Things for Sayama had gone completely awry. His entire trip to Earth, forced or not, had been a big bust overall. Captain Quash pretty much left him high and dry, his contacts at the USD were unresponsive (not that he'd had much hope for them in the first place), and now he was lost. Directionless. On Earth, too, which was really the nicest little cherry on top.

Since his crash landing a while ago, Sayama had done pretty much nothing productive. He just lived day-to-day for the sake of living, since he had no idea how to recover from the situation he'd found himself in. There was very little hope for the poor guy.

That said, one thing he could look forward to each day were his naps. Naps were definitely Sayama's best friend. A nice, long sleepful night, followed by numerous naps throughout the day. It made time go by a lot faster, just pushing Sayama that much closer to his inevitable death. Being a healthy Saiyan warrior, hybrid or not, meant that inevitable death was going to be quite a ways off, but, a man could dream couldn't he?

Anyway, point is, all that leads to now: Sayama was napping. Emphasis on was. See, while he was dozing off on some random guy's roof, someone started to cause a commotion. If he'd been in downtown North City, in the midst of all the hustle and bustle, that'd make sense, and he'd definitely made that mistake a few times. No, the problem was that he wasn't in the middle of the city. Instead, he'd purposely chosen some big wig's mansion to take up refuge. It came with a nice, spacious roof and the added bonus of quiet neighbors 100% of the time. 99% of the time now.

Sayama opened his eyes and stared up at the blue skies above, groaning to himself about Earthlings and their constant need for trouble. Groggily, he turned over, then pushed himself into a crouched position. From there, he looked around slowly, doing his best to gather his bearings before looking to see what all the ruckus was. Sayama peered over the side of the roof, allowing him to see the police pulling up rather quickly.

Below, the security alarms rang out, being as loud as possible in hopes of scaring off whatever intruder had not-so-sneakily broken in. Nobody ran out in a hurry, but after a few moments, an unsightly being walked out with two bags full of goods. Not necessarily unsightly because of his appearance, but rather, because Sayama recognized what type of being he was. One of his own - a Saiyan, complete with armor and a tail to boot.

The police went through their whole song and dance 'come out with your hands up', *self defense shots*, 'drop the bags', blah, blah, blah. It didn't phase the Saiyan, unsurprisingly, so he just walked straight by them before taking to the skies.

Quash and Jorey had been tight-lipped in their brief meeting, but Sayama didn't think there were too many other Saiyans stationed on Earth. Who would want to be here? With nothing better to do, Sayama did his best to tail the Saiyan, just to see what he was up to and what he planned on doing with the stolen goods.

They flew for a bit before the man landed at an undisclosed location. Sayama landed calmly on the roof of the place and waited for a few minutes until his target came back out, beaming at his newfound cash. From above the doorway, Sayama quipped, "Funny, you don't exactly fit the bill for the usual 'home intruder.' Like, c'mon, not even a mask? Really?" The hybrid sat with his feet dangling over the edge of the building, hands resting on ledges on either side of him. His modified red/black/gold Saiyan armor was covered by a brown cloak, and without a tail, he could easily pass for a human. Sayama had been suppressing his power to lay low, but in this interaction it'd definitely help lower how threatening he was... not that it mattered much, considering he wasn't physically threatening to most Saiyans anyway, but, semantics.

Before the man could respond, Sayama added, "Oh, wait, maybe you're some kind of Saiyan Moving Service." He looked around at their surroundings, which weren't as posh as the fancy, mansion-filled neighborhood they'd been in before. With a slightly bemused look, he mumbled, "Though I'm not too sure why they'd move here..."

While Sayama pondered the reason why anybody would move from a mansion to the slums, a familiar warning rang out across his eardrums. He turned his attention back to the Saiyan from Planet Vegeta. A conqueror. An honest thief, just doing what he needed to do in order to get by. Even though he wanted to hold himself back, Sayama couldn't help but roll his eyes. Was there some script they handed out at birth to the brutes of his homeworld?

Intimidation didn't really work on Sayama most of the time. He was bone-headed, thick-skulled, definitely way too stubborn for his own good. When he saw an opportunity to pry and prod, he usually jumped on it. He pulled one of his legs up and rested his chin on it, blankly groaning, "Oh, save it. I'm just trying to figure out why the big bad conqueror of worlds is out here stealing to make money. Times must be tough."

Even though Sayama himself couldn't detect ki, he figured the Saiyan in front of him was stronger than him. Most were. If he wasn't lying about conquering and invading planets, that only added to the likelihood. Regardless, Sayama was not the type to back down. He tacked on, "Anyway, I couldn't care less about stealing from the humans, no sleep lost there. I did lose sleep when you woke me up from my nap. So, I tagged along and now I'm curious. What's the cash for?"

Fortunately, Sayama's prodding didn't initiate his hospital-going process. It was on hold, at least. For now. He knew his kin, though, and they were prone to fly off their leash at the drop of a pin, so he couldn't exactly let his guard down yet. Still, he seemed to have drawn some interest from the man, who floated up to get a closer look.

It served as a way for Sayama to get a closer look, too, though he wasn't surprised at what he saw. A battle-scarred man who could definitely throw down if he wanted to. He was a little bit older than most of the Saiyans he'd interacted with. Quickly, Sayama's common tells sold out his heritage to the veteran Saiyan, who explained he really was just doing what he needed to do in order to get by.

"I've dabbled in a little bit of Saiyan blood, I 'spose," Sayama mused, not willing to explain his hybrid blood to any random person on their first meeting, especially not a random Saiyan. Most of his 'allies' back home hated his guts for having a human father, so he couldn't imagine what an acquaintance would do.

The man followed by questioning his allegiance. Their beloved USD was brought into question, as well as their great empire, but Sayama knew his answer was complicated. Through technicalities, yes, he did work for the USD, but he really didn't want to. At the same time, he'd been MIA from Vegeta for months, with no contact to any of his higher-ups at all. Still, saying he was a part of the Saiyan Empire wasn't a lie, so he explained, "Name's Sayama, I'm a corporal for the Saiyan Empire."

His newfound acquaintance, who introduced himself as Yangcong, claimed to be a Saiyan Elite with a son similar in age to Sayama himself. Given his age, Sayama could believe both things, but one thing stuck with him more than the other. He was a Saiyan Elite - one who had to scrounge for scraps to live within the means of the pitiful Earthlings - but an elite nonetheless. If Sayama could get on his good side, he might be able to hitch a ride back home under the radar of his USD superiors. From there, he could get to work on tracking down his squadron and...

New objective: befriend the elite Saiyan warrior.

"Yangcong, huh? Y'know, the name sounds familiar," Sayama lied. He adjusted his seated position so he was more attentive and open, dropping his legs back into a dangling position as he sat upright. He continued, really trying to lay on the faux interest in the man's life, "Your son and I are the same age, funny enough. Is he an elite Saiyan warrior, too? I might even know him!"

Listening to the clearly suspicious Yangcong, Sayama realized he needed to be careful with his next steps. Getting caught in a lie would completely shatter any chance he had of hitching a ride back home, but getting caught in a half-truth may have been worse. For example, Yangcong asked if he was here on assignment. Technically, yes, by the USD. Did he want to work for them? No. The thing is, from his experience with some elite warriors back home, they'd stop listening after he said 'Oh, yeah, the USD sent me.' Reasoning with the majority of Saiyans was futile.

That said, he didn't necessarily care if he was caught telling tall tales. What was the worst that would happen? He gets beat up? Been there, done that. So, Sayama decided to stretch the truth, "Yeah, I was sent to find Captain Quash." Truth. "He's about... yay tall," He held his hand up above his head, still seated, aimlessly throwing out a height. "Spiky black hair, tail, armor. You can't miss him. Strong fella, real swell guy." Lie. Well, maybe not a lie, but Sayama doesn't know him very well. "Are you familiar with him?"

Sayama left out the fact that he hadn't seen Quash since the day he crash landed on Earth, nor did he mention that he was supposed to kill the captain, but those were unimportant facts at the moment. Hopefully, bringing up someone with a higher rank, and presumably more power, than himself could distract from Sayama's fabricated life.

Apparently, Yangcong's son was stronger than the average elite. Chances were, Sayama didn't know him. Back home, he'd pretty much kept to himself and his squad. Maybe one of them had met him. Still, he commended Yangcong, still trying to butter him up, "Real proud dad, I'm sure."

There was definitely a tangible tension hanging in the air between the two Saiyans. Being part human did that, whether the people in his presence knew it or not. Naturally, Mr. Elite Warrior hadn't heard of the Captain Quash. To his credit, nobody needed to hear about Quash, given how unimpressive he turned out to be.

With how bland the conversation had been, Sayama half expected Yangcong to just move on to his next robbery. A secret ride back home would've been great and all, sure, but it'd probably only get him into more trouble- hold on. Wait a minute. The PTO? Coming here? To attack?

Clearly, the mention of an impending attack caught the hybrid by surprise. For the first time since the two started interacting, Sayama seemed genuinely interested. Unlike his carefully handpicked facial expressions and purposeful posture, Sayama leaned forward with an unmistakable glisten in his eye, "They want Earth? Thousands of planets in the galaxy and they want..." He waved a finger around at their bland cityscape surroundings, "...this?" He blew air through his mouth and shrugged, "I 'spose when you're a bunch of wannabe dictators you gotta start small."

Sayama hopped to his feet, hoping to brush their shaky introduction off with his next proposition, "I can help." He started pacing around the rooftop, talking with his hands as he did, guard completely down as he explained, "I couldn't give a rat's ass about this mudpit, but the PTO rising to power would be a real pain in everybody's side. The USD's already bad enough, so having two intergalactic corporations squabbling over an imperialistic grab for power would mean hell." Sayama's ultimate goal was to become the King of Vegeta, so him and his squad had been doing a lot of work to prepare him for such a task. With his entire crew MIA and with the hybrid stuck with the USD's foot on his neck, hope seemed lost for that front. Here he had a chance to make things interesting.

He stopped his pacing and turned back to Yangcong, "That's why you'll need me. A wildcard." Sayama let his idea simmer for a second before explaining, "I'll be the first to admit: I'm no powerhouse. Far from it. I don't even have the technical skill to compete with most of the other Saiyans of my rank, but I've got charm, and I've got an unbreakable will." He even dropped his Ki Suppression technique, allowing all 13k of his PL to be detectable if Yangcong chose to do so. Sayama knew his plan wouldn't work if the man was skeptical, so he had to put any doubts to rest. Thus, he addressed the elephant in the room, "You've been suspicious of me since we met, and that's for good reason. I'm a shady dude in a cloak who witnessed you rob a mansion and sell the goods for profit. I'd been hiding my power up until now. My story's shaky at best with a million inconsistencies and plotholes. I get it. But the PTO is gonna be expecting resistance, even if they're attacking the weakest planet in the known universe."

"I can infiltrate. I can work my way up the ladder. I can be the wrench we need to ensure victory. Give me an order and consider it done, tell me a name of some hotshot PTO member, shit, make me pat my head and rub my belly. Just give me something to latch onto and I'll do the rest of the leg work." It was half-baked and risky - not to mention, his idea may not even have enough time to come to fruition - but Sayama knew it may just be crazy enough to work. Since he wasn't officially a part of Yangcong or Quash's squadrons, Sayama wouldn't have any connections to them. If he succeeded in infiltrating and made the PTO let their guard down, great! If not, Yangcong would be facing the same battle he'd have anyway.

Content with his idea, he turned the floor over to Yangcong. Sayama didn't know if the elite warrior would even have a name or place to go, but since he had that little tidbit of intel, the hybrid hoped he'd have something a little bit more specific to go on.

Just as quickly as Sayama felt like he was getting somewhere, Yangcong was back to serious business. To his credit, he probably devoted everything he did to the throne, so he couldn't have some hybrid upstart on Earth trying to weasel his way up the ranks. After all, Sayama literally just said he'd try to do that with the PTO. What was to stop him from doing the same with Vegeta?

Still, he had to disclose a little bit more information to his new acquaintance if he wanted any chance of getting information out of him. Sayama rubbed his chin as he thought, "How long? Hmm... Probably like six... seven months? It's been a while, I lost track of time. I was recovering from a beating, an unpleasant landing; the days kinda blended together after a while, it wasn't fun. I even spent a bit living out of the sewers, that was great. Point is," He waved his hand to dismiss his rambling, "I wouldn't still be here if I had a choice. Cap told me to heal up and then come find him, but without my scouter, I can't exactly do that on a whim. I mean, really, what would the odds be?"

Fortunately, his exposition rewarded him with another tidbit of intel, though that intel was far from what he wanted to hear. A majin had absorbed four Saiyans!? Two of the super variety? Sayama buried his head in his hands and let out a frustrated groan as some of Quash's words came flooding back to him. Head still buried, he spoke out a muffled response, a hint of frustration in his words, "Captain Quash may have mentioned something of the sort."

Sayama moved his hands away as he continued, "He didn't mention it had absorbed four of us." If the blue majin that had Quash worried during their first meeting was allied with the PTO, there'd be problems. Arcosians were power-hungry, but their ego made them predictable and easier to deal with socially than a lot of other species he'd encountered. Majins were a different story. Most of them embodied chaos. Charm and reasoning weren't gonna do him any favors. Sayama expressed his disdain, "Please tell me it's not associated with the PTO."

Sayama messed up. Mr. Elite Saiyan Warrior was done talking. The hybrid reached out as the man flew away and pleaded, "No- wait- I-" but it was too late. Robinhood was already gone, probably off to rob more houses. Sayama sighed in frustration as his mind teemed with ideas. His path forward was still unclear, because Yangcong really didn't give him much to go on, but one consistency remained: the blue majin. Quash and Jorey seemed worried about it during their brief meeting, and now Yangcong confirmed the power it possessed.

Getting close to a majin had never been on Sayama's bucket list, but now he had reason to try. Worst case, he'd get absorbed like the other Saiyans and just power it up more. If he could get on its good side, though, he may be able to build a reputation for himself after stabbing it in the back and proving his value to Vegeta and her people. From there, he could rally troops to save his squadron from around the universe, overthrow the USD, and claim the throne for himself.

That was still a long way off, though. There were still dozens of hurdles and roadblocks he'd have to overcome before then. That didn't even consider the possibility of the looming PTO threat, nor did it consider the USD putting their foot down on his actions, since he was taking so long to 'assassinate Quash.' There was a lot to worry about. For now, he had only one lead: a powerful blue majin. Finding out more was gonna be on him.