Defenders

In a warehouse in the dark corners of East City in the middle of the night, a gang of thugs is carrying a box full of golden cat statues outside to store them in black SUV's. A burly man wearing a shredded sleeve vest, cargo pants, and a head bandanna watching his crew go to work as he swishes a lollipop in his mouth. "Move faster people, I want all of those boxes locked in the trunk as quickly as possible! I don't want any cops or those laser-spitting losers knocking down our doorstep, I ain't got all day!" He barked his orders. It was the perfect evening for trafficking stolen goods, with no annoying witnesses or any of those damn do-gooders to show up and ruin everything. Selling these golden cougars will make him enough bread to live a life of luxury, he's gonna take his wife and kids out on a vacation to Papaya Island.

"The only loser I see is a smelly lumberjack with a mustache!" a voice taunting the ringleader and a boot slammed his back knocking him unconscious. Russ enters the scenes hyped up and ready to throw down with the criminal underworld. The rest of the thugs stopped what they were doing and watched their boss fall and kiss the ground with his face, they gave Russ various reactions and brandish their weapons consisting of crowbars, pipes, baseball bats, and laser handguns.

-"Aw man, busted!"
-"It's that guy from the news! The blue crusader!"
-"I TOLD Louis we should stick to gas station robberies tonight but NOOOO!"
-"He's gonna be black AND blue once we're through with him! Get him!"

Ultimately they were none too pleased their evening is spoiled and the blue-haired bastard will pay dearly with his life. They all rushed at Russ to give him a beating of a lifetime and his response? The do-gooder lunged himself at the raging mobsters and they each tried to whack him with their melee weapons. Russ vanished out of sight leaving them stunned. "Where'd he go?" they all looked around trying to comprehend his disappearing act until Russ reappeared behind them in the air and double-kick two on the ground unconscious.

He grabs two more thugs and slammed their heads together and threw them at the building walls. He slams an elbow on another one in the face knocking them out as well. One goon shot at Russ with a laser pistol and he dodged accordingly, "Why you always gotta rain on our parade freak? Can't you leave all of us alone?" they whined.

Russ moved swiftly and knocks the wind off them with a kick before he is surrounded by the final three gangsters. "Aww don't be so down in the dumps Vinnie. In jail, you all get three square meals a day. A knuckle sandwich, a knuckle sandwich, and a knuckle sandwich!" He slams a fist in the faces of the last three goons in sync with his jokes until they're sprawled out on the ground with the rest of their friends.

Russ stood in triumph in the middle stretching his arms after a good workout. "Score one for the science geek, a zero for nameless thugs and bruised egos." He is proud of his handiwork. Russ dialed for the police to come and haul them all to the slammer and left the scene before they can arrest him. Before going back home he felt a surge of power away from the city, its enormous energy almost deleted his soul and made him feel like a ton of bricks. "What..the heck..was that!? That power almost sucked the life outta me...It can't be good, I better go check it out." He flies off the ground and heads toward the interloper outside of East City.

-

Russ landed in Diablo Desert and picked up a second energy signature, this one isn't as strong as the other and something about it feels awfully familiar...He'll worry about that after seeing what the fuss is about. The man followed the signal and came across two women in the middle of the chilly desert. He gazed at the red-headed lady for a moment, mildly stunned at her presence here. No wonder he recognized her energy, she was one of those fighters in Battle Island.

'She's Alive..' he thought. Technically they never met but Russ is relieved she's okay. Marrow told him everyone was dead except Yogu yet she was right here...in the flesh. If she survived the attack then those other fighters must be alive too. His focus moved over to the powerful Saiyan in front of him and he pushed those negative thoughts aside and grins crossing his arms. "Holy moly! Those TV commercials were right on the money, vegetables DO make us big and strong." He quipped.

"Not a hero? Don't wish to fight?" Zuqetta would remark as she pushed away from Ruby's defenses, "Then flee as the cowardly do, and allow your world to be destroyed, I've no interest in cowards." She'd say as Russ charged in with vigor, seeking to unleash a powerful strike against her.

As Russ drew near, Zuqetta would throw out her hand to catch the man's fist; his burning Z emblazoning itself upon her palm before ultimately being snuffed out as a shadowy energy enveloped her arm. The energy would make to spread from her arm onto Russ's own arm if he allowed it, before coiling much like a shadowy serpent and squeezing tightly in an attempt to break the mans arm.

"On the contrary, the room service was to die for!" Zuqqetta would shout as she attempted spin Russ through the air before throwing him at full force towards the sandy ground below, "You should try it!!" She'd continue before raising her hand above her head and forging an energy sword of light; throwing her right hand downward, the sword of light would blast down through the air upon Russ without mercy, though in spite of its design, would contain neither the sharpness nor force necessary to impale him should it connect.

By now his ability should've exploded and kicked up a sandstorm in Zuqetta's face, but nothing worked. She caught his technique and snuffed out the glowing Z and snared his arm with a darkness-clad substance. The bone in his arm is about to be crushed from her grip if he doesn't do something about it. "ARGH! Heh Heh...I would...but services in the afterlife are terrible." Russ speaking through his teeth closing one eye and grinning. He vanished from her sight to escape mutilation and a humiliating broken arm pun.

Russ reappeared on the sandy surface rubbing his arm to check for injuries. Thank the Kais nothing's broken, whoever this woman is has a vicious side to her fighting style and wants him dead. Case in point she conjured up a sword made of light and intends to impale the wise-cracking vigilante, cutting the string holding his life force. The young man raised his left hand and pointed two fingers at the sword-shaped projectile, holding his wrist he shot a yellow energy beam to vaporize the weapon. Russ is short of breath having used up too much energy to save his own skin, it wouldn't stop him from smiling and continuing his jokes.

"They don't even have WIFI!" he spread his arms out to be faux dramatic. Do they have wifi? He has never been to Otherworld to know if it's true or not, does heaven own an internet router with the best latency? If so...dying doesn't sound so bad. The red-headed martial artist is fed up with the battle and flew away leaving Russ behind to fend for himself.

"Hey wait! Where you going Red!?" facing her direction, she probably didn't hear him and went off to her own affairs. She made it clear she isn't a hero and it's whatever. Russ faced Zuquetta and frowned nervously, he formed a battle stance with the fate of the world burned in his mind.

"Aw Nuts." well..if Russ gonna die saving the Earth then he'll go out with a bang.

Wait...was this all a joke? An elaborate hoax to show off her power!? If what Ruby says is true then Russ is livid. "Like hell I'm leaving!" he stormed up to the queen candidate's face, their noses were an inch away from each other, and Russ unloads a tirade. "Who do you think you are coming to MY planet and act like you're top dog around here! And for what? To flex your muscles!?" Russ is dropping the playful facade and giving this Saiyan a piece of his mind.

He continued yelling at Zuqetta with unbridled fury. "I've HAD it with you people showing up out of nowhere to push us around! Some wack-job attacked one of our cities...and before that, someone blew up the freakin moon!" Actually a chunk of the moon is missing, but Russ is too angry to correct himself right now.

"I don't give a DAMN about the Accords, I don't give a DAMN you're stronger than me...I will fight you tooth and nail to save the Earth with every last breath of my life!" Russ hops backward and forms a battle-ready stance. Logically he stands no chance against the prideful warrior in a drawn-out battle, but it doesn't matter. A hero will always step up to do what's right for the sake of others and push through overwhelming odds, even if he sees himself as a terrible role model.

"Let's go! We Earthlings endure no matter what you throw at us! Even If I fail to beat you, someone else will stop you!" his arms and legs are trembling with fear but the fire in his eyes burns bright as ever.