-History-

Trunks woke up early the next morning. He'd noticed his arm around Android 18 and immediately retracted it. He then proceeded to the downstairs breakfast area to get coffee for the two of them

Trunks: "I wonder if she likes coffee. That's what I'm getting… I'd better-…"

Trunks was immediately distracted by a huge power level that seemed to have just passed by. He immediately grew concerned.

Trunks: "Argh! He's close, but he's getting further. He can't sense any energy, and can only locate Androids 14, 15, and 16. I'm starting to think we should stay here another day or two to play it safe…"

Trunks made his way upstairs to the room.

Trunks: "18? I'm back, I brought coffee."

Android 18: "Thank you!"

Trunks: "Where are you?"

Android 18: "I'm in the bathroom, I'll be right out!"

Trunks sat down on the bed and told Android 18 of his plan.

Trunks: "So, I think we should stay here another night or two."

Android 18 emerged from the bathroom, clad in a new robe, this time without the towel on her head.

Trunks: "You showered again? Do I smell or something?"

The two chuckled.

Android 18: "Shut up, I like to be clean… So, why are we staying here now? I thought we had to keep moving towards your place."

Trunks: "We do… But I felt his power level from the pantry downstairs. He probably even flew through here last night. Either way, he's getting further away, but just in case, I think we should stick around and be prepared to fight. If he catches us by surprise while we're on the move, we'll be up shit's creek without a boat, let alone a paddle."

Android 18 reached for the clothes she had bought at the local department store the night before.

Android 18: "If you say so. You fought this guy before right? Can you turn around for a sec?"

Trunks: "Yes, I have. And sure."

Android 18 began to disrobe and dress as Trunks turned around. Despite this, Trunks could see the girl's back side from the mirror he was facing, and it immediately distracted him.

Android 18: "So, is he strong?"

Trunks: "He's uh… Uhm…"

Android 18: "I know you can see me through the mirror, but I trusted you not to look!"

Trunks: "Ah! Sorry, sorry."

Android 18: "Mhm… Anyway; is he strong?"

Trunks: "Well, not exactly. Compared to me now, his normal form would be an average challenge. It could go either way. With his upgrade, though, he's probably around the same power as Cell in his perfect form."

Android 18: "What's a Cell?"

Trunks looked at her, confused for a moment, before realizing that she had never encountered the being.

Trunks: "Cell was Dr. Gero's 'greatest creation' as he put it. He was a large Green being, with features akin to an insect of some kind. He was extremely powerful, and killed countless people. Even me…"

Android 18: "Uh…"

Trunks: "It's a long story… Dragon Balls and wishes; we'll save that for another time."

Android 18: "Gotcha… So, you like what I'm wearing?"

Trunks found the new outfit to be quite appealing. She was wearing a black tank top, tight jeans, and a sweater.

Trunks: "Yeah, you look good."

Android 18: "I always look good."

Android 18 smiled widely at Trunks, who laughed at the remark.

Android 18: "So, where are your clothes?"

Trunks: "What do you mean? I'm wearing them."

Android 18 looked at Trunks in disgust.

Android 18: "Ugh, you've got to be kidding. You've been wearing that shit for two days! C'mon we're going to the store."

Android 18 dragged Trunks to the clothing store, and demanded that he buy clothes that were clean and looked good.

Android 18: "Alright, here, try this on."

Trunks: "What?! That?! It's pink!"

Android 18: "It's cute, try it on."

Trunks: "Hmph."

Trunks continues to put on the pink button-down shirt.

Trunks: "I look ridiculous! I'm a fighter, not some kind of flower!"

Android 18: "Fine, Mr. 'Fighter.' What color would you prefer?"

Trunks: "Blue, like the one I had…"

Android 18: "Fine, get the blue one, and get those pants. Then, you're going to take a shower. Just because we're on the run doesn't give you a reason to not be clean."

Trunks and Android 18 went back to the hotel room, where Trunks proceeded to shower and put on the outfit that Android 18 had picked out for him. The outfit was a more modernized version of the one he had; same blue outside, but just a shirt instead of a jacket, a white tank top, and jeans. Trunks came out of the bathroom fully clothed.

Trunks: "How do I look?"

Android 18: "Like someone I wouldn't mind being seen in public with! Yay!"

Trunks nodded off her humor, and the two continued to talk. Android 18 sat on the bed and turned on the TV.

Android 18: "So, how many more nights did you book?"

Trunks: "Two. I told him we might need to rush out early though. He said it was fine."

Android 18: "Well that's all well and good but what exactly are we going to do here for two more days? I was in a canister for 20 years and even I find this place dull."

Trunks: "I have no clue, to be honest. Let's just stick it out and soon we can…"

Trunks listed off.

Android 18: "Trunks?"

Trunks: "Wh-… What? Huh?"

Android 18: "You okay?"

Trunks grew concerned as he looked at the sky.

Trunks: "Yeah, I just got another sense of him… Shit! It's driving me crazy."

Android 18: "I've been meaning to ask you about that… So we're going to your place, and then what? Are you magically going to get stronger and be able to fight him? Because it sounds to me like there won't be much of a difference between fighting him now and fighting him then."

Trunks: "I told you already, I can prepare better."

Android 18: "Prepare what? A TV dinner? What's there? Tell me!"

Trunks stood up and walked toward the window in the room. He let out a sigh.

Trunks: "My mother's been working on a machine. Ever since I was a kid, she prided herself on making the time machine I used to go back and fight you, your brother, and Cell. Right after she finished the time machine, she started working on this other machine. It's a machine that radiates a certain kind of wave that can manipulate beings natural energy levels and multiply them tenfold."

Android 18: "Blutz waves."

Trunks looked surprised.

Trunks: "Yeah, how did you?..."

Android 18: "Gero was working on the same thing back when I first met him. He was always adequate with cybernetics, but his original plan was to make us into a sort of super humans."

Trunks: "Like Goku…"

Android 18: "Exactly. He gave up on the machine early on because he kept testing it without positive results."

Trunks: "Testing it?"

Android 18 looked down.

Android 18: "Yeah… He… He would fire it at these… People I knew and see what would happen. Most of them would just sort of… Explode."

Trunks: "Wow…"

The pair was silent for all of 30 seconds.

Trunks: "I've been meaning to ask you…"

Android 18: "Yeah?"

Trunks: "…How exactly did the whole 'Android' thing happen? I'm only asking because it's been a focal point in my life, I'm curious as to how it started…"

Android 18 look down again, this time with more of a stare, fixated toward the ground.

Android 18: "I was afraid you'd ask that… Sit down, it's a long story."

Trunks sat on the bed next to 18.

Android 18: "So, remember how I said I used to get in trouble a lot as a kid? Well, when my parents died in a car crash – me and An were 16 at the time – we were put into an orphanage. My brother excelled. The caretakers loved him, the other orphans loved him… He was just a good kid. I, on the other hand, was a total handful… Stealing things, picking fights with the caretakers and other orphans, sneaking out, inviting… Men into my room late at night. It was a dark time."

Trunks continued to listen intently.

Android 18: "Eventually, when we turned 18, we were released after not being adopted. My brother wouldn't have gone anywhere without me, and believe me, nobody wants an angry 16-year-old slut in their house. Unfortunately for us, we had nowhere to go. No home, no nothing. I was a little heavier back then – only a little – but I lost a lot of weight because we barely had a meal every day."

Trunks: "Whoa…"

Android 18: "One day, we stumbled across a sign that said 'join the true army. Men and women ages 18 to 21 wanted for Red Ribbon Army training. Housing and meals provided.' What were we going to do? It was as if someone had opened the door to safety, we just had to walk in."

Trunks: "The Red Ribbon Army, of course! It's the entire reason for Gero hating Goku in the first place!"

Android 18: "Right… Anyway, they were really nice in the beginning. They let us go out whenever we wanted, they fed us, and they bought us clothes… And Gero was the nicest of them all. He was so friendly and charming. He really made you feel at home… Eventually, as classes and training continued, Gero chose me as his 'deputy'… An assistant. He told me my progress was best in the class, and that I was going places! Imagine that! Me! Needless to say, I was ecstatic. And… That's when things started to shift."

Android 18 took an angry look.

Android 18: "Eventually, we started getting experimented on. Medicines, weapons… They even performed live surgeries on us while we were awake to see how the human body reacted to organ exposure without being sedated. It was horrible. All the blood everywhere… You could hear the screaming people being dragged across the hall to the surgery wing…"

A tear fell from 18's face.

Android 18: "Our friends. The people we learned to be like family with, screaming in agonizing pain as doctors cut open their chests and heads and stomachs, harvested organs and blood. I'll never forget, An's friend DJ broke off the table and ran away from them; naked, bloody, and all. Needless to say, he didn't get far… But not me or my brother. We were star pupils. I was a star pupil!"

Trunks' eyes widened as Android 18 told her story. Never in his life did he ever consider this horrible past of this creature, the horror. "Was she so different from me?" he thought.

Android 18: "Eventually, almost 90% of the recruits were dead. There were about 250 of us, cut down to mere 30, in just a matter of a year. We were told we were going to be part of a 'special project.' The special project?"

Trunks: "Cybernetic modification…"

Android 18: "They called it 'Project Cyber Warrior'. All thirty of us were operated on regularly, usually once every few days. Little by little, they'd add new parts, take out some things, replace some things… We were fed twice a day, but only once on surgery days… We had to sleep in concrete-bound rooms with nothing but robes to wear; like prisoners! Then…"

Android 18's look became blank, tears filling her sapphire eyes as she looked to be almost daydreaming, reliving the horror as she told the story.

Android 18: "Gero would come into my room… Every night… Every fucking night, Trunks!"

Android 18 started to cry hysterically, burying her face into her hands. Trunks couldn't even imagine the horror this woman had to endure for nearly a year of her life… Surgeries, sickness… Rape. Trunks had experienced the horrors of a barren life, but never so directly. Trunks could relate to the suffering, and it reminded him of his own past. On the verge of tears himself, Trunks kept his composure and immediately hugged the Android, resting her head into his shoulder as she wept.

Trunks: "Hey, hey, c'mon… It's over now, he's gone."

Android 18 continued to cry for nearly another minute, before reorganizing herself, and despite Trunks' expectations, continued to tell the story.

Android 18: *Sniff* "So… Anyway… They finished in about a year. The problem was, during testing, people started dying, and defecting, or at least trying to. That's why he put bombs in us. If we decided to try and turn the tables, they'd blow us into bits. The only two that made it to the very end were me and my brother… The thing was, he managed to make clone-copies of me and him. To this day, I have no idea why he set them out instead of us… To be honest with you, I think he was so impressed by our show of loyalty; he'd rather have us on display. Like a trophy for being the most terrible being on the planet."

Trunks stared into 18's eyes for a while, not breaking eye contact for a second. He then gently kissed her on the forehead.

Trunks: "It's been tough for you… I see that now. That other you was… Hollow. She – it – was engineered, made. You were born. For those two, life was a convenience, a command… but for you, and your brother, it was a gift.

Android 18: "Trunks, I'm not the nicest person in the world, but I'm not mean either. I know that that other me wasn't really me, but she made your life a living Hell, and she came from me. I'm sorry…"

A tear streamed down Trunks' face. He smiled at her.

Trunks: "Don't be, it might have made things tough, but it made me who I am today."

The two hugged, then lied back on the bed.

Android 18: "Y'know, I've never told anyone that."

She turned to him.

Android 18: "You should feel extremely honored to have heard all that. Seriously. My brother doesn't even know about the rape thing."

Trunks: "Understood. Wow… Crazy story… C'mon, it's pointless to sit around in here. Let's go out. You hungry?"

Android 18 smiled.

Android 18: "Yeah, I could eat… Thank you, Trunks."

Trunks: "What for?"

Android 18: "For listening."