"Thanks for your time.", King Piccolo growled over his shoulder at the seated demon, as he left the room. Waste of time, he thought, staring straight down the hall as he passed by a trio of people. Two ignored him, but he hardly registered the third one jump; he was too preoccupied with his own thoughts. Boiling too much to stand still, he bypassed the elevator to take the stairs, vaulting over the handrails to descend the flights faster. He moved quickly through the lobby and out through the doors, letting his face fall into a scowl once he was off the property.

Entering the space in-between two of the area's more common, stout buildings, he weaved through the alleyways, home to some of Hell's most unfortunate denizens. His back burned with transformational effort. Feeling his shirt tighten around his chest, he found the nearest ladder, throwing himself onto the roof of a building. Tearing off his shirt, he flexed the muscles in his back, the newly formed wings leaping to meet the air as he launched himself into the sky.

No clouds in the sky and no buildings to cast shadows, the air was hotter and the sun brighter the higher he flew. Setting course for a mountain closer to the horizon, he took himself into a thermal, the scalding air speeding him towards his destination.

"Yemma's boys were after them." Buu leaned towards the basin on the table, taking a handful of candies. "Figured I could let them hang here 'til things calmed down a bit."

Janemba tilted his head at the little white and purple creature standing closest to him.

"Frieza.", it said.

Janemba grunted. The one responsible for the Saiyans. A few of his workers had come from Frieza's army; respectful, but mostly only capable of grunt-work.

He looked to the other man; tall, black, and green.

"Cell.", he said, and nodded slightly.

Janemba took a drink, rolling the sour liquid around and thinking for a moment. The name triggered no memories. Movement caught his eye through the window. A winged figure was gaining altitude not to far from his building.

"Well, what now?", Cell said, mirroring Janemba's own thoughts.

"Sir, you're needed downstairs." Silent as always, his secretary had entered the room without being noticed.

Downstairs. He scowls. I shouldn't have let him into the building. The glass in his hand pays for his mistake, and he fazes out, heading towards the basement. Materializing in the small room off the service elevator, he can hear no commotion in the next room. Punching in a code, the door slides open silently, and locks equally as quiet after he passes through.

Janemba doesn't care for the detainment cells. The stone here, not meant to be seen by the public, is rough and black, and eats the light rather than reflects it. The ceilings are high and cold, there are no windows to let in the sun. The walkways that stretch between cells have no carpets, and footsteps echo for years. The only color is held by the cells, their walls, floors, and ceilings made of Janemba's near-indestructible, colored glass.

Unfortunately, someone's found out it's secret. On the other side of the room, a black mass is keeping the guards entertained. Dodging around them, he refuses to be caught, but he's outnumbered, and can't go far from one without running into another. One manages to hook him under the arms as he passes by.

"Not this time!", the Saiyan snarls. His hooks his leg into the guard's and leans backwards, knocking the guard off balance and sending them both crashing to the floor. The only Saiyan in Janemba's possession, he's easily recognizable as Radditz, formerly one of Frieza's men. Janemba entertains the idea of bringing Frieza down to deal with his soldier. Amusing as it would be, the basement isn't meant to be public knowledge, so Janemba advances towards the skirmish.

Passing overhead the cells, he glances down into two that are side-by-side. Two figures of similar size are kneeling, ankles bolted to the floor and hands shackled in front. One has it's wings clamped together. Janemba understands that their names are Drum, on the left, and Cymbal, with the wings. Troublemakers who had been attacking his delivery boys. Their father had arrived earlier to reclaim them, but wasn't prepared to accept Janemba's terms, and had left without them.

Janemba felt wind whip around his legs as a giant snake shot passed him towards the escapee. As per usual, he hadn't heard Ariana come in. She cut across the cells to where Radditz had been held, snatching up a chunk of the broken glass on the way by. Heading straight for the offender, she raised her body from the floor and brought the glass down on his head, the force sending both of them tumbling forward.

A guard rolled Radditz over with his foot. "Shit, he's out cold." He looked at Ariana, whose short hair had escaped from its tie. The serpent woman tossed the glass to the side, and ran a hand through her hair.

"Should I hand him over to Yemma, then, sir?", she called to Janemba as he approached.

He grunted and tossed his head towards the exit, watching Ariana flip Radditz over and lift him by the arm, dragging him past.

"Thank you, sir." He pat her on the shoulder as she walked by.

Ariana's role as an intermediary between Yemma's hierarchy and his own helped keep things balanced. As his secretary, she was aware of his business affairs; as a demon officer, she helped Yemma keep Hell in order. The occasion delivery of one of Hell's most wanted kept the parties in good faith.

Piccolo arrived to a landing party of one. Coming in between crags, he touched down on the gray rock, severing the wings and replacing his shirt as he approached his littlest son.

"No luck, then, sire?" The eldest of Piccolo had to run to keep up with his father, who continued to storm as he passed through an opening in the rock. The path ran straight, narrow, and dark, but flourished into a large, circular room at the end. Meticulously carved, the wall and floor were smooth. Pillars of manicured stone grew from the floor, spreading to the naturally-shaped ceiling; a hole proved to let in enough light to see by.

Piccolo crossed the room to the other side, where a large stone throne, not unlike the one he had occupied on Earth, sat proudly. It boasted the only color in the entire room; a purple cushion on it's seat. The towering Namekian sat down and leaned his elbows on his knees; steepling his fingers in front of his face, he stared at nothing.

A streak of green barreled down through the hole in the ceiling, pulling up in time to land quietly on the floor. The second son of Piccolo looked around.

"No luck then, King Dad?", Tambourine's wings passed over Piano's head as they folded themselves back.

Piccolo looked at Tambourine. He had never quite gotten to know his sons, before his death. Had Tambourine always called him that? When did he start? Where did he get it from? Piccolo didn't know. He hadn't cared. He looked at Piano, who had always been so polite towards him. But not friendly. Not as close as child should be to their parent. Or a parent should be to their child.

My two eldest children. He thought solemnly. And I don't know who they really are. Piccolo closed his eyes and breathed deeply, bringing himself back to the present.

"Janemba wants us to work for him in order to get your brothers back." My sons, echoed the sentimental voice of the aged Demon King.

Tambourine planted his fists on his hips and leaned, staring at a point on the wall. "So, is that Piano and I, or the three of us, working for him and those two are released, or once we agree to work, they're released and they work with us?" He looked at Piccolo.

"All of us." Piano said. "There would be nothing to deliberate on otherwise."

Piccolo gave the little pterodactyl a nod. His analyses of Piccolo's thinking were always correct. It came with years of service.

After some silence, Piccolo went back to thinking about his course of actions. Piano waved to Tambourine, and they left the room together, disappearing down another hallway.

Ariana could only nod at people acknowledging her catch as she moved through the streets. She had her clipboard in her mouth, and it took both hands to keep Radditz's arms securely over her shoulders, so his limp body wouldn't flop around too much. Thankfully, her tail took some of the weight of his legs. She undulated up the stairs into the building where she had bumped into Buu earlier. The Hell's Order and Detainment outpost was as busy as ever, demons playing their roles as sheepdogs for the deceased. Slithering past the main desk, she turned a corner towards the holding cells.

Nigel was on cell guard duty, sitting at the desk, staring blankly at the ceiling. Ariana frequented this outpost more than any other, since it was closest to her other place of employment. After a while you get to know people.

"Mr-rmp!", she called through her clipboard as she passed through the doorway.

"Oh!", Nigel started and moved to grab her burden by the collar. She was always surprised when his head cleared the ceiling. He was probably ogre on one side, but she had never thought to ask.

Nigel tossed Radditz onto the floor of a cell and sealed the door. "Nice catch." He smiled down at her, tucking dark blue fluff behind his ear.

"Thank you." She turned to leave, head down in her clipboard. She moved into the offices and leaned against a familiar desk.

"Hand me a form will you?", she shot down at the demon sitting behind the desk, still running numbers for Janemba on the clipboard. Veronica rustled through her desk begrudgingly. With her cropped, slick hair, and manner of dress, she cut quite the Victor-Victoria figure.

"He'll meet his end by me." She said, handing the paper up.

"I'd bet." She scribbled down a quick report, signing her name at the bottom. Veronica had been vowing to take down Janemba ever since she'd learned Ariana's name. Some personal vendetta, of sorts.

She turned in the report at the front desk, and headed back to work, Veronica's words echoing faintly. "He'll meet his end by me." What will you do? She laughed. Where's the end in death?

A/N: Heh, this one's kinda different.

I decided to step away from the villain Z-Trio and explore my options a little more, mostly because I'm kinda drawing a blank on the Trio's next moves.

Took some creative liberties with Piccolo and family, and planted more OC seeds.

Three references in here; one in the canon, one obvious, and one kinda niche. Try to find them all!

Give me some feedback on which of these character groups you're interested in following, it'd be really helpful to let me know where I could be going. Thanks as always!