Author Note

I know Super Android 13 didn't last that long, but don't worry as 21's future foes will be a lot more powerful.

Cyborg Gothic

Part 10

As 18 and I wandered around the Lookout I wondered how long it would be before the heroes off this world decided that we didn't need to be babysat. I hadn't brought the excuse about there being other androids for very long as it was clear that we were up here so we couldn't get into any trouble. Not that it really mattered as Goku and his son were at home, so I if decided to leave then no one could stop me.

Maybe if Vegeta had been here, he along with Trunks would have a decent chance of making me stay, but the pissy prince had taken his space ship and left this planet. I suspected that he would return one day ready for a rematch after doing some intense training somewhere out in the universe.

Knowing this made me want to start some proper training, but until 18 and I earned at least a little trust I didn't want to ask about using the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.

"What's the problem?" I asked the purple haired guy as we walked over to where I was standing "You have something on your mind. I can tell.

Trunks hesitated at first, but he got around to talking before long.

"Do you know anything about Cell?" he inquired.

I thought about that abomination before answering the question.

"Less than you do" I replied "I know that he drank people and wanted to absorb 18 like he did 17, but that's about it".

As it turned out that wasn't the only query the young man had.

"What about any other androids Dr Gero tried to make?" he asked.

I just shook my head. I hadn't even known about 13 until this morning so I was no help.

"Why do you wanna know?" 18 then inquired "You've been in Gero's lab. You've seen what he was he was working on".

Since I had very few memories of the place. I had no idea what the mad doctor had been up to, aside from making androids and cyborgs.

"When I destroyed the lab I never thought that anything other than you guys could have survived" Trunks then said.

I'd forgotten that the Saiyan warrior had tried to murder me upon our first meeting. Lucky for him I found it easy to forgive and to understand the action when I considered what the me in the other time line had done.

"Hold on a second" I said before asking a question of my own "If Cell was really was made by Dr Gero. Then why didn't he consume the 17 and 18 you know in the future?".

If we were stronger in this universe then I doubted that the 17 and 18 in that world could have stopped that abomination from eating them. After all the 17 I'd known hadn't been able to protect himself.

"To be honest I don't a clue" Trunks replied "Some thing aren't the same here. I mean there was no Android 16 in my time line".

That didn't make sense, at least not until I thought about it.

"If the Goku in your world died then maybe that version of Gero never bother to finish 16 or Cell" I figured

He had nearly died in this time line due to do a heart virus.

"What really worries me is that the Cell we faced was also from the future" Trunks then said "Which means he might be from my time line".

Hearing that made me think some more.

"So shouldn't there be a Cell native to this world too?" I wondered.

The very idea scared me.

"No we destroyed that Cell" Trunks told me.

That was good news.

"So are you worried that when you go back to future, the Cell that died here will be there to steal your time machine and the come back?" was my next question.

Even saying that gave me a headache, which was a partly a good thing as it meant that my brain was still mostly organic.

"Yes that's another reason why I want to take Goku back with me" Trunks explained "But it also encouraging as Cell would only come to the past if the androids in the future weren't around for him to consume".

That kinda made sense. At least as much as any of this did.

"Maybe 17 and me are just a lot stronger in your world" my sort of girlfriend reasoned "And Cell couldn't kill them".

That wasn't impossible.

"No that's not it" disagreed Trunks "If anything your stronger than the androids in my time".

I resisted the urge to yell.

"We're cyborgs" I corrected "Androids are pure machines, but we're humans with mechanical parts, not robots".

The Saiyan didn't reply.

"Hey guys are we getting along?" a woman called Bulma then asked us.

Her son turned to face his mother.

"To an extent" Trunks said.

That was a far assessment of the situation.

"What were you talking about just now?" the woman with the odd hair queried

Now that I'd met both of his parents I could tell that Trunks favoured his mother in everything other than fighting ability.

"Cell" I said.

That subject was apparently one she also wished to discuss. I could tell as her eyes seemed to light upon when I mentioned that monster.

"Come on I have something to show you" she said to all of us.

We followed the woman into one of the buildings, and inside there was a table that was laden with plans and bits of tech.

"These are blueprints I found in Dr Gero's lab" Bulma told us "From them I found out that he called his special project: Cell".

It was clearly the same creature as the the body on the drawing definitely matched. Also I wondered why the mad scientist had chosen to call the monster by such a simple name.

"So it really was made by Dr Gero" 18 said.

Given how unlike Cell the rest of the mad man's creations were it was understandable that people might not believe we all had the same maker.

"But what is it?" Trunks then asked "I know it's an android but I was able to sense lots of different energies when it was around".

I'd have to take his word for that as while I did have some sort of energy sensing talent it was rather vague, more of a feeling then a sense. Out of all us 'androids' only 16 had been able to detect Cell.

"Well it wasn't really an android" the woman was now saying "It was actually made up of lots of different people. Gero somehow got his hands on the DNA of Goku, Vegeta, Frieza, someone called King Cold, Tien, Piccolo, even Krillian".

That was a lot of DNA.

"No wonder sensing Cell was so confusing" Trunks said.

In my view nothing about Cell had been normal.

"Then there's Twenty-one here" the woman went on to say "Aside from a lot of machine parts, he has DNA from Goku, Piccolo, Cooler, someone called Broly, and that King Cold person again".

I had no idea who this King Cold was, but I did know who Frieza was as I had files on that guy. Sixteen might have more information, but he was keeping his none existent mouth shut.

"Cold was the other alien" Trunks explained "He was with Frieza when I first came to the past. I've never heard of anyone called Broly"

I'd have find out who this Broly was someday.

"Oh 18 has a little alien DNA too" the clever lady said "But just Saiyan, and you'll never guess who its from?".

I had a horrible feeling that I knew. It wasn't hard to figure out given the look Bulma was giving her son.

"From you Trunks" we all soon found out "I guess Gero must have collected some of your hair from the battle you had with Frieza".

None of that had been exactly helpful, but hearing it had told me one thing.

"On the plus side it means were not related in any way" I said to 18

That had been worrying for a moment, and also it meant I shared no DNA with the prideful prince. That made me very happy.

"Well are there anymore Androids we should worry about?" Trunks asked.

Clearly he wanted to change the subject.

The clever woman shook her head.

"No we looked all around the lab after I found 13's blueprints, if there were any other androids we would have found them" she told us "There was nothing left, but I think we should make sure no one else can use the place to make any more androids".

This time I couldn't help myself.

"Cyborgs!" I half shouted.

Again my outburst was ignored so I got back to the matter at hand.

"18 and I need somewhere to live" I said "And one day I would like to give 16 a new body so I might as well start studying electronics. A lab seems like a good play to do that".

My inner voice spoke this time.

::That Would Be Appreciated::

I imagined it would be.

(Line Break)

As we flew towards what was left of Gero's lab I couldn't help but notice that my fellow cyborg looked somewhat distracted.

"Hey 18!" I called out.

The blonde cyborg turned her head to face me.

"What?" she asked

I frowned in concern.

"You alright?" I inquired.

18 turned her head away from me.

"I'm fine" was all she said

My guess was that she was thinking about her recently departed brother.

"If they wished back all the people Cell killed then there's a chance that 17 is out there somewhere" I said.

We couldn't be sure as technical he hadn't been killed by that monster. He'd fused with Cell, therefore he had still be alive in some sense just as 16 lived inside me.

"Ok so why are we going to live in a lab?" 18 suddenly asked.

Apparently Trunks wasn't the only one who liked to avoid talking about certain things.

"Weren't you paying attention?" I said "We're going to live in a lab so I can figure out how to make 16 a new body".

That was when I realised that I hadn't taken into account what she wanted.

"Well I'm going to stay there" I rectified "You're free to do whatever you want to do".

She gave me an annoyed glare.

"Of course I'm sticking with you" she said "Where else can I go?".

Finding the entrance to the lab that had been hidden below two others wasn't hard as Sixteen had decided to inform me of my different kinds of senses. I had something that allowed me to detect metal, and that led me to the sub-sub lab.

"Do you even know anything about building androids?" 18 inquired.

That I did not.

"Nope" I admitted "But since we cyborgs don't sleep or eat I have plenty time for research"

Plus I had an AI in my head. That had to help.

"I guess that was the super computer than Gero downloaded his brain into" I said as we found a big machine that someone had wrecked "Or uploaded or whatever".

Me saying that made it clear how much I still had a lot to learn about artificial life forms.

"First I think we should talk about our relationship" 18 said.

Naturally I decided to use humour as a defence mechanism.

"We have a relationship?" I mock questioned.

That got me a slap around the head, and somehow despite our vast differences in power the smack hurt. Which didn't surprise me as annoyed women of any kind seemed to gain super strength.

"Its not like we have a choice" she pointed out "I'm programmed to want you, and since you upgraded you must feel the same".

The attraction was there, but I could ignore it.

"And its not like you have a lot of other choices" she then said "Who else can keep up with you?"

There was that whole Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex issue for me to consider. Given how strong I was now if I lost control I could end up killing any human sexual partner.

I had no idea how the other powered people in this world handled that issue, and I didn't know any of them well enough to ask them about it.

At least with 18 that wouldn't be a problem as she was extremely durable, and far more importantly than anything else, she seemed to be willing.

"We need some alone time" 18 went on to say "And I don't want us to get to know each other in Gero's sub-basement".

Thankfully I had a solution prepared.

"That's not going to be a problem" I told my fellow cyborg "There a place on the Lookout were time move very quickly. A year inside inside it equals a day on the outside. If I get us in then we'll have 365 days together within 24 hours, by the end of it we'll either have killed each other or be madly in love".

Since she was also part Saiyan I figured she was strong enough to handle the time chamber. It was worth the risk as we did both need to get stronger as I figured that in the future we'd face dangers even more deadly than us.

It was a good plan, but 18 managed to make it sound very scary.

"You know we might be ready to get engaged by then" she said with a slight smie "Unless you annoy me so much that I blast you into pieces".

I didn't know which I was routing for now. Death didn't seem to be a big deal here when you could be wished back to life by some dragon's balls. And since I could last for thousands of years then marriage was a very big commitment.

"Let's just see how it goes" I replied.

18 just turned and walked away, and when she turned around to give me a half smile I knew I was in trouble.

Author Note.

Okay voting time again.

Do you want a 21 to face Cooler or Broly next?

Or I could do both.