Chapter 2
If I seem bleak
Well you'd be correct
And if I don't speak
It's cause I can't disconnect
But I won't be burned by the reflection
Of the fire in your eyes
As you're staring at the sun
In all her time spent, living at Capsule Corp, 18 had never seen it so empty. True, the business compartments were still as bustling as ever, but the living quarters were unoccupied save for herself and 16. She wasn't complaining. It was nice to have some time to herself. And anyway, she'd had two offers to leave the building with the others.
The first had been from Trunks, who had invited her to come train in the wilderness with him and Vegeta. But 18 had known what that would've eventually led to. A sparring match between her and Vegeta, one 'accidentally' misplaced energy wave and about three months of regeneration for her. So, no thankyou!
The second invite had been from Bulma and Bra. They'd been heading out into town to do some shopping, and had asked 18 to come along. 18 had declined, saying she was in the mood for relaxing and reading something. But if she were to be completely honest, she'd have said that watching Bulma and her daughter together would only remind her of how much she missed Marron.
It'd been about a month since she'd set off to 'find herself', and 18 thought more and more every day about where she was and how she was doing. It was stupid really, if she thought about it logically. She'd only really known Marron for a year. Okay, she'd seen her as a little girl during their brief visit to the other timeline, but she'd never seen her grow up. She'd never really had a hand in raising her.
Come to think of it, the same went for Goku and Vegeta, and their offspring. But they were making up for it. Training their kids, passing on their teachings. 18 sighed; she didn't have any teachings to pass on to Marron, except perhaps how to level an entire city with a few well aimed blasts!
A knock at the door interrupted her thoughts and she got up to answer it. What she saw upon opening it did little to raise her spirits.
"Hi sis. Long time no – Hey!"
17 found himself slammed; face first, into the door with his arm twisted up behind his back.
"What the hell are you doing?!" He managed to say with half his face pressed up against the hard surface. 18 was using one arm to hold him there, and the other to root around in his pockets.
"I'm making sure you don't have any remote-shaped device on your person. I haven't forgotten what happened last time you were here!"
"Come on! That was two years ago! Don't tell me you're still mad!"
They were, of course, talking about 17 using a remote, very similar to the one Gero had owned, to immobilize 18. He had planned on taking her back to Gero's lab and reactivating her original programming, turning her back into the soulless killing machine she'd been before. But, thanks to a timely intervention by Goku, Gohan and Vegeta, that hadn't come to pass and he'd wound up inside an oversized test tube with a collar round his neck that kept him from firing energy waves or even flying.
"Now, would you let go of me! You're breaking my arm!"
18 released him, but still barred his way into the building.
"What are you doing here?" She demanded.
"Take it easy. I'm not here to cause trouble. In fact, I came to ask for help."
18's response caught 17 by surprise. She started laughing.
"Help!? You expect, after everything you've done, for me to help you!? Oh that limiter must be on too tight. It's cutting off air to your brain!" She pushed him out the door. "Now 17, would you be so kind as to get lost!? Though I have to say, thanks. I needed a good laugh!"
"Chiara's been kidnapped!" 17 said, just before the door slammed shut. There was a moment of silence, and then the door opened again.
"What?" said 18.
"Today. We were attacked by these soldiers; at least I think they were soldiers. They used this strange weapon that completely overloaded my circuits. It felt like I was on fire! Anyway, they took Chiara away in this helicopter that just vanished."
"Vanished? What do you mean vanished?"
"I mean it turned into a flock of orange hummingbirds! What do you think I mean!?"
"Okay, okay!" 18 stepped out of the doorway. "I think you'd better come in."
Simmons looked at the android lying on the table in front of him. Her eyes were still closed and she was bound to the table with the same kind of cable that they used in their binders. He had to admit he was impressed with the technology that finally allowed them to fight back against those artificial monsters. The binders worked in a similar way to an EMP. Except while EMPs permanently shut down any electronic component in their radius, these binders only affected anything electronic that they were in contact with. That made them much safer to use on this fortress. Simmons shuddered to think what would happen if the generators, that kept it afloat in the air, were to be shut down.
Still, what he couldn't understand was why the coronal insisted on keeping it alive. Now they had the ability to shut these machines off, they should destroy them before they decided to go on another rampage and kill hundreds more people. Simmons himself had lost family to the androids and didn't want to risk it happening again. But Coronal Jesper hadn't failed them so far. He'd gathered the small remnants of Earth's armies and given them a new feeling of hope. That and the means to actually render the androids helpless. But before they'd gotten a chance to use it, reports had come in that the androids had been destroyed.
Now that they were back, the army had been reformed and Coronal Jesper's plans had been put back in action. Although, what those plans were, Simmons still wasn't aware of. But he had faith in the coronal. After all, just look at what the man had done. Here they were, hovering above East Satan City and, thanks to the cloaking device the coronal had invented, nobody had spotted them for ten years!
Simmons turned at the sound of the coronal's voice behind him.
"Excellent job, Commander! Well done!"
Simmons quickly stood to attention and saluted. The coronal's hover chair was silent, just like the generators, so he hadn't known he was there until he spoke. Coronal Jesper was an old man. What little remained of his hair was deathly white and his skin tone wasn't far off being the same colour. Being well into his nineties, he could only get around through the use of a hover chair. He now used this to sidle up close to the table and get a good look at Chiara. He stared at her for a few long moments and then turned his head back to Simmons.
"Start the scanning right away. I want to know what every bit of this android is made of."
"We're obviously dealing with some kind of supernatural beings!" 17 said as he paced back and forth in front of 18. "Creatures with the ability to render their opponents helpless and to disappear without a trace. Maybe they can teleport?"
"Or maybe their helicopter was equipped with some kind of cloaking technology." 18 replied dryly. "And from what you've told me, it sounds like their weapons are some kind of electronic disruptors."
"Yeah … that makes sense." 17 sat down with a slightly disappointed look on his face.
"So," he looked at his sister. "How're we going to get her back?"
"Excuse me? 'We'?"
"Yeah. You and me." He stood up again.
"Come on! I can't rescue her by myself. Not like this!" He pointed to the limiter round his neck. "I can't involve Gajetto. He's no fighter! And I'd rather wish Gero back to life and ask him for help than those Z-friends of yours! So you're all I've got."
"Wow, I'm touched." 18 said sarcastically. She stood up and crossed her arms. "Alright, I'll help. But only because I like Chiara."
"Great! Let's go!" 17 started towards the door.
"Hold it." 18 reached out and grabbed the back of his shirt. "You always did jump in without thinking. First we need to find out where they took her. And lucky for you, I know how we can."
She walked over to the stairway that led down to Bulma's lab.
"Hey 16!" She called. "Is Bulma's dragon radar down there?"
"16?" said 17 in bewilderment.
There came the sound of heavy footsteps on the stairs and then 16 appeared. He had the radar in his hand and Bra's cat Raion on his shoulder. He held out the radar to 18, who accepted it gratefully while 17 just stared at the towering android.
"I take it you are leaving?" He asked in his deep gravelly voice.
"Yeah, I might be gone for a while. Something's come up." 18 put the radar in her pocket and headed towards the door.
"Do you… wish for me to go with you?" 18 noticed 16 looking at 17 as he said this. Clearly Bulma had let him know all about 17 and the history he had with the z-fighters.
"Thanks, but I can handle it. You watch over the place while I'm gone. Okay, big guy?" She turned to 17 who was still staring, open-mouthed, at 16. "What're you doing, trying to catch flies? Let's go."
The two of them stepped outside and 18 turned on the radar. Four yellow dots instantly appeared on the screen. She figured the one nearest to them would be the one Chiara had found. She looked up as 17 tapped her on the shoulder.
"Just who the hell was that?!" He pointed back to the building.
"Hmm? Oh, that was 16. He was the android Gero made before us." 18 answered simply. She then turned her attention back to the radar. 17 clearly wasn't satisfied with that answer.
"Well!? Where did he come from?!"
18 sighed.
"He was created by Gero to destroy Goku but, for some reason, was never activated. Last year, at the tournament, he tried to kill Goku but Bulma was able to shut him down and reprogram him. Now he lives at Capsule Corp with us and keeps it safe from any intruders." 17 could tell, from the look 18 was giving him, what she was referring to, so he decided to drop the subject.
"Now come on. Hopefully, we can use the radar to find the dragon ball those soldiers took. And, with any luck, wherever we find the dragon ball, we'll also find Chiara."
Coronal Jesper sat at his desk, looking over the results of the android's scans. Ingenious. The android had a silicon base and an entirely metal skeleton. But the rest of her, organs, muscles, skin, was entirely synthetic. Which meant it functioned the same way as the real thing, but didn't suffer any of the drawbacks. Drawbacks such as aging, fatigue or hunger.
Jesper picked up the phone on his desk. Walker's voice immediately came to his ears,
"Yes, Sir?
"Alright Walker, everything's prepared. Move the android down to the lab."
18 flew over East Satan City following the blip on the dragon radar's screen. 17 was holding on to her shoulders. Taking her eyes away from the radar, she began scanning the city below. Literally scanning. Androids may not have a ki signature, but their electronic components did give off a signal that others of their 'kind' could pick up, if they tried. 18 wasn't picking up any electronic signals, other than those you'd expect to find over a city. She looked again at the radar and hovered in mid-air.
"This is strange. 17, look at this."
"I can't look at anything except your hair! Why'd you let it grow so long?!" 17 said as he spat some blonde strands from his mouth.
18 ignored that comment and pressed the button on top of the radar twice.
"According to this," she said. "We're in the right place. But the dragon ball is somewhere above-" The two androids looked at each other and simultaneously looked up at the sky.
Their vision took on a red haze as the enhancements in their eyes altered their perception. A sweeping line, like on a sonar, passed over their vision. Each time it swept past, a little more of the hidden construct above them came into focus. It wasn't long before the entire floating fortress was revealed to them.
"18, you can put that radar away now." Said 17. "I think it's safe to say we've found Chiara.