Hello and welcome to the next chapter of my story. Now I finally feel like I am going into the meat of the story but we will just have to see where it goes from here. Now I really don't have much else to say so let's just get on with the show. But I don't own dragon ball.

Chapter 19

~Satan Gym~

After getting over her shock Videl quickly made up her mind and ran towards the gym's exit as fast as she could.

"W-wait up Videl" Gohan called out as he ran just fast enough to keep pace with her.

"Don't even try to fucking stop me Gohan! If those bastards are still there when I get there I will tear them to shreds!" Videl growled out.

"I understand you are upset Videl and I am not trying to stop you. Just please let me go with you." Gohan asked her.

"…tsk, fine but don't you dare get in my way." Videl ordered after thinking for a moment. With that being said she quickly uncapsized her copter and hoped in with Gohan following only moments later.

Videl then flew them as fast as she could handle towards her house. Still by the time they got there first responders were already all around the place. So, Videl quickly went to the closest ranked officer she saw.

"What is the status of the situation." Videl ordered an older man who ended up being the police chief.

"Oh Videl! I am so sorry but it seems that they have destroyed approximately sixty percent of the house and we don't even know if the remained of the house will be salvageable. We have to wait and see how the foundation looks. But thankfully they truly did have everyone come out of the building so there is no deaths. So, don't worry we will get the place set up to be rebuild before yo-" He began to explain.

"Grr. I don't care about the house tell me we have any clue where those bastards went…but it is nice to know that at least none of our staff died." Videl told him angrily then agreed that she was relieved that they really did let the people leave first. But before he could tell her anymore a limo showed up and her father was seen with a complicated expression on his face. Of course the reporters that already were on scene were desperately trying to talk to him but for once he ignored them in favor of walking to Videl instead.

"Great you came just in time for the chief to tell us where to hunt these bastards down dad." Videl told him.

"H-h-hunt them down!?" Mr. Satan asked in fear before looking around for a split second. "I-I mean of course we will hunt them down gahaha. Now tell us what you know." Mr. Satan ordered trying to save face. "Please just tell me that those guys are long gone. I mean I hate that they destroyed my stuff but if that is the only revenge they will take on me that is perfectly fine!" He thought as he fake laughed.

"Umm I am sorry to say that the perpetrators were long gone before we were able to build a perimeter around the manor. But don't worry we will do everything we can to bring them to justice!" the police chief stated.

"Grr! Damn it!" Videl growled out stomping her foot. Something that made the reporters flock itself seeing as her strength plus the weighted clothes created a small crater on the ground.

"Hmm…so it seems like Videl is more Saiyan than I thought. I've never seen any of the regular guy's ki flow so much with their ki…or maybe it's just because they had more control…" Gohan began to think. He already tried to find the ki of the group that blew up the manor but unfortunately, he couldn't find any heightened kis anywhere near them. So, they either were already taught how to mask their ki or they just only had enough ki to seem like they were slightly above the average human.

"Hey Dende are you listening?" Gohan asked mentally.

"Yea I hear you Gohan." Dende quickly responds.

"Do you or Piccolo have any reading on the guys after this presentation they did? They are starting to get way too bold to just leave alone."

"Sadly I can't pin point them. Even though they are stronger than most of the human's on this planet it still is like looking for a needle in a hay stack."

"Yea I figured I am having the same problem." Gohan responded sadly.

"Don't worry brat I will keep my senses open for the next time they pull one of these stunts. We can then hunt them down after I get their ki signatures." Piccolo added in to their conversation. He honestly didn't care that these humans were messing with Mr. Satan. After all he would love to do the same thing himself. But they were bothering his student. And THAT was just something that he would not allow.

"Thanks. Hopefully we can deal with these guys before they reveal too much…or at least before they give Videl a chance to fight them." Gohan told them. For he honestly had no way to tell if Videl was strong enough to face even one of these ki users let alone a whole group.

Eventually the excitement died down and a good portion of the crowd and the reporters left. All that was left was the emergency response workers and now several building inspectors Trying to make the place as safe as possible. And of course Gohan, Videl, and Mr. Satan.

"Um…so do you guys have a place to stay for a while?" Gohan asks awkwardly.

*sigh* "We should be fine if we just put a bed into one of the gym's 'recovery' rooms. Those are practically apartments anyways…it just is such bullshit that we can't catch these guys still even when they blatantly did this!" Videl grumbled.

"Yea I am sorry Videl…how about you take some time off from training so you can focus on getting this figured out. And if I can help at all just let me know." Gohan told her knowing that she would hate if he just forced his way into helping her out if she didn't actually want it.

"No! We aren't going to stop. Training will be at least a good way to take my mind off of these bastards. Besides I will never give up on getting stronger than you." Videl tells him determined.

"Hehe I guess I will help you all I can then." Gohan awkwardly told her with a strained laugh. "Oh Videl I hope you don't try to kill me when you realize just how much of a task that really is going to be." He thought actually a bit afraid of her future reaction.

"Oy who are you to try and woo my daughter by using this as an excuse!" Mr. Satan finally calls out when he finally noticed their conversation.

"Dad this is Gohan the man YOU MADE me take as my fiancé." Videl told him with a glare that made the older man sweat.

"O-oh. Sorry my eyes were so blinded by rage that I couldn't recognize you prince hahaha." Mr. Satan states awkwardly with a laugh.

"….yea" Gohan muttered wanting nothing more but to get away from him. Thankfully he didn't have to worry about trying to escape for long as Mr. Satan did it for him.

"Well I guess you are ok to leave around my precious daughter. Now don't worry honey I'll get everything all figured out before you know it. Hmm…I think maybe we can book that five star hotel in West city for the repair time…" Mr. Satan states then begins to walk away muttering his own plans.

"Oh hell no! Forcing us to go to a whole different city just because he wants luxury." Videl grumbles then looked over at Gohan. "I am sorry but I have to stop my dad from making any more crazy plans. See you tomorrow." Videl told him then went after her dad before Gohan could say anything back.

"Well I guess I am not needed here and there is nothing for me to track." Gohan mutters with a shrug before walking away from the area and finally flying off.

"I guess I got some time so I might as well see if either Lime or Bri are free." He muttered as he flew towards West City.

~Gang's base; Boss's room~

"So how did the goons do as the distraction was going on?" the leader asked Frazer who was looking through a few sheets of paper.

"Those fools actually did what they are paid for, for once. According to the inventory list that their leader sent me they seem to have gotten all the parts the doc ordered and then some." Frazer tells him handing over the sheet.

"Well, that is great news. But what do you mean 'seems to'?" the boss asked concerned.

"They are low level grunts do you really expect them to know the difference between high level tech and a toaster?" Frazer asks sarcastically. "Hell I don't even know what most the crap he wanted is either. So, this sheet is just a bunch of rough guesses from people that really don't have any clue what they just stole. But hopefully pretty soon the doc's people will be able to confirm that they have what they need. The truck is already on route to his lab."

"…well I guess that is good news. But keep me informed if they end up needing anything." The boss tells him.

"Yea yea, even if there is something missing it shouldn't be hard for me to throw whatever it is onto the list of stuff I am buying legally…well I hope so. I mean the whole reason we had to rob that damn lab was because the public isn't supposed to be able to get their hands on that stuff." Frazer tells him uncaring.

"I honestly hope so. The sooner we can have the doctor upgrade everyone the better. I am tired of just having demonstrations done instead of getting real power. But are you sure that you are ok with not getting upgrades with the rest of us?" the boss asks Frazer who waves it off.

"As I told ya countless times before I am not here for all that 'ultimate power' jazz you keep talking about. I am more than strong enough to protect my own wealth so I am happy. Besides you are going to need at least one elite to handle the idiots that aren't going. God knows what could happen to this gang, the truth seeking gang, and even the gym if they were left to their own devices…Well actually the gym probably would be fine at least." He stated. After all if there was a power gap in the underworld it would be quickly noticed and filled up by whoever felt they had enough power to do so. Not to mention the energy users they raised that still think they are only showing the world the truth would probably get even more brazen with their moves and get caught.

"A fair reasoning I suppose. And if anything, I actually am rather happy that I have you taking care of things for however long our recovery will take." The boss tells him.

"You really wanna do this? I mean you don't even know how bad the recovery is going to be. Hell we don't even know what kind of power you will get if it even succeeds."

"Don't you worry about that. This doctor has already proven himself with my brother once before. Though I truly can't wait to see just how strong we get. So fear not my friend soon enough you will be one of the head commanders of the ruler of the world." The boss tells him happily with an evil laugh.

"Suure…because that always works for people that try." Frazer tells him then mutters the last bit under his breath.

"What was that?" his boss asks.

"Nothing" he told him simply. It was far easier just to let those that were power hungry go rather than try to apply logic to them after all. Thankfully it only took around a day for the lab staff to confirm that they got all the supplies they needed. So, all of the top gang members except for Frazer loaded up into two vans ready to drive to the lab.

"See ya soon Frazer and I bet you will be regretting your choice of not joining us!" One of the members called out as the van left with the rest of the people laughing around him.

"Tsk, Idiots." Frazer mutters as he watches the vans leave. "Who cares if the doctor succeeded once he still is a quack. Not to mention a surgery that augments you like this has to be painful as all hell. And even after all the recovery all they plan on doing is fighting the golden freaks to show that they are stronger. What is the point of looking for that kind of trouble?" he asks himself as he enters his bosses room. He then sits down and kicks his feet up onto the table. "I'd much rather just reap the rewards they work hard to get while doing absolutely nothing. You have to work smarter not harder in this world." He mutters to himself with a small laugh.

After a while there was a knock on the showing one of his managers.

"What's going on?" Frazer asks the woman who was clearly a bit stressed.

"Well sir our group of 'truth seeers' are still roaring to go after being told to do stunningly bold example. No matter how much I tell them that the plan is set and they have to wait they still insist on having to do more. Meanwhile the rest of the gang are already planning a party now that a good portion of the rule enforcers have been seen to have left.

*sigh* "You loosen the leash a little bit and they try to yank out a yard." Frazer grumbles getting up off the chai. "Thanks for letting me know. I'll make sure to remind everyone exactly why I am in control." Frazer tells her. After all even though he was the weakest of the main members he still was strong enough to handle the grunts that they had. And thankfully most of the middle management was smart enough to not anger those higher on the food chain so easily. Luckily running business was what he excelled at both legal and illegal. A skill that certainly had a place in any group that cared to actually be efficiently managed.

+ Few hours later; lab+

After traveling for a few hours the chosen gang members were brought into a room that had a strange man with his head covered in machines and a crazed looking man in a lab coat.

"Welcome subjects to my laboratory. I am Doctor Frank Lin Stein who will be removing your normal boring bodies limits in order to bring the wonders of science to make you reach new heights." Dr. Stein tells them with a wide smile.

"Umm yea that sounds good but we aren't gonna end up looking like Mr. Robot over there right?" Eric asks concerned only for his leader to get mad and quickly turn on him.

"You fool! Show some respect to my brother! He is known far and wide as one of the greatest mercenaries alive." Their leader told them. "How have you been brother?" the gang leader asks clearly a bit nervous.

"Hmm my time here has been quite fruitful what with your pawn keeping everything coming in for my upgrades." The man states calmly. "And as for you do no worry you will not be having the amount of upgrades I have gotten so you will not have as much of a visual change."

"Kukuku, yes Mercenary Tao here is a true man of purpose. Instead of worrying about looking at those commoners out there he sacrifices his human looks for the sake of advancement." Dr. Stein states happily.

"Tsk, and makes him look like a B-rate movies stunt double." One of the members stated only to fall over in pain seconds later. All around him the laughing gang were stunned to see Mercenary Tao directly in front of the man with his fist still out after punching him in the stomach.

"Yes so funny." Tao states blandly returning to a normal stance. "Now I don't know if my brother has told you this yet but as disciples of the Crane style you were all people that we chose to put precious effort into raising. A reason that is the only reason this fool is still alive." Tao states gently kicking the man stile holding his gut in pain. "But because of this we demand obedience. And if my brother was too nice to you and let you run rampant then it ends today. Time is money people and I have far too many plans to waste dealing with idiots like you. This will be your one warning. Shape up and rule with us, or die trying to hinder our progress." Tao states walking into a different room.

"Hahaha excellent! Shen you really brought me a gem of a subject when you brought your brother here to be healed. He even was more than willing to try out the new research I have been working with after finding it a few months ago." Dr. Stein states happily. "Now have the lab assistants show you and your people to their rooms. I will start my tes…I mean the upgrades as soon as I am able to determine what would fit each of you. He tells him then walks away as well. And only after they both left did Shen look over to his now recovering student.

"I warned all of you to be on your best behavior with my brother! Don't try something so stupid as angering him again. I promise you he is completely serious about killing those that get in his way. But I also promise that you will get results from all of this trouble. Afterall my brother was able to face the gold fighters before they even were known worldwide." Shen tells them. "Now quickly get set up in your rooms and we will start the process." Shen tells them then walked towards where his brother went.

"What did we sign up for in this?" One of the group asks clearly shaken by the blunt lack of empathy.

"Who knows. But we are in far too deep to just step out of it." Another person states grimly. They all then see Charles walk past them to where the assistants were waiting without sparing them a single word.

"Tsk, of course the loyal dog shows no concern with that bastard treating us like shit." One of the group grumbles but eventually they all followed the assistants to their rooms.

= few rooms over, Mercenary Tao and Master Shen =

After finding his brother sitting in a chair drinking tea Shen quickly sat across from him and poured his own cup.

"So, how are these pawns that you have found?" Tao asks.

"They are decent. Probably a bit above where Tein was around the tournament." Shen tells him simply.

"Tsk, those fools are already leagues above that level we need them to catch up."

"But that is what the surgery is for right? If what I have been hearing is correct it helped create beings on par with the monkey men."

"Yes but you never can fully trust what is on paper without seeing it yourself. I would love to upgrade myself to be firmly on the next level but Dr. Stein isn't a perfect doctor. Even if a surgery has a high mortality rate he would happily do it without a second thought. But that is why those pawns will test the waters for me first before I gain the perfect body to finally get my revenge." Tao tells him firmly.

"And with them out of the way ruling this world would be a piece of cake! Oh the first thing I am going to do is make sure the turtle school dies and stays dead." Shen states with glee. "Oh, yea and all the grunts I told you about before should be able to help us as well. I did not invest nearly as much time into their training as I did these guys but they should be all moderately above the average martial artist.

"Good the time for revenge will soon be before me. And then the world will be ours to lay with just as we have always wished for." Tao states with a smirk.

"To the future dictators" Shen states raising his cup. His brother then looks at it for a couple of seconds before clinking his tea cup.

"To future dictators" Tao states with his normal monotone voice.

+Next Day+

"Good morning, Mercenary Tao, Master Shen. Are we ready to start the surgeries today?" Dr. Stein asks with a hopeful look on his face.

"That depends. Are you sure you are ready for the updates to make us stronger than THEM?" Tao asks remembering the Son family.

"Kukuku not to worry. I have worked hard on improving my own studies and should be able to do it after taking in the research I found a while ago; just like I said before. I mean some of the research was weirdly on some rather strange mutated cells. But if my improved system is right. You should be approximately two point five three times stronger than the examples I have. Though I did have to use the old researcher's system of measuring so there could be a margin of error." Dr. Stein explains.

He was after all, more than happy to remind people of the 'gift from god' he found. A few years ago he stumbled on a partially crumbled secret base. Upon looking through it he found some partially damaged machines but was able to copy quite a bit of the material there. After all as a researcher he was far too curious to just leave the strange base alone after finding it. Or at least that is how Dr. Stein would explain it. Upon going through it he found loads of research on strange fighters that he at first thought was a work of fiction. But after managing to see Mercenary Tao work quickly changed his opinion. This was one of the reasons he called out to the normally feared man. And indeed he did nearly die a few times for 'wasting Tao's time' but after a while was able to make Tao realize he had uses. Thus, he got set up in a base that was funded by Tao's 'honest work' in return for making sure his mechanical parts were well taken care of and occasionally upgraded. Something that was relatively safe seeing as it was only the robotic parts rather than the biological.

Now though after working hard with his found information as a base even though there was a lot of corruption; he was able to advance his work to astronomic levels. He now felt he was fully able to reach what he considered to be as close to a perfect semi-biologic being ever been created.

(AN: honestly forgot if I explained how he found the research but just in case I had to put it here.)

"They better be." Tao states blandly.

"Yes…Well then we can start immediately. How long do you think this will take?" Shen asks.

"Hmm well I need to personally work on each one and it will take a while…so maybe two people a day? Then as for recovery it could take anywhere form a month or two for them to heal and get use to their new abilities." Dr. Stein states.

"I see. Well let's get you started with just two people at first and see how they recover. We want to make sure that they get back to at least the current level we beat into them before we apply it to them all of course." Shen tells him.

"Sounds good sir! I can't wait to show you that the new upgraded goons will be stronger than you can ever imagine." Dr. Stein states happily.

"I hope so for your sake. But these fools better remember just who is in charge." Tao states.

"Ha, not to worry I always make sure to have a back up plan." Dr. Stein states then pulls out a small chip. "I have already planned to have a shut down program for the technology part of my subjects. This will make them drastically weaker after being use to relying on my tech." He states then starts to walk away. "Have whichever goon you want to be my first subject report to the lab assistants for prepping as soon as possible."

After the doctor left both of the brothers look at each other with concern.

"It's great for him to add that to the help so that they don't get a big head but we need to make sure that he doesn't dare do that to us." Shen states.

"Indeed. Having someone daring to control me is far from what I can stand." Tao agrees.

"Hmm. I guess I will have Charles watch over our turn to keep an eye on him…after we make sure the program is as worth it as he promises." Shen decides.

"Yes...and I have made sure that several of his help will NEVER dare to defy me. So, we will just make sure that he doesn't dare try any funny business with us." Tao states.

With that in mind Shen quickly goes to get one of his students to get prepped for surgery.

And that is where I am going to be ending the chapter. Now I feel like it worked out pretty well but of course time was not my friend (as always). Still I hope that you all enjoy the story as always. I honestly don't have much else to say to here. Other than I promise that I will figure out a way to iron out my plans and not add THAT much to my plate. But for now Ja Ne.