Interlude-Red Ribbon HQ

Commander Red sat frowning over a backlog of reports in his office. In the past 2 months, things had really kicked into high gear in terms of intensity. It had started when Colonel Silver's group had been wiped out by an unknown assailant and the 2 dragonballs held there were stolen. Silver had only undergone the initial Wheelo Treatments so his defeat was at least plausible. There were Martial Artists that could do some crazy things after all and if the King's Intelligence Service had cottoned onto his plans, they very well could have hired one to take on Silver and grab the Dragonballs. It wasn't like King Furry had a lack of funds for such a thing.

Then Muscle Tower had been destroyed. Gero's android project had been being field-tested there. Androids 7 and 8 were under General White's command and the General himself had been enhanced with Gero's prototype nanobots. Muscle Tower even had the last of the summoned creatures from Red Ribbon's aborted attempt at Magic stationed there. Buyon was the only monster that had survived the mass dispelling of their monsters that had mysteriously happened a year ago. The occultist they had hired to do the job said something about forming attachments to the mortal realm as it stayed longer, and Buyon was the first. A pity they couldn't find that same occultist after the dispelling.

That wasn't the point though, the point was that the combined forces of Muscle Tower should have been enough to render that base impregnable, yet all that remained of it was a smoking crater. The only Martial Artist Commander Red could think of that could pull that off was a Legend like Muten Roshi or King Chappa, but his man in Chappa's temple had confirmed that the former champ hadn't left and also hadn't seriously trained since retiring. On the subject of Muten Roshi, supposedly he was 300 years old, which would be impossible. Red had dismissed him as a fabrication. Yet Muscle Tower still was destroyed and its Dragonball stolen.

It had gotten bad enough that Commander Red had switched up deployments this past month, taken General Blue out of the South Sea area, and sent General Copper and Colonel Violet to find the Dragonball rumored to be hidden in the Pirate's Cove. They had retrieved the ball last week thanks to Colonel Violet's superior infiltration skills, but when Copper's Ship had set sail back to HQ, it had mysteriously sunk. Copper and Violet had washed up in South City 4 days ago and Copper claimed his ship had been destroyed and the Dragonball taken by a spiky-haired kid with a monkey's tail. A kid of all things was embarrassing the Red Ribbon Army! It was infuriating!

Unfortunately, Commander Red had already hired Tao to retrieve the 3 dragonballs that kept moving around from place to place. The radar had been built out of smuggled Capsule Corp Parts and was the size of a small house, but it was at least accurate. He knew where the balls were and so Tao would retrieve them. That left General Blue to go find and deal with the monkey tailed brat. General Blue was Red Ribbon's premier super-soldier. He had undergone the full course of Wheelo Treatments as well as been injected with Gero's Nanobots. He was probably the strongest in the world right now. If anyone could kill the monkey tailed menace, it would be General Blue. He had been sent out 3 days ago to hunt and kill the Kid.

Suddenly there was a knock on Commander Red's study door. "Enter!" Called Red.

Staff Officer Black entered the office then, followed by Tao. The World's deadliest assassin looked around the office at the comforts that Red's position afforded him with barely concealed disdain. Like he never indulged in expensive cigars or fine brandy himself, like the plush leather chair that Red sat in was a weakness! As if the leader of the glorious Red Ribbon Army was beneath him!

Red throttled his temper and plastered a smile on his face. "Master Tao, I trust your job was a success?" Asked Commander Red.

Tao produced three yellow balls with 4, 7, and 1 red stars on them from a canvass bag and nodded, "The sniveling worms who had these posed no trouble once I had boarded their flying fortress. I won't even charge you extra for their deaths." He sneered.

Commander Red smiled as the balls were placed on his desk. He shouldn't have worried, Tao was a professional after all. Reaching under his desk, Commander Red withdrew a large briefcase and placed it on the desk next to the 3 dragonballs.

"As requested 600,000 Zeni for the simple collection job." Said Red.

Tao opened the briefcase and flipped through the stacks of Zeni. Counting it! In front of him! Like the Leader of the Red Ribbon Army would try to cheat him like some common gangster! The nerve of him!

Red once more throttled his temper in order to keep a smile on his face. No matter how much of a prick Tao was, he could kill him if he took offense and there would be little Red or Black could do about it. Best to keep him on his side for now and not rile up the world's deadliest assassin.

Finally, after a good 5 minutes of counting, Tao nodded, seemingly satisfied that all the money was there before saying, "Thank you for choosing my services, as always it is a pleasure to work with the Red Ribbon Army. Do let me know if you have any further jobs for me." The way he said it though dripped with insincerity.

When he was finally gone, Red turned to Black. "I hate having to rely on contractors for things. Especially that contractor. The man is infuriating." He growled out.

"Well with the progress made with Wheelo and Gero's mods we won't have to anymore soon enough. Speaking of, Gero sent me a report. Apparently, the Battle Jacket Project is complete, even after the time diverted towards making the nanobot enhancers ready for mass production." Replied Black.

That earned a grin from Red. "Good, with this monkey boy tearing through our bases I want all the advantages we can get." He said.

"Gero also sent me another report. I know Red. What's more, Gero knows." Scowled Black.

Red's mind raced a mile a minute, the only possible thing that black could be talking about was the plan for his wish. If Black knew and didn't like what he heard, this was bad. Black was stronger than he was and already knew most of the day to day operations of the army. If he wanted to try a coup right now, he could probably pull it off with little trouble. Red desperately tried to think up a way to talk his way out of this.

"To think you'd waste a wish like that on being taller? It infuriated me, but Gero proposed a solution. You have one shot to keep your title here. You will cede me operational control of the Red Ribbon Army, Gero will take over as head of Research, and you get to remain as a figurehead. In exchange, you get to keep your miserable life, and Gero has agreed to make you bionic legs, so you'll get to be taller." Laid out Black. As several soldiers with submachine guns entered the office to back the coup, Red knew he had no choice but to agree.

From this day forwards, Red Ribbon would be under new management. . .

XXXX

Author's Note:

Only 1 power level of note here as this is more of a general events interlude disguised as a character interlude.

280: Tao (Full Power)