I don't own DC or DB

Chapter 7

One Minute Later

Bulma took a deep breath, looking at her stop watch, she huffed and pulled a carton of cigarettes out of her pocket, "I really need to kick this habit…" she mumbled with one in between her lips, taking out her lighter, "These adventures are going to be the death me, one way or another."

Sparking it, she inhaled deeply before blowing a plume of smoke out of her mouth, giving her a short buzz; she took notice of a picture on her workshop counter-top, she was younger and had Trunks in her arms. Bulma ashed the cigarette in a tray nearby but, kept her attention on the picture as she grabbed it and stared for another minute.

It was then that a bright light exploded in-doors, sending white lightning out around it as a two person pod materialized through time and space landing exactly where it had left from, only three minutes after it left… spite spending nearly an hour in the past.

The center hatch opened up and for just a moment, Gohan was hoping he'd see a completely different future but, alas; it was all the same as when he left. Kara followed his lead as they both levitated out of the machine, which alarmed loudly for maintenance.

"Well?" Bulma asked.

Gohan didn't answer her, he kept walking as he left the room quickly, as he turned the corner Kara spoke up, "Things went off without a hitch but, Gohan had a conversation with his father, I think… and I kinda got punched by Trunks' father…"

Bulma blinked astounded.

"Oh, it didn't hurt… it was just surprisingly wreckless," she looked around and realized that Bulma was just standing there, staring at her, "You and Vegeta looked like you would make a good couple."

"We might've… one day… but, that future is gone; all we can do is rebuild this one now," She turned around leaving Kara as they both felt drained from the experience; Bulma locked herself in her room, as usual, now that the mission was done there wasn't much else to do. Kara was going to tap the emblem on her chest to disassemble her liquid-nano tech armor but, she stopped as she passed Gohan's room.

He was busy, packing things into a burlap sack, he took his dirty Gi top off and tossed it in a bin, revealing a solid eight-pack as he turned to face the door, which was closed. Kara tried her best to mind her own business and avoiding the invasion of privacy but, she couldn't help it as she knew he was doing something either dangerous or stupid, or both.

Kara pushed the door open and cleared her throat, "Where are you going?"

"I was wondering how long you were going to stare at me from around the corner before coming in," Gohan muttered as he placed a bento-box of rations in the sack, "Remember what my dad told us, there's an incredible training sanctuary up on Kami's Lookout. I can get a year's worth of training in just a day," she walked in behind him as she listened, "I have a pretty good idea of what he was talking about."

Kara folded her fingers together and took a step forwards as Gohan packed nonchalantly, "He also said it was pretty dangerous, and that'll be almost two days without our strongest defender. We didn't migrate far from headquarters after the attack, we could be found, and we'll need you when that happens!" Kara was working herself up over an exceedingly small chance that their now much more compact facility would be discovered when Gohan wrapped his hands around hers suddenly.

"I'm only leaving because I saw how you stood up to Vegeta and Freeza, I see how far you've come, I trust you to hold down the fort for the day that I'm gone," He looked down into her crystal clear blue eyes, she let go of his hands and wrapped him in a warm embrace, tucking her arms around his back. He didn't hesitate to return the gesture, wrapping his arms around her petite waist, it was almost insane how much raw strength was held within such a small package.

Kara let a small tear streak down her face as she wiped it away just as quickly as it formed, "Hurry up, so you can come back to me, okay?" she said forcing a smile for him.

Gohan placed his forehead against hers and closed his eyes, "Okay," they sat like that for several minutes, just comforting each other, but every minute they spent here was a minute longer he'd be gone.

…

Kara floated up into the clouds above their base across from Gohan whom did the same, levitating backwards with his sack strapped around his shoulder, it was only a twenty-minute trip across the planet at his fastest discreet speed.

She sighed as he waved at her, giving her a wide smile as he charged a powerful aura and blasted off, breaking the sonic barrier in seconds as he left streaks in the night sky, "I hope you aren't gone for long, Gohan."

It wasn't as if she wasn't confident in her own abilities but, in every battle against the androids, she followed his lead into the fight. Kara had never led a single mission before. She just prayed to Rao that she wouldn't need to fight any androids in the next twenty-four or twenty-five hours.

Kara floated down through the trees landing next to base-camp, walking nonchalantly into the facility and noticed they only had half the population of people left from the attack several nights ago, so many people killed by debris, so many people killed by the androids. Medical cots and I.V machines were set up across the warehouse facility, people groaning with injuries and exhaustion. She took a deep breath and walked through to her chamber, closing the door, and lying in bed; she stared up at the ceiling of her room, involuntarily looking through to the sky and watching the stars.

She hated to admit it but, she was hoping he'd come back.

…

Dr. Gero's Mountain Base

Seventeen sighed, "Alright, we've combed through the big guys data more than enough," he announced as he patted the table beside him which held the six-foot-eleven ginger android currently offline lying flat on his back, "He's stronger than either of us though and it looks like he'll only use his combat abilities on Son Goku himself."

"Well, stumpy is Goku's kid, right?" Eighteen asked from behind as she approached the table, dragging her finger across the stainless-steel surface slowly, she found everything human to be filthy for some reason, "You think that's enough to get him to fight?"

"Could be, he measures it by DNA percentile, closest match gets a beat-down," Seventeen tapped the rolling chair he sat on, turning himself towards a computer connected to the table and subsequently android Sixteen, "I think booting him up should be fine, its been just us two for so long, we can be the three amigos."

Eighteen folded her arms as the table hummed and Sixteen slowly opened his eyes which flashed crimson at first, seconds later it dissipated, and his eyes were organic with blue iris'. He sat up feeling his head, he was bald with a ginger-red mohawk, and he was armored in a black-green suit emblazoned with the Red-Ribbon insignia.

"Hey, big guy, how ya feelin?" Seventeen asked but received no response as the behemoth of a robot, completely cybernetic with no organics within him, took hulking steps towards the cave entrance where they hid as he looked out, scanning the scenery.

"Maybe he's just shocked to be online after twenty-years?"

He scanned the temperature of the air, the wildlife drinking from the river below, even the wind sheer was calculated as he seemed to just take it all in; "Where is designation: Son Goku?" he said in a monotoned voice without turning around.

Eighteen and Seventeen shared equally uneasy glances, "Yea, Goku is already dead, he was dead before Gero completed you or us."

This left Sixteen silent as he stared out, continuing to scan the area; before he could say anything, if he was going to at all, Seventeen brought up the data Gero's computers had on Gohan, it wasn't a lot but, there were images of the kid next to Goku during the Saiyan battle, and when Freeza arrived on Earth with his Father.

"The mission isn't complete though, buddy; this kid here," he pulled up a more recent image of the now fully grown Gohan in a battle with them two, "He's Son Goku's offspring, named Son Gohan, direct descendant, got it?"

Sixteen turned from the wilderness and scanned both past and present data on Gohan, processing for nearly a minute before giving a response, "I understand," the brute turned to face them with a stoic expression for the first time, "Then we must kill Son Gohan."

…

Kami's Lookout

Gohan flew at two hundred times the speed of sound, blasting through the sonic barrier again and again as he aimed up towards the fabled Lookout he once visited as a boy; passing Korin's abandoned tower and flying up over the edge of a massive floating structure. It was half of a crimson sphere with Gohan landing on the flat porcelain floors, taking a quick look around as he walked, all of the surrounding foliage that used to make the grounds a sort of safe haven had long since died out. Popo was eventually discovered and killed but, neither the z-fighters nor the Androids ever had a use for this place, until now.

He walked across it, noting how dingy the floors had gotten over the decades, with no caretaker to keep watch over it; walking casually up the steps in silence, he opened his palm and held out an orb of Ki going directly down the main hall. His energy lit the way as he turned the corner, the first door he was met with was the exact one he was looking for.

"I know this… I was told never to enter this room while I was up here," he dispersed his energy and entered the room, a bright unfathomable light emerged, swallowing the Saiyan as he entered voluntarily. The door closed behind him as his eyes adjusted to the contrast of the room; the first thing he noticed was the beds and kitchen which were both barren.

"I guess it's a good thing I packed a set up of capsules for myself, there's no way I'd have enough food up here for a year; and look at these beds," Gohan spoke to himself as he dropped his sack and placed a hand on the cotton threads, normally welcoming but, now they had a thick layer of dust that was upheaved by his touch.

He coughed as he backed away, his handprint nearly tore a hole in the fabric, twenty years of absolute isolation from all of space and time might be the culprit, Popo sure did keep this place in order. Reaching into his sack as he knelt, he pulled out a case of Capsule-Corp tech, pulling out and pressing down on a capsule-pill, he tossed one into the open space that would be stocked with food and furniture normally.

As it exploded, it left a small capsule house in the open space; it was about the size of any ordinary one room efficiency, with a small bathroom, bed, etc. His remaining capsules contained other necessities like rations, cooking material, and first-aid equipment; senzu beans were no longer a commodity these days.

Gohan sighed loudly as he turned around, facing a blank, empty, vast nothingness; taking steps out into the void proved a tad difficult as he was immediately pressed with ten times the gravity of Earth. He was now walking around weighing well over a thousand pounds, "Well, this is a start, I guess I wasn't expecting there to be…" he looked back out at the infinite whiteness that surrounded him and the small building he stood in front of, "Nothing."

He couldn't have known how wrong he was.

…

12 Hours Later

Kara's eyes snapped open the next morning, she remembered how she'd fallen asleep staring up at the stars through the ceiling, using her abilities like that must have eventually lulled her to sleep. She realized how she'd fallen asleep in her armor so, tapping the center of her chest piece, she allowed the liquid-metal to retract into it from across her body.

Leaving her in her underwear, she made her way into the bathroom which, was small and hardly efficient but, was left with no choice otherwise so, she simply stripped as she sat in the shower allowing hot water to pour down her neck. Normally, she'd wake up in Gohan's quarters and she'd normally shower with him.

Perhaps she was being a bit clingy but, at the same time, this was the first day since she'd met him that she didn't see Gohan's bright smile in the morning. It felt as though something was missing but, she knew it wouldn't last forever, he would be back late tonight if her math was correct.

Without Trunks or Gohan around, and Bulma still rightfully grieving after she learned the mission was a success; Kara dressed herself and left her armor on her dresser next to her bed, casually strolling the halls of the facility. Passing security personnel and a few of Bulma's personal coordinators, she received word that the mad scientist wasn't in her quarters but, her lab.

The death of her son after everything else that's happened to her in the last two decades is a hard blow to come back from and she'd only had days to recover, she wasn't in any condition to be tinkering.

Kara dashed across the hall, appearing before the doorframe, brushing herself off and turning the corner to face the blue haired scientist whom, without even looking up at her from a magnifying glass, announced, "If you're going to move that fast near the lab I'm going to need you to put an order in for more paper-weights."

What Kara hadn't noticed was the pile of loose papers and sheets that had been knocked all over the floor due to her burst of super speed, "Sorry," she responded by using said speed to pick them all up in a matter of a second or two, compiled in order, "Here."

Bulma used the magnifying glass to solder together two practically microscopic wires, not looking up she simply waved Kara away, "Put 'em somewhere over there," continuing her work.

"Look, Bulma," Kara put down the stack of papers on the desk in front of her and turned to face the woman she'd come to see as a sort of mother figure at this point, "I know your grieving but, you shouldn't throw yourself into your work."

She exhaled and removed her safety glasses, shutting off her soldering device, "I've spent days crying over a picture of him in a dark room with one lightbulb, if I don't do something, my head will explode."

"Well," Kara asked, taking a seat next to her, "What are you working on?"

Bulma narrowed her eyes at the Kryptonian girl but, sighed never-the-less, "This new circuitry system will allow us to collect fuel for the time machine at a rate that's triple what it was," looking down at her circuit-board which she grazed with a gloved finger, "I figure there's no point in having a time machine around if you can only use it once every three or four years."

Kara giggled, "Now it'll only take one year…"

Bulma sat back in her office chair and sighed, "I want to be able to see how Goku would have changed things, at least, and if we have a best case scenario maybe that worlds Goku will help us beat our androids?"

"Sounds optimistic," Kara responded, "I saw you and Vegeta by the way, before you two must've, ya-know…"

"What's your point? Are you going to make fun of my afro?" Bulma chuckled noting her poor choice in hairstyles that year.

Kara shook her head as she stood up, making her way to exit the room, "No, I just wanted you to know that Trunks looked a lot like you two, that's all."

Bulma looked down at her shoes for a moment as Kara exited the lab, as she placed a hand on the doorframe, she was stopped, "Kara," she called out.

"Yea?"

"I know I haven't always been the easiest to deal with but, thank you for being here," Bulma blinked once or twice before stuttering, "H-Have you seen Gohan today? You two are usually attached at the hip… he didn't send you to comfort me, did he?"

Gohan hadn't told her where he was going? Was she supposed to lie or just withhold the truth? Was there a difference on Earth because there was one on Krypton? "I, uhm, he definitely didn't send me to comfort you but, I haven't seen him today yet so… yea."

Bulma raised a brow, obviously noting her nervousness but, just discounting it as another one of her ridiculous alien habits, "Alright, if you see him tell him I need to speak with him."

Kara gave two thumbs up as she backed out of the room, "No problem!" as she left Bulma's line of sight, Kara became visibly worried as she placed a hand over her forehead, "I should have asked him about a cover story…" she whispered under her breath as she vanished in a burst of speed.

…

4 Hours Later

Seventeen casually unplugged a data cord from the base of Sixteen's neck, "There," he said as the brute sat up again quietly, "Now you've got all the data we've gathered over the last two decades, how do you feel?"

"This state of mind will suffice," Sixteen stood up and looked over his hands, feeling more sentient than he did when he was first booted up, "I still only have one mission objective."

"Right, we only managed to tweak it since we don't have daddy Gero here to reprogram you," Eighteen said enthusiastically, swinging her feet from the edge of a desk she sat on, "Once you fill him, it'll go away and you can live like we do."

"Completing my mission objective sounds… satisfying."

"Good!" Seventeen responded as stood up, approaching the exit to the secret laboratory, "I'm tired of being cooped up in this dusty rat hole anyways!"

Seventeen, Eighteen, and now Sixteen departed from the cave dwellings of Dr. Gero, flying out into the fresh mountain air; refraining from destroying it on the off chance they needed another limb replaced.

"I want to find the one-armed scum that took my hand," Seventeen was the first to announce as they looked around at the scenery of the mountains, "I want to kill his friends in front of him first though… nobody does that to me and lives to tell his pals about it."

Eighteen floated stationary in front of him with her arms crossed, "Why don't you take a chill-pill bro? They escaped, remember? Meaning they could be anywhere around the planet by now; how are we supposed to track them down?"

Seventeen put a finger to his chin, directing his gaze to the treetops below, "Good point, we took down their stronghold so they could be anywhere…"

"Statistical error," Sixteen announced as he watched the birds flying away from their sudden appearance, "My data informs me that Son Gohan is one of two sole defenders of humanity, in which case he could only migrate to a certain radius around the previous human environment."

Eighteen raised her brows, "He's right, there's no way the blonde brigade got over a thousand humans very far away, they must be hold up somewhere near that cliffside."

"Well?" Seventeen asked, "Why don't we do a little searching and see if we can't lure our glowing golden friend out into the open, shall we?"

Eighteen shrugged, "What's the rush? Besides, look at him," gesturing at Sixteen who analyzed the wilderness around him, following the birds through the air with his scanners specifically, "He's actually enjoying being outside… I think, lets just take the scenic route?"

Seventeen folded his arms over his chest, "We destroyed the scenic route, we destroyed all of the scenic routes, remember?"

Eighteen floated passed him and next to Sixteen who didn't seem to notice her as she grabbed his arm, "I say we take a vote…"

Seventeen rolled his eyes, "If you like Sixteen so much, then marry him but, I don't remember making this a democracy…"

"You know my type is shorter guys," Eighteen asserted as released Sixteen's arm, grabbing his hand and holding it up as much as she could, "I'm trying to say it's been your word against mine for so many years, maybe we should ask him what he wants to do?"

"Well… I…" Seventeen groaned and looked up at Sixteen, "Hey buddy," he snapped his fingers a few times, catching the incomplete android's attention, "Are you with us?"

"I am with you, yes."

"No, I mean do you have opinions… like… do you think for yourself and all that?" Seventeen and Eighteen both floated back a foot or two, awaiting his answer.

There was silence until Sixteen spotted a bird passing him, watching it fly by majestically made Eighteen's head drop; Seventeen chuckled, "See, I told you that-"

"I wish to take the scenic route," Sixteen turned to them both with a half-smile, while genuine, seemed still a bit disconnected.

Eighteen perked up, pumping her fist into the air, "Yes! I've gotten so sick of flying just us two that this will be a breath of fresh air," she floated up where they could see more of the surrounding landscape and the upcoming cloud-line, "If we still needed air, I mean."

Sixteen looked out at the scorched curvature of the planet, devastation caused by the two who liberated him, "What did the humans do to deserve such destruction?" he asked, looking directly at Eighteen.

"I… It's been a while since I've had to think about that," she responded as they slowly ascended up, "A human created us for starters, kidnapped us from our parents and spent almost a quarter century experimenting on us."

Sixteen nodded, "Yes, so all humans must suffer?"

Eighteen twiddled her thumbs, looking at the ever shrinking mountains below her silently, "Gero programmed us with everything humans had accomplished; countless acts of death, destruction, war, pollution," Seventeen interrupted as she clearly didn't have the conviction to answer his question, "Every good thing humans have ever done is selfish and for their own sake."

Eighteen frowned, that's exactly what she thought when they woke up and killed Gero but, that was a long time ago and she'd fallen into such a routine with her brother, her only family; she was only ten years old when they were kidnapped but, they were taken in and out of stasis so often their aging stunted in their early twenties. When she finally did wake up and discovered the truth, she was almost entirely subdued by Dr. Gero's programming, that is, until Seventeen saved her by killing the mad man.

They exited a cave to find that not only had it been nearly twenty years since their kidnapping but, both of their parents had passed away in that time from unrelated circumstances. No family, no friends, lives stolen from them by a stranger, and gifted power that no other could comprehend… it wasn't surprising they went on a war path. It was around the same time her brother vowed to never use either of their real names again, Lapis and Lazuli were dead. Cyborg's Seventeen and Eighteen would live forever; machines feel no pain, no loss, or at least that's what she thought.

"Eighteen?" She was snapped from her thoughts quickly by her brother putting a hand on her shoulder, "You aren't going all 'TV static' on me like this guy, are you?"

"No, I was just thinking about what he asked," She responded as she looked up at the sun slowly starting its decent over the mountain tops.

Seventeen shrugged, "I mean, we decided it a long time ago, whatever the humans get, they had it coming to them, right?"

She nodded with more conviction as they took off, "Right."

…

6-7 Hours Later

After a long day of playing cards alone in her quarters, eating her meals and avoiding Bulma at all costs; Kara figured there wasn't any harm in patrolling the area, making sure they weren't under watch by the androids. She grabbed the 'S' shield off her nightstand and left the room, dashing through the corridors and towards the exit as the armor encased her body in her blue-red super suit.

The cape billowed in the night air as she flew up towards the skyline, scanning her surroundings with telescopic and microscopic vision; as she floated around, as far from Bulma as she could get, she could only help but wonder.

"Supergirl," Kara pondered as she played with the word, "Supergirl…" floating into a standing position, she pretended to point up at the sky with fake awe "Oh my gosh, its Supergirl!" she recalled the name given to her by Gohan's alternate past self, a very strange way to receive a name but, it did have a ring to it.

Besides, it was fun having a name the androids could use aside from insults like bimbo, and bitch, and blonde brigade… the longer she thought about it, the more she figured they'd make fun of her for it. Naturally, the only way for it to stick is for it to make an impression on them and she was doubtful to do so on her own.

The Earth in the past was so much brighter that it fueled her power beyond its normal limits but, most of that energy was completely gone already; there was no way she would announce that name without getting laughed at unless she makes her point while she does. Maybe after Gohan gets out of the training sanctuary, he can take her in there for just a little while, long enough to at least become his equal. One thing Kara noticed about Kryptonians and Saiyans are that the former receives unbelievable power without putting in the effort and the latter gets the opposite, the only major difference is that while she would eventually cap out at a certain strength level… there was no calculable limit to how far Gohan could grow in power.

Kara floated on her back, looking up at the stars again, she leisurely put her hands behind her head; she didn't mind having Gohan protect her, and the rest of the world, as their strongest defender but, it would be nice to be able to protect him instead for once. She was only physically as strong as him, at best, he was far faster, more durable, vastly superior in skill and more experienced than her. At this point, Kara felt less like Supergirl and more like the one who pats the heroes head when he's done winning the day. All she knew for certain was that saving people felt right and it left a hole in her chest to know that she couldn't do that on her own.

Kara looked out over the water, analyzing the rubble of their main base which was destroyed just a few days ago, she gave a long sigh; it was much bigger and had far more advanced technology than their current headquarters but, now it lay in ruin, she wondered just how many people died falling into the sea that night.

Kara's heart skipped a beat, "Look who we have here…" it was a familiar voice but, not one she cared to remember; Seventeen floated behind her as she suddenly turned and readied herself for a fight.

"You!" Kara shouted.

Eighteen wasn't shy, cornering her by materializing behind her, "Is it just you tonight? Don't tell me the heroic power couple broke up!" she faked a sarcastic gasp as Kara tried to keep her attention on both twins at the same time.

Kara turned and floated back, directly away from them without moving so fast as to retreat but, enough to prompt them to follow her with sinister smiles, "He really isn't coming to save you this time, is he?"

"He'll be here any minute actually," Kara bluffed as she had no idea how long it would take him, she only had a rough estimate to begin with and certainly wasn't expecting to be spotted so soon, "And when he gets here he's going to-" she stopped talking as she somehow backed into something large and solid even though she was thousands of feet above ground level.

Kara gulped and turned around slowly, "Going to…" she repeated as she looked into Sixteen's midsection and slowly dragging her eyes up his bulked-up physique, "Uhm."

"Do you like our new friend? He's designated android Sixteen, we're here to play," Sixteen didn't move an inch as Kara backed away, slowly floating into a ring where at every turn was another opponent, "Hey, why don't you show her what you can do, big guy!" Seventeen shouted out to him but, he took several moments to respond.

"This one does not match Son Gohan's facial recognition," Sixteen said simply pointing to her as he talked over to Seventeen directly.

"So? You can still punch or something!" Seventeen shouted, slightly frustrated at his refusal to cooperate.

"No."

He scoffed and folded his arms, looking over to his sister for support, "Is this guy serious? We took like five hours flying here just so he could fly alongside some birds and now he wont even fight?" he slapped his thighs as though it were a crazy prospect.

Eighteen rolled her eyes, "He did say he was programmed only to fight Son Gohan and truth be told, I don't see him," she looked around, spinning in midair to scan the area.

Kara was still staring at the otherwise oblivious Sixteen towering over her when Seventeen shouted at her, "Hey, hey! Is he seriously not coming out to save you or something?"

She smirked a bit, before chuckling, she couldn't tell if she just lost her sanity due to stress or if this was the best plan she'd ever come up with but, it had to be somewhere in between, "After what he did to you last time? He doesn't want to fight weaklings…" suddenly, she flew back first into Sixteen who didn't budge an inch, crossed in the face within the span of a microsecond by Seventeen, she distanced herself a bit and wiped her lip.

"If Sixteen won't hit you, I definitely will," He said enthusiastically following his last punch up with an uppercut, vanishing into her close quarters too fast for her to counter, only enough time to just barely block. The shockwave of such an attack sent her up through the clouds, losing sight of her completely through the massive night-sky overcast, she drifted up into the stratosphere holding her left forearm curled up in a ball.

She may have over sold the confidence act a bit, if not broken entirely in two, her arm was definitely burning at the touch; her muscles were on fire now, "Ignore the pain, ignore the pain," stretching out the arm, she punched the air once or twice before rocketing back towards the cloud line.

"Should I count to five and wait for her to come back down or…?" Seventeen stared up at the clouds, waiting for a sign that she was still up there, "I didn't hit her that hard, did I?"

Eighteen shrugged, "You hit her pretty hard."

"Whatever, if she wont come down then I'll just go up there and-" he was interrupted as twin massively faster than light beams of heat cut through the clouds and blasted Seventeen with such a thick beam of pure heat that his body hit their old headquarters below, igniting a massive fiery explosion on top of him.

The clouds parted completely as the moon-light shun heroically off of Kara, actually managing to intimidate Eighteen a bit with her silhouette and crimson flashing eyes, "You got a fancy new suit, which I've already seen, and suddenly you think you're scary?"

Kara vanished from sight, appearing behind Eighteen with a roundhouse kick that met a fortified defensive forearm, blocking the androids head from the strike but, wasn't fast enough to react to her heat vision which hit the cyborg at point-blank range, "I'm the god damned Supergirl, bitch," pushing her out of close quarters, she used all of her reserve solar energy to send her back first into a mountain-side, lighting it up again with a massive explosion.

Once they were both occupied for the few seconds she had, her posture fell and she gasped for breath, hand on her knees, it took all of the extra energy she collected from absorbing sun-light from the past just to keep up with either of them. It looked like Seventeen would be occupied for maybe a minute or more but, Eighteen was already pushing hundreds of tons of rubble out of her way.

Supergirl dusted herself off and felt her forearm, it wasn't until a few seconds after taking her deep breaths that she realized Sixteen was still standing right in front of her, he hadn't reacted to them being pummeled at all.

"Hi…"

Sixteen didn't respond but, scanned her instead, announcing, "You have a fracture in your left radius as well a small laceration in your mouth."

Kara blinked a few times, looking back at her targets still recovering, "Uhm, thank you?" while she was distracted by this, Seventeen came from below and attempted another uppercut, using her full speed to just barely dip back avoiding his strike as she kept on guard.

"What the hell? So, you aren't going to fight anyone but, Son Gohan? Not even if you're threatened?" Seventeen shouted as he ran his hand through his hair, "If we're in trouble, you need to help us."

Sixteen looked down, meeting eyes with him, "My programming prevents this, besides," he looked back up at her as Eighteen approached from behind, fixing her blouse, "She's used up the entirety of the excess energy I picked up, her power level has dropped significantly since the battle began."

Supergirl herself gulped, floating back a bit, she at least didn't feel trapped anymore as there was room to run but, if she flew off in the only safe direction, she would lead them three straight to home base.

"Damn," Kara muttered under her breath, "Usually, Gohan would make the right decision at a time like this…"

"What was that? I heard a familiar name…" Seventeen folded his arms happily after Sixteen's assessment, he was more than confident, "Go ahead and beat down on us if he's wrong, otherwise I'd call your boyfriend to settle a certain grudge I've been holding on to."

Eighteen giggled, "I heard that's not good for stress."

"Believe me, it's not, so help me out 'Supergirl', and call Son Gohan," Seventeen floated forwards, the closer he got the further back Kara wanted to flee but, the entire group knew he was faster so their wasn't much of a point.

"He isn't here," Supergirl said blatantly, "But, you better bet he's coming back soon, and he's going to kill you both," she shouted at the two to goad them but, it didn't work this time as she was starting to wreak of desperation.

"My scans indicate that Son Gohan is not within a hundred mile radius of my current position," Sixteen announced which felt like a sink hole just emerged in her chest as he said it but, it verified what she said to be true.

Eighteen chuckled, "At least she's not a liar, I hate those…"

Seventeen floated even closer to her, grabbing her arm tightly as she grabbed his wrist to fight for control, "No, she lied, just now when she said that he would kill me and it's a big lie at that," Supergirl lost control was physically thrown back towards the mountains Eighteen had just emerged from.

Opening a canyon in the mountain and shaking the surrounding area with her bare hands; the Kryptonian girl split apart the massive structure from within and fired beams of heat from her eyes, separating Seventeen and Eighteen as Sixteen seemed unphased by the attack. Kara leapt from the mountains at Eighteen, towards the ocean as she managed to land a punch to the nose that manage to punt her into the water, skating across it as she fired heat from eyes and followed her assault up with a barrage of haymakers.

"Hagh!" Suddenly, Kara saw time slow down as she reeled back and hit Eighteen in the left cheek with such raw physical strength that a pressurized vortex of ocean water swirled below them forming hurricane force winds surrounding them. The cyborg had her guard up the entire time but, this didn't totally protect her from the attack though. Even when Seventeen fired a yellow beam of Ki through the tornado, hitting her in the abdomen and sending Supergirl face first into the water, clutching her stomach with sea salt stinging the wound.

Eighteen emerged, the sleeves to her blouse were torn to shreds and she had scrapes across her face and bare forearms, "I haven't worn short sleeves in years, and this was my favorite shirt."

Kara could hear them both, even through the water and even as she sunk deeper into the depths of the ocean floor surrounded by pressurized water and darkness, although; suddenly there was an explosion of light that erupted from the water near her.

It swam toward her at astonishing speed, only seeing it all due to the impressive set of eyes her alien heritage gave her but, the blur was too fast to get a good look at. Before she could register otherwise, Kara was above water and in the air high above the clouds.

Seventeen blinked, looking between the water and the sky, "Did something just fly out of there, it couldn't have been her, right?"

Eighteen shrugged as neither could scan above the clouds; Kara looked up at the silhouetted figure that single handedly brought her from the bottom of the ocean to the tips of the atmosphere in mere instants. Gohan looked down on her with onyx black eyes, his hair surprised her as he hadn't even transformed but, was vastly faster and stronger than when she last saw him.

"Is it really you?" Kara asked once as, being knocked around as much as she had been, she thought she might've been hallucinating her own rescue.

Gohan gave her a short smile in return, "Who else would it be?"

She wrapped her arms around his neck, tightening her grip on him and laid her head on his shoulder, "I was so scared, I didn't know what was going to happen I-I…" Supergirl looked up into his eyes again as she teared up but, his expression didn't waver.

He reached out and wiped a single tear drop off her cheek, "Don't worry about a thing, I'll take care of it from here."

"You? You mean us, right?"

Sixteen suddenly looked up at the sky with intent to kill; his stoic expression became filled with fury, and his scowl scanned the clouds as he locked on, "Two heat signatures detected; target designation Son Goku, seventy-seven percent match," his eyes narrowed as he read the data of both entities in the sky above them, "These parameters are acceptable."

Kara allowed herself to float as Gohan let her go, "No, I think it's time I show them just what I can do when I apply myself," he turned to her and put a hand on her head, her cheeks turning red at the gesture, "You just stay and watch from here, okay?"

She didn't have much of a choice but, to nod dutifully in that she wouldn't intervene; if the energy she felt coming off Gohan meant anything, it was that her interference would probably get in the way.

Gohan dipped below the cloud line, showing himself to the three hostile artificial humans, he was in the same orange and blue Gi that he always wore only it looked a tad dingy and tattered; his prosthetic arm was as pristine as ever, the moonlight even gleamed off of its reflection.

"A third android, after all this time, who would have guessed?" Gohan muttered under his breath, "Shouldn't change the outcome too much."

Seventeen and Eighteen lined up in front of Sixteen, "We have a certain grudge with him but, if you let us have fun with him first I promise you can land the killing blow on them both," he promised Sixteen who hummed in deep thought for a moment.

"I do not advise this course of action," Sixteen announced.

Seventeen shrugged him off, turning around for a moment, "I told you we'd let you get a few licks in- HUGH!" without warning something moving faster than he'd ever seen blitzed through their sightline and uppercutted him in the chest.

"The warning was not for him; it was for you!"

Gohan suddenly shouted with an impressive shockwave, a sonic boom suddenly flew out omnidirectionally clearing the clouds above as the moonlight shun down on his glowing form; his hair spiked up and his aura shifted colors until he was shooting beams of gold out from every direction with a final shout.

Seventeen wiped the spit dripping from the corner of his mouth away, smiling as he witnessed the transformation, "Very nice, but I've seen this parlor trick before, and I'm not impressed."

Gohan didn't say a word as Eighteen attempted to roundhouse him in the head which missed terribly as he ducked allowing her to leave her brother wide open; he sent a transparent burst of Ki energy into his abdomen, simply pushing him back through the air. With Eighteen now floating alone, she tried landing a left straight but, her fist was intercepted by the palm of his hand, catching the blow before it did any damage.

"Ha!" Gohan's Super Saiyan aura exploded outward sending her back several feet and blinding her a bit, twin laser beams flew from the light of his form from Seventeen's upgraded ocular weapons but, they bounced off of his aura unexpectedly.

He vanished from sight as Eighteen looked around in shock, finding the inability to track his movements both frustrating and embarrassing, "Up here!" Gohan shouted bringing both of his palms down on the blonde's head, knocking her into the ocean, going straight to the bottom where she just barely landed on her feet, shaking the ocean floor briefly.

Seventeen came into his close quarters and threw rapid-fire jabs at his top speed, it was as though he was moving in slow motion though; Gohan simply kept his guard up and dipped his head from side to side, avoiding his attacks.

"This is for Trunks!" After a second or two of dodging his attacks, Gohan announced this and spun to kick him in the chest before charging energy between his palms that, once fired, pressed Seventeen back into a canyon carved earlier by Supergirl, completely obliterating the mountain in its entirety.

Eighteen came up from the water like a bullet, so fast she was almost impossible to spot, and yet Gohan was prepared and used her own momentum against her by landing a kick so accurately the velocity of her approach only increased the force of the attack; another sonic boom was sent out at the moment of contact with her face.

Eighteen was sent hurtling into the fiery remains of their old cliffside headquarters, toppling the entire mountain-side into the ocean below, presumably dragging her along with it, not that it hurt more than the blow she was just dealt.

Supergirl floated down, having seen the entire fight, she was astonished at Gohan's new level of power, "Wow…" she announced as he stared down Sixteen, who now floated alone in front of the powerful Super Saiyan. Her eyes glimmered at the sight of his glowing aura and golden hair, it seemed far more tamed than it usually was, he was literally sparkling above the ocean water, "You're amazing!"

…

Dr. Gero's Mountain Lab

Deep within the caves various corridors and dead-end hallways, there was one hatch that led downward with a ladder reaching into the darkness; with the Android's pressing buttons they don't fully understand and working with equipment they didn't make, they inadvertently activated a long abandoned fail-safe should the artificial human's not be enough for Gero to exact his revenge on Son Goku. The perfect life-form with samples of DNA from every impressive fighter in the Galaxy, including any Saiyan who's been on Earth, Freeza and his Father, Piccolo, and the most proficient martial artists in the world such as Tien Shinhan, Krillin, and even Master Roshi.

Without Dr. Gero to run the operation, his fail safe was a massive super-computer capable of processing Gero's last commands upon its activation; lights activated automatically as several large steel rods generated electricity into a cylinder-vat filled with green chemicals. Floating in the chemicals was a three-foot long larva-like egg obviously fermenting for quite some time, said electricity jolted it as it awakened with crimson flashing eyes it shattered the tank it was in as it evolved into something... bigger.

…

...

Can Gohan beat Android Sixteen with his new powers? Are the Cyborgs down for the count? What mysterious new powers did Gohan unlock while in the Room of Spirit and Time? And what exactly did Dr. Gero create?

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