A/N: Hello all. Thank you for sticking with me as I do my best to finish this story. The next chapter will be the last one. Originally From Father to Son was going to be 10 chapters, analogous to the 10 days Goku was infected with the virus. However, I had trouble outlining events past day 6 and wanted to leave you all with quality over quantity. Additionally, there are some other writing projects I'm eager to get started on. As always please review, favorite, and check out my other fan-fictions. Enjoy!
Day 06: Surface
The good news, the molecular structure of the heart medication had been fully analyzed and thus it was now known how to make it. The bad news, the process for recreating the formula could take days and, as Goku had previously pointed out, time was not something they could easily spare.
"Yes… OK… Thank you very much." Bulma hung up the phone and began jotting down several things in her lab notebook.
"Who was that?" Dr. Briefs asked his daughter as he handed her a cup of coffee. Bulma took a big gulp before she replied. "That was the director from North City hospital. While you've been investigating further into using the Goku's antibodies as a vaccine I've been calling hospitals around the world hoping to outsource some of the work we have in front of us. Maybe others who are more specialized in the field of medicine will have a method that will move this process along at a faster rate."
Dr. Briefs scratched his chin. "I see. So you told them everything?"
"Yes… well… as it pertains to the science. I obviously couldn't tell them that the medication in question was provided to me by my own son from the future. Instead I had to tell them that Capsule Corp has been extending its R&D programs recently and this is one of our projects. Even though this virus is unique, other heart viruses do exist and cures (both existing and soon-to-be-existing) for those are probably related to the medication Trunks gave us. Additionally, I've been able to expand our resources for trying to figure out how to make a vaccine from Goku's antibodies, but something tells me that's going to be a bit trickier since it's a bit more specific."
"As always, thinking ahead." Dr. Briefs smiled.
Bulma replied with a weak smile of her own. She was hoping her efforts would be enough. After all, time for them was not infinite.
Piccolo paced the floor. He and Dende, now in separate but adjacent rooms, continued to be under quarantine due to their exposure to the heart virus. Last he heard the virus was still in their system but not replicating, however their immune system was not fighting it off – possibly a result of the mutation that Bulma had spoken of. "This is agonizing!" He shouted suddenly, startling his younger counterpart. "How much longer do we need to be in here?" Piccolo stopped his pacing and faced Dende through the large glass window separating their rooms. "I'm starting to sound like Vegeta, aren't I?" He asked, deadpan.
The younger Namekian nodded, hesitantly.
"I agree. That does sound kinda like him." A voice from outside the room affirmed.
Piccolo spun back around. "Goku." Both he and Dende exclaimed. The latter was quick to get up from his sitting position only to stumble slightly.
"Whoa, are you OK Dende?" Goku reached out, despite the barrier between them.
Dende nodded as he made his way closer. "Yes, I think I just stood up too fast. Tell us, how is Gohan?"
Goku frowned. "So far there is nothing new to report. He actually asked that I see how you two were doing. Has there been any update from Bulma or Dr. Briefs?"
"Nothing." Piccolo said as he crossed his arms. "We've received no new information since yesterday afternoon. In fact I'm not sure we've even seen them since then."
"I know they're working hard on finding a cure as quickly as possible. Right now we are all doing everything we can for the situation." The Saiyan tried to appease his former rival.
"Even more could be done if Dende and I could get out of here." Piccolo fought back.
Goku sighed. "I'll see what I can find out." He started to leave before abruptly turning around again to face them. "I'm guessing I should tell Gohan that you two are doing fine?"
Piccolo glared. "Just peachy. But tell him he needs to focus his energy on himself."
Goku nodded and took off down the hall.
The day quickly stretched into noon without any further updates. Bulma and her father continued their experiments, leaving everyone else to simply provide moral support for those in quarantine. For the warriors who were used to battle and non-stop action the stagnation was frustrating. However, they knew this was a battle that they could not fight in the traditional sense. Instead the roles were reversed. Now it was Bulma on the front lines and everyone else standing back, doing what they could to assist. That is with the exception of Gohan, who was the mix of it all.
"Damnit!" Krillin slammed his fist down on the table in the lounge area. Silence had pervaded the room before his sudden outburst so it startled Yamcha and Puar who were sitting across from him.
"What's wrong Krillin?" Puar asked.
The former monk rubbed his temple in an effort to calm himself. "Nothing. Its – It's just I feel like we should be doing something, not just sitting here."
"I know what you mean." Yamcha agreed. "I'm starting to get stir-crazy by the inactivity. All I keep hearing is 'there is nothing you can do right now' and 'just wait'."
"What are you guys talking about?" Tien asked as he came into the room.
"Nothing." Yamcha replied. He was now pacing the floor behind his shorter friend. "Just venting our frustrations as we wait for any news."
Tien looked down at a piece of paper Dr. Briefs had just given him and then back up at his friends. "I tell you what, why don't you guys get these supplies from the hospital downtown."
"Supplies?" Krillin inquired as he stood up and received the slip of paper.
"Yea. I ran into Dr. Briefs in the hall a few minutes ago and he asked if I could pick these items up at West City Hospital. Why don't you guys go instead? I can tell you both need to get out and it would give me some time to grab lunch. Dr. Briefs has already called ahead so you just need to ask for this doctor here and bring the supplies back." Tien pointed out the directions with the appropriate contact information on paper he had just handed them. "Oh and don't worry about being in too much of a rush. He reassured me that these items won't be needed until a few hours, at the earliest."
Krillin looked at Yamcha and Puar. "Up for a walk?"
"What am I doing down here?" Vegeta asked himself as he made his way to Dende and Piccolo's quarantine rooms. He wanted to stay away from the entire hospital ward of Capsule Corp ever since it was identified that the virus targets Saiyan's, but here he was – investigating what was going on with the Namekians in order to better assess the current situation. His anxiety regarding the virus was not diminishing and he had a few questions that needed to be answered.
The Saiyan stopped in front of Piccolo's room. "Namekian." He said, announcing his presence but the mediating Piccolo did not respond. "Grr… Namekian!" He repeated, tapping on the glass this time.
"Which one?" Piccolo calmly asked; eyes still shut.
Vegeta scoffed. "Who do you think? The one who's glass I'm tapping on."
Dende approached his partition to the outside world. "We do have names you know."
"Listen, I'm in no mood for games." His said, his typical demeanor shining through.
Piccolo sighed as he opened his eyes. "What do you want Vegeta?"
"First off, I want to know why you both aren't out of quarantine yet. I thought this virus only affected Saiyans."
"We're wondering the same thing. Last we heard the virus was in our system but not replicating, however our immune system isn't fighting it off. Bulma and her father haven't provided us with much of anything else in terms of information." Piccolo answered.
Dende chimed in. "They must be busy trying to develop the cure. We only get updates every so often."
"That makes three of us." Vegeta muttered under his breath.
Piccolo was quickly growing agitated. "If that's what you came here for you wasted your time, but since you did decide to pay us a visit let me ask you, how is Gohan?"
"From what I can tell things aren't improving."
A sorrowful look overcame the younger Namekian. "I wish I could be there to help heal him."
"Dende, you're in no condition at the moment to exert yourself." Piccolo scolded.
Dende sighed as he wiped sweat from his brow. He knew his friend was right, even after spending the past day in quarantine he still hadn't been able to get his energy back up.
Refocusing the conversation Vegeta decided to inquire about possibilities of the future. "And what if this thing continues to spiral out of control?"
"Vegeta, I don't know what you want me to tell you. These are questions for Bulma and her father. We're not scientists."
The Saiyan Prince's tone became very serious. "No, but you are affected by this thing and I need to know if you're able to accept all potential outcomes should things continue to worsen."
Piccolo glared at him. "What are you saying?"
"Should this thing continue to mutate we may need to extinguish the source to prevent it from spreading."
Now Piccolo understood why Vegeta had come to him. He wanted to make sure they were on the same page should the worst outcome occur. However, Dende was not as receptive to the subtext. "What do you mean extinguish at the source?"
Vegeta and Piccolo stared in silence for a moment before the latter answered.
"He means kill Gohan."
"What!?" Dende shouted and gasped at the same time causing a coughing fit. He quickly got a hold of himself and turned to Vegeta. "You can't be serious."
Once again there was a moment of silence before any response from Vegeta. "If it's what ends up that needs to be done, then yes." He continued to make stern eye contact with Piccolo. He knew if anyone could think about this situation from a completely logical and objective manner it would be him. However, the Namekian couldn't allow himself to entertain the notion.
"You know I can't possibly agree with this."
"Damnit!" Vegeta yelled. "If this thing gets worse we could all be in danger."
"No! You're talking about killing our friend. He saved us from Cell. How can you be so heartless?" Dende's pulse began to race as his eyes welled up with tears. They couldn't really be having this conversation.
"Neither of you are thinking of the bigger picture. The implications this could have."
Piccolo raised his voice. "We are not killing Gohan!"
"Then the virus will!" Vegeta yelled back. "And correct me if I'm wrong but that will be considered a natural death won't it?"
Piccolo stood there in stunned silence while Vegeta continued. "That means no revival with the dragon balls. If I kill him, he can be wished back and by that time a cure will have been found."
"But-but." Dende began to hyperventilate as he cried followed by coughs as he gasped for air.
Vegeta finally broke his gaze with Piccolo and looked at Dende. "We may not have a choice." He was about to say more when he noticed a trickle of blood coming from Dende's mouth. The young Namekian was now in a coughing fit, gasping for air.
"Dende!" Piccolo shouted.
Amongst the busy streets of downtown West City, Yamcha, Krillin, and Puar began to make their way back to Capsule Corp after having retrieved the necessary equipment from West City Hospital.
"Are you sure we got everything?" Yamcha asked.
Krillin nodded as he held up a white case with a large red cross stamped across it. "Yup. The doctor said he called Bulma just to verify. All the equipment her and Dr. Briefs need here in various capsules."
"I hope this helps them find a cure." Puar stated.
"So do I." Krillin commented back before suddenly stopping in his tracks. When he had faced Puar he had caught sight of someone across the street. He stood still for a moment, looking through the crowd of people to make sure his eyes were not deceiving him.
Puar was the first to notice her now stationary friend. "Krillin are you OK?"
The small man remained motionless, ignoring his friends. "18?" He muttered.
As the figure he had been watching turned the corner out of sight, Krillin rushed across the road. "Hey, where are you going?" Yamcha shouted as he tried to follow suit but was cut off by a stream of cars as a nearby light turned green. "Krillin!"
Ignoring everything else, Krillin quickly ran down the block and around the corner into a large alleyway. Away from the pedestrian traffic, walking alone was a blonde haired woman. He hesitated. "It couldn't be her… could it?" He thought. The woman, oblivious of his presence, continued to walk further down the alley. Krillin gulped before yelling after her. "18?"
The woman stopped. Krillin could feel his heart pounding in his chest. Slowly she turned around.
"18!" He exclaimed. It was the android, and somehow she was even more beautiful than he remembered. He quickly approached her, stopping just a few feet in front of her.
"Krillin… H-Hello." Said 18. She was in an equal state of shock to see him.
"H-Hi. How… How have you been? It's been awhile." Krillin blushed.
18 was trying to collect herself. She was wondering why was she feeling so flustered in front of him. "Since after Cell was defeated… I know. You guys wished everyone back from the dead that he had killed. I've been looking for my brother."
"You haven't been able to locate him?"
18 shook her head. "We don't have ki so there is no way to sense each other."
Krillin had remembered that fact about the androids. "And Shenron wasn't able to turn you two back into humans when we wished for it."
"No… Not yet." 18 replied softly.
A silence fell upon the two. They were both remembering what happened approximately two weeks ago at the Lookout. How Krillin had wished for the Androids to be human again, Shenron's denial of that wish, and Krillin's follow up wish for the bombs in their chests to be removed. The bombs were a failsafe put in by Dr. Gero; something 18 hated and thus was thankful for it's absence.
Suddenly there was a break in the silence. "Krillin!" Yamcha shouted as he and Puar rounded the corner. "What are you-?" He cut himself off as he came to a halt when he saw the two. "Android 18?" He wasn't quite sure how to take her presence.
Sensing tension, 18 took a step back. "Maybe I should go."
"NO!" Krillin shouted in a pleading manner before calmly rephrasing. "I mean no, maybe we can help you find your brother."
"Is that what you're doing here, trying to find 17?" Yamcha asked suspiciously. Despite departing peacefully the last time they saw each other, he was still somewhat anxious about them.
18 raised an eyebrow at him. "Yes, it is. And what are you doing here?"
"We had to visit West City Hospital to pick up some equipment for Bulma." Krillin answered, showing off the white case he had. His tone became more serious. "It's for Gohan. He's been infected with heart virus Goku had."
"Heart virus?!"
"Yea you see Goku had a heart virus that in another timeline had killed him. Trunks, the other Super Saiyan you saw, is Bulma's son who traveled from that timeline to give Goku medicine for the heart virus that saved his life. However, Gohan has recently become infected." Krillin began to explain the situation but he then noticed that 18 seemed deep in thought. "Is everything OK?"
"It's just… you said Goku was infected… and now his son is?"
Krillin nodded. "Yea. Apparently it's a new virus that has never been seen before. And for some reason it only affects Saiyans."
18's eyes widened. "He went through with it." She muttered. "Despite the risks he actually went through with it." She had been talking to herself more than anyone else but that didn't stop Yamcha from questioning her.
"Who went through what?" He demanded.
18 looked up at him. "It was Dr. Gero."
Outside of the quarantine area, Bulma and Dr. Briefs poured over the results from a series of tests they had just given Dende. After putting both him and Piccolo through the digital electro-magnetic resonance machine they were able to confirm the unfortunate news that the heart virus had mutated enough to infect Namekians.
"The receptor proteins appear to be very similar." Bulma said, bringing up 3-D schematic design on what she was referring to. "It didn't have to mutate too much to infect Dende."
"And what do we know about Piccolo?" Dr. Briefs asked.
Bulma handed her father some more paperwork. "According to these tests, nothing has changed yet for him. The virus is still in his system, not being killed off by his immune system, but also not infecting him… yet. It might be because Dende is younger, but the virus started to cause symptoms in him before Piccolo. Taking into considerations the tests we ran, it's only a matter of time before Piccolo starts to show symptoms as well. Unfortunately, that's not all." Bulma pulled up another diagram on the computer. "Saiyans and Namekians have a similar structure for the receptor on the heart that the virus targets. The human analogue to this is very different."
"Which means it's unlikely to infect humans unless it undergoes extreme mutation. That's good news." Dr. Briefs concluded, wondering why his daughter had previously said 'unfortunately'.
"It means it's unlikely to infect a human heart unless it goes through extreme mutation." She corrected. After typing away to bring up another file Bulma continued. "However, using a new protein database, I found a similar structured protein that humans have, which is located in the lungs."
"Making it potentially possible to transfer to humans, become airborne, and create an epidemic if it got released to the outside world."
Bulma nodded.
Dr. Briefs sighed. It was the last thing they wanted to hear. "We underestimated this virus. We didn't take all the precautions we should have and two more of our friends are infected with something fatal that we don't yet have a cure for. Now we come to find out that it has the potential to infect humans."
"I don't understand this." Bulma slammed down the papers in her hands out of frustration. "Every time we make progress we find out something new about this thing. No virus in nature even acts like this. Its like some super virus that someone created."
"That's because it is." A voice from behind them declared, causing the father-daughter pair to quickly turn around. In the doorway to the lab stood Krillin, Yamcha, and a blonde haired woman neither of them had seen before. Although to Bulma, she looked somewhat familiar.
"What? W-Who are…" And then it struck her. The person standing before her looked exactly like a sketch in the blueprint for the Androids that Future Trunks and Krillin had provided to her after they investigated Dr. Gero's Lab.
"Um Bulma, Dr. Briefs, this is 18. She was one of the Androids that Cell absorbed." Krillin stated, introducing them before anything else could be said. "We ran into her while we were out getting the equipment from the hospital. She has some information that you might want to hear."
But before she could begin, the giant computer screen in the room had caught 18's attention. She walked closer to it, studying the information. Displayed was everything regarding virus from it's genomic sequence, to graphical representations, to it's infection status in Gohan, Dende, and Piccolo.
Yamcha was the first to speak up after recognizing the images of his Namekian friends. "Wait a minute, that's Dende and Piccolo. Bulma, what's happened?"
"Dende started showing symptoms shortly after you left. We've discovered that the virus has mutated enough to infect Namekians. Apparently they have a protein receptor in the deep tissue in their hearts that's very similar to a protein receptor in on the surface of Saiyan hearts." After her brief synopsis Bulma was quick to address what 18 had said. "Wait a minute. What did you mean when you said this virus was created? How do you know anything about it? "
"Because I remember him talking about." 18 looked away from the computer screen back to the father-daughter pair. "It was Dr. Gero. He created this."
"What!?" They gasped. "H-How?"
"The virus was bioengineered utilizing a common cold adenovirus as its base. According to Dr. Gero's records, he then spliced together various parts of other viruses to this one in order to create a super virus tailored to his ultimate goal."
"What goal was that?" Asked Dr. Briefs.
"To kill Son Goku." 18 paused before continuing. "While he was building us Androids, and apparently Cell, Dr. Gero experimented with the idea of using biological means to kill Goku as an alternative should his other projects fail. I think it goes without saying he was nothing but obsessed with him. This obsession, however, caused Dr. Gero to stretch himself too thin and his projects began to suffer. First, he ran into several setbacks while trying to develop a pathogen. He settled on developing a virus but most of the viruses he created were not viable. They wouldn't function properly or survive outside a controlled environment. Second, he started to run out of resources for this program. Bioengineering a virus, specific to one person began to threaten his whole operation if it didn't succeed. He decided that we were more useful and abandoned this project… or so I thought. During our last stasis he must have started it up again and it looks like he was successful."
"And he must have engineered it to target Saiyans by studying Goku's DNA from when he had collected it for Cell." Bulma postulated. "18, if he discussed these processes with you did he ever discuss how to develop a vaccine against it should it mutate like it's doing right now? We have the formula for medicine for it but it's going to take some time to develop and right now we are trying explore as many avenues as we can since time is of the essence."
"No…" 18 thought aloud. "No but more detailed information might be on his super computer in the basement. The main area was blown up but the super computer should still be intact."
Krillin became uneasy. "It's not. It's all been destroyed."
18 was surprised. "What?"
Krillin explained what had happened. "When we figured out that the Cell we were fighting was from the future, we concluded that there must be a present day Cell still in his neonate stage. Trunks and I went back to the lab, found the basement with the super computer and Cell, and destroyed everything. The only thing we saved were some blueprints Dr. Gero had for you and 17." He was now kicking himself this destructive decision.
The mood of the room quickly became somber as everyone realized that their only hope in finding out how to fight the virus had gone up in smoke with Cell.
"Hold on." 18 announced. "Dr. Gero always had his computer files backed up on an offsite server should anything happen to his hideout."
"Do you know where the server is located?" Dr. Briefs asked.
"No, but I do know the login site." 18 replied as she made her way to one of the chairs and began typing away on Bulma's computer. Everyone crowded around her. After several minutes of navigating online she had a login prompt. "This is it. This is what he used."
"It looks like a private server." Bulma said as she joined in an adjacent chair and further investigated what 18 was showing them. "The program is just asking for a password. You wouldn't happen to know what that is, would you?"
"Unfortunately not." 18 replied.
Bulma smiled. "That's OK. You're talking to the best code-cracker in the world." With that she quickly typed in a few commands to get more information on the type of program she was working with. After reading the outputs her smile dissipated.
"What's wrong?" Yamcha asked.
Bulma sighed. "It seems that Dr. Gero was very careful with his information. This here shows that access to the server is heavily encrypted with state of the art protection."
"Can you still crack it?" He followed up.
She scowled at him. "Of course I can… it just is going to take a bit longer than I initially thought."
"How much longer?" Krillin asked this time.
She sighed once again. "A few hours maybe. Listen, while I work on this do you think you guys could update everyone on what's going on. 18, would you be able to assist my dad in the lab since you know a bit about this virus?"
18 looked over at Krillin, who was giving her a pleading smile, and then back at Bulma. "Ugh, sure." It felt weird to be in a position of helping Goku's friends, or helping anyone really. Previously it had just been her and 17, and more recently 16, as the only ones she could trust upon. But things were different now. The man before her had risked everything for her and she knew if she didn't owe it to anyone else, she owed it to him.
Krillin and Yamcha updated everyone pertaining to the recent events as evening set in. Chi-Chi had been less than thrilled to hear that 18 was involved in helping, given the fact that the Android was created to kill her husband and even ransacked their home looking for him. The aspect that Dr. Gero was responsible for the virus made her extra suspicious of 18's actions. However, after some reasoning by Goku and Krillin that 18 was there to help and in no way posed a threat, Chi-Chi began to accept the Android's presence.
No news was heard from anyone until around 9pm when Bulma finally emerged from her computer lab. "Dad, 18, I've got it. I'm in to Dr. Gero's server." She yelled before the three rushed back to look through the information. As the scoured through the information Dr. Briefs commented on Dr. Gero's record-keeping. "Well if there is anything good to say about the man it's that he was well organized."
Bulma nodded. "Yes, but it is still going to take some time to go through everything he has on the virus. There is a lot of data here."
"We can tackle it tomorrow." Dr. Briefs tried to reassure her, but Bulma wasn't having it.
"No dad." She responded. "We're running out of time. If we are to save Gohan and Dende and Piccolo I need to work on this throughout the night."
Her father sighed. "You're right. I guess I will make a pot of coffee for us." But before he could leave 18 stopped him.
"Dr. Briefs, why don't you get some rest? I may not have the scientific mind you do but I can stay and help Bulma. I can help narrow down what we are looking for given what Dr. Gero has previously told me. If you get some sleep then we will have a well-rested mind to help make sense of what we find." She typically wasn't this voluntary but over the past several hours she had grown enamored towards these people for the hospitality and kindness they had bestowed upon her. She was changing.
Dr. Briefs looked to his daughter who gave a nod in agreement. "OK, but if anything should arise you wake me up."
"Agreed." Bulma and 18 said in unison.
"I'm going to check on everyone and then go to bed so that I can wake up early and start assisting." Dr. Briefs then left the two women to their work.
Vegeta walked up to Piccolo's quarantine room just as he had done that morning. He lightly tapped on the glass.
"What do you want now?" Piccolo asked through a muffled cough.
"I know Bulma's father was just here earlier checking in on the two of you."
"And?"
Vegeta glared at him. "And I know he spent a lot of time with you, just as he had spent a lot of time with the boy before coming here. He was running tests to see how fast this thing is spreading and how much damage it's doing."
Piccolo was once again getting impatient with Vegeta. "Yes, he did. He wanted to make sure we were stabilized before going to bed. Is there a point to this?"
The Saiyan Prince briefly clenched his fist. "The point is it doesn't take a scientist to know things aren't getting better and that whatever sense of control he thinks he has is in reality absent."
Remembering their conversation earlier that morning, Piccolo started to protest. "They are doing their best Vegeta. Despite Dende getting sick today has been a success. 18 is here and she has provide information that will help them."
"Don't remind me about her." Vegeta sneered. "Also, Dende isn't the only one who has fallen sick now has he?"
Stifling another cough, Piccolo remained silent.
"And I bet the good doctor told you that Kakkarot's son is just fine at the moment when you asked about him."
"…Yes."
"He's not." Vegeta said bluntly. "He's getting worse. He's starting to cough up more blood and his health is deteriorating. Dr. Briefs probably didn't tell you because he didn't want to burden you. I, however, think you have a right to know."
"Spare me your sympathy Vegeta."
Vegeta paused. "I'm letting you know this to remind you of what I talked about this morning. Things are getting worse and the time to act is approaching." He started to walk away and before turning around. "If this virus isn't brought under control in 24 hours I will have no choice but to kill him. Otherwise it may further spread and/or take his life, and there would be no wishing him back." He then left leaving a frustrated, defeated Piccolo…
… and an unknown eavesdropper around the corner… Krillin.