Prophet
"So you failed to bring Briefs' daughter to me. And you failed to procure the Dragon Balls even after I've enhanced the little one's senses." The wizened man in the lab coat didn't seem too upset by his hired help's performance, but the hard gleam in those beady eyes suggested a simmering temper that could explode at a moment's notice.
"Fortunately, General Blue was able to retrieve a second Dragon Ball for me." He glanced thoughtfully from the three mercenaries kneeling before him towards the blonde, blue-eyed man standing at attention a few feet away.
General Blue smirked as he saluted, "It was nothing, good doctor. It's only natural for an officer of my caliber to succeed in my mission where inferiors would have failed."
A small movement of Tao's hand signaled to his students not to rise to the bait. Tao himself didn't react to the insult. He simply filed the slight away for later. After his contract with Dr. Gero was officially over.
"Additionally, my men thank you for the excellent feast of bacon," the officer smiled at the scientist.
"He would have only cluttered the cells," Dr. Gero waved dismissively with one hand while the other fished out a datapad from the pockets of his lab coat. "Tao, is the girl aware of her parents' death?"
"I'm not certain. Her tantrum to our presence fits the reaction of a spoiled brat realizing that the world isn't there to cater to her every whim."
"A heavy hand should be all you need to deal with such a child," General Blue scoffed. "Shall I retrieve her for you, doctor?"
"No, General Blue, with Major Metallitron currently down for repairs, Colonel Silver tarnished beyond saving, and the state of General Offed-White," Gero chuckled at his own joke, uncaring that no one else appreciated it. "Commander Red has decided your services are needed elsewhere. Report to him at your earliest convenience."
The blonde officer preened at the honor of being summoned by the supreme leader of the Red Ribbon Army. He executed a perfect textbook salute and marched out.
Gero checked his datapad, verified with his own surveillance system that no one was eavesdropping before his lips pulled into a mirthless grin, "She knows her parents are dead, doesn't she?"
"Yes, Dr. Gero," this time it was Chiaotzu who answered. "Her aura reading was quite different from regular anger."
The old scientist sighed, "Her father had been corrupted by the Dragon Balls. The last time we spoke at a conference, it was clear his mind had become addled by the sphere's influence. I had hoped to save the daughter. Now it looks as if she's been exposed to her father's well-intentioned lies..." he trailed off, lost in thought.
When the silence stretched on, Tien carefully asked, "Do you still require we bring her to you?"
"Hmm? Oh, yes, she could still prove useful so bring her to me."
"Alive?" Tao asked.
"Of course still alive!" Gero narrowed his eyes, "And fully mobile. It may take some convincing but I'm sure she'll see the light." After he dismissed the mercenaries, his eyes turned heavenwards, staring at the ceiling but seeing something else entirely. "Yes, they'll all see the light and it will be glorious."
Left alone in his wing of the base, the Red Ribbon Army's top scientist went through the contents of his datapad, adjusted some numbers, and keyed in the necessary access codes. He marched through empty, harmless-looking corridors, walked past gigantic automatons as still as statues, and finally arrived at reinforced steel double-doors.
At his approach, the doors opened silently and Gero smiled at the massive contraption housing two Dragon Balls that glowed and dimmed in a steady rhythm. Stepping inside the room, the scientist felt his hairs stand on end, vibrations trembling along his skin in time to the throbbing of the Dragon Balls. He closed his eyes, allowing the tempo to wash over him, to fill him down to the very marrows of his bones until he could not distinguish between his heartbeat and the beat from the glowing spheres.
There, cradled within the center of the pulse, he could see it: the future of mankind.
Once he unlocked the secrets to the Dragon Balls' limitless energy he would achieve perfection. He would usher in a new age that would break free from the coils of fleshly weakness, he would help mankind transcend the frailty of meat and embrace the beauty of metal.
"It will be glorious," he murmured dreamily.
The sound of scraping alloy jarred him out of his reverie but Gero didn't frown at the cause. Instead, with an almost kind smile, he asked, "How are we doing, Major?"
"Eager to be back," was the monotone reply.
"Very good. Keep that in mind. It might help you manage your latest... upgrade."
"Roger."
Dr. Gero pulled at levers, turned dials, flicked switches, and typed like there was no tomorrow. The slow beat of the machine quickened. The scientist attached a long coil of wire from the android to his contraption.
More typing and the Dragon Balls flickered faster and faster until the light from the orange spheres reached blinding. Dr. Gero closed his eyes but still the light shone through his lids.
Major Metallitron groaned at the onrush of power, "Meltdown imminent!"
"Keep it together, Major. You're more than human after all!"
The walls of the laboratory trembled, unsecured bits and bobbles clattered and spilled onto the floor, the ground shook from the force the contraption drew from the Dragon Balls. When the pressure proved nearly too much for Gero himself and he felt his feeble chest constrict, the machine abruptly powered down.
Gero slumped to the floor, gasping for breath but grinning in triumph. Major Metallitron hadn't exploded! He unhooked the cables and wires from the android, remounted all the panels, and rebooted him. But a scan showed the artificial officer was lifeless as a lump of lead.
"Antiquated piece of junk!" Dr. Gero roared, using wrench and drill to bash at the android's hull who could do nothing but lie there and take the constant pounding. "The theory is sound! What am I missing?" Gero screamed until he was exhausted. He was too close to the project. He needed fresh eyes to give him insight but there was no one who could prove useful to a genius such as he! No one but the Briefs.
Still seething, he set his focus back on reviving the Major and let the steady beat from the machine housing the Dragon Balls wash over him.
The machine hummed on, its creator unaware that each pulse powering the artificial warriors radiated beyond the bodies of alloy and flesh, that each echo exceeded the Red Ribbon Army's instruments, that each thrum of energy soared through the cosmos and into the vast expanse of space. There, amidst dying worlds and birthing stars, there, beyond human knowledge and awareness, they felt the ripples.
They stirred from their ignorance, many confused of what they'd sensed and more disbelieving of what it entailed. But one opened his senses to snatch at the gossamer strands spreading throughout the universe. He was first to clearly hear the whispered declaration of: Here we are. He was the first to act upon the invitation of: Come to us.
When he emerged from his dream-like stupor, he whispered a prayer of thanks to the gods, and turned his gaze towards Earth.
A/N: I have to be honest, so far, this chapter was my absolute favorite to write especially Gero's color puns. And for everyone asking about where Goku is, you'll find out in the later chapters, I promise. I wouldn't add him to the character tags if I didn't have something planned for him and Vegeta. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favorited, or followed this fic!