Bad Man

Now: Worlds Collide

Disclaimer: Characters and premise are the property of Akira Toriyama. I'm just borrowing them for a little non-profit fun.

Bulma wakes up doubled over clutching her stomach. For several long minutes the only thing she is aware of are the violent, panicked movements of the child within her.

"Vegeta? Vegeta!"

She rubs the still small swell of her belly, trying to sooth the baby. "Shh, shh, baby. Just a little while. We'll figure out what's wrong. Just a little bit. Please stop kicking me."

She waits expectantly. Trusting Vegeta will be there momentarily, that he'd get her whatever help she needs.

When he doesn't come Bulma forces herself to focus on things outside of her body.

It is dark. She is lying on the floor. The air smells of dust and disuse. A small bit of light seeping in through cracks around the door. The faint impression of shelves among the shadows. A storage closet of some sort?

Kidnaped? Knocked out somehow. So quickly she hadn't realized, her ki hadn't reacted to alert Vegeta. But she is aware now. The baby, who's ki was already stronger than hers, had been upset for sometime judging from how battered her abdominal muscles feel.

'What happened? Why isn't Vegeta here?'

Bulma bites her lip as she forces herself to the door. Locked, of course.

She bangs against it with the heel of her hand. "Let me out! Something's wrong! My baby, something's wrong with the baby!" she shouts.

"I told the woman that if she ever turned that damned machine on again there wouldn't be enough of it left to a micro-sphere," Vegeta snarls to himself.

It has to be the damned machine. One second Bulma's ki was perfectly normal, burning bright and steady in the back of his awareness, even if it was almost eclipsed by the ki of the child she carried. The next moment it was gone, simply gone.

Just because he's ticked off Vegeta flares his ki a moment before he would have hit the wall of windows outside of Bulma's lab. Instead of smashing a single pane of glass every window within fifty feet of him shatters. The Capsule Corp building is left looking like it had been struck by a giant meteor.

Vegeta stalks into the lab. "Where is my wife? Where is the damn machine?" he demands angrily as the people in the lab dive under their desks, as if Vegeta's ire could be protected against as easily as an earthquake.

Not seeing Bulma, not capable of finding her without her ki to act as a beacon, Vegeta drags the nearest body out from under a desk.

"Please, don't kill me," the man squeaks.

Vegeta rolls his eyes and forces himself to moderate his tone. It does him no good if the idiot faints from shear terror without first talking. "I do not plan to kill you," he states. "Where is Bulma? Where is her damned ki-blocking machine?"

"I don't know! I don't know! I'm sorry!"

"When was the last time you saw her? Any of you?" Vegeta demands as he let the man drop.

One of the scientists sticks her head out from under her desk just enough to peak at Vegeta. "But you always know where Ms. Briefs is," she states. "You always go right to her."

Vegeta grits his teeth. "I cannot sense her, her or the child. If it is not that machine or another like it, she is dead. Tell me where you last saw her, now or-" He breaks off uncertainly.

He can't destroy the whole planet. If Bulma is dead a part of him wants nothing more than to destroy the entire world, even if it meant suffocating in space himself a few hours later. But regardless of what has happened to Bulma the Earth is still Trunks' home, and he won't harm it. If he tries going on a killling spree like he would have done when he was younger Kakarrot or his older brat will try -will- stop him. But if Bulma, his Bulma is dead there will be repayment, there will be blood.

"Y-you, no we. We need to call Security. The building is monitored, if Ms. Briefs disappeared rom here there will be something on the their tapes."

"Summon them," Vegeta orders.

A particularly brave member of the lab group crawled out from under his desk and picked up the phone.

Forty minutes later Vegeta is standing outside the surveillance room glaring at the closed door. His presence in the room did not make things go faster. Capsule Corp Security Personnel had enough pride in their image to refrain from diving under desks when Vegeta spoke to them, in fact he'd noticed more than a few of them staring at him with expressions of near awe, but Vegeta quickly came to realize that they were all distracted by him. So he was stuck standing in the hallway, hoping a bunch of humans could tell him something useful, unable to even go in the room because his mere presence had the potential to drive whatever intelligence they might possess out of their skulls.

"Uh - Vegeta-sama, I think we found something," one of the security people announces awkwardly. To Vegeta, he looks like a puppy, hoping for praise. Trunks occasionally does the same thing.

"Show me," Vegeta demands harshly. He's never responded to Trunks' desire for praise either. The brat should know when he's done something well, he shouldn't depend on others to tell him as much.

They show him a small clip of video: Bulma falling asleep at her desk. By the next sweep of the camera she's gone. There is no further indication of her presence in the building, the time stamp on the footage indicates it happened five minutes before her presence disappeared from Vegeta's awareness.

"This is useless," he states.

In the background a phone rings. One of the security personnel has shut his eyes, he's waiting to be killed.

"Vegeta-sama, er, well, it's for you."

Vegeta stares at the phone that's being held out to him for a moment before accepting it. "What?"

"I have your wife."

Vegeta doesn't say anything. He understands they want something from him in exchange for Bulma. Anything he says will just confirm that they hold something he values. He listens instead, for anything that might tell him where they've taken her.

"I can prove it."

A few short seconds later Bulma's voice comes over the line. "Vegeta, where the hell are you?"

There's pain and panic in her voice.

"I told you that damn machine was trouble," he states.

"If you want her back you have to do something for me. You don't want me to explain it now. Go home. I'll call with further instructions."

Vegeta crushes the phone in lieu of hanging up. "Determine who else is missing."

"What - what do you-"

"She was taken from here. She is being hidden with one of her machines." Vegeta hopes they're bright enough to understand him, if not they're useless.

A wince, several grim looks, a nod. They don't like hearing it was an inside job, but no one argues with Vegeta's logic and not just because he scares the hell out of them.

"Find a way to contact me with information."

There is a pause for several seconds. Then the puppy-dog offers a compact device. "Do you want my cell-phone? Just hit this button when it rings."

Vegeta accepts the device. He should have realized they had com-devices, but it's been a long time since he bothered to use something of that nature. The planet is so small, but these humans can't simply sense his ki and fly to his position. As he leaves he over-hears another member of the security personnel say "Call everyone who has your number and tell them not to use it if they value their lives."

It takes him just over three minutes to return to his home compound and to round up Trunks and the woman's parents.

"Go to Kakarrot, stay there until I give you permission to do otherwise," Vegeta orders.

"Dad, what's going on?"

The elder Briefs exchange a silent look. "Trunks, why don't you get some of your things," Bunny suggests as she leads the boy away.

"Has something happened to Bulma?" Dr. Briefs asks.

"She and child will be fine." He won't fail to protect his family again. "I don't want the lot of you underfoot."

"Yes, yes, I quite understand," Dr. Briefs replies. "We'll make certain that Trunks stays where Goku can keep an eye on him."

They've barely left when the phone rings. "You again?" Vegeta asks.

"Yes. I - I want you to kill several people for me. I wouldn't k- this is a last resort. They were never going to let me go. This is the only way I can save myself."

"I don't care why. Who?"

"I'm faxing you their pictures now. You'll find them at the address provided. It's a warehouse twenty miles south of Metro West on highway 18. It's a pit fighting arena, they think you're coming to fight for them. But the only way I'll ever be free is if I kill them."

"You would have done better to kill them yourself."

"I can't, I'm not- I've seen you do things that are inhuman. If you do this for me I'll release your wife."

"Killing is not bothersome."

It feels like she's been trapped there for eons. After discovering that the door was locked Bulma moved just far enough from it so that it wouldn't hit her if anyone ever opens it.

She sits curled protectively around her swollen belly and talks to the child, tries to calm her. Because whatever is wrong, the baby's agitated struggling can't be making it better. It's not the normal kicks of a healthy child, it's a sign of distress and Bulma can't think why or how the baby could be aware of the mess they're in.

Finally, finally the door cracks open. Bulma's eyes water at the sudden influx of light. She squints, sees the silhouette of a man. After a moment she's able to make out the ski mask, the phone he's holding out to her, and the gun pointed at her.

"Talk to your husband," he orders.

"Vegeta, where the hell are you?" Bulma exclaims.

"I told you that damned machine was trouble."

The phone is snatched away. 'Should have told him about the baby.'

'That damned machine? Which machine? In answer to why he's not here. The one that blocks ki-sensing. He can't sense me.'

Bulma watched the door swing shut, trapping her in darkness again. She feels numb. Vegeta didn't know how to find her. All the Z-Fighters depended on their ki-abilities to the exclusion of all else. None of them would be able to help.

The night had been fairly average so far. The only thing that broke from the routine of preparations for the fights was the arrival of Smarty-pants' guy. The guy looked unprepossessing, he was short, his eye-level hit most of the fighters around mid-chest and he was wearing loose, casual clothes. The manager decided to use him in a warm-up round. A quick blood-bath always got the crowd in the right frame of mind.

'This guy is dead,' the bookie thought. 'Odd, he's totally calm. He should be a wreck, even experienced fighters get edgy. They know someone'll leave the ring on a stretcher at best.'

He joined Smarty-pants' guy by the ring. Up close there was a startling intensity to the guy. "So what do you think of the set up."

"I was unaware such places existed on Earth."

"You do understand the rules, the fight only ends when one guy can't make it back to his feet."

"Yes. Killing is not outside of your rules in this place, correct?"

The question, asked with completely casualness, causes a shiver to go down the bookie's spine. "No, we'll take care of any bodies. Could be you as easily as the other guy. They've got experience at this sort of thing."

"No, they do not."

When the new guy is summoned into the ring the bookie feels a sense of relief that makes no logical sense.

The new guy stands there looking totally out of place and completely in control.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" his opponent demands, insulted by the lack of fear.

"Warming-up. It's been years since I've killed. Much, much longer since I've bother to single out an individual so pitifully far below myself."

It's not a fight. For the entirety of it no one says a thing. They're too shocked as they watch the short, casually dressed man methodically and effortlessly dismantle an experienced pit-fighter nearly twice his size. Even here cold-blooded murder comes as a shock and there is no other description for what they're seeing, as impossible as it is for them to believe.

The bookie can't help thinking, 'How could someone like Smarty-pants know a psychopath?'

Then it's over and the new guy is walking out of the cage. Without a word he takes the bookie by the elbow and escorts him outside. The bookie knows he should try to run, fight or maybe just scream, but he's too stunned to react. And even more, after what he just saw, he knows it would be pointless.

They step out the door and the next thing the bookie knows they're on the roof.

"The one who sent me here, tell me about him."

"What?"

"You may consider what you saw as a demonstration of what I'm capable of. Or as practice for what I intend. I've never tortured one of your kind, I wished to determine what I can break without causing death."

"But he sent you, you must-"

"Answer my question or I start on you. You will also tell me everything about the ones you work for."

'Sensing ki is second nature to Saiyans. Goku saw the Kamehameha once, just once and was able to replicate it. Vegeta learned that it was possible to evaluate battle strength without a scouter and almost instantly developed the knack for it.'

'My machine blocks ki-signatures. Vegeta can't find me. My ki has surrounded the baby since she was conceived, now she can't feel it. She thinks I'm gone. Everything familiar to her is gone and she's fighting. She's fighting, with everything she has. Why am I not?'

Determinedly Bulma begins running her fingers over the door, locating the hinges, the latch. In her head she calculates the point where it will take the least pressure. She thanks the Kami for Saiyans' all or nothing growth patterns which mean that the baby is still tiny even though she's only a month short of delivering. "Alright Chichi, let's see if you managed to teach me anything," Bulma mutters. She spins around to gather momentum and kicks the door with every last ounce of strength she can muster.

The door splinters, Bulma shrieks. She pushes against it and, grudgingly, the door topples over. Certain she's broken her heel as well as the door, Bulma hobbles out of the closet where she's been held captive for nearly a day now.

And runs straight into her kidnapper. For a moment her gaze fixates on his gun, then his face. "Andrew Deshay? You? Why?"

"Ms. Briefs, you weren't supposed to see me."

She knows him, sees him damn near every day in her lab. She knows him.

"So now what Andrew? Are you going to shoot me?" Bulma demands angrily. "You've already hurt my baby. What the hell did I ever do to you?"

"I, I had to. I didn't have a choice."

"Right, it's not like you could have not knocked me out, not locked me in a closet and not used information and equipment you had access to only because you're part of my lab group to hide me from my husband!" Bulma snaps. She presses the heel of her hand against her belly, for hours the baby has been kicking and fighting constantly. The sudden sharp pain followed by a cessation of movement worries her more than she wants to think about.

"You don't understand. I didn't have any other way out. I made myself too valuable, they'll never let me go. Whatever I do, whatever I give them, they always tell me it's good, but not quite good enough to clear my debt. I should have known. The only way I'll be free of them is if they're dead."

"So that's what you want Vegeta for. You want him to kill for you," Bulma realizes.

"He can deal with them, I've seen-"

"Kill, yeah," Bulma interrupts bluntly. "Vegeta can do that. At your behest, that's going to be a problem for him."

"He loves you, he'll do it to get you back. You weren't supposed to see me."

"I did see you," Bulma replies. She forces herself to stay calm. "Andrew, why don't you turn off the machine. Nothing irreparable has happened yet. Turn off the machine and I swear I'll deal with Vegeta." She isn't sure of that, isn't sure that nothing serious has happened, and if something is wrong with the baby she doesn't give a damn what Vegeta might do. But saying as much won't help her.

"It won't work now that you saw me. Normal people, we don't matter to Vegeta. He barely notices we exist. Everyone at Capsule Corp is in terror or awe of him, but we're ants in his eyes. He would have killed them and gotten you back and I wouldn't have been worth the trouble."

"You're fooling yourself. You tried to control him. Vegeta won't forget that. The only way you'll get out of this alive is with my help. Turn off the machine."

"A bee stings you, you might take a swat at it but you don't go hunt it back to the hive and kill it."

"No, you burn the whole hive." Bulma clutches at her stomach. That wasn't the baby kicking. Her eyes widen fearfully. "Turn off the machine, now. I need to get to a hospital."

Andrew stares at her. "You can't be hurt. He'll kill me."

"Please, it's the baby."

"You weren't supposed to see me. It was supposed to be more trouble than he'd bother with to find me."

"Andrew, please!"

"You weren't supposed to see. He can't know. He can't know who I am, he'll kill me."

The sound of the gun going off shocks both of them. For a moment they just stare at each other. Slowly Bulma reaches up to touch her shoulder, her hand comes away bloody.

The gun clatters to the floor. Andrew Deshay flees into the night.

Vegeta stands in the center of Andrew Deshay's livingroom, at a loss for what to do next.

A human, some random human, not even a fighter had taken Bulma, his Bulma. Vegeta had a name, he'd found the man's home. There was no one there. No Bulma, no one who might be induced to provide him with another lead, no one at all.

He can't sense Bulma. He can't sense their child. The one who took them was an ordinary human, one of billions inhabiting the planet, completely unremarkable. He can't sense his enemy or coheres the man's location from his acquaintances, he acted on his own. Vegeta knew and understood the Z-Fighter's capabilities. Like him, they were as dependent on their ki sense as he'd once been on his scouter. He was at a dead end.

' Leave it to the woman to build something that could confound our abilities so casually.'

Vegeta grimaces and flies back to Capsule Corp, back to the Security office. "You will help me locate Andrew Deshay."