(That Night)
Back on earth, the day rolled by as usual. The sun rose and set as it always did, and every single person on earth eventually turned themselves in from many long hours of hard work and play. However, while the rest of West City went quiet and the halls of Capsule Corp. emptied of most of its staff heading home at the closing hours of their shifts, there was only one person left wide awake.
Sitting in a dark laboratory, with the massive monitors of her computers and work station giving her the only sources of light in the room, the blue haired form of Bulma could be seen typing away at her keyboard like there was no tomorrow. Murmuring impatiently as lines of code flew past her at ludicrous speed and her fingers danced over the tabs, the head of the company then spared a quick glance back at the operating table behind her.
Lying across the platform with a multitude of cables plugged into it, the skeletal frame of a humanoid-like robot at least two times the woman's height, with all of its wiring and gyros exposed to the air, lay in plain sight of the corporation's president. Due to the artificial muscles fitted into it to give the creation movement, as well as all the other parts designed to make it work, the half-finished android was obviously meant for full humanoid conversion sometime in the future, a process which Bulma intended to start as soon as she had its programming finished.
However, due to a few mishaps and problems she'd encountered along the way, the chief female scientist of the company found that that particular task was going to be next to impossible to complete.
Frowning, Bulma turned back to the strings of code in front of her and closed it down, leaving her with over a hundred files spread out before her on the drive. "Okay. This is getting me nowhere."
Wanting to try something different, the woman quickly separated half of the files into another folder on her computer, leaving the more vital components behind. While she was able to get its basic programming and movement patterns to successfully respond, the obstacle that Bulma now had to contend with was restoring the consciousness that was once Android 16's.
On paper it seemed like a straight forward task. However…
"Still having problems bringing your friend back to life?" the voice of Bulma's father spoke up, drawing the woman's gaze over her shoulder.
Seeing the man in the square glasses and white lab coat step into the light, the woman sighed and stood up out of her seat. Locking her computer and putting her work on hold for the time being, Bulma shook her head sadly and massaged her eyes, "I just don't get it, dad. When we were repairing Android 16 for the final battle against Cell, I was sure I was able to get a detailed copy of all of his CPU's memories and folders. Everything that made him who he was and made him work was all transferred to my computer so that I could study him and understand his programming. I've tried over and over again to get him on his feet again, but…" Looking across at the android skeleton she had on the table, the blue haired woman frowned in dismay. "I just can't seem to bring back the consciousness that made him… well… alive."
Doctor Briefs, understanding his daughter's woe, stepped over to her and laid a hand upon her shoulder, at the same time glancing down at the cyborg that was under construction. "The soul of a machine isn't some program you can activate with a simple push of the button, sweetheart. You know that better than anyone." The man then glanced up at his treasure, where he saw disappointment reflected in her eyes. "Whatever Doctor Gero did to bring Android 16 to life… it was probably something he did purely by accident; a bug that wasn't meant to exist. Maybe that was why he didn't plan on using him, because he hadn't finished programming the last of his software."
Considering her father's words strongly for several moments, Bulma then breathed an exhausted sigh and nodded her head in understanding, "I guess you're right, dad. Maybe it was all just an accident." She'd had it all in her head that she was in the right and felt confident in her abilities to resuscitate their group's most unexpected ally. But in spite of all her tinkering and experience, the blue haired scientist slowly came to the realization that maybe this was something that she could not do and was perhaps beyond her reach and understanding.
"But that doesn't mean I can't keep trying, right?" Bulma asked, smiling across at her old man, who smiled and nodded back to her in acknowledgement. Upon receiving his confidence and feeling slightly reinvigorated, the woman stepped up to the android and patted it on the forehead. Upon which she then stepped away and left the table. "I'm done for the night. Time to hit the sack."
Accompanying her on the way out, Doctor Briefs gave the skeleton of the android one last, thoughtful glance before shutting the door behind them. With the lights switching off and the computer quickly going into sleep mode, the lab was well and truly shutdown until further notice.
…
…
…
Many hours later, in the dead of night, with nothing but the low hum of machines filling the labs empty space, the automatic doors were once again opened by the most unexpected of guests.
Strolling in on all fours, the little black kitten recognized as Doctor Brief's most valued companion, Tama, ambled into the room on his own accord. Amidst the darkness and coldness of the chamber that served as one of Bulma's provisional laboratories, the little feline walked over to the table holding up the body of the lifeless frame that was to be the future Android 16. Sitting down beside it with his tail wagging behind him, the cat gazed up at the desk quietly, with nothing but curiosity in its eyes.
Several moments after he did so, the large monitor Bulma had been working on sometime before suddenly switched on behind him, drawing the kitten's attention over his shoulder.
When his eyes fell upon it, Tama saw the files the blue haired scientist had separated suddenly start to open up one after the other. The curser accessing them as if being directed by a phantom, the screen suddenly became filled with a window detailing millions of lines of code, which began to scroll past the monitor at high speed.
Initially, Tama sat there in confusion, listening to the beeping of the computer and the churning of the numbers. A few minutes of watching later, the line of code reached its end, where the word 'ACTIVATE' could be seen highlighted in bold. After several seconds of flashing, the word 'ENTER' was then typed in, followed shortly by a sudden surge of power.
Electricity began shooting down the lines of capable connected to the android's body, the streams zapping and crackling in a glorious display of deadly fireworks, filling the skeleton with an enormous amount of energy. In a matter of moments, the blue bolts streaming into the lifeless husk inevitably faded and the room once again fell silent. But then, a few ticks of processing later, the eyes on the hulking robotic frame lit up a brilliant red and, after a couple twitches of its fingers, the robot sat up.
Rising from the table, the still plugged android skeleton looked around the dark room, its optical sensors scanning the space and taking in every little detail surrounding it. Upon inspecting its environment, it then glanced down at the floor beside it, where it saw Tama gazing up at him.
Giving a meow, the little kitten greeted the robot cheerfully.
Staring back at it in silence, the android then swung its legs off of the table and, upon rising up, stepped over to the cat and crouched down next to it. It was then the robot took the moment to stroke the kitten on the head with one of its large fingers, earning a purr from the pure black feline.
"Kitty…" the deep, raspy voice of the robot murmured, in a tone recognized as the late Android 16's.
After getting its fill of affections, Tama walked away, allowing the half-complete robot to rise to his feet and move on. Not finding anything of further interest in the area, the android decided to go for a wander of the facility and, upon leaving through the same double doors of Bulma's auxiliary lab the cat had entered through, ambled down the corridor at a casual pace.
His gears whirring and gyrating throughout the dark hallways of the science wing of Capsule Corp's main building, the android eventually stopped at another door with the plaque Tech Divisionemblazoned on the wall. Here, after staring at the door for several seconds, the android reached out and dialed into the key pad, utilizing information it was able to gain from the main computer. A couple beeps later and the double doors slid open, allowing the android access to the chamber.
Strolling in, the robot found itself in a room very similar to the one it was in before, only this one was bigger and had an entire space filled with electronics, devices and all sorts of other technology that the scientists of the facility were currently working on. Judging from the impressive layout, the computers packed over to one side and the tables in the center, this looked like one of Bulma Brief's main workshops. Considering the amount of labs actually making up this particular wing of the building, this could have been one of many.
In any case, it certainly had the most gizmos in it, there was no denying that.
Craning his head around, the robot strolled across the room. Making its way to the back of the room, it then spotted something of interest lying by the large monitor and quickly turned its attention to it, stopping in its tracks.
Reaching over, he picked up the watch-like device lying on the counter and, after inspecting it for a moment, switched it on. The electronic beep the device gave when a green grid sprang onto the screen along with a yellow, radar-like pulse immediately identified the gadget as the Dragon Radar. Staring down at the blinking lights, the robot saw that there was a yellow dot registering on it and, realizing it was nearby, began looking for it.
It didn't take him long to spot the orange ball with the two red stars sitting in a display case at the end of the table. Setting the radar down and walking over to it, the curious android opened up the glass box at the latch and pulled out the dragon ball, which it began to analyze closely.
Staring at the orange orb for a full minute in silence, blinking a couple of times as its brain processed what the object was, it then heard the hiss of the double doors to the lab open. Glancing to his left, the android's eyes landed upon the form of Doctor Briefs feeling against the wall for the light switch. When he eventually flipped it, the glasses wearing man then began scanning the areas of the lab that flickered into view. "Here, Tama. Where are you, kitty? Here kitty-kitty…oh?" He then stopped when he spotted the large android standing by the desk. At first appearing surprised, a few seconds later the man's mind eventually clicked at what he was looking at and his expression did a complete one-eighty. "Why, hello there. You're the android my daughter's been working on these last few months. What are you doing in here?"
The automaton watched as the old man in the pajamas and bathrobe ambled towards him, only to stop a couple meters away for an inspection.
Looking the unfinished robot from head to toe, the founder of the company nodded his head in approval at what he saw and beamed up at the creation's face. "It seems Bulma's done a terrific job on your frame. The adamantine bodywork really came out great… and it looks like your motor-skill software is running well." He didn't even want to question how the robot was up and moving about. The fact that the android his daughter was reconstructing was actually functioning completely outshone all other thought and logic. Heck, it even seemed to have gained a sense of individuality and curiosity about his surroundings, which immediately captured the scientist's attention. "How are you feeling? Can you talk?"
Eye shutters blinking, the robot then made a gurgling sound as the mechanics in its throat opened up, "T-Talk…?"
"Hm?" the man who'd obviously woken up from a good night of sleep to try and find his cat tilted his head at the android. "You're probably still running a few language sub-routines. That's understandable considering the design of the CPU inside your head is a little bit different from the previous model." It was then he noticed the android was holding the sphere from the case and quickly pointed at it. "Ah. I see you've found the dragon ball my daughter's been looking after as well."
The android turned to the orange globe in its hand, "Dragon… ball…?"
"Yes. She brought it in so that she could study it and the entity living inside of them. Initially she thought the balls were the dormant form of the dragon itself, but now my daughter thinks that they open a gateway to another dimension that allows Shenron to enter our world. Either way she's really looking forward to the results," Doctor Briefs informed, watching the android look down at it the orb in intrigue. The old scientist waited to see what the android would do next, but when nothing happened for the next few minutes he then slipped his hands into his pockets and beamed. "Bulma will be thrilled to see you're up and running. Though I admit Doctor Gero's programming is rather complex, I believe that his work on advanced robotics will be the next step forward to designing the strings for all future automaton and android designs. You'll be the company's template to realizing that dream."
"S-Strings?" the robot murmured, looking up from the ball and staring ahead of him blankly.
Puzzled by the robot's taking away from his little piece of dialogue, Doctor Briefs tilted his head at the android curiously. Wondering what was currently going through its mind, the father was just about to ask it a question when, all of a sudden, with speed no human could follow, the large robot turned to the doctor and rushed him. Grabbing him by the neck, the android skeleton slammed the man into the back wall in a blur, causing a loud 'thud' to ring out before it lifted the scientist off the ground.
Gasping in shock, Doctor Briefs clawed at the hand gripping his neck, which began to crush him like a vice. Caught completely by surprise, the man gawked down at the metal man currently dragging his hapless form up the wall, only to stop when he was literally hanging two meters off of the tiles.
"W-Wh…What are you doing?" the Brief founder gasped as he felt the robot's grip tighten around his wind pipe.
Eyes flashing a deathly red, the android then glanced down at the ball it was still holding. Upon which he gave a very guttural chuckle, one that was laced with the low hum of a machine.
His sudden tone shift from Android 16's previous voice to a deeper and raspier one, had the Brief father's eyes widen.
"Yes." The robot then tossed the dragon ball up and down in his hand. "Lots and lots of strings." He then tossed it over his shoulder, allowing it to bounce across the lab.
Doctor Briefs narrowed his eyes, his mind quickly processing the voice that was leaving the robot's mouth. "You're not Android 16. W-Who are you?" he rasped when the robot's hand tightened even further, "What are you?"
The robot chuckled in amusement and glanced up at the good scientist. "You should tell your daughter not to stick her nose into things she does not understand."
Upon hearing the machine's answer and theorizing that it must have been Bulma's exploration into Android 16's memory banks that resulted in this artificial intelligence surfacing, Doctor Briefs only had a few seconds to realize the fault before, giving another strangled gasp, the android's grip tightened one last time.
The hand wrapped around the man's throat continued to apply pressure on the scientist's neck before, without warning, an audible 'crack' echoed throughout the room. The second the noise rang out, the scientist's body went limp and his arms fell to his sides, his eyes turning blank and a trickle of blood running out of the corner of his mouth.
"But… since you won't be around when she wakes up… I think I'll tell her for you."
Deed done and sensing the man's life disappear on the wind the android dropped the father's body to the ground before turning his attention to the lab. Marching over to the monitor station, the robot collected up the Dragon Radar, analyzed it one last time, and crushed it in its grip, shattering the device and scattering its remains over the floor.
Lips curling up into a sinister smile, the robot then eyed the back of the room eagerly, where he could see all of the company's latest projects, devices, vehicles, equipment and prototypes on display.
The sight of the rows of assorted technology had the android's excitement skyrocket, "I think it's time for an upgrade." Bringing its arm up, a collection of cables suddenly detached from him and began to whip around the air like tendrils, before he extended his hand and shot the cables towards the shelves.
The wires snagged several pieces of equipment, wrapping around them before, after securing the devices, brought them back to their host…
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