Wish Gone Wrong

"Shenron doesn't know anything about robotics. She's lucky Seventeen brought her here as fast as he did." Krillin's wish for the androids goes terribly wrong.

Bulma never called them.

Well, she did, but only when it was either an emergency of planetary or even universal importance or she was having a party. So when the phone rang and Bulma's honey poison voice came over the line—the one that meant you were in big trouble but she wasn't going to tell you what it was yet—Krillin was understandably nervous. Especially since all she told him (sweetly, so sweetly) was to get over to Capsule Corp., now. Then she hung up.

Krillin dressed slowly, knowing he was going to go and trying to pretend he was still making up his mind, and also wondering frantically what on earth Bulma could need him for, but most of all hoping that whatever it was, it didn't involve Vegeta.

"I'm going out," he announced to the inhabitants of Kame House. Only Turtle bid him farewell properly, but since it was Get Fit with Christie hour, he wasn't surprised when Roshi and Oolong merely grunted.

A housebot led him deep into Capsule Corp., to Bulma's private lab, where she answered the door with an unreadable look before ushering him inside.

Krillin got an impression of wires and complex machinery—"Uh, Bulma, what's this ab—" And then he froze, captivated by a pair of slanted blue eyes that stopped him in his tracks.

"Android Seventeen?" he said stupidly, and then he noticed the metal slab that dominated the middle of the room, and, more importantly, the unconscious woman lying on top of it.

"Android Eighteen!" he cried, and ran towards her, but the dark-haired twin phased in front of him, arms folded and eyes ice blue and so, so cold.

"Krillin," Bulma called from her chair in front of a computer console, voice still honey-poison, "What, exactly, did you wish for?"

Krillin glanced at her, and found that she was gently rocking a small cradle with her foot, in which lay a sleeping Trunks. The motherly action was an unsettling contrast to the look she was giving him.

"Huh?"

"The wish, Krillin," Bulma repeated impatiently. "Seventeen tells me you made a wish for them. What. Precisely. Was it."

Krillin pushed his sluggish brain into motion like a stalled car.

"I wished… I asked Shenron to take the bombs out of the android's bodies."

"Just like that? That's all you wished for?"

"I—yes."

Bulma sighed tiredly.

"Great," she muttered, turning back to the computer screen. Krillin looked at Eighteen again, and he could see that there were a lot of wires leading to her body, but where they attached to her was obscured by the threatening male android in front of him.

"Why did you do that?" he demanded.

"Why did I—?"

"Why did you make that wish?" Seventeen bellowed, arms uncrossing to rest tersely by his sides, fists clenched.

"I—I—I just w-wanted you two to be happy—"

"Are you a moron?"

Krillin mustered his wits and glared.

"I don't understand what's going on. Eighteen was fine when I saw her after the wish—"

"Oh, she was fine!" Seventeen repeated, a manic expression on his face. He began to gesticulate wildly. "She was just fine until she decided to go to sleep. Turned on her self-diagnostics and bam. She starts sparking. My sister starts sparking like a toaster in the bath tub, like she stuck a fork in a power outlet—"

Krillin became aware that Seventeen was somewhat hysterical. Bulma got up and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Amazingly, he didn't throw her into a wall or blast her where she stood, but instead went still and seemed to collapse in on himself. He whirled around and grabbed a chair, slamming it down next to the slab, where he sat down in it backwards, propping his chin on the backrest and staring at his sister with a lost expression on his face.

"I don't understand," Krillin said eventually to Bulma, almost whispering. "What happened?"

"Krillin, Shenron maybe be a mystical dragon that grants wishes, but that doesn't mean he knows anything about robotics or circuitry. As far as I can tell, he did exactly what you asked: he removed the bomb. Just took it out, no tying up loose wires, no changing her programming, just poofed it away. She's lucky Seventeen brought her here as fast as he did."

Krillin's mouth opened as he began to understand.

"How much longer?" Seventeen mumbled miserably.

Bulma's voice was kind.

"She's about 80% done with this round of diagnostics. When that's done, I'll try booting up her systems again, but if that doesn't work, I'll have to go back in and start over. It could be a while. Are you going to be okay not sleeping until I can work on you?"

Seventeen nodded against the chair, and continued to stare at his sister, who looked like a not-very-life-like doll. Krillin could see now that the wires all attached to an open port in her chest. Her breasts were bare, but there was nothing sexual about the sight in front of him. Krillin looked away.

"I'm sorry," he said in a low, carrying voice. Seventeen made no move, but Bulma gave him a wan smile. Trunks began to fuss, and Bulma picked him up.

"He's hungry," she said to no one. "I'll be back before it's done."

As she stepped out and still Seventeen gave no sign that he was aware of what was going on around him, Krillin understood that despite his intention in setting the two of them free, his wish had only intensified their dependence on himself and the other Z fighters. It created a clash of emotions that left him ashamed and giddy, but he decided then that whether they hated him for it or not, he was going to help take care of them.