WC: 3,268

"Okay, so, let me lay it all out for you," Sayama laid on a couch, therapy style, clearly talking to somebody seated off to his back right. With those details alone, it may have seemed like he was in a psychiatrist's room, but there was more to it than that. Surrounding the couch were at least a dozen unconscious men, each one with welts, cuts, bruises, and scrapes on their faces. The therapy couch was actually a tattered, old thing that probably predated even his mother in age. With stuffing pouring out of the seams and holes where rats surely lived, comfort had long since left its cushions. Given that it was ten feet away from a dumpster in a stinky back alley with a dim, flickering light and cockroaches scurrying around, the status of the couch wasn't exactly surprising. A cool drizzle pittered and pattered on the surrounding rooftops and the concrete all around, but it didn't seem to bother the hybrid or his unconscious attackers in any way.

Let's take it back a few minutes. For whatever reason, he'd been set up over a library card. After attempting to walk into a public library and demanding to see the 'archives,' Sayama was immediately told he needed a library card to access the seemingly endless knowledge within. For a relatively low cost, he could become an official member of the library and have unlimited access to what he wanted. Problem was, Sayama had no money. That kind of thing happened when someone was sent on an intergalactic voyage against their will. Instead, he was going to need another means of getting into the library without drawing attention to himself. Breaking in during broad daylight would make his presence on the planet public knowledge, and to avoid making any powerful enemies, that was one of the last things he wanted. Sayama may not have been able to sense power himself, but he knew how to hide his own. Instead, he was going to have to find a way in more lowkey, whether that be legally or stealthily. Money couldn't have been that hard to find or, if he wanted to sneak in, sunset wasn't that far away. He could realistically wait it out if he needed to. That's where the set-up came in.

As he paced around outside, rubbing his chin and brainstorming how to approach the obstacle of the receptionist, a sketchy man appeared from the alleyway. He'd offered some kind of powdery substance in a baggie, but once the man heard Sayama needed a library card, the plastic bag was quickly swapped out with a thin piece of plastic. He offered Sayama a fake library card, but one that would definitely fool the secretaries. Naively, the hybrid followed the thug into the alley, where he threatened to shoot and rob Sayama. More people spilled out of the woodwork, one threw a bag over Sayama's head, another tried to handcuff him, push came to shove, and...

Now they're all unconscious. All but one - the man who'd offered the fake card in the first place. Apparently, Sayama felt the need to get some things off his chest, so he made sure to leave him conscious, barely. He would have tied him up and gagged him, but in the man's current state, that may have been overkill. Plus, it was supposed to be a therapeutic experience, not some kind of hostage situation. That little thing that just happened - the one that left the guy's allies bloodied and sprawled out across the alley? Water under the bridge.

Sayama glanced up at the last kidnapper behind him before explaining what was on his mind, "Before I wound up... here," First, he spun his hands around as if they were rubbing an invisible sphere. Then, he held a flattened hand low, until his palm lay across the ground, "At the bottom of the totem pole with my back against the wall, I was probably about..." He slowly raised his hand until it was well above his head, but not as high as he could reach. Once he found a suitable point for comparison, he slowed to a stop and continued, "Here. Okay, you following? It was perfect, right, 'The Plan to Liberate the Saiyans.' Shit just sounds amazing, doesn't it? Rolls off the tongue smooth as silk," Excitement started to build in the hybrid, causing his heart to race and him to stumble on each word in anticipation for the one that followed, "A-a-and you're not even from Vegeta, right?" Sayama waved his hand to dismiss the thought, "Psshh, never even come close - probably didn't even know we existed, but, anyhow, you're even getting excited, and to me, that just makes it that much more," He spun his index fingers around each other in a wheel-like motion, "Exhilarating, liberating. Ahh? Ahh?" He sat up and pointed at his companion, looking them in the eyes and nodding as he boasted, "You like that? See what I did there?"

His passion was admirable and his excitement was almost contagious, both were thick in the air and spread throughout the room like warm butter on toast. Sayama breathed a quick, but longing exhale as the realization of reality came flooding back to him. He laid back down and leaned his head back against the armrest, letting out a remorseful sigh as his high wore off, "We were close, you know? So close. Step 5 out of 6. Granted," Sayama shrugged, "Step 5 was the longest, but, man... It was definitely gonna be the most exciting, let me tell ya," He swung his feet off of the couch and onto the floor, holding his hands forward and at his sides as he spoke with them, "Aside from a leak, there was nothing we hadn't accounted for. Nothing! The entire path was paved, from the moment we began, all the way up to me taking that long-awaited seat on the throne, crown nestled up in my hair, cheers of a united people ringing in my ears. Once I was king, we were all going to be kings! Every avenue was explored, dissected, and accounted for with the trust in my allies - my brothers and sisters - to not slip up," Sayama threw his hands up in defeat and slouched in his seat, "But somebody slipped up. Somebody took our months of planning, our years of execution, and flushed it all down the drain when they told the USD that we might be planning something. Might be," Again, life seemed to surge through the hybrid as he sat up straight and held a finger up, "Which is why I think the Mame Squadron didn't slip up. Those USD shills weren't even sure of our betrayal. Heck, the only reason I'm here rather than picking daisies on Yardrat is because they wanted me to prove my loyalty. Which is exactly why I think we've got a shot. One more chance to make things right. Me, Jorey, Quash, the rest of the Mame Squad, everybody else waiting in the darkness for somebody to come through and guide them to the light. If we can just collect ourselves, keep our heads on straight, and march down the cobbled path that we'd already laid out for ourselves to begin with," Sayama smiled, "I think we've got this,"

An awkward silence filled the room as he sat with his thoughts for a while longer. He laid back down on the couch and folded his hands over his stomach while his mind teemed with ideas. Aloud, he cautiously explained his thought processes, "Adjourn. To break off with the intention of continuing later," Sayama nodded slowly as he continued, "'The Plan to Liberate the Saiyans' wasn't stopped. They didn't beat us. The schedule was just pushed back. Time moves onward with lackadaisical force. Always. All we can do is bend to it and pray we don't snap,"

Sayama paused for a minute before suggesting, "Maybe... maybe I should run through the plan again. With you. Break it down, bit by bit, then... adjust. Recalibrate," He glanced over his shoulder towards his makeshift therapist, "Is that alright with you? I talk through the 'Plan to Liberate the Saiyans' in a way that will transform it into... what? 'The Other Plan to Liberate the Saiyans?' 'The Plan 2 Liberate the Saiyans 2: Liberate Harder?'" Suddenly, he snapped with the fingers on one of his hands as he had an a-ha moment. He paused for dramatic effect, then revealed, "'The Inevitable Adjourning of Saiyan Liberation,'" A gleeful giggle escaped his lips, "That's sexy. Tack on a little 'Sayama style' at the end to give it some pizzazz in a way only I could," He folded his hands again and stared up at the ceiling, allowing his brain time to process his next steps. Sayama opened his mouth to speak, hesitated, then spoke his mind anyway, "I'll start with the basics. Five Saiyans: Daizu, Jinzo, Hiyoko, Kasho, Azuki. Six, counting me..."

Before Sayama could take his trip down memory lane, a blacked-out SUV pulled up at the end of the alley. Behind him, the sound of another vehicle splashing through a puddle signified the arrival of even more people for the hybrid to deal with. He sighed as his reminiscing came to a screeching halt, but the time for stories was over. He sat up and leaned back, spreading his arms out across the back of the couch and folding one of his legs over the other as he waited for the next set of thugs to approach.

Five from each side. Ten in total. Even without the ability to sense power, one quick glance from side to side told him everything he needed to know about the next batch of foes. Nothing to worry about, but where was the fun in that? He grabbed the handcuffs out of the hands of one of the unconscious foes and slapped them onto one of his wrists. Immediately, he felt his strength and energy get sapped away, effectively putting him at the same level as the humans. Well, aside from the countless hours of training he'd done to build muscle, and also not counting his combat training that these run-of-the-mill goons certainly didn't have.

Regardless of the situation, Sayama rolled his neck and waited for the men to approach before explaining, "Great timing, guys. Perfect, even. I was actually just about to explain the plan," One of the men tried to punch Sayama while he introduced the conversation to them, but he sidestepped the attack. As the man went flying by, Sayama stuck a foot back to trip him. When the man began to tumble forward, Sayama spun around and lifted his knee. Gravity and momentum did the rest of the work.

Having one enemy down, Sayama held up his left index finger to symbolize one. He wasn't counting how many men he'd knocked out, though, "Step 1 was real simple: the proposition. Everybody had these pent of feelings of being trapped, y'know? It was rampant in all of us," Not wanting to listen to his story, a few other men tried to attack Sayama, but he nonchalantly bobbed and weaved past a few swings directed at him, talking all the while, "Think about it for a minute. Really. Just take a second to think about this: Six members of a warrior race. Five if you don't wanna count me, that's fine. Wouldn't be the first time, won't be the last. Anyway, a group of Saiyans delegated to run packages from USD checkpoint x to USD checkpoint y," As he said the checkpoint x, Sayama caught the punch of one enemy, then swung his arm to the side and clobbered another with it when he said checkpoint y. It left the man dazed, so Sayama elbowed him in the stomach, then chopped the back of his neck to knock him out, "Maybe talk to some locals here or a fancy official there, with the occasional - extremely rare - monster fight thrown in for good measure," Sayama, who had been dodging and avoiding hits in a fairly consistent pattern, stopped dead in his tracks and stared over at his 'therapist' with a surprised look, "What? Are you kidding me?" One of the thugs, who had a baseball bat, absolutely pummeled another because of the misdirection.

Meanwhile, Sayama seemed like he hadn't even broken a sweat as he continued on topic, "We, us, the Saiyans, live in a society where the weak aren't just shamed but are killed; where the idea is for us to constantly get stronger with each generation, but for some reason, we're playing mail courier. Really? Where's the sense in that?" Sayama turned, just to be met with a tackle from one of the goons. He shielded his face as the man tried to wail into it, then reached up and grabbed the man by his ears. With control over the situation, Sayama pulled the man's head down and rolled out of the way at the last second, essentially making his opponent eat concrete. The hybrid hopped back to his feet and collected himself before adding, "Six, maybe five, Saiyans in the prime of their youth taken out of battlefields and put behind diplomacy. Now, you may be saying," He cleared his throat before speaking with a nasally voice as if to mock his therapist, "'Oh, well, they needed warriors to run the parcels because the areas you all had to trek through were dangerous'- No! They weren't! A vast majority of the time - and I mean a vast majority - we were in USD-controlled regions. The scariest things we had to deal with were the posh USD officials trying to keep us obedient and nonautonomous. Even the idea of us Saiyans revolting terrified them. The very concept of revolt had them shaking in their boots and waking up in cold sweats at night,"

With their numbers cut by 40% already, with only a tackle and a few good hits in to boot, the kidnappers were starting to get desperate. The leader of their small sector seemed to be eyeing the handcuffs dangling from Sayama's left wrist. If they could just clasp his wrists together, then they could easily put him to bed and get their reward. As if reading their mind, Sayama willingly inserted his right wrist into the open cuff, practically taking his hands out of the equation. Instead of worrying, he just continued on with his story.

"Still, I was able to present that to my people, and my people actually agreed. You may think Captain Azuki presented the biggest obstacle in this step, but it was actually Kasho," Sayama chuckled to himself as he thought about his squadmate, "Before I get too far into it, lemme paint the picture of Kasho for ya," He puffed up his chest, then tried to hold his arms wide to his sides to try to seem bigger. Somehow, because of the cuffs, it may have actually worked "Big guy, right? He's got at least a foot on me height-wise, and weight-wise he's a good two, two-and-a-half me's, okay?" Sayama used his foot to shove the bat-wielder away, then did a leg sweep to knock another opponent to the ground, "Like I said, big guy. Not only that, but he eats, sleeps, and shits Vegeta. Purebred Saiyan. He didn't like the fact that I was questioning the status quo, especially because I'm a mutt," Sayama rolled his eyes, tacking on, "Human blood," He shrugged, "What am I gonna do? It is what it is. Anyway, in his mind, what we were doing was for the greater good, and eventually, we'd be compensated for our actions. Once I laid it out to him how I just laid it out for you, though," Sayama stuck his bottom lip out and nodded confidently, "Oh yeah, big fella was on board," Meanwhile, he used the face of the person he'd knocked down to springboard into the air. Up high, Sayama essentially laid out in mid-air, which let him dropkick another thug into the dumpster at the foot of the couch. Sayama landed on the couch, practically causing it to buckle under his weight.

Hands still bound, Sayama held up a peace sign towards the remaining four attackers. They all hesitated as if he were trying to wave a makeshift white flag and surrender, "Step 2," It was the number two, actually, "Research. Once we were on the same page about revolution-" Sayama tried to roll off the couch, but he saw the baseball bat being swung downward towards his face. Instead, he performed a kip-up. The soles of his feet caught the bat and pushed it aside as the hybrid essentially jumped to his feet, which burst through the paper mache cushion and down to the concrete, "-it was pretty obvious we needed to figure out the best course of action. Daizu and Kasho wanted to just storm the throne off rip, but, I mean, that's a death wish," He held the chain of the cuffs forward to catch another swing from the bat, which broke them into two separate pieces. Hands free again, Sayama grabbed a hold of the bat and forced it out of his attacker's grasp. With a quick swing upwards, Sayama connected the end of the bat with his target's chin and knocked him out cold.

"Naturally, we wanted to get straight into details about the throne first. Y'know, the basics: how can we claim it for our own? Who do we have to go through to get to the top? Yada yada," He waved his hand dismissively, then flicked his bat towards one of the remaining enemies. It clocked him in the temple and sent him to the ground in an agonized heap, "What we really needed to look at was the semantics. We had to think outside the box if we wanted to pull off what we wanted to pull off. Allies, enemies, planets, stars, moons, armor, resources, etc. If you can think of it, there's a chance we looked into how it played a role to the royals," Sayama knelt down next to the man who'd brought the power-dampening cuffs, where he managed to find the key.

Seeing their target distracted, one of the remaining two goons tried to take advantage of the opportunity. He approached, but Sayama threw something up towards him without even looking. It was the keys, which jingled and jangled through the air until they hit the man's hands, who fumbled to secure them. In his brief moment of distraction, Sayama swung his foot up and sent the keys higher into the air. While they practically floated, he jabbed the thug in the stomach a few times, then landed a big punch across his face to knock him to the pavement. Sayama reached off towards his side and snagged the keys as they fell back within reach, which he quickly used to remove his power-dampening cuffs.

Terrified, the final threat tried to run out of the alleyway, but a full-powered ki blast caught him square in the back on his way out. The man collapsed in a heap, prompting a scream and retreating footsteps from somebody who happened to be walking by. Sayama looked around at the collection of defeated criminals gathered in the alleyway, then over at the only conscious enemy left, his makeshift therapist, "Sorry, got a little distracted at the end there. Those cuffs were killing me. Where was I?" He rubbed his chin for a second before remembering, "Oh right! Step 3..."