Chapter Three
Blood on the ground
The criminal underbelly of the Re-Estize capital is a very dirty and disgusting place. From slaves of all sorts, be they sex slaves, slaves used for work and suicide missions, to even child slaves used in strange rituals and sacrifices, you can find them if you look hard enough and have enough gold. You can find people to do all sorts of jobs here. Kidnappings, extortion, robbery, murder, embezzlement, framing, fraud, and much more are just some of the products you can find on these back alleys and even in so called "Reputable businesses". Though it would be a miracle if you were allowed to leave with your life and body in one piece after not having enough money, or attempting to cheat one of the brokers in such a seedy disturbing underbelly.
The Eight Fingers run this vile trade from the top down, being the bosses of the bosses that own the bosses of the trades and regular crime gangs in the city, and they have the power to back up their titles. No major crime happens without their knowledge, and even the minor ones make their way up to their ears if they want. There is a level of resentment between them, but half of the time, they manage to work together for their own twisted "greater good" which does not count as anything good in the eyes of any law abiding citizen of good character.
With this in mind, allow us to take a rest at the docks over by the Adventurer's guild android 17, or Lapis if you so prefer had just wandered towards, thinking that work could be easily found at the docks where all sorts of goods come in and out under the not so watchful eyes of the Royal inspectors that likely have been paid to look the other way on most imports and exports.
He found the roads thinning, and the smells of rotting lumber, wax, and half rotten fish assaulted his nose with their powerful and overwhelming stench from more than several streets away. He had a nagging feeling that he was being followed, and for the shortest of moments felt a pang of jealousy for his previous enemy Son Goku and his ability to sense energy and life. Still, it wasn't like he wasn't able to sniff out the rats that were following him.
"They fell head first into my expectations" He said, somewhat irritated while rolling his right shoulder casually.
Then with a blur, he disappeared from sight.
Jameir Valin was a henchman at the peak of the role Henchman, and had almost ascended to the boss of his own territory of ten blocks near the harbor. He was quite tall, standing at a comfortable six foot eight with another two inches from his thick brown leather boots. His skin was leathery and pale, with several dozen scars across his body as proof of his tumbles in his barfights and from unsavory jobs.
His white, rough and wispy short hair gave him a look of an asylum patient, but he didn't care. He didn't deal with the nobles and royals, he was the guy they called to extort and show how things went to would be adventurers and travelers that moved in to his district. The look definitely made a difference in how beginner and low level adventurers would approach him when he inevitably came a knocking.
He wore a leather vest that was open at the front with black cloth pants usually, though not without several daggers at the belt on his waist. And he wasn't far from his trusty one handed mithril leaf bladed battle-axe. He wasn't small or thin for his size either, having taken good care of his physique, as his job required him to deal with the superhuman adventurers himself.
If he were to be judged by adventurer standards, he would very much be in the Steel or possibly even Silver plated adventurer tier when given all his prep time and lackeys for an ambush. He was the perfect example of the best of his class, but below his betters. He was cruel by nature, and enjoyed killing. However, he was aware of his limits, and didn't overstep on a job. You don't become a minor boss in this city by overstepping and disobeying orders.
There are dozens, if not hundreds of you, and many others below that want to become you in this city. They would be more than willing to take a job to tear you apart from below. Such was the delicate rope those on the lower middle of the criminal totem pole danced upon.
So, when someone offered a fairly sizable sum to teach a would be adventurer that was too big for his britches how things went, he could do nothing but accept after hearing the terms. Though it was slightly suspicious.
Supposedly, there was a man who came into the adventurer's guild, completely ignoring all customs to have a consultation before leaving without paying attention to one of the men they had in the guild who tried calling for him. Someone that confident was either a fool, or strong. However, this was a man nobody had heard of or ever saw before. He was likely some upstart from out in the countryside who didn't know just how high the wall he was trying to climb was.
Naturally, that attitude could bring trouble, and attention to people who didn't want to be seen or didn't like him. Violence and egos were almost never rational, and horrible things happen to the best of us for no reason other than that we just were in the wrong place, wrong time, or both subsequently. That was to say, not everybody needed some plan or reason to crush a bug, and when a bug gets dangerous and can possibly damage your business and way of life. Well, there is not much one can do to stop the inevitable clash of body and wills, and the bloodshed that would soon follow.
So, upon following his job requirements and collecting the down payment, he gathered twelve of his strongest men and women stooges who had been around at the time, armed up, and made his move. The man was said to be wearing clothes that were foreign to this city, and likely everywhere else. Also, he looked unremarkable, with black hair, blue eyes, and a normal body for a low tier adventurer. Outside of his confidence, he didn't seem like much. Top that off with him being probably unarmed, and well, things were looking easy.
There was a possibility of a setup, but from the looks of it, there was no sign of a tip off to the Guards and inspectors either.
As he found the man quickly and followed him down a few quieter roads, he was just about to spring the trap at the middle of a thin and less traveled side dead end road. Getting his axe ready, he motioned to his men and women who had been around him, and the two who had been on the roof of a nearby building with bows at the ready. Then, near the end of the road, the man disappeared, followed by the grunts of pain and screams of his men and women from all around.
The cracking of bone, the squelching of bursting flesh, and the hot splattering of blood on the walls at the end of the road ahead of him caused him to look forward with dread. What he saw was a level of brutality only those willing to kill and maim could possibly do without hesitation at such a speed.
His men and women, or well what was left of them lay in a pile of flesh, quickly pooling blood, and split bone that writhed, screamed, and cried, while their weapons were shattered and split in a crunched up pile next to their flesh pile for lack of a better word.
"You know" He heard from behind him in a young man's disappointed voice.
Not waiting for any mercy, he swung his leaf bladed battle-axe in a wide arc towards where the voice came from, swiftly turning towards his enemy.
Thwack!
His axe connected with something fleshy, but there wasn't any sound of blood splattering or flesh splitting. He tried to pull back the axe, but he quickly found it being gripped in between the pointer finger and thumb of his target in an unbreakable grip that was covered by a glowing barrier. The hands were completely clean of blood due to the barrier.
"Not good" He thought, quickly letting go of the axe, and turning to run. If he could run out into the street and call for help, from anyone at all, he might be able to live. That was only if he could make it out.
Pushing his body to the limit, he shot forward with his superhuman strength and sped forward like a crossbow bolt, desperate to survive.
"You should have brought more people. This level is no fun" The young man spoke from the end of the road.
"Yes, I will bring more people. Just you wait" The man screamed in his mind, but didn't dare to say it out loud in fear of his almost ensured demise.
He didn't even make it ten meters before his left hand was grabbed, and it was almost pulled out of his body as he jerked backwards, grabbed in an unforgiving steel grip of the young man.
"HELP!" He screamed in terror.
"MURDER HELP!" He shouted, flailing with his other arm desperately. However, nobody hear or came to his rescue. The guards weren't nearby, and any inspector that might have passed by had been paid off long ago to ignore any and all such shouts.
Tears welled up in his eyes as he heard a crunch of shattered bones, as his wrist turned to fleshy bone powder. Then, he was struck on the head with a thunderous blow, and that was the last thing he felt before his skull was popped like a grape.
Android 17 grabbed the body of the man he just killed with an annoyed grimace, seeing all the blood that had sprayed all over his clothes. This wouldn't do. No. This definitely wouldn't do at all.
Tossing the body to the ground, he searched through the man's belt pouches and pockets for any currency he might have and found two separate pouches full of copper and silver coins, with one singular gold coin. Placing the pouches in his pants pockets, he grabbed one of the man's arms and threw it to the pile of dying men and women before extending his right hand towards it.
A blue ball of energy formed in his hand with a hissing and sizzling sound and shot forward with a vicious chirping sound. It connected with the pile for a second before a brilliantly blinding blue flash and a massive boom that shook the entire district erupted, causing several buildings to quiver in their supports, and dozens of plants and items on the windowsills of other buildings to fall down onto anyone that was unfortunate enough to be on the streets below.
When the light died down, Android 17 looked at his work with satisfaction. What was left of the assailants was a smoking tiny pile of ash that was barely a centimeter high. His job was done, but now he had to get new clothes, which likely wasn't a problem given his new coin purse. Seeing the rather large amount of copper, slightly lesser amount of silver, and the singular gold coin, clothes of a modest sort couldn't be more than a handful of the round silver coins.
A weapon wasn't necessary. No, it would be a waste of time for him, as he was the weapon himself. Besides, judging by the weapons in his assailant's hands, they certainly weren't up to the high standards Android 17 had.
Removing his shirt, which bore the most of the bloodstains, he burned it to a crispy ash with a small energy blast. This effectively minimized the amount of blood on him, and showed off his impressively chiseled slim physique. Android 17 was the peak of the slim physique, with corded muscles and almost no body fat at all whatsoever. Given his reworked body, he had the bare minimum required to make his body not look like a skeleton covered by muscles under the skin. After all, to the mad doctor, looks were important.
Walking out into the street that had men and women running all about in fear, as some adventurers seemed to be shouting orders to bystanders, Android 17 calmly passed through the crowd and walked further away.
After some time, he confirmed that he wasn't being tailed and began looking for a clothing shop that likely wouldn't ask too many questions. He had moved away from the docks and towards a more bustling commerce center full of shops with open fronts, and large stalls full of trinkets, books, cloth sheets, spools of thread, and all sorts of scrolls.
Thankfully, on a side street, Android 17 came across a glass fronted clothing shop that looked just shoddy enough to not be of great repute, but not disgusting enough to likely be infested by rats and bugs.
He stepped through the front door, and several bells rung from above the door as it closed behind him. Inside the store was a long strange stone like that on the guild ceiling that let out a subdued white light from high above the wooden shelves and hangars. Long racks of jackets, shirts, belts, and vests stretched to the counter at the back where a man in his late forties who had pale skin, parted graying brown hair and a curved thick moustache above his thin lips sat reading a book.
Android 17 walked up to the counter and asked a question, not bothering to greet the man.
"How much is a new outfit? Make it casual and black" Android 17 asked, causing the man to look up and raise an eyebrow at him before giving a shrug and asking a question.
"A full outfit with jacket, vest, pants, shirt, shoes, and underwear costs seven silver. Do you mind being measured?" the man asked, as in order to make an outfit for the man, his measurements needed to be taken.
Android 17 frowned. Being measured reminded him of the things Dr. Gero did to him, but this man was not Dr. Gero. He was a man who offered a service that required measurements.
"Fine. Make it quick" Android 17 replied, taking his pouches of coins from his pockets before removing his pants and burning them to a tiny pile of ash.
The man behind the counter saw that and gulped with a rising fear, but said nothing. He didn't want this crazy man to hurt him.
"Follow me" he said after a gulp, and lead the android to a changing room in back.
"Wait here for a moment, I need to get my measuring tools" The man said, motioning to the wooden sleek bench in the room across from a tall wall mirror.
Android 17 frowned but sat down. The sooner he got over this the better.
A few moments lather the man came in with measuring tape and several strings.
It took a few minutes for the measurements to be complete, but afterwards, Android 17 came out of the store with a new outfit. It consisted of a casual black overcoat, black vest underneath over a white cloth button up shirt, black dress pants, black socks, and new black sleek shoes that made him look very much like a scholar or teacher in the new world. The man wanted to give him a lace tie for around his neck, but android 17 was having none of it. Still, the man accepted the silver he helped sort from Android 17 after a threat that if he was scamming him, what happened to the pants earlier would happen to him.
Now looking somewhat more like a new worlder, and seven silver lighter, Android 17 made his way out on to the road. It turns out he had over ninety silver, two hundred copper and one gold.
That was enough for him to eat and have somewhere to stay for a while.
Eating and sleeping wasn't necessary for him after Dr. Gero had altered his body and implanted the infinite energy generator into him, but he still needed to drink water, much like Piccolo did.
The thing was, he didn't know where to go at all, but he could find out. He would return back to the guild later and purchase the guild membership, but first he would have to learn the basics of the written language here, as he was in a massive disadvantage involving currency, books, signs and anything written at all. With a new goal in mind, Android 17 took to the air.
Author's Note: Some of you might be like, "Android 17 wouldn't kill anyone". You're right. Android 17 from DBS wouldn't kill anyone, but this is NOT DBS 17. This an Android 17 that has not gone through the changes of DBZ and DBS. He hasn't had that character development yet. Right now, He's the "Kill Goku" Android 17 who if left to his own, might even begin to lean towards his future self without having someone to reign him in to find a meaning and peace in his life. He very much can and will kill people who wish to and try to harm him.
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