Disclaimer: I don't own Dragonball Z.
Chapter Four: A Chance to Escape
Thin white fingers wrapped around the wine glass, swirling the contents slowly. After what seemed like hours to the countless minions that stood behind their leader, the small creature in the hover chair finally lifted the glass to his dark lips, sipping the contents at an agonizingly slow pace. Any outsider would have thought the creature was perfectly content, but his followers knew better. The way the tip of his tail flicked repeatedly back and forth was a sure sign of trouble.
"Stupid monkeys," the creature spoke, his nose screwing up as he snarled, "Those stupid, pathetic monkeys!"
Around him the servants and soldiers flinched, terrified that this latest outburst would spell the end for them. Cautiously, their eyes shifted to one of Frieza's favourites, begging him silently to do something- anything- to calm down their master, before this all got out of hand.
The soldier seemed to understand their silent message, for he stepped forward, kneeling just behind Frieza's chair. "Master," he began, his voice perfectly smooth and calm, just the tone he knew Frieza liked, "they are just two brainless animals, hardly even evolved from a primal state. Many of us are far stronger than they will ever be, especially you, my Lord. They are no threat to us."
"Of course they're no threat!" Frieza screamed, twirling around in the chair, the veins popping out on his head as he leaned closer to the blue-skinned soldier. "I am the strongest being in the universe! No one can defeat me! You tempt death, Zarbon, for even daring to approach my chair without my permission!"
"Sire, please," the beautiful reptilian reasoned, "I only speak out of my love for you, my Lord. I do not wish to see you so mad… it pains me to think that those pathetic apes have caused you such distress. Let me follow them, we know where they are now. I'll bring you back their heads, Master."
Frieza sighed softly, his red eyes slowly examining the alien in front of him, taking in the fine features, soft green hair, and perfectly sculpted body. Slowly he shifted back in his chair, looking out the ship window into the vast emptiness of space.
"No, there's no need for you to follow them," he said softly to Zarbon, an evil grin spreading across his face, "I'll go after Vegeta myself."
Bulma sighed and lay back on the grass, staring up at the green sky above. Part of her knew that she should be excited- to be the first Human to ever travel to a different planet was a big achievement- but right now she just felt bored. For three hours now she had been sitting on this hill, waiting for the Saiyans to get back. She had contemplated escaping, but how? Vegeta had flown quite a distance before dropping her off, and she'd never get back to one of the space pods before he got back. It's not like she could walk that far…
I have capsules… I have capsules!
Suddenly she didn't feel so bored after all. Instead she jumped to her feet, remembering the capsule she had strapped to her upper thigh- the emergency one she had packed just in case the boys needed her help against the Saiyans.
"Damn it! How could I have forgotten it?" she cried as she threw it out, watching as it exploded into a small backpack. She could hardly contain her joy as she fished out the capsules she had put inside- one full of food, another with a hover bike, and another containing weapons. She opened them all, strapping a gun to her waist and packing another in the back of her bike, before choosing a few protein bars to eat. They didn't taste that great, but they'd give her energy, and she was starving.
As she encapsulated the food container once more, she noticed something else she had put in the bag- Raditz's scouter. Looking around to check that Vegeta wasn't coming back yet, she picked the scouter up and positioned it over her ear, switching it on. Automatically it beeped, numbers tracing across the screen as it gave the directions to all near power levels.
She sighed as she picked up the two large ones, over a hundred miles away. It would be Vegeta and Nappa, and judging by the distance, there would still be time for her to escape. She had managed to convert the language on this scouter into Earth's alphabet, so it shouldn't be too hard to do the same for the ship, and then program it to send her back home. Smiling at just how much of a genius she was, she slung the backpack over her shoulders, jumped on the bike, and headed back in the direction on the nearest pod.
"We should get her some food too, Vegeta. I bet she's hungry."
Bulma skidded to a stop, her heart beating wildly as she looked around, expecting to see the big Saiyan beside her. When she realized that she was alone, she began to think that she was going crazy. But his voice sounded so real, and so close!
"She's pretty scrawny, I don't think she'd eat that much. Maybe a leg would do her. Do you think she eats raw meat?" Nappa's voice spoke again.
"How the hell am I supposed to know?" Vegeta's voice grumbled in reply. "If you're so worried about feeding her Nappa, just bring her back some meat. Quite frankly, your sudden sentimentality towards the female scares me."
"Ha! I just thought that if I buttered her up, you know, then maybe she might be willing to… you have to admit, Vegeta, she's a nice piece of ass."
By now Bulma had realized where the voices were coming from- the scouter. It was transmitting the Saiyan's voices back to her, just as Raditz had told them about Earth through the device. She screwed her face up in horror at the idea of ever sleeping with ugly Nappa, shuddering as she pictured it. And he smelt so bad too…
"I already told you, Nappa, she's off limits."
"But, if she's willing…"
"No!" Vegeta's voice yelled through the scouter, making her flinch. She quietly got back on the bike, aware that she couldn't make too much noise or she would risk being discovered. It would probably have been safer to switch the scouter back off, but she was too curious now, wanting to hear the rest of the conversation. Besides, she needed to keep tabs on their whereabouts.
"When's the last time you were with a woman, anyway?" Nappa asked.
"That's none of your business, Nappa."
"It's not healthy, Vegeta. A man needs a good fuck every once in a while. Every day would be nice, actually. Damn Frieza making us spend half our lives in bloody stasis sleep… I could be out there fu…"
"Will you shut up!" Vegeta yelled. "I don't care how much you want to fuck, you dip shit! I don't want to hear about it! Now, let's hurry and get back to that woman, before she runs off. She's surprisingly intelligent, but reckless. In fact, she's trying to escape right now, and she has Raditz's scouter on, don't you, little one?"
Bulma let out a gasp before she could stop herself, and was rewarded with the sound of Vegeta's laughter; an evil, cold cackling noise.
"Did you really think the sound of whatever contraption you're on wouldn't go unnoticed? Nappa may be daft, but I am not, Earth woman. I know you're listening, and I suggest you turn back around right now, and go back to where I left you. Do not make the mistake of thinking you can get to the ships before me."
"O… okay," Bulma whispered in reply, her whole body shaking with fear.
Nappa could tell that she'd been crying from the redness of her eyes, and the wet glint of her cheeks. He grunted in disappointment and set down the small dinosaur leg in front of her. He hated it when women cried; it made him miss the women of his home planet even more. A Saiyan woman would never shed tears.
This woman just looked up at him with her big, pale eyes and sniffled, blinking as though she were lost. His frown deepened at the pathetic sight; it seemed that in the few hours they had been gone all the fire had been sucked out of her. Shame, he thought, she was so lively this morning.
"I can cook it if you want," he told her when she made no move towards the meat.
"What?" she asked, blinking at the leg in front of her. It seemed to take a while for her brain to process what it was, but Nappa smiled when he finally got a reaction more like the kind of woman he wanted.
"Eww yuck!" she exclaimed, crawling back across the grass, "You don't seriously expect me to eat that, do you?"
"It's the only food on the planet," he replied, "unless you wanna try eating a Namek baby... they might taste better."
"You're a monster," she hissed in reply.
"Last chance," he informed her, picking up the leg.
"Go ahead. I have my own food," and with that she turned her back to him, her shoulders hunched tightly.
Nappa merely shrugged, before biting into the dripping meat.
Now that they had started, Bulma couldn't stop the flow of tears. She didn't know what she was crying for anymore; it could have been for Yamcha, or because she missed Earth and would probably never see it again, or from the constant fear that these monsters would give her something even worse than death. Whatever it was, it made the hot tears run down her cheeks, and made her chest constrict with small sobs.
"Why are you crying?" Nappa asked, peering down at her from where she sat in his arms. They were currently flying to the nearest Namekian village, and the wind made her shiver despite the warmth that the big Saiyan gave off.
She simply shrugged in reply, another sob racking her body as she lent into the giant's torso. It was horrible, the whole thing was horrible. She was on her way to help these monsters gain the dragonballs for some crazy reason that Vegeta refused to say, and she was in the arms of the man who wanted to rape her, who also happened to stink. She couldn't even get away from the smell, because if she moved her head from the crook of his body, the sheer force of the wind prevented her from breathing. She felt empty, sick, and cold, and for once in her life, she couldn't think of any good way to get herself out of the situation.
"Women from my planet don't cry," he told her, looking back out into the distance.
"I thought they were all dead," she mumbled.
He looked down at her again, and she was shocked to see something flash in his eyes, just for a second. "They are," he said, his voice thick with repressed emotion.
For the first time, Bulma realized that perhaps there was more to the Saiyans than she originally thought.
A/N: Lol, it probably seems like I'm giving Nappa too much screen time, but it's important for later. More B/V action will come up next chapter. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, I really appreciate getting feedback.