Dragon Ball Z: Paradise Found

Drones And Victims

"We were lucky that those Androids didn't do the same to King Cold," Piccolo noted while the two hovered over the glaciers, homing in on Cold's Ki signature. "His Ki is weak, but it's still around."

"Do you really think that old bastard will have anything useful to say?" Bardock grit his teeth. He didn't fancy the idea of spending time around Frieza's predecessor and his father. Possibly even more than it was normal to feel that way.

"From the looks of him, he's spent plenty of time around those Androids being experimented on. Maybe he overheard more than he had to? Either way, he'll know about whatever dealings Frieza Army had with these Androids, at the very least." Piccolo replied.

King Cold laid sprawled on a glacier platform in a mushy powder of cherry-colored blood all around him. The ruined past ruler of the entire universe now laid dissected and utterly helpless. Even Bardock's heart softened up and he had little trouble calming his desire to reduce Frieza's old man to ashes at the very sight of him.

"You're gonna die soon. There's nothing we can do about it." Piccolo laid it bare. "The only thing you can change right now is to let us know everything you know so that you can boil in hell knowing that the people that conspired with you and betrayed you will soon join you. If anything can make hell sweeter for the likes of you, it has to be that."

"You... You did all this." King Cold muttered with a dry and raspy voice. It was difficult to imagine just how the past emperor could speak with half of his body being utterly mutilated and reduced to mere organs flapping helplessly and simmering in a pool of his own blood, but in that endurance laid the marvel of Frieza's species. "If you didn't ruin Frieza's empire if you didn't leave him that way... Battered and broken... Frieza would have made them all pay..."

"Tsk, this is useless!" Bardock extended his hand but, before he could obliterate Frieza's father, Piccolo stopped him. The Super Namekian approached the fallen emperor and placed his hand over the blood-soaked and smashed forehead. After closing his eyes and standing there for a few moments, Piccolo stood up and stepped back, wiping his hand at his gi.

"If you don't hurry, you won't have a chance to claim that you killed him." Piccolo turned to Bardock. It didn't seem like the Saiyan bruiser needed additional encouragement as Bardock extended his palm again and unleashed a shapeless wave of flashing light that annihilated King Cold. Even the icy platform that the dying emperor laid bare on shattered and submerged underwater for a few seconds, emerging less tainted with royal blood than it was before.

"Why'd you stop me then?" Bardock grumbled, turning to Piccolo.

"Because I needed to find out everything he knew before you killed him," Piccolo replied.

"You mean that thing you did..." Bardock's eyes widened. "You read his mind?"

"He was about to kick the bucket any second. Reading his mind wasn't that difficult." Piccolo closed his eyes before taking off. Bardock blasted off after the Super Namekian.

"So, you know what this mess is all about?" Bardock wondered. "Is Gine's sickness related to any of this?"

"I don't know that." Piccolo shook his head. "However... King Cold knew a lot. He was plotting with Dr. Puri to take back his empire. She promised him revenge against Son."

"My son?" Bardock said.

"She contacted King Cold a few years ago, while he was reassembling his forces and preparing for an invasion of Earth. The sly fox made him reconsider and travel to Namek instead, where the Frieza Army and these Androids slaughtered the Dragon Clan Namekians. For whatever reason, Android 19 said that Dr. Puri insisted on leaving a few warriors alive. It appears that she didn't want a full-on genocide, just the Namekian Dragon Balls gone." Piccolo explained.