Another giant building fell, still full of people. 17 was in a frenzy, bashing huge buildings down every which way. 18 was worried that one of these days he was going to hit one of them, but it never happened. Android 16 did his own thing, a mindless killing spree that never ended. At the end of every time, he washed his hands of blood, then returned to his normal standing position, arms folded. He followed only Dr. Gero's orders. Conversation attempts with him proved fruitless.
A human came wildly swinging at them, 17 dodged, then grabbed him by the shoulders. Flying up into the sky, 17 dropped him hundreds of feet to his doom. 18 raised her hands and launched a bolt that eradicated a bunch of Nameks. Their rampage just went on and on, stopping only when Dr. Gero needed to rest.
"All you androids will die!" Someone roared at them suddenly. 18 glanced up. Some warrior was standing before them, looking very angry.
"All you mechanical monsters are doomed to be destroyed!" He yelled again. This was the better type of warrior to run into. 18 darted forward, kneeing him in the gut. This kind that yelled about how they'd kill all the androids, 18's conscience didn't weigh very heavy with them. They never treated her like an individual being, so they didn't seem that important themselves. But then again, only Goku had ever treated her like anything but a machine. That was the one good memory that she had, before becoming an android had faded for her.
The other kind, the kind that ran away or had something to fight for, that was the bad kind. 18 could never stand looking at them, she let 17 or 16 handle those cases when possible, hid behind an emotionless mask when it wasn't. It was just too much for her, despite the way her face betrayed no emotion. At those times, 18 almost sobbed, only Dr. Gero's inhuman programming prevented her. Seeing them do their best to protect what they loved, their families, and seeing them fail miserably and die horrible deaths. Even now, she realized she was caring less and less about those as well.
This warrior brought both hands down on her head. 18 took the ineffective blow, then kicked him hard in the face. He went flying and hit a building before falling down, dead. Everyone else just turned back to what they were doing, continuing their destructive spree.
King Yemma sighed, wishing that the rampage on Earth would just stop and he wouldn't have so much paperwork to do. None of them had ever suspected this much of a problem, a darkness had suddenly welled up from nowhere and engulfed the planet. If the Kais would put aside their petty differences and stop yelling at each other, then maybe they might have prevented it.
Working through dead spirits as fast as possible, King Yemma glanced at the clock and sighed again. Almost time, very soon. Then he'd get the few precious rests he could ever get. Things hadn't slowed for all these months, and they didn't seem likely to now.
Dr. Gero had decided they'd camp for the night now. 18 didn't know how long they had been fighting, how many days or months this had gone on, she didn't really care. As long as she could keep from concentrating on what she was doing, she would be alright. The team of androids moved on, but they had just exited the city. Dr. Gero announced that they would camp in the clearing ahead.
Making their way into it, everyone sat down. Dr. Gero pulled out a capsule house he had recently found and went into it, 16 turned himself off and sat there, a mindless husk. 17 stretched and relaxed, leaning between two trees. But 18 was still restless. She didn't need any sleep, she wanted to keep moving.
Things were tough, but she had adapted. She'd gotten hard, no mercy remained in her now. The shell around her almost enjoyed being cruel, no longer caring about those she killed. Walking around the outside of the quickly erected camp, she suddenly saw something that made her stop in her tracks.
A stone, polished and smooth, stood over a mound of dirt. Beside it stood a giant boulder, the bottom taken off so it would rest on the ground. Moving closer, 18 could read the inscription on the headstone. Reading through it, she realized how much Goku must have suffered. He was really under a lot of pain. Moving to the second grave, this one merely read Piccolo on top of it.
"To the only real friend I ever had," 18 murmured softly. "I don't understand how he could help us, when he was still suffering so much on his own."
Finally the emotional web that Dr. Gero had placed on his androids cracked. 18 slid to the ground, almost sobbing, but not quite. This was too much for her to take, the death, the destruction. Even the cruelty that surrounded her was touched in a strange way. The only person who had ever been kind to her was the person who had the least reason to be. A single tear leaked out, landing at the foot of the grave.
Deep in the headquarters of a secret military base, two leaders planned. Neither even knew the other's name, and at a single sign of hostility, both had dozens of guards ready to come out and crush the others. It had taken a long time to even allow this tense meeting, but the androids had created an all-too-fragile peace.
"Gentlemen," the Commander said, "we have only one option. We need to band together to destroy these androids once and for all before they destroy us!"
"There's a war going on here, Commander!" the General barked. "Are we just going to lay down arms and join you?"
"Make no mistake," the Commander growled. "I hate you as much as you hate me, even more. But I think this threat is more important."
"Never!" the General roared, standing up. "You say that you hate me more then I hate you, but you are willing for us to make an alliance? You're hatred is a paltry thing, barely worthy of my wrath!"
"Our only hope is a single, solid strike," the Commander insisted. They battled on, but finally left to their respective sides. But, almost in tandem, each secretly planned to take out the androids themselves, even though the other didn't know it.
"They finally get done arguing," Android 17 muttered. He was sitting atop a ventilation shaft, comfortably seated and watching all that happened. The security here was outdated, much less then the lab, and 17 could defeat even that security if he was careful. This was a piece of cake.
"Humans." He shook his head, getting down from his resting spot as he mused to himself. "It's so strange. They're too busy killing each other to stop and notice that we're killing them faster. And now they won't even try to work together."
Smirking, 17 sped out of the base, easily dodging the security systems. He had planned this as a little relaxation, but now he actually had some information to report. Picking up speed, he started flying back to tell the others.
But the armies never realized that the androids weren't their worst enemy. They hadn't seen their worst enemy yet. Deep within a mountain, there stood two metal doors, now closed and sealed once more. Inside, a tube rested, filled with a green liquid. A very large bag-like bug rested inside, feeding off the nutrients in the liquid.
Something inside the bug rustled, like it was trying to get out. There was a suddenly ripping and tearing, as a slit broke down the side of the bug and something stepped out, shedding its skin. The green monster looked around, smiled, then shattered the tube to get out. Taking its first breaths, a red mouth opened and closed slightly as he breathed; his skin mottled black and green. A giant tail protruded from his back end, arcing up like a scorpion's and ending in a wicked spike. Looking around, the monster laughed.
"This worked. I am Cell. I am truly alive. Now it's time to show Gero where my loyalties lie!" He raced off into the night, barely stopping for the metal doors, which shattered as he ran through them. There was a city up ahead, and he wanted to get to it fast. The destruction was about to begin.
17 arrived back at the camp in time to tell everyone. They sat and waited, smirking at the foolish humans. He looked around, a bit puzzled, where was 18? Ah, but it didn't matter, they could beat them without his sister or with her. The sound of helicopters broke through the air, airplanes coming toward them. Gero signaled for both 16 and 17 to take to the skies.
Making a minor but large attack, 17 launched a wide flash that incinerated the first line of aircraft. 16 brushed him aside.
"I will handle this."
Taking off his hands at the wrists, 16 revealed two dark openings. From them, energy flashed. 16 moved his hands back and forth, strafing the airplanes. The results were disastrous. It took only one minute for the entire force to be nothing but twisted lumps of metal on the ground. 16 put his hands back on and waited for the ground strikes.
As he waited, 17 smirked. Why did the humans always try to fight them? They probably knew it wouldn't do any good, so why did they even try? He had thought they would just keep killing each other, at least then they could see some "progress."
Now the ground units rolled in, crushing hundreds of trees with them. Soon there was an entire arc of atomic weaponry all pointed directly at the androids. Gero signaled for 16 to move back down and then floated up himself. 17 smirked, a typical expression for him; the old man was finally getting his hands dirty.
"Surrender at once or be destroyed!" A man announced from one atomic tank with a megaphone. Gero started flying forward and toward him. The man gaped, then pulled out an Uzi and opened it up, full fire, on him. Gero didn't even slow, he just kept coming toward him. More weapons opened up on him, but they did little good. 17 saw a giant missle range slowly turning to target Gero.
"Good grief," 17 muttered. "Those things are way too slow!"
All fifty missiles targeted Gero and fired. They crashed in a gigantic mushroom cloud explosion from behind Gero. When the dust cleared, Gero looked back at them and laughed. The tank itself had been blown back twenty feet, but Gero hadn't budged an inch. Sweeping up to the man with the megaphone, Gero grabbed it from him and clubbed him over the head with it.
The next missle launcher targeted 17. He easily darted back and forth, dodging every blast. They continued for about a minute, with no luck. Even the gunners in charge of it had sore fingers, but 17 drew his energy from a self generating supply within himself. He wasn't even winded.
At this point, however, the useless firing was finally getting on 17's nerves.
"Do your worst!" He called out to them. "I won't try to dodge. Launch everything at me!"
They did. Every battery of weaponry, every destructive weapon they had all targeted the lone figure standing in the air. At a single signal, all the weapons launched, an awesome display of destructive power. The mushroom cloud generated was vast, expanding all the way out of the atmosphere, where it started floating off forever.
When the dust cleared, and there was a lot of it, 17 stood there, watching them.
"You haven't even managed to scratch my bandana!" he called to them. "How do you expect to hurt me?"
Just then 17 got pushed to the side by his sister. 18 stepped forward in the sky and raised two hands. 17 cynically waved goodbye at the army. A giant flash lit up the sky, blasting the army and leaving lines across their vision. When 17 blinked the energy residue from his eyes, there were only a few bits of scrap metal left.
Gero waved them on, and they all moved on to the next city. 17 glanced back once at the field. It had once been a forest, but now it was a barren, charred wasteland. He noticed, oddly, that the grass still grew in one little place, down in the middle, by a big, oddly-shaped boulder. Shrugging, 17 turned back and caught up with the rest of the group. However, Gero wasn't destroying things; he seemed to be searching for something. Apparently spotting it, he turned back to them and smiled an evil smile. Android 17 licked his lips, because that smile looked like a whole new wave of destruction.