Heroes 7

Sorry this has taken forever to get out. I struggled a lot with how to exactly end this. But it's finally, finally done.

And you guys are probably not going to be happy about where I left it.

come on pretty you still got it don't you
make it fancy now he's gone
come on pretty you still got it
don't you
you and me like a million to one

i am a super hero
i will swing you away
we will tap the heels of our bare feet
to our hearts we swagger and sway

come on pretty come on come on

Hills, Thao Nguyen

What would have happened, if he had jumped from that tower Juuhachigou had brought him to? Would that man have still been alive? Surely.

And what if he'd been killed by Piccolo's old gang, or by Frieza while he robbed another bank? If one of the various men he'd caught and sent to jail over the years had managed to get to a gun or knife before Krillin had wrestled it away?

He had never killed anyone before.

His eyes fell again on Juuhachigou. In the pale morning, she didn't turn to dust. If anything, she was more stunning in the sunlight. Cream and gold. Her pink mouth was pursed in some thoughtful dream.

But she had. Surely.

She had washed most of the blood using a faucet in a gas station bathroom. If she hadn't, there would have been stares and perhaps a security guard called at the sight of her when she entered the hotel.

Krillin couldn't bring himself to do the same.

He felt filthy, lying on this clean bed in this anonymous hotel room Juuhachigou had rented. "Never stay in the cheapest place you can find. They'll plan on that." Who 'they' were, Krillin didn't know and still didn't understand. She'd whispered it to him while he outside the lobby, leaning against a wall that shielded him from the people inside. Since he hadn't been able to stop his eyes from leaking, she'd left him outside to wait for her. Like a dog.

Cold or pragmatic?

Krillin hadn't even thought of leaving. Now or then. He had murdered a man for her, and he wouldn't leave her.

Once again, he'd won with a girl again.

Juuhachigou had kept one hand on his shoulder, or held his hands in one cold grip, as though he would fly away. Once he'd dreamed of flying as a boy, but such a feat was beyond him. So had murder, he'd thought. Now, maybe through the long miserable night that was a nightmare he couldn't wake up from, he'd sprouted wings.

When they slept, when she'd slept, she'd continued to touch him. Not comforting exactly. Or maybe it was, in her own way. Krillin flinched every time she shifted, listening to her breathing, and hearing only the old man's gurgling last breathe.

It was his reward.

This was nothing like the last time they'd shared a bed.

They'd continued to hold hands, even now. The short hero stroked her fingers with his thumb, seeing the bruises. Juuhachigou still hadn't explained how she'd gotten them.

If he hadn't pulled that trigger, they wouldn't be in this room. She might have died. He had saved her, saved her completely from a mad man's sick demands and twisted whims. If the scientist hadn't killed her then, he would have later. Her and her brother.

Poor Juurokugou.

But he felt no pride.

Only a sick relief. Now, hearing her steady breathe and when she opened her eyes finally, he cried again. I love you, I do. I would kill him again if it meant that you stayed safe. Juuhachigou petted him, silent. When she kissed him, he could nearly taste her own relief and perhaps her thanks. Was she ashamed of him, his tears?

"Krillin."

When was the last time she'd used his name? Her sighs in his head blocked out the wet gasps of the dying.

Krillin started to laugh hopelessly. The dry noise sounded like it could turn to sobbing at any second. He didn't know. "Juuhachigou, I thought you said that if we saw each other again, you wouldn't hurt me."

Her voice toneless. "I said I'd do my best not to."

Did she wish that she had been the one holding the gun? Juuhachigou might have been quick enough to pull the trigger and save Juurokugou. Or her brother, if he hadn't drove around, looking for Gero as they had both done throughout the time Krillin had met them. Her twin had been pissed to hear about the doctor's death. To his credit, he seemed more upset over losing Juurokugou. With his hair hanging into his eyes in a way Juuhachigou would never have allowed for herself, Juunanagou looked even more frightening than when they'd first met.

"I should have gone with you."

"It's done. It's over with." Her hand was still holding his, and Juunanagou's finally noticed. His only reaction was to narrow his eyes.

They ended up going their separate ways, how permanent Krillin didn't know. All he knew was that he and Juuhachigou went east, heading towards downtown, and her brother went westward, away from his only sibling. Krillin doubted they could be distant from each other for long, (they were twins, didn't that mean they were even closer than normal family?) but he didn't know anything about their relationship.

He did know that Juunanagou didn't like him, and if Juuhachigou wanted to be with him…But would she want that? Would she choose him over her brother?

For how long?

This is what they'd gotten, this was their reward.

In the midst of West City, in the squalor of lower downtown with its liquor stores and Laundromats and nail salons and overgrown lots and abandoned buildings and tenements that never failed to not have bars on the windows, the places that always had one or two angry people inside but never any cars out front, near the towers and high-rises and subways of the upper downtown and the low insidious looking banks, over the huge Western Public Health Hospital Complex, through the corporate parks and franchise restaurants, the gentrified townhouses to the east with the large grassy parks and bizarre abstract-modern statues built everywhere, the empty fields with the corporate buildings that looked precisely like pieces from a child's block set (squares precisely square, rectangles rectangular, regular closed geometry figures ruling as for as the eye could see) and factories that made either Capsule Corp furniture or Capsule Corp cars, the miles and miles of telephone wires and fences and unwashed cars, two people dressed in ridiculous costumes raced and bounded through.

It was the sight of justice.

And it sounded like:

"Krillin. Go get the damn gun."

"You get it! I'm fighting hand to hand. Honorably."

"Fine. Get shot."

"Okay. Okay. Just don't give me that icy glare. Makes my spine freeze. I'll go get the gun."

"It's underneath the car seats."

"By the crate of magazines Master Roshi left, right?"

"...yes. We need to get our own car. And our own house."

"Now, now."

"Did you forget about the cameras they set up? The holes drilled in the wall? The elaborate network of mirrors they arranged?"

"He's like a father to me. I can't imagine not living there."

"Just imagine the opposite of a nightmare."

"They're family. Juuhachigou. Family."

"Stockholm's Syndrome."

"I don't see you rushing out to get a job so we can live on our own."

"As though you work nine to five, yourself."

"But I don't mind not having much money."

"That's the problem with you."

"Besides the shortness and lack of nose?"

"Oooh, I don't mind that."

"Oooh, is that right?"

"Not now. Wipe that expression off your face. After we get this asshole."

"Have I ever mentioned how you're the best motivational coach ever? You should teach seminars. Classes. Workshops. I would pay to go to them."

"Stop leering. Go get the gun."

And on Thursdays:

"Do either of you feel pressured, uncomfortable. Forced?"

"Into what? Helping people? Well, when someone's being held hostage."

"...is this some comment on me hurting Krillin?"

"Now. Why would you say that, Juuhachigou?"

"Don't you raise your eyebrows at me. You clearly directed the question to him."

"The question is for everyone."

"Um. Juuhachigou doesn't hurt me. Much. Anymore."

"...shut up, Krillin."

"I think it's clear you two are suffering from communication problems."

"What? I thought we were here to brag about our latest 'heroic acts'? That's why we're sitting in uncomfortable unpadded metal chairs in some disgusting old man's basement. Who the hell even frames porn, and the puts it on their walls?

"Not couple's therapy. Though God knows you and Oolong could use some."

"I just saved a burning school building-"

"That's enough Goku. I just think you two are not on the same wavelength."

"Now, that's not fair. Of course we are. We totally connect. On every level. Utterly."

"'Every level'?"

"Oh, so that's what this is about; you want to hear about our damn sex life."

"Jeez. Master."

"Clear the blush from your face, boy. I asked nothing of the sort."

"Why not just come out and ask? You filthy pervert."

"Since you insist. How is your sex life? Does the superhero outfits help with certain kinks and fetishes, or have you grown tired of the leather-wearing-alley-chasing-adrenline-rich time together."

"Huh. Is that an exit I see over there?"

"Hehehe. Do you now put on dress wear in the boudoir? New uses for ties?"

"...how about we talk about Goku's goddamn eating disorder?"

"...I don't think eating a lot is a disorder."

"Shut up, Krillin."

"I guess someone's not going to enjoy that sex life tonight."

"Shut up, Yamcha."

"I need a shower from this entire experience. Stop looking at me. Especially you."

"So, tell us, Juuhachigou, what's your relationship like with your father?"

"...I think I'd prefer to go bag to listening to Goku's bragging. How did you save the school building, Goku?"

"I think we've made great strides today. Next week, we'll get started on your self-esteem and what compelled you to date Krillin."

"Hey."

"The obvious sub-dom struggle of your relationship. The hero and nemesis becoming lovers. The clear cliché."

"Tell that to Bulma and Vegeta. Wait. What was that about 'sub-dom'?"

"The easily dominated 'weak' male and the domineering woman. In leather. The disturbing way the Sunday news caught the two of you looking at each other after defeating that blob monster. The fighting positions the cameras have caught you in. The torn clothing. His low self-esteem. Your own control issues, Juuhachigou.

"How that porn parody, excuse the phrase, 'skewed' your relationship. The use of whips no one was surprised at. When we watched it last week, we all just nodded knowingly at the screen."

"What do you mean, 'we'? You watched that movie? All of you?"

"Krillin argued that you didn't use any whips. We have our understandable doubts. Did you and Krillin watch it?"

"All of you sat in this basement and watched that movie?"

"Yeah. Then we got to the part of the movie with Vegeta forcing Bulma, (at least I think it was supposed to be them) into making him a utility belt by using sex. That was weird. So was the part with the stupid guy with weird hair having sex with that angry screaming woman."

"Oh. Goku."

"I've never seen a room full of people all squeezing their nose bridges as I have now."

"Except me of course. Me, the 'weak' male."

"Please. A shower."

"So you have nothing to say to the kinky sex you've been accused of having with Krillin. No explanation of your speedy withdrawal after a victory and the lengthy disappearance afterwards. The languid attitude when you finally decide to show up again? The disheveled hair?"

"Any comment? Any dirty details from either of you. Don't just blink at me and swallow in horror, son. We can all sense it. It rolls off you two."

"I should have killed you all when I had the chance."

"Your denial, your lack of eye contact..." Master Roshi wiped his sunglasses on his brightly patterned shirt. "I sense a real breakthrough on the horizon."

"Okay, what you have to do is," Krillin pointed and tried to demonstrate with a vague hand movement. "Just crack the window a little."

"I don't understand why I can't just drop in. There's only one guy."

He shook his head. After nearly a year of working together, she should have known better than to simply dismiss someone as just one guy. One guy had shot at Krillin last week, and the month before that one guy had gotten close enough to stab her. Sure, they both survived and only Juuhachigou had so much as a flesh wound. But that didn't mean the next one couldn't be the one to finally do them in.

Weren't there plenty of hero couples, where eventually one of them died? There was a brief memory of some guy with laser eyes losing his girlfriend after she went nuts. At the time, Krillin had just shaken his head over that, and was told by a wise-sounding-to-a-fourteen-year-old-boy-Yamcha that bitches were just crazy. Bulma had overheard and literally kicked his ass, only driving the lesson home.

It worried him as always. And no matter what she said, he still would have moments of doubt about their profession. If you could call it that. Since they didn't pay taxes and were off the grid in some sense, and half of them still didn't have a social security number, it was hard to think of them as productive members of society. But, still, wasn't like they weren't helping people. It's just…

Wouldn't it be better if they settled down? Then they could, well, he wasn't sure. He didn't breach the subject of marriage or family with Juuhachigou. She seemed to have mixed feelings, willing to babysit the others kids, but always breathing a sigh of relief when someone picked them up and took them home. Collapsing into his shoulder and exhaling with an exaggerated, 'thank god.' Slowly turning her attentions to him on their place on the couch, like she was rubbing in the fact that there were no little Juuhachigous and Krillins running underfoot and running their privacy. Until Master Roshi or Oolong came up with the video camera and leers, wanting proof that she was indeed their friend's girlfriend.

Then she would throw things and threaten to get her gun while Krillin twiddled his thumbs and waited for her to come back.

It was easier just to sit back and let her burn off steam. Like their big ongoing argument over his uniform that she wanted to redesign it, reinforce it, wasn't it time since he no longer fought with Goku much anymore to ditch the orange suit and blue body armor? At least get rid of the black and white signal that read KameMan? And really, that name wasn't exactly amazing either. Why not try something in red, he looked handsome in red, just give it a shot?

All you could do was sigh and let it go. Take the compliment, and otherwise ignore her suggestion.

Still, though, there were some things his mind wouldn't reject. Stuff he had to go to like a tongue to an aching tooth. Stuff such as, Could she even have kids? Could we raise kids doing this stuff? Would we raise them to fight crime as well?

Did she even want kids? Did she want his kids?

Krillin forced his mind away from that. The worst thing in the world was to go into these situations with a cloudy mind-that's what got people killed.

"One armed guy, with a gun pointed at my friends' head. He was strong enough to grab the entire gang."

"Look, I'm sure I can hit him from that angle on the roof."

He saw Juuhachigou creeping through the building, letting go a rain of bullets just to make sure that she hit the crazed gunman. He saw a literal rain of blood flying onto the walls, while his friends managed out last scream. Her shrugging and saying at least she'd stopped the bad guy while Krillin had to go out and tell Chi-Chi and Bulma that their husbands were dead.

"Fine, I'll do it."

"Why can't I do it?"

She would throw him through the plate glass just on principal if he told her that he wasn't sure she would be precise enough. Juuhachigou took her sharp shooting skills very seriously. If Krillin said that he worried about her being hurt, an even touchier subject, she would make sure to prove those sniper abilities.

Ironic, too, as Krillin was right besides her and wouldn't be hard to miss with her rifle when she shot him to make her point. "Because."

"Why?"

"Why can't I go?"

"All I'm saying is, it's not like I'm carrying your love child, and can't take down one gunman. I'm not helpless."

"So I'm carrying your love child instead?"

"It's our non-existent love child, Krillin."

"Are you saying that you aren't really pregnant?"

"…You know, why don't you go down there and wrestle with the lunatic psycho?" Juuhachigou scowled, but otherwise remained seated on the roof. "Really. I'm fine. I'll just watch as you're brutally murdered."

"This is why I adore you so." He grabbed the gun, the smell of the grease making his stomach queasy. Though after working with Juuhachigou for so long, he knew he should have grown used to it. A strict martial artist she was not. "Name the baby after me."

"Too bad I didn't bring any popcorn, or a camera," was her parting hiss as Krillin crawled along the fire escape of the crumbling brick building.

He stared up at the creature, all dark green skin speckled in black. It was definitely not Freiza or any of his henchmen as far as Krillin was aware of. "Uh, who are you? Er. What are you?"

It grinned. The thing had a beak, and his long fingered taloned hand looked wrong holding a gun. Its slit eyes were set in a pair of pink orbs on an emaciated thin face. A black jewel-like thing on its forehead glistened in the light. Distinctly, the monster looked like a bird and a lizard crossed. There were odd blue bands around the joints of his shoulders, knees ankles. As horrifying a sight as he made already, the sight of a twitching tail topped with what looked like a stinger was worse.

"You don't know me. But I definitely know you, Krillin." Its words were an inhuman hiss. Definitely not a dude in a costume.

"Perhaps you knew my creator though. Dr. Gero?"

Suddenly, the short man noticed the bundles of clothing lying around. There was placed oddly, as though the person wearing them had turned into a vapor and left them. Belts were still buckled, shirts tucked in, socks nestled into shoes.

"What is all this?"

The sound of grunting made him turn his head. His friends were tied up, some unconscious, others awake like Vegeta, and visible upset or pissed off. Tien and Piccolo were knocked out, blood trickling slowly from scrapes on their heads and arms. Yamcha was trying to kick them back awake. Goku's hair was a mess, as it usually was when he was particularly worked up, and his eyes held a particular fury that made Krillin glad to not be this thing. Left leaning against the dirt wall, with their cuts and bruises, they matched the grim setting despite their bright uniforms.

"Oh, your friends got into my way." The monster dismissed them all with a flick of its fingers. "Now, if you would be so kind as to answer one of my questions. Where are those twins Gero let loose to kill Goku? Obviously, they failed."

"But you aren't the types to kill enemies. Better to put them in prison to allow them to plot their escapes and revenges. Now, where are they?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." He sounded nervous to even his own ears. Thank god Juuhachigou hadn't come in here. But she was just outside, waiting. Eventually she would find a way inside if only to hear what was going on. Luckily as well, this creep hadn't found her brother.

If he found Juuhachigou…Krillin couldn't even wrap his mind around that possibility. His brain refused to even consider it, rejected it. Of course, he didn't know what this monstrosity wanted from them. He just knew that he would never allow her anywhere near this thing.

"I will find them on my own." The tail swished languidly, every hiss of it pass through the air a warning. "Of course."

Juuhachigou might have already seen this monster, and be escaping as they spoke.

"But if you want to make things easier on your friends, you should tell me where they're located. Now."

The needle tip of the creature's tail narrowly missed Goku's head, stabbing and burying itself in the grimy steel. His tall partner's eyes barely narrowed as the black speckled appendage yanked itself out of the wall.

"Why make things more difficult for us all?"

She could have left and gone to find her brother.

"It's fate that I find them, anyway."

To hide and find safety somewhere.

"Nothing to be escaped."

Gone to ground.

"I'm not telling you a single thing! Now untie my friends."

Krillin could almost feel Juuhachigou rolling her eyes. 'Moron. Why warn the enemy?'

'To give them a chance.'

"You will tell me where they are!"

'Why would you want to do that?'

'Well, I gave you a chance. And look how well that turned out.'

She would just snort. 'Oh please. You only spared me so you could look up that stupid nurse's skirt.'

'That's not true. I needed a date to Goku and Chi-Chi's wedding, after all.'

Someone was yelling, painfully, Piccolo and behind her golden face Krillin could see the needle of the creature's tail bury itself in his green-skinned companion's arm. A bulge formed in the thing's tail, like a snake swallowing a mouse, was it eating Piccolo? The screams of the tall pointy-eared fighter were enough to even make Vegeta wince. When the monster pulled the tail out, purple blood came splattering out to freckle his friend's faces and the nearby wall.

And Juuhachigou would just smirk and lean in close to him, close enough to nearly touch him and make the world perfect. 'I guess that worked out well for you.'

'Very.' And then he would close the gap to kiss her and everything

His orange beak was pulled up in the corners. A smile? "If you won't help me then, you can join the rest of your friends."

"Krillin, run!" Goku, sounding so strong that Krillin wanted nothing more than to believe in him and do what he said. "Get out of here!"

would be

"You're not going anywhere!"

perfect.

Then he was being shoved aside by a large hand (three fingers?). Thrown into a wall, Krillin was able to surmise from the pain in his back as it contacted something solid. So obvious. Juuhachigou would be laughing at how slow he was, some detective, heh. And with his chin hitting his chest and everything blurred out slipping away including his body falling sideways, he was definitely about to pass out even though he wanted to get up

to warn Juuhachigou

Something rolled down towards his face, something round and familiar like the head of one of his action figures that Juuhachi mocked him about and yet had bought paints and kits for whenever the mood set on her, or something particularly badass caught her eye. Truly, between them the amount of websites bookmarked of online toy auctions was really embarrassing…

The choking cloud of smoke rose out and up of that round thing and ah, like Bulma's-

He didn't hear his body falling onto the concrete floor.

"Okay, just move him gently. Don't hit his head!"

"Sorry! Sorry!"

"Tell that to him, oh wait, you can't because he's unconscious and probably suffering from a concussion!"

"Why are you yelling at me instead of Kakarotte? It's not my fault, woman!"

"You should be watching out for him more. I mean, what do you think Juuhachigou's going to do when she hears-"

"Why would I care?"

"If she hears-"

Vegeta broke into Bulma's rant to say. "If she hasn't been absorbed by that thing."

"Shut up! I'm sure Juuhachi's—"

"Juuhachigou?" Krillin's voice sounded thick and sleepy, his eyes remaining closed. "The baby…"

"Wait. Did he say 'baby'?"

"You don't think…"

"God," Goku rubbed his mouth, looking guilty. He rubbed a chest, heavy with probably heartburn and heartache.

"Told you Goku. You screwed up."

"We really have to get him to the hospital. That can't be good to be unconscious for so long."

"Have to go get Juuhachigou and save her, too."

"We need a plan. Say, did one of you call 911?"

"I don't know. Man, Piccolo's bleeding pretty bad here," Yamcha was sweating heavily from the weight of the large fighter.

"My ears are still ringing."

"Look, the ambulance is here already. Help me with Piccolo."

"That purple-haired paramedic looks awfully familiar..."

"You guys. I, I-does anyone have an antacid?"

Bulma was practically breathing out sparks. "So what's the plan? Find Juuhachigou, crush the evil bug, and do it all by dinner time?"

"It's starting to hurt here."

"It should. It's punishment for not saving Krillin. Is that Gohan, in the ambulance?"

"What's he doing there? He's not hurt."

"He's running over here. With the purple-haired guy."

"Probably heard about that monster. Hold Piccolo's head. Help me get him onto the gurney, Tien. Goku, put Krillin up here."

"He's waking up. Just sit back, Krillin. You got hit by that thing. Yeah. He's going after Juuhachigou. Don't move. We're taking you to the hospital."

"I'm going to go out and squash that insect. And maybe the blonde machine as well."

"Vegeta, just wait. He managed to beat you-"

He turned on Goku. "And now I'll defeat him! You just stay here and deal with your heartburn, Kakarotte. Leave the fighting to the real warriors."

The paramedic burst into their conversation with a grim, "You're going to need Goku's help."

"Wha-Who're you? And how do you know Goku's name?"

"Just wait. We need to get Piccolo and Krillin some help. But you can't rush out and defeat that monster alone."

"What do you know about it, boy?"

"Let's just say I've had a run-in with him. And Gero's other creatures. I need to speak with you," the last comment was directed at Goku.

"Seriously. It burns you guys. It, it's really getting painful."

"I have medicine in the ambulance to give you, Goku. But it's important that none of you run off. We have to stick together to defeat that guy. I, I brought Gohan here."

"Who are you, anyway? How do you know everyone's names? Did Gohan tell you?"

The purple-haired man's face looked gaunter. "No, I, uh. That monster. He went after that android, didn't he?"

"How do you even know any of that? What's your name? Are you wearing Capsule Corp gear?"

"Uum. You guys?"

"What is it, Yamcha?"

"Krillin's gone."

"What?"

Eye as blue as Bulma's widened. "We have to go get him. He can't beat Cell on his own."

"I know. Damnit Krillin. What are you thinking?" Bulma directed the next comment at everyone, "What is with you stupid heroes and running off with no plans?"