Hello all! I finally got around to getting this chapter out. Sorry it took a while, but hey, it came out faster than the chapter for the other story! Hehehe…anyway, this one isn't that exciting (at least not until the end) but does have a cliffhanger. The next chapter should be more exciting. Okay, that's about it from me. Please read and review! Thanks!
~Lady Branwen~
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Disclaimer: You know the drill, DBZ isn't mine!
The Story of My Life
Chapter 4
"So what do you think?" Jenny asked me on the drive to the lab.
"Of what?"
"I don't know, about this whole experiment thing. To me, it's just like we're becoming guinea pigs. I don't like that thought too much."
"Yeah, but we'll get paid a ridiculous amount of money. Maybe with that, depending on how long we decide to keep going with the testing, we can move to a better place. I don't want my kid growing up the way we did. They deserve a better start."
"That's true," she answered. Then the rest of the drive was quiet.
I had my own reservations about the experimentation. I had had a bad feeling about it ever since Jenny had shown me the ad. It looked like it was too good to be true. Nothing good happened to us. Ever. So why now did something promising arise? Everything good I get comes with a price. When the lady had fed us, that one time long ago, I felt guilty about it and kept feeling bad about it. When we finally got a place to live with the gang, we weren't trusted and had to watch our back. When I became the leader of the gang, it was at the cost of Kyle, probably my best friend. So then, since I was going to get a baby and what seemed like a good opportunity to make some money, I felt that something bad would happen. Perhaps the baby would be born, but Rachel would die. I would be made stronger with the experimentation, but I would be grossly disfigured like a monster that everyone would run from and no one would trust. I wanted more than anything at that time to be there for my child. I didn't want things to be like how they had been with my father. I wanted to be there for it, shower it with love and kindness. I wanted to protect it and comfort it when it was scared, I didn't want to be the cause of its fear. I didn't want it to grow up without a father because he was shot or beaten to death, bleeding in an alleyway with no one to care or to help. These thoughts kept reverberating in my mind as I left.
Before I had gone to the lab, I had said goodbye to Rachel at least a million times, and told her that I loved her a million times more. I didn't want to leave her alone, afraid that someone from the gang might find out where we lived and she would be killed mercilessly. The gang had often done that, we've killed a few people of a rival gang leader's family, even when I was in charge. But I had made the gang more laid back. We would mostly do harmless things like destroying bars, fist fighting with random people, stealing, stuff like that. Rachel finally got sick of my millions of kisses and finally pushed me out the door with a smile.
The lab. That stupid shit of a place. At that time, Dr. Gero worked in a lab in a city, not the hidden one that he used to make us androids. That came later. The one he worked at was full of people and assistants, and other doctors. So far, as far as choosing the right pair of twins to test, they were still giving them all physicals to make sure they were in good health. We had to undergo all of their tests and probing, which I remember I wasn't very fond of, but hey, we wanted that money. When it was our turn to be checked up, Gero looked us over and smirked to himself. We were found to be in perfect health, much to my surprise. One would think that after living in such poor conditions we would have picked up some diseases along the way. This wasn't the case though, and ultimately we were chosen for the experiments.
We sat on two long metal tables, both of us in hospital gowns when Dr. Gero came in to see us again.
"Now," he said, "I don't know how much you know about the procedures, but I'll tell you about it now. We," he motioned to his assistants, "will be tampering with your bodies a bit. We will give you different medicines, inject you with chemicals, and also, perhaps, other things with your permission."
"Like what?" Jenny asked.
"We would implant metal into your bodies. Bones can be easily broken, but with the metal in place of the bones, there is a far less chance of something like that happening. I am trying to find out how far the body can go with that kind of procedure. I am expecting that, along with the strength enhancement that you will get from the different chemicals, the metal would be an added benefit. It would make you more stable, and you would have less chance of breaking bones at any given point in your life. Even if you get hit by a bus. That is for a different project; it has nothing to do with twins, but since we already know that you are healthy, you could also go into that experiment. You would be given more money, of course."
Jenny looked uneasy.
"How do we know that our bodies won't reject the metal? And what if it does break? You would have to operate on us to fix it, it won't be able to heal on its own."
"Well, it is a new type of metal. It is virtually indestructible. So far, everything we have tried to destroy it, doesn't work, including large bombs on a test site. The metal has already been used on battle tanks and planes. I want to see what it can do with humans."
"You're saying that you want to create supersoldiers?"
"In a way, I suppose that you could be used for that, but if I wanted to, I could create androids with the metal and they would be the supersoldiers. There would not be emotions in the way like there would be with humans. Experimenting with it on humans is just an experiment. As for your body rejecting it, my plans are extensive. You would be more metal than skin."
That really disgusted Jenny. I didn't like the sound of being more metal than skin and bone, but I did like the part about being indestructible. No one could kill me easily and I would be able to stay alive and take care of my kid.
That day was the day that started all the rest on my becoming an android. That day, I watched three different chemicals slowly drip into my body intravenously. Jenny had to take one pill. It made her shake for a while, but once the shakes were over, she told me that she felt stronger. They tested her blood after that to see if it had any affect on her immune system or some crap like that, but they found that nothing was wrong with her.
We went home and went to bed as it was late at night. Surprisingly, even though one of those chemicals, I was told, would give me strength, I felt drained. I got into the bed next to Rachel and had a great fit of insomnia. I just laid there in bed looking at the ceiling, then twisting around to watch Rachel sleep. She was sleeping soundly with one arm draped around my waist. She always looked so peaceful when she was asleep. Whenever I watched like that, in the dead of night with nothing else to think about to keep my mind from wandering to things I didn't want to think about, I thought of my life. I recalled everything that had happened to me. The bad life, the hurts, the cold wind against my body from a lack of shelter, the condescending looks I would get on the streets from strangers who didn't even know me, the sight of my mother's lifeless body smiling at me. All of those thoughts would come crashing down on me and I would look at Rachel and know that whatever paths I had taken had been the right ones. Anything I went through was worth it if I had her in the end. It must seem odd to whoever is reading this that I can remember all this, but I do. Does anyone ever think I have feelings? I do. My sister does. She came to tell me one day that an aircraft she was in almost crashed. She had been with Vegeta's wife and some of the other people that her husband is friends with. She saved everyone onboard. She looked visibly awkward about that, showing feelings for others. She said that she did it to save her child, but she must have also done it for the others. Anyway, getting back to what I was talking about before, after a while, I fell asleep.
The next morning I woke up feeling like shit. There's no other word for it. I ached all over the place and my stomach felt like a washing machine …the water was going to spill out.
I jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom to throw up, but lo and behold, Rachel was already there, in my way. She had her head resting on the toilet and the contents of yesterday's dinner was in it. I pushed her out of the way as quickly as I could and threw up whatever it was that I threw up. I had not eaten anything since the day before yesterday since I was getting those chemicals put in. They were supposed to be very strong and I wasn't supposed to have anything to eat when I took it. So, I had no idea what the chunks were in the toilet, but they were there. Rachel held my hair for me while I puked…and puked…and puked. When I was finally done, I leaned back and sighed. Rachel crawled across the floor over to me and rested her head on my shoulder. It was kind of a touching moment, actually, if you really think about it. I was sharing in her morning ritual of throwing up. We were both miserable and shared that misery together. Of course, she got over her morning sickness in a few hours, but I had it all day.
Jenny and I left for the lab a few hours after Rachel went to school. Jenny didn't seem to be having any of the problems that I had. The only things that seemed to be different was that she was talking and moving faster than normal. Her eyes darted all over the place and her hands could move faster than I could see. When we got to the lab, they ran tests on her to check on the affects of the drugs. It turned out that Jenny was supposed to be moving faster and whatever they gave her was working perfectly. I, on the other hand, wasn't working out so well. They gave me other chemicals to balance out whatever the last ones they gave me did and slowly my stomach started to feel better.
I had made my mind up and had decided that I would go through with the metal implants. It would be a big step for me, I knew that then, but I was determined to be able to protect my child and my family. Family…Rachel was everything to me. I guess, even if we weren't actually married, I still thought of her as my wife. I wanted to marry her. I planned on asking her to marry me as soon as all the tests and surgeries were over and done with. I could find another job to make some money and she would go to school and make some money too. Then we would buy an even better house and live it and be happy for the rest of our lives. Maybe we would hit rough spots, but we would be together and in a nice house, not on the streets where everything is worse.
Again, all that day tests were run and I had small pieces of the metal replace the bones in a finger of my right hand. It felt kind of weird, but it sort of worked, though not like my other fingers. We went home and came back to the lab everyday and slowly my entire bone structure was being replaced with the metal. All of that continued until one day I didn't wake up after the surgery. By that time, my entire left leg and right arm had been metal. I had gone into surgery to have implant put in my left arm, but I woke up from that a year later.
I woke up in a different lab. The walls were made out of rocks, unlike the other lab I knew so well. I noted to myself that I seemed to be in a cave, but I was confused about how I had gotten there. I heard footsteps walking toward me. When I tried to turn my head, I found that I couldn't move. In fact, none of my body parts were able to move. By then the footsteps had reached me and Dr. Gero suddenly appeared above me.
"You're awake."
I tried to answer, but I couldn't even open my mouth to speak. I made a weird gurgling sound instead of any intelligible word. He touched something in my neck and I found that I was able to move once he did so. I sat up and looked around the room. It seemed to be swirling around me, but I saw my sister clearly. She was still asleep on a metal table. There was a sheet covering her and for all I know, that was all she had on.
"Hey, what is this?" I asked when I turned to Gero. "Why are we here?"
"My colleagues don't like how I'm going about my research. I've decided to work on my own from now on. Everything will take longer, but now there is less chance of anyone fucking up the experiment."
"I thought they were helping you…" I was getting very cautious. I didn't like where all this was heading. There was no one else in the lab, no one around to be witnesses to our transformation. There was a nagging feeling inside of me that something wasn't going right. I have heard of scientists having quarrels about their research, but nothing to the extent that they would give up altogether. Usually they would try to prove each other wrong…so why weren't they? Was there something going badly with the research? Had Gero turned into a mad scientist? All of his helpers had been with him in the beginning, making no objections to the experimenting that I knew of. So it was odd to me that they had suddenly gone against him.
"They were. But now they're not."
Now that I thought about it, Gero looked like a mad scientist. His hair was all over the place and he looked like he hadn't had any sleep. His lab coat was wrinkled and weird chemical stains were scattered all over the fabric.
"Where am I? Man, I must have been really knocked out from that last surgery to not wake up while you took me here."
"You've been unconscious for over a year."
I stared at him blankly, shocked beyond thought. A year? My child must have been born…
"What?!" I shrieked. "A year? How could you do this without telling me?! My girlfriend was pregnant. Do you know how mad she's going to be when I suddenly show up? She wanted me to be there with her when she gave birth! I don't even know what my kid looks like!" I swung my legs over the side of the table and landed on the floor with a thud. I found myself looking up at Gero from the floor while he looked down at me disdainfully.
"You're not going anywhere anytime soon. You body has to become accustomed to use again. It has to adjust to the metal."
I suddenly realized that I could feel more metal inside of me.
"You're body is now forty percent metal."
My eyes grew wide in shock. "What about my sister? Why is she here?"
"She is thirty percent metal. She decided to undergo the surgery the last time you remember having yours. I have worked on you more."
"Is she going to wake up anytime soon?"
"Not for a while. I have to finish putting some more metal in her. Then I have to let you both become accustomed to your new bodies before I start again."
I sighed. I didn't want to wait. "Look, I know I agreed to this whole deal, but I didn't agree to being unconscious for more than a year. I never said I wanted to miss out on my kid's birth. Can you let me out of here so I can see my family?"
I tried getting up again and, after a little struggle, I finally got to my feet.
"You're not strong enough."
"I thought you were supposed to give me stuff that would make me stronger," I mocked. "Where the hell is that now?"
I unsteadily made my way to the door. It was so obviously the way out; it was the only door in the room, other than one that led to an office. It was made out of the same metal that was in my body and huge and thick, made to withstand any assault-or escape. I banged my hand on the door in a vain attempt to get out.
"Even if you manage to get out of my lab, people will think you're drunk, you're so unsteady on your feet. You will most likely be picked up by the police and won't even see your girlfriend anyway." He said this in such a lifeless, cold tone. He watched me carefully as I stalked back to the table to sit down. I felt groggy. He was probably right, I probably would not have made it very far. "I suggest you begin by walking around the lab and getting used to the metal."
So that's what I did. For a few weeks, I trained with small robots that would shoot out energy beams at me. At first I was afraid of being burned or even killed, but once I did get hit, I found out that they couldn't harm me at all. Now I realize that it was because Dr. Gero had done something to my skin to make it more resilient and also numb. Since it wasn't connected to anything but metal, there was also no way for my bones or muscles to feel the pain. I couldn't understand why had had me training so vigorously. I mean, maybe for physical therapy, but the pace was just too fast most of the time. Any, I soon became able to deflect the beams and caused a lot of trouble in the lab, but hey, it was fun! I got better at using my body and finally one day Dr. Gero decided to let me out into the world. By then, Jenny was up and operational as well. Every minute we schemed ways to get out. Everything was in vain and at that time we didn't know how to use energy yet. So, one can imagine our excitement at being let out of the lab for the first time in a year and a half. My mind was focused on finding my way back to the house, seeing Rachel and our child. All I wanted was to see her face…hold our baby. I wanted to live again, not be stuck in that cramped lab. Actually, it was big enough. It wasn't physically cramped, but being constantly watched and analyzed isn't fun and you feel like a little speck of dirt while Gero's eyes are on you. Jenny felt the same way.
That day that we went out to an old, unused building. Gero led the way in and pointed to four people chained to the wall. "Kill them."
"What?!" One of them yelled.
Another sat in horror, another observed us coolly. The last one was hidden in shadows.
"Who are they?" Jenny asked.
"Does it matter?" he answered. "They are the scum of the earth. They won't be missed. None of them has a family and each is a criminal. Kill them."
"How? With our bare hands or what?"
He nodded.
She shrugged casually and walked to the first man on the left and began to beat him. She seemed to be taking this lightly, but she had never killed before in her life. I had, but I had done it with guilt. Maybe no one else would ever have been able to tell, but I saw the remorse scrawled all over her face. She didn't want to be doing this. Neither did I. I walked over to the last person on the right, the one who was hidden in shadows. I walked up to him and grabbed the collar of his shirt to begin pummeling him, but then as my eyes adjusted I saw his face. It was Cale.