"I can't do this anymore," Seventeen said, shoving himself to his feet as Snooki the cat ran across the floor, hissing and spitting, and hid under the TV stand. He glared at her. "Stupid cat."
Leelee stared up at him from her spot on the floor. "Huh?"
"I can't keep going into these fights knowing I'm not strong enough to make a difference," Seventeen answered. "What am I supposed to do? Cower behind my girlfriend?"
"Well you do like the view from back there," she giggled.
"I'm being serious, Leelee!"
She bit her lip and stopped laughing. "Well, can't you train like everyone else?"
He shook his head. "It won't do any good."
"What do you mean?" she asked, tipping her head to the side.
"Leelee, I'm an android," Seventeen answered. "I'm not just flesh and blood anymore. My power comes from the mechanical parts in my body. My power is what it is."
"Oh," she said, looking down at her lap.
Seventeen growled as he paced the room. "Brilliant doctor Gero didn't see that it was necessary for me to be able to increase my power on my own," he said sarcastically.
"On your own?" she asked, catching on that he may be hinting at something. "Is there another way for you to do it?"
Seventeen huffed. "An upgrade."
Leelee couldn't stop herself. "You want me to stop by the Apple store and buy you some more RAM?"
"Oh hardy har har," Seventeen answered dryly.
"I'm sorry, baby," she snickered. She composed her face and asked, "Do you know how to do it?"
"Yeah, I know," Seventeen answered. "I just don't know what will happen if I go through with it."
"What do you mean?"
"Doctor Gero created a second Android Seventeen," he explained. "He used cells from my body and cybernetic pieces to create, basically, a clone of me."
"Why did he do that?"
"Redundancy," Seventeen answered. "A back-up, in case something happened to me or incase he couldn't get control over me. I was… rebellious. At least, that was his plan at first. But he never activated the second one. The cells in that Android recognize me as their origin. If that Android is activated, we will fuse together as one being. Doctor Gero was afraid of that happening. It wasn't part of his plan."
"So, what would that mean for us?" she asked.
He stopped his pacing and looked at her, his hand to his chin. "I don't know."
She was trying to picture what would happen if he fused together with a clone of himself. He would probably look exactly the same, she reasoned, since he wasn't joining bodies with someone else.
"But you'd be able to split back apart, wouldn't you? Like, after the battle?"
"No. It would be a permanent transformation," he answered.
She sat silently, waiting to hear what he would say next. She didn't know what to think or feel. Could she somehow lose him in this process?
He seemed to read her thoughts. "I don't know if the other android would take over. He was not born human like me, so he may not have the same emotions or thought processes. And if I know doctor Gero, he's been programmed to do only one thing – to destroy Goku."
"So instead of helping us…"
"I could end up hurting you."
Leelee drew in a deep breath and stared at the midmorning light that streamed through the mini-blinds. She didn't want to lose him. But at the same time, she knew they needed all the help they could get.
Seventeen gritted his teeth and shook his head. "It's too risky."
"Let's go for it," she said softly.
"Huh? Leelee, didn't you hear what I just said? I don't know that I will be the one in control of that body! I could end up killing you!"
"If it's not you, I hope you do."
"Don't say things like that." He dropped to his knees beside her.
"If I don't have you, life isn't worth living," she said softly, leaning her head against his chest.
"That's it," he said firmly. "No more of that wretched Twilight series for you. It's making you all weird and sappy."
She slapped his chest, but laughed and leaned against him again. "We have to try."
"I don't know," Seventeen said uncertainly. He didn't want to give up his life, his home, his girlfriend. All of that could disappear in an instant if the other android had greater control over the new body than he did. There was no way to predict the outcome.
She sat up and took his face in her hands. "Now you made me promise the other day that we would be together forever, no matter what. And I'm not going anywhere."
"But what if I do?" he whispered.
"You'll still be in there somewhere," she said. "I'll find you."
A hope seemed to burn in Seventeen's eyes and he pulled Leelee to him, kissing her fiercely. He wanted to hang on to this moment, to remember the feel of her in his arms, the taste of her kiss, the smell of her perfume. He reluctantly broke the kiss and stared deep into her eyes. "You ready to go?"
She nodded. "I'm with you no matter what."
The air was crisp and cool as they flew to Doctor Gero's old lab. It took a couple hours, flying over cities and farmland, until they finally reached ridges of mountains. Seventeen frowned when they finally arrived at the location of Gero's laboratory. All they could see was a huge crater in the mountain where the lab used to stand.
"What happened here?" Leelee asked, hugging her arms against the cold wind.
"Trunks," Seventeen answered. He lowered to the bottom of the crater and began kicking aside big chunks of rock. "He came back and destroyed all that he could find of Gero's lab. He killed Cell when Cell was still in a fetal stage."
Leelee dropped down beside him. There was nothing but broken shards of metal, rusted wires and crumbled rock. "There's nothing left."
"Yeah, there is," Seventeen said, pushing a large stone to the side and revealing a crumpled looking metal door, set in the side of the mountain. Seventeen jumped in the air and kicked it with all his might; the door caved in and revealed a passageway behind it.
"You're so smart," Leelee gushed.
Cautiously, they made their way down the short passage until it opened up to a darkened room. Seventeen fumbled on the wall for a light switch and clicked it on. One singular, sad-looking bulb hung from a fixture and crackled to life.
Leelee gasped. "What is that?"
She pointed to a large, white container that could only be described as a rounded coffin. Wires of varying colors and sizes attached it to the surrounding walls. There was a small dome of glass near the top, which she supposed a person could look out of if they were inside it. She shivered at the thought of someone being inside that thing.
Seventeen stepped closer, wiping away the thick coating of dust that had settled on it over the years. He stared at a perfect replica of himself incased inside. He swallowed hard and turned away from it.
"Leelee," he said, stepping closer to her, "If something goes wrong… If I don't seem like myself, you get away from here. Promise?"
She shook her head. "I'm not leaving you."
"Promise me," he said fiercely.
"Okay," she said softly, staring into his pale blue eyes. "I promise."
"Those crossed fingers don't mean shit," he said and kissed her quickly. He stepped back to the side of the container and slid open the control panel. He drew a deep breath and pressed the command buttons, then backed away as the top popped open with a hiss.
Leelee was so nervous, she felt like she might get sick. The second Android Seventeen's eyes slid open and locked onto her Seventeen. He stepped out of the container and smiled.
"I always knew you'd come back for me," he said in a haunting voice.
Leelee shuddered. That voice was so like her own Seventeen's, yet it was cold and mechanical, like the speaker had no emotion at all.
"Let's get this over with," the original Seventeen said. "I don't have time for chit-chat."
The second Seventeen gave an emotionless smile. "As you wish." His eyes began to glow red as he continued to smile. "We are one. We have always been one."
Seventeen's pale blue eyes turned the same shocking red and he seemed entranced. "Yes. I see that now," he answered in the same haunting, mechanical voice.
Both Seventeens rose about a foot in the air and their bodies began to glow with a brilliant golden light. They drew near each other, their eyes locked, and the light around them grew so bright, Leelee had to shield her eyes. When she opened them again, both of the androids she knew were gone.
Standing as still as a statue was a new android she'd never seen before. He was taller, much taller, than her old Seventeen. He looked like an older version of himself, with a longer face and long, silky black hair. His muscular shoulders were rounded and showed through cut-outs in his tight dark blue shirt. His jeans could've been painted on, they were so tight and showed every defined muscle in his long legs. He was gorgeous in every sense of the word. Even Trunks' good looks paled in comparison.
"S-Seventeen?" Leelee squeaked.
He turned slowly towards her, blinking without any recognition on his face.
"It's me," she said, taking a nervous step forward. "It's Leelee."
His pale blue eyes narrowed slightly. He was so intimidating and alluring at the same time. He fixed her with that intense stare, holding her gaze and he took a step towards her. She froze in her tracks, not sure if she should prepare to swing at him or rip his clothes off. He was standing over her, a good head taller than she was now, and slowly his hand reached up to grab her throat. Her knees shook as his hand closed tighter around her throat, restricting her air.
"Seventeen," she whimpered. This wasn't her Seventeen. Her Seventeen wouldn't hurt her. The tips of his fingers worked up to the hinge of her jaw, forcing her mouth open. He leaned closer and slowly covered her mouth with his, his tongue probing her mouth in a long, slow kiss. Her heart raced as butterflies erupted in her stomach. She was terrified and turned on all at the same time. He slowly pulled back from the kiss, lightly biting her lower lip as he did so, and smiled.
"Gotcha," he whispered.
"Seventeen?" she gasped as he threw his head back and laughed. "Is it really you? Oh, you big JERK! You scared the shit outta me!"
"Oh, Leelee, you're so easy to get to," he smiled. His voice was a bit lower than it had been before, but his eyes held a dancing amusement and she knew it was really him.
"You're gonna make it up to me," she said, grabbing his belt and unfastening it. "You're going to make it up to me right now!"
He grabbed her hands in a powerful grip to stop her. "I'm not making love to you here."
"Making love?" she snorted as her hands trembled with an excitement she could barely comprehend. "No. You are going to fuck me. In every which way possible."
"Did I really change that much?" he asked, trying to look himself over.
"Oh my fucking god, yes," she hissed, throwing herself against him again, kissing him roughly and running her hands over his muscular arms.
"Okay, okay, okay," he laughed. "Let's go home. And then I'll give you anything you want."
Leelee was breathing so hard, she thought she could get off just by staring at him. "Yes you will. Oh my god, yes you will."
He laughed and led her out of the tunnel they'd entered through and took to the sky, heading for home.