Identity:
By Tenshi Kanashii
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Rated for violence, and themes, such as: Drugs, sex and other mature
topics, BUT there are NO lemons.
Disclaimer: The statement "I don't own DBZ" is coming quite
redundant, isn't it?
I hope I have not lost any of my readers by rating this an R, but if I have,
please forgive me, I feel I must do this, and by this, I don't mean the rating,
but the story, so sit back, feel paranoid, and read.
Key:
| | = Current Time and/ or Location.
[ ] = Thoughts
' ' = Sarcasm or certain titles.
Prologue:
The beginning of the end.
I'm going to tell you a tale, one of murder, lies and corruption, trials and
tribulations, pain, suffering and fear, the foreshadowing of doom, seemingly
answerless questions, unattainable power, an experiment, tears of innocence,
secrets within ourselves, light hearted humor, and even love. And somewhere along the way, it's about
finding out who you are...
Such a conspiratorial tale supposedly didn't happen, for it was not supposed to
begin in the first place, it only ever occurred due to a mistake made, one with
dire consequences.
You have not yet to even begin to understand the events that took place, for I
have yet to inform you of such events.
Yet even when you finally have heard them, you probably still won't even
understand to the full magnitude of which had taken place, all under your nose
I might add, even though you never even knew it. The government does a good job cleaning up after themselves,
don't they?
Good, but not good enough.
For I am one of the rare few who knows the whole truth about the situation that
took place. But, for both our safety, I
unfortunately can't tell you all the details; like where it all takes place,
certain people's last names, or even too detailed description of the people in
question.
Although I will give you all the important information, all of which shall be
revealed in due time. But remember, it
is not for us to question why such things happen, as long as we know they DID
happen.
And so I will tell you all I can, the best place to start this tale is not from
where it all really began, nor is it from where our protagonists start their
journey together, but rather from where they met, yet didn't even know it at
the time.
So you, like them, will learn as they go, and you will truly understand what
they went through, without the added privilege of knowing all the details
before the characters in the story do, you will have to bare with me, and with
them, and wait. You will overtime find,
that you are as much apart of this tale as you aren't.
And so, with that in mind, I will begin.
It all started with a girl...
Although, technically, she did not exist.
|LOCATION: Secret Military base, in an downtown abandoned building, in
"The Room", 4:03 PM |
"Take a good look son, she's the hope for the future..." Lt. Vegeta
stated with wistful pride as he directed his young son towards the large,
clear, cylinder like containment unit.
He was too caught up in the moment to realize that to most kids, the
sight of a young woman floating in a clear medical fluid, with several dozen
wires attached to her body, would be a frightening scene. But not to Vegeta JR, he cautiously made
his way over to the tube, staring up at the young woman with wide eyes as she
motionlessly floated, seemingly not alive.
"What's wrong with her father?" the young boy asked as he touched the
cool glass, as if he hopped by merely coming in contact with it, it may 'wake'
her up.
Vegeta
JR was sadly disappointed when the young woman made no sign of acknowledging
his presence, and instead continued to remain motionless in the fluid her eyes
closed, and her hair floating upwards in a mystical fashion. To the little boy, the young woman was
fascinating, the way she could stay floating in the liquid for so long without
breathing, the possibity that she may have been dead never even crossed his
mind, and instead he couldn't help but smile as he realized she reminded him of
a water nymph, from one of the books his mother liked to read to him.
Smiling, Lt. Vegeta bent down beside his son, placing a hand on the boys
shoulder as he became conscious of the fact, not only was the young woman in
the tank the hope for the future, but so were other children, like his son. Lt. Vegeta hoped that because he was
involved in what could only be described as 'the experiment', that maybe his
very own son might one day meet the young woman, who was supposedly destined to
bring peace to the world. The
Lieutenant may have been involved, but a lot of rumors were going around, that
when the young woman was finally activated for service, such a day would be
nothing less than the day of reckoning, and not the beginning of ultimate peace
like she was supposedly 'created' for.
But it was hard to believe that the naked young woman that floated in
the liquid could bring the destruction of the world, but then again, one could
never know what those guys upstairs were thinking. She could very well be the end to it all, and especially when she
was connected to a man like Doctor Briefs; a kind and ingenious, but eccentric
man.
"What's wrong with her?" the little boy repeated his question, this
time demanding his young father, who chuckled in good humor as he smiled down
at his son's confused face, enjoying his naivety in the whole situation.
The Lieutenant was kind of glad, that his son did not know about such
horrifying things as 'scientific experiments', had the boy looked around the
room, and actually know what the meaning of the term was, the kid would most
likely been scarred for life.
Test tubes, body parts, blood samples, machinery of all different kinds, and
not to mention mechanical parts sprawled out on the table with all the doctors
notes in a fashion, that was not where one would recommend one would leave such
important paperwork.
But at least Dr. Briefs did not leave the 'CONFIDENTIAL' paper work out in the
open; they were the kinds of diagrams and notes that could only be described as
'un-medically sound experimenting'.
But then again, nothing about this situation seemed quite right...
Maybe, Lt. Vegeta, like others, tried to ignore all that seemed to be wrong
about this situation, and instead, rather focused on the fact that the woman
was here to help. Although Lt. Vegeta
wondered, had the girl been a volunteer in this experiment, or the fact she was
in a large tube of goop, and on a high powered version of life support, just
something that had been forced upon her? She looked too young to want to do
something like this, what must she be?
[16?] Lieutenant Vegeta estimated as he took her child-like face into account,
as her body development portrayed a young woman of 21 or so.
[So young...] he thought ruefully.
Why would such a girl want to be involved in such a thing, Lt. Vegeta knew this
was an honorable cause, but still...
In fear of scaring his son with what he hoped was unnecessary concerns, he
forced his frown into a smile for the sake of his child.
"Nothing is wrong with her my son, she is the one who will save us
all...or so that is what I have been told...." he stated as he ruffled his
only begotten son's short spiky hair.
The boys father enjoyed watching the look of disgust that came over the boy's
childishly pudgy features, as he openly showed his feelings of revolution at
that kind of irritating physical contact.
"Oh...you..." Lt. Vegeta laughed as he pulled his son closer for a
hug, neither young man's eyes leaving the young girl, and had this not been a
scientific experiment, the Lieutenant would have feared being verbally scolded
by his wife, for allowing their young son to see a woman with an anatomically
perfect body.
Also, had lower ranked men, such as cadets been allowed the clearance to such a
top secret area, the Lieutenant was positive the young woman would have had
many more admirers in the room at the time, all of whom would enjoyed her state
of lacking apparel.
But thankfully this area was top secret, well technically it was called a
'public secret' everyone knew about her anyway, not a lot of details, but they
knew rumors of a young woman, one that was kept locked away in the recesses of
some government military facility, and that was the extent of what they knew.
"Father..." Vegeta Jr asked as he took the young woman into
scrutinizing detail, trying to remember her perfectly so he could tell his
mother all about her, knowing that he wouldn't be able to tell his friends, for
this was 'top secret' as his father told him.
"Yes son..." The Lieutenant asked distractedly as he watched the
young woman, thinking harder about this so called 'experiment', but after a
moment or two he looked down at his son, who's face was scrunched up
thoughtfully as if hoping he had a photographic memory.
The man waited patiently as his son stopped his scrutinizing stare and instead
looked up at his father with a puzzled expression. The boy's confusion should not have been a surprise to Lt.
Vegeta, for he had seen more than one or two government officials do a lot
more, than just have a puzzled expression on their face. For most men, it suddenly got very warm in
the artificially cooled room, whether if be from embarrassment or fear, it
depended on the individual. So, the
boy's father waited patiently for the question that he knew was going to come
from his son.
"Why doesn't she breath in that stuff...." and there it came, the boy
may have not been a genius, but he still knew that water nymphs and other
similar creatures were merely in books for peoples enjoyment, but not for the
fact they actually existed, and so it took the boy a moment to remember their
was no such thing as water nymphs, so how could the woman not need to breath?
"Because she doesn't need to." the boys father replied cryptically as
he turned his attention back to the woman, not being able to explain any more
than he already had, so he left it as that, but like any good father, he knew
when his child had not yet decided it was the end of the conversation.
"Why not?" Vegeta Jr. asked with a pout, yet he already knew the
answer to that, it was going to be the same answer his father always gave when
he went out on 'missions' and left Vegeta Jr. with his mother, it was 'better
that they didn't know'.
Enough said.
"I can't tell you..." Lt. Vegeta answer sternly and with utmost
finality, that was the end of it.
"Oh" Vegeta Jr. replied as his suddenly noticed the room around him.
He had been trying to find another subject, other than the delicate one of the
young pretty woman in the goop...
And he found it.
The room was covered in items that were more than terrifying; desks with notes sprawled
out on them, as if the owner had to leave in a hurry.
And possibly did.
It was above the desks that there were jars with similar medical fluid in them
as the woman had in hers, only these jars contained body parts...
Human body parts.
From a heart to a brain, all the body parts seemed to be in neat little rows on
the shelves, it was quite scary to see someone's parts on the outside...
[WAIT...WHO'S ARE THEY?!] Came the panicked thoughts of Vegeta Jr. as he
snuggled closer to his father instantly, when he saw charts on the wall beside
the young woman's tank, and although young Vegeta didn't know what they
meant...he was now sure it was nothing good.
So, now utterly afraid of the scene around him, he turned his attention back to
the woman effortlessly floating in the liquid, he soon found himself drowning
out the sights of the work of a mentally unstable scientist from around him,
and instead found himself almost hypnotized with the young woman.
It was strange how she could have this kind of influence of a boy of only 7 or
so...but she did.
[...I wonder....] he thought speculatively to himself as he watched the woman,
manage to, not float an inch out of the spot she had been since Vegeta Jr's.
and his father entrance.
"Can I tell you a secret father?" Vegeta Jr. finally asked as he
removed himself from his father grasp and place both hands on the cool tank as
he smiled innocently as if letting his father in a simple secret, but
apparently not ashamed of such.
"Sure boy...what is it?" Lt. Vegeta questioned as he got up from his
crouched position and stood tall like the military man he was, but at the same
time could not help but allow a smirk adorn his face with how well his son was
taking the situation.
The Lieutenant knew very well that his son had taken a glimpse around the room,
and was once again glad that his son did not know of what 'scientific
experimentation' was.
The Lieutenant could remember the first time he had been informed of the
experiment and actually shown 'the room', as it was called amongst some of whom
had actually been 'privileged enough' to visit it.
Lt. Vegeta could remember almost gasping at every site of blood, and body parts
that the room contained. Unlike his
son, he had to walk into the room when the girl had only recently been 'worked
on'.
The blood that puddled on the ground had stained the Lieutenant's black boots,
as he found himself almost having a ventilation attack, from the site of the
woman sprawled out over the stainless steel operating table, the medical
instruments used were soiled, laying on a tray awaiting to be picked up and
finish the job they started.
And she was anything but finished.
She may have appeared to be stitched up, but her hair was soaked with her own
blood, her head tipped back and to the side on an unnatural angle, and her body
was covered in incisions, that appeared to, yet be sterilized.
Feeling pity on the young woman, who had been left for one reason or another,
Lt. Vegeta tried to help her.
Seeming as no one was in the room to care what he did, the lieutenant did the
little things he could, starting with taking the sides of her face in his hands
and aligning it with a sickening crunch sound that made the young man
cringe. But it did not deter him from
getting the clean white handkerchief out of his uniform and dampening it under
the medical faucet, and proceed to clean the wounds on the girl' face.
It took him about an hour to clean the sticky, half dry blood off the girl's
creamy white skin, after which the scientist in charge had come in and snapping
on a pair of white plastic surgical gloves, he announced:
'Now, comes the real torture...' with a morbid fascination in the procedures
that were to come that afternoon. Although Lt. Vegeta would never admit it,
that night he had cried in his wife's arms like many a man or woman whom had
seen the young woman's predicament had done before him.
But by the next day, Lt. Vegeta had been told by his superior that she was 'the
hope for the future', such a spiel coming with mention of 'no more wars', and
other prospects of a better time than now.
It was too hard for the Lieutenant not to resist, and so now, he like others
could do nothing but watch on, and help but clean up the mess that came with
'The Experiment'.
[The term 'human guinea pig' comes to mind...] Lt. Vegeta thought with a sneer,
wondering was she someone's child, like Vegeta Jr was his?
Speaking of Vegeta Jr., he was blushing as he stared at the young woman with
admiration and awe, smiling in childish innocence.
"I...I think she's beautiful..." Vegeta Jr. informed his father with
pride, not ashamed, nor should have he been, the woman may have looked almost
10 years older than the boy, but there was no mistaking that the young woman
was beautiful.
The Lieutenant would have admitted it aloud also, IF he were not afraid of his
son repeating it to his wife...
"You do?" Lt. Vegeta asked in hopes to avoid admitting such a thing
himself, and so tried to make small talk with his son in the form of a
confirmation, and then from there he hoped he could sway the conversation some
how...
"Yeah..." Vegeta Jr. replied with a smirk, playing with the buttons
of his denim overalls, enjoying the distraction of playing with his clothes,
quite happy that he didn't have to wear clothes that were as uptight or itchy
as his fathers, and was able to settle on comfort and practicability, instead
of uniformity.
"Maybe you'll get to meet her one day." such a simple answer,
suddenly sparked Vegeta Jr's. attention, his gaze quickly changing from his
clothes to his father's face.
For a minute of silence, Vegeta Jr. merely studied his father face as if trying
to tell if he was lying or not, but, knowing his father, he probably wasn't,
for his father was the kind to believe that anything was possible. No matter
how bad the odds, his father liked to think that he could do anything when the
time was right.That kind of confidence could be mistaken easily for arrogance,
maybe it was arrogance or maybe, it was simply optimism.
His father's confidence was comforting for Vegeta Jr, and had been somewhat
rubbed off on him, over the years many of his fathers friends had been know to
call Vegeta Jr. an 'arrogant brat...'.
But
it would still be some years before Vegeta Jr was quite as confident as his
father, and so, he still liked reassurance from his father.
"You think so?" Vegeta Jr. asked with a hopeful smile, turning his
attention back to the woman, and grinned in anticipation.
"I don't see why not..." Lieutenant Vegeta answered honestly,
although he didn't like exposing his son, nor himself for that matter, to this
room, he could not see any reason why his son and the young woman couldn't
become friends. Although would they
actually wanted to be friends when they finally met, was another matter.
Lieutenant Vegeta hoped that all this experimenting hadn't made her mentally
unstable, but then...why would the government want to release something like
that on the world, if she was?
"I'll bet we'll be the best of friends!" Vegeta Jr. cried happily,
his grin widening to the point it could not stretch any farther.
The boy may have even jumped around, if in the back of his mind somewhere he
hadn't known that it would not be wise, to do that in a room with all the glass
and other items that came with a lab like facility.
"I'm sure you will be...." he replied honestly with a smirk, watching
as his son smiled brightly before he quickly turned back to the tank in
excitement, and then paused before turning back to his father.
"Uh...father?" Vegeta Jr. sheepishly asked in puzzlement, his eyes
wide with confusion, and waited for his father to acknowledge his question.
"Yes son?" Lt. Vegeta asked interested to know what had suddenly
changed his son's tone, the look his son was portraying wasn't helping much; it
was the same sheepish smile that accompanied something embarrassing like
'need-to-go-potty'.
It was quite concerning, and heaven knows the military man did not want to have
to find a bathroom of this maze of a building.
"What's her name?" Vegeta Jr. asked, relieving any past fears that
the lieutenant had, but then he froze and looked away in thought, staring off
into the distance.
"I don't know...I think its Bulma." he told his son, not quite sure
if it was true, but he could remember overhearing the doctor talking to himself
about 'his sweet Bulma'.
It had been quite a disturbing conversation; the doctor had repeatedly
mentioned the name 'Bulma', as he fussed over the body on the operating table,
every so often he cooed promises of great things to the unconscious girl. So, due to the context of the conversation,
Lt. Vegeta could only assume Bulma was the girl's name.
"Bulma?" Vegeta Jr. asked with a raised eyebrow, testing the sound of
the name, seeing how it sounded coming off his tongue, surprisingly he liked
the sound of it, and so turned back to the young woman, a innocent smile
playing on his lips. For a while, Vegeta Jr. just watched, what he believed to
be, the example of a perfect human.
Although in appearance she seemed perfect, on the inside she was seemingly
empty, and incomplete. But, because she
gave the illusion of perfection, she caused anxiety to those who knew about
her. She was too much of everything,
too intelligent, too talented, and even too beautiful. She was innocent and pure in everyway; such
a creature was free from evil, but not all together incapable of it...
What really worried those in charge, was the combination of all her attributes
and what she could do with them, she had too much of a chance to overthrow her
'creators', if she wanted to... She was
too perfect you might say.
So, they decided to destroy her.
| 2 Weeks Later, 10:35 AM |
"She's... perfect..." the old doctor stated with pride in himself for
his own handiwork, before him in the 'Biological Life Support Containment
System, was his ultimate creation, she was as he said perfect, minus a few
errors which would mean only minutes from completion. But, unfortunately completion would never come for the girl, all
the blood and tears she lost was for nothing.
[Nothing...all those sacrifices were made...for nothing] The doctor thought
regretfully as he stood in front of the large tank, watching the girl float, it
was as if she was waiting to be finished, just waiting to be set free.
"Exactly...she's the angel of death...she'll kill us all." the
younger man sneered, thinking the whole 'experiment' was ridiculous, and very
risky as well.
[Damn government...what WERE they thinking?!] The younger man known only as
'Agent 173' from the FBI thought hatefully, remembering just yesterday when the
government had realized what they gotten themselves into when they had
'accidentally', come across some of Dr. Briefs notes.
Now it was Agent 173's job to help start the 'clean up' to make sure that
officially 'none of this ever happened'.
"I don't think..." the Dr retorted, slightly offended at the not so
subtle insinuation.
But deep down, he could not help but realize the younger man was right.
"You know I'm right...I'm sorry Doctor briefs... I know she's
your..." the agent started before being cut off by an irritated doctor,
who was quite annoyed such private information could be known.
"Yes, yes...I understand...just give me a minute to say goodbye" the
doctor demanded waving off the agent dismissively, as he stared at the beautiful
young woman who meant everything to him.
Since his wife died more than 10 years before from some brain disease,
his work became his life.
"You know she can't hea-" the agent started, wondering if the doctor
was senile.
"I know...I know...I just....need a moment..." he said smiling sadly,
obviously not senile, but was just sentimental.
"Understood..." Agent 173 said with a nod to a man who was not paying
any attention to the ridiculous routines of a secret agent, but instead to the
woman who was just waiting for her time to come, and it broke the doctors heart
to know it would never come.
"I'll wait outside." the agent added quickly as an afterthought and
quietly and quickly stepped out of the room, leaving the man to say an unheard
goodbye.
As the agent stepped out the door, the doctor felt as if he could finally
speak, whether it would fall upon deaf ears or not.
"I'm sorry, it's wasn't supposed to be like this..." he claimed
sincerely as he placed his hand on the cool glass, the sound of his sad, ironic
laugh echoing through the room.
"You WERE supposed to be perfect, and with it, you COULD of had the
perfect childhood...but obviously...you were too perfect for those fucked up
political aristocrats...It doesn't look like you'll ever be completed...and we
were so close...so very close..."
He told the unresponsive figure maliciously, before sighing and realizing this
wasn't getting him anywhere, so he made his way to the light switch by the
door, looking back he smiled in remembrance, before whispering
"Goodbye".
Flicking the light switch, watching as the simple glow of the small spotlights
at the base of the tube kept her bath in light, the light seemingly neon, as
she seemed to glow, the life support system would keep her living for a few
more minutes before she was to be destroyed.
[Why not leave it on, even though she doesn't even have conscious thought...why
not allow her to have a few minutes of life...]
The Dr thought as he left the room, locking the door behind him.
Swiping the key card in the electronic lock on the large metal double doors,
for what would be the last time.
The doctor froze as he heard a strange click sound from behind him.
Hesitantly, he turned slowly around, only to see Agent '173' standing behind
him at a distance, his arm raised, and a gun point-blank at the doctors back.
Dr. Briefs eyes went wide as he realized the agent's mission had been to 'clean
up' everything, including the doctor himself.
"No...Please...don't!!" the man's screams were in vain, as the sound
of several gun shots could be heard echoing throughout the now abandoned
military base, several ravens nearby squawked in fright, taking flight, trying
to flee from the gunshots inside the building nearby.
Lowering his gun-wielding arm that was still smoking, the agent smirked
sardonically at the fallen Doctor, watching as two red pools of blood quickly
soaked through the white lab coat, increasing in size by the second. Agent 173 stared down at the limp form of a
man, his face void of any emotion.
"I'm sorry doctor...but no one can ever know about her, nor could I allow
you to live with all the knowledge of this that you have."
Along with the doctor, records were destroyed, people were silenced, and the
only knowledge that she even existed in the first place, were in those who were
of high enough ranks to know.
Those under it were mere tools of the government to do their biddings, and once
they knew too much, they were done away with.
And then, they had enviably destroyed her....
Or did they?
To be continued...