Zerori wasn’t always the slick operator that she was today; it took a lot of time, effort, and money - as well as her own share of mistakes to even gain the amount of momentum she’d gotten. With the amount of years it took to gain what she had, it was no wonder she was so protective of her business. Unfortunately, like any good parent, one had to learn when to let go and right now, Zerori was really contemplating letting go of a rather good deal.

Held over the roof of a building by Zerori with one hand held tightly to their wrist, what was once a well-dressed and confident businessman that had issued Zerori a mission was now a sniveling man-child that was begging for her to not let go. Exaggeratingly contemplating his request, Zerori’s head tilted back and forth before finally giving a soft ‘fuck it’ and throwing her contracted employer back onto the safety of the roof to roll along the ground. She turned back to him, stepping down from the ledge of the roof she’d dangled him over.

“So? My pay? It was your fault you didn’t add the addendum of ‘alive’ and not dead. Simple mistake but not one I’m willing to pay for,” Zerori calmly reasoned, approaching the floored individual.

His name was Santiago and he was a first-time contractor; a rather annoying one too, but business was business. He operated in a myriad of trades, but the one Zerori focused on was payment in the form of a cut of his drug profits. In exchange, she’d make sure his competition lost rather important players in the game. This issue right now was the definition of ‘lost’ and she’d been informed that he wanted them disabled… not killed.

“Y-You’ll get it tomorrow! Tomorrow, okay?!” He yelled, still trying to back away from her.

With a roll of her eyes, Zerori sighed, “Fine. Now… are we still in business? Care to learn from this or are we parting ways, Santi?” She knelt down, enjoying the way he pressed himself against a wall.

“We’re good, we’re good, we’re good! Just… don’t kill them next time!”

“Pinky swear,” And with that, she reached up to grab at the lapels of his suit and hauled him to his feet. “Now go drink somethin’, you look like a pussy,” With a firm shove, Zerori sent Santiago on his way - taking satisfaction in the way he glowered up at her but for only a second. He knew she was stronger, faster and only somewhat merciful when it came to nearly being fucked over.

With that business taken care of, Zerori would turn around and look out at the city - contemplative now that her blood didn’t boil as much from nearly killing Santiago. While she certainly would have done it had he not agreed to her demands, Zerori was more… conservative than that. Torture would have likely been her first choice, anyway.

I don’t have a lot of hobbies these days, She snorted, somewhat self-deprecating as she looked down to the little people and aircars below. Her time would come, especially now that she’d managed to settle another deal to bring in the extra cash for her own projects.

She just wished it didn’t come at the cost of all the little shit; the day-to-day missions, the outings that had her putting the name of The Red Doll on constant blast. The suit was recognizable but only to those who paid attention to her nightly crusades. News never really got a look at her since she was so fast, even under the shine of street lights. As far as anyone knew or cared?

The Red Doll was a ghost that other criminals spoke about in hushed voices and she rather liked it that way.

Shaking her head, Zerori decided it was as good a time as any to take a little time for herself. A flourish of data and light and the woman known as The Red Doll was back to being Zerori - just a regular badass with a penchant for drinking and gambling. Instead of following where Santiago had left the rooftops, she’d just ascend into the sky to find a nice private place to work out her frustrations.

Typically, it was some form of wilderness that many didn’t bother to tread through, but recently, she’d been finding them more… populated than usual. The last two encounters were something to remember for sure! As she passed over the city with such speed that it all appeared as a blur to her, the feeling of something breaking the sound barrier caught her attention - mere moments before she was suddenly affronted by an energy right next to her! She knew that energy!

“Shit-!” Releasing all her power at once, the pulsating thrum of her energy would explode from around her just before she’d clear the city and it’s limits within seconds. The LAST thing she needed was a fight that would eradicate her hard-earned identity. With the energy right on her tail, literally, Zerori would five down toward the ground before turning in the air to face her opponent.

The blue of their aura was all the confirmation Zerori needed before she slammed into the ground, sliding along the dirt and rocks. Her blue-eyed gaze stayed locked to them as they also landed, but kept a fair distance away from her as she snarled in his direction - ready to fight.

She greeted him in the only manner she cared to, “...Korn,”

“Zerori,” He gruffly responded back, his height dwarfing her as he seemed to size her up. “You’ve been busy.”

“Wild concept, I know, but not everyone is as lazy as you sitting on your ass all day,” It was a B-class insult at best but Zerori was more preoccupied by his reasoning for being here. “What do you want?”

“A rematch.”

“What else do you want, Korn?” She sighed, already feeling a headache come on from how predictable her old flame was. Korn was what one might call… a highschool fling. It was meant to be a moment in her life where Zerori didn’t feel so alone while trying to balance the studies she threw herself into and figuring out what she was going to DO with her life - Korn was a familiar face, similar age with her and more importantly - able to take a hit like a champ.

Except now, years after she’d cut it off because she was flying solo and quite frankly didn’t give a fuck about trusting anyone with her other life, he’d managed to run into her time and time ago with the express purpose of trying to get together. When she’d ask why he stare at her like she was stupid and say ‘why not?’ When she asked him what use he was in her life, he’d get offended and snap back with something crass or lewd and Zerori just…

-didn’t feel anything else with him.

So naturally, after being scorned constantly but retaining the Saiyan trait of stubbornness, he decided that getting strong enough to be a hindrance to her and chasing her when it suited him best was the way to her heart. Typical.

“Doesn’t look like you’ve been keeping up with your training. Life of a criminal getting too decadent for you?” He taunted, a smirk on his face as he circled around her. “I could help you with that, you know.” And there it was.

“Whatever you could offer me wouldn’t come close to the kind of life I want, Korn. I don’t kill random animals in the wilds and fight for the sake of it,” Zerori scoffed, disbanding her stance to gesture toward the city, “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you this! I don’t care. I’m not going back to Vegeta and I’m not gonna just upend MY plans because you want to relive our teen years. GET. A. HOBBY!” She aggressively enunciated, watching his smirk fall into a grimace as she, once again, had to rebuff whatever he considered this that they were doing was.

He huffed through his nose, “You’ll figure out soon enough that Humans and Saiyans don’t get along. Same goes for the other species that were forced to come here…” Whether it was the result of a miracle or not, Korn took this as his moment to leave as if he was imparting some great warning or precious wisdom.

“Yeah? Well, why don’t you go put that on a fortune cookie or something? I couldn’t give less of a shit,” Zerori pitched a final time before they exchanged glares and he took off. If she weren’t so on edge, she would have been thankful that this encounter didn’t culminate in another scuffle. Still, it was only a matter of time before he’d grow impatient once more and decide that it was ‘badger the fuck out of Zerori’ hours. She’d just have to be ready whenever that time came…

When she couldn’t feel his energy anymore, Zerori would release a sigh and bring a hand up to massage the muscles in her neck, “Man is going to be the death of me, I swear,” She muttered with a sour look on her face. She didn’t feel like leaving back to her apartment and now, even MORE SO, she felt like she needed to blow off some steam. She was out of the city and in the, more or less, perfect location to train a little and maybe even work with her magic. A cursory look around had the hybrid woman notice a rather large boulder. While hardly an original concept, there was merit in a consistent manner of training and she’d only managed to hold up the last boulder… what, a minute or two?

“Tch, might as well,” Approaching the boulder that was generously sunk into the ground - Zerori got an idea on how to inject some life into the monotonous task before her. Holding up a giant rock was hard, yes… but imagine trying to LIFT a giant rock from within the ground? Not a difficult feat with her physical strength but with her magic? It’d be the perfect challenge.

Zerori rolled her shoulders, preparing to get into the mindset to summon those mysterious vectors once more. She remembered the pain. The anger. The unbridled desire to live through even the worst attempt on her life. Within seconds, faster than last time, the amalgamation of her magical energy produced two vectors that would extend beyond her hands and form the familiar mix of black and red claws that were nearly triple the size of her own hands. Already, it was difficult to maintain that concentration but she wasn’t about to give up after bringing them out!

“C’mon…!” She growled, bringing her arms up and - claws scraping against the stone surface - latched onto the boulder. Once she’d affirmed her grip, the hard part came next and, with a groan of exertion, Zerori tried to lift the embedded rock into the air. For a few moments, shaking violently and glitching here and there, it would look as if she was near successful - the shifting and shaking loosening the ground’s hold on the rock. Yet, all too soon, her concentration would break and she’d be sent flying backwards as the vectors dissipated against her will

While on her back, struggling to catch her breath, Zerori would throw her arm to the side and beat the side of her fist into the ground, “Fuck you!” She yelled at no one, even though it might have been at herself if she were being honest. She hated feeling weak, even if it was a collection of words that came out of an idiot’s mouth that taunted her like a bad song.

She’d figure out this power, one way or another. All she needed… was time.

And maybe a little whiskey. Any amount of alcoholic substance sounded better than nothing right about now. Tricking herself into thinking that a good drink was as good a motivation as any, she’d commit at LEAST an hour to trying to lift that stupid boulder before deciding that she needed a drink less for sport or pleasure and because she actually broke a sweat.

There was always next time or another day. Hell, maybe she could ask Anastasia or Athren if they were bored enough to give her a run for her money. It couldn’t hurt - not unless she wanted it too.