18 kept hold of Marrons hand as they stormed through the stores. Marron wanted to be a big girl today and walk. 18 cast looks down every so often to look at her little girl, she looked like a perfect mix of Krillin and herself. 18 smiled inwardly and pulled her through the crowds making sure no one so much as bumped into her baby girl. Another sale sign caught eighteens attention, since that oaf had finally come through and paid her the money he owed her she had gotten Marron an entire new wardrobe but Marron wanted mommy to dress up with her, so today was mommy's day to buy 'pretty things'.
Marron giggled at the crowds of people her mommy pushed through, her mommy sure was strong. Then something caught Marron's eyes and she slipped her hand free of her mommy's hand.
"Pretty." Marron scampered over to the jewelry stand. At the empty feel in 18 hands she leapt up from the crowd "Marron!" she yelled but she spotted her little girl easy enough, she was at the jewelry counter. 18 flew over and grabbed her daughter "Marron." 18 said seriously looking her daughter in the eye "you must never let go of mommy's hand without telling me first, understand." Marron wasn't sure why but she nodded anyway and pointed at the case with a smile "look there mommy." Marron had her finger hovering over a pair of mommy and me necklaces.
"Do you like them?" 18 asked with a gentle smile on her face.
"They're so pretty and shiny." Marron giggled.
"Excuse me." 18 snapped at the jewelry worker "let me see these necklaces." She tapped her finger on the glass although she was careful, people tended to use such week materials for things.
"Of course miss." The man pulled the necklaces and displayed them with expert hands. "Your girl has a good eyes." The man said with a smile.
"Of course she does." 18 quipped pulling the daughter necklace up and holding it around Marron's neck. The man retrieved a mirror before 18 had to ask and held it up to the tiny girl. Marron squealed and threw her hands up but then stopped and grabbed the mommy necklace and held it up to 18's neck "now we match!" Marron cheered.
"We'll take them." 18 said smiling at her daughter. The man rang them out, 18 swiped her card without looking at it because she was far too distracted by the look on Marron's face. The innocence of childhood she thought longingly, her own memories before being an android were a bit messed up, none were quite full or really understandable to her.
"Come on, we have to get you new clothes now!" Marron hopped off the counter and pulled her mommy along. A really big lady nearly trampled Marron but 18 saw it and swatted the lady aside. The lady cursed and scowled at 18 but 18 didn't really care, the woman was lucky that was all 18 did to her.
"This one mommy, you'll look so pretty!" Marron exclaimed jumping up and down pointing at a spaghetti strap mini dress. 18 pulled it off the rack and added it to the pile of other clothes Marron wanted her to try on.
"Here, here!" Marron giggled "you change here, I'll wait out here." Marron plopped down on a chair and swung her legs excitedly.
"I think you should come in with me Marron." 18 offered her hand but Marron shook her head.
"No mommy, you're the model so you have to come out and walk like this…" Marron demonstrated a shaky model stride and pose and then sat back down "and then I'll clap because you're pretty." Marron smiled up at her mommy. 18 wasn't too keen on the idea of Marron sitting out alone but that smile on her face, how could 18 say no?
"Alright, baby girl." 18 knelt down in front of her "but if anyone tries to talk to you, you yell for mommy, okay?"
"Okay, mommy." Marron didn't always understand why her mommy gave her these rules but she was pretty sure it was still good to listen to them. Her mommy lover her after all.
"Alright, I'll be right back out." 18 hung the clothes up around the room "you stay right there."
"Okay, mommy." Marron smiled innocently kicking her feet. 18 closed the door but kept her ears trained on Marron.
"Yeah, mommy!" Marron cried out excitedly as 18 threw on outfit after outfit and model walked for Marron. Marron grabbed a hat off the rack and joined her mommy, 18 put a pair of sunglasses on marron and posed with her daughter, worked at the store pulled out their phone and snapped pictures of the mommy daughter duo but 18 didn't notice any of them, the only thing that mattered to her was the smile on her daughter's face.
"You're a great mother, 18."
18 recognized the voice immediately.
"17." She turned, Marron still tucked under her arm, she smiled at her brother "how's ranger life?"
"Peaceful." 17 said with a nod, he looked at Marron and smiled "how's motherhood."
"if I wasn't an android…" 18 considered it, she didn't need to sleep like Krillin did and she could turn off her hearing if she wanted to if Marron ever got into one of her fits "much more exhausting." She finished.
"What's her name?" 17 asked reaching a hand out to Marron.
"Her name is Marron." 18 set Marron on her feet "Marron, this is your uncle, 17."
"You look like mommy." Marron said. 17 leaned down "hey there." He smiled. Marron grabbed his hair and yanked on it "except your hair is dark and mommy's is like mine."
"Got a good grip there." 17 winced as the girl pulled harder. "18, aren't you going to do anything about this?"
"What?" 18 asked "she likes your hair, it's a compliment."
"Thanks and all but I like it too." 17 eased her fingers away "on my head." He finished, Marron laughed and stamped her feet.
"Why do you look mommy?" Marron asked.
"I'm your mommy's clone." 17 said with a smirk.
"What, no way!" Marron looked to her mommy.
"Not exactly." She said giving 17 a sharp look "he's mommy's twin, we were born at the same time and sometimes when that happens the kids look alike."
"Like you and 17!" Marron clapped for herself.
"Yes, like me and your uncle 17." 18 smiled at her daughter and patted her head before turning back to 17 "Is there something specific you needed or just dropping in?" 18 asked suspiciously.
"You know what today is don't you?" 17 asked, he leaned closer at 18 confused expression "happy birthday, sis." He tousled Marron's hair and brushed passed 18 "but don't let me ruin your fun, I'll stop by again next holiday or birthday." 17 waved over his shoulder
"Marron's birthday is next week." 18 said "stop by, we're having a party."
"Sure, why not." 17 smiled at the two. He hung out a bit longer. 18 went back into the dressing room and Marron sat down on the chair humming and kicking her feet.
"Cute kid." 17 leaned against the wall keeping a look out over her, he doubted 18 knew about it but it wasn't uncommon for 17 to check up on them. She sure looks a lot like 18 he thought.
Something caught Marron's attention then, she hopped off the chair and ran after it. 17 followed her. "Man, she sure is slippery." 17 struggled through the crowds after his niece.
"Marron!" 17 called "Marron get back here." 17 lifted off the ground for a better view but an electrical pulse stunned his body and he fell.
"MOMMY!" Marron screamed all of a sudden. 18 heard the scream, she flew out of the dressing room.
"Marron!" 18 yelled back trying to find her.
"MOMMY!" Marron cried again, a moment later her cries were silenced, anger pulsed through 18 whoever had done this was going to die. 18 scoured the store for any signs of her baby but there was nothing, her scanners weren't picking up anything and the empty hollow feeling in her gut told her that Marron was gone.
"RAAAAAAAGGGHHHH!" 18 screamed and flew straight through the ceiling.
17 lay on the ground still paralyzed "I have to… warn… her…" 17 struggled to get himself up but his system wasn't responding.
18 scanned the city, they couldn't hide her girl form her for long and once she found them they were going to pay. This whole city was going to pay if she didn't get her baby back. "I'll kill you!" she screamed tearing through the city when her scans failed. She hacked into the security cameras and watched in horror as little Marron ran after something that she couldn't even see. 17 chased after her but he disappeared in the next shot. There was nothing, no shots of her going out, nothing, there was just nothing.
"I swear if you had anything to do with this, 17." 18 growled ready to blow up the entire city, the only thing that stopped her was the knowledge that she would hurt Marron if she pulled a stunt like that. 18 considered getting the other z fighters but they would stop her from hurting anyone and when 18 found who took her baby girl, the person responsible for her tears was going to die and anyone else who was with him was going to suffer the same fate.
Finally 17 recovered the use of his body but something was still wrong, when he tried to fly he felt a shock travel through his body.
"Well, that's not good." 17 only knew one person who could fix him. "There's no time." 17 ran out of the mall, his scanners picked up an object speeding through the city. "18." It could only be her.
"18!" he yelled she breezed past him. Her energy threw him back into the wall "darn it, no way is she ever going to hear me over her anger." 17 pulled himself out of the wall he had crashed into. 17 stared after her "Marron has to be here, they couldn't have gotten far, not without flying and 18 would have found them already if they had flown. 17 hated doing it but he used his database to search through what to do when a child was kidnapped. His search came up with call law enforcement and some missing child hotline nothing useful! 17 scanned the identities of every passing person, he scanned for all children five years old in the area. There were hundreds of them, but not one was Marron. "How are they doing this?" 17 growled frustrated. "They can't just disappear, like this there has to be something, some sign, anything." 17 ran back into the mall, there was something there he was missing. Don't you worry, Marron, I'll find you. 17 swore.
Marron played with the ball in her hands, it was shiny and squeaky and bouncy, so bouncy.
"When is my mommy going to get here?" Marron asked as she played in the room. There were toys all over this room but without her mommy and daddy they were no fun.
"Where is mommy?" Marron asked but no one answered, she was alone in this room filled with toys and herself. "I want my mommy!" Marron screamed throwing the ball at the wall "I want my mommy!" she screamed and threw herself on the ground "mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy!" she screamed again and again. Where was mommy, mommy was always with her. Mommy never let her go anywhere alone, mommy must be hurt Marron cried louder at the thought. "Mommy, I want my mommy!" she slammed her fists into the ground and kicked her feet. "MOMMY!"
18 had a horrible feeling in her gut, she could feel her daughter sorrow. There was something wrong, she was distressed. "you will pay" 18 roared barreling through the sewers "Every single one of you will pay!" the same pulse that took 17 down brought 18 back to the ground, she was paralyzed the same as 17 had been.
"What's going on?"
"You'll find out soon enough." An unfamiliar voice said right before the world went black.
When you were twins it was like there was a connection to the other. Like telepathic link that just couldn't be denied. Maybe sharing a womb made you share a mind too. 17 wasn't quite sure about these things but as he scrambled around the store on foot, searching for hidden passages or back streets they could have taken Marron, he was sure that 18 was in trouble. There was something infuriating about being so weak, what did he do when he was a human. As much as 17 despised what he now was, he didn't hate the fact that he wasn't a weakling. However at that moment he mind as well because his system had shorted out and he couldn't channel any of his ki.
"What did they do?" 17 felt incredibly human then, no powers, and no internal database to scan. Nothing but his own mind.
"Well fine then," he growled at himself "my mind is all I'll need." 17 froze and back tracked to the soda machines, the ones that sat just off to the side of a store, they were in the same direction that Marron had gone. Something gold glinted on the ground, bending down to pick it up he found that it had the word daughter in delicate cursive. "This is the necklace 18 just bought Marron." 17 tucked it into his pocket and took a closer look at the machines. It wasn't so much that they looked weird or out of place, it was a mall after all, it was more like a feeling. 17 felt strange pulses coursing under his feet. His system sparked with each pulse giving him flashes of his internal database.
"There's something here." He said aloud "I'm sure of it." 17 inspected the machines, the walls behind the machines and the floor, he couldn't find anything out of place, "these machine look brand new." He said "there's not a speck of dust on them, not even on the underside." He rubbed his chin.
"Dude make a choice." A kid ordered from behind him. 17 turned and frowned at the kid "go find another machine." 17 snapped, eyes narrowed. The kid considered talking back but there was a shadow over his eyes, man, he looked dangerous the kid backed away.
"Good choice." 17 went back to his inspection "there is something here."
18 groaned as the world came back into focus, she felt the restraints before she looked at them. The metal cuffs weren't regular cuffs. She felt the pulse, they were interrupting her system configuration. Her vision worked fine but there were no scans around her eyes to tell her where she was. When she tried to gather her energy her entire system shut down momentarily sending her into a black void. She pulled herself out.
"Where am I?" 18 looked around, it looked like Dr. Gero's lab but a bit more sophisticated and bigger.
"Identify yourself." A voice spoke from a machine in the far corner.
"You're the one who kidnapped me, identify yourself." 18 snapped struggling to pull herself free but she didn't feel her regular strength, she felt completely and one hundred percent human.
"Identify yourself." The machines repeated "and no harm will come to the girl." A screen slid down in front of 18, on screen she saw her tiny helpless daughter throwing the biggest tantrum of any child. She was kicking at the walls and pounding her fist against the floor. 18's anger flared when she saw her daughter's swollen red fists.
"Marron." 18 ground her teeth together "you can do whatever you want to me but leave my baby alone." She glared at the computer.
"Identify yourself." The machine repeated.
"18." 18 said "android 18."
"Confirmed, android 18." The machine's light turned off from the corner and another screen lit up just out of 18's vision. "Murder of Dr. Gero, failed to complete programmed mission." The machine droned "android 18, failed." A red light enveloped the room "immediate termination."
18 watch Marron screaming on the screen.
"Marron is a human, she doesn't deserve to be punished for my decisions." 18 thrashed around on the table, she was human once before, she didn't need her android abilities to save her daughter, she would do it all on her own!
"Subject identified as Marron, daughter of android 18 and ally of son Goku." The machine droned on "subject Marron is compatible for transformation. Marron to become android 23."
18's heart felt like it had stopped in her chest, the blood in her veins froze straight through. "Android… 23…" 18 stared at the tiny girl on the screen, the girl that looked like Krillin and her perfectly meshed into a tiny person. "You want to turn my little girl… into a monster?" 18 was still in shock at the information "my little girl…" 18 blood suddenly felt hot, her anger melting the ice away she thrashed against her restraints "You will not turn my daughter into this." 18 pulled on her restraints, the pulses threatened to put her down for good "you will not hurt my daughter!" 18 felt her energy it pulsed off beat from the cuffs holding her down. It's not steady 18 realized suddenly I can break free after the pulse. 18 tried to time the pulses they happened three seconds apart. That gave her a second in a half to gather the energy and another second and a half to break free. That was it. 18 took a look at the screen, at her baby crying on the ground there.
"Subject, Android 18, shutting down now." The machine's voice faded. Suddenly 18 couldn't feel the pulses anymore, her body was numb. The timing didn't matter anymore, she was too late, she took too long I'm so stupid, Krillin, you have to get her in time Krillin. 18 willed the message to somehow find Krillin as a familiar sensation washed over her. Yes, she knew this feeling from the last time Dr. Gero had shut her and her brother down. Being shut down wasn't like sleeping, it was an empty place. It was like her machine parts didn't work but the human part of her was wide awake. 18 hated this place. It was dark and there was nothing, not like the life she had grown accustomed to. There was no Krillin here, no goofy Krillin to make her laugh when everyone else was too afraid to speak to her. 18 even wished for the other goof balls that had become her friends, Goku who always said the wrong thing and insulted someone, Gohan, the gentle one who wanted to be like his father but his heart was just never in it. Even Vegeta, the only one who was brave enough to face her, he was stronger than her now, he knew it, she knew it but he never did try to get her back for humiliating him in their first fight. Bulma, chichi, Piccolo, these people, these people who she was ready to kill, her friends. 18 wanted to scream. Then, of course, Marron. There was no Marron here to smile at her and melt a heart she had once believed was no longer there. No mommy daughter shopping trips and photoshoots. No Marron…no Marron? No… Marron.
18's body jolted, the machine peered at the android but there was no sign of her subconscious. The machine wrote it up as a reflex.
No more Marron
18's body jolted again, the image of a crying blonde girl clear in her head
Nomoremarron
"18!" an explosion flipped the table 18 lay on. 17 and Krillin burst in through the ceiling. Krillin 17 was flying and wearing a thick metal necklace.
18's body jolted to life.
"Error… error…. Error." The machine repeated again and again. !8 threw the table off of herself and grabbed the screen the voice had been coming from.
"die." She ripped the machine from the wall.
"18, where's Marron." Krillin ran to his wife.
"We have to find her." 18's panic did nothing to soothe Krillin's nerves. He had felt there was something wrong before, if Goku taught him anything it was to always trust your instincts. His family had been in trouble and the awful feeling in his heart told him exactly what it was, his wife and child.
"We will." Krillin reached out for Marrons energy. It was weak, she was only five after all, but is was there. "This way." Krillin grabbed 18's hand and took off, 17 followed behind wondering how 18 had gotten the use of her body back without Bulma's new device.
"18, are you okay?" 17 asked flying beside her. 18's anger pulsed in every inch of her body, no she was not okay, not until Marron was back on her arms.
"MOMMY!" the faint voice caught both Krillin and 18's ears.
"This way." Krillin pulled her through the maze of equipment and computers. 18 hated this place more than she had ever hated anything before, more than she though a person could hate. As soon as we get Marron I'm going to blow this place into oblivion. Determination etched across her face she flew with Krillin.
"18, look out!" 17 shoved 18 forward, Krillin and her turned in time to see a black figure tackle 17 to the ground.
"17!" 18 was ready to charge to her brother's aid but he held up a hand "no, I can take him." 17 got hi fight smile on "go find Marron, I haven't had a good fight in ages."
"We'll be back." 18 swore letting Krillin lead her to the back of the lab.
"How did you find us?" 18 asked, had he somehow gotten her telepathic message.
"I just had a feeling you guys were in trouble and the 17 showed up at Bulma's house asking for help, she fixed him right up though and he told me his theory about the soda machines."
"Soda Machines?" 18 questioned.
"Forget about it, we can talk later." Krillin landed in front of a door, he could hear Marron inside. "This is it." Krillin grabbed the handle and ripped it open, his daughter was in there and no way was he going to stand by and watch someone hurt her. 18 kicked the door out of the way and rushed in.
"Marron!" 18 exclaimed.
"Mommy!" Marron exclaimed happily running to her mother, the floor shifted and metal bars shot up and closed Marron in a cage. "Mommy!" the girl wailed reaching her arms through the bars.
"Hello, 18."
18 froze at the sound of the voice "we killed you…"
"Dr. Gero." Krillin spat "I should have known, you just won't die will you?"
"I always have my fail safes in place, 18, you destroying my body was unanticipated but there are always ways to get things done."
"So let me get this straight." Krillin said "you uploaded your brain into a computer?"
"Exactly." Dr. Gero's laugh echoed amongst the walls. Marron screamed, she didn't like that voice, it was a scary voice. "Since you've decided on the domestic life." Dr. Gero went on "I'll just have to make another you, a stronger you, and what better way to do that than with a tiny you." Marron's cage shot up to the ceiling into a bubble.
"Say hello to android 23." Dr. Gero laughed.
"This time." 18 rose to her feet "I'll kill you for good." 18 flew up after Marron. Tentacles flew out from the walls trying to grab her. Krillin tried to blast a clear path for 18 but after the first few shots more tentacles shot out of the walls and went after him.
"Don't be scared, honey." Krillin called out to Marron "it's just a game." He forced a smile.
"I don't like this game, daddy!" Marron wailed rubbing at her eyes
"You're the princess Marron." 18 joined in "you're the princess and we have to save you."
Marron sniffled and watched her mommy fight the metal monsters. I don't think this is a game she cried harder when a tentacle slammed her daddy into the wall.
"Krillin!" 18 charged into the tentacle spearing it into the wall before she ripped it of but she felt her energy draining, this whole place must have been designed to take down androids. Another tentacle grabbed hold of 18 and slammed her into the ground. Five more came out and grabbed her arms and her legs and her neck. More grabbed Krillin and it seemed a hundred more created a barrier between her and her baby.
"This isn't looking good." Krillin sighed looking at his wife and then up to his baby girl if only Goku were here
"Oops, I broke your toy." 17 flew into the room with the head of another android, he threw it on the ground "hey, 18?" he called "how do you kill a machine?" 17 had a smirk on his face, the smirk that meant he had a plan.
"Not the time for game, 17." 18 chocked out.
"How do you kill a machine?" he asked again raising his eyebrow. Then 18 remembered, the jokes they had told each other in their early years of their transformation.
"Fry its circuits." 18 looked to Krillin to make sure he got it, he nodded. 18 powered up, Krillin and 17 followed suit.
"What are you doing?" Dr. Gero demanded. Red lights flashed "no, stop it" he had built this place to withstand one android rebellion, this was too much energy. They turned themselves into one bog explosion, reserving just enough energy to keep themselves alive. Light filled the room Marron cowered in the cage.
"I will destroy you!" Dr. Gero's voice cut out, the pulses threatening to take 18 down at any minute ceased and Marron sat in a mostly broken cage. 17 fell to his knees, Krillin dropped to the ground but 18 gathered the last of her strength and flew up to Marron.
"Hey there, Sugar." 18 didn't have to force a smile, looking at Marron always brought one to her face.
"Mommy!" Marron jumped out of the destroyed cage and into her mother's arms. The forced of the impact sent 18 toward the ground. 18 forced enough energy to slow their decent.
"Mommy, you saved me!" Marron giggled. Sitting on her mom's chest. 18 lay on the ground next to Krillin. Krillin grabbed 18's hand and smiled at her. 17 watched the interaction, he knew 18 didn't remember before they were androids, not really, but he did. Dr. Gero only decided to remove the memories after he saw how 17 missed his human life, he didn't want 18 to be distracted by such things.
"Where do you think you're going?" 18 demanded of her brother.
"The world's my home now, sis, wherever I want." 17 tried to play it off but 18 saw it clear as day. "Princess Marron, didn't dismiss you yet." 18 smirked. Marron clapped her hands "I order you to stay here." She ordered. 17's jaw dropped, he wasn't sure what to do now, it would be demeaning to take orders from a five year old but it was 18's daughter.
"Huh…" 17 looked to Krillin as if he had any experience in turning either one of his girls down.
"There's no getting out of this." Krillin laughed.
17 sat at the picnic table with Krillin and 18. Marron clung to his shoulders.
"Uncle 17!" Marron squealed jumping up and down. He tried to hide his smile but 18 saw it tugging on the corners of his mouth. 17 caught the smirk on 18's lips.
"Shut up, 18." 17 snapped.
"Shut up is a mean word." Marron chastised him.
"Yes it is, baby." 18 smiled at her girl. 17 felt a bit out of place, in his mind 18 was still his shoplifting erratic little sister but she wasn't that girl anymore. She was a mother. It was strange to really see it up close.
"I should get going." 17 set Marron on the table, 18 took her. "Don't forget about her birthday." 18 warned more than reminded.
"Course not." 17 smiled and nicked Marron's chin.
"Krillin, get in here!" Master Roshi hollered.
"Oh geez, I'd better check on that." Krillin rushed in. 17 and 18 stared at each other. 17 fiddled with something in his pocket, it's time he sighed and pulled the item out.
"Here, this is yours." 17 pushed it into her hands "I'll see you next week… Lazuli." 17 took off. 18 looked at the thing he had given her, a barrette of gold and silver curling around blue stones. 18 vaguely recognized it, she wasn't sure from wear but she was sure she had seen it before. "Why'd he call me Lazuli?" 18 wondered. Krillin jogged back out "see ya later!" Krillin called after 17. "Oh hey." Krillin pointed at the barrette "is that Lapis Lazuli?"
"What'd you say?" 18 asked looking to Krillin.
"Lapis lazuli…" 18 repeated looking after her brother.
"It's pretty." Krillin said, Marron yawned "looks like someone's ready for bed." Krillin chuckled taking her. "We'll meet you inside 18." 18 stood there staring after her brother. Lazuli… Lapis lazuli… what did he mean? 18 closed her hand around the barrette, she didn't know why but she was sure it was important. Lapis Lazuli huh…