DBZ X-Readers, Vol. 2

Cell x Reader Pt. 3 'Cicada'

You took immediate advantage of Gero's absence (after disposing of his body, of course). Aside from mentally being glad that 17 and 18 had escaped, you were glad that you'd no longer have to worry about Gero's infecting Cell with his ideas of killing whoever that 'Goku' was.

You switched off all of Gero's lectures and started putting on your own previous ones. You also made longer tracks of music and such, and one thing more--silence. He got six hours every night of sweet silence. Any more than that and you noticed that he'd start getting upset again. Ultimately, you'd prefer to give him more than that, but it could be worked up to, you supposed.

When he slept, you slept.

You'd looked around for wherever Gero might have been sleeping, thinking that he probably had a better bed than you, but you found that you were wrong. All you saw was another cot--albeit, with a slightly nicer pillow and blanket, which you took quickly for yourself. But it was odd--it didn't look as if it had been slept in for a long time! Did he just sleep at his desk or something? No wonder his wrinkles had wrinkles. It was amazing he'd managed to make it to the age that he had, if he had habits like that.

At least you had internet access again. You found that 17 and 18 were causing a whole hell of a lot of havoc, but to be honest, you weren't about to go getting in their way. They'd seemed relatively friendly to you (especially 17) but you really weren't sure about them, considering the evidence that they'd killed Gero, and the rampage that they now appeared to be going on. Maybe being locked up like they had been for years in the pods like that had driven them mad. Who knew.

And so the next year passed.

There wasn't much of a way to get out of the lab safely--how, you wondered, had Gero been getting all the supplies? Was he flying them in? The nearest town was at least a hundred miles away and there weren't really any roads outside the lab, or even decent paths down. Judging by the shape that 17 and 18 were keeping things in outside, you felt that it was best to wait until Cell was fully grown. Why you thought this, you had no idea, but it was something that kept repeating in your head, over and over. Ha, it was probably Gero's fault, maybe he had a tape or two that he played on repeat when you were asleep.

You started going through his files as best you could, and after a lot of trying (what the hell kind of a password was 16LapisLazuli19nijuu21?) you got into the file he'd been keeping on you. Most of it had been hidden under another layer of encryption, but what you could see confirmed your earlier suspicion: you were just an experiment to see what was safe, what would work, and what didn't. He also seemed to speak of you as "the female" rather than by your name. It was too bad that he was dead already or you'd have killed him for that...as long as you could be sure he wouldn't have blown you up. That thought had you looking for information on the bomb in your chest, but that, like most of the other files you wanted to see more of, was unavailable to you. No password you could think of worked this time. Maybe he'd counted on you breaking through the first layer...?

At about this point, summer hit, and despite how unprofessional it was you spent most of your time in shorts and a regular old T-shirt in the lab. It wasn't like the various little power supplies couldn't handle the warm weather--it's just that you were really more interested in comfort at this point. Years of wearing that damned lab coat and "sensible" clothes, and proper shoes that hurt had made you want to do something more interesting.

Despite being almost completely alone, you were comfortable. Gero's threats weren't hanging over you and you had pretty much free run of his lab. If the students back at university could see you now! In possession of one of the most high-tech labs in the world...and you weren't doing very much with it. You thought briefly of getting in contact with some of your old friends, but when you didn't receive any messages back after checking up on them, you just gave up.

You'd just given your latest little "donation" to Cell (more to conserve the nutrients still available than anything at this point) and were heading back up to the upper lab when you noticed the sun going down. Realizing that it had been a while since you'd had the chance to look at the stars, you headed outside and smiled as one by one they appeared. It was nice, despite the heat that had you sweating like hell. You thought night-time was supposed to be cooler than this!

After a couple hours of looking over the constellations and spotting Venus in an interesting light, you headed back inside and flicked on the secondary doors. It seemed that Gero had planned for something like this to happen, and you were grateful...it kept the bugs out at night.

Almost as soon as you switched on the lights, you heard it again.

The rattling.

It sounded different this time...

You went down to the lower lab, pulling the labcoat back on, and stopped cold when Cell's tank came into sight.

There was a huge hole in the side, and it was completely empty. The fluid from his tank was all over the ground and the wires were going ape. You ran over, suddenly glad for the sensible rubber-soled shoes, and switched the power to it off.

The rattling got louder again.

"Cell?" you called out, looking around.

Unsteady breathing. More rattling.

"Cell, if you're out of the tank I need to be sure that you're...alright."

"Oh, I'm fine..."

"So you can talk!" you said, still looking around for him. Where the hell was he?

Nothing.

You tried to pinpoint the sound of the rattling--not an easy task in this echo-chamber of a room. But you finally picked a direction and headed for that corner of the lab. Nothing. Another corner. Nothing. Third corner...

He was crouched over something.

"Cell, are you...are you alright? Everything functioning normally? Nothing hurting or--"

"Fully functional." He seemed to stand, and turned to walk towards you. The rattling (which you could now tell had been coming from somewhere around his midsection) had stopped. Completely.

You hadn't realized until now just how much taller he was, and felt your tail twitching a little in sudden fear. It curled in front of you, and you clutched at it.

"Why so scared, little bird? I won't bite."

This was not what you had expected.

"Much."

At all.