[6] Production Building/Dome

[Hellfighter 17]

The hell fighter?s hands were shaking; the violent tremor in them accompanied bye exasperated breathes heaving out of his dry mouth. The smell from the smoke of his blast still lingered in the air, assaulting his nostrils, but the android?s sensors did not pay much attention to the scent. The cybernetic eyes slowly looked downward, his face quivering. A faint smile the humanoid; it was perplexing to see Piccolo smile in such a circumstance. Seventeen?s own face contorted to this visual, with ears perking up and eyes looking on with incredulous, though his body still shook from recent revelations.

As the curved lips began to disappear and form into straightness throughout the face, the robot?s eyes looked down the body, stopping at the hands. Noticing a peculiarity, the hell fighter bent down, his knees starting to become weary as he did so. Reaching out his hand, the android grabbed at the namekian, noticing the roughness of his emerald skin. Screams and murmurs interrupted the humanoid?s examination of the lifeless body, but he soon continued what he was doing. Turning the appendage over, Seventeen?s eyes started, wide-eyed, at the nails. There is not blood underneath his fingernails. The synthetic human saw this as awry, until he looked at his own hand as it clenched tightly onto Piccolo?s. There was not blood underneath his fingernails.

The false human?s eyes closed and he let out one last heavy breath before his circulatory system would return back to its normal proficiency. Thinking back to normal, when he reached the his plateau again, Seventeen?s mind wandered through those words: ?I still love you.? A smile formed on the hell fighter?s lips and his eyelids lifted open slightly, giving him a small view of the darkness. There was not too much light and all of the fellow prisoners had been let free, and were now fending off hordes of zombies, much like the ones that the hell fighter had seen at the hospital. There were many familiar faces in the crowd that Seventeen noticed as he opened his eyes wider. The saiya-jin, Bra, was helping one of the people whom Seventeen had seen fighting in the dome as well, and now there was also another, one who appeared to be the same age as the robot impersonated.

There were also those whom the Seventeen did not take too kindly to, such as his killer Cell, but for a reason unbeknownst to him, he did not carry the same rage that had fueled his assault on the black-speckled one earlier. Many others brought forth memories, but the android was growing an instinctive drive that he himself could not understand. The fights that had sprung up around his kneeling body had no appeal to him; they were all meaningless and held no value to the humanoid. Even though those who could use his help were in dire needs at the moment, he couldn?t do it. ?I can?t do this. . .? His senses began to pulsate, picking up on something within the structure. His eyebrows raised and his brow furrowed, accented by his upper lip lightly caressing his lower. ?I. . .? Seventeen?s mind was surprisingly certain as to where he would go; the surprise came from a lack of knowledge, except a feeling that sunk into the core of his wires. ?I am to go there.?

The android looked up, his mind instantly telling him that this was the way to go. With eyes narrowing on a thin strip of discolouration which was barely visible in the lack of light, he blasted upwards. The tail that sunk behind the humanoid was not as bright as it was before. Seventeen had turned off the effects of his silicon ships for now, deciding that there was no urgency for his power to be used. The energy that did trickle behind his mechanical body soon dissipated, but illuminated the depths of the dome slightly beforehand.

The humanoid quickly reached the area he had seen earlier, and his senses were telling him correctly thus far. ?What am I to do here?? he asked, eyes trailing the hole up and down vigorously. After gulping, the robot slowly bent down and eventually laid, so that he may fit into the small vent.

A gas roaming the innards of the duct; it held a green essence to it, but when contrasted against the small amount of light bursting in the crawlspace, it held a hint more relevant to yellow. ?Uhh. . .? he began, looking back towards the entrance whilst biting his lip. ?Yay?? Seventeen looked back to the unknown fluid, and decided to brave it. For he was mechanical, so in his mind that must mean that he was invulnerable to earthly toxins, though this was not how things truly were. ?I guess it couldn?t be that bad,? said the android, eyes darting back and forth from one side of the vent to the other, weary of just what this fluid would do to him.

After moving forward, the humanoid had made contact with the gas, and at first, there appeared to be no effects on him, but soon enough this would not be true. The android?s eyes started to daze about ferociously and his head swayed back and forth as his body become unstable, even for a laying position. The world around Seventeen was soon fragmenting and some of the trail disappeared from sight, while other views were being inverted.

There soon enough was a fork in the path and the metallic trail was not giving him any tips as to where to go. ?Up,? said Seventeen, oblivious to the fact that there was only a right, not any choice to be made. His body began to crawl ?upwards? and his mind wondered why it was so easy to defy gravity without using energy. The path laid in front of him was twisting and turning with every inch he moved. ?I don?t know about this,? said Seventeen, shaking his head with closed eyes. After a few moments of doing this and questioning what he was supposed to do, the humanoid could hear a creak. ?What. . . What was that?? Seventeen looked down, or what he thought was down, and suddenly he felt weightless. The world around him was a bright array of colours and soon his body was overcome by a stinging in his side, but his mind paid no attention to that. The gas was now losing its effect on the android; it was apparently one that could only last for so long.

?I can hear someone coming,? said Seventeen, holding his head whilst trying to stand up.