An Unburdened Fury

Chapter 34: Whatever It Takes

She held onto the cup of coffee with a tight grip. It had been about a few hours since she arrived in the past and her mind was still trying to process it all. It seemed like everything was a dream she had yet to wake from. She breathed in the sorely missed smells of her Capsule Corp house.

They were all here standing around and trying not to gawk at her. Oh Kami, she missed them all and the sight of the Z Fighters' worried faces threatened to make her cry but she wiped away the collecting tears before the waterworks started again. She had done enough of that for now.

It was Goku who broke the silence unsurprisingly enough.

"Uh, Bulma, can you please tell us what happened? Why do you look so much older?"

Raditz promptly slapped the back of his younger brother's head which received an indignant cry. "You don't just up and ask that kind of question, you dolt." Honestly, it was shocking the Saiyan had found a wife when he had such little tact.

Bulma chuckled at the back and forth between the two. It was refreshingly playful compared to hers and Broly's. Her smile fell at the thought of the now buried Saiyan.

Piccolo stepped forth, a pensive look on the serious Namekian's face. "As blunt as Goku was, he did ask what was on our minds. Last time we saw you, you were shipped off to space in one of Slug's ships."

Bulma put down the mug as the memories of that incident raced back to the forefront of her mind. She had thought Slug and his crew to be the most terrifying beings that would ever visit the Earth at the time. Why would she not? He was a stronger, more imposing version of King Piccolo. She subtly scanned among the group to spot Gohan at the back who tried to make himself invisible. Curious but not wanting to get involved after his death and subsequent revival.

But he proved mortal. There was an end to Lord Slug. There was no such thing when it came to the Androids that plagued her present. Their future too should she fail here.

"I'll try and make this quick." She tapped her fingers on the table for a few moments as she gathered her thoughts. "I am not your Bulma."

They all looked at each other in confusion. Their Bulma? There was more than one?

"Well, I am but not the one you know now. I'm from twenty years in the future." Her tone darkened. She never actually thought about how to deliver the message. She was so focused on getting here that she never thought about how to go about convincing them once she was here. "In six month's time, the earth will be invaded by a set of Androids. They're horrifying mechanical monsters created by the former Red Ribbon scientist, Dr. Gero."

Nappa scoffed as he crossed his arms, a clearly skeptical look to his face. "Don't tell me we get wiped out by some piles of scrap."

"No, actually. You beat them but only barely." Her throat felt dry so she took a sip of her lukewarm coffee. It was weak and milky but it was wonderful. The brief respite ended and she took a shaky breath. "But they were just scouts. The real invading force comes not long after." She took a short pause. The memories flashed in front of her mind's eye. So much death. "We never stood a chance. Within hours, you were all dead and the earth was subjugated by Gero."

She wiped at her eyes. The worst was over and still yet to come.

"Gero had come to gain control of the PTO so his reach extended to the ends of the galaxy. It's been twenty years of running and hiding for me."

"Forgive me for my skepticism," Tien stepped forward, clearly disturbed by the information. "But how do we know this is true? That you're not some imposter making this up?"

She didn't expect things to be easy but she had had some hope it would be just that. Bulma looked to Raditz and Nappa.

"The Legendary Super Saiyan's name is Broly."

The two Saiyans seemed to shiver at the mention of their race's demon. Nappa looked over the Z Fighters with a grim scowl. "There's no way for her to know that. We just brought her and her father's body back to earth with the last wish from the dragon. Only the top brass know about Broly and what soldier would mention the rumors to them?"

"I knew that guy looked familiar." Raditz said as he narrowed his eyes at the supposed time traveler. "That was Broly we buried, wasn't it?" Bulma nodded. "The South Galaxy was destroyed in its entirety by him according to King Kai. How the hell did you become allied with him?"

"Well, he ended up on earth looking for Gero, I don't believe it's my place to tell you why he was, but I happened to be around for one of his fights. Long story short, he needed help with his search and, with my expertise, I could provide it. We made a surprisingly good team so he kept me around."

"He sounds super strong!"

"Don't even think about it, Goku."

"Aw."

Piccolo found his hope wavering. Not only were the Androids a thing but Broly was a problem they were most definitely going to have to deal with in the future if he could destroy galaxies and ended up in theirs. Sooner rather than later if Goku had anything to say about it.

The Namekian spoke up. "I'm convinced. What should our first move be?"

Raditz shrugged. Their training was nowhere near as intense as it could be since they've been in peaceful times but with such a threat on the horizon, their efforts would have to push their limits.

"What else? Get strong as hell in the next six months. Should be no issue."

Yamcha was the next to put in his two cents. "I'm confident we can become stronger than the scouts but an entire army of these things? I'd hate to be cynical but I don't see it happening."

Bulma shook her head. That was a short term solution to a long term problem. "We need to find Gero's lab and the dragon balls."

"Sorry to be a downer, Bulma," Krillin started with a solemn expression. "But they won't be ready until the Androids are on top of us and we were planning on reviving our Bulma and her dad with them."

"There's another set out there."

Everyone stopped once more with surprise on their faces. Nappa's shock gave way to a frustrated palm to his face.

"The Namekians! If Kami could make them, why couldn't they?"

"It's not like it matters, we have no way to make it there." Added Tien.

Bulma continued. "I know a way to get there but Gero's lab takes precedence. If there's anything we can exploit in his designs, we'll find them in his notes."

Goku put a hand to his chin before he snapped his fingers. "I've got an idea! I'll be right back!" The Saiyan flew off before anyone could stop him.

Raditz looked over the Z Fighters. "Might as well talk to King Kai about more training. I doubt he'll complain too much about us getting stronger."

As the group got caught up in their discussion, Bulma laid back in her chair. This was the beginning of a new life or the dashing of hope. Only time would tell.

"Uh, miss Bulma."

The woman looked down at a wide eyed Gohan who looked torn. "Yeah, Gohan?"

His voice trembled. "Will I have to fight?"

She put an arm around him and brought him close. She missed the little guy and it made her heart ache to see him so scared.

"No, not if I, or your mom for that matter, have anything to say about it."

Cooler scowled ferociously as his ship approached the planet. His newly formed Armored Squadron was assigned here a week ago and they have yet to report back. This world has resisted all attempts at conquest so far so the best were sent in to finally topple it.

The squadron was valuable in sheer power alone so if they defected to Frieza's army or, worse, were defeated, it was time for him to step in. They had better be dead if they didn't wish to endure his wrath.

"Lord Cooler, I'm not reading any signs of life on the planet."

The metal beneath his feet groaned as his toes dug in. Those wretched fools! They were explicitly told not to purge the planet! This failure would have to be repressed. The main reason so many of Frieza's men betrayed him was because the elder Arcosian offered a seemingly merciful hand to both them and their people. A lie he was willing to perpetuate until this civil war was over. Anything that could twist that narrative would be damaging.

"Scan it again."

A few moments passed as the technician obeyed his command.

"The results are the same."

Something felt off about the whole situation. Either the protectors stopped purges partway or they completely succeeded. There was no in between where both the inhabitants of the planet and his men were dead. It simply didn't happen.

He had heard rumors of his brother snatching up anything with a modicum of intelligence for research purposes. Perhaps one had invented a technology to block power scanners? Whatever the case may be, he had to investigate.

"Land this ship."

Soon enough, he was on the surface of the barren world. Too much of the surface was glass. Purges only targeted population centers with such overwhelming power as their primary purpose was to kill off the local inhabitants but keep everything else intact. No soldier worth their salt would waste their time and effort simply blasting at the surface randomly.

Perhaps it was the Saiyan who battle his father? No, this was recent and they would have detected power like his from several systems away.

"Sir," One of the grunts beside him pointed towards the horizon. "There's something coming this way."

Cooler spotted a black dot in the horizon steadily growing bigger. That looked to be the culprit.

"Keep the ship warm," His aura came to life around him as he blasted off. "This won't take long."

In an instant, he was mere feet away from the current thorn in his side. To say that he couldn't reconcile what he was seeing with the knowledge he had was an understatement. There with the heads of the Armored Squadron strapped to his waist was Cui. The same Cui who was such an unremarkable example of an elite soldier that the only reason he remembered his name was because his appearance disgusted him so much.

"This has got to be a sick joke on Frieza's part."

Cui laughed at him with such smug superiority that he could've mistaken him for his younger brother.

"Oh no, these," He pulled the severed heads from his body and tossed them at Cooler. "Are really your precious Armored Squadron and this is no joke."

The Arcosian was seeing red by this point. What? How? The Armored Squadron was hand picked by him because they were the most exceptional warriors under his command. Cui was a nobody with power befitting such a lackluster fighter.

The fish-lipped transgressor flashed in front of him with speed he simply shouldn't be capable of and slammed his fist into Cooler's jaw. He was so bewildered by the power behind the blow that he was incapable of stopping the following assault that descended on him. Cui finished crashing his elbow into the top of the tyrant's head which sent him rocketing into the planet's surface.

Cui landed a short distance from him with his arms crossed and a satisfied smile on his face.

"That was satisfying."

Cooler simply could not believe what was happening. He was being embarrassed by Cui, fucking Cui. He would not let this farce continue. The emperor pushed himself to his feet and dusted himself off.

"This is what is going to happen, Cui." He spat his name like the disgusting bile it was. "I will beat you, you will give me answers, and then you will die."

"Psh, with this new power Lord Frieza has given me, I'd like to see you try."

It was with trepidation that he told Frieza that his latest Android was a success. Between the extensive time it took him to learn the alien technology he was presented with and the multitude of failures in his conversion attempts, the tyrant had grown tired of him. This was a final chance and so he poured what he could into Cui's creation.

And here he stood.

Dr. Gero maintained a cool facade as he waited behind Frieza. The Arcosian wanted to see more proof of his work so they watched Cui fight Cooler. Of course, this was all said with grave threats for failure in between the lines. This completely organic being completely outclassed him in combat abilities so disobeying was not an option.

At least, not at the moment. Their technology was paradoxical in that their space travel and armaments was vastly superior to anything available on earth but their robotics left much to be desired. It was advancement pushed by short sighted fools improving armies with no regards to the long term. You can only push organics so far and augment them through weapons so much; there's a ceiling there.

One that didn't exist with machines. It was something he believed so greatly that he turned himself into an Android. Sooner than he wanted given the arrival of the other Saiyans and the ever increasing power of Goku and his friends.

Soon, very much so, Frieza will be the Caesar in the play of his life. The tyrant was powerful but a fool. There was no one around that could hope to match his prowess with cybernetics so it would be child's play to stab him in the back.

Frieza took a sip of the wine in his hand. Cooler had the victory sealed from the get go but seeing his elite delay death for so long was an achievement nonetheless.

"Cui is putting up an impressive fight."

His artificial heart skipped a beat before Dr. Gero nodded. "As expected. His infinite power core means he will never go weary nor will his blows falter. I also took the liberty of increasing the speed at which his mind operates shortening reaction times by nearly twenty percent. As such, even foes as mighty as Cooler will have trouble with one Android."

The statement was punctuated by Cooler eviscerating Cui in brutal fashion and his eyes grew twofold. If he still had functioning sweat glands, they would be working over time right now. Frieza took a hold of his wine with his tail and clapped.

"Bravo, doctor. A good showing indeed."

Approval? That was a surprise. Stupidly, he found himself wanting an explanation. "But he failed to kill your brother." He received a lethal glare in response. He swallowed hard. "Uh...Lord Frieza."

The Arcosian turned back to the now dead feed. "He was never meant to kill Cooler, Doctor. You proved the efficacy of your 'Androids' when he defeated the Armored Squadron." Frieza joined his hands behind his back. "You said Cui's model is prone to not following their programming, correct?"

"Yes, my lord."

"The sooner you fix that, the better. In the mean time, I will look for volunteers for your program among my most loyal. How soon can you have an entire squad built?"

Dr. Gero smiled. The pompous idiot was playing right into his hands. "Now that I have a full lab up and running, a few months."

"You have one, Gero. Make good use of it."

As he left the room, the doctor's smile turned to a toothy grin. Frieza didn't realize he was bleeding out with a vulture circling above him.

His corpse will be picked clean.

The grunts jumped back with a scream as their ruler suddenly appeared before them. He held the metallic scraps of something in one hand and someone's head in the other. Cooler tossed Cui's head to the nearest of his underlings and handed off the rest to the next one.

"Contact the research division. I have a new project for them."

As he walked up the ramps, his subordinates found themselves scrambling to follow his new orders.

Cui was turned into a cyborg. Assuming its energy was entirely insulated, it would explain why there was nothing reading on their scanners. Not only that but Frieza had someone under his command capable of drastically increasing the power of his warriors. That was extremely troubling information.

His brother would find a way to cheat at war. For as long as he could remember, Frieza was a conniving, lazy twit who refused to put actual effort into anything. Why wouldn't that extend into something like this? It wouldn't be like him otherwise.

This war had to end now before his brother could turn things around. He couldn't keep doing this. Gaining rewards that he did not earn.

Not while he lived and breathed.

Author's Notes

Bleh, I like everything I wrote concerning Cooler, Frieza, and Gero but I'm not sure about the first section with the Z Fighters and Bulma. Ah, well.

The chapter is underwhelming compared to the insanity that was the last one but not every chapter can be a banger.

Let me know what you think in a review below!

Ent out.

Review Responses!

Rufael: All these questions and more will be answered NEXT TIME ON DRAGON BALL Z! MAYBE! As for Broly needing a scouter, it's so they can speak to each whenever they aren't together.

Hyperbor: Definitely on the right track there!

Abyss Emperor: Oh no ._ .

TDNRYCON: Questions that will be answered NEXT TIME ON- Oh wait, I already made the joke.

Tireless Oversee: Buu arc is a definite though I'm not sure if I'll go past that.

Guest: That's amazing! I didn't think I would ever read those words when I started this fic. I'll think about it if it happens again.

Jadangle: I totally get what you mean. For all the copy and pasting they did, they might as well have canonized Broly. As for Kale, she is disappointing. Her transformation was underwhelming as hell and her character lacks the scale that Broly had. I'm also not a fan of her voice work. Hopefully the English dub can fix some of that.

enarmonios: Bulma arrived well after the fight with Slug.