Bad Man
Afterwards
Disclaimer: Character and premise are the property of Akira Toriyama. I'm just borrowing them for a little non-profit fun.
Author's Note: "Bad Man" was the first DBZ I wrote, and for the longest time it was just a scene. I'd tried several time to fill in the rest of the story, some of those ideas showed up in other stories, well finally I've got the rest f the story. The first segment has been edited slightly to make things fit better.
The man's eyes dart fugitively around the darkened street before he steps out of the relative safety of his building. He tosses an automobile capsule on the ground and hurriedly locked himself in the vehicle. He breathes a sigh of relief as the engine started and he zooms toward the bright lights of the city.
A moment later the silhouette of a short, muscular, flame-haired man is caught in the headlights. The auto slams into the man, its front end folds up as if it had collided with a concrete pillar. The second man is completely unmoved by the impact; he holds up his hand, a ball of light forms in his palm and the roof of the car was sheered away in the blink of an eye. "How did you think this was going to end?" the second man asks in a low, almost amused voice.
"I never planned to hurt her, I swear!" the first man exclaims. "Please, Vegeta-sama, you have to believe me."
Vegeta plucks the man out of his car and tosss him onto the pavement. "Did you think that because I did as you demanded that I was a good man? Did you think that I would collapse from the guilt of killing for you once my mate was returned to me?" He laughs softly, "In the past I've killed a thousand times that many simply because it amused me to do so."
The man gulps and stares up at Vegeta with horror-stricken eyes; he'd heard that Bulma Brief's husband was the most dangerous man alive, he'd watched him with fascination for years and that was why he had targeted him; but the reality of Vegeta's nature is only just sinking in for him.
"Or did you think you would keep her, use her and my unborn child to control me forever?" Vegeta demands. "It was only a matter of time before I learned where you were keeping them and took them back, fool. Only a matter of time until you found yourself here."
"Please, I was desperate they were going to kill me! I had to do it. I never meant to hurt her or the baby," the man begs.
Vegeta's tone turns almost conversational. "You didn't ask anything too onerous of me; there are very few members of your species whom I wouldn't prefer dead. Killing your enemies to buy time to locate the woman meant nothing to me. I've gone to some effort to ensure that none of my-" His mouth twisted with distaste. "-allies were involved in this little charade; some of them believe in showing mercy to their enemies."
The man moans softly.
"I admit; there have been times when I have worried that the woman and the boy had made me soft, but not tonight. I stopped killing for her. I've even given up the idea of killing my rival simply because he is her friend and his younger brat is my son's friend, but I feel no inclination to show you mercy. You would have been better off to let your enemies kill you, because I will make you beg me to take your life and end your agony," Vegeta states.
"It was just a bluff, I never meant to hurt her! They were the scum of the earth, you did the world a favor by killing them, I swear it!" the man blubbers.
"Moron, this is not because of what you had me do," Vegeta snaps. "I'm not even doing it because you threatened my mate, although I certainly will kill anyone who dares to endanger her. I'm doing it because you had the audacity to think that you, a sniveling human, could command the Prince of all Sayian-jins. And when your surviving enemies see the pictures of your body in the newspapers they will know the price of blackmailing me. I despise wasting my time on weaklings."
Vegeta takes a step toward the cowering man, "You can start screaming now," he says.