Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Ball Z, it belongs to Toei Animation Co. Ltd. and was created by Akira Toriyama. However the Oc's Bakelite, Polly Atomica, Infrared and Melmac are mine as is the plot of this fan fiction. It means no harm to the awesome anime and manga! I make no money from this! Thanks Heiress and everyone who's reviewed. Glad you like Atomica. Now we see how much Bulma will learn from someone else who might have known about the Androids... other then Trunks.

Chinks in the Armor

Bulma's Own Armor Cracked

Sunlight gleamed intensely off the hoods of oncoming cars and off the backs of the ones in front of them as Dr. Polly Carbonate drove the roadster along the superhighway. For some reason Bulma Briefs was extra sensitive to light judging by how she felt she had to clap a hand over one eye. Fishing through her purse she grabbed her sunglasses and shoved them on. Polly grabbed the pair of slipovers that Bulma tossed her from the glove compartment. They neatly fit over her thick framed glasses.

"Almost there," said Polly, glancing sidelong at Bulma. During the drive Bulma had not said much, retreating into a private funk. At first Polly wondered if she had said something wrong by admitting how much she knew of Bulma's private life. People tended to confide in the chemist with their personal problems because they knew she didn't gossip. Unfortunately Polly ended up being more of an emotional dumpsite because she was willing to listen to people's problems. She usually responded with a blunt answer or reasonably good advice.

"Bulma, are you pissed at me for 'unmasking' your secret?" she asked.

"I just want to know how much do you know?" Bulma asked suspiciously. "About Vegeta?"

"Only enough to know he's one of those powerful fighters that sometimes show up, when things get really dicey. That guy who's been using Capsule 3. He's not human. No more then the kid who smashed up the Red Ribbon base years ago. Or the two space aliens that blew up East City five years back," said Polly.

"You knew about that too?" Bulma inhaled sharply.

"Someone called them 'Saiyans,'," said Polly warily. "Pictures on TV were pretty grainy, but I saw my share of them. And the Red Ribbon army psy corps was pretty… hem well informed about strange and magical threats."

"I… that's how you knew then? And then you saw Vegeta around Capsule," said Bulma.

"Bulma if you're worried about me spilling, don't be. I have no reason to tell anyone. Especially since you know about me," said Polly. "I'm good at keeping secrets."

"I trust you," Bulma nodded. "I guess that's another reason why…"

"And I guess I know why you acted the way you did, when you learned about me working for the Red Ribbon army once," said Polly softly. She gave Bulma a small smile.

"I know that, it's just… weird that one of my own employees knows so much. But then again I shouldn't be surprised," said Bulma with a nervous chuckle.

"You're not alone, Bulma. Being pregnant's a scary thing. I should know, because the way I got pregnant was pretty much passion between myself and a lonely soldier. He liked me and we kept each other company. But fraternization with fellow officers wasn't exactly encouraged," said she.

"It wasn't?"

"Females were normally expected to devote their whole careers to the army. Sure we could HAVE sex with other members but to get pregnant and have kids made things… difficult. Sure we all USED birth control, but even THAT can't always be a 100 hundred percent guarantee," she shrugged with a laugh.

"We're here," Polly pointed to the green exit sign. Bulma eagerly eyed the gentle rolling dunes visible behind lines of trees planted alongside the exit ramp.

"Pull up over this way. That's the private section Capsule owns," said Bulma. She directed her employee along a maze of back roads, towards a more secluded access road hidden in trees and high signs. This was the isolated stretch that nobody dared walk or play on save the uber rich. Fortunately Bulma was one of the wealthy few. They passed through a guard shack and onto the lot where Bulma directed her to a parking spot.

"WE can walk here. It's a preserve class area, but Daddy used to bring me and Mom here a lot. So mom could nude sunbathe in peace and my father cold work on his best inventions," said Bulma.

"Your mom nude sunbathing. Why am I NOT surprised?" Polly suddenly chuckled. Opening the doors both women stepped out into the dirt area. Bulma opened the trunk to grab out a sun hat from one of the bags. Polly took her own that they had just bought. Then the two women strode down the stretch of hidden wooden stairs to the beachfront only the wealthy trod upon. Small furrows in the sand indicated a machine had combed the pristine white sands for trash and cigarette buts from other wealthy families.

Soon they strode side by side towards the surf. Bulma had to hold her hat down on her head with one hand. She stepped out of her sandals then ventured up to walk where the line of tide swooshed up. Then it receded to leave a dark delineation of sand smoothed by its wake. Polly came up on her left side, standing next to her new friend so their toes barely touched the next lapping surge.

"So, are we totally alone?" asked Polly.

"Yes. We can talk in absolute privacy. You can tell me more about how much you know," said Bulma.

"What do you want to know exactly?" asked Polly. "About the Red Ribbon army?"

"Well," Bulma cleared her throat. "About the secret projects in the Red Ribbon army that were kept secret. You said you heard rumors. What about?"

"Enough that people shouldn't," said Polly. "What specifically?"

"Do you know about… the army building any Androids? About someone named Dr. Gero?" asked Bulma with a whisper. At the sound of the name Polly's eyes snapped open and she swallowed hard. Her knees shook and she pressed a hand to her head.

"Oh Kami," Polly whispered back. "Not him."

"You do know?" Bulma asked. Panting, the professor spun away from Bulma. She felt the woman's hand on her shoulder and a blast of sharp wind whistling up from the ocean waves.

"How would you know about him unless…" Polly trailed off, her face blanching white.

"Please you have to tell me! Did he build any… artificial humans," asked Bulma.

"Artificial… humans," Polly whispered. Dropping to her knees in the sand, she curled her legs around and sat. Bulma settled besides her, wondering what was so horrendous.

"What did I say… please…?” Bulma asked.

"I… that was something almost NOBODY knew about and we only heard rumors," Polly wheezed, her heart pounding. "How the HELL did you know?"

"Let's just say, I have my sources," Bulma said cryptically, remembering the lavender haired youth. Polly turned and gaped at her, eyes wide behind her glasses. A strange purple crackled her hair momentarily and then she squeezed her eyes shut and leaned back.

"Damn. I… they do exist. But I don't know much more then rumors. Dr. Gero worked in a different department then Dr. Minos. He was in charge of biotech research. The branch that gave us... treatments to enhance our abilities," Polly stammered, her stomach twisting.

"Please, you must tell me! If we can stop them," Bulma swallowed.

"You're talking as if they… this is insane," Polly panted. She heaved great breaths in, trembling like a leaf as she sat there. Her fingers twisted into the sand, digging small furrows.

"What are you so afraid of?" asked Bulma, reaching to take her friend's hand.

Opening her mouth, Polly regarded Bulma with dark eyes. Then she pulled her glasses off and settled for the haze of shortsightedness taking some stimulation away. Only the sound of the surf tumbling in the distance could be heard. Bulma squeezed Polly's fingers and said, "Take your time. We're alone out here remember?"

Polly's eyes flickered back and forth as if staring through Bulma into a forgotten time. Hesitatingly she said, "I… well if we were to admit we knew anything we'd be shot. But Dr. Gero had projects that even Commander Red knew little of. He had a computer on an island… Southwest of here… and there were rumors of experiments where he had…"

"Did you see any of these androids?" Bulma asked, crossing her legs and settling more comfortably in the sand.

"Android 8, and 9," said Polly. "Major Metallitron, and then there was Violet. She underwent the process and became the first cyborg prototyped seven."

"Violet? You knew Violet?" Bulma yelped in surprise.

"She was one of the ones that graduated the academy ahead of me," said Polly. Tendrils of her long brown hair whipped in the quickening wind. Sunlight was suddenly blocked by the passage of clouds over the afternoon sun, casting them in temporary shadow.

"One of the first volunteers to undergo the change. Some of us didn't want cybernetic upgrades. Others were purely artificial. But there were artificial humans and humans enhanced with cybernetics," said Polly.

"So two types?" said Bulma. She pulled off her sun hat, letting her freshly cut hair swirl in the cold chill of the sea breeze.

"Gero tried both. He even took two children. There's no telling WHAT he did to them. He was an animal. He made the worst of what Dr. Minos did look… like nothing," said Polly shakily.

"Why are you so scared?" Bulma wondered. She felt it was her turn to comfort the woman next to her now, whose confidence was suddenly shaken. Gently she rubbed Polly's shoulder.

"We were afraid Dr. Gero would take over. Commander Red only used him and his abilities to get ahead. But Dr. Gero had his own agenda. Nothing short of world domination. But as long as Blue and Silver and Black were around, and we were, he couldn't do anything. That's why things were kept so secret. By the time most of the Army was disbanded, Gero had disappeared," said Polly softly.

"So nobody knows if he's alive or dead?"

"There were other rumors that his own machines had killed him, or hurt him. And that the Dr. Gero we would sometimes see was himself an android. Or a cyborg that he'd experimented on himself," said Polly in a horrified grimace.

"You need to tell me ALL you know," said Bulma firmly. "The future of the world could depend on it!"

"But how do YOU know they even exist?"

"Because I… there's someone who comes from a time where the Androids destroy humanity and do take over the world. And there's nothing anyone could do to stop them," said Bulma angrily.

"That's… insane!" Polly blinked at her.

"So's letting things happen if these Androids are out there! Why do you think I need the armor? Because Earth's Special Forces are training to stop them when they do come out!" said Bulma.

"Then if you DO know, why not destroy them?"

"Because Vegeta will kill me if I do," Bulma said lamely.

"It's Vegeta. He's the… father?" asked Polly quietly, as Bulma touched her belly. Pressing her eyes closed Bulma nodded.

"And he's one of those… Earth Special forces. That I hear rumors and people talk about?" asked Polly. Bulma again nodded, regarding Polly with tear filled eyes. Somehow the release of telling someone else had untied the knot forming in Bulma's stomach a bit. Someone else knew of the possible holocaust to come, and had shared that pure private hell with her.

"Yamcha belongs to them, and so do your other guests I see? The bald guy and the really nice guy with the orange suit who has a huge appetite, and the dirty old man who grabs people's butts?" Polly laughed.

"You know a hell of a lot about my friends," Bulma mumbled, flushing pink.

"We're employees of Capsule, and we know but we don't tell. When we were hired we were told to expect weird things to happen," Polly chuckled. "The last time the GR blew up, we just cleaned up the mess. And there was talk of that guy named Vegeta staying at the house. And the dimensions of the plastic for the armor you wanted made… fit the dimensions of the armor I… um…"

"Made. Don't you see that what you once did to destroy will save lives?" Bulma asked, grabbing Polly's hands in her own. Manicured fingernails threaded together and Polly stared at Bulma in wonder.

"So, that's why you're being nice to me?" asked Polly.

"That, and the fact that we have to stick together," said Bulma with a shaky smile. She leaned over and wrapped Polly in an awkward hug, as if to show her understanding and fear that was mutually shared. Polly accepted the hug, rubbing Bulma's back and resting her face in her boss's shoulder. Suddenly they were not employer and employee but two frightened women who feared the future of their world. They felt only an ounce of power to stop something that loomed like a dark shroud on the planet's future. Only a small candlelight in the darkness, but enough to illuminate a pool of hope.

"So, now what?" asked Polly.

"I'm not sure how or what to tell my parents still," she murmured.

"We'll think of something, don't worry. But I'd think you'd want to tell them or someone now because you're going to have a baby depending on you, and its future isn't certain," said Polly.

"Yes, that's what makes it worse. I have to find some way of letting them know, but I'm still terrified," said Bulma quietly.

"No matter what they think, you can count on me," Polly nodded. Bulma rested her head against Polly's shoulder and the other woman draped her strong arm around Bulma's shoulders. They derived comfort in that second, one already a mother the other a mother to be. Deeply Bulma inhaled, and then let out her tension in a sigh.

"I know you're scared, Bulma. I'm terrified too. But all I can think about right now is my daughter Curie. And how in the hell am I going to protect her," said Polly. "I'm more scared for her then for me."

"But we have to DO something," Bulma said with a frown. "I can't... your child... we have to DO something!"

"Exactly. But what are you going to do? Hide in fear and try and hide you're having a baby? Or stop worrying about what people will think and worry about that son or daughter and if they'll have a world to live in?" Polly asked.

"You... you're right," Bulma suddenly realized. Tears swarmed over her eyes, and she felt anger. Even though the baby was far too small for her to feel yet, the thought of just sitting helplessly just became unacceptable.

"I think vacation's over. My source says that three years will happen before the Androids first come out of hiding. And already it's been one and a half. So it's high time Capsule did something to prepare," said Bulma angrily. She straightened up, and Polly said the sparkle of outrage present. This was the boss she knew so well, who did not take no for an answer. Somehow it was reassuring, giving Polly the resolve to stop being terrified and start thinking of how to stop an unseen force.

"I guess it's asking too much to know how you know this," said Polly, buttoning her sweater. "Maybe if you told me how you knew what you did, then we can think of what both of us can do, to protect our children. How we can help each other."

"Well, I'll tell you, but it's a crazy story," Bulma said. She began to share the events of the mysterious lavender haired youth as Polly and she watched the ocean crashing and surging on the private beach. As they spent more time together, Bulma knew she had an ally. Somehow telling her parents and friends might be easier with Polly's advice.