>>6001493”Something's not right.” you say aloud, mirroring her sentiment. Immediately you reach out telepathically to Freeza, who is still at the party. “Is everyone okay?”
“Of course, nothing's happened since you left.” he answers immediately. “Why, what's wrong?”
“It feels too easy.” you respond, to which you can feel his laughter through the link.
“Only you could find a way to complain that ending a world-ending threat felt too easy. Although, it IS odd that Arctus didn't give us a warning.”
“Arctus?” you ask, confused. “Why-?”
“Ever since he got his hands on that box, the 'Mother Box' as he calls it, he's been monitoring Darksied. Tracking his movements across the universe, getting himself along with my brother into positions to intercept him. But the fact his missed this one is surprising, I'll have to give him hell abou-”
But you end the connection mid-thought, immediately reaching out to Arctus himself.
“Arctus, what's going on?” you ask. “Where are you?”
“Busy at the moment, call back later.” he replies, and for a moment get a flash of what he sees. Which makes your heart skip a beat. Somewhere in space, he's facing down Darkseid as well, a colossal one. One that makes Arctus look no bigger than his eye, nearly the same level of scale difference you felt when facing down that bastard Dumplin.
“Hold on, where are you? We just took one down, let us help.” you add, immediately feeling the rejection of the idea through the link.
“No way. No offense, but this is a precision operation. I don't want my ship obliterated.” he replies, several images flashing through your mind. You see from his eyes how he lost control, how Darkseid sent his forces inside his ship, then how that box somehow morphed the Lucrehulk itself into that gargantuan frame. However, more importantly, you know that the box itself is the cause, changing the giant warship to suit its designs. “Besides, I have Cooler here, keeping its forces from landing on Namek below.”
“Are you sure he's enough?” you ask, Arctus pausing a moment. Again, through the link you see Golden Cooler shooting down warship after warship emerging from a massive portal behind the Darkseid-Lucrehulk robot.
“What is it?” Meloka asks, the entire telepathic conversation taking less than a second. “What's going on?”
“Arctus is in trouble.” you reply, seeing her expression darken. A moment later, you get another mind reaching out to your own, one you hadn't expected.
cont
