A/N: Hey guys, back. Thanks to Ben10rk for favoriting (is that a word? Prolly not), Stranger853 for reviewing, and 02D34th for following. I really appreciate it!

Also, I wanna give an update for this story's timeline. I've been spending this past week planning it out and I'm almost 90% positive that we've got 15 chapters left and that this fic'll end on Chapter 25. That could change in the future but idk.

So, uh, yeah. Here ya go.

Chapter 10: Live and Let Die

The air seemed fresher, for once.

It might've been the time that he'd spent cooped up in the facility, but he felt better than ever being out of it. The world itself looked a little brighter. It was as if he was looking at the world with new eyes, better eyes. There was no stress, no danger, and everything just felt. . . amazing! His friends may have had a little something to do with it, if he was being honest.

Max smiled at how easy it had been to get back into the swing of things. While the nerves of potentially turning the school into radioactive T.U.R.B.O. waste with an ill-timed colorful explosion had weighed on his mind, it was hard to stay anxious around Kirby's laid-back drawl and Sydney's perfect. . . everything. Even Butch, hadn't been able to stop his good mood. Though let it be known that the bully had definitely tried.

Still, he'd be remiss to not acknowledge the talk with Gohan that had set his positive vibes in motion. It had been cathartic having that conversation with him. He'd been so bogged down with his own head and Cell that it'd had taken Gohan's funk to make him face his own. Honestly, it only made the talk more beneficial since Gohan had needed that talk about as much as he had.

"You ready to enter, Max."

Max smiled, lightly. Yet another thing to be happy about. It had been alarming for a while that Steel wasn't responding, but it was only because he was working overtime on regulating Max's T.U.R.B.O. energy surge. "Sure thing, Steel. Let's do this."

They walked through the door to find a clamoring of sound. There were booms going off every now and again, followed by some grunts and shouts. It sounded far enough away if its echo was any indication, but the sound was distinctly apparent.

Max quizzically raised a brow at a passing agent who simply laughed. "Forge is ramping up their training," the agent informed them. "Gotta be ready for Cell 'n all that!"

Max barely had the time to register his words when a sudden boom almost knocked him off of his feet. He scanned the room with wide eyes, trying to get a grip on his erratic heartbeat. The agent from before was shakily getting back to his feet, but aside from that, nothing seemed to be broken.

Yet.

"Hey, Steel?"

"Yep?"

"We should probably check on them."

"Yep."

Max didn't know how fast he took off, but he knew he had to get there in time. In time for what exactly, he had no idea. The run to the "training facility" felt longer than normal despite the speed he was moving at. The sounds of battle only got louder as time went on. When he finally got there, he didn't know whether he should be relieved or exasperated.

There were more than a few decent-sized craters littering the Canyon, Randy looked absolutely bushed, Danny was nowhere to be found, and Gohan was floating above them with a flaring, golden aura. He looked like a second Sun.

He fired a Ki blast that Max could barely track. Randy just barely managed to dodge in time, rolling off to his right. He damn near rolled into a wall before he bounced off it, narrowly escaping another Ki blast. Once he rolled to a stop, Randy chucked a Ninja Ball, an Ice Ball from the looks of it, but Gohan zapped it out of the sky, showering the Canyon with a light drizzle of snow.

Suddenly, Gohan zipped off to the right and Max could swear that he heard a curse. It sounded like Danny.

"OK, that's enough!" Forge was in a helicopter, climbing his way down a dangling rope ladder. "I think that's enough for today!"

Sure enough, Danny reappeared in the blink of an eye, double-over in the sky. He looked like he'd run 50 laps around Copper Canyon in a race against Max's T.U.R.B.O. mode. Randy wasn't fairing much better as he promptly collapsed on his back, his chest running like a jackhammer.

Max glanced at his passing uncle with wide eyes. "Don't you think this a little much? I mean, we were barely keeping up with Gohan without his super form."

Forge frowned, sparing a quick glance back to the heroes. "I'm frankly wondering if this is too little. Cell isn't going to pull any punches on you guys. And with all the stuff Gohan can do held back. . . Man, this is a tall order!"

Max could relate. For a couple of days after Cell's declaration, Max often spent time thinking about how he'd fare against Cell whenever the time came. It was none too reassuring that he could never imagine a scenario where he'd win.

Instead of listening to his doubts, he gave Forge what he hoped was a confident grin. "We'll beat him. With our plan, we won't even have to be stronger than him."

Forge nodded with a little smile. "Right. How was school?"

Max felt the weight lift off his shoulders again. "It was better than I could've hoped!"

He could've sworn that he heard Steel mutter "lover boy" in his mind.

Forge laughed and clapped him on the back. "That's great to hear! Now, there weren't any accidents, right?"

Max gave a tight smile. "Nah, nah, it went fine."

Forge gave a couple of nods and one more pat on the back before heading over to Danny and the gang. Max tuned most of it out as he fell into his thoughts. The nagging fear that he'd managed to stave off the whole day had returned with a fury.

Not for the first time, he could hear Gohan's words as clear as day. "You almost died."

It's not like he never thought about those types of things before. He was in the hero business after all. There were only so many times he could get lucky or survive without significant harm. But hearing Gohan say those words made him really think. What if he had died? His mom would've been devastated, his friends and teammates probably wouldn't have taken it well, Forge would've been upset, and Sydney. . .

Max could feel his eyes start to well up.

"Hey Max? You alright?"

Max just nodded and hurriedly wiped his arm at the tears, drawing back almost immediately. The cool, rough steel off his uniform rubbed against his eye. "Gah! This camouflage is convincing. . . geez! But yeah, I'm fine."

"If you say so," Steel murmured. He didn't seem all that convinced. "Let's go talk to the gang, shall we?"

Danny had zipped out of the training room the second Forge had finished his spiel. Gohan was out of there just as fast. Max easily caught up to Randy who was just limping along.

Randy glanced up at Max as he passed, giving him a quick nod, before hobbling past him. Max gave an awkward wave to him as he passed. "Well that went well."

"You're telling me."

Max spun in his chair, eyes not focusing on much of anything. Try as he might, he couldn't force Cell out of his mind. Or even Sydney, for that matter. He tried to imagine what she'd do on that day. He wanted to picture that she wouldn't be afraid and that she'd be her regular, spunky self, but he couldn't.

He could only see her terrified face. 'What would telling her even do? It would just make her more worried, wouldn't it?'

'Max, you don't actually-?"

"You know, I never thought you'd look like that."

Max looked up to see a grinning Danny. A pang of envy shot through him, reminding him of the time he was happy. Just as quick as the jealousy had come, shame and confusion took its place. Here he was being jealous of another person's happiness. His friend nonetheless.

Max must've been staring at him for a while because Danny started to get fidgety. "You look cool though! Just. . . I dunno. Not What I was expecting."

Max just nodded and spun once more in his chair. His mind wasn't giving him many useful thinking pieces, so he turned to fully face Danny. "What's up with Randy?"

Danny glanced at him. The ghost boy was lounged out on a couch, looking thoroughly put-off about the prospect of having a conversation. Max almost felt bad about making him talk. "Stuff."

At Max's unimpressed look, Danny groaned and sat himself up. "I don't know the specifics or anything like that. Howard just told me that he's been training himself into the ground. Honestly, Jazz has told me the same thing about Gohan. I guess, this whole Cell thing is really getting to them."

"What about you?"

"Hm?"

"Is it not getting to you?"

Danny shrugged, or what Max assumed was supposed to be a shrug, as he smiled a little. "We've got a plan, and we've been working our butts off for a week now! We'll be prepared. We don't need to stress about something that might or might not happen. Just gotta take it day by day and take it easy."

"I never thought of it that way."

Danny snorted. "Right? Got it from Howard. So you're gonna try and talk to them, right?"

Max gave Danny a blank stare before it clicked. "Ah yeah. I feel like they need it right now."

Danny gave Max a mock salute as laid back on the couch, his sneakers dangling over the edge. "Well good luck. Just know that Randy can be stubborn as hell."

It didn't take much effort to find Gohan and Randy. The two were going at it in the gym. Not sparring with each other, of course, but they were locked in battle with imaginary foes. He didn't attempt to track Gohan's movements, but he couldn't help but watch Randy move through his sword swings with practiced ease.

Max tore his gaze away before stepping fully into the gym. "What are you two doing?"

Gohan barely halted his punches to turn his head in Max's direction. "Hey, Max! What's up?"

Max returned the wave with a light smile. "You guys can take a break. We've got a month-"

"Three weeks."

Max glanced over at Randy, who'd been in the middle of a downward slash. "We've got less than three weeks."

Max laughed a bit. "Wow that time went by, huh? Well, we've been putting in the work with planning and training and thinking. I think we've earned some down time."

"You think?"

It was Gohan that time. He had stopped his punching altogether and gave Max his full attention. The look he was giving Max wasn't an angry one or even a condescending one. It was purely intense and Max had trouble keeping his gaze. "Uh, yeah. Yeah, I mean, it's a great plan, right?"

Randy sheathed his sword with a sigh. Gohan sped over to Max's side in that short amount of time. "Max," Randy started, "I know where you're coming from, and trust me, I'd like to rest. But I know that if there's even a small chance that this plan doesn't work, people will die. And I won't let that happen."

Max stared at Gohan for a moment before casting Randy a long look. "Is that how you feel, too?"

Randy gave him a curt nod. Max nodded and clapped his hands together, giving them both a tight smile. "Alright, I'll let you guys go. Just remember not to overdo it."

"I can't overdo it," Randy laughed. "Not with the Art of Healing!"

"Art of Healing?" asked Max. Out of the corners of his eyes, he could spot Gohan adopting a questioning stance of his own. He felt a shred of relief that he and Gohan could still be on the same page.

"Yeah, it helps me heal injuries in seconds. It's really handy, but I haven't used it a lot lately. I've been trying to work on my pain endurance for the tournament."

"Does it work on other people?" Gohan asked earnestly.

Randy blanched for a second. "Yeah, it works real well."

"That's great! You can use it on me then!"

Randy looked him up and down. "Uh. . . I dunno man. You don't look injured."

Gohan scratched the back of his neck, bashfully. "It's part of my Saiyan genes. I come back stronger with every near-death injury."

Max's brows raised. "Saiyan?"

Gohan blinked for a moment as if thoroughly confused before his eyes widened. "Ah, it was part of the project."

Max glanced at him with a questioning stare. He seemed to be holding back something. Max felt a little pang in his heart. He knew it was irrational to feel that way about a secret, but it had just started to feel like they'd broken down walls with their earlier talks.

Randy seemed to catch onto what Gohan wanted though. "I don't think that's a good idea. I mean, how could we even hurt you in the first place?"

Gohan's lip quirked slightly. "I can lower my Ki and one of you could do it."

Max glanced between Gohan and Randy. "We can't seriously be considering this? What if Gohan dies?"

"Then it won't be on you," Gohan countered. "We need every possible advantage against Cell. Besides, I make my own choices."

Max stared, open-mouthed at Gohan's use of his words. "That's-"

"I can't risk it, man. This thing can raise the dead. I'm not sure what kinda crazy stuff it'd do to a mutant."

Gohan's face fell. He tried to hide it, but his poker face was lacking. Randy noticed it as well. "Mutant might've been a little extreme, but you get the idea right?"

Gohan gave a half-smile that looked more like a grimace. "Yeah, I understand. Thanks anyway."

Gohan headed out with a nod and a wave. Randy and Max just gave each other a look for a while. "Y'know," Randy started, "I don't think he got the right idea."

Max sighed. "Probably not."

"You look way more Abercrombie than I expected, though."

"What?"

"You don't have Abercrombie on your Ear-? Never mind. I'll catch you later!"

With a wave, Max was the only one left in the gym. Besides Steel, of course. "Man this sucks."

"You're telling me, Max. You're telling me."

Randy didn't know what possessed him to head for Howard's shoob of a sister's room. Maybe it was his lack of options: he still had no interest in talking to Howard, Gohan might've been pissed at him, he didn't know how Danny would help, he'd just left Max, and he definitely wasn't going to talk to Theresa about this.

That would involve clueing her into just how wonk his life was, and that was an immediate no-go zone. Gotta keep up the bruce appearance and all that.

His mind kept drifting to their conversation over pizza. She'd seemed like an actual human then and not an uptight, gossip blogger. It was scary but comforting how easy it'd been to tell her that stuff about the Sorcerer. Well, easy might not have been the right word to use, but it was a heck of a lot easier than he thought it'd be. He could only hope that she'd make everything else easier too.

His hand was raised at the door, ready to knock. He stood there like that for what felt like an hour. He let his hand fall with a light chuckle before turning tail. "What the juice is wrong with me?! I mean, going to see Heidi, the school's biggest gossiper, about the Ninja's problems? What was wrong with him?!"

"Oh, Randy! I thought I heard you out here!"

Randy froze, ever so slightly turning his head. "Hey, Heidi. . . Fancy meeting you here! I was just, uh, admiring the wonderful paint job N-Tek has going on here! Yup! This walls sure are bruce! So, anyways, I'll be go-"

"Did you need something or did you come here to act like a dweeb?"

Randy felt a strange mix of annoyance and relief swell up in his chest. Heidi seemed to be going back to their normal dynamic. Well, except for the whole getting his name right part, but that was minor. He never thought he'd be happy to see that bitchy attitude thrown at him again.

He wanted so desperately to just roll his eyes, throw a "whatever" over his shoulder, and be done with it, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. And he had no idea why.

Randy heaved a deep sigh before he turned and looked her dead in the eyes. "Yeah, I actually wanted to talk to you about something."

Heidi, being the ever astute intuitive, picked up on his tone as her face softened. "Sure. Come in."

Heidi's room was neat and orderly, not too different from her actual room in Norrisville. It didn't look like it was broken in yet, which was a good strategy considering its temporary role. Her room had a spare desk with a metal chair like his did.

She sat down on her bed and gestured towards the chair. Randy sat with apprehension. "Sorry," she said, "I don't have any pizza or anything."

Randy cracked a small smile at that. "Don't sweat it. I'd probably be too focused on stuffing my face anyways."

She gave a quick laugh that made his heart do a little tap dance. He cleared his throat and tried to ignore it. "But yeah, I'm here to talk to you about some hero Ninja stuff."

"Like what?"

"I dunno," Randy's hands slapped against his thighs for emphasis. "Howard thinks I'm overworking myself for no reason, for one."

Heidi stared blankly at him. "Doesn't he know that the fate of the Earth is at stake?!"

"That's what I said! Well, I didn't say that exactly but I thought about it."

Heidi rolled her eyes. "What else?"

"Gohan kinda told me that he can get stronger with each near death experience."

"Random but OK."

Randy laughed, scratching at the back of his neck. "Yeah, I should've told you. He told me that because I mentioned that I could heal people. So, he wanted me to injure him while his guard was down. I didn't wanna do it 'cause it's wonk, and the Art of Healing can be very unpredictable."

"How many times have you used it before?"

"Maybe five times? I accidentally used it on Ms. Driscoll's skeleton husband, and I brought him back to life."

"That was you?"

Randy laughed sheepishly. "Yeah, not my finest moment, but I've been using it more often now. I think I've got the hang of it, but I don't know if Gohan's superhuman genes are gonna have an effect on it."

Heidi nodded, deep in thought. He wished that he could tell what she was thinking, but she had put on an expert poker face. "I think it's definitely a risk, but I also think that the world might need it."

Randy felt his mouth dry up. "You think I should do it?"

Heidi got up from her seat on the bed and put a hand on his shoulder. "Yeah, but I think it should be a last resort. You all have a plan, and you should all stick to it until it doesn't work. But only if it doesn't work."

Randy nodded with a smile. "That. . . makes sense."

Heidi snorted. "Of course. I have to have common sense for both me and my brother."

"Y'know, as his friend I resent that. . . but you're totally right."

"Don't get too cocky, Randy. You can be such a dweeb."

Randy's lips twitched upwards as he gave a small nod. "Yeah, yeah. Fair enough, I kinda walked into that one."

Heidi watched him glide across the room towards her bed. She was about to respond when his hand gripped the pillow. She just ducked in time to avoid the pillow launched at her head.

Her head whipped up too fast and some hair caught itself in her mouth. Her eyes were comically wide with a ghost of a smile crossing her face. "Oh ho ho, that's how it is, Cunningham?"

Randy was already moving over towards the pillow. She picked it up just before he could reach it and almost nailed him in the face, but he caught her by the wrist.

Her eyes locked with his, and for a moment, it felt like their interview again. The mirth went out of her eyes, and they just stood there. His mind couldn't help going back to a conversation he'd had with Howard.

It was after the whole Nomi-Randy incident. He'd told Howard that Heidi was "spicy" in the right light. He'd only been messing with him then, but somehow, looking at Heidi there may have been some truth there.

What the juice was happening?

"You jerk!" She whacked him in the chest with a hand, making him let go. "You messed up my hair!"

Randy swallowed and put on a cheeky grin. "Yeah, my bad. I honestly think it looks better this way."

She rolled her eyes and ushered him towards the door. He may have imagined it, but he could've sworn that he saw a smile. "You're impossible. . ."

Randy shrugged, still feeling more than a little off-kilter. "Well, uh, I'll catch you later. Thanks for the help."

Heidi carefully brushed some of her hair behind her ear, not fully meeting his eyes. "Sure thing. Feel free to come by anytime."

"Uh, OK. Uh, bye."

"Bye!"

The door shut behind him as Randy blew out a long sigh and ran a hand through his spiky hair. He shook his head as he started down the hallway. He'd been hoping to clear his head, but he'd honestly just made himself more confused.

"What the juice is wrong with me?"

Gohan sat down on the couch in the lounge, chugging a water bottle. It was one of the rare moments where he wasn't training or training Jazz. Thus, it felt remarkably empty. He was itching to get back to doing something productive.

His eyes caught a flash of movement. He turned curiously to see a black-haired girl glancing around the room. Theresa? At least, he thought that was her name. She seemed like she was looking for something.

A quick glance around the room told him that they were the only two in the room. She was just about to head out when he called after her. "Hey! Theresa, right?"

The girl in question gave a slight "eep!" before turning to face Gohan. She tentatively met his eyes. "He-Hey, Gohan."

"Were you looking for someone?"

Theresa went silent for a moment before nodding. "Ye-Yeah, I was looking for Randy."

"Ah, I just saw him in the gym. Maybe he's in his room now?"

Theresa shook her head, causing some of her bangs to fall in her eyes. "No, I just checked. He's probably in. . . never mind."

Theresa seemed so forlorn and destitute that Gohan couldn't help but want to cheer her up. "So, do you wanna talk about anything?"

Theresa crossed her arms and her lower lip began to quiver. If the alarm bells weren't ringing before, they sure as hell were ringing now.

'Abort! Abort! Get out of-!'

"Randy has a thing for Heidi, and Heidi's totally letting him get with her. And she knows that I like him!"

Gohan blinked, trying to process the situation he found himself in. The girl was now sobbing now and hugging herself tighter than before. He reached out and lightly patted her on the back, feeling entirely unequipped for the situation. "Well, uh, have you. . . have you told him?"

She paused her sobs to slower sniffles. "Wh-What?"

"Have you told him how you feel?"

Theresa looked like she'd seen a ghost. "N-No! I couldn't possibly do that! No way!"

Gohan raised his hands and patted at the air. "Hey, hey, it's fine! It was just a suggestion after all!"

Theresa nodded hesitantly, still sniffling quite considerably. "Wh-What am I gonna do? I-I c-can't face him like this and look at them to-to-ge-ge-!"

She threw her head in her hands and ran off. Gohan stood numb, wondering just what the heck he should do. He sighed as he returned to his seat on the couch. He wouldn't be of much use anyway.

Dread may not have handled the business negotiations, advertisements, or stocks (that was Naught's job), but he definitely knew how to run an enterprise. He made sure he knew his lackeys whereabouts at every moment of the day. He made certain that they knew who was boss. He made it crystal clear what their every objective should be.

And he knew when one of his pieces was going rogue.

Dread slammed a button on the wall. "Naught!"

Naught hurried into the room and over to his master with a wide smile. Dread could easily spot the too-tight tenses at the corners. "You called, sir?"

Dread regarded Naught, cooly. He had to swallow his distaste at Naught's barely contained squirming. "Why is it that our energy stabilizer supply has sharply fallen?"

Naught looked surprised for once. "That's not possible I just checked it-"

"Check it again."

Naught swallowed and whipped out a tablet from his blazer. With a few quick swipes, Naught was rendered absolutely speechless. "How is this possible?! They were just fine yesterday!"

"Someone must have hacked into the system and kept the supply number levelled while they stole from me."

Dread was seething now and he rose from his chair to come face to face with Naught. The robotic man was trembling now. "I want you to find Vlad and bring him to me."

"Bu-But Vlad is here!" Naught sputtered.

Dread growled as he blasted Naught into a wall. "How naive are you?! He's been gone for days! Bring him to me if you value your pathetic life at all!"

A/N: Feel free to review, leave a follow, or a favorite if it tickles your fancy (that is such a strange phrase XD)! Have a good one!

Uploaded: May 29th 2021