Ch 11 - The Remote

Vegeta of the future remained locked away in his space craft for hours. His present self and his future son's energies recently disappeared meaning they had finally entered the Time Chamber. They were early to enter, but everything had been happening more rapidly than before.

He could also sense the progress, or lack thereof, with the Namek, Tien, and Krillin on their hunt for Cell. The creature was slippery, and it was obvious that the villain would remain that way until it found the androids. The androids were unpredictable. Seeing as Vegeta had no clue where they were, he couldn't use instant transmission to pin them down. He was in the dark just as the rest were. Not unless he wanted to meditate on the Lookout to search the whole Earth.

But that was no matter. They would show up sooner or later, and he would feel the rise in whoever's power that found them first. If Cell found them first, then the device Bulma was working diligently on would be exactly what they needed anyway. Things were looking… Right. Even with the changes that occurred.

That almost didn't sit well with the older saiyan. Something not going wrong for once? That was suspicious. Perhaps he was getting too comfortable? Yes, that was most likely it. Things could still go horribly wrong. Cell could become impossibly strong or Kakarot could fail to secure super saiyan two or something was going to happen that would mess everything up… Or maybe he was being paranoid?

"Uh, hey," a feminine voice came over the speaker system, halting Vegeta's katas. "We were just stopping for a food break. I just thought I'd let you know. You're welcome to join us if you want."

Bulma was surprised as she heard the telltale sound of the gravity simulation disengage in the spaceship. Saiyans and their desire for food, she guessed. The future man exited shortly after, pulling on a very stylish jacket and gloves. She'd only ever previously seen the man in yardratian or saiyan armor. This outfit seemed human. Casual. Not even Goku wore such clothes! Just imagining her long-time friend in a similar outfit made her stifle a chuckle. That would be so weird!

"Well? Are we getting food or are you just going to stare at me all day?" the saiyan insisted, bringing the woman out of her thoughts.

"Oh! Right," she awkwardly recovered, leading the man inside her mansion home towards the feast her mother had prepared.

Dinner was kind of normal. Which was strange as any time a saiyan joined the family for dinner it typically turned silent. The man was polite, despite a few warning glances towards Bulma's mother for saying outrageous things. Trunks, the baby, was very whiny but the man didn't seem to mind as much as he had previously shown from before. The kid was simply hungry and demanded his fill of food. Something the saiyan resonated with, Bulma guessed. He'd even asked how the device was coming along. Not as if in a rush, but rather just as conversation. If this future man was Vegeta, Bulma certainly couldn't believe it. Widows peak be damned.

As the meal concluded, Bulma found herself not wanting the saiyan to leave. She cursed herself for the feeling, so decided to keep it mostly business. At least until she could figure out if this truly was a version of the man she'd laid with before.

Bulma spoke as her mother took up the plates off the table, "Erm, King Vegeta. You have saiyan armor. Would it be possible if I could study it to create new ones for the team?"

"Hmph. Yes, I suppose that would be fine," the man responded simply, getting up from his chair. The bluenette quickly followed him out to the spaceship and anxiously joined him inside. It was far more spacious on the inside than the outside led her to believe. And the center console looked familiar… "Here. This set should do. This is the armor I lent to Kakarot on our travel here to Earth."

The saiyan handed Bulma a typical saiyan armor set that didn't seem much more special from the armor she'd seen Vegeta wear. She tested the material by knocking on it with her knuckles to find the material to be very sturdy. This was future armor? It didn't seem much different from what she'd seen on Namek.

"It's an upgrade, trust me," he assured. The man took the chest plate and stretched it out by his arms length to prove its elasticity. Then, he chucked it against the wall to prove its solid form. The armor could even withstand a small ki blast on its own!

"How come it looks the same? Does armor not get upgraded in the fashion department? You seem to have a good sense of style," Bulma joked.

"The point was to keep it classic. I have other sets, but this one is fit for this time. This suit's under armor is the same blue color that you know. We'd tried other colors, but besides black and gray, blue was the only color that stuck around. The other colors made it seem like a superhero suit."

"Oh? But that'd be cool!" Bulma chuckled, imagining Goku in a costume with a helmet over his signature hair and in a silly hero pose. Yeah, he'd be just as dorky and cute as he always was in his regular gi, that was for sure.

The older saiyan simply shook his head at her antics. It seemed the Great Sayaman would become a thing again here too… Great, the man sarcastically thought to himself. That was a very strange phase for Gohan and it all started because of Bulma's help. Maybe he could nip it in the bud this time? It'd save him a good many migraines later in life.

He snorted, "It's a lot more pathetic than it sounds, woman. Stick to the blue."

The comment made Bulma curious, but she didn't argue. She instead picked up the armor and under armor, and gave him her thanks. When he only nodded in response, she shrugged and walked herself back out of the spaceship that was way too similar to her father's previous designs. She wasn't sure if she'd have the time to upgrade the armor at all, but it was at least a start.

The Briefs spent the whole day working together on the project. It was taking a long time to document and translate the blueprints, and the project wasn't going as well as they hoped. It was getting into the later hours of the day when Vegeta decided to check in the lab. He was quite honestly becoming impatient as he trained in his ship. His blood could sense the raising tension as Cell became closer to Imperfection with every passing minute.

Dr. Briefs hummed as he rocked the baby in a yellow dinosaur crib. He sighed, "Ah, I think he's asleep."

Bulma typed away at her keyboard and responded, "Great. Thanks for looking after Trunks while I work on this, Dad."

"Sure," the man responded as he stood from his position over the crib. "Any luck deciphering those plans to Android 17?"

"Yeah… But man, it's a lot of work. I'm trying to isolate the android's main power source and then I can manipulate it. If we can give some extra power and cancel hibernation mode, then that should give this Cell one heck of a stomach ache, that's for sure. The only problem so far is there are thousands of circuits to sort through."

"Don't give up," the man encouraged and gave Scratch a pat when the feline turned on his shoulder. In the corner of his eye, he noticed a dark figure against the wall and the man turned startled before realizing who it was. "Oh, you nearly startled me half to death."

The saiyan cloaked in shadows removed himself from the wall and walked up to the man, not bothering to give a response, and simply looked down at the sleeping child. Scratch the cat leaped from its master's shoulder over to the future man's, much to Dr. Briefs' amazement. The man's tail unwrapped from its hidden place around his hips to grab the cat and set it onto the floor. This was most certainly a display the doctor never would have imagined to occur with saiyans other than Goku or Gohan.

"I've gone too far to turn back now," Bulma assured between checking the notes in front of her and the computer screen. Her response brought both men's attention back to the heiress. "But I can only hope the remote control I made can zero in on the frequencies of the circuits to activate them inside of Cell. Who knows what kind of interference there will be. I mean, we don't even know what this Cell creature is made out of."

Vegeta abandoned his watch over Trunks to stand behind Bulma as she worked. He looked over her shoulder to inspect her craftsmanship. She glanced at him, but as he didn't say anything she went back to work. They continued to remain in silence before one of his gloved fingers pointed at a segment of code on the screen.

"Hua? What's wrong?" she growled as she noted the mistake in her programming. As she attempted to fix it, an error occurred and she cried out, "Hey! Stop that! Why'd Dr. Gero have to make these androids so hard to figure out?!"

With a slam of the keyboard and an overly loud groan in frustration, Trunks woke suddenly and burst into screams. The grandfather quickly grabbed and comforted the baby. Meanwhile, Bulma whined as her son wailed how she felt on the inside, "I wish I could cry."

"You want me to take a look at it?" Dr. Briefs suggested, still holding the screaming baby.

"Yeah, I guess. That'd be a big help. I should look into the armor upgrades anyway to get a step away. I have the results pending in my wing," Bulma sighed as she got up out of her chair and stretched in her tight red shirt. She took up her son into her arms, easily settling the child so that her father could take up the work where she left off. "I should put Trunks down in his room, anyway. You got a reason for coming down here, or what?"

"It's late," the man simply stated as he followed the young bluenette back through the halls of Capsule Corporation.

"I can see that. There should be food in the kitchen fridge, if that's what you need. Well, maybe not. I think Mom said Yajirobe might have cleaned us out earlier…"

"Not hungry," the saiyan grumbled, making her turn towards him with a raised brow. A saiyan that's not hungry? The world must really be coming to an end! To answer her credulous look, he stated, "There are reserves in my ship."

"But then, why?" she asked as she placed the now sleeping Trunks into his proper crib in his room. "You can grab any empty room if you need a place to sleep. But I would guess you have a cot on your ship, too."

He tched, "Can I not have no reason to be around you?!"

Bulma abruptly looked up to the future man and he turned away. Slowly, she tucked her son into the blankets and gently kissed his head goodnight. When she finished, grabbing the sound monitor on the dresser and attaching it to her belt, she walked up behind the saiyan of the future and placed a hand on his back. Instantly his muscles tensed before relaxing again as he looked at her.

She saw it then in his eyes. That same shielded look she was oh so familiar with. Her lips parted to speak, but she decided to hold her tongue. Instead, she gave a timid smile and she could see so much more. A wash of emotions she would never have been able to see on her Vegeta. At least, not yet.

"You can," the bluenette finally spoke before pulling away and walking down the halls towards her personal lab.

With some hesitation, Vegeta trailed behind her. He'd been tracking the progress of the Z Warriors and they hadn't been able to pinpoint Cell yet. They were currently residing at Kame House for some well deserved rest. The man of the future considered sleeping himself, but he knew better than to give in to his exhaustion.

The nightmares had followed him into the past, and now would be no excuse for the nightmares to leave him in peace. His mind remained unsettled, but Bulma's presence eased him even if it was just the past version of her. Vegeta would not dare mention such a thing to her, though. How could he even explain? During his trip with Kakarot he'd found himself woken by the younger on more than one occasion and that was embarrassing enough. It was none of his business to share. It would change everything about what Bulma thought about him in the present. Although that might not change Bulma's standpoint, it would change his own.

So they reached her lab in silence. Bulma cautiously explained a few experiments in the works, and as she found he seemed genuinely interested she became more enthusiastic. The saiyan entertained her, desperately attempting to hide an amused smirk as she riddled on about a toaster oven. It was the same way his own wife would enthuse about fresh projects. It was the same way Lettiche would enthuse about her training progress…

"What of the armor?" he asked, now suddenly wishing to move her along.

"Oh, right! Well, I've already created a replica of Vegeta's armor for him to wear for this android fight, but it's a lot more solid and I wasn't exactly sure how to replicate the material of the original. I basically had to re-work a capsule in order to find a compound close enough to work. Since the original is made out of alien elements and compounds, it was really hard to replicate. But since you have updated armor using Earth technology from the future, upgrading these should be a piece of cake, now!"

"Yes, and let us hope this doesn't cause some sort of time rift," he stated.

"That can happen?" Bulma gasped with wide eyes before she realized the man wore a smirk. He was being sarcastic. She punched his solid shoulder, realizing he actually had a sense of humor. A snicker escaped him when she shook her hand that was stinging from colliding with the brick wall that was saiyan muscle.

She snorted, "And here I thought saiyans couldn't have a sense of humor. What with Goku taking everything literally and Vegeta's narcissistic ignorance."

The man met her equally, "Kakarot's existence is the joke. Just looking in his general direction will make you break down in tears. What with that hair and all."

Bulma slyly asked, "Says the saiyan who cut his hair. Seriously, you style your hair but keep the widow's peak?"

A bright red blush covered the man's face and he turned away to avoid eye contact. He spit out, "Nothing's wrong with my hair, woman. And if you must know, a saiyan's hair never changes since the day they are born. It is the same as the tail. Past a certain age, once the hair is cut it can not grow back."

"That reminds me, you still have your tail…"

"Hmph," the man grunted, tightening his tail around his waist at the mention of it. "It's a long story, and not something for you to learn about."

"I got time. Just let me work on this armor set and I'll be all ears," she assured, promptly turning to begin her investigation of the readings her computer found in regards to the armor set of the future she ran diagnostics on.

Seeing he wasn't going to be leaving any time soon, he swept an area of table off with his tail, scattering writing utensils and papers to the floor. She gave him an evil glare, but he met her in kind as he sat himself down. With a huff, she continued her experiment and motioned with her hand for him to begin.

The older Vegeta smirked as he recalled the story. Surely things would happen differently. After all, should he share the information, it could only prove to avoid the whole situation in the first place. That would be good. They didn't deserve going through that again…

"You know very well that I lost my tail and couldn't regrow it," he drawled. "It should have been lost forever, but there were certain circumstances where a tail could return. There is a transformation. The Oozaru. A saiyan needs a tail in order to enter this state, but with enough Blux waves we were able to trigger the transformation anyway. However, the tail would only remain for the transformation and disappeared as soon as it ended."

"So then, how did you get it back more permanently?" she asked curiously, looking into a microscope.

"A chemical compound created in an alternate future. The idea was to summon the Oozaru, but the transformation was pretty useless. Still, it's been nice having it back," the man answered. After a pause, he continued, "Everyone grew them. Even Trunks who was born without and Gohan who had his surgically removed. As long as they're saiyan descendants, they could grow one. But the tails are only there by taking the serum. Once cut, it won't grow back again without more serum."

Bulma noted, "A chemical compound serum of another future? Sounds like Future Trunks all over again with the magic heart cure that doesn't really work."

"Something like that, yes," the older man chuckled, now realizing the similarities further. Yes, Future Trunks was just as much a failure as the counterpart. The irony was not lost on him. Still, he was grateful for both of their efforts. Had they not traveled, things would have been far worse.

"This future guy, did it work out for him?" she innocently questioned, now taking notes on her observations.

Vegeta pondered her seriously. He'd lay awake thinking of what had happened to the boy when he returned. It wasn't something he was fond of. Perhaps that was the real reason he wanted to return to the future with Trunks? To fix the mistake of not going with the boy when he should have?

He honestly replied, "I don't know. We haven't seen him since. We can only assume the best. It was just the two of them left…"

Bulma glanced toward him for a moment before returning to her work, "What about the dragon balls? Couldn't they go to Namek?"

"If they played their cards right. But even that wouldn't bring everyone back. The dragon has limits. It wouldn't be able to resurrect everyone, or even a fraction because of the time limit. But before that he'd have to destroy Striker and he wasn't nearly strong enough…"

"You sent him back before he was even strong enough to defeat this thing?!" the woman yelled out, knocking over a beaker as she whipped around to face him.

Vegeta met her gaze before turning his eyes away and stating, "We gave him the tools he needed to do so on his own. There would have been no use of him staying. It would have just been worse for him to return where everyone is gone had he stayed."

She sneered, "Sounds like you just sent him off to die."

"Maybe we did. We'll never know," the man admitted after many minutes passed by. A heavy silence followed. The scientist continued her work on decoding the molecular structure of the suit. An hour passed when the silence was broken by a crackle coming from the baby monitor on her belt. She sighed, but the man lifted himself off the table and announced, "I'll get the brat."

"Thanks," Bulma finally passed one last glance towards the man as he walked out of her lab, "Vegeta…"

True to his word, the future Vegeta checked on his infant son. The child was simply being fussy and was easily settled by his calm ki presence. It amazed the man how similar yet different the small child's ki resembled his own version. He couldn't get over how strange it was to look at his son like this. It was so long ago since his own Trunks was born. It'd been nine years since the last children were born. Eight when he left, but a little over a year passed since he'd been home. Just the very thought of how his great grandchild, and Kakarot's great grandchild, were older than his own son was more than strange to think about.

He missed being home. He could admit that. But mostly, he missed his memories of home. Things weren't perfect in any sort of sense. There were many things he'd have done differently or wished could have acted sooner. But that was a part of life and living it. This universe was different, and it would branch off from his own even if he tried to conform things to be the same. Some things were already fundamentally different from his own.

The best thing he could do is steer this universe away from Striker. As long as that monster can be defeated, that'd be enough. Enough to protect the future boy from going through all he had…

There was only one thing left for him to do now, though. Rest. He dreaded the idea, but he couldn't just ignore how tired he was. He considered taking one of the spare rooms in the mansion, but instantly he reconsidered. The ship was literally designed for his comfort. Plus, the ship was soundproof and ki-protected so he didn't have to risk waking to the brat crying should he actually be able to fall asleep… But who was he kidding? He knew he wouldn't engage the shields anyway.

…

Bulma looked up from the press as she noticed the distinct smell of freshly brewed coffee. She turned to greet the coffee bringer, expecting it to be one of her parents, only to find it to be Future Vegeta. She graciously took the cup, encapsulating the warm mug in her hands, and took a sip.

"Mm, it's good. Missing sugar, though," she thanked him with a tired smile.

"Too much sugar and you'll crash before you get to finish anything," he answered, taking a sip of his own coffee.

The heiress observed, "I didn't think saiyans drank coffee."

Future Vegeta replied, "Only on occasions. After so many years having to cater to you, insolent woman."

Bulma corrected, "Hey now, I've not asked you to make me coffee yet, jerk."

To which he chuckled while taking another sip, "Yet," and looked past her to inspect the armor plates she was working on. He questioned, "How's the progress on the armor? I take it you've replicated the structure?"

"Oh, yeah! It's so much easier when it's not coming from space! I've got the under armor finished and packed away. I'm just working on how to print out the armor plates. My original replacement used Lead and it did the trick, but using Zinc works way better and it's safer too. It can absorb and distribute energy so it can both reduce ki blast damage while also helping concentrate your energy!"

"Hm, it's another reason why Kakarot believed my ship was better to train in. The armor helps better ki manipulation. It's literally designed for training at an ascended state."

"Wait, you train as a super saiyan? Wouldn't that just destroy everything?" she asked, turning around after taking a nice sip of coffee and intent on continuing her work.

The man leaned against her desk, "Yes, that is a problem. But if we don't train as a super saiyan, how are we supposed to control that amount of power when we need it? The suit keeps the amount of energy leakage to a minimum, meaning less damage."

She nodded, absorbing the new information. He seemed to have a lot of knowledge on the topic of armor. Then again, it was directly related to his training. Actually, he seemed to know a lot about her work. She recalled he was the one to point out that error in her algorithm last night. It made her wonder how much Vegeta knew, or if it was all new from this future version. Either from her influence or from an alternate universe.

Nearly an hour passed when Vegeta questioned, "Have you been working on the armor all night? Wouldn't you consider the remote to be a bit more important to fabricate?"

"Oh, don't worry about that. Dad's been working on it while I'm in here. I just need to take a break from it and do something a little more creative, that's all. We should be coming along with the remote. Maybe 60% already? It's been nice not having to worry about distractions with you checking in on Trunks overnight for me. And I'm almost done with this armor so once it's done I'll be checking in on my dad."

The saiyan hummed at the news and finished off his coffee before suggesting, "You should create a second remote, if you're able. Things can change, but I'm not taking any chances."

She nodded, "Okay. Shouldn't be too hard to copy data over and build a replica. Might extend the time to make it, though. I don't know if we're running on a schedule or anything."

"You completed the remote in two days before. Previously you had an extra day's time to complete it, but you seem to be able to pick up the pace. Things are happening differently, so there is no time schedule to follow besides as fast as you are able," came his honest reply.

"So a full 24 hours then? Okay, we should be able to work with that."

~~~ 4th Wall Break ~~~

Hey all, thanks so much for reading this far! For those of you reading this in real time, I'm looking for a beta reader or two! I'm new to the whole beta readers system and mostly rely on good old PMs. Let me know if you are interested! We got some really great stuff coming up and I want to make sure all my ducks are in order! Especially that duck on skates! He's a pesky bird! Thanks, guys!

Again, a personal thanks to ZoeyCares, DarkStorm98, Qinlonfei, and Doomwritrr for being awesome in particular!