Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ So Many Steps to Death... ❯ Hybrid Theory ( Prologue )

In a darkened room, a strange scene is taking place. A young girl, no older than six, is sparring with a tall, dark figure with long black hair. The figure catches the girl off-guard and slams her against the ground.
"Ouch! Tou-san (dad), help me up, please?" pleads the little girl, her face screwing up in pain.
"Get up yourself," grunted the figure.
"But I think I hurt my ankle, Tou-san. Can we stop training now?"
"Training doesn't stop until I say so, now get up!!"
"Raditz!" cut in a new voice. "Stop training now this very instant!!"
A young woman with gold-blonde hair in a lab coat switches on the light switch. Red with anger, she easily scoops up the shivering child on the floor and speedily heads out the door.
"HEY! WHERE ARE YOU GOING WITH MY KID, WOMAN!?!?" bellows a pink-faced Raditz. "WE'RE NOT FINISHED TRAINING HERE!!"
"It's finished now, chikusho (beast)," responded the woman, pausing in the doorway.
"I oughta..."
"Don't you dare, Raditz. You know what will happen if I find you uncontrollable."
She held up a little black box, her thumb poised on a small, red button. Raditz paused, unable to move a muscle, for fear. Pushing it meant something close to death for him.
"That's better, my jinzouningyou (artificial plaything). Give training a break for a while, will you? For a few days, you could do something more useful, like disappearing."
The woman turned and left an angry-looking Raditz in the training room.
~
In the next room, which is a lab, the woman busies herself with wrapping the young girl's ankle. The air is silent, save for the knocking and thumping noises made by Raditz in the training room next door.
"God, what am I going to do with him?" sighed the woman, finishing the wrap. "I knew I shouldn't have tried bringing your father back to life, but what else could I do? I was desperate for a specimen to work on, and your father's body just happened to be there... Lying in the middle of the field for the taking..."
The girl is silent for a few moments.
"You could've used someone else for your jinzouningen (android, cyborg…), Mommy."
"I know, but..."
"What's done is done, Mommy, and there's nothing you can do about it."
"(Sigh) I suppose…"
More silence.
~
Fourteen years later, another scene is taking place. This time, the girl, a tender young adult, is storming out of a gray-stoned building with a suitcase in one hand. Her mother, who is now a middle-aged woman with some gray hairs in her silky blonde hair, chases after her daughter, but stumbles on the red brick path. Distracted, the girl looks back at her mother. There is a small trail of blood gently trickling from the mother's temple. The mother looks up at her daughter, with a desperate look on her face, pleading:
Don't go. You are all what I have left.
Hot, fresh tears spill out of the woman's eyes. The girl slowly turns around and puts down the suitcase. She crossed her arms and frowned. Her father always said tears were a sign of weakness. However, her expression softened slightly as she also recalled her mother telling her once that tears didn't mean just pain of the body, but of the soul. She remembered her mother crying once when she was pulling out pictures of their small family and looking at them fondly, before Raditz became so intent on training their daughter.

The mother had pleaded countless times to the father to stop, but he was unmoved. He even went to extremes as to sneaking out late at night with the child in his arms and they'd go train in the nearby mountains. But her mother had been sneaky, too, always pushing their 'little girl' to be a great scholar. She would even hide her daughter in a closet so that Raditz wouldn't know that his daughter was studying.

She couldn't bear it to see her mother or her father cry about each other one more time. It was always her, their own daughter, who was in the middle of their arguments, their pains, their sorrow, the center of their world, and yet, the only connection to the other's. They each had told her multiple times that they couldn't bear to separate. What would one do without the other? It was as if they couldn't live at all without each other or with each other. She suddenly hardened at the memories again. Her eyes turned cold as she turned and picked up her suitcase again. It was no use excusing that comforting lie of a 'normal family'.

"I'm leaving," she stated flatly, "Learn to be with him without me. I've helped you build your world of him and you for twenty years. Now it's time for you to do it yourself."
Tears were suddenly blurring the girl's vision as she took to running, running as far as she could away from that place she had called home for so many years. It didn't matter where she was going now, just away. The mother stood up and continued to stare at her daughter's back as she jumped and began to fly away towards the mountains. Only until the sun had set and the distant figure of her daughter disappears did the mother finally turn to go back into the house.
~
"Stop! Stop!" screamed the dirty youth, holding up his arm for protection, "I give up!"

There is a pause of silence. The youth opens his eye only a bit, because it's swollen. He sees those eyes still scowling at him, causing him to cower again. They were terrifying alone, those eyes…but it was her fighting skills that confirmed it. Those eyes take another look at him and a cruel laugh rings through the early morning air.

"What's the matter, too much?" she taunts, "I'm not surprised. What a pitiful weakling you are…"

"Damn you!"

The youth struggles to stand up, leaning on the wall to support himself.

"You'll…"

The woman simply kicks his chin, causing him to crumple into a heap.

"No!" a girl screams, running to the youth's side, then to the woman, "How could you do this! He's my brother!"

The young woman simply strides past the girl to the other end of the alley. She does not care to bother the two any further. Besides, they had already caused her too much trouble. Her footsteps carry her past other bruised bodies of men who had been through her beatings.

"You tell your brother not to bother me again," says the woman, her eyes on the weeping girl, "Or both of you won't be so lucky next time."

She leaps to the air and lands on the nearest roof. The girl below full of rage and eyes spilling with angry tears, jumps to her feet.

"You'll pay for this!" she screams after the woman, "You'll regret what you did to my brother!!"

The girl's head hangs down, the more tears coming more steadily now. A slight breeze in the alley stirs her long, blonde hair. She was more than just mad at the woman. She was angry at the ones who tortured both her and brother, the ones who had threatened their lives repeatedly. She hated her mother for abandoning them alone in the world when they were barely teenagers. Then they had to live on their own.

The girl sniffles as a flood of memories swirls in her head. There was their father, a proud colonel of the Red Ribbon Army…they had been so happy then. Then that dreaded day. The day the letter came, bearing the news of the death of their father. The girl still had it in her pocket. She takes it now, reading the yellowed, wrinkled paper.

To the Silver Family:

It is with great regret that I report the death of Colonel Silver during his service to the proud Red Ribbon Army. He was brutally murdered by a boy named Son Goku while on a special mission for the army. The supreme commander of the Red Ribbon Army salutes him for his bravery, and gives his greatest comfort to his family. Enclosed is…

The letters blur as the girl begins to cry again. She folds the paper and stuffs it in her pocket. Another breeze, a little sharper, makes her shiver. It was getting on night, when the gangs were even worse… The girl looks at her brother. At least he was breathing. But he looked past surviving another night on the streets, and the girl wasn't much for fighting skills, even if she was the older of them. She jerks her head to one end of the alley.

There has to be some shelter around here…

"Don't worry," she tells her brother, "I'll find us a way out of here…"

~
Some days later, the same woman is standing on a small cliff overlooking a massive wasteland. Nothing lived there…not now, anyway. There had been a huge metropolis only a day before, before there was a report of a mysterious explosion that wiped out the whole city. The reports all said it was due to two beings from outer space. The woman knew only too well who they were. Her father had mentioned the two almost all the time when she was young, often a topic of interest at the dinner table. Even on the those terrifying nights in the mountains with her father, the woman had heard the stories of her heritage, the customs, the language…

She sighs. It pained her now that her hometown was gone, along with her parents. But it didn't erase the pain they had caused her… Her silent sufferings finally give to quiet tears.
It's all over now, she thinks to herself through her tears.

(No, it isn't!) shouts her human half within, (I can't believe you're so stupid! You had a chance to save your parents… And what did you do? You and your stubborn pride kept you from coming home! You could've done something!)

"I wouldn't have had a chance against Vegeta and Nappa," snaps the woman to her half, "I'm that weak…"

(God, you're modest AND stupid! Have you forgotten all the training Raditz gave you?)

"No, of course I haven't…How could I forget? After all those training sessions… And anyway, I would've either been killed like Tou-san (father) or sold into the slave trade."

(But you're a Saiyajin! A half-blood, but still a Saiyajin!)

"Big deal that I'm half, because they're pure! Even my own father, a pure blood…"

(So your father died. But you didn't. Now's the time to do something about it! Did your father waste all that training on a brat to have that brat do nothing? He trained you, because it meant something to him…)

"Yeah? Like what?"

(It meant that he saw something in a mudblood Saiyajin like you. He may have been a third-class Saiyajin, but he knew you had potential. That you could fight like him, be like him, overpower him…)

"I never wanted what he wanted! I never wanted what Kaa-san (mom) wanted! They had their dreams…"

The woman kicks a rock in frustration.

"…Why did they waste them on me?"

(…)

"To tell you the truth, I never even liked either of them. I loved them, but I never wanted to live their dreams. I always wanted something else, but did they listen? No… Now that they're gone, I can do what I want."

(I'd like to know what those plans are…)

"… I don't know anymore. Twenty-six years, and I still don't know what I want! I've got nowhere to go and no one to turn to… Tou-san has a brother, but he's probably dead. Kaa-san has a brother, too… Somebody by 'Dr. Gero'."

(Aren't you going to go look for him?)

"…Might as well. Nothing else to do around this rat hole."

The woman leaves, her back to the past.

Find Gero…

At least finding her uncle would mean something. All those years of living had hardened her. The only good thing that came out of it was that her fighting powers had significantly increased, due to the fact that almost every single day she had to fight for her life or die. But she had grown to hate all that was around her, especially lovers. It just made her want to blast them to oblivion like the Saiyajin she was. But she couldn't. She wouldn't. And she didn't. Because something, something always held her back. Something human. She always hated this thing with all her Saiyajin half, but embraced its sweetness at the same time with her human half. Every time it occurred, she could never figure out what it was. Maybe it was better that way. So as to not let her Saiyajin half stomp out this weakness.

The woman flies off.
~
The woman outside the dirty building glances to her left and to her right. She doesn't want anyone to see her trying to break in. Even though she very easily could overwhelm the police, she doesn't want the hassle of it all. They were just annoying, the police. It is broad daylight, and the cops were as alert to crime as they were at night. After only a moment's hesitation, the woman finally makes a decision. With a small ball of energy, she easily takes down the metal door, taking its hinges with it. Stepping inside the building, the woman looks around. It is pitch black within.
"Anyone here?"
Silence.
Maybe it really was stupid to ask where Dr. Gero's lab was.
A small noise within the darkness distracts her. Taking a hesitant step, she tries calling out again.
"Who's in there?"
Her hand grops for a light switch along the wall. Upon finding one, she flips it, causing light to illuminate the gloom. The woman gives a gasp. All sorts of machinery is sitting around, with various computers, crumpled sheets of crossed-out calculations lying on the floor, and machine parts scattered all over the place. But that wasn't what made the woman gasp. It is a person, with the top of his head screwed off lying completely naked on a table, with bits of long wire attached it what looked like his brains. And an equally nude girl is lying on another table nearby. The two looked like twins, their blank, icy-blue eyes staring at the ceiling. The woman's jaw drops.

"Oh my god…"

She walks to one of the tables, the one with the girl. Brushing away the lifeless girl's hair, another gasp escapes the woman's throat.

"It's you…that girl…"

Her head jerks to the other table.

"…and that idiot brother of yours…I saved you two from that gang…"

A wave of cold sweat covers her forehead. The woman suddenly feels dizzy, the room seeming to swirl around her. She leans on the girl's table, despite her uneasiness about it.

"I don't believe it… The twins."

She suddenly found herself falling to the floor, the world suddenly turning upside-down. There wasn't a thought she could remember before she blacked out.

The twins…My uncle turned them into jinounzingen…

~

The woman blinks. A bright light shines in her eyes, seeming to increase the dull pain in her head. Everything feels like lead, like her whole body had lost its function. After what seemed like an hour, the woman manages to turn her head. She realizes that she was a plain, white room. There was no other furniture, as far as she could tell, besides the bed she laid in.

Where the hell…

A creak of a door is heard. The woman forces her head the other way, a surge of new pain rippling in her head. She opens her mouth to scream, but nothing comes. Her throat is too dry for words, much less sounds. The image of an old man swims into view. Despite the pain, she scowls.

"Glad to see you're awake," he says, "I see that you saw my jinounzingen in the other room…"

She turns her head away, not caring to look at him. All she wants to is get well and get out.

"Care for anything to eat?" came his voice again.

The woman didn't answer him.

"A drink?"

A bottle of water is shoved in her hand. Somewhat reluctant, the woman struggles to sit up and drink it. She tries not to look at the man…not after what she had seen. The water did her good. After she done drinking, the dryness in her throat was gone and her headache lessened.

"Who are you?" says the man, "How did you find my lab?"

The woman finally turns her head towards him. She knew who he was.

"I am your niece, the daughter of your sister Murasaki Gero. Your sister is dead, and so if your brother-in-law, and I've come here."

The man's eyes widen at every word.

"My God!" he exclaims, "Mura is dead!?"

She nods matter-of-factly.

"…Thank god!"

Her jaw nearly drops again, but it hurts too much.

"You realize how long I've waited to hear that? Mura's dead!"

The man's eyes dance with joy, which sickens the woman.

"What kind of a sicko are you?" she asks him, frowning.

"Whatever you choose to call me, dear Mei (niece), it does not matter…Mura's dead! What a bother she was to me! Nothing made me more happy when she left the Red Ribbon Army, but I never thought she'd die! Especially with all those…"

The woman suddenly jumps up from the bed, her ki (energy) flaring up. Her anger is clearly visible at this man's indifference to his sister, her own mother.

"Happy!? Happy!?" she screams at him, her eyes full of fire, "What did you do to her, bastard!!"

"A tail," the man observes the appendage twitching angrily from the woman, deaf to the outburst, "Unusual for a human…"

The woman scowls.

"I'm not a human!" she yells at him, "And my mother didn't deserve a brother like you! I don't deserve a heartless uncle like you!"

She leaps across the room, but suddenly cries out when she lands. Falling to the floor, she clutches her leg. Sudden prickles of pain seem to light her leg on fire, sending her agony.

"I wouldn't advise that you excite yourself," says the man behind her coolly, "I had to inject some…"

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO MY LEG!?!"

"…medication," he continues, "It was easier to inject it in your leg because I thought something like this would happen."

The woman jerks her head in his direction, her eyes full of accusation.

"You meant to keep me here?"

"Well, yes. Originally, I just thought you were some prostitute and I thought I'd keep you, but now I…"

"You didn't do anything, did you?"

"No. There's no point to sleeping love."

"Good. I would've put you through Hell…and I still will."

The woman tries to stand, but the pain only shoots up her leg, causing her to fall to the floor again. She tries a second time, but she feels arms suddenly grab her from behind. The arms lift her off the ground, leaving her legs dangling. She starts to fight, but Dr. Gero stops her.

"Don't try to struggle, Mei," he says with a fake smile, "Jinounzingen Juurokugou (Android 16) is capable of many things. He can kill you with one snap of your pretty neck. He also has enough explosives inside him to blow up the whole city."

She stops.

"Now, Juurokugou," he continues, rubbing his hands and walking past them, "Follow me."

The cyborg simply carries her out of the room, following his master, wordlessly. His prisoner looks around, trying to familiarize herself with her surroundings, in case of escape. There wasn't much to see. All she can see was a long hall, with hot lights overhead, and a few doors. She wonders if any of them lead to an exit, or the lab she had seen. Remembering the twins, she shivers a little.

Will that happen to me?

Meanwhile, Dr. Gero is talking about things she doesn't bother to hear. All she actually listened to was when he started to talk about his sister.

"…Mura and I were always interested in creating artificial life. Even as children, we experimented, sometimes successful, but most of the time not. As adults, we formed our own research company devoted to the cause, but our funds were cut short. Fortunately, we found the Red Ribbon Army. Or rather, they found us. With the money they supplied us, we continued our projects. We managed to create fifteen cyborgs together, but as we were drawing the plans for a sixteenth one, Mura suddenly said she didn't want to be part of it anymore. I wasn't surprised. Mura was always a soft one, not wanting to destroy life. The only reason she had gone into the army was for the project. She wanted to create jinounzingen all right, but not for the purposes the Red Ribbon demanded. I myself loved the whole job, but she hated it all. Mura finally left, and I didn't hear from her since then. That is, until you came. When you woke up, I knew you had to be Mura's daughter…you two have the same eyes."

"So what's the point of creating jinounzingen anymore?" the woman demands, "The Red Ribbon Army was disbanded a long time ago!"

"I know that, and so does the whole world. The only thing the rest of the world doesn't know is that I plan to take over it myself."

"What? With your scraps of metal? Impossible!"

"Hey!"

Dr. Gero whirls around, his eyes flashing. He holds a syringe close to her face, a strange, clear liquid in it.

"My creations aren't scraps of metal, Mei! They are capable of anything, much more than you can imagine…"

At that point, he turns around to a large door off to the side. It slides open, and he descends down a dark, narrow staircase. The cyborg and woman follow him. Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs, Dr. Gero flips a light switch, a single light flickering on. The woman looks around. More machinery, desk with scattered papers and blueprints, and…

"What is that?" she asks, her voice echoing in the underground lab, jerking her head towards a larger machine in the corner.

"This," says Dr. Gero, walking towards it, "Is my greatest creation…"

He flips another light switch, revealing a clear, glass dome with green liquid inside it. And in that was an ugly sort of larvae floating in it. The woman's senses were suddenly overwhelmed with energy. Evil energy.

"…This small larvae shall one day destroy Son Goku," continues the doctor, "And all of his friends as well. Unlike my other creations, this one is composed of the cells of Son Goku and all the other Z Senshi in the world, plus their enemies. From this, I have collected…"

The woman stops listening, suddenly lost in her own thoughts.

Son Goku!? My other uncle!? I thought he was dead!

"…and so you see, Mei, you are very lucky," finishes Dr. Gero.

"Huh?" the woman snaps out her thoughts, "What'd you say?"

The doctor shakes his head.

"Mei, you weren't listening. I just said that you were very lucky to become part of my experiment with biological jinounzingen."

"WHAT!?"

"That's right, Mei," says Gero, a slow smile creeping across his lips, "My experiment."

"EXPERIMENT!?"

"Simple. I'm going to turn you into a jinounzingen."

There was no words to express what the woman's face showed at that moment. First, she felt shock, then anger.

"I AM NOT GOING TO BE PART OF YOUR EXPERIMENT, NIECE OR NOT!!"

She starts to struggle against the android again, but he only tightens his grip. Dr. Gero only smiles again and walks to her, hypodermic in hand. As he injects the liquid, he laughs a little, like all this is a joke.

"When you wake up, Mei, you'll be reborn. Born to hate Son Goku and the rest of his pathetic lot. I've seen your power, Mei, and from what my calculations tell me, you'll become the strongest of them all. You have the potential… You and Cell together shall make the perfect couple for world domination! And in the end, I shall finally be the victor!"

The woman only growls at him in answer. Her wild pink eyes tell him everything that's on her mind. As she fades back into unconsciousness, only one thought sweeps across her mind.

Kill Gero…

~