones who were missing from Avalon's reports. They innocently laughed and giggled towards the Breakers until their laughing started to sound more glitch-like. Within a moment, each child jumped and latched onto one of the group members. The arms and legs of the children began to contort and bend until it, quite literally, merged with the other one, forming a very powerful and seal. This would make them incredibly difficult to pull off. The skin of the children began to peel off to reveal a glittering crystal underneath.

"We heard... your plan." The children said. "We heard... everything."

The children began to heat up rapidly, preparing themselves for a suicidal explosion in an effort to take down the group in the plaza. One of the boys was latched on to Gogeta while the other eyed the Fusion with a rather innocent smile, like an actual child. The boy began to tug and pull at the mask he had on, but it would not budge, and only when he turned, did it shine beautifully in the sun's rays. The boy's mask was made of crystal the entire time, but the disguise was so well, that no one caught on. Finally, the boy started to heat up like the rest of the children and jump on to Gogeta, hugging his chest and latching himself on like the others. The screams of the actual citizens around them were almost loud enough to block out what the little child-Xy'pher said to Gogeta.

"I... aspire to be like you..." The Xy'pher whispered ginger in Gogeta's ear. "I want to be a... murderer like you. So I did... Thank you for showing me... the proper way... to kill. Thank you... Go...geeeeee...taaa-a-a-a-a-a!"



Zenta's ears immediately perked up upon hearing the message the hero Brainstorm, or rather, Valeria Meghan von Doom, replayed. Upon hearing that Vegetto wanted to murder people around him. A lone sigh escaped his lips and he shook his head disappointedly. In a way, he didn't seem all too surprised considering the other things he's heard from his mouth, but he did not press on and left it alone. The beast turned his head to the guards, trying to stay on topic, but knew it would get out of hand with emotions running high.

"Well then, I recommend you start this broadcast immediately. I am getting tired of waiting."

Then his ears perked at the explosion outside and another sigh came out from his mouth.

"I hope that is not Gogeta..."
 
Majin Bara however growled as the children got hold of her.

"You must be thinking you're so smart at this time... but you have no idea what you're up against." She said.

With that, Majin Bara concentrated as the parts of where she was being held suddenly liquefied and turned to goop, right before she split herself into pieces and effectively escaping the grip of the Xy'phers, before reassembling at a short distance above the group, after which she suddenly formed herself into a spinning sawblade, sharp enough to cut through anything in her path and, in a move reminiscent of Kid Buu's Pearl Flash, she hurled herself towards the assembled/merged arms of the Xy'pher children, managing to cut Jize loose whom then used her own teleportation move to get into the air, before Bara reverted back to her normal shape, floating in the air. 

Jize on her turn summoned her trident and waved it into the air, summoning an energy pillar from below one of the Xy'pher children whom had attacked her to send it flying into the sky.
 
The Plaza

Gogeta's eyes widened once Avalon was suddenly launched backwards from Detective Goku's strike, immediately tensing up his arms and legs under the explosion that resulted from the nearby gas station. The black smoke that billowed outward masked him from sight for only a moment; a deafening and powerful force of wind dispersing the cloud and blue flames coating Gogeta in his entire body to clear up some of the air. He glanced around in his transformed state, his blue eyes finding the two children crying out to him.

The fusion grimaced, instinctively taking a step back at the chilling sight of the civilians all gathering around them in a strange unity. He gasped at the multitude of hands bursting through the concrete below his feet, pulling his body into a small curl while the two child like Xy'phers latched onto him. He quickly threw his arms out rather than initially trying to yank the pair off him, bright and rainbow colored energy spiralling up from the ground itself to form two bright spheres in his palms.

Each blinding sphere of rainbow colored, glittering energy sucked the light from the sky itself near the fusion as he glared down at both children. The positive energy would serve as a means to directly disperse and counter the negative power growing within each child; the culminating power that mounted into a threatening suicidal explosion slightly diminishing even in the presence of the rainbow spheres next to the Xy'phers bodies. The energy attack was a direct opposite of his move used against Ultraman in Reality Metropolis; the original application of the attack returning in usage as the move used against the corrupt energy that gave birth to Janemba from his timeline.

Gogeta kept a strong glare as he squeezed the energy down into his hands, balling the bright lights into his fingers.

"Stardust Breaker!"

In an instant, Gogeta extended both arms out, the cleansing energy forced into the two Xy'pher children by each one of his hands gripping down onto their heads. The immense explosion that nearly was unleashed soon vanished, diminishing and merely weakening the children enough for Gogeta to yank them both off his body. With a disgruntled yell, the fusion hurled the children high into the air, flinging them off his body.

The power behind the attack was shortlived, however, only serving to prevent the children from detonating in their rise of energy rather than debilitating them in their entirety. Gogeta deftly formed two energy spheres shortly after tossing them, and rapidly hurled both upwards at the children in the air as his direct attempt to destroy the Xy'phers.




The Recon Hub

Cayde stopped in place of his pacing, turning his eyes up at the sudden explosion that rung out in the middle of the large, life like replica of Reflection City before him. The small blip of smoke and fire was barely seen on the massive image, but Cayde zoomed the image in on the group as Detective Goku and the Breakers gathered vanished into the smoke. The developing scene played out long enough into Gogeta and Bara's combat engagement, prompting Cayde to quickly yell over the comms.

"Contact! We have Xy'phers flooding the plaza!"

Cayde's head lifted, signaling to May with his one free hand.

"May! Keep an eye on the plaza group, I'll give bird's eye support for the RNN crew!"

The image of the children morphing from their disguised states on screen was short lived, Cayde quickly forcing activation for the Breakers at the RNN HQ as he spoke in a hurried tone.

"It's a trap! The Xy'phers were masking their presence and pretending to be real citizens; you guys have to get out of there now!"

He quickly brought the image of the headquarters into view just as Brainstorm announced her true name to the Breakers and others gathered. Cayde blinked once at the name 'Doom', but his eyes soon turned onto Vegetto once she had finished speaking.

"Oh no..."





The Reality News Network Headquarters

Vegetto glanced to the side with the same small blush on his cheeks while Brainstorm spoke, a flattery clear in his stare but the uncertainty behind the claim ever present. The idea that this woman had a perfect solution to his issues seemed so unlikely, but as she spoke before and helped him achieve some bit of his confidence to be himself once again, perhaps he could see hope as he did all those years ago in saving Reality Metropolis. He zoned out slightly, half listening in to Brainstorm's claim while he thought to himself. Yet the words she spoke confused him subconsciously; demanding a state of anger and despair did not register in his brain, but alas, his own thoughts distracted him enough not to realize what she had truly said.

Only then, did the all too familiar name suddenly snap his attention back to reality, followed shortly in the insult of 'pathetic wife'. Vegetto's eyes widened, snapping back down to Brainstorm with a shocked stare. He instinctively yanked his hands back from her grip, taking a step back and looking at her with an incredulous stare.

Her full name finally revealed did not immediately illicit a reaction from the Potara fusion; his eyes and stare unchanged in the stunned disbelief of what was happening. He glanced around to the others in the room, the projected audio of his plan to save his image at the cost of innocent lives filling the room in the stunned silence. There was no capability to defend his words, no context that could explain it away. Only another stunning and humiliating defeat once more, the entire image he worked so hard to build finally destroyed and ruined for all to see.

Vegetto had only felt such a complete defeat once before, under the same namesake given. A flood of anguish washed over him as he remembered so vicariously and vividly the atomization of Kassava's face from Doom's white energy beam. The entire foundation that his wife held for him yanked from underneath, and the inability to truly defeat the one villain that had completely gotten the better of him in every way. Doom's smug attitude and the pure confidence he had in himself began to resurface in Vegetto's memories, and instead of seeing his former wife in Brainstorm, a new face formed in his eyes on the woman across the way. Yet it was not the masked man from old at first, only his own in a dastardly smug smirk in a memory resurfacing of his own words being used against him.

"Hey! Don't get so down in the dumps, you've won every fight you've been in! You know...everyone meets their better sooner or later.

The quote that Vegetto used against Buu surfaced in his own mind, forcing its way into his brain and subconsciously explaining how his ego saw his defeat to the original Doom and now, to another of his bloodline that perfectly annihilated his image to the Vortex. Yet no acceptance of humility came from such a realization, unearthed psychological damage that had merely been pushed aside for the years after Doom's defeat by the Breakers resurfacing along with the malicious energy that radiated heavily within Vegetto.

The black energy within his body magnified dramatically at a sudden burst of heat within the room, Vegetto's eyebrows slowly narrowing now that his focus could see Doom right in front of him. His eyes remained wide as red veins slowly began to form on the edges, black lightning crackling around his entire body from thin air while he balled his hands into fists. The veins on his forehead dramatically expanded in his immense, visible trembling while his eyebrows finished their sharpening into a wild, viscous stare of pure hatred.

In a thunderous roar, Vegetto threw out his right hand in a backhand slap to send Detective Spawn flying across the room and erupted forward in a destructive blast of energy that practically shattered the entire room behind him in his wake. He tackled Valeria through the massive wall of the skyscraper, shattering through it into the outside air and hurling down towards the nearby city streets.

A blue fire began to ignite seemingly from the waves of heat that built up around his body while Vegetto floated in the air outside the RNN headquarters for a moment, particles of light radiating upwards in the flames similar to the iconic glow of Ultra Instinct in his transformed state of Super Saiyan Blue. His blue pupils nearly had a crisp gleam in them, yet still lacked refinement from the familiar silver fire. He bolted downwards towards the city street, a pure focus of immense hatred and rage spurring him forth in charging towards Valeria Meghan von Doom.
 
Bage turned in the direction of Detective Goku as Avalon made the observation about his wound, quickly putting things together as he was pulled away from the other Saiyan detective. Unfortunately, by the time Bage reacted, he could only watch as Avalon was sent flying by the energy blast. The sudden smoke-screen over the Plaza, causing Bage to worry about the safety of the citizens around. 

The worry subsided as the people began to surround the group, and Cayde's voice ringing from the communicator about the Xy'phers overtaking the plaza. His eyes widened as the people shed their skin at the sou d of the announcement, revealing themselves to be Xy'phers as well, the scene was reminiscent of the ambush back at the Breaker's apartment.  

"Not again...!" He backed away, trying to keep his back covered by staying close to the other breakers. Bage gasped, his eyes quickly shifting down as if in a flash the ground erupted and his ankles were latched onto by more Xy'phers underneath the pavement. A grunt escaped the Saiyan's throat as another child slammed into his chest, forcing Bage into a tight bear hug. The communicator was thrown off onto the ground, being lost under the Xy'phers that swarmed the group. The Junior detective wiggled against the child Xy'pher as it heated up and prepared to explode. With quick thinking, Bage encased himself in his pink barrier and began to expand the radius. Slowly the children's grip on the Saiyan would begin to crack, the barrier moving their arms away before being shot into the air along with the other Xy'phers being thrown by Gogeta. 


Bage himself then hurried into the air to keep himself from being caught again, the smoke cleared a bit, the pink barrier releasing and revealing the Saiyan detective to be in his super Saiyan god form. He frantically looked around for the now crystalized detective Goku in hopes to keep him from separating their group by attacking them one at a time.
 
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