DBZ X-Readers, Vol. 2

Cell x Reader Pt. 1 'The Embryo'

  Author's Note: I *finally* got around to this request. Don't worry, we're going to see more of Cell in the next chapter.  TFS or otherwise? You'll just have to wait and see. And yes...we will see Perfect later. >_>

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Your first error had been to question Dr. Gero's ethics.

You could almost, almost understand chemically enhancing soldiers. But to take someone and add something to their body? To put in mechanics and circuits, and...and things like that? It...it just didn't feel right. You had no positive feelings about any outcome that could result from something like that.

You didn't know when it happened, but...

But you'd woken up in a test tank, and noticed a scar on your chest that hadn't been there before. That, however, was neither the only change Gero had made, nor the only one he would make. Over the next few years you found yourself more often in that same tank, and...and you didn't want to think what else. Often you would wake up with newer modifications, or your skin having changed in a slight way somehow. Now and again your hair would fall out. Sometimes he would put you through combat training to test out strengthening compounds and electronic enhancements he'd given you.

And then had come the tail...You didn't know what it was, and the ability to control it was more than a little frightening, but you had to stay sane. So you chose to wonder how he'd done it. It was green, and you found to your additional shock that your skin had taken on a greenish tint as well.

"You can control it?"

That voice. Gods, how you hated that voice. So detached, impassionate...empty.

"Y...yes."

"Flex the tip."

You looked away, and glanced at the end of the tail as you tried to do as he asked. To your surprise, the almost needle-thin pointed end of the tail expanded a little.

Gero kept making you use the tail, and as you expected, you had to keep it. Further experiments were performed on it and you found to your horror that it functioned like a syringe...but...what for? What was it for?

Escape was a virtual impossibility. He made no secret of the fact that he'd planted a bomb in your chest--and he'd shown you the data, the x-rays, and so forth, on it to be sure you understood he wasn't lying.

The years passed.

Then the twins appeared, the ones he'd called 17 and 18.

You'd gotten along with them decently, but...

...but, you were ashamed to say, they were far gutsier than you. They had the bombs the same as you did, and yet they defied him every chance they got. 18 all but ignored you, but 17 at least had the decency to speak to you. "Go outside and actually take in some air," he'd said, "Helps the complexion."

But you didn't. You stayed in the lab nearly all the time now...what was the point of leaving? Why even try? And why did they persist in disobedience? Weren't they afraid of what Gero might do?

In the end, rather than utilizing the bombs in their chests, he had simply deactivated them, put them to sleep. You asked why this was--making clear, of course, that you were simply curious rather than accusing him of anything.

"You should know better, (y/n)," Gero said, "You're a woman of science, aren't you? When the experiment goes awry, you save it if possible and make your modifications later. You don't simply throw a valuable piece of equipment away when it fails to function in the correct way--and you build failsafes, of course. In any case, they have a purpose to serve--so their defiance has little point anyway. They simply don't know it yet."

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"What is this?"

You were looking at the little figure in the test tank. Up until now Gero had not even mentioned it to you, but you were sure that this thing had to have been worked on for a long time...if the data readouts were any indication, anyway. And then...was that Gero's voice plugged into it?

"My greatest work, and your new assignment."

"How do you mean?"

"I mean he is the new purpose of your life."

"You already know it's a he?"

"Of course I know it's a he, I designed him that way! Idiot..."

"I didn't think you were working on something purely biological like this. I thought..."

"You thought, and assumed, rather than researched...and that is why you are the assistant and I am the scientist."

You paused again, listening to the muffled voice, and then said, "Is that a recording of your voice?"

"Yes," he replied curtly. "Now enough questions. How do his vitals look?"

He'd stuck around for hours, but when Gero finally left you took a listen to the recordings. Goku this...Goku that, he has to die, you must be the one to kill him, this is your only purpose... Who the hell was this Goku?

The recording cut off, and you saw the little thing kick.

So...he was doing it. Gero was actually doing things the right way this time, and you were surprised he hadn't thought to do it sooner. Brainwash a child from the surrogate womb to do his bidding...he was both disgusting and a genius.

...and it made you angry. You were one thing, you'd gotten into this mess by your own mistakes, by your own stupid, foolish choices. But this little thing hadn't asked for this. It hadn't chosen to work for a madman, it hadn't asked to be born. It hadn't asked to have "Kill Son Goku" seared into its very consciousness. And against your better judgment, pushing aside your own fear, you decided to do something about it.

You decided to make some recordings of your own. Short ones, ones that you could play during occasional half-hours of time when you were completely sure Gero was asleep or off getting more supplies or whatever the hell he did when he left the lab. Centuries-old symphonies, comedians' standup routines, newer songs--anything you could edit into five minute chunks.

But most importantly, you kept a small rotation of little 'lectures' you made yourself.

"You have a choice," you said during one, "Don't forget that. You're not a mindless puppet, you are alive, and you can decide the course of your own life."

He seemed to like hearing that.