I don't own DB or DC.

3 Years Later

Age 770

Silence could be deafening, and the middle of the desert was about as quiet as a place could get; Kara Zor-El suddenly didn't like the idea of silence as she felt like her super-hearing only worsened the ability to hear heartbeats and bodily fluids floating in her own body. Today was the day, the day she finally completed her training, the day she was finally ready to be a hero for this world. Trunks stood next to her with a determined fire in his eyes, today was his day more than it was hers; today was the day that it would be decided whether he should be allowed to go out into the field regularly. He had grown significantly, he was almost five-foot-eight now and wore a black tank top beneath a purple crop-top jacket, his mothers capsule corporation insignia emblazed on its sleeve. He pulled his sword from its strapped-sheath and held it at eye-level at their opponent standing a few dozen feet in front of them.

The desert was the perfect battle ground for their testing; the lack of civilian populace and standing structure made it ideal for avoiding casualties and demonic androids. Their opponent was the only man capable of accurately testing their abilities, today he wouldn't be their mentor, friend, or anything more; instead he'd be their opponent and he planned on holding nothing back.

"You two ready?" Gohan asked as he gripped the wrist of his new metallic prosthetic; his arm had been composed of the same material as Kara's ship, being capable of withstanding faster than light travel, reentry heat, and collisions with celestial objects like Moons and Planets; it was the perfect substance for a fighter of his caliber. Gohan was smart but, even he'd admit that he didn't fully understand the science behind its workings, however; he knew all he needed to know to use it properly in battle.

Trunks stepped forwards and tightened his jaw, his energy skyrocketed and a bright yellow hue enveloped his entire body as howling winds flew up around them. Kara took a step back and tried to avoid getting dirt in her shorter hair which she'd cut not too many months prior down to shoulder length; Gohan simply watched in awe as his once helpless pupil became almost as strong as his father was on Namek. His lavender locks flew up and sparkled with golden energy brighter than any star, as his aura finally died down it became a thin line of energy flowing around him at a consistent rate like flames billowing over his muscles.

Kara slipped into a fighting stance as her eyes shun crimson red, "I think we're ready!" She was outfitted in her pearl-white solar suit and ready for action.

"Don't think, know!"

Trunks was still quite new to becoming a Super Saiyan and the anger needed to use the form was usually enough to keep him quiet which was a good thing on the battle field, the ground beneath him shook but, Gohan didn't waver. He grabbed a near by pebble and held it in his organic hand feeling it's texture, "Remember to control that power, Trunks!" Gohan's own energy began to rise as sparks of golden Ki began zipping around him, his hair became a furious blonde and his muscles bulged significantly, however; the rock in his hand was completely unscathed. This was an example of proper Ki control; he lifted his arm and tossed the rock into the sky with moderate strength.

The three of them watched or listened for the rock making contact with the ground as their sign to begin the fight. Seconds went by which felt like hours to beings as fast as them but, soon enough they heard the contact of the rock hitting the sand not too far and with that they bolted. Kara and Trunks moved in at massively faster than sound, a sword swung down with the force of a planet but, not strong enough as Gohan used his new arm to catch it perfectly in-between his fingers. He slid his right foot back for support and dodged a haymaker from Kara who came at him in the same second; he took this opportunity to send an orb of golden Ki into her stomach propelling her back, digging her heels into the dirt.

Trunks tugged on his weapon and used Gohan's grip to pull himself in to stomp on his opponent's chest, pushing Gohan on to his back until he flipped back to his feet. Trunks flew forwards swinging and chopping at the air with accuracy that he'd learned from experience but, having the speed advantage, Gohan dipped and turned at every opportunity until he'd dodged all of his attacks. Kara used her super speed to run in and shoulder-tap the Saiyan man in the chest pushing him through a large rock pillar which collapsed on top of him. The smoke and rubble slowly fell as a golden burst of light flew into the air behind it, aiming down and launching a multitude of yellow Ki blasts at the ground. Trunks and Kara nodded to one another and charged upwards with mighty battle roars, Gohan knew the sword was his only real disadvantage aside from being out numbered so, he cleverly fired a beam of Ki from his finger tip and knocked his grip loose sending the sword cascading to the ground, digging its tip into the dirt.

They went toe to toe in hand to hand combat, Kara's reflexes had gotten sharper as had her skill in martial arts; her power though had topped off a while ago. It was like she had a set limit of strength and speed but, she was a brawler at best so there was still a-ways to go before she was ready to take on Androids. Gohan backed-up avoiding crimson beams of heat, simultaneously hitting Trunk's chin with the tip of his toes and summersaulting backwards. Once he landed he fired a beam of blue concussive energy from his metallic-arm sending them stumbling back on their feet. Kara was the first to shake it off, using her super-speed and her ability to levitate at the same time to simulate skating on air, engaging Gohan in hand to hand combat alone. Although she had significantly improved over the years, he was definitely in a league of his own and smiled as she attacked. She jabbed the air next to his head and groaned before hitting his chest with her palm and sending them apart, "You're still too fast for me!"

"You've seen me go up against Seventeen alone, you know that speed is not every-" he took a quick look around and put his guard up, "Where did Trunks go?"

"HIYA!" from above the Super Saiyan swung his blade down hitting the dirt at Gohan's feet, cracking the canyon apart like glass. Trunks abandoned his blade now stuck in the Earth's mighty grip and attacked upwards with a palm full of Ki; Gohan redirected his wrist and aimed a first for his young-companions solar plexus when Kara came in with super-speed and stopped him. She delivered a round house kick to his neck while he was distracted pushing him into the side of a cliff, "Together!"

"Ka…Me…" Gohan cupped both of his arms to the side and formed a blue orb of Ki, "Ha…Me…"

Kara and Trunks stood side by side as the Super Saiyan placed his hands to his forehead and charged his signature Ki attack; Kara charged every bit of solar energy she could from the bleak skies and poured it into her eyes with all of her might.

"Ha!"

"Masenko!"

"AGH!"

Trunks and Kara's beam individual beams focused and melted into one energy colliding with Gohan's Kamehameha Wave with the force of multiple exploding planets. The Saiyan elder had the advantage at first, however; soon enough the Saiyan/Kryptonian duo began to charge up their attacks and overwhelm their opponent, Gohan likely could have gone further but decided this was enough. He released his wave and stepped back as he allowed their beams to push through and pass him carving through the massive mountain-side behind him. After the thousands of massive boulders and rocks collapsed, Gohan exhaled as his Super Saiyan form dissipated and the golden fury evaporated above him.

Kara put her hands on her knees for a moment as sweat dripped down her temple, "How did we… do?" she muttered as she wiped her brow.

Trunks quickly sheathed his blade in his strapped holster as Gohan approached the both of them; he placed hands on either of their shoulders and gave a warm smile, "We'd better get back to the base so we can celebrate!"

They lit up like Christmas trees as soon as he mentioned celebrating, "You mean we passed?"

Gohan floated up a few feet inviting them to follow, "With flying colors, you two are ready to fight androids!" They both took off after their now former master whilst shouting in celebration for passing their final test as heroes.

…

Upon arrival they were met with the main analyst crew and, of course, Bulma Briefs standing in the command center with decorations, punch, small finger-foods, and smiling faces all around. The blue-haired scientist was ever so slightly shorter with a bun in her long grown out hair, "Congratulations, you two," She announced as she approached and wrapped Trunks in a warm embrace, "My little boy, all grown up and ready to fight androids. The years pass so quickly!"

Kara grabbed a mason jar filled with punch and sipped before adding her two cents, "I'm surprised you let him fight at all to begin with."

"Well, we have to take what we can get; besides, I trust Gohan with my life," she looked over and gave the Saiyan man a half-hug from the waist, "And if he says you're ready, then you're ready."

Gohan cleared his throat and raised his jar of punch, "I think it's time," he looked over to Trunks and Kara who were pushed to stand side-by-side, "It took a lot of consideration but, I officially christen you two 'Z-Fighters.' It took nearly 20 years but, we're back on the map."

Trunks punched the air with enthusiasm having waited a long time for this moment, "Look out, Androids!" a loud cheering erupted around them from the entire crew shouting behind them with support and love. It was then that Bulma stepped in with a chuckle.

"Alright, the last thing we need is a sneak attack while we're all celebrating; let's get back to work keeping this facility as the safest on Earth!" She motioned to Gohan and Kara after dismissing her team of analysts back to their stations, "You two," she barked, "Follow me."

…

Ten minutes later they approached the garage that housed their armory of weapons and experimental defensive technology; Bulma closed the shutter behind them and turned on the lights to the facility. "For the past year, Gohan and I have discussed going back to war against the Androids. Not just survival but, all-out war."

"I thought we were holding off on that until we change history?"

Bulma turned leaning against her work bench, "That was before Trunks became a Super Saiyan; now we out number them three-to-one!"

Kara took a quick glance back at her friend before Bulma continued, "I figured I couldn't stop you forever anyways so, I felt much more comfortable giving you the best chance you can get at taking on Seventeen and Eighteen," The scientist tapped a few commands into the central hub before programming and removing a small remote from the console, "So, for about a year now, I've been putting together… this…"

With the press of a button, a silver containment pod lowered itself to the ground and opened up with pressurized steam hissing out from every opening. Within the pod was a suit of armor, not just any armor but, a highly advanced suit created from the remnants of Kara's ship and the lining of the cloth within; it had a red-blue color scheme with golden trim across it leading to a symbol in the center being a single 'S'.

"I used the last bits of your ship to create two things; Gohan's arm and this suit, of course, not everything is alien; I had to improvise on a lot of it. The trim is a steel-gold alloy a-and the spandex-looking substance is a kevlar-leather composite," She stuttered and pulled up blueprints quickly working through them with her finger, "It's lined with a nano-fabric shielding so that you can take heavy explosions without damage and it's weaved with a solar-absorption thread so you can take in as much yellow sun-light as possible, even while fighting."

Kara approached it as Bulma put her hands together hoping she'd like it, especially after understanding that their relationship had gotten significantly kinder over the years, "This symbol," she noted over lapping the 'S' with her index-finger, "Where did you find it?"

Bulma raised a brow in confusion, "Well, it was all over the coding we decrypted, and it was even emblazoned on the blanket we found inside the ship; why, mean something to you?"

Kara gave a warm smile as she turned around, "It's the symbol for the House of El; my family crest, it represented hope on my planet for generations."

"Well, it'll do the same here," Gohan added as he looked up at the armor on display putting an organic hand on her shoulder.

"And you knew about this?" She turned with a giggle and pushed him back a foot or two.

Gohan put his hands up in defense, "I was sworn to secrecy! Bulma wasn't sure about fighting them again anyways!"

Kara turned quickly putting a hand back on the chest-plate, "I suppose I could forgive you just this one time…" she trailed off staring at the gleaming trim.

The suit was perfect for her, she practically giggled with excitement "You certainly needed an upgrade from that old solar suit you've been wearing and I was happy enough to impr-"

Bulma was cut off as Kara moved in for a warm hug, holding her just tight enough to show the appreciation she had for the suit without breaking her in half, "Thank you," she stated simply.

Bulma smiled a bit and rolled her eyes, "Yea, well, consider it a graduation gift; now," she started pulling away from the embrace and tapping a button on the remote, "Both of you need to get some rest, you have a big day tomorrow."

"So, the diagnostics are done?" Gohan asked as he watched the suit being drawn back into its containment unit.

The turquoise haired beauty sighed, "As ready as it'll get; we've done tests with organic material and we're sure it'll work but, transporting three people?" She chuckled coyly as she led them out of the facility, "It'll be a bumpy ride."

"Wow, I can't believe I'm going to be an astronaut and a time-traveler by this time tomorrow…"

"I flew into space with my friends when I was six," he put a finger to his chin.

"It's not a contest!"

Bulma stopped and looked up, "You were six? Wow, you really were… that wasn't safe at all, what were we thinking?"

"Beats me," Gohan responded with a shrug, "Hey, Kara," as they exited the garage and Bulma tended to the shutter doors, the Saiyan grabbed her wrist and tugged her gently into the air, "I want to share something with you!"

…

They landed on the roof of the central-control hub on the other side of the base, quickly making their way through the entrance hatch and into the long corridor that led to their personal quarters, "This way," he chuckled as he pulled her through the hall into his room.

"What are we doing here?" she questioned as the metallic-door slid shut behind her, a dim light lit up the room as she caught Gohan rummaging through an old brown trunk in the corner.

"Ah-hah!" He stood up right suddenly with a square bottle of brown liquid in it, "I found this while raiding for groceries once… it was the only one still intact," he popped the lid off as Kara raised her brow.

"This is that liquor stuff that Bulma keeps complaining about not having, right?"

Gohan chuckled using his prosthetic to rub the back of his neck, "Well, she used to have a lot but, she's ten months sober; I'm not gonna be the reason she falls of the wagon."

He took a quick look at it before taking a long swig straight from the glass bottle, tipping it up for the momentum; he took a break and handed it to her, "Have some," he smiled and shook the contents as she grabbed it, "It's just to celebrate."

She hesitantly grabbed it and looked it over, "If you say so," she took two long gulps and gave a loud satisfied exhale, "It tingles my throat…"

"It's supposed to," he grabbed it from her and took another gulp before recapping it and placing it on the table, "So, tomorrow's going to be one hell of a day, huh?"

"You're going to see your father again… so will Trunks!"

Gohan took a glance down at his boots and sat on the edge of his mattress, "Yea, not too sure how I feel about that."

"You don't want to see him, I thought-"

Gohan shook his head, "No, of course I want to see him but, he wasn't exactly always there for me and I'd be seeing a lot of dead friends too."

"Mixed emotions, I can understand that," she sat down next to him and brushed her shoulder-length hair behind her ear, "On the upside, you get to see your dad kill that Freeza guy a second time!"

Gohan chuckled, "Yea, it was pretty brutal the first time, I just hope interfering doesn't change anything."

"What do you mean?"

They were interrupted suddenly when a loud boom went off in the distance, like something was approaching at high speeds, "What the hell was that?"

Trunks dashed into their doorway, rushing in the moment he could, "Guys, we have a serious problem, code-white level problem!"

They both opened their eyes as wide as was possible, "Where's Bulma?"

"I can't find her!"

Taking not a single second longer to react, all three of them dematerialized in a rush of speed, making their way through the compound and into the central command. It was chaos as bright crimson lights flashed from the ceiling and a blaring alarm drowned out the mayhem of the scattering soldiers.

"Where are they?" Gohan announced with the shout of a leader; he approached the massive holographic map in the center of the room as a technician barked his trained response.

"Only seventy-five miles southeast and gaining fast, ETA less than two minutes!"

Kara nearly choked on her words, "T-That's… That's not enough time…"

He grabbed her by the shoulders and looked her in the eyes, "Focus! We need to stall them while this base evacuates, now!"

Trunks gained a determined look, "I'll go with you!"

"NO!" Gohan shouted in anger, "I mean, I need you to find and safe-guard your mother, if she dies the last three years were for nothing."

Trunks stood, almost shaking with the nervous anxiety sending electricity up his spine, "WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? GO!" He quickly charged a bright clear aura and made his way to the garage where he knew she would be.

"ETA?"

The technician was shaking as he looked at the screen, turning slowly toward his superior, "They… They're here…"

They all almost lost their balance as the entire facility shook, the mountain was under attack from above and the shields wouldn't last another minute. Gohan grabbed the technician as fast as he could, "You're going to listen to everything I say; you make sure every single person gets out of this base, you don't leave until they do, not until your dying breath, is that understood?"

"Yes sir! What will you be doing?"

"The hard part."

…

Eighteen gave a long sigh, "No, look! It's still standing."

As the smoke cleared, they could finally see that the mountain base only had a small chunk taken out of it, the rest was protected by a fizzling barrier; the camouflaged dome glitched into full view as the generators hiding it shut down.

"Fine, I'll hit it again," Seventeen charged up a yellow Ki-orb in his right hand and aimed down, "It took years to find this place, I want to enjoy this."

"So long as you leave some for me…"

He narrowed his eyes with sinister intent as the energy between his fingers sparked with electricity, growing in power, enough to wipe not just this base but the entire mountain range off the face of the Earth. Without hesitation, he propelled the orb down toward the base at the speed of light, waiting for the fireworks display to give him the thrill he lived for.

However, it would never come, as something faster than he'd seen in a long time moved in between his attack and the base, swatting it out of the sky like a bug.

"How about you try that one more time, on me," Seventeen turned behind him, facing a tall, muscular, orange suited martial artist with hair matching his own in color.

Eighteen caught sight of the person who deflected his blast, just as the explosion ignited in the background; detonating harmlessly a dozen miles away. The dome of bright energy lit up the night sky for them, getting a good look at their opponents each. The blonde-devil focused her mechanical eyes on Kara

"Well, lookey here, Eighteen; it's our two best friends in the whole-wide-world!" The maniacal raven-haired cyborg put his hands nonchalantly on his hips, "Ya know, when we found this base, I wasn't completely sure what we stumbled on to but, this!" He opened his arms as-if welcoming them into his embrace, "This was a pleasant surprise."

"Why don't we take this elsewhere? We can fight on an island not too far from here," Gohan jabbed his thumb behind him in the directions of an island-chain.

Eighteen giggled almost innocently, "You want us to move? Yea, not even if you paid me."

"Sorry, stumpy, you heard the gal," Seventeen folded his arms across his chest, "I like this spot…" he formed another energy attack, easily raising the intensity to a thousand times the force his last attack held, "Right underneath the last remaining military base left on this stupid dust-ball!" He fired the attack off toward Kara who would be forced to either let the people below die or take the attack head-on.

Without any other choice, she threw herself in front of the blast, gripping the Ki energy with her fingers and using her flight to keep the blast at bay.

"There, that should hold her, at least long enough to do what needs to be done," Seventeen tightened his fist at his side as both him and his sister turned to face the lone Saiyan warrior.

Gohan gripped his left shoulder and tore his long blue sleeve off revealing his alien-replacement, "I once told you both that there was no end to what I am, you can kill me if you want but, you'll never kill what I am."

"We remember, you sound like a broken record."

"Actually," Gohan molded together his Ki, charging a bright white-clear aura around his floating body; the scanner on his arm monitored his energy limits and kept him from going over-board like he did the last time he fought them, "I was going to say to forget that because I'm going to kill you instead!"

"Big talk coming from a dead-man!" Eighteen vanished from her brother's side, ready to kick her opponent's head off his shoulders, she aimed her foot for his neck ready to shake the planet with their melee. Instead of instantly killing or maiming her target, her roundhouse was met with a defensive forearm blocking the attack with ease, "What?!"

"Sorry, I couldn't hear you over all of that gasping for air," Gohan replied with an enraged smirk.

"What the hell did you just-"

Eighteen was cut off when his fist plunged into her chest, knocking the air from her artificial lungs, before following up with an uppercut to the chin sending her flying back toward her brother. Watching her pass him with a grunt, Seventeen turned back to Gohan, "He didn't go blonde this time, she wasn't expecting that, what happened to him?"

Gohan floated in mid-air, staring down the mechanical beasts as Eighteen stopped her momentum and Kara was still struggling against Seventeen's attack, "I want to attack them but, they aren't going to underestimate me a second time and I need to make sure I give them enough time to evacuate down there."

He made his decision and charged an aura, rocketing towards Kara to help her deflect the energy orb but, he didn't make it before both Android's intercepted him, right crossing him in the cheek. Floating back slowly, Gohan rubbed the blood from his lip as they floated down covering his view of Kara, "Sorry, amigo, you've used your last life-line and I'm afraid you don't get another."

Eighteen groaned and brushed her hair out of her eyes with a devilish smile, "This is it for you, we were using less than half our full strength before, this time you won't get away."

"What she's trying to say is we learned from our mistakes, we won't be holding back anymore."

Gohan took a deep breath and exhaled, "Fine," without another word he made sure their eyes would be glued on him by lighting up the sky with a golden fury, "HA!" his Kiai shout clapped like thunder through the clouds as his hair became as bright as the son.

Seventeen was the first to engage in combat, like usual, so it was predictable enough to know where he was going; Gohan used his enhanced senses to block the android's incoming punch, aiming for an uppercut but, missing when his foe dematerialized faster than he could process. From behind Seventeen's disappearing form, Eighteen's foot collided with the Saiyan's chin sending him down towards the water.

Kara could barely see the battle with the immense energy she was holding back but, she could still feel the shockwaves in her teeth, such raw physical strength could be felt for hundred of miles. She needed to help but, if she faltered for even a second, the entire cliff-side base would be toppled into the sea; the energy tore apart the sleeves to her solar-suit all the way up to her shoulders.

"HA!" Suddenly, another golden energy exploded hitting Seventeen's blast from the side and deflecting it into the sky, exploding harmlessly and once again lighting up the battlefield where they could see three figures duking it out in high altitude.

"Kara!" Trunks shouted floating down up to eye level with her in his Super Saiyan state, "Everyone is almost evacuated!"

The Kryptonian glanced down but, only for a second, "C'mon, we have to help Gohan!"

"Wait!" before she could take off he grabbed her wrist, "My Mom wanted me to give you this," it was capsule but, there could only be one thing Bulma would need to give her in a time like this, "She said just open the capsule and put the hope on your heart, she said you'd know that that meant."

She gave him a dutiful nod as he rocketed upwards toward the fight, prepared to fight to the bitter end for his world; Kara pressed down on the capsule allowing an explosion of smoke to encompass her hands. Once cleared, a metallic red and gold trimmed 'S' shield was sitting in her hands, "Alright, Bulma, let's see what this can do."

She slapped it on her chest as the armor opened up using nanotech to spread across her body like a liquid-metal; a blue, red, and gold shaded armor with metallic plating and spandex covered her from head to toe. Golden bracelets to match the trim formed over her wrists with blue plating holstering her chin and wrapping over her forehead like a tiara. She looked herself up and down as a crimson cape flowed in the air behind her with the House of El symbol emblazoned in the center, "This… is going to feel really good."

Trunks swung his sword expertly, with insane accuracy, each swipe just barely missing his female target; she kept a smile the entire time, easily maneuvering around his glowing blade, "Stand still you bitch!"

She stopped at the insult allowing his blade to hit her right in between the eyes but, she just kept staring at him with anger from what he said, "You'll eat those words, punk," grabbing the blade she snapped it in two with just her fingers, discarding the tip into the ocean below.

Trunks gasped at his broken blade, still holding it ready to fight but, shocked that anything could over power him like this; is this what the androids can really do? He had no time to answer as just before Eighteen could swing down and cleave him apart with a chop, she was hit with a thick crimson beam of heat. Sending her back up into the clouds, "You okay?"

"Yea, I'm fine I can handle this, just go help Gohan!"

The clouds parted and Eighteen flew down right crossing Trunks in the face and backhanding Kara away from them, "You die first short stack, then I'll work my way to that bimbo!" She opened a single palm and fired off a volley of energy blasts, each one aimed for either Trunks or the base. He may pale in comparison to the androids but, he was no push over, he was still a Super Saiyan capable of such speed he quickly deflected each of the beams without fail. The last beam was about to tag him by surprise but, he swiftly turned and cleaved it apart with his broken broad-sword.

Seeing how well he did, Kara looked up toward Gohan who was being man handled by the other demonic machine; she took his advice and went to help her love instead, knowing they wouldn't stray too far to help if he gets overwhelmed.

Seventeen was absolutely dominating the battle, each blow was calculated and countered perfectly, there was nothing the Saiyan could do to gain the upper hand. Kara made sure to change this as she flew in and aimed a left fist for the android's chest but, still reacting perfectly and blocking with a forearm. He quickly gripped her wrist and pulled her in for a rib-cracking knee strike and an elbow simultaneously hitting the back of her neck. Letting her go she floated back in pain as spit was forcing its way up her throat, gagging her as she held her stomach.

"Get away from her!" Gohan's rage was still his best weapon, learning to utilize it perfectly in the last few years, he actually managed to land a shin to Seventeen's side, knocking him back a bit. He pushed through, landing an upper cut followed by a rapid-fire-jabs to the abdomen; he finished off the combination with an energy blast to the chest, sending him through the clouds and into the ocean.

The fighting ceased as a massive explosion went off underwater, like a nuclear bomb a dome of displaced water popped like a thousand-foot bubble. Seventeen took a breath as he looked around, the crater was so large that the ocean kept out due to the curvature of the hole. Giving them a nice large ring to fight in, this coupled with Gohan's outburst gave Seventeen an amazing idea, depending on who you ask.

Trunks was surprised by a left hook that caught him in the side of the face, sending him down towards crater but, before he hit the ground, Seventeen intercepted his approach and kicked him into the side of the hole, collapsing metric-tons of rock on top of him.

"Trunks!" Gohan shouted at the top of his lungs, rocketing down towards Seventeen with Kara following behind him; this didn't work as he'd hoped since Eighteen right-kicked Kara into the pit leaving Gohan to face her brother alone.

Seventeen dodged Gohan's predictable downward advance by jumping back and allowing him to hit the ground instead cracking the crater apart with a single punch. He pulled as hard as he could but, his organic arm was stuck embedded into the Earth, keeping him from moving.

"Oops, didn't mean to do that, did you?" The android approached ominously as Gohan's rage was still unrelenting.

He pumped all his Ki into his prosthetic which went from glowing blue to shinning bright yellow as he opened his free palm in Seventeen's face, "Stay away from us!" a massive yellow energy blast engulfed the android completely, only not destroying the planet below them by curving off and up into the sky, dissipating into the vacuum of space.

The smoke cleared and Seventeen was unharmed, his arms were crossed over one another and his sleeves were burnt off but, he was fine none-the-less, "See, that's what I'm talking about, you got an anger-management problem, pal."

He wasted no time gently kicking Gohan in the stomach, hard enough to rip his arm out from the ground but, not hard enough to kill him, yet, "What are you on about?" Eighteen questioned as she landed next to her twin and the beaten Z-Fighters.

"I was thinking, we've been looking for a good fight, right?"

"So?"

Seventeen turned over his shoulder looking at Gohan, "Stumpy always gets really strong when he's angry, right?"

"Are you suggesting we lock him up and use him like a fighting slave?" Eighteen smiled as she approached the coughing alien-human hybrid, "I mean, not just a fighting slave…" Rolling him over with her foot she put her boot down on his chest, cracking a rib with just a bit of pressure.

"AGH!"

The boulders that pinned Trunks down exploded with golden light, vaporizing the entire mass of rubble as he shouted, "GOHAN!" he raised his broken blade above his and tightened his grip on the hilt. Dashing over at many times the speed of light, it still wasn't even close to fast enough for either of them to be concerned; Eighteen shrugged as the teen-fighter approached, getting into position too fast for Trunks to see.

With a single motion, the blonde android allowed his blade to hit her in the shoulder, doing no damage and allowing her to form an energy attack in the palm of her hand. Suddenly, it was like the air was thin and Gohan could hardly breath, a ringing in his ears sharpened every noise around him. He watched as a thick beam of gold went straight through Trunk's chest, only an inch or two from his heart. His body hitting the ground was like the loudest noise he'd ever heard, thundering louder than Planet Namek five minutes from destruction. He watched as Trunks choked on his own blood, "S-Someone h-help me-e," his head fell to the side splattering crimson across the dirt.

"I told him he'd eat those words," Eighteen swung her hair back and turned back toward Seventeen and Kara, the latter of whom couldn't move, she was frozen in fear, just like when she first landed. Just like her first mission, she was just sitting there, trapped by only a few rocks she knew she could move.

"So, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted," Seventeen turned around to face the only real threat left only, he wasn't on the ground anymore, he didn't even look like he was in pain. He was just standing, facing the body of his dead comrade, "Hey! Don't ignore me!"

"What gives, I thought he was down," Eighteen mentioned.

"Yea, thanks for the observation, let's just put him down before he gets all uppity again," they gave each other understanding nods before slipping into casual fighting stances; they dashed forwards across the dirt, leaving a trail of dust behind them, each aiming a different attack for Gohan who still didn't move.

It took only one glare, one quick blue-eyed glare, for both androids to be so terrified to their core that they split up on approach to Gohan and went around him instead.

"W-What the hell was that?" Seventeen grabbed his chest feeling his heartbeat, one of the only organic things left in his body; it was like his instincts were telling him to run as far away as he could get.

Gohan held Trunks by the neck, trying to get a response but, he felt his pulse already and knew he was gone, another person he couldn't save. He could feel the rage boiling beneath the surface, he slowly put Trunks down and closed his eyes with his fingers; nothing had ever felt so painful before. Trunks was like his son in a way, he trained him, practically raised him for some years; seeing his body sprawled out on the ground flipped a switch in Gohan's psyche.

Blue electricity surged around his body, appearing every few seconds like something big was coming, his golden hair flickered as if it were going to get even brighter, somehow. His aura slowly encompassed him, forming a powerful dome around his body, "AGHHH!" the pain he felt, the agony of loosing yet another loved one sparked something new, something he'd never seen or felt before.

His muscles contracted becoming denser, his eyes went white for a moment before returning even brighter than before, his hair was a bit longer but, still stood up-right all the same, and the flowing electricity around his body was almost god-like. The light emanating from his body was so bright, even Kara was forced to cover her eyes.

"He's just one guy!" Eighteen shouted over the roaring winds of the Saiyan's aura, even with his back to them, even with no scanners capable of sensing Ki, they could still feel his power in the air.

After the dust settled and the smoke cleared, Gohan stood passively in this new form; an Ascended Super Saiyan, a level beyond what he thought was his limit, he took a quick look at the scanner in his arm but, the screen was cracked and the meter wouldn't work at all. Turning to face them, the androids took a step back, staying on guard, "Still think making him angry was a good idea?"

"Don't blame me, no one we faced has ever done anything like this before!"

Gohan interrupted them by vanishing into thin air, even their cybernetic implants couldn't track his movements now, "Where did he go? Where the hell did he go!?" Eighteen shouted in frustration.

"Behind you," Gohan's voice surprised the twins as they turned on their heels finding him only a few feet away, in between either one of them.

"Bastard!" Seventeen and Eighteen attacked together, from the right she aimed a side-kick right for his head and on the left he tried his best to land a left-straight to his abdomen.

Mimicking his father on Namek, Gohan used one forearm to block Eighteen and raised his knee just high enough to stop Seventeen; dropping to his hands and knees, he spun swiftly sweeping them both off their feet, landing on their backs. Before they could recover, he hugged his chest and collected Ki into a single point, until with a single shout he released it outward exploding with enough force to knock them both tumbling back into ground.

Seventeen snapped his eyes open, shooting to an up right position in the dirt, he quickly scanned the area and found Gohan on the other side of the crater helping Kara out of her daze, "W-What happened to you?"

"Let's figure it out later…" They both turned as Seventeen had fired off a blast too fast for Kara to dodge, instead, Gohan swatted it away like a fly with a single hand.

"That's… not okay…" he stuttered.

Gohan vanished and appeared again next to Trunks, picking up his body into his arms, "You'll pay in blood for what you did here today, I swear it!" Kara shouted with tears forming in her eyes but, only stopped when a hand was put gently on her shoulders.

"What?"

"We're leaving," Gohan stated firmly, without room for rebuttal.

Seventeen and Eighteen were just as angry as Gohan now only it did them no benefit, it made them sloppy instead; Seventeen flew in with a roundhouse kick aimed for Gohan's head but, missed as he ducked under it, a right cross was avoided by dipping to the left followed by side stepping a blast that hit the wall behind them instead of the intended target. He grabbed the android's wrist and twisted it with one hand while still holding Trunks in the other, "I said we're leaving."

Eighteen wasn't going to let them leave, at least not without paying for their humiliation first, "Ha!" a purple beam lashed out not at Gohan but, Kara instead.

The Saiyan quickly tore Seventeen's hand from its socket, tossing it aside, "AGH!" he stumbled back, tripping over himself as he looked at his severed mechanical limb. He did this with enough time to vanish and intercept her blast, deflecting it back at Eighteen whom only barely took the force of.

They floated up slowly, Kara still more scared and shocked than anything else, she'd never seen this type of power in anyone before. Eighteen recovered quickly enough but, let them escape into the sky considering her brother was still seething with anger holding his damaged wrist. She watched as they flew away as she knelt down next to him, this could not stand, they would have to step their game up if they were going to continue this rivalry they'd started.

…

Nearly a hundred miles away, Kara had to blurt out the question she couldn't stop herself from asking, "Why did we stop? Why didn't we kill them?"

"Because I can't…" Gohan stated simply, she couldn't see it yet, the fading aura, his tightened jaw, he was definitely having a hard time controlling this new power.

"Of course you can!" she shouted, stopping in midair, "Did you see what you did out there?"

He stopped but, didn't face her, "No… I mean… I… can't…" the entire transformation fell apart, his aura dispersed, and his hair returned to normal as he collapsed ten thousand feet above ground. It only took a second or two for Kara to catch them both as she slugged Gohan over her shoulder and held Trunks in her arms.

"Damn it!" She shouted, "Every single time!" dashing off towards the ground, she needed to land and find the others, warn them that the androids were still down near the base. Before she could though, she heard a static in her ear.

"Hello!?"

"B-Bulma?" Kara stuttered, "You guys are safe, right?!"

"Most of us are fine, some were struck by falling debris; the better question is how are you guys? Did you make it out alive?"

She held her head down, not saying a word, tears streaming down her cheeks, landing on Trunks' jacket, "Most of us…"

…

Gohan gasped for breath, sitting up in a white hospital room, this time he hadn't needed surgery but, he could feel the broken bones still healing. "Trunks…" he let his head hang, all of the memories of what happened before he passed out, rushing in like a broken dam flooding his mind with guilt.

The door to the med-bay opened up, "Here we are again…" the woman who stepped through was still wiping her stinging red eyes, "Us two alone again, huh?"

Bulma sat down on the bed next to him, turned away from him, neither said a word but, then again neither had to, "I'm so sorry…" Gohan muttered, "I tried… I tried so hard," he his grip tightened on the sheets as droplets of salty water stained them. He loosened his hand when he felt Bulma place her palm over his own causing him to look up almost shocked.

"I know…" she didn't look at him, she kept her gaze forwards, staring off into nothing, "We all did."

They cried together for the first time in a long time, just holding each other in lament for their loved ones, neither spoke after this, the silence said plenty.

…

"I'm going to kill him!" Seventeen shouted as he kicked open a massive steel door with one foot, "The nerve he has to rip my hand off!"

Eighteen folded her arms as she followed him in, he still held his arm with his one remaining hand, "There has to be something in this stupid old lab that the old man was going to use to fix us!"

She sighed as he kicked over filing cabinets and scattered blue-prints all over the damp cave ground, "Dr. Gero was a maniac, what makes you think he has spare hands lying around for you?"

"Because he was a maniac," Seventeen looked down at his missing hand, wired and tubing sticking from his torn ligaments, "We can't lose to that guy, we can't lose to anyone."

She sat down on an old desk, crossing her legs and propping her chin up with her palm, "Now you're starting to sound like him."

Seventeen ignored her comment as lifted his foot from a large sheet he'd tossed on the ground, "hello," he said nonchalantly grabbing the paper, holding it out as best he could to read with one hand. He tossed the paper aside and moved towards the main computer, feeling up the wall next to it, "Like I said," once he'd found the opening he pressed down and the rocky wall slid aside revealing an entire labyrinth of weapons and pods, "He's a maniac."

As they took a step through the corridors, they found them sevles on what was obviously his holding chambers for failed android's; severed mechanical heads, uninstalled weapons, scattered cybernetic body parts, and six vertical pods with one single pod flat on the ground in the center.

Seventeen immediately made his way to the different limbs and arms, "I could definitely make a new hand with this stuff! And look at some of these weapons… How come I don't have laser eyes, huh Eighteen?"

"Look at this…" She motioned to all of the pods, each one holding a different skeletal corpse, likely teens being prepped for experiments. Meant to be kept alive for months, not decades, each one was obviously dead and gone but, not the one in the middle. Eighteen put a hand on the dusty pod, wiping it clean to see a single designation, "I don't remember any successful projects prior to #17."

Seventeen exhaled still holding a severed hand in his free one, "So… then why does this pod read android Sixteen?"

…

Sorry for the wait. I'll try to pick up the pace but, no promises are being made.