Gethsemane (CELEROUS)

So, maybe the North was awfully cold.

Now, he probably could have dealt with the extreme temperature, the snow, and even the added air chill. Probably wouldn't have complained at all, despite the biting cold. Even so, Celerous was glad that Professor Nahn had insisted upon stopping to get him some warmer clothes. The gloves and brown parka he'd added to his ensemble definitely made the flight a lot more comfortable. Maybe he could have found some way to use his ki to keep him warm, but that would have been a waste of valuable energy.

Celerous supposed the lesson in all of this was simple: he ought to stop being so stubborn.

Ahead of him, Professor Nahn dipped toward the ground. For a moment that alarmed him; he thought she was falling again, like she had earlier, before she'd managed to right herself. This time, however, she continued on her downward descent. After a second or two, Celerous could tell that this dive was intentional. She wasn't falling fast enough to be falling. He supposed they must have been here then, and so, he followed suit.

As they came closer to the ground, he began to make out a facility, all but obscured by the heavy snow. If it hadn't been for the professor guiding him here, he would have missed the place entirely. It was, at the very least, discreet. Even with the random holes in the ground. It was bigger than Celerous had imagined, but seemed quiet, even for being alone amongst the snow. Maybe no one was home, right now.

Celerous put himself down on the ground, his forward momentum bringing him to a controlled slide on the balls of his feet, before he came to a full stop at Professor Nahn's side.

"Well this is a quaint place," Celerous looked around, admiring the barracks for a moment, "I imagine you don't get many visitors, though, not this far North. But I reckon that's good for your research, isn't it?"

Woah. They used to test rockets here? Celerous blinked in surprise at that. He hadn't expected this testing site to be a piece of history. That it was, once upon a time, a place where brave pioneers made the first steps toward infinity. He wanted to ask more questions, find out just what kind of trials and experiments the scientists of old did in this place, but that wasn't what he was here for. It was better to focus on the present. He was, after all, being paid. At the very least, he ought to have his mind set on the goal.

Cel followed Nahn into the facility, making note of how quiet it was. Empty. In a way, it was almost eery. If it hadn't been for all the paperwork he'd signed, and Professor Nahn's forthright nature, he might have suspected that she'd brought him here for nefarious ends. She could kill him up here and not a soul would know. It was a good thing that murder wasn't on the table. Accidental manslaughter, on the other hand... Well, Cel figured he better hope he was stronger than this weapon of hers. Otherwise he had a one way ticket to the afterlife.

"I have to admit... I'm surprised that this place is empty. I mean, I get that you're careful with the details of this weapon, but I thought you'd have some staff. Aides. Or, like, a secretary to boss around."

Celerous rolled his shoulders, letting them soak up some of the heat of the room. He was fine, didn't really need to warm up, but that didn't mean that working heat wasn't enjoyable. Besides, he might change his tune once they started... well, started doing whatever it was they were going to do outside.

"Yeah, that'd be appreciated," Celerous accepted the offer of hot chocolate, before changing the subject, "so, tell me, how exactly is this testing of yours going to work?"

"Much appreciated," Celerous thanked the Professor as he took his cup.

Indeed, it didn't taste like something bought from a store. It reminded him a little of Ma's homemade hot chocolate, but richer, and still a little less sweet. Celerous could certainly appreciate that. He wasn't overly fond of mass produced goods, especially when it came to what he put in his body. Why would he be? He was a farmer. His food was as fresh as food could get. So, it was nice, and unexpected, to have something more... pure. Not diluted by preservatives, and false flavoring.

Professor Nahn had a pretty good reasoning for not having staff: if that kind of money came from grants from the government, which she... did not seem to get along with exactly, then it was only natural that she wouldn't have the funding needed to staff a lab. She had to be spending a lot on this project as it was. Celerous was no scientist, would never be one, but he knew that developing experimental technology put a serious gap in the wallet. It was a surprise that the Professor had a whole labsite at all, now that he really thought about it.

"So we're going to spar," Celerous nodded, "makes sense I suppose. That would make for a good way to stress test what ever this thing-"

Celerous cut himself short, as Nahn produced the... item in question. Two small orbs, that vaguely reminded Cel of ping pong balls. So what she'd fished out of her pocket, back at her place in the city, it had to be these. That's how she could fly, then. Not propelled by the strength of her own ki, but by whatever these little balls really were. But apparently there were hiccups, considering she almost fell out of the sky once on the way here.

"Wait..." something in Celerous' head clicked, "those aren't just weapons. Those are how you fly, right? But it wasn't like how I do it. Do... do those produce thrust on their own?"

Ki flight, at least for Celerous, was less like producing thrust, and more like floating through the air, albeit at extreme speeds. But it wasn't like a jet, not really. A jet couldn't just hang in the open air with ease. It couldn't flip, or twirl, or hang upside down without losing altitude. He could. Celerous couldn't be sure, but considering the near nose dive Professor Nahn had taken, it seemed like she didn't fly in the same way he did.

His cranium ached. Celerous wasn't made for complex theories like this. Better to leave those to the good professor.

So his guess had been right, and the good professor's hand ball thingamajigs were how she propelled herself. In which case, did that explain that one dip she had taken during flight? Had she moved her hand at all when that had happened? Celerous thought he might have seen that, but couldn't remember it with any certainty. If so, did that mean her hands were basically occupied when she flew? That could pose a problem, especially in a fight. If you had to fall out of the sky to shoot or punch someone, well, that could be a serious detriment to your health.

"And there's only the two of them?" Cel questioned, "can they be forcibly removed from your hands? Can they only be attached to your hands? Because they might be better attached to your feet, during flight. If they provide your thrust for flight, then that means you can't do much with your hands, can you?"

How did such a small package even provide lift or thrust in the first place? Celerous would never know. That was the kind of technical stuff that, much like Professor Nahn said, went right over his head. That included things like vectors and velocity and air pressure... definitely far from any expertise of his.

"Well, I guess we ought to get on with these test then. I'm real interested in seeing what these things can do."

Plus, if he got real lucky, maybe he wouldn't be reduced to a corpse in the frozen wastes. But hey, if he did get merc'd, at least it would be in the name of science. In the name of elevating the Earthlings to a level where they didn't have to depend on near deities, fickle deities, to protect them.

Ma would probably kill him, though, if he died. Then she'd have to run the farm on her own.

Of course, Professor Nahn would have considered his criticisms already. Why wouldn't she have? She was, after all, the one who was actually inventing the palm-ping-core-pong-pads-balls. Part of the process of engineering them would have been to identify any and all drawbacks or weaknesses. Celerous found it interesting, though, that the good professor was so certain of their ability to stick to the wearer's palms. It'd be easier to rip off someone's arm? Not that Cel wanted to try and find out, but... well he was curious if that was actually true. With his strength, it probably wouldn't take much to pull someone's limb off, but easier than removing the ping pong balls?

"Huh, they're really tough then, aren't they?"

Though, flight was still an issue. One that Professor Nahn was obviously aware of. Celerous wondered what the fix for that was; wondered how she would solve propulsion without adding a pair of pads to her feet. Otherwise, how would she fire ki blasts and fly at the same time? Or was using ki, or some equivalent, something the pads could even replicate? Only one way to find out, he supposed.

"Sure, lead the way," Celerous agreed.

Finally, it was time to see what this technology of hers could do. He wondered, would she really be able to keep up with him? Would she outstrip him in power? It was a weapon after all, even if it looked harmless. And the chunks of Earth blown out of the surrounding area of the facility was proof enough of their capacity for destruction. If those two little balls could cause that much damage to stone, Celerous had to wonder what they could do to skin and bone.

He supposed, one way or another, he was going to find out. A small part of him, a very... Saiyan part, was excited at the prospect.