An armored hover-van blasted through the busy streets of rebuilt North City. The hunk of steel blitzed left and right to elude incoming traffic and the traffic that lagged behind its neck-breaking pace. Once in a while, a bare-chested ruffian with a steel-cage-style helmet peeked through the side window with a submachine gun in hand and fired a hail of bullets to throw the chasing law enforcement vehicles off the road.
The riddled and smoking police vehicles wobbled on the road before smashing into a roadside object or another vehicle, causing a moderate vehicular wreck of bearable proportions. The hover-van made haste before seeing one of the off-balance police vehicles crashing through the side of the road and plummeting down to the traffic line directly below them, which gave the psychotic driver of the hoodlum vehicle a not-too-bright-idea.
The hooligan swerved with a manic smile and then pressed on the pedal with all of his collective body weight. Jets of flames shot out from the hover-van's exhaust pipes, sending it spearheading across the speedway and flying through the hole in the roadside made by the police hovercar. Because of the gravitational force keeping vehicles suspended over the road under normal conditions, the hover-van rattled and quaked upon hitting the ground. However, with an intensified gravitational pulse serving as a sufficient hydraulic device, it maintained balance and shot onward, losing most of its pursuers that weren't being paid enough to repeat such a daredevil dastardly dash.
The bucket of bandits bolted forth with an uneasy shake to the damaged vehicle that had dents from bullet holes and a significant shake to its systems after the crash from a higher level of the highway. Far away in the distance, they could see a supermarket that they could ditch their van on in favor of either of the local produce-carrying vehicles or one of the civilian hovercars, all the while enjoying some certified civilian aggravation.
"North City bank robbers last sighted off the Highway 32 and transitioning onto Highway 18," a voice on Krillin's scooter reported from the speaker while the recruit was issuing a parking ticket. Krillin turned at the speaker, issuing out muzzled babble reporting the freshest hi-profile desperado disturbance, and just sighed.
"Ten-Four. Update. North City bank robbers sighted at Frigid Rhubarb supermarket. Officers pinned down outside. Potential hostage situation. Deviants employing suppressing fire at an approximately 270-degree radius," an officer that had decades of experience over Krillin reported on the speaker. Krillin pocketed his journal and his ticket book while approaching the speaker and picked the microphone up in his hands.
"Ten-Four. Police Assistant Krillin reporting from Frostbite Avenue, I can sort the situation out for you guys. I'm one-third done with my ticket quota for today anyway. Ten-Four," Krillin suggested.
"Recruit? Can you repeat that? Did you say recruit or officer, Krillin?" the voice in the speaker came back with an elevated and almost cheery mood.
"Ten-Four. Come on, guys, no need for this recruit crap right now. I'm honestly offering you a hand here. I can pull you guys out of there, scoop up the crooks and rescue the hostages in no time flat…" Krillin's face drooped like that of a parched horse. "Uh… Ten-Four."
"You don't need to ten-four yourself, rookie. Sit tight and keep working hard on those parking tickets. The situation involves heavy, military-grade firearms and an assortment of mean, psychotic individuals and hostages. That's not something a few months in the academy can…," the voice on the speaker came up before the volume boomed from them with such total that it threatened to deafen Krillin outright. The police officers got a barrage of bullets flying their way so that they didn't start feeling too comfortable holed up behind their hovercars and jets.
"Ten-four. For reference, I didn't actually enlist in the Academy. I'm a volunteer civilian North City Police Assistant," Krillin's voice became outright miserable as he realized he was beating himself down even further. "Did you Ten-Four that? Ten-Four."
"Sit your Ten-Four spouting rear down, rookie! This is a serious firefight! You're in for some severe reprimanding when this is all over, you better hope no hostages get shot while I'm wasting my time talking you down from becoming a part of today's crime statistic!" the officer's voice coming in from the other end actually outdid the machinegun fire. Krillin sighed and took off his traffic helmet, flinging it aside while he undid his bowtie and let it fly loose in the wind too.
"Screw that, I've saved the universe and the world multiple times. I don't need this crap. It was about time I would ask for a transfer out of this place anyway. Doesn't seem like #18 is here anyway," Krillin shook his head and calmed his nerves down. The ground-level sidewalk he stood on quaked and splintered into intense, web-patterned cracks, and splintering pebbles shot out, almost reaching the sky as the martial artist kicked off the ground into a speedy flight.
The officers cradled closer and closer behind the police hovercar as the bullets drilling through their armored vehicle began coming in closer and closer to where they were crouched down under. Even with the menacing hoodlums firing at all sides through the window completely blindly, this was just a die roll until someone got hit or something flammable or explosive decided it took too much of a riddling and would end up blowing up in a vibrant fireball.
A deafening thud made the officers blank out. When their awareness returned to them, the officers realized that a significant amount of shade was covering them up. Upon peek-sized visual inspection, they realized that the hover-van that the robbers got here in had slammed in between them and the robbers and was absorbing the wild bullet spray from all directions.
The roof imploded inward with a shower of steel shrapnel when Krillin crashed through it like a human cannonball, tackling a printing paper barrier in front of him. The robbers all got tossed aside from the brute force of the crash landing, the resulting quake to the floor, and the shock of the explosive noise coming in from indoors.
"What the fuck? Did one of you blow up a grenade indoors again?" someone from the ranks of the robbers turned around, aiming the barrel of his gun around before realizing that a short, bald man with six spots of moxibustion burns on his forehead staring down at him from across the aisle.
The robber opened fire but Krillin vanished away in rapid succession, never lingering in plain view visible to the naked eye for longer than a tenth of a blink before stopping right in front of the robber and blasting him away with a supersonic shock wave of his sudden stop. A wall of robbers rushed in from different sides of the market, having abandoned the hostages and aimed their guns at Krillin. The bald martial artist extended his hand, expelling a Kiai pulse that shoved half of the aisles, tumbling down on top of a significant portion of the gunmen while the rest opened fire.
Krillin skillfully hooked and scooped the oncoming gunfire out of thin air, a hail of bullets as thick as a lead downpour that quickly became too significant to keep in his hands so he had to drop the bullets from his hands to clang down on the floor and roll off under the tossed-about mess of the aisles. Before any of the robbers could react to this impossible feat of agility, perception, and precision, Krillin vanished, engulfed in a bright aura of white light and disposed of all dozen of robbers in a blink.
Tapping his hands, Krillin approached the freezer room where all the hostages were held, based on their measly Ki signatures. Ripping off the safe-grade freezer door felt no harder than peeling a band-aid off. The sight that Krillin saw inside the freezer room, however, did shock him. So much so that his jaw dropped, and he became unable to move for a few seconds.
A handful of crooks laid battered and completely out of it with their rifles laying beside them and a woman of electrum-colored hair and sky-blue eyes stared with a spice of grump in her look at the downed ruffians while poking their ribs with her boot. When Krillin entered, the woman looked up, looking moderately dazed to see the bald martial artist here too.
"#18!?" Krillin yelled out. "What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing, shrimp…" Artificial Human No. 18 crossed her arms and looked away. "Plus, would you mind not calling me by my number anymore? At least you had the brainpower to abbreviate that. I'm not exactly looking to become a celebrity here and getting chased off from another town, you know."
True to her design, Lazuli hadn't changed one bit since Krillin last saw her. Though she looked strange wearing a supermarket clerk uniform. Then again, Krillin also must've not looked his best in spoiled and torn-up police-assistant rags either. The other people whom the robbers had taken hostage pressed their backs against the wall while shifting their looks from the short-haired woman who had just disposed of a handful of armed and armored psycho robbers like it was just a menial bother to her and a bald man who tore the secure lid off of the freezer room like it was as lightweight as picking up a pillow and placing somewhere else.
"Sorry, Lazuli. I came here to pummel those robbers. I've heard they were causing a bunch of problems so I interfered before anyone got hurt," Krillin scratched the back of his head, feeling heat building up over his cheeks since he was bragging a bit and felt extremely glad to have a chance to do so in front of Lazuli.
"Is that what you do these days? Play superhero?" Lazuli crossed her arms, pressing her foot over the chest of a knocked-out goon while she leaned on it to press him down with some extra weight under her heel.
"Well… I'm actually a police assistant. A civilian volunteer who assists police with whatever they're entrusted with. I can make civilian arrests and issue parking tickets even…" Krillin chuckled to himself, rubbing his nose.
"Oh, so you're not a deadbeat and got yourself a proper job. Good for you…" Lazuli stepped over the battered deviant and approached Krillin with a smirk on her face. "How much does it pay?"
"Well… Not much at all, actually. My previous job as an insurance salesman was a way better hustle but… I guess the cat's out of the bag, Lazuli. The reason I dropped my job and started traveling around different towns, assisting different police departments is that I was looking for you. I wanted to see how you'd end up after leaving your previous life behind. I was worried that one of these days I'd hear about police harassing you on the speakers and that I'd have to step in…" Krillin regretted having to throw away his traffic helmet before since he'd have loved to tuck its cap in over his face and hide his embarrassment.
"Aww… You'd have fought off the police for me? That's so cute…" Lazuli teased the martial artist and leaned down for a peck on his forehead. "You should drop this police-assistant shit though. It's pathetic. Get your previous job, it pays way better. How are you gonna take a girl out on a volunteer's salary?"
"You're the one to talk…" Krillin crossed his arms, following #18 not too far behind as she took off her apron and hung it over the thrashed counter, picked up a tiny purse, and vaulted over the counter to head straight for the door. Seeing the pair walk off into the sunset together, the rest of the hostages peeked from the freezer one inch of their freezing noses at a time. Initially, they were still worried that the rest of the robbers would come and keep them in, but once they noticed all of them taken out and piled neatly in a stack together, they all rushed outside.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Lazuli pressed her knuckles to her sides playfully. "I got myself a job too. It's a hassle, but I can half-ass it as much as I want and no one will bat an eye. By the time people get sick of me slacking off, it'll be time for me to move on too."
"Weren't you a big wig at Puri & Co? Like the head of some division and all?" Krillin turned to Lazuli as all the officers were incredibly slow to catch on to the fact that the hostage situation was over and by the time they began scouting the location and rushing to the supermarket to lock up the perps, the pair had already walked off the highway.
"Yeah, but that's a big publicity job. The world can't stand Puri & Co now. They probably got worse rep than the Red Ribbon Army, which is ironic because the No. 1 and No. 2 corporations with the worst PR in all of human history are related," Lazuli leaned back on her arms while looking at the reddening sky. "I can't afford to take a high-ranking position job anymore. I'd sink that company underground in a snap… The people that used to be cyborgs under the old hag's command that have been restored and have their memories of being part of Puri & Co network of information already recognize me pretty easily. Every time I'm recognized, I have to skip town."
"Hmm… And what is Lapis doing?" Krillin wondered. "Does he run into the same problem?"
"That oaf? Nah…" Lazuli sighed. "He took some online job applications and lucked out. He watches national parks and fends off poachers. His employer hasn't even seen his face and Lapis doesn't even need to show his face in public, except to some wildlife. He struck gold with that gig…"
"I'm sure that Bulma could help you get a job. You're no longer looking to kill anyone or destroy anything. If she sees you're just trying to flip a new leaf, she'll help you out for sure," Krillin suggested while flipping a can of soda he picked off the ground at the supermarket and spinning it over his finger like a basketball. After he had his fun, Krillin flicked it up and caught it in mid-air to open it up and take a sip of some refreshments.
"No way. Face it, short-stuff, no one else but you likes us. You only care about me 'cause you've got the hots for me and Piccolo cares about my brother 'cause he sees himself in him a little," Lazuli turned her head away, objecting to the idea of asking Bulma for help. Given how she spent her entire life being convinced that Bulma was the enemy, Krillin could understand the animosity that still lingered between the reformed Artificial Humans and people affiliated with Capsule Corps.
"I… Don't…" Krillin coughed up on soda, stopping to lean over and clean his fuzzy throat of the sweet refreshment after Lazuli's bold yet genuine observation. "Well…" he started another sentence, yet Krillin wasn't entirely sure how he'd finish it now that he had started it, so he just flipped his can to take a gulp of soda instead.
"I know!" Lazuli pumped her hands, looking the most lively and excited Krillin has ever seen this rebel. "We should get married!"
Krillin's throat shut down as air squeezed from down below in colossal proportions, making the soda in Krillin's cheeks swell up before it became too much and he had to spray it all over the shut-down highway. This was so sudden and unexpected that the baldy just stared at the puddle of sizzling soda on the ground before him while leaning down with heavy panting oppressing his chest.
"Think about it, you love me. You're one of the very few people I can stand too. That way you can go back to your job making loads of money and I can do nothing and help you spend it! It's a perfect arrangement!" Lazuli snapped her fingers while Krillin looked up at her with a squint.
"Could you maybe not make it sound that exploitative?" Krillin muttered with pouty, wrinkled lips.
"Hey, what is that? Did you bring one of your jerkoff friends with you?" Lazuli turned behind her while her sky-blue eyes lit up with orange data readings that began counting up.
"Huh? What are you talking about? I can't sense anything. Are you just avoiding talking about our marriage? You're the one who brought it up in the first place, so…" Krillin shrugged and began running his mouth #18 grabbed him and flung him aside while a white energy blast lit up the highway and sunk it in black smoke.
"Lazuli!" Krillin shouted. He reached out to the black trail of smoke. It took him a while to realize that just because he couldn't sense #18's energy, it didn't mean that she died from that blast. True to his conclusion, the woman rose from the smoke relatively unharmed with dust and dirt and a few tears covering her market clerk uniform.
"Don't make a scene about it. Next time be more careful," Lazuli scolded her supposed fiancée as the two looked up at the figure that attacked them out of the blue.
"Yo, if it ain't Android No. 18? One of your bitch-ass friends ratted your pretty little ass out," a short and utterly hairless figure with a dark purple skin tone and a large, baggy green hat descended from the sky and tapped his black boots on the other side of the devastated highway he just blasted through. His pink and comically plump lips arced upward in a subtle smirk, though his eyes hid behind oversized shades so his true mood was impossible to tell. The almost doll-like little man fixed his puffy, red bow tie sporting the "R-R" insignia stretched across it before fixing the collar of his yellow and blue overcoat covering his tuxedo shirt and straightening his back with his arms positioned behind his back.
"I can't sense any energy off of him, but he packs a wallop. Could he be an Android?" Krillin looked at Lazuli.
"Not one that I'm familiar with," #18 clenched his fists by her sides with an irked expression and prepared to thrash this interloper. "Artificial Humans hunting me is pretty new. Anyway, judging from his potty-mouth, I'm pretty glad I've never met him and I'd rather blast him away and forget he ever existed."
It seemed like Krillin and #18 had a purple-skinned, exuberant, doll-like challenger to defeat if they were to realize their plans of getting married and getting their lives back in order.