Chapter 2
The shell shock was starting to wear off. Bulma needed to do something useful. They had been in way worse situations before. They would break out and do what they did best… save the world. Just another Tuesday. No reason to panic. But looking around her, it didn't seem like the rest of the group was so optimistic. They all looked drawn and nervous. Piccolo looked a slightly sicker shade of green. Vegeta was still holding onto her arm. His palms were sweaty. It was unnerving that even he seemed to be less than confident they would make it out of this current predicament.
"What's going on? How long have you guys been in here?" she asked.
"I don't know. Maybe an hour or more. It's hard to say." Krillin responded.
"Is that force field really that strong?" Bulma waved her hand over the invisible barrier. She could feel little pin pricks of electricity jump into her palm and travel up her arm. It seemed impossible that such a thing could keep this lot trapped.
"I don't think any of us would have a problem breaking through it if we could access our ki." Piccolo said, gesturing to the metal around his neck.
"Is that what those collars do? Drain your ki?" Again, Bulma was stunned that some bits of metal and plastic could keep the most powerful beings in the universe contained. Stunned but maybe just a little bit smug. The scientist in her gloated at the idea of technology besting brute strength.
Vegeta lowered his head to her ear and whispered, "Do you think you can get these things off?"
"Have you tried tearing them off? The metal doesn't look that thick," she whispered back.
"There's a bomb in it. At least that's how the ones I've seen before worked. There's no reason to think these are any different. If we tamper with them, they'll blow"
Bulma's eyes widened. That complicated things. She examined the devise around Vegeta's neck. She was almost positive it was emitting some kind of radio wave, interfering the bodies' natural electrophysiology. She could see a tiny screw holding two sections of metal together. If she could open the thing up, she could disarm whatever explosive was inside. But that would require very specialized tools.
"I'm sure I could if we were in my lab. I don't have much to work with here."
Vegeta rummaged around in his pants pocket and pulled out what looked like a straightened bobby pin.
"Is that a joke?" Bulma asked incredulously. "You want me to disarm a bomb with a hair pin?"
"I thought you were a genius?"
"I'm not magician."
Vegeta pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. He was going to have to do this with the collar on. It wasn't impossible, but it was going to be messy. He looked back over to the loose tile on the wall. The only upside to having Bulma here in mortal danger was that he was sure she could figure out the mess contained in the control panel.
"I've opened the panel that controls the force field from the backside. It's behind the tile on that wall." Vegeta motioned to the half wall behind him. "If you can figure out how to bring it down, we could take the guard by surprise. "
Bulma looked over to the wall and noticed that one of the tiles seemed to be loose.
"There's a blind spot in in the camera for a few seconds. I'll tell you when it's safe to look." Vegeta stayed silent for a few moments before he tugged on her sleeve.
"Now."
She quickly removed the tile and found a tangle of wires. She dug into them to find where the main power source connected to the button she had seen the guard press before she was shoved into the cell. She felt Vegeta urgently tug on her arm again, so she replaced the tile.
"Can you bring it down?" Vegeta asked hopefully.
"Of course."
"Turn it off for a few seconds. Let me through. Then bring it back up." Vegeta brought his attention back to the surveillance bot tracking its movement. "Go now."
Bulma pulled the tile back out again as fast as she could. She found the wire she needed in the dense nest, followed it with her fingers until she located where it ended, and then gently twisted. The wall flickered purple for a few seconds until it became permanently visible. Vegeta immediately sprung up, exited the cell, pressing his body closely to the far wall. He dove into one of the dark empty cells along the corridor, disappearing behind the arched entrance. Bulma re-engaged the wire and replaced the tile, letting out the breath she had been holding through the entire procedure.
Then they waited. It took a lot longer than Bulma anticipated for someone to figure out something was amiss. They sat in silence for what seemed like a solid half hour before she heard the bolt open on the steel door.
"Where is he? Where is that fucking monkey?" a giant orange scaly man in body armor came barreling down the hallway before stopping in front of the cell, banging his fist against the force field.
"You all probably think your so clever, but I know he didn't escape. There's no way he got past the…"
A muscled arm looped around the guard's neck and tightened, putting an end to his tirade. He chocked and clawed at the arm cutting off his oxygen supply. The struggle lasted only a few seconds before the alien's head twisted unnaturally on his shoulders, accompanied by a sickening crack. Vegeta dropped the body to the floor and began patting it down, searching though the pockets and under the armored plates.
"Shit!" He kicked the body in the ribs to emphasize his curse, getting no reaction from the dead man. "He doesn't have the remote control on him."
Bulma felt Trunks clutching at her leg. She looked down at her son's blanched face. He was staring at the body splayed on the floor. "Mom is that man dead?" She realized that Trunks had never seen violence like this. He had never met the murderous side of his father.
"No. Dad just put him to sleep," she lied without remorse. There was plenty of time for Trunks to learn just how easy it was for Vegeta to kill when the circumstances dictated. They would have that talk once they were safe again.
"What do we do now?" Yamcha exclaimed, looking incredulously at Vegeta.
"We stick to the plan. We get out of here and get back to Earth." Krillin spoke up.
"And how are we supposed to break through a solid steal door without our ki?" Tien objected.
"And who knows how many of those guys are out there." Chiaotzu added.
"What we can't do is stand around with our dicks in our hands while they figure out what we've done and knock us out again!" Vegeta was getting real tired of having holes poked in his escape plan.
"There's an electronic mechanism to that door. I saw it when we walked in." Bulma interjected. "If I can override this one, that should be a piece of cake. As for the collars, I saw the antenna on the remote control that guy used. It can't have a radius of more than thirty feet."
"Stealth escape it is." Piccolo looked ready to bolt at a moment's notice.
Just then, a high-pitched screech of a siren sounded from every corner and the overhead lights changed from florescent to strobing red.
"Great. Real stealthy guys." Eighteen huffed.
Bulma didn't waste any time ripping off the loose tile from the wall and yanking the power cord she had previously handled with care. The field took on a maroon hue in the flashing red light and the occupants of the cell filed out and down the hallway, stepping over the body of the guard.
At the end of the corridor, they could see the steel door up close. It was obviously built to look intimidating. Vegeta had no more patience or time for neat tile work. He plunged his fist into the wall next to the door, pulling out ceramic and debris with his hand.
Bulma shuffled past the congregation piled in the narrow space and looked into the hole that had been created. She could see the bolt and lock just below and wires leading to the control panel on the other side.
"Screw it." she said, reaching in and pulling every wire she could get her fingers on, desperately hoping she wouldn't be electrocuted for her trouble.
A few sparks emitted from the wall and the sound of the bolt sliding across metal signaled her success. Vegeta slowly pulled on the giant handle, opening the door by a crack, and put his eye to the opening to get a better look at what lay on the other side.
"The escape pods will be on the starboard side of the ship. Follow behind me and stay together," Vegeta said in a clipped no nonsense tone. "Anyone caught gets left behind or we all go down." He made eye contact with every single one of them to ensure they understood.
Bulma collected Trunks into her arms and Gohan did the same with his brother as they prepared to flee. The door opened and they spilled into the hallway outside, forming a tight unit back to back. Vegeta was at the helm, Piccolo and Krillin brought up the rear, Bulma and the children were protected in the center. No side was left undefended. Vegeta led them quickly down the right side of the hallway, the rest following efficiently in their formation. The red lights and sirens continued to flash overhead, muffling the sound of their egress.
As they came to a blind corner, Vegeta pressed himself close to wall, motioning for the others to stay back. He glanced as far as he dared around the corner without giving up his position. There were two soldiers about midway down the corridor, stationed on either side of a set of double doors, likely their escape route. Neither looked particularly intimidating. He could easily dispatch both but wouldn't risk doing it alone without the element of surprise. Either one of them could be carrying a control to their collars. He reached for the nearest man behind him without looking, confident that any one of them could handle the task. He pulled Yamcha up next to him… 'except this one' he thought disgusted, and decided on Tien instead.
"You take the one on the left. Watch for blasters. Don't let him reach for anything." Tien nodded in agreement, furtively peeking around the corner over Vegeta's head.
Both men flung themselves around the corner and towards the soldiers as quickly as their ki-less bodies would allow. Vegeta buried his fist in the stunned face of the soldier before he could even react to the attack. It only took one more blow to the head to knock him out. Vegeta pressed his boot to the prone man's throat, crushing his windpipe for good measure. He lifted his head to observe Tien's progress and discovered that he had dispatched the other soldier almost as quickly but hadn't made the final blow.
"Kill him or he'll come to and alert the others of our location." Vegeta watched impatiently as Tien hesitated.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Vegeta growled at the larger man in frustration. "You call yourself a warrior and you can't even dispose of a cog without quivering over it?" Vegeta stomped on Tien's opponent's throat, killing him in the same way as the other. Tien narrowed his eyes at Vegeta in silent condemnation for only a moment before turning away.
Vegeta himself wasted no time equivocating over the ridiculous moral judgement and motioned for the rest of the group to catch up. He rifled through the uniform pockets of the dead men but found no collar remote. He peered through the round porthole windows in the set of double doors previously guarded. They led down another hallway, at the end of which lay an elevator. With the rest of the unit now regrouped behind him, he pushed open the swinging doors and examined the elevator as he got closer. Posted on the wall was a directory listing and numbering the decks of the ship.
Seventeen (17)- Flight Deck.
Vegeta tried pressing the elevator call button, on the off chance that it might work but it stayed unlit. Of course, the elevators would be deactivated under emergency protocol. He attempted to shove his gloved fingers into the seam of the doors to pry them open. He managed to part them a few inches and insert his other hand, pulling apart with all of his might. It was embarrassing how much effort it took to open the doors less than a foot without his ki. Thankfully, without Vegeta having to request help, Piccolo took hold of one side and strained to pull as Vegeta did with the other. Finally, the mechanism in the doors keeping them closed gave way and the doors slid apart to reveal the empty elevator shaft. He glanced at the directory again, which indicated they were currently on Six (6)- Brig.
The elevator cab sat suspended by two massive cables at the bottom of the shaft. Vegeta took a step back and threw himself into the shaft, as Bulma and some of the other more squeamish members of the group gasped. He latched onto the cabled in the center and shimmied down until he felt the roof of the cab below his feet. It was almost pitch black down there but, with his preternatural ability to see in the dark, he was able to find the hatch.
He jumped down into the brightly lit elevator below, squinting as his eyes adjusted again to the light. He ripped open the locked emergency panel to reveal a bright red button with the word SOS printed on it. The back light behind the numbered buttons came to life as he pressed the emergency override. Vegeta mashed the six button and felt the elevator shift and whir upwards before coming to a stop as the doors opened on the rest of the group.
They piled in together like sardines, all eleven bodies pressed together uncomfortably, the doors barely clearing as they shut behind them. Vegeta pushed the button for the flight deck and the elevator jerked and rose again.
"Be ready," Vegeta cautioned. "There's probably a guard on every floor."
They all visibly tensed and leveled themselves into fighting stances as the elevator slowed to a stop.
They froze as the doors opened.
Where Vegeta had expected to find one or two incompetent weaklings stood a cadre of hostile aliens lying in wait for them. They looked to be outnumbered at least three to one.
No one had time to react before searing pain ripped through their bodies, originating from their necks and traveling down each convulsing limb. Vegeta instinctively clutched at the collar around his neck, barely registering the danger of yanking it off, only concerned with the white-hot pain he was currently suffering. Before he could do any damage to it, the pain increased past any threshold he was prepared to endure. Mercifully, it didn't last long before consciousness slipped away. He barely registered the sound of Bulma's scream above the din and then nothing.
For the second time that day, Vegeta woke up with an agonizing headache on a cold, white tile floor. Again, it took several heart stopping seconds for him to remember where he was and how he had gotten there. The failed escape attempt began to filter through the pounding behind his eyes. 'Back to square one', he thought to himself indignantly as he adjusted to the overhead lighting. Once he was finally able to keep his eyes open long enough to take in his surroundings he realized he was not in the same cell he had just broken out of. This one was smaller and included a sink as well as a commode, creature comforts indicating his captor's intent for a longer stay this time.
Across the hall was another cell, a mirror image of his own. It was difficult to make out the details as the view between two force fields was hazy and cast a slight shimmer. The occupant of the cell was lying sprawled on her back, long blue hair flared out underneath her. The small gash she previously had on her forehead was larger now and leaking fresh blood down her face, matting in her hair.
"Bulma," Vegeta hummed, not yet able to bear any noise louder than a whisper. "Woman, wake up."
"Come on B! Rise and shine!" He could hear the weakling yelling from the cell to his right. Vegeta cringed and pressed the heel of his palm to his brow in an attempt to dull the renewed throbbing.
"She's not dead, is she?" Eighteen asked from farther down the hall to his left, sounding only mildly concerned.
"She's not dead," Vegeta responded out loud, more to reassure himself than the frosty cyborg. "She's been knocked out twice today. She's not built to recover from head trauma as quickly as the rest of us."
"Is that you Eighteen?" Krillin shouted from the opposite side of the hallway. "Yeah I'm here," she replied as they reassured each other of their relative health and safety.
"Tien, Chiaotzu are you guys alright?" Yamacha inquired, thankfully using his indoor voice this time. "We're okay but my head really hurts," Chiaotzu replied in his shrill pitch.
Vegeta could make out Piccolo in the cell to Bulma's right and Gohan in the one to her left. They were all accounted for except…
"Trunks!" Vegeta yelled down the hall. "Trunks!" he shouted again when the boy didn't answer, using the authoritative tone he only put on when the boy was in exceptionally deep shit.
"Goten?!" Gohan too began yelling for his brother, "Goten where are you?"
"TRUNKS!" Bulma shot up from her previously prone position on the floor.
"Where is he? You had him!" Vegeta hadn't meant for the exclamation to sound so accusatory.
She was panting for air, her breathing labored by obvious panic. He couldn't understand anything she was attempting to tell him through her tears, stuttering, and hyperventilation.
"Bulma," Vegeta softened his tone, attempting to project his false sense of calm onto his mate, "take a deep breath, and breath out slowly." He had to repeat himself several times before she followed his instructions, slowing her breathing and suppressing her sobs.
"They took him from me," Bulma pushed out between hiccupped breaths. "He was screaming and then they took him and Goten away." Her momentary calm was breaking, and tears were again streaming down her cheeks. "I don't remember anything after that."
Vegeta had no time to question her any further before he was interrupted by the now familiar grating sound of metal on metal. They were joined by a creature right out of one of those horror movies Bulma enjoyed so much. It was tall, unnaturally thin, with the pallor of a corpse and stringy black hair. It wore scraps of black material which hung limply off its skeletal form. Its eyes were nothing but black pits. It had no lips and its sharpened crooked teeth bent into a nauseating mockery of a smile. It floated rather than walked towards them, its toes scraping the floor. A soldier followed in behind the creature. This one was humanoid with red skin and black hair. He was hardly as grotesque as his partner but still carried an air of intimidation.
"Where is my brother?" Gohan growled through his teeth. "What did you do to him?"
The red man chuckled. "Your piglets are safe for now. If you would like them to remain that way, I suggest you nix any further escape attempts you had planned. My friend here hails from a sector of the galaxy where humanoid children are considered a delicacy. I might consider letting him have an early dinner if you give me any more trouble."
The soldier's words only stoked Bulma's roiling panic attack. She curled herself into a ball and made a futile effort at stifling her weeping.
"You know, we tried to do this the civilized way," the soldier said as he paced down the corridor, giving the occupant of each cell a once over. "We were watching and waiting for one of you to spill the information we needed," he then motioned to the surveillance bots that hung in each cell, "but you sneaky little shits were just too cunning for your own good."
"Now we're going to have to implement my friend's rather interesting skill set," he said placing his meaty red hand on his comrade's bony shoulder. "This is Zrak. He has one job around here and that is to cause pain. I hate to call it a job, really. It's more of a calling for him. He is a true artist."
The man kept pacing until he landed before Vegeta's cell. "Your highness, I've been looking forward to meeting you."
"Am I supposed to know who you are?"
"The name's Jaeko. I wouldn't expect you to know me, but your reputation precedes you. We were all very impressed when we heard that Frieza's pet monkey managed to slip his leash and kill Zarbon, Dedoria, and the entire Ginyu Force."
"… he had some help with that last one," Krillin muttered to no one in particular.
"There were even rumors that you were the one to take out Lord Frieza and King Cold, though that turned out to be a bit of an exaggeration of your abilities."
Vegeta shot the man looming over him one of his trademark condescending smirks, "Well… useless pissant whose name I don't care to remember, you seem to be a veritable font of common knowledge. What exactly are you expecting to torture out of me that you don't already know?"
"Getting right down to business. I like your attitude." The soldier reached into his pocket and produced the remote Vegeta recognized as the control to the ki dampener. He readied himself for pain, but instead he felt his muscles relax beyond his control and his feet levitate gently off the ground.
"Things are about to get rather intimate. Why don't we continue this somewhere private?"
The barrier to his cell dropped and he felt himself floating out and down the hall.
"Bring the woman. The human one."
Vegeta attempted to struggle but he had lost the ability to control his limbs. He tried to curse and threaten the man, but he was only able to manage a gurgling moan. He heard Bulma scream as the nightmarish creature approached her. She was too frightened to fight him as he raised her to her feet and gently took her arm, leading her down the hall as if he were a gentleman escorting a lady.
They were led out of the brig and down another curving hallway until they reached a non-descript door. It swished open upon their approach and closed again after they entered. The room beyond was dimly lit by a single overhead lamp. In the center were two chairs draped in chains, facing each other and bolted to the floor. Next to them was a medical tray covered in implements clearly designed for torture.
Vegeta was placed in one of the chairs. The soldier chained his arms behind him and secured his ankles. He watched as the monster smoothly placed Bulma in the seat across from him and tenderly chained her to it. Her eyes were wide and puffy, pleading with him to help her. Her terror was all over her face and seeping out of her pores. She was not prepared for what was about to happen here.
"I'm sure you know the drill, but I'll give you a refresher course," the soldier, Jaeko, directed to Vegeta. "I'll ask you a question. You'll no doubt give me some smug sarcastic answer and I'll do something horrendously painful to you. Then, I'll ask you again and, if you continuing to be an obstinate shit, he will do something truly heinous to her," he said, motioning to the creature and then to Bulma.
Bulma was practicing her deep breathing, trying to keep a level head. This was really happening. They were going to be tortured and there was nothing either of them could do to get out of it. There would be no last minute acts of heroics. No super saiyan transformations to pull victory from the jaws of defeat. Vegeta's resolute battle face was unreadable and gave her no comfort.
"Let's get started." Jaeko took the remote from his pocket and Vegeta was able to move again, though it didn't do him much good. The bindings held firm.
"Why did you initially come to Earth?"
Vegeta's gut reaction to the question was to spit in Jaeko's face and politely suggest he go fuck his own mother. This wasn't his first time being tortured and he had never been cracked. It didn't matter how trivial the information was. He would sooner have every one of his fingernails ripped out than give up so much as what he'd for breakfast.
But a war of wills was not an option for him this time. He had no doubt any non-cooperation on his part would be taken out on Bulma. He wasn't willing to find out what horror was in store for her. So, he mulled over the answer to the question asked.
He had come to Earth to wish for immortality, but that information might only create another despot bent on invincibility. He would not reveal anything about the dragon balls. He could safely assume that whatever tyrant had taken over Frieza's former empire was just as powerful and, likely, just as mad.
"Napa and I knew Raditz had gone there to search for his brother. When he didn't return we came to retrieve him."
"Wong answer."
Jaeko selected a scalpel from the array of sharp objects laid out before him. He used it to cut down the center of Vegeta's shirt, leaving him bare chested. Then, with precision, he pushed it into the skin of his chest, over his heart, careful not to break through to the muscle below. Vegeta refused to let out so much as a wince as his tormentor carved, creating a thin line over his breast and used the scalpel to separate skin from the tissue below. Jaeko planned on skinning Vegeta alive, one strip at a time.
"Stop! Please stop it! You don't need to do this. We'll answer your questions. Just…" Bulma's exclamation was cut off by Jaeko raking his bloody hand through her hair and yanking painfully.
"One more word out of you and I'll strip the skin off his face and wear it like a mask."
"Take your hand off of her before you lose it." Vegeta growled. It was an empty threat, considering the circumstances, but menacing enough to bring the attention back onto himself.
"I already knew the answer to that question and I wanted to see if you were ready to be honest with me. Obviously, you're not." Jaeko wiped his bloody tool on the sleeve of his uniform. "You came to Earth looking for the dragon balls."
Of course, that's what this was about. It's always about those fucking, piece of shit dragon balls.
"Where is Goku?" Jaeko asked, wasting no time moving on to the next subject.
"How do you know about Goku?" Vegeta wasn't going to answer any more questions until he knew exactly how much they knew.
"I'm asking the questions and you're answering them, Prince. Where is he?" Vegeta grit his teeth and bit his tongue until he could taste blood as another sliver of skin was cut from his chest, but he gave nothing up.
"Normally I wouldn't entertain questions like this, but it seems you're hell bent on wasting my time with them." Jaeko momentarily paused as he wiped the blood trickling down Vegeta's chest. "Every single one of Frieza's ships and pods were equipped with long range surveillance equipment. Anything that happened within a hundred click radius was recorded and sent back to base, including your initial excursion to Earth, the whole business on Namek, and Frieza and Cold's ultimate demise."
"Now, I'll ask you one more time and then it'll be your mate's turn. Where. Is. Goku?"
"Dead"
"Hmm… I don't believe you. Zrak?" Bulma's body went rigid as she realized the attention had shifted to her. The creature came to stand behind her. He grazed his corpse like hands across her face tenderly, as if admiring her delicate features. Then his fingertips began to glow and disappeared into Bulma's temples. She screamed so loud that Vegeta thought her vocal cords might bleed. He looked on in stunned revulsion as the monster's hands disappeared past her blue mane and into her skull, light pouring out of her eyes, ears, nose and mouth.
"He's dead! I swear he's dead! He was killed by some cybernetic… thing. It was obscenely powerful and he sacrificed himself to destroy it." Vegeta struggled against the chains, desperate to eviscerate the worm who tortured his mate.
The answer seemed to appease Jaeko. He made a cutting motion across his neck, ordering Zrak to cease his ministrations. He reluctantly removed his finger's from Bulma's brain with a nauseating squish and licked his fingers clean. Bulma's head rolled back on her shoulder's as she gasped in relief.
"Who is the Saiyan that hacked up Frieza and Cold?"
Vegeta's eyes locked with Bulma's. He could see her fright and the lingering pain but under it he could see a familiar look. It was the same look she gave him when Trunks asked where babies came from or what his father did before coming to Earth. Lie, she silently plead with him.
"He was from the future. He came to warn us about the rise of the enemy that would ultimately kill Kakarot." This half-truth would lend credence to the rest of his story.
"Where is he now?"
"In the future, moron." Vegeta bit back a hiss as Jaeko dug a finger into the wound on his chest.
"If he exists in the future then he must have some origin in the present. Where did he come from? Did he escape the destruction of Planet Vegeta?"
Vegeta knew he had to tread carefully. This could be a very well laid trap. Did Jaeko already know of Future Trunk's parentage and was trying to catch him in another lie? He couldn't chance his captor's finding out just how powerful his young son had the potential to be, especially if Trunks was already at their mercy. He needed to take a calculated risk.
"He was a half breed, born on Earth. Another one of Kakarot's whelps. Except Kakarot is dead and now that kid doesn't exist in our reality, String Theory being what it is."
"So, the kid shows up to warn you lot of your impending doom, his father dies and he's never born? What a kick in the nuts."
Vegeta let out an imperceptible sigh of relief that Jaeko had bought the deception.
"Now, let's get down to the real reason we're here." Jaeko ran his finger along the sharp edge of the scalpel. "How do we make the dragon balls work?"
Make them work? Vegeta had seen the dragon balls used on more than one occasion and didn't recall any ritual pomp and circumstance associated with them. The balls were gathered together and the dragon appeared. No instruction necessary. What kind of answer was he looking for?
"What do you mean, make them work?"
"We gathered six out of the seven. The last one was guarded by a little Namekian on a tower. We killed him and then the balls turned to stone. How do we reactivate them?"
Vegeta began to snicker, and then laugh, and then laugh uproariously.
"You utter fuck ups! You are going to have your asses handed to you by whatever maniac you work for. There is no reactivating them. You killed the Earth's guardian meaning the dragon balls are nothing more than paperweights."
Jaeko's face turned an even deeper shade of red and his fists clenched at his side.
"You think this is funny, Prince?"
"I think it's a fucking riot!"
Jaeko put the scalpel down on the shiny metal tray and circled his two subjects.
"You've proven yourself to be untrustworthy. How do I know you're not lying to me?"
"You'll just have to take my word for it," Vegeta said through a smirk.
"You know," Jaeko said, leaning over the back of Bulma's chair, burying his head in the nape of her neck and breathing deeply, "she's a little sickly sweet for my taste but, I have to say, that ass is something remarkable. Maybe I'll take a sample."
Bulma shivered, swallowing the bile creeping up the back of her throat. The sound of twisting metal echoed through the room as Vegeta pulled against the chains binding him to the chair.
"Ask the others if you don't believe me." Vegeta grit out through clenched teeth, not caring if he was condemning the rest of the group to torture as well.
"I think I might just have to." Jaeko wiped his bloody hands off on a cloth and produced a gauze bandage with antiseptic from the medical cart.
"You're lucky The Twins want you in one piece or I would be chopping off fingers right about now." He opened the bottle of antiseptic, poured it liberally on Vegeta's wound, and slapped the bandage on top without much care. "I'm not in the habit of providing first aid to my torture subjects."
"Who are the twins?" Vegeta inquired.
"What did I tell you about asking questions?" Jaeko took the remote he had stored in his pocket and reactivated the collar, rendering Vegeta slack again. Both he and Bulma were released from their chains and returned to the brig. Vegeta dropped to the floor ungracefully when he was shoved back into his cell and the collar abruptly deactivated.
Jaeko resumed his stalking up and down the corridor. "I'm sure it will come as no surprise to all of you that Vegeta is a lying sack of shit and I trust nothing that comes out of his mouth. That means we're all going to get some personal time together to get to know each other."
"Any volunteers to go next?" The room remained silent. Jaeko turned around in a slow circle before choosing his next victim.
"You two," he said, pointing to Tien and Chiaotzu. The doll prince immediately began shaking and crying in protest as Zrak advanced on him and Tien was incapacitated. There were no useless attempts at dissent by any of the others as the two were dragged out the door.
"What do they want?" Piccolo directed to Vegeta.
"The dragon balls."
"What do they want them for?" Gohan asked.
"I don't know but it doesn't matter now. They killed Dende. No one's getting their wish."
Both Piccolo and Gohan's posture slumped and their faces fell. The room went silent again as they all stewed in the reality that they would not wake from this particular nightmare. There was no magic, no all powerful band aid to set everything right again. Even if they managed to beat the villains, the damage done would stay done.
They sat in silence for hours as, one by one, they were led out to be questioned. Each bruised and bloodied body was sent back more damaged than the last. Gohan, the last to be tortured, returned barely conscious and drenched in blood. If it wasn't for his Saiyan physiology, he would have been dead.
When Jaeko finally returned to the brig, his jaunty bravado was gone and replaced by roiling, barely contained rage.
"I suggest that you all start praying to whatever god you have left. When we get back to New Gemini, you'll be meeting The Twins… and then you'll know what real suffering looks like."
Their tormentors took their leave and the room was plunged into near total darkness, the only light emanating from the shimmer of the cell barriers, now made visible in the black. No one spoke. It didn't take long until they each yielded to their utter exhaustion.
All except Vegeta who remained awake, aware, and totally vigilant as he sat on the floor, his back resting on the wall. He would never understand how a group of warriors could allow themselves to be vulnerable in sleep while their enemy stalked the halls just outside. Though, considering who he was dealing with, he supposed it shouldn't surprise him at all. This lot would welcome a rabid dog into their midst and continue to trust it until it mauled them all to death. That he was here among them was a testament to their utterly senseless ignorance. In fact, most of the people in the room were enemies at one point or another and yet they still slept soundly next to each other. None of them knew what it was to be truly at the mercy of an enemy. None of them could fathom being utterly helpless and hopeless under the boot of someone who valued the hurt even more than the kill.
They were all in for a rude awakening and, as much as he resented each and every one of them, he wished he could spare them from it. Not out of any sentimentality for Earth's protectors, but because the same blind naiveté existed in his mate and his son. It was what made Trunks look at him as if he were some indestructible hero, a god among men. It was what enabled Bulma to go toe to toe with him when they first met, as if she were completely unaware he could reduce her to ash and bone on a whim. It was the indefinable thing that opened her to him, that pulled him into her home, into her bed, into her life. And if they were going to survive this, that beautiful intangible innocence would have to be destroyed. He would have to kill it.
"Vegeta, are you awake?" he heard the familiar questioning whisper from across the hall. He let himself slip for just a moment, to savor the sound of her voice and imagine he was at home in bed with her, a place he wondered if he would ever see again.
"I'm awake." He pulled himself closer to the barrier so he could see her. She lay on her side, her arm pillowing her head. He lay down before her in the same position still holding on to the wisps of his passing fantasy.
"I'm so scared."
"I'm here."
"They want Trunks. I don't know why or for what, but I could feel it when that thing was in my brain. I could hear him calling for me, but it was like I was in a dark room and I couldn't find the exit."
"We'll get him back. I promise." And Vegeta meant it. He meant it more than any of the million other broken promises he had ever made to her. He would endure whatever tortures were ahead of him, bend his pride to breaking, kill, maim, die if it meant saving his son from one day of the nearly thirty years he endured as a slave in the Imperial Army. There was no doubt in his mind what was in store for Trunks if he didn't find a way to protect him.
"Where is he Vegeta? What do they want with him? He's just a little boy."
He should tell her every possible use for a small boy in the inner workings of a machine like the PTO. He should strip every last shred of hope from her in order to make her hard enough to withstand the trials to come. But he couldn't. Not yet. There was time enough to watch her die inside. It didn't have to happen tonight.
"We'll find him. Get some sleep."
"Will you stay awake, just in case they come back?"
"Of course."
"I love you," she breathed so low he barely heard her. He wished he could touch her right now and assure her the only way he knew how that he returned her foolish sentiment. He wanted now more than any other time he'd heard those words to return them, but the time for that had come and gone. He'd squandered what small measure of peace fate had granted him.
"I know."
He watched her as her eyes fluttered closed, as she curled into herself for warmth, listened as her breathing slowed and deepened. His eyes became heavy as he matched the rhythmic pattern of her breaths but refused to allow himself the rest he craved. She didn't sleep for long.
BOOM
An ear splitting blast crashed through them, followed by gut churning reverberations that shook the floor beneath their feet. Each of the warriors woke and readied themselves for battle in seconds.
"What the hell was that?" several of them belted out, looking around as if to find the source of the disturbance in the room with them.
There was no mistaking what it was. Vegeta knew the sound of a planet exploding into the vacuum of space when he heard it, and he'd heard it hundreds of times.
"Earth."
A/N: This chapter was originally two separate chapters but I decided to combine them because I felt like it was taking too long to get to the meat of the story. I've also gone back and revised Chapter 1 after catching some errors and general syntax that bothered me. No plot points have been changed but I feel like it reads much smoother now. From this point on, I will do a better job a rereading and editing before posting. As always, PLEASE leave a comment. Writing is so much easier when I have praise and constructive criticism to motivate me.