Chapter 4
Though you hear me
I don't think that you relate
My will is something
That you can't confiscate
So forgive me, but I won't be frustrated
By destruction in your eyes
As you're staring at the sun
'Staring at the Sun' by The Offspring.
18 crushed the last of the binders in her hands. All the soldiers lay around her, completely knocked out. After taking a quick look around to make sure all the binders had been destroyed, she began running in the direction of the laboratory. By now, 17 should've gotten Chiara. That is, assuming that nothing had gone wrong.
17 threw a series of punches at the android, but every time it just moved its' head or body out of the way. Suddenly, it brought its' knee up, right into 17s' midsection. Some saliva hit the floor as his mouth opened in pain. The android then grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled his head upright. Its' fist impacted with his nose and 17 cried out in agony. The android then started punching him in the stomach, again and again.
17 could taste his own blood in his mouth, and a particularly violent punch caused him to cough and the crimson liquid sprayed over the android's silver skin. Still holding him by his hair, the android gave 17 one last punch to the gut and then threw him against the wall near the table Chiara lay on.
17 was in so much pain, he couldn't even move. He lay with his back against the wall, watching the android march slowly towards him.
Jesper was pleased to see his creation was everything he'd hoped it would be, but he had to admit he was surprised at how easily it had beaten the other android. He had expected him to be more of a challenge than that. Maybe the android they'd captured was more powerful than this one. If that was so, then there was no need to keep him around. Jesper could just let his creation destroy him.
He was so intent on watching the fight that he was completely unaware of the blood-soaked man pointing a gun at the back of his head. Simmons pulled the trigger and watched as his one-time mentor went limp.
He dropped the gun on the floor and, with one hand clutching his bleeding chest, he approached the dead man's chair. First, he turned off the light, bathing the room in darkness then reaching down beside Jesper's body, he picked up the last remaining binder. He slipped it over his arm and began to stagger towards the door. He was going to destroy those androids. All of them!
The android was holding on to 17s' head, and squeezing hard. He cried out in pain as its' metal fingers started to dig into his skin and draw blood.
A sudden explosion sounded from behind. Still holding on to 17s' head, the android turned to look at the cause of the interruption. The lab doors lay on the floor as burning chunks of metal and 18 stepped over them to stand before the mechanical being.
Deciding that 17 was no longer a threat, the android let go of his head and let him drop to the floor. It now turned its' attention to its' new target. 17 was able to push himself up on his hands and call out to 18,
"What kept you!?"
18 rolled her eyes. There was just no pleasing some people. But she didn't have time to dwell on that. The android came lunging at her with its' fist stretched out. She managed to catch it, but the force behind the punch caused her to take a step back. Her opponent threw a punch with its' other fist, which 18 caught in her free hand. She then crossed the androids' arms in front of its' chest and drove her knee into its' gut. Instead of keeling over, which is what most fighters did when 18 attacked that area, the android simply reared its' head back and slammed it into 18s' forehead. She staggered backwards, losing her grip on the androids' hands. It then ran into her, locking its' arms around her waist, and smashed her into the wall.
18 gasped as the android then punched her in the stomach but, before it could hit her again, she raised her hand to its' face and blasted it with an energy wave. This knocked the android back a few steps. 18 kept up the onslaught, firing wave after wave, forcing the machine back further and further.
Suddenly, the android straightened up and a hole appeared in its' chest. Out of it shot five glowing lines that 17 instantly recognized.
"Watch out!" He yelled. But before 18 could move, the binders had coiled around her arms. And then the pain came.
The last time 18 had been in unbearable pain was when the Z-fighters had been fighting the bounty hunter that had come looking for Vegeta, over a year ago. They had all experienced, at some point, the mind-numbing pain of her electric attack. But this was different. This time, it her own body's enhancements that were the source of her agony. It really did feel like there was a fire burning inside of her, and 18 didn't know how much longer she could keep from passing out.
17 watched as 18 screamed in pain. He was impressed that she was still on her feet, but he knew it was only a matter of time before she went down.
"Great." He spat some blood out of his mouth. "Now what are we going to do?"
It was then that he heard a sound from the table next to him. Looking over, he saw Chiara stir and slowly sit up. She put a hand to her aching head and looked around.
"Huh? What's going on?"
The android turned its' head away from its' still writhing target and focused on Chiara. Silently, it raised its' hand and fired a large energy wave at her.
Chiara's eyes widened at the huge ball of light flying towards her. She covered her face and braced herself. Suddenly, the energy ball exploded and the shock wave knocked over the table Chiara was sitting on. She opened her eyes and was surprised to see that, apart from the cuts already on her body, she wasn't harmed. The energy ball had blown up before hitting her. Someone must've blasted it with an energy wave of their own. Chiara looked around to see who could've done it.
18 was now on her knees with the androids' binders still wrapped around her. 17 wasn't far from Chiara and he looked just as surprised as she did.
Just then, the android reared back and sparks started shooting off from its' body. 18 immediately felt the energy from the binders dissipate and, tensing her muscles, broke free of the metal coils around her. She was still in tremendous pain though and could barely lift her head to see what had caused the androids' sudden weakness.
Simmons stood just behind the android. The launcher on his outstretched arm had fired a binder line that was now wrapped around the androids' torso. It was sparking all over and its' body was having minor convulsions. Simmons smiled as he watched it shudder. From what he could see, it had already weakened the two androids considerably. Once this one was down, all he had to do was take care of the red-haired one and then he could finally rid the world of them, once and for all.
Suddenly, his triumphant smile faded and his eyes widened. The android, although still sparking and convulsing, had turned around and was now walking towards him. Unbeknownst to Simmons, when Jesper had been designing his prototype, he had made sure that it would have all the physical characteristics that 17 and 18 had. Their strength, their speed, their infinite energy. But, he was aware that they had one flaw. They could still feel pain. Granted they had a much higher pain threshold than any human and even most of the special fighters from Earth but, deep down, they were just as vulnerable to the effects of pain as everyone else.
And so, Jesper had seen to it that his android would not have the same weakness. Now, even with its' circuits frying from the binder's energy the android was still able to focus entirely on its' target.
Upon seeing the android walk casually toward him after being hit by the one thing he had been sure would stop all of its' murderous kind, Simmons' mind just snapped. Throwing the useless launcher away, he took out his gun and opened fire. The bullets bounced off the android harmlessly, but he kept the trigger squeezed.
"Die, you abomination!" He shrieked.
The android simply lifted its' hand, formed its' fingers into a stabbing position, then struck.
"Oooh!" 17 grimaced. "He's dead."
He was taking cover behind the overturned table with Chiara and 18. 18 was still in pain from the binders and had barely managed to drag herself away from the android. Now they all watched as it turned around and began to walk towards them.
"Great! Now what're we going to do!?" He looked at 18. "Got any more bright ideas?!"
"Actually, yes I do!" 18 returned his glare. "But I need you to bring down its' defense first!"
"Oh, really? And how am I supposed to do that? Harsh language!?"
"With that!" 18 pointed to the launcher lying on the floor. "When that guy hit the android with it, I could tell it had lost some of its' energy. Hit it again and it won't be able to raise a defense against my attack."
"Sounds like a good plan to me." Said Chiara. "I'll distract it for you, 17."
"What!" 17 stared at Chiara like she'd just sprouted horns.
"Well, you need to get the device and 18 has to recover her strength."
18 grimaced as another painful pang went through her body.
"She's right, 17. Right now, Chiara's the fastest of us. She can keep the android busy while you get the device." She peered out from behind the table to see the android raising its' hand, preparing to fire an energy wave. "You'd better move now!"
"Okay, here I go!" Chiara ran out from behind the table and raced past the android. It moved its' arm to follow her, and she just managed to avoid being hit by the energy wave.
18 turned to face 17.
"She's pretty brave."
17 just shrugged and watched for his opening. The android was trying to get Chiara with punches and kicks, but she kept jumping clear of it. 17 saw his chance and dashed for the launcher.
The android threw a kick towards Chiara, but she jumped into the air and hovered above it. It flew up to meet her and began throwing punches and kicks again. Suddenly it stopped. Chiara noticed that it seemed to be looking over her shoulder. She turned around to see the reflective surface of the observation window. Since Simmons had turned off the lights, the window now acted like a mirror. A mirror with which the android could see 17 grabbing the launcher on the floor behind it.
"Oh no! 17, look out!"
17 turned around just in time to get hit, head on, by an energy wave.
"17!" Chiara didn't have time to see if he was alright because she was then blasted by the android herself. She went crashing down to the ground with the android right behind her. Its' fingers formed into a stabbing position again.
But, just before it was able to strike, its' body started shaking and the sparks began to fly again. 17, despite being blasted onto his back, had still managed to keep a hold of the launcher and fire it at the android. Chiara took this opportunity to move away from the sparking machine and 18 took this opportunity to make her move.
The android began walking towards 17, like it had done Simmons, but 18 leapt over its' head, turned in mid-air and landed a few feet in front of her enemy. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and started focusing her energy.
"Alright, Tin man. It's downtime." She started making various motions with her arms at a high speed.
'Hang on. That looks familiar.' 17 thought to himself. 'Is that - ?'
18 thrust both her hands out in front of her and yelled,
"Burning Attack!!!"
The ball of energy flew from her hands and collided with the android, dead on. The resulting explosion left a gaping hole in the floating fortress! Fortunately, it remained airborne so the city below was not in danger. But the lab was completely destroyed and there wasn't even a trace of the android left.
In the area the lab used to be, 18 hovered in the air. She had hold of 17 with one arm, Chiara with the other and an energy barrier around the three of them. Seeing that her hastily raised shield had held up, 18 breathed a sigh of relief and let it drop. She turned around to look at the damage her burning attack had done.
"Heh. I guess that attack should come with a warning, 'Don't use indoors'." She said with a weak smile.
"I can't believe you used one of his attacks!" exclaimed 17. "I mean, have you no pride left!? You're the one who used to say it looked like he was trying to get something sticky off his hands!"
18 growled through her teeth and turned her head to face 17.
"Honestly 17, would it kill you to show a little gratitude for once!"
"She's right, you know." Said Chiara. "I think it was very nice of 18 to help us like this."
17 just grumbled to himself and crossed his arms. Suddenly there was a strange whistling in the air above them. All three androids looked up, and the dragon ball landed on 17's forehead!
Chiara caught it just before it fell while 17 clutched his head in both hands, cursing through his teeth.
"Hey! This is the dragon ball I found! The explosion must've sent it flying into the air!"
18 looked at 17 out of the corner of her eye. Her attention was mainly focused on the limiter around his neck.
"Chiara." She said. "I think it would be best if you let me have that."
Chiara looked at 18 in surprise, but then she realized what she meant. She still didn't trust 17.
'I suppose I can't really blame her.' She thought to herself. So she reluctantly agreed.
"Thanks. Now you guys should get going. The people in the city below have probably already noticed the explosion we caused, and the interior of this place hanging in mid-air. It won't be long before Bulma finds out about this and comes to check it out. I'll be sure to meet her when she gets here."
And so, while holding onto 17, Chiara flew from the city and headed back home. 18 watched them go. She had a thoughtful look on her face.
'I saw the expression you had when you saw that android attack Chiara, 17. Maybe there's hope for you yet, brother.'
17 sat on a rock outside Dr Gajetto's home. He was going through in his head everything that'd happened that day. One event kept going through his mind, over and over. It was when the android had fired that energy wave at Chiara. He'd been watching it fly towards her. He'd known she was going to get hurt. And then, without even thinking, he'd pointed his hand toward the energy wave, and it had exploded.
He held his flat palm out in front of him and gazed at it. Maybe he'd been going about this all wrong. The limiter Gajetto had fitted him with blocked the energy from his enhancements that allowed him to fire energy waves and fly. But come to think of it, the Z-fighters didn't have any cybernetic enhancements and they were still able to do such things. Instead, they used something called 'ki'. According to his data, that was the name given to the body's own natural energy.
'I wonder…'
17 closed his eyes and remained perfectly still. He tried to relax and let his energy come, instead of trying to force it. He sat like that for what seemed like ages. Beginning to feel like an idiot, he opened his eyes – and nearly fell off the rock at what he saw!
Floating above his palm was a small ball of light, about the size of a ping-pong ball. 17 just sat and stared, unbelieving, at it.
"Ah, 17! There you are!"
17 quickly lowered his hand and turned around to see Dr. Gajetto walking towards him.
"I just thought you'd like to know that Chiara's injuries were only minor. She's going to be just fine."
17 just shrugged and didn't answer. Gajetto tuned and walked back into the house, a knowing smile on his face.
When he was sure Gajetto was gone, 17 looked at his palm again. The light had disappeared, but he could still feel the energy.
Slowly he closed his hand into a fist and an evil smile crept across his face.
"It's a start."