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

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

P-Cee folded her arms. This human...he had a point. Well, she had a point too and it was that 99.2 % of the time, she was correct. "Perhaps," she eventually sighed, realizing that she hadn't explored much of this Geofront, but perhaps it did yield the hidden fruits of potentially heinous experiments. Not that she'd admit it outloud. "It's something we can properly discover once we have her arrested and interrogated."



"..." P-Cee remained silent, thinking over the best way she could provide assitance to her allies.



"Selling it, eh?" Blizzar raised sighed. That was even worse than her simply utilizing it herself. Anyone willing to buy such technology undoubtedly had a sinister or I'll guided purpose. This would be nipped in the bud here and now. "Well, we can't have that. And while I'm certain Earth's authorities will waste no time in getting here once they'be heard your ties, I'm quite positive Jinzi Pantaloon and his allies won't particularly like what you've been doing in your spare time either."

She smiles.

“Jinzi is......thoughtless when it comes to me.”

[Miburo]

It’s tied to his memories, altering any mention of Gero’s illegal activities or questionable ones. Deleting the memories. That’s what Held sees.

There doesn’t appear to be a failsafe. A simple, and nasty, neural inhibitor keyed to Gero’s name, face, and negative thoughts associated therein.

Jinzi frowns.

“What are you doing Held?”

"Nevadian message technique." Held explained matter of factly, as he looked within his friend at the device. It seemed like the device had only one purpose, which made things much less dangerous than he expected.

"Didn't Meagan tell you? She said you seemed to be under alot of stress, and I never bothered to get you an engagement gift, so...Surprise?"

I guess Gero was trying to hide something?

"So, what were you up to before I got here, again?"

It should be easy enough to disable, although I better be careful. I don't want to accidentally lobotomize him or something.

Even though she knew that Jinzi was alright on the outside, Sarada kept her grip on Jinzi just in case. "Gero works with Jinzi at Capsule Corp, Held," she told him. "I've never even heard of her before today."

"Relax Jinzi. We'll have you feeling better soon enough."

Held wen't silent for a moment, his eyes narrowing.

"Wait, what?" He turned away from Jinzi for a moment, to be sure he heard Sarada correctly. "Gero works with Jinzi? At Capsule Corps? You're sure?"

I guess it would explain how the hell this all happened. Jinzi is so crazy prepared that I guess the best way to catch him off guard is to be someone who might know how to get close to him, or how he opperates.

"...I'm at Capsule Corps all the time, I've never seen anyone who looked like her." He continued, "Does she live in his closet or something?"

Just what the hell is going on here?

[Tami]

"Nevadian message technique." Held explained matter of factly, as he looked within his friend at the device. It seemed like the device had only one purpose, which made things much less dangerous than he expected.

"Didn't Meagan tell you? She said you seemed to be under alot of stress, and I never bothered to get you an engagement gift, so...Surprise?"

I guess Gero was trying to hide something?

"So, what were you up to before I got here, again?"

It should be easy enough to disable, although I better be careful. I don't want to accidentally lobotomize him or something.



Held wen't silent for a moment, his eyes narrowing.

"Wait, what?" He turned away from Jinzi for a moment, to be sure he heard Sarada correctly. "Gero works with Jinzi? At Capsule Corps? You're sure?"

I guess it would explain how the hell this all happened. Jinzi is so crazy prepared that I guess the best way to catch him off guard is to be someone who might know how to get close to him, or how he opperates.

"...I'm at Capsule Corps all the time, I've never seen anyone who looked like her." He continued, "Does she live in his closet or something?"

Just what the hell is going on here?

"I," Cyanna spoke up carefully, "think Wilhelm knows her. He seemed to trust her."

[Miburo]

"I," Cyanna spoke up carefully, "think Wilhelm knows her. He seemed to trust her."

"Eh?" Held paused for a moment, thinking. That quiet guy from that rotting world? Held had seen him here and there, but they hardly had a repore. Wilhelm was not exactly known for his conversational skills.

"Any idea why that is?" Held asked, clearing off a table, gesturing to his brain addled friend. "Hey, Jinzi, do me a solid and lay on this? I left my massage chair at home, but this will be fine I swear."

He turned back to Cyanna. "He didn't strike me as the trusting type, not that I blame him. It was a rough world that guy lived in."

He frowned, considering something.

"...As a matter of fact, where the hell is he?"

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Held wen't silent for a moment, his eyes narrowing.

"Wait, what?" He turned away from Jinzi for a moment, to be sure he heard Sarada correctly. "Gero works with Jinzi? At Capsule Corps? You're sure?"

I guess it would explain how the hell this all happened. Jinzi is so crazy prepared that I guess the best way to catch him off guard is to be someone who might know how to get close to him, or how he operates.

"...I'm at Capsule Corps all the time, I've never seen anyone who looked like her." He continued, "Does she live in his closet or something?"

Just what the hell is going on here?

Sarada frowned tepidly. "I won't claim to know even one of Jinzi's employees, nor have I ever been to Capsule Corp outside of the few times it was necessary. She seems to just have come out of nowhere, but Meagan met her some time before." She shrugged.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"Nevadian message technique." Held explained matter of factly, as he looked within his friend at the device. It seemed like the device had only one purpose, which made things much less dangerous than he expected.

"Didn't Meagan tell you? She said you seemed to be under alot of stress, and I never bothered to get you an engagement gift, so...Surprise?"

I guess Gero was trying to hide something?

"So, what were you up to before I got here, again?"

It should be easy enough to disable, although I better be careful. I don't want to accidentally lobotomize him or something.



Held wen't silent for a moment, his eyes narrowing.

"Wait, what?" He turned away from Jinzi for a moment, to be sure he heard Sarada correctly. "Gero works with Jinzi? At Capsule Corps? You're sure?"

I guess it would explain how the hell this all happened. Jinzi is so crazy prepared that I guess the best way to catch him off guard is to be someone who might know how to get close to him, or how he opperates.

"...I'm at Capsule Corps all the time, I've never seen anyone who looked like her." He continued, "Does she live in his closet or something?"

Just what the hell is going on here?

“Char...works offsite...a lot. We...collaborate. She is helping to upgrade Adam.” Jinzi says haltingly.

Held, removing the device will be easy. A small cut and extraction.

[MrSandman]

Held wen't silent for a moment, his eyes narrowing.

"Wait, what?" He turned away from Jinzi for a moment, to be sure he heard Sarada correctly. "Gero works with Jinzi? At Capsule Corps? You're sure?"

I guess it would explain how the hell this all happened. Jinzi is so crazy prepared that I guess the best way to catch him off guard is to be someone who might know how to get close to him, or how he opperates.

"...I'm at Capsule Corps all the time, I've never seen anyone who looked like her." He continued, "Does she live in his closet or something?"

Just what the hell is going on here?

"Is that not the enemy fought during the tournament.....the multi formed creature of science?" Cthylla commented from nearby, haven't opted to simply listen to the others until the name was brought up. "Had we known we would have tracked her down immediately.....I will rectify this, please give me the locations of all the closets." Cthylla asked.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"Eh?" Held paused for a moment, thinking. That quiet guy from that rotting world? Held had seen him here and there, but they hardly had a repore. Wilhelm was not exactly known for his conversational skills.

"Any idea why that is?" Held asked, clearing off a table, gesturing to his brain addled friend. "Hey, Jinzi, do me a solid and lay on this? I left my massage chair at home, but this will be fine I swear."

He turned back to Cyanna. "He didn't strike me as the trusting type, not that I blame him. It was a rough world that guy lived in."

He frowned, considering something.

"...As a matter of fact, where the hell is he?"

Jinzi does so.

“He’s....he works with her at my....request. I...said..she could help.”

[KingofPie]

She smiles.

“Jinzi is......thoughtless when it comes to me.”

Blizzar cocked his head to the side. "And whatever do you mean by that?"

[Miburo]

Jinzi does so.

“He’s....he works with her at my....request. Said...she could help.”

"Hold that thought." Held replied, his voice focused and serious. "Actually, no, don't do that."

I don't want to poke around too much while it's actively doing it's thing, I think.



Piercing Horn--Mara

Energy focused around Helds finger, a tiny lance--almost a scalpel--focusing around his pointer finger. He gently touched him, and Jinzi's sense of pain vanished in an instant.

"Okay, Jinzi, Relax. You gotta stay still. You're under a lot of stress buddy. I gotta go in deep."

His free hand rested on the base of the inventors skull, just incase he twitched suddenly. A slight movement was made by the Nevadian, and the Lance pierced through the skull of his friend, stopping short of his brain.

He gently made a circle with his finger, widening the incision slightly. The circle no doubt made those nearby uncomfortable, wondering if the Nevadian were attempting to lobotomize his friend.

With a precision approaching perfection, the lance of energy sliced into the delicate circuitry of the device, deactivating it. A twitch of the finger, and the device was skewered upon the lance, being extracted from the inventors skull with little fanfare. He flicked his finger, and the device clattered on the table.

Runic art--Transmutation!

Within a moment, flesh and bone that had been torn asunder were reconsituted, and put together, whole once more.

"You alright?" Held asked, before shaking his head, "Nevermind, of course you are, I'm a miracle worker."

He wiped his hand on a his pants, the danger passed.

"Help with what?"

[Yun Lao]

The town was called El Nopal, a literal "where?" place that not even the mighty powers of Zoogle couldn't pinpoint entirely. There was an uncertainty in declaring that its nigh nonexistent nature was intentional, for while criminals and outlaws were said to retreat to it to lay low, there was a particular feeling when entering the town just naturally shirked away from attention like a shy child with growing anti-social anxiety issues. The roads were pothole ridden, cracked, and worn by time, with the nearby sands and brush vegetation seeking to reclaim the land back for nature as sections were completely broken down into patches of dirt and sand. Seventy-five percent of the town that still stood were comprised of abandoned buildings, their exteriors sporting the sun peeled and faded paintings of old-timey advertisements and shop names while their interiors were completely gutted or filled with neglected furnishings. The only building in town that seemed to be remotely modern was the bar that lied within what might have been the industrial section of town. It might have once been hidden, but now it stood out, devoid of shame; after all, if you were already here, then there was no point of hiding the best way to drown your worries.

The Desert Rose ; a name as generic as one could imagine, leading him to believe that the bar owner simply figured "what's the point?" and went with the obvious. Opening the door to his hover car, he stepped out, his designer dress shoes sinking half an inch into the loose sands. He could feel the bass of the music from outside as it vibrated parts of the bar's exterior, making him dread how deafening it would be once he reached the door. Hesitating upon his approach to the entrance, he took note of the words painted in cursive across the top of the heavy wood door, In Vino Veritas "In wine lies the truth". He grunted in distaste to such a cliche way of trying to polish a turd. It would have been more respectful to simply own up to what they were; a seedy dive bar in a ghost town. Thoroughly annoyed by this place already, he yanked open the door.

BGM: "What It Dew"

He could feel the headache already starting as his brain vibrated in his skull from the music playing, contrasted by his vision being utterly destroyed by how dimly lit the place was. Several of the patrons grimaced as the light of day fell upon them and as an act of mercy would he close the door behind him, plunging the interior back into neon-lit darkness. Once his vision adjusted to it would he start taking notice of the occupants. Most were the typical bikers and truckers one pictured when thinking of some places, while surprisingly, there were a few who seemed out of place much like himself. Perhaps he should have known when no one batted an eye to someone such as him, clad in a tieless suit with sunglasses strode in.

It was then he found what he was looking for, or rather, whom he was looking for. With a casual glance, the man looked more like a piece of the bar at this point, more alcohol than a human with a scruffy, unkempt beard and greasy dirty blond hair tied back into an unflattering ponytail. With a wife-beater stained by food, drink, and sweat stains and equally dirty jeans, he was disgusted by who he was looking at. Swallowing his disdain, he approached the bar and sat next to the man, taken back for a moment from the stench of unwashed sweat, alcohol, and possibly the scent of vomit.

Giving out a loud sigh, drowned out by the blaring music, he took off his sunglasses and addressed the man, "You know, in the state you're in now, it's hard to believe that you're the actor, Luc Warm." Luc, previously in a drunken reverie, flinched visibly hearing that name. Reluctantly dragged back to reality, his bloodshot eyes turned to him in disbelief, "Brock?"

"In the flesh, my friend," Brock Lee said, "It took me a lot of time and money to find you... not that either of those things matters. Your wife and family are worried about you, Luc, you have to come back home."

"No!" Luc said, nearly in a shriek before quieting down, "No... no no... I can't go back. Now that I know the truth, I can never go back to the way things were." He reached out with shaky hands to grasp his glass of watered-down gut rot, but the drink would never reach his mouth as Brock pushed the glass back down onto the bartop with a loud clack, "And you think sitting here in this dump poisoning yourself is a better option?!" That outcry seemed to have garnered the unwanted attention of the other patrons, who slowly rose from their seats in defense of their wayward kin. "I think it's time you left, stranger," Said one of the men, a biker whose passion for the arts left not a speck of flesh without ink or piercing.

"Not without my friend," Brock declared, only for another of the patrons to shout back, "He ain't yer friend anymore. He's ours!" The others jeered in agreement to that, bringing a grim frown to his face as he knew he wasn't leaving this bar without a fight.

It would be an unfortunate situation... for them.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Blizzar cocked his head to the side. "And whatever do you mean by that?"

She smirks.

“Lets just say I’m not on his mind much.”

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"Hold that thought." Held replied, his voice focused and serious. "Actually, no, don't do that."

I don't want to poke around too much while it's actively doing it's thing, I think.



Piercing Horn--Mara

Energy focused around Helds finger, a tiny lance--almost a scalpel--focusing around his pointer finger. He gently touched him, and Jinzi's sense of pain vanished in an instant.

"Okay, Jinzi, Relax. You gotta stay still. You're under a lot of stress buddy. I gotta go in deep."

His free hand rested on the base of the inventors skull, just incase he twitched suddenly. A slight movement was made by the Nevadian, and the Lance pierced through the skull of his friend, stopping short of his brain.

He gently made a circle with his finger, widening the incision slightly. The circle no doubt made those nearby uncomfortable, wondering if the Nevadian were attempting to lobotomize his friend.

With a precision approaching perfection, the lance of energy sliced into the delicate circuitry of the device, deactivating it. A twitch of the finger, and the device was skewered upon the lance, being extracted from the inventors skull with little fanfare. He flicked his finger, and the device clattered on the table.

Runic art--Transmutation!

Within a moment, flesh and bone that had been torn asunder were reconsituted, and put together, whole once more.

"You alright?" Held asked, before shaking his head, "Nevermind, of course you are, I'm a miracle worker."

He wiped his hand on a his pants, the danger passed.

"Help with what?"

“With Karis.”

Jinzi slowly sits up, hand ghosting over the back of his head.

“That.....that......troglodyte!”

He looks up, eyes hard.

“No one messes with my mind, abuses my good will, or tries to hurt my friends! Gero better start running!”

He starts frantically tapping at his wrist watch with a manic gleam in his eyes.

[KingofPie]

She smirks.

“Lets just say I’m not on his mind much.”

"Do you plan on countering every question with an irritatingly coy response?" Blizzar questioned after a moment. "No matter. Sufficient evidence has been gathered about your various activities. We'd like you to come with us so that we may take you to Earth's authorities for questioning. There should be no issue with that, I trust...?" Blizzar asked the scientist.

[grampagen]

It pings fine, right where Adam stands. The robot makes no outward move but inside an internal movement allows it to answer.

‘Yes?’

Ochazuke, faintly you also feel something deep within the Earth....moving.

Ochazuke's response was delayed. Analyzing the source connections of the energy surrounding Adam, in the space between seconds he was searching for something.

"Dr. Gero said she's upgraded you. Yet I your inaction says otherwise," he said. For Adam had never been an observer, its dichotomy of input and output always pushed it to process a swift logical course without pause. Burrowed in the laboratoru, while Ochazuke could not see the light upon the android's polyally wrist, he was acutely aware of its resonance, queued and connected to something. "So tell me Adam, do you bear a purpose, or a voluntary yoke?"

Parsley held Ochazuke's gaze. She believed she knew what he was going for. "I don't believe she does. I didn't make myself known until just now. If this escalates, Gero won't see me coming."

His lips pressed together, a characteristically grim expression spreading upon his face. "We'll likely have to move out shortly," he said, "there's another presence directly below this facility, and it's started moving."

Ochazuke took a sharp inhale, and a heightened focus fell about Parsley and Wilhelm as he applied Kei'i-Ken. "We have what we came for, but right now we need to get Karis out of there."

This was the sort of dramatic exit a certain other eccentric tended to pull when the whim suit him. But this was rather a grand, petty gesture, and for all she had to hide, she seemed bent on throwing everything once exposed. What are you playing at Gero? Slowly, he knotted his fingers together, a long exhale leaving him as he cracked his knuckles. "If she's the one controlling it as a response, then you're the only that she hasn't accounted for, Parsley. I don't know how much time we have..."

With that he lift off from the laboratory floor and started flying back to the main Geofront laboratory. As he got closer, he increased his focus on the mass sequestered waiting within the Earth as it approached.