-Eighteen, one day later-

...This...is going to be a disaster…

Eighteen's eyes were wide as she took in the sight of herself. She'd initially taken on this project half expecting to fail during the attempt. Much to her surprise, her efforts resulted in an eye opening success.

Her hair was covered by a dark black wig with straight long hair that ran down to her hips and bangs that concealed some of her otherwise large forehead. Her typically ice cold blue eyes had been replaced with simple black ones with the help of contacts. Her pale skin complexion had been darkened with a touch of toner, giving it a slightly more peach color. She rarely used makeup, but she was glad that in her younger years she had as her lips were now an unassuming shade of pink. She hadn't been able to do anything with the shape of her eyes, but some effectively placed eyeliner had done wonders to give them a darker and more pronounced look.

Eighteen blinked, still looking back at the person in the mirror like she was staring at someone else.

Her plan, it had worked, or at least, so far it had. she almost looked nothing like her old self. Sure, if you really squinted, you could see bits and pieces of her through the facade. The sharpness of her gaze, the coldness of her demeanor, the general shape of her body. These were things that she could not change, but those few qualities would hardly give her away if she were to be seen by anyone but herself.

She snickered.

I bet if I walked out right now I could even fool Seventeen into thinking I was someone else...maybe I should step out and say hello. The look on his face would be priceless.

Her smile faltered.

No he'd probably attack me if I did that, and right now I do not want to have to go house looking again after he blows up a room with me in it.

She sighed as she pulled the wig off of her head and stared down at it with a contemplative look. Was she really going to do this? Was this really the best course of action? She'd taken a long time to think about it in comparison to the rest of her plans, and so far, this one seemed to be the best out of the bunch. Well, best in terms of getting results, worst in terms of doing something she actually wanted to do.

This...sucks so damn much.

She mentally scolded herself as she began to imagine what she would need to do in a few hours. She needed to pass herself off as one of these many cockroaches of humanity so that she could get close enough to Blondie without the bastard attacking her.

Just long enough until you get your answer!

She told herself closing her eyes as her fingers curled into fists. She hated the idea of devaluing herself to a simple human. Even if it was only for a little while, even if it was just pretending, the very notion of letting others believe that she was weak by any definition of the word sickened her to her very core.

Her head slowly turned to the open window next to her bedside table. The breeze beckoned her with a slow wind that gently pushed against her blinds. It called to her, a silent question of whether or not she was really going to do this. Eighteen's jaw tightened as she afixed the wig back to the top of her head. She placed a single foot atop the rim of the window before taking off into the sky. She flew straight, her resolve to get her answer pushing her further and further from the comforts of her brother, of her temporary home, of her typical routine and closer towards the city, West City, the place where she was determined to find her answer.

She made it another hundred feet until her disgust grew too large and she spun back around to her still open window.

As she touched down back into her room she threw the wig across the room into an open drawer.

Tomorrow. I'll go tomorrow, once I'm able to stomach pretending to be one of these disgusting humans.

She told herself as she began to wipe away the makeup covering her face.

-Trunks-

Soft.

As he felt his foggy mind slowly pulling itself out from the depths of unconsciousness, that was the first word that ran through his thoughts.

I feel something...soft, beneath me.

His eyes were closed as he awoke, but he could still tell that he was laying on a relatively soft bed. The next thing he noticed was the steady BEEPing noise regularly going off just a few feet away from his head.

His eyes slowly opened, his vision meeting an expected set of surroundings.

This was a hospital room, complete with a several decade old TV mounted in the top right corner of the room playing old reruns of shows that were popular a decade ago. Nothing new aired nowadays. Funny how no one wants to make movies during the apocalypse.

His eyes slowly moved over the room, absorbing its contents. A simple set of chairs against the wall. An IV bag containing what Trunks could recognize as plain old water. A simple curtain that separated him from the hallway running perpendicular to his room. He could hear the pained noises of other people within the unit. It seemed that there were a lot of injured after the incident against Android Eighteen.

A sour frown pulled at the young Saiyan's lips as his mind returned to the fight.

His eyes drifted downward. He could see a mess of bandages and cotton currently doing their best to stop all the bleeding from the numerous cuts he could still feel across his body. His eyes trailed down his arm to his hand which was currently wrapped up in a hastily designed cast. It was serviceable at best, but Trunks didn't blame whatever hospital he was currently within for his less than stellar treatment. He imagined that there were several people far less fortunate than he despite going toe to toe with the monster that did all this.
Trunks let a sad smile consume his lips.

Toe to toe...hardly.

He wanted to pretend that he'd fought valiantly, that his efforts had made a difference, that he'd at least done something to help in the conflict.

But he knew that wasn't the case.

She completely picked me apart. She took me down like it was nothing! I was hardly a distraction, let alone an actual challenge!

His expression fell as his one good hand tightened into a fist.

I was helpless! Despite all this power and Saiyan heritage! In the end I was just as much a victim as all the rest of those people!

...wait…

The boy's eyebrows furrowed as he realized something.

Why...did she spare me?

She'd beaten him to a pulped, his last memory from the fight was her foot coming in contact with his head. She couldn't have thought she'd killed him...had she?

Trunks chewed on his bottom lip in thought. It didn't add up. She'd been right there, why hadn't she finished him off?

Maybe...maybe something distracted her...maybe she thought I was already dead?

Those were the only reasons that made sense to him in that moment. The Androids weren't known for their acts of mercy, so it had to be something else.

What else though, Trunks hadn't a single clue.

The teen thought on the matter for a moment longer before sighing and dismissing it.

One way or another, it doesn't matter. I'm alive. That's all that matters.

The teen began to push himself up so that he was sitting but quickly paused as a wave of pain hit him from the effort. The teen grimaced as he felt all his injuries protest his actions. No painkillers in his system. Painkillers were a rarity in this day and age, reserved for those with injuries so dire that they wouldn't be able to remain conscious without screaming in agony if not for the muscle relaxers.

Learning from his mistake, the boy slowly began to push himself into a sitting position. His eyes were looking about the room, falling on the window just next to him for a moment before moving on, the sun was slowly pulling itself over the horizon casting a single beam of light into his otherwise dark room. His mind however, was elsewhere as he reflected on the fight leading up to his unwilling admission into this facility.

He remembered pushing his power to its very limits, throwing his all into the fight despite the odds. He remembered calling out to the transformation he'd been all but certain would occur. All the right pieces were there, hatred, need, a dire situation, all the conditions Gohan had explained to him would trigger the transformation. What did it mean then if he still failed even when all the requirements had been met? If he was a Demi-Saiyan, just like Gohan, with a father who had been able to become a Super Saiyan, just like Gohan's dad, did that mean that the problem-

"The problem is me." The boy said the rest of the thought aloud.

It had to be him. What else could it be? He'd checked off each of the conditions perfectly. The stars had been aligned for him to transform there, everything would have made sense had he transformed. Much like how his mother would put it, if all the variables were the same then the final product should yield similar if not identical results.

"I'm the final variable…" He mumbled to himself, his mom's terminology making its way into his thoughts.

For one reason or another, somehow he was the piece that didn't fit in this complex puzzle to become the legendary Super Saiyan. What could it be? Did that mean that he just wouldn't be able to transform?
No! That can't be true! It can't be! If that's true…

If that was true than all of his training, all of his effort, all of this pain he was going through would be for not. Gohan, with all the strength he had wasn't strong enough on his own to put an end to the Androids. That left it up to him to pick up the slack, but then...what happens if he couldn't?
"..."

Trunks didn't like to think about that, about what it meant if he couldn't become the legend.

He forced the thoughts down as he did his best to think of other things. He began to think about how he could still make it, still become the legend. It would just take a little bit more training right? He'd come closer than he'd ever come before, right?...But then that begged the question, what if he never actually got to that point? What if he never snapped? What if he just got closer and closer but never actually-

"Shut! Up! Brain!" Trunks shouted slapping his good hand against his forehead. He needed to occupy his mind with anything else, just something to fill the void and suppress the doubts.

He began to rapidly fire out idea after idea to flush out his mind.

Gohan training, delicious cereal, IV's, that one TV show with all the ninjas, being able to fly, dad, mom-

His eyes snapped open wide.

MOM!

Immediately the boy began to scramble out of his bed ignoring the pained protests from the plethora of wounds littering his body.

Mom must be worried sick! She has no idea what happened to me!
The young man immediately began to limp towards the window. He could hear footsteps enter the room behind him as he made his way towards the glass.

"Hello? I thought I heard some shouting are you O-"

Trunks looked over his shoulder as the woman's jaw dropped. "Young man! You should not be out of bed! You are not even close to being healed enough to move about!"

The teen studied her as she angrily pointed back towards his bed. She was a rather tired looking woman with a pretty face and a motherly aura about her. He could imagine her having a little one sitting at home waiting for her.

Which is why I need to get home as quickly as possible, before I'm grounded so long I forget what the sun looks like.

He wore a half smile as he opened the window behind him. The woman froze with fright as the cold breeze rolled in from the third story window.

"N-now let's stay c-calm here. T-there's no n-need to act rash." She was slowly raising her hands in a calming manner as she took slow steps towards him.

Trunks let out a soft laugh. She thought he was a jumper didn't she?

"Relax." He spoke in a calm tone as he pulled one leg up and onto the ledge. "I'm not gonna get hurt."

Before she could respond, the boy tipped out of the window. He heard her scream a moment later, her feet rushing to get to the ledge before it was too late.

The teen smiled to himself as he immediately began to manipulate his Ki, adjusting it so that he was now floating in front of the window.

He met the woman's gaze with a bemused smile. Her eyes were about as wide as they could be now, her jaw slack as she stared at the floating young man.

"See? I told you I wouldn't be hurt." He tried his best to sound reassuring. It wasn't every day that you saw someone suspended in the air. Well, it wasn't everyday that you found someone who wasn't Gohan or the Androids suspended in the air.

"B-bu-...wha?" Was all she could get out as she stood stiffly by the windowsill.

Trunks couldn't help but laugh, which rippled through his shoulders still currently injured.

"Haha, ow," he grimaced, "Hurts to laugh." Relaxing his face the boy smiled. "Were you the one who did my bandages?"

A slow nod.

"Well you did a great job! Unfortunately I have to go now though...I've got someone at home waiting for me...probably angry…" He let out a sigh before waving with his good hand. "Seeya! I owe ya one!"

Turning, he took off into the air. Behind him, the young woman crumpled to the ground from the shock.

-Bulma-

Slender fingers wrapped around a pen-like tool with a delicate yet firm grip. The instrument in her hand moved with a methodical like efficiency, dancing around the wire circuits with impressive accuracy and finesse. It was the work of someone with years, no, decades of experience in the field.

Dark bags stained the bases of her blue eyes. Her bright blue hair was in disarray, pushed up into a bun to keep it out of the way and little more.

She hadn't gotten even a minute of sleep last night.

How could she? Her baby boy hadn't come home after the training session he'd told her about. She'd taken a capsule plane to go and investigate where he'd told her he'd be training only to find nothing. Later she'd seen a story on the News about an attack from one of the Androids. There'd been a hundred or so casualties with dozens injured, most still in critical condition. There had even been reports that a fight had occurred a few minutes after the initial attack, but that was still up to speculation.

Had Trunks gone out and fought the Androids by himself? Did her little boy get caught up in the attack? Was she ever going to see-

No! He's not gone! He just got lost or decided to stay out tonight for...some reason…

She couldn't believe it, wouldn't believe it. A reality where her child, her baby, the son she'd raised to be a handsome, intelligent young man who she couldn't have been prouder of, was dead?

It was jarring to say the least. The very thought sent the older woman into a panic. Her body trembled with fear, worry, and terror. She needed her son just like he needed her. If he was gone...what did she have left? He was what she lived for, her everything, her child. She was half of him, he was what kept her motivated thought this hell, the reason she woke up every day and did her best to make the world just a little bit better than before.

It was all for him, so that one day his future would be a bright one.

She let out a shaky breath and reached out for a half empty water bottle she'd placed on her work desk. She'd cried four times over the night when the anxiety had overwhelmed the poor woman and she was dehydrated.

The project before her was little more than a distraction. She didn't give a damn if she actually completed the thing, but at least it kept some of her mind off the fact that her son might be dead.

The woman rose from her chair, an empty coffee cup in her hand. "I guess I can get some more…" She mumbled to herself before heading towards the kitchen. She couldn't sleep all night, the idea of going to bed without knowing for certain that her baby was safe was laughable to her.

Her mind flashed with the thought of Gohan. The young man was currently asleep, resting as his wounds slowly healed.

She'd thought about waking him in the middle of the night, asking him to do that 'ki sensing' thing he does to see if he could find her son. It didn't take a long time to realize the problems with that plan. She knew how dedicated, how earnest Gohan was. If she asked him, there wasn't a doubt in her mind that he would get up and try to find Trunks himself despite his wounds. Bulma had seen his injuries first hand, hell, she'd been the one to dress them. She knew that if he tried to get up and move right now, the consequences might turn fatal.

Sometimes Bulma wished she didn't have the mind of a genius. She hated how rapidly her mind would break down the hope she was so desperately clinging to with brutal realism. She knew that it was unlikely her son survived an Android attack, if he faced them, well, she knew first hand what happened to most of the people the Androids set their eyes on.

...They wind up de-

'Activity at the front door'

The automated system called out.

The coffee mug hadn't even touched the ground yet by the time the woman had turned and began dashing down the hallway. Her eyes brimmed with tears as she moved as fast as she could to where the security monitors she'd installed were located. With the rise in crime rate, she had to take extra precautions for her own safety. Of course she was friends with a man who could bench press a planet, and a had a son who could punch through cement, but it didn't hurt to be on the safe side anyway.

Please be my baby boy!

She pleaded as she rounded a corner and slid into a wall. Cursing, she quickly tossed away her socks before continuing down the woodfloor to the surveillance room. Slamming the door open, Bulma leaned over the screen monitoring the front door with ragged breaths.

It was Trunks. It was her baby boy.

The woman immediately felt her legs buckle, a literal night's worth of stress and anxiety finally washing away with a wave of relief. Her son was alive.

Tears ran down the woman's cheeks as she collected herself and began to rise back to her feet. A large smile consumed her face as she looked down at the monitor.

That smile slowly fell as she studied her son further.

His face was bruised so badly that a large section of it was pure black. She could see a tenderness to his step, like it hurt to just be standing there. And his right hand was wrapped up in a cast so hastily constructed she couldn't even make out the shape of a hand.

Her lips contorted into a deep frown.

Her son was alive, and he'd faced the Androids.

How dare he? How could he do that to her after all that she did for him? She could be reasonable, she understood that Gohan needed to train Trunks so that he could face future threats. She had come to terms with that fact, knowing that her son would most likely be risking his life in the future. But that was in the future. Right now Gohan had made it clear that he was to never go out on his own to face the Androids, a rule she personally couldn't agree more with.

"Oh you little…" She began to mutter angrily under her breath as she began to march with heavy footsteps towards the door. It wasn't a minute later when she'd unlocked the multiple bolts keeping the massive door sealed and the door swung to the side.

"Well look who it is!" She said somewhere between a shout and a roar.

The teen's head lowered, his long hair obscuring his eyes.

"You don't have anything to say? Not a 'sorry mom for keeping you up all night worried sick because I decided to fight the Androids despite Gohan being out of commision! You being a child! And the fact that you could have died!"

"...Sorry mom…"

"Oh 'sorry mom' doesn't cut it this time! Do you realize how grounded you are right now? I thought I could trust you! Thought I could believe my own son when he tells me he's going out to-" Her words began to trail off as she noticed her son's shoulder's beginning to tremble, his head still lowered.

Without warning, the boy collided with his mom, wrapping her in a hug while tears came in torrents down his cheeks.

Bulma's expression immediately softened.

What the hell am I doing!?

She thought to herself as she immediately returned the hug, feeling her little boy's shoulder's shake with sorrow.

He just fought the Androids. He's fourteen for Kami's sake! He's just a kid! He's just gone through a traumatic experience and your first instinct is to yell at him!?

Bulma scolded herself for her initial response. Maybe being awake for so long had resulted in a less than reasonable response.

"It's okay...it's okay…" She gently cooed as she lightly ran her hand through her son's lavender hair. She could feel her shirt collecting with his tears. She didn't care. If her son needed to cry after what he'd just went through, he could damn well cry.

My baby, my poor poor baby.

Bulma was having a tough time keeping it together herself as she felt her son trembling in her arms. The fact that her son, the one person she loved more than anything in the world had just been hurt so much that he was actively crying in her arms brought tears to her eyes. She wanted to protect him, scoop him up and take him somewhere safe. She wanted to do something to make it all better. She wanted to be a good parent and reassure him that he was safe now, that she would handle it.

But when 'it' was the Androids...what could she tell him? She couldn't lie to him. He wouldn't believe her. All she could do was hold him tight, and make sure he knew that she loved him.

So that's what she did.

Soon they were both crying.

Finally, after a minute passed, she heard him croak out some words.

"I-I'm so sorry mom. I really, I don't know what I was t-thinking-sniff-I just want, I just want to help!"

"I know baby, I know you do."

"-sniff- P-please don't tell Gohan."

Bulma stiffened at this. Don't tell Gohan? Of course she was going to tell Gohan...right? He deserved to know that her son had just gone off and challenged the Androids by himself...right?

She frowned. She knew as a parent this was an important moment. She knew the responsible thing to do in that moment was to go tell Gohan right away so that he might be able to properly respond to such an important event. She also knew why he was so scared. What if Gohan's response was to stop training the young man? She knew that what Trunks wanted more than anything was to make a difference, to become big and strong just like his father had and help stop the Androids. It would crush him if Gohan decided to stop training him for this.

But that doesn't mean he shouldn't know...But this isn't the time to discuss this. Time to mom up.

Bulma smiled down at her son. "How about we get you a big bowl of your favorite cereal and watch a nice show, how does that sound?" She would check his bandages later, as of right now she could tell that it had been done professionally enough not to warrant an immediate concern. Plus, in a couple of days the senzu would be done and they wouldn't have to worry about healing properly. Right now she could tell that her son needed a win, even if just a small one.

Trunks sniffed one more time, the tears finally drying up as he nodded once.

"Alright, let's go do that 'kay?"

"Ok."

-Eighteen, two days later-

It'd taken her two more days of utter disgust before Eighteen had finally gotten over the idea of being seen as a human of all things.

She was in her disguise now, the long black hair bothering her as she floated several hundred feet up looking down on West City. She was certain that she was far enough that no one would be able to see her from here.
"You know what?" She spat as a strand of the blackness caught in her mouth. "This is why I prefer short hair!"

She hated this. Hated everything that she planned happening in the next couple hours. The plan was simple. Blow up a building from afar, dive into an alleyway, pretend to be one of the victims when Blondie arrives, approach him and see if she can't slip in her 'hypothetical' question while they're talking. She'd already mapped out how she planned to phrase it too. She'd ran through the conversation dozens of times now, predicting what goody two shoes Blondie would say.

"Hey, you're so strong Blondie, why do you choose to fight the Androids? Wouldn't you be happier if you were more like them? Taking over the world or something?"

Eighteen scowled. She hated making her question sounds so stupid, but she needed it to sound as casual as possible for him to give it any thought. She imagined she would…

The woman shuttered.

She would have to likely come off as flirtatious for those few minutes if she wanted him to actually pay attention to her long enough to give a response. She couldn't lead with the question, she knew that much. She would have to engage in small talk before she could bring it up.

She resisted the urge to gag.

Returning to her mock conversation, she had already figured out what Blondie would say, or, just about what he would say.

"I fight the androids because it's the right thing to do! Because I have my friends and family to protect!"

She snickered. She knew that he probably wouldn't phrase it exactly like that, but it made her laugh to think he spoke in a super hero voice like the moron he was.

She'd already planned her counter argument to this type of comment.

"But what if you didn't care about morals? Like, what if you didn't have a family or friends to protect? Do you think you would have turned out the same way as the Androids?"

It was a little bit on the head, but she expected the response to be something like:
"Hm, maybe? Yeah it makes sense. If I wasn't such a stupid dumbass, I'd probably be just like the androids"

She pictured him drooling as he said this.
And that would be all it took. She would have her answer. If he could admit that with all these morals absent, he would become just like her, then that would settle it.

...right?
She frowned.

That wasn't exactly the question she was asking. She wasn't asking if he would turn out like her, she was asking if she continued down this road it would lead to her eventual self destruction. The only problem was...how could she manage an answer to that question?

"Hey do you think that once the androids have killed all the people they'll eventually turn on each other and kill each other?"

That's not a weird question at all. In fact, all of her questions were weird. Worse yet, she didn't know how to steer the conversation in that direction.

She sighed.

This is going to be a shit show.

Slowly, Eighteen began to lower herself down before plummeting so fast that she was certain no one had seen her. She quickly landed atop a five story building.

Her head snapped side to side making sure that no one happened to be sitting on top of the roof. A community garden, some bird poop, the birds, but otherwise she was in the clear.

She looked down and checked her outfit. She was wearing some form fitting jeans with ankle black boots that gave her a bit of a heel. Her top was simple as well, a long sleeve black shirt with white striped sleeves, the base of the shirt bordered on her midriff. She'd also decided to add some cute thick rimmed glasses with fake lenses in them to distract from how sharp her gaze could be at times.

She looked nice, but not too nice.

She'd needed to appear cute enough that it would make Blondie want to talk to her but not so much that he got a show.

I wouldn't be able to restrain myself if I saw him looking me up and down.

She growled. She hated, hated, hated this plan.

Her head shifted left and then right as she stood on the ledge looking out over the city. This wasn't the tallest building, but it definitely wasn't the shortest giving her a decent view over the city. She'd picked this building for two reasons, one, it was tall enough that most people wouldn't look up and see her, and two, it had an alleyway next to it that she knew she would be able to dive into without anyone noticing.

Speaking of which…

She needed to make sure that no one would notice her. walking over towards the side of the building, the woman stepped onto the ledge, across from her was a neighboring building of the same height, the two of them blocked out the rays of the sun perfectly to create the dark alley below.

She took one last look around to make sure no one was watching her before stepping off the building and plummeting straight down. She landed just behind a dumpster which reeked of vomit.

Gross, gross, gross, gross.

Eighteen immediately moved away from the dumpster holding her nose. She'd smelt plenty of body fluids from all the ways she and her brother had tortured mankind, but vomit had never been a scent she could stand for too long. She hadn't escaped the smell until she was on the border of the sidewalk and the end of the alleyway.

She paused as she saw people walking straight past her without batting an eye.

This is...so...weird.

She stood stiffly as dozens of people strode past her going both directions on this busy sidewalk. She would get glances every now and again from a passerby noticing her presence, but it was never more than a passing glance before they were on their way.

She took a single step into the flow of people and watched as the river of civilians accommodated her presence, walking around her without casting a single terrified gaze her direction.

Eighteen was stunned.

She hadn't expected her disguise to fail, but...she hadn't been prepared for this. It was one thing to study them from afar, to see them walk about calmly when you were several hundred feet up waiting to start the killing spree. But, to see them up front, within spitting distance...it was jarring. She rarely saw any person up close with an expression that wasn't absolute terror.

It was almost...interesting to see all these calm and relaxed faces move past her.

If it weren't for her complete and utter disgust with mankind, she might even find this enjoyable. Seeing things from the inside, pretending to be normal.

It was like back when she was a child and pretended she was a doctor or a nurse checking up on Seventeen.

"C'mon get out of the way already! Seriously road block move it!" A voice behind her complained.

What the fuck did he just say to me!?
Eighteen was immediately livid as she spun around. A human, no, a maggot had just told her to move? Before her was a short man, roughly her height with short trimmed hair and an expensive looking business suit. She scowled as she met his gaze with an intense glare. She'd almost slipped up, she'd pulled back a hand to drive it through his chest before calming herself at the last second.

You can't get blood on this outfit! And you can't kill people or news will spread!
The man froze as he was met with the intensity of her gaze.

"Care to run that by me again?" She spoke sharply.

"I- uh," It was clear to her that he'd never been confronted about his rudeness. She also knew that her glare could be very intimidating.

Years and years of practice.

She internally smiled, enjoying the look of nervousness on his face as he took a step backward, colliding with a man just behind him.

"I- uh, didn't say anything!" He suddenly stammered out as the man behind him complained.

She smiled.

"Right answer." She said before turning on her heel and walking the other way. She didn't have to start the plan right this second. She kinda enjoyed everyone assuming she was just a simple, dumb, weak, little girl. It made it all the more satisfying when she did something to terrify them. It was almost like when she and her brother had first started their lives as gods of this world. Back when no one knew their faces and they could walk around a city or town without anyone assuming anything. Then they typically blew it up.

She hated passing off as a human...but she had to admit that there were some plus sides.

No one knew. No one could see that she was actually the demon that they all feared in the night.

They all saw a cute little girl with glasses and a thin, weak frame.

A wolf in sheep's clothing.

A malicious grin pulled at the woman's lips.

She was going to have some fun.

-Eighteen, two hours later-

"Lady! Are you okay!?"

Okay, this is actually really fun.

Eighteen did her best to pretend to struggle to rise to her feet.

Only a few paces away sat what was once a simply designed black van with cheesy flames racing across its side.

Now it was a crumpled mess of metal and glass.

Kinda looks like a crushed soda can.

Eighteen quietly observed. A crowd was beginning to form, some of them approached the smoking catastrophe that used to be a van. She watched as they peaked their heads into the space where a sliding door usually sat. Eighteen gathered that they were probably looking for more survivors of the crash.

Yeah, good luck trying to find anything but a fine red paste.

Almost Immediately after they saw what lied within, their heads recoiled, hands over their mouths. A few actually threw up.

Eighteen struggled to maintain her frown. Internally she was giddy.

"Are you sure you should be standing!?" The man placed a hand on her arm, she gathered that this was an attempt to steady her. It took everything in her not to tear her arm free and punish this man for laying his disgusting hand on her body.

"Oh, yes, thank you sir." She couldn't believe that was her voice saying those words.

Maybe I could have been an actress in a second life.

She gave a polite gesture that she was okay to stand by herself and he let go. She turned her attention towards the wreckage, pretending to be shocked and terrified that she'd just survived such a terrible accident!

She could see out of the corner of her eye the man looking from the crash, to her, and then back to the crash. The look of confusion written on his features told her that he was struggling to figure out how she managed to get out of a crash like that practically unscathed aside from a few tears in her clothing. His eyes were furrowed, clearly trying to put the puzzle pieces together as to what had happened to cause such a fatal accident.

Internally Eighteen was grinning ear to ear.

-ten minutes earlier-

Eighteen was smiling with a devious glint in her eyes. She'd been having an absolute blast terrifying the people in the town. First it had been going to a clothing store and accidentally tearing a changing room's door off for a bitch who'd sneezed on her while walking by. She loved watching her mortified face as the rest of the line waiting for their turn to change stared at her midway through changing into a bathing suit.

Thankfully their eyes had been too glued to the woman to notice her slip out.

Next she'd been casually walking across a crosswalk when a car waiting for her beeped their horn at her. Her response had been to fire a single faint Ki blast into their back rear tire as they drove off. They fishtailed almost immediately before colliding with a stop sign an intersection later. She could still hear them screaming obscenities at the air as she casually strolled away.

Her entire day had been like this. She hadn't killed anyone yet, but she had broken a wrist or two, on accident of course.

She was itching for her next hit. It was a game, if anyone crossed her, spoke down to her, or she decided she just honestly didn't like their face, they became her next target. The 'no kill' policy was actually interesting to work around. She'd never had to think about how she was going to hurt someone before. She'd never been able to walk around so freely amongst such lesser life forms. She still hated them, but she was finding it more and more fun to simply torment them. They were such gullible and fragile creatures.

The only problem was that, for one reason or another, she couldn't bring herself to actually kill anyone. Sure, she told herself that it was because of the game she was playing, but deep down It bothered her, why couldn't she actually bring herself to end any of their miserable lives? It wasn't like she couldn't do it, but it was just so much more fun to leave them hurt or embarrassed or just overall miserable due to her actions. It was just like the man in the rubble, the people in the apartment building, she didn't want to kill anyone anymo-

No!

She snapped at herself, not even allowing herself to finish the thought.

I'm just acting weird! I'm still me! I can still kill anytime I want! It's just that I don't feel like killing anyone right now.

Eighteen nodded, that had to be it.

...right?

"Hey sugar, you looking for a ride?"

Eighteen paused and turned her head. Driving slowly beside her was a large black van with flames marking the exterior. A burly man hung out the window with a dumb looking smile on his face.

Not a chance dipshit.

She began to plan how she was going to punish this individual for addressing her in such a tasteless manner as she said. "No thank you. I'm actually right where I-"

"C'mon sugar, I insist."

As if on command, the side door slid open and two large men jumped out. They rushed her, moving as fast as they could, which was painfully slow to Eighteen.

Is this really happening right now?

Their massive, sweaty hands grabbed ahold of each of her arms and began to attempt to pull her towards the open doors of the vehicle.

Eighteen stood stiff as they struggled to pull her. Her eyes turned to the few bystanders. They clearly saw what was happening, but not one of them were stepping in to help her. She was just a defenceless young girl wasn't she? Shouldn't someone be trying to save her? Their faces read terror, fear, weakness. She knew that none of them would step in.

She raised her eyebrows at a man standing a mere ten feet away, a silent 'you planning to help any time soon?'

He looked about ready to piss himself.

Pathetic. This is why I hate you all.

Her eyes lazily scanned the two men struggling to move her even an inch from where she was standing. One of them was red in the face as the other grunted painfully loud.

She internally sighed. Not only were the bystanders doing nothing, but she couldn't get rid of these guys without making it evident that she wasn't who she was pretending to be.

She looked through the open side door. There were beer bottles littering the ground, as well as rope and duct tape. To say that the execution of this attempted kidnapping was anything more than amatuer would be an exaggeration. She'd been keeping herself in check all day now, mostly because she'd found it more entertaining to hurt these people than actually kill them, but now that itch was coming back.

She knew what she had to do.

"Yeah alright let's do this." She rolled her eyes as she shrugged off their grips and stepped into the van herself.

It reeks of guy smell in here.

It smelled like Seventeen's room after three weeks of settling in.

That was usually the time she made them switch houses.

As she sat down she could see the two men follow in behind her, out of breath and confused. They shot each other looks that read 'what the hell just happened?'.

"Get in! Get in! I see some people pulling out their phones!" Hurried the driver.

Eighteen patiently waited with arms crossed as the two oafs scrambled into the car, one tripping on a beer bottle before slamming into the floor. The door slid closed as the van sped off, screeching as it tore down the road.

Eighteen sat quietly as the two obese men sat on either side of her.

"Alright girly, now you ain't gonna be a problem now are ya?" His hand slowly fell on her thigh before beginning to climb up her jeans.

Eighteen's frown was more defined than it had ever been. "Not for another few seconds."

The man paused at this comment. "What?"

"I have to wait until your friend up there is going fast enough before I kill all of you."

A confused frown pulled at the two men's faces, before they began to smile, and then they were laughing.

"You, are gonna kill us?" The man with his hand on her thigh bellowed.

"Yup."

The other man had begun to collect the duct tape and rope from the ground. Still laughing as he began to move towards her, he said. "And how do you plan on doing that girly?"

"Like this."

Eighteen immediately reached down and crushed the hand on her thigh, blood exploded from the appendage as it crumpled like tissue paper. Before he could scream out in pain Eighteen grabbed the side of his head and slammed it against the wall of the van. A sickening crunch later, the man fell limp. She'd wanted to explode it against the van's wall, but knew if she did that she'd get blood all over her clothes.

Despite this, a smile crawled up Eighteen's lips. She had actually enjoyed that kill. It hadn't left her with that empty feeling back at North city when she'd picked off that man crawling out of the rubble.

"What was that?" Called out the driver,his eyes focused on the road. "What was that noise!?"

She grinned as she saw the second man, the one who had been fiddling with the tape began to tremble in fear like all the other humans she'd slaughtered. That immediate transition from predator to prey, that realization of just how absolutely fucked he was, it was intoxicating to see.

A deep, evil smile pulled at the woman's lips.

"P-P-Please, I- I'm sorry, o-okay? I, I didn't mean to-" Eighteen silenced him as she reached out, grabbing the back of his head before slamming it face first into the van's metallic floor. It made a sickening crack as his head splattered across the floor of the van. She frowned as a splash of his blood made its way onto her boots.

Well, I guess it would make sense if a little bit of blood got on me.

"Hey! Guys! What the hell are you doing back there?" The drivers head turned to look over his shoulder, only to see Eighteen crouched beside him, her face hovering mere inches away from his. He startled, swerving for a moment before regaining control of the van. Eighteen could hear a vehicle in an adjacent lane honk somewhere behind them.

"What the-? Where's-"

"Careful," she said coyly, "You should keep your eyes on the road. Otherwise," she casually leaned forward, placing a hand on the leg operating the pedals and pushing down. "You might just crash."

She heard the man yelp as she applied a painful amount of force on his leg, so much so that he couldn't even move his foot out of the way.

"H-hey! Stop it you crazy bitch!"

Eighteen watched him with a coy smile. She could feel his desperate attempts to raise his thigh and release the pedal as their speed climbed.

60...70...80…

She could hear the engine struggling to accelerate further as the man swerved left and right trying to avoid the traffic with one hand as the other desperately attempted to pull Eighteen's hand away from his knee.

"What the fuck are you doing!? Do you want to kill us all!? Guys! Guys! Get this bitch off of me or we're going to-" The man looked over his shoulder at that moment. His sentence slowly fell away as his face grew pale, his eyes taking in the sight of what had at one point been his friends.

Immediately he pulled his attention back to where Eighteen was leaning still amused by the situation. To his credit, he was still weaving around traffic relatively effectively despite the speedometer reading 120mph.

"W-who are you?" He whispered, his voice trembling. He'd stopped attempting to pull his leg free from her grip now. Both of his quivering arms were at the wheel now desperately trying to avoid traffic.

As Eighteen leaned in closer to the man, her sinister gaze locked onto his, her other hand casually stretched out and took a hold of the steering wheel.

"I go by a bunch of names, demon, murderer, monster…" The man had pulled away so far that he was leaning up against the window now, trembling in fear. "But the name you probably know me as is Android Eighteen." She smiled darkly, "Nice to meet you."

Then, she jerked the wheel.

-Ten minutes later-

Eighteen could hear sirens now. She figured there would be ambulances hoping to save what little was left of their splattered bodies.

She hadn't meant to collide with a brick building, but she had to admit that the result had been very interesting to see.

She watched as eyes pulled away from her to look towards where red and blue flashing lights were starting to appear.

Eighteen decided to use this moment to slip away as she retreated into the growing crowd.

"Hey! Where'd that girl go?"

She could hear the man who'd tried to steady her before call out for her.

She grinned.

No one would be able to accurately remember her. There was too much blood, too much carnage for her to be memorable. No one had been looking at the lone survivor of the crash, and the few who had wouldn't remember enough to give an accurate enough description for the police to go off of. Not like they could do anything to her if they did find her.

Eighteen could picture it now.

"Hey you! We want you for questioning!"

"Me?"

kaboom

Eighteen's smile was unwavering as she casually walked out of the crowd and began to make her way down the street. She hadn't realized how fun this would be.

Maybe I should go downtown and see what I can get into.

She knew that crime was more common there, and with her being just a petite, attractive, defenseless, girl, she was certain someone would try to take advantage of her.

She paused at this.

Wait, why was that fun?

She looked over her shoulder at the crowd of people. She could kill any one of them if she wanted to. She could easily raise a hand and blow them all to oblivion if she felt like it.

But that was just it, she didn't feel like it. She picked out a young woman with a round shape to her and pictured how she could kill her. She even raised a hand towards her in preparation to fire an energy blast. But the drive, the motivation just wasn't there.

A frown pulled at the woman's lips. When she'd been in the van, when she'd smashed the man's head against the side of the van, it had felt good. She'd felt like her old self again, like the murdering, evil, beautiful mistress of death that she'd always been. But now, that feeling was gone again. Looking at the woman, she couldn't bring herself to blow her up. It was like the man in the rubble again, like the people in the building she'd destroyed only a few days ago.

It felt empty.

Damn it!

She internally fumed as she let her arm fall to her side. For the briefest of moments during that drive she'd thought she'd fixed her problem. That she was back to her old self, that the doubt, the uncertainty had finally worked through her system and that she could kill like her old self again.

She sighed.

Seems like I'm back at square one.

She pocketed her hands as she turned away from the crowd, kicking a pebble that shot across the street and pinged against a stop sign.

I've been goofing off for too long now. I need to get on with my plan. Clearly I'm not gonna get back to normal doing this crap.

The woman looked up with a frown, searching for a decent sized building with an appropriately sized alley way for her to make herself hidden in.

As she walked down the sidewalk searching, she internally tried to make sense of why she'd been so eager to kill then as opposed to right now.

It's not like those guys had been any different to the people out here. They were just as weak and pathetic as all the other humans on the streets. So what was it? Was it that they were attempting to kidnap me? I mean sure, it was annoying, but it's not like they had any semblance of a chance at succeeding. It's not like I could get mad at them attempting to-

Eighteen suddenly froze in place, her eyes taking in a sight she hadn't expected in the slightest. Her eyes bulged as she registered what, or rather, who she was seeing.

Walking down the sidewalk on the opposite side of the road, an ice cream cone in hand with that lavender haired brat walking alongside him.

Blondie?

-Gohan-

A pleasant smile rested on Gohan's lips as he made his way down the sidewalk. It'd been a long time since he'd had ice cream. He'd chosen mint this time around. He thought it was just alright.

Trunks was walking beside him, shooting him strange looks in between mouthfuls of his chocolate chip. Gohan knew that this had not been what the boy had expected when he'd finally brought the Senzu beans from Yajirobe.

Trunks had been ready to get right back to training, and typically, that would be exactly what they would do following a defeat like the one he'd had.

But that's the entire point of this isn't it?

Gohan knew that getting back to training was the obvious decision to make. To get stronger, fight harder, etc. But that would just be falling back into the same old habits.

And If I want to truly get stronger, if I want to change for the better...than I need to break free from those habits.

"Gohan," Trunks said swallowing another bite of ice cream. "What are we doing right now?".

"Isn't it obvious?"

Trunks raised an eyebrow.

The elder Saiyan smiled. "We're enjoying some ice cream."

They were dressed casually. Gohan in some simple jeans and a black shirt with one sleeve tied off. Trunks in some baggy pants he seemed to favor and a long sleeve blue shirt.

Trunks grumbled, "That's not what I mean and you know it."

Gohan's smile fell slightly. What could he tell the boy? He didn't understand it fully either. Hell, this was just a guess as to what he needed to do to break out of his habits. Something random and odd and new and just something that wouldn't be the same thing, the same routine. That was all this really was. Something new to add to the equation. Whether it was the right thing to add, Gohan had no idea.

The man shrugged, "Honestly? I just thought it would be nice to go out for ice cream for once. You know, try something new." He ended his response with a bite of his cone.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see Trunks frowning at his response. It was clear to him that the boy wasn't satisfied with his answer, he didn't blame him, but appreciated that he seemed content to leave it alone for now.

Thanks Trunks.

Gohan smiled.

"Whoa! What's going on over there?" Trunks pointed down the road where a crowd had gathered. Not a moment later did the sound of sirens fill their ears before an ambulance and police raced past them.

Trunks began to stand on the tips of his toes trying to see past the growing crowd. "I wonder what happened!" He announced with a morbid curiosity.

Gohan frowned as he did the same. He didn't like to see people hurt, he never liked to see it, but that didn't mean that he didn't want to know what had happened. Being over a head taller than Trunks, he could see slightly over the crowd, making out the top of an obliterated van and a splatter of red that crawled up the brick wall.

A car accident...and a bad one.

"C'mon Trunks, lets go the other way." He said as he stopped and turned back. He imagined Bulma wouldn't want Trunks seeing even more gore than he already had in his fourteen short years.

"Awe c'mon! I wanna see!"

"No Trunks." He spoke with a sternness to his voice that told the boy to leave it alone.

The lavender haired teen sighed as he turned with his mentor. "Alright alright fine. Where are we going now though?"

Gohan frowned at the question. Where were they going now? He remembered how an easy past time activity had been to go to the movies, but ever since the movie industry had collapsed, movie theaters had all but gone out of business. The only ones still around played reruns and little else. The elder Saiyan knew that there had to be other things that people did for fun in town, but being home schooled in a mountain range for the first half of his life followed by years of isolation in training left the young man without many other ideas.

"Hmmm…" His attention turned to the sky, where the setting sun was casting an orange glow across the clouds.

"It's getting late. Maybe it's a good time to go back?"

Trunks shrugged. "Yeah, alright."

The teen kneeled in preparation to take flight when Gohan said. "What are you doing?"

Trunks raised an eyebrow. "Getting ready to fly?"

If Gohan could cross his arms he would have in that moment. "With all these people around?"

"So what?"

"You do realize that the only people that are known to fly are the Androids and the 'Golden warrior'." Gohan was internally glad that they'd chosen to go with that name for him. It made walking around town as himself easy since everyone only knew him in his Super Saiyan form.

He watched as the realization hit the boy. If he flew off now, it would cause mass panic.

"Ooohhh, yeah that makes sense...so...what do we do? Hail a taxi…?"

Gohan rolled his eyes. "C'mon, follow me."

The two turned a corner before walking down an alley where they could see no one. Gohan concentrated on the life forces in the area, waiting until he was certain that no one was close before coming to a stop.

"We good to go?" asked Trunks.

"Just a sec," Gohan turned his head and looked down the alley behind them, his brow furrowed as he thought he'd caught movement diving just behind a large dumpster. He stretched out his senses and couldn't sense anything.

Must have been a trick of the light I guess…

He frowned, for some reason his instincts were telling him something was off…

"Gohan c'mon! No one's around! Let's take off already!"

Gohan pulled his attention away from the dumpster. He knew Trunks was right, they could both sense life energy and no one was around for quite a distance.

My nerves must be on edge.

He hadn't actually taken a walk around civilization for the better part of a year now. It'd been a waste of time when he could be either training himself or training Trunks. Maybe having so many people around for once was messing with him?

Yeah, that's gotta be it.

The man nodded, "Yeah, we can head out."

Trunks smiled before taking the final bite of his cone and shooting into the sky.

Gohan quickly followed.

-Eighteen-

Eighteen couldn't believe her own luck as she followed the two a good distance away. She'd been sure that Blondie -er- not-so-Blondie had caught a glimpse of her back there in the alley, but for some reason he'd chosen to ignore her.

This can't be real right now. Did I eat a rabbits foot wrapped in four leaf clovers and don't remember it?

She watched as the duo traveled a good distance before coming to stop and landing next to an unassuming round building. She stayed above as they spoke about something before the lavender haired boy entered the residence without Blondie much to her surprise.

Huh, didn't think that they lived separately.

She watched as the man looked around a second time before blasting off into the sky again. Eighteen was quick to retreat as she shot backwards into the clouds, taking a mental note of the residence as she did so.

Now I know where you live robin…

She watched as Blondie took off in an opposite direction.

But let's see if we can't find out where Batman lives…

She blasted off in pursuit.

Author's Note:

Sooooo, yeah some things are happening haha. I'm only half satisfied with how this chapter turned out. I hit all the key notes and enjoyed writing Eighteen's perspective but...hmm I don't know, I guess I'll leave it for all of you to judge. I'm often left unsatisfied with my chapters no matter how well they are received. I appreciate all the people who chose to review in the last chapter and thank all of you who decide to review in this one! I was pretty discouraged with the lack of reviews in the last one, but those who did got me through another chapter!

The amazing cover art of this story was designed and completed by the wonderful:Upstart Psycho! If you'd like to check out their instagram where you can see all their other amazing work, please look them up saintswakeart. They appreciated the story enough that they wanted to add their touch to the tale, and I absolutely love it! Their commissions are currently open, so hit them up using the previously mentioned tags if you want more incredible artwork!

I don't have much else to say so…

Until next time!