Keys
by TAFKAE

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone here except the ogres and the bad guy. ^_^

~*~*~

"Are you sure that's the one, sir?"

"Of course it's the one." A dark-haired figure smirked, leaning over an image formed on the glistening surface of the water. "And if, perchance, I'm wrong…" It sighed contentedly. "She will at least smoke out the real Key."

Its thug grinned. "You're brilliant, sir!"

"Yes, I know. And you're an imbecile." The figure turned and moved away from the pool.

The thug laughed. "Thank you, sir!"

"Shut up."

~*~*~

"I'll be back later!" Krillin shouted from his front porch, then waved and took off into the sky.

Marron ran out after him and waved back. "Bye, Daddy!!" she yelled.

"See ya, Krillin," 18 said, not very loudly, then grunted and turned to her daughter. "Well, looks like your father left us to do all the housework again," she sighed.

Marron grinned. "Let's not do any."

"I like your style," 18 replied quickly. "How about we go out back and train?"

Her child nodded. "Yeah!" Then she ran up the stairs to go put on some jeans. 18 waited by the back door - until she heard Marron's scream.

"Marron!" she called instinctively, reaching the base of the stairs within half a second. At the top was her daughter… in the arms of a giant, orange, goblin-like creature. Marron squirmed around, trying to get loose. 18 got into a fighting stance. "Put down my daughter, you freak."

"Be careful," it replied, in a low, husky voice. "I wouldn't want to bring damaged goods back to Master."

This only seemed to make the android angrier. "Listen, punk, if you want Marron, you're going to have to fight me first."

The goblin only smirked. "I don't think so. Come on out, Vermy."

The little reddish-brown creature called Vermy seemed to come out of nowhere and landed on the stairs in front of 18. "You ain't fightin' nobody anytime soon!" it stated boldly but rapidly, like it was high on rabies and crack at the same time.

18 smirked. "Try me."

"Okay man, but I'm a-warnin' you, I gots this!" Vermy pulled out a small metal box that almost seemed bigger than he was, but was still only about the size of 18's fist. It had an antenna on one edge and a bright red button on the top. The android gasped as she recognized it immediately.

"That's a..."

Vermy nodded. "Is a button box. De off switch. I press de button - " he held his finger menacingly over said button " - and de robot don' trouble us nooooooo more."

18 figured she had nothing to lose, and charged with a shout of "YOU WON'T TAKE HER!"

Vermy scowled. "I was hopin' it'd be more fun dan dis. O well." His finger came down on the button.

18 froze in place for a second, eyes wide, then dropped to the ground like a rag doll. The other goblin kicked her silent form to the base of the stairway, still holding little Marron tightly. Marron's eyes welled up.

"Mommy!" she yelled, tears running down her cheeks. "What'd you do to her?! What'd you do?!? You can't kill her! My daddy's the best in the world and - "

"Shut up, kid," the goblin said, and smacked one hand against the side of Marron's head. Marron's tiny body immediately went slack.

They didn't bother moving 18. They just left her where she was at the bottom of the stairs, though Vermy insisted on jumping up and down on her face until the other goblin grabbed him by the back of the collar and pulled him away.

"Aw, c'mon man! What's the dilly yo?!" he shouted, squirming around futilely in his comrade's giant hand.

"Shut up, Vermy, let's get this one back to Master."

~*~*~

Krillin got home from Goku's house a few hours later. The first thing he saw was the heap of unwashed dishes in the afternoon light. "I guess I couldn't expect them to do any chores while I was out…" he mumbled, then smiled. "Oh well, I'll just get them outta the backyard."

He set off toward the back door, not noticing what was in his way. His left foot caught under it, and he fell with a shout, landing facedown on the ground. After a second or two in which anyone could have sworn they'd seen a little black cloud over his head, he brought himself to a stand. "Marron! Get your toys out of - " Just then, he turned around to see what exactly it was he'd tripped over. And almost screamed.

"18! 18, wake up!" he yelled, shaking her vigorously. He rolled her over onto her back and saw her beautiful face, locked in an expression of fear, shock, anger... It was the face of the dead man in the parking lot, the face of the little girl with her head forced underwater for just a little too long... The face of the dearly departed... Krillin screamed again. "EIGHTEEN!!!"

Then another cold, numbing fear struck his heart. Where was... "MARRON!" he hollered at the top of his lungs. "MARRON, WHERE ARE YOU?!"

He ran out in the backyard - no Marron.

He ran upstairs - no Marron.

Every closet, every nook and cranny, every cupboard - still no Marron.

Then he noticed the note on the wall in the hallway. It was written in crude block letters, just a certain blackish shade of red.

"FIVE DOWN ONE TO GO."

He picked up the phone and dialed Goku's number.

~*~*~

Gohan pointed over at the TV with his fork. "Hey Mom, did you hear about this?"

Chi-chi looked at the news program that was on at the moment. The reporter had kind of a gnarly voice, but seemed to be pretty good at getting his point across.

"Police say an investigation is underway into the disappearances of four women across the city last week. The women were said to have apparently nothing in common at all, except the disappearances are all suspected to have been masterminded by the same person."

The face of a young man appeared on the screen. "I got home from work the other day, my wife was gone, and there was this note written in BLOOD on the wall. It said, 'One down five to go.'"

"Similar blood-notes were found in the other three abduction sites - "

It was at that exact moment that the telephone decided to ring. Goku, Gohan and Goten all made a mad dash for the handset, but Goku got there first. "Hello?" he asked as his two sons returned to their places at the table.

"Goku? It's Krillin. I need to talk to you," said the voice on the other end.

"Oh, hi Krillin!" Goku greeted his friend. "What's up, you forget something here or what?"

"No, it's a lot more serious than that," Krillin replied. "It's about 18 and Marron." He sounded really distraught by now.

"Yeah, what about them?" Goku asked, suddenly taking the situation much more seriously.

"Marron is gone. I looked everywhere, but she's gone. And 18…" Goku couldn't tell if the sound that Krillin made next was a sigh or a sob. "I think … she's dead."

"What?!" Goku yelled in disbelief.

"I don't know how it happened, but I need to find Marron, at any rate. There was this note written on the wall that said 'Five down one to go,' so - "

"'Five down one to go'?" Goku repeated, turning his head toward the TV set. "It was written in blood, right?"

Krillin jumped. "How'd you know?"

"It's on the news," Goku replied. "Four other girls disappeared recently, too. And all of their houses had notes written on the wall in blood that said 'such-and-such down, such-and-such many to go'." Both paused, then Goku continued. "Tell you what. Gohan and I'll be right over, 'k?"

Krillin nodded. "That'll be good. Come quick!"

Gohan had been listening intently to his father's side of the conversation, so he didn't have anything to ask when Goku hung up the phone and said, "Come on, Gohan."

Goten grinned. "Can I go too?"

Goku shook his head. "No, Goten," he responded. "This is too dangerous for you to come along."

"Aw, maaaaaan," Goten sighed as Goku and Gohan flew out the door.

~*~*~

"Good, good," Master laughed as the Key was put in place. "Just one more to go." It moved gracefully, like a shadow, to the image-pool and waved its left hand over it. The water rippled slightly, then a picture came into focus. "And the final Key has been left in the care of a child." Master snickered, its fangs glistening in the reflection of the image atop the water.

Vermy started jumping up and down. "Oh boy! I jus' LUUUUV doin' in niños!" he shouted. The orange ogre groaned.

"For the last time, Vermy, it's more fun to leave them alive. Besides, the child's pretty strong, and you're the weakest thing I've ever seen, next to my houseplants."

Master's smirk turned quickly to a frown. "Shut up, Quarter. And Vermy, get a life or I will dispose of what little is left of your head."

Quarter and Vermy covered their mouths with their hands.

~*~*~

You like? Good! R+R please, next chapter up soon (as in, after finals @_@)
(o^.^o) The Artist Formerly Known As Ed