Perhaps surprisingly, Pleez was precisely on time. She may rankle at the restrictions put upon her by the Empire at times, but ultimately, she needed them far more than they needed her. The last vestiges of the calculating mercenary she used to be had run the calculation in her mind. She wasn’t foolish enough to think that she could stand along against the entire universe – not yet, anyway – and if she didn’t have people on her side in the inevitable battles to come, she would be wiped away as her ancestor had been.

Therefore, when the Empire told her to be somewhere, to do something, she arrived. Punctually. She trusted that the Empire knew her well enough to know that there were myriad missions where she would not be suitable – she could hardly be blamed if she was put to use in the wrong way, after all.

Pleez’s aura announced her presence long before the diminutive Majin made her way into the woman’s presence herself. The wild, surging energy inside her was nowhere near Kuueru’s potential, of course. She was nothing to be sniffed at, for certain, but compared to the heavy hitters in the galaxy, Pleez was far from the most overwhelming presence one was likely to encounter.

But there was more to her aura than her mere strength. Pleez’s energy was a chaotic presence, anathema to existence itself. It lashed out in a continual, internal barrage. She was destruction incarnate, a seething mass of such incalculable rage and anger that it was almost impossible to believe that the figure such energy belonged to came walking through the doors instead of blowing them to smithereens.

But walk through them she did.

Pleez’s steps were looping and loose. She didn’t wear a uniform; instead she wore tight-fitting black and gold clothes which left much of her pink ‘skin’ exposed, but for the bright blue sash around her waist, fastened into place with the golden U which served as her symbol of authority as an Ultramarine, and the shackle which bound her to the Empire.

Pleez cracked her neck as she regarded her captain. Regardless of anything else, Kuueru was likely a step up from the blue-furred, snorting warthog Bakon who she had been assigned to previously. The details of this mission were thus far elusive, but she’d managed to pick out a few things in the briefing notes she’d tried to make herself read.

“Commander.” Pleez said, her tone a low murmur, her features a deep frown. “I am Pleez. You requested my presence. What do you want obliterated?”


Wordcount: 439 Queen Kuueru

Pleez tried to remember if anyone had ever claimed it was good to meet her before. Certainly not in recent memory. She narrowed her eyes faintly at the Commander, trying to make out whether or not the woman was mocking her in some elaborate fashion, or whether this was genuine. In either case, she didn’t like it one bit, and her nostrils flared as she snorted, the only response that Kuueru got at first.

The mission seemed simple enough, at least.

“There is no threat.” Pleez said, a faint note of irritation creeping into her voice. “I can count on one hand the number of Saiyans that are a potential nuisance. So. We’re killing merchants today. Good to know.”

She didn’t particularly care that this was, apparently, the mission objective. Unlike so many of her more prideful ‘compatriots’ within the Ultramarines, Pleez couldn’t care less whether the fight was good or not. For her, it was all about the end result. That glorious moment of devastation. The instant of destruction, when something whole and beautiful became shattered and ruined. Those were the moments that Pleez strove for with every fibre of her being.

Without being bidden, she moved to sit in the chair next to the Commander, and turned her gaze out into the depths of space; the streak of unreality which marked their travel at speeds faster than light. She closed her eyes, and after a few moments, the Majin was blowing fitful snot bubbles as she was carried towards her destination.

It didn’t last, though. The moment the ship jolted out of hyperspace once again, Pleez’s eyes opened, and she stretched, twisting her arms high above her head as she turned her gaze back towards the ostensible leader of the mission.

“I hope they aren’t hiding.” She said, “I get bored looking for targets. It might be easier to just kill everything in the sector and then call back into base. That option is always on the table.”

She made the offer casually, but there was a chilling certainty in her words. She wasn’t exaggerating about her potential, after all. Between the two of them, they might well be capable of exterminating every living thing in the sector before an adequate response could be mustered to stop them. The fact that this was actually likely to include several Empire outposts didn’t seem to dissuade Pleez in the least.

She wiped her drool-flecked mouth with the back of one hand, and then propelled herself out of her chair in a disturbingly boneless motion, “I don’t like getting bored.” She clarified. She was used to her Commanders wondering why she was offering such drastic measures right out of the gate, apparently, and felt she might help save them both some trouble if she just got the justification out the way early.

(Wordcount: 481 / 920 Queen Kuueru)

How Pleez remained an Ultramarine was a question that many of the people who met her found themselves asking. It wasn’t too complicated, though. She was willing to – more or less – do as she was told, for the opportunity to continue growing unhindered within Empire space. She was a cancer that had struck a bargain with the antibodies of the entity she infected. Eventually, everyone was going to wind up regretting it, one way or another – but for now, her utility to the Empire was undeniable. Though she groused and grumbled, she would do as she was instructed. She’d just spend the whole time wishing that she was being instructed to do more murder.

Crowded spaces weren’t great for Pleez, and she narrowed her eyes at the press of alien life forms arrayed before them. Whilst the vastness of the universe was a source of excitement for her Commander, for Pleez every reminder of the vastness and multiplicity of life out there in the galaxy was like sandpaper being rubbed against her skin.

Her fingers flexed at her side as she fell in behind the demon.

“Just so we’re clear.” Pleez said, “If any of these disgusting people touch me, I will end them. Otherwise, I won’t kill anyone unless you tell me to. Probably.”

As Kuueru took position, and seemed to expect Pleez to do the same, the Majin ground her teeth together. Her arms folded across her chest, and after just a few moments of silence, she continued the conversation from earlier.

“This is so boring.” She complained, “Besides. It isn’t as though I was hired on to care about protecting the population of the Empire. You know what I am. I’m good at one thing, and one thing only. I hope you didn’t drag me out here for no reason.”

Her legs folded up underneath her as she spoke, the Majin assuming a seated position on the air, glowering at the aliens that passed around them, going about their perfectly reasonable, perfectly understandable business.

A small alien child suddenly rushed up to the pair, and beamed up at Pleez, into the monster’s glaring red eyes.

“Hey, hey lady!” The youngling chirped, “You’re an Ultramarine, right? Gosh, that’s so exciting! Can you sign my autograph book? Please?!”

The adorable little twerp held up a small red book with a number of signatures in it. Pleez stared for a few seconds, and a disturbing smile pulled its way onto her features.

"Sure, kid."

And with a flash of crackling pink lightning, the child was left holding a pile of sooty ash. Otherwise unharmed – Pleez had said she wouldn’t kill anyone she didn’t have to after all – but their most treasured possession was suddenly and irrevocably removed from existence.

Which was when the crying started.

(Wordcount: 478 / 1398 Queen Kuueru)

“Do… what I want?”

Pleez had cocked her head to the side when Kuueru said that, and she’d spent the minutes ever since pondering, in the back of her mind, just what Kuueru had meant by it. Actions have consequences? Well, yes, and? The consequence of her indulging her desires was that other people died. It was hardly an unexpected consequence. Maybe this demon thought that she was interested in caring about the wellbeing of others?

The Majin didn’t particularly care about being called ‘Majin’. Not that long ago, it wouldn’t have meant anything to her at all, but she knew the truth now. As far as most of the universe was concerned, Majins might be jolly, happy-go-lucky sorts, but Pleez trusted that – from the way the woman was clearly rankled by her behaviour – she wasn’t been tarred with that particular brush.

She was a little baffled. She didn’t particularly care that Kuueru was upset with her; in fact, feeling the woman’s irritation and frustration was quite pleasant, in a background kind of way. She would just take more satisfaction in it if she could wrap her head around what she’d done to earn it. She was trying to be on her best behaviour, but that didn’t seem to be making much difference. The confusion was what was getting on her nerves, more than the fact that Kuueru was upset in broader terms. She was used to her commanding officers being frustrated; she was just usually able to tell exactly what she’d done to annoy them. This time, it was a mystery.

There was a lot of uncomfortable silence as the pink woman tried to puzzle out exactly what the problem was. When she did finally come to an answer, though, it was with a renewed excitement which seemed completely at odds with her irritable, negative attitude until that point. Kuueru was obviously squeamish about saying exactly what she wanted. So, she’d brought Pleez here, because there was going to be a threat, and Pleez was to do – whatever she wanted. That made perfect sense.

“Oh. Oh. I get it.” Pleez said, suddenly, as the hanger was evacuated. She let her legs unfurl from beneath her, and cracked her knuckles with a widening smile. “You want me to do what I like! Don’t worry, Commander, I’ll take care of it from here.”

And just like that, Pleez broke off in a burst of brilliant pink energy. She rocketed from her standing position to the doors as they opened. The ship’s nose barely had time to poke into the hanger, and then Pleez was smashing through the cockpit in a shower of broken glass. Terrified, shocked screams broke onto all communication frequencies almost immediately, and the Majin’s high-pitched, exuberant laughter echoed through it all, a constant, gleeful refrain.

Well. Technically speaking, she had moved in as soon as the hanger door opened. She’d just chosen to hit the ship like the fist of some angry deity, rather than give much time for the investigation that Kuueru had alluded to earlier.

(Wordcount: 524 / 1922 Queen Kuueru)

Did Pleez have bones? It was doubtful. Nothing in her had ever seemed to snap when she was struck. Whether she was blown up, burned, smashed into paste or cut into pieces, as far as she had ever been able to determine she didn’t have any vulnerable spots like other sentient species. If she took damage, it lowered her energy levels as her body recovered. Presumably, if she had her energy levels lowered too far – if the damage was too catastrophic – she must have a limit. She’d been knocked out once. That had been an unpleasant experience, and one she wasn’t in a particular hurry to rediscover.

Musing on her physiology was a long way from her mind as she made her way through the ship’s interior, though. She knew exactly where she wanted to go. If she attempted to kill all these people individually, after all, there was a chance – however small – that they might get away. There was a chance that it was the cargo that the Empire wanted destroyed, too; and whilst she was pretty sure most of the crates, from what her senses could tell, were filled with pitifully small power levels, there was a chance there was something in one of the others that she was supposed to make sure didn’t get off the ship.

So she had sprinted past the traumatised pilots, and tore towards the engines, instead.

Pleez’s head turned at an unpleasant angle to view Kuueru, as the woman exposed the refugees to the air.

“Oh yes, Commander, I found just what I was looking for. You shouldn’t be here though. This might sting a little, even for you.”

That was all the explanation she had prepared to give as she raised her hand towards the engine room. She had been fully intent on unleashing the shocking pink power she was gathering there directly into the engines, overloading them and causing a catastrophic chain reaction that would certainly have incinerated the ship and everything on board – and quite possibly caused damage to the entire hanger as well.

That was what Pleez wanted to do.

But then the actual reason why two of the Empire’s Finest had been dispatched showed himself.

The Saiyan Warrior’s foot crashed powerfully into Pleez’s side, and the Majin was sent sprawling. Her energy blast punched a hole in the roof of the ship, and the handsome, dark-haired man turned to face down both of his opponents, his fists balled at his sides.

“How could you do something so reckless?!” He shouted. “They’re non-combatants. They’re fleeing your stupid war, and you’d kill them all just to make a point?!”

There was a righteous anger boiling in the Saiyan’s words, his outrage written clear across his features. His armor was not the ornate style favoured by the Elite; he was a low-class warrior… but one who had clearly been the veteran of hundreds of battles, to be able to inflict such a telling strike on Pleez.

Though… if Kuueru was at all concerned to check on the wellbeing of her psychotic companion, there wasn’t any actual sign of injury on the Majin’s body. The only sign that she’d been struck at all was the fact that her aura, already a seething storm crying out for destruction, had become even more erratic. Hot steam blew in jets from the holes in her skull as she picked herself up from the ground.

She’d just been about to have fun, and then, and then—

“You. DON’T. HURT! MEEEE!”

(Wordcount: 604 / 2526 Queen Kuueru)

Pleez turned towards Kuueru as the woman burst in and looked frantic. She had enough time to frown and open her mouth to reply before the kick silenced whatever she was going to say. Truth be told, this whole situation was going from frustrating to aggravating at an extremely rapid pace. Pleez just couldn’t get a handle on what she was expected to do. When the kick sent her sprawling, it pushed her fully into berserk mode.

Kuueru’s laughter didn’t help matters.

“You think this is funny?!”

Pleez’s voice was incandescent with fury. High-pitched and screechy, it was marked with the lightning crackle of pink energy suddenly sparking to life around her. Wild shadows were cast across the interior of the ship, and the Saiyan warrior settled back into a calm, ready stance.

“As though I’d dream of standing down when facing demons like you.” The Warrior said, probably using the word ‘demon’ without realising exactly how apt it was. “It might be the end of the line for me, but maybe I can buy them a few minutes to get out of here. No way am I trusting your ‘official channels’. Not when you’re working with a monster like that.”

Pleez was literally shaking at this point, and when she snapped forwards, it was like a rocket going off. The floor and walls around her departure were left scorched, blackened by the uncontrolled energy just pouring out of the Majin menace.

The first exchange seemed to go in the Saiyan’s favour, too. Pleez lunged high, and he ducked low, easily evading the clumsy swipe. His fist had hit her gut six times before she was able to recover, bringing a crashing axe-handle down through the space where he had been a moment before. Each blow shocked him a little, but it wasn’t enough to dissuade him from continuing to dish out punishment. His second kick sent her hurtling down the corridor away from him again, and he turned towards Kuueru, straightening with a serious look in his eye.

“Call off your rabid beast now, and I’ll let it leave with only its pride bruised.”

But it was after he issued his ultimatum that Pleez’s counterattack hit him. Kuueru may have noticed it, as the pair clashed; each time Pleez struck, her attacks weren’t just using ki. Magic naturally responded to her anger, being drawn from the weft and flow of arcane energy itself, twisted to her purpose and laying ineffably in wait.

When she let out a bellow of rage from far down the corridor, the magic suddenly responded. It no longer laid in wait, but exploded into a bright flare of searing pink flame which burned the Saiyan’s arms and drew a cry of pain from the mighty warrior.

In terms of skill and power, the Saiyan certainly had the upper hand on Pleez – that much was obvious from the outcome of her initial engagement… but that wasn’t going to be enough, because all he’d succeeded in doing was piss her off, and the angrier she got, the more destructive energy was leeched into the universe to erase him from existence.

If that was what Pleez was holding back all the time… suddenly, her erratic, unreliable behaviour made a lot more sense.

(Wordcount: 558 / 3084 Queen Kuueru)

Pleez didn’t seem to have much of a sense of humour to begin with. Now that she’s been kicked, what fun she seemed to have been briefly having has gone completely out the window. It is definitely erratic, how quickly she can go from joyous to utterly incoherent with fury. Her body practically shook as the pair of other warriors talked about her as though she weren’t even there – or couldn’t understand them.

Kuueru might notice that the Saiyan’s power level was – well, it was impressive. At least twice Pleez’s own, if not a little more, and in terms of a fair fight, well, he was proving himself far more talented when it came to trading blows. If that was all there was to it, she might be in trouble.

But as Kuueru had so rightly noted, the Majin hadn’t actually taken any significant damage from the impact. It had hurt her, apparently, but aside from the physical discomfort she didn’t seem slowed down at all. Majins don’t bruise, apparently, and perhaps the reason why she had so much latitude with her behaviour was becoming more obvious, now. They were an incredibly rare species, especially those who had the temperament and interest to actually bother to learn to fight. But they were also quite possibly the most difficult species in the universe to kill, outstripping even the legendary Frost Demons for their tenacity.

“Don’t listen to her!” The warrior urged, “Go. They can’t catch you all. It has to be better than whatever these monsters have planned!”

Some of the civilians listened. They fled. In blind panic and terror, hobbling and desperate, the old and the young and the injured began to flee.

And the sight of them? That brought a smile back on to Pleez’s face.

“Sorry, ‘Commander’.” Pleez said, raising her hand palm-up towards the fleeing civilians. “No can do.”

A blast of impossibly bright pink power erupted from her outstretched palm, bearing down on a filthy Saiyan child. Before even Kuueru could react, the heroic warrior threw himself bodily in the way of the blast, taking it full on in the gut. He was sent staggering back a few paces by the force of the impact, hatred and disbelief in his wild eyes.

“What’s wrong with you?” He demanded, “They’re helpless. Your fight is-“

And Pleez demonstrated beyond a doubt in that moment that she knew exactly who her fight was with, by headbutting him square in the face. Her eyes were wild, and her arms looped around him as she held him close to her lightning-wreathed body.

“Your kind are all the same.” She spat, “I knew you wouldn’t let the brat die. Now YOU get to instead. Be happy. You’ll die a martyr. That’s what you wanted, right? And you can tell them all about it when I send them to hell right on your heels.”

In a fair fight? If there was any justice in the Universe? This Saiyan would crush Pleez into dust and she’d never recover. But this wasn’t a fair fight, and with the authorities bearing down on the weak, helpless refugees – it didn’t seem like there was much chance of justice, either.

(Wordcount: 552 / 3636 Queen Kuueru)

“What does doing me good have to do with it?!”

Pleez was a confused by Kuueru’s interference – she’d already bound the Saiyan’s arms to his sides, and whilst he was struggling, there was really little he could do in the immediate moment to stop her from beating him bloody. No matter what, the Commander seemed intent on stopping her from doing what she was there to do – it was really rather aggravating. At least the other Empire officials she had worked for had accepted her impulses when it came time to fight, but now the demon was even interfering in this.

Pleez pulled herself off the Saiyan, and glared at the Commander. Despite the power differential between the two of them, with Kuueru clearly dwarfing the Majin’s own power, she was still dangerously tempted to attack the woman for her interference. The waves of killing intent that rolled off Pleez made her desires difficult to ignore – she certainly wasn’t trying to mask them; she was pissed off, and she wasn’t the sort to rein in her emotions.

But she was able to stop herself from going for Kuueru as well. She instead locked eyes on the woman and spoke in a low, growling tone.

“I want to kill them all because they are alive. I work with you people because you give me the chance to kill idiots like this. That’s all I want. And you’re not giving it to me. I don’t give a shit about your mission. You call me in to kill people. That’s the deal.”

Putting her motivations in such stark terms made it absolutely clear – Pleez is a crazy person. She’s a psychopath who only wants destruction. It had been an uncharacteristic act of self-control to merely destroy the child’s book when asked to sign it; that had been a restrained Pleez. Pulling herself off this man who had injured her – who had actually managed to hurt her, however superficially? Kuueru might not feel it in that moment, but it was a sign of the degree to which Pleez respected the power the woman was wielding. She knew that if she tried to fight both Kuueru and the Saiyan at the same time, she’d lose. Not to mention the trouble that it would cause her with the Empire more generally. She’d have to destroy the whole station just to maintain her cover after she was done, and whilst she’d love to do that… the chances of her managing to do all of that quickly enough that no evidence could reach the Empire more generally?

Pleez was a psychopath, but she wasn’t an idiot.

“Let me finish him at least. Otherwise, I’m going to get … annoyed.”

The Saiyan, meanwhile, had begun to glow. It was gentle at first, but was growing more and more intense the harder he struggled to pull his arm away from Kuueru. And now that he wasn’t able to do that, his eyes had taken on a far more intense and dangerous expression.

“Don’t think I’m going to go quietly!” He raged, “If I can’t save these people, I can at least take you two down with me!”

The light suffusing his body flared in intensity – he was channelling his ki inwards, bright blue power spilling out of his body as he prepared to unleash everything he had all at once!

(Wordcount: 580 / 4216)

In many ways, it would have been nice if the Saiyan Warrior could transform – if his potential could reach all the way to the heights of a Super Saiyan, and he could then beat the hell out of Pleez. It would have been amusing to watch for Kuueru anyway, no doubt. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Such potential was rare within the Saiyan race, even if there were more Super Saiyans around than there had been in hundreds of years. He couldn’t even begin to reach towards such overwhelming heights.

He was glowing so bright it was dazzling to look at as he was shoved past the monster who had beaten him by the monster who was holding back. Pleez turned to face him, her head crooked on her neck as she did, and she huffed with her amusement as he glowered at the pair of them.

“You heard her, little man.” She said, “She might be a bitch, but she’s still given me permission to end your miserable life. I’ll take it.”

‘Weakling’ wasn’t a term that she liked, apparently, and Pleez had decided that there was no point even trying to maintain a charade of professionalism any longer. This partnership was a bust. She might as well just enjoy herself, if this was how it was going to go.

She began to lunge forwards, but halted, suddenly, as the Saiyan Warrior began to laugh. His power was brought to its fullest extent, concentrated in every inch of his brightly-glowing body, blue power seeming to radiate out of him in every direction.

“What’s so funny?” Pleez demanded, angrily.

“Just this.” The Warrior replied, “I’m not going to let you have what you want! Join me in hell you goddamn freak!”

Kuueru might just be smart enough to realise what the Warrior meant in that instant. Pleez certainly was not. She tore forwards with murderous intent, and when she was a fraction of an inch from the Saiyan’s face, he exploded.

The detonation of power was huge, and tightly focused. It swelled out to encompass the corridor, without ever going far enough to threaten either the engines (and the critical damage that Pleez had wanted to unleash) or the staring refugees who watched in helpless horror as their protector martyred himself.

The explosion lasted for several long, agonising seconds. Tightly focused and terrifyingly intense, the energy unleashed was vastly more powerful than anything the Saiyan had any right to put out under ordinary circumstances – but such is the power of sacrifice.

When at last the blaze died down, a perfect sphere had been cut through the ship, and Pleez’s gummy pink form had been smeared across the interior of the smouldering metal crater left in the wake of the warrior’s detonation.

(Wordcount: 471 / 4687 Queen Kuueru)