This chapter is brought to you by Mysterious Prophetess and ShadowMajin.
...
Previously on TBLB:
"Breaking News!" Everyone jumped a foot whenever the hall tv suddenly blared to life. The group dashed out to see the story unfolding.
"This is a report live from Garnetville. The Red Ribbon Army's advances have reached Garnetville. Wait, this just in, the National Alliance is sending in artillery!" The shot changed to tanks and planes and then the enemy flew onto the scene.
"What the-." Bloom said. Karato winced. He'd seen this first hand.
Maybe artillery and war vehicles stood a better chance. One of the lead men caught a tank shell with his bare hands. Karato turned away as the battle became a massacre.
What can the world do against an army like that?
Chapter 7: Fire with Fire?
"We need to fight back against this maniac!" Speed cried out.
"How? From what we can see, NOTHING short of a nuclear bomb will stop these loons! Even then would it be worth it?" Vegeta shot back.
"Plus, we have no idea how these men are doing all this shit," Bloom added.
"They've been altered," Karato said, which had everyone looking at him.
"Explain... now," Vegeta demanded.
"When I ran into the National Alliance's army-."
"Those useless morons?" Speed interrupted. Leche and Bloom both shot him a look in response, effectively shutting him up.
Karato ignored the comment and continued as if he hadn't been interrupted. "When I ran into the National Alliance, they tested my DNA to see if I was something they called an 'alter-human' and obviously they weren't scanning for alien DNA at the time." He paused, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "I think Dr. Gero did something to make them able to do all….that."
After a long silence, Vegeta suddenly inquired, "What's your major again?"
"He's an archaeology student, Veggie," Bloom said.
"So why don't we alter humans too?" exclaimed Speed. "We have a geneticist certainly talented enough here and you already have the base for something more powerful than humans in your DNA."
"What yer proposin'-you're proposing, is insane, Speed," Leche retorted, unimpressed by the idea.
"It's not only insane, it's immoral!" Vegeta continued, "We don't even know what Dr. Gero is doing to these people and if it's even stable! These people might be alright now, but in the long run they could develop cancer, or acquire any other number of degenerative conditions if this was done without much consideration for life. And somehow I doubt that mechanic maniac cared!"
"Then we take the samples and analyze it ourselves so we can fight back on even ground!" Speed pressed heatedly, unwilling to give up on the idea.
"How do you propose we do that?" Vegeta asked.
"Why doesn't Bloom just get her hacker t'get more files?" Leche asked.
There was another silence between the group until, "Not a bad idea, Leche. I'll have to call him. Yacha doesn't have much of a life and I pay fairly well," Bloom said tapping her chin with a finger.
...
Dr. Gero's base
The lab, though hastily constructed, was better than most on the planet, not that many knew of it. Dr. Gero had salvaged as much as he could from his old base and had his supercomputer back up and running. Something had to keep things in motion around his base and it certainly wouldn't be his minions. So, it was a surprise for him to detect a hacker intruding on his system.
How dare the impudent brat!
He was trying to reshape the world to fit Commander Red's dreams and this child dared to steal information from him!
What was worse was this daring hacker seemed to be following a previously made breach meaning his computer had failed to stop this child.
Maybe he would need more repairs than he originally thought…
Following the digital trail the hacker made, Gero soon discovered the little mouse had accessed and stolen information about the alterations he'd done to his men. That only served to sour his mood further. He needed to know where that information was going.
...
Briefs's Laboratory
"Thanks, Yacha. I've got them. I already wired you the cash. Shut up. No, I will not date you." Bloom hung up the phone amid the questioning stares of the other occupants of the room. "It was something from high school," she flippantly explained, receiving knowing nods in response.
"Anyway, check the desktop, Veggie." Vegeta nodded before he walked over to his main computer and pulled up the files named by the hacker "YACHA IS AWESOME AND HERE ARE THE FILES ON GERO'S ENHANCED HUMANS ." Someone clearly had an inflated sense of self worth.
Vegeta, Speed, and Leche crowded around the screen reading the documents. To Bloom and Karato it might as well have been Ancient Mohengodaron, though they at least knew a little of that. This left the two specializing in archaeology at loose ends while their geneticist cohorts began to technobabble about the information.
Leche grabbed a notebook and began to write something, which prompted Vegeta to also grab his tablet computer and it just spiraled into something that sounded like they were trying to out do one another with the whole thing.
"...but the trisomy on that-"
"This chain right here fixes that problem."
"Whatta 'bout this sequence? That seems lika mistake t'me!"
"You have to look at-"
It was giving Bloom a headache just listening to it. So she did what any sane person might do when driven nuts by her brother and his colleagues: she pulled out her MP3 player, stuck her earbuds in, and cranked the volume to max. If only Karato could be so lucky.
...
Some Time Later….
"Verdict?" Bloom said after she and Karato had gotten bored of their impromptu game of Trashcan Basketball (Bloom led 65-45).
"They're mostly stable," Vegeta said.
"It's like they're top level at'letes, 'Lympian level, an' they're jus' a bit beyond that at t'peak of human abilities, but like t'ere was 'nother level beyond it!" Lethe said, in her haste her hick accent slipped through. Karato nearly focused on how cute it was instead of what she was saying, "It migh' lower their life spans a bit, but it won't deteriorate or any'tin'!"
"Are you saying humans could learn energy moves without that alteration?" Bloom questioned.
"It's exactly what she's saying. I agree, but it would take a human years and years of training to even manipulate the smallest bit of energy-from what data I can extrapolate from this." Vegeta said.
"Then why aren't going to pursue this?" Speed exclaimed.
"I already stated my opinion on this, Speed. It's both illegal and immoral to do this," Vegeta said.
"Not t'mention just because Gero stabilized 'em, doesn' mean you can!" Leche said, "Yer not as smart as ye think ye are!"
"I'm sorry, but I couldn't hear anything over your hick accent, Miss Galaxy," Speed sneered.
"That is enough! We will not be discussing this further, Speed," Vegeta declared, his voice raising in volume. "And your tone while addressing Leche is highly inappropriate! Apologize!"
Speed glared at the man before he tsked. "You're all fools and you'll all suffer. Just wait and see!" He then stormed off in a huff, exiting through a nearby exit.
"Someone's a bit melodramatic," Bloom muttered as Vegeta patted the shaking Leche on the shoulder.
"He shouldn't have made fun of your accent, Leche. I know how hard you work and I don't care how you sound so long as your work is solid."
"I care how I sound," Leche said, all traces of her accent gone, before she too left the lab. Vegeta turned to speak to his sister when he noticed Karato just staring at the TV. He looked pensive.
He can't possibly be thinking about that insane idea, can he? Vegeta thought.
Karato was feeling…. helpless. More so than he had whenever he'd escaped from the first conquered Gero territory.
Get a grip, Karato! You have next to no training and little if any talent compared to Kaidon the Karate Nut and his partner Param the Master. Yet, it felt good using even those klutz moves and luck to take out those rust bots, didn't it? Suddenly, Kaidon's battle lust makes sense. Perhaps being able to make a difference would be good…
Karato shook his head. What was he thinking! It was still wrong to do something like…that. The mere fact that Gero did it alone was enough to point out it was the wrong path to take. The cheating path.
"Well, thanks for the food, the clothes and the shower, Bloom and Vegeta, but I should be trying to find my way home. My family must be worried sick about me by now and I don't think my message to them would have helped any," Karato said, "I'm headed to the nearest refugee shelter for the night and I'll go from there."
"I can respect that," Vegeta replied. "Should you ever come to your senses and consider a career in the hard sciences, look me up and I'll be happy to help."
"Ignore him," Bloom said clapping him on the shoulder, "I look forward to reading more of your research about the 'Dragon Balls,' Mr. Son. Don't disappoint me." Karato nodded.
"Bet on it!"
…
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