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

[Sub-Zero MKA]

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

After some time of searching, Parsley eventually found Blizzar and who she assumed was Dr. Char Gero. A good looking woman; not nearly as fit as Avoca, but then, few women were. Instead of immediately making her presence known, she decided to listen closely. Apparently, Ochazuke had found an alternative means of opening something. That something must have been the cryo-tube that the Terran princess was currently sleeping in.

She glanced around the lab. Curiosity overcame her. If this woman was up to no good -- as Sarada alleged -- then this room would be a good place to start looking. She closed her eyes, taking in several deep breaths before opening them again. Her narrowed became acutely focused on the latent ki in the room. Even a signature as minuscule as Gero's left some fingerprints behind, and Parsley saw them. With Observational Insight, she peered into the past and sought what had been transpiring in this room.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

“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?”

"It was stupid. I should have fled ... but I swore I would not. It just as easily could have struck somewhere that could not be so easily removed." Like her head, or chest ...

When asked about the arm and horn however Ishtar shrugged.

"I have considered, briefly, taking after Marduk to a ... certain point. He drew strength from consuming the essence of other Oni; and she is ... was, a mirror image of myself. Though I do not know for sure." Sighing, the Oni offered Shek'hinah a glance before asking.

"What might the Mother of Oni, suggest ?"

[Tami]

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?"

"Stupid, thick-headed, arrogant ... I can't believe Meagan considers Sarada a friend! Bad talking her like that, I just wanted to rip that arrogant smirk from her face." Cyanna, still shaking and struggling to calm herself, "I wanted to hurt her, beat her up until she took back what she said about Meagan. But, dammit, I couldn't do it."

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

After some time of searching, Parsley eventually found Blizzar and who she assumed was Dr. Char Gero. A good looking woman; not nearly as fit as Avoca, but then, few women were. Instead of immediately making her presence known, she decided to listen closely. Apparently, Ochazuke had found an alternative means of opening something. That something must have been the cryo-tube that the Terran princess was currently sleeping in.

She glanced around the lab. Curiosity overcame her. If this woman was up to no good -- as Sarada alleged -- then this room would be a good place to start looking. She closed her eyes, taking in several deep breaths before opening them again. Her narrowed became acutely focused on the latent ki in the room. Even a signature as minuscule as Gero's left some fingerprints behind, and Parsley saw them. With Observational Insight, she peered into the past and sought what had been transpiring in this room.

Nothing untoward. Not in the cryo-lab. You pretty much see what transpired recently, including Ochazuke and Wilhelm going further into the maze of rooms and labs.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"It was stupid. I should have fled ... but I swore I would not. It just as easily could have struck somewhere that could not be so easily removed." Like her head, or chest ...

When asked about the arm and horn however Ishtar shrugged.

"I have considered, briefly, taking after Marduk to a ... certain point. He drew strength from consuming the essence of other Oni; and she is ... was, a mirror image of myself. Though I do not know for sure." Sighing, the Oni offered Shek'hinah a glance before asking.

"What might the Mother of Oni, suggest ?"

She pauses.

“I wonder.......may I, Ishtar?”

She gestures for her to hand the arm and horn over.

“I think I can do something...unique with this.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Nothing untoward. Not in the cryo-lab. You pretty much see what transpired recently, including Ochazuke and Wilhelm going further into the maze of rooms and labs.

Hmph. Nothing of import, other than Wilhelm and Ochazuke venturing deep into a maze of rooms and laboratories. They could have whatever they discovered in there. She had little doubt that the martial philosopher also suspected that Char was up to something nefarious. Parsley, on the other hand, had the means to find out exactly what and "catch" her in the act, in a manner of speaking.

She slipped silently out of the room and kept looking.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

She pauses.

“I wonder.......may I, Ishtar?”

She gestures for her to hand the arm and horn over.

“I think I can do something...unique with this.

Ishtar took a moment to wedge the arm under her prosthetic arm, before fishing the horn from ... somewhere, handing them both over to Shek'hinah without hesitating.

"By all means."

Sort of cannibalization, Ishtar's own uses for them were limited, after all.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Ishtar took a moment to wedge the arm under her prosthetic arm, before fishing the horn from ... somewhere, handing them both over to Shek'hinah without hesitating.

"By all means."

Sort of cannibalization, Ishtar's own uses for them were limited, after all.

She takes both, and the pushes Ishtar to a sitting position. Skek’hinah then starts running her hands over both objects, speaking in an ancient and celestial language. The two items start to glow, then melt into glowing puddles of light. She takes the puddles, speaking a soothing voice as she manipulates the liquid, it flowing up and around as she crafts them into one item, before touching it to where Ishtar no longer had an arm. From there, like a potter with clay, her mother molds and sculpts and creates, her voice ancient and powerful, soothing and warm. After about five minutes, the light fades and to Ishtar’s astonishment, a perfectly formed and identical arm is attached and useable, as if she had never lost it. In fact, it feels even better than the original one. She can feel a bit of what she can only presume is cryomancy laying within the arm.

Shek’hinah smiles.

“How is that, dear?”

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Hmph. Nothing of import, other than Wilhelm and Ochazuke venturing deep into a maze of rooms and laboratories. They could have whatever they discovered in there. She had little doubt that the martial philosopher also suspected that Char was up to something nefarious. Parsley, on the other hand, had the means to find out exactly what and "catch" her in the act, in a manner of speaking.

She slipped silently out of the room and kept looking.

Like P-Cee, she eventually find the hidden lab.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Like P-Cee, she eventually find the hidden lab.

"Interesting." It seemed that Parsley had stumbled across a hidden laboratory tucked away deep within the Geofront. She had no clue if Jinzi was even aware this room existed; or if he was, if he knew what was transpiring here.

She wasn't the only one there. She sensed the presence of the GP officer before her keen focus spotted her out. "Investigating for Blizzar, little one?" she pondered before taking stock of the room before her. She carefully stepped inside the lab, then repeated the process from before. Eyes closed, she breathed in slowly and exhaled just as deliberately. Her eyes opened, allowing Observational Insight to bring to light all that had transpired in the darkness, hidden away from Jinzi Pants' all-knowing eyes.

[KingofPie]

"Interesting." It seemed that Parsley had stumbled across a hidden laboratory tucked away deep within the Geofront. She had no clue if Jinzi was even aware this room existed; or if he was, if he knew what was transpiring here.

She wasn't the only one there. She sensed the presence of the GP officer before her keen focus spotted her out. "Investigating for Blizzar, little one?" she pondered before taking stock of the room before her. She carefully stepped inside the lab, then repeated the process from before. Eyes closed, she breathed in slowly and exhaled just as deliberately. Her eyes opened, allowing Observational Insight to bring to light all that had transpired in the darkness, hidden away from Jinzi Pants' all-knowing eyes.

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.

"Even, so you're expertise would be invaluable..." Blizzar reached down and whispered. "Truth be told, the GP are looking for scientists we can poach for our research division," he fibbed. "We could use you in our robotics division. Hopefully, Capsule Corp won't mind your absence, but we can give you access to tech not available on Earth. How about it?"

***

P-Cee grows to full size before Parsley and in greeting, announced, "Greetings, Saiyan Defender Parsley!" All the while, she was pirhouetting on a single booted tow, spinning towards her in a circle as she touched the top of the foot she was balancing on and continued, "Officer P-Cee of the Galaxy Police Elite Katchin...." she informed the two, striing a different dynamic pose, pointing a finger gun at imaginary foes. "Squadron! ...at your service," she finished, immediately sobering up after her introduction, speaking in a stone cold serious tone.

"But yes, I assume you and your allies are conducting an investigation of your own?" She inquired.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"Interesting." It seemed that Parsley had stumbled across a hidden laboratory tucked away deep within the Geofront. She had no clue if Jinzi was even aware this room existed; or if he was, if he knew what was transpiring here.

She wasn't the only one there. She sensed the presence of the GP officer before her keen focus spotted her out. "Investigating for Blizzar, little one?" she pondered before taking stock of the room before her. She carefully stepped inside the lab, then repeated the process from before. Eyes closed, she breathed in slowly and exhaled just as deliberately. Her eyes opened, allowing Observational Insight to bring to light all that had transpired in the darkness, hidden away from Jinzi Pants' all-knowing eyes.

You don’t discover much more than what Ochazuke and Wilhelm have (who are both here to). You see her at the computer, scribbling notes and schematics, crumpling tings up and tossing it to the ground. Living here, eating here, running diagnostics on samples of various items she has.

Despite using the computer quite a bit, a lot of her notes are hand written and either trashed, burned, or otherwise destroyed.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"Even, so you're expertise would be invaluable..." Blizzar reached down and whispered. "Truth be told, the GP are looking for scientists we can poach for our research division," he fibbed. "We could use you in our robotics division. Hopefully, Capsule Corp won't mind your absence, but we can give you access to tech not available on Earth. How about it?"

***

P-Cee grows to full size before Parsley and in greeting, announced, "Greetings, Saiyan Defender Parsley!" All the while, she was pirhouetting on a single booted tow, spinning towards her in a circle as she touched the top of the foot she was balancing on and continued, "Officer P-Cee of the Galaxy Police Elite Katchin...." she informed the two, striing a different dynamic pose, pointing a finger gun at imaginary foes. "Squadron! ...at your service," she finished, immediately sobering up after her introduction, speaking in a stone cold serious tone.

"But yes, I assume you and your allies are conducting an investigation of your own?" She inquired.

She plays along.

“Intriguing. What’s the pay like?”

[grampagen]

“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 (JinziÂ’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.

"I see...keep looking, we have no idea how far on the trail she is to realizing-"

Suddenly, he stopped when he discovered the material. The photo, torn to pieces. They were only married days ago, which means...

His hand brushed aside a neglected pile of papers, tabled numbers holding a record of some years-forgotten brilliance. Two scientists of like mind...and habits. Perhaps the photograph was something Jinzi had left laying around, discovered in as much a change encounter as this. After all, his brilliance and boundless curiosity had a habit of neglected little things from moment to moment; how the little things draw together and accumulate over time, until they could no longer escape notice. What else have you pulled from Pantaloon? Soon, Ochazuke found the subterfugre were not quite as onesided as it appeared.

"Cybernetic augmentation," he though aloud. The red line and stamp gleaned many a folio set aside: 'REJECTED'. "Without funding, she had no test subjects that would comply, save one."

But this he star map and its dotted initials. "...the Big Ghetti Star." A piece of it lay upon the Guardian Evangeline. "How did she access something like this so far out of the way?"

However what he found next, the crimson axe of the Red Raiders. Were these not the base coordinates Pantaloon had set Held and the others on but two years ago? Willa Rautt had plotted a revolution, and as Battersea's Bastard, she had access to the Champions purse. Materiel and logistics for war.

"If she couldn't secure funding from the government, and if Pantaloon wouldn't listen to her, it seems like she found someone else who would." Four years, perhaps even longer now. He braced himself on the edge of the desk. He palmed the coordinates of the star map "We'll need to take this down," he said to Wilhelm, "it seems the pieces have been in motion long before either of us had got here."

[Sub-Zero MKA]

You don’t discover much more than what Ochazuke and Wilhelm have (who are both here to). You see her at the computer, scribbling notes and schematics, crumpling tings up and tossing it to the ground. Living here, eating here, running diagnostics on samples of various items she has.

Despite using the computer quite a bit, a lot of her notes are hand written and either trashed, burned, or otherwise destroyed.

Parsley sighed heavily. Nothing particularly juicy and damning. However, there was a mote of intrigue. Gero wrote much of her notes during her research by hand, and those notes were destroyed. Odd, if she was simply running tests on the things assigned to her, there would be more than enough reason to save even the research proven fruitless. That she was using such an archaic method of note-taking, and destroying those notes, meant that they were for her eyes only.

What are you hiding, Ge-

"I see...keep looking, we have no idea how far on the trail she is to realizing-"

Suddenly, he stopped when he discovered the material. The photo, torn to pieces. They were only married days ago, which means...

His hand brushed aside a neglected pile of papers, tabled numbers holding a record of some years-forgotten brilliance. Two scientists of like mind...and habits. Perhaps the photograph was something Jinzi had left laying around, discovered in as much a change encounter as this. After all, his brilliance and boundless curiosity had a habit of neglected little things from moment to moment; how the little things draw together and accumulate over time, until they could no longer escape notice. What else have you pulled from Pantaloon? Soon, Ochazuke found the subterfugre were not quite as onesided as it appeared.

"Cybernetic augmentation," he though aloud. The red line and stamp gleaned many a folio set aside: 'REJECTED'. "Without funding, she had no test subjects that would comply, save one."

But this he star map and its dotted initials. "...the Big Ghetti Star." A piece of it lay upon the Guardian Evangeline. "How did she access something like this so far out of the way?"

However what he found next, the crimson axe of the Red Raiders. Were these not the base coordinates Pantaloon had set Held and the others on but two years ago? Willa Rautt had plotted a revolution, and as Battersea's Bastard, she had access to the Champions purse. Materiel and logistics for war.

"If she couldn't secure funding from the government, and if Pantaloon wouldn't listen to her, it seems like she found someone else who would." Four years, perhaps even longer now. He braced himself on the edge of the desk. He palmed the coordinates of the star map "We'll need to take this down," he said to Wilhelm, "it seems the pieces have been in motion long before either of us had got here."

It seemed that Ochazuke had found much more already than Parsley could have hoped. She was unaware of where his line of reasoning stemmed from. Somewhere in the past he shared with her sister, without doubt. That was a particular string she would tug on at a later time. For now, she circled around the desk and silently observed his tangible findings.

A photograph of Pants and his mate, torn in half. Telling. Perhaps romantic feelings had been involved at some point. Understandable. Two ambitious, eccentric scientists stand to have more in common than one would with an alien from a faraway planet. There was also a rejection letter with Pants' name on it. It was for funding for a project meant to devise a means of cybernetic augmentation. Lastly, two sets of coordinates -- one labeled BGS, and the other labeled RR.

"Interesting," she murmured as she stepped back. "It seems Gero is up to more than simple cloning. Or, perhaps this is her means to her ultimate end. Sarada told me that Gero's alternate managed to not only clone herself and a Frost Demon, but also imbibe herself with dozens of racial abilities from slain creatures. This one doesn't appear to realize that's possible yet."

She stepped back. "I assume you know what those initials mean."