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THIS FIC WILL BE MOVED TO THE DBZ AND CARTOON X-OVERS CROSSOVER SECTION 3 DAYS AFTER TODAY!

A/N: This got done so much faster than I expected! I'm really happy with how it turned out, and I hope that you all will enjoy it, too!


Chapter 14: Dearly Beloved

'Are you sure about this Max?'

"Not at all."

'You don't have to do it. Sydney already knows about your secret.'

"I know. But I want to. I need to."

Max found himself resolutely walking down the halls of Copper Canyon High School. He had only two goals on his mind: he needed to tell Kirby about his secret, and he needed to let Sydney know how he felt. It had all started with the explosion from Berto's new invention. Nothing had really been the same since the explosion. His uncle Ferrus had seen it. Gohan had seen it as well. That was why he'd had the nut-brained idea of taking on Cell alone.

Unfortunately, it hadn't worked, and Jefferson and a few other soldiers ended up dead. Randy was able to resurrect them by some miracle, but they couldn't depend on Randy raising the dead long-term. They all knew that. It was an underlying feeling that no one needed to say to get: the second Cell could get his hands on Randy, death would be permanent.

Therein lied the reason that Max was on the search for his friends. His mind couldn't help but drift towards a certain blonde friend in particular. He'd always known what she was to him, but he'd always been too afraid to let her know how he truly felt. He felt like his life was too crazy, too dangerous to let her in on it. Naturally for a life as crazy as his, it took a coma and a super android to get his head out of his ass.

'Are they even still here?'

Max faltered in his brisk strides for a moment before shaking his head. "They're still here. Their parents were planning on moving them away from Copper Canyon by the end of this week."

'Still, are they even at school? Most of the people here aren't even bothering and are just hightailing it out of here.'

Max didn't blame them. There were some that had stubbornly decided to stay, believing in Max Steel, the Ninja, Ghost, and the "Golden Warrior" as they were calling Gohan, but a good many had left, thinking that this would be too much for even their heroes to handle. Somewhere locked away inside of him, Max wished he could turn tail and leave too.

Neglecting to respond to Steel's queries, he turned the corner and almost walked right into the people he'd been searching for.

"Woah there, Max!" Kirby drawled, his smile wide and lazy like he was on a trip. He claimed he'd never tried shrooms or weed or anything of the sort, though he wanted to. Max grew to learn that was just who his friend was naturally. An easygoing teen with the face and demeanor of a stoner. "What's got you in a rush?"

Max felt his nerves jumble together as he glanced between Sydney and Kirby. "I was, uh, looking for you two, actually."

Sydney's delicate brow quirked up as a sly little grin made its way onto her face. He felt like he was gonna get caught staring if he looked too long, so he aimed his gaze to the floor. "Were you now?"

"Ye-Yeah, I've got something that I need to tell you, Kirby. I've already told Sydney, but it's something I think you should know."

Both of his friends' faces became grave as they both nodded, imploring him to continue. Max took a shuddering breath as he tried to steel his nerves. His attempts were relatively unsuccessful as he felt his heartbeat rattling his chest.

'Breathe, Max. Breathe.'

Max nodded as he took another breath. He wasn't ready after that one either, but he figured that he'd never be. Some things you had to dive into without being as ready as you wanted to be. "There isn't any easy way to say this. I've wanted to tell you for a long time, but I didn't want to put either of you in danger either." He felt his voice starting to break a little as he cleared his throat to steady himself. He spared one glance at Kirby and Sydney who were eyeing him with concern and their full attention. They would listen. "I just. . . I needed to tell you that I'm Max Steel."

They were both quiet for a long time. Max felt his anxiety start to creep back onto him as he started to ramble. "I-I wanted to tell you both, but I couldn't. And then I was afraid that you guys wouldn't want to talk to me or-"

"Hey, hey, calm down," Sydney soothed, placing a hand on his shoulder. "We understand."

"We do?" Kirby looked like he'd just learned the secret to the universe.

Sydney turned and glared at him. "Yes, we do."

"No, I'm cool with him being Max Steel!" Kirby said, quickly. "It's just a lot to take in, y'know? You got like a special superhero thing that only Max Steel can do for proof or something? I just can't believe my friend is Max Steel."

Max felt some of the weight lift off of his shoulders as he laughed a little. "Yeah, follow me to the back of the school by the dumpsters. I'll show you some of my camouflage powers!"

Kirby's eyes did their best impressions of dinner plates.

'I think you mean our camouflage powers.'

Max shrugged with a sly smirk. "Details, Steel."

"Uh, is that a Max Steel thing?"

Max blinked and turned to Kirby with a half-smile. "Yeah, yeah it is."


Danny had heard about the portal that Vlad was making. Word just seemed to get around. It especially helped when a giant tin man wouldn't stop complaining about it. Something, something, missing products. Something, something, loss of money. That and he wouldn't stop complaining about a random scientist who'd apparently gone MIA.

He didn't care about that latter part, however. He was on his way to Vlad's cell because of the megalomaniac, fruitloop himself. If there was some way that they could all go home, Danny wanted it. Or at the very least, he didn't want Vlad to have it. He shivered imagining what damage Vlad could do in Amity without him there to stop the elder halfa.

After asking around with a couple of guards, Danny found himself face to face with the man he'd despised so much.

"Ah," Vlad grinned, "you've come to visit me, Little Badger."

Danny bristled at the unwanted nickname as his eyes roved over the man's form. He looked slightly haggard with his ponytail somewhat undone and little frays of hair sticking out in various directions rather than sitting, uniformly, together. His eyes were a little sunken like he wasn't getting much sleep. He was still wearing a suit. It looked similar to his usual getup, but it didn't fit as snugly against his form as his typical suits did. Danny smirked at that.

"How does it feel not having access to your line of custom suits, fruitloop?"

Vlad's eyes flared a bright red for a second, much to Danny's amusement, before returning to their usual blue. "Well, this situation is only temporary. I'll be back in comfort soon enough."

"Yeah, so I've heard." Danny squatted down to the level of the sitting man. "Where's your portal?"

"Wisconsin, in my lab. You know this. Are you feeling alright there, Daniel?"

"Cut the act, Vlad. You know what I mean."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Yeah? Dread says you stole his stuff."

"You trust the words of a villain?"

"No. But I trust Gohan's word. And he told me that you were working on a portal, which would make sense if you stole equipment from Dread. It kinda works out."

Vlad shrugged. "It's still all just hearsay. None of you have any proof that I've made a portal or stolen anything."

"I guess it's a good thing that we can keep you here as long as we like. Benefits of being a secret organization, I guess."

Vlad was quiet for a moment. "You'll need to let me out, eventually. You'll need all the help you can get to fight Cell."

"We don't need you."

"Yes, you do. If you all had it covered, Cell would have died yesterday when your golden boy attacked him."

Danny felt his jaw tighten. "The only reason we didn't win was because we weren't together."

"Ah, so you have a split team. A snake with two heads trying to forge different paths while dragging along a single body? Y'know, things like that never turn out well. They'll rip the body apart and leave the heads dead."

"No! We have a plan. A plan that we've made together-"

"Oh, do you now?"

Danny felt his anger bubble over as he strode up to the caged man. He just barely had the presence of mind not to actually grip the ectoranium bars as he glared daggers at Vlad. "Get this through your thick skull fruitloop. We. Don't. Need. You!"

"You need me. I'm one of the smartest minds in this universe. I could figure out a science project like Cell easily. It'd be child's play!"

Danny laughed, shaking his head. "Just like you figured out how to make a stable clone of me, right?" Danny enjoyed watching Vlad's expression sour. "Look, since you're such a smart mind, I'll lay this scenario out for you and let you figure out how it ends. We beat Cell. Without you. We send Gohan to scour the sewers until he finds your portal. We send the portal to N-Tek to figure it out. We leave. We go home. You stay here and rot. How much you wanna bet that your chances with my mom plummet from never gonna happen to nonexistent?"

Vlad just watched him stone-faced. "You'll have to defeat Cell first, won't you?"

Danny stared at Vlad for a while before scoffing. He got up, turned away, and started his way down the hallway. Over his shoulder, he called out, "Have fun in your cell, fruitloop!"


After that wonderful outing, Danny immediately went back to his friends, meeting in his room. He'd told them earlier of his plan to talk to Vlad to fork up info on the portal, and they'd figured it was a good idea. They would've come along with him had they been allowed, but they were being extra careful about who'd they would allow near Vlad. They'd barely let him in, even after he'd informed them of his and his friends' plan. He'd been somewhat dubious that their plan would work, but he still had some hope. After recounting his encounter to his friends though, he didn't feel hopeful in the slightest.

"So, I take it that didn't go well?" Tucker sighed.

"That's putting it lightly," Danny grumbled. "Why does he have to be such an annoying, slimy. . . ugh!"

"Hey, Danny," Sam said. "Don't sweat him. We've got him locked up. He won't be able to do anything, and we'll find his portal and be back home in no time!"

"Yeah. . ."

"But. . ?" Tucker prompted.

Danny winced. They knew him too well sometimes. Most of the time. "He was just talking about how we'd need him-"

"Danny," Sam said, firmly, "you can't let that fruitloop get into your head."

"I know! Trust me, I know. But I don't know if our plan will work. Even the weaknesses Tuck and the scientists keep trying to find in Cell haven't shown up yet."

Danny couldn't help but wince at accidentally throwing Tucker under the bus, but it needed to be said.

"We'll be fine," Sam said, softly, "You all have been working your butts off for weeks now. Cell's not gonna be able to beat all of us working together."

Danny chewed at his lip as he looked at Sam. He wanted to believe her. They'd handled so many threats together that he felt like he should believe her, but he just couldn't. He just couldn't. "Yeah, yeah, I guess you're right."

"Well," Tucker started, "I'm gonna go see if Berto needs anything. Gotta take down Cell the nerd way and all that."

"Good luck, Tuck."

"Knock 'em dead."

With that Danny and Sam were alone in his temporary room.

"Things have been crazy, huh?" Sam said, smiling a little.

"Yeah," Danny agreed as he fell back onto his bed, "I will never complain about ghosts again."

Sam laughed a little while falling back with him. "I'll hold you to that."

There was a beat of silence. It wasn't one of those unpleasant large breaks in conversation, rather, it was a calm moment of just being in the moment with a friend. If the universe would let him, Danny could've stayed in that moment forever.

After a few moments of that blissful silence, Sam spoke. "Is there anything I can do?"

Danny sighed as he turned his head toward her. Sam had a determined look, but it was tainted by fatigue. He hated thinking that he'd been worrying her sick for weeks now. She was such a strong-willed person that it must have been killing her to not be out on the frontlines. "You help out plenty with brainstorming. There's so many maneuvers that you've helped us with."

The fatigue seemed to vanish from her face as she glared at him. "I'm not helping like Tucker is with the technology, and I don't have powers like you or Max or Randy or Gohan. I just feel so. . so. . . useless. I'm just waiting here while you guys are out there risking your lives!"

He felt a pang of guilt as he thought back to their talk from a few days earlier. It seemed that she'd been feeling much of the same as he had. "I know how you feel, but this isn't like back home. Cell, he's- he's a different animal. To be completely honest, he's worse than Pariah, Undergrowth, Vlad, Fright Knight and- all of the other ghosts we've faced put together and then quadrupled a gazillion times." He held his tongue about his future evil self. That was a can of worms that he still wasn't ready to touch. "I feel in over my head whenever I train with Gohan. I'm pretty sure the others feel the same. I know Gohan did."

That last statement came out a lot more bitter than he'd been expecting.

"Danny. . ."

"Y'know, last night," Danny started, taking a slight gulp. "Last night could've been the Cell Games. That was all I could think about. I was helpless. All I could do was watch Gohan and Cell go at it. Or at least try to watch, and even most of the time I couldn't even do that they were so damn fast. The worst part is that I don't even think Gohan had the upper hand once. If that was the Cell Games. . . we would've failed. . . I would've failed you and Tuck and this planet. I couldn't stop thinking that all of you would be dead, and I would never be able to tell my parents my secret and I'd-"

It was like a dam broke. Danny couldn't stop the tears that had begun to flow. He hated it and tried to force it to stop, but all he succeeded in doing was making some horrible, heavy sobs. He was dimly aware of Sam hugging him to herself. He couldn't tell which position he was in, laying down or sitting up, but he couldn't find it in him to care.

"It'll be alright, Danny," she soothed, her hand stroking his hair. Her voice. There was a slight wobble there, but it was still as strong and as firm as ever. She was so damn strong. Where did she get that well of strength from? How was she such a constant anchor?

"I-I-I thought th-that I'd lose you!" Danny gasped out. "I-I-I can't lo-lose you!"

"You won't, Danny. You won't."


"So, you're like a half-alien?" Kirby asked, squinting at him.

"Nah, man," Max grinned. "Steel is an alien. I'm a human."

"He won't suck out my brains or anything, right?"

Sydney swatted Kirby in the arm as the man laughed nervously. Max's lips quirked upwards as he struggled to contain his laugh. "Yes," Max laughed, after giving up on holding back his amusement. "He's not going to eat your brain."

'I can't even eat. . .' Steel grumbled. 'You humans have some strange fantasies.'

"And what about-"

"He's not gonna probe you either."

Kirby gave a deep sigh of relief as his easygoing smile returned. "Alright, if you say so. This is pretty cool!"

"Yeah, well you'll have time to appreciate it later," Sydney said, rolling her eyes at the teen. "You've still gotta help your parents pack."

"Right, right. I'll catch you guys on the flip side!"

"See ya, man!"

Max and Sydney watched him go off before she turned to him. "How much do you want to bet that he comes back after remembering the possibility of mind control?"

Max snickered and rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't put it past him."

Sydney smiled at him, brightly. He could feel his heart melting and hammering in his chest all at once. "Is it too much to ask if you could come with us?"

Max sighed, looking off to the side. Anything to keep himself from stumbling over his words like some dork. "Wish I could, but I've got a job to do. Speaking of that job, I've got something that I need to take care of."

"Right, I guess I'll see you later?"

"Yeah."

He watched as she turned to leave. He could feel the words clawing their way out of his mouth before he even recognized them. "Do you wanna go somewhere after this is all over?"

She paused. "Is it gonna be anything like our first date?"

Max smiled and chuckled, nervously. "Maybe?"

She returned his grin. "Well count me in. I'll see you around, Maxwell."

Max watched her go with a wistful smile before he ducked around the side of the school, behind the large recycling and garbage crates. He wasn't gonna enjoy what he was gonna do next, but he could find comfort in a future with Sydney. "Let's go T.U.R.B.O! Flight."

With a powerful blast of jet propulsion, Max was racing back to N-Tek for a conversation long overdue.

"You sure he's there, Steel?" Max asked over the rush of wind.

'Positive.'

"Alright, let's turn on the jets. I'd hate to miss him and have to talk to him outside of N-Tek."

Upon arriving at N-Tek, a minute or two later, Max made his way to the Command Room where Steel felt Dread's T.U.R.B.O. signature. Max was stopped just short of the door by Naught, who was in his human form. Two of the regular guards stationed there were watching the robot with distaste. Max couldn't say that he blamed them.

"You can't go in there," Naught said with a sneer. "Dread doesn't like interruptions."

Max cursed the mask protecting his identity. He would've been thrilled to roll his eyes long and slow for Naught to see in that moment. "Yeah? And I don't like having my T.U.R.B.O. energy absorbed until I'm a dry husk. Move."

With a shove, Naught was out of the way and Max was in the Command Room.

His uncle and Dread immediately looked up at him in surprise, schematics and holograms at the moment forgotten.

"Max Steel," Dread boomed. "What a surprise!"

"What are you doing here?" Uncle Ferrus asked. His tone was curious yet at the same time warning, like heat from a stove.

"I wanted to talk to him," Max said, glaring right at Dread. "Alone."

The commander marched his way over to him. Max looked him in the eyes as Ferrus returned the look as best as he could. "Why?"

"I want to ask him about my father."

Ferrus' eyes widened for a moment before he shook his head. "I know that you know Dread, but you can't talk to him alone. We just barely managed to throw him off of your identity before. He still might suspect you. He's got a nose for this stuff."

"Then you can stay with me while I talk to him."

Ferrus muttered a curse under his breath before he waved a hand and motioned for Max to follow. "You two can talk," he grunted, "but I'm staying here."

Dread's head turned to Ferrus briefly before turning back to Max. "I'll allow it."

Forge looked like he wanted to kick Dread's teeth in at the man's brazenness, but he kept his restraint.

Max walked over to being within spitting distance of the man. His emotions and adrenaline were so high that had he not been wearing his mask, he might've followed through on the action. "Why did you betray James McGrath?"

Dread paused for a moment before cocking his head to the side. "Why do you care?"

"I'm curious as to how a best friend would want to betray their best friend."

"Is that all? Power."

Max could've sworn that he could feel his blood heating up. "You betrayed your friend for some stupid power?!"

'Max. . .'

Dread spread his arms as he walked forward a few steps. If Max could see his face, he was sure the traitor would be smiling wide. He didn't feel an ounce of remorse. No one was that good at faking callousness.

"Watch it, Dread," Forge spat, his hand reaching for the blaster on his back. "Stay where you are."

Dread scoffed as he stopped. "Power is the only thing that matters in this world. If you don't have power, what's the point of living? You might as well roll over and die."

"Yeah? Where did all of your power get you?"

"A lucrative company, a fortune, an army, and a powerful body."

"Yeah, you forgot to mention your little condition."

Dread waved a hand. "A small price to pay for power. Is that all, Max? Ferrus and I have much to discuss."

Max felt his blood chill for a second. But only for a second. From the way Dread was saying his name, the man wasn't exactly talking about his hero name. Max had already begun to suspect the same things that his uncle had. He wasn't worried, though. No matter how strong Dread was, Max's side had more firepower. That sickly tin can wouldn't be able to do anything if he tried.

And Dread knew it.

"Yeah," Max said, finally. "It is. See ya later, commander."

His uncle gave him a nod as he made his way back out the door. He didn't even bother giving the glowering Naught a second glance.


Everything was a little more numb after seeing a dead body. Randy had foolishly thought that seeing the visions (nightmares, more like) that the Sorcerer had cooked up for him would be the worst thing he ever saw, but he was wrong. So wrong. Watching Jefferson's charred, half-broiled corpse. . .

Randy swallowed thickly as he stood outside of Gohan's temporary room. He hadn't come out since they'd had the conversation with Commander Ferrus from before. He didn't blame him. Well, technically Gohan made the decision to go behind their backs, but it couldn't have been an easy burden knowing that your actions inadvertently led to dead allies (even if they'd been resurrected).

'Should I even try and talk to him? I don't think he'd even want to talk. I know I wouldn't. . . But I've got to get him out of there. We need him against Cell. . . but I don't-'

"Hi, Randy."

Randy jumped as his eyes focused on Gohan. He looked like a man who was haunted and plagued by insomnia. He had bags under his eyes and his Gi was rumpled. His hair was a mess, and he just looked. . . older? It was almost like the man had aged twenty years over the span of a day. "Hey, man."

Gohan's eyes just barely met his as he spoke. "I've been wanting to say thank you. For bringing Jefferson and the others back. I owe you one."

Randy couldn't keep the man's gaze as he nodded. "Y-Yeah, no problem."

Gohan went back into his dorm and was about to close the door when a sudden thought came to him. It was a crazy thought, spurred on by the panic he'd felt when he first heard the sounds of chaos from Cell and Gohan's battle. They were titans, gods among men, whatever you wanted to call them. None of the N-Tek agents, the Sorcerer, Viceroy's inventions, Max, Danny, or himself held a candle to either of them. And Gohan was still behind Cell in power with only a week or so left until the final battle.

Unless he did something about it.

Randy shot his foot in between the door and the wall, stopping it from closing. Gohan looked at him quizzically. It was a relief seeing some type of emotion from the teen. "What are you doing?"

"I'll heal you!"

"Heal me?"

Randy watched as Gohan opened the door a little wider as he watched Randy carefully. Satisfied, Randy returned his foot back to his side. "Remember that plan you suggested? You lower your power level or something so that. . ."

"I can be fatally injured by one of you."

Randy felt himself gulping once again at how dead Gohan's voice sounded as he said those words. "Yeah. . . yeah, I'll do that and then I'll heal you."

Randy fought back his smile as he saw a little more light return to Gohan's eyes. "Really? Thanks-!"

"On one condition!" Randy interrupted, firmly.

Gohan frowned but nodded.

"We attack on tournament day. You can't pull any wonky shoob stuff anymore. We attack together and as a team, got it? You said you owed me. This is how you repay that."

Gohan was silent for a beat before he nodded. "Got it."

Randy nodded back as he tried to calm his racing heartbeat. "So, where are we gonna do this?"


A/N: So thas a wrap! Our heroes are dealing with the gravity of their situation and handling it in their own (questionable) ways. Feel free to let me know what you thought of the chapter in the review section. I promise I don't bite lol. Feel free to fave and follow as well! I'll catch y'all on the flipside!

Uploaded: April 14th, 2022