Chapter 4
'Knives Out'
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AN 2017: I've decided to remove some of the old TtH authors comments as sometimes they probably make little sense in the current posting.
draygore: I'm glad you like it. To be honest I've never thought of Gohan getting a new friend that much before, mostly because most of my attention has and still is on fitting the Scoobies into the DBZ verse. But I think I mentioned it at one point that after the events of the previous story Piccolo took Faith along with him to train with Goku and Gohan. As he's now basically the godfather of both Gohan and Faith. So think of her as Gohan's big sister. With foul language.
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A-Day +1
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"Hey, there's another one in here."
"What?" Tien and Krillin gasped out aloud as Willow was peering into the one coffin that wasn't open.
"I said there's another android inside," Willow said, perched on her toes as she tried to look through the small window, "And I think it's a big one."
"Good lord!" Tien exclaimed in shock, "How many of these things are there? They're like rats. Kill one and ten more come crawling out of the woodwork.
"God I hope not!" Krillin said nervously as he looked around the cave to see if there were more coffins.
"Let's open it up," Tien said as he walked towards the closed coffin, "let's see what we're dea….."
"SO BE IT!" suddenly came from the main cave that made up Gero's hidden lab, soon followed by a strong gust of wind.
"What the hell?" Willow said as the strong wind hit her, next thing Krillin and Tien ran out of the room, leaving her alone, "Guys?"
Not wanting to be left alone Willow ran after them as well.
In the main cave she found two Saiyans, both transformed into Super Saiyan and golden chi flames blazing, staring each other down.
"Belmo?" Willow said aghast as the two Saiyans then charged each other.
Both Saiyans crashed into each other and tried to grapple one another, coming to short abrupt stops as one managed to grab the other, only to lose it as the other managed to break free.
"They are not for you, my Prince," Belmovekk said taking hold of Vegeta, upon which the Saiyan prince broke free and managed to grab Belmovekk's arm in return.
"Yield to your lord and master, Movekk," Vegeta yelled as he twisted Belmovekk's arm.
"In this matter, never!" Belmovekk grunted in pain, then he used his free legs and swept Vegeta to the floor, crashing on top of him, "Stand down, my Prince, this is no time to indulge in personal pleasure."
"Where is your lust for combat? Your honor?" Vegeta screamed in disgust as he managed to overthrow Belmovekk and take hold of him again, "What kind of Saiyan are you?"
"A responsible one?" Belmovekk replied as he managed to turn the tables on Vegeta again.
Meanwhile the others looked on in horror.
"They're evenly matched," Krillin said as he watched enthralled.
"For now," Tien said appraisingly.
"What do you mean?" Krillin asked, glancing at Tien.
"They're both still trying to stop the other," Tien said, "But there's a difference between the two. Deep down Belmovekk only wants to stop Vegeta. Whereas Vegeta has no qualms killing anybody to get what he wants."
"Oh," Krillin said.
"But why are they fighting?" Willow asked.
"HEY!" a voice yelled.
It was Piccolo, still pinning Gero against the rock wall.
"Quickly! Destroy those androids before it's too late!" the Namek said.
"Us?" Krillin said back, upon which the Namek briefly rolled his eyes.
"No, your mother! Who else?" he said exasperated, "As you see I'm kinda busy."
"NOOO!" Vegeta yelled, "Destroy those androids and I will kill…."
Then the Saiyan prince ate Belmovekk's elbow in his face and he had to return his attention back to the fight with his fellow Saiyan.
"Come," Tien said to Krillin as he nodded backwards, "Let's do it."
"But you heard Vegeta," Krillin countered, He'll kill us if we do anything."
"Vegeta can kiss my shiny ass," Tien said to Krillin, "He's not the boss of this outfit. If he wants to kill me afterwards he's welcome to try."
"Yeah, but…," Krillin tried to protest, then he slumped and looked down, "Okay."
"Come," Tien said as he turned around to go back towards the part of the cave that held the inert androids. "Let's do…."
Tien came to a full stop as he nearly walked into somebody. Somebody dressed in jeans, a black shirt and a red scarf around his neck.
"Going somewhere?" a smiling Android #17 said amiably.
"Aaah!" was all a totally flabbergasted Tien could utter as Android #17 was joined by Android #18.
Within seconds everything inside Gero's cave came to a halt as everybody began to realize that the androids, the real ones, the ones Trunks had warned them about, had awakened. The spellbound silence was finally broken as a smirking Gero spoke up.
"The wheel turns, doesn't it, Piccolo?"
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When Piccolo had pinned him against the wall of his own cave the Namek thought that Gero was now relatively helpless to further impede any events. Taking care to hold the one hand that still had an energy receptor in such a way that it was harmless, Gero was now unable to steal the energy necessary to break free.
Nor could he do much else to break free with the Namek's watchful gaze upon him.
But sometimes you didn't have to break free to influence events.
Sometimes all you needed was remote access to the right kind of equipment.
Gero had never installed any wireless technology in his 'bat cave'. He had always distrusted such technology fearing it might give away his position. The distrust had been so strong that he didn't even install transmitters in his androids, preferring they report back to him in person.
His distrust now came back to haunt him as he was now unable to activate androids #17 and #18 remotely, something he might have been able to do had he installed a wireless network in his 'bat cave'.
All in all you could say he was totally boned!
Fortunately for him though the absence of a wireless network meant that he had to connect everything up with network cables. Miles and miles of it.
And as luck had it a tube full of electrical and network cables ran right below his ass, against his upper legs.
Normally he wouldn't be in a position to do much with a shielded conduit but as luck had it the blonde bitch had lobbed off his right hand, exposing all sorts of wiring. And another piece of god damn luck was that the two Saiyans were causing the mother of all distractions right in front of everybody.
So with Piccolo distracted Gero placed his stump on the conduit and sent as much energy into it, burning through the cover and letting his wiring create a circuit with the network cables inside.
It took every ounce of concentration and computation from his part but Gero finally managed to interface with his computers. Remotely turning them on to get where what he wanted. Most notably the one that controlled the android coffins in the android storage room.
#17, #18, can you hear me?
It took like 100 milliseconds before Gero received the remote reply. An eternity in computing time.
Yes, Doctor Gero. A good day to you.
Awake and a polite greeting. This was looking hopeful.
You are very polite, Gero asked.
Of course, doctor, you gave us life, came back the reply.
Very hopeful indeed!
Truth be told he still had his doubts with #17 and #18. After all, the last time they had been active they had rebelled against him and killed poor #11. And while he had determined the most likely cause of their rebellion, there had been so preciously little time to properly examine and fix their problems in the race to finish both himself and #19 before Al-Qa'ida would begin its offensive. He just had to hope that whatever modifications he had still been able to perform on the duo would work out.
Or at the very least hold out long enough for them to obey his orders to slay Son Goku and his friends. After that, to paraphrase a certain French king, après moi les deluges.
#18, are you active as well?
Yes, Doctor Gero, a good day to you too.
Upon receiving her reply Gero had to constrain himself not to shout out in triumph. Instead he began to formulate a careful set of orders.
Listen up. The lab has been overrun by Goku's allies. Some of them have begun to fight amongst themselves. They still think the both of you are inactive but once that fight is over, they will come and destroy the both of you. I am being held by Goku's ally Piccolo. And I want the both of you to come and rescue me, then defeat Goku's allies. There are two Saiyans here, one of which is Vegeta. They are both capable of transforming into a powerful state called Super Saiyan. Be very careful because in that state Vegeta was able to easily defeat #19. The other Saiyan is probably even more dangerous as he has his own group of allies and claims to have been hunting us for years. He is the cause why #13, #14 and #15 never returned.
For 500 milliseconds there came back no reply.
Did you build another android, Doctor Gero?
Yes, #17. And I transferred myself as well. My body was failing ever more so instead I sought the immortality that artificial life can give.
Then why did you lose, Doctor Gero? Surely with the kind of power we have you could easily defeat Goku and his allies.
#17's question stunned Gero. What was even a greater shock was when he felt something surge through his arm into his consciousness. It only lasted for a few milliseconds, then it was gone.
Interesting, the voice of #18 said, he used a different kind of energy design both for himself and #19. A more limited eternal energy reactor coupled with energy absorption.
It doesn't matter what I did, Gero said impatiently, come here and rescue me!
Again there was a 500 millisecond pause.
As you wish, doctor, both androids replied obediently.
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"Going somewhere?" a smiling Android #17 said as Tien almost bumped into him.
"Aaah!" was all a totally flabbergasted Tien could utter as Android #17 was joined by Android #18.
Within seconds everything inside Gero's cave came to a halt as everybody began to realize that the androids, the real ones, the ones Trunks had warned them about, had awakened. The spellbound silence was finally broken as a smirking Gero spoke up.
"The wheel turns, doesn't it, Piccolo?" Gero said triumphantly, "#17, #18, rescue me!"
The two androids looked at each other, then they both smiled. #17 raised an arm and shot out an energy beam.
But the beam wasn't aimed at Piccolo. Nor at any of the other Z-fighters or Scoobies.
Instead it hit the controller that was on a table and was instantly incinerated.
"What the hell, #17?" Gero yelled in shock, "Stop this fooling around and kill them!"
Calmly #17 turned his head towards Gero and smirked.
"We won't let you put us to sleep again, old man," he said contemptuously, then he and #18 turned around and walked back the way they had come from, leaving the others behind in confusion.
"That was anti-climatic," Spike said, the first to break the silence.
"We have to stop them!" Trunks called out, sounding increasingly desperate now.
"Why?" Xander asked, "There's only one exit and we're in it."
Next thing Trunks turned to Xander.
"You don't know what they are capable off," Trunks hissed slowly, "I do!"
"Oh, then in that case, we're boned," Xander said back, then he leaned over, "Is it okay for me to panic now?"
Taken aback by Xander's odd behavior Trunks took an involuntarily step backwards.
"You're weirder then I remember," he finally said.
"Yeah, girls always tell me that too," Xander nodded goofily, "right before they run away."
Trunks looked like he wanted to say something, then he changed his mind.
"Somebody needs a chill pill," Xander heard as Buffy singsonged in his ear.
"Lay off him," Mayan said as she stepped between them and Trunks, "You don't know anything about us. You don't know anything about where we come from. You wanna know why these things should be destroyed? Because they killed all of you within the first day, this idiot when I was six and sister dearest here..."
"Let it go, Mayan," Trunks suddenly said as he placed his hand on her shoulder, "It's not their fault they haven't lived through it. They're just being who they are."
"Yeah but…," Mayan tried to protest but Trunks shook his head.
"It doesn't matter," he said, "We failed in stopping them. We must now concentrate on finding a way to fight them. We must go back and wait for Goku to get better."
"We shall do no such cowardly thing!" Vegeta yelled, "We shall meet them in open combat."
"Give it a rest!" Piccolo groaned, then he looked at Gero, "So what are they up to? You might as well speak since they clearly have no intention to do anything you want them to do any way. What is in there that they could use against us?"
"I'll never tell!" Gero spat back.
"There's another android in there," Willow said before Piccolo could react to Gero's defiance.
"WHAT?"
"She's right," Tien added, "there's another coffin in there and something's inside.
"Explain!" Piccolo said as he increased the pressure on Gero's throat, "How many more of your androids are there?"
"None," Gero tried to say as Piccolo squeezed the life out of him, "It's just #16. He's a failed expe….., oh my god, you have to let me go. They're going to activate #16."
"And why should I let your traitorous carcass go?" Piccolo asked wearily.
"Because #16 will be the death of us all," Gero wheezed, barely able to speak.
Piccolo's eyes narrowed briefly as he looked Gero in the face, then to everyone's shock he let go of Dr. Gero.
But not before ripping off his other hand.
"Go! And only because I'm sick and tired of holding you like this," the mighty Namek said gruffly as he threw Gero's crumpled hand to the floor, "And because now you're pretty much harmless."
No sooner had he said so as Gero ran past him to the android storage room.
"Are you crazy?" Trunks said dumbfounded as the android/mad scientist disappeared, "Goku would never…."
"Hush," Piccolo said as he silenced Trunks, "Even Goku needs information to make up his mind. We need information. Let's go find out what they're after and what the deal with this new android is."
"Wise words," Belmovekk echoed, "Let us find out what is going on."
The Saiyan de-transformed and wanted to go after Gero when Vegeta stopped him.
"This is not over between us, Movekk," the Saiyan prince said as he de-transformed as well, "There will be consequences when this is over."
"I never expected it to be otherwise, my prince," Belmovekk said as he gave Vegeta a slow bow, then they both walked to the android storage room.
"This is madness," Trunks said as more and more of the Z-fighters and Scoobies went after them, "We should be making our escape instead!"
"Then maybe its contagious, love," Mayan said nodding after the others, "I think they're right. This is not our past. To many things are different. There are now three androids we know nothing about. Maybe its time to stop chasing your mother's hopes and learn what's really going on."
Trunks wanted to protest but decided not to.
"I hate it when you're right," he muttered softly as he and Mayan went after the others.
Inside the storage room Gero was pleading with his two androids as they gathered around the third coffin. The two androids had taken the coffin from its wall mounted bracket and placed it on the floor. #18 was leaning over it when the now handless Gero had stormed in.
"Step away from him!" Gero shouted agitated.
The two androids looked up towards their creator, then at the two handless arms.
"You and what army, old man?" #17 said derisively.
"Listen to me!" Gero yelled, "I am your creator! I demand that you listen to me and fight the others!"
"Shut your yappin', old man," #17 shrugged, "We'll fight them when we want to."
"You can't be serious?" Gero said aghast, to which #17 shrugged again. Meanwhile #18 continued to examine #16's coffin.
"He looks like an eternal reactor type like us," she said curious, "Yet at the same time he looks like a different model then us. Pretty big too. I wonder in what way he's different."
"STAY AWAY FROM HIM, #18!" Gero yelled but the two androids ignored him.
"He looks interesting," #17 said to #18, "Maybe we should boot him up, see what happens?"
"DON'T DO IT!" Gero yelled again, "Do you want to destroy the entire world? #16's a failed experiment. Whatever you do, don't activate him!"
The two androids glanced at Gero.
"If he was such a failure, then why did you keep him around?" #18 asked.
Gero looked upwards for a moment in frustrated rage.
"For the same reason I kept you two around," he finally said, "Just in case I could fix him. Now step away from his chamber. If you activate him he might kill us all."
Meanwhile the combined Z-fighters and Scoobies were watching the debate.
"You know," Krillin suddenly spoke up, "It just occurred to me, maybe Trunks is right. They're so busy arguing, this could be the perfect moment for us to get away."
"Maybe you should," Vegeta sniggered, "They're probably too strong for any of you to fight."
"While I agree in principle with the noseless one," Xander said in the back towards Buffy, "I find myself freakishly drawn to seeing what happens next. It's like watching a bad movie. Or some trashy reality show. The kind where you're seeing white trash bounty hunters and lots of bad haircuts."
Meanwhile Gero's discussion with the androids went on.
"You think he can kill us?" #17 said incredulously, "That he's stronger then us? An android with a lower designation? I don't believe it. #18, activate him!"
"You're disobeying my commands?!" Gero said astounded, "You're just the same as #16, you're all failures! FAILURES! I'll stop you myself if I have to!"
"With what, old man?" #17 said derisively, "Maybe you should ask them to lend you a hand. You look like you could need one. Or two."
"I'll show you a hand!" Gero shouted, then he tried to make a round house kick towards #18, whose hand was hovering above #16's coffin controls.
But before he could begin to jump #17 lashed out and punched right through Gero's back, his fist coming right through his chest.
Incredulously Gero stared at the fist protruding from his chest.
"Damn you," Gero said as he looked over his shoulder, "what are you…."
Grinning maliciously, #17 withdrew his fist from Gero, then he jumped up and made a spinning kick that hit Gero's head so hard it tore off completely from his neck. As the body remained standing for a few more seconds Gero's head rolled across the floor and came to a stop in front of Krillin.
To everyone's surprise it was still alive, or maybe active was the better word, as it continued to move its eyes and speak.
"Damn you, #17," it croaked as its voice controls were damaged, "You're trash!"
Even as Gero's head hadn't stopped wobbling #17 took a leap and sailed through the air, with one leg stretched out in front, making a perfect landing, like a ballerina of pure evil, on top of Gero's head.
SPLUT!
Gero's head split open like a melon, showering the onlookers with pieces of artificial skin, electronics and brain matter.
As Gero's head had been closest to Krillin the android as he looked up, looked straight into Krillin's face and smiled. Standing up the android leaned over towards Krillin and all that was missing was that he would say 'Boo'. Instead he just winked, turned around and walked back to the other android and #16's coffin.
"What are they?" Krillin said horrified, "They killed their own master."
"That is not so unusual," Vegeta shrugged, "You should always kill those who you do not like. We Saiyans are like that. My father became king when he defeated my grandfather in battle."
"But not always to the death, in fact more often then not only an acknowledgment of defeat was acceptable," Belmovekk interjected then he gave a mock bow to an indignant Vegeta, "Sorry, my prince."
"The old ways used to be much better," Vegeta snorted displeased.
Meanwhile #17 had joined #18's side.
"Activate the controls," he said matter of fact to his fellow android.
"Uh, am I still alone in thinking that now's a good time to….," Krillin started to say when suddenly Trunks transformed into Super Saiyan state and rapidly charged an energy attack.
"Two's enough," he grunted in anger, "NO MORE ANDROIDS!"
Then he shot the mother of all attacks at the two androids.
As everybody dove for cover Buffy heard Krillin yell one thing before everything turned to white.
"YOU IDIOT!"
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DOOM!
In the Al-Qa'ida compound everybody stopped packing crates and loading vehicles as a loud bang could be heard, followed by a strong gust of wind that blasted the compound.
Then when it all was over, in the distance, from the direction where the bang and wind had come from, a massive mushroom cloud of dust rose into the air.
"The Americans!" someone began to yell in fear, "The Americans have come!"
That person immediately received the butt of an AK-47 in the face. On the orders of Al Zawahiri of course.
"Keep loading!" he said to one of his lieutenants, "Shoot someone if you have to but keep loading those vehicles."
"It shall be done," the lieutenant said, "Inshallah!"
"And don't give me that Inshallah crap," Al Zawahiri said as he thumbed the lieutenant's chest, "We may be soldiers of Allah, but around here the only will you have to reckon with is me. And I want it! Get these vehicles loaded within the next hours or it will be you who gets shot."
The lieutenant swallowed, then he turned around and began to bark orders. More rifle butts were thrown into people's faces and order was being restored.
Pleased that his orders were being carried out Al-Zawahiri turned around and made for the main building.
"Who did that?" Al-Zawahiri's adjutant said nervously as he followed him, "Could it be the Americans? It looked like an atomic bomb."
"Don't be a fool," Al-Zawahiri snorted, "if the Americans were going to attack us with atomic bombs they would not drop them in the mountains. We would not even be having this conversation."
"Then who did that?" the adjutant asked, after which Al-Zawahiri stopped for a moment.
"I don't know," he said as he looked into the direction of the mushroom cloud, "It seems to be coming from Gero's place. Maybe one of his experiments failed. We should sent out a patrol to investigate. Make it so."
"It shall be done," the adjutant said, after which he walked away and Al-Zawahiri resumed walking towards the main building which still had that fool of a Bin Laden inside. The idiot actually believed that Allah would shield him from American retribution. At least this mysterious explosion would serve to sober him up.
And rightly so. Because whatever the hell the mystery explosion was, it was sure going to attract unwanted American attention.
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As she regained consciousness Buffy reached for her head and began to curse inwardly. It would seem that any son of Vegeta was still his father's son, no matter the time or the dimension. And intelligence didn't seem to be part of the Vegeta family gene.
Somebody began to pull on her shoulder and she opened her eyes, staring right into Willow's concerned face. Willow spoke, but Buffy couldn't hear anything but a loud ringing tone.
"….y, ….r….?" Willow's mouth voiced in vain as Buffy couldn't hear anything but the odd tone. Whatever it was Willow seemed pretty much powerfreaked.
Next thing she could make out Belmo as he appeared next to Willow and seemed to say something in her ear. Willow then talked back as they began an argument which ended as Belmo seemingly laid down the law. Then Willow nodded and she reached for her pouch with the now familiar healing powder.
After she had sprinkled Buffy with her powder and spoken her message the loud ringing in her ears stopped and she could hear again.
"Thanks, Will, but no need to waste your dust just so I can hear again. The ringing always goes away, remember?"
"Not this time, young lady," Belmo said shaking his head, "Not when you look like this."
Belmo held up his hand and an image appeared floating above it of Buffy. She was covered in dust and blood, with more blood dripping from her ears and a large gash on her back. Most troubling was that her right leg was looking way bent out of shape.
"Oops," she said as Belmo made the image disappear, "I was almost rollergirl there. But I feel much better now."
Just to be sure she tried to wiggle the toes in her right foot and found them to be quite in working order.
"No thanks to him," Belmo said as he looked up and anger crept into his voice. Buffy looked up as well and saw Trunks hanging in the air, his eyes scouring the landside. The Saiyan from the future had blown up half of the mountain in an attempt to stop the androids. And it was clear that for all intents and purposes Belmo blamed him for what had happened to her.
Seeing that Belmo had murder in his eyes Buffy tried to stop him.
"Don't you dare do anything stupid," she said to him but she was already too late as Belmo rose in the air and launched himself at the future Saiyan.
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Trunks was trying to find any signs of the androids, to see if he had caused them damage or serious injury. He had given them his best but he didn't really believe he had killed them. But at the very least he might have caused them some damage in some form.
Because he was so focused on finding android remains on the ground he failed to take notice that one irate Saiyan rose up from the ground to meet him. Thus it was that he only noticed that somebody was in front of him when it was too late.
"Belmove….?" Trunks tried to say before the Saiyan reached out and smacked him hard in the face.
SMACK!
"TRUNKS, YOU IDIOT!" Belmovekk thundered as young Saiyan reached for his face, "NEVER DO SOMETHING THAT STUPID AGAIN!"
Next thing the elder Saiyan grabbed Trunks by his leather jacked and pulled him up close.
"If you endanger my daughters ever again, this I swear in Aldur's name, I will end your miserable existence!"
Not sure what to say and taken aback by Belmovekk's anger Trunks didn't say anything. Nor did he have too as something flashed by and an elbow came to a sudden stop in Belmovekk's face.
It was done with so much force that Belmovekk had to let go of Trunks and was sent crashing into the ground below.
"DON'T YOU TOUCH HIM!" Mayan screamed angry after she had sent the older Saiyan plowing into the ground. Not for long though as Belmovekk rose up again to meet her.
"Stand aside," he slowly hissed as Mayan kept herself between Belmovekk and Trunks, "As your father I order to stand aside."
"My father?" Mayan snorted incredulously, "My father died 15 years ago. Other then what Aunt Willow told me he means nothing to me. You're not even him, just some guy from some alternate dimension who happens to look like him."
If her words wounded the older Saiyan he didn't show it. Nor did he get the chance as Buffy rose up and placed herself between him and Mayan.
"Can we do this another time?" Buffy said glancing from Belmovekk to her alternate reality sister, then she pointed at Belmovekk first, then at her alternate reality sister, "You, take a chill pill, what's done is done. And you, keep your boyfriend in check. There's only room for one Vegeta in this outfit."
Neither Belmovekk nor Mayan said anything as both scowled two very identical angry scowls at each other. Then Buffy took Belmovekk by the shoulder.
"Come, admiral," she said, "let's inspect the troops."
Glancing one last deathglare at Trunks Belmovekk allowed himself to be led away.
"What's his problem?" Trunks asked, causing Mayan to facepalm herself.
"You idiot!" she said exasperated, "I may not know much about my father but I do know this, he is nothing like your father. He actually cared about us. The moment you endangered us all you endangered her and you endangered me. When you do stuff like that he no longer thinks straight."
"I..., um, uh..., am sorry?" Trunks said as he scratched the back of his head.
"What were you thinking?" Mayan said scolding, "Where you even thinking? Cause she is right you know, there is only room for one Vegeta here. Don't be the Vegeta!"
"I..., um, it's just that..., uh," Trunks stammered, then he threw his hands into the air, "What was I supposed to do? For 15 years just seeing their faces meant death. They killed everybody I ever loved, that we loved. Seeing their faces and activating that other android something snapped in me."
Mayan closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"It's not that I don't understand," she said with eyes still closed, "I know the feeling all to well. But we need these people. If they start disliking us because you're acting like an ass we won't be able to do much of anything."
Trunks wanted to say something when he heard another voice.
"You should listen to her," Vegeta's voice sneered, upon which Trunks looked up and saw his father float above them, "She seems to be the brains of your outfit."
"Leave him alone," Mayan said angry but Vegeta ignored her.
"If you had harmed those androids in any way I would have killed you," the Saiyan prince said matter of fact, then he smirked again, "Lucky for you, you can't seem to aim for shit."
Vegeta then nodded to a mountain peak on the other side of the valley they were floating above. On it the two androids could be seen, carrying a large android coffin. Next thing the blonde android holding the coffin threw it on the ground, then she finally pressed the controls.
As more and more of the Z-fighters and Scoobies rose in the air to see what was happening next Vegeta shook his head disapprovingly at Trunks one last time.
"All that energy gone to waste," he sighed.
On the other mountain top #18 had activated the controls and then kicked off the coffin's lid. Then, as everybody held their breath, something arose from the coffin.
Something tall.
Something extremely tall
As he emerged from his coffin, Android #16 dwarfed his fellow androids. Dressed in black spandex, a large metallic green chest piece finished off with a red haired Mohawk, #16 looked around.
As she saw #16 emerge from his coffin Mayan took Trunks' hand into hers and squeezed gently. Just in time as she felt him tense up. Knowing exactly with what she was dealing she leaned over to his ear.
"This is not your fault," she whispered, "whatever you do or think, remember that."
Meanwhile on the mountain top the two androids engaged their latest android companion.
"Try moving about, #16," #17 said encouragingly, "How does it feel to be outside in years?"
#16 didn't reply, he just stared ahead into the distance. Not taken aback #17 continued his line of inquiry.
"It looked like Dr. Gero didn't want us to activate you. He said you would destroy us."
"I want to know what he meant," #18 added, "Do you have any idea?"
Again #16 didn't reply, instead he just gave a slight smile.
"Don't you want to tell us?" #18 asked.
"Or are you a mute?" #17 asked a little contemptuously. So far #16 was proving to be…., disappointing?
The two androids looked at each other, then they shrugged.
"Whatever," #17 said, then he looked at #16, "Do you want to go? Where you made to destroy Son Goku?"
Naming Gero's hated enemy brought forth the first real reaction from the massive #16.
"Yes," he said as he looked at #17.
"My, so you can speak after all," #17 said smug with himself, then he looked at #18, "Let's help him fulfill his programming?"
#18 looked at her fellow android with a puzzled look.
"Why would we even want to?" she asked, "We're finally free."
"We will never be really free until we've fulfilled our purpose," #17 said insightful, "It will always hang over us. While it sickens me to my stomach to carry out Gero's orders we have to do so in order to be really free. Plus we're androids, we need a purpose."
"Even if it's Gero's?" #18 said, her voice showing signs of revulsion, "And what if we complete our mission? What is our purpose then?"
"Let's cross that bridge when we reach it," #17 shrugged.
Not knowing anything better, #18 said nothing. After which the three of them slowly lifted themselves up in the sky and took off.
As the androids just took off, they left the Z-fighters and Scoobies behind utterly dumbfounded.
"They…., they… just left?" Krillin said relieved, "Thank goodness!"
"This is…., odd," Xander said, "Am I the only one here who feels power-freaked?"
"No," Buffy said shaking her head, "This has maxi-wig written all over it, in tiny freaky letters."
"They are up to something," Belmovekk said looking at Piccolo, "but what?"
"Judging by the direction they're taking they don't seem to be going towards any of the major cities," Piccolo mused, "Not for a long while at least."
"Travel in a straight direction and eventually you are bound to come up to something," Belmovekk said, then he cupped his chin and looked upward, "There has to be something in that direction that….."
Then the both of them looked at each other and spoke in unison.
"GOKU!"
"They're after Goku still?" Tien said flabbergasted, "They just killed their own creator? Why would they even bother still fulfilling their original mission?"
"Who cares!" Vegeta said, his lips trembling with anger, then he looked up into the sky, "I was right here! They ignored me! They're trying to say that I am not worthy of their attention. That pisses me off!"
With a yell Vegeta transformed into Super Saiyan.
"They shall know my wrath," Vegeta growled and took off. He was about to pursue the androids when Trunks suddenly put himself in his way.
"DON'T!" he yelled vehemently, "For the love of God, father, don't go after them!"
"Why not?" Vegeta snorted, "Should we wait instead until Kakarot gets better again?"
"Kakarot?" Trunks said surprised, then it dawned on him, "Oh, you mean Goku? Yes, we should wait for him. This concerns him as well. Mother was quite specific that only Goku…."
"You really don't understand, do you?" Vegeta said scornfully, "You think that just because your mother thought the sun shone from Kakarot's ass using his name means something to me? I hate Kakarot even more then I do those androids. I'd rather die trying to stop them then wait a single second for his help again."
Taken aback by the vitriol in his father's voice Trunks was left speechless.
"And after I've taken care of those androids I will take care of Kakarot," Vegeta said, then he gestured for Trunks to move aside, "Now, get out of my way!"
"You can't defeat them," Trunks said sounding almost desperate, "If you do you'll die!"
Vegeta didn't bother to reply. Instead he just moved lightning fast and suckerpunched Trunks right in the gut. As the young Saiyan winced with pain he dropped several feet from the air.
"TRUNKS!" Mayan yelled as she sped to Trunks' side to take care of her loved one.
"Parental issues much?" Xander said somewhat pitiful to Buffy and Willow, "Suddenly I'm not so sure anymore that my parents are that worse."
x
x
Having flown a relatively short distance the androids touched down on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere.
"Why did we land, #17?" #18 asked curious as she looked around the barren country side.
"Why rush things?" #17 smiled like he had not a care in the world, "We have plenty of time, why not see a little of the world while we make it to Goku's place?"
"So you're going to walk us there?" #18 said incredulously.
"We're on a road," #17 replied looking down one end of the road, "Why not get a car and drive there?"
#18 looked around the empty waste lands.
"You're kidding, right?" she said, "There's not a living soul in a hundred miles radius. Only the Taliban and Al-Qa'ida use this road."
"We're in no rush," #17 smiled carelessly.
"Men!" #18 snorted contemptuously, "You're obviously malfunctioning. There's too much human left in you."
Then #18 turned to the big guy.
"You understand, don't you, #16?" she said.
"I do not," #16 said shaking his head, "I was not made from a human base. I was made from nothing."
"Nothing," #18 said surprised, "Then I guess there are some differences between us. Other then the silent guy routine."
As the two androids contemplated #16's revelation something touched down behind them.
"Hello," Vegeta sneered as a halo of golden chi surrounded him, "How nice of you to waste your time for me."
The three androids looked at Vegeta, not showing much signs of emotion.
"Something's different," #17 said calmly, "You look different?"
"It must be this Super Saiyan thing Gero told us about," #18 added, "He changed his hair."
"It's so much more then that," Vegeta smirked confidently, "As you'll find out. So what are you up to?"
"Nothing special," #17 smiled amiably as he folded his arms across his chest.
"We're going to kill Son Goku," #18 said matter of fact.
"I thought so," Vegeta said, also folding his arms across his chest, "I don't think you will though. I will see to that."
If Vegeta was hoping for a reaction he didn't get any as both small androids just smiled back amiably.
"You think that I was joking?" Vegeta said as his smirk began to fade, "Laugh now while you still can."
"Saiyans must be overconfident," #17 said to #18, "Son Goku must be too."
To which #18 nodded in agreement.
Seeing that he was being ignored Vegeta unfolded his arms and raised a fist.
"You piss me off, even though you're no much better then couple of windup dolls," he said angry, "Now, face me! Which one of you wants to die first? The boy? The girl? The big one? Or all at once?"
"What a fool," #18 said shaking her head, then she looked at #16, "Why don't you fight him? Show us your strength."
To everyone's surprise #16 shook his head.
"I refuse," he said calmly. Upon which #17 and #18 looked at each other somewhat bewildered.
"Smart guy," Vegeta said as he began to smirk again, "It looks like he at least knows how strong I am."
"Odd fellow," #17 said still looking at #16.
"Then I'll do it," #18 said as she stepped forward to meet Vegeta. Then both fighters assumed a fighting stance.
"Just so you know, I won't hold back because you're a girl," Vegeta smirked, "But then again, you're not a girl, just a wind up doll."
#18 didn't reply. Instead she let her fists speak for her as she attacked, launching herself at Vegeta. But Vegeta blocked her attack, and the next. Then the fight began in earnest as both fighters attacked and counter attacked each other.
All the while as #17 looked on impressed. #16 on the other hand seemed less impressed as he hunched down beside the road to watch something else.
Meanwhile #18 finally managed to get in an elbow to Vegeta's face, but the Saiyan was able to use that to take hold of her and slammed her into the ground, then he threw himself on top of her and tried to pummel her with his fists combined. The impact of which caused the ground to crack up but missed her by an instant as she launched herself into the air.
Not missing a beat Vegeta went after her. She managed to block his kick but the accompanying punch managed to come to a hard stop on her face. As she was sent backwards by the impact, #17 was impressed.
"I'm impressed," he said to #16, "He's indeed so much more stronger in that state, just like Gero said he would. I hate to say it but Vegeta's pretty good."
#16 didn't bother to reply as he reached out a finger towards a small scorpion.
Meanwhile Vegeta and #18 landed on the road again, right next to a large cluster of rocks. Despite have received a few beatings by Vegeta #18 seemed no less worse for wear as she straightened her shoulder length blonde hair.
"Heh, heh," Vegeta panted as he took stock of the situation, "Not bad, wind up doll. You take a beating pretty good. Now let's try something else."
Vegeta held up his right hand, hand palm at a 90 degrees angle aimed straight at #18.
"Since you seem to be well built, I'm gonna try and blow you to bits instead," Vegeta continued as he began to gather in his energy, "Wipe that smile of your face."
As a shiny orb of glowing death began to form in front of Vegeta's hand a group of cars suddenly came around the rock formation following the dirt road.
x
x
With its six ubiquitous Japanese pickup trucks fully loaded with armed warriors the Al-Qa'ida strike force sent out to investigate the mysterious explosion and Dr. Gero's fate came to a grinding halt as the lead vehicle came to a sudden stop. Under more normal conditions an obstructed road wouldn't be a problem as the pickups were perfectly off road capable. That was why they were so popular in this country to begin with.
Of course Afghanistan wasn't a normal country. After more then two decades of continuous warfare the countryside was literally riddled with landmines so the roads were absolutely critical in getting from A to B in one piece. It was also along these roads where most of the fighting took place.
So when the lead vehicle came to a grinding halt the strike force commander didn't hesitate to dismount his men and exit the vehicle. Brandishing his AK-47 Mohammed Ibn Massud ran past the other vehicles to the lead vehicle. Where instead of finding a roadblock by some rebellious local warlord, the Northern Alliance, or Allah forbid the Americans, he found a single girl.
A single girl not dressed as a woman should be.
A single girl with blonde hair.
A single girl who was obviously a westerner.
Before it dawned on Ibn Massud and his men why a blonde western girl was in this area something big, yellow and incredibly shiny came their way.
And just before he was vaporized it also dawned upon Ibn Massud that maybe the Americans weren't his biggest problem after all.
x
x
"It looks like you're faster then I thought," Vegeta said after the smoke of his explosion had cleared.
"You weren't serious with that attack," #18 said casually, standing not that far behind the Saiyan, having just dodged a major attack.
"Of course not," Vegeta said as he slowly turned around to face #18, "If I were I'd blow up the planet."
"It must kill you to have that kind of power and not be able to use it," #18 said.
"It can be a pain," Vegeta agreed, "It has its compensations though."
"I suppose your immense penis gives you great comfort," #18 shrugged, "But guess what, I wasn't serious either."
"Women!" Vegeta snorted out loud, "Always playing games. Look, wind up doll. If you're not serious now, you'll regret it."
"Alright," #18 smiled, then she launched herself at Vegeta at lightning speed and delivered the mother of all head butts.
x
x
Not that they really needed one, but when the sky lit up with the flash of a huge explosion the Z-fighters/Scoobies knew where to look for their missing Saiyan prince. After that it was clear sailing as the group touched down behind androids #17 and #16.
"Fa…., Vegeta, are you alright?" Trunks asked worried as Vegeta slowly crawled bloodied and bruised from a hole in the rock formation. The Saiyan prince took one look at his future son and the others and began to scowl again.
"You stupid bastards," Vegeta said as he began to smirk again, "Do you think any of you stands a chance against these androids?"
"His ego still seems to be okay," Xander said, causing Tien to let out a small chortle.
"That's all he really needs anyway," Tien joked back.
Meanwhile #17 observed the newcomers. While he didn't think man for man they would pose a problem, all of them together might overwhelm #18. Something had to be done to keep that from happening.
"Maybe I should fight as well," he mused out loud, then he looked over his shoulder at #16, "Or do you want to fight them, #16."
"I won't fight them," #16 said as he shook his head.
"Again you won't," #17 said, more curious then surprised or angry, "If you won't fight anyone, why were you made at all?"
"To kill Son Goku," #16 said straight faced. And then it clicked within #17. That's why Gero considered him a failure. #16 was Goku's assassin. And for some strange reason nothing else. A case of being too literal to his orders. Since he couldn't get him to do anything else Gero considered him useless. It still didn't explain why he had so vehemently opposed them trying to revive #16 though. Maybe Gero in his attempts to get the android to do his bidding had crossed a line he shouldn't have and like with their early rebellion had paid a price for it?
"You do what you have to do," #17 shrugged, more determined then ever to unravel the mystery that was Android #16 at some date, then he walked towards the newcomers.
"Hey, #17's coming this way," Tien said alarmed. Seeing that the other android, the one who had beaten him up so often, was coming their way Trunks made one last effort to appeal to his father.
"Vegeta, run away," he yelled, "What good's your pride when your dead?"
"Go away boy," Vegeta said dismissively, "Or do you want me to kick your ass again?"
"Maybe you should do as he says," #18 said in that infuriating calm voice of hers, "We have no interest in cowards."
"Don't make me laugh," Vegeta replied, "Why run if I will kill the both of you? To tell you the truth I'd rather die then rely on the help of Earthlings, Nameks, vampires, half-breeds, and above all Kakarot!"
Hearing his father sneer at him again Trunks felt Mayan putting her hand on his shoulder again. He knew his father was no saint, but love must have truly made mother blind for her to fall in love with this, this… asshole.
Clap, clap, clap.
Clapping his hands slowly, #17 arrived at the group.
"What a beautiful speech," #17 said condescendingly, "You have shown great skill. You are truly a Saiyan prince of princes."
"Don't mock me, automaton," Vegeta said slowly as his eyes narrowed, "Especially you, brat. I've killed people for less."
"I'm sure you did, you truly embody the spirit of Bushido" #17 as he gave Vegeta a mock bow, then he faced the others, "But just in case your friends don't, the moment any of you make a move, so will I."
As the group members looked at each other in bewilderment, Vegeta spoke up.
"They're cowards," he said contemptuously, then he spit some blood to the ground, "Always hiding behind Kakarot as he took care of the dirty work. You didn't need to warn them off."
"Ready to continue then?" #18 asked with a slight smile.
"Bring it on," Vegeta said confidently.
x
x
To his credit Vegeta did manage to bring it on.
For a while he managed to hold up his own and even pummel the female android into the ground. But as she emerged from the latest crater, her hair a mess and her clothes shredded, she was still essentially unharmed.
"You really piss me off, bitch," Vegeta panted heavily as he landed in front of her, "All calm like that. That's the problem with you wind up dolls. No emotion."
"I have to say I'm impressed," #18 said calmly as she took off her torn jacked, "Even though you're an alien I didn't think anybody could be as strong as you are. Is Son Goku like you?"
"Kakarot?" Vegeta said incredulously, "Don't be stupid, for a while he was but things are back to normal now. I'm the strongest now."
"So he's not as strong, huh?" #18 said, glancing briefly at #17, then she looked at Vegeta, "Well, neither are you."
Then the fight went on.
Meanwhile the others looked on in bewilderment. Even Trunks.
Despite his recent humiliations at the hands of Vegeta, Trunks began to develop new respect for his father. The power, the skill, it was an awesome sight to behold. So much better then his sensei Gohan had been. Also, to be able to go toe to toe with an android and still hold his own. He never thought his father could have done so.
"Vegeta's going to lose," Piccolo suddenly said.
"Huh?"
"Look," Piccolo said nodding towards Vegeta, "He may hold his own but he's getting tired. She's not. Soon she will have the upper hand. Don't you think so, Belmovekk?"
There was no reply, causing Piccolo to look around.
"Belmovekk?" he said alarmed, because suddenly there was no sight of the Saiyan. Nor of the Scoobies, "Where did he go?"
"Aw, bugger," Spike said as he realized they had gone as well, "They left me behind. Again!"
"He was here a minute ago," Tien said equally surprised at their sudden disappearance.
There was no time to contemplate the sudden disappearance as the female android suddenly got the upper hand and began to pummel Vegeta mercilessly. And then it happened.
As he tried to ward off a kick to his face, #18's leg impacted with so much force against his upper left arm that it snapped with a loud crack.
CRACK
As Vegeta reached for his arm in pain something snapped inside Trunks. Flashbacks of scenes he'd rather not relive flashed before his eyes.
"FATHER!" he yelled as he took off to come Vegeta's aid, pulling out the big sword that was on his back.
"Idiot!" both Piccolo and Mayan said in annoyance, then they, Faith Spike and Tien took off after Trunks.
x
x
With the fight between Vegeta and Android #18 in full swing, Belmovekk watched on and tried to learn as much as was possible from the android's fighting style. Which seemed to be, for lack of a better word, economical?
She didn't seem interested in making flashy moves, nor in any sense of style, philosophy or beauty. It was pure business.
It was also poetry in motion in its own right.
Unfortunately for Vegeta Belmovekk was coming to the same conclusion that Piccolo would reach. Considering that she had the skill to adapt to Vegeta's style of combat, the difference of power between them being more or less equal so far and most of important of all, that infinite energy reactor of hers, unless she made a really colossal blunder there was no way in hell that she could lose.
That infinite energy reactor really made the difference, as he knew from first hand experience at fighting Spike back in the gravity gym at an equal level. It meant that getting into a battle of attrition with an android like that was certain doom.
He should really do something to help Vegeta. Even though the Saiyan prince had become an insufferable ass and wouldn't want the help. But the Saiyan prince had died once already and been revived by the Dragonballs. His second death would therefore be permanent.
But something wasn't adding up. Something was wrong with these androids.
"Maybe there is?" a voice said, heavily laden with harmonic overtones. Belmovekk glanced around quickly to see if his identical twin was lurking around but couldn't see him.
"Not now," Belmovekk muttered softly under his breath.
"Yes now," the Goa'uld's voice replied.
Suddenly Belmovekk was transported from Afghanistan to a very different place. As he looked around he found himself standing in a large Roman like arena, with the stands full of shouting and roaring people.
"ISKANDER! ISKANDER! ISKANDER!" the crowds roared as the Saiyan looked around. Then it all clicked. He was in Tol Honeth, capital of the Tolnedran Empire. The Imperial Arena to be precise. It was a long time ago, which meant that the Worm had dug really deep.
"AND IN THE GOLD CORNERRRRRRrrrrrrrr," a new voice shouted, his voice laden with harmonic overtones, somehow silencing the whole arena thanks to its excellent acoustics, "WE HAVE THE UNDEFEATED CHAMPION, ISKANDER!"
It was Amūn, still wearing his face but now in the guise of the Imperial Arena's Announcer.
"ISKANDER! ISKANDER! ISKANDER!"
Having no time to play games Belmovekk left the gold corner and walked to the centre of the Imperial Arena, where Amūn smiled as he awaited his arrival.
"Say what you have to say, worm," Belmovekk said impatiently, "I have more pressing business to attend."
"In a moment," Amūn smiled and placed his hands around his mouth to shout again.
But before he could Belmovekk grabbed one of his hands and stopped him.
"Like I said, worm," he said, placing heavy derogatory emphasis on the word worm, "I have no time for your games."
Amūn wanted to say something, then he rolled his eyes in exasperation.
"No games?" the Goa'uld sighed, then he looked upwards, "Why do I even bother to help you?"
"Enlightened self-interest?" Belmovekk suggested.
"That's the one," Amūn said triumphantly, then he pulled his hand free, "Now let me do this and it'll be all over soon."
"Just do you thing," Belmovekk said frowning.
"You have no idea," Amūn said with an impish grin, then he brought his hands to his mouth and shouted, "AND IN THE SILVER CORNER WE HAVE THE CHALLENGERS: FROM THE FROZEN NORTHS OF CHEREK, SYBIL OF DANNING."
As the crowds cheered Sybil of Danning stepped forth. Only she looked nothing like the Sybil of Danning Belmovekk remembered.
"Belmo? What gives?" Buffy said as she found herself standing in some strange arena. And what made it worse was that she was wearing an outfit that was so skimpy it would make a stripper blush. Especially the large metal bra that she was wearing, with those tacky pointed studs on them.
Then, despite the weirdness of the situation, she put her hands on her bra and jiggled them.
"Oh! My! God!" Buffy exclaimed as she suddenly realized she had gone up a cup size. Several cup sizes for that matter.
"WE ALSO HAVE FROM MARAGOR, MAGRATH THE STUPENDOUS!"
"Whoah," Xander said with eyes big as saucers as he stepped beside Buffy and noticed her minimal dress code.
"Buffy," he said in awe, "You put the class in trashy. I hereby totally swear off my loyalty to spandex and swear fealty to metal. Heavy metal!"
Saying the last part Xander's voice went up into falsetto, he also threw one hand into the air to give the devil's horns salute. Meanwhile Buffy stopped touching her gazongas and gave Xander a look over, then she put her hands on her sides and began to smile.
"Have you looked yourself in the mirror lately?" she asked.
"Oh yeah," Xander said as he flexed his large muscled body, "I'm looking gooooood!"
"You do know the only thing you're wearing is a man string," Buffy said as she pointed to his groin.
Xander stopped flexing his muscles, then he looked downwards and yelped. The only thing he seemed to be wearing was a very small G-string.
And one so small it begged to differ how small his 'package' now had become.
"I'm suddenly having a very uncomfortably flashback," he said as he placed a hand in front of his crotch, the other on his ass, "Ew, it's in my crack."
"I have to say, Xander," Buffy grinned, "While I like what I see, I liked the Speedo better. At least it left something to the imagination. Now it looks…., shorter?"
"Maybe I just had a cold bath?" Xander moaned.
"AND FINALLY, FROM THE MRIN MARSHES WE HAVE SOMETHING SPECIAL, AETOLIA THE WITCH!"
"You guys, what's going on?" Willow said surprised as she joined Buffy and Xander. She was also wearing an outfit that accentuated her curves. And she looked absolutely, well, if she had looked like this years ago history might have gone very different.
"This is so unfair," Xander said in disgust as he threw his hands in the air.
"What?" Willow asked surprised at her friend's outburst.
"He means your hair, Will," Buffy said as she reached out and brought a lock of gorgeously long black hair into Willow's view, "I think it's cute."
"Ow," Willow said excited as she reached for some locks of her now black hair, "This is kinda neat."
"The universe hates me," Xander sulked.
"What's his problem?" Willow asked.
"He's referring to your new looks, my porno sized boobs and, um," Buffy said as she mused for a moment, "Well, let's just say that what he gained in muscles he sort of lost where it matters. For most men."
Buffy smiled as she put her hand on Xander's shoulder.
"But don't worry, it's not the size that matters, it's how you use it."
"I hate you so much right now," Xander said aggrieved.
"Hey, you guys," Willow said, "Belmo's over there. And Belmo?"
"Two Belmo's huh," Buffy said, "Suddenly this all started to make sense. Come."
"And go out there dressed like this?" Xander whimpered, "Why does that strike me as, shall we say, inappropriate?"
"Oh, for God sakes," Buffy said as she rolled her eyes, then she picked up a shield that lay next to her and gave it to Xander, "Here, now nobody has to see little Xander Jr. and they can all ogle your magnificent ass instead."
The three of them walked to the center where the two Belmo's stood. One was dressed in a short pair of leather trousers, the other wore some kind of ceremonial robe. And for some reason he struck her as the one responsible for bringing them here.
It also helped of course that his eyes were glowing.
"You, why are you still talking to him," Buffy said pointing towards Belmo, then she pointed towards glow-in-the-dark Belmo, "And you! You did this! Somehow you did this and brought us here. Which leads to the question of A: how did you bring us here and B: why are we here?"
"Why is my weewee suddenly small?" Xander asked.
"Or my hair black?" Willow added.
"Boobies?" Buffy said as she reached for her metal bra.
"You are all inside my memories," Belmo said, then he reached his arms into the air, "The Imperial Arena in Tol Honeth to be precise."
As he put his arms into the air the crowd began to chant.
"ISKANDER! ISKANDER! ISKANDER!"
"Who's this Iskander?" Willow asked.
"My guess, Maximus Decimus Meridius here," Buffy said as she eyed Belmo suspiciously, "So now you've been a gladiator as well?"
"I was under cover at the time," Belmo said defensively, "And it would seem that that little worm has dressed you up as some of my adversaries of that time."
"Then this isn't permanent?" Xander said jagged, still holding up the round shield in front of his 'nether' regions.
"Before I continue I must say that I'm excited to finally meet you all," glow-in-the-dark Belmo said excited, "So far I've only had the chance to meet Miss Summers, I never had the chance to talk to either Xander or Willow yet."
"What are you?" Xander asked.
"It's his imaginary BFF," Buffy said, "You know, the one I told you about. The Goold who wouldn't die."
"Ooooooh!" glow-in-the-dark Belmo said excited as he clapped his hands together in glee, "You remembered! I was afraid you wouldn't remember since we, well, technically he was under the weather."
"How could I forget," Buffy groaned as she put her hands in front of her eyes, "It's not every day that you find out your stepfather still has an alien inside him."
"I don't think he's an alien any more, Buff," Xander said musing, "If anything he's become the Big Guy's Harvey."
"Harvey?" Buffy asked.
"Yeah, you know," Xander said as he tapped his forehead, "Like Farscape, where Crighton gets a chip in his brain and a neural clone from the bad guy. Where they talk to each other in places from Crighton's memory and hijincks ensue?"
"You really watch to much television," Buffy said shaking her head.
"It's not like I get to do much else at home," Xander shrugged. And that closed the argument because they all knew what kept the young teen at home for most of his spare hours. It wasn't even discussed any more.
"Gentlemen, and ladies," glow-in-the-dark Belmo said, redrawing attention to himself, "Far be it for me to interrupt your fascinating discourse, maybe we should get back to more important matters."
"Yeah," Buffy said as she reached out to thumb glow-in-the-dark Belmo and found, much to her surprise, that she could actually touch him, "How did you bring us here and why am I not bringing down the Big Hurt on your whatever the hell your ass actually is?"
"Fair questions indeed," glow-in-the-dark Belmo said as he rubbed the spot where Buffy had thumbed him, "Well, the first answer would be Saiyan telepathy. As you may all know by now it is capable of all sorts of nutty things. It may not be perfect but it has allowed all of you to interact with him here from time to time. It is however also capable of communication through physical touch alone. Not only was I able to reach out through his limited talent for telepathy, because at one time or another you all have connected to him I knew where to look. And of course because you all have similar latent talents yourself."
"What do you mean? Willow asked, "Are we all telepathic? Are all humans capable of such? Are we…."
"Easy, my lady," glow-in-the-dark Belmo interrupted, then he pointed to each of them, "You're a sorceress, which grants you certain unique talents, she's the Slayer which grants her certain unique talents and he, well, he's practically a long lost Saiyan half-cousin."
"Oh God," Xander moaned as he buried his face in his free hand, "Not the Saiyan connection again."
"Why are you so awkward about it?" glow-in-the-dark Belmo asked curiously, "For years you moaned not having a power and now that you do, you don't want it? You should embrace the madness, it fires your blood!"
"You stole that from Babylon 5!" Xander cried out angrily, "From Londo Mollari!"
"Londo who?" Buffy asked.
"Centauri guy," Willow filled in, "You know, the guy with the six, um, penises?"
"Ow," Buffy said, then a small smile crept on her face, "that one."
"So sue me," glow-in-the-dark Belmo said to Xander, "I'm an alien. I'm using a more contemporary frame of reference because I doubt that the ancestral wisdoms of the Goa'uld would make much of an impression on you."
"So that explains the how," Buffy interjected, "You still haven't explained why I shouldn't go medieval on your projected ass."
Glow-in-the-dark Belmo stopped looking at Xander, glanced at Buffy, then at the real Belmo.
"Ever since what remained of me got trapped inside his mind my course is now inevitably linked to his," glow-in-the-dark Belmo said as he moved over to stand next to the Saiyan, "I was once a leader of men. Jaffa, strong of arms, who would follow me into battle. As their God it was my duty to look out for them. When he defeated me it became his responsibility, and since I reside in him, it still is mine too."
"When I tried to kill Anubis I shared in his vision and learned of a terrible secret. And when I died and ended up inside him I learned of another. A terrible and dark danger will rise from this world and it will not only consume yours, it will spread out to the galaxy and beyond as well. It must be stopped at all costs. So all of our fates are now intertwined, young Slayer."
"In the past we tried to stop the coming of the Androids because we believed that while they would not the great and terrible danger, we did believe that their coming would herald the other. Things have now changed however."
"In what way?"
Glow-in-the-dark Belmo gave her a look.
"Well, for one, how about the androids being activated now?" he said, "So I propose a different course of action."
"Which is what?" Belmo asked. To which glow-in-the-dark Belmo turned around and faced the audience.
"You were sent here to fight a great danger. I propose that instead of trying to destroy those androids we use them instead to draw out that great enemy into the open and destroy it once and for all. CAN I GET A HELL YEAH?"
"HELL YEAH!" the audience in the Imperial Arena shouted en masse and glow-in-the-dark Belmo began to pump his fists into the air.
"YES!" glow-in-the-dark Belmo said energized, "The League has spoken!"
"An interesting notion," Belmo said as he cupped his chin and began to mull it over, "Drawing them out into the open has always been a problem."
"You can't seriously consider this," Buffy said shocked, "This plan has crazy written all over it. Crazy people flee from it. Bad plan, we had other plans, remember? Slaying plans. Going to college plans!"
"Uh, yeah," Xander added, "I have to agree with Buffy here, we're talking about letting three killer robots on the loose. Remember what Trunks said. They killed most of us."
"But not the world," Belmo countered as he pointed to the dirt arena below their feet, "They did not destroy this planet. In order for the new cosmic accident to happen this planet has to blow up. Since it did not happen they cannot be the cause. We therefore should use them as bait."
Seeing that Belmo was leaning to his side of the argument, glow-in-the-dark Belmo pumped his fists into the air again.
"CAN I HAVE ANOTHER HELL YEAH?"
"HELL YEAH!" the crowd shouted back.
"But they're still going to kill humans!" Buffy said incredulously, "Doesn't that even register on the Belmometer of insanity? And don't even start on acceptable losses or we can bring them back with the Dragonballs because I will slap some sense into your vacant construction zone of drool!"
"But Buffy," Willow suddenly said to everyone's surprise, "We don't know that they're going to kill us all. They didn't try to kill us at the lab. Even now they're only fighting because Vegeta challenged them."
"That's because they're on a mission to kill Goku," Xander countered, "You remember Goku, right? Nice guy? Helped us in the past when we had a bad case of Evil Mayor Trying To Become An Evil Super Villain?"
"But as long as we keep Goku from them we could manage them," Belmo suggested.
"No, no, no, no," Buffy said as she closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose, "I'm not hearing what I'm hearing. I don't even wanna think about thinking about what I'm hearing."
"What you're proposing is dangerous, extremely dangerous," Xander said, "What if they go on a rampage trying to find Goku? You remember rampages, don't you?"
Belmo put his hands together in front of him.
"I am willing to concede that we may have to intervene to stop those androids if they were to become violent," he said calmly and rationally, "But until then I propose that we do nothing and stop the others from doing anything to stop them."
"Why are we even discussing this?" Buffy said as she threw her hands in the air, "Those androids devastated his world for almost two decades and no great and terrible something came along. Are we to sit by and do nothing for two decades? By then I'm too old for college. If there even is a college left by then."
"You guys do remember the strange prophecy Giles found in his Gypsy Prophecy," Willow said, then she began to paraphrase, "You are living in the crucible, and to this crucible they shall come from beyond the walls of time and space. Take great care that they shall not fall into their hands."
"It's gibberish, Will," Buffy said, "It can mean anything. Besides, remember the prophecy about how I was going to set the Master free and die? All I had to do to stop it was not show up and it would never have happened. I say that if some prophecy wants to keep something safe from others, then nuking it is a perfectly good way to do so."
"Hell yeah!" Xander said as he held up his free hand to Buffy for a high five, "I so hate prophecies."
Glow-in-the-dark Belmo stopped playing to the imaginary crowds and turned towards Buffy and Xander.
"Look," he said, "I brought you here so I can talk to you about a possible course of action. Or have you all forgotten why we cannot discuss this in the open? What happened to you two in Cleveland and to you at the hands of Anubis? The Great Enemy is out there, whether you like it or not. They will set things in motion against you regardless of your so-called college. The question becomes, do you want to react to their next move? Or do you want them to react to yours? I'll say this though, no war has ever been won by letting the other side dictate events."
Buffy and Xander looked at each other. Seeing that he had managed to plant the seed of doubt in their minds glow-in-the-dark Belmo turned around and faced the audience again.
"CAN I HAVE A HELL YEAH?"
x
x
Krillin looked on his absolute horror as the two androids dealt summarily with his friends as they came to Vegeta's rescue. Tien, Spike and Faith were dealt with easily. Piccolo got the mother of all sucker punches. It was only the two teens from the future who put up any kind of resistance. Then again, they had most the experience dealing with these androids.
Trunks battered the female android with his sword, the same one that had sliced Freeza into little bits. Freeza! Tyrant of the universe! Who at one time had killed Krillin and who still had him waking up and screaming at night from time to time. Sliced and diced like a fresh fish in a sushi bar. And yet that same blade nearly shattered when it hit the android's arm.
Of course no blade could really hurt a trained chi fighter. Nor could bullets. If Trunks' blade sliced Freeza into chop suey it was because Trunks had infused it with his chi and made it into an extension of himself.
Which of course meant that Trunks, a Super Saiyan from the future, was no match for these androids. Neither was his girlfriend, who got in a few good ones against the other android before going down. But down she went, just like the others.
Paradoxically Vegeta was the last to go down as it was finally lights out for him as well. As the Saiyan prince fell down unconsciously he dropped out of Super Saiyan. Much to the androids' curiosity.
Standing on the other side of the dirt road Krillin felt both horror as he watched the androids beat his friends. And at the same time revulsion as well that he let the others go to their doom and remained behind. What the hell was wrong with him? Normally he would be amongst the first to go into battle, and usually ending up getting beaten very badly. It wasn't like him to freeze up. Hell, even Yamcha, with his endless griping about being useless, still had the courage in him to keep going.
And to make things worse he was all alone here.
For some strange reason, just moments before Vegeta had ended up in dire straits Belmovekk and his three kids had disappeared. Vanished into thin air. And even though both Vegeta and Trunks, known Super Saiyans, had gone down like burning aircraft, having another Super Saiyan around might have made a difference. After all, it had been Piccolo who had once speculated that the Saiyan sorcerer might not make for a good sorcerer, but he might actually be the strongest of all three Saiyans.
But now he was gone.
Krillin never figured Belmovekk and his kids as cowards. On the contrary. Nor could he fault them for being cowards after he had stayed behind himself. But their sudden disappearance smelt more suspect then a fish market after 12 o'clock.
But Krillin had no time to ponder Belmovekk's mysterious disappearance. For the two androids suddenly touched down just twenty feet from him. As a shocked Krillin raised his two fist in a semblance of a fighting stance the male android looked at him.
"Don't worry," the android smiled, "They're all still alive. If I were you I'd hurry and give them a senzu. That should brighten up their day."
Too flabbergasted to say Krillin just stared at the android. The android wanted to turn around and walk away when he paused.
"Oh, and tell your friends that when they get stronger we will be happy to fight them again," he said as he waved goodbye, "See ya!"
And then he walked away.
"Aren't you going to ask him where Goku lives," #18 asked as #17 walked past her, "We don't have his exact address, remember?"
"It's somewhere that way, in China," #17 shrugged pointing towards the east, "Besides, it's more fun to find out for ourselves."
"You're childish," the female android said frowning, to which the other android shrugged.
"I am as our creator made me," he replied offhand.
As Krillin looked on in utter bewilderment #17 walked up to the giant #16.
"What are you looking at, #16?" he asked as the giant android seemed utterly disinterested in what had happened.
"You scared away the animals," #16 said mournfully, his little friend gone.
"Animals?" #17 said curiously as he looked around and saw nothing. Except maybe a scorpion trying to hide underneath a rock.
"Maybe we should go somewhere else," #18 suggested, "It doesn't look like a lot of traffic uses this road. Not any more at least."
She was referring to the large hole Vegeta had created trying to blow her up.
"You're probably right," #17 agreed as he looked around the barren landscape, "This doesn't look like a place where lots of traffic comes. Certainly not the kind that picks up hitchhikers.
"Maybe we should go to India?" #18 suggested as she examined some of her torn clothes, "I could do with some new clothes as well."
"India should be fun," #17 said as his smile grew big, "Alright, let's….."
"WAIT!" a voice yelled, then Krillin touched down next to the androids.
"What do you want?" #17 asked without even looking at the small fighter.
"What do you want?" Krillin asked back, "Are you guys trying to kill Goku? Or trying to destroy the world?"
#17 glanced briefly at #18, then he looked at Krillin.
"I guess we'll just have to wait and see once we kill Goku," he replied smiling.
"But why?" Krillin asked imploringly, "What's the point? Gero was the one who hated Goku. And you killed him. There's no reason to do anything, really."
"But Gero doesn't even matter," #17 shrugged, "it's just a game. Isn't Son Goku the strongest person on the planet?"
"This is just a game?" Krillin said incredulously.
"Sure," #17 said, "That's why we're not going to ask you where he is. It's all part of the game."
Not believing what he was hearing Krillin lived through a thousand emotions. Pure evil, genuine cruelty, sadism, those were things he could understand. But that it was all a game to them?
"So, if I were to ask you to stop you wouldn't, would you?" he said hesitantly.
"We wouldn't," the big android suddenly said, "We were created to kill Son Goku."
"You heard the man," #17 added, "Now I know we did our best not to kill your friends, but if you don't give them some senzus soon, some of them may still die. You don't want that on your conscience, now do you?""
Too dumbstruck to speak Krillin just looked on as #17 waved goodbye again. Then, to add to his confusion #18 leaned over and kissed him on his cheek.
"Bye," she smiled at him, "Don't do anything stupid."
And then the three androids took off into the sky.
x
x
High in the sky above the air began to shimmer and four people suddenly became visible.
"Ow, isn't that cute?" Buffy said as she looked down upon the dumbfounded Krillin.
"She's just toying with him," Xander scoffed, "She may look cute but underneath her hot looks she has the soul of a Cordelia."
"Xander?" Willow said frowning, "She may actually like him."
"Women!" Xander said as he rolled his eyes, "Give them one sappy kiss and they instantly go Sleepless in Seattle. She's just messing with him! Anyone can see that the Noseless one is still a virgin."
"I feel awful that we didn't help them," Buffy said pitiful as she looked at the Z-fighters lying in the dirt, "I feel…, dirty?"
"I do too, young lady," Belmovekk said, "But the worm was right. Not only do these androids behave different, we should use them to our advantage."
"Plans within plans," Buffy sighed wistfully.
"So what now?" Willow asked, to which Belmovekk looked down.
"You and I will go down," he finally said, "and try to make amends. They will not take kindly to our disappearance."
"And what are we going to do?" Buffy asked. To which Belmovekk put his hand on her shoulder.
"Keep an eye on those androids, young lady. You two keep an eye on them. And try to keep them out of trouble."
