The following days blurred together as Gero worked feverishly in his lab, only taking breaks for food and sleep. It was, to say the least, an arrangement his body did not appreciate: it had been years since he had worked so tirelessly. After all, he had been under the belief that he had plenty of time in which to pursue his revenge. And, in a way, that was still true. But now that he was faced with a threat that superseded his own ambitions, things had dramatically changed.
At that moment, the only thing that mattered to him was completing the upgrades for Androids Thirteen, Fourteen, and Fifteen. And no matter how much his withered body protested such a rigorous schedule, Gero persisted. He had to move forward with this new plan, no matter what.
Finally, after nine days of nonstop work, his task was complete. The last of the updated battle data had been uploaded into his creations, and each of his three working androids were installed with the latest iteration of his Infinite Energy Reactors. He'd also taken the time to patch some of the other existing flaws in the Androids, such as the corrupted voice files for Android Fourteen, and the errors in Android Thirteen's personality matrix. All that remained now was to activate his machines and conduct some field tests.
Gero sagged into his chair, wiping sweat from his brow as he stared at the three stasis pods in front of him. After a moment he stretched out his back, wincing as he felt several corresponding pops from the aforementioned area. He also couldn't help but wince as he felt his joints throb with a dull pain, a side-effect from working so hard for so long. God, what he wouldn't give to have that Android replacement body finished. Screw unlimited power and eternal life, he'd just be happy to get rid of his damn arthritis.
Once he felt sufficiently rested, Gero reached over to his work console to activate the Androids. He paused a moment later, though, as a distinctly unpleasant aroma reached his nose. He cautiously sniffed himself, and recoiled from the resulting smell. Dear god, when was the last time he had bathed?!
Ah, right. Nine days of work, breaking only to sleep and eat. That would do it.
Reluctantly, Gero moved away from his work station, and made his way over to the adjoining living quarters attached to his lab.
The living quarters were rather sparse and spartan, in all honesty. Gero previously hadn't paid much mind to creature comforts, and so his attached live-in area only consisted of a small bedroom, a kitchen, a laundry room, and a bathroom. And his bedroom only really contained a small bed and a closet for his clothes, and literally nothing else, whilst his kitchen was mostly stocked with nutrition pastes and military meal kits leftover from his days at the Red Ribbon Army.
Hmph. If he was going to stay here long term, perhaps he ought to start thinking of ways to…spruce up the place. If nothing else, buying some books and a tv would be good at relieving some of the tedium and boredom that he sometimes felt. Perhaps he ought to look into creating a robot chef, or some such thing as well. Surely it wouldn't be hard to program some culinary skill into a rudimentary mechanoid?
Gero mulled over those thoughts as he stripped and showered, going through the motions of bathing himself. Some time later he emerged from his quarters, clean and dressed in a new set of clothes.
He walked back to his workstation and started typing at his console. Then, with the push of a button, he activated Android Fifteen.
The door to Android Fifteen's stasis pod slid open with a hiss. Android Fifteen stepped out a moment later, his distinctive purple skin and small stature standing out right away. That, combined with his large green hat, large yellow overcoat, light blue pants, and sunglasses gave him a very memorable appearance.
Hm. Why had he made Fifteen a purple dwarf again? Try as he might, Gero honestly couldn't remember.
"Yo, doctor. Wassup?" Android Fifteen casually asked as he stepped out of his pod. "Hmph, my internal chronometer says it's been a few years since you last activated me. Hardly looks like the lab's changed that much, though. Aside from your wrinkly ass gettin' older."
Gero let out a soft growl, while his eye twitched with faint annoyance. He was starting to remember why he considered Android Fifteen a failure.
"Show your master some more respect," he grumbled, trying his best to push past his growing ire.
"Ah, you know I'm just messin' with ya, Doc. Besides, you literally built me to be like this, ain't got no one but yourself to blame if ya mad," Fifteen flippantly replied. Then he took out a flask from within his overcoat and took a swig from it.
"...Where did you even get that? I don't have any alcohol here," Gero declared in a bewildered tone.
Fifteen just shrugged and continued to drink.
Gero gave his creation one more irate glare and shook his head in dismay. Then, before Fifteen could anger him any more, he decided to go ahead and activate Android Fourteen next.
Fourteen's pod cracked open and he stepped out next. In contrast to his counterpart, Fourteen was a tall, very muscular man with an albino-white skin tone and long, braided black hair. His upper torso was nearly bare, covered only by a brown brassard and belt, while his lower half was clothed with a large green skirt.
"Doctor," Fourteen gave him a curt nod, his brown eyes assessing the room. "I thank you for seeing fit to activate me again."
"Kiss ass," Fifteen snorted, and took yet another swig from his flask.
Gero smirked and nodded at Fourteen in turn. "You are most welcome. See, Fifteen, your brother here actually uses the manners I programmed into him. You could learn a thing or two from him."
Then, he typed in one final series of commands into his console. With that, Android Thirteen's pod was unsealed, and he was activated next.
Thirteen stepped out of his pod with a slight grunt, idly rubbing his left wrist as he did so. In contrast to the others, he was most human-passing in his skin tone, with the only oddities being his shoulder-length white hair. Thirteen also had a somewhat more conventional outfit too, dressed in a green and yellow hat, gray suspenders, baggy green pants, and a yellow-brown vest that exposed his bare, muscular chest,
There was a reason behind his more human-like appearance, as well. Much like Android Sixteen, Thirteen had a human model he was based off of. Specifically, Thirteen was based on how Gero himself had looked back when he was a strapping young man. Well, mostly, at least. Gero himself had never been that in shape, in all honesty.
Gero certainly wasn't being vain in modeling one of his own Androids after a (superior) version of himself, though. It was merely down to a lack of good candidates to model his Androids off of. That was all.
"Mighty kind of ya Doctor," Thirteen said with a smirk, his tone carrying his signature, distinctive Southern drawl.
"Oh for crying out loud! I just finished patching that!" Gero groaned, gripping his lone mane of hair in despair and frustration.
"Come on now, there's no fixin' what ain't broke," Thirteen declared with an unrepentant grin.
"Goddamnit! How do you even have a Southern accent? There isn't a South in this reality!" he growled out, resisting the urge to tear out his own hair.
"Well, I wish I could help ya there Doctor, but my database doesn't really know what you're talkin' about," Thirteen replied with a careless shrug.
"Perhaps the Doctor is referring to the southern sectors of the world continent? If that is so, then those regions do very much exist. Though Android Thirteen's accent does not exactly match the dialect used by the residents of the southern sectors," Fourteen mused.
"Heh, maybe the Doc's goin' senile. I mean, he's getting close to that age, ain't he? Maybe he activated us so we could start changin' his diapers n' shit," Fifteen chortled. "In which case, not it."
"Not it," Fourteen instantly echoed.
"Not—damn it!" Thirteen swore and crossed his arms in distaste.
Gero ignored the byplay amongst his creations, and instead settled back into his chair. He massaged his temples and closed his eyes, doing his best to try and center himself.
Clearly, reactivating Androids 13 through 15 was a mistake. But he'd spent the last nine days upgrading them, so it was too late for him to back out now. Especially with Sixteen and Nineteen still another year away from completion, if not far longer.
"If you all are quite done, I have some orders to give," Gero said at last as he opened his eyes.
Thirteen, Fourteen, and Fifteen all snapped to attention at that and fell silent as they all awaited his command.
Gero breathed a sigh of relief, glad that they were at least sensible enough to know when to take things seriously. "You three know why I've reactivated you. I've updated your databases with all the knowledge I have pertaining to the upcoming Saiyan invasion. Vegeta and Nappa will be on Earth in less than a year's time, and we must prepare for it. Much as it pains me to ally with Son Goku and his friends, they are the only ones standing in the way of complete annihilation of the planet. Once the Saiyans arrive, I shall be tasking you three with their defeat.
"We shall talk strategy about the Saiyans later, however. For now, I have some missions I need you three to do, and some tests to run on your current capabilities," he said.
"Fourteen, Fifteen: I want the both of you to go explore the ruins of Doctor Wheelo's base in the Tsurumai-Tsuburi Mountains. Scavenge what you can from his fortress, and prioritize taking what information you can from his surviving computer records," he ordered.
That had been quite the shock, to say the least. Alongside his Androids, Gero had concrete proof that some of the movie plotlines and characters existed in this worldline. He had vivid memories of looking up to Doctor Wheelo in the past: in fact, Wheelo had been one of his main inspirations when he had first become a scientist. Knowing what he knew now, Gero couldn't help but wonder what sort of team they might have made, had they worked together. Alas, the good doctor was already dead.
A quick check of the battle-data his spy bug had recorded had proved that a version of The World's Strongest movie had occurred a year ago. The specific details didn't line up with the events of the movie perfectly, but the broad strokes remained the same. Wheelo had tried, and failed, to steal a new body for himself, and he and Doctor Kochin had died in the subsequent struggle against Son Goku, Master Roshi, Krillin, and Piccolo. His lair had been left in ruins thereafter, and as far as Gero was aware, no one had tried to scavenge anything from there. Not even his past self.
Well, that would change. He wasn't sure what, if anything, of use he might find at Wheelo's fortress, but it couldn't hurt to look all the same. Which brought him to his next order.
"Thirteen, you will be going to Mount Paozu to search for Son Goku's space pod," he declared. "I do not have a specific set of coordinates to give you, so you will need to conduct a thorough search of the area. As far as I'm aware, the pod should be near the vicinity of Son Gohan's former residence, so I would suggest starting your search around there."
He'd almost forgotten all about Goku's attack ball until fairly recently. As far as he was aware, it had been left completely undisturbed all these years, and would remain so until Doctor Briefs went looking for it. That meant that he could send Thirteen out to find it and bring it back. That way Gero would be able to study some genuine alien tech, as well as get a head start in building his own brand of spacecraft and interstellar technology. And then, once he was fully done studying the space pod, he'd have Android Thirteen drop it back off where he'd found it. That way Doctor Briefs could still acquire it in the near future.
"Understood Doctor," Thirteen replied. Fourteen and Fifteen echoed their own acknowledgements of his orders as well.
"Good. Then go out and do as you are commanded. And remember: keep contact with outside parties to a minimum. I do not want any of Son Goku's allies to catch wind of any of you before the arrival of the Saiyans," Gero declared.
His creations accepted the additional parameters with ease, and soon after that, they flew out of his lab.
Gero leaned back against his chair, letting out a soft sigh in the aftermath. While his Androids were busy with that, it was time to consider another matter. Namely, the creation of a new Android. And not just another mechanoid, but a bio-android, like Seventeen and Eighteen.
He had been mulling over the idea for some time now, in between his feverish upgrading of his current batch of Androids. As strong as he could make his mechanoid creations, his memories gave him undeniable proof that cyborgs would almost always have better overall potential than their mechanoid counterparts. Seventeen and Eighteen could train in the traditional way to gain strength, after all, unlike his mechanoid creations. And the benefits that came with being a cyborg, namely his Infinite Energy Reactor, gave them far more power than any normal, baseline human could ever enjoy.
But that just left him with the question of who he could possibly make into an Android. Seventeen and Eighteen were crystal-clear examples of the perils of just kidnapping a random person off the streets. No, if he was going to make another bio-android, it would have to be someone he could control. Someone who would willingly undergo the conversion process, and remain his ally.
With the newfound knowledge in his head, Gero had plenty of candidates he could choose from…it was just a matter of figuring out who the best fit would be.
Mercenary Tao leapt to mind: the man had already undergone some cyborg conversion, given his modifications in the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament. Turning him into a full-fledged Android would no doubt make Tao a formidable threat to anyone standing against him. He also had a bone to pick with Son Goku, making him a good ally of convenience. But, Gero wasn't so certain he'd be able to control Tao. He was an assassin for hire, after all, and loyal to no one but maybe his brother Shen. Not to mention that Gero's own intentions of playing the long game might run counter to Tao's own probable desires for more immediate revenge.
So, if not Tao, then who?
Chi-Chi could be a formidable fighter on her own, one made infinitely stronger with an upgrade to being an Android. But satisfying as it might be to turn Son Goku's own wife against him, kidnapping Chi-Chi would almost certainly just turn out like it had with Seventeen and Eighteen. Even erased of any memories of her son and husband, Chi-Chi would no doubt try to kill him in retaliation for attempting to control her.
Besides, some part of him was extremely uncomfortable with the idea of using her in such a way. Gero just chalked that up to some lingering remnants from his old persona, however.
So then, who would fit the critical criteria of remaining loyal to him after being transformed into an Android? Gero wasn't left with a lot of good options, nothing he could think of, at least.
Well, no. There was…one candidate whom he could think of. Though thinking about it gave him another distinct feeling of unease and uncertainty.
Perhaps…perhaps it was time that they met again. Especially if she was slated to die in the near future. Even if he didn't turn her into an Android, there was still plenty left unsaid between the two of them, and Gero did not want to miss out on seeing her before it was too late.
"Computer," he spoke aloud. "Find the current whereabouts of Doctor Vomi."
His Supercomputer chirped positively in response. While it searched, Gero tapped his forearm impatiently, already brooding over the uncomfortable meeting to come.
"Doctor Vomi's last address on the available public databases list her as living with your son and daughter-in-law," his computer answered after a few moments.
Gero blinked in surprise, before an immediate grimace of distaste flashed over his features. Ah, great. So she was living with Ponshu: the son that had disowned him for working with the Red Ribbon Army. Well, wasn't that perfect. An uncomfortable meeting with his ex-wife would now be transformed into an overall awkward family reunion.
Fantastic.
Gero issued a heavy sigh and brought his hands to his temples, already feeling the start of a massive migraine. A few moments later he abruptly stood up, grumbling to himself the entire way as he marched back to his living quarters. Once there, he started searching through his threadbare wardrobe, desperate to find something presentable that would also flatter his figure.
"The things I do for love," Gero muttered distastefully to himself.
He paused thereafter, frowning as his mind caught up to his choice of wording. Love? He wasn't…no, this was merely a way to advance his overall project. He had no lingering feelings for Vomi whatsoever. Nor was he eager at all to meet with his estranged son for the first time in over twenty years. No, this was all toward progressing his Grand Plan. He was only doing this to get his revenge on that accursed Son Goku!
"Now, do I still have that tie Vomi bought for my 45th birthday…" Gero murmured to himself, eyeing his wardrobe with a critical gaze.
He needed to make sure he looked presentable, after all. To show up at his ex-wife's door in anything less than his best would be a grave insult to the both of them.
So Gero continued on, spending the next hour mulling over his choice of attire.