Disclaimer: I don't own the DBZ universe or any of it's characters. They all belong to someone else who has much more money then me

Chapter 9

The CCDD men arrived at exactly the scheduled time, just like Gohan had expected. They didn't reveal themselves just yet, but Gohan could sense the presence of stronger-then-average people around him. He received the ultimate confirmation when someone spoke up behind him.

"You are Gohan Son, employee of the Capsule Corporation?" the person who had addressed was standing behind him, no doubt pointing his gun at Gohan's back while the man's comrades were spread out and also aimed at him. The voice was hidden by a voice scrambler, standard for all CCDD uniforms, so it was impossible for Gohan to recognize the person by voice or emotion.

"Yes. I assume you are the reinforcements I requested?" he spoke as he started to turn around slowly.

"Do not turn around. You do not need to know what I look like, just follow my instructions. If you make any strange and unexpected movements we will harm you. Do you understand?"

"Very well. I understand your terms." Gohan answered, getting back to his old position, focusing his eyes on the trashcan in front of him.

"To answer your question, we are indeed the reinforcements you asked for. For the sake of secrecy we will not mention any more names here, but I have been ordered to inform you that our leader is here as well. He is waiting for you to give him a final briefing, after which he will take personal command of the mission. Any objections or questions?"

"None. Do I need to follow your orders to find your leader's location or are you going to take me there?" he already knew the answer, being well-known in all the Capsule Corporation's protocols, but he still had to ask to not raise any suspicion. After all, these guys knew his job within the Capsule Corporation. It would look strange to them if the head of the Research and Development department didn't ask about the exact procedure.

"When we are done talking, I will blindfold you. Afterwards I will guide you to the location of our leader. You are not to remove the blindfold yourself; it will be done for you. Any attempt to remove the blindfold will cause us to take action against you."

"Fine. You don't have to be so suspicious. Put the blindfold on and let's get this over with. I still have friends in there who are in danger."

The CCDD-er didn't answer; instead he pulled out the blindfold and blocked Gohan's vision completely. Feeling the man, or woman for all he knew, take him by the arm Gohan quietly followed the lead that was being provided to the truck that held the commander. He didn't see anything anymore, but his hearing had only gotten more accurate because of it. He clearly heard the first set of doors open as he was placed inside the Commander's personal van, the mobile headquarters for the CCDD.

'Well,' he thought to himself. 'This is it.'

---

"That's our guy?" Alpha-10 asked, having taken a long look at the monitor of the laptop Johnson was showing to his men. He was careful not to have any of the hostages look at it though.

"Yeah. Any of you recognize him?"

"Nope." "Haven't seen him." "I'd remember a cute guy like him." And "doesn't look like anyone in my classroom." Where the response that Johnson received.

"Ok, you all go back to your stations and check carefully again. Maybe our target called in sick today or something, but I want to be absolutely sure he's not amongst our current hostages before pressuring him to come here. We don't have to get the guy on international TV."

"Understood." All the CCDD Soldiers that had come to report to Johnson turned and moved back to their classrooms to stand guard, Alpha-4 and alpha-10 the only ones remaining behind.

'He said that the target was known into that walkie-talkie while he could have just used the school's announcement system as well. Does that mean he only wanted his own men to know? But why? Aren't there too many people in the building to effectively check it with only about 8 people? Does he really distrust the others that much?'

Videl's mind was still racing as she tried to reach an outcome.

'If he doesn't trust them, why would he have so many of them watch the individual classrooms? This is completely contradictory.'

"What's with that serious face?" Johnson suddenly said as he looked at Videl. "Let me take a guess."

Still sitting in the teacher's chair, he leaned back as he exhaled some smoke again. Videl had long since lost count of the number of cigarettes, but she knew he must have been nearing the 60's by now. He extinguished the stick in the ashtray before continuing.

"You're probably thinking that I don't trust the merc's working with me because I didn't show them the face of the man we've come here for. Am I right?" Johnson paused as his cigarette died out and looked at Videl's face while he extracted a new cigarette from the pack.

"From the look on your face I'm right. You think I don't trust them enough to know who we're dealing with, but still trust them enough to look after the classes' right? Well the answer is simple. True I don't trust them enough to tell them either, but the main reason is that, if we somehow get caught, I know my men will not tell anyone who we were aiming for. I don't have that kind of insurance from the merc's. That's all."

Having said his thing, Johnson stood from the chair and watched the sunset from the classroom window.

"I don't get it." Videl suddenly said as she looked at the man just standing there.

"It's not that hard to understand you know." Johnson said surprised as he turned slightly.

"That's not what I mean. Why are you continuously going on about 'if we get caught' 'if we fail' and other stupid things like that. As much as I hate to admit it, you have organized everything just about perfectly so why are you worrying that much?"

"Ahh, the same question we all ask the Captain at every mission." Alpha-10 said from the door. "Every single time we were on a mission that was planned nearly perfect, he would always worry about the darkest possible outcome. In the end we all decided that he was simply a pessimistic bastard." The large man ended with what would pass as a chuckle through the voice masking.

"Yeah, Alpha-10 is right. I just worry about everything too much. But that's because even the slightest problem can destroy an operation and nearly kill a team in an instant. I just don't want that to happen again. So I'll prefer being a worrywart over losing my teammates."

"Right."

---

Already 20 minutes had passed since Gohan had entered the car. Outside, the sun had started to set, an early evening in late autumn. The doors of the van suddenly swung wide open and a tall figure stepped out, still hidden in the shadows cast by the buildings. As he stepped out of the van, the two CCDD-ers who had been standing guard turned too him and saluted him. Even too an outsider it would have been obvious that the hidden man was in charge of the group and demanded nothing but perfect obedience.

"Do we have the phone number of the police officer in charge?" he asked them, his voice hidden by the voice disrupter, removing any and all emotion making his voice hollow and cold.

"Yes sir, the phone is already ringing on the other side."

As soon as the Commander held the phone near his helmet, it was answered.

"Hello, this is chief Yamaka, who am I talking too?"

"Greetings Police chief, please do not make any outward reactions that would indicate this is a serious phone call. I am not here to threaten you, I wish to remove the men who are holding this school hostage as well but for that I will need your cooperation. After you hear me out, it will be your choice to come to us and work together or that we remain working as two separate units. Do you agree to hear me out first?"

The Commander gave a slight pause for the police chief to answer. It didn't even take the officer on the other side 5 seconds to give an answer.

"Yes, I'll do anything at this point to improve the situation, but who am I talking too?"

"My name is of no importance and we will only reveal who we are after you agree to cooperate with us. But listen up for now and don't give any outward signs; these men are very capable of inflicting a mass-murder on this school and eliminate your entire police force. In fact, it seems they wish to avoid unnecessary bloodshed so their punishment will be as low as possible in the event they do get caught. However, the care they have towards their hostages will also be our ticket in. I have received information that the hostage takers are there to take a single person captive. Judging from the time they have been in there, they are having some difficulty finding him or her. I have a plan to get into the building without any problems, but I will require your assistance. Do not say anything into the phone.

Look behind you, you will see a small alley. If you agree to cooperate with us, go into that alleyway, take the 2nd on your left and then the 1st on your right. In case you wish for security, you can bring 5 men along with you. If you do not arrive within 5 minutes we will assume that you have not decided to work with us and resume the plan on our own. Goodbye chief."

With that he turned of the phone as he waited.

Exactly 3 minutes later, the police chief and 4 other men arrived. The men all had their guns at the ready and all of them looked tensed up. When The Commander stood up and walked towards them, being cautious not to reveal himself too much, the officers were quick to point their guns at him. He didn't even show any signs of physically flinching, only spoke up to them.

"I am not here as your enemy, I am here to remove the threat inside the building. So lower your weapons or do not come here."

After a second of hesitation, the police chief gave the signal to lower the weapons, though he was still sweating heavily himself. He took a deep breath before managing to put on a normal face.

"You said you had a plan before, what is it? I want this situation over with as soon as possible, but so far they haven't made any mistakes that we could use."

"They have made 1 mistake and we will use it to destroy them. Now come, police chief, sit down and listen to what I tell you. You and your men must follow my instructions to the last detail or everything will fall apart and we will have a massacre on our hands."

---

"It sure gets dark quick these days. Don't you agree guys?" Johnson was looking out the window, still smoking a cigarette, as he made his bored statement. No one answered him though. Videl had long since gone back to her old place next to Sharpener and Videl, meaning that the only person to talk back at him was placed in the back of the classroom again.

'What is Gohan doing? I thought he said he had a plan, but he's been gone for over 6 hours already and nothing happened. Don't tell me he chickened out after all.' Videl's thoughts had been growing increasingly negative over the last 30 minutes. A look at her watch showed Videl it was already past 18:00 PM, meaning that pretty soon, everyone would start to get hungry.

'And I already ate everything in my lunchbox. This is not going to be pleasant at all.'

Meanwhile Johnson was still smoking a cigarette, having already filled three ashtrays on his own. He looked at watch, picked up the walky-talky and had a small conversation with some of his men before he stood up. As had been happening all day long, the entire class went silent and traced him with their eyes. He picked up the microphone used for school announcements again and started speaking into it so the entire school could hear it.

"Attention ladies, gentleman, boys and girls. As I'm sure most of you have noticed it's getting pretty late already and we still haven't found our mark, which means he's either not here or he's a damn good hide-and-seek player. My men are going to scan the school from top to bottom, but I have actually gotten quite an appetite in the meantime and I'm planning on getting some food. Now, since you're all teenagers and have been in some serious suspense since this morning I think you'll all want to eat something as well. Therefore I'm going to ask you to get a piece of paper for every class, write down what you want to eat from take-away and pass it around. We'll have the people outside get it for us. So don't be shy about trying out some fancy dish you've wanted to eat forever, it's all on the city's expanses tonight."

Almost as soon as the message was finished, Videl heard a lot of bellies rumble. People had obviously forgotten about hunger because of the stress, but the message brought the idea of food into their minds, resulting in the realization of hunger.

"I've got the paper; I'll pass it around for you guys!" Sharpener yelled, having torn a page out of his notebook.

"Gladly." Videl softly spoke.

Almost an hour later, the notes had all been gathered at last. Johnson was scanning over the 14 different pages that he had been given. After a few seconds, he spoke up again, surprise evident in his voice.

"You kids must have a few screws untied of something, not a single pizza on this entire list. You all really love hamburgers, Chinese and Indian food though. Well, whatever, your choices."

He placed the papers on his desk again before walking over to the window to shout orders to the police.

---

"Hey everyone listen up." The voice of the leader of the hostage takers, the man that had threatened Videl at gun point a few hours ago, suddenly yelled out the window.

"It's been getting pretty late and asked the kids here to make a list of what they want to eat. In a few minutes I'll be sending out one of my men with the lists. I want you guys to get the items on those lists and I would appreciate it if you could hurry it up a bit. And when my man steps outside, don't even think about arresting or shooting him unless you want to turn this entire thing really bloody. Let the town pay for it; they got money to spend anyway, so maybe you guys can order something as well. That was all. Anyone objecting the idea of getting something to eat?"

He was answered by stunned looks from all the policemen, news reporters and other people that had come to watch, most of them parents.

Behind them, hidden in a police truck, the commander of the Satan City Police Force couldn't believe it. This guy had actually given them the opportunity they had needed, while he had been ordered by the Commander to request for the hostage takers to get some food send in. he quickly told his second in command to look over things for a view minutes while he went to see his new 'allies'. The chief knew very well that the cooperation between the two groups was non-existent. The Commander and his group, which he still had not named in their conversation, had simply taken control of the operation. But as long as it meant that the kids, and most importantly Videl, were all released safely he didn't care.

"What change's have occurred in the plan?" the Commander's machine-like voice spoke again, completely unidentifiable as his entire body was still hidden in the shadow.

"We've been given a golden chance." The chief answered. "The hostage takers have just requested that food be brought for the hostages, meaning they've executed your plan for us."

"Not yet, Police Chief," the Commander spoke without showing any signs that would hint at his true reaction to the news. "Though they have given us a considerable opening. Have someone receive their shopping list and then order it from as many different places as possible. You will have a quicker delivery that way and it would be more tempting to allow the delivery boys in."

"I see. Then you and your guys sneak in, disguised as the delivery boys, and you deal with these guys. I see, pretty smart." The Chief said, the rest of the plan finally dawning to him.

"No, if we replace all the delivery boys they will notice. I will be the only one to replace a delivery boy and go in. But I shall be plenty to deal with this."

The chief didn't even react, he was too shocked by the bold statement and the suicide plan he had just heard.

---

It had, in total, taken almost 3 hours of taking orders, having the police send the deliveries and the actual waiting for their food, but at long last there were many different delivery cars standing outside of the school behind the police barriers.

And, for once, Videl agreed with the common opinion that the police worked too slow. She had been starving for a good meal. Looking outside at all the food-delivery services, she could almost taste all the good. The fried rise the Chinese had brought, the Hamburgers from 3 different major fast-food restaurants, the Shawarma from a Turkish restaurant and the Pizza's brought in from one of the best Italian restaurants in Satan City. Just the though made her stomach growl and her mouth run with fresh saliva.

"They were smart enough to order at different places. All right, let them send the delivery boys in and have them bring the food around. You know who ordered what guys." Johnson had located a few of his men near the entrance to intercept the delivery boys, guide them around and make sure they didn't pull anything. And of course, they would also capture any police officers that tried to sneak in.

'This guy doesn't leave anything to chance does he?' Videl thought, upset with how thorough the muscular man was being. 'When is he going to make a mistake already?'

---

The Commander's plan was moving along perfectly so far. He had used some kind of a holographic device to mask his appearance and look identical to one of the delivery boys. Said delivery boy had been stopped by the police before he even stepped out of his car and they requested his cooperation. A quick scan by the device and a short explanation later, the delivery boy had been pushed into a police-car so the traitors couldn't see him. His plan did not allow any failures.

And now he was walking towards the school, carrying a few bags of fast food in his hands, with his helmet's sensors scanning all around him. As he entered through the door, he activated the voice recording function of his helmet. All he would need were a few words to proceed with the next part of his plan.

"H-h-h-here you go s-s-s-sir." he said, making sure the act of scarred person was as realistic as possible, never taking his eyes of the guns that were strapped to their backs. "T-t-t-this is-s-s t-t-the f-f-f-f-fried Rise th-that w-w-was ordered." He quickly put the backs down and backed away a bit.

"Relax kid, we ain't gonna hurt you. I'm going to ask you to wait her for a bit so we can check who ordered fried rise around here, so wait just a second."

'Perfect.' The Commander thought. With all the words that were just said, he could easily have his helmet transform his voice to become a perfect imitation of this man's. even though it was masked, each of the CCDD-outfits had small, specialized voice-like adjustments that only he, the Commander, and the Captains knew about. Johnson should have been able to recognize it as well. With this precaution, the Commander would only have to watch his own use of words a bit, but that wouldn't be too difficult. This was where the dangerous part really started.

As the man that had spoken up to him, a previous CCDD-er he recognizes as Alpha-8, turned around, the Commander moved quickly. Grabbing Alpha-8's head from behind, he slammed him into the ground, the back of his head first. Seeing the sudden events the woman who was with him, the only female on the Alpha team codenamed Alpa-1, reached for her handgun and walky-talky at the same time. Before she could grab either, the Commander was already on her. Instead of the rough, but powerful, attack he used on Alpha-8 he gave a few quick punches on some of the vital points of her body. Not strong enough to kill her, but plenty to knock her out before her hands were even halfway to their goals.

Knowing he had to act fast before the next few delivery boys would come in, the Commander grabbed their knocked out bodies, stripping them off their communication devices and weaponry, he stashed them into a trash-room around the corner. He quickly deactivated the holographic device and grabbed the gun he would use on this mission from the food-bags. In no more then 20 seconds he had completely put the weapon together and had it fire-ready before quickly continued, carrying the walky-talky of Alpha-8 with him.

'Here we go.'

As soon as the Commander walked past the first classroom, he used the heat-sensors in his helmet to scan the inside. He instantly had a clear image of the inside. As was most likely the case in all of the classrooms the hostage takers were standing in front of the class, in a straight line from the door, in the location where normally a teacher would be located. The Commander walked towards the door without making a sound and, after checking to make sure that the door opened inwards, held his gun at the ready.

The larger, fully-automated gun he held in his hands carried special tranquilizing bullets, a single shot would be enough to put any human out in less then 1 second. He still had his favored weapons, single-shot customized handguns, attached as well, but those were only for emergency use. Acting quick, the Commander pushed the door open with his foot, making sure that it didn't make too much noise, and quickly shot 3 times before anyone could react. The silencer made sure no-one heard the shots and the students themselves didn't even realize what was going on until he stepped up and ordered them to remain seated and quit until the entire situation was dealt with.

Checking his victims, the Commander noticed that none of them were from the CCDD. He quickly left the room, locking the door as he went, and continued on for the next classroom.

---

After the long wait, Videl was gladly digging into the fried rice that had finally been delivered. Even though she had already finished her lunchbox she was starved and ate as if she was an imitation of Gohan. All around the class, everyone else was doing the same. In the front of the room, Johnson was still walking around agitated as he was waiting for his food to arrive. He reached for the walky-talky again and spoke into it.

"He, Alpha-8. Is my Shawarma here yet? I'm starting to get hungry over here."

"Not yet Cap'n. But I'll notify you as soon as it arrives. I think they just brought in the last shipment of fried rice though. Shouldn't be too long now." the answer came.

"Fine." Johnson answered. For a second, Videl thought she saw a look of concern pass Johnson's face, but just as quickly it had passed.

---

'click'

The Commander closed yet another door behind him, quickly and quietly moving towards the next one. His plan had worked fine so far. Infiltrating and eliminating the frontal guards had been easy and he had already taken care of 4 classrooms before Johnson had first contacted him. His role when speaking has been convincing enough because Johnson hadn't bothered him any more and now there were only 3 classrooms left to deal with, all of which housed CCDD personal and some mercenaries.

Suddenly the walky-talky went off again. Quickly, the Commander activated his voice-scrambler, imitating Alpha-8 again, and listened to Johnson's request.

"He Alpha-8, are those Pizza's in yet? The kid that ordered one of them is looking completely starved while everyone around him is digging in. and where the hell is my shawarma?"

"The Shawarma is being delivered right now and just now a guy with a pizza-box came in cap'n. I send him to your classroom, should be there in about a minute or so."

He knew that he was pulling a complete bluff, but if he used the 'not here yet' excuse again, Johnson was sure to get suspicious. This would, at the least, buy him enough time to finish with the next classroom and hope to finish with Johnson before he expected the pizza and Shawarma to arrive.

---

"GODDAMNIT!!!" Johnson had suddenly exploded in anger after the man at the entrance gave an answer.

"You 2!" he yelled, pointing at Alpha-4 and Alpha-10. "Get the Satan girl and those 2 friends of hers down here. NOW!" there was a notion of fear and anger in his voice. As the two Soldiers walked up to her, Videl saw that Johnson had spit out his newly-lit cigarette and looked ready to kill.

Knowing they would be in for trouble if they resisted, Videl stood up before the Soldiers reached her. Sharpener and Erasa followed her lead and walked towards them. When they had walked down the stairs, they came face-to-face with Johnson who was looking livid.

"Bind their hands behind their backs and keep them between the door and us." He ordered.

"Sir, what's wrong?" Alpha-10 asked as he tied Erasa's arms behind her back.

"What's wrong? I'll tell you what the FUCK is wrong! We got an intruder and he's taken out Alpha-8 and Alpha-1. probably also took care of most of those incompetent imbeciles we work with on this mission!"

a/n:

And that concludes chappy 9. chapter 10 will be posted in 1 month's time. please review and tell me what you think of this chapter and the entire story so far.

I would like to thank my Beta for this chapter, Zephyair-Tai-Ji for his excellent and fast work on this chapter.