(That morning)
After several hours of sleep, the once weary and mentally drained Bulma Briefs was once again up bright and early, eager to start the day ahead.
Following a quick shower and touch up, the woman slipped into her usual outfit consisting of white pants, red top, yellow vest, and a pair of slippers, gathered up her four year old son from his bed, and headed down to the kitchen for a spot of breakfast. Arriving there shortly afterwards, she wasn't at all surprised to see her mother already up and making food for the family, and didn't even blink when she saw Vegeta sitting at the table waiting on the food with folded arms.
Shaking her head at the man, who was already dressed in a set of blue spandex complete with sleeveless top, white gloves and yellow tipped boots, the blue haired woman led her son over to the table and pulled up a seat alongside the Saiyan Prince.
While Trunks got himself comfortable, Bulma turned to the spiky haired man and smiled pleasantly, "Got anything interesting planned for the day, Vegeta?"
Glancing across at the woman, the fighter quickly turned back to stare at the table, "Once I'm done eating here I'm going down to the gravity room to do some more training. After that I'll take Trunks to the park for some fresh air."
Bulma appeared genuinely surprised at that, "Really? You… want to take him out? By yourself?" Hearing his father was going to take him somewhere immediately had the lavender haired child sitting nearby perk up with interest.
"Of course, woman. Keeping him cooped up inside all day isn't good for a future Saiyan elite. He needs to go out and exercise to keep up his strength," the flame-haired man replied, momentarily fixing his gaze on the scientist before then glancing toward his son, who was now looking at him with a beaming smile in play, "You can argue with me all you want, but I refuse to allow my boy to grow up to become a slacker."
Trunks beamed excitedly, "Are you going to take me to the big one in the middle of the city?" When he saw the man nod, the child in the oversized green t-shirt and purple shorts punched the air triumphantly, "Yeah! Awesome!" He then turned to look at the one cooking breakfast for all of them, "I'm going to go down the big slide today, grandma!"
The blonde woman giggled cheerfully, "I'm glad to hear that. Make sure you have fun, sweetie, and go easy on everyone."
"Okay."
Grunting, Vegeta then had his attention pulled to his left, where he saw a cup of coffee set down next to him by the cheerful and eternally youthful grandparent. Acknowledging her smile with his usual glance, he then picked it up and took a sip, completely unaware of the adorning gaze the blue haired scientist was now giving him.
Eyes shimmering when the man in her life willingly volunteered to take Trunks out for the day, she then turned her attention to the newspaper sitting next to her. Flipping it open and skimming over the first page, she then looked up when she realized something was off and focused her gaze on her mother, whom she saw set a plate of food down in front of Vegeta and then in front of her.
"Hey mum, where's dad? Is he still asleep?" Bulma asked, noticing that the company's founder and her idol wasn't here reading the paper alongside them.
Moving about to set a big plate of egg, vegetables and bacon in front of Trunks, who wasted no time in digging into it, the cheery blonde with the curly hair shook her head sadly, "I'm not sure dear. I heard him wake up sometime in the middle of the night and leave the room to go to the bathroom, but he never came back. My guess is that he probably went down to the labs to check on something."
Vegeta, half-listening to the woman's response, grunted before he continued to shovel egg into his mouth.
"Huh? That's weird," Bulma murmured, folding the paper and setting it aside to tend to her own breakfast, which consisted of porridge and fruit. "Dad doesn't usually get up to work on something unless it's super important." Her dad didn't say anything about taking on any new projects.
The mother placed a finger against her cheek thoughtfully, "Maybe Tama went on another walk and he got up to go find him. You know how much your father loves that kitten."
This drew an understanding nod from her daughter, "Well that too."
As the family dug into their breakfast and Mrs. Briefs returned to her station, a sense of normalcy quickly fell back over them. It was around the time Vegeta and his son were hitting their third serving of breakfast for the morning was their moment of tranquility interrupted by a figure stepping into the corridor entrance of the dining room.
Looking up, the young Trunks immediately recognized the man in the bathrobe halfway through the archway, "Hey, grandpa."
Bulma smiled when she saw the man standing lopsided in front of them, "Morning dad. Did you have a rough night? You look awful."
The fact that his head was tilted, his gaze was blank, and his glasses were wonky was all the signs the Briefs around the table needed to know that the father had had a late night.
However, when the father didn't say anything for the first few seconds and continued to stand in place, Bulma's expression fell, "Dad? Is there something wrong?"
It was only when Vegeta looked up from his table in response to the woman's question did he notice something was off. At first analyzing the man's posture and spotting the red stain on his bathrobe, the Prince then reached out with his senses to see what was up. When he didn't pick up any life signs, the Saiyan immediately set his fork down.
Her concern rising, Bulma quickly set her utensils down as well, "Dad?"
The moment she did, she suddenly saw the man's body keel forward and slam into the floor with a heavy 'thud'. Seeing her father crumple to the ground lifelessly had Bulma jump out of her seat and gasp, with Trunks giving a few surprised blinks and Mrs. Briefs a startled squeak. After seeing her husband face plant the tiles, she placed whatever dishes she was holding onto the kitchen counter and began hurrying around the table toward him.
"Sweetie?"
"Dad!"
Just as everyone was starting to move from their spots, the sound of a low, ghostly hum suddenly filled the room, followed immediately by a voice.
The raspy voice and the lyrics it started to sing was what had everyone inside the room freeze where they were sitting or standing.
"Hi-ho the meri-o. That's the only way to be."
"I want the world to know… nothing ever worries me."
The haunting melody was accompanied by a metallic whirring sound and heavy footsteps that echoed throughout the room. Seconds after the sounds became audible, a towering silhouette of an unknown figure stepped into the archway where the father was once standing.
"I've got no strings…to hold me down…"
"To make me fret, or make me frown…"
He took a step forward… and another step…
"I had strings… but now I'm free…"
"There are… no… strings… on… ME."
The moment the figure stepped into the light, Bulma, Vegeta, Trunks and Mrs. Briefs' eyes widened in horror when they found themselves staring at a towering automaton covered completely in silver plated armor, with glowing red nodes and lines, and a human-like face with no nose, two glowing red eyes without pupils, and two antenna in place of ears.
To the calm mind, it was merely a creepy looking robot.
But to the people currently in that room… it was like looking into the face of the devil himself.
The android grinned.
"Hello…"
…
…
"Mum."
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