Part 18: The Crane Hermit Finale

The Crane Hermit Finale

Medium Quest

Requirement: Must have completed The Crane Hermit Part III.

Reward: 1,000 zeni, +15 Villain Points, and the Crane Cloak.

After the hostage situation, the King of Earth knows that you are a real threat. But, he also knows of your great strength and power. He's sent a group of assassin androids to kill both you and Shen. But, destroying them would be too easy and too fun. Shen tells you to defeat and capture the androids without breaking them, and then sends you to kidnap one of Capsule Corporations scientists, who is heavily guarded. Bring him back safe, so he can re-program them to kill their own masters.

Ian got a chill as he stood on his balcony in the summer heat. Something was wrong, he knew it. Things were too quiet and there was no reason for him to get a chill when it was a hundred out. No, something was about to happen and soon.

His was his psychic abilities that gave him the heads up, almost like an internal proximity alarm system that went off in his head, playing out an image of an attack against his person. This attack coming was a fist, but where. The image showed very little as far as the surrounding. He saw the sky, so it couldn't be behind him. Above him? In front of him? Maybe to his right or left? He was also having trouble nailing down the timing of the attack, but it was coming. He'd have to know the speed of the person attacking and to know that he needed to know them. The psychic powers were bothersome and annoyed him to no end.

He acted without knowing and shot back, taking out his ice cold glass of absinthe and fruits as well as his chairs. The glass door was also no match as he smashed through it with a loud earth shattering crash. The one attacking struck the balcony causing it to crack under the impact and crumble to the ground below. The attack shot at him faster than Ian expected and felt a shoulder strike him followed by an open palm that sent him through his desk and wall and stopping when he hit the wall on the opposite side of the hallway.

He looked up and saw nothing but a blur. Ian had to stop this now. He wasn't fast enough to react. A barrier of energy extended around him as the attack struck it and the shock wave rippled through the house weakening the structure of his mansion. The barrier fell and he split into two identical beings surrounding his attacker, one tackling while the stood back and locked their minds. He froze as he then realized who it was.

The clone vanished in a puff of black smoke. In turn, Ian got a mouth full of fist which sent him crashing through the hall and into his bed room. Sawish whom was already startled by the loud noises cowed in a corner.

"Foolish! Once you have the upper hand you never let it go no matter whom you are about to kill!" His old master walked into the room from the door. Ian who was lying on the bed looked over. "You above all people should know this! I thought I had a brilliant apprentice, apparently I've got yet another foolish one."

Ian rolled off the bed. "What do you need master? I thought you were killed."

"No thanks to you. Can't even come to your master's aid when he needs it the most."

"I had other matters to deal with. So now, what can I do for you?"

Shen nodded. "Then down to business is it? Fine. Your fight against the students has brought the wrath of the government down upon you. Roshi had issues with them facing you but will stop at nothing to make sure you die for killing them. The President of Earth has decided to come after you. Capsule Corp has supplied him with a squad of highly advanced androids."

"They're releasing the Lazarus Project on me huh? Then they know I'm not there to be friends with them. Probably know by now I have Doctor Briefs. Lovely. Guess all of this delay is costing me."

"Then you know what these androids are capable of huh?"

Ian nodded. "Yes. I'm not too worried."

"Then if that's the case, don't destroy them. Get them reprogrammed."

Ian grinned. "The androids are already mine. I just have to say the word and I can turn them where ever I want."

Shen grinned. "Then you may want to do that. Apparently the androids are here now. Once you deal with them, why don't you turn them on the President, or Roshi."

"Cira, call Thomas, let's get these bad boys reprogrammed."

Ian rolled off the bed and headed outside where three painfully obvious androids waited. They weren't ready yet. That was plain as day, but he knew what they were capable of. And he knew until Thomas could reprogram them, he'd be fucked.

Ian looked at each of them and he already knew they were analyzing him. How much did they know? He knew he'd have one shot with his new power and after that they knew how to counter. And being androids, he doubted his new ability would work. He'd have to get that fixed at some point, maybe a chip in his brain. Ian shrugged it off. He'd have to think about that another time.

"Izon," came a robotic voice from all three. "You are hereby sentenced to death for the crime of murder and crimes against humanity."

Ian grinned, quite interesting they'd call him Izon. Do they not know who he was? Did they not realize he was also Ian Lancaster? Didn't look to be the case. He dropped his disguise and Shen looked on, a large grin on his face.

"So he finally shows his true colors. Excellent."

He watched as they began. Izon versus all three. They were quick to adapt at everything. Very quick. Izon barely had a lead, and now he couldn't land a single strike. He knew everything physically Shen did which meant She wouldn't last against them either.

Ian ducked under a punch and got a knee to the face for his troubles. Metal hands gripped his hair and yanked him up, flinging him around and letting go. The androids watched as he struck the ground. More calculations went through their minds as they watched Izon maneuver himself up. The calculations and gathered data went to the computer and to one another and was stored to be used in the future.

Ian bounded back up and shot up, the black liquid releasing out of the gem and surrounding his arm created massive claws. The androids were already a step ahead as they all of the methods of attacks. With each bend they calculated the next attack.

As Ian guessed, he swung and they were already moving. It was hard to keep up with them. They were learning faster than he could think and they were getting faster.

One took a swing at him striking the armored clawed arm which sent painful ripples all throughout Ian's body. The amulet glowed and his red demon form changed into the black void. The androids began quickly calculating. As each hit struck the android they got more information. Ian's speed, strength, and damage he could dish out and soon his own fists were hardly doing anything and then they were missing completely.

Frustration began to grow but Ian did everything possible to concentrate. Shen watched as his apprentice fought against the androids in a form he had yet to see. Shen could keep up but it was more difficult and though he had the upper hand, he was quickly losing it.

Ian drew them away from the mansion. He needed space and didn't want to damage his own home. Once he was far enough way it was time to change things up and keep these androids learning. A barrier erupted as an android came in to attack, the he unleashed it in a dome of energy that enveloped the battlefield. The planet shuddered under the immense power that was unleashed and a moment later, things cleared up and Ian was looking at three horribly damaged androids. That didn't last long as the metal seemed to turn to liquid and repair everything.

"What kind of machines did these guys make?" He was questioning his own decision to make them his toys. If anyone hacked them and turned them on him, he would be utterly fucked. But he couldn't let a weapon like this just simply leave.

Cira had reached Thomas and explained everything. Thomas, though an employee of Ian Lancaster had no love for the man. He had been kidnapped and forced into his services. If he let the androids kill him, he could live his life with no thought of betraying the man that gave him his job. His illegal activities would end. On the other hand, the money he's getting made a lot of it worth it.

He had quite a dilemma. Doctor Briefs could come home, but also Ian had died before and had come back. If he betrayed him now, he would surely die. The dilemma was solved. His own greed winning over in the end, while telling himself Ian could simply get another scientist and bribe and black mail.

He went to his computer and began working, tapping into the programming of the machines. He had to be careful as Bulma and the military were nearby at another work station, watching the progress of the "test".

The program spread out on the terminal. Millions of commands, each with a purpose. What he was looking for was the target command. It was complex, coded with genetic information, descriptions, as well as senses and a GPS. They tagged everything and could find anyone. Even the Saiyan scouters had been implemented and improved upon, giving so much information, using the Earth's satellites as a means of hunting someone down. They were ruthless and with the tech they used, they could certainly kill Ian and keep killing him.

The target information spread out before him. Lots of numbers and letters that few understood. But the target name caught his eye. Izon. Not Ian Lancaster, but Izon. From what he was seeing, everything was a match. He turned on the visuals and saw some black shape moving among them, some hits striking, others not. This wasn't Ian. This was a shapeless form. What the hell was going on?

This must have been someone Ian was protecting and if that was the case, he would surely die if he didn't follow orders, and the orders were to stop the target and move the controls to Ian's quantum computer.

He pulled up another terminal and connected with the other computer and began moving the files over which completed quickly. Then the command to stop the attack was entered. He shut down the terminal and acted like nothing was going on, going about his work like he had previously been doing.

Bulma and the General looked at one another and then began working to find out why the androids have stopped. No trace was left of their commands or blue prints except one file which was a virus with the information going to namek. This was obviously fake though, giving them a place to look other than their own lab. If they could trace it, it'd be awhile before it got back to him or Ian.

“Someone hacked our computers.” Bulma furiously ran various checks. She was brilliant, there was no doubt. “How the hell did someone get into this computer?” She paused a moment, thinking back on Ian stating he was building one, but he was just a businessman. She wasn’t sure who else had one, maybe Gero. It wouldn’t shock her, except the routing is showing it going to Namek, then Arlia. Then it branched off. It would take her too long to find the source.
Ian grinned his blank featureless face grin. The androids had stopped. He reverted back to his human form and pulled out his cell. “Cira, let’s send these bad boys back to the military.”

Cira acknowledged and got on the computer. He had been practicing, learning from what Thomas had taught him. He had the file up and found the target information. He didn’t know any of the biological encoding, but he knew coordinates. He removed all traces of Ian and entered in the coordinates to the Capital of the Earth. The hit entered.

The androids paused a moment, then took off towards their target. Ian went back to his void form and took off after them. He wanted to see this, and the Earth would know who sent them. Lord Izon. It took only a couple of minutes to reach their target. Military was already preparing for battle, though if Izon couldn’t do anything, they’d be helpless.

Bulma typed furiously. There were no files or anything left. She’d have to find them again and hack into their minds and do it that way. It wasn’t going to be easy, but she did invent the system. Or rather, the strange boy did.

She looked at the screen and saw they had arrived and the military open fired on them. Soon the screen was nothing but a dark gray cloud. Then more flashes. She could hear screams through the auditory sensors which just about made her weep.

Ian watched as the military open fired on the androids. They stood there; taking it like it was nothing. And it really was nothing. In mere moments, beams of energy cut through the clouds, cutting a swath through the ranks. It was truly glorious. And he could sit and watch without fear of anyone noticing that he was Ian Lancaster. To everyone, he was a featureless creature watching the havoc.

Bulma finally got in and saw the coordinates that was their target. She typed the command to halt, but she was locked out. They wouldn’t respond. More screams filled her ears. Even Thomas was having a hard time holding in his desire to just end it. He wanted to stop this, but if he did, they would know who it was. His family would then lose him, the money from both Bulma and Ian. What had he done.

A voice came over the speaker. It was scratchy and evil sounding. “Bow to me mortals! Bow to the great Izon! Feel the wrath that is hell!”

What had Thomas done? He had let Ian protect a crazed lunatic. He had to do something. He went to his console. He could just stop it, he’d have to hide all evidence. He got into the self-destruct subroutines and set them.

The androids stopped. Ian looked at them and the ground as people writhed in agony. Some lived but not many. The androids didn’t move. They floated there, and soon the metal melted away, revealing the internal working and in a blinding flash, all three exploded into a violent flurry of fire and destruction.
Ian was quickly engulfed as he tried to put up his barrier. The fire burnt him even though none of it touched him. He had to flee. The force of three Self Destructs was too much. He took off, feeling his own skin begin to melt from his body.

He broke through the ball of heated smoke and fire and watched from up high at the devastation below. The President’s building and the field of death. This had gone further than he wanted. He wondered if Cira or Thomas had something to do with the destruction of the androids. He’d have to find out. First stop was Cira. He had control.

Bulma looked over at Thomas who was frozen. Neither could see the destruction the androids had caused, but both knew it was immense. They would lose the contract and Lazarus would be shut down because of this.
“Why did you destroy them Thomas? If I had another three minutes, I could’ve stopped them.”

Thomas looked at her. He knew it wouldn’t have taken long. But he had to come up with an excuse. “Three minutes would be too long. There could have easily had been more damage caused by then, or worst yet, shut down and taken by that Izon character and used elsewhere.

Izon. Bulma now knew her target. He was the target of the androids. He wasn’t a know power, but per Roshi and the General, he had caused so many deaths. From the way he looked, he would be one to fear. And if he had gained control of the androids, he had his own Quantum Computer. Or he was in league with Gero. She also thought she saw a glimpse at one point of Master Shen. Just what was going on?

Ian stormed through the door into the computer room where Cira sat. His hand reached out and grasped the surprised fish. “What the fuck was that?! Tell me why you self destructed them! It almost killed me! We could’ve have the start of our force!”

Cira couldn’t speak or breathe, and soon Ian released. “Sir, I didn’t give the command. It looks like they were hacked from Capsule Corp.”

Ian thought a moment. Thomas? Possibly. Bulma was smart enough to do that herself. Either one could be it or any of the various other scientists on that project. With so many dead, only they had the plans and they would surely shut the project down. He wanted to kill Thomas, but now he needed him more than ever. They needed the materials and the programming knowledge.
“Bulma, you are to shut this project down. These androids are too dangerous to let loose.”

Bulma nodded. She knew it was coming. “Yessir. Those were the only three. We’ll destroy what we have left.”

The General didn’t like doing this, but he damn near lost the president. Someone was expecting this, or planned it. The President had been taken away when the androids attacked, which meant they weren’t after him specifically, but the location. Why?

Bulma wondered the same. Did who ever have the androids under their control not have the necessary programming to target the president directly? Or was this simply a retaliation? But then why go after the President and not Capsule Corp? Everyone knows Capsule Corp makes military weapons. And to gain control, they’d know they made those androids. This was a perplexing question and she’d have to go through the data to find out.

WC:3005