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This page, The KidVegeta Anthology/Killing General Copper, is property of KidVegeta.


This is the big one. As of doing this commentary, Killing General Copper is the longest one-shot I've ever written. It's longer than Dragon Ball Z: In Requiem and Sink to the Bottom, to name a few. And it is almost 5000 words longer than One Chop Man, my previously longest one-shot. I had not planned on that being the case. This story was intended to be about 10,000 words, but it grew almost 50% longer in the telling. Going through the making of this story will be quite the journey.

This fic is intended to be the epilogue of Nineteen Assassins. That story also had very long chapters, in the Spindlerun style, so I had expected this to be a long one too, almost like a bonus chapter. It became more complicated, however, than I had imagined the more time I spent on it. I wanted to bring to a close the story of General Copper. A multi-chapter story would not be necessary, as my idea was to have Cardinal break him out of prison and then have Gero kill him not long after. Working that all out in prose took a while, though.

General Copper was one of the few officers unaccounted for at the end of the Red Ribbon Arc of Dragon Ball. In The Perfect Lifeform, I reveal that in my universe, he meets up with Dr. Gero shortly after Commander Red's death, along with Generals Bronze and Lavender. Their legions work for Gero for a few years until they are defeated by Earth's Defense Force and Android 11 and 12 are taken by Furry's men. This was all written many years ago. When I wrote TPL, I knew that at some point, Cardinal would acquire Androids 11 and 12, and eventually those androids would land in the hands of Bulla, who would reactivate them during Dragon Ball: Heart of the Dragon.

This story kills two birds with one stone, but was also necessary in that way. Copper was not shown to have died in The Perfect Lifeform (in fact none of the surviving officers in his legion were), so I made the decision early on to have him survive. It would make sense for Earth's military to try to take a few prisoners to learn about the Red Ribbon Army's motives and remaining power. And who better than the commanding officer? Androids 11 and 12 being captured with him was fortuitous plotting I came up with years ago that I was able to bring into this story to complicate it and enrich it.

Hasky was always going to be the POV. I had decided that as soon as I came up with this story. To be honest, Killing General Copper was the earliest idea I had for I Wouldn't Want to Be a Fish Right Now aside from How To Act Like a Professional Mercenary. I had come up with the idea for it before Nineteen Assassins was completed. Since Hasky helped Cardinal secure an infinite energy device in Chasing Oblivion, it only made sense that he would seek her help again to break Copper out of prison and secure Androids 11 and 12.

In Nineteen Assassins, it became clear that Cardinal was searching for all surviving officers of the Red Ribbon Army so that he could either recruit them to the New Red Ribbon Army or kill them. So as of this story, only Copper and Teal remained (though he didn't know about Teal until Copper told him about the man's supposed survival). And of course Gero and Flappe came into the picture once the androids were found. So with this story, the Red Ribbon Army is finally put to rest, sans the possibly existing Lieutenant Colonel Teal.

I will not, in this commentary, reveal whether or not Teal actually survived and is in Furry's custody, for that is a major spoiler to my sequel to Nineteen Assassins, Crimson Shores, a story about Tights visiting the far southern islands to learn about the supposed reports of skinchangers (Makyans) tormenting the locals. She wants to use the information she gathers in her next novel. Cardinal and his men will also take part in that story to both search for Teal and deal with the Makyans. That plot is directly set up in the final scene of this story.

In terms of the development of this story, I came up with a cursory scene-by-scene outline some weeks before writing it. I created the page for Killing General Copper on May 3, 2020, three minutes after completing the first draft of How To Act Like a Professional Mercenary. Afterwards, I immediately posted my original outline for the story, which is as follows:


-takes place in december 756 age (4 years after nineteen assassins; 1 month after perfect lifeform on androids 11 and 12; RRA is destroyed on may 12, age 750)

scene 1: cardinal goes to see hasky, offering her her freedom if she tracks down, frees, and brings general copper to him, the last surviving red ribbon army officer not accounted for; she asks him what he did with the infinite energy device, and he says she will use that to find gero, the other living member of the RRA (it is just them three and colonel silver); hasky agrees after he offers her a large sum of money in addition to her freedom; he tells her to keep this on the down-low as he cannot afford having King Furry find out that he was in the RRA himself

scene 2: hasky first goes to the prison in north city, where she is able to break into the place; they escape after taking androids 11 and 12, who were located nearby in a prison room gathering dust with them (in capsules)

scene 3: Cardinal meets with Copper and the androids, interrogating the man about what he has told the police, and how to activate the androids; as he didn't say anything and doesn't know how to operate the machines, Cardinal coldly kills Copper in front of Hasky, and then sends her with the infinite energy device to Gero's location.

scene 4: she goes to meet with gero at a pre-planned place in early age 757, accompanied by several members of the New Red Ribbon Army; Android 13 meets them and kills them all, stealing the device without bowing to Cardinal's demands

scene 5: cardinal scene with silver and some yakuza in bonetown discussing gero and having scientists look at the androids, whom they have not been able to activate; silver asks if they should bargain these things back with Gero, but Cardinal simply states that if they're anything like 13, they would be able to control the world, and he'd use them to do that as well as kill Gero.


The first scene's outline is fairly similar to what I wrote, but all of the other scenes are pretty different. In that version, Cardinal was going to kill Copper, and Android 13 was going to kill Hasky. Hasky ends up surviving this story and Android 13 isn't even in it. Also, there ended up being two more scenes.

On March 1, 2020, I began writing this story. I only wrote the opening paragraph that day. On May 3, I updated my outline for scenes 2-4 as follows:


scene 2:

scene 3: Hasky breaks into the prison in South City by posing as a guard, stealing Copper during lunch, inciting a prison riot, and having Proprananik help her by shutting down the security.

scene 4: Cardinal meets with Copper, Hasky, and Proprananik, interrogating the general about what he has told the police, and how to activate the androids. However, Copper does not know how to activate them, even with the infinite energy device at Cardinal’s disposal. He orders Copper, Hasky, and Proprananik to find Gero and have him activate the androids for them.


As can be seen, I blanked scene 2, but did not write anything for it, as I changed my mind and decided that I wanted Hasky to get the androids separately from when she broke Copper out of prison. In the third scene, I added the prison riot idea. For the fourth scene, I changed it so that Copper now survives that scene and goes to parlay with Gero (which he does in the final version, too). Hasky originally went with Proprananik and Copper. That didn't turn out to be the case. Silver wasn't even going to be featured in this story at that time.

By May 11th, I had outlined two additional scenes:


scene 2: Hasky and Proprananik go to the forward outpost base to recover the capsules. Hasky meets with the commander, and is able to knock him unconscious and steal the capsules without alerting anyone.

scene 5: Copper, Hasky, and Proprananik figure out how to address Gero; they take the infinite energy device with them as a bargaining chip.


The second scene remained fairly true to this day, although it grew a little more complicated in the telling. The fifth scene... I don't know what was going on with that scene. It seems like a nothing scene to me. It may be describing their meeting with him, but it isn't descriptive enough for me to be sure about that.

The next day, on May 12th, I got some new ideas:


scene 2: Hasky and Proprananik go to the forward outpost base to recover the capsules. Hasky meets with one of the commanders and seduces him to get the info on where the capsules are headed so that they can intercept the vehicle, which they do.

scene 4: Cardinal meets with Copper, Hasky, and Proprananik, interrogating the general about what he has told the police, and how to activate the androids. However, Copper does not know how to activate them, even with the infinite energy device at Cardinal’s disposal. He orders Copper, Hasky, and Proprananik to find Gero and have him activate the androids for them. As they go to leave, Copper tells Cardinal that there is in fact one more officer still alive, who had survived from Copper’s own legion - Lieutenant-Commander Teal - but Copper has no clue where the man is.

scene 6: the three go to the north mountains, where they are entreated by Android 13. After a short conversation, Gero speaks to them through 13 and tells them to go away. When Copper presses the issue,


With this edit, the idea for scene 2 was polished to have Hasky try to seduce the commander (which she does in the final version). Additionally, in scene 4, I added the idea that Lieutenant Colonel Teal was taken prisoner as well. This was something I had been thinking about a lot at the time, but was unsure about including until this point. Again, there is no definitive statement on whether Teal did or did not survive in this story. That will all be revealed in Crimson Shores. Scene 6 was added as well, and looking back on it now, it was sloppy of me to have scenes 5 and 6 separated. They should have been the same scene. In the final draft, these scenes were melded together into scene 6.

On May 14th, I realized that I needed to address Dr. Flappe, and so another scene was added (technically scene 5 was melded with scene 6 and a new scene 5 was brought in):


scene 5: Hasky and Proprananik meet with Flappe. The man is shocked by the infinite energy device, and the androids, stating that the technology is far beyond him. That night, Hasky breaks into his house, stealing all of the documents he had kept about the Red Ribbon Army (there aren’t a lot, and all are android-based).

scene 6: Copper leads Silver and a detachment of NRRA soldiers to Gero’s location. Android 13 appears, however, and denies them entry into the base. After a short conversation, Gero speaks to them through 13 and tells them to go away. When Copper presses the issue, even talking about the infinite energy device and Androids 11 and 12, Gero does not relent.


With this edit, more of the story was coming into focus. The fifth scene is as it is today, with the small change that they don't meet with Flappe, but instead rummage through his house for any signs that he is still in contact with Gero. Notably, this edit removes Hasky from the meeting with Gero, which was the point at which she was becoming safe. I was still somewhat considering having Proprananik kill her after they go through Flappe's house, but now it was much less clear. If she had gone to Gero's meeting, she would have died.

The sixth scene now includes Silver and still includes Android 13. As well, a detachment of NRRA soldiers accompany Copper and Silver. That doesn't end up happening in the final draft.

At this point, I was fairly confident in the story, although I knew there needed to be at least one more scene, and the resolution to scene 6 was not something I was entirely sure about. Even so, I knew it would be a while before I got to those scenes, so I would have time to think about any changes I wanted to make. Notably, I had put a few spaces between scenes 1-5 and scenes 6-7, for even then I knew that the last two scene ideas were not fully thought out yet.

I began writing again on May 15th, writing about half a page of the first scene that night. On May 16th, I finished the first draft of the first scene. On May 18th, I began writing the second scene late at night. By about 5 am the next morning, I had written a little more than a page of that scene. Afterwards, I came up with a different description for the second scene (my writings up to this point had not gotten to the point where Hasky lands in the military camp yet).


-hasky enters the base, being allowed entry, and goes to gechiren’s room; he welcomes her in but gave the androids away to kiwadate, his superior; she puts him to sleep by putting something in his drink, then gets the hell out of there; they go to central city, where kiwadate is, and she meets with him, but is rebuffed (he doesn’t like whores); husky sticks him with a muscle paralyzer [LOOK UP HOW QUICKLY THESE WORK] then gets him to admit where the androids are or she will drown him; he tells her, but she drowns him anyways; when she finds the truck with those capsules, she replaces them and returns to proprananik


This scene is fairly accurate to what ended up happening, although Kiwadate is not located in Central City (he's just a few tents down from Gechiren) in the final draft. Also, Hasky doesn't put anything in Gechiren's drink in the final version, nor does she kill Kiwadate (although that is left unresolved, to some extent). I didn't write again for a while. This story was not my focus after I got this far, as I shifted my efforts to Softpetal. I am not sure why that was. I was probably not sure how to proceed exactly, and wanted time to reflect on my options.

In any case, on Jun 3, 2020, I updated the third scene with information from my father. My father had worked in a prison while he had been on leave from the army, and thus told me the best way for Hasky to bust Copper out of one. The idea he came up with, to have Copper fake a heart attack, be rushed to a hospital, and then have someone assault the guards in the hospital (there would only be 3-4 maximum), was what I ended up doing.


scene 3: Hasky breaks into the prison in South City by posing as a guard, stealing Major General Copper by faking a heart attack and getting him sent to the South City hospital, where the three guards on the SERT team are gassed and killed by her and proprananik.


As can be seen, the original strategy of gassing them out is different from what I ultimately went with. As well, Hasky was going to pose as a SERT officer at first. I eventually changed that. But anyways, this was a very significant edit and I think it was a good. The third scene is my favorite scene, so props to my dad for the creative idea.

It wasn't until August 20th that I got the idea for how to close out this story. The final two scenes were very hard to conceptualize for me until I finalized The Perfect Lifeform and Be a Man, (doing the complete character list, character pages, faction pages, and the like for them). I had to re-read those stories to finalize them, and that helped me a lot. I finished finalizing TPL on the 20th, so that is why that date is significant. At that point in time, my outline was pretty much complete. I knew the story I wanted to tell, and now I just had to sit down and write it out.

On September 4th, with access to adderall, I finished the second scene, started the third scene (going up to the point where Proprananik drops Hasky off), and wrote the fourth scene. I skipped the rest of the third scene at the time because I was tired after finishing the second scene and did not think I had the energy to write it correctly. That was a critical day for me to get this one-shot completed. I wrote out 8 pages of content that day. That was almost a third of the entire story.

I did some editing on September 7th, but nothing too consequential. On the 9th, I edited some of the third scene, but did not get much farther into it. On September 11th, I finished the first draft of the third scene. I also went back to add Silver into that scene, as he was not in it originally. The idea to have him blow up a helicopter with his Panzerschreck came to me late, admittedly. I think it's a nice callback to when he uses that on Goku's nimbus, so it was a fun addition.

On September 14th, I wrote the first paragraph of the sixth scene, skipping over the fifth scene. I don't remember why I did that. Scene 6 was clearly going to be the more difficult scene to write. In any case, on the 18th, I returned to the fifth scene and wrote out about a page of it. On the 21st and 22nd, I edited Hasky's conversation with Propranik and wrote up to the moment that they enter Flappe's house. Late on the 27th, I began writing it again. I finished the fifth scene just before 1 am on September 28th. Over the next two days, I worked a little bit on the sixth scene, but did not make much progress on it. My original goal had been to finish the first draft of Killing General Copper by the end of September, but as is always the case with me, that deadline was a little too optimistic.

On October 1st, I continued the sixth scene, but didn't write more than a few paragraphs that night. On the 3rd, I wrote another half a page of the sixth scene, getting up to the point where Propranik tells Gero that the New Red Ribbon Army was securing Androids 11 and 12 for him as a sign of goodwill. In the early hours of October 4th, I began editing the story, for I felt like if I gained momentum from that, I would be able to finish the sixth and seventh scenes soon afterwards. However, I only managed to edit three pages of the story before needing sleep. The next day, I did only minor editing.

On October 6th, I took another one of my precious adderalls and went to town on this story. I edited the rest of it and wrote out the sixth and seventh scenes. I took small breaks between editing each scene. The next day, I did one final look-over of the story, polishing the prose. Adderall was once more involved. I edited through the first five scenes over the course of about three hours and twenty minutes. Then, I took an hour and twenty minute break. At that time, I introduced some small measure of alcohol into my system to aid the adderall in loosening me up. Then, I finalized edits for the final two scenes. It took me about two hours and four minutes to do that.

Overall, this was a very long story to conceptualize and write out. I have probably spent more time on it than all of the other I Wouldn't Want to Be a Fish Right Now stories combined (perhaps sans Insatiable). I am pleased with how it turned out, but man what this an exhausting one to get onto the wiki. I did not realize how long it would be. The story grew in the telling, as they say. This will probably be the longest one-shot I ever write on Dragon Ball Fanon Wiki. Should anything surpass it, that story will have to be a helluva one-shot.

I have probably spent more than fifty hours working on this story. That number is only going to rise as I tackle the endnotes. This may take a while.


Story[]

He stepped into the darkness of the prison cell, Proprananik guarding the door. Adjusting his collar, he strode to the bulletproof door, where a woman in orange clothing was waiting for him, some measure of curiosity upon her face, and some measure of annoyance too at being roused.

His voice barely rose above a whisper. “I have news for you, Hasky.”

“Oh yeah? Why should I care?”

“I will give you your freedom if you do what I ask of you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can set you free this very moment if you agree to help me.” He held up the key. “Yes or no? You have fifteen seconds to answer.”

His left hand went to his belt, where his pistol was holstered. His fingers brushed against the grip. She swallowed.

“Looks like I’ve got no choice. Whatever. I’ll do it.”

“If you agree to the terms of this contract, you cannot speak of the business it entails to anyone. If you do, you may suffer an unfortunate accident, Miss Hasky. I hope you understand. This is no small matter.”

“You’ve got nothing to worry about, man. I’m no rat.”

“Fair enough.”

“So, what do you need me to do?”

He took a moment to collect his thoughts. The prisoner was glaring at him. He had to be perfect if he was to gain her respect. Criminals like her were usually tougher to impress.

“Eight days ago, on the twenty-fourth of November, the remnants of the Red Ribbon Army revealed themselves in South City, accompanied by android-like beings. They caused great havoc. One android carried out a damaging, albeit unsuccessful bank heist, while the other scoured the southern islands, wiping out every town, army, and gang they came into contact with.”

“Where do I come into the picture, old man?”

“Their entire force was routed, or so the records state. Only one prisoner was recovered: General Copper, a senior Red Ribbon officer. In addition, the androids were deactivated with EMP blasts and were stored inside two capsules. Your mission is as follows: find and steal those capsules, and recover Copper from the South City police. Bring the capsules and the general to Bonetown. I will meet you there. You do remember that place?”

That caught her by surprise. Indeed, he had never revealed his appearance to her before this moment. “Oh, so you’re the one who paid me to get that infinite energy device from Colonel Violet? She was a member of the Red Ribbon Army, too, if I recall. You must have a beef with them.”

“You would be wise to not ask too many questions, Hasky.”

“What ever happened with the infinite device? What did you use it for?”

“That is also something I am not prepared to reveal to a common thief. Bringing me Copper and the androids should be your only concern.”

She folded her arms. “Common thief, eh? Maybe I don’t help you. How would you like that?”

“How about your sentence gets bumped up to a first degree felony for reckless endangerment of the public, and King Furry decrees you to be executed at the month’s end?”

“You couldn’t do that.”

“Maybe, maybe not. That’s a gamble you will have to make if you choose to stay here.”

“I’m no common thief, let’s get that straight. You know that, man. Everybody does. Don’t slander my reputation.”

“Don’t get hung up on trivial matters, Hasky. Do you want an incentive? Here it is: I’ll pay you Ƶ12,000,000 to get this job done. How does that sound?”

She retreated to the shadows. He deemed that a sharp move which prevented him from analyzing how she would react. Truthfully, he could have offered her less, but he wanted her to understand precisely how serious this mission was. If the woman did not agree to his terms, Proprananik would deal with her, and he would hire the world’s second or third most notorious thief to get this job done. When she returned to the window, Hasky was smirking. He could tell that for her, the promise of zeni assuaged all fears.

“If I’m going to do this, I will need many supplies. A prison break is no joke.”

“You won’t be breaking Copper out of prison, Hasky. He will be in the South City hospital by the time you make your move. Regardless, my associate Proprananik will assist you with anything you need. Our pockets run deep.”

“In that case, what are we waiting for?”

He took the key from his breast pocket and unlocked the door.

“Follow us to the helicopter, and don’t say a word. Oh, and you’ll need to wear these,” he said, placing a pair of handcuffs on her.

The woman, while appearing somewhat surprised, did not hesitate to follow them out. Cardinal was satisfied with how this had gone down. He knew he couldn’t trust her, but she was still the most qualified person for the job. No one would see them on their way out–Proprananik had changed the guard’s patrol routes and times, which had left their path clear, and he had taken out every camera from the cell to the roof. Soon, the last unaccounted for Red Ribbon Army officer would be found. Cardinal knew exactly how he would deal with the man if he had said anything to the police.

The androids would be a much-needed boost to the New Red Ribbon Army. Android 8 had been unnaturally strong, although his intelligence and loyalty had been critical defects. If those errors had been rectified with the newer models, it would be worth it for him to use them to his advantage. Even then, the mere existence of these androids brought up another question. Only two scientists, Doctor Gero and Doctor Flappe, had worked in the Red Ribbon’s android division. He was unsure of if Gero had survived the fall. Once Copper was delivered to him, he would send Proprananik and Hasky to search Flappe’s house for any signs of his involvement in these androids’ development. And if it turned out Gero was alive, he would send his son to deal with that crazed old bastard.

The coming days would be extraordinarily busy. He would have plenty of time to make the appropriate preparations for any unsavory circumstances that arose by the time Copper returned.


The trip down to the southern island took a few hours. Proprananik did his best to bring her up to speed on the way. Hasky was finding it hard to retain everything being thrown at her. To his credit, the man was patient in his explanations. She had expected less of him.

“This will need to happen quickly,” he warned her. “As soon as we acquire the androids, I’ll fly you to the hospital–that’s six minutes in the air. They shouldn’t realize by then, but we won’t know for certain until after it’s done. You’ll have to clean up on the flight back. Is that okay?”

“It’s no problem.”

“Here.” He handed her about a dozen capsules. “One of each color in circulation. Make sure you replace them with the appropriate color.”

Her mission was getting more technical than she had expected. She would have to concentrate. With how much money she was making from this, she could not afford to screw up. The thief pocketed the capsules, keeping her eyes trained on the floor. “You don’t have to worry about that. I’m good at what I do.”

“That is why Mr. Cardinal hired you, apparently.” He looked bemused.

“I got him that infinite energy cube, or whatever it’s called. You ever seen that thing?”

She thought Proprananik looked not unlike a hairless rodent dipped in oil. “The story has come up before. We know how good you are. I expect you to show us that today. This will be exceedingly difficult. Even with the most meticulous preparations, there will be a large degree of luck involved in what we are going to do. If we fail to retrieve Copper or the androids, we must at least destroy them.”

“Kill him? I thought we were trying to save him?”

“Do not question your orders, merc.”

“Whatever you say, man.”

“We’re three minutes out. Go over your objectives again.”

“We land outside the base, I sneak inside and change my clothes. I knock on Colonel Gechiren’s door, seduce him, and locate the androids. Once I have them, I will message you over the bluetooth and you’ll pick me up.”

“Simple. You have a lot of work ahead of you.”

“It may take longer than you expect. If I haven’t said anything for half an hour, don’t worry.”

The man wrinkled his nose. “Don’t make me wait here an hour. We have to get Copper, as well, before the sun rises.”

“I know. I’ll slip in and out, like a ghost.”

Proprananik nodded in approval, as he was wont to do. “Take this,” he said, handing her a bag containing her outfit, with her tool set (retrieved from the West City prison) set neatly on top. Next to her things lay a tiny black pistol with a wooden grip. She stared at it for too long. “That’s a tranquilizer. It contains a modified sodium thiopental mixture. Lethal on someone your size. Should do the trick against the colonel. He’ll be knocked out cold within thirty seconds. Use it only if you have to. You have just the one dart. Stick him in a vein; don’t shoot haphazardly. Getting him in the neck would be preferred.”

“Why not give me more?”

“If you need to take more than one shot, you should already be running.”

Hasky never felt pressure in moments like this. That was what made her the best. Confidence swelled in her throat. This would be simple. She had nothing to worry about. If the colonel denied her what she wanted, she would make him talk one way or another.

“Didn’t you say earlier that Gechiren has a reputation for taking ladies of the evening?”

“That’s right.”

“So, wouldn’t he be expecting his favorite girl tonight?”

The man never gave the slightest hint of emotion. “She’s sick, or make something else up. I’ve sent the whore to a different location tonight. She thinks she’s meeting with Gechiren in the city. She won’t know for another hour. That’s our window.”

In the dead of night, the Capsule Corp. model jet landed on the outskirts of what appeared to be a sprawling makeshift military base. Proprananik left her there, turning the jet into a capsule and slinking off into the darkness before anyone spotted them. Hasky’s target was ahead, just a few rows down. Gechiren’s tent was not as modest as his soldiers’, making it easy to pick out from the crowd.

The thief took a moment to compose herself. Her eyes found South City in the distance, its skyscrapers blinking and robust, the endless monotony of screeching hovercars almost echoing in her ear. The sky was much more luminous in the wild than in the city. Goosebumps prickled down her arms. Overhead, legions of stars were spilling out from the black. Crickets chirped sporadically; otherwise, it was deathly quiet. Soothed by the calmness and grounded by her relative insignificance in the cosmic scheme of things, Hasky’s confidence grew. Compared to the vastness of space laid out above her, she was small. Her worries, fears, and stress were even smaller. She could do this. She felt unburdened by her task.

Keeping to the shadows, she changed into the lingerie Proprananik had given her. She wondered if he had picked out these clothes based on his own tastes or Gechiren’s. Were the colonel’s proclivities public knowledge, though? She didn’t think so.

Luckily, there weren’t any guards patrolling nearby. Nobody saw her enter the encampment. Taking a deep breath, she knocked on Gechiren’s tent flap. What she would have to do would get her out of prison, as degrading as it was going to be. Her paycheck wouldn’t be half-bad either. She could swallow her pride for a night.

He was unshaven, his look severe, an impatience thrumming in his fingertips, rippling up through his pursed lips. “Who are you ? Where’s Melisha?”

“Hey there, baby. I’m Shami. Sorry that Melisha couldn’t warn you ahead of time, but she has the flu. She hopes she can make it up to you. In the meantime, how about we spend the night together and have some fun?”

He took a swig, looking her up and down. It required most of Hasky’s willpower to bury her disgust. Now that she was flirting with the man, she was finding it harder to stay in character. “You’ll do. In.”

She didn’t need to be asked twice. Inside, a lantern bathed the room in amber light. Maps and papers were strewn across his desk, an un-made bed took up the corner, and several dishes were stacked near the door. An odor of cigar smoke pervaded the air. She did not stare too long, lest he grow suspicious. In some ways it chipped at her self-confidence to be used like this, but there was some small part of her that found excitement in trying something new. She smiled at him, brushing her hair out of her eyes.

He didn’t give her a second look as he moved to the desk. He grabbed a carved blue bottle and pulled two cups out from a drawer. Gruffly, his back turned to her, the colonel asked, “Any gin for you?”

“Mmm, sweetie, that would be lovely.”

He poured them each a generous portion. Handing her a cup, the man looked her up and down again. “I don’t remember you.”

“I’m rather new. I’ve only been working at the agency for three weeks.”

“Oh?” He sat on the edge of his bed, taking a long drink from his glass. “What inspired you to join?”

“I needed some adventure in my life.” Hasky winked at him, smiling coyly. She sipped the gin, coughing slightly as it burned down her throat. She couldn’t go too crazy, lest she lose her head. “Well, what do you think? Like what you see, colonel?”

Her cup went on the table, almost untouched. He drank from his again. She thrust her arms out, swinging her hips back and forth, approaching the man.

“Come here.” He took her roughly, moving her to the bed as he felt up her stomach, underneath the lingerie.

“Ooh, you’re feisty. Must be pent up after that big battle I heard about, eh?”

“It wasn’t that bad,” he said dismissively. “We finished off the Red Ribbon Army without much of a problem.”

His hand slid further up her stomach, reaching her bra. Hasky did her best not to flinch. “I heard there were a pair of androids fighting too. They must have been so difficult to take out.”

“Not really. They went down without much fuss, once we EMP’d them. Heh. What a massive weakness.”

“You did so good, baby,” she murmured, leaning in, rubbing her stomach against him as he squeezed her breast. “You deserve a reward.”

“Mmmm.” He pressed his lips against her neck. The reek of alcohol was on his breath.

She held steady. Her arms wrapped around his torso, and she didn’t exactly know what to do next. Was she to be intimate? Or was she to be a slut? It was impossible to tell, at this point, which he preferred. Regardless, the thief had a job to do. Others were counting on her. The clock was ticking.

“What happened to them? Did they blow up?” At first, he didn’t respond, for he was busy kissing down her neck. Rigidly she lay there, caressing his back with her left hand. “Or did you give them to the king’s scientists to analyze their technology? They sound quite advanced.”

“I don’t know. General Kiwadate has them. It’s his call. I think he’s going to ship them out to the king, but he hasn’t told me yet. Why? Did you used to be an engineer?”

“No, I’m just a curious girl. I would have never guessed that androids could be real. I’ve only ever read about them in sci-fi novels. It’s impressive that you were able to defeat them.” She smiled seductively, jumping up and pushing him onto the bed as she straddled him. She had to get out of here. Gechiren was useless to her. The intel had been poor, and now she would have to make up lost time. But how to get rid of him?

“Feisty, I like it.”

He reached up, squeezing her tit again. This time, his lust was stronger.

She kissed him and ground against him, caressing his chest. Her eyes drifted to his cup, which was on the edge of the table. That gave her an idea.

Pulling back, Hasky grasped her cup and held it to her lips. “Before we go any further, how about you and I play a game?”

“Hmm? What do you have in mind?”

She drank her cup dry in one breath. Swallowing again to prevent herself from immediately throwing it back up, Hasky whispered, “You think you can drink more than me, baby? I don’t think you can.”

He grinned, sitting up. “Oh, so that’s how it’s going to be? Well, I’m warning you, Shami. I’m no lightweight.”

“Show me.” He did. Gechiren didn’t look like he was drinking alcohol with how easily it went down his throat. She leaned in and gave him a kiss. “Pour us another. I want this to feel like bliss.”

Her second cup was more difficult to drink than the first; the colonel had no trouble with his. She was growing worried. Maybe this wasn’t the best idea. However, she couldn’t waste her dart on him. She had to try. Her cheeks began to flush. She rubbed her hand against his bulge as he poured the third round. Hasky was comfortable with alcohol, yet drinking so much in quick succession was not something she had done since her early twenties. The room was already spinning a little.

She finished her third drink and promised herself she would have no more. When he refilled them, she flipped over and started grinding up against the man’s crotch. She felt the heat of his member through his pants. He leaned back, moaning softly, setting his empty glass on the table. That was her chance. She looked over her shoulder, making sure his eyes were closed, before she poured her gin into his cup.

“You’re a real man, baby,” she said, handing him the gin. He drank from it, finishing it in three swigs before giving it back to her. “Now show me what you’re made of.”

To keep up the charade, she went on for longer than she had to. Truth be told, rubbing up against a hard cock wasn’t the worst feeling in the world. He groaned in pleasure. She pulled away, teasing him, and then went more forcefully against him. She pulled away again and poured a sixth glass. Handing it to him, the woman ran a finger down his chest, smiling sheepishly.

There was nothing for Gechiren to do but take it and drink. Once he had finished, he struggled to pull off his shirt and pants. The man was extremely drunk. She poured him another. “One more and you win, baby.”

“I told you… I’m no lightweight…” he slurred, gulping down the gin. “Heheh. Now I’m going to fuck you.”

His underwear dropped to his ankles, and it was laid out for her, plain to see. Hasky, for all her thievery, was no whore. Her heart beat in her ears. The rhythmic pulse kept her in line. She felt warm.

“Get over here.”

Obeying his order, she lowered herself onto his naked lap. He tugged at her panties. She couldn’t refuse him. Off they came. Hasky wanted to go no further than this, so she stalled as best she could. “Your men must look up to you for leading them to victory against a rebel army. You must have earned a medal for that.”

His eyes had glazed over; he sat up nonetheless, pressing his nose against her chest and feeling her over. For some reason, this did not embarrass her. He wouldn’t remember this part in the morning. “ Furry’s… gonna give me… a Distinguished Service Cross. You know how rare those are… baby?” He kissed her, lightly biting her lower lip like a playful nursing rat.

Her forehead locked against his; they exchanged intimate heat. She lightly rubbed up against him, and he held her, and she held him, and their breaths quickened. Not a moment later, he fell on his back, his grip loosening, his heat retreating. Gechiren began to snore.

Boldly, she remained in place, covering her breasts with her bra. As she pulled away from his erection, she was surprised to find that she was wet. Maybe that was the alcohol. He wasn’t the ugliest man she had ever been with, although she didn’t think that she felt anything for him, either. She briefly considered pouring herself one more shot of gin, but thought better of it when she remembered that she still had to free Copper after this was finished. Hasky wiped herself off, put her panties back on, and left the tent. The only trace of her that remained was that which dripped down his shaft and that which lingered in the air.

Once outside, she activated her bluetooth.

“The androids are with General Kiwadate. Where’s his tent?”

Proprananik sighed. “You sure?”

“Yeah.”

He sighed in annoyance. “Wait a moment.” After talking with Cardinal in person, she would have thought his men would be more professional than this. Proprananik had little respect for her. She would have to be careful around him. Should she lose patience or slip up in any way, he could get her fired. “He’s due east from Gechiren. Ten tents down. You won’t miss it. It’s the biggest one.”

“Understood, on my way.”

“Hurry.”

She didn’t need to be told twice.

It was approaching four in the morning. The thief kept her head down and moved hastily, trying her best not to catch the attention of any patrolling guards, counting the tents until she found Kiwadate’s room. Her heart was beating faster now than it had when Gechiren had kissed her.

She knocked loudly, hoping he was awake. Evidently, by how long it took for the general to respond, he had not been.

There was weariness in his eyes and irritation in his voice. “What the hell do you want? Don’t you know how late it is?”

“My apologies, sir, but I was sent here by Colonel Gechiren. He said I could make your night.”

Scratching his beard, the man pulled away and swore under his breath. “Gechiren? Really? Of all people, he should know better than that.” He eyed her, yet his gaze was not nearly as piercing as the colonel’s had been. If anything, his look-over was a lazy, uninterested attempt. “Tell him I don’t find this funny.”

He turned to leave. “Wait!” she cried out, rushing into the open door. “I don’t think you understand. I’m a gift from the colonel.”

She pulled down the frilly black lingerie, the moonlight on her pale breast. His expression did not change. “Gechiren is playing you for a fool as much as me. Get out.”

Taken aback, Hasky held her ground. She needed those capsules. She felt the cool metal against her other breast and wondered whether it was time. “Sir, I’m just here to ease your night. You won’t have to pay.”

“You’re a woman. Gechiren knows what he’s doing. Get out.”

“I–”

“Out, whore!”

A cold sweat shivered its way down the woman’s spine. It was now or never. He was close enough to make the shot a near certainty. Before Kiwadate could speak another word, she pointed the tranquilizer at him and fired. It hit him in the neck, right above the clavicle. His eyes went wide with shock. Then came his swinging fist. She had not been prepared for that. Hasky dropped, the weight behind that punch nearly rendering her unconscious. The world wobbled and swam before her eyes. She tasted iron. Desperately, the thief rolled away from the general as he came at her again.

“You cunt. The hell was that?”

He kicked her away. The sodium thiopental was taking longer to kick in than she had expected. He ripped the dart out and a trickle of blood leaked down his neck. The man yelped, calling for soldiers to assist him. That couldn’t happen. Despite the pain and sluggishness in her consciousness, Hasky sat up and lunged at Kiwadate, punching him hard in the groin. He fell back, exhaling forcefully, his voice cracking. Wiping her lip, Hasky got to her feet.

“You’re a real tough guy, General.”

She threw the empty tranquilizer at him, hitting him in the head. Snarling, the officer got to his feet, and reached for something–anything–on his desk to throw at her. What he found was an uncut lime. It bounced off her jaw, hurting more than she had expected.

Wavering, the woman was unsure if she could go against him once more. He huffed, massaging his groin gingerly, and took a step towards her. His eyes were rapidly losing focus, and his posture was slumping; his arms swung back and forth, and he nearly teetered over at one point before catching himself a little later than Hasky had thought was reasonable. “You picked the wrong…”

General Kiwadate fell face-first onto the ground and did not get up. She sighed in relief, massaging her jaw where he had gotten her good. Spitting out blood, Hasky entered the man’s tent. The capsules were stashed away inside a metal lockbox on his dining table. It did not take her long to pick the lock; it was standard stuff. A sticky note labeled each capsule: male android; female android; radar-like device, broken.

She was seeing spots, and her ears were thrumming with her heart beat. Hasky felt more tired than she ever had before. She replaced the capsules and stumbled out of the tent, zipping it up behind her. No guards were around. The king’s military left much to be desired in her opinion. She spit on the sleeping officer before leaving.

“I have them. Pick me up,” she told Proprananik, trying her best to hide her drunkenness.

His response was delayed and snappy. “Wait a couple minutes. There are guards where I dropped you off.”

“I can’t wait.”

“You must.”

“I can’t… He hit me. I’m going to pass out if I don’t lay down…”

“If two men go missing, they’ll know something’s wrong. Wait a few more minutes. Remember, Copper is part of this mission. We won’t be able to retrieve him if the army’s on alert.”

“Sir, please… is there anything you can do? I can’t wait.” Silence met her for a long time. It was becoming difficult to ground herself, to remain in the moment. “Hello?”

A cold wind blew through the camp. She shivered. She must have looked ridiculous, dressed up to seduce, her lip split, dried blood crusted around her mouth. If anyone were to run into her, they would ask questions. She couldn’t fight another man.

“Get over here now!” His voice was urgent, and he was breathing hard. “I’ve disappeared them. We must go.”

She ran into the darkness, her vision throbbing in line with the blinking stars overhead, the promise of respite close at hand. She had done good. Mr. Cardinal would be impressed, despite the little mishap she had had with the general. Come morning, it wouldn’t matter.


“One hour ago, an inmate injected General Copper with something that made it appear as if he suffered a heart attack. He did not, but in any case, the prison guards were forced by law to rush him to the South City hospital. Five minutes from now, I’m going to rip out his room’s window. We only have one shot at this. Screw up, and you don’t get paid.”

Her head was killing her. She felt out of it. There was no time to complain. “What do I tell them? Won’t they know I’m not one of them?”

“You’re not there to make conversation. Just do your job.”

“Four minutes is asking a lot.”

“Mr. Cardinal is paying you well.”

She pressed a palm to her head. It did little to abate the throbbing. Her vision was fuzzy. “Once I’m inside, how many will there be?”

“Three or four.”

“I need an exact count, man. This is serious.”

“More likely three. There’s a ten to fifteen percent chance a fourth one is there for extra security. It’s not usually the case, but you never know with these things. Be prepared for the possibility.”

“I’ll have no trouble, either way.”

“Don’t draw attention to yourself, and don’t go out of your way to raise suspicions, either.” Proprananik landed the helicopter on the roof of the South City hospital. He reached behind his seat and found a pistol, which he handed to Hasky. That was a risky proposition, to be sure. “You know how to use one of these?”

She chuckled, despite the pain. “Are you serious? Of course I do. I’m a master thief. How do you think I evaded the police for so long?”

“I was just making sure. I didn’t mean to insult you, Hasky.” Proprananik’s cheeks ran red with embarrassment for making himself look like a fool. She thought that was cute. Maybe he wasn’t so bad.

“Don’t worry about it.”

A red-haired man in a blue overcoat was lounging in the back of the helicopter. They had picked him up on the flight over, on the outskirts of town. He was sitting up against the wall, his eyes closed, chewing on an apple. She had no idea who he was. That didn’t matter. She was hired help. She wasn’t here to investigate Cardinal’s team.

“No indecisiveness. They are well-trained.”

“Got it.”

“Remember, it’s room 1228. Get going.”

He wasn’t one for small talk. Awkwardly, the man left her, and their trap was sprung. Events had been set in motion that she could not stop. Hasky’s head was killing her. She had taken aspirin on the ride over. That hadn’t seemed to help. It felt as if she were moving through reality in slow motion, but everything was sped up nonetheless. She could hardly keep up. Being drunk didn’t help either.

It was almost five in the morning. The sun was not yet beginning to rise. Her eyes ached. Below, the city hummed with life even at such a late hour. She changed into the nurse’s outfit, and used her lockpick on the door. Taking a deep breath, she lit the fuse inside her bag and entered the building. There were four flights of stairs between her and her target. She wouldn’t miss the deadline. Hasky wasn’t going back to prison; she would not shed a tear for the police.

Reaching the twelfth floor, Hasky flashed her badge at the woman behind the desk and was allowed entry. The floor was rectangular, with rooms lining the outside wall. It was not a problem for her to find room 1228, for there was a SERT officer sitting outside it, one hand on his holstered pistol. The only problem now was that she couldn’t afford to be seen by the patients, nurses, and doctors wading through the hallway when she made her move.

Retreating back around the corner, she set her briefcase down, making sure nobody saw her do so, and then walked around the corner again, moving beyond the sitting guard. It was now or never. Her heart was throbbing in her ears, making her headache more unbearable. It was all she could do not to wince. She made her way to the door to room 1227, scribbling on a clipboard.

She waited, and waited, and for a moment, a spike of panic pulsed through her. At long last, the briefcase exploded. People screamed. Smoke billowed around the corner. The SERT officer looked over, rising to his feet. She pressed the silenced pistol to the back of his skull and squeezed the trigger. He fell without a sound. Some of his blood splattered on her. That was a good touch.

Down the opposite way that the smoke was coming from, an elderly patient with a walker and a nurse who was assisting him had seen her do it. The man roared in disbelief. She coldly shot them and screamed.

The door swung open, and out came two guards, their pistols drawn. Hasky pointed to the dead officer, then to the dead patient. “That way! He ran that way!” she told them breathlessly.

“Damn it! Damn it all!” one of them muttered as they ran off, leaving the door ajar.

She slipped inside, finding the fourth guard. There was no time for her to lament her luck.

“What are you doing? This is a secure room. Only authorized medical staff are allowed in here.”

“Please, sir, there’s been an attack. There’s a shooter on the loose… I need somewhere to hide.”

He grimaced, drawing his pistol and moving to the door. As the SERT officer peeked out the opening, she blew his brains out.

Hasky placed the chair the man had been sitting on up against the door, underneath the knob. She waited, wiping blood from her cheek, her pistol clutched tightly in her left hand.

Copper was ghost-white. His vital signs confirmed that he was alive, though he was not conscious. His nose was aquiline, and his hair had been cut short. His heart rate appeared to be normal. Thick-chested as he was, she wouldn’t be able to carry him. She braced herself for the inevitable banging on the door.

The window was ripped from the wall in a swirling puff of smoke. She could hear the helicopter just outside.

“Hasky?!” somebody yelled out. That was not Proprananik. For a moment, she faltered, but then upon seeing it was the red-haired man, she relaxed again.

“I’m here!”

The helicopter got as close to the opening as it could. “Bring him over!”

“Should I unhook him from the machines?”

“Yeah, and hurry!”

She did so with little care before wheeling the bed to the opening. The red-haired man reached out, took ahold of the metal frame, and dragged it out of the hole. He reached over it, pulling Copper by the shoulder with his free hand, bringing him into the belly of the floating machine in one swift movement. The empty bed fell harmlessly to the ground.

Behind Hasky, she could hear people shouting and trying to break in. The chair shook and splintered, but it held. “They’re coming!”

The red-haired man returned to the helicopter’s open door. “Jump! I’ll catch you!”

He held out a hand; she didn’t have time to think about it. Blinking rapidly, steadying herself, she backed up, then ran, jumping out of the hole and reaching out as far as she could.

The sound of the helicopter’s blades was mind-numbing. She thought of nothing, the fear caught in her throat, until she felt his hand grip her forearm. His hold was strong and firm, and with a single pull, he had brought her into the ship.

“They’re at the door.”

“Hang on.” The red-haired man took a syringe out of his pocket, using his teeth to unsheathe it, and stuck it in Copper’s neck, emptying the entirety of the red fluid into his bloodstream.

“Silver, we have to go! There’s a chopper coming!” Proprananik yelled from the cockpit.

“Give me one second.” He patted Copper on the chest several times.

Like magic, the man sat up, coughing. “Wh-where am I?” he asked in a weak voice.

“We’ve got you, sir. Sit back and take it easy. You’re in good hands.”

His voice rasped as if he hadn’t had anything to drink in several days. “Si… Silver, is that you?”

“Good to see you again, General.”

Silver, who was not looking at the older man, reached for a green Panzerschreck. Aiming it at the open hole, he smirked and pulled the trigger. The door went up in a white-hot flash of fire, the globby explosion imprinting on Hasky’s retinas. She felt the helicopter lurch away from the building, and they were off, the wind whistling through the open door.

“Coming in hot at four o’clock. I’ll spin us around.”

He was calm even in his hurried state, she noticed. Silver loaded another rocket into the Panzerschreck while Proprananik’s voice grew shriller. The helicopter twisted in midair, coming around to face a police chopper, which was blaring red and blue lights. A man on a microphone was commanding them to land at once.

Silver simply aimed his rocket launcher at the vehicle and pulled the trigger. This time, she didn’t look, and the pounding in her skull wasn’t so desperate anymore.


Dust drifted idly through the air. It was surprisingly warm in Bonetown, given it was December. Mr. Cardinal stood at the far end of the room, his arms folded. He was dressed in a slick black suit and a crimson tie. Flanking him were two men–Proprananik and Silver. General Copper stood opposite of them. Hasky sat up against a wall, letting the Red Ribbon Army officers reunite without getting in the way.

“Copper. You are lucky to have made it out of that prison alive. We asked you to join us years ago,” Cardinal said.

“I thank you for rescuing me, but one thing has little to do with the other. You left the Red Ribbon Army, Staff Officer Crimson. After that kid with the tail tore through our defenses and decimated the army, it was Dr. Gero who contacted me, not you, to regroup and rebuild. My legion went to him because he was loyal to the Red Ribbon cause. Your request came too late, I’m afraid.

“If you think I would sit back and allow my son to be executed without trying to save him, you are a fool.”

Copper was unintimidated by Cardinal. “I expected no less of you. Resigning afterwards was correct. Red was hot-headed. Even so, you should understand why my loyalties went to Gero and not you. There should be no hard feelings between us. For what it’s worth, I was strictly against Red’s decision to execute Silver.”

“How is the doctor?”

“He is working tirelessly to perfect his android warriors. We will use them to kill that kid for what he’s done to us.”

Hasky looked up. “Are you referring to these androids?” She threw the capsules onto the sand-splattered floor.

She beheld them for the first time, as did Cardinal, Silver, and Proprananik. They looked human and appeared to be sleeping. The male was youthful, tall, with blond hair. The female was shorter, with a cuttingly pretty face. Her hair was brown. Copper was surprised to see them, betraying for once some semblance of humanity.

“11 and 12… how did you acquire them?”

“I’m a thief; I keep what I steal.”

“Hasky is the best in the world at what she does,” said Cardinal. “Now, tell me Copper, what did you say to the military when they interrogated you?”

He scoffed. “Nothing.”

“Nothing at all?” asked the red-haired man.

“Silver, I would expect you to know how loyal I was to our cause. I said nothing.”

“Did you name any names?”

“No. Never.”

“Were you the only officer taken alive?”

“Funny you mention that,” said the general. He began to pace, which caused Proprananik to tense up. “I thought I was the only survivor. I would’ve died fighting. They chose to capture me. I did not go willingly. I fought till the end, Crimson. I never gave up. They could have put a bullet through my head. I wouldn’t have known. Instead, they tased me and took me to that prison. I think it was on the… third, or fourth day of interrogation? Somewhere around there. They told me that Lieutenant Colonel Teal was in the next room over, spilling his guts. I don’t know if there’s any truth to that claim. It didn’t make me break. I told them nothing. I don’t remember Teal falling in battle, nor do I remember seeing him being captured. They could have been lying. But I don’t think his name was common knowledge.”

Cardinal’s fingers were fidgeting. In Hasky’s estimation, the old man hadn’t expected that. He hadn’t been prepared for it. Survival was based upon adaptation, upon decisive reactions in the moment. She observed him with curiosity, trying to learn from the shrewd politician how to handle an unexpected obstacle.

“There were no mentions of Teal on the reports.”

“I don’t know if he’s alive or not. I never saw him. You’ll have to investigate that yourself.”

Cardinal leaned over to Silver and whispered something in his ear before clearing his throat. “We’ll look into that. While we do, you will set up a meeting between us and Dr. Gero.The Red Ribbon Army must be reformed.”

The man slacked his jaw. “I’m working for you now, eh?”

“We are still members of the Red Ribbon Army. Red was a poor leader. Now that he is gone, we can once more work towards taking over the world. I will do everything in my power to help Gero track down and kill that kid. My wealth will fund his research. We will collect the Dragon Balls and use them to achieve total world domination.”

Copper raised an eyebrow. “So you’re back in the game?”

“We are, all of us, the Red Ribbon Army–you, me, Gero, Silver. We must pool our resources and talents together if we hope to achieve our goals. I will command the Red Ribbon Army from now on. Gero will lead the android division, and Supreme General Silver will lead the military. Our forces are not many at this time. We will start to build them up in the coming months.”

“Supreme General?” Copper gave them a wry smile. “You failed to get that ball in the jungle, and even so, you receive a promotion? Things seem to have gone completely your way.”

“There was nothing I could do,” responded Silver. “Sir, you know I did what I could. That kid wasn’t normal. He didn’t just beat me, he destroyed White’s legion, Blue’s legion, and successfully assaulted the compound single-handedly.”

“That he did. Gero has it right: we must use the androids to kill that freak. There is no other way. He’s not human. He can’t be. Anyway, if you are on board with our goals, I don’t see why our groups can’t come together as one.”

“You will be given a new legion in time, Copper. As I said, we don’t have even a hundred soldiers yet. Those numbers will rise when the new headquarters is established.”

“Hmm. Alright,” he said, pressing his fingers to the bridge of his nose. “It sounds like you have thought this through, Crimson. I think this partnership will work.”

“It will be an honor working with you again, sir,” said Silver.

The man nodded once.

“Do you know where Gero’s laboratory is located?” asked Cardinal.

“Aye.”

“Then you will go there tomorrow and entreat him.”

“Or what, you’ll kill me? I’m sure there’s plenty of others you could ask to run your errands.”

“There aren’t, actually,” said Silver. “We are the only surviving officers aside from Teal and Gero. Everyone else is dead.”

“Everyone? Really? I find that hard to believe. Where’s Violet?”

The red-haired man shifted on his feet. He looked down, his hands in his pockets. Hasky could tell that he felt more than uncomfortable about this subject. “She refused to remain loyal.”

Copper stared them down, defiantly calm. “I’m not surprised, given that she fled the compound when the boy attacked. A heavy blow, nonetheless. She was a capable officer. If everyone else is dead, then we must search for replacements. That will take a long time.” Nobody spoke for a while. The officer chewed on his lip, and after some time, his attention shifted to Hasky. “Tell me, thief, did you recover the radar?”

“It’s right here,” she replied, throwing the third and final stolen capsule. Out from the puff of smoke, a small, round, green-and-white device landed on the ground. A bullet hole had torn through its screen.

“That is a Dragon Ball radar. Blue stole it off of the kid after you quit. Commander Red gave it to me and ordered me to find the last unclaimed ball. The kid had four of them; we had two. I wasn’t able to complete my mission before Red and the rest of the army were wiped out. The device was damaged in the chaos. That bullet hole is a more recent wound.”

Silver inspected the device. “Gero wasn’t able to fix it for you?”

“Any piece of technology can be repaired. He was working on it for years. He thought he had fixed it before our final mission. That’s why I had it. We need those Dragon Balls. You see, the radar went blank shortly after I was given it all those years ago. I assume the kid managed to collect all seven and make his wish. My soldiers didn’t find any balls in the ruins of our base. But that’s not the end of it. They recharge after a year. Unless he’s been using them every year, we will have our chance to collect them. We can take over the world, Crimson.”

Cardinal was less animated than she had expected. She didn’t want to get involved; it wasn't her place to butt in, but biting her tongue was most uncomfortable. The memory of that kid, Goku, was still raw. She had stolen two Dragon Balls from him only for the boy to recover them and prevent her from destroying the Dream Land amusement park at the last second. To this day, that remained her greatest failure. At least nobody alive, sans the kid and his friends, knew about it.

“My men will attempt to repair it until we know where Gero stands. Concurrently, we must establish a line of connection with the doctor. Where is his laboratory?”

“The mountains outside North City. If you insist, I can take you there. Gero doesn’t have many soldiers guarding him. He may have an android or two. You must be careful not to provoke him. From what I’ve heard these past years, he is in no mood to cede power to someone else–least of all a man who quit the army years ago.”

“I will deal with him myself, but you must open the line of contact. Silver will accompany you.”

“Heh, just like old times.”

“Proprananik, take Hasky to Jingle Village. Dr. Flappe lives there. Investigate him. Find out if he has remained in contact with Gero since the fall of Muscle Tower. If he possesses any documents related to our army, destroy them. If he’s compromised, take him out.” The weasel-faced man nodded in obedience. “Copper, what do you know of Flappe?”

“As far as I’m aware, Gero has not been in contact with him, but the doctor never let us get involved in the android-creation process. He could have been on the phone with Flappe for all I know.”

“Very well. Flappe must be dealt with. Proprananik, Hasky, you will leave at once.”

“Yeah?” she said, her voice rising haughtily. “And how much’ll you pay me for it?”

“Ƶ4,000,000,” he said. His voice shook with authority. It was as if he were commanding her to accept it, not bargaining.

She thought it was an excellent number, regardless. “Deal.”

He ushered them out before returning to his conversation with Copper. Cardinal seemed immensely concerned about the surviving members of the Red Ribbon Army revealing classified information. Although she supposed it put his position in the government at risk, maybe he was being a little too compulsive, a little too paranoid about everything. As far as she could tell, nobody was giving up any information. Maybe that Teal guy was, but there was no evidence he had been captured.

She supposed it didn’t matter. Hasky had no tie to the Red Ribbon Army except for their money, and she didn’t plan on getting more deeply involved. As long as the cash continued to flow in, she’d help them cover up whatever dirty deeds they needed her to. She didn’t care how heinous their crimes were. Money talked.


They flew up to Jingle Village in a two-seater jet. The cold was shaking through her body before they touched down. Proprananik had been kind enough to bring parkas. Dr. Flappe lived alone in a log cabin on the outskirts of town, making their job far easier. If everything went according to plan, no one would ever know they had been here. They touched down on a mountain pass overlooking the doctor’s house and waited amongst the snow and pine trees for their opening. The ship’s infrared radar kept them up-to-date on the doctor’s movements. As soon as he left on his snowmobile (likely going into town for supplies or dinner), their orders were to spring into action.

Hasky was to take the lead role. She had been tasked with stealing Flappe’s notes, blueprints, and evidence of his involvement in the Red Ribbon Army. She did not need to replace the stolen documents with copies. The doctor would find out eventually, though his reaction would be none of their concern.

Proprananik turned the heat up near to maximum. The windows were fogging over. Still, she shivered.

“Why would anyone live up here? It’s a frozen wasteland.”

“Not so easy to move from where you’re born.”

“I’m from West City, but I don’t spend much time there.”

“You’re a thief. That’s different.”

“The best in the world.”

“Well, yes. That’s why Mr. Cardinal has placed so much trust in you.” He leaned back in his chair, drinking from his thermos. “You have served him well.”

“Stealing the infinite energy device wasn’t that big of a deal. First the deputy mayor of South City had it. I convinced her I would transport it for her to Orange Star City. She wanted to detonate it there.”

“Seriously? Was she mentally ill?”

“Had to be. Didn’t matter, though. I’m paid to do a job, not question the morality of the one who hires me. Anyways, before I could take it there, one of your own stole it back in the Diablo Desert.”

His neck stiffened. “One of our own?”

“Violet. I think that was her name. She stole it from me, but I got it back. She was a short-sighted woman, in my opinion. She was binging on cocaine in Bonetown. It was a simple operation. She didn’t have any security.”

“We tried to reunite with her after the Red Ribbon Army fell.”

“Oh yeah? How’d that go?”

“Well, it’s not something I like to think about. Not one of our finest hours. She was stubborn. I wish she hadn’t been. I ended up getting promoted from it.”

They didn’t talk for some time. She supposed it was awkward, but the peace and quiet was nice, too. She ran through her mission a hundred times in her head. She ran through it so much that she became bored with succeeding. It was all she could do to remain in the moment and not drift off into some more interesting fantasy.

“How long are you in this for?”

“As long as the pay’s good. Why?”

“No reason.” His head cocked to the side. “It’s just, working with us is not a casual investment.”

“Never said it was.”

“I wasn’t implying that. You’re good at your job. It’s just…” His window was fogging up. “What we’re doing… the pressure is immense.”

He took a gulp from his thermos and silence overtook the cockpit for an uncomfortable moment. She understood where he was going with his thoughts. It was not an issue she wanted to delve into.

“I thought you’ve worked for Cardinal for a while?”

“Since before the fall of the Red Ribbon Army. I was only an errand boy back then, but new opportunities became available to me in recent years. I think he’s been satisfied with my work. At least, that’s what I hope.”

“He pays well. Has to be rich as hell.”

“Indeed. We’re playing the long game for now. One of these days, Mr. Cardinal will overthrow King Furry and take over the world. The Red Ribbon Army will rise again.”

“Heh, that’s ambitious. But I don’t doubt you’ll be able to do it with a mastermind like Cardinal running things. When you do, remember everything I’ve done for the Red Ribbon Army.”

“We will.”

It snowed off and on for a few hours. Flappe was an asocial man. As the sun began to set, however, he finally made his move. Hasky was snoozing when Proprananik whistled for her attention. It was time. There was no telling when the good doctor would be back, so they had to move with urgency. The thief used her lockpick to get them in. Then, she performed her scouting technique on the entry room. Finding nothing suspicious or hidden therein, she ventured deeper inside.

“You comin’ with?”

He nodded, shaking snow from his shoulders and following her in after wiping his boots on the mat. “Unless I’m satisfied that we’ve looked over every inch of this place for information on the RRA, we’re not leaving. Mr. Cardinal’s orders.”

The guy was pretty serious about this. With how much money they were paying her, she knew she had to be at her most thorough. As cold as Hasky was, though, she didn’t want to stay for long. It took a great deal of willpower for her to not chatter her teeth in front of him.

“Any idea what we’re looking for?”

“Files, photos, anything else related to the army.”

“Paper or digital?”

“Don’t know. Maybe both, maybe neither. You can hack computers, right? I thought that was on your skills list.”

She smiled at him; the man rebuffed her coldly. “A skills list, eh? You have a whole file on me?”

“It’s standard procedure. I meant no offense by telling you that.”

“Don’t sweat it,” she said, pulling out a USB flash drive. “You’re right. There isn’t a computer in the whole world that can keep me out.”

“Good. Let’s pick up the pace. I don’t want him to catch us in here.”

That was part of the thrill of it, she thought. Missions like this one were always more exciting when there was the prospect of being caught–not that she wanted to be. She hadn’t heard of this Dr. Flappe before, yet that mattered little. She didn’t fear old men. She always got what she wanted, no matter what. That made Hasky the best thief in the world; that was why important people like Cardinal paid her so well.

Starting with the entryway, she swept every room on the first floor, checking for hidden compartments, doors in the floor, false walls, and hidden storage vents. As far as the woman could tell, the doctor led a clean, simple life. Proprananik watched her closely; there was no doubting Hasky’s conclusions. That was until she moved into his office near the back of the house, where the first instance of mild interest occurred.

There were some hidden compartments in the room, although they hid only lubricant and magazines. At the very least, the man had his secrets, and so she could not overlook anything. With that said, a second sweep through the room yielded nothing more. She plugged her USB into his work computer, booted it up, and broke in. He would never know she had taken a look inside. The thief found no files related to the Red Ribbon Army. Her companion double-checked and also came up dry.

They moved to the second story, finding a bedroom, a bathroom, and a living room. They were as clean as the other rooms. This man led quite the boring life. On his nightstand lay a prototype ‘Recaf Decaf’ thermos. When decaf coffee was put in, according to the manual, properly shaken, and a button was pressed, an appropriate amount of caffeine would be injected into the liquid.

Why anyone would buy, or use, such an invention was beyond her.

The two made their way to the last room, which was padlocked. The door itself was metal and knob-less, impervious to her lockpicks. Proprananik didn’t falter upon seeing it. “That’s his lab. He’s pretty secretive about it, I have to say. Unfortunately for him, General White had a keycard too.” He pulled out said keycard, flashing it to Hasky as if dangling meat in front of her face. “Watch this.”

“Why couldn’t he change the lock? Hasn’t it been years since Muscle Tower fell?”

“This bad boy is too expensive for Flappe to replace, or at least that’s what we must hope. I didn’t bring enough C-4 to blow through it.”

He slid the keycard into a slit that looked not unlike an ATM card reader. Something deep and metallic groaned. Her companion tried to hide his relief as the door unlatched, air popping between its joints, and slowly creaked open, ushering them inward.

Proprananik got the lights. The walls were made of the same material as the door. Many tables had been placed about the room, and on them lay bits of metal and half-crafted devices of all shapes and sizes. On the back counter, an open container of capsules lay, each one labeled as one heavy tool or another. There was a computer on the left. The first thing she did was check it. The device was clean. In the center of the room was what looked like an operating table. It had been covered in blueprints and ashtrays full of cigarette butts. There was something sad about the level of effort that had gone into this place. And what had Flappe accomplished? She found no completed inventions (though if those had been shipped off, or were being kept somewhere else, she didn’t know), nothing in the blueprints advertising any great ambition, nor any attempt to seek glory by the good doctor. He had an itch to scratch with playing with toys of his own making, but those toys were nothing special, conceptually or practically.

“Here’s one,” Proprananik called to her, raising his head from an open file cabinet. He blew dust off the folder’s face. “Android 8’s blueprints, and blueprints for Androids 1-7 as well,” he said, flicking through the pages.

“Androids? Like the ones mentioned before?”

“More primitive, and all of them failures. Classified RRA material, regardless.”

“It doesn’t seem like Flappe has looked at those documents in a long time.”

He shrugged. “It’s a possibility. Come over here. Double-check I didn’t miss anything.”

She did and he hadn’t. There wasn’t anything in the doctor’s records indicating he had worked for the Red Ribbon Army except for these blueprints and notes. He seemed obsessive in that way, she thought, looking back at the table in the center of the room. He hadn’t wanted to throw those out, even if he no longer had access to any of the models.

“With all due respect, I don’t think this guy has been involved in the Red Ribbon Army in years.”

Proprananik had slipped the folder into his jacket. He looked down, adjusting his belt. “That may be true.”

“May? You saw the dust same as I did, man. He’s definitely not involved anymore.”

“One can never be too careful. Mr. Cardinal wouldn’t want us to take a risk with this guy.”

“You think that if he died, it wouldn’t draw more suspicion to this place?”

“How would we be linked to it? I have the documents. That is, unless you think there are more hidden somewhere else.”

“There aren’t more.” She snagged an unlit cigarette from an open pack off the back counter. “He’s been out of the game for a while. It’s obvious. He won’t notice those papers are missing for years, most likely. He might not even remember they were in there. I think we’re done here. We should leave before he returns.”

“Flappe could be in contact with Gero. We would need to tap his phone lines and listen in for months, maybe a year.”

“I mean, look man. Kill him, or don’t. I can’t tell you what to do. At least be honest with yourself.”

He raised an eyebrow. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Killing an innocent man. If you’re down for that, go for it, but that was never my style–not unless the pay was really good.” She scoffed. “If you’re going to whack me too, at the end of this, now’s as good a time as any.”

“I’m not going to kill you. What are you talking about?”

“Whatever, man. I’ve seen how it is in the Red Ribbon Army. You’re all cutthroat and paranoid. That’s never a combination that leads to much longevity in my experience.”

Hasky snatched a lighter from a table and walked out, bracing herself for the shot that never came.


It had taken them a day and a half to get in contact with Gero, and another two to work out the details of the meeting. Proprananik had returned in that time with the blueprints for Android 8, and some other minorly useful documents. Silver was surprised that he hadn’t left Hasky up in the snow. Apparently his father had ordered the man to spare her. She could be useful in the future, or something like that. He didn’t entirely disagree, even if she knew a hell of a lot about the New Red Ribbon Army. If she ever talked to anyone in King Furry’s government about it, there would be a world war.

Though the ground was frozen, it was a sunny day. The grass crunched beneath their boots. Behind them, a snow-plastered mountain loomed. Ahead, a frozen field expanded for dozens of kilometers in all other directions. There wasn’t a tree in sight.

“Is this where his lab’s at?” asked Proprananik.

“No,” Copper said. “He’s brought us to a neutral location.”

Gero was waiting for them about ten meters away in the valley. They approached him only after he called them over.

“Just the three of you?”

“Did you expect more?” replied Silver.

“I did not know what to expect, Colonel. Least of all, you.” His mustache bristled. “Funny, but I seem to recall Commander Red ordering your execution after your failure to secure a Dragon Ball.”

“He could say what he wanted. Enforcing that decree was an entirely different matter. He sent Teal after me, do you know that? The man was lucky to escape with his life.”

Gero studied Silver’s face. “I remember Red complaining about your father stepping in to save you.”

“He provided me safe transportation away from the compound, nothing more.”

“And now, after openly defying Red and resigning from the army, he wants to lead us.”

Silver shrugged. There was no point defending his father’s reputation against a dead man’s ego. The others said nothing. Gero gave them a withering look, like a hawk preparing to tear another piece of meat off a dying raccoon. “Let us continue this discussion inside,” he said, throwing a capsule. In a puff of smoke, a compact building that was no bigger than a conference room appeared. “Please follow me.”

Inside was a long oaken table and sixteen chairs. Gero took the seat at the head of the table. Copper sat to his right, two chairs down; Proprananik and Silver took the left side, choosing to sit three chairs down. A bright lamp shone from the center of the table.

Gero cleared his throat. “Very well. Let us begin. To start with, I would like to hear Copper explain what happened to him after I lost contact with his legion. The last footage I saw was of your army being attacked by Earth’s Defense Force about two weeks ago. I assume that ended poorly, but what happened to Androids 11 and 12?”

“They were captured,” Copper replied, “as was I. As far as I know, there were no other survivors.” He glanced at Silver. The man made no attempt to back Copper up. They had agreed to not say anything about Teal. Nothing concerning him was yet confirmed. Besides, it wasn’t like the lieutenant colonel’s survival would change much for Gero.

“That’s unexpected. I activated the androids’ self-destruct sequences once I saw them being overrun.”

“They were hit by an EMP blast of some sort. It knocked them out of commission. I don’t think the command was ever received.”

The doctor grunted, running a finger rhythmically through his mustache. “That will be corrected in the next model.”

“In any case,” Silver interjected, “we’ve paid Hasky, the world’s greatest thief, to recover the androids. She is doing so now. We should have them back in our possession in two or three days.”

“You will return them to me as soon as you receive them, Silver.”

“About that… we would prefer it if we could keep one of them with us for security purposes.”

“Oh? And why should I grant you that request?”

Now it was Proprananik’s turn to butt in. “We’ve gone through a lot of trouble recovering Copper and the androids. Those missions were not cheap. You should take our actions as a gesture of good will, doctor.”

“And this, too, is a gesture from us to you made in good faith,” Silver added, placing the infinite energy device on the table. “Take it, Gero. I’m sure you could use it. I believe you sold this android-powering device several years ago to the deputy mayor of South City.”

The blue light coiled and danced inside the cube, reflecting off Gero’s eyes. He took a moment to consider his reply. Copper leaned back in his chair, his arms folded, betraying no emotion. Silver tried to play it cool as well, but he did not want to look too haughty in front of the doctor, lest he offend the man.

“Ah, so you recovered it. I didn’t expect to ever see that one again. It is an older model. It is not much use to me anymore, except for its parts.”

He wanted to slap the ungrateful bastard. “My father will finance your android projects from this point forward. You will never need to go hunting for supplies again. Copper told me that’s why his legion was on the southern island to begin with.”

“I see. In return, you want one operational android for your own reasons?”

“We want to reform the Red Ribbon Army. You will lead the androids division, while my father will take the leadership role. I will command the armies along with Copper.”

“Ah yes, Crimson wants to be in charge. I can’t say I’m surprised. You went along with this, Copper?” the doctor asked.

“For the good of the Red Ribbon Army, it would be best if we came together. I don’t see why we should be enemies, or unaffiliated. All of us want to kill Goku, collect the Dragon Balls, and take over the world. As allies, we are stronger.”

Silver jumped in. “That’s true, Gero. You are focused on the androids. Leave the administrative tasks to someone else so that you can devote your time to creating the perfect warriors. While you do, we will gather the Dragon Balls to fast-track our plans of world domination.”

“No,” he replied simply. “Goku and his friends have a radar that can track the Dragon Balls with extreme precision. They will know if you are trying to collect them again, and they will stop you. We will kill them first.”

He exchanged a look with Proprananik. With his eyes, the man urged him to compromise, so he did. “That is acceptable.”

“Once they are dead, I will fix the radar Copper had and we will find the Dragon Balls in no time. As to the matter concerning the androids… I will not give you either 11 or 12. They were not fully completed when they were captured by Furry’s men. I am not comfortable putting one of them in your control. It is highly probable that they will rebel against you and attempt to kill you. For that reason, I will create a new android for your team–Android 14. I assume Crimson wants to use this android to take out some of Furry’s top men.”

“That’s one reason. General security is another.”

“So that matter is settled. Moving on,” Gero continued, “I would prefer this to be a partnership, not a dictatorship. Commander Red used my early prototypes against my will to disastrous effects. That will not happen again. Crimson and I will co-lead the Red Ribbon Army. Neither of us will be able to overrule the other. We must work by consensus or compromise.”

His ears reddening, Proprananik frowned. “He would never take any androids against your will, doctor. That accusation is baseless.”

“Even if you’re being honest, I cannot know for certain how things will play out. I believe a fifty-fifty partnership is more than reasonable.”

“If he is to finance your projects, I don’t think this relationship is equal,” Silver countered.

Gero rolled his eyes. “An android is worth more than all the wealth in the world. I could loose 11 and 12 upon humankind and no one would be able to stop them, not even Goku.”

“Have you located him yet?” Copper asked.

“Yes, although the androids are not ready. If they could be taken out by much weaker opposition in the Earth’s Defense Force, I have no doubt Goku would find a way to exploit their weaknesses. I must perform additional tests before releasing them.”

“Before, you mentioned Android 14,” Proprananik said. “Does this mean that Android 13 has been completed?”

“Correct. He is running an errand for me at this very moment, as a matter of fact.”

“Is he strong enough to kill Goku?”

“I do not know for certain. I will test him against 11 and 12 after they are returned to me.”

Silver leaned back in his chair, thinking. His father would not like this. The doctor was adamant, however. How would he convince the man to change his mind? “What about a fifty-one forty-nine split? Would that be acceptable?”

“Under no circumstances will I yield authority. We will become partners or I will walk away.”

Copper was squinting at him, like he had back in the old days when he had wanted Silver to perform a task. If this deal did not get done, they would lose not just Gero, but Copper too. He was certain of that. Copper liked him. Nevertheless, their friendship was not more important than the Red Ribbon Army itself. He thought that way as well.

“Fine. We’ll do it. Fifty percent of the RRA will be controlled by my father and fifty percent will be controlled by Gero.”

The doctor smiled coolly. Silver grit his teeth. It felt like he had done all the compromising in this negotiation. Gero had basically given up nothing. Nevertheless, for his father’s sake, he held his tongue.

“There is one more thing, Silver. A short while ago, Android 13 captured a pair of brats outside of North City. Those two, Lapis and Lazuli, will become my first bio-androids. I will experiment on them to refine my technique of merging android technology with human biology. In time, I will use the knowledge I have gained to turn every member of the Red Ribbon Army into androids. And once we have taken over the world, we will turn every last human into an android.”

Copper leaned over to the man, frowning, and said in a low voice, “Gero, we did not discuss this.”

“This matter is not up for discussion, Copper. I will do this–it’s my ultimate goal. Killing Goku is revenge, not the reason why I create androids. I will become an android in due time, as will the three of you. Only then will we become an immortal species.”

They exchanged looks. Silver felt somewhat comforted by the fact that Proprananik and Copper were just as perplexed as him. The old fool was half-mad already. This idea was crazier than anything he had ever heard about him doing in the past. It was pure insanity, the kind that was most cleanly resolved by lodging a bullet through the offender’s brain.

“I… I don’t know what to say, Gero. I won’t do it. I won’t be a part of this. Torturing children is one thing, but I will not become an android.”

“You will, or you will die,” the man replied.

“Hey now, don’t talk like that. That’s a completely unproductive way of going about this,” Proprananik said with a grimace.

“The android-ization of the entire world is one of the core tenets of the Red Ribbon Army,” Gero said, rising to his feet. “It always has been. Red was aware of it, and he approved it.”

“Bullshit,” Silver said. “He never mentioned it.”

“Because it could not be actualized through our technological capabilities at the time. In any case, this issue is not up for debate. It will happen, whether you like it or not.”

Tension was thick in the air. “I’m not becoming an android. Damn it, Gero! How could you betray us like this? I trusted you. I sent my legion to you. I helped you develop your androids. And all of it was for this? You’re mad.”

“I won’t become an android, either.”

“Not going to happen,” Silver said.

Gero’s face had filled with blood. He was breathing quickly. Sweat was forming on his forehead. “I am not mad. The whole world is. If you’re not with me, you don’t believe in progress. The android-ization of our species will induce our next necessary evolution. Humankind is rotten, broken, full of petty, narcissistic, small-brained, weak individuals. The Red Ribbon Army never planned to merely take over the world and rule as an empire. We are going to fundamentally change human nature in the process. We are going to change the world for the better.”

The supreme general had had enough. “Shut up. That’s never going to happen.”

“Whether or not you join me is irrelevant. Nevertheless, because it’s clear that you are sick, deluded, and hopelessly uninformed, I have no choice other than to end this meeting. I rule the Red Ribbon Army, and I decree that the three of you have failed in your positions and must be summarily punished for it.”

Proprananik jumped to his feet; Silver was not far behind. Gero reached for something underneath the table before fleeing out the door and slamming it behind him. They were drawing their pistols when turrets popped out of the walls and began to spray bullets down upon them.

Copper was hit first, a bullet taking him in the forehead. His body shot back in the chair, his head rising to the ceiling, blood flowing out of the wound and his mouth in a gushing torrent. The turrets pummeled his body, ripping it to shreds.

As the air popped and wood fractured to pieces, Proprananik dived at Silver, shielding him as they fell to the ground. The table splintered and split. Smoke was rising, filling the air.

“S-sir, are you okay…? Go… the door… save yourself…”

Blood leaked from his mouth; his teeth were stained crimson. Before Silver could respond, the man slumped over, his eyes eternally fixated upon the floor.

With a cry, he rolled out from under the dead man and kicked the table over. Furious as he was, he would not let Gero get away with this. The turrets focused on him as soon as he got to his feet. He was already running, having used a chair as cover as he made for the nearest wall. Silver was no ordinary man. He was no common soldier. He was one of the most powerful warriors in the Red Ribbon Army. Perhaps only General Blue had been stronger than him.

He refused to die. He felt nothing but fury, but the blood rushing to his face, but the desire to kill, to murder, to maim Gero for his betrayal, for Copper, for Proprananik. He kicked his way through the wall and felt the frigid air upon his bloody cheeks.

Stumbling on the icy grass, Silver came to a stop. The treacherous doctor was nowhere to be found, nowhere to be seen. Then, the waves of pain hit him and he realized he was dripping blood. The pistol fell from his hand. He was on his knees. His breaths came shallow and fast. His heart was beating like a frenzied caged animal.

He looked around. There were no signs of life, save for the conference room. He could still hear the turrets shooting nonstop. A slow, inconsistent wind blew through the valley; the air was frosty, the sun a burning yellow dot in a cloudless, grey sky. There wasn’t a bird in sight. He looked around at the rugged beauty of this place, thinking of how long ago those mountains had sprung up from the ground, what power that had taken. He shivered, feeling numb. This place was utterly remote. Gero had planned everything out.

Even in his fury, Silver could appreciate the beauty of it. He reached for his phone, autodialing his father, and before it stopped ringing, the man’s vision had gone black and he remembered no more.


He had just gotten off the phone with Mr. Eigan, the leader of the Morizakura-gumi. Eigan’s men would be handling the reactivation of Androids 11 and 12 with close supervision from several of Cardinal’s associates. He had also given them the Dragon Radar, but had not told them its true purpose. If they could fix it, he promised them Ƶ100,000,000,000, which he assumed would be sufficient motivation.

Another phone rang in his desk drawer. Opening it and revealing a collection of some three dozen phones, Cardinal plucked up the one that was vibrating and answered.

“Go.”

“He’s awake, sir,” said Quarlic. “He wants to see you.”

“I will be there momentarily. Is his condition stable?”

“Yes, sir. He should be alright. The doctors want him to get a lot of rest. He’s no longer in serious danger, but it’ll take him months to recover.”

He closed the phone, threw it in the drawer, adjusted his tie, and walked out. He had to remain patient in times like these, for to give into emotion was to make oneself vulnerable. He would not be vulnerable. Gero would pay for his treachery one day. If the Morizakura-gumi’s scientists were any good, that day would come sooner than later.

When he arrived at his son’s bed, he was glad to see that the feeding tube had been removed. Silver was wrapped up in bandages like a mummy; he could not move. The doctors had told him that his son’s paralysis would slowly dissipate with time if the proper treatment was followed. He dismissed Quarlic, who was guarding his son, and the doctor, who had barely introduced himself before Cardinal ordered him to leave. They did so without question. He paid them well enough to afford himself some measure of courtesy in times like these.

“Father…” Silver whispered hoarsely after they had left.

“You’re awake. That’s good to see.”

“It was Gero… He betrayed us…”

“That much I am aware of. I saw what he did to Proprananik and Copper. Disgusting man. What set him off?”

“He wanted… to turn the whole… whole world into androids… even us… He’s experimenting on kids…”

“And when you refused to join him and become androids, he shot you?”

His son nodded weakly. “Kill him…”

“In due time, Silver. First, you will recover. I want you to put every bit of effort you can into your recovery. It will be arduous and painful, yet if you don’t do it, you will never walk again. You were shot thirty-five times, my son. It’s a wonder none of the bullets pierced your heart.”

“Proprananik saved me…”

“He was a good man.”

“We must… kill Gero…”

“We will, Silver. I promise you, we will. He has androids at his disposal, and we do not. Only after we are able to activate Androids 11 and 12 can we move against him. Until then, there is nothing more to be done. He will never squeal to Furry. We have nothing to fear.”

“Nuke… North City…”

A smile crept up the corners of his lips. His son made him proud sometimes. He knew he would be thinking the same thing were he the one in the bed and Silver the one standing over him. Cardinal had to be the rational one now. It was the only way for the New Red Ribbon Army to survive. “Not unless he escalates things, my boy. We will get him back, but not like that, unless we have to.”

Silver wheezed out something that he didn’t understand. He didn’t want to press his son. He was so weak right now. He would probably fall asleep any second.

“In other news, I may have located Teal. The government has been extremely secretive about him–there has been no mention of him at all. However, there is a suspicious man with a code name–Haruspex–who was transferred from the South City prison to witness protection on the far south island of Hosomaki two days ago. I will be sending Quarlic there to investigate. When you’re better, you will join him, if the matter is not resolved before then. What happened to Copper was a sad thing. You had formed a bond with him that I can never fully understand. At least his story has come to a close. We no longer have to worry about him. Teal is the last officer of the Red Ribbon Army unaccounted for, if he’s actually alive. If not, we are already safe. Otherwise, this is the final loose end we must resolve to assure the rise of the New Red Ribbon Army.” He placed a hand on Silver’s cheek. The man was tired and was not looking at him, though he remained conscious. “Fret not, my boy. We are almost out of the woods. Things can only get better from here. We will rule the world soon, you and I, and there won’t be anyone left to stop us, once we’ve activated those androids.”

Silver had fallen asleep. He withdrew his hand and swiftly left the room. The doctor and Quarlic were waiting outside, in the makeshift lobby they had constructed in an old hotel in Bonetown. They were talking baseball, which annoyed him. Trivial matters deserved trivial engagement. “Keep him alive at all costs,” he told the doctor.

“I will, sir. Don’t worry, Silver is in good hands.”

“If you wish to keep those hands, you will vigilantly watch over him.” He dismissed the bald, portly man, turning his attention to Quarlic. “We’ve found Teal, I think. At least, this is the only lead that makes sense. He’s going by the name Haruspex if the report is to be believed.”

“Oh yeah?” replied his associate, who was chewing on the end of a cigarette. “Where’s he at, boss?”

“Hosomaki. It’s an island in the far south, near Akki. You will leave tonight.”

“Alright, sir, as you say. By the way… since that island is near Akki, do you think it’s possible that any of those aliens are living there?”

“I suppose you will find that out for me, Quarlic.”

The man bowed, walking a dangerous line between serenity and sycophancy in his mannerisms. “Yes, sir, Mr. Cardinal, sir. I will not disappoint you.”

“You are dismissed.”

Afterwards, he decided to take a walk through Bonetown to clear his mind. The heat comforted him, but the dust was a severe annoyance. The ruined buildings had a sort of grotesque beauty to them. He much preferred Bonetown as it was now to when Violet had run the place. It was so much more peaceful nowadays. A man could think out here. Diablo Desert’s only town was better off a ghost town than a bustling trade port. It fit the theme of the land. He had compromised and mandated that no more than one hundred Morizakura-gumi members could stay here at any given time. It was an important trading post–perhaps the most important in the world, for from here, he could ship cocaine to South City, West City, and East City by train. This had to be the most valuable location in the desert. Violet had been correct in her assessment. Shame she had had to die.

He came to a stop at the cantina, admiring the bullet holes on its door. He wondered, truly, what the chances were that they would be able to reactivate the androids. If not, all options were on the table: bombs, poison, mercenaries, chemical warfare. Gero would pay for what he had done. Humankind would never be transformed into androids–not so long as he drew breath.

Cardinal leaned against the cantina’s north-facing wall, shade falling across his face as he admired the purpling of the evening sky. In the distance, he heard a rumbling, followed by a cloud of sand, and soon, he recognized the Morizakura-gumi tractor-trailer truck approaching from West City. The New Red Ribbon Army was flourishing. It would be but a few years before they had acquired enough money to do whatever they wanted. He felt, above all else, a sense of exhilaration at what the future held.


Endnotes[]

  1. Maybe the title of this story is too meta, but I've always liked it. General Copper deserved a resolution to his story. The name is basically me dealing with that loose thread.
  2. Cardinal would have executed Hasky had she not agreed to help him. He couldn't let her live knowing that he had plotted treason against King Furry. However, he would not have executed her himself. Proprananik would have done the honors.
  3. Cardinal knows Hasky isn't a rat, but he had to bring that up to cover all bases.
  4. The mention of Bonetown and the subsequent conversation about the infinite energy device resolves a lingering plot point from Chasing Oblivion that wasn't resolved within that story. There was no reason for Cardinal to reveal his identity to Hasky in that story. But since she did recover that device for him, he knows how good she is. That is pretty much the entire reason why she's a character in Killing General Copper.
  5. Cardinal was flexing a bit by threatening to execute Hasky. He absolutely could have, but it wouldn't have benefited him much to have done so.
  6. Cardinal was not forced to give Hasky any money, but he thought it would be a good motivating tool and it would also show Hasky just how serious the job is. What he needs her to do is no small thing. She can't go into it thinking it's just another job.
  7. The handcuffs were not strictly necessary. Cardinal was being overly cautious in case he ran into someone on the walk to the helicopter.
  8. It was fun to get into Cardinal's head for a short while in the opening scene. He is a very intelligent man, not prone to emotional outbursts. The way he goes about finding Copper, the androids, Flappe, and Gero is very logical and detached. It's almost a self-insert of my own thoughts when coming up with the plot of this story. He thinks ahead and leaves no stone unturned. This is for his own sake, though. He cannot let any Red Ribbon Army officer remain unaccounted for, for they could jeopardize his position in Furry's government. The plans he goes through in his head in the final paragraphs of the first section ultimately do come to pass, which was some fun foreshadowing for me.
  9. Originally, Hasky was going to find the androids locked up in an evidence room in the South City prison while she was breaking out Copper (he was originally going to be the person who told her that they were around - Cardinal did not have super good intel in the first version of this story). Ultimately, that idea fell out of favor the more I thought about it. I wanted to showcase Hasky's thieving skills somewhat and wanted her to get the androids in a meaningful and interesting way. As the idea for acquiring them turned into its own section, I immediately was taken by the idea of having her infiltrate a military camp (located on the outskirts of the battle site between the Red Ribbon Remnant and the army). Since the second scene only takes place roughly 8 days after the battle occurred, it made sense that the army would still be there, that things were still being finalized in terms of cleaning up and cataloguing what had happened. The army is not on a time limit like Cardinal is. They have no reason to be moving quickly, for they are not expecting Hasky to be coming for the androids. They assumed that they utterly destroyed the last remnant of the Red Ribbon Army and are safe. This intel is something that Cardinal is aware of, which is why he approached Hasky when he did (knowing that the androids would soon be shipped to Furry).
  10. In the second scene, I opened it with Hasky and Proprananik having a long conversation to develop their relationship a bit. I wanted these characters to be influenced by each other somewhat, and opening the scenes (also done in scenes 3 and 5) like this was the quickest and most efficient way to do so. Hasky starts off being wary of Proprananik. She grows to respect him over the course of the story, though especially at the end of the second scene, she doesn't entirely like him. I thought it would be simple and unrealistic to have their interactions flow in only one direction.
  11. I am not sure how many colors the capsules come in so the number Hasky takes with her is left ambiguous.
  12. Notice that Hasky goes for the androids before Copper. Ultimately, they are more valuable than Copper, which is what Cardinal thought to himself in the final paragraphs of the first scene. That is if they can be reactivated, though. This story is about Copper's fate and is named after him, but that is not to say that the most important things going on in it relate to Copper.
  13. Hasky's role in Chasing Oblivion comes up a lot in this story. She had one short point-of-view section in the final chapter of that story (when she takes the device from Colonel Violet the second time), but as she did not know who hired her at that time, there wasn't a lot for me to say at that time. This story also takes place about nine years after Chasing Oblivion. Hasky continued to make a name for herself in that time (and met Goku in the filler (which is canon to my universe) episodes of the Red Ribbon Army Saga of Dragon Ball). She looks back on that mission with curiosity, for the man who hired her never told her who he was or why he wanted the infinite energy device at the time. She's been thinking about that for nine years. It's the main reason why she brings it up so often. Additionally, that mission involved Colonel Violet, who has of this story has been dead for about 4 years (she dies in the final chapter of Nineteen Assassins). Killing her was very hard for me (I'll discuss that more in the anthology of NA, which, while chronologically taking place before the anthology for this one-shot, was not written before my commentary here). I really love Colonel Violet. But, if Cardinal was to exist in my universe, and goddamn he does, she couldn't have persisted without joining him or being killed by him. Inevitably, she died because Cardinal ordered the execution of her father (Ryori's father kills her, but as to his fate, I haven't gotten around to writing or conceiving of that yet - it might occur in Crimson Shores, or the story that takes place after it, next in the series, which is about Mr. Satan - I'm not sure yet). In any case, my sadness over her death permeates this story, particularly through Proprananik's dialogue.
  14. Proprananik is curt with Hasky in this scene, regarding the infinite energy device, because he doesn't know if he can trust her. In the fifth scene, he is more open with her about this topic because he's seen her put her life on the line for Cardinal. That is an example of a character growing in this story. Proprananik might be my favorite Cardinal associate because of the growth he goes through in this one-shot. Dewberry's a bumbling, comedic mess, but there is something wholesome about Proprananik that I can't exactly put into words.
  15. I got the idea to have Hasky seduce Gechiren because in her filler episodes of Dragon Ball, she liked to place dress-up. It seemed within the bounds of her (admittedly not-super-fleshed-out) character. Even so, I walked a line with this. Hasky was willing to play a prostitute, but that did not mean she was good at it or entirely comfortable with it. As Hasky thought at the end of the fourth section, "money talks". That is her primary motivator, which is for her even above self-respect.
  16. The sodium thiopental stuff was only added in during my final edits. Originally, Hasky gave Gechiren a roofie to knock him out and then beat Kiwadate in hand-to-hand combat. As I edited the story, I grew to dislike both of those ideas and so replaced them with alcohol and sodium thiopental respectively. I had to do a lot of research on sodium thiopental, and anesthetics like it. I knew I probably didn't need to be super technical in terms of following science when it comes to the Dragon Ball universe, but that's always how I've tried to write. In this case, sodium thiopental was picked specifically because it was the fastest working anesthetic I could find in my research. Others might work faster, but sodium thiopental was the fastest-working one that I had hard numbers to work with.
  17. Proprananik only gives her the one dart because if Hasky causes a scene, he was going to abandon her and fly to Copper's location to break the man out by himself (leaving the androids for Silver's crack team). The stuff going on in the second and third scenes is extremely time-dependent. If Copper was not involved, he would have given her more supplies and would have likely accompanied her, too.
  18. The mixture of sodium thiopental might kill Gechiren. That is not the New Ribbon Army's concern, though. At the very least, it will take him out. Cardinal's intel is good - he knows what Gechiren's supposed weight is. But when it comes to these things, weight can vary by a few pounds, which could have a lethal effect here. I wanted to gloss over that fact, but it's there. This is a part of Cardinal's evilness that I very much enjoy writing. He is not being careless here, for if there were too little of the mixture, Gechiren wouldn't be knocked unconscious fast enough. It's a risk he was willing to take. Going off that, I leave it entirely unknown if Kiwadate, who is not the same weight or height as Gechiren, was killed by an overdose of the anesthetic.
  19. "The thief took a moment to compose herself. Her eyes found South City in the distance, its skyscrapers blinking and robust, the endless monotony of screeching hovercars almost echoing in her ear. The sky was much more luminous in the wild than in the city. Goosebumps prickled down her arms. Overhead, legions of stars were spilling out from the black. Crickets chirped sporadically; otherwise, it was deathly quiet. Soothed by the calmness and grounded by her relative insignificance in the cosmic scheme of things, Hasky’s confidence grew. Compared to the vastness of space laid out above her, she was small. Her worries, fears, and stress were even smaller. She could do this. She felt unburdened by her task." - this paragraph was added in during the editing phase. I wanted to be a bit more explicit about the theme of yuugen than I had been previously. The feeling evoked here is similar to the one evoked in the first scene of Three Foolish Monkeys. The idea of being small in the grand scheme of things gives Chari comfort, while it releases Hasky of the burden of her reality - if she's so small, in the grand scheme of things, her problems are small, her drama is small, her stress is small. She uses the sense of yuugen to relax herself and become loose. In this way, she is sort of going into a mode of thinking not unlike Ultra Instinct, though obviously she's not nearly on the level of that. Conceptually, what she tries to do in this paragraph is not unlike what Whis tells Vegeta and Goku they must do to unlock UI.
  20. "Keeping to the shadows, she changed into the lingerie Proprananik had given her. She wondered if he had picked out these clothes based on his own tastes or Gechiren’s." - pretty sure the clothes are to Proprananik's tastes, but importantly, I never describe them in much detail, so that the readers can make their own judgments about what Proprananik would like. Whatever outfit he picked out, it didn't cover much of her flesh.
  21. "What she would have to do would get her out of prison, as degrading as it was going to be. Her paycheck wouldn’t be half-bad either. She could swallow her pride for a night." - this inner turmoil is one of the areas that I put a lot of effort to in terms of developing Hasky's personality. I see her more as a static character than a dynamic character, but little things, such as this, seemed possible for me to explore. She is conflicted for she wants the money while at the same time feeling somewhat degraded by what she has to do. She tells herself that she can swallow her pride and get on with it, but that more her trying to motivate herself than a reality.
  22. Gechiren's name is a pun on the Japanese word "chirirenge", which means "Chinese soup spoon". A lot of the humans I come up with are named after various utensils and dishes.
  23. Shami was a female character (likely a police woman) who was going to appear when Hasky caused a prisoner riot to break Copper out of prison. When that scene was scrapped, I retained the name and its pun (shamoji, which means "wooden spoon" in Japanese") for Hasky's alias simply out of convenience. She had to have a fake name, or it would've been an awkward and unnatural scene.
  24. Gechiren is already drinking alcohol when he first meets Hasky. This is an important detail to help explain how he got so drunk later on that he passed out on only a few shots. Likely, he was drinking to loosen himself up for the whore he knew was going to arrive around that time, so I think this all makes sense.
  25. Writing the smalltalk between Hasky and Gechiren was extremely difficult for me to do. I'm not very good at that kind of thing in real life, and even with plenty of time to think about what to say in the comfort of my own room, nobody else around, coming up with dialogue was not easy. I spent a very long time on the Gechiren scene.
  26. Hasky tried her best not to be awkward with the questions about the androids, but there was no smooth way to do it, really. She needed to learn from him their location, and if he grew suspicious, she had the tranquilizer. It wasn't until he told her that someone else had it that Hasky grew concerned.
  27. "She held steady. Her arms wrapped around his torso, and she didn’t exactly know what to do next. Was she to be intimate? Or was she to be a slut? It was impossible to tell, at this point, which he preferred. Regardless, the thief had a job to do. Others were counting on her. The clock was ticking." - Hasky wasn't planning on having sex with him. At most, she was willing to give him a handjob. Even so, she didn't want to do that unless absolutely forced to.
  28. "She smiled seductively, jumping up and pushing him onto the bed as she straddled him." - this was an interesting part of the story to write. Hasky's actions and her inner thoughts are directly opposite of one another. If Gechiren weren't drunk, he might've noticed that she was panicking internally. Alas that he did not.
  29. There is no explanation as to why the intel on who had the androids was wrong. Sometimes intel's like that. Gechiren could have had the androids originally and then gave them to his superior officer without Cardinal learning about that. Seems like the most likely option for me.
  30. "Swallowing again to prevent herself from immediately throwing it back up" - no matter how much alcohol I drink, no matter how many days in a row I drink, this always seems to happen to me with my first cup of the day.
  31. Hasky didn't just start a drinking game with Gechiren. She said that she didn't believe he could drink more than her. That detail was critical in getting him to "disprove" her. She correctly judged that he would get competitive about the issue, especially when it was a woman who was doubting him. He has to be manly, has to be dominant, has to be an alpha male in her presence lest he lose his potency.
  32. Hasky is no lightweight when it comes to alcohol, but anyone, especially a woman of her size, would feel quite drunk after drinking two shots in a row unless they were an alcoholic (and even then, they should get pretty buzzed).
  33. Gechiren probably thought that Hasky poured them each a fifth cup, but he was pretty drunk at that point, so it's not impossible that he would have forgotten that he had emptied his fourth glass.
  34. Hasky does well to appeal to Gechiren's masculinity throughout the drinking contest. That's what keeps him going more than anything else.
  35. "To keep up the charade, she went on for longer than she had to. Truth be told, rubbing up against a hard cock wasn’t the worst feeling in the world." - part of this is due to Hasky being drunk, herself. She likes men, and it's probably been a while since she's been with one (given that she was in prison at the start of the story). Even though she doesn't find Gechiren super attractive... that's the point of alcohol. It loosens inhibitions. She hasn't had any for a decent while. Three shots in a row was always bound to make her act a little reckless. This also ties back to the inner turmoil mentioned earlier. She didn't want to be objectified and felt some shame when she entered the tent. Those feelings are still present, but they have been dulled. Also, by grinding against his penis (both of them are clothed, but he's obviously hard through his pants), she too is getting pleasure. In a drunken state, it is not so easy to turn away from pleasure, no matter who you are.
  36. Seven shots is no joke. I assume that Gechiren has had more than 2 shots before the drinking contest started, so he's absolutely hammered by the end of his scene with Hasky.
  37. I much prefer Hasky using alcohol to make Gechiren fall asleep compared to a roofie. This way, her conniving ways are put on display. She's quite intelligent and adaptive. That's why she's such a good thief.
  38. Hasky only let him pull off her panties because they were both so drunk. She knew that he probably wouldn't remember this, so that made her more willing to go that far. Had he been 4 drinks the lighter, I don't think she would have allowed him to go that far. Again, she also allows him to do that because she's feeling reckless from being drunk too.
  39. "Boldly, she remained in place, covering her breasts with her bra. As she pulled away from his erection, she was surprised to find that she was wet. Maybe that was the alcohol. He wasn’t the ugliest man she had ever been with, although she didn’t think that she felt anything for him, either. She briefly considered pouring herself one more shot of gin, but thought better of it when she remembered that she still had to free Copper after this was finished. Hasky wiped herself off, put her panties back on, and left the tent. The only trace of her that remained was that which dripped down his shaft and that which lingered in the air." - the alcohol almost led Hasky to having sex with the man and then pouring herself another shot of gin. She ultimately resisted both temptations, showing that she is strong-willed. There is some measure of sadness in the tonality of the prose as she leaves the tent, as there is a sense of a missed opportunity for pleasure, regardless of if it would have been a good idea or not.
  40. Proprananik is curt to Hasky after she tells him about Kiwadate partly because he's embarrassed that the intel he gave her (which delays them from freeing Copper) was faulty. He wanted to be able to blame it on her but cannot.
  41. Kiwadate is named after "awadateki", the Japanese word for whisk. The way I punned that name, by taking the last syllable and making it the first syllable while leaving mostly everything else intact, is the way that Toriyama himself puns quite a few (perhaps even a majority, but I've never precisely counted) of his Dragon Ball characters' names.
  42. "He eyed her, yet his gaze was not nearly as piercing as the colonel’s had been. If anything, his look-over was a lazy, uninterested attempt." - this is the first subtle hint that Kiwadate is gay. Any straight man would look a half-naked woman up and down.
  43. Hasky's lie about Gechiren sending her to Kiwadate might have gotten Gechiren in trouble. Considering Hasky stole the androids and sedated Kiwadate though, the general might have let the slight slide. Obviously what I'm getting at is that Kiwadate is gay and Gechiren had to have known that. I wouldn't put it past the general to still think that Gechiren had told Hasky about Kiwadate's sexual orientation, for she shows up dressed up in lingerie.
  44. The idea for Kiwadate to be gay was an early idea of mine. As soon as I came up with Gechiren not having the androids, that idea was born, for it would be too repetitive to have her seduce two officers in a row.
  45. I suppose I didn't need Kiwadate to have the androids, but it felt like things would go too smoothly if Hasky found the androids at Gechiren's place. The operation needed to hit some snags. Seeing Hasky adapt to an unlucky situation was more interesting in my opinion, and it was also more fun to write, even though the second scene is very long (it along is longer than any other story in I Wouldn't Want to Be a Fish Right Now sans Insatiable).
  46. Exposing her breast is one of the more drunken things Hasky does in the second section.
  47. "“You’re a woman. Gechiren knows what he’s doing. Get out.”" - this line is a bit more overt in terms of explaining why Kiwadate doesn't want a whore. Some men don't like whores. I would consider myself one of those in most circumstances (though being an absolutist in that regard is pretty silly). Because that was a possibility, I was more explicit with this line to show that he's not interested in her because she's a woman, which pretty much outright says that he's a flaming homo.
  48. There had to have been some cost to the job in the second section. Yes, Hasky is delayed by having to go to two officers' tents, but that wasn't enough. The punch was something I had not planned for in my outline. It came up during the writing, for I intuitively felt like Hasky needed to be damaged in this scene. Yes, the punch physically damages her, but she also gets a concussion from it, which has some lingering effects throughout the remainder of this scene and the next one. It also felt more realistic that the officer would attack her after getting shot. He has roughly thirty seconds to fight her off before he goes unconscious. In the heat of battle, that is a very long time. And considering he's a hulking army man, I felt like he would have to be able to overpower her - at least with the first blow. This is one of my favorite realism moments of the story. It doesn't further the plot, but does affect how Hasky goes about her mission thereafter. I guess what I am trying to say is that it's a cool little thing that was added in with careful execution and understated importance. I don't see a lot of that kind of stuff on this wiki.
  49. Being hit by an uncut lime does indeed hurt like hell, I can confirm.
  50. Hasky would not have been able to survive another charge from Kiwadate. I won't say she's lucky, as thirty seconds is thirty seconds, but she is somewhat fortunate that he didn't attack her a second time more quickly. He didn't know he was on the clock, though.
  51. Copper was given the Dragon Radar that Blue stole from Goku just before the fall of the Red Ribbon Army. However, he couldn't have gotten it in working order, for if he had, he would've gathered the Dragon Balls in the years following the RRA's fall. I talked with several people about this, including Hyper Zergling, and they agreed that the radar would have had to have been broken before reaching Copper. I go into this more in the fourth scene, but yeah. Acquiring that radar is also important. Cardinal having the androids and the radar will become a significant plot point in Heart of the Dragon. Not sure how or in what capacity yet, though.
  52. Hasky probably shouldn't have left Kiwadate out on the ground, but I don't think she was in any condition to move him, either.
  53. Hasky is both drunk and concussed after she leaves Kiwadate's tent. This is significant, for it forces Proprananik to kill a few guards. Otherwise, she would have waited perhaps 10-15 minutes before linking back up with him. In that time, someone could have found Kiwadate's body and security around Copper could've been increased. Ironically, it was to their benefit that they left quickly, even if it meant two guards went missing. Surely, those missing guards raised an alarm in the camp some minutes after Hasky and Proprananik left, but when taking everything into account, it only took roughly 11 minutes from the end of the second scene to the point at which Copper was safely inside the NRRA helicopter, so there wasn't enough time for additional security to be added to Copper's room.
  54. "A cold wind blew through the camp. She shivered. She must have looked ridiculous, dressed up to seduce, her lip split, dried blood crusted around her mouth." - this aesthetic suits Hasky well, in my opinion. She's beat up, bloody, dressed as someone else, out of place in her appearance, yet she has the androids. She's the best at what she does, but it's not always pretty.
  55. "She ran into the darkness, her vision throbbing in line with the blinking stars overhead" - there is some lingering sense of yuugen here, but it's not super strong, nor is it the entire reason I wrote that. The sense of parallel motion in and of itself was a detail I thought the last paragraph of section 2 could not go without.
  56. While the second section is paced in a way for there to be a sense of building anxiety (Hasky takes forever to complete her mission and she needed to complete it quickly), the third scene was paced in almost the opposite way. I wanted that scene to be extremely quick and sharp, especially after how long the second scene turned out. Its breakneck pace is one of the reasons why it's my favorite scene of this one-shot. Also, the way its written is somewhat opposite of the second scene in that some things are left unexplained or barely explained. In the second scene, Hasky explicitly goes over her mission objectives before Proprananik drops her off. In the third scene, there is no explanation for the bag Hasky is carrying until it explodes - there is far more showing than telling in the third scene. Scenes 2 and 3 play off one another in this way. The two parts of the mission are told in significantly different ways. I was having a little literary fun with that, if I do say so myself.
  57. The timer is so tight in the third scene because the hospital would almost immediately know that Proprananik's helicopter was flying in restricted airspace. This is also why the helicopter is confronted at the end of the scene (allowing Silver to have a cool moment). Originally, that second helicopter didn't appear. I didn't think that was realistic as I came to edit the section, and so that was added in. As well, in the opening, I made Proprananik more impatient, for he knows that he can't remain in the air around a hospital for very long without drawing the attention of the police (especially with Copper in custody inside).
  58. Proprananik only comfortably handed Hasky the pistol because Silver was there with him. Hasky could've made a move to kill them, but that would have been the end of her.
  59. "Proprananik’s cheeks ran red with embarrassment for making himself look like a fool. She thought that was cute. Maybe he wasn’t so bad." - this bit was added in during the editing phase in an attempt to flesh out Proprananik's character more. He's very abrasive and formal up front, but he has a softer side to him, and he's not without reason.
  60. I'd imagine that Hasky, slightly drunk and slightly concussed, was not as careful as she thought when she set down the briefcase and moved behind the sitting officer. With that said, nobody would have been expecting anything, so at most the other nurses who were around would think that she was being slightly awkward due to tiredness or a lack of experience.
  61. If the briefcase had not exploded, Hasky would not have been able to get the second and third officers out of Copper's room. The explosion was not primarily done to aid her in killing the first guard (though it did help). She did not know if both or only one of them would come running out the door to investigate, so there was some level of uncertainty to the plan. Having the fourth guy still inside after two come out was perhaps the least expected result. The briefcase exploding also helped calm Hasky's nerves, as since she's still recovering from her concussion and still feels somewhat drunk, her reflexes are not very sharp at present. The idea for that was something I came up with myself, although my father came up with most of the rest of the plot for the third scene.
  62. I thought it was a nice moment having Hasky kill the nurse and the patient. I thought it would be too unrealistic for nobody to see her kill the guard. It also portrays Hasky in a more negative light. She is a villain, after all, and is not above killing people, as seen in her filler episodes of Dragon Ball.
  63. The guards only knew something was wrong because Copper's door was closed. When they ran off, they left it open. The fourth guard's body was not out in the hallway.
  64. The first appearance of Copper is described as "ghost-white" in order to foreshadow his demise.
  65. Hasky's drunkenness played a role in her being able to swallow her fear and jump out the window to the helicopter.
  66. The decision to have Copper wake up at the end of the third scene was a late one - it occurred long after I had written the first draft of the fourth scene. Upon reflection, I thought it was somewhat awkward that Copper's first real introduction, where he begins talking and such, is in the fourth scene, where he shows no signs of illness or weakness. Having him wake at the end of the third scene feels more realistic and also allowed him to have a nice bonding moment with Silver. I gave a lot of characterization to Silver at the end of the third scene, for by the time I wrote that, I had begun to realize that Silver would be incredibly important in the sixth scene. I didn't want him to come out of nowhere in that scene, so he needed some badassery and humanization in earlier scenes.
  67. Hasky felt a little bit of sympathy for the people killed at the end of the third section, though I wanted to write that in a vague and indirect way. Her guilt does not outweigh her greed, nor her will to survive.
  68. I could have probably written the fourth scene from Silver or Proprananik's perspective, but I didn't see what that would accomplish. That scene is mainly a scene between Cardinal and Copper. Everyone else is just listening in, providing a few nuggets here and there. If I had written this scene from Cardinal's perspective, it would have felt like I was giving too much away. Hasky and Proprananik in particular don't have a lot to do here. I played up the money problem at the end so that Hasky would have at least one meaningful character moment.
  69. Cardinal's first words to the general were something I worked on a lot. I went through several different ideas, ultimately settling on an aggressive opening. Cardinal takes the position of bitterness, for he saved Copper and Copper spurned him years ago.
  70. Cardinal is revealed to be Staff Officer Crimson in Nineteen Assassins. There are only a few people yet living who know him by that name, so I tried to use it whenever possible.
  71. I expect to write the scene of Silver's intended execution in my as-of-yet-unnamed 15 one-shot collection. I think Lieutenant Colonel Teal will be involved, but I don't have too much of that story planned out yet.
  72. The most important thing in this story is Cardinal acquiring Androids 11 and 12. That is a plot point that will become relevant like 30 years after this story, during the latter portion of Heart of the Dragon.
  73. Writing the fourth scene was tricky, as I didn't want Copper and Cardinal to be on good terms to start with. Having them be hostile to one another also didn't make sense. They were cautiously feeling each other out in this scene as semi-allies. The fact that Cardinal's team rescued Copper had to assuage some of his fears. Yet, at the same time, he doesn't want to betray Gero. Writing that tension into the dialogue was one of the more difficult parts of writing this story.
  74. While Teal's name was not common knowledge, they could have found his nametag on his corpse, for he was an officer. With that said, the tactic of "we have one of your buddies in the other room spilling his guts, so you better start talking" is an old police interrogation trope. It seems almost obvious that Teal isn't real, which, at least when it comes to my own stories, feels a little too obvious. Perhaps Teal really did survive and really did start spilling his guts. That kind of thing has to happen sometimes, doesn't it? I can't say, either way.
  75. "Cardinal leaned over to Silver and whispered something in his ear before clearing his throat. “We’ll look into that.”" - this line alone is basically the setup for the New Red Ribbon Army's plotline in Crimson Shores.
  76. Cardinal's first misstep is in how he ambitiously declares himself and Silver the leaders of the Red Ribbon Army going forward (Gero getting to run the androids division doesn't seem like much compensation). Copper is surprised about that because he expected to be granted the role of leading their military.
  77. Killing Colonel Violet was a very emotional thing for me, as I love her. It had to be done, however. I think that Cardinal and Silver valued her highly, not only as an asset, but as a friend (perhaps more so in the latter's case). Her death was a cold blow to the NRRA, and so it is treated with awkwardness and sadness throughout this story. As this story is an epilogue to Nineteen Assassins, where Violet meets her demise, I tried to show her lasting impact on the organization in any way that I could (she is also brought up in the fifth scene, which we shall soon get to).
  78. Hasky remembering chasing Goku through dreamland was only added in during the editing phase. I rewatched those episodes before editing the fourth scene (but after I had written the first draft). That was a good decision, as it refreshed my memory about what Hasky knew and didn't know. She knows about the Dragon Balls and knows that Goku is a freak of nature. Both of those things are important to note within this scene, I think. It's interesting that nobody in that room knew that Commander Red had once hired her to steal Goku's Dragon Balls. Goku has thwarted all of them, so it wouldn't be a massive deal, but still, it could have affected her reputation if they had known.
  79. At this point in time, Gero has a few soldiers left, but they are all killed by Android 13 when he rebels against Gero some months after this story.
  80. The offer of Ƶ4,000,000 was fairly reasonable in my opinion. Cardinal doesn't have time to dawdle about on this issue. He needs Hasky and he's hella rich, so he wasn't adverse to overpaying if it meant the job would get done quickly. This shows how fearful Cardinal is of his identity getting leaked to Furry, regardless of if his paranoia is unfounded or not.
  81. The jet that Hasky and Proprananik take to Jingle Village in scene 5 is the same type of jet that Goku takes there in the Red Ribbon Army Saga.
  82. By the time I got to this section, I had decided that it would be Hasky's final point-of-view scene. Thus, I spent a lot of time in the opening finalizing her characterization in the story, and the ending of this section was also heavy on that. I wanted to give some of the final bits of characterization to Proprananik here as well, as I knew he would be dying in the next scene. Some of what Hasky says to him here rubs off on him and is relevant to his dialogue in the sixth section.
  83. It was extremely convenient that Flappe lives alone on the outskirts of Jingle Village. I didn't remember that being the case until I rewatched the episodes involving him (for my rewatch of the entirety of the canon Dragon Ball anime and movies in order to prepare myself for the as-of-yet-unnamed 15 one-shot collection). Very fortunate that I rewatched those episodes just before getting to this scene. It's one thing to read about it on the wiki. Rewatching those episodes allowed me to write a more accurate representation of the atmosphere of the place.
  84. Hasky takes a guarded, but arrogant approach to the conversation with Proprananik. I tried to write her as feeling him out during their conversation in order to gauge if he's going to kill her or not. She suspects as much (as she should, as it was originally my intention that he would kill her at the end of this scene), so the conversation is not just something they do to pass the time.
  85. The mission that Hasky refers to takes place in the final few chapters of Chasing Oblivion. The deputy mayor she refers to is Yunwu. Yunwu was going to detonate the infinite energy device in Orange Star City in order to kill Koicharu Mazuchiru, a yakuza boss whom she was feuding with at the time. Hasky brings up an important point within the retelling of this story: she does not question the morality of those she works for. She is paid to do a job and nothing else. As long as she gets her money, she's good, which was also stated at the end of the fourth scene. Hasky is not a particularly good person, but she's also not actively evil in ways that Yunwu and Cardinal are. She just wants her money and she doesn't really care if there's collateral damage in the process.
  86. "I ended up getting promoted from it." - this is a vague way of putting it. Violet's father killed two of Cardinal's associates, Eugen and Alabastian, in Nineteen Assassins, while Violet killed Glase. With three of Cardinal's assassins dead, promotions had to be made. Not sure at this stage if the three were replaced by three - so far, only two of those spots are known to me (Proprananik and Quarlic being promoted). Of course, Proprananik dies within this story, so that leaves possibly two spots open. I may or may not fill those roles in Crimson Shores. It must also be said that Proprananik himself had nothing to do with Violet in Nineteen Assassins, so his guilt perhaps stems from before the Red Ribbon Army fell, as he worked for Cardinal during that time and could have easily fallen in love with Violet.
  87. Proprananik was hinting that the pressure was getting to him when he asked Hasky how long she would remain with the NRRA. Some part of Proprananik intuits that the NRRA is a sinking ship. It's not just that the tasks and missions he's given are very difficult and life-threatening. He's worried about being found out by King Furry and executed for treason.
  88. Proprananik telling Hasky about Cardinal's plan to depose Furry shows the level of trust the NRRA has in her by this stage. Now that she's saved Copper and acquired Androids 11 and 12 for them, they trust her just as much as any other member of their group.
  89. "There were some hidden compartments in the room, although they hid only lubricant and magazines." - I added this in to give Hasky the first hint that Flappe is capable of hiding things. He's also a man, old as he is, so it's not beyond reason that he would have porn magazines hidden away. The lubricant was a nice touch, I thought, because of how cold it is in Jingle Village. I didn't think that would be expected. But yeah, he's hidden those magazines so that Suno wouldn't find them. She didn't need to know about his most private activities.
  90. The Recaf Decaf idea was something I came up with while taking a shower. I wanted to show at least one of Flappe's inventions, and in true Toriyama style, I wanted it to be something extraneous, stupid, and a little comedic. I am rather proud of this invention and if I had the means to produce it myself, I absolutely would.
  91. If only Flappe had been rich enough to buy himself a new security door. Alas that he spent all of his time on inventions like the Recaf Decaf machine.
  92. The description of the lab was written directly after I watched the episode featuring Dr. Flappe. In particular, the use of cigarettes was added in due to that, as was the semi-messiness. The cigarettes turned out to be a nice symbol for Hasky's characterization, but more relevantly, Toriyama likes his doctors smoking (Dr. Brief comes to mind too), so I'm sure he would appreciate how many cigarettes I placed in the lab. That's the most important thing, after all.
  93. The operating table was the table that Flappe and White used to finalize Android 8.
  94. "There was something sad about the level of effort that had gone into this place. And what had Flappe accomplished? She found no completed inventions (though if those had been shipped off, or were being kept somewhere else, she didn’t know), nothing in the blueprints advertising any great ambition, nor any attempt to seek glory by the good doctor. He had an itch to scratch with playing with toys of his own making, but those toys were nothing special, conceptually or practically." - this line references, I think, a lot of the fan fictions found on this site, and perhaps there is some commentary on myself here. Although I must say that I have completed a lot of stories and arcs, but even so, ten years after joining the wiki, my "universe" is not yet close to completion. The stuff about ambition is related to fan fictions not being a means to earn money, despite the hours poured into them. But hey, it's not like I entirely agree with her assessment. One must have hobbies, and passions, to have a reason to exist. Ikigai is a real thing, and, speaking for myself, I have never regretted being involved in canon-following fanons on this wiki.
  95. Flappe was, in my opinion, somewhat obsessive. He wouldn't just throw out the blueprints to the androids, because that information could be useful in the future. That's not to say that he's had anything to do with the RRA, though. Hasky correctly realizes this when she sees Proprananik blow dust off the folder. Proprananik would have killed the man had Hasky not intervened to save him, so that was a very significant observation on her part.
  96. The blueprints for Androids 1-8 will be crucial material for Dragon Ball: Heart of the Dragon. Indeed, this will likely be brought up earlier - either in Crimson Shores, or its sequel (an as-of-yet-unnamed story about Mr. Satan during the 24th World Martial Arts Tournament). These blueprints will eventually fall into Bulla's hands and will help her activate Androids 11 and 12 in HOTD.
  97. Hasky's comments to Proprananik at the end of the fifth scene are significant. She convinces him not to kill Flappe, but more importantly, she makes him aware of the cutthroat paranoia that is polluting the Red Ribbon Army. He respects her by listening to her, and in the next scene, as we shall see, he tries to take a more pacifistic and open-minded approach to the negotiation with Dr. Gero. Of course, he doesn't have a major role in that scene, due to both Copper and Silver outranking him, so there is some level of tragedy embedded in this moment. Proprananik has nice growth at the end of the fifth scene, but it goes to waste because he doesn't have the agency to put it to good use. Now in terms of how this affects Hasky, she is, as I've stated previously, a relatively static character. She doesn't change much. Her brutal honesty about the situation is the main thing going on, but she's also basically goading him to kill her, showing how little she cares about anything. She's not really suicidal, but more like a nihilistic, greedy, carefree woman who doesn't stress out about things like that. Her stress comes with preparing for her missions. She correctly realized from her earlier conversation with Proprananik that he could very easily kill her at the end of the mission, due to some of the things he said. But, she is fearless in the face of that threat, and so the man respects her even more. Her fearlessness was not a bluff, either - that's how she really is, as far as I could gather from watching the two filler episodes of Dragon Ball she's featured in. It was difficult to write out a character resolution for her, given that she is a static character, so I tried to have her final moments be influential to someone else and help them grow.
  98. "He sent Teal after me, do you know that? The man was lucky to escape with his life." - this aspect of the story was for the first time revealed in this story. In my 2021 one-shot collection (which is not named yet), there will be a story about this very incident.
  99. Gero is the first person who truly stands up to Cardinal since Cardinal left the Red Ribbon Army. In terms of my stories, he's the only one (so far) who has the capabilities to back up his hubris. He doesn't need Cardinal as much as Cardinal needs him. His androids could very well assassinate the man if Gero ordered them to. Cardinal, however, did anticipate much of Gero's unwillingness to ally with him, which is why he made sure he had Androids 11 and 12 before confronting the man. Of course, he didn't go there himself, which implies that he felt as if his presence would only be a detriment to the talks. He knows he's not in a position of power at the start of the negotiation. At the very least, he wants all surviving Red Ribbon officers accounted for. They must join him or die. That may be obsessive and paranoid, but it's how he's operated for many years at this point, and with Gero being the last unaccounted for officer left (discounting Teal, who may or may not be alive), the desperation in Cardinal's actions become apparent. He would have killed Gero had he been able to, but for once, there is an opponent who is able to match him in both intellect and power. Gero stresses the concept of loyalty in order to show how much disdain he has for Cardinal. He's hated the man ever since he resigned from the RRA. So with all that taken into account (much of which Cardinal anticipated), the negotiation between these parties becomes a clearly dangerous proposition. I was already hinting at Gero's hostility in the opening (before the building capsule came out), which sort of foreshadowed Gero's treachery later on. He does not play fairly with those he despises.
  100. Not telling Gero about Teal was an idea Silver and Cardinal came up with to test Copper's loyalties. In truth, it was information that didn't particularly matter, so if Copper had told Gero about Teal's supposed survival, it wouldn't really change anything. That he didn't implied to Silver that the man was more loyal to the NRRA than to Gero.
  101. "“That’s unexpected. I activated the androids’ self-destruct sequences once I saw them being overrun.”" - I am unsure what would happen if Gero were to re-boot the androids. Would they immediately blow up? Or was the self-destruct command lost to time? It's not exactly relevant to HOTD, as by that time, Bulla will have had to work on the androids quite a lot, changing and updating their hardware and software. But still, it's an interesting question, and not one I am quite sure the answer of. It's one of the reasons I don't have the androids reactivate at any point prior to their big moment in HOTD.
  102. Silver lied about Hasky not already having acquired the androids in case the meeting with Gero did not end in a formal alliance. Pretty standard stuff, but it's little details like this that, I hope, show how careful the NRRA is being around Gero. They never acted this way with any other former RRA officer. Silver not being entirely honest with Gero also shows that their potential alliance is not entirely built upon a foundation of good faith.
  103. The infinite energy device plotline of Chasing Oblivion is finally resolved in the sixth scene of this chapter. Gero ended up using it for parts. Despite the thing being old, it still had useful parts for new infinite energy devices. Not a particularly noble end for the device, after all it went through in Chasing Oblivion, but it maintains a certain nihilistic theme that permeated that story (which was not as much the case for Nineteen Assassins (though nihilism is present in certain storylines - particularly the White Tigers'), so having that theme lightly introduced into this story was a bit more difficult for me to manage).
  104. "He wanted to slap the ungrateful bastard." - Gero really is being a cunt in this section, I must say. He seems to be ungrateful about everything that Cardinal and Silver are doing for him. This was a way to get the audience on Silver's side, as everyone read earlier how difficult it was for Hasky and Proprananik to free Copper and find the androids. Gero's lack of a reaction is like giving them the middle finger. The tension mounts through this exchange, which is another hint that the negotiations aren't going to end favorably for the NRRA.
  105. I'm sure that in the past, Gero and Cardinal butted heads over various decisions. Each one of them has an alpha-type personality. They did not want to cede power to each other back then (despite Red technically being in charge, bot of them wielded incredible influence over the army). A few years going by did not change that fact.
  106. Silver tried to make the "androids division" sound like a really nice title, but all Gero sees in that is that it is an inferior rank to Cardinal's.
  107. Gero is correct in his assessment of 11 and 12's loyalty. They would have killed Cardinal, Copper, Silver, and Gero had they been given the opportunity.
  108. Throughout the first seven chapters of The Perfect Lifeform, Gero routinely complains about Commander Red misusing his androids. That specific influence was used in this story because I re-read TPL before writing the sixth scene, so it was fresh in my mind. He really does complain about Red a lot in that story, so it only makes sense, for consistency, to bring it up here. At the same time, there is some hypocrisy in this action, for Gero complained about Cardinal disobeying Red earlier in the scene. Gero may be intelligent, but he's irrational when he lets his emotions overwhelm him, as in this case.
  109. Gero is absolutely correct in his assessment of the value of the androids. Silver and Cardinal are being extremely arrogant in demanding dominance over Gero. As this scene is written from Silver's perspective, he has a blind spot to that. He gets angry at Gero for not doing what he wants the man to do, lacking the empathy to understand another person's perspective.
  110. The androids could have easily killed Goku at this stage in his life, even though they had many flaws.
  111. The alliance was forged after Silver compromised, agreeing to a 50-50 split between Cardinal and Gero. The alliance would have been shaky, yes, but it would have likely lasted. Gero pushing the issue about android-izing the entire world is something no one could have anticipated, making the turn of events near the end of the sixth scene a little more tragic. All of this could have been avoided if not for Gero's greed and authoritarian nature. Silver did everything he could have done. He negotiated an alliance in regards to everything he had prepared to discuss. It's unfortunate for him that Gero was more ambitious than anyone could have anticipated.
  112. The stuff with Lapis and Lazuli was remarkably convenient. Years ago, when I wrote The Perfect Lifeform, Android 13 indeed captured the pair, which began Gero's bio-android experimentation. Throughout that story, he writes in his notes that he wants to "android-ize" the world, though he is fearful to bring the matter up to either Commander Red (during the RRA era) or to General Copper (during the RRA remnant era). As I re-read that story to prepare to write this one, I came up with the idea to utilize Lapis and Lazuli's story to instigate the falling out between Gero and the others. It is, as mentioned before, remarkably convenient. So much so that one would think I planned this six years ago. I did not. Things just so happened to line up perfectly.
  113. "It was pure insanity, the kind that was most cleanly resolved by lodging a bullet through the offender’s brain." - this is true. Gero, however, thinks the same of the others.
  114. "Torturing children is one thing, but I will not become an android." - only a member of the Red Ribbon Army would say such a thing. I guess everyone's depravity has a limit.
  115. Gero was indeed lying about Red knowing about the android-ization of the world. In TPL, he writes in his personal notes that he is too scared to bring the matter up to Red, as he fears the man will reject the idea.
  116. It was likely Copper's rebuke of Gero that pushed the doctor over the edge. He was not planning on killing the three of them, but when Copper said what he said, he knew that the three of them were not going to help him achieve his goals. Thus, they were no longer needed. Like Cardinal, Gero didn't want any survivors - nobody who was not loyal to him could know what he was planning, what he was capable of, or what he had done in the past.
  117. Writing Gero's unhinged rage before he attacks the three was one of the most fun parts of this story for me. His dialogue took a while to complete, but it was not a grueling process by any means.
  118. Gero almost sounds like Light Yagami in his assessment of humankind, methinks.
  119. Gero is all about that hope and change.
  120. This is the second time the leader of the Red Ribbon Army decreed that Silver be executed for his failure to live up to the army's standards.
  121. Copper was always going to die immediately and in that specific way. I knew how he was going to die long before I got to writing this scene.
  122. Proprananik's last act in this story, to save Silver, shows that he is perhaps the most noble of Cardinal's associates. I am not sure there will be an associate of higher quality in any of my future stories, either, but you never know.
  123. "He looked around. There were no signs of life, save for the conference room. He could still hear the turrets shooting nonstop. A slow, inconsistent wind blew through the valley; the air was frosty, the sun a burning yellow dot in a cloudless, grey sky. There wasn’t a bird in sight. He looked around at the rugged beauty of this place, thinking of how long ago those mountains had sprung up from the ground, what power that had taken. He shivered, feeling numb. This place was utterly remote. Gero had planned everything out." - I tried to evoke a light sense of yuugen in this paragraph, though here it is a less overt theme than in the second and third sections.
  124. At the end of the sixth scene, Silver is wounded way more than I originally expected. I am not sure what the ramifications of this will be in Crimson Shores yet. He is going to be recovering during that story, so he probably won't be at 100% during it. He's gotta be strong enough to go to those southern islands, though. I will need to figure this out. But in any case, this is a good example of something that was only outlined, not defined in any significant detail, before I got to writing it. I only decided to have him be as wounded as he was when I wrote the scene out. The seventh scene was changed significantly because of that - now Silver is being attended to by surgeons and doctors and can barely talk, whereas in the original idea, he was going to be wounded, but pretty much fine as he discussed what to do about Gero with his father in Bonetown.
  125. Eigan has been mentioned in Nineteen Assassins, but he didn't appear in that story either. He will not be in Crimson Shores, based on my current plan, but he is slated to appear in CS's sequel, which is an as-of-yet-unnamed story about Mr. Satan winning the 24th World Martial Arts Tournament. Not really sure what his character arc will be, but I do know that by the time of HOTD, he will have been replaced by a new leader (who also appears briefly in Dragon Ball: Cold Vengeance).
  126. The androids will likely remain in the Morizakura-gumi's possession until Bulla finds them in one of the later sagas of HOTD.
  127. While Cardinal is allied with the Morizakura-gumi, he doesn't trust them very much. They are yakuza, after all. There was no reason to tell them about the Dragon Radar's capabilities at this stage in their relationship. With that said, by Age 777, the gang has learned of the Dragon Balls and even has one in their possession, so at some point they must learn about them. I do not know how that will happen yet.
  128. The big drawer of phones was inspired by Saul Goodman having one in Breaking Bad. Additionally, this drawer is seen in Cardinal's only POV section of Nineteen Assassins.
  129. Quarlic will be a major character in Crimson Shores. He will be the head associate, much like Proprananik was in this story. He may even be a POV character, but I haven't decided yet.
  130. Writing Cardinal show his love for his son was very difficult. I didn't want him to be too emotional. I guess the word "impatient" comes to mind with how he shows his fatherly love. He doesn't waste a single moment when dealing with Silver, knowing that the guy won't be awake forever, due to all the medication he's taking. He tries his best to suppress his emotions, though. I didn't specifically state which emotions he was suppressing, but it should be fairly obvious which ones those were.
  131. "A smile crept up the corners of his lips. His son made him proud sometimes. He knew he would be thinking the same thing were he the one in the bed and Silver the one standing over him." - Cardinal has nuked a town before (Akki in Nineteen Assassins), so this is not without precedent. This little scene also shows that both Cardinal and Silver place very little value over the general populace. Cardinal won't go after Gero in this way, however, because it will produce a huge scandal that will take much time and effort for him to distance himself from. He doesn't want to draw attention to Gero at this stage. And should Gero survive the blast, well, Cardinal would be absolutely screwed in that scenario. Having patience truly is the best way for him to maintain the NRRA at this stage.
  132. The codename "haruspex" has relevance to Teal's supposed plotline in Crimson Shores. That's all I can say about that as of now.
  133. Hosomaki is an island that will appear in Crimson Shores. I came up with all of the island locations for that story some months before finishing this story, which made it quite convenient in terms of having the last section act sort of as a prologue to CS.
  134. Colonel Violet and Nathaniel stayed at the Bonetown hotel during the final two chapters of Chasing Oblivion.
  135. "“Alright, sir, as you say. By the way… since that island is near Akki, do you think it’s possible that any of those aliens are living there?”" - these aliens are Makyans, and indeed there are some living in the islands south of Akki. The Makyans will have a fairly prominent role in Crimson Shores.
  136. "Cardinal leaned against the cantina’s north-facing wall, shade falling across his face as he admired the purpling of the evening sky." - this sentence mimics the opening of the story, where Cardinal steps into the darkness of the prison cell.

This has been a very long analysis, so pardon me if I don't have much more to say. Upon re-reading this story for this commentary, I found that I like it quite a lot. It's my favorite of the thirteen analyzed so far (only Insatiable remains for me to anthologize after this one). The prose is quite polished for such a long story. It was fun coming up with the intricate plotline. The scenes are highly varied, taking us from Jingle Village to South City to North City to Diablo Desert. The scene where Hasky busts Copper out of the hospital was very fun to write. I had a lot of fun with Copper's death, too. That brought together various parts of my universe is a unifying way that I had not anticipated before writing this. Overall, I am very pleased with how this story turned out. I think it's one of the best one-shots I've ever done. For all the time and effort that went into this one, easily surpassing 50 hours, it feels great that I managed to finish it without rushing it or allowing for the quality to wane, in my opinion.


<---- Part 133

Part 135 ---->


The KidVegeta Anthology
1: Were It So Easy2: Ground Up3: So Lonely At The Top4: Dragon Ball Z: In Requiem5: Sixth6: Slaved7: Womanhood8: A Mother's Love9: Derelict10: Dragonball KC11: The Redacted Scenes12: Dragon Ball Z: Cold Vengeance (Original draftFinal draft)13: Spindlerun: The Tale of Yajirobe14: The Anonymous Series15: Speedball16: Second-best17: Strength18: Separator19: Skulk20: Soup21: Scelerat22: Serial23: Slick24: Sovereign25: Dragonball lies in the old hat26: Ode to Dodoria27: Bitterly Bothered Brother28: KidVegeta's Theogony: From Silence to the Greater Kais‎‎29: Dragon Ball Z: The Forgotten (29.1 Prince Vegeta Saga29.2 Outbreak: Paved In Blood29.3 Lauto Saga29.4 Stomping Grounds Saga29.5 Planet Earth Saga29.6 Reunion Saga29.7 Forever Alone29.8 Fulfillment Saga29.9 Characters29.10 Who Are The Forgotten?29.11 Miscellaneous Information)30: Sink to the Bottom31: Bluestreaker32: Lionheart33: From Magic to Monsters34: Tyrant35: Be a Man36: Brave37: Yellow38: Sleep39: Prideful Demons Black40: The Watcher41: The Perfect Lifeform42: Ain't No Hero43: Dragon Ball: The Great War44: Glory45: Monster46: Burning Man47: Bonetown Blues48: Ergo Sum49: Suicide Missionary50: We'll Never Feel Bad Anymore51: Before Creation Comes Destruction52: Midnight City53: A Soundless Dark54: Scourge55: The Ballad of Dango56: Zarbon and Dodoria: A Love Story57: Thank the Eastern Supreme Kai for Girls58: A Shadow on the Wind59: I'm a Candy Man60: Down the Well-Worn Road61: Cool Cat62: Starfall63: Crushing Blue64: Black Dawn65: The Great Sushi-Eating Contest66: The Adventures of Beerus and Whis...IN SPACE!‎‎67: The Guacamole Boys Hit the Town‎‎68: Fin69: Nowhere to Go70: Not So Far71: Ice Age Coming72: Small73: Shame74: Untouchable75: A Demon Tale: Running Gags and Memes: The Movie76: Superior77: He's a Baaad Man78: Sandboys79: This is a contest story 80: A Space Christmas Story81: The One Where Bulma Goes Looking For Goku's Dragon Balls82: The Ginyu Force Chronicles83: Country Matters84: Chasing Oblivion85: Bardock's Some Hot Space Garbage and You're a Cuck86: The Story Without Any Cursing Except For This One Fuck And It's In The Title or (Sex Drugs and Rock and Roll Except Without Any Of The Sex)87: A Flap of the Wings88: Broccoli Tail89: Black as Blood90: Bi Arm or the One Where Baby is Actually A Rich Man or the Last One Of All the BYARMS91: One Chop Man92: Girl93: Twelve Majestic Lies94: Spaceball95: The Monster and the Maiden96: Mountain Bird97: A Quest for Booty98: Yaki the Yardrat's lecherous crime cartel, can Jaco and Strabbary stop it?99: Across the Universe100: His Majesty's Pet101: Destroyer of Universes102: The One with Several No Good Rotten Space Vermin103: The Scouring of Paradise104: To Kill a God-Emperor105: Extragalactic Containment Protocol106: Appetent Justice107: The Naptime Championships108: Really Big Scary Monsters109: Old Nishi110: He Needs Some Space Milk111: Filthy Monkeys112: The Mortal Flaw113: Leap114: Dyspo Sucks115: The Royal Exception116: Mushin117: Doctor Piggyboy118: The Space Taco Bandit119: The Big Book of Very Important Things (119.1: Why the supreme kai thinks there are only 28 planets in the universe by kidvegeta, esquire119.2: The raisin why supreme kai thinks theres only 28 planets119.3: Supreme kai why do you think there are only 28 planets pls respond119.4: Vegeta: The Tale of Chiaotzu119:5. Sweet Nothings About Cuber by KidVegeta and Destructivedisk119.6: ☉‿⊙119.7: The Part Where He Actually Blows Himself119.8: The truefacts tht hhyperzerling ssahhy119.9: Dragon Ball Supper119.10: A list of people yamcha's been intimate with)120: Memories of a Bloodless Thrall121: Lights of Zalama122: The Deathless Scraps123: Time-Eater124: Dragon Ball: The Mrovian Series: Hidden Memories of Chaiva125: Nineteen Assassins126: Welcome to Rapture127: Bean Daddy128: Zeta Male129: One Word From The Crane130: The Big Ugly131: The Legend of Upa132: Trickster is Meaningless133: Three Foolish Monkeys134: Killing General Copper135: One of Them136: The Swindler137: Softpetal138: How To Act Like a Professional Mercenary139: Insatiable140: Every Turtle Has His Day141: No Second Chances142: Blue Wolf143: The Shunko Onsen144: Nam's Big Dive145: Hard as Diamonds146: In Search of Pork Buns147: Feeding Time148: Chi-Chi's Got Talent149: Patient 240150: Divine in Maturity151: Tail Don't Lie152: Pontas Pilot153: Soft Matter154: PFR155: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Planet Trade Organization156: Dragon Ball: Heart of the Dragon157: Community Roleplays (157.1 Dragon Ball: Future Imperfect (2nd Saga)157.2 No Way Out157.3 Vacation157.4 Cool Runnings157.5 What Role Will You Play?)158: Deleted Stories (158.1 Dragon Ball: Short Story Project158.2 The Last Saiyan)159: Final Thoughts
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