Chapter 10

New timeline

Events of the last three months:

Ne-Me-Sys had by now accessed the full information of the Networked Mega System of the Red Ribbon Army, his other self.

He had recounted the events of the last seven years and the state of the present.

Operation 1: In the first step he had instructed his non-sentient other self to construct a single new Android. Not a particular powerful or unique one or even sentient to begin with. No, in fact it was a simple drone.

This particular Android, which he had with some irony labeled `Number 0´ had, right after his first activation, been going to fulfill his single purpose. Right after his activation, he had send him to a middle sized town in the Northern Districts. He had chosen this location for various reasons. One of them was that it was relatively close to the location of Doctor Gero´s old lab.

Android Zero was not much more than a puppet whose movements Ne-Me-Sys controlled and so he started his task, that was quite simple, destruction.

In the moment he had landed, right at the plaza in the towncenter, he started firing, at houses, cars and crowds of people. He was killing one human who just happened to the at the place after the other, blowing up a large shopping-center and a transport-truck that just crossed the street. All that without a single independant thought of his own, just controlled by Ne-Me-Sys will.

He let his drone continue for a while to massacre everything that came into it´s sight. But not too much.

While he had every intention to draw the attention of everyone, especially the Z-fighters, he didn´t want the government to fall into panic...at least not yet.

His true take-over would come later. For the moment he intended to keep an relatively low profile.

By his estimation Android 0 had by now killed somewhere between 92 and 110 people, depending on how many had been caught by the fallen debris of the buildings he had blown up and if some of the injured ones would survive.

That would be enough. Then he was waiting for the Z-fighters to arrive.

And in fact it didn´t take long for them.

He recognized the first three as Piccolo, Son Gohan and Krillin.

It didn´t take long. Zero´s strength was about comparable with that of the saiyajin Nappa when he and Vegeta had come to Earth. Even the human could have beaten him easily.

It came as it had to be. After his puppet made another move to attack some random citizens, he fell by a single blast from Piccolo.

A shot from the finger of the Namek blew the simple constructed Android to pieces.

Just as he had expected.

Of course he hadn´t been calling himself Number 0 during the confrontation with the Z-fighters, but instead Android 10, a older prototype that had coincidently been activated a short time ago. It was a simple cover story to disguise what `Zero´ truly was.

From the data he had received from his underdeveloped other self, he knew that they had already faced his servants Thirteen, Fourteen and Fifteen and had defeated them. They knew that a computer of Doctor Gero had been responsible for activting them, but they never knew where the computer in question was located, only that it wasn´t the same one that had created Cell since they had already blown it up.

In truth the answer was quite simple. One of his three consoles had created Cell, another one had stored and then completed and activated 13, 14 and 15.

So the idea that another older model had been activated, possible per accident, should not sound too unlikely to them.

One interesting aspect about these events was that the computer that was his counterpart in this timeline had, despite not being truly sentient, had somehow integrated certain aspects of Doctor Gero´s personality into it´s own being, like his hatred for humanity, his strive for perfection and more than anything else, his wish to destroy Goku and all he presented.

All that however were aspects that his current self possessed to an even higher level, only that he also had a sentient mind that allowed him to follow and realize his plans with cunning and patience, instead of only following pre-programmed patterns.

It came exactly like he had planned. Only a few hours later the Z-fighters and Bulma Briefs had collected the Dragon Balls for the purpose of bringing the people his drone had just killed back to life.

"Shenlong, please bring back everyone who was killed by the Android in Pell City." That was the way the Named Piccolo had formulated his wish.

One of the spy-drones was recording the entire event.

It was exactly what Ne-Me-Sys had intended from the beginning. If they were using the Dragon Balls now, they would not be able to do it later to interfere with his plans.

There was only one irregularity. As he found out now, the dragon was now fulfilling two wishes instead of one and the Z-fighters were only using the first to reanimate the people that he had killed. That meant the Dragon Balls would only be lying dormant for a half year, not a whole one as he had hoped.

But it didn´t matter. It was still more than enough to realize his plans and then as soon as he had killed the Namek they were bound to, they would never be a problem for him again.

In the world he envisioned there was no need or place for the Dragon Balls.

But he knew there was at least one other set on the planet New Namek.

Deep inside Ne-Me-Sys electronical mind, a file was created.

Special entry: Future-mission - genocide of the Namek Race.

xxx

Operation 2: Production of a new line of Androids had started in this timeline´s version of the factory installation.

The first model would be a nearly exact duplicate of his own Android body, one that he would place a copy of his own consciousness into. There were however a few modifications with the new construction.

Beside that he was also building a number of other, weaker new Androids. They would be better constructed and much more powerful than Number Zero, but still far away from his own new secondary body. These Androids would serve as soldiers and disposable servants for him.

But additional resources of raw-materials and energy would be needed.

The method he had used in the future however, sending his agents out to raid human facilities and abandoned settlements, would be quite impractical in this timeline. First of because here the Earth still had her full population and second because it would inevitable draw the attention of the Z-fighters.

So he used another way. He hacked the software of various banks to aquire a large sum of money for himself that he used to buy new materials and parts of machinery. This method did take a bit of time, but it was less problematic and could be achieved in secret.

He decided to eliminate only a small number of potentially dangerous witnesses, for example a few humans who were delivering important packages to places close to one of his secret installations or people who just knew too much about his recent transactions. Still it weren´t too many and so he was able to keep his activities a secret.

Parallel to all that he also begann with the construction of a new space-capsule, identical in design to the one he had used in the future timeline. It would carry a couple of his new Android warriors to New Namek for his mission to exterminate the population.

Very soon the Dragon Balls would never be a problem for his plans again.

There were however also other `raw materials´ that he needed. As Doctor Gero´s last models had demonstrated, completely mechanical Androids could be created to be impressively strong, but biological ones had more potential to grow.

He found what he was looking for.

A group of three humans was driving a car over one of the highways of the mountains of the Northern District. They were far away from any settlemen, obviously on what the humans call a camping trip...and easy to capture.

It were a man, a woman and a young boy of eleven to twelve years. At first he had been tempted to just kill the child. Surely it would be insufficient raw-material for the Android production. But then he remembered the advantages a model like this would have. His opponents would underestimate him and there was also these sentimentallity that humans showed when it came to their young. Yes, on a closer look he would make an promising candidate.

A few weeks later his three new human based prototypes were ready, Number 22, 23 and 24 as he called them. Additionally he also created two completely artificial models of a similar type as `Zero´.

His new foot-soldiers were ready, as would his second body be in a short time.

xxx

A possible problem had arisen. He had just received a report from the part of himself that he had left behind in his original timeline, send out through the time-portal moments before the installation had shut down.

As it looked his servant 13 had decided to turn on him and instead of destroying the portal as ordered, had attacked him.

This meant that, depending of which one of them would won, there was a not very high but substancial chance that either one of them could find out to which timeline he had travelled.

It meant there was a possibility that Trunks would be able to follow him and warn the other Z-fighters of his presence.

The conclussion was easy, speed up the preparations to realize his designs...and make sure that if Trunks manages to locate this timeline...there will be nothing left for him to save anymore.

xxx

Operation 3: In the last phase of Ne-Me-Sys preparations he was realizing once again another project. One that was quite different and unique from the other ideas he had realized so far.

It was however an idea that he had not developed fully by himself. Here he had taken inspiration from the data of the other realities he had collected. In this case from Beby´s invasion and take-over of the planet.

He was combining various aspects of Doctor Gero´s bio-engineering and cybernetical technology with the new highly advanced nano-machines he had aquired from the Great Gete Star. All that was being used to create a new, extremely small and extremely sophisticated technology.

The result of his work was already starting to being produced, a new form of microscopic machines, higher developed than either the Gete Star´s or Doctor Gero´s nano-technology and with the advantages of both.

For the human eye, it was looking like nothing but a silvery liquid. But if some of it were injected into an organism, it would start to replicate itself and form biomechanical chips that would be bounding themselves to the brain and take over the entire nervous system. Every chip would be carrying a base-programming that would cause them to submit to Ne-Me-Sys authority, to support his goals and follow his orders.

To that came that he would also be able to gather energy from these humans and channel it into himself to make his main bodies even more powerful.

He had send his three new models 22, 23 and 24 out to spread it under the human population. The `Nano Virus´ as he had named it, would undermine humanity itself before anybody realized what was happening. The dozens who would be infected by his three Androids would spread it to hundreds of others, these hundreds to thousands more and the thousands to millions.

This world would be his without the Z-fighters even noticing. The controlled humans were also programmed to act as unsuspicious as possible, until the time was right.

xxx

Final entry: Nearly three months had passed since his arrival in this timeline. Finally he was ready to strike.

xxxxxxx

Future timeline

They were ready for the next journey to the past. It would be a completely new past however, independent from the one Trunks had already visited.

Bulma had by now succeeded in analyzing the data of the time-portal and was able to program their time-machine with the coordinates of the timeline where Ne-Me-Sys had gone to. Now they would follow him.

Right after their return to Earth, they got ready to travel. There was only one question left.

"No mother, completely out of question," he said. "You will not come with me."

"Oh really? That is hardly your decision Trunks. In case you have forgotten, it was me who had created the time-machine in the first place."

"That is much too dangerous for you. That world will probably be turned into a battlefield, just like back then with Cell."

"And in our timeline is this Baeby character or whatever he is called and his entire army, who can attack any time they want as you yourself have said," Bulma pointed out. "So you aren´t even sure that it is any saver here."

"Beby and the M2 shouldn´t be attacking Earth for the next time."

"But you don´t know that for sure," she replied.

Trunks frowned. He didn´t quite knew what else he could say to convince her. Worse, he wasn´t longer completely sure if she wasn´t right and staying here could be more dangerous than going to the past. He remembered when Beby´s original invasion happened 23 years after Cell. That meant this year. Technically it should have already happened, but obviously the absence of Son Goku, who was not here to confront the M2 in space, had caused him to come here later.

But he would come. There was no way that this creature would let the last living saiyan, himself, get out of his grasp.

"Don´t give me that son," Bulma told him. "Remember, I already went to dangerous adventures long before you were born."

He remembered all too well.

"Mother, please be reasonable. You know that Ne-Me-Sys had retreated into the past. There is no telling how much damage he will already have caused when the time-machine arrives. There is no telling what we would find. We don´t even know in what kind of timeline he has travelled at all. For all we know we could arrive in a world where the saiyajins are still working for Freezer and have conquered Earth."

"That is one reason more why I should come with you," she responded. "You said it yourself, we are not sure what you will be faced with. You are travelling to a completely new timeline this time, not one you have created yourself, but one unrelated to ours. I want to be there to make sure that you will ever come back," she argued.

"I have travelled through time before," he replied.

"Not like this. Ne-Me-Sys technology is not longer truly the same as mine. You remember, I have studied his `time-portal´. We are not even completely sure when you will arrive. I have tried to pinpoint Ne-Me-Sys date of arrival as precise as I could, but I couldn´t be sure. I know his technology better than anybody else. You might need me."

"Remember, you will already be there. At least in some sense."

"A version of me that knows nothing of Ne-Me-Sys technology and would have to learn everything from the beginning," she responded. "And as you said yourself, there is no guaranty that my counterpart in this world will even be alive."

Trunks realized there was no way to convince his mother otherwise and maybe she was right, they had just programmed the time-machine with the data from Ne-Me-Sys portal. There was no telling what kind of problems could appear when he wanted to return to his own time and if he didn´t manage to return, his own world might be doomed with all the threats out there that he had recently learned about.

He needed an expert for both, his own time-machine and Ne-Me-Sys tech and his mother was the closest thing to that.

"I would truly like to come with you and help," 16, who was standing next to them stated, "but..."

"I know Sixteen, you are connected to the core of the Gete Star and can not longer function alone...and it is impossible to transport it with the time-machine. You don´t have to apologize. You have done more than enough. Without you I would already be dead. Thank you 16."

"I did everything to protect this world Trunks, just like you did. There is no need to thank me."

"Sixteen, if you want to do me another favor. Continue to protect this planet in our absence." He pronounced the last words to show Bulma that she had won their argument. "I know if Beby or the M2 should arrive while I am gone, there is not much you can do. But maybe you can at least distract them...hold them off and buy time."

Under these circumstances he knew this was the best they could hope for if the M2 should really arrive. He knew he needed to get stronger if they wanted to have a chance. The best would be if he used his time in the past to drastically improve, like the last time.

"As I told you Trunks, it is nothing you have to ask for. I would do it anyway," the Android responded. "I will do everything that I can."

"Thank you 16," he said.

A short time later Trunks and Bulma entered the time-machine and got unto their way to the past.

xxxxxxx

Past timeline, 3 months after Ne-Me-Sys arrival

The saiyajin had by now come fully back to his senses and his physical strength was returning by the second, as the being who was calling himself the Priest felt.

"Kakarot...is dead you say?" Broly repeated once again.

The tall and bulky saiyan, who had fanatically been trying to kill Goku the last time they met, reacted to this news with something barely anyone would have suspected, shock.

"Yes and you killed him," the Priest stated.

"No, I didn´t want this, I wanted to kill him...but not like this. I wanted to see him die," he yelled. "I wanted to squeeze the life out of him with my own hands. Dieing just like that? He can not...how can he do this to me?" he asked.

The figure in front of him, the same who had freed him from the ice a few minutes earlier where he had been trapped for nearly seven years, listened for a short while to the demented ravings of the obviously insane saiyan, before he decided to speak again.

"It is a shame indeed. You wanted to give him a warrior´s death, but instead he just died from his injuries after the fight was over. He should have been stronger."

"Yes yes, he should have. How could he?" Broly shouted. "He had robbed me of my victory with his weakness. Kakarot, Kakarot, damn it."

"You are completely right. But remember...there are also the others."

"Others?" he questioned.

Without the saiyan even realizing it, the mental powers of the Priest had been reaching out to his mind the entire time, trying to influence him, leading his thoughts away from Son Goku for a few moments and making him more open for suggestions.

"Vegeta, the `Prince of the Saiyans...wasn´t it his father who had tried to assassinate you as a baby by what I have been told? And there is also Kakarot´s son. Aren´t this worthwhile targets?"

"Yes, Kakarot´s son," Broly murmured.

"Punish the son for the failure of the father."

"Yes," Broly said in glee, "Kakarot´s son, Vegeta, I will kill them both. It is truly sad that Kakarot is not longer alive to see this."

"Good, very good. You should know that there is also another powerful being on this planet that might cause problems for you."

"It doesn´t matter, I will crush everyone who stands in my way," Broly declared.

"Good, this is exactly what I had expected of you," the Priest stated.

Suddenly however something in the expression of the saiyajin changed and he looked at the robed figure before him as if he saw him for the first time. The truth was his mind had just broken free of the influence the other had extended over him until just now.

"What is this to you anyway?" he asked. "Who exactly are you?" He was now turning his attention fully to the stranger who had freed him.

"As I told you Broly, I am the Priest," he answered.

"So the Priest," he responded, "then you are lucky that you can hold your own funeral speech. I think I will just kill you first."

He transformed into a SSJ and send a punch at the hooded man. Despite the wide robe he was wearing, he easily dodged the attack.

"Aren´t you a bit unthankful here?" he replied. "After all it was me who has freed you."

"Ha, I would have gotten free on my own sooner or later."

"Oh sure, but when? and would your opponents still be around then or would someone else have killed them before you could?"

He now avoided a kick and another punch that Broly aimed at him, he was fast, incredible fast.

For Broly it was infurating. Was this guy truly faster than him? No, that was impossible. He was just not back to his old strength.

"Do you really not want to listen to what I have to offer you?" the Priest asked him.

"Not interested, I am happy as things are, with mass destruction and a lot of killing."

"Even if I could bring back Son Goku for you?"

This made the saiyan hesitating for a moment.

"Kakarot..." he said. His eyes were just starring into empty space for a few moments. But then he came back to the present. "If you can bring him back, do it now," he ordered.

"Moment, this is not so easy and of course you would have to do something for me in return."

"I said bring him back now," Broly roared. "What I will do for you is that I will kill you quickly after I have ripped off your arms and legs."

"I see you are not going to cooperate."

"Cooperation, what is that?" the saiyan asked sarcastically.

"I have to admit something," the Priest stated. "I lied to you. Son Goku is dead, yes. But it wasn´t you at all. Someone else had killed him later. And you? He beat you and left you for dead."

In this moment, just as he had heard this words, Broly broke out into a terrible scream that halled over the entire area.

In his complete anger he transformed into his final form, the one that his father had once named the Legendary Super Saiyajin. He knew every other fighter on the planet would have easily sensed his present now.

But right now he didn´t care, should they know that he was back and shiver in fear. Right now he was concentrating on only one thing...to kill the being before him.

But to his complete shock his opponent was still avoiding his attacks. He could not believe it, it just couldn´t be.

"Yes, you are truly the perfect test for the others," the Priest said to him. "My offer stands. Kill Vegeta and Son Gohan and I will reunite you with Son Goku. But don´t blame me if they defeat you again."

"Nobody will defeat me," Broly shouted.

"We will see," he answered. With this words he teleported away and left the rampaging Super Saiyajin behind.

xxxxxxx

East City

Hundreds of miles away, Son Gohan, Vegeta, Krillin and the other Z-fighters were sensing that the already horrible ki had just reached a dangerous height. But at the same time they could not even detect the presence of his opponent.

They had already been feeling the rising energy for a while now, they all recognized it.

While all that happened however, they were all also involved into another battle.

Vegeta, Son Gohan, Piccolo, Krillin and Yamchu were standing in front of a group of new, so far unknown, Androids who had been attacking the town. Their leader was nobody else than Ne-Me-Sys. But none of them knew him or his heritage...yet.

None of them knew that before them stood nothing else but a living incarnation of Doctor Gero´s super-computer that had transfered itself into an Android body...or to be precise in two Android bodies. But of this, they also knew nothing.

Ne-Me-Sys detected the new presence as well and like the Z-fighters he wasn´t exactly happy. A new powerful opponent had just appeared.

"Do you feel that?" Gohan asked.

"Of course," Krillin replied. "Why does this have to happen now of all times?"

"It is Broly, there is no doubt about it," Piccolo stated.

"We will deal with him after we have taken out these Androids," Vegeta said, "...or I can go and deal with him now if you think you can take them by yourself," he offered.

Both he and Son Gohan had transformed into their SSJ forms and both could go even higher into SSJ2 if it should be necessary. So they were quite confident here.

"You should not think that this would be so easy Vegeta. I am more powerful than you believe," Ne-Me-Sys responded.

"Oh really? and what Number are you?" the Saiyan Prince asked.

"I don´t have a mere number. You may call me Ne-Me-Sys. I am...you could call it...a `special´ model, very special you could say. Maybe I will explain everything to you when I kill you."

"I am eager to see you try," Vegeta replied.

"You will, believe me, I have powers and weapons that you are not prepared for. You will see it soon."

xxxxxxx

At the same time, in another part of the planet, Ne-Me-Sys second body that was nearly identical with the one that was facing Vegeta in this moment, was standing at the bottom of the Korin Tower.

This was the place. Many miles just above him was Kami´s Palace. He scanned the area and detected three life signs, one of them was namekian. It was obviously who they were, Master Korin, the intelligent cat, the creature named Popo and the namek who had taken Kami´s place.

He took aim and fired a concentrated energy blast upwards. Moments later Kami´s Palace exploded, leaving nothing but ash and debris that was falling down to Earth.

This was the moment Dende, the God and Guardian of this planet died...and the Dragon Balls were no more.

xxxxxxx

Back in the northern regions Broly had been flying so far aimlessly over the landscape. He would find them...Vegeta, the son of Kakarot and the others, he would find them and kill them all.

The words of the masked man who had awakened him were going through his head. Kakarot defeating him? Him? No, he would not accept that.

He would have his revenge, he would kill them all. And then the stranger would keep his word and bring Kakarot back so that he could finally beat him...and if he did not keep his word, he would kill him as well, in the most slow and painful way he could find.

Dammit, he thought, where were they? He had to find them.

After a few moments however his hectic thoughts calmed down a bit. He realized something...he didn´t need to find them, they would just come to him.

From their last fight he knew that Kakarot and his comrades were having a method to sense energy, even from a great distance.

Somewhere on the horizon Broly saw a town. Good, he thought. A smile formed on his lips.

He flew closer. In his hand he formed a ball of ki.

He laughed after he send it flying down unto the Earth settlement and saw the town vanishing in a large explosion.

There was no way that the Z-fighters would oversee this. Very soon they would come to him.

xxxxxxx

Two days later

The time-machine appeared in the air close to the borders of West City and landed not far away from the town.

Trunks placed the machine into a capsule and flew both himself and his mother as fast as he could to this timeline´s version of Capsule Corporation...if it existed that meant.

So far however everything looked quite good. Their hometown looked nearly exactly like it should have, minus the leftovers of the destruction caused by the Androids and they could see the Capsule Corp building in the distance.

It looked as if Ne-Me-Sys had chosen a past that had still many similarities with their own.

They landed a few meters away from the building and prepared themselves to approach it. They had no idea how the local versions of themselves would react. For all they knew they had never met a time-traveller before.

In this moment however Bulma´s attention fell to a building close by, a TV shop and behind the window was standing a running tv.

"Trunks," she called him, "take a look at this."

They were just showing a newscast...about terror attacks and battles all over the planet...and they made mentions about multiple cities being destroyed.

"We come too late," he said.

This chapter is somewhat shorter as the last ones and is mostly an introduction for the new timeline. More detailed information about it will come in the next parts.

Side-note: As it is hinted in this chapter, the Movies 7 and 8 had both happened in this reality, as it was mentioned that the Z-fighters had founght Androids 13, 14 and 15 and Broly. Movie 6 and 9 however did not.

So this is an alternate timeline, to a great part based on the movies.

This new timeline´s versions of 17 and 18, as well as Bulma and Trunks, will be introduced in the next chapter. And the ones already known will of course also reappear.

nox: Yes, this will turn into Trunks/18, but not necessarily Mirai Trunks/Future 18.