Disclaimer: This work is a work of fiction. All characters presented herein have no relation to any person, living or dead. These Characters are the property of Akira Toriyama, DC Comics, Toei Animation and their affiliates. This work is presented without monetary compensation and for the purpose of entertainment only.
Author's Notes: This next chapter is going to be taking place a week after Cell and Dr. Gero's retrieval from Hell by Champa and associates. Let's just say that Dr. Gero has been busy.
Dr. Gero calmly walked the expansive halls of the city-sized weapons lab he had been bequeathed by the animated Lord Champa. He had always been a strong believer in science, in rationality, but dying had opened his eyes to the true supernatural. Such an awakening had made it far easier to accept the truth about Gods of Destruction, The Kais, Angels, and all the other incredible things he had come to realize were far more real than he had even given much credence to.
He had learned that Gods were real, but not only from meeting Lord Champa; he had a brief chance to meet Lord Champa's mysterious benefactor, the great and terrible Darkseid! The enormous deity was a terrifying sight, but also an inspirational one. Gero knew that such a being would demand only the absolute best, and he vowed to deliver!
Darkseid's chief scientist DeSaad was a remarkable fellow, if not a little...resistant to the idea of working with anyone, no matter how intelligent or talented they were. When DeSaad's unwillingness to work with others began to impact the work that was demanded of them both, Darkseid ordered complete cooperation between the two and Desaad's resistance vanished. When they earnestly started to work together, the two incredibly gifted but radically different scientists were both happily surprised by how much each man brought to the table.
DeSaad had learned to not only replicate, but even improve upon many of Dr. Gero's designs, even his masterpiece invention the Infinite Energy Engine which powered Dr. Gero's androids! Dr. Gero had done likewise with many of DeSaad's impressive inventions with frightening success. The Mega Para-Demons, for example, were far more powerful, more agile, more streamlined and above all, far more lethal than their bulky, dim-witted predecessors. They were quite a bit more intelligent, able to actually think strategically and plan, but still not so intelligent as to be truly independent. What made them so superior – from Darkseid's all-important viewpoint – was the overwhelming battle power they had.
They were too quick to perceive and keep track of, their reflexes were so vastly improved that one such Mega Para-Demon managed to block and deflect a blow from Darkseid himself! The physical power of the test subject was enough to actually force the God of Evil into a defensive posture! The evil lord of Apokolips had actually broke out into laughter, realizing if this new breed of Para-Demon could put HIM to his heels, what could they do to lesser foes?
The Mega Para-Demon test subject had become a kind of lab assistant to Dr. Gero and DeSaad. They had given the test subject true self-awareness and a unique personality, purely as an exercise in curiosity. They were amazed at how intelligent it had become, and were genuinely surprised when it began giving itself inspired upgrades. An extra pair of arms, integrated weaponry inspired by one of Dr. Gero's most powerful androids, the giant Number 16, along with a wicked assortment of other murderous armament.
The most unusual change though was a mechanical mask that fitted over the upgraded Para-Demons face, a prosthesis with a movable jaw equipped with razor-sharp external teeth which connected to its own jaw. Once equipped with a specially designed helmet, one could easily confused the cybernetic monster for a purely synthetic construct.
The prototype Mega Para-Demon had even developed the ability to speak, and held interesting conversations with its creators now and again. It had dubbed itself Adapt, for in battle a warrior adapted to combat situations or died. It was that simple.
Adapt was waiting for Dr. Gero as he approached the door to the main research and development lab he and DeSaad were using for Cell's upgrade procedure. Adapt bowed to him and stepped back as the door slid open, allowing the former Red Ribbon Army founder to enter. He squinted at the bright bluish-green light being given off by the huge central growth chamber in the centre of the massive lab. The form within the chamber was obscured by shadows and the sheer viscosity of the gelatinous chemicals within the chamber, but Gero smiled at it warmly as he envisioned the sheer overwhelming power of the Entity within.
Cell had been through some particularly substantial changes.
Dr. Gero and DeSaad smiled at each other as Dr. Gero approached the Apokoliptian scientist. The robed master scientist of Apokolips was seated before a wide computer console, his ghoulish face illumined by a lurid red light given off by the console. The console was displaying CGI of DNA helix's, holograms of various alien species that Gero had never seen before, but as he moved closer, he saw the unique pictograms for each of the twelve universes comprising his home Multiverse.
"Ah, Dr. Gero, my esteemed colleague! A bright and glorious good morning to you!" DeSaad was in an unusually chipper mood, but considering even when things were going well on Apokolips, the mood was always dour and severe, this could only mean good things were brewing; quite literally in this case!
"Master DeSaad, your up early this morning! How are things progressing? Surely you must have made a dozen or so advancements by now?" Such statements came off as good-nature ribbing, or so Dr. Gero came to think. DeSaad on the other hand, saw such comments as literal questions to which he felt compelled to provide a suitable answer. "At least fourteen, my friend. If we are actually keeping score?"
The two villainous genius' chuckled at that, knowing full well that DeSaad had accomplished exactly that, which always made Dr. Gero quite happy. It wasn't very often at all when he was the under-study. In this particular case, he didn't mind one damn bit. The magnitude of advanced scientific knowledge he had come into access of made even his best work seem like childish science fair work by comparison, which fired in him a new and exhilarating new hunger for discover and innovation. Just recently, he and DeSaad had combined their best works to create something quite extraordinary: a cybernetic endo -skeletal chassis that incorporated the absolute finest of Apokolips science and many of Dr. Gero's most deadly and inspired designs.
After its completion, Dr. Gero and DeSaad both realized, to the complete surprise of both super genius scientists, that the endo-skeleton by itself had well more than ten times the destructive power that the bio-android Cell had at his peak before his defeat by the half Saiyan Son Gohan!
The cybernetic construct had several other amazing new features that were critical to their work. For starters, the endo-skeleton had the ability to analyze and duplicate what DeSaad had termed "meta-human" abilities, after studying earthlings with remarkable powers. Even more paranormal powers like telepathy or other psychic abilities could be copied. Whats more, the copied powers could be translated over to any organic components integrated into it through real-time genetic re-sequencing that could affect each and every cell of whatever organic components were installed simultaneously. If those powers were too complex for rapid duplication, however, the endo-skeleton could extract bio-samples from the target, isolate the genetic component that code for the ability or abilities, and them integrate them into the hosts genetic code.
This was a major feature but not the only one. The endo-skeleton could rapidly self-regenerate its physical structure and even upgrade its own technology in response to battle conditions it may encounter. It could adapt itself to become immune to whatever ability, weapon system, or even hostile natural environment that assailed it. It could even modify the organics of its host to develop the biological equivalents of those adaptations!
A greatly upgraded version of Dr. Gero's Infinite Energy Engine installed in triplicate, the ability to absorb other technologies into its own systems, to reconfigure itself into whatever form the host desired in real-time, and a slew of other incredible abilities allowed this amazing construct to easily be Dr. Gero's most powerful purely synthetic creation.
Of course, he recognized that he wasn't the only scientist contributing to this technological super marvel.
DeSaad's own input and designs had been integral to the Endo-skeleton being created in the first place. Dr. Gero had long ago realized that his own mighty sense of pride and egotism had cost him his well deserved revenge against that Saiyan wretch Son Goku. If he had not allowed is own closed-minded arrogance to guide him, Cell's original design would have been far more adaptable, more substantial from the sources it drew from and so on.
He now stood to Desaad's immediate left, gazing proudly at the massive transparent chamber that Cell now rested in. Wires and tubes led from both the top and bottom of the chambers insides into his own form as well as the cybernetic endo-skeleton he and DeSaad had created, which was even now being integrated into Cell's ever-changing body.
"I have to say Gero, your bio-android is a pleasure to work with! I have never seen physiology so well...adaptable to the changes we are inducing in him. Through my latest modifications, His body is breaking itself down and rebuilding itself over and over again, slowly incorporating the cybernetic chassis into itself. His own nervous system and the chassis' neural network have begun to interweave and interact with each other. This process has been gradually accelerating for the last thirty-two hours. What should have taken the rest of the month to complete and finalize will now take a mere three-and-a-half more days!"
Dr. Gero did a double take and stared with dumb-struck awe at the alien scientist. He sputtered, stopped, drew in a long breath and tried to speak again. "You don't just mean his nervous system connecting to the Chassis neural net, do you?" he asked simply. DeSaad shook his head and smiled in such a way, Gero instantly knew the answer to his question. The almost crazed grin that spread across the evil Doctor's face looked to split his head clean in two. His wicked grin seemed to grow even larger as an alert from DeSaad's console drew his attention. The scientist from Apokolips and his partner from the Earth of Universe 7 both smiled the same hideous smiles as the data scrolling across the screen began to rapidly scroll and change. They also noted that Cell himself was beginning to twitch and jerk, if as though he had heard the exchange and had become excited by it. The data on the console, however, now showed a dramatic acceleration of the integration process, if the ever growing intensity of light coming from the chamber hadn't been a obvious-enough clue that something incredible was going on.
"Three-and-a-half-days? I beg your pardon, my good Doctor. I meant three-and-a-half hours!" DeSaad now crowed. He and the Doctor began congratulating each other on the unmitigated success of their joint experiment. Unbeknownst to them, since the two had been so wrapped up in this completely unexpected turn, they never noticed Adapt standing at a console at the far wall, keying in additions and changes that neither scientist had proposed or approved of. Lord Darkseid had secretly told the Mega Para-Demon to keep on eye on both of the scientists, to make sure they both stayed on course, and to "correct" that course if need be.
Adapt realized he didn't need to play watch-dog, as Lord Darkseid had commanded. He only needed to give the work of DeSaad and Dr. Gero a few...helping pushes, here and there. They had yet to begin using DNA samples from the Tournament of Power fighters. While such additions wouldn't be an absolute necessity if their work on the cybernetic chassis panned out, there simply was no room for error in this most important of endeavour. Where Adapt had received this new impetus, even he did not know, but as long as the great Lord Darkseid was served by it, he didn't mind at all.
As the Mega Para-Demon walked over to his masters to congratulate them on their upcoming success, he walked by a blank console in the wall that seemed to be clouded over by what would be described as inky black smoke. As Adapt walked past, completely oblivious, Six horrid red eyes opened in the swirling black and a mouth full of long, razor-sharp teeth opened in the miasma spreading into a demonic grin.
!
Lord Champa had arrived at the lab after he had received summons from Dr. Gero and Darkseid's man, DeSaad. He was anxious to see what the reborn Cell could do, but he had to keep up appearances. He had told the deities of Universe 7 who used to run afterlife check-in stations for races that Freiza had wiped out that Cell would be resurrected and deployed to deal with the intergalactic tyrant as quickly as could be done. Now Lord Champa always knew that the work would be done quickly, but not months ahead of the originally predicted schedule! Now that was what HE called excellent timing! He felt like a completely new person but not just because his little stratagem was playing out beautifully, he felt a new energy he hadn't felt in eons!
He had always felt the mortal saying "clothes make the man" was as silly as it was half-baked. Now, after taking on a new outfit (a gift from Lord Darkseid, based upon the great Lord Darkseid's glorious armour, no less) he truly felt like a Destroyer God! His old outfit was nice, but nowadays it seemed like something a deity would wear to a fancy dress party or some other formal occasion. When he had initially tried on the new outfit, he at first thought it would look tacky on him or not fit, but it seemed to conform to every curve and shaped like a second skin. He actually felt more powerful than ever! Maybe it was just how regal the armour looked on him giving him a boost of confidence but he had never in his very long life felt so perfectly energized!
He practically skipped toward the lab where Dr. Gero and DeSaad worked to enhance the bio-android. He even began to whistle a merry tune the closer he approached to the lab. He was just arriving at the labs enormous door when he began to hear a very odd noise. It sounded like a gigantic pot beginning to boil over, over-laid with the sound of very thick and heavy glass cracking and breaking. His merry mood died away, terror that something was suddenly going wrong with his plans filling his veins, so he simply simply ripped the doors out of their frame, uncaring where the pieces landed. The blast of piercingly bright neon blue-green light that erupted from the now open doorway was so intense, so instantly complete in its sheer power, it made the cat-like deity recoil in actual pain and sudden shock.
As Champa flailed like a drunken loon and screamed that he had been blinded, he never realized that Dr. Gero and DeSaad were staggering and shuffling out of the lab as fast as their feet could take them. Neither of them could see anything either and plowed right into Champa, all three flopping onto the floor in a particularly indignant heap. A loud thumping caught their attention, along with a familiar voice shouting, "What in Lord Darkseid's name is going on here?!" It was Steppenwolf, and from the unusually high pitch his voice took on for a moment, Champa could swear the Apokoliptian warrior actually sounded worried about something. As he tried to disentangle himself from Gero and DeSaad, they all heard a massively heavy thump. They all realized that the incredibly intense and painful light was beginning to die down as well,
Another loud thump could be heard coming from the direction of the lab. The sounds of glass being crushed beneath very heavy feet joined in with the heavy footsteps, for that was what the first noise was without a doubt in anyone's mind. Another new noise that all four now noticed was a deep, guttural growling noise. It was like listening to some huge beast trying to enunciate a single word, but it ended up being drawn out into an almost unintelligible growl.
Champa and the others had finally untangled themselves and were now on their feet, staring into the still brightly illuminated lab. As much as the intensity of the light bothered everyone, they still tried to focus their eyes enough to see just what the hell was going on in the lab.
They needn't have bothered.
A huge black armoured hand reached through the torn open door and clasped the frame so tightly, it crumpled like an empty tin can being crushed. As the owner of the hand became clearer, another hand reached through the opening and also grabbed the door frame just above the first one. Ignoring all the other obvious details, their was something odd about the second hand; both hands were left hands! Another hand came through the door, but this one was a right hand, quickly followed by a second right hand which also clasped the door frame, buckling it as well. What made all four viewers particularly nervous? A pair of demonic red eyes opened in the blinding green light, glowing with ominous power and a look of terrible rage in them.
There was something else there, in those terrible eyes. An almost mindless rage, ever mounting fury, but also a frighteningly focused and powerful hatred. Each and everyone gathered at the lab leaped, ducked, or just plain ran out of the way as the owner of the eyes exploded out of the lab with such power, most of the wall came with him. What ever it was, it let out a monstrous roar that seemed to shake the whole facility, overflowing with mindless rage and bestial fury that put even the savage Steppenwolf of Apokolips and the cruel Lord Champa, God of Destruction for Universe 6 on their heels. The creature was still giving off that terrible light, and made that strange, drawn out growl again after it roared.
As it vanished down the hall, Champa finally realized just what it had been trying to convey through its growls: it hadn't actually been growling at all...it had been saying a single name.
That name had been "Frieza".
It was going after the intergalactic tyrant of Universe 7!
Champa slumped to the floor in relief as he realized that the huge monster was the upgraded Cell, who was now possessed of a savage new lease on life and was already off to get to work fulfilling the plan. Oh, the anxiousness of the young!
As Champa collected himself off of the cold floor, he smiled at his partners in crime and chuckled, "Now the fun begins! DeSaad! Dr. Gero! You two brainiacs report to Lord Darkseid and let him know the plan is already in motion and Cell is dispatched. Honestly, He probably already knows and I would be quite surprised indeed if great Darkseid didn't already know. Come on, Steppenwolf! You and I have a meeting to keep with those idiotic check-in station deities. If they actually did their damn jobs, Frieza would never have been allowed back in the land of the living, spirit or not!"
Steppenwolf simply nodded and jogged after the God of Destruction who had also taken of at an animated pace. As the four went their separate ways, Adapt staggered out of the lab missing his chest armour, three of his arms, and his mechanical face mask. Tears streamed down his hideous face but not from the pain of his injuries.
The true mastermind behind Darkseid and Champa becoming partners had told Adapt to use DNA from the various Tournament of Power participants. The samples used had not come from the other facilities, though. The samples used had been collected during the original Tournament!
There was too much risk in trying to collect the DNA using the other facilities, and besides, the true mastermind didn't want Darkseid to ever get his hands on all that powerful genetic material. The samples would have been covertly destroyed anyway.
Adapt had also been instructed to add in DNA samples of warriors from universes completely separate from the twelve universes that made up the Grand Zen-O's Multiverse. There were even the additions of two most unexpected samples, of which Adapt hadn't the most minor of clue as to how they were obtained. Even these powerful samples had been added without DeSaad and Dr. Gero knowing about them.
As Adapt used his remaining arm to wipe away the tears and blood on his face, he looked forlornly down the hall at the massive hole that the newly remade Cell had blown in the wall and sadly whispered, "What have I done?!"
Author's Comments:Man, another great chapter! I hope everybody enjoyed this one just as much as I have enjoyed writing it for you! See you next time!