Trunks brushed his hair out of his face for the eight time during his flight leaving the ruins of North City. He had spent the last few months helping the refugees near the ruins, as he did with West City, after he had destroyed Cell and the Androids, almost five years ago. Thankfully, there was relatively little damage to North City, but Trunks decided to stick around to make sure none of the skyscrapers collapsed anytime soon.
Today, however, the residents of the once-ruined metropolis had finally restored the last major structure, along with the Metro-Rails that ran through most of the city, so now they were safe and self-sufficient. He had planned on heading over to East City, or maybe stop by to see how his mother was doing, before a memory suddenly came back to him when he was eight miles outside of North City.
Dr. Gero's lab.
Yes, he had defeated Cell already and had spared another timeline of the horror that he posed, but since then, Trunks was worried about several other Androids he had yet to see.
He remembered the time that three androids in particular, 13, 14, and 15 had tried to extinguish all of his former friends, and the damage they had caused during their short-lived terror. He couldn't believe that he didn't think of the other Androids until just now, and needed to see if they were present in his timeline. Though he was confident enough in his own abilities, he knew that if those three teamed up on him, he might not be able to save this world again.
Trunks looked around the rocky terrain, trying to remember where it was in the past, before finding a massive hole in the side of a cliff, revealing metallic walls.
"Oh, thank God," Trunks sighed as he began his descent.
The half-sayain landed in front of the large crater in the lab to inspect the damage. Inside were two shredded open pods, likely having been destroyed by the monsters they failed to contain. Bits of scrap-metal were cast across the ground. Almost every square foot of the room was filled with massive collections of cobwebs, coating it in white. Trunks examined the wreckage as he tried to locate the door that would lead to the lab's sub-basement, where Cell likely birthed from.
After two minutes of searching, Trunks' boot hit a plate of metal that echoed beneath him, suggesting that the floor beneath it was hollow. Trunks blew apart the floor with a small concentration of his power, blowing an unseen wind through the ruined laboratory. Spider webs and dust blew from his position like a sandstorm while the plate beneath him bent and broke before plummeting down into the earth. Trunks floated down the new passageway, his ki spiking as he prepared for whatever traps Dr. Gero may have laid for anyone who found this place.
While descending, the tunnel became darker and darker until the half-sayain couldn't see the broken ladder behind him. With a thought, Trunks' hair became golden as a bright aura surrounded him, the Super Sayain form easily penetrating the darkness. Finally, the fighter's boots made contact with the ground.
Just like the lab from the past, the sub-basement was mainly a carved-out space with a sparse few notes strewn about the computers, though many of the terminals in this one were destroyed, likely from Cell's birth.
In the center of the room was Cell's former pod, shattered and sparking occasionally as part of it limply hung from the ceiling. Trunks switched his attention from the birthing pod to the terminals farther away from the entrance. Some of the papers there were burned on the floor, yet a large pile remained untouched on top of the old terminal. Trunks picked up the top paper and found the familiar names, "Lapis," and "Lazuli".
"So I guess they didn't find this part of the lab, then," Trunks deduced. "Well, I guess they'd have tried waking up Cell if they did, all things considered."
Trunks put the paper back down onto the pile and brought a hand to his belt. He was trying to find a specific Capsule that he had brought in case he needed to bring something back to his mom, but stopped short when he saw a rather defined discoloration in the wall before him. Trunks slowly approached the wall, his golden aura beginning to push the dust away from him, just as the wall suddenly moved back.
Trunks prepared for another Android to attack him from the other side, but relaxed as the door slowly slid open to reveal yet another laboratory.
"Oh, great. Don't tell me there's more Androids that I've got to deal with," he sighed.
The half-sayain began to walk through the smaller laboratory, and noticed that this one was unlike the other two in a major way. Whereas the first two were purely constructed for the sake of creating killing machines, this one had pictures and charts posted on a large, artificial wall. Equations were strewn about, crossed out and circled in random places while strings attached to pictures connected diagrams to images of a rather normal-looking man and a red-headed child.
"Wait a second," Trunks slowly realized.
Trunks looked around for whatever notes he could find, and his eyes widened when they landed on a file labeled, "Android Model 16".
"Android 16!" Trunks shouted to himself.
He turned around and tried to spot the containment unit for the over-sized Android, but couldn't find anything. Trunks stalked across the room, looking for any signs that 16 may have either escaped or had been scrapped. The floor was clean of rubble and parts, however, and not even a minute later, Trunks had found another board of calculations. This time, however, the pictures were of the familiar design of a Sayain pod, like the one his mother used for reference when she built the Time Machine.
Suddenly, the lights to the room turned on.
Trunks turned around, ready to face down any Android that would make itself known, but only saw something baffling.
Around the lab, small toys and framed pictures were kept on shelves and hung on wires, depicting the man and the child. A majority of the pictures had their frames and glass broken, while others had writing on them that was smudged and faded. It was then that Trunks recognized the boy in the pictures, and subsequently the notes he had found in the past.
"Dr. Gero wasn't just building 16, he was actually trying to rebuild his son," Trunks realized.
Three beeps sounded off from one of the computers.
'[Dr. Gero: Password accepted. Beginning playback]'
Trunks turned around again to see one of the terminal screens playing a recording of the notorious Android 20 himself. But the man in the recording was nothing like the monster he had seen in the past. Whereas the one in the past had a constant look of cold calculations and seemed to be ready for any attack, this one was... broken. This Dr. Gero was sulking, crying, and was dressed in a sloppy fashion, as if he was just giving up entirely.
"I've decided, computer," the recording of the Doctor spoke. "I can't let what happened with Android 13 happen again. We nearly destroyed the entire South Pole during his rampancy. I lost Androids 14, 15, and 19 today. 19... he was begging for me to help him, but I just... I activated his self-destruct unit at the last second to cripple 13. If Androids 17 and 18 resist their shut-down commands again, I won't be able to stop them... but he would. Android 16."
The recording of Dr. Gero turned around to look at a Sayain-esque space-pod with the number 16 on it.
"I don't want him to have a life of violence. That's not what any father should want for their child. I can't do that to him. I've withheld upgrading the other two Androids since I started working on the Biological Android, and with luck, he'll be around to terminate 17 and 18 if they go rogue. I just... uhhh..."
The recording of the Doctor showed him laying his head into his hands and taking deep breaths.
"Why did I choose this life? Why did I ever want to get back at Son Goku?" he asked himself. "He was right to stop me then, and I can only pray that his friends will stop us now. But for once, I'm going to do right by at least one."
The recording showed Dr. Gero getting up and standing next to the space-pod before he spoke again.
"In 24 hours, Androids 17 and 18 will break down their fail-safe commands, and will likely kill me. I've weakened their power sources as much as I could, but even now, I don't think Goku's friends will be able to stop them. If worst comes to worst, my Biological Prototype will be able to terminate them effortlessly, but then... that leaves only 16." Dr. Gero stared at the number on the pod for a few silent seconds. "Android 16... my greatest creation. I'm going to launch him into space, and let him live on some alien planet. If what I saw during the Sayain attack was right, then there are thousands of worlds in need of someone to protect them. And hopefully... he'll find a purpose better than what I had intended. End recording and launch 16 to Na-"
The feed was cut off by the sound of a muffled blast before Dr. Gero was gone from the footage.
'[Playback finished]'
Trunks was feeling a mix of emotions at the moment. On one hand, he was glad to hear that Androids 13, 14, and 15 wouldn't be a problem, but there was the issue of not knowing what happened to 16 in the end. Maybe he ended up somewhere nice, or he could still be drifting out into the endless void of space until the end of time.
Trunks could only wish the Android peace.
"I won't forget you, 16. Good luck."
