Android 13
West City had been a bust, so he'd joined 14 in searching for the cyborgs in Parsley City. The information that 17 & 18 had hit the capital cities hardest when they started their reign of terror had understated how heavy those hits were. West City was gone. There hadn't been any attempt at rebuilding, not when 98% of its area could be described as 'piles of rubble'. There were humans there, scavenging what they could, but it was so pitiful that 13 couldn't bring himself to waste the energy eliminating them.
Parsley City, on the other hand, was almost normal.
Ignore the worried glances to the sky.
Ignore the billboards displaying news of the latest town ruined by the cyborgs.
Ignore the maps with bunker locations, the lack of traffic, the low population density, the missing limbs, the feeling that everyone was holding their breath afraid to make a sound in case something heard them.
Ignore all of that, and the city fit 13's files. It was a massive improvement over Bridge Town, since there were no mysterious clothing piles to be seen. Just humans mimicking ordinary lives. They were so worried about the sibling duo that 13 and 14 could walk down the street and get barely a second glance.
Helped that he'd turned his cap backwards, and 14's belt buckle wasn't the most obvious display of the Red Ribbon logo.
"Howdy," he said, politely tipping his hat as he passed by a woman in a red and white polka dot dress. Her eyes had been glued to the TV showing the flames rising from a luxury resort the cyborgs had terrorised a few days ago. She took one look at him, opened her mouth to say something, then shut it when 14 glared at her as he followed behind 13.
"This is suboptimal," 14 stated. "Number 17 and Number 18 are not here."
13 smiled. This was the second time he'd flagged Number 14 for insubordination. If it happened a third time, he wouldn't hesitate to take what was useful from him. "Ya don't appreciate sightseeing?"
14 did look around, but 13 didn't detect anything on the android's grey face that made him believe that he had learned anything. Of course he hadn't. 14 wasn't built to think - just to execute orders. And that was why 13 was damn sure he didn't need to hear that his plan was suboptimal from a subordinate 'droid.
17 and 18 were playful. That was clearly their nature, as mistaken as that was. They weren't playing to win, just playing for the sake of it. It strained his circuits to try and understand, but walking through Parsley City and seeing the fear hanging over the people like a cloud, 13 was starting to put something together.
It wasn't a plan yet. Nothing solid. But it was taking shape. They toyed with their food. They needed humans. So hang around humans long enough, and 17 and 18 would show up.
The cyborgs didn't waste time with small towns and no name villages, they loved wrecking cities and made damn sure that there would always be more around so the fun never stopped.
"Sun's getting low," 13 observed, looking to the sky. The view of golden rays illuminating the clouds. People were already rushing home, though that wouldn't make a difference if there was an attack. "15's taking his sweet time."
'Not that it matters. Could be hours, days, before we get any sign of…'
His train of thought diverted as light flashed through the streets, a precursor to the earsplitting sound of the blast and the earthquake that followed.
The humans screamed and scattered. 14 stood unmoving, eyes fixed on the carnage, his expression carved from stone. 13 just smirked.
"Well I'll be damned! Those are some lovely fireworks... Come on now - won't be long 'fore 15 shows up. We just gotta let round one play out."
Android 17
"Is this because you lost that video game?"
Eighteen ignored him and continued firing blasts randomly into the city ahead of her.
"Is it because I killed that guy you thought was cute?"
"Everything I love you destroy!"
'Is that so? Then why is our house overflowing with clothes you made me carry the whole flight back'
"Calm down sis, you're gonna blow a circuit," he said, laughing. That of course made her fire into the maelstrom with even greater intensity.
A bullet plinked off his temple, and he turned around to see a trembling old man trapped under a car with a revolver in his grip. Seventeen smiled and reached for his own holster.
'This is great. I hardly get to use this.'
Before he could put a bullet in the old geezer's skull himself, some weird albino stepped into his path. Seventeen paused. Tall, black ponytail, shirtless, didn't skip gym day, brown gloves, greenish kilt… oh and most importantly the same Red Ribbon symbol on his belt that Seventeen had on his shirt.
"Who the hell are you?"
The giant just kept glaring at him.
"Why, that'd be Android 14!" a new voice spoke from above. "And I'm Android 13. Now, if you and that lovely sister of yours don't come along nice and quiet, y'all will get the pleasure of meetin' Android 15!"
It was impossible to miss the arrival of the new one, and Eighteen stopped her tantrum to track the new arrival as he descended.
Shoulder length silver hair, bare chested except for suspenders attached to his cargo pants, same style of brown gloves as 14, and oh yeah, a vest and tacky trucker hat with the Red Ribbon logo on it.
'More androids? What's going on?'
"Nice hat. Goes well with your 'Southern charm'," Eighteen said, folding her arms. "Or lack thereof. What, did Gero program you all for a circus act?"
13 scowled. "Now, see here, missy! I ain't about to stand here and let you blaspheme the good doctor's name! Especially when you're the turncoats that done went and killed him!"
Seventeen burst out laughing. "Is this a joke?"
13 glared daggers at him as he kept laughing. "This ain't no laughing matter, boy. Orders are to bring y'all in. And unlike y'all, I follow orders."
"D-Did you just call me 'boy'?" said Seventeen, blinking rapidly .
The country-bumpkin droid cracked his knuckles in a way that would have been intimidating to most people. Seventeen wasn't.
"Yeah, I'm thinking this is a joke," Eighteen said, hopping off the car she was standing on. "Killing Gero is ancient history, so if you're doing this for revenge, you have terrible timing. And if you're not…"
As Eighteen circled around 13, Seventeen started pacing towards 14, who had kept up his mannequin impression quite well compared to 13, who was positively seething. The android was taking things oddly personally. Well, was that more of a defect than the other one? It wasn't reacting to anything at all, just watching them. Both of their functions must have degraded.
He continued where his sister had left off, "…Then your age is showing. 13, 14 and 15… I know you older models were more limited than my sister and I, but I thought you'd at least have some basic logical capabilities. You're talking about orders when Gero is dead. Whatever the old man wanted doesn't matter, we can do whatever we want."
Seventeen smirked and looked 14 in the eyes, searching for something in the giant's inexpressive stare. That was the royal we he'd just used, extending an olive branch to these sad, sad failures of design. He didn't know why they were here or why they thought that capturing Eighteen and him was a good idea, but if he could get them all on the same side then it wouldn't matter. There was more room on the winning team for fellow androids, even if they needed to learn how the world worked now.
Seventeen and Eighteen were the top dogs, and if they rolled over when they were told, he had no objection to keeping them around. Sure, team games would get a little complicated with four – five – members, but he'd come up with something. The one left out could keep track of the score; it'd probably result in less in-fighting.
"Whatever you want," 13 repeated, clenching his fists and glaring as he turned to follow Eighteen's movements. "That right there's the damn problem with you over-designed new models. Whatever you want ain't even a thought that oughta be runnin' through your damn heads."
The accent was new. but the words made Seventeen's eyes narrow as he was reminded of the last one who had dared speak to him like that. The dearly departed Dr Gero had spoken to him just like that all the time. Like he was just a robot, a tool, something that only existed to perform the function it was built for.
"I killed Dr Gero for speaking to me like this. If you keep this up, you're going to the scrapheap." Seventeen looked over his shoulder at 13, then turned back to 14.
13 continued as though Seventeen hadn't said anything, pointing to his hat. "See this? The Red Ribbon Army stood for something then and it stands for something now."
Eighteen giggled. "Yeah, killing Goku. You're due for an update, he's been dead for a very long time."
"I know that!" 13 snapped, "That ain't the damn point! The point is, there's a chain of command y'don't ever go against, and y'all did just that. So not only am I disappointed in how you slackers been playin' with humans like lazy housecats for twenty damn years, I been itchin' for an excuse to teach y'all a lesson in respect."
Scanners that Seventeen had neglected to use for so long that he had forgotten they existed suddenly alerted him to a rapidly building heat signature as 13 tensed and his form began humming with barely contained energy.
"So," 13 began, "Go on. Tell me y'don't wanna do this the easy way. Gimme a reason to teach y'all some manners."
"You really are just a toy soldier," said Eighteen, shaking her head. "How sad. Seventeen, I want this one. His accent hurts my ears."
Seventeen hid his disappointment in not getting to take apart the idiotic older android himself and gave Eighteen a thumbs up. He knew better than to object when she singled out a target. At least it'd be fun to watch.
'Probably not gonna be as fun with another android, but his behaviour is close enough to human that he can scream. Right?'
"He's all yours." He sighed, putting his hands on his hips and shaking his head. "What a drag. I guess I'll have to take care of tall, pale and boring by myself. What did I do to deserve this?"
No warning. No telegraph. Just a huge fist slamming straight into his skull, sending him flying.
He didn't even have time to process it before another impact followed - 13, a blur, hit him midair with a flying dropkick.
Seventeen crashed through a row of buildings, toppling them like dominoes.
"Sorry, were y'under the impression that I gave a damn 'bout your rules?" 13 hollered, almost gleeful. He and 14 moved in sync, pivoting fast as they unleashed a storm of energy blasts at Eighteen. The street lit up with the barrage, forcing her back under the sheer pressure of the assault.
13 stood tall beside 14, radiating power and confidence as they kept their arms outstretched and aim locked on at the crater where Eighteen was situated. 13 had a wicked smirk on his face as he laughed.
"You two had your fun, but playtime's over!"
Android 18
As she wiped the soot from her cheek, she felt something she thought she'd forgotten. Concern. It was two-fold.
Seventeen had been kicked to the other side of the city. That didn't happen.
These two obsolete prototypes were capable of outputting more energy than they should have been. Even as she stood up they were smugly staring down at her. Like her being caught by a cheap shot meant anything.
Already combat programs and analytical algorithms she hadn't seen a need for since they killed all of Goku's friends were starting up. 13 and 14 were tagged, their power fluctuations tracked, fighting patterns analysed, and already potential profiles were forming. Soon she'd know all of their moves, how to counter them and the best way to put them down quickly.
Beating the shit out of Gohan was fun, but these two had already annoyed her more in minutes than that kid had in years. So they had to die. It was that simple.
"What's wrong, broke a nail?" 13 jeered, "Come on out! I ain't done with ya yet."
"There's not going to be enough of you to recycle, you redneck." She floated out of the crater, meeting their eyes with a cool glare.
"Kitty's got claws! Good, you're gonna need 'em."
'Is he trying to goad me or is he just like this?'
Out of habit she swept her hair back into place as she spoke, "Tough talk for a rustbucket like you. Do you even know why you're here?"
"To hogtie you and your brother and bring you back to base. You havin' memory issues?"
'Thanks for the information, dumbass.'
"That's not what I meant. Can you do anything without orders, or would you just shut down?" she smiled, tilting her head as she tracking the instability working its way through 13's body language.
She knew he'd attack her before he even moved.
The pair of androids both launched at her, their forms blurring from sheer speed. Her arms went up to block their punches. Twin sonic booms blasted out as their fists hit her guard, and the three of them rocketed down the street as they kept applying pressure.
Eighteen studied the data her sensors gathered from them as the pair kept trying to break through her defence, barely noticing the destruction caused by their passage.
'Power output is constant. They're also infinite energy models. This could be annoying.'
She sped up, creating a marginal amount of distance between them that she used to duck below them and brace herself against the ground, kicking up into their torsos a split-second later. They were inorganic, so it didn't get the strong reaction she was used to, but the way they flinched indicated that they were built with a pain response.
Good. She could work with that.
14 drew his fist back, preparing to charge at her while 13 began lifting his hands up, likely to generate an energy attack. Thanks to her far superior processing ability, she was already three steps ahead of them.
Her form blinked out of the way as 14's punch broke through the earth and reappeared behind 13. Her right foot lashed out with a powerful kick that struck the back of his skull with a loud clang, and as 14 tore his arm out of the ground while turning in reaction to his commander being ragdolled, Eighteen's left foot smashed into the top of his head and drove the android through the ground.
'That only took 2.8 seconds. These old designs really weren't built for endurance.'
Android 18 smiled and flew up to the skyline. This part of Parsley City was mostly collapsed and on fire, less screaming than when she usually vented, and no sign of Seventeen.
"Stop fooling around Seventeen," she muttered, clicking her tongue and studying the trail of fallen office buildings where he had been hit.
She was caught by complete surprise as the incandescent blue blast hit her from below. The damage was minimal, the worst it did was surround her with a cloud of smoke that she had to fly out of. But the bottoms of her tights had been burned away, and her sleeves were singed. That hurt.
Android 14 was flying out of the sewer she'd kicked him into, accelerating towards her. She braced herself, then startled as she saw someone else flying at her from the side. The last thing she saw was 13's boot about to hit her face.
Android 13
Watching the blonde bitch's body go soaring over the horizon felt so good that he saved the image in his mind.
"Hya! How'd ya like that! Not havin' fun now, are ya?"
On one level he was cheering and waiting for 14 to enter formation with him. On the other, he was working on what the hell was wrong here.
He accessed the files he had been given on 17 and 18, again, and sent a furious query to the computer which had sent them on this mission about why the data on their power level was wrong. They weren't supposed to be this damn strong!
At the same time he sent a request for Android 15's status. The little bastard was late! That shouldn't be possible. Personality quirks or not, 15 didn't have the freedom to dawdle, or ignore the instruction he'd given to reinforce him and 14 when the fight kicked off.
'So where the hell is he?!'
"C'mon 14, let's finish this," 13 ordered, setting his stance.
"Where do you think you're going?"
14 was yanked back by his ponytail, head jerking sideways as Seventeen's palm struck his jaw. There was a screeching of twisting metal as his jaw deformed, and the muscular android was flung away.
Then Seventeen tightened his grip on 14's hair and reeled him back in, cocking his fist. 13 put on a burst of speed but was a second too late to stop Seventeen from punching 14's jaw clean off.
"And now we're even," Seventeen smirked, dodging to the side with ease. "Or maybe not. You weren't using your mouth anyway."
To his credit, 14 didn't hesitate to join in on 13's assault, even as loose wires sparked at the connection where his lower jaw had been. 13 brought both hands up over his head for an axe-handle strike as 14 rushed in with a haymaker. Seventeen blocked 13's double-handed strike with his right arm and quickly grabbed him by the vest with his left, throwing him into 14.
The two tumbled through the sky for a little before 13 gained control of his spin and jetted away from 14, who crashed into a roof. In the two seconds it took 14 to get to his feet, 13 scanned his partner.
'Damage cosmetic only. Unit is functional.'
That was good, but to be honest, he'd have preferred if 14 couldn't fight. That way he could take what he needed from him.
There was a whoosh and Android 18 was hovering next to her brother. "What'd I miss?"
"Nothing, just a little payback," Seventeen glanced at his sister with an easy smile on his face. 13's expression hardened as he took in the extent of the damage his surprise attack had done to Eighteen. Some more burn marks on her clothes, a few red stains on her arms and legs that sadly were not her blood.
This mission was not as easy as he'd thought it'd be.
"What took you so long? I had to take on these creeps myself," Eighteen asked.
Seventeen shrugged. "I knew you could handle it, so I took a little time to think."
"You? Really?"
"These two," Seventeen continued in spite of his sister's jab, "are here to take us in. That's way too specific to be a glitch caused by Goku not being around. So, I think we get the answers we need from them – or just the good ole 'droid, then waste them."
Eighteen smiled and nodded. "Or kill them and go after the other one for information."
"Yeah! There's supposed to be three of you, right?" Seventeen said, snapping his fingers.
13 exploded upwards, aiming to clothesline both of them, but they both left after-images as they dodged sideways and fired scorching yellow blasts at his chest. He grit his teeth, ignoring the pain as the skin burned off his chest, chasing after Seventeen and catching him in the chin with his fist. As Seventeen's head snapped back, 14 surged forwards, beating 13 to him. 14 grabbed the teenager's head and slammed it down onto his knee. Then he did it again, and again, and…
Eighteen chopped through 14's shoulder with her hand, fury written over her features. Seconds later Seventeen kicked out with enough force to sever 14's spine. The bottom half of the android dropped to the earth, the top half following it as Seventeen backhanded him into a long spiral.
13's pupils grew. "Fu-"
The pair started attacking him. For the first five seconds he successfully defended himself, but then they sped up. Eighteen's fist slipped through his guard and hit him in the face, forcing his head back. He recovered and threw a punch at her. Seventeen used a palm strike to redirect his arm, kicked him in the stomach, then uppercut him. 13 twisted around and swiped at the twins with a kick, they easily avoided it and simultaneously struck him in the face.
He was flung helplessly across the sky.
The windows of the city were blown out by the super sonic boom.
Worst of all, his hat disappeared somewhere along the way.
…
His CPU rebooted and he noted that he was back in West City. Like he hadn't had enough fun the first time. Something was wrong, again, something new. But he couldn't tell what it was. Systems diagnostics told him that he was still in fighting condition, though a number of systems were highlighted in yellow and orange.
He reached up and touched his face and felt metal.
He pulled his hand away from where his cheek had been, staring at it. Tattered scraps of artificial skin clung to his glove, then were blown away by the burst of wind caused by Seventeen and Eighteen arriving. The two had the typical smug look on their faces, arms crossed, floating inches above the ground like they were too good to touch it.
"Alright old timer, you know the deal. Who sent you, why, from where. And if I like the answer, you might get to retire to a nice junkyard."
13 didn't need to see Seventeen's smirk to know that the dark-haired cyborg was enjoying this to a nearly unhealthy degree. That had been in the psyche profile. That explained his attitude. That didn't explain how they were so much stronger than him!
He grit his teeth. If he had 14's and 15's parts the tables wouldn't just turn, he'd flip them and use them to beat these brats to death. But they were inaccessible. So he had to…
Disclosure of that information is forbidden
'Well what the hell use is it anyway? I'm gonna die in a few minutes if I don't tell them somethin'
Android 16 is being sent to your location
'Android 16? Damn, how many androids did the doctor make?'
No response.
"There's a," 13 hesitated, unsure of how much he could actually say that wouldn't harm the overall mission. He had to find the line between stalling and being useful, "there's a supercomputer that thinks it's Dr Gero."
Seventeen and Eighteen both lost their smirks as he said that. Good.
"It was dormant for a long time, real busy, doin' somethin', dunno what, but it finished recently. And," the words he had been about to say were blocked off. Fine. Reinterpretation was needed, "it shut down afterwards. But before it did, it sent my squad out to bring you two back. You know how the Doc was, all about revenge? Well you two know what you did."
13 grinned, or tried to, but there wasn't enough of his face left for it. "So it wanted you back, maybe to reprogram, fix those personality flaws that got y'all so convinced you're more than what ya are."
"And what are we?" Seventeen asked, voice deadly.
"Killers. Soldiers. Machines. Just like me. All this," he swept his hand, gesturing at the rubble collection that had been West City, "is because you never got to fulfill your function. So you're broken on the inside."
He would've smiled again. "Or maybe it just wants to hook into your pain receptors and give 'em a good shock. Dunno. Wasn't told, didn't have to ask. Because I ain't flawed."
'Like you.'
Eighteen's voice was ice-cold, "This went from funny, to sad, to pathetic. You're trying to lecture us when you don't even have the freedom to think for yourself. You're just a windup toy reading from a script."
"Oh, you're gonna tell me how good freewill is? I know what humans did with theirs, I've seen what you did with yours. Don't lecture me with your five-dollar haircut, girl. It ain't helping."
Seventeen raised his hand up, a bright blue blast held between his fingers. "Good talk. If I ever need to feel good, I'll just remind myself that I'm not you."
As Eighteen mimicked her brother's motion, 13 brought his hands together and channeled as much energy as he could between his palms. The ground shook, shattered concrete rising into the air as the attack charged up.
"Have a taste of my S.S. Deadly Bomber!" He shouted, thrusting the blast forwards at the same time as Seventeen and Eighteen fired theirs.
The whirling red mass shot forward, devouring the siblings' beams, pushing them back—inching closer, closer—
For a moment, 13 felt good.
Then the beams pierced through the Deadly Bomber.
Shock flickered through him just before the explosion consumed him.
Android 18
'Sad and pathetic.'
She felt a mix of pity, anger and hate towards the thing she and her brother had just dismantled. Another sad thing built by Dr Gero, a thing that she and her brother were supposed to be like. Their active presence was surprising, but the existence of other androids wasn't. The files she and Seventeen had access to said the same things about the earlier androids – all failures that had been decommissioned. The assumption had been that meant dismantling and recycling for parts. That assumption was wrong.
Today had started so well, now there was just a bitter taste in her mouth as she was reminded of what following Gero's orders had been like. The old man had expected utter obedience and punished them eagerly whenever they didn't show it. That damn remote… it was a wonder that they hadn't killed him sooner. Acting like robots so they wouldn't be shut down was a humiliation that she'd never wanted to be reminded of.
"I need a shower. Let's go Seventeen."
She was so done with today.
"There's still one more of them out there. Android 15."
"What's one of them going to do that two couldn't? It isn't a threat. We are the ultimate androids after all."
She put on a bright smile and rested her hands on her hips, meeting her brother's eyes. She saw the serious look slip from his face and his familiar boyish grin take its place as he chuckled and stretched his arms behind his head.
"Damn right we are."
The sun was setting, and Eighteen took a moment to draw in a deep breath then release it. She let the tension drain from her shoulders. Whatever scraps of metal and circuitry 13 had left behind weren't worth another thought. Just another relic of Gero's failures, another ghost of a life she refused to live. The sun was warm on her skin, and for now, that was enough.
AN: The deleted scenes for this chapter would push it up to an M-rating, and we don't want that, do we?