Ari eyed the Brief's mansion with some trepidation. It would definitely not be an easy place to break into. But it could be done. She'd already convinced one of her 'friends' to hack into the perimeter security cameras and set them on a loop. She had her lock-pick equipment, and stolen security codes to get her in the rest of the way. She didn't care if she got caught, just so long as she could get to Vegeta. She might get to see him if she proved herself to be a threat. Ari felt she had to see him. Usually when she foresaw events, she felt no responsibility to prevent them from occurring, but for some reason she was compelled to warn Vegeta, prince of the Saiyans.
That word again. Ari didn't know exactly what a Saiyan was, it was just a word that popped into her head. Somehow she knew it was right, it wasn't just something she'd made up. It meant Vegeta was an alien. She would've explained this to Jax, the hacker she'd persuaded to help her with the defenses, but he would've just said she was crazy. Ari was desperately sick of people saying she was crazy.
She ran toward the back of the mansion, hoping her black clothing would help hide her in the darkness. She faced the back door, but was suddenly certain that she shouldn't go in that way. She ran to the brick wall, searching for hand and foot holds. There weren't many, but the crevices in the brick were enough for her to scamper up the back of the building. She paused at a window on the second story. This was where she should go in, she was sure. She forced herself not to look down as she reached for the window ledge.
Pulling herself onto the ledge, Ari examined the window. Luckily, it was of the type that was easily opened from the inside. She pulled out a small laser and made small circles big enough for her hand on either side of the bottom of the window. She gently pushed the circles of glass she had cut out into the room, deftly shooting her hands through afterward to catch them before they hit the ground. She set the glass down on the inside of the windowsill, manipulated the locks, and slowly pulled the window up. When she had enough space, she slid through the window and landed in a crouching position on the floor.
Vegeta woke up when he heard a sound coming from his window. He remained still, curious as to who had the audacity to try to sneak into his room. He thought first that it might be an android, but the creature's movements were to clumsy for an android. When it dropped to the floor in his bedroom, he was astonished. A human girl? He decided she must be especially stupid.
As she stood up, Vegeta saw that the girl had long black hair that was pulled back in a braid behind her head, and she was dressed pretty strangely as well. She was wearing a tight black midriff tank top that had a silver zipper down the front. A pair of black shorts rode low on her hips, showing some sort of metal sticking through her bellybutton. Her eyes were heavily outlined in black, and her lips were a dark red.
The girl suddenly noticed him, and her eyes widened. "Vegeta," she said, as if she knew him.
"Why should I not kill you where you stand, girl?" Vegeta asked harshly, not bothering to even sit up. The girl seemed surprisingly unmoved by his death threat.
"Because I came to tell you about a threat to your life," she said very solemnly.
Vegeta gave her a disgusted look. How could this weakling human possibly know anything about something that might hurt him?
Ari searched her mind for something that would make the prince listen to her. She focused on the ever-present whispers in the back of her consciousness. If only she could hear something.
Kakarot. . . stronger. . . two words that Ari could make out. Then she knew what to say to make him pay attention to her.
"If you're not going to listen to me, I guess I'll just go to Kakarot. He's stronger than you, anyway, I'm sure he could save you from . . ."
Before she could finish, the prince had leapt toward her and grabbed her around the throat. He pulled her up until her feet were off the ground. She gasped unsuccessfully for air.
"You should know better than to mock things you can't possibly understand," Vegeta said, his voice deadly calm. He threw her against the wall.
Once Ari could breath again, she said, "If you were trying to kill me, you're going to have to do better than that."
"You're not even worth the effort," Vegeta snarled. "Say what you came to say."
"An alien," Ari said, standing up again. "He's going to come tonight and try to kill you in your sleep."
"That would be difficult, considering that I'm already awake," Vegeta said contemptuously.
"Naturally, since I woke you up," Ari snapped, bracing herself for an expected blow from the Saiyan prince.
Before Vegeta could respond, a giant creature smashed through the window. Through broken glass and hair, it was impossible to make out exactly what it was, but Ari recognized it from her visions. It's sharp fanged mouth opened in a ferocious growl.
It's furious that it's prey was alarmed, Ari thought absently. It knew Vegeta was awake before it broke through.
Ari snapped into action, not waiting for the Saiyan Prince. Somehow she was sure she had to slash for it's eyes. She flicked out her 6" pocket knife and leapt at the creature, digging her knife in where she thought it's eyes might be. A giant paw came out of nowhere and flung her against the wall again. She felt something in her chest snap, and suddenly it hurt to breathe. She saw a flash of light and heard an inhuman scream of pain, and then the monster was gone.
Vegeta was staring disgustedly at her where she had collapsed.
"If you thought that thing was a threat to my life, how did you expect to even hurt it?" he asked sharply.
Ari held up her knife, slick with black blood that was dripping onto her wrist.
"I think I hurt it, baka," she hissed, pulling herself to her feet despite the pain in her side. From the look of fury that crossed Vegeta's face, Ari was sure he was going to kill her.
Before he could make a move, however, another voice interrupted. "Dad? What happened in here?"
A teenage boy with lavender hair walked into the wreckage that used to be Vegeta's bedroom.
Trunks. . . whispered a multitude of voices in Ari's head.
"Trunks," she said out loud, accidentally. The boy looked in her direction, startled.
"How do you know my name, girl?" he demanded in shock.
Ari shrugged. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you. So I won't. Just accept it."
"The girl climbed through my window to 'warn' me that some weakling creature was going to attack me," Vegeta said derogatively. "I took care of that."
Ari carefully pretended she wasn't injured, but when she looked down, she saw an ugly purple bruise covering the left side of her bare midriff. She decided that maybe no one would notice. Now was not a time to be weak.
"And how did she know about that?" Trunks asked.
"In league with it, no doubt," Vegeta snapped.
"No," Ari protested. She searched for the words to make them understand. "Just the same way I knew your name, Vegeta, and that you are the prince of the Saiyans," She then turned to Trunks. "You're one too. A Saiyan I mean. More or less."
"Half," Trunks found himself correcting her. "My mother is human."
So 'Saiyan' is the name of a species, Ari thought. She wondered why none of the specifics and explanations were getting to her.
"So you've been spying on us?" Vegeta demanded, his wrath not faded in the least.
"No, I've only actually seen you once," she said, looking toward Vegeta. "That's when I knew you were going to be attacked tonight. No one told me, I just knew. For some bizarre reason, I thought you should know. I didn't know then that you were an arrogant asshole."
As she spoke, she backed over toward Trunks. Maybe if she was near Vegeta's son, he wouldn't attack her again.
"Who are you, anyway," Vegeta shouted in her direction.
"Nobody," Ari yelled back. "Just some girl who broke into your house, remember?"
"Then, get out," Vegeta said coldly.
Ari continued moving backward, and felt a thrill run through her as her arm brushed against Trunks' shoulder. The demi-Saiyan moved away from her.
"I don't think so," Ari said reasonably. "If I leave here now, I'll tell everyone all that I know about you. I'm sure the press would be very interested, and you'd never make another move that wasn't recorded by camera."
"True," Vegeta said, "that would be an unfortunate turn of events. It would be best if I just kill you here."
"On the other hand," Ari said, keeping anxiety out of her voice. She was still convinced that the only way to play this scene was to show no weakness. "On the other hand, I could be very useful to you. I knew that the creature would attack tonight. I actually knew that a few weeks ago, but I had to figure out a way to get to you and warn you. I know when other things will happen as well. I could work as an early warning system." Then she added flippantly, "Of course, that is if you don't kill me within the next few minutes."
Suddenly a sleepy female voice broke into the conversation.
"Vegeta? Trunks? What's going on?" asked a blue-haired woman, Bulma Briefs, Ari assumed. She, at least, was well known, one of the richest people on earth. Her drowsiness gave way to anger as she shrieked, "What the HELL did you do to the window?!?"
Vegeta glanced to the hole in the wall that used to be a window. "I was attacked." he stated simply. "The attacker is dead."
Then Bulma's eyes fell on Ari. "And why the hell is this little whore in here?"
Ari glared at the blue-haired Bulma disgustedly. Before she could yell back an insult, however, Trunks spoke up, and said, "She warned father of the attack. She claims she can see the future."
"And I am not a whore," Ari said slowly and furiously. "My name is Ari, and I'm very sorry I've offended you by not being born rich."
Ari sighed. This wasn't the way to go about it with the mother, Bulma. Now she had to look innocent and weak. She let tears come to her eyes, and injected a little tremble into her voice. "Look, I was just trying to help, I knew you wouldn't listen to me if I couldn't talk to you in person. I know all about the Saiyans around here, and I thought I could be of use to you, since I can see the future. But I'll leave now, if you want me to. The streets are always waiting."
She turned toward the gaping hole in the wall, and let herself cringe at the pain she felt in her side. She heard Bulma gasp as she noticed the bruise.
"Vegeta, what have you done to her?!?" she said.
"What? Me? Why do you assume everything is always my fault?" Vegeta thundered.
Ari took the chance of adding a lie into the mix. "I'm sorry, I was just in your husband's way. I'm sure he didn't hit me on purpose."
Vegeta gave an angry glare at Ari. How did the angry, snarling little bitch suddenly turn into a lying but seemingly innocent child?
"You can stay here," Bulma said cautiously. "For tonight anyway. So you can recover."
"Really?" Ari asked, turning a hopeful face to Bulma. "I don't want to be any trouble."
"Oh, its ok," Bulma said. "You can sleep down in the living room."
Ari relaxed. She'd won this round.
That word again. Ari didn't know exactly what a Saiyan was, it was just a word that popped into her head. Somehow she knew it was right, it wasn't just something she'd made up. It meant Vegeta was an alien. She would've explained this to Jax, the hacker she'd persuaded to help her with the defenses, but he would've just said she was crazy. Ari was desperately sick of people saying she was crazy.
She ran toward the back of the mansion, hoping her black clothing would help hide her in the darkness. She faced the back door, but was suddenly certain that she shouldn't go in that way. She ran to the brick wall, searching for hand and foot holds. There weren't many, but the crevices in the brick were enough for her to scamper up the back of the building. She paused at a window on the second story. This was where she should go in, she was sure. She forced herself not to look down as she reached for the window ledge.
Pulling herself onto the ledge, Ari examined the window. Luckily, it was of the type that was easily opened from the inside. She pulled out a small laser and made small circles big enough for her hand on either side of the bottom of the window. She gently pushed the circles of glass she had cut out into the room, deftly shooting her hands through afterward to catch them before they hit the ground. She set the glass down on the inside of the windowsill, manipulated the locks, and slowly pulled the window up. When she had enough space, she slid through the window and landed in a crouching position on the floor.
Vegeta woke up when he heard a sound coming from his window. He remained still, curious as to who had the audacity to try to sneak into his room. He thought first that it might be an android, but the creature's movements were to clumsy for an android. When it dropped to the floor in his bedroom, he was astonished. A human girl? He decided she must be especially stupid.
As she stood up, Vegeta saw that the girl had long black hair that was pulled back in a braid behind her head, and she was dressed pretty strangely as well. She was wearing a tight black midriff tank top that had a silver zipper down the front. A pair of black shorts rode low on her hips, showing some sort of metal sticking through her bellybutton. Her eyes were heavily outlined in black, and her lips were a dark red.
The girl suddenly noticed him, and her eyes widened. "Vegeta," she said, as if she knew him.
"Why should I not kill you where you stand, girl?" Vegeta asked harshly, not bothering to even sit up. The girl seemed surprisingly unmoved by his death threat.
"Because I came to tell you about a threat to your life," she said very solemnly.
Vegeta gave her a disgusted look. How could this weakling human possibly know anything about something that might hurt him?
Ari searched her mind for something that would make the prince listen to her. She focused on the ever-present whispers in the back of her consciousness. If only she could hear something.
Kakarot. . . stronger. . . two words that Ari could make out. Then she knew what to say to make him pay attention to her.
"If you're not going to listen to me, I guess I'll just go to Kakarot. He's stronger than you, anyway, I'm sure he could save you from . . ."
Before she could finish, the prince had leapt toward her and grabbed her around the throat. He pulled her up until her feet were off the ground. She gasped unsuccessfully for air.
"You should know better than to mock things you can't possibly understand," Vegeta said, his voice deadly calm. He threw her against the wall.
Once Ari could breath again, she said, "If you were trying to kill me, you're going to have to do better than that."
"You're not even worth the effort," Vegeta snarled. "Say what you came to say."
"An alien," Ari said, standing up again. "He's going to come tonight and try to kill you in your sleep."
"That would be difficult, considering that I'm already awake," Vegeta said contemptuously.
"Naturally, since I woke you up," Ari snapped, bracing herself for an expected blow from the Saiyan prince.
Before Vegeta could respond, a giant creature smashed through the window. Through broken glass and hair, it was impossible to make out exactly what it was, but Ari recognized it from her visions. It's sharp fanged mouth opened in a ferocious growl.
It's furious that it's prey was alarmed, Ari thought absently. It knew Vegeta was awake before it broke through.
Ari snapped into action, not waiting for the Saiyan Prince. Somehow she was sure she had to slash for it's eyes. She flicked out her 6" pocket knife and leapt at the creature, digging her knife in where she thought it's eyes might be. A giant paw came out of nowhere and flung her against the wall again. She felt something in her chest snap, and suddenly it hurt to breathe. She saw a flash of light and heard an inhuman scream of pain, and then the monster was gone.
Vegeta was staring disgustedly at her where she had collapsed.
"If you thought that thing was a threat to my life, how did you expect to even hurt it?" he asked sharply.
Ari held up her knife, slick with black blood that was dripping onto her wrist.
"I think I hurt it, baka," she hissed, pulling herself to her feet despite the pain in her side. From the look of fury that crossed Vegeta's face, Ari was sure he was going to kill her.
Before he could make a move, however, another voice interrupted. "Dad? What happened in here?"
A teenage boy with lavender hair walked into the wreckage that used to be Vegeta's bedroom.
Trunks. . . whispered a multitude of voices in Ari's head.
"Trunks," she said out loud, accidentally. The boy looked in her direction, startled.
"How do you know my name, girl?" he demanded in shock.
Ari shrugged. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you. So I won't. Just accept it."
"The girl climbed through my window to 'warn' me that some weakling creature was going to attack me," Vegeta said derogatively. "I took care of that."
Ari carefully pretended she wasn't injured, but when she looked down, she saw an ugly purple bruise covering the left side of her bare midriff. She decided that maybe no one would notice. Now was not a time to be weak.
"And how did she know about that?" Trunks asked.
"In league with it, no doubt," Vegeta snapped.
"No," Ari protested. She searched for the words to make them understand. "Just the same way I knew your name, Vegeta, and that you are the prince of the Saiyans," She then turned to Trunks. "You're one too. A Saiyan I mean. More or less."
"Half," Trunks found himself correcting her. "My mother is human."
So 'Saiyan' is the name of a species, Ari thought. She wondered why none of the specifics and explanations were getting to her.
"So you've been spying on us?" Vegeta demanded, his wrath not faded in the least.
"No, I've only actually seen you once," she said, looking toward Vegeta. "That's when I knew you were going to be attacked tonight. No one told me, I just knew. For some bizarre reason, I thought you should know. I didn't know then that you were an arrogant asshole."
As she spoke, she backed over toward Trunks. Maybe if she was near Vegeta's son, he wouldn't attack her again.
"Who are you, anyway," Vegeta shouted in her direction.
"Nobody," Ari yelled back. "Just some girl who broke into your house, remember?"
"Then, get out," Vegeta said coldly.
Ari continued moving backward, and felt a thrill run through her as her arm brushed against Trunks' shoulder. The demi-Saiyan moved away from her.
"I don't think so," Ari said reasonably. "If I leave here now, I'll tell everyone all that I know about you. I'm sure the press would be very interested, and you'd never make another move that wasn't recorded by camera."
"True," Vegeta said, "that would be an unfortunate turn of events. It would be best if I just kill you here."
"On the other hand," Ari said, keeping anxiety out of her voice. She was still convinced that the only way to play this scene was to show no weakness. "On the other hand, I could be very useful to you. I knew that the creature would attack tonight. I actually knew that a few weeks ago, but I had to figure out a way to get to you and warn you. I know when other things will happen as well. I could work as an early warning system." Then she added flippantly, "Of course, that is if you don't kill me within the next few minutes."
Suddenly a sleepy female voice broke into the conversation.
"Vegeta? Trunks? What's going on?" asked a blue-haired woman, Bulma Briefs, Ari assumed. She, at least, was well known, one of the richest people on earth. Her drowsiness gave way to anger as she shrieked, "What the HELL did you do to the window?!?"
Vegeta glanced to the hole in the wall that used to be a window. "I was attacked." he stated simply. "The attacker is dead."
Then Bulma's eyes fell on Ari. "And why the hell is this little whore in here?"
Ari glared at the blue-haired Bulma disgustedly. Before she could yell back an insult, however, Trunks spoke up, and said, "She warned father of the attack. She claims she can see the future."
"And I am not a whore," Ari said slowly and furiously. "My name is Ari, and I'm very sorry I've offended you by not being born rich."
Ari sighed. This wasn't the way to go about it with the mother, Bulma. Now she had to look innocent and weak. She let tears come to her eyes, and injected a little tremble into her voice. "Look, I was just trying to help, I knew you wouldn't listen to me if I couldn't talk to you in person. I know all about the Saiyans around here, and I thought I could be of use to you, since I can see the future. But I'll leave now, if you want me to. The streets are always waiting."
She turned toward the gaping hole in the wall, and let herself cringe at the pain she felt in her side. She heard Bulma gasp as she noticed the bruise.
"Vegeta, what have you done to her?!?" she said.
"What? Me? Why do you assume everything is always my fault?" Vegeta thundered.
Ari took the chance of adding a lie into the mix. "I'm sorry, I was just in your husband's way. I'm sure he didn't hit me on purpose."
Vegeta gave an angry glare at Ari. How did the angry, snarling little bitch suddenly turn into a lying but seemingly innocent child?
"You can stay here," Bulma said cautiously. "For tonight anyway. So you can recover."
"Really?" Ari asked, turning a hopeful face to Bulma. "I don't want to be any trouble."
"Oh, its ok," Bulma said. "You can sleep down in the living room."
Ari relaxed. She'd won this round.