So They Say; Dirait-on
Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z or any of the Dragon Ball Z characters. They are owned by those who own them. I do, however, own the original characters (if any) and the fic all of this is in. That is all.
Chapter Nine
The days had gone by fast and slow at the same time, often colliding with one another as the minutes and hours ticked on by as the days turned into a week then two. The day went into night, the night going into day, each one going in turn like it had done so for thousands of years. It was the same familiar click of the clock as Tien stood on the grassy plains, his arms folded across his chest. Two of his eyes were closed, his third eye open as it stared straight ahead into the mountains. It was only mid-day and already by fast and slow at the same time, often colliding with one another as the minutes and hours ticked on by as the days turned into nights.
Tien found himself standing upon the ground, his eyes staring straight ahead as he listened to the wind around him. Rose was hovering several feet above him, often zooming around in the air before diving almost perfectly to the ground. This time around, she floated herself down in front of Tien, her eyes void from any emotions.
"That was better then what you did yesterday, Rose. You are learning how to fly, but you wouldn't do well flying if you were in any real danger," Tien said, his voice void of emotion just like Rose's eyes were, which narrowed towards him.
"Any real danger? There isn't any real danger to be had," She said, her voice overflowing with bitterness. "You have been critiquing me every chance that you get and it is getting annoying."
"The more criticism, the better you do." He gave her a moment's glare before blinking his eyes. "You should have been able to fly near perfectly a week ago, but you are lacking on the control it takes to keep yourself in the air. You can stay in the air for only a half hours time, yet there are times when you may need to be in it for a longer period of time."
"I am learning as best as I can, okay? It isn't easy to stay up in the air with the cold air whipping at your face."
"I know it isn't easy. I learned to fly the hard way, unfortunately. You, on the other hand, have it better then the fighters that I have had the chance to train with."
"You don't even watch me half of the time that I am in the air. Your eyes are always closed," Rose snapped angrily. Tien rolled his eyes as he uncrossed one of his arms and pointed to the third eye on his forehead.
"Do you think that this is just for decoration?" He asked with sarcasm dripping from his voice as he placed his arm back across his chest. "I don't need to know where you are by sensing your energy. I can do better by watching you with my eye rather then attempting to locate where you are. Since you have a low source of energy at this point, you are harder to trace then one of those that I have trained with."
"Yea, well...." Rose sputtered before her voice trailed off. Instead, she sharply turned her head to her right side, her face scrunching up into a scowl. Two weeks ago the two of them would have gone several hours, insulting each other until someone intervened. Now, however, both Tien and Rose found themselves trailing off without attempting to snap something back towards the other. What was worse was the fact that Rose often attempted to fly off the island where they were, coming back only when she found herself too tired to fly even one-fourth the distance to Capsule Corp.
He could tell that Vegeta had some say in Rose's stay at Capsule Corps. since the girl was now looking more tired and more hungry then she had been during the first week of training. He had asked Bulma what was going on after one day's worth of training, learning that the Saiyan was attempting to force his own training schedule upon Rose after accidentally hearing of the training Tien was giving her. If she didn't comply, there were ways that he was making her stay awake at night or missing some sort of meal. Bulma nearly had threatened to pull the plug on his training room, but things sometimes got better between Rose and Vegeta, so she had no reason to give or do that threat.
There was also the issue with Chaotzu, Roshi, and Oolong. While Tien and Chaotzu had come to a mere understanding about Rose, Roshi and Oolong found it harder to control what they were saying about the girl and her trainer. Often, Tien had to walk out upon the beach to get away from the snide, perverted remarks just to think or find something else to concentrate upon. There were a few instances where Chaotzu would join in, but it was only in a joking manner and wasn't meant to be taken seriously. Still, he would be glad to get this over and done with so that he could worry about what was going to happen next without any threats going on.
"When will my training be officially over with?" Rose demanded coldly, her eyes shifting over towards the other. "I know we both have better things to do with our lives then to come here every day and wait for me to be able to fly perfectly."
"You said you wanted to know how to fly, didn't you?" Tien asked, then quickly continued without waiting for a response to his question. "So, you know how to fly, even if it isn't perfect. I am sure that if you take time out each day or each week to practice this skill, in no time you will be perfect or close to it in a few months time."
"You are going to let me off this quickly so you can get rid of me? If that is the case, then let me go back to Capsule Corp. so that I can get on with my life without all of this hassle."
"Not so fast, Rose." He put up a hand in the air to keep her from going anywhere much less back over any terrain. "I did not spend the last two weeks training you for nothing. As much fun as this has been, you need to keep your end of the deal. I teach you how to fly, you tell me something about these androids of yours."
"Of Gero's, you idiot," Rose insisted, glaring at him coldly. "You shouldn't be taking his creations lightly."
"Oh, I am not, Rose. I know what it is like to go up against one of those damned things--more like five or six of them which includes Gero himself, if you want specifics--so don't assume I don't know what it is like."
"Do you know what it is like to become one?" She asked him, her icy complexion turning slightly fearful. Tien's, however, remained the same, steadfast determination as he watched her carefully.
"I don't know. I'll have to ask 18 as soon as she stops biting the heads off of everyone but Krillin's."
"Then you don't know how terrible Gero really was," Rose said, her voice dropping down to a soft tone. He looked at her quizzically, an eyebrow raised.
"Are you an android?" Tien asked dumbly, uncrossing his arms.
"No, I am not, but I've heard the screams of the two that he had turned into his own creations. They were horrible, Tien. If there is one thing that you should never have to listen to, it is the sounds of those that are being tortured and raped." Rose sat down upon the grass, her eyes still looking up at him. "You should know how merciless Gero was and how deep his hatred for the one called Goku was."
"I definitely know about the story behind the defeat of the Red Ribbon Army by the hands of the child called Goku. Hell, I wouldn't have been surprised if he had found a new way to reach a higher form of Super Saiyan if he hadn't been so noble and attempted to defeat Cell by...." Tien's voice trailed off in a attempt to save himself from an explanation of the teleportation technique Goku had learned while in space during the time after Frieza's defeat. "Well, it's complicated none the less."
"Wait a minute, how....." Rose started before shaking her head with her own question still hanging in mid-air. She struggled with asking it without trying to sound like she was attempting to ask too much.
"....I know Goku?" He finished for her. "I meet Goku many years ago during the World Martial Arts Tournament, which I barely won with Goku taking second. Course, he would have won if certain things hadn't happened."
"Oh," She said with a shrug before continuing on. "Like I said, those sounds were horrible and shouldn't be heard by human ears. There was no comfort in the words of Gero that assured me it was all in my mind, but there was a worse feeling then hearing tortured screams. No, it was seeing dreadful acts the doctor would perform on his subjects, both male and female. I will not utter them here for it is too foul to speak off.
"Gero had hidden his lab so that no one would be able to find it, but I suppose it was eventually found since his creations have long since become a part of the human race once again. What no person knows of is the second lab he had stored away in case any of his creations failed.
"Cell was the last thing he wanted to use against Goku since Gero knew how long it was going to take him to complete the project. Even during the days of the Red Ribbon Army, there was talk of Gero hiding some more precious things then the part human, part android creations he was attempting to create or that of a completely organic android. No, it was that of creating a perfect android."
"In which eventually became Cell when he absorbed 17 and 18," Tien interrupted, but Rose shook her head.
"I have not seen nor heard of Cell's power in perfect form," She continued as if Tien had not said anything. "I assume it is pretty impressive, but there is something else that was worrying Gero. See, even when he was working on creating Cell there was still the fear that it wouldn't work and a unworkable plan for Gero calls for scrapping it completely. However, he didn't scrap this plan since there was a seventy-five percent chance it would work, yet there was always that twenty-five percent that made him worry so. Gero instead found another way to make up for that loss. By combining organic, machine, and human comments, he was able to nearly perfect a plan that would make his revenge nearly complete."
"In which, again, leads to Cell," Tien said forcefully. "Not only was Cell organic, but when he absorbed 17 and 18 he had some human and machine components stored inside of him although it wasn't apparent."
"Will you get off the whole Cell crap? I am not even talking about him. I am talking about what is hidden inside a secret lab right now," Rose said defiantly, rising up from her sitting position as she came eye level him. "Gero didn't stop at Cell. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if any of his hidden creations were walking among us now. That, of course, would be near impossible for both of them, but I figure Gero was smart enough to create so many androids, why not have a few more that can get through snow and ice?"
"Where is the lab if you know so much?"
"The first clue is the snow and ice, you idiot."
"You can go through snow in many parts of this planet," Tien said irritably. "It isn't hard to know where the colder regions are with a map. Getting there wouldn't be a problem either since you can fly."
"If you want to know where it is, then I can show you tomorrow. Otherwise, I've told you enough already as it is. If Gero were alive today, he would have killed me in an instant if he knew that I snitched," She said plainly. "Now, let's get off of this damned island, shall we? The new adventure starts tomorrow."
"Two last questions before we go," He asked as Rose moved around him to his back, climbing upon it with ease. Although she did know how to fly, she wasn't about to attempt a long journey over water just yet.
"What is it?" She wondered as Tien lifted off of the ground, hovering there for a moment before going up into the air and beginning the journey back to where Capsule Corp. was.
"How do you know so much about Gero? I mean, there should be a lot of people that knew he was working for the Red Ribbon Army and such, but I would have guessed his work stopped at Cell or he would have gone down with the Army after Goku defeated it."
"That, my friend, is a answer that few will know about me. I don't regret working for Gero during the last years of the Red Ribbon Army, but after that he became obsessed with attempting to get revenge on Goku," She said answered without hesitation. "I was younger then, unknown and often pushed out of the way into the shadows. I can't tell you more then that. Next question."
"How do I know you are lying?"
"I could very well be, but you will have to find that out on your own, won't you?"
Tien didn't say anything, instead looking down at the glossy water beneath them. There was something that he couldn't trust about her, now that he heard the words of a secret lab in which Gero had created. That is, if he had created one in the first place. Not even the Briefs knew of Gero's lab, and he was one of the greatest minds of the scientific field. Great, but terrible.
He still did not know what he was getting himself into.
****
They were silent for the trip back to the Capsule Corp. building complex, each in their own thoughts. Rose had little to think about on the journey to her foster home, mostly the situations she would have gotten herself into if Gero was still alive. She knew the secret she had told her flying master would have probably gotten herself turned into a lethal experiment of some sort or even worse then that. The girl had to shudder at the thought of what she could have been turned into.
On the other hand, Tien was steadily thinking of what he had just been told by her. It was unbelievable since all they knew was that Cell had been the last thing Gero had created. Why would he have made something else if a plan was nearly flawless? They all knew that Gero did not count on Goku becoming a Super Saiyan nor did he put into account the time the Saiyan had been in space, so that was one thing that was in their favor. Or, so they had thought at the time. Few things had gone wrong, but they had played a major part on who was going to win what.
None of the scientific world, to his knowledge, knew where Gero had been keeping his lab; at least, that was what he thought Bulma had told them when the android's were first heard of. It had been years since the discussion of the androids had come up, so it hadn't been a topic anyone had bothered to talk about since the defeat of Cell. Many of his friends were still too scared of 18 to approach her much less attempt to bring up the sensitive discussion of Gero in front of her.
The only way he was going to know if Rose was telling the truth or not was to ask Bulma Briefs herself and that was exactly what he was going to do as Tien landed upon the ground in front of the building complex. Rose slid off his back several moments later, probably still deep in thought to the things that could have happened to her if her former employer was still alive.
"Could you ask Bulma to come out here if you see her?" He asked with some nervousness in his voice once Rose had walked around him to start her trek back into the housing building.
"I don't know where she is, but I'll try. I will come back out if I can't find her," She offered, not even looking at him as she hurriedly walked away from him. Tien grumbled his thanks under his breath, crossing his arms over his chest as he turned his back upon Capsule Corp. The only reason he was asking Bulma in the first place was because he had to make sure there was nothing wrong with Rose's story. She had to know something else even if Gero worked in secret for the most part. Bulma was smart enough to find things out for herself without anyone telling her otherwise.
"Tien? What do you want now?" Bulma's cool voice demanded from across the complex. Tien turned around slowly to see Bulma walking towards him, clothed in her lab coat. There was an unreadable expression on her face as she stopped in front of him, her hands moving to her hips.
"I need to ask you a few things," He told her, then launching into the story Rose had told him not long ago. After he was done the tale, Bulma's expression changed to a almost surprised look.
"Gero having another lab that he stores two extra androids?" She wondered, confusion lingering in her voice. She looked over her shoulder, Rose's form standing in the doorway of the building Bulma had supposedly come out of, her green eyes staring daggers at them.
"I questioned her story to myself to see if I believed it or not. so far, it doesn't make sense," He told her once she had turned her head to face him again, then added in a lower tone, "Do you think her story is worthy of Gero?"
"She didn't give any more details on what she was working on as Gero's 'employee'?" She muttered, her eyes meeting Tien's. When he shook his head to answer the question, her lips pursed into a thin line. "I had a bad feeling about her from the moment she stepped into Capsule Corp. She was very interested in anything that I did which had involved Gero's androids; more then most people, mind you. I gave her sketchy details about the work I had to do on 19, but that was it. Vegeta caught her a few days ago attempting to copy a diagram of one of my designs when he was looking for me to fix something in the gravity room.
"But, I don't doubt she had some from of contact with Gero. What kind of contact it was, I don't know. I don't think it is a wise idea to let her drag you to a unknown place without someone tailing you in secret or just being with you in case." Bulma moved her eyes to the side as if she was expecting someone to be there before turning them back forwards. "I can try to persuade Vegeta to go along with you, maybe also Yamcha if I am lucky. I wouldn't count on it, so I would rely on Chaotzu for the most part. Think of a way to warn him if you are in danger."
"Thanks, Bulma," Tien mused back, glancing over her shoulder to see if Rose was still there. Her shadowy form had long since gone, probably having heard more then she needed to know. "You don't know how much I owe you."
"More then you probably could afford," She said with a grin before retreating back towards the buildings. Tien watched her go, unsure of all the information he had just recived from the two women. Rose's story didn't sit well with him and he wasn't about to step onto the platform of believing her either. Maybe this is just a way to get me into a position that I know I am not going to like, He thought briskly, making sure that Bulma had gone into one of the buildings before taking off himself. It was going to be an interesting end to a long week.
****
"That doesn't sound right," Chaotzu muttered under his breath as he sat on the couch. Tien had nearly fallen into Roshi's house a half hour before, only because when he had attempted to enter through the doorway did he find it to be locked. Only when he had leaned up against the doorway did it open, making him stumble and nearly trip over Oolong. That made matters worse since Roshi was right behind the pig, wondering what was making such a racket at the front of the house. Tien had bumped into him, causing the old man to fall backwards and onto the ground.
After several grumblings from him, Roshi had gotten up with Oolong and Tien's help, Chaotzu coming out from one of the back rooms like nothing had happened. It was only after Tien had told the three of them the story he had been told by Rose and explained it to Bulma did Roshi seemingly forget about being pushed into the ground.
"That is what I think," He said when Roshi leaned up against the back of the couch, his eyes drifting sideways. "Bulma is going to try to get both Vegeta and Yamcha to tail us to wherever we are going. She thinks, and as do I, it is a good idea that I don't weight heavily on them and concentrate on just having Chaotzu with me."
Chaotzu didn't say anything to that, instead moving his head towards the window that faced the ocean outside. Oolong grumbled something from in front of the TV, attempting to find something else that was on besides the news. Roshi was looking like nothing was amiss, his eyes tracing along the fabric pattern of the couch. Tien took in a breath of air, feeling like he had been ignored throughout the last ten minutes.
"What was the point of me telling you this if none of you three were actually listening to what I had to say?" He hissed, his eyes moving from one person to another.
"We heard you alright. Just give it a couple of minutes to sink in," Oolong said, not even bothering to glance away from the screen where a woman reporter was talking about the increase of motorcycle sales. Tien raised an eyebrow, a feeling of wonder going through him. There were only a few times when the pig nor Roshi watched the news or something other then just their normal viewing channels.
"Okay, what is going on here? It hasn't been this quiet for two weeks."
"Do you honestly want to know what is going on?" Chaotzu said in a whisper, his eyes darting over towards where his friend was standing before turning back towards the window.
"Yes, I do. "
"Then look behind you."
Tien sighed again, turning around to expect some sort of monster standing there, ready to bite his head off. Instead, Android 18 was there, her cold blue eyes staring deeply at him like she was about to murder him instead of ripping his head off of his shoulders. She moved a hand through her blonde hair, causing him to jump back just a bit. If there was one person he hadn't expected to come face to face with again, it was her.
"Um, hi," He said meekly, attempting to hide his fear and surprise from her, but that didn't seem to work. "How...how...."
"How much did I hear or how come I am standing right behind you?" 18 snapped at him, putting her hands upon her hips, going into what reminded Tien as the pose Bulma had just used with him earlier.
"Both, actually," He answered truthfully. He hadn't expected her to be standing right there nor did he know how much she had heard of the 'story' he had told to his friends.
"To answer you on why I am standing here, Krillin thought it would be nice for me to get to know everyone and to break any ice that could be between me and everyone else," She said icily, rolling her eyes. "I heard you tell them almost everything execpt how you came about this woman. Of course, I am going to assume that you have known her for more then a day, so I am not going to even bother to ask any further." The android stared at Tien's face, a smirk coming upon her lips. "I suppose you want to ask if I knew anything about this girl that you call Rose or any secret lab that bastard had hidden away besides the one in which I was in, correct."
"I...uh...." He started, looking over his shoulder at his friends for support and help. None was given to him as he turned his head back over to where the other was standing. "Any, um, help is needed, I suppose. But if you don't want to talk about it....."
"I've gone past the stage where any mention of Gero or what he did affects me much," 18 said just as coolly as she had done so before, a wisp of human emotion crossing her face before it turned into a emotionless feature. "I can't remember much of what was going on during my days inside Gero's lab. I do remember the things that he used to do to me and my brother, but that was far between, but I am sure that you don't want to hear about the horrible tales of a mad scientist and his creations.
"I do remember hearing of a woman that Gero was attempting to use as a experiment before he made any final preparations on 17 and me. Even though there were times in which Gero deactivated us, I could barely hear the voices in which were muttered inside the lab. At first I thought it was just inside of my mind, but 17 heard them as well if I ever asked him about it. Words floated in and out of our minds, a few sentences coming together every so often, but not enough to give us any full details of what Gero was doing."
18 stopped, her eyes darting over towards Roshi, who was staring at more then just the android's face. A anger-filled face and a quick stride, she moved over towards where the old man was standing and smacked him across the face. Tien turned to face this scene, seeing Roshi's eyes pop out of his skull as he fell into a sitting position onto the floor. She rolled her eyes yet again, turning back towards Tien to finish what she was saying.
"Gero only mentioned this once, a few weeks before your friends came and 17 destroyed the doctor. He had said that there was something hidden up in a mountain peak in which he knew he had put something into but couldn't remember where this mountain was. I didn't know what he was talking about nor did I care. At that point, both 17 and I had enough of being slaves to him.
"If you want to know what it was like being one of Gero's experiments, think of any time in your life in which you felt like nothing was going right and the world around you was just using you as a puppet and multiply that by a few hundred," 18 said at last, glaring down at Roshi before turning upon her heels and walking into the backrooms. Tien's eyes watched her go, somewhat surprised at even more new information he had heard. A feeling inside of him came from the bottom of his stomach in which he started to feel bad for what 18 had to go through. It probably wasn't her and 17's fault that they were going after Goku, He thought to himself as he turned towards Chaotzu, who was now staring up at his friend in wonder.
"How long has she been here?" Tien muttered not too loudly just in case 18 was still listening on his words again. "Why didn't you tell me she was right behind me?"
"She and Krillin got here a few hours after you left," Chaotzu said in a small voice. "She was standing there long after you had started to give your account of what Rose and Bulma told you." He paused, giving thought to what he was going to say next before continuing on. "Do you believe anything that Rose and 18 have said?"
"I wouldn't doubt what 18 said was the truth, but I am unsure about Rose. I do not know her nor care to," Tien said with a frown. "But I am not going to waste this opportunity to go see if Rose's story is true or not. I just ask you to come with me."
"I'll give you my answer in the morning," Chaotzu said with a yawn as he slid off of the couch before moving around it. He slowly made his way into the back, careful as to not go into the same room in which 18 was in. Oolong turned his head away from the TV while Roshi stood up, still rubbing the spot where 18 had smacked him.
"You aren't serious about going there with her, are you Tien?" Oolong asked in a semi-worried voice.
"Honestly, I don't know what I am doing," He answered grimly. He knew that was the truth; he didn't know what exactly he was doing or why he had gotten himself stuck in the middle of this. At this point, everything seemed to be getting more complicated then it had done so before and he did not like it one bit.
To Be Continued
Author's Note: This fic will be wrapping up in the next 1 to 4 chapters. I probably won't write more then 2 chapters, but that isn't definite at this point. I have two ideas that I want to do, but only one is going to be placed into the fic. After I finish this fic, I won't be writing any DBZ fan fiction for a while. I will be either working on my crossover (which is going to be the only DBZ-related fic that is the exception) or a fan fic piece outside of the DBZ section. I think I have been writing in this section for a little too long now. Be sure to catch my first Harry Potter fan fic after I wrap up this fic. Have fun!
