I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.
Chapter 6: General Duke
I awoke on a cold surface with a bright light shining down from overhead. I looked around to see I was in some sort of glass chamber with a few hoses and lights attached to it, probably to provide air. I noticed another problem, my shredded clothes and boots were gone and I was naked head to toe. I ignored that briefly and saw there were several humans standing around with white lab coats on, looking at several different things. Some were watching me in particular, noting my actions. Others were watching computer screens that appeared to have a display of a DNA sample, and I had a pretty good idea of who's DNA it was. The chamber must have been designed to be soundproof, but a Saiyan's senses were more attuned then a human's, so I could make out the random muffled chatter from outside.
"Just what is he? He looks human enough, but this DNA has more chromosomes then most! It has fifty-six in the chain, and the extras are made of an element I've never even seen before!"
"I wonder what purpose the tail has, if any. It's like he is a cross between a human and a monkey, only he looks to be intelligent as well judging by these brainwaves!"
"I recommend we do not let him out of the chamber for further observation, those muscular augments could be dangerous. It is definitely stronger than the average human!"
"Yes, and I'm picking up an energy signature similar to that of Psionic energy waves!"
"Maybe its some sort of new weapon developed by the Protoss, we must inform general Duke!" The nonstop chatter began to get to me when I noticed the sound waves were constantly bouncing around the chamber as more of them began to talk all at once. This caused the chatter to become a mesh of noise that mixed up the messages, giving me a headache. Luckily the activity stopped when a door opened. First a few of the human soldiers came clanking in with their heavy metal suits on, behind them came an older man with a cigar and a bit of a stagger in his step. He bore a uniform that wore many medals and other symbols of bravery.
"Have you identified the boy doctor?" he asked.
"No General Duke, his DNA is unlike anything we have ever seen before!" Oh great, this hillbilly.
"What is he then, some sort of monkey-hybrid?" Duke asked. Okay, that's enough of the monkey comments.
"We're investigating that as we speak sir, but I do not believe he is related to any sort of ape. This DNA strand does not link to anything we know. It resembles a human slightly, but has way too many chromosomes to be close to human!"
"What about the Zerg tissues you found on him? Is he infested?" Duke asked again.
"Again we are unsure. He looks like he is close to infestation, but it appears that they have not been able to fully spread into his system. From what we can tell, only his feet and tail have been affected, motor and thinking controls have not been affected!" Duke sighed slightly and approached the glass.
"Can he speak our language?"
"Yes I can speak it just fine!" I answered this time. This caused quite a stir in the audience.
"It seems that he can hear us, how is that possible?" one scientist asked.
"It's possible that his senses are much more enhanced, after all he is not human!"
"Duh, nice job Brainiac, how long did it take to figure that out? Now is someone gonna let me out and get me some clothes?" I asked in disgust.
"Sorry, we cannot let you out, you will remain in there for study," the head scientist said.
I rolled my eyes slightly, "Fine I'll bust my way out!"
"Doctor, can this boy do that? He looks stronger than most kids his age?" Duke asked.
"Highly unlikely sir, a Zerg Ultralisk couldn't escape from this chamber!" he boasted. I smirked slightly, and punched forward. The glass was harder than I expected, but my fist made its way through it regardless and it shattered.
"Seems your glass is ineffective to hold this boy in Doctor!" Duke said as he backed up so not to be hit by glass.
"Yes General, my apologies!"
"No need, now then boy, be good and stay there, we don't want to get nasty here! Just tell me what you are, and what your doing here!" Duke ordered with anything but a smile on his face.
"So you're general Duke," I started, catching quite a stare of attention.
"That is right boy. Heard of me have you?" Duke grinned a bit.
"Only by reputation, not that it impressed me anyway," I said, drawing a satisfactory frown.
"What are you kid, I have no time for foolish games!"
"I am a Saiyan," I said simply.
"And what exactly is that?"
"Why should I tell you old man? I thought your scientists would figure that out for you!"
Duke scowled, "So you're a Saiyan, whatever that is monkey boy. Now what were you doing with the Zerg?" I frowned at the use of the M word, which to me was now like the N word is to others.
"I wasn't doing anything with them. The Overmind and its minions turn my stomach, they captured me on my home planet. Now can I have some clothes please?" Duke nodded to one of his soldiers, who tossed me a white pair of shorts he apparently had standing by.
I rolled my eyes, "I guess that will have to do!" I shot a tiny ki beam through the back for my tail, grabbing another gasp.
"This was unexpected sir, it seems he has powers of which we don't understand!" the head doctor said.
"Yes I can see that, is he dangerous doctor?" Duke grunted heavily.
"If kept unchecked, very dangerous! I suggest we keep him sedated from now on!"
"Oh no, I'm not going to sleep just to be put under a microscope! I just want to go home!" I barked at them, backing up a step.
"Now now boy, you're surrounded here. It won't hurt a bit!" Duke said as I noticed the soldier's guns go up.
"Hey, I don't want any trouble, just let me go. I can survive on my own!" I protested.
"And allow the Zerg to know our base location, I don't think so. Put him down with the tranquilizers!" Duke ordered. The doctors came towards me with long needles with pink fluid. I jumped over them and headed right for the door. The soldiers blocked my path with their arms out to catch me. I broke through easily, knocking them aside in the process. I heard gunshots fire behind me, right before seeing small darts go by my head. I felt a few of them hit my back and arms, but they bounced off my skin and I ran faster. Then I hit a big intersection of seven different hallways.
Well shit, guess I'll take the easy way out! Using my power to levitate and then charge up a bit, I shot through the ceiling quickly, bursting into other levels above the one I was on. I burst in through several different events: a troop of soldiers marching down the hall; A few on break eating dinner; a couple in a graphic lovemaking event; and several more empty halls before hitting the roof and into the outside air. All right, now to get the hell out of here! I sped off towards the distance, not really caring what direction it was in.
-
Once I got out of the large base, I heard a loud alarm go off, followed by sounds of airplanes following me. I glanced behind me to see several flyers gaining on me. Powering up enough for my aura to show, I kicked up the speed to lose them. To my surprise, they were still gaining on me.
"Stop immediately or we will open fire, this is not a drill!" a loud audio voice came over my eyes. I stopped and the planes surrounded me. They looked to be small attack flyers, much like F-Sixteens, except they were flat and wider at the wings. Also it had some sort of gun device at the bottom, and what appeared to be missile launchers on the side. I had seen these the day before as well, and as I recalled, the missiles didn't tickle.
"Look, just let me go. It's not like I'm going back to the Zerg if I can help it, besides I don't want to hurt you guys!" I said.
"Come back to the base right now, or we will open fire!" the order came again. Well, looks like I'll have to lose them the hard way. I summoned more energy and powered up most of the way, catching some odd looks from the pilots when they saw my aura. Then I shot into the trees and brush below before they could even react. Once under the canopy, I concealed my ki and hid in a high tree, not moving. My best bet was for them to assume I dashed under there and then left, so when they left, I could actually do so. I also felt that they wouldn't pick me up on any radar if I didn't move. Around me there were many animals of all shapes and sizes, most of them going about their own business. Above, the planes circled, but probably could not see me, I barely saw them through the trees. I slowly descended to the ground, not wanting to disrupt anything to draw attention. When I landed, I noticed a large pack of panther-like animals roaming about. They looked most like black panthers, except they were purple in color with glowing yellow eyes. They growled at me slightly, but didn't advance. I left them alone as well, rethinking my options.
Well I got out of there, now how do I get back home? I could go back to the Zerg, but I really don't want to. Then again they have treated me okay, it's not like their making me do evil things all the time. And Kerrigan said she could keep me from being totally infested, which seems to be going a little quicker now! I glanced at my feet and hands now. My feet stayed about the same shape over all, but the Zerg skin around them made them tougher and oddly shaped. My hands were starting to shift in color, from a pale color to light green, and my fingernails had grown a bit to which they were sharp and pointed.
Man, I wish I could contact Vegeta and the others, but without any technology around here, never mind knowing how to work it, I'm up a creek! Then it hit me, a feeling half of stupidity and another of joy. The base, why didn't I stick around? I could have found a way in there surely! But by now they would have all kinds of guards and obstacles to get past, sure I can deal with them, but that isn't right. The panthers around me perked up suddenly and scampered about, protecting what appeared to be smaller cats, obviously their offspring. The bushes rustled some and I heard sounds of chatter. I quickly hid and watched closely.
"Man, why did we get stuck with this job?"
"Because the general wants him found!"
"But come on Sarge, hunting down a kid that can fly away? Might as well look for a single Zergling in a Protoss base, we ain't gonna find him!"
"What's that up there?" Five soldiers appeared, toting machine guns, but they didn't see me at all.
"Looks like a pride of cats, get 'em all the time around here on Tarsonis!"
"Good I need some target practice, mind if we blow off some steam on these critters Sarge?"
"Be my guest, just don't burn all your ammo down here. You never know what some of these woods hold ya know!" A few of the soldiers stepped up and opened fire. Two of the panthers stepped up to protect the others, but fell in a crumpled heap. This angered me, but I stayed down, hoping they would move on and not hurt the other ones. I was wrong, the soldiers opened fire again on the pack, cutting down easily six more of the adults. That left by my count three adults and ten cubs. I growled in anger loudly, but it seemed to be covered by a roar of anger. Out of the bush behind me came another adult panther, but this one had a large furry mane about it. It had to be the alpha male, and the entire time I hadn't even seen or sensed it. It leapt over my hiding place and landed between the soldiers and the remaining panthers.
"Whoa, it's the alpha! We can make a bundle by nabbing that mane!" one said.
"Cut it out ladies, we should be looking out for the kid!" the leader warned.
"Aw c'mon Sarge, just trying to have a little fun, and make some money at the same time. You know our pay ain't that great!"
"You'd better secure that shit marine! You know General Duke's policy about pay, he'd just assume send you back to civilian life if he ever heard you say that!"
"Good point, you wanna ice this one Jackson?"
"Yeah sure!" The marine on the right lifted his rifle and pointed towards the male, who was growling furiously.
"Time to make me rich big guy!" the marine called Jackson laughed as he fired. The male wasn't waiting for this to happen, and dodged to the side before leaping onto the marine's suit, making him drop his gun. The panther clawed and bit in a bloodthirsty haste, knocking the marine down and keeping him down. His comrades laughed at the struggle as the marine tried to get the animal off. The only advantage he had was that his combat suit protected him from the angered panther. He finally managed to kick the beast off and it landed awkwardly next to the cubs, injured.
"Stupid beast!" the marine said as he picked up his gun. The male was defenseless and soon the cubs would be. All of this action had angered me, but now I was ready to pounce at the evildoers.
"Stop it!" I yelled as I jumped from the bushes and landed between the panthers and the marines.
"It's the kid, he's been here the whole time!"
"Hands up brat, we're returning you to the base!"
"I'm not going anywhere. You will leave these animals alone, or you'll deal with me!" I growled.
"No way, I'm collecting my money off that male!" the first marine said, lifting his rifle towards me now.
"Surrender kid, there's nothing you can do except get hurt!" Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a cub had wondered off from the pack, and was now near the feet of the soldiers.
"Hey, look, a tiny tot got lost. Too bad I'm gonna shoot its head off!"
"No, leave it alone!" I urged in panic as I saw the frightened looks on the adult panther's faces.
"Why, its just a cat? There it died quickly!" he said as he shot the cub in the head. The head exploded instantly, splattering blood into my face and hair. I paused in sadness, then wiped the blood from my hair and stared at it. The trigger to my power then clicked, and it opened up to my disposal.
"You, will pay for that!" I whispered just before I screamed.
A/N: It's on now isn't it? Next time on DBV: Verto deals with the soldiers in his own way, but does he have enough power to take out the Dominion fleet all at once? Find out next time.