Ki had many different properties that weren't really obvious, since the show emphasized its destructive nature. Thinking about ki's utility, one inevitably thought about ki blasts or beams. That was the thing that came to mind first. And those were easily manifested too. Sean had figured it out by accident, just by gathering ki in his palm. It formed naturally into a sphere and had the innate property of exploding on impact.
This world's people, especially those with powers, were tougher than the human counterparts of his world, but would they be able to tank a ki sphere to the chest? He wasn't sure how a ki sphere the size of a ping pong would scale in terms of explosions, but he wasn't going to find out if the humans here could tank an explosion of pure energy, which might not care for their non-ki-powered durability.
Fortunately, as an avid Dragon Ball fan, he had some knowledge about what ki was capable of and what techniques existed. It was also something that came almost instinctively after he had witnessed his ki move objects around him.
His arm stretched forward, palm pointing at the robber holding his gun. Ki rushed to his hand. Before it could form a sphere, he forcefully pushed it out.
"Ha!" A sense of connection formed to what appeared to be just air, he let it explode. The result, a shockwave blasting out. Papers, chairs, tables in the way were thrown away. The robber only realized what was happening to him when he was in the air. It was surprisingly gentle, like being swept away by a powerful gust of wind. That was the thought before he crashed through a window, bouncing across the street until his back bent around a lamppost. For the rest of the fight, he would be wheezing on the ground.
Sean didn't pay attention to him as he saw the next threat.
Bang
A sharp pain across his cheek. His eyes homed in on the shaking guy with the smoking gun. A newbie crook, Sean wouldn't spare him for his inexperience. The ground beneath his feet cracked as he pushed off the ground. The newbie didn't have the time to firm his resolve. Sean's knuckles embedded into his Kevlar-covered torso. His body flew 3 meters into the air, his back slammed into a plastic sign, shattering it into pieces before crashing and denting a desk.
"You're dead, motherfu-."
Ratatatata
The other robber's voice was drowned out by his machine gun. After surprisingly being wounded by a simple gunshot, Sean wasn't going to test his durability against a machine gun. Wind rushed past him before he grabbed hold of a chair. He flung it in the robber's direction.
"Oh, shi-" The robber dived behind a pillar. The chair bounced off the wall, hit a light before slamming into a table, its shape unrecognizable.
The robber peeked out from behind the pillar, but Sean had already moved. "You know I'm incredibly fast, right?" He whispered into his ear before shoving him against the pillar with enough force that particles crumbled off it. The gun strangely sparked as he crushed it in his hands.
"Move and she is fucking dead!" The last of the bunch shouted as he held a terrified teen hostage. "Step away from that pillar and move slowly or I'll put a hole in her head."
"Hurt her and you're dead." Sean stepped off the pillar and into the open space. The threat didn't deter the man, instead it reassured him. After all, it confirmed that Sean cared and wouldn't do anything hasty.
"I want a helicopter to Argh-" His gun-wielding arm was wrenched behind his back. Sean had already closed the distance, broke his wrist, while pulling the girl behind him. "Ahhh" He screamed, but Sean had no mercy. His palm clapped against his chest. Like a pillow, his hand pressed deep. Sean almost didn't notice the Kevlar in the way or that his ribs were breaking with that palm strike. The robber crumbled into a wheezing mess, barely capable of breathing.
"Bitch," Visi spat out before kicking the guy in the head, knocking him out.
"Thanks for the rescue." Sean said as he glanced at the unconscious guy, wondering for a moment whether he would survive.
"I can't have you do everything. Let's tie up these losers."
"Do you know what kind of weapons these are?" Sean nodded toward a gun on the floor. It was somewhat bulkier than a regular gun and it had parts glowing red.
"They are Red Ring's stuff. Some of the rifles even have anti-tank ammunition." While saying that, she roughly tied one of the robbers. He nodded and the two quickly finished securing them. Their ki signature was low, clearly not in their best health, but at least they were stable for now.
Fortunately, police and paramedics were already on-site. They rushed in as they tied up the robbers, checking the civilians from the bank first, despite being told that the robbers were injured rather badly, saying they would come to the robbers once confirmed no one else was seriously hurt. Sean only nodded at that, he wasn't going to tell them how to do their job and honestly his compassion for armed robbers was limited.
"T-thank you so much. I-I t-thought I was going to die." The girl turned hostage was sniveling, barely able to get her thanks out.
"You're safe now. There is nothing to worry about anymore." Sean wasn't sure how to comfort someone that had gone through what she had, but he figured conveying confidence and strength would hopefully be enough. He clasped her shoulder, squeezing just enough to reaffirm his presence without hurting her.
"Thank you." She surprisingly hugged him tightly for a few seconds before letting him go again. She turned to Visi, who looked like how he felt, a bit overwhelmed on how to handle these kinds of situations. Of course, she wasn't going to be spared. The girl hugged Visi with equal force.
"No worries," Visi patted her back a bit awkwardly. "We had this in the bag the moment we arrived." Her eyes turning gentle as she hugged her back. After realizing that the coast was clear, most of the other civilians who had hidden in some corner were now appearing again.
"Thank you!" "Woohoo!"
Clap clap clap
The crowd were celebrating and Sean couldn't help but feel good. They had saved the day and were celebrated for it. 'I could get used to this.' The thought popped up automatically.
Sean pulled out his phone and accessed SDN's app before marking their mission as completed. Although she was visibly enjoying the celebration, Visi was clearly feeling shy as she ducked them and waved them goodbye to haste away. While on their way back, Visi continued to smile before she caught him glancing her way.
"What?"
"Nothing…"
"Right then stop staring creep, you not getting a piece of me."
Sean snorted at that, "I was just thinking that being a hero suits you."
Something about the comment ticked her off, "Rich coming from you mister Incredible. You were punting these Red Ring fucks like it was nothing."
"And in the end, you were the one that saved the girl. It could have gone really ugly without you."
"…Indeed, I'm awesome." The sarcastic tone made it clear she wasn't entirely believing it.
"You are." Sean nodded. "Trying to change for the better is truly awesome and needs to be acknowledged. Being a former villain turned hero is something to be proud of." He wasn't sure what exactly compelled him to acknowledge this out loud. Perhaps it was the way she was sarcastic about their wins that morning, that she couldn't just accept they did good.
Given the Z-Team's history, their redemption was something to be celebrated and acknowledged. It was easy to keep doing the things one used to do. To make a complete change was to acknowledge one's flaws and shortcomings for what they were and try to steer away from it regardless of outside influences. The greatest obstacle on that journey was to decide, the Z-Team already did decide. Now it was the things they did each day to reaffirm their decisions.
"Geez, you're laying it down thick. I'm not letting you hit."
"…you could work on your ability to take a compliment."
She rolled her eyes, "Says the one who doesn't want to acknowledge he did 90 percent of this and all the other missions this morning."
"80-20 rule, the majority take the least amount of effort and-"
"Deflecting again. You could work on your ability to take a compliment."
"…Touché."
…
"Is it wise to have lunch all at the same time?"
"Other teams have lunch a bit later, so other teams are active even if we aren't." Visi explained as they were about to enter the kitchen. Close to one of the meeting rooms, Sean saw a bunch of the other Z-Team members talking animatedly with one another before entering the room.
"What do you think they were, you good?" Sean turned to Visi and saw her frowning.
"Golem wrote me a couple of minutes ago, he noticed Flambae, Prism, Sonar and Malevola talk about meeting up."
"Were they complaining about Stacy?"
"Yep." She popped the 'P' before starting to walk toward a meeting room. "Come on!"
The heated conversation died down as they entered, attracting the attention of the present Z-Team members.
"Well, look at that. The teacher's pet." Flambae snorted with his arms crossed and legs on the table.
"We can't work with that bitch." Prism immediately justified. "She has no clue how to assign people. For fighting a baby kaiju, she sends me alone. Do you know how tall those babies get. And after we complain she sends half the team for some thief. She's fuckin' stupid." The direct confrontation caught Sean a bit off guard. He took a breath.
"I was there during the assignments." Sean finally answered as he glanced at the hostile looks. They were ready to argue. "This is indeed not sustainable." Perhaps it was because he didn't know these people or he was just that used to his corporate job that he fell into corporate speak. "There were some misjudgments in our missions that we noticed as well. The cat was in fact a tiger, the car accident was an armored vehicle ramming people off the road, the car chase was a person chasing cars with a knife, the number of robbers were a third of what was reported. Only the petty thief was reported correctly."
They were surprised to hear he not only agreed with them, but gave examples. Although Visi had complained about the tiger and the team therefore knew about it, they weren't nagging as much as these guys were and therefore probably didn't know half of what went wrong for them. For all missions that lacked information, Sean had to pick up the unexpected load. It wasn't something to be defended or argued. Stacy's missions were lacking critical information.
"So, you should understand that we need another dispatcher." The bat guy, Sonar, added.
"I don't think that's a good idea either."
"Mate, you just admitted her dispatching is shit." Malevola threw in.
"I mean, what is the alternative. From what I've heard, having no dispatcher is even more inconvenient and inefficient."
"At least that way we don't run into unknown situations."
"-Or the exact opposite situation."
"Without clear missions, we might underestimate situations and that would get us or others killed."
Everyone threw something in and it quickly grew more chaotic as he let them talk, they were riling themselves up and to be fair, they had some good points. "So, you're saying you can't handle misinformation. Do you think there is a single dispatcher that knows everything about every mission that lands in our laps?"
"Monkey boy, you know what the fuck we sayin'." Flambae glared at Sean at the obvious simplification of the situation.
"Yeah, this bitch can't dispatch." Prism added. "You and Invisigal know this as well. It's been barely 4 hours and this bitch throws all the missions at you two. And you admitted the missions were shit."
Sean nodded. "Indeed, seems like after Stacy realized that you guys were just going to complain she forwarded most missions to us."
"Yeah, because you're taking it like a good bitch, bitch." Flambae was especially hostile, and Sean couldn't figure out quite why, but at the moment, he wasn't keen on finding out.
"Because you're complaining and failing on your missions." The comment caused the tension to rise. Their eyes narrowed at him, and it almost felt like they were about to jump him. "I'm not even sure why you're eager to boot her off and not try to help her improve. Give her a few days to settle in and get to know what is important-"
"Days with these kinds of missions? Do you want us to get killed?" Malevola retorted.
"Are you that easy to kill?" The question shut her up for a moment. He continued before she could respond, "Perhaps, it's because I didn't really have any expectations going into this, but for me, these missions are just frameworks. Clients will forget things, misinterpret, or straight-up lie. The situations will never be clear before going in. Even missions like finding a cat should be approached with utmost seriousness. Besides, there are so many missions that we are already stretched thin. Getting assigned to what you can do best will probably rarely happen. Someone needs help, and it's our job to help them as best as we can, no matter the situation."
He glanced around. The tension was still high, but at least more contemplative than before. "I understand the frustration of missing information, but if you fail a mission with unclear information, it's not because of that you've failed. Blaming everything on someone else won't let us improve as a team. We need to identify what went wrong and try to mitigate it in the future. We also need backup plans if the mission isn't going as planned. Tell our dispatcher what you would've needed and contemplate what you can do better going forward on similar missions."
They had valid points, but he was never someone to blame something entirely on another. There was no point other than to make oneself feel good about mistakes. Sean wasn't wired that way. If he knew he could improve, it gave him a sense of control and a way to solve or improve a situation. Additionally, in most cases, he could do better even if the odds were stacked against him. Even if the situation was unfair. And if he could improve, others could as well. However, the room's ongoing calm made him feel on edge, like a powder keg waiting to explode.
Perhaps, he was missing something. Something about how they ticked or an unsaid rule among the group, so he decided to take a step back.
"If you're convinced that you need another dispatcher, then we should discuss this with Blonde Blazer and Stacy, not whatever secret conspiracy this is." They looked surprised by his suggestion. "If you feel like she can't support you adequately, then we have to discuss this with everyone involved to form the best solution for it." He wasn't sure why he had to spell it out. Something that involved the entire team and how they worked together should be discussed together. Honestly, he felt it was already strange that they had gathered here with only half of the team present.
"By the way, are dispatchers usually trained dispatchers? Did they study it?" He glanced around, but only silence answered him. "It wasn't a rhetorical question. Is there a degree of Dispatching? Or an apprenticeship?"
"Don't think so. Most of the good ones used to be heroes." Prism offered, while keeping her arms crossed in a defiant attitude.
"I don't think hero work would prepare oneself to dispatch work, at least even now, I don't think I would have a clear grasp on how to handle working in a 'call center'." Sean glanced at Flambae. He was the one who made the comparison this morning. "So, most of them are career jumpers," Sean concluded. "I figured that SDN would hire 911 dispatchers. Their jobs should be similar to what our dispatchers do, right?"
They glanced at each other, and there was an awkward energy in the air that Sean couldn't quite identify. Perhaps the change of topic seemed too stark?
"I think some of them used to work for the police or the fire department." Sonar shrugged.
"Right, so I guess a substantial number are career jumpers from fields that aren't close to what they do now. They are trying something new, so most starting will probably make lots of mistakes. How fast would you like for someone new to this to barely make mistakes?"
"Preachy bastard, you fuckin' suck." Flambae rudely answered, which stunned Sean for a moment.
"… So, what is it? In how many hours should they be able to learn enough for you to be fine with them dispatching?"
"Argh. Fuck this." Flambae stood up, his expression almost murderous. "She gets one week. One week! If she still sucks, then we will kick her out!" With that, he stormed out of the room.
"That bitch better improves quick." After adding that comment, Prism left as well.
Sean was honestly a bit puzzled. It was something that he had in mind as well. If she couldn't improve in a couple of days, it might truly be better for her to search for something else. He was expecting these guys to want her gone now and not relent on having her stay for any longer. "What about you two?"
Sonar and Malevola glanced at each other, "We aren't going to take the blame if a mission goes horribly wrong, it will be on her or you."
Sean just shrugged. "Just try your best, and I'll have no problem with that." He wasn't sure why they were so fixed on who to blame. They were supposed to be prisoners anyway. Perhaps, he was too naïve since he used to work in a company with supportive colleagues, but even if they failed a mission, he felt that being punished for trying their best would be unlikely.
They left Sean alone with Visi, who had been strangely quiet during that exchange. "What do you think?" Visi leaned against the wall, pursing her lips.
"I think it's admirable that you fight for her even if she appears to be a lost cause. I mean, who thinks a man preaching about wildlife is some eco terrorist because he is throwing stinky vegan cheese at someone?"
Sean dragged a hand through his face, "In the last 5 hours, I heard more bullshit than I could have imagined. If someone said that vegan cheese was a biological weapon, I would believe them. This world is insane."
Her eyes narrowed at him for that response before sighing. "This world, huh… What do you think about the Z-Team?"
"They are a bit judgy, but I don't think it's coming from a bad place."
"Do you think… Never mind."
"Well, now I'm curious."
"Stay curious." She said before leaving as well.
Sean stood there for a moment, thinking about the craziness of the morning and also the last few days. It was a lot to handle, and he was trying his best to keep moving forward despite it or maybe because of it. Besides, trying to become a Super Saiyan and prove he could trust his sanity, he wasn't sure what was beyond that.
Saving those people and being celebrated for it made him feel good, and he knew it was in his best interest to try to be good. Whether it was for his S-Cells or the amount of good he could do for the world. With this much power at his fingertips… even after just a few days in the body of a Saiyan, and he could already accidentally kill a normal person with the flick of his wrist.
A mere moment to collect himself before he stepped out of the room and headed downstairs with a clear goal in mind, something that would possibly accelerate his growth exponentially.
It didn't take long to arrive in front of a door with a sign saying 'Laboratory'. He walked through without issue with his keycard. Then it was down a long hall before he arrived at some glass slide-doors that opened the moment he stood in front of it.
"Hello?" He announced as he stepped inside. It was a mess, lots of material and plenty of tools just lying around. It was a bit small, and he couldn't see it as a sufficient laboratory for his needs. Most tools seemed also archaic, though he wasn't sure if it was because they were old or it was just the aesthetic of the world, like most things.
"Wassup, bruddah? You need something?" A voice sounded out behind him.
'I should get used to keeping my ki sense active.' Only noticing the signature when the person called out. He turned around and saw a tall, built like two fridges, Samoan guy. 'That guy is strong.' Even comparable to some of the heroes he had seen.
"Yeah, I'm Jin. You must be Roy, right?"
"Right on da money, though most call me Royd. So, all memory gon'? Heard its fo da bettah." He walked past Sean and entered the car enthusiast's garage-like lab. A remote press later, and what he thought were walls revealed an entirely new section behind them. Something that screamed high-tech.
"I guess it's for the better. Can't really say because I don't have any recollection of what it's compared against, so I get that we didn't have many interactions?"
"No way brah, you avoidin' me like da plague."
"I guessed as much." It was no wonder Kohjin avoided the guy who was practically three or even four times his width. "I was told that I could come to you for gear requests."
"Yup, whatcha need?"
"A gravity chamber."
"A what now?"
"A gravity chamber," Sean repeated. "Something to increase the gravitational force on my body."
"Dis do not sound like gear you need for missions, bruddah."
"Right, not for missions. I need it as training gear, the higher the gravity, the better."
"Dis sounds expensive. Will all be deducted from your pay."
"I thought SDN would come up for the expenses."
"Yeah, fo' mission gear, not fo' training gear."
"What do you reckon how much it costs?" It didn't really matter how much it would cost for Sean since he had to have it no matter what, but depending on the answer, he would have to find a way to make more money on the side. Most, if not all, of his income will go straight to his stomach, and his funds, despite being large enough for now, won't last forever.
"Well, depends on what you need. How much G force do you need? What about space? How big should it be? That kinda details."
"As I said, as high as you can get it. Best if it is upwards of 500 G-"
"500?! You crazy, brah."
"And it needs to be tall enough for me to move in it, so I can do exercise inside."
"Dat big as well? Will be hard to find a spot for that kind of Human Centrifuge, if we can even build something like dat."
"Human Centrifuge?"
"Yeah, like da jet fighter pilots use to train at high G force. You stronga than normal people, so you probably can handle 10 G easily. More than dat? Even 100, not to mention 500… Bruddah, you need hundreds of millions to build something like dat if we manage at all."
"H-hundreds of millions?"
"Haha, yeah brah. You basically building a particle-lab-grade engineering wonder of an aerospace training station. The energy demands and mechanical load would be enormous."
"Okay, right, soo I don't have that kind of money. And is the Human Centrifuge the only way to simulate higher gravity? Isn't there a way to make it less expensive while getting the same result?"
"Hmm," Royd rubbed his chin as he contemplated, "I've read an article about a gravity field. Had been developed with da help of some hero in Europe. Da materials weren't dat expensive, a few hundred thousand to build it, but da energy demands were even crazier, bruddah." He shook his head as if to dismiss the idea.
"But you could build it?" Hope was lit up in Sean.
"Ehh, fifty-fifty. Da findings weren't published in detail, but I could figure it out. But da energy, need more than to powah a mecha suit… Need more than to powah the entire city."
Sean thought for a moment before a light bulb lit up, "What about ki, could you use that as an energy source?"
"Ki? What's dat?"
"This, life force." A small dot of light appeared in his palm before, woooshh he immediately dispersed it, causing a shockwave to ruffle their clothes and a few papers lying around.
Royd's eyebrows shot up. "You have mana?" His tone was one of disbelief, like his entire worldview was about to crumble in front of him, before he shook his head. "Some sorta supernatural access to a dimension of energy, perhaps?" He mused.
"Does it matter? Can you use it?"
Royd opened his mouth to retort before thinking better of it, "It… no, it doesn't matter. Can you produce it without the woosh?"
"I- Not yet, but I will be."
"…Alright, figure it out, while I'll cook up a schematic for da gravity chamba."
"Nice." Sean dabbed him up. "You're a lifesaver, for real."
"Don't thank me yet, brah. Still need to figure out da details." Although he said it, Sean couldn't help but feel confident in this giant dude. There was something about him that told him he would try his best, and given that he was their team's gadget guy, he wasn't going to underestimate his capabilities.
"Sure thing, boss," Sean's earpiece buzzed with life, indicating that his lunch was over. "I need to get back to work, see ya around."
Royd turned to his work station, "Me too, dis gonna be fun..."