Labor of love (Open)

[ARG-8]

Solemn silence had turned into violent chaos.  The sanctity of the great forest, undisturbed for decades, was being shaken apart.  A mighty tree crashed to the ground, and fresh sunlight was able to brighten the mossy ground for the first time in nearly a century.  A rattling, creaking sound, the sound of metal against metal and chattering electronics, slowly began to grow in volume.  A rusty brown shape began to pull itself free from the roots and vegetation that had entwined its slumbering form.

Standard systems checks returned information to the creatures computerized mind, informing it of the extensive damage the leagues of time had done.  Despite this, its systems most vital to its operation were still functional.  Legs and joints were stiff, but motile.  It could percieve its environment, though its perceptions were muddled and unclear.  Its main battery was only at a trickle, though its reserve had enough energy to power its weaponry, which would have been the last things to go offline after just a few more years of darkness.  

The Android, designated ARG-8, would mark itself lucky.  Or rather it would, if if could believe in luck or was capable of caring for its own fortune.  

Purpose?  Purpose.  Hmm.

An explosion not far off shook the automaton out of what would seem like self reflection, and with it came a rush of confused images and memories.  War, conflict, aliens, mankind, slaughter, genocide, resistance.  Concepts ARG-8 could attach no significance to.  All that existed was the Purpose.  Kill Saiyans; Save Mankind.  But... what were Saiyans?  The Android tried to scan its memories to help it answer this question, but could find nothing.  

Another explosion.

ARG-8 sat up, and a roused family of possumbats slithered out of a hole in its side, spitting and barking angrily that their mansion would have the outrageous audacity to suddenly come to life without their permission.  The Android set out to find the source of the silence destroying noise.  The beings that ended its slumber.  The possumbats followed along at ARG-8's heels, not willing to let their stored winter food go so easily.

Crashing through thick underbrush, the Android stumbled into a clearing where two beings stood.  ARG-8's sensors struggled to pull information about the individuals.  What were they?  Did it know them?  Could they aid it in repairs?  What were their emotional states?  Did they need help fighting Saiyans?  Were they Saiyans?  Unfortunately all the information ARG-8 could parse was 'bipedal humanoids, one bigger, one smaller' and 'one blonde hair and one black REALIGNING VISUAL SPECTROMETERS brown hair'.  ARG-8 paused to consider how to go from here.  Eventually it decided on communication with the unknown entities.

"H-3lp?" the Android croaked out, its voice-speaker barely intelligible.

[Zach]

Dividing his attention between Koli and where the thief had run, Zach was relieved to hear the young woman was unharmed after the attack, even if only for his own safety. Granted if she had been hurt he would have done the responsible thing, picked her and the safe up and booked it back to the estate. The guards could hardly hold him responsible for the incident and indeed he would probably have been thanked for returning the master's niece and property, at least that's what Zach hoped. That contingency plan however wasn't necessary as Koli emerged from the dust cloud raised by the attacks and affirmed her good health, then followed it up with a commanding suggestion that the blonde teenager help her deal with the thief and that she intended to use the incident as leverage to get him away from her uncle for a time. Before Zach could respond however she was off, bolting through the woods to the river's edge. The boy turned and followed dutifully behind her reaching the rushing water a moment after the Saiyan girl.

At once she started yelling at the other boy and for the first time Zach got a good look at him. He was indeed dressed shabbily, barely above the level of rags, and he was young, younger then Zach by a few years. He was playing with more of that dangerous energy while Koli blasted him verbally, rightfully calling him a coward as that is how Zach also felt. To bait the clearing and then attack from the bushes was sneaky and underhanded, real men and even boys fought out in the open with their fists, heck even the Saiyan masters preferred to use their fists over energy and sneaking around in cover. Zach's thoughts on the subject though were interrupted when an unfamiliar sound registered in his ears, over that of the two hurling insults and energy at each other. The sounds, as best as the blonde could tell, were of a tractor being driven through the woods as that was the only comparison he could make. The blonde though did not have to wait to find out what was causing the ruckus as from out of the thicket behind them came lumbering forth a large, metal man. 'Man' was of course not the right word but to the blonde it was the only thing he could use to describe the machine's features. It used legs to move, not wheels or treads so it wasn't a tractor, nor a truck, the only large, mobile machines the boy had ever seen. No, this was something new and in truth a little frightening.

Then it drew to a halt and spoke, at least that's what the distorted, electronic rasping the machine issued forth sounded like. 'Help?' Zach though. 'Did it just ask us for help? Or offer?' The blonde was well and truly confused. This was not only the farthest he'd ever been away from the farm in his life, but the first time he'd ever chased someone to recover stolen property, the first time he’d shared more then a few words with one of the masters and now the first time he'd ever seen a tractor-man, let alone heard it speak.

"Help?" he repeated questioningly, trying to figure out if that was indeed what the machine had said and reached out to Koli to nudge her shoulder and get her attention. The opposite in fact happened though as the sound of the thief attempting to destroy the stone bridge across the river grabbed Zach's attention and he turned away from the machine to see what was going on. Zach's eyes filled with momentary surprise at the sight of the massive stone tumbling down towards them but that at once shifted to determination and anger. This little worm didn't care who got hurt or killed, Human or Saiyan, he was just playing some stupid game. Growling, Zach clenched his fists and a moment later a translucent disk composed of his own crimson energy formed over the teen's left forearm. By now the other boy was launching more blasts at them so Zach did as he was earlier instructed, issuing first though a suggestion of his own.

"Miss Koli, if you can blast that rock like you did the trees, do it now, I handle..." things were moving too fast for Zach to actually finish speaking, but the intent was clear when the blonde put himself between Koli and river bank, shield raised and ready as the other boy's blasts streaked in and started to pelt him and the protective disk.

[Legendary]

Koli fumed as the thief remained just where he was and now even started taunting her, this coward had the nerve the play this game rather than fighting like an actual warrior and now he thought he was in a place to start taunting. Oh she was going to enjoy breaking a couple of his bones. Images of herself throttling the thief flashed before Koli's eyes bringing a incredibly vicious grin to her face. The thief however cut off Koli's thoughts bu launching a barrage of energy blasts as herself causing Koli to scowl. There were to many to properly dodge, and likewise too many to completely block with the safe and even worse the safe itself wasn't exactly at 100% and if those blasts were better than the last ones would likely destroy it. Much to ehr surprise however Zach slipped in fromt of her forming what appeared to be some sort of energy shield over one arm and took up a defensive stance.

She hadn't quite expected that out of him, apparently he was taking her request to keep the blasts off of her so she could bash the idiots skull in to heart, she would have almost felt bad were it not for that shield. IT was surprisingly rare too see someone with the skill to form a proper legitimate shield like that. Many needed to produce a full body barrier that often times drained a lot of power over time or was only good enough for one solid blast. That little shield however was tanking quite a few blasts, Koli made a note to herself to ask about that technique at some point down the line. She doubted he'd be willing to help her understand how to make one and even more Koli doubted her own ability to actually preform such a technique but it would be interesting to learn a bit about it as that would help her with creating a barrier technique at some point since the method behind those techniques were usually similar enough.

Koli gritted her teeth in annoyance as Zach asked if she could charge up another blast to lob at the thief, she wasn't mad because Zach was making a request, she was more frustrated because in hindsight just going full power from the start had perhaps not been her smartest choice. Normally she wasn't the best with Ki techniques but her techniques usually had a very solid impact which was why the Elite's had specifically taught her the Crusher Ball, the technique didn't need any real finesse it just needed power output and at least half a brain to redirect it when you didn't hit on the first pass. But with the unyielding force activated her body's ki was entirely focused on bulking her up so she could take hits and break jaws as easily as possible, it however meant she locked herself out of Ki usage. "I cant, when I'm like this I cant produce energy and reverting back isn't particularly easy." Koli said jsut loud enough for Zach to hear as she tried to figure out what to do from here. Perhaps once the thief realized that his new method would not work he would break off again and getting across the river would be easier.

"Oh what the fuck is that" Koli questioned as out of nowhere rolled up a giant machine, it didn't seem to be directly seeking out any of them which meant it probably was a good thing, Koli looked it over for a few moments and manged to put together that it was likely some sort of robot rather than a vehicle considering the design. Actual robotics were rather rare in the north, heck they weren't particularly common in the south either. Koli knew a bit about how they usually operated, most jsut worked off of pre-programmed actions or methods and rarely deviated from such. The fact that there was one on Earth of all places was surprising considering the Northern Saiyans didn't often employ such tactics and the Humans lacked the capability to create such things. Even more confusing was the word the robot had 'said' if she was not mistaken it had said 'help' "Help? Do you NEED help? Are you here to help? If you're here to help start attacking that asshole!" Koli said pointing at the thief. She wasn't even sure if asking the robot to attack the thief would work or if it even had anything to attack with aside from just ramming into the thief, the robot didn't exactly look to be in good shape which was unfortunate for it since there were likely to be incredibly few people if any who could patch it up. Luckily for the robot it was a machine and was likely not even aware that it was in bad shape.

[Aice]

Aice stood on the other side of the river watching the
events around him unfolding; the blond boy had run out in front of the Saiyan, blocking
the energy blasts with a type of energy shield. Aice's jaw dropped slightly as
the blue Ki blasts slammed into the barrier exploding on contact, few might
have gotten past but he was too flabbergasted by the blonde’s actions to
notice.

"What the hell? He's human why is he helping her? Is he that brainwashed
that he'll fight against his own kind?"

"What the hell? Your human, why are you protecting the Saiyan scum! Don't
forget there the reason our people are slaves! I'm trying to free these people,
and this is how you react to it?" Aice yelled out.

A mixture of shock, confusion, and anger flowed through Aice at what had
happened before him. It was one thing that the blonde followed the Saiyan, but
it was a whole different matter that he was defended her. The girl began
yelling at the boy, but the distance between them kept Aice from hearing what
they were saying, but from whatever was said she didn't seem very happy about
it. If it wasn't for the fact that now Aice had two people to face off against,
a large metallic object came out from the woods behind the two. It was old from
the looks of it, it's once shinny coat now had a dull rusty shade, it must have
been out here for a while. From here Aice could tell it was a robot of sorts,
he had seen picture of them in old magazines that scattered the abandoned
houses in the slums. They were mostly kept to the city and factories what was
it doing this far away from the city? 

Even though Aice couldn’t hear what the other two were saying he could make out
the robots mechanized voice as it talked to the Saiyan girl, asking if she
needed help. The girl filled with rage pointed at Aice and screamed something
he couldn't make out, no doubt she was commanding the robot to attack him. Aice
began to see that this fight was quickly turning against him, it was bad enough
that he going to have to fight two people but now three?

"Fuck...I think it's time that I should split, I could handle her, and
maybe take on blondy, but I can't take on three of them by myself. I know I can
out run those two, but I know nothing about that robot, let's hope from the
look of those legs it can't make it very far."

"Betraying your own kind... people like you, keep humans in chains and
shackles." Aice yelled at the blond boy.

"I know I can't win now but I'll come back later when the nights on my
side."

Getting a running start Aice jumped off of the rocky cliff, plunging into the
green forests below. Breaking through the canopy tops, he placed his hands
towards the ground, using a Ki blast Aice slowed his fall; landing on the
ground safely Aice dashed away from the falls. He knew as soon as he got some
distance between them he would safe, they might follow him but he could out run
them, eventually he would find safe spot.Now all he had to do was wait,
Aice might have retreated for now but he would be back soon enough,
 it was just the way of a thief.

[ARG-8]

ARG-8, its coding eroded and unclear, was very confused.  Decisions based on personal judgement calls was not something the simple war android was properly scripted to do.  New electro-neural connections were being quickly formed in lieu of a hard coded response.  Perhaps somewhat strangely, this put ARG-8 into a state of heightened suggestibility, and luckily was still able to understand speech, albeit with some difficulty.  Not only that, but it was able to grasp the urgency with which they spoke.  They were demanding its help in attacking an *asshole*, and quite emphatically at that.  ARG-8 would oblige.  Helping was its function, after all.

Extending both of its arms in front of itself, ARG-8 began pulling power away from its reserve energy tanks.  The blasters began charging up, filling with power instilled into the android an age ago.  A low hum built up into a steady metallic whine.  A blue-green glow emanated from cooling vents along the length of each cannon.  A wire snapped near the androids right primary arm joint, unable to handle the strain.  The wire flailed wildly, throwing sparks against the impervious chest plate of the android.  It was not noticed.  These weapons, crude though they were by the standards of aliens far more advanced then mankind, and well past a century out of warranty, had taken the life of many an alien that underestimated them.  

"4LPH4 STR1K3 1N1T14T3D!" ARG-8 roared out of its malfunctioning speakers and, with a sentiment between relief and glee, open fired.  

The dual blasters lanced out hot energy in a staggered pattern, one after the other.  The Alpha Strike's destructive power came from volume of fire rather than the force of an individual blast.  The withering hail of fire coming from the ancient blasters felled tree after tree, igniting some into flame and simply disintegrating others..  The android corrected its aim each time the *asshole* showed itself, though ARG-8's sensors were themselves scarcely able to make out the *assholes* form, let alone determine any other pertinent information.  Ash and debris eventually blotted out any chance of picking out the incredibly swift target, but ARG-8 did not let up.  It continued to fire at the spot it believed the *asshole* would eventually appear.  Persistently the android did this until the last of its reserves ran dry.  ARG-8 wouldn't have more to give until it had had a proper re-energizing.  

The ancient war android swayed from side to side, barely able to stand under its own power.  The possumbats that had followed after the android tucked themselves away back into the hole in the androids side, the need for comfort in that familiar place overriding other concerns.

"1 H0P3 TH4T W4S SUFF1C13NT."  the android thought out loud to itself for some weird robot reason.

[Zach]

{So we're ignoring the giant rock that's about to squash us? I think not.}

Keeping his shielded arm held firm, Zach felt the beginning of the ki barrage slam into the defensive barrier as well as his shoulders, legs and midsection. Steeled and ready though as he was, the impacts of the blasts didn't seem to have that much of an effect, they hurt yes, but no more so then if he'd been punched or kicked in the areas of impact. This peppering of shots was evidently just a distraction meant to keep them from reacting to the giant boulder that was at this moment looming over them, falling with wicked purpose. That teenaged brat intended to murder them both and worse still, Koli blurted out in the few moments they had that she couldn't fire on it. It was up to Zach then to deal with both the barrage and the boulder as the machine that had arrived and cryptically stated the word 'help,' was now firing a barrage of it's own, devastating the opposing bank of the river in the process.

Acting fast, Zach dropped his shield and turned his back on the remainder of the incoming ki blasts, the force of them shoving him forward. That was fine though, that's where he wanted to go, forward, directly into Koli. With the boulder now literally crashing down upon them, Zach, propelled by his own legs and the force of the ki blasts pelting his back, crossed the short distance between Koli and himself, opened his arms and aimed to tackle her out of the path of the marauding chunk of hillside. Thankfully the tractor-man was far enough away from the two that Zach didn't have to worry about tackling it out of the way as well. By the time the two hit the dirt and the boulder smashed into the ground just a few feet away, the tractor-man had finished reducing the opposing bank of the river to craters and ash, something the blonde thought only the masters were capable of. He remained there crouched over the young woman for a moment until the smaller fragments of rock and pebbles that he resulted from the impact stopped bouncing off of his Ki reddened back and then lifted his head to give Koli a bit of breathing room. At once though he realized what an embarrassing position they were in and his cheeks turned an instant crimson as he stammered to say something.

"I'm sorry Miss Koli but you didn't seem to notice the boulder." Zach offered, trying to explain why he had tackled her and was now still hovering over her. "It was the rock I was telling you about, not that guy."

[Legendary]

Koli growled in annoyance as the thief started shouting at Zach for trying to defend her, she could sort of understand why he was as angry as he was. The saiyans here on Earth were terrible to the Humans, it wasn't necessarily the worst sort of enslavement that Koli had ever seen, there were actually a fair amount of 'free' Humans. This thief was likely one of them. But that didnt change the fact that she was still infuriated by his lack of actual fighting. All he did was talk and blast from just outside of view and it was just making Koli angrier and angrier. Koli was actually amazed she'd been able to keep her presence of mind enough to avoid jumping across the river.

Koli grinned victoriously as the robot fired up its weaponry preparing to attack the thief just as she has requested, the thief however seemed to realzie jsut how out numbered and over powered he was and decided that with the robots entrance into the battle that enough was enough and with a few more parting words for Zach the thief took off leaving his last attacks for them to deal with. Much to Koli's surprise Zach tanked quite literally everything the thief threw at her absorbing blasts and even a giant rock, the force had caused Zach to fly into her and the surprise of such caused her to topple over. As Koli and Zach lay entangled on the ground the robot proceeded to demolish the spot where the thief HAD been without any clear indication that it was actually seeking out the thief himself.

Drawing her attention back to Zach Koli quickly realized the rather awkward nature of things, especially considering the current condition of her clothing. Koli's blood still pumping from the anticipation of battle she thus reacted with far more force than she normally would have shoving Zach off of herself. "Er, sorry." Koli managed as she pulled herself a bit further away using every bit of concentration to keep herself from doing something stupid. "I.. thank you for defending me. My mind wasn't in the right place. Give me a second to calm down." Koli said pulling herself to her feet. She then started taking deep breaths and with those breaths her muscle mass began reducing back to normal. Koli did her best to hide how much 'reverting' pained her to do but from the clenching of her fists and gritting of her teeth it was rather obvious how uncomfortable the transition was.

After a few moments Koli was back down to her normal self, the tattered remains of her shirt serving barely enough use at the point but enough for Koli not to care too much. Koli let out a few heavy breaths and let herself fall onto the ground completely exhausted. "So close.." Koli mumbled her mind and body still yearning for a real fight. "That was impressive what you did Zach. You're pretty damn tough. I knew you were the right choice. When I can actually move again we're heading to the main house and I'm making damn sure he lets you off the hook for a bit. Don't care what I've gotta do. I owe you that much at least and I definitely want to see what you can really  do." Koli said a bit louder though her voice now showed obvious signs of exhaustion.

[ARG-8]

Collapsing to its knee-analogs, the android almost seemed to be panting as its systems struggled to keep ARG-8 at operational levels. A spasm shook the automaton as a circuit blew out somewhere within its anatomy. The chittering of frightened possumbats could be heard, but they did not show themselves. ARG-8 fixed the two strangers with its inhuman gaze, clusters of eye-like apparati swiveling in a vain effort for clarity.  The android could barely make two two figures out, and was struggling to decide on what it should do.  It had noted their efforts during the short stint of the combat it had been beholden to, so it understood at once that both were fighters more than capable to finishing it off in its weakened state.  

ARG-8 was suddenly filled with a sense of... fear?  No, the automaton was not capable of feeling such complex human emotions.  It was feeling reasonable apprehension.  The two figures represented a threat certainly but, far worse to the cold logic of the machine, they were additional unknown variables in a world that was nothing but confusion to the android.  Its operating code was a hopeless scramble of half-information and missing threads of logic and memory.  ARG-8's somewhat primitive AI was left with filling in the gaps with new information.   It reasoned that it would need repairs, so that it could continue with its mission, but more-so ARG-8 desired understanding.   Perhaps if it identified itself to the two strangers, they would be able to provide some answers and help lift the curtain of confusion that had fallen across the addled androids consciousness.  Yes, communication was key.  

Aware that its speech hardware was in just as a deplorable state the rest of itself, ARG-8 knew that it would need to speak slowly and clearly. ARG-8's voice would prove to be ultimately understandable, however much it required active-listening to fully grasp.

"GR33-----T1NGS." ARG-8 began, ending on a high pitched syllable in conscious imitation of humaniod friendliness rituals.  "1 AM 4R-G4T3.   1 4M 4N 3L1T3 C0MB4T 4NDR01D, PR0DUCT10N S3R13S TW0, BU1LT BY TH3 C4PSUL3 C0RP4R4T10N HUM4N D3F3NS3 M1L1T14.   MY G1V3N M1SS10N 4ND PURPOS3 1S T0 41D M4NK1ND 4ND D3F34T TH3 S41Y4N THR34T T0 E4RTH."

Argate paused a beat before continuing, partly to make sure he was being understood, and partly to seizure wildly as some other thing noisily broke.  More chittering, still ignored.

"1 H4V3 B33N H34V1LY D4M4G3D 4ND M4NY 0F MY S3NS0RY 4ND M3NT4L PR0C3SS3S 4R3 FUNCT10N1NG 4T D4NG3R0USLY L0W L3V3LS.  PL34S4 1D3NT1FY Y0URS3LV3S 4ND R3ND3R 4SS1ST4NC3 S0 TH4T 1 M4Y R3TURN T0 MY M1SS1ON.  TH44444444444---" the androids speech froze up and distorted into a horrible, ear wrenching electronic screeching for a moment before it continued.

"----444NK Y0U." ARG-8 finished before its left arm fell off with a punctuating clunk.

[Zach]

Still atop Koli in the rather questionable position, Zach was not at all surprised that she literally threw him off. He would have gotten up sooner but was more busy explaining himself and ensuring that all of the debris had already fallen. Shoved as he was against the chest, the blonde was back up on his feet in an instant, although he did collide with the remains of the fallen boulder a little harder then he would have liked. Koli too rose to her feet and then seemingly much to her discomfort, started to cool down, shrinking in muscle mass as she did. Watching silently and feeling awkward about the greater quantity of skin the young woman was showing, Zach averted his gaze to the tractor-man. Koli was speaking to him but he wasn’t going to stare at her, only at the humanoid machine that now appeared to be more tired then either of them.

It was strange to be complimented by one of the masters let alone have one of them promising better things for him, usually all one could expect was a grumbled ‘you’re done’ after a well done job, but Koli was actually promising to try and keep him away from her uncle’s abusive hand for a time. That though again brought up the same issue he had informed her of when she first dragged him off into the woods. However before the teenager could reply in kind, the tractor-man started to ‘speak’ again. It spoke slowly but in spite of that the distorted, digitized pattern of it’s vocalization was difficult for the blonde to understand. He had to play it back a few times in his mind to fully comprehend the meaning of the sounds emanating from the machine and the more he figured out what the machine was saying the greater the awkward feeling grew. This machine was built, years ago and apparently for the purpose of fighting against the masters. Now it was announcing this very purpose to one of the masters. Zach didn’t know exactly how to react, it wasn’t his place to make suggestions on how to deal with things like this, not that he’d ever even heard of something similar happening. Instead he looked back to Koli with a confused, quizzical expression and them back to the tractor-man.

[Legendary]

Koli listened to the robot speak as best she could, its manner of speech was rather difficult to understand as there was something rather clearly wrong with whatever part of it actually did the speaking, heck there was a rather clearly a whole lot wrong with this robot, it even had a fairly sizable hole in its side that was not acting as a nest for a group of creatures from the woods, the exact species was one that Koli wasn't entirely familiar with though she had a feeling her uncle or someone else had likely warned her about them as they had spent a rather extensive amount of time explaining what lived on the grounds.

It caused Koli a significant amount of confusion when the robot proclaimed itself to be a member of the 'human defense millitia' and that it had been created by something known as 'Capsule Corporation' the name didn't ring not a single bell for Koli but it was clear this thing had been made by humans to defend humans. But the Humans didn't exactly have access to the level of technology required to even get something such as this hunk of junk up and running. As well there werent exactly and Human 'corporations' which probably meant this thing was a relic of the past, created before Humanity had been completely enslaved.

The robots mission immediately put Koli on edge as it explained it was designed to 'defeat the saiyan threat' though much to Koli's surprise the proclamation was not immediately followed by the machine turning its guns on her. Koli cringed a bit as the robot paused and suddenly the sounds of parts of its inner workings breaking started up. Was it not actually ABLE to attack her? Was that why it was just standing here talking? Koli's assumption was immedietly refuted as the robot proceeded to ask herself and Zach to assist it in repairing its 'sensory and mental processes' the phrasing immediately caused it all to click with Koli.

The robot didn't know what she was, maybe didn't even know what a Saiyan or even a Human was at all, it was quite literally on its last legs and falling apart at the seams, the thought was immediately punctuated by the robot's entire left arm falling off.  Koli just sort of stared at the robot for a few moments not entirely sure what she should do. This opened up quite a few rather interesting prospects. Her mission was primarily to just earn the trust of the North and be seen as a true member of its military, gain rank and prestige. So that when her King called for her her leaving would be a horrible blow to the North. Perhaps though she could go a bit further and actively sabotage the North with a little bit of help from the robot. Depending on how easy it was to get the thing back in some form of working order it could potentially act for her against the North. "Alright big guy I'm Koli and this is Zach, we'll help you out. I just need a bit of time. Think you can shut yourself down for a bit to conserve power? if not I just need you to stick around here in the trees where nobody can see you." Koli asked before turning to Zach giving him a 'just roll with it' expression.

Zachs reaction to the robots proclamation seemed about the same as her own initial reaction. Confused as all fuck. "Once big guy here powers down or whatever we need to head up to the big house and figure out what's going on with you." Koli said with a sigh really hoping she'd be able to get her uncle to agree to her terms. Even if Zach was 'just a slave' there should be a decent chance that Koli could work things so that Zach fell under her 'control' she'd need to think carefully about how she said things. Her uncle clearly had a particular interest in Zach and that interest could very well end up being what might keep her plan from working out. With any luck Zach would just roll with everything, it seemed to be a bit of his m-o to do such considering everything that had happened so far, the very idea of disobeying a saiyan seemed just so foreign to him. The fact that he didn't even consider escape viable in any way was just mind boggling.


(Any chance y'all would be down to wrap this up after your posts? Seems like a good point of divergence where we can then do threads for the work with ARG and Zach/Koli's trip to the main house)

[ARG-8]

ARG-8 listened closely to the blur instruct him to either shutdown or lay low.  It made sense; enemies might be lurking and even a weak opponent wouldn't have much trouble finishing off the android.  As it began the process of shutting down, a sudden thought entered its mind.  A flash of insight and recollection.  The encapsulator!  ARG-8 remembered that it did not have permissions to access the strange, almost arcane, device, despite the fact that it had been constructed with the equipment installed.  "An extreme liablity" they had called it.  Afterall, the portable encapsulators rate of malfunction was high enough that having valuable pieces of machinery, such as as ARG-8, destroying themselves, was not considered a very wise move.  However, perhaps due the errosion of its programmed code, it found that it had no problem accessing the device.  If it even still worked... and if it did not malfunction, that is.

The android nodded at the two figures in affirmation.  A whirring sound emanated and a jointed, ancillary limb emerged from ARG-8's back over its left shoulder.  It lacked manipulative appendages and ended what looked almost like a tesla coil.  It hissed and sparked with blue light as it began to draw the last of ARG-8's feeble power stores.

"1 SH4LL 3NC4PSUL4T3 MYS3LF.  4W4K3N M3 WH3N 1 4M N33D3D 0R WH3N R3P41RS M4Y B3 3N4CT3D.  T0 4CT1V4T3 M3, S1MPLY PUSH TH3 BUTT0N., 4ND 1 SH4LL R3APP34R.  PL3AS3 ST4ND 4 S4F3 D1ST4NC3 4W4Y 1N C4S3 1 3XPL0D3 V10L3NTLY, 4ND 4V3RT Y0UR 3Y3S. TH4NK Y0U F0R Y0UR C00P3R4T10N.  F0R E4RTH 4ND TH3 R3S1ST4NC3."  The android said triumphantly, turning the strange 'weapon' on itself.  Waiting a moment for the duo to move to a safe distance, ARG-8 activated the device.  A terrifically blinding light flared out and a loud clap like thunder shook the air.  And the android was gone.  Where it stood a moment before now lay a small, softball sized capsule, steaming with a soft hiss.

Alarmingly, the possumbats too were nowhere to be found.

[Zach]

Unsure of what to say if anything, Zach stood by as Koli spoke with the tractor-man. Considering what he was apparently designed for, she seemed surprisingly understanding which in it's self simply further confused the blonde. First she was showing him what might be misconstrued as compasion in her action to get him away gtom the abusive clutches of her uncle and now she was promising aid to a machine that was constructed for the sole purpose of tossing the Saiyans off of Earth. As if these sources of confusion weren't enough, they were further compounded by what the machine it's self had said, it was built by humans to defend humans, meaning Earth was not always ruled by the Saiyan masters. The realization was at the risk of making a pun, Earth shatering.

Zach had always known only a few things, his parents loved him and he them, always work hard and always obey the masters. Now the very foundation that supported that last beliefe was shaken. If Earth was not always under the rule of the Saiyans, then what right did they have to be here at all? Why should Humans be slaves to them or anyone else for that matter? Now Zach was by no means pulling a proverbial one-eithy and going full on rebel, but the seed of doubt had been planted and the abused by's mind was fertile soil.

The blonde teen's attention was dragged back to the here and now after moments musing about the horizon's the machine had inadvertantly broadened by the sound of some electrical machine charging up. Again unsure of exactly what was going on, Zach stood by as the tractor-man's third arm, one which Zach had not noticed being deployed on account of his musings, completed it's charge and then at once the whole mechanical being was consumed in a ball of lightning and an instant later all that remained was a fairly large metal ball. Looking completely baffled, the boy scooped up the apparatice and turned to Koli. Surely she would want to bring the safe back herself but if she wished Zach to carry it he would hand off the ball, either was fine by him since he as yet didn't quite understand the concept of "No."



{I believe we are now concluded. I'm going to go back over this post and correct spelling and grammar tomorrow so don't mind any errors. Simply not enough time to do that tonight.}

[Tenshu]

Looked a little rushed at the end, but overall a nice introduction for Zach. I was actually going to pop in here and play the slave owner, but I like how this turned out.

Zach: +1 EN +1 User Choice
ARG: +1 ST +1 User Choice
Aice: +1 Ki +1 User Choice

Koli, I specifically loved your performance in this thread, your character had a lot of life and creativity, for that I am awarding 3 stat points.

Koli: +1 CO +1 EN +1 User Choice

[Zach]

{You still might get a chance to play him in the topic I just started. ^__^

And I'll be assigning that extra point to Strength.}