"…In other news, weather experts are still unable to explain the torrential downpour that has plagued the entire planet for over three days. Flood warnings are in effect until further notice. Authorities are strongly advising against anyone venturing out into this storm…"
"Man, it's really bad out there," Trunks said, staring out the window at the blackened sky. He and Catie had been listening to the radio in the darkness of the house for over half an hour now. Fallen tree limbs, ripped down in the storm, had knocked out the power.
Catie stood and moved to his side, sliding her hand into the crook of his elbow. "Trunks, I'm starting to worry."
He looked at her. "About?"
"Everyone. Your parents, Lindsey and Gohan, Jenny and Piccolo…"
Trunks tipped his head to the side in agreement, "Seventeen and Leelee," he added.
"Do you think they're okay?" she asked.
"Ah, I'm sure they're fine," he answered. "But this storm is starting to get to me. I don't even know if it's day or night anymore, it's so dark outside."
Catie wasn't sure herself. The clock on the wall said twelve o'clock. But was that noon or midnight? She racked her brain, trying to figure it out, but she couldn't remember. Thunder roared outside as another brilliant flash of lightning temporarily blinded them both.
"I bet there's some killer waves out there right now," Catie breathed.
"Oh my god, you can't be serious."
She shrugged and leaned closer to the window as movement caught her eye. From the strobe light like effect from the lightning, she could see two men on the sidewalk in front of her house. They seemed to consider the house for a moment as they stood in the rain.
She narrowed her eyes, staring down at them from her second-story window. As darkness fell once again, she lost track of them. She didn't have to wait long to figure out where they went. A sudden shattering of glass sounded from downstairs and Catie's mother screamed.
"MOM!" Catie shouted, running for the door. She threw herself down the hallway and down the stairs with Trunks on her heels. She froze at the foot of the stairs as the two big men leered at her through the eyes of their ski masks. Catie's mother lay unconscious on the hardwood floor before them.
"Mrs. Pariani!" Trunks cried, pushing past Catie. He knelt over her and felt for a pulse, heaving a sigh of relief when he found it.
Anger swelled within Catie as her hair flashed to a bright green, her eyes blooming purple. "You hurt my mother," she hissed in a deathly tone.
"Stay back, you freak!" one of the men ordered, raising a black sidearm and pointing it at Catie.
She narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm not afraid of you," she said, taking a step closer.
"Catie, NOOOOO!" Trunks screamed as the man pulled the trigger.
With a movement so fast it was impossible to see, Catie grinned, the bullet clutched in her hand. She released it and it clattered to the floor. Terror filled the eyes of the two men and they scrambled for the door.
"Ah, ah, ah," Catie said and threw her arms out, thick vines erupting from her hands and wrapping around the throats of the vandals. The vines snaked their way around the men's bodies as they struggled to escape. Catie flew at them, kicking one so hard he crashed into the other and both of them toppled out the front door, completely cocooned in vines.
"Ca-Catie," Mrs. Pariani's voice croaked. Her eyes flew wide at the sight of her daughter.
"Mom," Catie gasped, kneeling next to her, Catie's hair returning to its golden brown with dyed blue streaks.
"What? What happened to you?" Mrs. Pariani asked in shock.
"It's okay, mom," Catie soothed. "I'm okay."
"I'll take care of this," Trunks said and stood, heading for the doorway.
"But, your hair! Your eyes!" Mrs. Pariani cried. "I don't understand!"
"Mom, are you hurt?" Catie asked, trying to look her mother over thoroughly. Mrs. Pariani recoiled as if scalded. Catie was hurt. "Mom, it's just me. I promise."
Trunks entered the house once more, shaking the rain from his long hair. "Is your mom okay?"
Mrs. Pariani swallowed and nodded, getting shakily to her feet. "Oh, my head," she groaned.
"Let's put some ice on that," Catie suggested, taking her mom by the elbow and leading her into the kitchen. She sat her mother firmly at the kitchen island and pulled a bag of frozen peas from the refrigerator. "Stupid looters. One major storm and everyone thinks they gotta go out and steal other people's hard earned stuff." Wrapping the peas in a towel, she asked Trunks, "What'd you do with them?"
"Left 'em tangled in those vines and set 'em on the curb for trash pickup," he smirked.
"Trash pickup isn't running right now."
"I know."
Jenny slowly opened her eyes to the pitch blackness of her room. The storm was blowing throughout the lookout, whipping a cool breeze into her room. What was that? She could've sworn a loud noise had woken her, but now all was silent. She rolled over in bed to wake Piccolo and was startled to see him sitting up in bed, staring intently at the door.
"Piccolo?" she asked softly.
"Shh," he hushed her.
"What is it?" she asked in a barely audible whisper.
"Do you hear that?" he asked.
Jenny froze, listening hard. There was nothing but the storm. "No."
"Exactly."
Fear pierced Jenny. She scrambled for the alarm clock, staring at the bright red numbers. It was four in the morning and Paige wasn't crying. She was well past due for a feeding. Jenny kicked viciously at the sheets, trying to untangle her legs as Piccolo got out of bed. They raced for their bedroom door and he ripped it open. Mr. Popo was sitting on the floor, sobbing.
"Popo!" Jenny cried. "What happened?"
"I couldn't stop them!" he wailed, big tears leaking from his eyes.
"What do you mean?" Piccolo demanded. "Stop who?"
Jenny threw herself at the nursery door, banging it open, her heart thundering in her chest. It couldn't be. She stared in horror at the overturned crib that lay in the middle of the room. "PAIGE?!" she screamed and ran for the crib, flipping it over to reveal nothing but empty blankets. "PAIGE?! WHERE ARE YOU?!" She clawed through the blankets, her eyes roaming the room wildly, looking for some sign of her daughter.
"Jenny, what's – " Piccolo cut himself off midsentence as he entered the room. The crib was now laying on its side and Jenny sat on her knees with the baby blanket in her hands, screaming in horror. "WHERE IS SHE?" he bellowed.
"They took her," Mr. Popo sobbed.
"WHO? WHO TOOK HER?"
"I don't know," Mr. Popo answered sadly.
Piccolo couldn't breathe. His chest and throat felt tight, his vision was going blurry. He clenched his fists so tightly that his nails broke the skin of his palms, drawing blood. His power level sky rocketed as he screamed to the night, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Gohan rubbed at his eyes, the shrill ringing of Lindsey's cell phone grating on his nerves as it blared that damned guitar rift from an old Guns'n'Roses song. Reaching across her, he blinked at the bright screen that revealed the picture of a cross-eyed Jenny sticking out her tongue. "Four in the morning?" he growled to himself before sliding a finger across the screen. "Yeah?"
He wasn't prepared to hear the terrified blubbering sound coming from the other end of the line. He sat up in bed, pressing the phone harder against his ear, trying to understand. "Jenny, I can't understand you. What's wrong?"
"G-G-Gohan," she sobbed, her voice sounding strained as if she were in intense agony.
"It's me, Jen. What's going on?"
"P-Pai… I… help…shh-shh… g-g…"
Gohan slapped at Lindsey who slapped back at him in her sleep.
"Lindsey, WAKE UP. Jenny's hurt."
Lindsey bolted upright. "What?"
"Here," he said, handing her the phone. "I can't understand her."
"Jenny, baby, what's wrong?" Lindsey asked into the phone.
"T-too… k-k-k h-her."
"What? Took what?"
Jenny drew a deep breath and screamed again, making Lindsey jump. Her wide green eyes looked to Gohan frantically and he shook his head.
"MY BABY!" Jenny bawled.
Lindsey's breath caught in her throat. "Someone took Paige?!"
Gohan jumped, looking at Lindsey in horror. "No," he whispered.
"C-Can y-y-y-"
"We'll be right there," Lindsey promised and hung up.
Gohan was already getting dressed. "Who would steal a baby?"
Lindsey sat in the bed, stunned.
"Lindsey, get dressed," Gohan barked, pulling on a pair of bright orange pants, exactly like his father wore.
She continued to stare.
"LINDSEY!"
She shook her head and jumped out of bed, throwing on a torn pair of jeans and a black tank.
"You go get dad," Gohan ordered. "I'm going straight to the lookout."
"NO!" Lindsey protested. "I want to come with you!"
"You can't fly in this storm," Gohan argued. "We need dad. Go get him and he can bring you there with the instant transmission."
"Okay, but you be careful," Lindsey said, pressing her lips to his quickly and running down the stairs, grabbing the keys to the car as she went.
She began to wonder if flying wouldn't have been safer. The road was barely visible through the torrential rain that beat upon the windshield. She'd made the drive to the other side of the mountain several times before, so luckily she knew the road. It was that, more than the visible road, that guided her to her in-law's house. She was fighting tears as she rounded a corner. Poor Jenny. What must it be like to have your own child disappear in the middle of the night? Lindsey shuddered, not wanting to know that horror. She felt sick to her stomach.
She finally slammed on the brakes as she reached Goku and Chichi's house, the wheels of the car sliding in the mud. She threw open the car door and ran for their house through the pouring rain, banging her fists on the door. In the few seconds it had taken her to reach the door, she was already soaked to the bone.
"Dammit," she hissed and tried the doorknob. To her surprise, it opened. 'Don't they lock their doors?' she thought in wonder as she stepped into the darkened house. "Goku?" she cried frantically. There was no answer. She ran down the hallway to their room, shoved the door open and ran to the bed where he and Chichi were sleeping peacefully.
"Goku! Wake up! Wake up!" she cried, shaking his bare shoulder.
He opened his eyes drowsily. "Huh? Lindsey?"
She slicked her sopping curls out of her face to keep from dripping on him. "Goku," she said, trying not to cry, "Something's happened. Piccolo's baby has been kidnapped!"
Goku jumped up in bed. "WHAT?"
"Gohan's flying to the lookout now, he told me to come get you," Lindsey said, tears starting to leak from her eyes as her worry over baby Paige grew.
Chichi stirred and sat up. "What happened?"
"Someone took Piccolo's daughter," Goku answered, getting out of bed. He quickly pulled on his orange Gi over the boxers he'd been sleeping in.
"Oh no," Chichi moaned. "Who on earth would do something like that?"
"I don't know," Goku answered, sitting to tie his boots. "But I'm going to find out." He stood once again. "You said they're at the lookout?"
Lindsey nodded. "Gohan said you could take us there by instant transmission."
"No, you stay here," Goku said.
"What?!" Lindsey shrieked. "No way!"
"Lindsey, it could be dangerous. Gohan will never forgive me if something happens to you."
"Dammit, Dad! I'll get there with or without your help!"
Goku didn't blink at her calling him "dad." She did it often and he was actually rather fond of her referring to him that way. She was his daughter-in-law after all, and he was the closest thing she had to a real father now. He considered her a moment, knowing she could hold her own in a fight (he'd trained her himself) but still cautious to bring her along. Anything dumb enough to steal from Piccolo, yet clever enough to do it without getting caught, was likely to be dangerous. "Fine," he answered sternly, "But you do as I say. If I tell you to get out of there, you do it."
She nodded emphatically and grabbed his elbow as he pressed two fingers to his forehead.
Gohan knew the situation was going to be bad, but nothing could have prepared him for the haunting sounds coming out of that room. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end and his blood turned to ice; Jenny was screaming in agony as though she was being tortured. In all his life, Gohan had never heard such a disturbing sound. As he rounded the corner and peered into the room, he saw her. She was sitting on her knees in the middle of the room, clutching a soft pink blanket, great tears rolling down her face as she screamed again and again, rocking forward and back.
Piccolo was standing with his back to everyone, not saying a word.
"I'm here," Gohan said and stepped into the room.
Piccolo turned slightly and nodded.
"Dad's on his way," Gohan added, not sure of what else to say. He cast another sideways glance at Jenny, who didn't seem to notice him.
"Good," Piccolo answered. His voice sounded pained and tight in his throat.
Gohan placed his hand on Piccolo's shoulder. "Piccolo, I'm so-"
"Don't," Piccolo said, shrugged Gohan's hand off. "I appreciate it, Gohan. But I'm struggling to hold myself together. If you comfort me right now…"
Gohan understood and respected Piccolo's need for space. But he couldn't handle the way Jenny was screaming. He knelt next to her and touched her arm. "Jenny?" he asked softly.
She turned to look at him, her brown eyes staring at him in horror. "G-G-Go-h-han…"
"Jenny, I'm so sorry," he said in the same soft voice.
She nodded, clenching her teeth and screwing up her face, trying to fight the tears. He pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and she fell against his chest, clutching at his back and screaming into his shirt. He stared at the floor, trying to detach himself mentally from the pure anguish radiating from Jenny, for fear of succumbing to tears himself. He couldn't do it. He trembled as he held her, his anger and power level rising dangerously.
"JENNY!" Lindsey cried, bursting into the room. She fell to her knees next to Jenny and Gohan. "Oh, Jenny. I'm so sorry, baby. I'm so sorry." Her voice was beginning to crack and Jenny reached out for her, pulling Lindsey into Gohan's embrace.
Jenny couldn't think straight. Pain such as she had never felt before filled her chest and washed over every nerve ending. It was like someone had punched a hole through her heart – a hole that only her daughter could fill. She was becoming dizzy and lightheaded – the only things keeping her conscious were her face against Gohan's chest and Lindsey's arms around her waist as they tried to console her.
"Piccolo?" Goku asked.
"We have to find her, Goku," Piccolo said, still staring at the wall, tears burning at his eyes as the love of his life continued to scream and sob. He wanted to comfort her, to ease her sorrow, but somehow he couldn't even look at her. It hurt too much and he needed to keep his composure at the moment.
"We will, Piccolo," Goku promised, "But we're going to need all the help we can get."
