(By request of so many, I have decided to change the ratings to M. Be warned that content after this chapter will be for mature audiences. Thank you so much to all my readers for continuing to encourage me.)

"Huh, that's strange behavior for a friend." Android 17 appraised, staring at the door Mint had disappeared behind with mild amusement. His eyes were a stunning blue but empty, like a corpse that somehow comprehended life but only by watching others perform it.

Damn it. She thought, panicked. The other's left her to this maniac and Goku was searching for Arugula. This fight was her own, but how would she ever survive it?

For once there was a clear answer for her question. She wouldn't survive it.

"You're not much of a talker." 17 observed. He had rested those cold eyes on Bulma again and she shuttered against the surge of terror they sent through her.

"I don't have anything to say to the likes of you." Bulma retaliated bravely -she felt small right now, very, very small. Her fists clenched again and she realized numbly that the scarf was still in her hand.

"That's not very nice." The android never stopped grinning. His arms were crossed and he hovered inches above the ground.

"Please, I wouldn't waste my kindness on a bucket of bolts." The words ached in the back of her throat as she said them; her mind screamed for her to just shut up.

Stall. You've got to stall him. It was the only plan her frazzled mind could comprehend besides going willingly to death. It was some small and desperate grasp for the hope that Goku would return and save her.

17 tilted his chin haughtily, smirking with some nasty thought. "You should try being kinder, human. If you want to find what you've lost, that is." He purred, divulging with cruel satisfaction just what his nasty thought had been.

Inside of her, rage tugged at it's leash until it was nothing but a thread holding her back from doing something stupid.

The android had Arugula, how was that even possible? "What have you done with her? You give her back!" She demanded.

"Why would I do that?" He landed on the asphalt with a click of his boots, "after all the trouble we went through to take her?"

We. Bulma had almost forgotten his partner, Android 18. Where was she? Did she have Arugula? Was Goku walking into a trap? "I swear if you hurt her I'll take you apart screw by screw and turn you into a toaster. You hear me?!" Bulma threatened. They were empty words, as empty as his eyes and she felt the weight of her uselessness when he laughed. Really it was more of a hollow noise that sounded like a laugh but didn't have the feel of one.

She felt the urge to punch him in the teeth. If she'd thought it would have any point, maybe she would have

"Funny but I doubt it old lady" A second voice said callously. Behind her, as if on cue, Android 18 rose over the parking lot wall, straight as a pin with her arms folded over her chest.

Bulma was trapped between them frozen in terror. 18 landed noiselessly on the ground.

"Took you long enough 18. Where have you been?" 17 snapped.

"Hiding the girl. Like you told me to do."

Bulma's eyes widened at this but she was still to terrified to say anything.

"It took you that long to hide her?" 17 looked amused, not angry, but Android 18 scowled at him.

"If you think so, then next time you do it. Don't forget that Goku was on my tail. I had to be careful or I wouldn't have been able to out maneuver him."

Android 17 grinned again. "Yeah. I guess you're right about that."

"Of course I am." 18 said, deadpan.

"Please, don't kill her." Bulma finally managed to formulate words.

They'd stopped looking at her in order to banter with each other but then both pairs of those austere eyes fell on her again. It was everything she had not to let them unnerve her.

"I think she should be more worried about herself than that girl. Don't you agree sister?" 17 gauded menacingly.

Bulma could have fainted but somehow something within her kept her standing, paralyzed between them but still conscious.

"Yes, she's foolish." 18, 17's sister, agreed.

"I thought the blue haired one was suppose to be smart? So far all she's been is stupid. Maybe my memory circuits are malfunctioning?"

"They're not brother. I have that information too."

"I see...how sad."

"Maybe she's just getting old? I mean look at how grey her hair is, and those wrinkles. She's likely to keel over any day now." 18 offered as if she was an expert in mortality.

Bulma's eyes widened and finally that tether which kept her rage in check behind a layer of logic and fear, snapped and she exploded. "OLD!?" She roared mindlessly. Her lip curled in a sneer and she stomped her foot. "I'm barely middle aged you rusty tin can and I'll have you know I look great considering what you two have done to this world!"

Android 18 lifted an eyebrow but otherwise watched her unblinkingly. It only served to further piss Bulma off but also reminded her to remain on topic. "Are you going to tell me why you're here or did you just come to mock me?! Whatever you intend on doing, just get on with it already and spare me the flak!" Then she crossed her own arms with some form of feeble defiance collected by her attempt to seem unafraid.

Really she was bracing herself for an attack.

"Hey," 18 said, "I kinda like your scarf."

Bulma blinked back at her so puzzled at the unexpected and totally off-base compliment that she nearly unraveled completely. What a strange diversion into small talk.

"You...what?" She gazed down at the scarf dangling limply from her hand still and squeezed the heavy knitted fabric. A breeze picked it up and slapped it against her thighs.

"What does that have to do with anything 18?" Android 17 snapped impatiently.

Bulma wanted to know the same thing but she'd used up all her courage for the time being and just stood there dumbly.

"What I'm just being honest!" She snapped right back at him.

"Would you forget about your stupid clothing for a few minutes? She asked us what we were doing here, not your fashion preferences!"

Android 18, if it was possible, looked more angry than she did before and thrust her chin up in defiance. "Fine! You answer her. I'm done with this stupid game." Just like that she jumped far up onto the roof of the warehouse and sat down in a huff. The sheet metal wobbled and made a strange tinny sound under her weight.

"Women!" 17 growled after her and rolled his eyes indignantly. He set his hands on his hips then and looked at Bulma who appeared as though stuck between an outrage and a mental breakdown.

"I guess I'll tell you what's going on then."

Bulma gazed up at him silently. 18 had startled her into sobriety.

"We're here to tell you about a game we invented." He told her as if that explanation cleared anything up for her.

"A game?" She paled and tried to swallow but her throat was so dry if felt like she was choking down cotton balls.

"Yes, that's right. We've been terribly bored lately, with all you humans being dead and all. So in order to have a little fun around here, we've devised a new game! As you can probably already guess, we've taken the human child." He seemed so proud of this she felt that urge again to punch him. "...and have hidden her somewhere on this planet."

"What? No." Bulma gaped and felt tears burn her eyes and then spill over her cheeks. She was crying for Arugula and because she realized at that moment that she wasn't going to die right then, for she'd become their messenger.

"We'll give you and Goku three days to find where she is." He continued. "If you find her, 18 and I will be waiting for you for a fight."

On the roof Android 18 laid back and folded her hands behind her head. "That means if you die, she dies." 18 explained. "And if you don't find her in 72 hours, she dies and we'll start the game over with someone new and so on." She laid back on the roof, dislodged a single hand from behind her head and idly picked at dirt in her nails, pretending to be disinterested again.

"That's not fair!" Bulma suddenly screeched, out of her senses with panic.

18 snorted and sat up, seeming to drop her act. Her smirk felt even more crazed than her brother's, though Bulma couldn't quite place why that was."Someone should have told you by now old lady...life isn't fair."

"No 18, she's right. There's no way we'd have any fun with these terms, there's no competition for us." 17 admitted, arrogant enough that even 18 rolled her eyes. "Lets change the rules to make things more interesting, shall we?"

18 didn't seem to like that idea but she didn't say anything to imply that was the case. She laid back against the roof again and proceeded with examining her hands.

"Should you find the girl in three days," He began, "we will fight one-on-one rather than two against one. Like 18 said, if you lose we get to kill the girl. If you don't find her, we'll kill her and take another one of your group." He paused thoughtfully. "Oh yeah. And we're playing to the death so I guess that means we destroy the rest of the world too."

Bulma felt a little like the world was tilting on its axis and she was about to fall right over with it. The parking lot spun around and she vaguely realized she'd taken a step back, but for what reason she couldn't figure out. Her mind raced with the new information they'd given her.

They'd taken Arugula, though how they'd even found them to begin with she had no idea -she didn't have the luxury of mulling that one over though. The only way she and Goku would be able to get Aru back was by finding where the androids hid her before three days were up and then defeat them in a one-on-one battle.

Goku was the worlds only hope and ever since his heart problems, she knew he struggled. He was strong still, incredibly so, but there were limits to even his strength...he couldn't hide that there was certain strain put on him when he fought for too long. How would they ever get through this? There were so many things baring down on her that she sunk to her knees and held her head even as they stood over her watching her crumbling at their feet.

"Goku went after her. He sensed her power level. How…"

"How did we hide her from him?" 17 cut her off. "There's a simple solution to that, but if I told you it would give things away and really where's the fun in that?"

"It would be like cheating." 18 agreed from the rooftop.

"Indeed it would." 17 responded.

Suddenly 17 rose his head to the sky and squinted. He'd stuffed his hand in his pockets at some point but he removed them now and brushed one through his hair. "Damn. He's coming." He announced unequivocally.

Bulma blinked and rose her own eyes to the clouds. She couldn't see anything there and the androids couldn't sense power levels so what was going on?

"We have to go old lady." 18 rose into the air, arms perpetually crossed over her chest, and smirked. Faster than Bulma could possibly ever comprehend she was directly in front of her, leaning so that her lips nearly touched her own. She grinned when Bulma yelped and blushed at the advance.

"Wait, what are you…" She shrunk before the other female.

"I think I'll take this with me." 18 purred then snagged the scarf from Bulma's fingers.

"You're unbelievable." 17 muttered as 18 walked back to him with the garment and the two exploded into the air in a blast of wind.

By the time Goku got back to the warehouse, Bulma was leaning against the walls of the building. She'd turned pale as a ghost and was staring at the ground in a daze while a procession of ants crawled unmolested right under her raised legs.

"Bulma!" Goku stated in alarm and went to her. When she didn't respond he bent down and lifted her like a bride into his arms. Being in Goku's arms while he was moving was a lot like gliding from one place to another, smooth and gentle.

Bulma blinked away the haze which had clouded her mind after the androids left and looked up at him.

"Goku." She whispered then with more brashness added, "took you long enough to get back to me you lughead. While you were out on a goose-chase, I was dealing with the androids!"

He looked at her with a sort of grimness that she didn't see often in him, even in those day. Immediately she quieted and gazed up into his eyes, trying to read them. He hadn't seemed surprised by what she said.

"I'm sorry Bulma, I came as soon as I realized..." Pain registered on his face and her heart sank. "What they were doing." Goku admitted finally, he'd pried open the door with ease and walked inside as if it hadn't been locked.

Bulma heard the frightened muttering and shuffling of others in the grey shadows but paid them no mind.

"I know, it's ok." She forgave him and looked down so her eyes were hidden by her bangs. "They took her Goku. They took Arugula."

His grip around her tightened and she felt him turn rigid. "Where?" He asked.

"I don't know, they wouldn't say. It's a game Goku. I don't think we have a choice but play it."

"Then bring it on."