Dragonball M, Chapter 3: In Blood, Bone, and Ash! The Way Forward Unlocked!

[Yun Lao]

Exhausted from his fight with the alternate Oni, Charco slumped against a nearby and slid down to a seated position; a ritual the boy had been partaking in since this whole deal with alternate timelines began. Glancing down to his arm, he grimaced seeing the gnarly scars that now lined it. It wasn't pretty, but it was the price he paid to get the killing blow on Marduk and most importantly, it still worked as intended.

He couldn't say the same for Ishtar or Sarada, who looked a few limbs lighter.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

"Well, we were called back to Chroma." Cyanna shrugged, "I mean, we did meet an evil Isthar, but none of us are trying to imprison your girlfriend. There is also a crazy Jinzi out there, and so far brother hasn't shown signs of going off the deep end. How was sis supposed to know that Jinzi's science partner was on the verge of taking the same path as her alternate?"

"If Ishtar is actually evil, I'd be the very first person to know about it," Sarada responded flatly. "We've also known Jinzi for nearly three years now. I would think that'd be long enough to properly gauge someone's character. We don't know this Gero woman at all, which is why your sister, the wise Guardian of your planet, should have done her due diligence and made sure this woman wasn't a detriment to her husband's well-being."

[Tami]

"If Ishtar is actually evil, I'd be the very first person to know about it," Sarada responded flatly. "We've also known Jinzi for nearly three years now. I would think that'd be long enough to properly gauge someone's character. We don't know this Gero woman at all, which is why your sister, the wise Guardian of your planet, should have done her due diligence and made sure this woman wasn't a detriment to her husband's well-being."

Raising her voice, "Unless she trusted her husband enough to know he'd eventually realize that she wasn't such a nice person if that turned out to be the case! Unless she trusted her Friends enough to keep an eye on him while she was away! And yeah, Meagan is a Guardian, a Guardian of an entire Planet! A position she never asked for, yet she takes her responsibilities seriously. If her people, if Our people need her she's wise enough to be there for them. Since she can't be in two places at once, was she wrong to place her trust in you and the others?" Arms folded across her chest, a look of defiance in her eyes.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Raising her voice, "Unless she trusted her husband enough to know he'd eventually realize that she wasn't such a nice person if that turned out to be the case! Unless she trusted her Friends enough to keep an eye on him while she was away! And yeah, Meagan is a Guardian, a Guardian of an entire Planet! A position she never asked for, yet she takes her responsibilities seriously. If her people, if Our people need her she's wise enough to be there for them. Since she can't be in two places at once, was she wrong to place her trust in you and the others?" Arms folded across her chest, a look of defiance in her eyes.

"She dropped the ball, Cyanna. Just admit it." That it didn't even bother Meagan enough to do a little investigating of her own, or to even suggest that Char Gero existed in this timeline spoke poorly. If she didn't have time -- which she did -- then the prudent thing to do would have been to inform someone -- if not herself, Blizzar, Held, or anyone else who went with her on that mission, then certainly someone on the Lookout or even Jinzi himself.

"She didn't even tell Jinzi. He was shocked when I told him about the other Gero. Explain that."

Cyanna's look of defiance roused an agitated exhale from the Saiyan Queen. She stood and narrowed her eyes. "What's with that look? Surely you aren't looking for a free ass whooping?"

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Eva quirks an eyebrow at Sarada.

“Everyone misses things, Sarada. Believe me when I say the Call of a Guardian, especially at first, can be overwhelming. While Meagan should have said something I do understand. Pregnant with an emergency on Chroma, plus pressing Guardian business....”

Eva shrugs slightly.

“We are none of us omniscient.”

[Tami]

"She dropped the ball, Cyanna. Just admit it." That it didn't even bother Meagan enough to do a little investigating of her own, or to even suggest that Char Gero existed in this timeline spoke poorly. If she didn't have time -- which she did -- then the prudent thing to do would have been to inform someone -- if not herself, Blizzar, Held, or anyone else who went with her on that mission, then certainly someone on the Lookout or even Jinzi himself.

"She didn't even tell Jinzi. He was shocked when I told him about the other Gero. Explain that."

Cyanna's look of defiance roused an agitated exhale from the Saiyan Queen. She stood and narrowed her eyes. "What's with that look? Surely you aren't looking for a free ass whooping?"

Cyanna's anger was building up, both hands clenched at either side, until she finally screamed at a pitch so high all that most of the glass nearby on the Lookout started to vibrate and shatter. She then stomped her foot really hard and vanished, once again seeking out Charco. Grumbling, "dumb stupid runaway queen." as she left.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

As Wilhelm combed through the virtual archive of Char's work, Ochazuke continued to examine what lay about the room - the raw data, hastily scrawled. What Wilhelm found there was something that rather raised suspicion. "Small wonder she's fixated on Adam. Its abilities have always been on the bleeding edge." Gero's words echoed through his mind. There in the isolated chamber, the mercurial thinking machine was all but instrumental to her. The faint hunger in her eyes was as if they sought to validate some absolute quality she saw in Adam.

Assimilation. Replication.

Ochazuke continued to investigate the various work-surfaces. White notes sprout about the metallic cloister.

"Though, the act of discovery in itself...," a cold sweat formed upon his brow, "changing what we know is to necessarily push the boundaries of our understanding."

His own discipline made him aware that a fatal blow is to render unto the opponent an absence; unless the vital substance was seen to straight away, even one essential piece caused life to cease. But the very creation of life itself, engineering it by design? His last inference to the nature of her work was only a notion, and though she did not say it, her actions would not allow it to desist in his mind.

Replacement.

Adam's matrix, its extrusion of energy and reactive nature stabilized a great many things on the battlefield, enough to turn the tide of a great number of machines. As he saw in the deadened timeline, it had also traced every facet of the Doctor. There was within such a thing unprecedented potential for disaster.

"Is there a record of the experimental trials? How large is her body of research?" Concealed within the scientist's petite frame was a heart of fluid steel. It was all-too familiar and near to his reckoning.

Glacia. Haru. Koolard.

He flipped through a stack of notes, but many of the inflections of specific scientific jargon eluded Ochazuke, so he turned his attention back to the room. This was supposedly a laboratory space, but it seemed far more lived-in, as if inseparable from private quarters. Char Banner Gero. He searched the room for any affects of her personal design.

Beyond fickle experimentation, there had to be a motive for all this.

No matter how perfect the copy, we cannot recreate what is past.

“Nothing...concrete yet. She has...just started experimenting...with Adam’s replication capabilities. More...theories than...actual experiments just yet.”

Ochazuke, amidst the lived in clutter you do discover a ripped up picture of Jinzi and Meagan, a rejection letter to a sitting council of scientists regarding a proposed revolutionary cybernetic implant and the intent to procure funding from them (Jinzi’s name is on the rejection letter, and it is dated four years ago), and a crumbled pad of paper with coordinates on a stellar location (with the initials BGS by it) and a planetary location with a familiar RR symbol on it.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Ishtar heard her bones creak when Shek'hinah swooped in to embrace her, only to wince when she began to gawk, rather loudly at that, about what it was she had lost. Not commenting on the wounds themselves for the time being however, the golden-eyed Oni focused on the second question her mother asked. "It is the arm of ... another Ishtar. Goddess of Ruination, she is called ... though only a simulacrum of the original did I fight."

Circling back around then to the initial question, Ishtar answered that as she explained further. "We fought ... she fell, and all that remains is an arm ... a bit of horn. Though not without cost. It possessed Hakai, and in order to keep living I was forced to remove my own arm."

“Smart. Very smart, daughter. I am so glad to see you alive.”

She glances at the horn and arm.

“What do you plan to do with them?”

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

The elevator doors opened, revealing to Parsley a sight that was nothing short of breathtaking. It was an entire underground city, complete with an artificial sky and even lifelike turf grass under her feet. Every blade of grass, every particle of air meticulously measured and controlled for maximum comfort. The genius of Jinzi Pants was knew no bounds, and yet, Parsley saw the extent that genius could and would go to if left unchecked. The man's conscious and his sense of morality tempered his scientific creativity. There were limits this Jinzi would not cross.

Those he kept within his company, however, the same could not be said for.

Nothing out of the ordinary would be so visible, so Parsley ventured deeper within the Geofront.

She eventually finds the cryo-lab where Gero and Blizzar are.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"Ah, I see," Blizzar nodded. "How soon do you think progress will be made?"

P-Cee senses power levels somewhere in the facility. Not too familiar to her but known to her enough to investigate further.

P-Cee finds the open door to the hidden lab.

Gero shrugs.

“It seems my work won’t be needed on this anymore. An....outside help discovered the means to unlocking it.

[Yun Lao]

"..."

He wanted to say something, but no words formed in his mind as he studied the bracelet his alternate self had given him. Made from the fangs of Rex, it was supposed to suppress the spirit.

Skulking in the shadows and pleading to any who would hear you... how the mighty have fallen...

If the bracelet had any effect on Rex, then it must have been subtle as the spirit's presence pressed against his mental boundaries, seeking out a chink in the armor.

Make your deals and beg for help, little prey... I will enjoy reducing you to the child you truly are...

Of course, Rex had been paying attention to everything at this point. Charco had a feeling this was so, but hearing it only drove home the point that he would have to be careful with all of the outside assistance he sought out.

[Tami]

"..."

He wanted to say something, but no words formed in his mind as he studied the bracelet his alternate self had given him. Made from the fangs of Rex, it was supposed to suppress the spirit.

Skulking in the shadows and pleading to any who would hear you... how the mighty have fallen...

If the bracelet had any effect on Rex, then it must have been subtle as the spirit's presence pressed against his mental boundaries, seeking out a chink in the armor.

Make your deals and beg for help, little prey... I will enjoy reducing you to the child you truly are...

Of course, Rex had been paying attention to everything at this point. Charco had a feeling this was so, but hearing it only drove home the point that he would have to be careful with all of the outside assistance he sought out.

Reappearing in front of him, her face still flushed with emotion, her body trembling slightly, Cyanna looked like she was either about to cry or explode.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"..."

He wanted to say something, but no words formed in his mind as he studied the bracelet his alternate self had given him. Made from the fangs of Rex, it was supposed to suppress the spirit.

Skulking in the shadows and pleading to any who would hear you... how the mighty have fallen...

If the bracelet had any effect on Rex, then it must have been subtle as the spirit's presence pressed against his mental boundaries, seeking out a chink in the armor.

Make your deals and beg for help, little prey... I will enjoy reducing you to the child you truly are...

Of course, Rex had been paying attention to everything at this point. Charco had a feeling this was so, but hearing it only drove home the point that he would have to be careful with all of the outside assistance he sought out.

The bracelet warms slightly, and Charco can almost feel his mental barriers strengthen. Firm and shore up. Not a lot, but enough.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Cyanna's anger was building up, both hands clenched at either side, until she finally screamed at a pitch so high all that most of the glass nearby on the Lookout started to vibrate and shatter. She then stomped her foot really hard and vanished, once again seeking out Charco. Grumbling, "dumb stupid runaway queen." as she left.

Cyanna... just...

And Sarada exploded.



"Hey! Nice rage-quit, loser! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!"

Eva quirks an eyebrow at Sarada.

“Everyone misses things, Sarada. Believe me when I say the Call of a Guardian, especially at first, can be overwhelming. While Meagan should have said something I do understand. Pregnant with an emergency on Chroma, plus pressing Guardian business....”

Eva shrugs slightly.

“We are none of us omniscient.”

Sarada rolled her eyes. "Come on, Eva. It doesn't take much brain power to tell your mate that one of the people he's working with might be running an illegal cloning lab somewhere." She shook her head. "Fine. Since Cyanna ran off like a baby, consider this dropped." She sat back down and continued to wait.

[Yun Lao]

Reappearing in front of him, her face still flushed with emotion, her body trembling slightly, Cyanna looked like she was either about to cry or explode.

Returning to reality upon the revelation that Rex was fully aware of all of the stop-gap measures Charco had been gathering, the boy looked up to see Cyanna on the verge of tears.

"Whoa, you okay?"