Empire Strikes Back (Open)

Gira had been content to spend the rest of her summer vacation helping out the people of Earth, specifically of Central City. She had been paying a lot of attention to her hometown, West City, but had recently come to the conclusion that she needed to branch out a little bit more. She had been handing out food and water packages to the local homeless population of the city when her activities were suddenly interrupted by a large crash that spread tremors throughout the street and spat dust and debris in all directions.

"What in the heck!?" Gira abandoned her cart of supplies and took to the air, following the smoke to where Sen had crash landed. She watched as he projected images of Maxsuz and Marimba, stating that he was looking for the Mazoku. Gira lowered herself to the ground, landing directly in front of the man before turning and looking at the crowd that had formed to get a good look at this strange amalgamation of man and machine that had disturbed their city.

"You might wanna get outta here before things get serious." Some of the people listened to the flying girl immediately, hesitantly evacuating the area before they got hurt. Curiosity overcame some of them, however, and they remained where they were, filming Sen and this unknown girl that had just arrived. Gira turned back from the crowd and looked towards Sen.

"If you're looking for the Mazoku, you've found one. I may not be part of the Hoken anymore, but I still count myself among the clan's members. Y'know, I don't think Mr. Ticoga would appreciate you crash landing in the middle of an Earth city and threatening its people. Who are you, really?" Gira clenched her fists, preparing to spring into action if the situation called for it.

Gira's unamused expression slowly turned into a smile when Yakito arrived on the scene. The young Saiyan had befriended the earthling when she was on a summer trip to Arcose, and the two had hit it off pretty much immediately. 

"Yakito! How's it going, dude?" She nodded, however, when Yakito warned her that this stranger was lying about being part of the empire.

"Yeah, I figured as much. I don't know everything about Mr. Ticoga, but I know enough to figure out that he wouldn't go back on his word." She turned back to Sen after he responded to what she said, spitting on the ground in disgust.

"You don't know anything. I'm not apart of the Hoken anymore, but i've gotten to know the rest of the Mazoku clan too well to abandon them. Mr. Ticoga helped me realize that just because the friends I made there have disowned me, that doesn't mean I have to count myself out of the clan as a whole. And speaking of Mr. Ticoga..." She pointed at Sen in an accusatory manner.

"You say you're his right hand man, but I haven't heard him mention you before. Even if you are who you say, then you clearly don't know the promise he made to me. He swore that as long as Maxsuz and the rest of his Orchestra stayed away from empire controlled worlds, then he would leave them to me. If they harmed any of Mr. Ticoga's people, then i'm gonna need to see some proof. If i'm satisfied with it, i'll help you hunt them down myself. But something tells me that you're not being completely honest." Gira glared at the cyborg with incredulity. She used to give her trust away freely, but now with everything that had occurred in her life, she found it more and more difficult to give it away so easily.

While they were all dealing with this situation, another familiar face arrived on the scene. This one made Gira feel more so uneasy than relieved, however. It was Tunic, a girl that the young warrior had met not long ago at Bobby Beef's House of Meat. She was a young, kind soul. Definitely the type to want to help regardless of her own power. The young Saiyan wasn't confident that this was the best place for her, though. She was brave, for sure. That much wasn't in doubt. However, this guy was serious business. When Tunic addressed the young Saiyan, asking her what was going on here, Gira made her way over to Tunic and Jonathan, placing herself between Sen and the two of them.

"This guy is looking for some friends of mine. He claims he's working for the Arcosian emperor, but i'm not too sure about that. I haven't known him long, but I don't think Mr. Ticoga would approve of this guy's methods. You should get outta here, Tunic. I have a feeling things are gonna get pretty hairy here soon." Even though she voiced her opinion that Tunic should leave before she got hurt, she wouldn't actually do anything to stop her from fighting if that was what she wanted to do. Gira was quite familiar with situations like this; being in over your head, but still wanting to help regardless. She wouldn't deny someone the opportunity to help their fellow man. If Tunic did decide to fight, however, then Gira would just have to try and protect her as best she could.

At Sen's threat to try and get them all to leave, Gira placed her hands on her hips and grinned confidently. 

"You're outnumbered and outmatched, mister. I'd say you're the one who should get out of here before things get messy. You're a pretty powerful guy, but I could take you even without help from Yakito or Tunic. So, whaddya say? How about you calm down a little bit and we can all go get a smoothie? Or we can fight. I'm fine with either, really." Gira briefly stretched her legs before letting out a grunt of exertion, her usual violet aura turning green and erupting around her. She doubted that this guy would just give up so easily. That being the case, she had to be ready to fight.

Gira flicked her gaze over to Yakito as he warned her not to start a fight with so many innocent people nearby. He was right, of course. Gira hadn't intended to fight unless Sen made the first move, but Yakito's words helped calm her Saiyan love for battle. She had to admit, for a minute there, she was kind of hoping that the cyborg would try and fight. But now, Gira was more aware of the people who were still around, filming the confrontation with their phones.

"R-Right. You're right. I promise, I won't get carried away. I'll follow your lead on this one." The young Saiyan couldn't help but think that the surrounding civilians were a few cards short of a full deck for sticking so close to this situation in the hopes of capturing something cool on film, but none of that mattered right now. They were innocent people regardless, and right now they needed to be protected. Looking back at Tunic, Gira smiled when she mentioned that she couldn't back out right now if the city was in danger, summoning her weapon and preparing for battle.

"Just be careful, then. Don't put yourself in danger if you can help it." She turned her attention back to Sen, who challenged her mention of Ticoga's promise to her. She growled under her breath.

"Yeah, I know what they did. And i'm gonna be the one to bring them to justice. I was on Namek when the attack actually happened, but Mr. Ticoga and I talked afterwards. We had an agreement that he wouldn't kill them if they stayed away from imperial worlds, and I don't think he'd go back on it without a good reason. So, i'm gonna ask once more; did they attack the empire again? All you've gotta do is show me some proof or have Mr. Ticoga tell me they did, and i'll help you. If you can't do that, though, then you can forget it!" After this, she turned and looked back at Yakito.

"You're not buying any of this, are you? This whole thing smells fishy to me. I feel like Mr. Ticoga would have contacted me if the plans regarding my friends changed. I told him i'd help bring them to justice if they targeted the empire again. I feel like he would have mentioned something to you, too." After everything she had been through, Gira wasn't willing to trust so easily, especially someone who made an entrance like Sen's. Still, since this guy claimed to be working for the empire, she would follow Yakito's lead on this matter.

Gira visibly relaxed once it appeared that there would be no fighting. While she would have liked the opportunity to test herself against this so-called right hand of Ticoga, it would be irresponsible to have such a fight here. If she ended up hurting an innocent civilian or destroying any part of the city-- whether it was an accident or not-- she would not be able to forgive herself. Still, the young warrior listened with slight annoyance as Sen still refused to answer her question, instead stating that if she wanted the glory of capturing the Mazoku herself, then she would have to get a move on.

If he truly was sanctioned by the emperor like he claimed, then providing proof to that fact should have been easy. Gira had been burned one too many times taking people at their word. First her sensei, then Maxsuz, then Marimba. She wouldn't be made a fool out of again. She would determine the truth with her own eyes and her own heart. Seeing that this was going nowhere, Gira let out a dejected sigh. Regardless of his real reasons for being here, it seemed that maybe he had a kernel of truth in what he was saying. It appeared that he had some sort of actual vendetta against Maxsuz, Marimba, and the rest of the Hoken-- or The Orchestra, as they had now taken to calling themselves. She would have to keep an eye on this guy just in case, but for now he didn't appear to pose an imminent danger to Planet Earth itself.

The cyborg then berated Yakito rather harshly. Apparently, something that the earthling had said appeared to touch a particularly raw nerve. He said that he made an enemy of Nero, which did little to assuage her suspicions. She knew Nero. Particularly, she knew him as a guy who didn't make enemies easily. If the cyborg counted himself as one of Nero's rare foes, then there had to be a good reason for it. She looked to Yakito for a sign of how they were feeling about the whole situation, but then Sen decided that it was time to part ways from the three of them, much to Gira's relief. There would be no combat and no death today. As much as Gira liked a good fight, she had seen enough death to last a lifetime. As the newcomer to Planet Earth moved to leave, Gira gave Tunic and Yakito a tentative double thumbs up and an awkward grin.

"Uh... mission accomplished? Yay?" She chuckled nervously. While this encounter didn't end in a fight, she wasn't sure that she could call this a positive interaction or say that anything of value had been accomplished. If there was one thing Gira could say that she got out of this whole situation, it was that she was now aware of this cyborg, but Gira was still left guessing as to his intentions and allegiances. She had a feeling that this was only a prelude to something sinister, but only time would tell whether or not this gut feeling of hers was correct. The young Saiyan decided to stick around for the moment, however. She didn't want to leave, only for the situation to turn violent when she least expected it.