. O .
"Ahaha! Damn, Ray, that must be a slap in the balls for you. All the times Archer paralyzes you and the one time he gets hurt as bad, he'll be fine in under an hour."
Ray grunted, irritation and agreement on his face as Pam laughed and sprayed the lab-turned-impromptu-dinner table they were seated around with chewed up chicken and rice. No one batted an eye, his coworkers and targets alike.
"Wait, paralysis like… literally or figuratively?" Gohan asked cautiously around his own mouthful of food, chopsticks hovering over his second half-empty bowl.
"Literally," all three of his so-called friends replied.
"But how…" the kid asked, some of his wariness dropping in favor of slight curiosity.
Vegeta, on the other had, frowned even deeper. He had refrained from eating and had been, until then, leaning up against the wall near the playpen. He took a step towards Ray, but Dr. Briefs closed the gap faster, already standing up from his spot at the head of the table and hurrying to his side, eyeing him with a less manic eagerness than Krieger that was still nonetheless slightly terrifying.
"How long ago was this? Where was your injury? What was your treatment?"
"Ha! Which time?" Pam retorted.
"Do you mind?" Dr. Briefs asked, hands reaching out.
"A little bit, yes," Ray said pushing back from the table a pace, only to have Vegeta block him in from behind.
"Just a noninvasive scan?" the doctor bargained.
Vegeta grabbed one of Ray's shoulders and he could feel his bones grind together as the grip tightened. "Okay! Okay! Hey, now, I've been nothing but compliant since… uh, the beginning of this fiasco."
"So let's keep it that way."
With a glare that all but cemented the others to their seats at the table, Vegeta led Ray to Gohan's empty exam table and pushed him up on it. Another device fired up above him, and the doctor murmured appreciatively.
"Full skeletal replacement from the pelvic girdle down, right forearm and hand as well."
"Is he a…" Gohan asked, drawing up alongside the doctor, voice pitched low.
"Android?" the doctor finished, giving the boy a reassuring smile. "No. Doesn't appear to be that extensive. Heart, lungs, brain, those are all unaffected. Oh? What's this?"
Dr. Briefs typed in some code and pressed a button.
"What? Uh, goddamn! What the hell did you do?" Ray exclaimed as he lost all sensation in his legs and right hand.
"The shielding around these power supplies are substandard. And having a wireless connection open to them is just a liability. There should be no need for external controls like that," the doctor mumbled to himself, studying the scans and typing furiously at his station. He flicked a switch and Ray's feeling slowly returned. "What's the maintenance on these? Do you have any? Everything aside from the shoddy electrical appears well built."
The doctor rummaged around in what looked like a junk drawer and pulled out a small metal enclosure no bigger than a deck of cards.
"I could upgrade them if you want. Get rid of the security flaws, too. Micro-nuclear driven power supply. Hardened against solar flares, EMIs, and high ki attacks. Guaranteed for a hundred years."
"How the- what the- why do you have something like that lying around?"
"Why wouldn't I have something like this lying around?" Dr. Briefs countered with a wink.
. O .
"Malory, how in the world did you even know which room AJ was in?" Lana asked, bouncing the girl awkwardly on her hip.
"Sterling used my Black Diamond card to reserve the nanny."
"Why am I not surprised?" Lana sighed.
"I don't understand how he could possibly surprise you at all. Ever."
"And I don't understand how you think Krillin is a more suitable guardian than we are!" Bulma exclaimed, the cooled-down ire at her friend flaring back up with vigor.
"Yes, because it's such a stretch to want to keep my kids away from the man who actively tried to kill us all!" Chi Chi hissed.
"That was years ago!" Bulma shouted.
"I know that!" Chi Chi countered even louder. "They are both at your house right now!"
"Wait, who's where now?" Lana cut in, as she and Malory both took a greater interest in the others' conversation.
. O .
"Are you sure he's not an android?" Gohan asked again as they all examined Ray's backside. Not a single scar marred his skin, certainly nothing that could explain how his lower half was as packed full of machinery as Dr. Briefs' scans showed.
"What happened to the hand?"
"Giant carnivorous plant," Ray said. "Oh, the coloring? Krieger said it was all he had lying around. I didn't lose my legs, he just replaced the bones and things…"
"There's no delineation in the texture of the skin, no pulse, obviously, but the reflexes appear normal. Any changes in performance? Dexterity in the hand, speed or endurance or strength in the legs?"
"Running's easier, in a sense, but I still get winded eventually," Ray tried to glance behind him, but didn't really have a good view of what was going on. "So how long is this going to take?"
"You'll be done before your Mr. Archer there."
"Bullshit."
"Not to doubt you, sir," the boy agreed, "but, well, that's pretty optimistic even for you."
"I was going to give this to Krillin to try next time I saw him, but this test case will work fine," Dr. Briefs replied, holding up a syringe of deep green liquid. "I used it on myself first, of course, but not on anything past a really deep paper cut. I'm afraid I'm a bit squeamish when it comes to my own injuries."
"What is it?"
"Just fooling around with Senzu extracts and uh… accelerated healing genes."
"Do you want me to try-"
"No, you'd probably throw the curve off. It's really formulated for full humans."
"Oh, okay."
"Wait! What?!"
"So what do you say?" the doctor asked Ray, a bright smile on his face.
"Hold on there. When you say full humans… do you mean you interact with people who aren't…" Ray trailed off, as Gohan fidgeted in his spot, and the other man just on the edge of his peripheral vision crossed his arms.
The doctor cleared his throat and lit a cigarette. "My son-in-law isn't, how should we put this… from around here?"
"Oh, just tell him, it's not like he's going to take it at face value," Vegeta said.
"When I say 'not from around here,' I mean… not local to this solar system."
"Haha. That's rich," Ray chuckled, but the other three merely glanced at each other. "You're not kidding."
"No, son."
"I mean, you over there all broody in the corner, you give off this hot as hell, predatory, man-eater vibe, but I kinda thought that was just me-"
Vegeta pinched the bridge of his nose, like he was feeling the same headache settling in behind Ray's own eyes.
"But why aren't you freaking out?" Ray shot at Gohan. The boy shrugged. "You're one, too?"
"Only half," he replied, a bit self-consciously.
Across the room, the dinner table had fallen uncomfortably quiet. Then, tentatively, Pam asked, "Did you guys spike this food with something? Because I think we're all hallucinating a conversation about aliens right now."
. O .