The Z Fighters React To Death Battle! (Take 2)

by SkorchNTorch

(Adopted from JLyman) After a mysterious being gives a series of videos to Bulma, the Z Fighters were left with the option to watch every, single one. What did they do? You guessed it! Join the Z Fighters, and maybe a few others, as they watch one of the greatest web series of all time! Rated M for... you already know.

31. Iron Man vs Lex Luthor

Hi again, quick note, sorry: If it's not obvious, the 'Goku Black' Saga is gonna be kickin' into high gear soon. But this raises an important question. How do I work Death Battles into the story? I have a (sort-of) plan currently, but I'm here to ask you all this: Adapting a nearly three-volume-long-story-arc is… harder than you'd think. Especially because the Arc that comes after this is the one everyone is waiting for (for reference, I'm going by the Manga, not the Anime) and I don't want to hold that up more than need be.

Should I keep things the way they are? Should I cut the overarching story (like 99% of it) and just do Death Battles, or should I make another story and have all the 'story' events happen there? I'm gonna keep going the way I'm writing, and if you can think of something, leave em' in the reviews or PM me.

---

"I THOUGHT YOU DIED IN CELL'S BLAST!"

"Ah-heh! Well, a lot's happened since then!" Goku laughed. "I came back to life, for one."

"Trunks, what happened?"

"Mom!? You…you're alive?!"

"Trunks. Tell us what happened."

Beerus blinked, watching the older boy talking to Vegeta and Bulma before remembering something.

"Hey, kid."

"Y-yeah?"

"If I remember correctly, your also Trunks?"

"Yeah…"

"I see." Whis frowned. "Then somehow he went back in time…"

"Hey!" Beerus snapped, getting everyone's attention. "You're the future version of this kid!"

Things were certainly weird. Not half an hour ago, Trunks (an older one, at least) showed up, and immediately attacked Goku when he saw him. Then, he blacked out for ten minutes, woke up, explained that things were bad, and now they were here. Bulma recognized her time machine design, and the energy source being used to power it, and it was clear this was Trunks… but what was he doing here?

"Bulma. Did you not hear what I said? Manipulating time is a serious offence." Whis said seriously. In fact, it appeared to be the most serious anyone had ever seen the Angel.

"You have no right to complain if I destroy you right now." Beerus added, a fact which clearly irritated and somewhat frightened Bulma. Despite the fact that his wife was being threatened, Vegeta wasn't sure what he could do… regardless, what came next was something no-one expected.

"He… he looks like Goku." Future Trunks muttered, continuing his explanation of what happened in his future. How the world was destroyed, the people slaughtered, even Bulma… It was horrific. Trunks explained how he did everything he could, but in the end, all he could do was run. This… 'Goku Black' was as powerful as Goku. Heck, possibly stronger than Goku!

"AND YOU JUST RAN!? DO YOU NOT GIVE A DAMN ABOUT GETTING REVENGE?!" Vegeta roared.

"Hey! Leave him alone!" Bulma snapped. "If he's here, it means he outlasted YOU, so I wouldn't stand there and act like you know ANYTHING about what's happening!"

Vegeta recoiled, both from his wife's anger, and the fact that she was right.

"Hrgh… Where the hell is the Watcher?" Beerus growled. "We need to talk to him."

"Actually yes, this is exactly what we need Skorch for." Whis nodded, noting that the Entity wasn't present with them. Even when they weren't watching the battles, Skorch was usually nearby…

"Who's Skorch?" Future Trunks asked, confused, earning shocked reactions from everyone present.

"Wait, you mean he never… actually…" Bulma began.

"Well then, GET HIM!" Beerus snapped, clearly growing agitated.

"A-heh… sorry Lord Beerus, that may not be easy…" Goku muttered rubbing the back of his neck. "Skorch left, remember? He went to that library place and said he'd be gone for… uh… actually he didn't say."

"So, you mean to tell me… the one time when we actually need to ask for his help… he's GONE?"

"Well, sorta." Goku laughed, nervously. "Hey, Bulma. Didn't he say there was something in his place that would pull him back if something happened?"

"Yeah. He didn't say what it was though." Bulma frowned, irritated. "I tried to find it when I was working on the armor, but whatever it was, I couldn't figure it out…"

"…okay, so… now what?"

"Simple, we train." Vegeta said matter-of-factly. "If this… 'Goku Black' is as tough as you say, then we need to be at our full strength when we kick his ass."

Trunks nodded, he and Goku heading not too far away and powering up. A few minutes later… they were impressed. Even without transforming, Trunks somehow was as strong as Goku in Super Sayian Three!

But again, this was overshadowed when Trunks revealed that the Lord of Lords had been killed. This got a far larger reaction from Beerus than anyone expected.

"Huh. I didn't think you liked this guy that much, Lord Beerus." Goku remarked.

"The Lord of Lords and God of Destruction as essentially one and the same, should one die, the other would too… I assume that in the world Trunks comes from, the God of Destruction no longer exists." Whis said seriously, and the entire atmosphere froze in shock.

"Hang on. Trunks. Have you seen Death Battle before?" Goku asked, thinking about something.

"What's Death Battle?" Future Trunks asked, and everyone turned to look at him in surprise.

"Wait, you don't know about the Death Battles?"

"No… is… is this something we have to do now?" He asked, somewhat concerned over the potential of having to fight to the death right here and now.

"No, it's a show someone brought from another world, like, another dimension. They get these two warriors from across… EVERYWHERE and show us what their gear and powers are, and then they fight! It's awesome!" Young Trunks exclaimed.

"Weird, he never met Skorch, he never got the Death Battle discs… how does that work?"

"Well, there's an easy explanation." Vegeta remarked, having remembered something. "Skorch, and potentially Jared and who ever that old man was, they existed outside of our world. That means when they came to our world, they weren't part of it. Therefore, they appeared in our timeline, but possibly not all of them. Skorch has said himself he can't directly alter timelines, so it stands to reason that in Trunks' timeline, Skorch never appeared to begin with."

"Or, if a Watcher was in their world, they never revealed themselves." Whis added. "That was one of their rules, they aren't obligated to do anything, honestly. I believe it's good fortune Skorch is as social as he is."

"That's a good point." Goku nodded. "If he was around, do you think the Androids would've taken over? Or Cell? Or this Goku Black guy?"

"I don't know…" Bulma admitted. "And honestly? That… that kinda concerns me."

"…so, what exactly is this thing?"

"It's a show, we can relax and watch and episode, then we can all get up to speed after." Gohan remarked, still surprised to see the Older Trunks.

"After everything that's happened, yeah. I think that might be a good idea." Future Trunks sighed, feeling tired more than anything. Even with a senzu, he still felt wiped…

Soon, those who were going to watch the episode (Goku, Vegeta, Bulma, Beerus, Whis, Goten, Piccolo, Gohan, Young Trunks, Trunks 2.0 (Future)), had gotten food, and something Skorch had given Bulma, essentially a device that projects a screen anywhere, without the need for darkness, and decided to watch it outside where they were.

(*Cues: Invader - Jim Johnston*)

"Technology. It improves our lives, lets you watch cool shows on the internet, and sometimes, it can help you to rival Gods."

"Bah! Your kind has said that for ages, and yet you all fail just the same." Beerus snarked.

"But certain worlds have shown improvement my Lord." Whis shrugged.

"Yeah, it's why we blew up the older planet. Still doesn't change that the closest thing to a challenge has been… these guys."

"Like with Iron Man, the Armored Avenger."

"And Lex Luthor, arch nemesis of Superman."

"Superman!? Awesome!"

"Who?"

"Apparently, Goku is going to fight him in one of these."

"WHAT!?" Future Trunks shouted, bolting upright in disbelief.

"Riiiiiight… you don't know about the… the whole…" Gohan realized something.

"I'm not explaining it to him." Goten said immediately.

"He's Wiz and I'm Boomstick!"

"And it's our job to analyze their weapons, armor, and skills to find out who would win... a Death Battle."

Iron Man

(*Cues: Iron Man Anime - Opening Theme*)

"There are the talented..." Wiz began as some sort of machine was shown covering a man's foot and leg. "There are the prodigies..." Some sort of red armor went around an arm, with a bright blue circle on the palm of the hand. "And then, there's Anthony Edward Stark." Wiz concluded as the armor kept moving up, covering his chest until a red-and-gold helmet covered his head.

"Please, he prefers Tony." Boomstick commented.

"Howard and Maria Stark ruled a $9 billion military-tech empire. They could have anything they ever wanted, except a child."

"Ouch." Gohan muttered, unable to imagine what that would be like. He and Videl, and Pan? He couldn't imagine life without them.

"Then Howard met AN ALIEN who decided to build a baby for them. No, I'm not joking. Yes, you heard that right." Boomstick remarked.

"And yet somehow, that isn't the weirdest thing these comic death battles have given us." Lil' Trunks remarked aloud, and surprisingly, he was right.

"Fearing humanity would perish to more advanced alien races, this child was genetically engineered to lead the world to a new tech age." Wiz continued.

"Huh. Interesting." Bulma muttered. "Not sure that's a good idea in reality, and gene editing is kinda, well… I wouldn't say it's unethical."

"But, that was Arno Stark. We don't speak of him..."

"Ever."

"So, did they just waste the last minute talking about someone who's not even in the bat-"

"EVER."

"When Howard and Maria were disappointed with what they created, they adopted Tony instead." Wiz remarked as Maria and Howard were shown holding a baby. "Yeah. That's all folks."

"Yep, that's the secret origin to Tony Stark. Didn't see that comin', did ya?" Boomstick remarked. "If you think its way, way, way to normal for a comic origin! Don't worry, we're just gettin' started!"

(*Cues: Unknown Theme*)

"That was weird." Trunks 2.0 muttered. "Going from an alien-built person to adopting a baby. Weird choice."

"Despite not being the alien-engineered child of prodigy, Tony's gifted intelligence and world-changing destiny were obvious at an early age. He graduated from MIT with top honors, and a Physics and Engineering double major when he was just nineteen years old. It was clear from the start that Tony was easily one of the smartest men in the world." Wiz introduced Tony, showing a man with a moustache and goatee combo working away with a welding torch on what looked like a robot, or potentially, armor of some kind.

"But since this is a superhero origin, it wasn't long before tragedy struck. And by struck, I mean a car crash, and by tragedy, I mean his parents." Boomstick remarked with zero tact.

"That's the be expected by now…"

"Why is it when you have powers or some sort of great destiny it automatically means your parents are going to die?"

"Eh, more often than not, it serves as a sort of motivation to do the right thing. To uphold morals installed in you by your family."

"I don't think that applies to most of you." Piccolo added. "Hopefully. Otherwise I'm pretty sure everyone on earth would be dead. More than a few times over." The Namekian paused then added: "Yes, I understand his applies to me."

"…hey, Whis? Do Angels or gods of Destructions have parents?" Goku asked, shooting the Angel a look. Whis shrugged with a nod, and Beerus seemed indifferent.

"So, all of a sudden, Tony was an orphan. But on the bright side, it also made him the sole heir of the multi-billion-dollar Stark Industries. Nice." Boomstick nodded.

BACKGROUND

Real Name: Anthony Edward Stark

Aliases: Armored Avenger, Shellhead, Master of Machines, King of Shawarma

Height: 6'1" / 185 cm

Weight: 225 lbs. / 102 kg

Estimated Net worth: $9.3 Billion ("Why is it billionaires don't use their money to fix things and instead use it to become a vigilante?" Vegeta asked.)

Owner of Area 51 ("Isn't that the place your kind believes Aliens were being held at one point?" Beerus asked dryly. "Yeah, a bunch of people stormed it a long time ago." Gohan answered.)

Claims to Have Beaten Mr. Fantastic in Chess Twice (The fighters wondered who that was.)

Introduced A Whole Generation to Comics and Shawarma

"He's gonna become a drunk Roshi, ain't he?" Vegeta muttered.

"With the entire family fortune at his fingertips, Tony pursued a life of reckless indulgence and mechanical tinkering. War was his income, and he enjoyed every bit of it." Wiz said. "…until the day his eyes were opened…"

"Yeah! Opened with a shrapnel-filled irony bomb!"

A bomb reading Stark Industries landed mere feet from Tony. The brilliant inventor saw it, and his eyes widened in terror as he scrambled to get away. Only for the bomb to go off and send him flying.

"Well. That's one way to get a message across to someone." Whis commented.

"…yeah, yeah that's pretty ironic."

"There's a reason Capsule Corp. is always extremely careful when we make any sort of weapon." Bulma remarked. "Even before all of you showed up."

(*Cues: Iron Man (2008) - Mark I*)

"Held captive by terrorists in Afghanistan, Tony learned the bomb left shrapnel in his heart, which would kill him in a week. The terrorists gave Tony an ultimatum: construct weapons for them and receive treatment, or be left to die a slow, painful death."

"He found a third option, didn't he?" Trunks The Second commented.

"But being Tony Stark, he chose door number three. He built a space-age pacemaker to save his own life, and then built a mech suit around it and murdered his way to freedom!"

"That's not the option I was expecting, but cool!" Goku remarked.

"They say violence doesn't solve anything, but a lot of the time it seems like violence does solve most issues." Goten said, thinking it over.

"Because it does." Vegeta said flatly.

"Yes, but said violence is usually what causes said issues to begin with, is it not?" Whis asked, raising a good point.

"Well, yeah. But then violence can solve that issues." Goku added, and Bulma groaned.

"This taught Stark one of life's most important lessons: heroes aren't born..."

A metallic mask was put down on a workbench, still steaming from the heat of the blacksmithing tools.

"They're built. A lesson which also made for a pretty sweet tagline."

Heavy, metallic footsteps could be heard as a handful of terrorists aimed their guns at the cave mouth. From the darkness, a large, metallic figure walked out. It looked… human, but also bulky, cumbersome. The terrorists opened fire, blasting the metal man with a tidal wave of bullets, only for them not to have that much of an effect.

"My turn."

Tony unleashing wrist-mounted flamethrowers at the terrorists, incinerating some of them, and causing their weaponry to explode as the ammo and explosives was set on fire. During all this, the metallic suit flew away during a huge explosion.

"Awesome!"

(*Cues: Iron Man (2008) - Mark II*)

A now clean-shaven Tony Stark stood among his workshop, looking around at everything that was his 'legacy'. News reports of weaponry, military contracts… and it was clear that all of it disgusted him in some way.

"But Tony's heart was changed in more ways than one that day. Upon returning to America, he nullified all weapons development at Stark Industries and dedicated his life to saving the world, in his own way."

"Seems kinda counter-productive, but okay."

"Well, I guess if he wanted to make a difference, removing the weapons from those who would abuse them is a start." Bulma reasoned.

"Nah, I'm with the kid on this." Beerus shook his head. "If he wanted to change the world, just make a more powerful weapon and wipe them out."

"Yeah, we're not talking, like, just donating to charity and being kind to your neighbor. Tony became a one-man army of justice and began creating a new and improved armored suit that the public would eventually dub...Iron Man!" Boomstick declared. During this, the red-and-gold armor was shown once more surrounding Tony, ending with the helmet closing around his head. Now that they had a better look at it, it was clear that the suit was clearly technologically advanced, even by CC's standards.

"And just like that, the woman has a new obsession." Vegeta thought, not even needing to look to see the wide-eyed expression Bulma had. Clearly, she was trying to hide her interest, but Vegeta had a feeling that wasn't going to work.

"…and then he made another one, and another one, and another, another, and then he made like, a shitload more!"

(*Cues: Iron Man (2008) - Driving with the Top Down*)

Tony stood on a platform in a darkened room. One light turned on, revealing one of the Iron Man suits. Then another light revealing another suit. Then another, then another, then another…

"Sir. Do you really think you'll need all these?" A voice asked, and Tony shrugged.

"Eh. Gave me something to do."

"Wow. That's a lot of them." Tiny Trunks blinked. "And they're all different? Or are they the same?"

"I gotta feeling they're all different." Piccolo mused, looking at all the suits on display.

"The Iron Man suits are numerous, but they typically come with a common base set of tools. Generally composed of a gold-titanium alloy, his standard suits have the strength to lift up to one hundred tons, fly at supersonic speeds, and come with an onboard intelligence system called J.A.R.V.I.S., which controls his weaponry, and can summon other suits at his beck and call."

IRON MAN ARMOR

Composed of a Gold-Titanium Alloy

Adds 5 Inches to Tony's Height, Yet Only Weighs 25 lbs.

Capable of High-Speed Flight, Super Strength, Space Travel, Enhanced Durability

A.I. (Bulma was already intrigued, but that really caught her attention.)

Standard Weaponry

Repulsor Rays

Smart Missiles

Anti-Tank Missiles

Unibeam

"I thought gold weighed a lot more than 25 pounds." Goku blinked.

"Gold alloy. It's different."

Bulma was silent, watching the Iron Man suits in amazement. Sure, she had been building something similar, but these seemed so refined! So perfected! She felt kinda jealous, honestly, as if she was falling behind on her work.

"Man, I'd love to fight one of those things!" Goku remarked.

"And for good measure, these babies come loaded head-to-toe with weaponry, I'm talking shoulder-mounted darts, anti-tank missiles, an EMP, and the Iron Man staple: Laser beams!" Boomstick declared as he began firing blasts from the palms of his hands.

"So? That's the same as Ki attacks."

Old Man Trunks frowned as he watched the information. On the one hand, it was clear Tony was a hero, and wasn't using this stuff to destroy the world, but it was eerily similar to the androids, and to an extent, Cell. Still… he hoped there wouldn't be an episode that featured killer robots or something…

"Anyone else got a sudden foreboding sense of dread?" Goku scratched his head.

"These repulsor blasts draw power directly from the reactor in Tony's chest -or chest piece, depending on the time period- to fire high-mass, negatively-charged muons as a concussive energy attack. Most commonly, these are fired from the palms of his suit." Wiz explained as a diagram for the repulsor blasts were shown.

"But if the situation calls for a bit more firepower, he can blast an even larger beam directly from his chest piece. UNI-BEAM!" Boomstick shouted as Iron Man charged up a large blast from his chest, a blast which powered through several robots with an impressive display of force.

"Again, this just seems like a Ki attack." Vegeta frowned, not too impressed with what he had seen this far. Sure, he had to give it to Tony, creating the suit was impressive but beyond that, he hadn't shown much Bulma couldn't do.

"All of these features come standard in his most often used suit, the classic Model 13: The Modular Armor. Heck, it's strong enough to tank a blast from Mjolnir with no negative effects."

Thor summoned a burst of electricity and fired it at Iron Man, who barely flinched.

"Power levels at 137%." An automated voice spoke.

"Thanks." Tony remarked sarcastically before blasting Thor.

"This armor specializes in adaptability, allowing Tony to swap out its individual pieces for ones suited to the mission at hand. Namely things like torches, guns, swords, faux-Infinity Gauntlets… Oh, and it also has an extra casing known as Iron Man Armor Model 14, but you can just call it... Hulkbuster."

From out in space, a satellite seemed to activate, several panels re-arranging themselves before launching what looked like a large keg. After a few moments, the large object seemed to fly off propelled by rockets of some sort, and flew down towards the earth. The device exploded, and several large pieces of metal seemed to be flying towards Iron Man, as the Armored Avenger flew, they attached themselves to him, expanding outwards and automatically expanding, creating much larger arms. The scene cut to a massive green beast who roared and smashed his way through a building, taking a good chunk of it with him, and nearly causing the support beams to give out.

"So, they fused Nappa with a Saibamen…" Vegeta muttered.

"Didn't they mention this guy earlier?" Goten asked. "He looks familiar…"

"I think he was part of the Avengers, the team Captain America, Thor and Iron Man are on." Piccolo answered. "I think he was in Thor's episode, but he looked different…"

"He kinda looks like you, Piccolo." Goku said, pointing out the most obvious comparison.

Suddenly, a massive metallic foot slammed into the ground, and Iron Man stood in much, MUCH bigger armor. Those watching realized that the parts which had been flying were actually the new casing, which continued to home in on the suit and connect themselves to it, forming the massive armor.

"Well, he's resourceful, I'll give him that." Whis remarked.

"Listen to me. That little witch is messing with your mind." Iron Man said in a serious tone. "You're smarter than her. You're stronger than her. You're Bruce Bann-"

The green Hulk roared in anger.

"Right, right. Don't mention puny Banner." Iron Man said before a car came flying at him. The Hulkbuster Armor caught it… but then was sent flying when the Hulk punched through the car and struck him dead center in the chest. The two behemoths exchanged blows as Iron Man seemed to be struggling to keep this battle from killing everyone in the city. Pulling himself up, Tony saw the Hulk charging towards him with a mindless, animalistic roar, and then grabbed him mid-jump and threw him, using the repulsor blasts to send him flying.

"Sometimes I want to know the context behind why they're fighting, but this? This is not one of those times."

The Hulkbuster landed, only for Hulk to hit him with a massive steel rod like a baseball bat, sending the iron giant flying through several buildings, using his repulsor to slow himself to a manageable speed. Only to then see the hulk coming at the last second, resulting in tony being knocked to the ground and the metal being driven through the suits right arm.

"In the back!? Dick move, Banner!"

"Whatever works, right?" Future Trunks shrugged, while Goku seemed… troubled, somewhat.

"Nah. That ain't the right way to fight." The Sayian radish farmer shook his head. "Hitting someone while they're down usually means you can't win, and you'll cheat to win."

"…or it means you know they're a threat and won't let them get back up." Vegeta countered, raising a good point.

"He's not wrong." Beerus remarked, indifferently.

"Veronica? Give me a hand." Tony said as the arm detached itself, and a new one flew down, connecting onto where the old one was.

"Oh, I get it."

As the Hulk came running back in, the new arm finished attaching itself, and Iron Man slugged Hulk in the jaw before flipping him over his head, slamming him into the ground, and rapid-punching the green beast into the ground.

"Go to sleep. Go to sleep. Go to sleep. Go to sleep." Iron Man repeated, earning a few laughs from those watching. Grabbing the Hulk, Iron Man tried to fly away and out of the city, but the thrashing beast caused them both to crash into a large building, the pair continuing their brawl before damaging the floor and a nearby elevator cable snapping. "GAH! Crap!"

Punching the Hulk out of the building, the Hulkbuster dove forward and grabbed the cable, the people inside managing to jump out to safety. As the Hulk pulled himself up, Iron Man swung the elevator, and shouted what most people expected him to say:

"GOING DOWN!"

The metal frame slammed into the Hulk, seemingly doing some actual damage. Everything was silent for a few moments, before the Hulk looked up, clearly more pissed than before, and spat out a tooth.

"…I'm sorry." Tony said quietly, before he was sent flying through a building. That got a few laughs from those watching.

(*Cues: Unknown Theme*)

"As the name implies, this upgrade was built to contend with one of the universe's strongest beings. With a combination of magnetic and hydraulic technology, in addition to the strength of the modular armor, the Hulkbuster can deliver far more powerful punches, and hold its ground against The Incredible Hulk, who is strong enough to lift a one-hundred-and-fifty-billion-ton mountain!"

"Okay, forget the dude in the metal suit, I wanna see THAT!" Goku exclaimed. "I know they've mentioned him in multiple battles, but geez! What's that dude's deal!?"

"They really have a habit of setting up future fights, don't they?" Piccolo asked with a raised brow, unsure of how someone would fight a being like that.

"But his most advanced armor yet comes in the form of his Endo-Sym armor. Part metal, part scary space alien parasite-"

"Hold on, what!?" Bulma shouted.

"-Tony can summon it telepathically, use it to imprison his foes, and even suck up electromagnetic fields. Mmmm...electricity." Boomstick continued, not giving any explanation.

"Wait, so that thing… is alive?!" Goten asked, confused.

"I would assume so, but why would anyone willing attach a parasitic creature to their body?" Whis asked, a question which would be answered in a later chapter.

"That's not the same type of parasite as Cell was, right?"

"No. Cell was more of an adaptational parasite, that looks… oddly symbiotic." Bulma muttered.

"It can take hits from Storm's lighting, and shoot repulsor beams so powerful, they can injure meta-humans who are normally able to absorb massive energy."

"Although Tony is a mere man who finds himself fighting with and against unimaginably powerful beings, he has proven time and time again that technology – and a laid-back attitude – can compete with the world's greatest superheroes."

"Told you." Bulma smiled.

"What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me." Tony groaned as he pulled himself up.

"We won." Captain America sighed in relief.

"Alright. Hey. Alright. Good job, guys. Let's just not come in tomorrow. Let's just take a day. Have you ever tried shawarma? There's a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I wanna try it."

"What's shawarma?" Beerus asked.

"Shawarma is a Middle Eastern food cuisine consisting of meat cut into thin slices, stacked in a cone-like shape." Gohan remarked. "There's a place that sells it not too far from here."

"He can survive blows from Thor's hammer, hold his own against Captain America, tank blows from literal GODS, and move faster than an Extremis-enhanced superhuman's eye can track." Wiz continued. "Not to mention, in a recent story, he managed to hijack a demonic space symbiote dragon."

FEATS

Downed She-Hulk With One Punch ("How many of these Hulk guys are there?" Goten asked.)

Can Hold His Own Against Captain America in a Hand-To-Hand Fight

Can Achieve Warp Speed Flight

Tanks Hits From Mjölnir

Strong Enough to Bend Metal Girders with His Suit's Hands

Lifts Cars Up With One Hand

Developed Time Travel

First Human To Possess the Reality-Warping Infinity Gauntlet (Everyone wanted to know what that was)

"Oh yeah, his suit can actually learn and predict its opponent's next move, and withstand the fury of several nuclear bombs! DO NOT underestimate the Golden Avenger." Boomstick added, the later fact surprising everyone.

"So, there's gotta be a limit to these things." Goku frowned.

(*Cues: Iron Man TAS (1996) - Opening 2*)

"That being said, for all their power, the Iron Man suits are hardly flawless."

"They've been known to malfunction in life-threatening ways, and consume too much power too quickly, leaving Tony helpless. On top of that, they have also been hijacked by both magic, mind control and good old-fashioned hacking, turning them into ultra-deadly robots."

Again, Grandpa Trunks winced, but no one seemed to notice.

"You should look into the security on that suit your making." Vegeta remarked, and Bulma nodded, now having many more ideas as to what to add to it.

"Tony frequently pushes his suit and his body to their absolute limits, and past them, and his reckless, head-first mentality is responsible for landing him IN trouble just as much as it is for getting him OUT of it. This has led to him setting off a civil war between superheroes, twice. Creating Ultron, in some timelines, an android who literally wiped out humanity, tore apart the Avengers more than once due to his struggle with humanity and duty as a hero, and even pissed off the all-powerful Phoenix Force into killing Charles Xavier."

"What? Charles? But he's the Iron Man." Boomstick said sadly. Those watching didn't know what he was talking about.

"Big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?" Steve Rogers asked.

"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist." Tony Stark shrugged.

"Plus, he has been infected by his Arc Reactor, killed by being beaten to death, blown up, having his brain deleted… don't ask… and even died after wielding the fully-powered Infinity Gauntlet."

"I am… inevitable…" The giant purple titan remarked in a menacing tone before snapping his fingers. However… nothing happened. He looked at the golden gauntlet, seeing there was nothing attached, then saw Iron Man holding a smaller, red gauntlet up. Six glowing stones embedded in it.

"And I… am… Iron Man…" Tony growled out, his entire body seeming… wrong. There were glowing, pulsating veins going up his neck and face. He snapped his fingers, and the screen flashed white. To everyone's utter disbelief, the ships, the creatures, and even the purple titan all turned to dust and blew away in the wind.

(Don't worry. We'll come back to this in greater details in a later battle, I promise!)

"That…"

"That can't be…"

"He just…"

"They…"

"Only… only the Lord of Everything could do that…"

"He's a mortal, yet he wields such power… how?!"

"The Entity mentioned this. In fact, it's one of the few times he seemed genuinely angry." Vegeta muttered, remembering something from the Thor and Raiden episode. "Apparently, those things could just… wipe out all life in the universe."

"Actually yeah… he did mention them." Beerus nodded. "He seemed… off. When he did."

"I asked him about them later, and he refused to talk about it." Goten added, surprising everyone. "I asked what we'd need to do to get him to explain it, and he said short of a beating him in a literal death match, he wasn't gonna talk about it. Something about the knowledge being too dangerous for our world or something." The young Sayian frowned. "It seemed weird though, he didn't seem angry, he seemed scared!"

"Whis?" Beerus asked, looking to the angel, who shook his head.

"I can't begin to fathom what those things are… but if Skorch seemed frightened, I believe it may be better to wait until these episodes explain them."

"That Deadpool guy had one." Past Trunks spoke up. "Apparently he could control reality with it."

"Right…" The God muttered, remembering Wade had said it was useless in their world.

"And, he once built a machine capable of releasing twenty thousand megatons of atomic energy, that's three times more than all of the Earth's known nuclear weapons combined." Wiz added, his tone one of 'I'm-a-mad-scientist-but-even-I-think-this-is-nuts'.

"And then he just blasted it straight into the ground! All because he wanted to see what was at the Earth's core." Boomstick remarked as if this was no big deal.

"It didn't work out… at all." Wiz winced. But Tony's most diabolical nemesis isn't the Mandarin, or even Ultron. It's his lifelong battle with alcoholism."

"Huh…"

"Yeah, never was a fan of that stuff." Gohan shrugged.

"It makes my head feel weird." Goku nodded. "Also makes it hard to focus."

"Did you say something?" Boomstick asked as he cracked open a beer.

"Of course…"

Iron Man dodged a missile from a tank, then seemed to simply look at it before firing a small dart from his wrist, then turned and walked away as the tank exploded. Then the doors closed.

"Nice!"

"That really seems like something Mom would've loved." Trunks 2099 commented, then remembered who was nearby. "Er, I mean, the one from my future. Not-"

"She does. She's working on something like it." Vegeta remarked before Bulma could. "She calls It the Bat-Sayian or something like that."

"Wow, and they just… have this information on all these fighters?" Trunks of Future Past asked, and everyone looked to one another awkwardly, unsure of how to explain the following to him.

"Trunks… there's something we need to tell you." Bulma finally began, clearly with great hesitance. "A few months ago, we met this old man, he's the one who gave us the Death Battle videos we've been watching. Not long after that, we met an Entity named Skorch, he or… it, calls himself a 'Watcher'. He exists outside our world, not just our world, but every world."

"…okay…"

"What Bulma's trying to say, is that there's a place called D-Zero, and there, people know about all of us, because we're essentially comic characters." Goku spoke up, being unbelievably blunt with the truth. Although to him, this was being 'subtle'.

When Trunks of Tomorrow woke up ten minutes later, no-one could really blame him for passing out from shock. Bulma set to trying to explain this to him, while the others returned to the Death Battle.

Lex Luthor

(*Cues: Unknown Theme*)

"Superman is among the most powerful characters in all of fiction. He can destroy planets, withstand supernovas, and fly faster than light itself."

"Yes…" Goku said, seeming childishly excited.

"When is that episode, anyways?" Goten asked. "These seem kinda… random."

"Dunno. We'll look after this one." Goku shrugged.

"What kind of person could possibly be the arch-nemesis to someone like him? You'd have to be a God made of magic kryptonite-" Boomstick began.

"WRONG!" A bald man shouted, making a few watching jump.

"Nope. Just a mortal super genius with a passion for business, swindling, and green trench coats: Lex Luthor."

(*Cues: Mortal Kombat VS DC Universe - Metropolis*)

"Alexander Joseph Luthor began his rise to the top from the very bottom. As a child, he lived in a rundown section of Metropolis called the "Suicide Slum". Yes, it was that bad." Wiz said in a rather serious tone. "Under abusive parents, it was only by sheer willpower that Lex moved on to a better life."

"Man… that sucks." Goku frowned.

BACKGROUND

Real Name: Alexander Joseph Luthor

Height: 6'2" / 188 cm

Weight: 210 lbs. / 95 kg

IQ: Immeasurable

Reason For Baldness: Classified

Former President of the United States ("Tha seems… problematic." Piccolo muttered.)

Once Acted As His Own Son Via Brain Transplant To A New Body ("Oh." Bulma blinked.)

"Yeah, willpower and some good old fashion Social Darwinism. His parents died in a car crash when their car's brakes failed, leaving Lex alone." Boomstick remarked.

"Makes sense… there had to be some rule in their world that those with superpowers lose their-"

"Don't feel bad for a second! He used their life insurance money to get out of the ghetto and start his own company. And he's the one who rigged their brakes!"

"Holy crap! That's not right!"

"I mean… never mind."

"Hm. Well, then." Whis muttered.

"Although founded through some... legally questionable means, the infamous LexCorp successfully spread its influence throughout all of Metropolis. In time Lex came to practically run the city itself." Wiz continued. Taking ownership of nearly every media outlet, Luthor's positive public image went practically unopposed."

"But everything changed when the Man of Tomorrow showed up." Boomstick added.

(*Cues: Injustice: Gods Among Us - Betrayal, Revenge and Murder*)

"In Lex's eyes, Superman was a massive issue for mankind. If humans no longer had to solve problems themselves, they would surely become a weaker race, completely dependent upon this otherworldly savior."

"I'm the only sane inmate of Asylum Earth. I'm not eager to hand tomorrow over to an interplanetary extremist with laser eyes. There's only room on this world for one leader, Superman. When I'm finished with you, every last gibbon out there will know you for the menace you are... and they'll realize that Lex Luthor is their savior."

"So, Lex began his crusade to remove him from the equation, and then properly insert himself as the leader of humanity… surprisingly, it hasn't gone as terribly as you'd think."

"Lex is a cunning strategist and mechanical genius who prefers to place his opponents in un-winnable situations. However, if physical strength is required, he dons the mighty Warsuit." Wiz added as Luthor landed in large dark, dark green armor. Oddly, his head was completely visible and an 'L' was prominently displayed on the chest plate.

"Must I remind you of my superiority?" Lex remarked.

"I swear he's Frieza, but human…" Vegeta scowled.

"…that seems really ineffective." Gohan said, pointing out the obvious flaw. "Like, a single blast to the head, and he's dead. Unless he has some sort of invisible armor around that… and he doesn't seem like the kind of guy who'd overlook that…"

(*Cues: Injustice Gods Among Us - Joker's Game/Earth Battle*)

"The Warsuit is a powerful battle armor created by Superman's other arch-nemesis, the alien God known as Darkseid." Wiz explained.

"He seems… familiar…" Whis muttered.

"Whis?"

"Hm? Oh. Nothing. The name reminds me of someone or something, but I can't say what… While I've never heard or seen a being like that before, I feel like I have…" The Angel muttered.

"…and it's been further enhanced by Luthor's own designs."

WARSUIT

Culmination of Technology From Lex, Darkseid, and Brainiac

Superhuman Strength and Durability

Flight

Force Fields Can Negate Heat Vision

Flamethrowers

Energy Blade/Kryptonite Axe

Energy Blasts

Includes four different Kryptonite energy generators in each of the suit's fingers. (Those watching were wondering what 'Kryptonite' was)

"Forged in the fiery pits of Apokolips, Lex's Warsuit is no ordinary piece of machinery. Despite it's less than sleek appearance, it comes equipped with force fields, gauntlet blades, a giant kryptonite axe, and energy blasts powered by kryptonite generators."

"Okay. And Kryptonite is…?"

"It can also fly and has enough strength and durability to go up against Superman himself. Which would be useful considering that's who it was designed to fight." Wiz added.

"Despite how capable the Warsuit is you may feel it has an obvious weak spot: the giant hole where his head is!"

"I know, right?" Gohan muttered.

"But ol' cueball's chrome dome is actually protected by an invisible force field. He just wants his opponents to know exactly who's beating the shit out of them."

"This planet has, and always will be, under the protection of Lex Luthor, you son-of-a-bitch!" Lex shouted as he was pummeling a giant stone-looking monster into the ground.

"Oh."

"Well, it seems like he at least has some degree of ability and skill to back up his self-idolism." Piccolo had to admit.

"Lex's weaponry goes beyond an alien metal suit. In addition to his brilliant strategic mind, he's also surrounded the Earth with dozens of satellites bearing his name."

"Their purpose? A giant game of space laser hot potato." Boomstick said matter-of-factly.

Before anyone could ask what, he was talking about, Lex tapped something on his arm, and the satellites came to life, all of them firing some sort of energy beam down towards earth.

"Okay, so that's illegal." Bulma frowned, having wanted to try something similar but routinely being told CC could launch laser-satellites into space because 'it'd be cool'. Yes. They had tried.

The beams all seemed to focus on Lex, who caught them, creating a giant sphere akin to the spirit bomb as he flew into the air, and then threw it at a clown, causing a massive explosion.

"That's pathetic." Beerus snarked, taking a sip from his drink. "That's nothing compared to the power of a Destroyer."

"Being a genius multibillionaire, it's no surprise Lex's accomplishments match the expectations." Wiz continued with the feats of the maniacal madman. "He's equaled Deathstroke in combat, stabbed Supergirl, snapped Brainiac's neck, and defeated Power Girl in a single stroke."

"You can't blame him. I don't think anyone could handle more than a single stroke with Power Girl-"

"Nice."

"That's disgusting!"

"This is the same guy who has made jokes about assault, why is this shocking to you?"

FEATS

Mental Resistance to Mind Control Surpasses Even Deathstroke

Frequently, Fearlessly (and Somewhat Stupidly) Goes Up Against Kryptonians

Defeated Nightwing and Batman in Hand-to-Hand Combat (While those watching didn't know who 'Nightwing' was, it was impressive he bested Batman)

Impaled the Super-Durable Supergirl

Solved the Anti-Life Equation

Should only be possible for a 12th-level intellect (Only known 12th-level is Brainiac 5)

"However, Lex is not solely dependent on his Warsuit." Wiz cut Boomstick off. "He sometimes subjects himself to a Kryptonite steroid which has made him much stronger than an ordinary human. Capable of surviving wounds nobody reasonably should… at the cost of going somewhat insane and potentially dying from his body tearing itself apart."

"Yeah, like the time when a giant gorilla shot him in the chest with a sniper rifle, knocking him out of a helicopter off the edge of a cliff and landing headfirst into a canyon. He was up and banging his robot chick in like a day! Oh, yeah. He built a robot version of Lois Lane, uh, Superman's girlfriend and wife, for, you know... sex and murder."

"Well that's… disgusting."

"Kinda impressive though." Goku added, then quickly realized something. "Uh, the survival thing. Not the robot thing… why would he do that?"

"Because Lex always wants what he cannot have." Wiz remarked.

"Yeah, but…" Goku trailed off, unsure where he was going with this. That was wrong, and screwed up on multiple levels, and he could NEVER imagine doing anything even remotely like that to Chi-Chi… granted, Goku didn't exactly pick up on the emotional lust and depravity Lex seemed to be exhuming, partially because he was happily married, and partially because, well, he's Goku.

"…and his know-how with robotics goes past insane and into absurd. While confined to a prison cell he built a talking, flying robot that reads Moby Dick at such a high frequency it carved out an escape route through the floor itself. Including perfectly shaped stairs."

"Yeah, that is impressive." Bulma admitted with a nod. "First of all, the power it would take to create a sort of sonic drill is absurd, but to create one in a sentient robot that reads a story rather than focus on a specific energy output is… absurd."

"Huh. Moby Dick was good for something after all…" Young Trunks muttered, remembering when he had to read it for school, and hating it.

"It wasn't that bad!" Bulma sighed.

"Actually, I have to agree with him." Whis remarked. "I read it once while Lord Beerus slept, and while it was an interesting idea, it was so dreadfully boring, I almost fell asleep multiple times reading it."

Across dimensions, and small figure looked up from where he was reading Moby Dick, feeling like he was being judged.

"You all right Fone?"

"Huh? Oh, I'm fine, Smiley."

"But most diabolical of all, when no one was looking, Lex Luthor took forty cakes. He took 40 cakes Wiz! That's as many as four tens. And that's terrible."

"Strange thing is, that's... actually... officially... canon."

"Bastard!" Boomstick (and Beerus) muttered.

"No man in the sky intervened when I was a boy to deliver me from daddy's fist and abominations. I figured out way back: if God is all-powerful, He cannot be all good. And if He is all good, then He cannot be all-powerful. And neither can you be. They need to see the fraud you are... with their eyes." Lex spoke in a soft, but genuinely unnerving voice.

(*Cues: Injustice: Gods Among Us - Justice is Done*)

"Luthor's hatred of Superman and drive to win are stronger than any machine he – or possibly and scientist or inventor anywhere ever – can create. Take for example the time Superman threw a satellite at LexCorp tower, bringing the building down on top of poor ol' Lex."

"Why'd he do that?"

"Honestly, if someone built a sexbot of your wife, and you're not angered enough to a point where you'd consider killing them, I think there's a bigger issue." Piccolo remarked, earning a few 'WTF?' looks. "…don't quote me on that."

"This left the guy with half his face ripped off, all four limbs blasted away, and he was impaled in five different places. Even like that he still refused Superman's help."

"Geez! Even Vegeta ain't that stubborn!"

"Thanks…"

"Wiz, if that ever happens to me do me a solid and... kill yourself in front of me so that my dream of outliving you is complete."

"Well, it's good to have goals."

"Never gonna happen. But it's also that same cocky independence that serves as Lex's greatest downfall. When he merged with the Zone Child-"

"Woah!" Boomstick (and most watching) exclaimed.

"...It's not what you think. It's effectively an omnipotent alien entity which exists at the core of the Phantom Zone, and is all-powerful beyond reason, but is also kind of… y'know what? We don't have time. Regardless, when Lex hijacked it, he gained, and I quote, Infinite Power', and he did."

"And a secure spot on somebody's watchlist."

"Look. I'm only asking this out of morbid curiosity, and not because I think we should. Also, because he isn't here to hear me ask this." Gohan began, before looking to Whis. "Is it possible to take control of an Entity like Skorch? He doesn't have a regular body in the typical sense, but he seems to be grounded in some degree of reality."

"If I had to guess, the Dragon Balls may allow someone to swap bodies with him." Whis said, his answer surprising a few present. "However, you are correct in saying he does not have a physical form in the traditional sense. If you were to do so, most likely you'd only take control of the body he's given himself, and he would most likely take yours. Also, while you would most likely gain his powers, it stands to reason you very likely would be ripped apart by them."

"Wait, what?"

"Skorch is old. Much, much older than anyone seems to realize." The Angel continued. "As such, its powers have been culminated across time and worlds, to absorb that much power without training or understanding would be… cataclysmic."

"Sorry, who's Skorch and what makes him so powerful?" Trunks of Tomorrow asked.

"We'll introduce you when he gets back. But he's a flaming skeleton in a trench coat." Goku replied. F. Trunks just looked at Goku like he was crazy.

"I also think if you tried to take over his body, he'd just get really pissed off." Goten added. "I mean… he seemed really angry during the Tournament when Lord Beerus yelled at him…"

"He wasn't angry then. He was acting." Whis corrected, shocking those present.

"Wait, so what happens when he gets angry?"

"I… cannot say, and frankly I think we're better off not knowing."

"The only catch was that he could not use his powers to harm others. But because all he wanted to do was kill Superman, he tried it anyway." Wiz remarked.

"For a super genius, that was incredibly stupid."

"That's comics for you."

"…touché."

"So, Superman just straight up punched the god out of him!" Boomstick remarked as Superman was shown punching a white man-shaped figure with a punch that seemed to be ripping through reality.

"Well that's hardly accurate…"

"C'mon, how else would you describe that?!"

"…fair enough." Wiz (and those watching) conceded.

"If all it took was a single blow to defeat him, that Entity could hardly be all-powerful, now could it?" Beerus snarked.

"Still, despite his faults, Lex Luthor is one of the most cunning, ingenious, and dangerous men across all of comic-dom. In some storylines he's effectively conquered earth and became the ruler-for-life. In others, he's successfully turned the world against Superheroes, making him their saviour. He's cured literally uncurbable diseases, saved planets, figured out Batman's secret identity… simply because he was bored and was looking for something to do… and yet in other stories, he's an honest and good man who cares for the planet and those that live on it, going to great lengths to protect them simply because it's the right thing to do. He even became a good friend of Superman…"

"…a Superman who had gone totalitarian dictator, conquered the earth and killed untold millions, and in the end, Lex was working with the remaining non-evil Heroes to overthrow Superman."

"…oh…"

"If Superman is such a champion of Justice, what could drive him to do such a thing?"

"I feel like there's a long story there… like one that could easily take five years to tell…" Trunks of Next Week remarked, not knowing how accurate he was.

"Comics are weird." Boomstick said, summarizing what everyone was thinking.

"Even so when the Earth is threatened, you can count on Lex Luthor to look his enemies in the eye and fight for his people, and then exploit the hell out of them afterwards." Wiz said with finality.

"You know what happens when you take on Lex Luthor?" Lex shouted as he fired a full clip into a purple sludge-like creature. When the gun ran out of ammo, he simply started beating it to death. "The same thing that's gonna happen to Superman!"

The doors closed and Bulma paused the video. It was leaning more towards Iron Man than Lex, namely due to the fact that Tony clearly had more experience being a 'hero' and fighting compared to Lex. However, the argument could be made that Lex's advanced tech and Warsuit may be more than Iron Man could deal with.

"All right, the combatants are set, let's end this debate once and for all."

"IT'S TIME FOR A DEATH BATTLLEEE!" Boomstick shouted.

(*Cues: Unknown Theme*)

The doors opened to reveal a warehouse with 'Stark Industries' written on the outside. Jets of some sort could be heard as someone or something landed outside. A guard stood at attention by a door, only to both be dropped by Lex Luthor, who took out Tony's guard with a laser pistol. He then used what looked very much like a Dragon Ball locator on a large black box, only to then be fired upon by another guard. Without so much as a sideways glance, Lex's force field deflects the guards' bullets and then shoots him.

(*Cues: Iron Man: Armored Adventures - Theme Song*)

"Sir, we have a visitor." J.A.R.V.I.S remarked, making Tony look up from where he was working on a new suit. It wasn't painted, or even complete, and it seemed to annoy Tony more than anything as he looked over to a screen, seeing Lex in the warehouse.

"All clear." Lex remarked as he grabbed the lid to the black box and ripped it off, tossing it behind him. Inside the box was what looked like a key-sword, a giant hammer with a dragon logo on the side, the fire flower Mario used, and-

"Wait! What are the Dragon Balls doing there!?" Future Trunks shouted, bolting upright as his jaw hit the ground.

"This is what I was talking about." Bulma remarked. "To an extent… people know about us in other worlds."

"If they know about us, why haven't they done anything!?"

"I…I don't have that answer…"

"What a joke." Lex remarked, throwing one of the Dragon Balls over his shoulder before picking up a crystal.

(*Cues: Iron Man - Black Sabbath*)

Without warning, a loud BOOM echoed throughout the warehouse as Iron Man flew into the room, landing as his suit seemed to finish affixing itself to its wearer. Bulma watched that with great interest, taking a few notes on the self-assembly aspect to look into. On top of that, she was wondering what kind of colour scheme to give the Iron-Bat-Sayian Suit. Yes, she was adding 'Iron' to it, because it sounded cool.

"Hands off baldy! What's that you got there?" Tony asked as Lex turned around holding the crystal. "Oh yeah! It's mine. I'll send you the bill." Iron Man said as he blasted the crystal out of Lex's hands.

In response, Lex summoned the Warsuit and got into it, clearly knowing a fight was about to ensue. It appeared he thought this was below him, but Lex much didn't care. Just another person to prove his superiority to.

(*Cues: Devil May Cry - Public Enemy*)

"Actually sir, I should probably remind you. The contents of this warehouse belong to Miss Potts." J.A.R.V.I.S spoke up.

"Pepper?" Tony asked.

"I'll forward the estimated damages fee to her account." The A.I. sighed.

"Great. Be discrete about it." Tony remarked.

"One of us has to be."

"I feel that." Bulma sighed deeply.

Luthor laughs as he flies towards Stark and activates his force fields before landing with an air of confidence Beerus nodded to in a sign of over-confident respect.

"Remember my face Stark. It'll be the last thing you ever see." Lex stated.

FIGHT!

Iron Man and Luthor charged towards each other and shot their repulsor blasts, the beams colliding but nullifying the other's attack at first, but the beams seemed to strengthen and began clashing with each other. In the resulting beam struggle as Luthor pushes Stark back. Iron Man tries shooting his repulsor blasts at Lex but they do not penetrate his force field. He launches his missiles but Luthor uses his shield as the missiles cause more damage to more of the artifacts in the area.

"His systems are confusing my targeting, also adding two million to your charges." J.A.R.V.I.S stated.

"Not now J.A.R.V.I.S! What do we got here?!" Tony snapped.

"I am having difficulty determining the suit's alloy. Alien perhaps?

"Great…."

While they were talking, Iron Man was currently punching Luthor multiple times, but whatever force field Lex had was tough, and mere physical attacks clearly weren't going to cut it, or more accurately, punch it.

"My suit is invincible!" Lex Luthor laughed victoriously.

Iron Man charges up his repulsor blasts and the helmet locked onto the target of Luthor's head.

"How about this part?"

Iron Man fired his charged attack, the beams resulting in a large explosion which damaged, but it still doesn't faze Luthor.

"Oh." Iron Man said aloud.

Without warning, Lex shot forward and grabbed Stark before slamming him into the ground. Grabbing his leg, Lex Luthor slammed Iron Man into the ground and then smashed him into several other objects before slamming him back into the ground. Luthor crushes Iron Man's leg while holding him upside down.

"I thought you were smart." He remarked dryly.

"Hey, you're the one who looks like a giant rusty trash can with legs. No judging!"

Luthor slams him again and tosses him into a giant mech, the leg is damaged and eventually gives out, the massive machine falling over and destroying multiple vehicles and machines in the resulting impact. One of the things destroyed looked noticeably like Bulma's Time Machine…

"Sir, I estimate that will be a 583-million-dollar fee." J.A.R.V.I.S remarked.

"Woah! Woah! That one's on him!" Tony exclaimed as the music suddenly stopped. Then picked back up as Lex takes out his Kryptonite ax and swings it at Iron Man, who dodges it and used his force field to black the incoming attacks while he tried to think of a plan. Lex laughs as he unleashes a laser on most of the room while Tony blocks it with his shield, the lasers reflecting off of it and causing multiple explosions, destroying other things the fighters assume would be references to things in D-Zero.

"Here we go! Activate the EMP!" Tony shouted, briefly charging a large electrical blast from the center of his chest, then unleashed it, creating a massive electrical explosion which fried anything around it, then struck Luthor, shutting down some of his defenses. Most importantly, his force field.

"What? Impossible!" Lex exclaimed.

"All right! Come to Mama!" Iron Man shouted, grabbing something familiar. "Heave Ho!"

Iron Man picks up the Batmobile and tosses it at Lex.

"Wait, is that the...?" Lex and those watching began when they saw the familiar winged-mammal-themed-vehicle.

"Hey, yeah! That's the Batmobile!" Goten exclaimed.

Before he can say what it was, Lex slices it in half with his ax, causing it to explode.

"Or… was the Batmobile…"

"That one might actually make a dent in your wallet." J.A.R.V.I.S. remarked, sounding genuinely surprised.

"What are you talking about? It's just a car."

Tony then sees everything about the prices of the Batmobile.

Bat-Turn Lever: $200,000

Mobile Batcomputer: $120,000,000,000

Bat Beam: 89,002,254

Bat Smokescreen: $344,000

Batphone: 25,000,127

Mobile Tracking Scope: $35,000,000

Bat-Tering Ram: $250,000

Bat-Bass Speakers: $2,444

Bat-Tape Deck: $211

Bat Mini-Fridge: $169

Bat-Pine Air Freshener: $9.98

"…there's no possible way all that could actually cost that much…" Vegeta muttered. "That has to be a joke."

"Yeah, there's no possible way a computer that much could fit into a car like that." Bulma shook her head, although the scientist was wondering what kind of computer that was… how much power did it have? How fast could it process data?

"Seriously? What kind of car was that? And where do I get one of those?" Tony asked.

"Finally, someone's asking the real questions."

"So… does he just name everything with 'Bat' in front of it?" Old Yeller Trunks asked.

"Yeah, that's Batman for you." Gohan nodded, then looked to Bulma. "Oh, that reminds me, I brought that Batsuit book you wanted."

Lex then tosses the box that contains the Hulkbuster armor at Stark

"Wake up, sunshine..."

"Watch your left." J.A.R.V.I.S. stated. Unfortunately, Iron Man is unable to react in time and the box sends him crashing outside the warehouse into the city. Lex flies out of the warehouse and takes out his ax.

"Thanks for the fun Stark. It was... smashing."

"Ugh, that wasn't even a pun…" Goten muttered.

"Good. Puns aren't funny." Bulma sulked. Indoors, the Battle Box exhumed a box of E.C. Comics.

Tony then breaks out of the box wearing the Hulkbuster armor. Seeing it fight the Hulk (at least, they assumed that's what the green goliath's name was) was one thing, as it was clear there was more to that fight then they knew, now they'd see it in all it's glory.

(*Cues: OST - SiTE-n0w1*)

"No problem pal! Thanks for the suit."

"Was this not your-"

"Shut up, J.A.R.V.I.S.! In the middle of a quip fight!"

They charge at each other. Luthor swings the ax down in a vicious swing, but Tony is able to catch the blade and wrench the ax at an awkward angle, which allows him to grab and then crush the blade. Iron Man starts punching Luthor, but Luthor's able to counter them. The two then proceed to punch at one another, countering blow-for-blow, before one final punch from each knock them back.

"Man, that Warsuit can really hold its own." Future Trunks blinked. "I figured Iron Man would jump around a lot in terms of suits, but that things taken every attack like it was nothing!"

"Either it truly is as powerful as they make it out to be, or he's gonna run out of power and get his ass kicked." Vegeta nodded, having a feeling that Iron Man was going to win this one. Although, he did consider voting for Lex, only because he was the Arch-Rival of the combatant who was going to kill Kakarot. "If he's half of what they've made him out to be, there's no chance Kakarot could possibly take him down…"

"Okay, J.A.R.V.I.S.? Just transfer the damages to the accounts, I don't want to know how much this is gonna cost."

"Your tactics confuse and frighten me, sir." The A.I. replied.

"So, is an A.I. like that possible?" Goku asked.

"Ehh… that's a loaded question." Bulma shrugged.

"What use is some sort of robot, anyways? Let alone one that can think and talk for itself?" Beerus remarked gruffly. "It's bad enough dealing with those on my planet already, the last thing I'd want is some robot who can think up there."

"Well, it could be programmed to make food, or it could be modified so it solely follows your orders and never thinks twice about it. I think Tony's is super-advanced for comic-reasons."

"…keep me updated on what you find." The God of Destruction remarked.

Iron Man boosts forward afterward and grabs Luthor, then flies upward and drags Lex Luthor through a building. Walls, windows, desks, coffee machines, a pinball table… nothing was spared.

"Sorry! Blame the bald guy, he started it!" Tony shouted.

Lex attempted to escape, but Iron Man pushes him back with one hand and continues flying, exiting the first building, then dragging Lex up a second building until Lex is forced through the roof. Iron Man flies upwards while Lex is in mid-air, charging his left repulsor beam. This one has more of a white coloring, compared to the other blueish-white glow of the regular one. Regardless, he unleashes his blast, sending Lex downward through the building before flying out and onto the streets near a gas station. Surprisingly, the gas station doesn't explode (which some of those watching are disappointed by). After Iron Man lands, he runs – well, runs as well as the Hulkbuster's massive, bulky size allows him – forward toward Lex, who has just gotten back up.

"Insolent fool! You DARE strike me!?"

"I don't sound like that. Right?" Beerus asked under his breath.

"No, Lord Beerus. That would be more akin to your brother." Whis told a half-truth.

Lex charges as well towards Iron Man and the two grab each other, with Lex's arms charging with green energy. Both stand their ground, to which Lex begins to laugh. The green energy courses through the Hulkbuster suit, and Iron Man is pushed back. To everyone's surprise, the Hulkbuster seemed to be sparking, and some parts were clearly weakening.

"That current damaged your battery. Power is at fifteen percent and dropping fast." J.A.R.V.I.S. stated, growing concerned.

(*Cues: OST - AZPV)

Lex Luthor's shield emerges around him once more, he seems fine despite all the blows he's taken thus far. Even those rooting for Tony had to hand it to him, Lex seemed eerily calm the whole while.

"I recommend a new plan of attack."

"I have a plan: Attack!" Tony yelled.

"I can't tell if that's more Goku, or Vegeta."

Tony tries punching down Luthor's force field as the villain laughs.

"Power at 10%."

"You call that power? Ha! You are nothing!"

"J.A.R.V.I.S, reroute all power to the arm and leg hydraulics."

"I know he's a genius and all, but does anyone else feel like Tony's just kind of winging it and hoping something works?"

"I mean… kinda." Trunks Jr. muttered. "Maybe Lex has no strategy and is just really good at acting, but he seems to have some sort of plan, Iron Man is just… going in wildly."

"Something which has never caused any of us any problems whatsoever." Piccolo said dryly.

"I have seen true power, power beyond what you could ever imagine! I have spat in the faces of so-called 'Kings' and dethroned Gods… you are nothing more than another ant to crush under my-"

Tony breaks through the force field, surprising Lex Luthor.

"How about that?" He remarked, seeming impressed (somewhat).

Seeing that he's broken through, Tony pulls back, the fist on the Hulkbuster re-configuring to make a massive fist.

"Good night cueball!"

Lex catches Tony's punch as the Hulkbuster shuts off.

"Wait. What?!" Goku exclaimed.

"What's going on?"

"We're out of power." J.A.R.V.I.S. remarked with a 'I-tried-to-warn-you' tone.

"Ugh, figures."

"Did Lex's suit have the ability to drain power? Or is this just lazy writing?" Gohan asked.

Luthor starts setting up coordinates for his satellite, preparing his large laser. All the while, the Hulkbuster is slowly slouching forward.

"Seriously? They're just going to blow him up like I do a planet? Pfft. That's blasé for this show…" Beerus remarked, seeming almost annoyed. Someone slid a box of donuts down his way, and his mood changed.

"Fool, you're just like all the rest. Building a suit to save the world, trying to play God."

The charged blast fires down towards earth, it impacts with the Warsuit, but Lex is able to hold it up like the spirit bomb. Lex holds the large laser in his hand and prepares to throw it at Stark, who is essentially immobilized at this point.

"Let me tell you something Stark! There's only one man in the world that's fit to play such a role!"

Luthor then throws the charged attack at Stark, causing a large explosion and sending Stark into a building. Lex flies forward.

"ME." Lex stated, and everything went silent for a few moments.

"Is… is that it?" Future Trunks asked, confused.

"That was disappointing." Goten frowned.

"I don't think so, usually it's a lot bloodier, or a lot more cinematic." Piccolo shrugged. "Besides, even with Lex using that laser power, the Hulkbuster seems built to take that kind of thing. Although it was looking a little rough…"

(*Cues: OST - MKAlieZ*)

Something darted past Lex, then another something, and another something… at first, it looked like silver snakes that were flying? That was weird even by this world's standards… but then they remembered Tony's gear, and the one thing they hadn't seen yet…

"I don't know, Lex. Being a god can't be too hard. I mean, I'm the most intelligent capable person on the planet. I'm not playing God." Tony said, as another explosion went off, and the chrome and white Endo-Sym Iron Man hovered in the air. "All this time... I've been playing human."

"Man, that looks awesome!" Goten exclaimed excitedly.

"So. That thing is alive, right? Like, the suit itself has its own life?" Goku asked aloud, and everyone paused, unsure of how to respond.

"It said it was some sort of parasite? It clearly has a symbiotic relation to him… If I had to guess, no." Piccolo shook his head. "It's probably 'alive' in the sense that it can move without Tony being in it. But again, I really can't say…"

"Who cares?! This is gonna be awesome!"

Iron Man charges at Lex full speed, shattering his shield as if it was paper and knocking him back on his ass. Lex tries throwing a large Kryptonite explosion at Tony, but Iron Man grabbed the grenade, which then exploded… and was immediately absorbed by the suit.

"Huh… Kryptonite? Weird. Never heard of that…" Tony blinked. "Hey, thanks for the free breakthrough!"

Lex was angered, shocked, and somewhat taken aback. That clearly hadn't gone to his plan… So, he decided to use a certified hood classic tactic. Using flamethrowers on his foe. Hut Iron Man dodges all of it and grabs Luthor's arms as if this was mere child's play.

"I think Tony and Lex had a similar strategy, actually." Vegeta spoke up, getting everyone's attention. "They both act to hide their true intentions. Tony acts brash and blazon, while Lex acts like he's a false God. Sure, that's who they both are, but when they're fighting? They seemed a lot quieter…"

"Huh, that's a good point." Gohan nodded.

"I'll take this!" Iron Man stated as he absorbs the energy from Luthor's suit, significantly powering it down.

"Huh… that's… that's kinda like Cell in a weird way…" Goku muttered.

"I think if there was a way to control it, that Endo-Sym stuff would be pretty useful." Gohan mused. "I mean, aside from fighting, if it moves and forms into whatever you need it to be, that could help with a lot of things."

"I dunno. When something is describes as part 'Scary space parasite', I think it's better to leave well enough alone." Piccolo added, and Bulma felt like the latter half of that comment was aimed at her.

"What? What did you take?

"Everything." Tony said as he charged up the suit, illuminating blue highlights along it. In one swift move, he tore the fromt half of the Warsuit off and rips Lex out of his other half.

"NO! THIS IS NOT HOW THIS GOES!" Lex shouted, seeming to have completely lost it. "I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED BY YOU!"

"Now that sounds like Frieza." Goku remarked, and in a shocking turn of events, Vegeta laughed somewhat at his remark.

Iron Man yeeted Lex towards the street through a building and bridge. That somehow not killing him… eh, comic logic. Iron Man shot forward and grabbed him again then hurdled him back up into the air.

"Here's the big one!" Iron Man shouted as the center chest piece seemed to be pulsating as if something had been charging. "UNIBEAM!" Tony (and a few watching) shouted.

Lex yelled in defiance and anger as he was completely obliterated by the Unibeam attack. It really did seem like the Kamehameha or Big Bang attack, and by that, they mean it looked awesome.

"…that was Pepper's building wasn't it?" Tony muttered.

"Phone call from Miss Potts."

"Tell her I'm not here, I'm uh, jogging!"

"Ugh, I've been there before…" Bulma muttered, casting a side-long glance to the Sayians.

"Already answered, sir."

"Tony?"

"Uh, hi Pepper! How are you?"

"Why did J.A.R.V.I.S just deposit five billion dollars for..." Another explosion went off. "…collateral damage?"

"I'm not here. I'm jogging." Tony said as he hung up the call and flew off.

K.O.!

Those who voted for Lex weren't that disappointed he was defeated (he was kind of an insufferable egomaniac…) but his tools seemed suited to take down Tony, but they wondered how exactly Iron Man had the upper-edge.

"Bullseye!" Boomstick shouted.

"Both Tony and Lex possessed incredible pieces of technology, but only one was naturally prepared for anything. Although it's true that Lex could trade blows with Superman in his Warsuit, the only reason he lasted as long as he did is because many of its weapons are based on Kryptonite, great for battling Kryptonians, only okay against everybody else…"

"Okay, but if he already modified it, why not do that more so you can fight anyone?" Goten asked.

"If you're wondering why he never did much to change it so he could fight against others; that's simple. He's that focused on killing Superman."

"Oh."

"That's honestly kinda sad… kinda like Ahab and the white whale."

"That changes nothing, that book was boring and I have no intention of reading it again."

Bulma sulked slightly. Sure, she could reprimand her son, but that would be unbelievably petty… she'd wait until they were alone.

"Yes, the Warsuit could take hits from Superman, making it more than a match for even the Hulkbuster's power, but, even against the very enemy it was designed to kill, the Warsuit only lasts so long."

"He never thought to change that?" Goku asked with a raised brow. "That kinda seems like something you'd wanna address immediately."

"It's so obvious even Kakarot gets it…" Vegeta muttered.

"Iron Man's greatest advantage was being able to adapt his strategy by remotely summoning and changing suits. The Endo-Sym, in particular, could counter nearly anything Lex could throw at it. Lex's best strategy would be to try and outlast it, or find the structural weaknesses."

"Even then, it feels like Iron Man could just outlast him in general." F. Trunks remarked. "If the Warsuit thing only has so much power, and Iron Man can keep jumping suits, then Lex didn't have much of a chance.

"Plus, Iron Man has far more actual combat experience. Lex treated physical combat as a last resort, beneath him, while Tony straight up enjoys it. Lex just wasn't suited for this battle." Boomstick said.

"The winner is Iron Man." Wiz concluded.

"Huh, that was kinda fun, actually." Future Trunks commented. "I mean, it's weird knowing that… and that… I don't…"

"Look, we'll call Skorch and he can explain it better to you." Goku shrugged.

"It's just… if people were watching, why didn't anyone do anything?!"

"…I don't think they could."

Trunks of Tomorrow clearly didn't like the answer, and no-one could blame him. Still, for now there wasn't much they could do… But he raised a fair point… if someone had been watching since when Goku was a child, why didn't anyone do anything? Was it because they couldn't? Or because they chose not to? Or was all this just padding to add an existential crisis which will most likely be forgotten by next chapter?

"Next time on Death Battle!"

The screen cut to black, and ominous music began to play. From there, the burned out remains of a city were shown, and text began to appear on-screen.

LOS ANGELES 2029 A.D.

THE MACHINES ROSE FROM THE ASHES OF THE NUCLEAR FIRE.

THEIR WAR TO EXTERMINATE MANKIND HAS RAGED FOR DECADES,

BUT THE FINAL BATTLE WOULD NOT BE FOUGHT IN THE FUTURE.

IT WOULD BE FOUGHT HERE, IN OUR PRESENT.

A metallic foot suddenly came down, crushing the skull to dust. Over the metallic whirring of the ships, the constant sound of some sort of laser fire could be heard. The camera panned up, revealing a metallic skeleton. This… thing, looked oddly human, but terrifyingly mechanical all the same. There was an armada of these robots, all firing some sort of plasma rifle at an unseen enemy. One of them turned and looked at the viewers, then fired its gun at them.

THE TERMINATOR

The screen cut to black, then the sound of a police siren could he heard.

"Dead or alive. You're coming with me." A robotic voice spoke.

ROBOCOP

"Huh…"

"Greeeaaatttt…" Future Trunks muttered.

---

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Hello, you have reached the automated review response line. Unfortunately, the one who normally responds to reviews is currently unavailable/asleep/intoxicated/doesn't care/gaming/doing something else more important. Please leave your reviews, and they will be replied to by our computer programs. Thank you, and have a nice trippp.

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From a 'akeiser45':

Ooooh, so the death battle with 18 in it is coming up soon? That will be very interesting to see how they'll react to it. I do remember that one of these 3 battles is RoboCop vs the Terminator... but i forgot what the other one was...

Ah. So Future Trunks comes into teh play at last, i do wonder how He'll react to Skorch and what the Z-Fighters have learned about D-Zero. Things are getting quite interesting now...

I got to ask, do you have anything planed on when you do get the the death battles with Joker and Hulk in them. Cause i think you should wait to do the Hulk one, cause Goku and Vegeta will meet with who he will be fighting in that later on. As for The Joker one? Maybe you can have the Clown themed GoD and his angel react to it with them since there designs are clearly based off Joker and Harley. But those are just some ideas. Keep up the great work!

Thank you for your response. While I am merely an automated response system who does not have access to future plans, those in charge have expressed interest in having more than the usual band of suspects watch later battles. They have also expressed interest in bringing certain characters from the afterlife and other Universes to the show, so to speak.

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From a 'FactorySmoke':

Now that I've read this chapter I kinda wanna see Hercule take on a human martial artist legitimately. Let the other Saiyans see what the World Champion can do without any cheap tricks, gimmicks or lies. Just the long, hard fought-our battle of two human powerhouses.

An interesting idea. Perhaps a fighter such as Ken Masters or Terry Bogart? Both battles would be entertaining in their own right, but we will have to wait and see what Wizard and Boomstick create.

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From a 'gonzo22':

I think it would be nice if you had them react to one of the later seasons from 3 and beyond. So far, you've only done battles from the first two seasons.

Acknowledged, I will pass this request on to the others. From what I understand, the focus on the first two seasons were to establish characters such as Batman, Thor, Iron Man, Spawn, Spider-Man and so on, so later battles such as Hulk, Superman and Darkseid will make more sense to help properly establish how powerful the combatants truly are. However, we also understand the desire to see later Death Battles, and are working on accommodating the wants of all, please bear with us.

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Also; multiple guests' have left reviews with the information that those working should look up videos by a 'SeththeProgrammer' for information on Goku and Superman. We are thankful for your input, but those in charge saved those videos back when this story began. We are also fully aware that some consider Seth's reasoning to be 'flawed'. But, due to the size, scope and magnitude that the inevitable and approaching Goku v Superman battle will entail, we are looking to any and all sources so we can make the best decisions for that battle. It is currently at 36 pages, and we have barely begun Goku's description.

We also have had several guests express concern for the time between updates, we appreciate your concern, and advise you to either look at the profile page for updates on every story or follow the author on twitter NSkorch. For explanation though, we have been hard at work writing chapters for multiple stories; and since there had not been progress made on many of those chapters, we are ensuring they are of quality.

Thank you, for your responses. If you have any questions for anyone, critiques or feedback, please leave them in a review, and we will get back to you via PM's at the earliest convenience/will answer them in a later chapter. Have a nice trippp.

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---

A few hours had passed, and most of the others gathered to meet with Crisis on Infinite Trunks. Either for the first time, or for the first time in what felt like a decade. There were a few… awkward introductions, namely with Future Trunks and Mai… although no-one understood why.

Future Trunks met Videl and Pan, and re-connected with Hercule (and had a surprisingly easy time accepting Majin Buu's change to good). As everyone talked, Android 18 arrived with Marron, but didn't know about the newcomer. 18 was here because she needed to find Bulma.

"Hey, you have a second?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah. What's up?" Bulma asked looking up from her phone.

"Listen, it's about the Death Battles." 18 said, growing serious.

"Oh, if you don't want us watching them when Marron's around in the future, that's fine." Bulma remarked. "Speaking of future, you should know that-"

"No, no. It's not that… Look, somehow… Skorch called me, and apparently…" 18 trailed off, biting her lip. This was probably one of the weirdest things she'd ever have to talk about, and she didn't know how to.

"Seriously!?" Bulma asked, her eyes widening as she put everything together.

"Yeah." 18 sighed. "Look, I don't know if I'm okay with watching it. Just… the past is better off being left there, I guess. It's not like with Vegeta, or Hercule, or even Goku, eventually. I don't WANT to remember that stuff."

"Yeah, I completely understand." Bulma nodded, not nearing to hear anything else. "When it comes up, we'll skip it. If anyone complains, I'll call Chi-Chi."

"Whoa, no need to take things THAT far." 18 smirked.

"But listen, there's something you need to know. Future Trun-"

18's eyes widened, then changed to confusion when she saw Future Trunks on the other side of the room. Trunks took a step back, and felt his hand drop to the hilt of his sword.

"What is she-"

"AGH! TRUNKS, WAIT! THAT'S MY WIFE!" Krillin exclaimed, running between Trunks and 18. The former seeming a mixture of angered and terrified.

Needless to say, that was a bit of an awkward conversation… thankfully, Old Trunks seemed to understand relatively quickly that this wasn't the same Android… sort of… look, it was clear he felt very uncomfortable around her, but they both acknowledged they weren't who the other seemed to think they were, and agreed to give the other space. About fifteen minutes after that, a green vortex opened and Beerus groaned in annoyance.

"Skorch! What the actual hell is going-"

"Who is this Skorch you speak of?" A somewhat mechanical voice replied as a tall figure appeared.

"16?! What are you doing here?!" Was the collective exclamation from those present.

"I… do not know." The android remarked honestly, looking around in slight confusion, looking down at his hands, then looking to the Dragon Crew. "How long have I been gone?"

"About… about twelve years…" 18 finally managed to get out. "But… how… when…"

"I do not know." 16 shook his head. "I was in a nice place, there were animals, there was peace. I was happy. A strange being came, and offered me the chance to see the ones I cared for again, all he asked in exchange, was that I do not attempt to harm those who I previous held grievances with." Looking up, he looked at Goku and Vegeta and added: "Namely, them."

"Man, I… so you weren't brought back by the Dragon Balls?" 18 blinked, still taking everything in.

"No, I chose to remain where I was. I was happier there, my purpose in life was not one I was happy with. In my new home, I could make my own choices, and I was happy with that. I am sorry for taking so long to return." The large android explained.

"Also, I'm here." Another voice spoke up in a calm tone. "Hey, sis." 17 nodded. "Been a while, hasn't it?"

"Y..yeah… What are you doing here?" 18 blinked, taken aback by the fact that her brother and friend were here. It didn't make sense as to 'why' though… Skorch – for as much of an annoyance and for lack of a better term, an asshole he could be – had never mentioned bringing either of them here at any point, as if he understood the connotations of doing such a thing, and respected her enough to not do so. But this didn't look like Skorch's usual M.O.

"Got a call from a… 'mutual acquaintance' as he described himself, and I wasn't sure if what he said was true or not, but I didn't wanna leave that up to chance."

"Flaming skeleton?"

"Kinda."

"Trench coat?"

"No. Straightjacket."

"What…?" 18 blinked in confusion.

"Yeah, he was kinda sketchy, but when he mentioned that you were gonna be in one of these Death Battle things… I wanted to make sure you were okay." 17 explained, his tone his usual calm, somewhat emotionless tone, but also one filled with concern for his sister.

"Y'know it's just a show, right?" 18 asked with a soft smirk, thankful for her brother's concern.

"I know. But the episode I saw held nothing back, especially when their past is involved." He said matter-of-factly.

"I talked with Bulma, we're just gonna skip that one and not talk about it." 18 sighed. "I understand that to Goku or Vegeta, being in one of these is something to look forward too, but I don't really wanna think of myself like that."

"That's what I was always jealous of. You could always understand your emotions better than I ever could… and I'm not saying that because you're a girl."

"Uh-huh." 18 smirked slightly, then shook her head. "Listen, there's someone you need to meet."

"I think the big guy's already meeting her." 17 remarked, nodding to where 16 had gotten down on one knee to seem less intimidating to Marron, who Krillin was standing next too.

"Hello, small one. I am Android 16."

"Mama mentioned you… she really missed you…" Marron said, perhaps saying a bit more than 18 would've wanted, and she looked away somewhat embarrassed.

"I missed her as well." The calm android nodded in response.

Needless to say… it was a really nice moment. There was a feeling of relief, a feeling of warmth. The feeling of finally seeing an old friend for the first time in over a decade, yet it felt like not even a week had passed. The energy in the room seemed genuinely happy, the fear and threat of Goku Black being forgotten for the time being…

Another portal opened, and everyone assumed Skorch was returning, but then a demented laugh made the room freeze in disbelief.

"Well, isn't this a surprising reunion?"

"CELL!?"

To Be Continued…

NEXT YEAR! That's right, I'm going on a year-long hiatus and you cowards can't stop-

Just kidding.