Through some strands of loose hair, Trunks saw Krillin land near her. She saw him kneel and try to offer her a bean, but she looked away. 'If I take that bean, I will absolutely kill Vegeta.' Her ribs would be fine in a couple of days, at most, and so will her energy drain. She did her best to ignore Vegeta's ki nearby, the mere idea of him revolting her.
"Keep it, I am unscathed," she hissed a little too aggressively for her own liking, and slowly stood, untying her jacket from her waist to put it back on, doing her best to repress the image of Cell touching her shoulder and recognizing the binder for what it was.
Krillin stood back hesitant, but accepted Trunks' refusal, put back the bean in his belt and just handed the teen back the capsule case and the thermos. Trunks took them both, put back the thermos in the capsule, the capsule back in the case, and the case back in her pocket.
"What happened?" Krillin eventually asked.
"Stupid Saiyan genes happened," she glanced around and visibly tensed seeing Vegeta a few meters away, arms crossed, standing firm despite his clothes and armor in shambles. She barely met his eyes and forced her attention on Krillin, knowing Vegeta could hear, her instincts still calling for his blood. "Cell will announce a tournament on TV, like the ones you used to do with Son-san. It wants to face anyone that comes, test its power, and feed from our despair. For fun . I survived only because I was entertaining," she spat the last words, loathing the powerlessness and how much it reminded her of the Cyborgs in her world.
"Then we're going back into the Chamber and train at my pace," Vegeta said with a firm and decided voice, and promptly flew away in a vortex of dust and debris. The order was clear in his mind, there was no reason to stay any longer.
Trunks didn't spare him a glance, she wanted him dead but she did her best to keep herself in check, knowing very well he was fully healed and she wasn't. She'd be at his throat if she'd taken the Senzu bean and it's precisely for that reason she refused the bean to begin with. Her darkness clawed, demanded revenge, retribution, and she was certain her ki, body language and face spoke all of it, but she didn't act on it. His departure slowly eased the feeling.
The monk was about to say something when a voice interrupted him.
"Bring me to Capsule Corporation, I want to be of use." Android Sixteen was on his two feet, missing part of an arm and part of his skull, revealing some damaged robotics and inner workings of the Android.
Trunks, recognizing Sixteen, immediately extended her arm towards him, trying to destroy the visibly damaged Android, but she couldn't even conjure enough ki to make a single orb. She was only still conscious out of spite, and she knew that the moment the adrenaline and hatred wore off, she would collapse, but it was better than being suddenly at full strength and go after Vegeta.
"It's fine, it's fine! Sixteen's not a bad guy, none of them were not like the ones from your world, Trunks, don't harm him!" Krillin exclaimed while running to Sixteen.
"I will not risk it," she growled, unwilling to listen to the plea, not even hearing any of the words spoken. Since she couldn't build up enough ki, she'd have to use her bare hands, and she started to walk towards the two of them, slowly, fists clenched, but Krillin faced her, repeating the same words about Sixteen being a good person.
"Get out of my way," she grunted as she closed the distance.
"Trunks!"
Too focused on her prey, she didn't register Tenshinhan landing near her, carrying Bulma (with the baby in her arms), who was the one who called out the teenager's name. The voice, the tone and intonation, the way she pronounced her name was enough to stop her.
Cell and Vegeta gone, Sixteen being visibly no threat, and Bulma's voice, the adrenaline finally wore off, and Trunks' mind slowly disconnected from what happened around her. Bulma uncapsulated her plane, and said something Trunks didn't hear. The teenager acted as she'd done countless times in her world. The automatisms kicked in. Her mother often drove or flew to find her after a fight against the Cyborgs. She didn't even question the missing step in the usual routine: sending her location to her mother through her watch. Fighting for consciousness while exhausted after a loss in battle was identical enough to past situations for her to go through the same motions. She went to the passenger seat, put on the safety belt, set a twenty minute alarm on her watch and almost immediately passed out against the window.
When her alarm woke Trunks up from her slumber, she promptly shut it down and started coming back to her senses, keeping her eyes closed. She first caught the distinct scent of Bulma near her, and was somewhat disturbed by the lack of tobacco, she then heard the noises of the plane's engine, familiar enough, and expected to hear her mother's voice say something to her, which Bulma seemingly did, but before the teenager could reply anything, she heard another voice, felt another energy, and a sense of panic overtook her. She wasn't in her world, this wasn't her mother, 'I let my guard down...' . And then she heard a third voice, without any presence attached to it.
'Sixteen!' she remembered, and just about jumped out of her seat to murder the Android that was seemingly behind her. But a soft hand on her knee (and the muscle slumber and the seatbelt) stopped her.
"Take it easy Trunks, it's fine," Bulma reassured. The baby's laughs echoed in the cockpit, and Trunks took a moment to properly take the situation in, now with her eyes open. Bulma, driving the plane with the baby holding onto her but looking at the teenager, Krillin and Sixteen on the back seats. No Tenshinhan. The baby cooed a little and tried moving, extending an arm to reach to his occasional babysitter, the other still holding on to his mother's vest.
"Take care of baby-you, the autopilot is driving me insane," Bulma promptly placed the baby on Trunks' lap, and Trunks couldn't manage to argue back, the baby holding onto her firmly. Her mind went from 'kill the threat' to 'protect the baby' , and her instinct told her the baby was safe with her. She remained tense. Suddenly the plane flew a whole lot faster towards West City, Bulma taking over direct control.
"Good to have you back," Krillin stated. She could hear the nerves in his voice, probably sensing her ki oozing of murder intents.
"Krillin-san, I hope you are aware that you are this close to make it on my hit list," she glanced back with distrust. "You are lucky Vegeta is top of the list right now."
Krillin understood why the teen was mad at him. He had failed to destroy Eighteen when he did his best to give him time to do so. Shame washed over him as he had destroyed the remote prior to that, and Eighteen got absorbed anyway. Bulma had punched him hard just before they got into the plane, she knew because Piccolo told her. Piccolo, who had seen it all happen from the Lookout. But Bulma chose not to say anything, seeing the state her future son was in when she landed with Tenshinhan. 'Trunks better never find out, else he'll absolutely murder you,' she told him before they got in the plane. The monk gulped and accepted the threat Trunks had spoken as being nothing but his true intents and emotions, his ki confirming the weight of the words the teen was saying. And absolutely believing Bulma's warning.
"I think he's on top of everyone's list," Bulma said bitterly. The look full of questions from Trunks, and Krillin's actual 'wait why?' had her explain. "Piccolo oversaw your fight so he told me what was happening, that bastard let Cell go so he could 'face a worthy opponent' or some other bull- nonsense." Correcting her language for the benefit of her baby was hit or miss. Krillin looked shocked, but Trunks already knew. She hadn't said it herself, it made her blood boil just thinking about it, but speaking of the betrayal to everyone else would bring nothing but extra conflict.
Trunks took a moment to properly assess her injuries while balancing the baby. Her arms and hands were fine. She knew she didn't stand a chance against Cell's Perfect form, which is why she chose to use the Mafuba as soon as possible, which limited her physical injuries. She took a moment to breathe in and out and check where she was kicked by Vegeta, and sighed out. "He broke two of my ribs."
"Cell?" Bulma asked.
"Vegeta-san." Trunks corrected with a hint of reluctance.
"Son of a b-"
"I still have that Senzu bean, Trunks."
"No, if I take it, I will go after him and kill him. Ribs are flexible, they break easily, but they heal easily too."
"Affirmative. Trunks' injuries are superficial and have started healing." Sixteen added, which startled Trunks enough that she almost dropped her counterpart. With Krillin's 'how do you know that?' , the Android continued. "My radar was not damaged by Cell. Your energy is still dangerously low from the execution of the Mafuba. Food and sleep are recommended."
Trunks hissed, everything in her body called for the destruction of the Android, but she tried to ignore the feeling, even if she kept her eyes on him. Perhaps Krillin was right. Baby Trunks looked upset from the tension and how his babysitter had turned her head to look back instead of facing him. So he grabbed on Trunks' loose hair to successfully yank her attention his way.
"Hey- hey," the teenager softly protested and did her best to switch her hair for her fingers so her counterpart would squeeze those instead.
Once they arrived at Capsule Corp, Krillin called Kame-House to inform them of the situation and Bulma brought Sixteen to the lab, closely followed by both Trunkses. Dr Brief was enjoying a coffee and a cigarette and smiled bright seeing his little family back, minus Vegeta, plus.. something?
"Dad, this is Sixteen, he's the extra Cyborg we talked about."
"I am Android Sixteen," Sixteen bowed his head. "I want to be of use to defeat the monster named Cell. Dr Brief from Capsule Corp, I am honored to be in your skilled hands." His eyes locked onto Tama who was happily at ease on his human's shoulder, and Tama stared back at the artificial human.
"Pleased to meet you, Android Sixteen," the older man said approaching Sixteen. He pulled a chair intending to stand on it and look at the damage on the skull, but Sixteen sat instead, making it easier for the older scientist to check the skull damage. The staring contest with Tama still ongoing.
"Right, Android, not Cyborg. Think we can repair him?"
"Mhhh… Probably, but you haven't slept in two days, Bulma-chan, you should go and take a proper rest, I will run the diagnostics in the meantime."
The sudden mention of her lack of sleep hit the genius like a truck, while both Trunkses looked at the scene with a certain disbelief. When the older Trunks tried to give the younger one to Bulma, the baby refused and gripped the jacket more firmly.
"Seems you're on baby-duty," Bulma teased as she got closer to the two to give each of them a peck on the cheek, and slid a capsule in the older's hand. "Here's the baby stuff, see you tomorrow!" And before the teen could protest or negociate, Bulma was gone. Krillin came down to the lab, and Trunks promptly put him on 'watch the Android' duty since the baby demanded attention and Dr Brief was shooing the noise away.
In half an hour, Trunks focused her mind and energy on her counterpart. She raided the fridge for the two of them, then changed him, but no matter what she did, the baby never let go of her jacket. She even tried to get creative and remove the jacket, but instead the baby grabbed onto her tee and armor. And Trunks finally understood what her mother meant about 'no use fighting a Saiyan grip' . So instead of fighting, she decided to zip the baby inside the jacket, and he babbled happily with his head sticking out. The baby was holding on firmly enough and wouldn't easily slip down, even if she put an arm under him every now and then just in case, she felt more confident using both hands to do whatever. She went through a few drawers to get another elastic to tie her hair back as well, the loose hair moving around being a bother.
She spent the rest of the afternoon at the menagerie with the baby, mulling over nothing and letting her body rest from the exhaustion of having used most of her ki to try the Mafuba. She kept close tabs on Dr Brief' ki, even if it was hard to feel, to see whether he was at any point fearful, but Sixteen seemingly didn't scare him. And the baby never let go of her.
Panchy passed by them towards the end of the afternoon, after Trunks fed him early dinner, and commented how 'adorable Trunks-chan and Tora-chan looked together,' and that forced Trunks to consider going into her room, she had no patience and no mental walls to deal with anyone else. Dealing with her would-be grandmother's antics hadn't been that much of a strain before, and the woman was sweet and kind, she didn't deserve being on the receiving end of her anger. Trunks went up to her room, intending on laying down with the baby against her, but she felt Vegeta's energy land nearby and her instincts flared, demanding his blood. Everything that had happened over the past few hours came back and overwhelmed her. That she had trusted him, accepted him as her father, only to be betrayed. Fighting was out of the question, she knew she wouldn't be able to keep her cool, so instead she chose to flee. She needed to process everything and mourn the relationship she thought she had with Vegeta, and for that she needed to be gone. She took the other capsule case, the one containing her other belongings, and her sword, and left through the window without thinking.
It was only when she landed by Central City that she realized she'd taken off with the baby. But she couldn't bring him back now, her emotions wouldn't bid well if she caught Vegeta's ki again. "Well, we're out for a long walk, I trust you'll keep quiet about this," she tried to raise her own spirits and the baby stared back with the scowl she knew far too well. "Fine, I'm a coward, bite me." The baby gripped more, and Trunks adjusted him a little higher and more towards her left side, where he could actually somehow sit on the strap of the sword, through the jacket.
While she walked in Central City, a city she barely knew from her world as it was one of the first the Cyborgs put on its knees, she let herself reassess the situation the planet was in. Cell had reached perfection and was strong, stronger than she was, stronger than Vegeta was, despite all their training. She remembered Vegeta said they should go back in, but she couldn't stand being in the same city as him, let alone being alone with him in the white void again. Krillin hadn't destroyed Eighteen, but considering what he'd said in Gero's laboratory, and how he saw her as a victim, and that he was such a kind soul, she shouldn't have been surprised, and she found it hard to truly resent him. Hell is paved with good intentions, after all. The Mafuba didn't work. She thought for an instant she should inform Tenshinhan and Piccolo about that failure, but she remembered Bulma said Piccolo saw the fight, so she guessed Piccolo at least already knew. There was no use crying over spilled milk, what was done was done. Part of her considered going back home, then and there, she was strong enough to deal with her version of the Cyborgs, but she still felt a duty to deal with Cell, who had come to plague this world because of another version of her. And he knew. And apparently Seventeen liked her? That made no sense. She was certain her version of him couldn't feel love, or anything at all, and this world's Seventeen just saw her once, to warn her to not get involved (and promptly punished her for getting involved). 'Cell was absolutely fucking with me and I fell for it like a dumbass,' she concluded bitterly.
Her feet took her to the store she was in a year ago. The shopkeeper had been nice, and while she adjusted the binders when she was in the Room of Spirit and Time, she knew it was best done by someone else. Suddenly, she missed her mother, her contact, her care, her understanding. It had been over a year. She stood there as the sudden lack of contact, support, understanding and ability to be washed over her. The weight of it all, Vegeta's blatant disregard for everyone's safety, how he didn't, as he professed, 'attack to kill', how he attacked her... She wanted to let it all go, but couldn't.
"The kid with the sword! Oh, heavens are you ok?"
The shopkeeper had seen the teenager through the storefront, and as the kid didn't move, didn't go in, or didn't go away, he decided to check it out, and when he opened the door, he recognized the sword, the jacket, and the lavender hair (even if it was much longer than he remembered). What alarmed him however were the tears.