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Chapter 4

The next day felt worse than the last. I spent the rest of the night doing anything other than looking up anything related to the show. But my guilt kept reminding me of how clearly upset he was over the realization of his life. His purpose. Reduced to nothing but pure entertainment for the very humans he thought he was created to destroy, only another world away.

"Oh the bitter irony of the truth. Sometimes it feels like the truth just isn't worth it," I sighed to myself in the bed. The wagging tails of my bedroom companions was a welcome distraction. "Maybe life would have been better as a dog. Just be happy and go on with life." I didn't get as much sleep this time. I kept waking up to a tear and snot-soaked pillow, something that made sleeping very uncomfortable. So I spent a good portion of the night drinking water and trying to drain my sinuses. Eventually they cleared up and I fell asleep, but at the sacrifice of only about 4 hours of real sleep. I didn't want to oversleep again either, so after a few more belly scratches, the girls and I rolled out of bed.

I was leaning up against the fence gate after the usual chores were done. The dogs were running happily in the backyard again, but I kept tabs on them to keep them from crossing into the trees again. I didn't need that stress on top of everything else that had happened. The horses munched happily on their breakfast and I tried to focus on that to find a distraction. I was torn between going back and seeing if he was still there or letting him become a distant memory. Another idea formed in my head too, but I quickly dismissed it as well.

'Hoping that whatever brought him here would take him back would be too good to be true…yet sad that I didn't really get a good chance to really talk with him…'

Losing myself to my thoughts for a few moments was nice, but my head turned to gaze across the yard and along the trees again. I knew I wanted to go back and try to talk again, but logic just wasn't having it. The two fought back and forth, so daydreaming about the warm day gave me the break I needed. Perhaps I could take the horses out for a jaunt and make the most of the warm spring day…

A sudden crashing sound echoed from the woods and I looked up and stared, waiting to see a shadow take off from the trees, but nothing else happened. It was so quick the silence filled the air almost immediately. I couldn't shrug off the feeling I was getting from it since I couldn't place what the sound was. The dogs started heading that way so I regained my focus and called the dogs back before they could get too close. I ushered them back inside the house and started walking towards the woods again. This time, however, I stopped outside the tree line, trying to give myself distance between myself and the grounded android. I couldn't see too far in, but I certainly heard what was thrown my way.

"Girl! I know you are out there!" Holy hell I had never felt so many chills run up and down my spine so quickly. I was stuck to the spot, too scared to move a muscle. He called again, and this time I found my voice.

"Yeah, I'm here. And it sounds like you're off to a good start wrecking the planet…" I have no idea where that came from. I knew I would regret that one later. But he seemed to ignore it.

"Come back here, we have a deal to make." I couldn't have heard that right. I stood there, my eyes wide and jaw slack, letting those words sink in. As in the deal that went awry yesterday? I stepped forward, even with my instincts thinking 'it's a trap!', and slowly found myself back by the tree again, but now I realized what the sound was. The branch had snapped completely clean off and had crashed away from the trunk, taking up a bit of dirt as it slammed down. The angle changed and so had Cell's position on the branch. He looked even more uncomfortable, if that were truly possible at this point. I could see his whole face now as it wasn't hidden by the branch anymore, but the angle had to be killing his neck.

"I didn't think we had a deal left to make," I knelt down on the ground again.

"If you hadn't stormed off so quickly yesterday we wouldn't be discussing it now." I shuffled in my spot, feeling a bit of shame. "No point in dwelling on it; what is done is done. I would rather not wait another night. Shall we agree to our terms?" I bit my lip a bit and took a breath. He was suddenly anxious to look into a world he wasn't even supposed to know exists? "Do not make me repeat myself, girl." Oh god, not that again.

"Hold on, I'm still a bit stunned... You certainly didn't react well to the idea yesterday…"

"You are stalling. Are we in agreement or not?" My face fell and I stared back, giving him an 'are you kidding' look before clearing my throat.

"Tell me the terms we agreed on." His face looked grim for a moment.

"Have you forgotten already? I thought your intellect showed greater promise than that." So that was what a 'you're dumber than you look' insult done with class sounded like. I couldn't even be angry; I was downright impressed.

"Not that I disagree with that insult, but there is a reason. I know what I said. I just need to hear it from you." I heard the sigh before he started.

"In exchange for your information and the assistance to get me out of this predicament, I will not harm you or your planet. Deal?" As much as I wanted to say 'deal' and try to figure out how to get him up, I needed to know the details. This seemed too simple to be set in stone.

"For how long?" He was definitely not expecting that kind of response.

"What do you mean, for 'how long'? It is simple; I will not raise a hand to you or your planet. But I do require as much of this information as possible." My face contorted with the reminder of yesterday's events.

"Thought you weren't thrilled with your…recent discovery." It took a bit to roll that one out, but he sighed and chose his words carefully.

"At first I was absolutely furious, feeling like my purpose had been belittled to nothing of value, but this world has proven me wrong." This conversation left me stunned and almost scared to interrupt him. It was the breakthrough of the century.

"How so?" I inquired, hoping to keep him talking.

"Perhaps after the deal is finalized we can discuss this in more detail…" he cut my thoughts short. Damn, I was hoping to hear more. "So? Are we in agreement with the terms?"

"One more question, just humor me…"

"Fair enough."

"The day your power comes back…then what?" I was almost too scared to ask. A small smirk played at his lips again.

"I recall you saying you didn't fear me. Has this position changed?"

"Not at all. I don't fear you. But I am scared half to death of your power." The situation seemed to play in his mind before finally giving me a response.

"We will cross that bridge when we get to it." I almost threw my hands to the air. That had to be the biggest copout I have ever heard; keeping his options open. Great.

"Well then do me a small favor when that day comes. Make my death quick." I was not going to get used to that deep chuckle.

"You're optimistic."

"If that's optimism…" I stopped. I couldn't believe how much humor I was finding in this conversation. It was as if the most dangerous weapon in the universe wasn't looking right back at me. "Deal."

"Interesting. You acknowledge that you might die at the end of this deal and yet still agree to it." This time it was my turn to laugh.

"The fact that you didn't say 'will die' totally made this deal worth it." I shifted my weight back so my legs weren't straining. "Now, how do we get you out of here…?" He cut me off before I could start.

"Actually I too have a question."

"Go for it."

"What is your name? I do believe it would be rude to go another day referring to you as 'girl'." I let a smile break out across my face.

"It's Erika. And thanks, that was getting old." I looked him over one last time before deciding it was better to plan out a way to get him up. "And I owe you an apology. For both running out and being way too excited…"

"Not necessary, and… 'excited'?" I tensed up, not sure about revealing too much so soon. Especially since he was still stuck out here; he was probably sick of being stuck in that position for a few days. I decided a little confession would be enough for now.

"I was definitely scared at first, but realizing a show I watched as a kid was a real world… Had it been anyone else back here, like Trunks or Goku, I would have been just as eager to show them a video of themselves too. Course, I don't know how they would've reacted to it either." Shaking my head, I got back on subject, "Now, what is keeping you grounded? I can understand not being able to fly without energy, but not even able to stand?"

"It should not be this way. Even without my abilities or power, I should still have strength beyond that of a human. It so happens to be a part of my design is what has left me unable to move, much to my dismay…" he took another deep breath again, something that made me remember something that bothered me the other day. But I waited on that question for the moment. "My armor, flawless and impervious as it may be, seems to outweigh my current capabilities." I stared for a moment. Outweigh? As in literally being too heavy to move? I was dumbfounded for a moment before poking around.

"How heavy are we talking? Pounds? Tons?" The 'tons' was just a joke, but the look on his face was clearly serious.

"If my estimations are correct, about 500 kilos." I hung my head for a moment before admitting my ignorance.

"My apologies but this is America. We are so ignorantly proud that we have our own metric system…" I gave him a halfhearted grin, "what's that in pounds?"

"About 1,102." I felt my mouth fall open.

"Oh my god that's more than what my horse weighs…" I caught the flash of disappointment in his eyes but didn't stop myself, "What the hell is that stuff made of? Compressed lead? I get that it stood up to an entire army, but damn…" He made a 'tsh' sound with his teeth in distaste.

"The military attack was nothing for this armor. It was barely considered a test. The real test was Vegeta's attack." My gaze lowered to his a bit more.

"Which it did not stand up to," I rolled my eyes, emphasizing the 'not'. Oh, that look in his eyes could have put me to my knees if I wasn't already kneeling down.

"My my, nothing seems to get by you, does it?" I heard the sarcasm, and couldn't help but shake my head.

"Oh don't be snarky. Seriously, there is NO way I can lift you…I need ideas!" Poor Cell; here am I trying to offer help and now I was asking him to help me. Way to hold up my end of the bargain. I stood up, looking over the fallen branch. The angle had shifted more of his body to the ground rather than balancing on the branch. He must have hit the ground pretty hard when it gave way.

'That's probably the sound I heard earlier. Not the branch but when he had slammed into the ground…' I circled around the branch, seeing how he was angled from the other side and groaned to myself. The branches that still stuck out were either mangled beneath him or stuck out in a few places; those would have to go if I planned to get him out of there. I got closer to look him over a bit more; this was the first time seeing the back of the armor. The sleek wings were splayed out a bit off to his sides. Apparently they were as heavy as the rest of the armor on his body. I took note of his legs partially ground into the dirt, mostly at the knees. Knowing he couldn't move was reassuring enough for me to kneel closer and try to figure out a way to either move him or do something about his armor.

Besides, when else was I going to be able to ogle this body so easily? I grinned a bit to myself for that one; if he knew how much I admired his figure I would definitely be hearing about it. My eyes went to the black calves and eyed them a little longer than I should have. Damn they were long… He was going to tower over me if we ever get him on his feet.

I noticed the dirt under the black shins was a bit muddy. Stooping closer I pushed some of the dirt away only to find my hand hit something much harder than dirt. I realized it was a large stone hidden under his leg, but that was not my biggest concern. Pulling my hand back I realized it wasn't wet from water, but slick green goo.

"Eeech!" I reeled back a bit and tried to keep quiet, but unfortunately he didn't miss anything.

"Did you find anything useful?" I kept staring at my hand, hoping it wouldn't melt my skin off or anything. I wiped the stuff off on my jeans and crouched down a bit lower to his leg.

"Yeah, I think I did…" I ran my hand along the black shell, hoping what I thought was true. As soon as I hit a sharp edge, I pulled my hand back and felt the excitement in my voice. "The armor is cracked down here. You hit a pretty good sized stone on your way down."

"Cracked?!" Oh I bet he was surprised. In all honesty I was too, but I saw it as a glimmer of hope. He was probably pissed to know his armor was not only too heavy to be useful, but also way too fragile for combat. I looked around, seeing a handful of stones buried with the larger one. I shuffled through until I found a larger one with a sharp point. "Wait, are you planning something?!" I got as much of the dirt off of the point as I could before getting a good grip on it. First though, I pressed down on the cracked part of the shin guard.

"Before I do anything, does this hurt?"

I felt him try to move again, but it barely moved his body enough to matter. "No, but why are you asking? Tell me what you're going to do!" Grounding my heels into the ground, I pulled my arm back with the stone and braced myself.

"Getting this damn armor out of the way!" I brought the stone across the black armor, getting as close to the crack as possible. I didn't feel anything at first, but when I put pressure on it with my other hand right after, I felt a huge shift and the crack went up and around his calf. Without hesitating I brought the stone down hard on the crack and the entire thing split open, first seeing the green goo run out from the cracks, but a few moments later the entire shell shattered and turned to a powder to the ground, revealing the bright pale skin underneath. I stared at the fact that not only had it shattered so easily, but was fairly easy to break with a stone. I looked up at the rest of the armor and nearly laughed out loud. "Oh that has got to be the worst news you've gotten yet!" Suddenly his leg moved a tiny bit. I could see his foot at the end, still grounded a bit into the dirt, but the yellow boot was distinctive enough. His movements were still limited.

"What did you do?" He called out a bit shakily. "How did it come off so easily!?" His shock was mixed with a bit of fear for sure, but I was beyond excited. I pushed the branch out of my way and got up next to his arm that was draped over the main branch. I grabbed hold of it and stretched it over the length of the branch.

"Don't ask why, just be happy you're nearly out of the woods," I grinned. I only caught his eyes widening a bit as I turned him arm over a bit, feeling the resistance from the ridiculous weight, and lined up the stone a few inches up on his wrist. Bracing my feet again, I brought the point down hard and felt the armor give way, cracking up the length up his forearm. Again, the green goo drained out from the cracks, and moments later the entire arm shattered into fragments, then down again into a fine powder, green instead of black this time.

"Surely this must be a joke! It shatters under the pressure of a stone wielded by a girl!" His teeth were bared and he blinked his eyes several times, processing what was happening to his perfect body. I couldn't help how entertained I was by this mix of reactions I was getting now.

"Hey, I told you I was tougher than I looked, didn't I?" I laughed, but his face fell a bit and his jaw relaxed.

"Yes, I suppose you did. Are you hiding any type of power I should be aware of?" he asked quietly, almost like he feared his armor wasn't weak, but I was actually strong. I shook my head 'no' and held up the sharp stone.

"I'm going to say this is all luck and trust physics on this one. Apparently I can get enough pressure behind this sharp point and it's enough to get through. And it's just a guess…Observable, but still a guess."

With that I continued up his arm, taking out the bicep next. Unsure of the black-shelled armor on his shoulders and chest I decided to take out the other arm next. As the pieces disintegrated, he took a moment to move one arm a bit, flexing his hand and forearm. The sigh that he gave was definitely one of relief. Other than that, he stayed pretty quiet as I climbed back over the branch to level my arm with his back. Looking over the wings, I decided to try to hit those closer to the top where they connected. It took a few more hits, but sure enough, the entire wing cracked, leaked out whatever the liquid was, and shattered moments later.

The time went by quickly as I picked off the armor, piece by piece, until his back was exposed and only left his tail. Thankfully hitting the armor from the back cracked all the way around his chest, so majority of the weight was now taken off of him and he took several easy breaths. I sat down for a moment, catching my breath and shaking out my arm after slamming the rock down so much. I noticed he was breathing at a steady pace and decided it was a good time to poke for answers.

"I thought Frieza's and King Cold's blood made it so you didn't need to breathe?" His brows rose up a bit from my sudden question.

"Not necessarily. Do you understand the concepts of aerobic and anaerobic function?" I nodded quickly, my studies from exercise physiology surfacing after being buried for several years. "My cellular structure will reflect the environment I am exposed to, giving me adaptability in all circumstances. So while in space, yes, their DNA takes priority."

"But grounded down here you had to use the oxygen around you. Bugger, it really didn't help you in this situation at all." His lips twitched in irritation.

"Without my power neither situation was ideal. Why are you so curious?" His tone had changed for sure. He wasn't gasping for breaths now, so his speech has smoothed out to a more accented tone. Not that I was complaining; it was addicting to listen to.

"This is the tip of the iceberg for me. There are a ton of misconceptions and poorly translated ideas out there, and I hate to pass up the chance for living proof," I motioned to him with a head nod. Picking the stone up I had been using, I pointed up to his head crest. "Should I knock that out too? Your neck would probably be thankful…" He eyed my enthusiasm warily.

"Why do I get the notion you're all too excited about this?" Of course I was excited! I just had more questions about his anatomy answered in these past ten minutes than Reddit could ever blog about.

"Look at it this way; it means fewer questions I'll be bothering you with. Course, you won't understand any of this until I show you more so, be patient." I moved to his other side and looked over at the branch holding up the side of his head. Bringing up my hand I leveled the stone just above the ridge of the shell. I steadied my arm and took a few more steady breaths. His gaze went up to my arm holding the stone.

"Don't miss." It wasn't sarcasm or a taunt. I wondered if I could actually hurt him if I didn't hit quite right. I pulled my arm back, bit my lip, and quickly cracked the point into the ridge. Again, the crack splintered up both of the pointed crests and the liquid flowed out, and then the entire piece shattered in a collapsing fashion, forcing him to close his eyes as the powder showered down. The next shock was when the yellow jawline also went with the rest of the helm and disintegrated. A moment later, the purple lining the sides of his face also dusted off. But that wasn't the biggest shock yet.

The sight that met my eyes literally dragged my breath out of me. The pale skin underneath was smooth and fine without the armor, but the short jet black hair that seemed to appear from under the powder was what caught me off-guard. I stared at the practically human-like android now, even sporting ears where the yellow frame used to be. No words formed in my mouth, but my mind was being blown away, 'He is gorgeous!'

"Did that answer any more questions?" He shifted his head, finally able to move freely and bits of the armor were shaken out of his hair. I continued to stare, but found my voice trying to make its way back.

"Yeah. Wow." So this was what it felt like to sound like an idiot around a celebrity. A nervous laugh made its way up, "I guess I didn't know what to expect." I held my tongue so I didn't give away any more than I needed to. Not only was it something I didn't expect, but he looked so close to human now he could almost pass off being in public if there was a need for it. And I would have to take a baseball bat to keep the women off of him too…

"Are you going to keep staring or do you have a plan?" I jerked my head back and mentally slapped myself for the observation. I really needed to quit giving myself away or he would catch on and then I would be too embarrassed to ever face him again. I straightened myself up and looked back to his legs. The other leg still had the black shin guard on it and I didn't want to break off more than what was necessary.

"I'm taking out one last piece then we will try to get you up. Majority of the weight should be gone, right?" I watched as he pulled up his arms to his sides, looking like he was going to attempt to move on his own, but his arms started shaking as soon as he put weight on them and I realized there was no way he was getting up on his own. I put a hand on his shoulder and pushed back down. "Don't bother; you're shaking too badly to sit up much less stand…" I went to the other leg and smashed off the armor. As soon as the powder fell I went back over the branch and face him.

"I have NEVER felt this helpless before…" he hissed, more so at himself than at me, "I cannot believe I will be in need of any assistance, let alone from a human." I finally dropped the stone on the ground and shook my arm out again.

"And I'm the only one that will ever know this happened, so you can shrug off your pride, let me help you, and when you've recovered it will be like this never happened." I smiled at the idea of having such a damaging secret about him, but I would not use it. I would never stoop to such a level. If he kept his end of our deal I had no quarrels with keeping one secret.

"You would keep this entire ordeal to yourself?" His face gave away how untrusting he was about it.

"It goes with me to my grave." He turned away, and I couldn't read if it was out of shame or distrust, but I let it go. "You'll see, I'm pretty trustworthy, but we need to see if we can get you on your feet. I won't let you stay out here another night if I can help it." I looked at the branch under his chest and figured there was no way to get under him and push him up. Even without the armor, muscle was still very heavy and I wouldn't have been surprised if he was around 300 lbs, not beyond my ability but not easy to lift either. Instead I went to his side. "I'm going to try to roll you to your back and see if I can pull you up from there…"

"You are getting in way over your head, Erika. What do you top out at, 100 lbs at most? What makes you think you could lift me?" I gasped at first, mostly from how nicely my name rolled off of his tongue, but then realized the unintentional compliment. I started laughing and didn't really have a good comeback right away. But I regained my composure and sat on the branch so I could face him better.

"I'm 120 thank you very much. And I have quite a few years of weight training and farm chores under my belt. So I will know very quickly if you are too much for me to handle." Of course all of the weight training was back in high school and all of college, but I took pride in the fact that I could still bench press 100 lbs on a standard day. I heard him chuckle again as I knelt down at his side.

"Well then by all means, prove me wrong." I pulled my elbows to my sides and ground my heels into the dirt and put my weight behind the first shove. He rocked a bit more than I expected at first, but when he went to steady himself with his hand he ended up shaking too much and rolled back onto the branch. "Damn it…damn this weakened body…" he groaned loudly, still not seeing any improvement with his strength. I took a deeper breath and braced myself again.

"No don't give up yet, I'm still trying," and I shoved him again, and this time I put enough behind it to roll him over to his back, getting majority of his body off of the branches and on the ground. The branch was still cradled under his neck, but otherwise out of the way. I reached down to take his wrist in both of my hands, seeing how it took both to circle his wrist, and braced my foot against part of the downed branch as I pulled him up. As soon as I pulled him up, I knelt down and braced him enough to let him sit up on his own. He swayed a bit, but then looked down to me.

"Alright, maybe I could give you more credit. But this is still far from carrying me out of here." I kept my body firm to keep him steady, but relaxed a bit more as he stayed up on his own.

"I think I know how to get you up, but we need to shift you to your knees. Here, I'll keep you from falling," he leaned a bit on me as his legs shifted to his side, then his weight nearly collapsed me as he tried pushing himself back, but I threw my weight back and suddenly he was kneeling. I wanted to cheer just from that little bit, but I knew the hardest part was still coming. Turning my back against him I pulled his arm over my shoulder and put one knee down while bracing my other foot. "Ready? You'll need to give me everything you have…"

"When I say, lift me up as best you can, and I'll try to get my footing," he took a breath and I centered my balance, "and go…" With that I breathed out hard and long, putting his entire weight on my shoulders and pushing upward. I felt him shift and he pulled one leg up and took a bit of the weight off of me. With a few more breaths, he was on his feet and I stepped forward, deciding momentum was the best way to keep him up. Sure enough he stepped with me, cautiously, over the downed branches and on the path out. Once we were out of the woods and on the grass, his steps were focused and not as shaky, but I kept the arm over my shoulder, just in case. The walk to the house was long, but once we were inside I headed straight to the main room and literally dumped him on the couch. I hit the floor, shaking and catching my breath, and he slumped to his side on the long couch. He took the entire length of the couch and lied back, taking the chance to recover. Moments passed as I sat on the floor, arms over my bent legs and shoulders heaving, waiting for my breath to steady again. I watched as Cell closed his eyes, finally relaxing his body a bit and letting his breath return to normal.

"Better?" my breath barely got the word out, and he only nodded in return. "Maybe we can look into everything tomorrow; you could use a night to recover." I didn't hear anything, but I assumed it was for the best for now, and getting back up I ventured to the back of the house where the dogs were kept in the back room. Letting them back outside, I headed out with them to see the sun starting to set.

So I now had a dangerous bio-weapon laying on my couch in the other room, sleeping. I didn't dare think about how my day was going to start tomorrow.

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