The Reality Vortex: Red Reputations

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Vegetto's eyes turned to the side, listening in on Bage and waiting for the detective to finish his proclamation. He pursed his loops in amusement, canting his head a bit and nodding in agreement before shifting his stare back to Cross.

"I am well aware of my decisions, and I thought hard on this one. As I told you before; you need to stop trying so hard to be in control. I told you to trust me, and now I hope you'll see that you can after this."

His head shifted slightly to the side, looking towards Brask and the other Rogues who began to get up now that the spell was lifted.

"In about three seconds, he'll start swinging at you. Don't worry; it won't hurt. Just let him do whatever he wants to do, and we'll walk to the medbay to get Spina the attention he needs. Come along."

Vegetto gestured for the others to follow, his attention turning forward. Cayde blinked as well, glancing between the Breakers and the group of Rogues.

"Wait, hang on....I know Brask is pathetic but....he won't even do a little bit of damage to them?"

Without another moment passing, Brask roared violently in immediately shooting up to his feet and charging directly towards Cross.

"You fucker!! You're dead!!"

The man instantly threw a punch forward at Cross' jaw, the fist slamming into the bone. Yet the man recoiled heavily in pain, yelping and holding onto his wrist as he collapsed down onto the floor while holding his damaged fist.

"Argh!! What the fuck?!"

The other Rogues cried out, quickly moving up to the kneeling Brask.

"Brask?! Are you ok?!"

The onlookers gasped at the sight, watching on with petrified stares at the development. Their eyes trained on Vegetto, who continued to move forward in a brisk walk while he spoke loudly, his head forward.

"You won't change minds overnight, but at least, you won't create more fear. Now come along everyone; let's get going to the medbay."
 
As the foolishness continued between the small group and the Breakers, Avalon felt the squeeze of Berserk's hand on his shoulder and slowly lifted his head to take a quick glance at her. He gave her a weak smile but seemed to keep his eyes glued to the ground. However, when Detective Bage spoke to the Breakers about Spina's recovery being in their hands, his head instantly shot up. His face went from depressed to angry at his speech. Everyone was trying to help Spina but they were forcibly being held back by this group. Avalon carefully took Berserk's hand off his shoulder and took a step forward. However, before he spoke, he saw the scene ended as quickly as it began.

"All this time wasted..." Avalon snarled under his breath. "Spina's life is in danger and we were held up... for a fuckin' show?"

His depression, albeit still strong, was replaced with rage. His hands balled into shaking fists before his lime green eyes shined a flash of turquoise. Everything Bage said was not right. It boiled his blood. To sit there and wait until everything was over, however long it may take, took priority over Spina's health.

"The fact that this was more of a priority than someone's life..." Avalon said in a mere whisper, just enough for Berserk to catch. "Is disgusting..." He then turned his head to the PowerPunk and frowned at the situation that unfolded. His face gave off many mixed expressions so it was hard to tell what was going through his mind. He shot a quick glance at Bage before releasing a sigh. "Right... we should follow them."

Zenta, on the other hand, was almost shaking with animosity. He was breathing heavier and quicker than usual to keep his composure. When things were bad, they kept getting worse and worse. His face was glancing back at Spina every few seconds, almost as if he was worried about his worsening condition. His energy continued to dip away, almost to the point where he could not see him anymore. All he saw was just a black outline of what Spina should be. In a desperate attempt to sense Spina, he yanked the Saiyan from the air and carried the man on his fluffy back.

"He's cold..." He said to the others before turning to Bage. "But you, Detective Bage... I never thought someone of your skill and status would piss me off... The fact that Spina's life was of less priority than the childish events we saw, whatever happens to him will be blood on your hands. Remember that." He turned his back to the Detective before following Vegetto. His ears drooped, an indicator of his grief. "Perhaps Cuki was right about you guys..." There was a slight pause in his tone. "And only now do I realize how much of a fool I really am..."
 
After Bage made his comments on the ordeal, displaying his disapproval of how some of the Breakers are acting in refusing to partake in the lesson. Lucifer remained silence throughout the conversation—personally, he did not have any stakes in this fight. Whichever choice they made from the moment Brask appeared and Vegetto’s insistence of letting this played out fundamentally did not matter to him.
 
What matter to him, ultimately was that several people were taking bold stances and statements on their options, creating once again, another conflict within the group. From Bage’s disapproval to Zenta’s threats, to Gogeta literally being silent throughout—a stark contrast of his usual, loud demeanor. And among their arguments, leaves the dying Spina that was merely holding on to a thread of energy as Cross request urgency—whatever it needs to be done, from what Lucifer understood on Cross’ stance, it can wait.

The angel perked his head when Vegetto stated that the purpose of this lecture was for the Breakers to let go of this “control”. Lucifer was on two sides on the fence on his statement: this was a classic case of free will—it is why he was enjoying such a scene that borne in front of him. All of them has something to say, and each party aren’t backing down. The other hand, this concept of “control” is misleading in a sense at least towards the Breakers themselves. The Breakers are free to move, make their choices, as with the other party. And such party do not like the Breakers moving around, they can and shall take matters in their own hands. However, if they were truly pathetic in every sense of the word—this is not control. This is reality; they were not up to the task to match their choice of stopping the Breakers.

The moment when Brask struck Cross, only to hurt himself upon impact and falling to his knees solidified such view in Lucifer’s head. These pathetic group were making a choice to bolden their stance in front of onlookers to break the “control” as Vegetto claim. Yet, this did not do anything, nor did it disavow fears. Instead, the mere sight, from the out lookers, that Brask and the others were so incapable of doing any form of damage emphasized such fact—the Breakers were unstoppable monsters that can walked through here without any worry, and if the onlookers were to make the choice to stand against them—it will be futile.

Lucifer’s lips curled a bit, trying to hold off his laughter after seeing such dismay of this apparent lesson. The onlookers’ reaction was nearly the “tipping point” of provoking his ghastly laughter, but held it together a bit more, until at least, head to the medical place.

However, the time-lapse had gone long enough. Cracks spread across Spina’s body and hardened. Instantly, a strange, black aura engulfed the Saiyan, causing his weight to jumped dozens of times greater. It slipped through Zenta’s arm and shoulder, crashing through the ground, resulting a crater from the impact. Motionless and “life energy” had now disappeared completely, the old Saiyan laid there and seemingly dead.

Lucifer narrowed his eyes and burst out laughing, as loud as he could as tears rolled down from eyes to his cheeks, unable to contain it anymore. “There it is!”
 
Berserk started to walk along behind Avalon as they began moving toward the medical bay with Vegetto and Cayde, holding her arms behind her back with the tense atmosphere still lingering. But being held up didn't bother her as much as it did the Breakers proper; to her it didn't seem like Spina's condition would get any worse. However, the loud sound of a thud made her spin around. "H-huh? Wh-what just happened?!"

Bernkastel's mostly placid stare remained as she watched on with the aftermath of Brask trying to hit Cross, somewhat distracted. Floating along until she watched Spina's body suddenly fall to the ground. While Berserk questioned aloud, Bern moved closer to examine him up close. The old Saiyan was cold to the touch, and she failed to detect even a sliver of life force from him. Ignoring the others, Bernkastel tried to shake Spina awake by the shoulder. Immediately doing so she knew something was very wrong with him. "Hey... Spina. Wake up... hey, you, wake up..." Keeping her head down, her small voice fell silent for several moments as it became obvious Spina wasn't going to.

"Is he...?" Berserk asked, not wanting to finish the sentence. Bern hunched over him, her shoulders tensing like she was holding it in during her long pause. Looking over her shoulder finally, Bernkastel's hateful expression directed disgust straight towards Vegetto.

"You liar! You gave us your word Spina would be fine! But now he's-- he's--!" Cutting herself off as if saying so would be too much, Bern stood up with her bangs hiding her eyes. "So this is our 'lesson', dealt out to us at our lowest? And you can stand to walk beside him with his back turned to us, Bage?! To think you'd say such things after all that's happened today... knowing all we've done to try and save Spina from this! You're terrible, Detective... just terrible!" Bern let out a choked sob into her white sleeves.

"W-wait, wasn't the lesson just to make sure a fight wouldn't break out?" Berserk's alarmed look was still there but Bernkastel was confusing her. "S-surely he didn't mean to--"

"Think about it... don't you think it's rather strange Vegetto knew exactly when that man would try and strike us? Saying he was supposed to have finished us off?" Bern replied, causing the Powerpunk's eyes to widen. "Spina's life means so little, but we're the ones prolonging his suffering? I can't bear to look at them (Bage and Vegetto). How awful... I fear what may happen once we enter that tower..."

Berserk became furious, glaring with immense suspicion towards Vegetto as she put together her interpretation of Bern's statements. "So this whole thing is just a set-up?! I should've known...!"

"Not even I could think of a lesson this cruel, Vegetto. I thought we were still friends after all this time... taking advantage of our trust..." Bernkastel covered her face in her hands with a muffled cry. "You're truly terrible!"
 
Brachi and Bara both were shocked, while Jize had a mournful expression on her face.

"Regrettable..." The Supreme Kai said, "but a harsh lesson is needed at times for everyone involved. Even Vegetto himself said he had to learn this lesson, albeit in his own way..."

Brachi looked as if she was about to retort, but Jize cut her off.

"Brachi, as much as you would like to talk back and all, you have to understand the seriousness of this situation. I have not known Spina too much compared to you, Bara or any of the others whom may have associated with him up to now, but this entire mess is out of our hands. Plus given your situation, you don't have much room to talk back." She said.

The amalgamate looked a bit dismayed at that.

"Look, you've admitted your mistakes, and bear in mind that you're not the only one at fault here, but please, for once try to put your own goals aside and look around you for real..." Jize said, acting like a mentor.

Brachi remained silent at that, looking a bit ashamed. She realized she had still clung onto her own goals, even though she claimed it has kept her sane throughout the whole ordeal... but where at which point did she lose control? She wasn't used to someone manipulating her dreams that exposed her fears to the surface, which had effectively drained her up to her current state... it appeared that for once, Brachi had to swallow her own pride and admit that she had lost her way... 

"I've screwed up quite badly, haven't I?"
 
As the others passed him, Bage stern look remained firm. He knew it would be a hard lesson to learn, but in his eyes, at Brask's useless attempt to fight the Breakers only solidified his point. Showing any form of force against people like this would only show that the Breakers were as bad as they were in the Metropolis city. All he wanted was to avoid another fight and ultimately a power struggle, especially due to the Breakers tendency to start them. Spina would be okay.

But quickly his demeanor changed at Spina suddenly being engulfed in the black aura. Bage was now afraid that the worst had taken place. He watched Bernkastel attempt to wake the motionless saiyan to no avail. The detective clenched his fist when she whirled around and laid into him and Vegetto. "That's not..." Bage tried to denounce the claims that this was some sort of set up to end Spina. But now the words placing the blame his way began to sting even worse. He couldn't say anything. Why? He never cared about the Breakers! They were just a group he was left to babysit for Goku!​
And what of the real reason Spina was in this position!? He glanced at Gogeta for a moment during this whole thing but then turned his gaze to the ground. This wasn't his fault! But, despite that, his brain repeated Zenta's words in his mind to his dismay.​

Blood on your hands.
 
After seeing Brask's sorry display of any meaning of strength, Cross thinks "That to show we don't have control? I long excepted that fact living here in the vertex. There is a teachable moment here." Cross says looking at Brask and the other Rouges "We are not trying to become you're foes. I do hope you can look past what you think you know about us." The tone was not one of derision but the tone is giving advice and solace. Cross looks at Vegetto, Cross was not impressed with the lesson, the timing nor the method it was thought. Cross thinks "Vegetto must known." Cross tells Berserk "Vegetto could just teleported us there and skipped the tour. A lesion that could be easily misinterpreted. I ask you remember this felling and avoid the self righteousness that the Rouges, Vegetto and Bare have shown us today." 

Wend Spina collapsed on the ground, lifeless. Cross normally empty eye sockets sparked red. It was hard if Cross is anger or simply disappointed. Cross looks at both Bage and Vegetto whom were out spoken for this farce. Cross says with in a chilling tone "You both better hope Spina truns in to a coin and not one those Xy'pher: we had a chance to save him right away but chose to delay us for some pointless banter. What did it prove? Nothing that we all did not already know." Cross scenes the "strangeness" coming form Spina. "and you may not blame us for your own self righteous. Now. Can. we. Go." As Cross tone got darker and colder so to did his aura.
 
As Spina gained more weight on his shoulders, Zenta struggled to keep himself up before falling flat on his face. There was a moment of silence as the beast wiggled about and pushed himself up to his feet. Everything was piling up on his shoulders and he was truly at his limit. He felt like a failure, feeling that Spina's death was his responsibility. The promise he made to Cuki grew heavier on his chest. He stayed there, motionless as Spina's heavy body crushed him. In a way, he was defeated; physically, mentally, and now spiritually.

Keep them safe, Master...

Bernkastel's cries caught his attention as he lay there. Her attempts to shake the Saiyan awake and her flowing tears seem to revive something in him. The cries of a woman hit the beast in his core. It was something that Zenta could not tolerate and broke his heart every time. Underneath Spina, Zenta struggled to get up, pushing himself upwards with every bit of strength he had. He felt useless, powerless, and meaningless. As Bernkastel cried, his heart was breaking in two and he felt no closer to lifting Spina up.

Suddenly, the weight started to lighten and he turned to see Avalon rushing in, picking up Spina by his arm and leaning the Saiyan against his shoulder. He struggled as well but with the combined strength of himself and Zenta, they were able to lift him up by his shoulders.

"I know Boss can be tough... but he's got a good heart. He cares about us that he would risk his life to protect us from Roya..." Avalon said as he shifted Spina slightly to make him more comfortable before shifting his tone to Bage. "If Detective Goku was here, he would have taken Spina to the hospital, no questions asked. And he hates us! How can you call yourself a Detective for Justice when you're willing to watch Spina die?! All for what?! A lesson that we already know?! ...Honestly, I expected this to come from Gogeta the Traitor and not you."

Zenta seemed shocked to see Avalon burst the way he did. He did not question it as both he and Avalon hoisted Spina on their shoulders. Then his attention shifted to Bernkastel and her sobs of grief. Very gently, he pulled the Witch closer to his fluffy body and placed his free arm around her in a comforting half-hug. It was the only thing he could do as he allowed her to cry puffy fur.

"Lady Bernkastel..." Zenta said in a shaky voice, almost as if he was holding back tears of his own. "I will promise you Spina's safety. I will do what I must to make sure he wakes up... But you must be strong too, My Lady. For Spina."

"Yeah, that's right Bernkastel!" Avalon chimed in. "Boss ain't done kickin' yet and neither should you! You want him to wake up and see you crying? No way, you ain't a nerd or a lame-wad! Show him how tough you are!"
 
Vegetto's eyebrows perked at the sudden surge of black energy, his head turning around to see Spina crashing to the floor. His eyes remained wide in confusion at the development, staring down at the seemingly dead corpse of the Saiyan. His eyes instantly narrowed, the glare training in immediately onto Lucifer at the sound of the angel's laughing, but upon Cross' response, his eyes turned back to meet the red glow in the skull's sockets.

The dark and cold tone behind Cross' words did little to phase Vegetto's immediate stance, and in contrast, a mounting heat began to boil in tandem with the demands. His eyes turned down towards the others rushing up to Spina's seemingly dead corpse, the glare growing stronger in watching Bernkastel's demeanor specifically. The old demeanor of the Potara fusion was present once again as he turned his eyes back to Cross; the hot headed, arrogance of what seemed like an eternity ago reared its head once more in the face of the failure to account for Spina's true state of affairs. In contrast to the attempted warm welcome and desire to amend the damage done by the departure, Vegetto stood in defiance with his hands balling into fists. His muscles visibly tensed; an all too familiar threat of attacking building in his mannerisms.

Yet instead of his arm shooting up into a heavy punch, Vegetto's arm shot up to the side and fired off a small sphere of white energy. He guided the little ball using two fingers, the sphere disappearing past the skyline and rising towards the end of the mountain. The little ball could be seen smashing into a window of the largest tower in the city about roughly a mile away, and once it was inside, Vegetto raised two fingers to his forehead.

"My mistake. I forgot you knew everything, even though you never seem to use that knowledge properly."

His eyes turned to the side, the frustrated dual voice ringing in speaking without waiting for a counter to his quip.

"Cayde, get everyone together."

Cayde whistled to himself as he ran up to the group, carefully and gently guiding each of the Breakers to lock arms or touch one another once again. Yet he carefully pulled Gogeta along away from touching any of the others; the android speaking with a low whisper towards the fusion.

"Hey...I know what you did. Keep doing what you're doing; don't say a damn word until we're done here for both our sakes."

Gogeta kept a strong frown, a reserved and shamed expression covering his face as Cayde gripped onto Vegetto's shoulder, nodding curtly back to the man. In an instant, the group disappeared into thin air, just as Brask had managed to regain his footing and attempt another swing. The angry man crashed into the streets once again, the other Rogues rushing up to his aid as the crowd of onlookers gasped in surprise of what just transpired.



The group reappeared inside of a large, white metal room in an instant. Lines of clear tubes of liquid were up against the walls, a few men and women clad in white coats looking over what appeared to be similar healing tanks of the old universe Vegetto hailed from. A few men and women worked behind the group as they arrived, trying to comprehend what happened from the window shattering and gasping loudly once the Breakers arrived on the open floor in the center of the room. The broken glass behind them remained from the sphere that had pierced through it, and Vegetto reached up to absorb the small little sphere back into his body.

His head turned down, and the Potara fusion promptly reached out towards the collar of Spina's armor near the back of his neck. Without care of making sure anyone that had helped hoist the older Saiyan up had let go, Vegetto yanked Spina from the group's grasp with a small grunt while turning his head to a group of scientists that walked up to greet the group.

"Move."

The callous tone behind Vegetto's words indicated once again his flaws, and the Potara fusion pushed past the group of scientists while nearly dragging Spina by the collar with one arm. He found the nearest healing tank within a few steps, yanking open the door leading into the empty chamber and promptly tossing Spina inside. The liquid began to shoot up from the base of the large machine; lifting the body up in its liquid while Vegetto turned on his heel and walked past the scientists; a stern stare on them while he walked by.

"Try to fix this."

Vegetto walked back up to the Breakers, his arms at his sides. His glare had remained firm; the stern tone behind his dual voice remaining once he spoke again.

"I'm sure you already know this too, but my medical equipment is inferior to other advancements in this reality. So if he died, there's likely nothing they can do."

His eyes snapped towards Bernkastel first.

"Show the rest of them your real face. We're not playing games anymore."

Vegetto's eyes shot towards Lucifer second, not waiting for a reply.

"And you. Explain what happened to Spina, or I'm throwing you out of my city."
 
Bernkastel buried her face into Zenta's fluffy fur, nodding as he and Avalon moved to comfort and encourage her. "Yes... I'll put on a brave face for his sake."

Berserk eyed Vegetto and Cayde cautiously, begrudgingly holding onto whomever the android had nudged towards her, though she grew more restless watching Vegetto's demeanor darken considerably in response to so much negativity towards him. Wincing in preparation he'd do something brash and violent like Gogeta, she let out a small yelp of alarm seeing an energy ball form in his palm. Shutting her eyes, she soon felt herself seemingly phase in and out of where they had been standing. After a few seconds, Berserk peeked a look and noticed they had teleported again. As soon as she could break away, she ducked behind Avalon and stuck her tongue out at the fusion.

Bernkastel stayed close to Zenta while Vegetto took Spina roughly into the healing chamber. When he turned back to address her specifically, she stopped nuzzling the fluffy beast and stood straight. Berserk grimaced at him but squinted at Bernkastel's odd demeanor; the Witch slowly pulled away from Zenta and gave him a small smile even though she knew he was blind.

"You two are quite the gentlemen-- it will be good to make you popular with the ladies one day, Avalon. I do apologize for having to use your sensitivities like this," Bern said gently to the two, lifting her head to reveal her eyes were devoid of any tears. 

Berserk let out an annoyed grunt at her, glaring at the witch. "Now that's just playing dirty. Brat oughta take a few pages out of your book with a move like that!"

"Perhaps. I simply lack the patience to deal with these sorts of things fairly." Once Bern turned towards Vegetto her fairly sweet tone shifted to one that matched her cold stare, giving the fusion a contemptuous smirk.

"My, you're awfully harsh. Why so serious?" She gave an unceremonious shrug with an arm raised, seemingly mocking Vegetto's evidently irritated state. "I'm only imitating your efficient manner of pushing things along where they ought to go. Though I'll never quite be able to reach your level, Vegetto. Or should I say... Clark Kent of the Daily Planet?" Her smile faded away after uttering the alias. "Wonder how long you've been skulking around Reality Metropolis playing dressup like that. But enough of that right now-- since we're done with unnecessary distractions and I got my fill humiliating you, we can get to the crux of the matter."

Bernkastel's gaze shifted towards Lucifer, leaning against the wall by the pod. "This is no ordinary Coin transformation, is it Lucifer? Touching him is like touching a statue, and that black aura is alarming to say the least. So what's going on with him?"
 
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