I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. Nor do I own any legal imprinting of whatever theme I'm using, such as a crossover with another anime, movie or TV series. Did I think it up? Yes. Was I the first to think it up? Probably not, but I digress. I also don't own the rights to any of the music pieces you see selected, just the merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.

Chapter 17: A World Divided

Two days later, Verto was still sleeping off his fatigue at Kame House. He had woken up long enough to eat a meal that Android Eighteen had prepared on that second day and went back to sleep almost immediately once he was finished eating it. Unfortunately, he was still sitting at the table when it happened, which his head promptly smacked into it when he dozed off.

"And somehow he didn't break the table," Krillin noted as he pulled the boy off the chair.

"It's almost impressive that he was performing that well despite being this exhausted. Still foolish," Master Roshi said as Krillin dragged Verto's almost limp body back to the couch.

"It's stupid is what it is. We're his friends, he should ask for help," Eighteen muttered as she handed Marron a plate of food.

"I wouldn't be too rough on him, it was a little much for us the other day," Krillin pointed out, earning a scowl from Eighteen.

"Did we ever find out what happened to Detective Satsu?" Roshi asked.

Krillin shook his head, "No, only Verto knows, probably anyway. Videl said that he was just gone before she could get there to help Verto and that kid."

"That kid that is the reincarnation of Majin Buu?" Eighteen asked with a hint of fear in her voice.

"Yeah, I know what you're thinking. But he is a human being now, not that evil thing he was. And he's younger than Marron. At least Goku can watch over him properly now," Krillin proclaimed.

Eighteen scowled, "And that is supposed to make me feel better?"

"I can do that if you need it! Hahahaha!" Roshi laughed. Eighteen's return glare nearly broke Roshi's glasses, prompting him to back down. The phone rang suddenly, to which Krillin answered it.

"Kame House."

"Krillin, it's Bulma, can you and Eighteen go and meet the rest of the gang up at the lookout? Gohan and Goku are requesting you come to," Bulma said.

"Sure, we can, what about Verto? He's still out of it," Krillin said as he glanced at the sleepy Saiyan.

"Let him rest, there isn't too many other details we don't already know now."

"Gotcha, we're on our way!" Krillin said as he hung up the phone.

He gave Eighteen a knowing glance, "They need us at the lookout. Master, can you look after Marron?"

Roshi nodded, "Isn't Maize supposed to be here for training soon?"

"I asked him to hold off on training until we're sure his village is safe. Since we don't fully know what is going on, we can't ask him to be away from his village while they recover," Krillin explained. Eighteen followed him out the door and they took off into the skies, leaving Roshi and Marron watching them from the window.

"Master Roshi, is everything okay?" Marron asked.

Roshi just gazed out into the sea, "I hope so dear."

At Capsule Corp, Bulma sighed as she watched Vegeta take off for the lookout. Bulla was at her side, watching her father leave as well, but was unsure of what it meant.

"Da-Da go now?" she asked.

Bulma smiled slightly and scooped her up, "Yes, Daddy go now. But he'll be back. Why don't we see what your big brother is doing?"

Bulma had a pretty good idea what Trunks was doing, because she hadn't let him out of her sight since before the East City incident. As expected, she found him up in his room, catching up on homework that he had missed. His school suspension had lifted two days prior, but Bulma elected to keep him at home just in case. The latest event with Verto fighting off Director Schultz gave her even more reason to do so. While she knew both her sons could handle themselves, in Trunks' case she could at least keep him out of trouble. His teacher had been accepting of this and had been sending one of the high school students over with his homework every couple of days. In fact, she was expecting that student to arrive any minute.

"Trunks-sweetie, you can take a break if you want," Bulma said as she opened his door. Trunks glanced up and put his pencil down, but he wasn't too thrilled.

"Mom, what is happening? With those people turned cyborgs and things getting bad again, what is going to happen?" Trunks asked.

Bulma really didn't have an answer for him, "I don't know Trunks, but whatever it is, we're going to stop it. We always do." Trunks nodded slightly and walked in front of her down the stairs to the ground level. Bulma was lost in her own thoughts as she put Bulla down to chase after her big brother.

Those samples Verto brought back, and what they mean is troubling. I don't know what Flandal is planning, but if he convinces enough people to his side and takes control of them, we're in bigger trouble than before. It was one thing when we were fighting an external threat. This is something completely different, and until I can find a counter-measure for that serum, whoever is turn into a cyborg is stuck that way, probably a slave in their own bodies. The early samples didn't indicate that there was anything left of them inside, but the nanites seemed like they were perfectly bonding with the living tissue before transforming them. But if that's the case, then the process is still being perfected, and perhaps Flandal doesn't want completely mindless slaves to control. I wish Verto would've been able to get a sample from the last event, but it sounds like it was bad enough as it was. Poor Sonny, I wonder what happened to him? Bulma sighed slightly as she entered her lab and flipped on the computer. After giving it a moment to start up, she immediately signed into a server of which she had grown quite familiar. The screen lit up with a long blue line that erupted with sound waves.

"Miss Bulma, how are you today?" Kain asked.

Bulma sighed again, "Worried Kain. Is my husband at the lookout yet?"

"He will be shortly, although he has expressed a certain disdain for my program and has not reactivated the portable unit yet," Kain explained.

Bulma frowned, "Yeah that's not a surprise. He's going to hate it even more that I downloaded your program into most of our systems. Are you sure you don't know what happened to Sonny?"

"As I indicated before, I was separated from the detective when he left the portable unit with the desert tribesmen. My scanners indicated that he disappeared during the battle between Verto and Director Schultz around the same time the child Uub displayed a sudden burst of energy. By the time Son Gohan had teleported to the battle, he was already gone," Kain explained.

Bulma grimaced, "And you're certain that only that area has those crazy weather machines?"

"I wish I could say that for certain madam, but there were many more than even I could have predicted."

"Cyborgs, cultists, weather machines, demons. Should I even ask what is next?" Bulma pondered out loud.

"I would not venture to guess madam," Kain said, earning a scowl from Bulma in the process. She heard a distinct bell ring and headed for the front lobby. Even though the receptionist could handle the visitor after a few minutes, she just wanted to be away from the lab for another moment. As expected, the high school student had come with a stack of papers for Trunks. The teenager was approximately fifteen years of age, slim with medium length brown hair that was left loose to dangle from the back of her head. She wore a blue dress with an orange star on the upper left side, which apparently was the new uniform for Orange Star High. This amused Bulma slightly that the school had changed its dress code, Trunks is going to hate those when he gets to high school.

"Thank you for bringing Trunks his homework, it was Jessica, right?" Bulma asked.

The student, Jessica, nodded and bowed, "It is no problem Mrs. Briefs. I live a little closer to you than many of my other classmates. It isn't really on the way home, but my dad lets me borrow the hovercraft. Besides, I have always been fascinated with your work, so it's like meeting my idol!"

Bulma smiled lightly, "As long as you are not too fascinated. That can get you neck-deep in trouble sometimes." Jessica had seemed like a legitimate science type, but that hadn't stopped Bulma from looking into every detail of her life as much as legally could be done. Considering her own troubles with trusting others in recent years, she had even had Vegeta follow this girl home to ensure she was who she was while having Kain scan every bit of her being every time she came to Capsule Corp. For once, she was almost disappointed that her over preparedness had resulted in nothing abnormal. Bulma certainly had no designs into being kidnapped and replaced again like Doctor Wheelo had done before with his own daughter.

"Where is Trunks?" Jessica asked.

"I let him have a break so he's probably fighting with his baby sister on who gets to watch TV. I should actually check on them," Bulma said as she stepped away.

"Can I come with Mrs. Briefs? If it isn't too much trouble. His teacher wanted him to know what they talked about in class yesterday and apparently he missed a pretty important day," Jessica claimed.

Bulma paused, but nodded, "Certainly. What was it he missed anyway, the start of Algebra?"

Jessica pulled out a small notebook, "Looks like they were starting pre-Algebra actually. But his social subject for the week requires a big project paper on the history of the World's Martial Arts Tournament. Wait, didn't he fight in that once?"

Bulma nodded as Jessica followed her, "That's right. He's been in a few tournaments now."

"Wow, he should be able to ace that project easily then. Strong and smart, he'll be quite the package when he gets older," Jessica claimed.

"I certainly hope so," Bulma replied. As expected, Bulma entered the room Trunks was in, where he was chasing Bulla around, who had the remote control to the TV. On the TV however, there was a news announcement.

"Get back here! I was watching that!" Trunks shouted at Bulla, who just kept running away like it was a game. Bulma was fixated on the TV, which was displaying a rather large announcement at the bottom of the screen.

"…If you are just joining us. The continent cities of North City and South City have both agreed to secede from the World Nation and govern themselves within a new nation. Rumor has it that Satan City and Central Capitol will also secede if peace talks fail. Representatives of each province within the jurisdictions of the North and South capitals voted unanimously after reports of West City economic policies had been reworked to favor their own organizations. Our correspondent reports, live in the field…"

"Wait, what?" Jessica asked. Bulla was still running from Trunks, but Trunks had stopped when he saw the look on his mother's face.

"…Thank you. The public report from the Department of Infrastructure was that West City's economic policy had been shifted due to the increased need to resolve construction needs in the area. However, our news station was given an anonymous tip that it is not the case. Capsule Corp had requested an inordinate amount of global funds to complete large scale construction underground, some sort of fortress. While the source would not reveal itself, the documents show that Bulma Briefs had applied for large loans in order to finance this project and had also pooled the city's resources into this massive undertaking, despite having the resources available to do this at the cost of roughly sixty percent of Capsule Corp's expected GDP over the last year. In addition, the husband of Bulma Briefs and her two sons had been sighted at recent incidents that have resulted in the destruction of an East City medical facility as well as the Satan City REDIC facility. Because of the increased taxes that followed due to lack of government funding and the aforementioned events, leaders from the other cities have been in closed door meetings for the last week with King Furry to resolve this matter. King Furry has claimed to have no knowledge of this project, and after repeated attempts to reconcile, the city and state leaders feel they have no choice but to split from the World Nation Government." Bulma's eyes widened at what she was hearing as Trunks glanced up at his mother, and Jessica stared at the screen in shock.

"Mom, what does that mean?"

"In addition, North City's new governor-elect, Flandal Cash, had the following to say." Bulma's gasp echoed in the room as Doctor Wheelo appeared on the screen, looking exactly like he had back before Vegeta had destroyed his physical human body.

"My fellow neighbors, I represent the group known as Man Against Extra-terrestrials, or MAX for short. We have been trampled on by the likes of Bulma Briefs and her alien friends for far too long. If you haven't noticed, any time there is a strange event and many of our friends and family are killed, these golden fighters are at the forefront. I admit, they possess super human abilities we cannot fathom, and they helped us get rid of the Zerg threat a few years ago. But how necessary are they? They keep bringing these battles to our front door, threatening to blow up city after city while they engage in their destructive fights. They can't even control their own power and cause untold damage around them. Most recently, they have been the direct cause of the death of officer Marcus Satsu and disappearance of his cousin, Detective Sonny Satsu. REDIC Director Schultz was found murdered in cold blood just a few days ago while he was on a peace envoy to the south-western desert. In addition, numerous people have disappeared from rural villages not associated with the major cities. As you can imagine, these people do not have the resources to call for help."

The screen shifted while Wheelo was speaking to a moment Bulma knew very well, when Verto had lost control fighting again Super Android 13 and had destroyed much of North City in the process. It continued to other times when they were fighting each other, and the demon Vang, before moving onto more recent events where Verto and Trunks had been forced to fight against the transformed cyborgs. The fake standoff between Verto and Vegeta in front of the police was also included but heavily edited. Even a scene of a buffed-up Ace Maxwell being executed by Verto's Psi Storm was included, which Bulma had heard about but not seen for herself. The final piece of video however had likely had the biggest impact.

"As you can see, these enemies of mankind will even obliterate entire areas of land for target practice, as many on the Southwestern continent unfortunately found out a few days ago. The storms over the continent have not ceased and we can only speculate as to why…"

"Damnit, not this 'blame us' crap again," Bulma said as she ran off to her lab, leaving Trunks, Bulla and Jessica to watch the screen which was showing the glassed desert in the south.

"Many other urban disappearances have occurred, as well as variously brutal acts against innocent people going about their day. For those reasons, we of the group MAX have come to a decision with the local leaders of South City to declare ourselves an independent nation, and ask those who are willing to fight for their homeland to rise up and join us. For simplicities sake, we shall maintain our MAX name for the nation as well. We ask that our friends, brothers and sisters of Satan City and the Central capitol to do the same. We will not be ruled by these aliens and their elitist friends any longer! Join us, and take back the earth from those who would destroy it! For people like Bulma Briefs, the aliens, and others who oppose us, consider this a declaration of war!" Trunks looked beyond concerned, as did Jessica, who was giving him a nervous glance.

"What?" Trunks asked.

"Um, you're not going to do anything to me, are you?" Jessica asked.

Trunks grimaced, "No! We're not like that. My dad and brother don't play around but they wouldn't do all that without a reason. I was part of some of those events and that's not how they happened at all! Marcus Satsu got killed by a robot disguised as a human that had a bomb inside. That Doctor Cash guy is not even a real human anymore and has tried to kill me more than once. If we really were like that, why would we wait until now when we've been able to conquer everyone many times over since the Zerg happened?"

Jessica didn't have an answer to Trunks' logic and just chose to sit down, "My parents work in Satan City and they've said before they don't trust you and your family. But I didn't think it would ever be like this. I hope that isn't a problem."

Trunks folded his arms and scowled, "Only if you try to mess with us." The tension in the room continued for a moment while Bulla played with a ball quietly. The tension was raised a few bars when they heard a distinct whistling sound coming from outside.

At the lookout, most of the Z fighters had gathered, which included all three grown Saiyans, both Namekians, Krillin, Tienshinhan, and both living androids.

"So, why are we all here?" Tien asked.

"Patience, Three-Eyes. We'll explain," Vegeta muttered as he held Verto's scanner in his hand.

"Well, knowing you, it's something you caused," Tien muttered.

"Well, that's not untrue…" Goku said as he scratched his head.

"Tch! As if you have room to talk Kakarot!" Vegeta said angrily.

"The easy version is that there is a new threat that is activity looking to slowly take over the world. And if we don't take action now, it may be too late," Piccolo summarized.

"What is happening?" Tien asked.

Krillin cleared his throat, "Basically, there's a pair of mad scientists that are turning people into robots and using them against their will. They turn them into cyborg zombies almost that look exactly like they did before, so you may not be able to tell the difference between the cyborgs and regular humans. I think Verto was able to tell by sensing them, but even he mentioned it was difficult. They are also creating other machines of destruction, both for fighting and for destroying big areas of land. Some of those we have all faced already."

Eighteen nodded, "There have been other experiments as well, including armor enhancements using alloys we have never seen before."

Tien looked perplexed, "You mentioned cyborgs, like the two of you?"

Seventeen frowned, "We'll stick with the android title if that helps. I know, subtle difference. These things are not like us aside from outward appearance. While we have small amounts of metal and wiring as well as advanced brain matter, a lot of our changes are at the cellular level. Doctor Gero took his sweet time changing us. According to Bulma, these people are being changed directly and rapidly by nanotechnology at a scale I've never seen."

Vegeta chuckled, "I'm surprised, you still haven't needed an oil change?"

"What's that Broken Arms?" Seventeen fired back.

Vegeta smirked, "Oh please, give me a reason. My strength far exceeds yours. Bulma will have to give you a whole new body after I'm done."

Seventeen snorted, "It's not like mine has gotten any weaker. We can improve too you know."

Gohan stepped between them, "Cut it out. This is getting us nowhere. What about that associate of Wheelo's? The guy that turned into a shape changing demon?" Vegeta held up his palm and opened the scanner so that the program Kain could explain.

"I have attempted to construct a timeline to follow but I must admit it is exceedingly difficult. Director Schultz was one of Doctor Kochin's many apprentices over the last couple of years. Outside of Kati, Doctor Wheelo's own daughter and the mutated girl Ranso Teziwari; he was the most trusted of associates. Utilizing his knowledge of medical treatments and expertise in prosthetics, they set up a cover organization known as REDIC. Out of this organization, they could perform their experiments on those who were willing to be subjects, typically those with little hope to end their suffering. Upon their joining with the group known as MAX, their collective ideas have become radicalized, with extreme examples," Kain explained.

"REDIC? The factories in Satan City and East City that Verto helped find and destroy?" Gohan asked.

"The very same. In helping Detective Satsu that fateful night, he stumbled upon the mystery before they were finished perfecting their technology, or at the very least, were ready to face you at all. Schultz used prototype androids similar to models Thirteen, Fourteen, and Fifteen in order to stop the discovery, but they failed. Kochin attempted to extract all evidence from the factory's subterranean lab, but Verto returned with assistance soon after. This, as some of you witnessed, resulted in the battle that leveled the Satan City facility along with discovering that the cyborgs had infiltrated the general population," Kain continued.

"That was the battle in which Trunks reached the same level that Gohan and Verto can achieve, albeit temporarily. Has he been able to do it again since that time?" Piccolo asked.

Vegeta shook his head, "No, but the boy did mention that it was a result in the transfer of power and not any sort of fusion technique. Continue, hologram."

"It was at this point that the Detective's cousin Marcus was killed by a kamikaze cyborg, likely on orders from the members of MAX. This shows that the infiltration is much greater than you may know. Director Schultz temporarily disappeared from the scene, only to resurface in East City along with Doctor Kochin. However, you must know, that both Doctor Wheelo and Kochin have carbon copy android clones that they have created over the years. There are several of them from what we have seen. These clones contain the complete memory of both, respectively. In addition, I suspect that they are able to communicate with each other over long distances," Kain said.

Gohan nodded, "Before Verto destroyed him, that Schultz guy mentioned a communication link that the fake Wheelo had damaged. Well before Vegeta wiped out the rest. We could have used that copy to help figure this out you know."

"Hmph, it's not like you and Kakarot were keeping track of where he disappeared to. One less problem to worry about," Vegeta muttered.

Kain continued once there was silence, "At East City, Verto encountered another transformed being that had maintained a certain hatred for him, but this one had the armoring that Android Eighteen has mentioned. It was resistant to your Ki energy abilities, but was very reactive to Psionic energy. Verto was able to use this to defeat it. Considering the experimental phase that Kochin revealed in using it and the low number of files about it, I suspect this was not an alloy found on this planet or even this solar system. Schultz was not present for this battle, likely because he had traveled to the other side of the world for Project: COT."

Krillin stepped forward, "That's right, he was with the cultists that were sacrificing people and turning them into more of those cyborgs. Cult of T…something, they called it."

"Torev," Kain finished.

"Is that supposed to mean something, another fancy acronym? Or is Torev another enemy for us to fight?" Vegeta asked.

"I suspect that Doctor Wheelo and Director Schultz are using the fantasy of a fictitious divine being to incite fear in the hearts of humans in order to manipulate them. I have not detected any sort of otherworldly presence, and it is not logical to believe it possible. However, Director Schultz' body had characteristics of foes you have faced before that were of an otherworldly type that I have not completed investigations about," Kain continued.

"What about that Soren guy? I doubt your sensors can easily figure out that guy," Krillin pointed out.

"While you are most likely correct in that assessment, I was only present for the encounter at the village gathering and did not detect anything abnormal about him. I did however detect strange dimensional fluctuations that lasted for very brief moments on the mountaintop. Once when Verto went to scout it alone, and another when the detective infiltrated the cyborg humans as they were being transformed. I do recognize that it is conceivable that they may have been trying to summon something not of this world, but it is beyond my current ability to fully comprehend. I however am unable to determine what was happening at those times as my subroutines were primarily focused on finding the weather machines and surviving lifeforms in the desert valley. I have no explanation," Kain explained.

"Well whatever the case, we should focus on the enemies we know we have. Cash has been in known contact with Frost, even if they are no longer allies, we cannot trust either to stay out of this," Vegeta proclaimed.

"Agreed, we need to deal with this before it gets any worse. Dende, can a wish to the dragon balls undo what they've done to the people? There's likely a lot of dead people that we need to bring back by now." Gohan asked.

Dende, who had been quiet, seemed reluctant to speak, "I have consulted with King Yemma and I'm afraid I have bad news. Only the ones that have already died by Verto's hands or failed experiments are accounted for. But there hasn't been a massive influx of people like you might think. As of yesterday, only three hundred people on the planet have died of unnatural causes in the last four months and had their spirits check into the afterlife."

Everyone's eyes widened, "Just the other day they killed over a thousand people by turning them into cyborgs, how can that be?" Gohan asked.

Dende looked grim, "They are trapped in their own bodies most likely, or they are trapped between dimensions in some sort of limbo. In either case, they are unable to do anything. King Yemma's assistants did speak to those souls that made it on our behalf, but they remember nothing."

"So, the answer to free them is to kill them. That's easy," Vegeta said.

"We can't do that!" Gohan argued, "There has to be another way!"

Vegeta folded his arms, "Okay, college student, let's hear this better way."

Gohan didn't have one, "Look I don't know. Maybe if we work with Bulma and collect some more data we can figure it out. Maybe stop or reverse the transformation. But we can't just kill indiscriminately. And they haven't transformed everyone. And we can't tell them apart from normal humans from a distance without them behaving strangely. Even up close it is difficult!"

Goku seemed to come to life at this prospect, "This is terrible, we need to help them right now!"

"Agreed, but we can't be assured that Shenron would be able to turn the living ones back to normal. Since he couldn't transform Seventeen and Eighteen back to normal humans and could only remove the bombs that Gero had implanted…" Piccolo paused mid-thought as everyone seemed to come to the same idea at once.

"Do you suppose it's possible they all have bombs inside them as well?" Krillin dared to ask.

"None of the cyborgs I have been able to scan directly showed any signs of that type of explosive potential to where your lives are endangered. However, since one has already committed self-destruct by bomb, we cannot assume that is consistent. In addition, the earlier models were incomplete, and the sensors of this portable scanning unit are limited. Based on my latest scans of the transformed villagers of the south, I believe the transformation process has been perfected," Kain said.

"And the demon-hybrid?" Vegeta asked with urgency.

"There is a distinct possibility that Doctor Wheelo developed a type of unnatural serum devoid of nano-technology that can transform humans into the beings you have seen. However, the instability of that compound is chaotic and someone of Doctor Wheelo's character would not introduce such instability without having first studied its effects," Kain claimed.

"Bullshit, he's done it several times!" Vegeta growled as he shut the scanner in disgust, powering it down.

"In either case, we should stay in contact with each other and prepare for the next move. When Verto wakes up, he will undoubtably want to take action, and we need to figure out where to go next. The map that Kain was able to download showed a lot of locations for the cult. Most of those locations were in the north and central continent areas, who knows how many they've converted already," Eighteen suggested.

Gohan nodded, "Agreed." Silence followed for a moment before most of the group picked up on something.

"Do you feel that? Something is happening in Satan City. Buu seems agitated by something. And I think Mister Satan is fighting…" Piccolo's speech stopped for a moment when they all sensed another energy disturbance.

"That's at Kame House, Master Roshi is fighting someone!" Krillin shouted as Eighteen tensed up.

Goku noticed the next energy source coming from the north and west, "Trunks has flared his energy. I think something is happening at Capsule Corp." A massive burst of energy and wind nearly knocked over the bulk of them as Vegeta was already gone.

"He didn't even wait for a plan," Seventeen muttered.