Her eyes opened, she wasn't aware of falling asleep but she was tired. It must be the extra drain on her energy supporting another life. She glanced around. She was back in the lab. Sixteen had dutifully fulfilled his mission of returning her back to base. The room was sterile but strangely comforting. She could relate to the machines and they to her. A part of her wanted to bury herself in this room to study all the mysteries and never come out.
But the new part of her felt wary. It was too quiet in the lab. Dr. Gero should have been here, going over things, taunting her, erasing her, rebuilding her for a new purpose or worse, destroying her entirely. He would break her down cell by cell painfully until there was nothing left. She clutched protectively at the thought. Sixteen had said that she was too valuable now that she carried a precious cargo.
She got up from where someone had placed her on a cold steel table to rest. Someone had rolled up some sheets, placing them under her head. Whomever that was also had the forethought to place a trashcan beside her just in case. She stretched, working out a few knots in her shoulders from where she had slept wrong.
"You should tell her how you feel," a woman's voice, half hiss, half command.
"No," a male voice responded, footsteps on concrete sounding distant then close, the telltale sign of someone pacing.
"If you don't tell her, she'll never know. At least she would have a choice then. She may think her only option is her old life with that monkey," said the woman.
"No, it was hard enough to go back after that last mission when Dr. Gero erased her memories. I don't care if he punishes me, I can take the torture. If he punishes her..." there was a pause as the pacing stopped. "It may kill her this time. And it's not just her now."
"Tch," the woman made a sound. She must have been taking lessons at the Vegeta school for communication skills. Angel smiled and made some exaggerated yawning noises before she crept off the table. She didn't want them to know she was eavesdropping.
She walked into the next room to find 17 and 18 standing off against the other. 17 was facing away from her, his arms crossed, suddenly finding the panel of lights and gadgets interesting. 18 was looking at the floor, placing a few flaxen strands of hair behind one ear. The silence though bothered her more than neither of them meeting her eyes.
"Whatever it is, it will be OK," she said with the conviction she didn't feel.
"Ya," 18 responded. She was gritting her teeth, her hand fisting and then she punched a wall. Angel was slightly surprised by this reaction and moved out of her adopted sister's way as the girl stormed passed her, careful not to bump into her as she was going out the door.
"What's gotten into her?" she asked 17 who still didn't look at her. "Well you all are as fun as a circus full of mimes. Anyway, I'm going to look for clothes that don't smell like vomit."
"22?" 17 started.
"Angel, remember?" She said but with a playful note so as not to hurt his feelings. She could see something was weighing on his shoulders.
"Nothing," 17 said before he too walked past her into the other room.
Angel wondered around until she found the trunk full of her clothes. Or she should say Android 22's clothes. After all, she would only be Angel until Dr. Gero erased her memories again. It would be like resetting to original factor settings. After all, she was just a walking computer in flesh form.
"Are you feeling better?" A voice called out to her.
16 was standing in the door way as she was changing. She wasn't offended that he was there. He wasn't anatomically correct. Even if someone had thought to add the necessary equipment she doubted they'd remember to program him with a sex drive. Just the thought was gross! Still she treated him as friendly as she could. He was always very gentle with her or at least that was her impression. Sometimes when you don't have reliable memories, you just have to go with your gut instinct.
"Yes, 16, thank you," She told him with a small smile. She felt a little better. She was dressed in a red leather one piece zip up outfit. She thought she looked great. It was skin tight and custom made to accentuate all her curves in the right way. She pulled her hair into a bow and put a red ribbon in it. She laughed when she saw herself in a reflective surface. The ribbon made her look like she had bunny ears...
{Bunny ears... a black outfit...running in heels...where was she going?}
The sensation was like water sliding off her skin. She could almost touch this memory. Her brain began flipping like a tv set, changing channels on her as fast as she could blink.
{Then she was falling. Falling... from a place very high. And someone caught her, he was smirking at her. His cobalt eyes trapping hers in their dark depths. And then she was falling in a different way, his touch lingering longer than it should, his eyes watching her every move, finding things to argue about with her until...}
{"It's just us now 22, high or low?" a different voice, different eyes directed at her in a way that made her heart flutter. She felt herself blush at that cocky grin of his. The slow drawl he had when he spoke undermining the sheer ferociousness with which he could fight.
"I'll take high," she said, her wings spreading in anticipation.
"Great, then I get to see up your skirt," he replied. She flipped him the bird but couldn't hide her smile as the sunlight faded.}
{And the light faded and she was back in his strong arms. He had finished training and was angry and broken. So broken. Broken she could deal with, broken she was familiar with, she was broken too. A weight crushing them both greater than the heavy gravity he constantly trained under. Together they could fix each other. Together...}
She wanted to hold together to stay with the memory. Just one complete memory. Just to hold on.
{Holding on as she fell over the chair with him. And she was laughing at their antics because they were amusing. Pretending to be angry when someone made a mistake. Doing what she could to help them in trouble. Giving them the dragon radar. Building them a spaceship. Hugging them cause in the end they were family.}
{Family...}
{And she was covering their retreat her wings damaged, her energy low. No one would hurt them while she was there. She always had a strategy. She would save them all cause in the end they were family...}
{Family...}
{Family...}
"22, are you OK?" 16 was holding her. She must have passed out again.
"I'm fine," she lied. She didn't want to tell him that she was afraid she was losing herself. Afraid the nanites might be taking over and finally destroying her brain. Afraid that she would never be Angel again, just another doll among the rest of the doctor's toys.
"You are leaking from your eyes? Is this normal or a malfunction? We can have the doctor look at you when he is done." He offered, righting her back on her two feet.
"I'm fine," she insisted, wiping away the unwelcome tears with her fingers. 16 didn't look convinced. "Thanks for being here for me."
"It is in my programming to assist but I understand what you are trying to convey," 16 said.
She patted him on the chest in an affectionate manner then walked away towards another part of the compound. She still felt unsteady but didn't want to cause anyone to worry so she took a seat at the doctor's desk. Nearby was the communications array. Though she really wanted to contact someone she knew it would be futile. The signal would be interrupted before it could fully transmit due to the doctor's fail-safes or he would punish her remotely like he had tried earlier.
You know, you could always try old fashioned Morse code. The voice in her head said.
"And who would be smart enough to know Morse code? Vegeta's an alien who thinks Enimem is a snack so it is doubtful he would ever know Morse code. Goku is as smart as a box of pop rocks and just as fruity. Don't even get me started on Krillin. Gohan is a pretty smart kid, he might but how would I reach Gohan directly?"
You could increase your ki to max. Vegeta would find you that way.
"It's not that detectable or Vegeta would have found me years ago. I'm not convinced it exists in androids anyway with the different power sources."
Man you are just a Debbie Downer aren't you?
"I'm a realist," she said with the realization how stupid she was talking to herself. And when did this start anyway?
Not stupid. A genius remember. A hot genius. Seriously girl that outfit is kickin' and our ass looks fantastic in it!
"Great, now the voice in my head is hitting on me! God I'm so damaged." She groaned and placed her head on the desk accidentally triggering a button.
The printer kicked on and reprinted the last transmission. She picked up the paper, studying it.
[Arrival in 12 hours. Bringing reinforcements. Likely attack on compound. Do NOT reprogram Blue1. Interrogate upon arrival. Her mission successful. Trap set.]
Trap? Vegeta!
"I have to get a message out somehow!" She scrambled to her feet. Racing to find one of the others. She ran right into 17 as he was walking toward the galley.
"Help me!" She said, her breathing ragged.
17 grabbed her shoulders, his face growing concerned, "What's wrong?"
"It's a trap, it's all a trap!" Her mind finally putting all the pieces together. "It was never about killing Doctor Briefs. It was all about having a bait so irresistible that the enemy would have to come to you. It's all smoke and mirrors! It was all one long con, a show!"
17 made shushing noises, "Hey, slow down 22, you're not making sense."
"Don't you get it, I'm the bait. I go in and catch their interest. When they still have doubts about me, I get attacked by Dr. Gero through the neural link. Well this settles it, I'm just a victim, right? Someone they have to protect, someone they would DIE to save. Poor helpless android that used to be our friend. And when they come here to 'rescue' me, they'll be waiting! I'LL be waiting! That's why he hasn't reprogrammed me yet, he wants them to be here to watch it happen. To see how low he's brought me! To see how powerful he is! He wants to watch as I kill them all one by one. To see the horror in their eyes as they realize the type of monster I've become!" She wanted to cry but instead she started laughing, a horrible, mirthless laugh. How fucked up was she to be laughing at all this? She slid to her knees with 17 sliding down with her, still holding on to her shoulders.
"You're not a monster," he said.
"I'm the worst kind of monster," she replied, "I'm the one that looks like an Angel but I'm really the Devil who glued wings on his back."
"You're an Angel. Isn't that your name?" He asked in a tone of a parent talking to a child.
"Is it? I don't know who I am anymore. And soon, I won't be me! I don't want to..."
He pulled her to him, crushing her mouth with his, silencing her. She felt the flow of energy from him. It coursed through her weary body giving her a much needed boost. She drank it up greedily, enjoying the euphoria that an energy transfer always brought her. When she had her fill she tried to pull away but he held her tight, keeping his lips on hers. He kept his movements slow as if trying not to startle a baby deer. One hand fisted in her hair while the other slid down her back keeping her body flush with his.
Vegeta is going to rip his balls off when he finds out. Too bad. He's cute in a quiet, sensitive type way. You know where your true heart lies though. You can't keep him. Life doesn't work like that.
She tuned out the voice in her head. Instead she concentrated on him, recalling the conversation she overheard earlier. 17 cared about her, she knew this. Though a lot of her memories were taken from her at the start of each job, some things were always left in. Her relationships to the other androids was one of them. It was necessary so she would be able to work with them no matter who she had become. This, this was a surprise. She didn't know he felt this way, she had no clue. How could she have known. She knew he was smart, quiet, resourceful, a prolific fighter, and had a wicked sense of humor that matched her own. But somewhere in the recesses of her brain, she felt that connection. A thread as fragile as a spider's web spun between them. She kissed him back because she knew if she didn't her heart would break. She reached her hands up and cupped his face. How could she be so much to so many people?
The kiss wasn't the most spectacular one she had ever known, certainly not the most passionate. However, it was the one with the most emotion she had ever felt. Sorrow, grief, happiness, relief, denial, acceptance, and finally bitterness. It was a kiss two lovers parting forever would share. When it ended, their eyes met with full understanding. She wasn't ready for it to end yet. She pulled him to her for a hug. Her head resting on his shoulder as she breathed in his scent. She wanted to take this memory with her into her next inception, her next "life".
"I'm sorry," she said, breaking the moment because someone had to. "I didn't..."
"Mm," he murmured. He held her a few more minutes before she felt him push her back. There was no expression in his face, no regret, no anguish, just acceptance. It almost broke her again but she knew it was a defense mechanism. They could move on now this way. They could be friends this way.
He can let go this way... the voice said.
She sighed unsure of what to say.
"Come on, we have to get the others and figure out what we can do to stop this before everyone gets slaughtered," he stood up as she sat back on her legs. He reached down and lifted her to her feet with one hand, his touch and eyes lingering before he looked away.
She followed him as he turned to go down the hallway. "Your butt looks big in that outfit," he teased.
"Said no sane man to a woman ever," she countered.
"Only if they're talking to a sane woman," he snarked. "However, we both know that you are mentally deficient in the wardrobe department."
"I'll have you know that I look amazing. At least I don't try to look like an extra from Firefly. That show was cancelled for a reason!" She mocked.
"It wasn't because of the costumes I can tell you that. God, Nathan Fillion is so underrated," he said indignantly. "He needs to be in more stuff!"
She smiled, grateful for what he was trying to do. Letting them fall back into their familiar banter. Finding a balance for them. Now they could focus on what they needed to do, letting go in the process.
A/N: I don't usually do notes but I understand this chapter may be confusing to some of you (per my friend who read it). Also, I'm writing this late and haven't edited well. So if you need me to change something, please let me know.
Earlier in the chapter when she was changing, Bulma's brain was flipping between her life with Vegeta and her friends to her life with the Androids. I've taken some inspiration for this chapter from the show, "Dollhouse" where the main character is reprogrammed but somehow all her old personalities merge into one and she has memories from them all. A friend lent me the dvds recently and I just sat down and watched them. Good show.
I promise I will go into more detail later about what happened between 17 and Bulma when she was on missions. I just had to pour so much into this chapter that it would be a REALLY LONG chapter if I included it all. All Bulma senses was a really deep connection between the two of them and she feels a loss because she can't be with him because she truly loves Vegeta. I'm sure if Vegeta was not in her life that she would purse this connection with him but he's not going to let her cause he's awesome like that and knows what is best for her and where her heart truly lies.
I'm so glad to be writing again. I have more stories that I'm going to post that I've been working on, I just want them a little more closer to completed so everyone who wants to read won't be waiting for updates forever like with this one and Fade to Black.
Thanks so much for reading and sorry for the delay. Work has been terrible but now it's slow again, so expect more soon! Thanks so much for the comments and sticking with me! You all are great!