Attentat Mord [zhalla]

Her visit to Plant had been... Chaotic and confusing to put it lightly. She was sure at this point she'd be leaving with more questions then she came here with and she wasn't exactly a fan of that. She wanted some familiarity, something easy to follow and not so mindboggling just for a hot minute at least-- She knew they were still on the lookout for Nero's little brother too but so far the young lad had been evading her like a pro! And even then it was just tracking down a kid to reunite with his family... Not exactly the kind of thing she was used to tracking down with her skills as a bounty hunter.

Speaking of which, Plant had so many opportunities for such-- It always had but she hadn't dared come back to the planet till now. Why she made the wiggle room on her stubbornness against ever coming back for Nero she still didn't know, surely because she didn't want his brother who was still a child to end up lost forever, right? And to teach his family a lesson as part of their deal, yeah... Why didn't she do that with her own family? She couldn't stomach the thought really. Probably part of why running into Carro and the whole shenanigans there had been such a tummy turner for her so far. Tummy turning and family issues aside she at the very least could pick up a bounty hunting job or two while here for some extra cash-- And to get herself back on track a little.

Thankfully for her she'd gotten in contact with someone who sounded like they were open to paying handsomely for whatever job they had in mind she only need to go meet them in person to discuss the job and details that entailed. Easy enough! She'd chuck on her leather jacket, pulling on her fingerless gloves before clipping her skull mask on over her face. Now all she needed was to make her way to the location given.

Drumming her knuckles against hopefully, the right door the Saiyan would wait a moment to be invited in, preemptively emptying her mind of all the confusion surrounding her maybe-siblings and family troubles before eventually pushing open the door-- Only for the sight of her employer to hit her like a truck and not cause he looked worse for wear, but because she recognized him. She'd taken up a contract offering hoping to get away from the family problems for a minute or two only to somehow run into more of them. She was almost certain it was him at least-- He looked terrible but surely it was still him?

She snapped back to focus upon realizing she'd been frozen in the doorway clutching onto the door handle a little longer then deemed usual, almost not even realizing the plantian who had been on the other side of the door and kind enough to have opened it for her initially. Holding her breath she only hoped he too didn't recognize her even with the mask on to help hide her face. Last she'd seen him she'd only been real little afterall... Maybe he'd forgotten or simply wouldn't recognize her with how much she'd grown since then? She could only hope if it was in fact him.

Getting herself together enough to move again she'd shuffle herself into the room, taking up a seat in front of her employer. She could feel herself on the verge of sweating bullets but she choked them down-- She wasn't a child anymore, she was much older, much bigger and with the condition he looked to be in if she wanted to she could simply snap him like a twig should she want to. Zhalla wasn't about to let the mere memory of a man take her back several years of progress! For now she also simply assume he did not know who she truly was since he referred to her as her bounty hunter alias anyways. She figured it best to not keep the older man waiting too long and would respond with somewhat gritted teeth.

"To what do I owe the honour, Mister Bonewood"

The slimy smile that spread across the older Saiyan's face made her skin crawl and she'd reposition herself in the seat to try and keep her composure neutral in response. She could tell that he wasn't really the sort to be intimidated himself-- She'd had her fair share of employers who almost seemed more afraid of her then the person they where putting a bounty on, but Callion certainly wasn't one of them-- Quite the opposite actually, if not for her trying not to be, and her much stronger stature she'd certainly be a lot more intimidated by him.

Hearing him explain the situation regarding the contract she was again glad for the fact that she was wearing something that masked her face, as it meant he couldn't see the shocked expression that came in response to hearing him bring up none other then Captain Kabe. She'd of course gotten quite a number of contracts requesting Kabe's capture or disposal but as he pointed out the captain was Callion's son. He was putting a hit on his own sons head? She despised Kabe and had for quite some time now-- He'd been the first bounty she hadn't caught yet and she hated that little mark on her record but even she knew this was wrong, Kabe was an adult now sure and could look after his own but a parental figure having it out for his own child to this degree boiled her blood and made her think of the kids she had back home on Earth now without their homes because of similar circumstances. She'd bite her tongue and continue to listen for now.

"Kabe and I have had a lot of run-ins that's true. I know he's the Captain of a crew he more recently lost contact with and is trying to re-find. He's probably the most wanted man I know of, a pirate lord with a ship designed to devour other ships for resources... He's quite an alright fighter as well" It was odd to compliment the Captain even in the slightest but there was a reason he was the only bounty she hadn't yet caught.

Triple his bounty price sounded very nice... And the things she could do to help the kids back home with that money began to bounce around in her head at the thought. She'd been after Kabe for quite some time now but this was the first time she'd ever felt conflicted in taking up an offer placed on his head. "Thrice his bounty is... Quite a high number Mister Bonewood. Are you sure this is something you really want?" She usually wasn't one to pry or question her clients on their contracts or choices, usually it would make things too personal for her liking but she made an exception here since it already was personal to an extent.

As to be expected of him Callion was indeed quite sure of his decision about all this. Zhalla would fidget with her gloved hands a little as the other saiyan explained his stance on why he'd come to this decision, explaining that Kabe had apparently been responsible for his own mothers death-- Zhalla began to find it a little hard to concentrate though as the mural on the wall of the family had caught most of her attention. There were quite a number of saiyans up there including some vaguely familiar ones. She tried to advert her gaze and focus on the part of the tree on the mural he was referring to but there was a part of the mural that was rather scuffed but parts of it were still readable and none were wiped out to the degree Kabe and Callion's wife had been.

...Focusing back enough to at least try and muster up a response back she could at least somewhat understand-- If it were true at least, that Kabe had killed Callion's wife that the man might want his own son gone. She herself couldn't fathom herself in the same shoes personally but she could see how it'd drive others to the same conclusion as Callion. He also did make a point when it came to Kabe's bounty-- Nobody had a bounty on their head that high for no good reason... Right? "I imagine that would be quite upsetting. I'm so sorry about what happened to your wife Sir. It's understandable why you'd want him er... Removed" Wouldn't Kabe be one of his only living memories of his wife though? Maybe he didn't see it that way.

"That's quite the impressive mural also" She'd point out nodding her head to the family tree mural-- Her eyes doing another too-curious-for-her-own-good glance over it as she did. He soon explained though in even more detail just how much he'd thought all of this through-- He was so confident in his plan he'd already organized for Kabe to come here prior to having Gladiator even agree to the contract on his head. So confident on both that Kabe would even show and that she'd accept his deal. That sort of slimy confidence made her skin crawl. How could he be so sure of himself? And yet, it put her on the spot in such a way it was likely he'd get exactly what he wanted, to a degree anyways.

Kabe already being on his way here narrowed down her options quite a lot, she had half the mind to warn the pirate about this whole thing but she likely wouldn't get the chance before he got here. No doubt Callion wouldn't let her out of his sight to do so either. She'd just have to think of something else. "I can see that you've thought all of this through quite thoroughly, Mister Bonewood." She'd cast her eyes over and take another glance to the mural from behind her skull mask. There were a lot of other saiyans on there that he could be upsetting with this request, it was likely he didn't care about that though.

She'd glance up to the rafters he was mentioning and sure enough there was a space large enough for even her to fit comfortably in. He'd thought about all of this, sickeningly well. Down to even softening up Kabe so he'd be easier to fight. She'd draw her hands together and crack her knuckles as Calion slunk back into his chair with a disgusting amount of confidence on his face. She'd smile lightly behind her mask though and kept her posture casual-- Fighting Kabe probably came instinctively to her at this point and she need only tap into how her posture was during all the times prior to be convincing here too. She was going to fight him afterall just not quite exactly how Callion wanted her to.

"Consider it a done deal, Mister Bonewood. You get to be rid of this blot on your family as you pointed him out to be, and I get to finally hand in his bounty, setting my track record back to what it should be" By that she of course meant the part about how Kabe was the only bounty she'd yet to hand in-- Aside from Nero of course but no one needed to know about that one.

"I'll go get myself ready up in the rafters then, shall I? I promise, you won't be disappointed"

Hanging up in the rafters Callion had sorted out for her the bounty hunter pondered how to go about her next steps. Her mind wandered to Nero though and how she wished she could ask him what to do here and if she was doing the right thing, if only she could do that funny little mind thing he does from time to time to communicate to her, too bad she couldn't and would have to rely on him by chance happening to do it right this moment which was unlikely since he was busy with his own things at the moment. But still, she could've really used his calm, level-headed approach right about now... She'd never needed him before now for anything though? But this felt different, I mean it was the first time she actually felt conflicted to hurt Kabe of all people. Now that was a first!

She'd pinch the nose bridge of her skull mask as she dared not to take it off and as she did the lost Princeling of Kabe could be heard entering the oversized house belonging to his father. He soon reached the ready room too and the ginger saiyan began to really feel just how unsteady she felt about the whole thing. She did her best to keep it all cool though as she planned to not actually kill the man she'd been given many many bounties to bring in. How though could she pull this off? Kabe wasn't going to trust her she knew that much, at least their fighting would be convincing to Callion in that case but still, she wouldn't even get the chance to try and talk to the Captain so she'd have to work something out during their battle.

Hearing the other saiyan call out to the man who had just put a hit on his head, calling him dad even though it seemed like it had been some time since they'd seen each other, it made Zhalla feel awful guilty even though she knew she wasn't about to kill him despite Callion's wishes for her to do so. She tried to swallow the feelings for now though since she still needed to be convincing to Callion during the actual fight. The last thing they needed was for him to catch on to that she wasn't going to go through with his plan-- At least not fully.

Kabe soon took up the only other seat at the table and was quick to dig into the platters of good food that Callion had set out for the pair of them, the way he ate made it seem like he hadn't had a decent meal in a long time but given what was in front of him she couldn't really blame him either.
Soon enough the father and son would begin to converse from across the table mostly about how Kabe was rather difficult to find-- If only they had of hired her to be the messenger! Tracking Kabe was the easier part for her it was the taking him in that was hard, it would've given her a chance to talk to him too. That was probably why she wasn't the messenger.

From her vantage point in the rafters she'd watch the two talk for a while longer before getting back to her feet and readying herself in a crouching position as Kabe talked about his troubles on Namek. She kinda found herself missing Namek herself already but that was a thought train for another time. Right now she needed to focus as her next steps during this upcoming fight were very important to get right. She already had her axes at the ready to avoid the noise of having to unhook them from her belt. All she needed to do was wait for the right moment.

When the two both fell silent for a moment she decided then was the perfect time to strike and with that she'd lunge from her hidey spot of the rafters, pouncing atop the table between the two other saiyans scattering plates of food off the sides of the table-- Callion said nothing about keeping his place in-tact or tidy! "Need a knife for that?" She'd launch an axe forwards but rather then hitting Kabe it lodged instead in a massive chunk of meat on a plate in front of the captain. Yanking it back with the chain on the end of the axe and catching it with one hand once it was close enough. Aside from her initial remark though she had no other witty lines for the Captain and part of her hoped he'd find this odd since the two usually dealt blows to each other verbally during their fights as well and Gladiator was always in favour of her entrances having a slew of insults to him too however he'd find none here. It was a subtle thing but one she hoped he would notice nonetheless. She was aiming for subtle enough for Callion to not notice but convincing enough for Kabe to notice after all.

Zhalla watched Kabe look to his father for support, or for some sort of appropriate reaction after having seen her enter the scene, only for his face to drop upon seeing the opposite. She didn't even need to turn and see Callion to imagine what kind of face he had one right about now, Kabe's face in front of her said enough. She felt her guilt continue to grow seeing the happiness the Princeling had entered with slowly crumble away as he realized his father wasn't about to help him and that it was in fact his fault Gladiator was here at all. He hadn't invited Kabe here for a good old father and son catch up, he'd called him here to get him killed.

Hearing Callion's goodbye to the captain only added to that twang of guilt but she'd ready her second axe to try and hide any outward showing of how she actually felt, dropping the meat she'd stabbed with the other axe with a loud thud against the table top. The goodbye held such a lack of heart though it was disturbing, just how a father could muster up being this heartless towards his own kid she'd never understand even if what he said about Kabe's mother was true.

Eventually the other saiyan she'd battled so many times before now mustered up the strength and focus to bring out his trusty sword. As he yelled back she'd bring up her own axes in the shape of an x to block his oncoming attack. It was different hearing his remark back at her this time-- Usually she'd find it amusing but she could tell he felt upset and betrayed and for good reason too. Usually she'd already be brewing up some sort of comeback now too, like how it was a sword actually or that she had two to his one but she never brought herself to say any of it, both because it felt wrong to and because she wanted Kabe to notice the silence on her part. Their weapons clashing and scraping against one another was almost deafening without the witty banter, this was probably her first fight against the pirate that she wasn't having fun with.

Callion calling out to her to not dally only added to this and only added to the pressure of working out how she could go about this. How could she fake killing Kabe in a way that would convince Callion but didn't actually end the captain? How on Plant was she supposed to convey to Kabe that she couldn't just back down either? She couldn't afford a bounty on her own head from Callion for not going through on their deal. "I understand, sir" She'd reply back gruffly as she spun her axes around in her hands before bringing them down at Kabe again."You'll get what you paid for"

She'd bring her axes down upon Kabe's sword a couple more times with the force she would usually put behind their fights, sparks spitting from the axes as they collided against the metal, on her last hit she'd lean into the fight more attempting to hold the Princeling in a weapons collided lock for a brief few moments and although it was brief it was all she needed for the next part. She couldn't exactly tell where Callion was but she hoped he was somewhere behind her still and could not see her front as she let her masks' top side fold away and off to the side to reveal the part of her face from above the nose, mainly her eyes and eyebrows. She knew Kabe had seen her without her mask on and that he knew who she was under the mask but she also knew that he knew her risking showing her face to him somewhere where she could be seen especially was a massive trust thing on her behalf.

Her greeny pink eyes would lock onto Kabe's brown ones as she continued to push against their collided weapons. Though her full face wasn't shown it was enough to convey that this fight wasn't something she wanted either, she looked uncertain but most of all guilty. If only eyes could tell him that his father hadn't left her with much option here either. She'd tilt her head to the side and raised a brow as if to ask him non-verbally if he trusted her before just as quickly as it had folded away the mask moved to click back into place, covering her eyes once more. Hopefully it would prove to be enough.

Giving an almighty shove that sent herself sliding down the table further, knocking even more platters of food every which way around the room she would end the weapon lock the two were in before. It gave her enough distance for an attack too, she was still intent on not killing Kabe but she would probably need to deal some blows if she wanted to convince his dear old dad and get them both out of this alive. She'd wind up one of her axes into a spinning blur by her side, green ki crackling from the eye parts of her mask and through the arm that was in control of the spinning axe, the ki trickling down the axe and into the blades of it before she'd release it from it's spin, sending it straight for Kabe-- but not for anywhere that would prove lethal should it hit.

Zhalla could only hope Kabe managed to get at least something out of the look she could spare him in those brief few moments where they'd locked weapons-- His expression certainly had changed drastically between when they started the clash to when they locked eyes, so she was sure that he had at least picked up on something even if it was small. Though she couldn't really blame him if he hadn't picked up on anything at all either... It wasn't exactly easy to communicate without any words being exchanged whatsoever and this was only made more difficult by the fact that they had to keep fighting to satisfy Callion as well.

As if her shove down the table hadn't ruined enough of the contents on top of it already, the axe she'd sent flying down the table after Kabe with it's crackling energy would also send the rest of the cutlery and plates of food clattering to the floor if not shattering entirely-- Callion had asked for Kabe's head, he hadn't mentioned anything about not breaking his stuff! She was certainly not going to try and not break the old man's stuff that was for sure.

Thankfully the shove down the table also helped give Kabe more time to react to her next attack and he was quick to do just that. One moment he was down the table from her, then the next he had jumped off the top of her launched axe's head side both pushing the axe down to lodge it into the top of his end of the table and to help himself land behind her. It all happened so fast though that it'd take a moment or two for her to realize Kabe had actually landed behind her and tapped her on the shoulder! She'd of course turn to look and be met with a hard jab to her masked face which made her stumble backwards a bit before clutching at her head as it started ringing loudly from the hit.

Kabe reminded her of one thing though through all the ringing, her and Kabe knew of that other language-- Kabe more-so then her of course but she knew enough to know what he'd said just before having hit her just now. Did Callion also know of it? Surely not right? Otherwise Kabe wouldn't of given her the heads up, it'd seem too suspicious to his father-- Though she was sure if they said too much in a language he also didn't understand he'd probably also grow suspicious of that too so they would have to be careful on how much they said too and how it was said, having a casual conversation no matter what language it was in with Kabe here and now was suspicious too.

Still clutching onto her head Zhalla would eventually settle for something simple and would shout it back at Kabe in the same way she would when shouting a curse word at him in all their other fights "He forced us. Work with me!" To Callion this hopefully just looked like her cursing Kabe out for having landed a hit on her, but to Kabe she hoped the limited wording helped make things at least a little clearer in that Callion had basically forced her hand in this situation forcing the both of them into a fight and that they needed to work together to get out of this situation with the most optimal outcome for the both of them... Her words were limited though and so was the words she knew how to say that way as well.

It was difficult fighting the same way they always had on top of trying to work out how to basically fake Kabe's death enough to convince Callion without actually hurting Kabe. The added pressure from the older Saiyan sapped a lot of the actual fun there was to be had in fighting the Pirate out of the moment really, but Kabe was trying so she had to too. "Break it and your skull will become my next helmet" She'd bark as she yanked at the chain of the axe she'd thrown earlier, dragging it backwards towards her and splintering the top of the table open as she did. Instead of picking it back up again just yet though she would use a foot to scoop one of the nearby table chairs up by the arm of it before promptly using it to try and smash Kabe over the head with-- Being a little destructive of property was fun from time to time but it was even MORE fun when that property belonged to your rivals asshole father!

There'd been no word from Callion even after her usage of old saiyan so it would seem the plan worked as well as she was hoping it would so far! So long as the old man wasn't suspicious and the two kept the fight looking legit to him then she was sure they would work out something together through only the exchange of pretending they were cursing at each other in another language. She looked forward to whenever this came back to bite the old cockroach in the ass honestly, hopefully she'd be there to see that when it happened.

She was expecting some sort of resistance to the chair move she tried but to her surprise the piece of furniture would splinter into pieces as it came into contact with Kabe's head as he let it smash across his face. Ouch! He took it on with stride though and continued his way to her close enough to then headbutt her in the helmet-- But not before whispering something back, which was all she needed to hear to know he believed her and had understood what she'd tried to tell him with the limited speaking they had to work with. Great! They were making at least some progress despite the difficulty and despite their differences.

Zhalla would drop down backwards on the table's top thanks to the headbutt, catching herself in the fall with her hands though and using the momentum to push an upwards kick with her legs straight towards Kabe's gut. How do they get out of this? That was the hard question they needed to work out an answer for-- And quick enough that Callion didn't grow suspicious of that too. "He needs to believe you dead. Or we're both in trouble" Really reassuring to Kabe there Zhalla how could they convince his father of that without actually seriously harming Kabe?

Landing back on her feet atop the table the ginger haired Saiyan would finally yank her axe back up from the splintered wood that the table was becoming. "If we can convince him. I can take you out safe myself. He promised I could hand in bounty, meaning you come with me. He just need to think you are dead" Her sentences were a little broken considering she wasn't as familiar with the language as Kabe was but hopefully it still got the point across. She knew that the plan was a flawed one because first of all they needed to convince the old man of Kabe being dead which was hard enough on its own but also why would Kabe trust that she'd simply drag him out safely? She'd been after his bounty for years why trust her now? Especially with something so risky.

She'd give a huff from behind her mask before deciding to say something a little risky on her behalf to try and gain some of his trust in turn, she didn't like to tell the Pirate much of anything pertaining to her life outside of Bounty Hunting but here it felt needed. "I have kids back home he could endanger. I need you to trust me" She'd throw in an added hard boot of one of the nearby plates sending the plate and food on it Kabe's way before starting to wind up her axes again by spinning them by the chains, dicing up the floorboards of the room around them as they picked up enough momentum.