Counterpart to Evil
Chapter Three
Fear
There was something seriously flawed in Cell.
Gero could see it almost from the very first day. Seven months had passed exactly from
the day when "Cell" was born. And no matter what Gero tried, no matter what he did, no matter
what kind of technique or experiment he used, the flaw remained. Oh, it wasn't a mechanical
flaw. No, the creature was strong and quick to learn despite his humanlike appearance. He'd
picked up on every single one of the Z warriors fighting skills in what appeared to be mere
moments. He was quick, and whenever Gero had him work in the fighting simulator he had
built, he always came out without so much as a scratch. True, "Cell" was not perfect in his
strength, far from it in fact. He was hardly strong enough to rival one of the weaker human
warriors, let alone a Saiyan. The bio-warrior used his wits more often than his brute strength. He
concentrated on the psychic moves acquired from Tenshihan and Chout'zu and grew very adept
with telekinesis. A little more practice and "Cell's" mental powers would be unbeatable.
And yet......it was in this exact same mind that the gravest of flaws had occurred. The
creature...would...not...hurt...anything! Time and time again Gero had tried to get him to kill.
The mad doctor brought in frightened civilians off the streets, and told his creation to kill, to
maim, to destroy. The boy never said a word. He just focused his eyes silently on the ground.
So then Gero would be.... "forced" to demonstrate murder. Still, the boy would say nothing,
even when the blood of Gero's victims sprayed onto his face, into his hair. Afterwards, "Cell"
would glare with an extreme look of sorrow in his eyes as Gero forced him to clean up all the
blood.
After about the fifth or sixth time, the boy finally asked a question. "Why should I kill
them? What did they do to me OR to you?"
Gero had remained calm. For his answer, the next day "Cell" was forced to watch film
after film of war, rape, murder, child abuse, assassination; anything the human race did that was
despicable, evil, or cruel Gero showed to his creature. The films were replayed for three days
continuously, until at last the poor boy couldn't take it anymore and squeezed his eyes shut,
whimpering "Please stop. I understand now."
Gero had stopped, confident that his little film festival had cured the boy of any
hesitations about killing. It hadn't. Now the boy began begging Gero to free the people he
brought down to demonstrate with. Gero was disgusted. This abomination was an experiment
gone wrong. He had to get rid of it!! He hated the wretched thing! Why, oh why had he let it
live in the first place?!
There was only one thing that kept the evil scientist from disposing of the creature (well,
aside from the fear of his power.) Sometimes, behind all the sorrow and pain that those green
eyes held, Gero could see anger. A deep burning anger, spiraling into hatred. Even if it was
directed at himself, Gero knew that that type of emotion could be used if released and harnessed.
He just had to bring it out, and teach the creature to use his anger and hatred instead of his
softness and compassion.
That's when the torturing started. Every day Gero would do something to torment the
gentle being's body and spirit. He began killing children, forcing "Cell" to listen to their
screams. He would tell "Cell" how no one cared about him, how he was a monster, evil,
gruesome. No one would ever love him or protect him. He was alone. So why not get revenge
on them all? Pay them back?
The anger in the boy's eyes grew, yet he seemed to be consciously suppressing it. He
never attacked his demented creator; it seemed that if he did it would upset the extreme control
it took to keep his hatred in check.
It was night time now. A month of tormenting and still no reaction. Gero was fed up.
The next day, he was going to destroy the mistake that had been born.
Little did he know, that that night, everything was about to change.....
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A/N: Okay, I know that was a really short chapter. The next one will be much longer, and guess what? "Cell" gets a name!! Yes, that's right. No more "Cell" in quotation marks. Major events occur in Chapter four.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed!
