Chapter Twenty-Seven
Raditz tugged his blue fighting gi to his shoulders shortly after awakening. He had been out for nearly fourteen hours after arriving back at Kame House. Taking on Muscle Tower had surely taken a lot out of him. Everyone knew it, even Bulma. Tending to her Saiyan lover's wounds, something felt off about him but she hadn't bugged him trying to probe. Yamcha had made it back before him but Krillin still hadn't, so a small nap had turned into a small hibernation.
"Is Krillin back yet?" Raditz asked the bluenette as he entered the living room dressed in a new gi courtesy of Bulma. "And have you found out where the Red Ribbon Headquarters are yet?"
"I looked over that research all night and I think so," Bulma replied, bringing the fighter a plate of the breakfast she and Launch had made for the house. After what they'd done, she knew the three Turtle students needed substance. "Krillin and Yamcha are outside waiting for you. Your vitals were low, we needed you at your best if we're really going to do this."
"Good," The Saiyan responded after scarfing down his portion. "Get the jetcopter ready, we need to get those Dragon Balls."
"Sir, some of the Dragon Balls are heading this way," One of the Red Ribbon Army soldiers told Commander Red. He spent all day keeping a track on the mystical orbs, especially since they had been all over the place recently. "The calculations show they just passed through section B and will be here in 15 minutes. Would you like me to activate the fortress's defenses?"
"So, Tao's killer and the ones who took down our regional bases have finally found us," The redhead commander retorted. Turning to exit the room, he beckoned one more order to the grunt. "Get some men on the cannons and alarm Doctor Gero. Make sure he and Android 9 are ready for our visitors."
The commander snickered at this revelation. This time he and his men would be ready for Raditz. Soon they would have complete domination over the world and the Saiyan pest would be dealt with. He only hoped that Doctor Gero had time to finish his latest project.
"We're getting close," Krillin said from the window of the jetcopter that Bulma was flying. From it, he could see the compound coming into view. "You think they've caught on to us yet?"
"I'm not sure but I'm not going to let them shoot this thing down with my woman in it," Raditz answered, opening the hatch as Bulma continued piloting. "I'll go draw their attention to me. You two find an opening and work your way inside, you're going to have to move quickly." The Saiyan added, jumping out of the jet. "Bulma, turn this thing around when they jump. If you don't hear from us in a few hours, stay with Roshi, don't come back."
Raditz fell from the sky and flew towards the compound using his ki, surrounded in a purple aura. As he approached the building, he saw some missiles and gunfire try to knock him out of the air but he flew faster than they could keep up with. Anything that got close to the Saiyan was shot with a ki blast, detonating prematurely.
Outmaneuvering the army's defenses, Raditz landed in the front of the building. Knocking down the door with an energy blast, the young Saiyan counted five soldiers rushing towards him with guns. Easily dodging the gunfire that came his way immediately when they saw him, the long-haired martial artist formidably dropped each of the five men with a single hit each. Another larger group of soldiers quickly approached him in hopes of circling him in but they were also taken out from behind without much difficulty through a clever ambush perpetrated by Krillin and Yamcha.
"Glad you made it," The Saiyan greeted his friends, watching as the soldiers dropped like flies and the two Humans flew to the ground. "Did Bulma make it out?"
"Yeah," Yamcha replied, pointing to the faint dot in the sky. "They must've focused all of their fire on you. She dropped me and Krillin off on the other side and got out of here in the midst of all of it."
"Good, now I can go all out," Raditz said. He was glad that Bulma hadn't been hurt in the chaos. Then this would be Muscle Tower 2.0.
The three Turtle students continued fighting their way through waves of soldiers as they advanced through the compound with the help of Raditz's scouter telling them where the Dragon Balls were. Entering the command center, they came face to face with Commander Red.
"I don't know whether to be impressed by the way you made it in here or disappointed at my men," The commander spat with a sinister grin. "You guys come with the Dragon Balls you took from my other bases?"
"Yeah," Raditz growled. "Fork over the rest and this'll be easier." The Saiyan demanded the short man.
"I take it you're the one who defeated Tao," Commander Red said, looking the Saiyan teenager up and down. Doctor Gero had shown him footage of the formidable fighter. "The good doctor told me you were a fantastic fighter but I didn't believe it until I had a look at what you did to him. You should have seen how badly he looked when he crawled back to me asking for my help. Gero and I both thought it was an impossible task but the mercenary had quite the drive. His rage towards you fueled his recovery."
Raditz tensed at this. He could have sworn that he had killed the mercenary back during their encounter. He had hit him with everything in his tank and even then, he hadn't felt an energy signature. First the two robots and now Tao, maybe his Scouter was broken.
"So Gero fixed Tao?" Raditz responded, a scowl on his face. If that was the case, he just had to tie up the loose ends. "I already dealt with some of his monsters. Go ahead and bring him out."
"I'm getting there," Commander Red scorned the Saiyan, a vein popping out of his large head. "We were able to learn from our failures and bring him back from the footstep of death you left him on. Now, your failure in bringing him down will be you and your friends' downfall."
Finishing, the leader of the Red Ribbon pressed a button on his seat and on suit, a bolted door slid up and opened. After a few seconds a form began to walk out of the opening. The three fighters' eyes shot open as the shadow formed into Mercenary Tao. The mercenary still wore the same pink gi from before, albeit it now fit more tight on his metallic body. One of his arms, devoured by Raditz's finishing blow some time ago, was now replaced with a fully mechanical one and patches of metal-fused skin scattered across his body. His entire head was now mostly mechanical, a pair of beady red eyes replacing his cold black ones.
"Android 9, finish off the insects." The voice of Command Red concluded as the reborn hitman entered the command room. Exiting the room through a metal door that closed behind him, the Commander barked. "Bring me the Dragon Balls from their corpses and show me that my money wasn't wasted."
"Hello puny bug, shocked to see me?" The mechanical Tao laughed, speaking to Raditz. His metal hand clenched at his side at the sight of the boy who'd nearly killed him before. "You must've thought me dead after that attack of yours."
"I was hoping," The Saiyan shot back, pressing his Scouter to scan Tao. To his surprise, the scouter didn't give a reading. 'Must be those metal parts interfering. The same thing happened with Eighter and Null.' Raditz thought to himself, falling into a fighting stance. "Maybe I should finish the job, huh?"
"You can try," Tao said, watching as the Saiyan and then his two friends fell into turtle stances. "Pathetic turtle school. Maybe after I do away with you all, I'll find that bothersome teacher of yours and get rid of that puny fighting style once and for all."
Shooting forward, the cyborg moved with the speed of lightning. Before Raditz could even fathom what was happening, Tao charged at him and shot a knee into the boy's gut. Stunned by both the speed and strength the attack possessed, the Saiyan was unable to block the hitman's second blow, an elbow that sent him flying through the wall.
'Damn, I barely saw him move,' Krillin thought to himself as he watched his friend be sent through the stone wall. Moving forward, the monk was caught off guard when Tao phased in front of him, suddenly lashing out at the boy with a hit in the stomach with a powerful punch.
"You should have left just Raditz for me," Tao spat out, punching Krillin once again before grabbing the boy and throwing him into the same wall that Raditz had just pulled himself out of. "Even with the three of you coming at me together, you turtles are outclassed!"
Raditz pulled himself out of the collapsed wall to see Krillin's flying body come his way. Reaching his hands out, he was pushed back into the same chasm as Krillin's body collided into his at a high speed.
"Not bad," The Saiyan said, stretching his arm and pulling the wristband that had been misadjusted back to its right place. Wiping a trickle of blood from his lips, Raditz glared back at the cyborg as his blood tingled in excitement. "You're definitely stronger. Maybe now you'll be a challenge."
"You dare to mock me, child?" The assassin growled at Raditz's tone, falling into the crane stance. Lunging towards the Saiyan, Tao was caught off balance when Yamcha threw himself in between the two.
"Don't forget," The desert bandit said with a smirk on his face, catching Tao's punch in his fist. Squeezing the metal until he'd hear it start to bend, Yamcha prepared to counterattack. "You're fighting three people here… maybe you're the one who's outmatched Tao!"
"I'll finish you first then," The cyborg taunted, his red eyes beaming with intent to kill. Tao's frown turned to a sinister grin as he flared his aura. So, the tall brat wanted to be the first to die? Fine… he'd make it nice and quick too. "Then back to the Saiyan!"
Breaking free from Yamcha's grasp, Tao retaliated by driving a knee into the former bandit's stomach. Doubling the boy over, the sadistic assassin reached over and grabbed a handful of his black hair. Not letting up ,the android shot an uppercut and then a flurry of knees into Yamcha's stomach, getting off at the stomach-turning sound of the bandit coughing up his own blood.
"Leave him alone!" Both Krillin and Raditz screamed in unison, sparking their auras. Shooting towards the deranged killer, the two Turtle students lashed out at Tao with a flurry of ki-enhanced kicks and punches. Raditz's first strike, a sucker punch landed and slightly pushed back Tao, stopping his assault on Yamcha midkick.
"I wanted to exact my revenge on Raditz without interference," Tao grumbled, staying ahead of the remainder of the punches sent his way. Blocking the ones he couldn't dodge, the Crane assassin easily stayed ahead of the coordinated attacks thanks to his newfound speed. Finding an opening in Krillin's guard, Tao's fist shot out at the monk sending him flying into Yamcha sending both Humans to the ground. "You two bugs stay out of the fight!" He added, diverting his attention back to the Saiyan of the bunch.
"You want me? Come get it!" Raditz growled, crossing his arms to block a punch from Tao. Countering, the Saiyan shot a strong hook to the android's cheek but Tao barely flinched from the blow. 'Dammit, nothing we're doing is slowing him down.' He thought to himself seeing this.
"I'll hang your friends from your tail!" Tao shouted at the Saiyan, shifting from the defensive to the offensive. Not giving Raditz time to recover, Tao shot back with a kick to the face, sending the boy staggering back. Following up with this, the assassin flipped forward and collided into the Saiyan, sending him to the floor in defeat.
'I can barely keep up with him,' Raditz thought to himself as he rolled out of the way of the assassin, who tried stomping on him. Finding an opening, he placed his palm out and shot a ki blast at the cyborg before he could continue his attack. Tao was so close to Raditz that the blast exploded in his face and shot him back a few meters in a cloud of dust.
"Wolf Fang Fist!" Yamcha let out, seeing Tao disoriented by the point-blank energy blast. Running towards the cyborg, the bandit got a few hits in before the smoke cleared and his fist passed through an afterimage of the assassin. "Where'd he go!"
On cue, Tao reappeared behind the desert bandit, striking him with an axe handle to send him to the floor. As Yamcha's body hit the ground and bounced back up, Tao unrelentlessly lashed out with a flurry of his own kicks and punches before he could hit the ground again. With a final kick to the bandit's back, Yamcha was left unconscious. Looking at this, Tao reappeared in front of the slumped body and kicked it.
"So you brats just won't stop putting your heads where they don't belong huh?" The assassin beckoned, continually kicking the unconscious body until he turned to see Raditz charging him. Phasing out of the way with Yamcha in his grasp, the assassin suddenly reappeared on top of the Saiyan, who couldn't do anything as Tao hit the same ax handle move on him. "I have just the thing for that!" He snickered as he dropped Yamcha's body and grabbed him by the back of his fighting gi. Pointing his free hand forward, he shot a Dodon Ray at Raditz, hitting the Saiyan point-blank.
"The doctor added some nice improvements when he patched me up," Tao devilishly smirked, watching as smoke surrounded the Saiyan and then unscrewing the metal hand he'd been given. Now replaced with a pink blaster, the assassin aimed his glowing hand at the sleeping body of Yamcha and called for Raditz's attention. "Let me show you!"
The next moment the assassin threw Yamcha into the air. Aiming his arm cannon straight up, all while keeping his beady eyes on Raditz, Tao's teeth showed in his sinister grin as he charged more energy into his finishing move, the Super Dodon Wave.
'I have to do something,' Krillin thought to himself, watching as Yamcha's body finally began falling back towards the ground. 'This guy's gonna see Raditz if he tries to save Yamcha.'
Power Levels
Raditz: 430
Krillin: 371
Yamcha: 386
Commander Red: 15
Cyborg Tao: 460