The sky above West City was nothing but a haze of smoke and despair. Crumbled towers stood like broken teeth against a red horizon, and the air itself seemed to shiver with the echoes of destruction. What was once a bustling metropolis — filled with laughter, lights, and human dreams — had now become a graveyard of metal and dust.
Footsteps echoed softly among the debris.
Dr. Gero, the cold architect of this ruin, walked calmly through the fallen streets, his white lab coat fluttering in the toxic wind. Behind him followed his perfect children — Android 17, Android 18, and the crown jewel of his twisted ambition — Perfect Cell.
The ground crunched beneath their steps as they advanced deeper into the skeletal remains of the city. Every corner reeked of death, every shattered window whispered the same silent truth — humanity was fading.
Dr. Gero stopped suddenly and raised his mechanical hand. A soft metallic click followed.
"Seventeen. Eighteen."
Without hesitation, both androids responded to his command. Their eyes gleamed red for a moment, locking onto a faint movement behind a half-collapsed building.
Hidden in the shadows, a human — filthy, terrified, trembling — clutched his knees and tried to suppress his breathing. His heart hammered in his chest. He had been hiding for days, surviving on hope alone. But now, that hope had found him… and it was wearing a devil's smile.
Before he could move, Android 17 blurred into motion. In a blink, he was there — standing before the man, his hand gripping his throat tightly and lifting him off the ground. The man kicked, clawed, and screamed.
"Help! Somebody, please! Help me!" he shouted, tears mixing with the dust on his face.
The plea echoed through the ruins — desperate, raw, and human.
Dr. Gero tilted his head back and laughed — a hollow, mechanical laugh that rang through the empty streets. "Help?" he repeated mockingly. "Who do you think will come to save you? You humans still cling to your pathetic illusions. But hear me now — there is no savior left! The era of mankind is over. The age of my creations begins now!"
His laughter grew louder, crueler, reverberating across the shattered walls.
The man's body trembled violently in Android 17's grip. The fear that had once been mixed with defiance was now gone. His eyes dimmed as he realized the truth of Gero's words. No one was coming. No hero, no army, no god.
All his life, he had believed in someone else's protection — the world's system, its heroes, its order. But now, staring into the cold mechanical eyes of his executioner, he finally understood how fragile that faith had been.
He stopped struggling. His arms went limp.
"I… I don't want to die…" he whispered softly. But the words were barely heard before —
CRACK!
Android 17 snapped his neck with a clean motion. The lifeless body fell to the ground, like a discarded doll.
A shadow loomed above. Perfect Cell stepped forward, his golden-green exoskeleton glimmering faintly in the dim light. He looked down at the corpse with eerie satisfaction. Then, without hesitation, his tail uncoiled like a serpent, impaling the man's back and sucking the body in with a wet, mechanical slurp.
The sound was grotesque — flesh dissolving into energy, bones vanishing into the monstrous being's system. When it ended, only silence remained.
Cell exhaled slowly, licking his lips as if savoring an exquisite meal. "Hmmm… tasty," he murmured, his voice a chilling blend of pleasure and hunger.
Dr. Gero frowned, folding his arms. "Cell! I created you as the ultimate life form. You do not need to absorb such worthless creatures anymore. You are above hunger!"
Cell turned his head slightly, offering a mock bow. "Forgive me, Master," he said smoothly, a faint smile curling on his lips. "I was simply… hungry."
Dr. Gero's cold eyes narrowed. "Keep your focus on what matters. Tell me — have you found any trace of Rudra and his companions?"
Cell paused, closing his eyes for a moment. His inner radar scanned the planet, his senses extending far beyond the physical. "No, Master. It seems… they are no longer on this planet."
Gero's mechanical jaw tightened. "Huh! It doesn't matter. There's nowhere in the universe they can hide. They'll come back — they always come back."
He smirked darkly. "And when they do… you'll be waiting."
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