| Communication Breakdown Chapter 17 |
| Author: Valeyard Rating: R Disclaimer: She doesn't own, so don't even bother. |
| Suno sadly, stared out a frosted window pane, that looked out on her frozen world, outside. It was a frozen world that made up most of her life. She sighed despondently, dreaming of warmer climes and the people who might live there. People so far removed from her isolated mountain village, she couldn't even imagine them. She thought of all the places she might never see. Most of all, she thought about Son Goku. Suno closed her eyes, breathing out another sigh, seeing the face of that eternally happy child, once again, in her mind. She slowly walked away from the window, shaking her head sadly. 'What is it? What's bothering me?' Suno thought somberly. 'I haven't seen Goku, since I was a child. Why does his memory plague me, today?' Suno rubbed her forehead in a vain attempt to exercise Goku from her thoughts. 'He's long forgotten me. Why can't I forget that strange boy with a tail? And why today of all days is he preying on my thoughts, so heavily?' 'What is he doing now? Is he married? Does he have children?' She screwed her eyes shut, trying to shut out his memory, but it was no use. 'Does he ever think of me?' She thought in defeat. There were no answers to any of her questions. She only knew she never met another boy like him, and she supposed she never would. Somehow, she managed to keep this secret locked in her heart of hearts, away from everyone, even her husband. She knew she loved her husband more than her own life. Yet, she couldn't help wondering, what might have been. That was a guilt, she would always bear. A guilt, she swore she would, forever, conceal from her husband, the man she loved. "What a matter, honey?" Her husband walked into the room. He moved in close. Suno leaned into him affectionately, taking in the smell and warmth of his skin. She always loved that about him. "I was just thinking how I've never seen anything beyond our own village." She sighed audibly. "Or maybe about your birthday party tonight?" He teased good naturedly. "As if you could forget. The whole village will be there." Suno turned, smirking at him, wryly. "I thought it was supposed to be a surprise party." Her husband smiled mischievously. She caught the twinkle in his eye. "Oh, it will be a surprise all right." He said, as if bursting with the secret of the ages. She leaned in, tugging on his shirt. "Just what are you up to?" She smiled warily. Her husband smiled knowingly in return. "Tonight! Not a hint until then." He kissed her on top of the head and left her to her own thoughts. Vegeta's mind raced ahead of time and space, as he ducked and dodged artificial human, No. 19's attacks, all too easily. Permutations flowed through Vegeta's mind, in time with the flood of memories. Each remembrance of battle, served his body in fine-tuned instinctual reaction, and even finer tuned blood lust. It was an enjoyable battle to be sure. Vegeta reveled in every nuance, every block, every reaction, his well-trained body supplied him. Battle is what Vegeta lived for, bad and good. Victory, however, was the cant of his warrior's heart. Piccolo could only watch in begrudging respect as Vegeta reduced No. 19 to complete rubble. He had battled the artificial human himself. Piccolo had a real time of it, as he was fighting artificial human, No. 20, as well. It was hard watching the levels of power the Saiya-jin could reach. These were levels of power, Piccolo knew, he could never hope to attain. Vegeta stood, arrogantly, over the remains of No. 19. Piccolo tore himself away, filled with anguish, as he looked upon the ailing Goku. The expression on Gohan's face, hurt Piccolo deeply. There was nothing Piccolo could do to ease Gohan's grief. Piccolo gnashed his teeth in agonized frustration. Son Goku was dying, and there was nothing anyone could do. In his delirium Goku curled a finger around a lock of Gohan's hair, looking more childlike than his youthful son. Goku blinked, looking at Gohan, as if searching for some small sign of comfort. "Where's Chi Chi?" "Tousan." Gohan croaked out painfully. "Please, just hold on." Gohan desperately clutched his father's hand. Tears fell freely from Gohan's eyes. He squeezed his eyes against the pain, clenching his free hand, as if that could shield him from his own despair. Trunks approached, bringing a vial out of his jacket, anguish, clearly written, on his face. "You brought more medicine!" Piccolo said joyfully as if there was still hope. "Perhaps it's not too late to help him!" "More medicine?" Trunks said perplexed. "This is the first time I brought medicine!" Piccolo backed up in shock, watching Trunks pour the vial into the protesting Goku's mouth. "The first time? What the hell does this mean?" Vegeta's voice was low but resonant as he approached, "Can't you figure it out, Namek? This isn't the Trunks that brought the medicine the last time. That young man is dead. This is someone else." Piccolo stared at Trunks like an alien from out of time. "What does this all mean?" "It means that fucking time machine has created a paradox." Vegeta replied, looking down at Son Goku, with an unreadable expression. Vegeta's expression was suddenly filled with bereaved rage. Piccolo wondered what angered Vegeta more--that Goku was dying, or that Vegeta wasn't the one who killed him. Vegeta turned away from Goku, shaking an accusing fist at Trunks. "Every time, you use that fucking thing you change things, and in so doing create another time line. Each time line with its own course of events and each with its own set of people." Trunks looked up in shock. "You're right. Goku died in my time line. All of you died. You're all alive in this one. Mother created the time machine to set things right." Trunks looked down at Goku, despondently. "But, it only seems to have created multiple time lines, each with their own problems. I have got to set things right and return to my time. Then I have to destroy that thing." Vegeta looked bitterly at Trunks, making it clear, nothing he said could excuse the crime of the present course of events. He then turned to look, at Son Goku. Vegeta suddenly turned back to Trunks violently shaking a fist at him in fury. "This is your idea of saving him? Three years I wasted, training to defeat him, only to have you fuck it all up and kill him! You killed him. You and that fucking time machine!" Piccolo grimaced distastefully at Vegeta, as he kneeled beside Goku. "Will he be all right?" Piccolo said to Trunks. "We are going to need him." Trunks shook his head. "I don't know! None of this happened in my time line. It wasn't supposed to happen. If Goku hadn't been fighting, if he had taken the medicine in time." "But he took the medicine already!" Gohan cried out, desperately. "Why isn't he getting better?" "I don't know!" Trunks said just as desperately. "Maybe, because he took it too late. Maybe because he didn't have enough time to recuperate. I just don't know." However, Piccolo was convinced he did know. "Do you hear that Vegeta?" Piccolo ground his teeth in fury, as he screamed at him. "You want to pass the blame off to Trunks, but you have no one else to blame but you!" Piccolo shook a clawed fist at Vegeta. "If you had just told us the truth, instead of bullshitting us with your stupid, fucking pride, there would have been no fight, and Goku wouldn't be laying here right now. Trunks didn't kill him. You killed him, you selfish, mother fucker!" Vegeta didn't answer. He turned away, crossing his arms, standing with his back to them, looking as resolute as a man made out of stone. "No!" Goku rasped out, in a sudden bout of cognizance. Goku reached up to take Gohan by the shoulder. "Not, Vegeta's fault. I wanted the fight just as bad. I'm just as much to blame." Goku looked at Gohan, smiling. He ran his fingers, lovingly, through Gohan's hair. Goku's smile turned a little sad. "Gohan, tell your mother, I love her, and I'm sorry. I should have been a better husband to her, and to you a better father." With that Goku's eyes rolled up into his head. He sighed slightly, as if happy to lay down the burden of a warrior heart, and finally, breathed his last. "No!" Gohan screamed and screamed, beating the ground over and over in time with his grief inspired rage. Gohan's grief flung him into realms of power for which his youth was not ready. The rage of the Saiya-jin, however, could not be denied, as the Super Saiya-jin inside of him was born. Gohan rose, with a hard look on his face that marred his youthful innocense. Everyone was too stunned and grief stricken to say anything. Vegeta stood there, in stunned speechlessness before Gohan's wrath, to Piccolo's complete amazement. Gohan turned to look at Vegeta. Gohan raised his fists, a shimmering, feral light in his eyes. Vegeta actually backed up a step, but said nothing. He only stared at Gohan, completely astonished into silence. Piccolo could have sworn he saw something glint in Vegeta's eye. It might have been a tear. Piccolo couldn't be sure, as it could have been a splash of light thrown off by Gohan's fury. Vegeta was so paralyzed by Gohan's sudden ascendence, Piccolo wasn't sure he would defend himself if Gohan attacked. He never found out. Without a single word, Gohan flew away. Piccolo watched him, but made no move to follow. Piccolo knew, even for a child, there was a time to become a man. Gohan would now have to learn to face that time, alone. Vegeta watched Gohan fly away, a Delphic expression written all over his face. He turned to look, again, at the body of his, now fallen, rival. Bitter grief could be seen in his eyes as he looked upon the dead, which made Vegeta, quite literally the last of the full blooded, Saiya-jin. Vegeta clenched his fist, turning to take his fury out on No. 20. Android 20 was long gone to Vegeta's clear frustration. "No! Oh no!" Vegeta screamed out the rage that no word, human or Saiya-jin, could express. It was something in the Saiya-jin nature that could not be denied as Trunks took up the cry that burned in his blood, as well. Both threw their heads back, raising their faces to the sky in one long cacophony, filled with their blood borne rage. The chorus stopped, suddenly as Vegeta clutched his head, as if in pain. He looked around, confusion clearly written on his face. Accusing eyes quickly darted between Trunks and Piccolo as if they were the source of some sudden attack. Vegeta jerked his head up, as if the sky was raining down the voices of his derision. "Woman?" Piccolo stared at Vegeta, as if sure he had finally gone mad. "What the fuck is this?" Vegeta cried out loud, looking around him in utter bewilderment. "Get the fuck out of my head!" "Have you finally lost your mind completely?" Piccolo demanded of him, angrily. "Who the fuck are you talking to, Vegeta?" "No, quiet!" Trunks commanded. "I don't know how, but I can hear it too! Someone is talking to him!" 'Wha? Cells from my body?' Vegeta continued, undeterred by the debate around him. "What are you talking about?" Trunks watched as Vegeta's crossed his arm. Vegeta's expression hardened to one of deadly seriousness. "Do you have something to say?" Vegeta turned his back on everyone as if that could shield himself from being overheard. "Go fuck yourself." "If you want to fight me again, then come to me." Vegeta said into the very air, a twist of contempt for his unseen attacker. "But you can hardly prove your perfection while hiding behind my woman." "Your woman?" Piccolo said in alarm. "Vegeta who the hell are you talking to? What the hell is going on?" "Quiet!" Trunks commanded, as he took on the same glassy stare as his father. Vegeta suddenly recoiled in pain, righting himself as if shocked that he would make a display in front of others. Vegeta turned to face Piccolo and Trunks. Piccolo could only stare at Vegeta, mouth agape. Vegeta's eyes glinted with lethal determination. "If anyone follows me, I'll kill them." Deadly meaning resonated in his words. Then, he flew away without another word. Piccolo watched Vegeta fly away, his fists shaking in confusion and anger. He turned to the only person left for answers. "What the hell is he talking about?" Piccolo screamed at Trunks in frustration. "Where is he going?" Trunks still had a glassy stare in his eyes. The rest of his face, however, was creased with pain and confusion. Trunks looked down, staring in shock at the trembling hand, he could not still. "That thing that we fought." Trunks looked into the empty skies that swallowed his father only moments before. "That thing in the volcano. It has my mother! It's using her to bait a trap for my, er Vegeta." "You don't have to play games, I know Vegeta is your father." Piccolo said in a low voice. Trunks looked at Piccolo surprised, but continued on as if he said nothing. "He's going to his death and he knows it." "I can't believe Vegeta would sacrifice himself for anyone." Piccolo spat distastefully. "No, you don't understand." Trunks cried out. "My father would go whether my mother was in danger or not! His pride!" Trunks planted his legs apart, raising his arms as if he would take Piccolo on himself. Trunks had the posture of a warrior, but his face spoke only of the woe that laid far too heavily on his youthful features. "That thing got away. My father is not going to forget that. He wants another fight, regardless. My mother's in terrible danger!" Piccolo looked into the skies, shaking his head sadly. "Do what you can." Piccolo replied stonily. "But heed Vegeta's words. He is not above killing his own son for getting in his way, no matter his motives." "Aren't you coming?" Trunks looked at him slightly stunned. Piccolo's face creased with grief as he looked at the body of his fallen, former worst enemy. "I will be along soon. I have a duty to perform." Piccolo knelt carefully beside Goku's body, lifting him gently as if afraid of waking an innocently, sleeping child. Grief-stricken anger deepened in his Namekian features. Trunks wondered, for a moment, if Nameks could cry. Piccolo looked down at the cradled Goku, looking up at Trunks. There were no tears to be seen, only grief. "I have to take him home to his wife." Piccolo said gravely. "She has to know, he's gone." Piccolo turned, flying away with Goku's body in his arms. Trunks watched him go, wondering after him, for a moment, as the same skies that engulfed his father, now engulfed Piccolo. He sadly looked down, concentrating with all his abilities, searching for a warrior's ki. The ki, he knew had to be his father. Trunks flew off in the same direction where he felt his ki, abandoning himself to the very same skies. "Just what do you think you're going to accomplish?" Bulma demanded of her silent captor. Bulma dearly wished she could kick the monster that held her in a vicelike grip. The jabbing point in her throat made her think better of such an attempt. With the point of his spine like tail in her throat, struggling could literally risk her life. All she could do was protest, which she did regardless of the danger. "Do you think to blackmail Vegeta with me?" Bulma spat at Cell angrily. "I have news for you. Vegeta fights for no one, but himself." Cell didn't seem to hear. For the last half hour, he had stood motionless, eyes closed, waiting for Vegeta. No, word, no sign, no struggle, from her seemed to have the slightest effect on her monstrous captor. Bulma's hopelessness grew with her desperate rage. She had to somehow protect the man she loved, and prevent whatever designs, Cell had for him. Somehow, she must! She was about to finally give in to her frustration, and kick Cell regardless of the harm to her, when he finally opened his eyes and spoke. "I would have believed your words, a couple of hours ago, until I saw inside your mind." Cell replied calmly. "He was willing to kill the whole world for you. He will do what I want." With that, Cell closed his eyes. "Willing to kill, yes!" Bulma screamed in her growing despair. "Do what anyone says? That's different!" "We shall see." Cell replied without opening his eyes, and left Bulma to hang helplessly with the spike of his tail in her neck. "So!" Bulma heard Vegeta's voice, fighting against her desire to turn her head and see him. She knew she did not dare move, as it would probably rip her throat open against the spike in Cell's tail. She forced her head to keep as still as possible, while managing to see Vegeta out of the corner of her eye. "So, this is the fearsome monster who hides behind women." Vegeta said derisively. Vegeta made a mocking laugh that belied the situation. Bulma closed her eyes, pretending she could disappear. She couldn't help feeling ashamed that her foolishness had led Vegeta into this trap, wondered if Vegeta would hate her for such foolishness. "You wanted me, so here I am." Vegeta continued. "But, if you think holding her will save you, then you know very little about the Saiya-jin. Our women would gladly die in battle and the aliens we choose for mates can expect little more." Bulma gasped trying to feel something from Vegeta, she could believe. His mind was completely closed to her. Against the yearning in her soul, Bulma knew, Vegeta had to be closed. If he gave her any sign or feeling through the bond, Cell would know. Vegeta was in parley with the enemy. Weaknesses like feelings, were something, Vegeta could not afford to show. "Don't try to bullshit me, Vegeta." Cell's voice was thick with contempt. "I saw, very clearly, how you feel about this one, when you didn't know I was there. Plus, I felt your anguish when you found out I had her. You care. Your pride may prevent you from doing anything about it, but you care. You can't lie to me." Vegeta lowered his head, as if admitting a small defeat. He closed his eyes. A curt, bitter smile ran, momentarily, across his face. Bulma gasped, watching Vegeta's body coil around the core of his power. She wondered for a moment if he really was a man, or as he appeared now. An animal had leapt inside him. Everything about him reflected that dark predator, crouching in the seething madness of his eyes. Leaping from storm laden pits of hell, his eyes were receptacles that Bulma had seen hold so many things. Yet, as he looked up dangerously at Cell, all she saw in those eyes, was a wanton hunger for destruction. "I'm not lying, Cell." Vegeta voice was low, but deadly. "I'm going to annihilate you, whether you hold my woman, or not." Cell laughed, holding up an arm casually. "But I'm offering you a deal, Vegeta!" Cell's voice lowered to a wicked rasp. "Believe me. It's a deal where we both benefit." Vegeta stood there, arms crossed, looking between Cell and Bulma, then huffed impatiently. "Go on." Vegeta said simply. Bulma tried hard not to cry in front of Vegeta. She knew, he was being strong and she wanted to be strong for him. Sobs wracked her chest, no matter how hard she fought against them. "Simply this." Cell hissed. "I need to absorb two artificial humans to attain my perfect form. You assist me in getting to the lab before Dr. Gero can set them loose, and stay out of my way, while I become my perfect form. In return, I will release her unharmed." Cell said the next in very sinister tones. "Then I promise you the fight you have dreamed of. A battle with the ultimate warrior! I know it sets your Saiya-jin blood on fire, even thinking about it." Vegeta was silent for a moment. "It seems you understand the Saiya-jin race, well." Vegeta said slowly. "A battle with your perfect form." "You are a fool, Cell!" Vegeta suddenly exploded in fury. "I would have allowed that without bringing the woman into this! You claim to have Saiya-jin cells, yet know nothing of their desire for battle. Release her at once, and attain your perfect form, or I will annihilate you now!" Cell clutched Bulma tighter. She began to gag on the spike. She saw Vegeta out of the corner of her eye. He was gritting his teeth at Cell's deliberate torture of her. The rage in his eyes was on the brink of madness. It made Bulma afraid. She had felt him through the bond, earlier. The madness, which almost drove him to destroy them all, wasn't gone. He simply held it in reserve, using it to fuel his power. That madness she witnessed, wasn't temporary. He lived with it all the time, drowning it under equal measures of despair. "And never know what battle could truly be?" Cell inflicted as much pain as he could into the words. "I know that Son Goku is dead." "WHAT!" Bulma screamed, gagging again on the spike. Bulma slumped in hopelessness, weakly crying. Son kun dead? What hope did the world have now? "Your dreams of defeating him in battle, gone forever." Cell took joy in inflicting more pain to Vegeta's ego. "What a pity." "Go fuck yourself!" Vegeta screamed. "What was that?" Cell said as he put Bulma in a stranglehold. "I couldn't hear you." Vegeta was silent, but his eyes bore a smoldering hate. "As I said, your dreams of fighting Goku, gone forever. That is where I can help you, Vegeta." "You must think I'm stupid." Vegeta huffed derisively. "I know you can't bring back the dead that died of a sickness, and even the dragonballs cannot bring back someone who has already been wished back by them once. There's no way to bring Kakarotto back." "Except, Son Goku is still alive, inside me." Cell smiled cruelly, turning to look fully at Vegeta. Vegeta backed up a step, stunned. "Speechless, Vegeta?" Cell laughed. "When Dr. Gero created me, he used your cells, Furiza's cells, Piccolo's cells, and Son Goku's cells. Son Goku is still alive inside me. Kill me now, and you will never know the joy you have dreamed of, in the ultimate battle against Son, Goku." Rage exploded inside Bulma. Cell was cruelly preying upon Vegeta's most vulnerable point--his pride and his need to prove he was the greatest in battle. "You fucking bastard, Cell!" Bulma's voice was a strangled scream. "Stop fucking with him this way. Leave him alone!" "Stay out of this woman!" Vegeta barked at her. "This is battle! It's none of your affair! You just stay still, and keep quiet!" Bulma was stunned at his anger. It took the last fight out of her. She hung limply in Cell's arms, quietly crying. "All right." Vegeta said. "You've convinced me. I help you, then you release the woman and battle me." "Done!" Cell replied, walking away toward the north. Cell turned to look back at Vegeta. "This way!" He commanded, and flew off. This was the worst thing Piccolo had ever had to do. He dreaded facing Chi Chi on a normal day, but telling her Goku was dead? Piccolo sighed heavily as he landed on the lawn, in front of the Son hut. Piccolo walked up to the door, carrying Son Goku in his arms. He heard crying from inside and knew Gohan must have returned home and already broke the news. Piccolo sighed, a little, in relief. At least he didn't have to be the bearer of this, worst of all, news. Piccolo prodded the door with his toe, walking inside, carrying Goku's body in his arms. Chi Chi screamed when she saw Goku's battered appearance. She ran up, crying hysterically. She grabbed Son Goku's neck, hanging onto him, weeping uncontrollably. Piccolo gently laid hin on the floor. Chi Chi, refused to let go, practically laying on top of him, as she sobbed upon his, now still, chest. "Damn you, Goku, damn you!" She screamed. "I told you, you weren't well enough to get out of bed. Didn't I tell you? You never listen to me!" Chi Chi's voice rose to shrill hysteria. Piccolo stared at her, not sure of what to do. He truly feared, losing Goku, had driven her out of her mind. "Look, Goku." Chi Chi pulled at his clothes. "Look at the blood on your clothes." Chi Chi, looked up at Piccolo who stood there too stunned at her behavior to say anything. "This is your fault Piccolo! You and all your delinquents, always getting my Goku into fights and all. Now, his clothes are all dirty, again." Chi Chi, looked down as she continued to admonish Goku. "Take this off immediately Goku, and I will get it cleaned up. Then you will be hungry, I know." She nudged Goku as if he would respond. "I said take it off! Do I have to do everything for you? Take this shirt off!" Chi Chi started to pull the shirt off Goku. Piccolo could bear no more. He reached down, grabbing Chi Chi, pulling her up to him. Chi Chi screeched, protesting against Piccolo pulling her away from Goku's body. "Stop it!" Piccolo screamed at her as loud as he could. "He's gone, Chi Chi! You have to face it. He's gone!" Chi Chi sobbed, hitting at Piccolo in complete abandon, between screams he was a delinquent. Piccolo stood there, as Chi Chi hit him, perplexed as to what to do. As suddenly as she started, she stopped, sagging against him, sobbing into one of his arms. Piccolo didn't even know he had done it, until he had, but he put his arms around her, letting her cry. There was simply nothing else, Piccolo could think to do. Piccolo was far more concerned with the way Gohan was reacting to Goku's loss. Despite his mother's complete hysteria, Gohan, by contrast, looked far too calm, for Piccolo's comfort. Piccolo looked at Gohan in concern. What met his eyes, caused him great alarm. Gohan didn't have a tear in his eye. The innocent boy he knew, was no longer there. In his place stood a child warrior, hard as flint--a look of pure hatred seething in his eyes. Gohan moved toward the door, as if no one else existed. He was no longer a child, but a warrior clad in fixated hate. This was something, Piccolo knew, he could not let Gohan do. Piccolo deposited Gohan's crying mother on the couch, walking over quickly, grabbing Gohan firmly by the shoulder. "Gohan! I've seen that look, before, in other people's eyes, but never yours." Piccolo said gravely. "What do you intend to do?" Gohan's voice was as hard the glint in his eyes. "He killed my father." The calm, even way, Gohan said it made Piccolo truly afraid. This was not the sound of grief. This was the sound of remorseless retribution. "If you mean, Vegeta, Gohan, no he didn't. If you want to blame anyone, then blame me. I'm just as much to blame." Gohan turned his face upward at Piccolo in confusion. A little of the innocence, Piccolo loved about the child, returned to Gohan's eyes. "But you said!" "I know what I said." Piccolo tried not to look ashamed. "But, what I said was in anger and grief. The truth is your father was right, he was just as much to blame, and I even more to blame. It's true. We came looking for that fight, Gohan. Vegeta just answered it." Piccolo looked down, contemplating the last few hours, "We couldn't have expected more from Vegeta. Damn him! His way of thinking about it, telling us the truth, would be like admitting he was afraid to fight us. For Vegeta, there would have been no option, but to lie. His pride would have allowed nothing less." Piccolo looked on Gohan steadfastly, shaking his head. "Vegeta's not to blame for this Gohan, at least, not entirely to blame. I share the blame just as much, and believe me, that is a pain, I will have to bear the rest of my life. Let it go. Don't consume your life on hate and revenge like my father did his life. It will destroy you, like it destroyed him. If you love your father, and honor his memory, don't become what your father fought so hard to defeat." Piccolo gripped Gohan's shoulder harder. "You are the son of Son Goku. A man who has fought to defend Earth, and always showed mercy even to those who didn't deserve it. Ones like me. Even, in his last words, he tried to forgive and ask forgiveness. Goku never acted out of revenge. Live up to that legacy, Gohan. Forgive, even as he forgave. It's a legacy you can be proud of." Gohan looked down for a second. Piccolo heard a heavy sob. It was a sound, despite his sorrow, Piccolo was glad to hear. He knew it was important for Gohan to grieve. "Gohan." Piccolo said simply, and nothing more. Piccolo simply stood by Gohan, letting him cry, knowing it was the best thing for him in the slow, painful process of letting his father go. Artificial Human, No. 20, knew he caught a lucky break when Vegeta set his sights on No. 19. He caught an even luckier break when Son Goku, died. No. 20, not only accomplished the revenge of the Red Ribbon Army, but a chance to get away. However, that's where his luck ran out. He felt a sweat drop slide down his forehead contemplating his grave errors. He had greatly miscalculated the strength of the Saiya-jin. Son Goku was not felled by his superior strength as he had predicted. Son Goku seemed to fall ill. This lay on No 20 with a double portion of frustrated rage. He realized, despite all his calculations, both he and No. 19 would have lost, had not random chance intervened on their behalf. He wanted to scream in his frustration, though he did not dare. Vegeta was looking for him. Yet, random chance had won the day, and not his genius, inspired calculations. It was intolerable! Random chance was something that could not be foreseen or computed. Now, another random chance had sent his perfect computations awry. Vegeta was not supposed to have this kind of power. For all his perfect computations, he knew without awakening the untrustworthy and unstable No. 17 and No. 18, he had no chance against Vegeta, at all. It was almost more than he could bear! Despite, wiping their memories, the artificial humans still seemed to retain a curious hatred for him. The reason, totally mystified No 20. They seemed to have an illogical desire for their own free will, which is why No. 20 shut them down, in the first place. No. 20 couldn't afford to fly, knowing Vegeta would sense his power level. So, he ran, between the rocks and gullies, flattening himself against the fortress of rock, at any sound that might spell his doom by the hand of Vegeta. So far, there had been no sign of anyone. No. 20 felt his luck might of returned. All such hopes were dashed at the sight that met him at the entrance of his laboratory. Vegeta was standing there, a sour, deadly expression on his face. Someone was standing beside him-someone No. 20 would have never expected. "How did you get out of your tank?" No. 20 demanded of Cell. "You were abandoned years ago, as the computers said it would take more than 20 years for you to develop. It's impossible for you to be this far along. And who is this woman you are holding?" "And for being abandoned, I should kill you, where you stand." Cell replied coldly. "How I happen to be here, is none of your affair. Suffice it to say I am here, and I am allowing you to live for now, if you do what I say." "Do what you say?" No. 20 erupted. "How dare you! You are my creation. You do what I tell you!" Cell moved faster than even Vegeta could follow, as he appeared in front of No. 20, shooting out an arm, taking No. 20 by the throat. No. 20's eyes bulged, as he gagged on Cell's grip. "You will do what I say, or I will squeeze your head off, right here!" Cell said all too calmly. No. 20, managed a nod and Cell relaxed his grip. "Pathetic that the human that used to be Dr. Gero, has now become his own creation." Cell said contemptuously. "Why did you go back to the energy sucking type of artificial human?" "What!" Vegeta looked between Cell and No. 20 in confusion. "This is Dr. Gero?" "Of course it is!" Cell smiled evilly. "You think this wizened abomination could be anything else?" "Your insults mean nothing to me!" The artificial human they now knew as Dr. Gero replied. "I am the ultimate in artificial humans. I am beyond all that." Vegeta laughed derisively. "If you were so ultimate, you would not have turn tailed and run, after I annihilated that grotesque clown you called No.19." "Enough!" Cell barked. Vegeta's face hardened at Cell's commandment. Cell turned to look at the iron door of the secret laboratory. "Let us in." He said simply. An ugly look crossed Dr. Gero's face, but he stepped forward, passing his palm over what looked like a simple cleft in the rock face. The door slid up, revealing the interior of his mountain laboratory. The unlikely party of Dr. Gero, Cell carrying Bulma, and Vegeta strode into the inner recesses of Dr. Gero's laboratory. Vegeta looked around the lab suspiciously, as if every shadow was alive with menace. Cell inspected the laboratory, unconcerned with Vegeta's suspicious and Dr. Gero's rage. He walked by some numbered bays, stopping in front of the ones numbered 17 and 18. "What do you think you are doing?" Dr. Gero thundered. "Don't you go near them. I have to activate them!" Cell never turned to look at Dr. Gero. "You created me to absorb them." "But I changed my mind about that!" Dr. Gero protested. "When I saw how long you would take to develop." "Well, as you can see," Cell replied, "I solved the time factor your limited intelligence could not solve." Dr. Gero gritted his teeth in anger at this disrespect of his 'brilliance.' He shook his fists angrily at Cell. "How dare you defy me at every turn!" Dr. Gero screamed. "Those are my creations, and I decide what happens to them." Cell turned and looked at Dr. Gero with a deadly, calm expression. "Must I give you another lesson on why you will obey me?" Cell put Bulma down on her feet. Bulma swayed as if too weak to stand. Vegeta gritted his teeth, in an effort to maintain his control. He knew he could not afford to betray weakness to either Cell or Dr. Gero. The woman, would just have to see to herself. "Take her." Cell ordered Dr. Gero. "What is this?" Vegeta screamed enraged. "You said you would let her go, if I did what you asked!" "I thought you didn't care, Vegeta." Cell twisted the words cruelly as he handed Bulma into the vice like grip of Dr. Gero. "I have let her go." Cell extended his arms to show they were empty. "As you can see, I am no longer holding her." Cell laughed contemptuously. "Fucking bastard!" Vegeta exploded into the rages of a Super Saiya-jin, coiling himself in, preparing to launch against Cell. "Uh uh!" Cell held up a finger, clearly showing he enjoyed cruelly toying with Vegeta. "I would like you to see something." Cell turned to Dr. Gero, who was holding Bulma by the throat. "Would you please show Vegeta, how you make an artificial human?" Dr. Gero, smiled cruelly as he turned to a computer monitor. "I would be delighted." He replied as he flipped a switch. On the screen Vegeta could see a pretty, but obviously terrified, blonde woman, trapped inside what looked like a giant test tube. Very wicked armatures, brandishing very cruel looking instruments, were inside the tube. The pretty blonde woman screamed in terror, as she wildly sought some means of escape from her glass prison. Beside her, in another oversized test tube was a black hair boy, screaming and obviously in anguish for her. Cell turned to Vegeta. "This was No. 18, before her conversion, but after she was recruited." "You mean kidnaped!" Bulma screamed. Dr. Gero smiled cruelly. "Don't worry about this trash." Dr. Gero pointed at the monitor to mean the two on the screen. "Just a couple of punks I saw at a thrash pit on the wrong side of Western Town. Kids like that are a dime a dozen. No one ever goes looking for them." "You unfeeling bastard!" Bulma spat. "And this," Dr. Gero continued coldly, ignoring Bulma's outrage, "is how you make an artificial human." On the screen, Vegeta could see an armature lash out, grabbing the girl by the throat, pinning her so she couldn't fight. The boy beat against his glass tube. Blood could be seen on his hands and on the sides of the tube, as he struggled, helplessly, to smash the glass, in his desperate agony to help her. As the girl, pathetically struggled against the armature that pinned her, an armature with a hypodermic, came out injecting something into her throat. She screamed, arching painfully against the needle in her throat. After a few moments, all struggle died away, as she became very still. Vegeta thought himself too cold to be appalled, but he blanched, as he watched the light in this pretty girls, eyes go out. He firmly suppressed a shudder, forcing himself not to think about such a crime being done to the light in Bulma's eyes. The pretty blonde's eyes took on the glassy look of someone dead. The boy in the next tube, screamed in grief. He curled up in his test tube crying, as an armature shot out to do the same process to him. "Make an artificial human?" Vegeta tried his best to come off unaffected. "That girl is dead. You think I don't know what dead eyes look like?" "Oh in a way, you are right, Vegeta." Dr. Gero replied coldly. "The woman she was, is dead. However, the artificial human she will become, is very much alive. Look in bay 18, and you will see, I am correct." Vegeta walked over warily, keeping an eye on Cell as he moved over to bay 18, peering inside. He tried not to grimace visibly at the sight. In the bay was the very woman he saw in the video on the computer. She stared ahead like a life size doll. There was no sign of life in her eyes at all. Vegeta huffed derisively. "So you have a preserved corpse in that bay. So what!" "Just that I can do the exact same thing to her, now!" With that Dr. Gero whipped out a hypodermic, from the desk behind him, holding it to Bulma's neck. Vegeta watched Bulma stiffen. She screwed her eyes shut. Vegeta knew she was afraid, and doing her best not to show it. Vegeta could not afford to make any sign to her. He dearly wished he could tell her, how pleased he was with her. Dr. Gero laughed heartlessly. "Brilliant is it? In this hypodermic, is a enough nano technology to wholly convert a human being into my creation. They attach themselves to the spinal column and essentially reprogram the entire body. Rewiring the nervous system, restructuring the brain, and then they spread out from there. Once injected, they cannot be removed. They multiply, until every cell in the body is replaced with a nano duplicate." "What is this?" Vegeta demanded, turning to Cell. "Do you hope to avoid battle? Are you this afraid to fight me?" "Oh no, Vegeta, I will not default on our battle, you can believe me." Cell said grandly. "But I can't absorb these two while holding your woman. I need insurance you will stay out of the way." "You think me weak? That I would have interfered, in anything that would keep me from the ultimate battle?" Vegeta screamed angrily. "Then for all your cells, you know nothing of the Saiya-jin! You are a fool, just as I said!" "A little insurance, Vegeta." Cell smirked, turning to walk to the bays. Cell opened the bays. Vegeta was surprised to see the two that looked dead, begin to move and walk out. Before they had the time to react, Cell brought his tail over No. 17, and Vegeta watched in revulsion as the tail opened up to engulf No. 17. No. 18, screamed, looking just as frightened as the woman he saw in the test tube. She fought struggling against Cell's grip, but it was to no avail. Before she could put up much of a fight, Cell did the same thing to her. The result, after absorbing both of them, was immediate. Vegeta suppressed a thrill of fear as he felt the power levels rise in Cell. Bits of metal and plaster clattered down from the ceiling as Cell became engulfed in a ball of energy that swirled around him in blue shocks of lightening. Bulma screamed, putting a hand up, shielding her eyes. Dr. Gero, drug her away, as he sought to shield himself from the chaos, unleashing in his laboratory. Vegeta just stood there, unaffected by the chaos, the lightening of Cell's energy, mirroring the same wanton energy in his own eyes. As suddenly as the storm engulfed the laboratory, it ceased, dying away with slight smell of burned flesh, and the slight sizzle of a half a dozen of Dr. Gero's experiments. Cell's stood there, examining his new form, contemplating his, more human looking face and his, now shortened, tail. "This is your perfect form?" Vegeta said snidely. "You are utterly revolting." Cell turned to look at Vegeta. His expression held deadly meaning. "Well, now Vegeta, you have kept your end of the bargain. I suppose it is time for me to keep mine." Cell laughed meaningfully. Before Vegeta had time to react, Cell shot out an arm, punching Vegeta, so hard he went flying right out of the door of the mountain laboratory. Bulma screamed as Vegeta shot out of the lab, making a crevice as he slid into a landing among the rocks below. Vegeta lay there for a moment, before painfully crawling out of the rubble, turning Super Saiya-jin as he did. Vegeta ascended to the second level, walking with determined steps back toward Cell, answering the attack. "Oh what a shame," Cell said contemptuously. "He survived. I suppose he will have to suffer some more before I kill him. His loss." With that, Cell walked out to meet Vegeta, who already had fists doubled, ready for the attack. Bulma turned to face her captor with a look of pure hate. "You bastards. You always planned on killing him." "Ironically, no." Dr. Gero replied casually. "Our plan was to kill Son Goku. That has been accomplished." "Son kun." Bulma breathed out, in grief. "It can't be true. You can't be dead. We need you." "I'm afraid it is, my dear." Dr. Gero twisted the words with as much cruelty as he could put into them. "Now, shall we see what we shall do with you?" "But," Bulma weakly protested. "Oh, you bastards, you never planned on keeping your word to Vegeta." "Oh, Vegeta is a foregone, conclusion." Dr. Gero laughed. "He is already a dead, and if not, he might as well be. He has no chance against Cell's perfect form." "Come with me, my dear." Dr. Gero walked away, and then looked over at Bulma as if he was surprised she wouldn't immediately obey his command. "If you think I'm just going to do what you say, you are a lot more stupid and ugly than you look." Bulma screamed defiantly. Dr. Gero, shrugged, walking over, grabbing her by the throat. He dragged her away, as she gagged, hit him, and protested. "Why are you, test subjects always so foolish?" Dr. Gero said as if his question truly mystified him. "None of this will save you." "Go fuck yourself." Bulma gagged out. Dr. Gero only laughed as he dragged her back into another room of the laboratory. "In a way, you are very fortunate, my dear. The other subjects all perished from cell rejection, but you are the perfect subject for this experiment. I am delighted to have found you." Dr. Gero dragged her over to a glass tube, laying horizontally, over some computer consoles. The consoles monitored the thing in the glass tube as they clicked and whirred, methodically ticking off readings. Bulma looked at the thing in the tube. It was brown, furry, and had all the aesthetic quality of a drowned snake. Bulma blanched as she looked into the tube. "What is that disgusting thing?" Dr. Gero laughed. "It's a good thing, Vegeta doesn't hear you say that. He might take offense." Dr. Gero put his face within of inch of Bulma's and smiled cruelly. "You see, that thing out there that Vegeta is dying against, is the culmination of some very intricate collecting." Dr. Gero held up a small mechanical looking bug for Bulma to see. "You see these. These are larger versions, very close to the kind of nano technology I use to convert people into artificial humans. Only these are extremely specialized. I have had these out spying on Son Goku, and those around for him, for years. Collecting data and at times, cells in form of blood shed during battles." Dr. Gero turned to look at the thing in the glass tube. "And then, in one battle, something was left behind that, for me, was the find of the ages." Dr. Gero turned to look at Bulma in cruel triumph. "He was losing against Son Goku, and so in desperation, he turned himself into a giant monster, but lost the form when someone cut this off." Dr. Gero laughed as he looked into the glass tube, smiling at the growing look of dismay and confusion on Bulma's face. Realization, suddenly caught Bulma like pain itself, as she stared into the tube horrified. "Vegeta's tail." She moaned in horror. |