Chapter Twenty-Two
Raditz felt his boots crush the thick snow under him as he continued his way towards Muscle Tower, the military base that the Red Ribbon Army were keeping their captives and their research. While the two soldiers he'd previously been following had hightailed their way out of the cold into the bricked fortress, Raditz decided to hang back and plan out his attack. Muscle Tower was a large structure, towering up at least several stories and housing what Raditz predicted to be hundreds of soldiers.
"The Dragon Ball's somewhere in there," The Saiyan said to himself, using his Scouter to both scan for the orange orb and scan for nearby power levels. "Plus who knows how many hostages… I can't just blow this thing up yet."
Raditz began walking closer towards the building until his Scouter beeped at his side. Hiding in a nearby mound of snow, he was able to hide from and watch over as two more of the Red Ribbon's foot soldiers forcibly dragged a group of eight or nine villagers towards a small shack near the tower at gunpoint. Looking closer, he made one of the captives out to be Suno, the same girl who had just saved him from death's cold grasp.
"You stupid meanies won't get away with any of this anymore!" The shrill voice of Suno spat back to an aggravated soldier she was bickering with. "Raditz is going to be here any minute now and gonna make you wish you would have let us go when you had the chance!" Suno added, speaking to the gun-toting men as if she were an adult and they were small children.
"Won't you quiet down brat? You should be more worried about your own well being than ours," The mercenary closer to the redhead girl retaliated in the same aggravated tone. This brat sure did have the attitude and courage, but that big ass mouth was gonna get her killed! He would hate to be her father with that mouth. "Walt, I'm going to show this loud-mouthed brat something." He grumbled after another snarky remark from Suno.
Turning to face Suno, the soldier flashed a sinister smirk when he leaned down to meet her face to face. Swiftly cocking his arm back, he smashed the wooden butt of the assault rifle in his hands across the girl's cheek and knocked the girl to the ground with the unrelenting force he struck her with. Raditz could faintly see the girl's tears form in her eyes and a small river of crimson colored blood leak from a cut in her mouth.
Raditz felt his blood boiling in his veins in anger, his black eyes staring coldly at the soon-to-be dead soldier. If he hadn't possessed the willpower to calm himself, he knew that his aura would have melted the snow he was hiding in and blown his cover. It was official, the entire Red Ribbon Army had written and hand signed their own death certificates with the ruthlessness they steadily showed when Raditz encountered them. Had it not been for the fact that he was trying to prevent any extra casualties, the Saiyan would have pounced forward and beaten the two in front of their hostages. He knew he had to be patient though, two gunmen and a crowd of bystanders only spelled bad news.
"Hey Walt," The bigger of the two, Clyde, bellowed as he aimed the pump shotgun he had at the back of the crowd of villagers. He poked the closest hostage with the barrel of the gun, motioning for him to speed up. "What do you think the good doctor has planned for this lot?" He added with a sly smirk on his face as he led another group of villagers to their demise.
"Don't even talk to me about the doc' Clyde… he gives me the creeps each time I see that wrinkly face of 'is…" The shorter man, Walt, gawked in disgust.
Each member of the Red Ribbon Army knew of Doctor Gero, or 'The Doctor' as he was most referred to as. He was not somebody you wanted to upset or associate too closely with. Ever since the day when four of the toughest soldiers that the Red Ribbon Army had to offer had thought of a prank to humiliate the poor mastermind on one dreadful evening by destroying entire beakers and hardware within his lab… before each one of them wound up going missing, their bodies never being recovered and their existence never being heard of ever again, each of the soldiers managed to keep their distance away from the quiet, yet forever observant mad doctor.
Even while he used his unmatched intelligence to both design and develop a vast number of superweapons, vehicles, and devices for the use of the criminal organization in return for nothing more than a couple thousand Zeni and the freedom to use any and all low-ranked soldiers and prisoners that he pleased at his disposal for assistance for other projects in his free time, nobody besides a couple of high-ranked soldiers hardly ever spoke to the doctor. When the most grown and strongest of men were sent to assist the dear old doctor in his studies, they would not return and only Doctor Gero knew the exact reasons behind the strange disappearances. Rumors had always managed to rise about how Gero was working on something along the lines of cybernetic upgrades and how he basically was working on… merging actual people into some sort of mechanical slaves with the help of cybernetic parts… Human and Robot hybrids to become the ultimate killing machines but nobody actually took the rumors seriously and just delivered slaves to the doctor as promised. Then of course, there was his terrifyingly unhealthy obsession with "evolution" and how humanity must unlock its "potential" one way or another.
"How long do you think this batch is gonna last with him?" The soldier playfully asked his comrade. "I say maybe a week if they stay cooperative."
"No way, that's too long," Clyde responded, leading the group closer towards the shed. He knew the type of treatment that Gero provided his guests with and endured them through and boy it wasn't pretty. "Just look at the lot of them! The little red bitch has more heart than the rest of them combined and look how easily she got put in her place! Maybe she'll end up with a metal rod for that backbone of hers but the rest of this bunch are gonna roll over and die in the next two days and then White's gonna have us back out in this blizzard, bringing the sick fuck more test subjects."
"Yeah just think what he's going to do to them… an army of super soldiers, the guy's dedicated at least." Walt said, the thoughts of the wicked doctor returning to him. He saw how Gero looked at him and his fellow soldiers. He saw right through them as if they weren't enough. "I'm glad he doesn't have the authority to try any of that sick shit on us. I'll happily let him kill off as many of these annoying villagers as he pleases as long as he keeps that shit in the laboratory with the weapons."
At that moment, the soldiers' phone rang. Answering it, Walt carried on with the conversation until he dropped the call. Gulping he turned to his friend.
"Hey, you won't believe what's going around! You know that mercenary General White hired… he's gone off the radar!" The man told his partner. "You think the doctor finally got his hands on him? He was basically salivating when White introduced him!"
"Now what would a mechanic do to a killing machine like Tao? He killed Kenny for insulting his mustache." Clyde retorted, remembering how another comrade of his had been taken out just by the hitman's tongue. "He must've found his match out there. No way he just gives up on ten billion zeni like that, nobody's that stupid."
"And you aren't worried about whatever did that coming back to us?" His partner asked.
"Come on Walt, you're overreacting again! What's the chance that whoever beat Tao comes here? Hell, they'd be a popsicle this time of the year." Clyde replied, chuckling as he spoke. Turning his attention back to the crowd of hostages, Clyde reached into his pockets for keys to the lockup. "Let's just get this group to the confinement chambers." He continued before he was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a newcomer, the armored Saiyan, Raditz.
"Free the prisoners," The Saiyan growled, staring daggers at the two men. Stepping closer towards his trembling foes, Raditz could feel his aura of purple flames cackling around his body from his rage. He wasn't going to ask nicely or plead with these guys, he'd seen just how dangerous they were. "All of them, even the ones in lockup." He added, blocking the door.
"What makes you think that we'd listen to anything some kid with a death wish tells us?" The larger of the two spat with his hands on his shotgun. Aiming it at the Saiyan, he added, "Move along kid before the doctor has a hole in one of his test subjects. I'm feeling pretty generous."
"Didn't Tao tell you about me?" The Saiyan teased, smirking as he easily avoided a point-blank shotgun blast and stepped towards the man. "Oh right, he didn't get the chance to before I blew him to pieces." The tailed warrior grumbled, causing a newfound feeling of fear to surge through the soldiers.
"Who are you?" One of the men screamed out as he watched Raditz practically stay ahead of each bullet he shot out of his rifle. "Just sit still and die!"
Lunging forward, Raditz closed the distance between himself and the men quickly. Grabbing the shorter of the two by his collar, he lifted him up and began talking again in a voice laced with venom and spite.
"The both of you are making it hard to not kill you." The cold voice of the Saiyan spat out to the two men. "I get it though, you must want me to kill you. Trust me, I'd very much like to just take all of my frustrations out on the likes of you. People like you have already ruined my life, I won't let you do it to others." He added, trying his best to not showcase a new level of brutality to a large group of bystanders that included children and women.
"The General would hand us over to Gero if we said anything," Walt cried, feeling as Raditz's grip strengthened around his windpipe and his body was lifted off the ground.
"Better than having your throat ripped out but fine, have it your way," Raditz said with a sigh, loosening his grip. Frowning at the man, the Saiyan looked him in his eyes and also said. "Just know that I didn't want things to come to this."
Piercing straight into the man's soul, Raditz tightly squeezed his fingers around his throat. He knew he had to watch his actions, no matter how horrid they were so he focused on the life leaving the man as he imposed more pressure and felt entire bones snapping apart. A second later, a sick snap echoed through the air as Raditz dropped the lifeless corpse to the ground. Clyde backed away in fear, watching as the wide-eyed body of his comrade dropped to the snow. Raditz took a deep breath and closed his eyes, these past few days of endless death and destruction were really getting to him. Yet, this merely affirmed his resolve. He had promised Roshi that he would end the Red Ribbon Army no matter what. No actions were too despicable and too far, he needed to stop them for good.
"You killed him!" The remaining soldier gulped, backing away from the cold-blooded Saiyan. He looked between the cold eyes of his ally and the boy standing over the corpse. "I-I'll do whatever you want me to do, I promise!" He pleaded, knowing this was a fight he wanted no parts in.
Raditz paid the man no mind as he scurried over to his partner's body and looted the keys from his corpse. Seeing the man open the door, the Saiyan spoke again. "Only those who are just as prepared to die should take a life. Your lot always acts so surprised when someone gives you a taste of what you're asking for." People like this really sickened the Saiyan. It almost made him forget what he was fighting for… he just wanted to let loose. "I take it that you'll supply your prisoners with furs and maps so that they can safely make it back to their village?" He suggested, though both knew it was more of an order than a suggestion.
Raditz's nose curled in disgust as the stench of the room he'd entered flooded his nostrils. Following behind the petrified grunt, Raditz found himself pinching his nose as he saw just how bad the conditions the Red Ribbon's prisoners resided in. The smell of reek flooded the whole room, the walls were covered in human waste and blood. The Saiyan's rage reached its breaking point as he examined the room further, making note of the rotting corpses, roaches, and maggots he saw littered the room. Using very little of his strength, Raditz snatched the bars from the wall and allowed more villagers out of their prison.
"Give them each a fur coat and all of the maps that you have," Raditz instructed his own prisoner with an outstretched arm forming an energy attack. Clyde wasn't given time to even think of doing otherwise, death was the only other option as he scurried to his feet. "None of you will need them."
Within the next couple of minutes, all of the imprisoned villagers were supplied with their very own warm coats, as well as any and all supplies that would prove useful to them on their journey back to their village. Raditz watched as Suno, her mother, and the rest of their people began their hike back to Jingle Village, a smirk planted upon his face as he managed to complete the first of his two objectives. However the happiness seemed to be short-lived as the voice of the ever-so-annoying Red Ribbon Army soldier entered his ear once again, having thought his deeds done for the day.
"Hey," The man grumbled with a sly grin planted upon his face as he spoke to Raditz in the same assertive tone he had spoken prior to the Saiyan's arrival. "Now that the trash has been set free, you'll let me go… won't you freak?" The man smart mouthed, thinking himself to be free from the martial artist's wrath now that the prisoners were freed.
Raditz instantly shot forward, grabbing the man by the neck in the same exact fashion which he had done to his friend just moments earlier. There were no witnesses then and there and originally, he had even wanted to allow the army to live, despite all of the suffering they had caused. But no… this man just had to reveal his callousness and uncaring nature to the public. Each of those villagers were in a state of nerve-wrecked and disheveling at what they had been forced to go through and here he was, badmouthing and not even caring for what happened to them. Now… even Raditz had to admit, he was absolutely losing his shit and all ounces of self-control. Bora… Upa… Suno and her mother –this would be for all of them as well as anyone else who'd been forced to suffer at the hands of the merciless group. If one did not show mercy, why would they ever expect mercy to be shown to them. By partaking in the actions that the criminal organization had found itself partaking in, each and every member of the Red Ribbon Army had officially written their death certificates in his mind.
Raditz could feel the merciless beast within being released from its binds and roaring out in anticipation, the warrior just fully losing it as his rampage finally began. Now, the Red Ribbon was going to pay for their actions. He would become a monster much greater than the army in order to stop them. He grabbed Clyde and shattered his shoulder and then roared in the fool's face, "Tell me everything you know of the tower, and maybe your death will be slightly slower!"
It was at this exact moment that Clyde then spouted off everything he knew and begged pathetically to the Saiyan, "Please have mercy, please just let me go I promise I'll never pick a gun up again. I'll become a good person, I swear."
Raditz merely looked impassively at his foe and knew in his heart that the man was telling the truth and that he would follow through with his promise. Sadly, the beast had been freed and needed to wet its fanged mouth with blood and there was no stopping it.
Raditz grabbed Clyde's head and hissed hatefully, "Is this how you want to spend your last moments? Begging for mercy and spouting lies? Not only are you a waste of air but you are also one of the most pathetic beings I've had the displeasure of meeting. Do me a favor and try to scream as I erase you from existence." He then squeezed and as if on suit Clyde's head exploded within seconds, leaving a headless body dropping from Raditz's clutches. "2 down, many, many more to go," Raditz stated as he walked with terrifying deliberation to the tower.