Special Deliverence | INVITE

    The hairs on the back of Carro's neck stood on end when the sound of heavy footsteps began to echo down the overgrown road through the outpost. He slinked further back into the darkness of the alleyway, crouching low and just barely peeking out enough to get a glimpse at his apparent pursuer.

    The mere sight of the comparably colossal, masked saiyan made an instinctive chill of terror ripple down the little mechanic's spine. That instinctual gut reaction of fight or flight tugged at his body. His Scouter oh so helpfully informed him that the other mercenary was fifteen-thousand times stronger than himself... But maybe this towering, terrifying hunter was just passing through? Maybe they weren't after him, and if he walked right out there now they would both just wave hello and move on with their lives.

    And then she opened her mouth and spoke, and Carro was overcome with dread.
    She knew he had a brother.

    Carro hastily retreated into the darkness of the alleyway, rounding a corner and pressing his back against the wall as he tried to recompose himself. A lot of people had brothers that were looking for them! Maybe this was just a coincidence!... Or maybe, Gray hadn't killed all of the monsters that hurt Dion. He couldn't have missed one, had he?

    This could be someone who knew what he did, and was here to take revenge on Amara's former friend. Maybe they'd already sent more to retake his sibling. Carro felt ill, and could already feel tears prickling at the edges of his eyes, masked beneath the opaque lenses of his goggles. He could not take chances. He had to get out, drop that stupid package off as soon as humanely possible, and then get the hell out of here and back to his brother before anything bad could happen.

    Carro held his dart gun in his teeth as he grabbed onto a crumbling brick wall, scaling upwards with the grace and speed of a monkey in the trees. Though, as he climbed on top of the cracked rooftop, his foot slipped on a patch of unstable shingles, sending a few clattering to the earth below with audible clunks and clicks. Each impact made him wince as if in pain, knowing that those were well-within earshot of that other Saiyan. Carro made haste, quickly attempting to scale up into the nearby treetops before he could be tracked.

    Just as Carro had managed to stabilize himself atop the tree branches, the canopy shook as the wall he'd just been perched upon moments prior crumbled away with the force of a single punch. The smaller saiyan couldn't hold back a yelp as he scrambled to regain his footing, the tree momentarily shook by the small shockwave stirred by Zhalla's strike, along with a few particularly rebellious fragments of broken bricks that were sent flying upwards and past Carro. Carro gripped onto the tree for dear life as he pictured the bloody pulp he'd be if that punch had hit him.

    And after that, his pursuer had the gall to call out again, asking for a nice, peaceful chat that most certainly wouldn't end with his body buried under the rubble of another one of the outpost's crumbling walls. There was something else about her words that briefly caused Carro to feel something other than animalistic fear, though. She counted down as if he was some sort of misbehaving child, earning a response from the small silhouette in the trees in the form of an annoyed twitch of his eye.

    Carro slinked back, tucking his tail between his legs as he briefly weighed his options. He flipped his vest's hood over his head, then took in a slow, shaky breath. The canopy began to rustle as he hopped down to a lower branch.

    And then, Zhalla would come face to face with a tiny, orange-ish younger sibling, but not the one she was looking for. Carro hung upside-down from one of the lower branches. The small saiyan's green eyes locked with Zhalla's, fear evident in his gaze despite his best attempts to suppress it. His gloved shaky hands fiercely gripped the branch like a lifeline, while his monkey-like tail was hooked inside one of his belt's pockets. His ragged scarf covered his lower face, and only a few strands of dusty orange hair peeked past his hood and goggles.

    Carro was already beginning to regret taking this risk to heed the other saiyan's words. He knew that Plant's saiyans were battle-hungry brutes for the most part, and that this one was very likely out for his and Dion's head. But while he was small and slippery, he doubted his ability to outrun Zhalla. "Alright. You got me." Carro exhaled, speaking in the straightest tone he could muster. Kais, he was so dead. "What do you want?"

    Carro remained curled protectively atop the tree branches, staring skeptically down at Zhalla with baited breath. He fully expected the worst, but instead of being blasted into ash, the other Saiyan... apologized? Carro tilted his head and narrowed his eyes, his posture remaining stiff and tense. Was this all mere coincidence? That was hard for the tiny mechanic believe with all the doubts festering in his mind. Just so happening to be on the lookout for someone else's little brother in this isolated expanse of the wastes hit too close to home for him to ignore.

    "I've already scanned this area several times with my Scouter, and there's no one here but you and me." Carro affirmed, still clutching his dart gun's holster. Anyone with the ability to sense Ki or even a standard Scouter could pinpoint the notable ki signatures in the area. He'd assumed there was one built into that menacing mask Zhalla was wearing earlier. "You're far off the trail of whoever you're looking for, and I have places to be right now." He shuffled a bit further back into the branches. He hadn't forgotten his task of delivering the package propped on his back- either he got the mystery box to where it had to be on time, or he and Dion would be stuck on Plant for who knew how many more months. The mere thought of staying on Plant for another day made Carro shudder, looking astray with a grimace.

    He snapped his attention back to Zhalla as she offered to help him back down. He shivered slightly, cautiously inching back to a branch a bit further back in the tree. "I- I think I'd prefer to stay up here." There was too much for him to lose. While she claimed to be looking for someone else's lost sibling, the chance for that to be a lie to gain his sympathy was too worrying for Carro to ignore. The paranoid saiyan gripped his dart gun tighter. "...Be honest with me. Is this a ploy to get me to lower my guard? Who are you working for?" He growled back and drew his weapon. He kept his gun lowered for the time being, letting it serve as a silent threat. While he was weak, feigning confidence and attempting intimidation had worked for him in the past when he was on Plant's streets.

    Amara's betrayal still left a deep sting in the younger Hofferson's heart- his trust was much harder to earn than his older brother's.