Chương 32: Discovered

Raditz and his allies separated, spreading out through the emptied streets of South City. They decided to split up because they couldn't detect any strong presences in the area, they tried using their Scouters too. The cyborgs were either running late, or were already somewhere in the city.

Raditz walked down a street keeping his eyes open for Dr. Gero or the obese Android #19. They should clearly stand out with one looking like a fat clown and the other a lanky old man with a unique tall hat. It also was a bonus that they should have the Red Ribbon Army logo all over their clothing.

"What's everyone's status?" Raditz asked over his Scouter.

The replies which came back all were negative, no one had seen any sign of the targets. Raditz would routinely ask the status of the group.

"This is the fourth time you've asked." Vegeta replied. He was watching the streets from the roof of a tall building. "Why don't you just wait until one of us reports something?"

"Because if everyone replies we will know if someone gets ambushed." Raditz explained. He knew how Yamcha got sneak attacked in the original story. Dr. Gero would grab Yamcha up by the face and shove his arm through Yamcha's chest.

Tien patrolled a sparsely populated street, staying vigilant of anything out of the ordinary. He wasn't sure how powerful the cyborgs were, but he was confident in the strength of the group. He had fought one of the original Bio-androids years ago and it wasn't too impressive.

The pedestrians on the street were going about their normal routine, unaware that their city might become a battlefield. When he reached the the intersection at the end of the street, Tien looked over at the street sign. He smirked to himself when he read that he was walking down Raditz Avenue.

"Tien Shinhan," a gruff older male voice called out from behind Tien, "Former World Tournament competitor. Defended the Earth against alien invaders. Friend and ally of Kakarot. Associate of Emperor Raditz."

Tien turned to face the person casually listing of his information. The speaker was revealed to be a old man with a bushy white mustache, pale blue eyes, no eyebrows, and waist length bushy white hair. He wore a tall black hat, pinstriped orange button up shirt with yellow forearms, brown pants that became baggy near the bottom, and white shoes with black toes and heel. The man's hat had the logo of the defunct Red Ribbon Army right on the front.

There were two other people with the old man. Both appeared to be younger than the person who spoke to Tien. One of the old man's companions was wearing a black pinstriped suit with the same Red Ribbon logo on the breast pocket of the coat. The eyes of the suited man were solid yellow and he had medium length black hair.

The third man was taller than the other two and heavily muscled. He was bald with pink skin and pointed ears. He wore armor instead of more a more normal attire. The amour was similar to Promethean armor with the exception of having spikes on the shoulders and the Red Ribbon logo on it.

"Guys I think I found them." Tien activated his Scouter to inform the team of his situation.

"Trying to call for help won't work. Your Scouter has been disabled." the old man explained. "But it is curious to hear to say 'you found us.' Did you somehow know we would be here?"

"Dr. Gero, if we get rid of him now, we can find whoever he was talking to later. They are more than likely in the city." the pink skinned man said. His speech was more eloquent than his appearance might lead one to believe.

"You are probably right, Dr. Kochin." Dr. Gero whipped out his hand with lightning speed, clutching the unprepared Tien by the throat.

"He is probably here with Kakarot and Krillin at the minimum." the man in the suit said with some excitement.

The grip on Tien's neck tightened when the man mentioned Kakarot. Gero waited years to find Kakarot and reap his vengeance against him for destroying the Red Ribbon Army. When the army's bases were destroyed by the Kakarot Corps. Gero lost nearly all of his research.

Dr. Wheelo and Dr. Kochin had suffered as well from the destruction of the Red Ribbon Army. They had lost a valuable specimen in a fight in their Arctic Wasteland lab when Kochin was moving the last of their research.

"I hope you are right about Kakarot's presence, Dr. Wheelo." Gero said.

Tien struggled with all of his strength to free himself of the grip of his captor. The more he fought the faster his strength seemed to leave him. He was on the verge of blacking out from the loss of energy and the lack of oxygen.

A sharp pain shot through Tien bringing him back to full awareness. Dr. Gero had pierced his chest with his arm. The front of Gero's clothing was now covered with Tien's blood. After removing his arm, Gero tossed the injured man to the ground like garbage. The people on the streets who saw this ran away from the scene screaming, some tried to call the authorities.

As Tien laid on the ground he could see the trio of cyborgs walking away from him, He fumbled weakly at his waist trying desperately to retrieve a Panacea bean.

"Anyone find anything?" Tien heard over his Scouter. He wanted to report the situation, but he was too weak to reach the button on his Scouter.

He heard his allies give their negative response and hoped his lack of a reply would be noticed. His hope was rewarded when Raditz did take note.

"Tien respond." Raditz ordered.

After a few moments of silence, Raditz used the Scouter once more, "Whoever is closest, get to Tien's location. His Scouter should show up if you search with your Scouter."

"I'm on it." Krillin sounded worried.

He checked his Scouter and the screen displayed the locations of the other team members. He found the point where Tien's Scouter was located and rushed through the air towards it.

As he drew closer to the location he could finally sense the rapidly fading Ki of his long time friend. He spotted Tien on the empty sidewalk, collapsed in a puddle of his own blood. When he landed he could clearly see the fatal puncture wound in his friend's upper torso.

"Tien's hurt really bad, guys!" Krillin communicated over his Scouter as he fished out a Panacea bean.

By the time the rest of the group made it to Krillin's location, Tien was already back on his feet, thanks to Krillin's timely action.

"What happened?" Raditz questioned Tien.

"It was the cyborgs. They were quick enough to sneak up behind me. What's more, there were three of them." Tien explained. He was still a bit shaken from his inability to retaliate against the enemy.

"From their conversation their names are: Dr. Gero, Dr. Wheelo, and Dr. Kochin. It seems they are targeting Kakarot, and you secondarily." he further explained.

When Raditz heard the names of the enemies he realized he should have followed up on what happened years ago in the Arctic Wasteland. After all, he and Bulma almost died due to Dr. Kochin and his Bio-man Kishime.

"It seems our patience was rewarded, both of the targets are here." Dr. Gero said to his companions as they approached the group from an alleyway.

"Judging by the assembled group, they were indeed expecting us." the pinstriped Dr. Wheelo said.

"How did you know we would be here?" Dr. Gero asked.

"Why don't we relocate before having a chat?" Raditz asked. "The wasteland south of here would be a more fitting place"

Dr. Gero thought about the suggestion to relocate to the wasteland. Though he was confident in his group's chances of victory, the wasteland would offer an added advantage. If things went wrong, they would be closer to their secret lab.

The cyborgs agreed to moving the discussion to the wasteland, and the two groups raced south over a group of islands towards their destination. Small bits of dust whirled across the wasteland carried on a cool breeze. The area they landed at was barren and surrounded by tall rock formations. Any collateral damage caused wouldn't be a problem in the barren wasteland.

"So what exactly do you want?" Raditz asked, "Revenge, world domination, some other cliche?"

"Yes, it's just as you said. I want revenge against Kakarot for taking everything from me. So I will take everything from him." Gero laughed.

"I want to make you suffer, Raditz, the way my Kishime suffered!" the large framed Kochin spat.

"As for me, now that I have completed a fitting body to match my mind, I would like to test it." Dr. Wheelo added, "So I chose to help my partner Dr. Kochin resolve his issues with you. Plus, Dr. Gero's research was invaluable to me regaining a body."

"Now explain how you knew about us." Dr. Gero demanded.

"Well... I changed my mind about telling you. After hearing all the talk about revenge, I'm curious as to whether you can accomplish it or not." Raditz taunted. "I mean your research didn't amount to anything when you used it for the Red Ribbon Army, or so I heard."

Vegeta was impressed by Raditz's cocky attitude towards the cyborgs. He had a similar mindset about asserting a dominant position by unnerving his opponents. The scientist's creations also got under the former prince's skin, because their strength was gained artificially.

Beside his father, Reiss smirked at the comments his father made. He knew Raditz had a knack for biting insults that cut deep. It was almost like the quips were a special technique of his father's. The boy had heard plenty enough of them over the last three years. He almost felt sorry for Dr. Gero, but after being subjected to the taunts himself he was enjoying the feeling of schadenfreude. The young Saiyan really hated it when his father called him "boy."

Gero felt a cold fury rising within what was left of his organic components. He didn't ever have anything personally against Emperor Raditz, but now he felt the Saiyan had to die at all costs. He quickly reviewed all of the data collected on Raditz over the years in preparation of his attack.

Krillin was surprised by the cyborgs lack of Ki signals. It wasn't even that the Ki signal was low, it was completely nonexistent. Fighting against opponents like them would probably be a tricky endeavor. He was pleased he trained as relentlessly as he did over the last three years.

Kakarot approached Dr. Gero, brimming with confidence. He was ready to fight against the people he was told stood unrivaled in the future.

"Here I am! I'm ready to fight anytime you are!" Kakarot shouted.

"Oh no you don't, Kakarot! If anyone fights first, it will be me!" Vegeta quickly moved in front of the other Saiyan.

"There are three of them we can both fight!" Kakarot said.

"You think one will be enough? No mechanical creation can match a Super Saiyan." Vegeta replied, charging his Ki.

Kakarot followed Vegeta's lead and his Ki erupted around him, causing the Earth to shake violently. Both men transformed into the Super Saiyan state, ready to take on the cyborgs. The gathered fighters were shocked by Vegeta's transformation. They couldn't believe the short, ill tempered Saiyan had achieved something so spectacular.

"How was Vegeta able to do it?" Krillin asked.

"Well to be fair, it isn't too hard." Raditz said.

Vegeta heard the comment made by Raditz, and the vein on his forehead started to throb with annoyance. Both Kakarot and Vegeta adopted their fighting stances, while the cyborgs stood by watching. Still feeling slighted by Raditz's comment, Vegeta made the first move against the cyborgs.