Chapter Nine

Into the Shark's Teeth

The stairwell was dark, except for the light washing in from the doorway behind her. Videl came to a stop, lowering into a fighting crouch, her senses alert for the faintest hint of danger. She moved down the winding staircase with caution, keeping as out of sight as possible until the last light from the door above disappeared. She stopped, raised her hand and pressed a small button on her helmet, and the view through her visor shifted to the greenish cast of night-vision goggles. They think something as simple as turning out the lights is going to slow me down? Hah!

She made her way down the steps, seeing the landing of the thirteenth floor in the eerie green light through her visor. The door to the floor was open. It's these landings that are going to be the most trouble. They could have any number of thugs waiting in the hallways, she thought. Then again… they have to see me to shoot me.

With a small push of energy, she lifted herself to hover a few feet off the stairs. She drifted towards the landing, hugging the wall. She shifted horizontally to fit in the small space over the door, and floated over it. The trick let her avoid the sight of the thugs who were undoubtedly waiting in the hall for her to stride in front of the doorway as if she were target practice. She set herself down on the next set of stairs, and made her way towards the next landing as quietly as possible, successfully repeating the same floating trick at the second doorway.

As she made her way cautiously around the alternating staircases towards the 11th floor landing, she saw that the trick wouldn't work this time. With her electronically enhanced sight, she spotted a single thug loitering outside the doorway this time, wearing what were probably a set of his own night-vision goggles. Stupid, Videl! she thought. I should have known they'd have at least one guard in the stairwell. There's no way I can get around him, and the thugs above are going to hear it when I start fighting these guys! She gritted her teeth in frustration. She didn't have time to double back and take care of the goons above her, not anymore.

She heard the thug on the stairs hiss a whisper back into the hallway he was guarding. "Hey, Bax, shouldn't we have heard somethin' by now? The Boss said she landed on the roof almost five minutes ago!"

She couldn't make out the reply well enough to overhear anything that was said back, but what she'd heard so far confirmed her suspicions. They knew she was here, and they weren't going to wait forever. Oh well, she thought. I was going to have to take them all out eventually either way.

Taking advantage of the inattentiveness of goon who was still in whispered conversation, she leapt over the railing. With a little in-flight adjustment, she drove two booted feet straight into the man's chest, knocking him roughly back into the wall. He slid down and slumped unconscious. Before whoever was hiding inside the doorway could even shout in surprise, Videl charged through, sliding to a stop several feet past the doorway itself. She spun quickly and saw two thugs lurking in the corners of the doorway, just now turning their heads to her, their guns still pointed the other way.

With a catlike pounce, she punched the one on the right with a right cross straight in the jaw, snapping his head around straight into the concrete wall. She spun with the momentum of her punch and extended her right leg, catching the gun of the other thug just as he was training it on her. The man pulled the trigger by reflex, sending a volley of wild shots into the ceiling behind him. Another quick jab and he was down, but the loud sounds of the shots had blown her slim chance at taking the guards down without a noticeable commotion.

She heard confused shouts from above, and the sudden thunder of footsteps as the guards on the upper floors realized that they'd been had. She muttered a soft curse, looking up the stairwell towards the noise, when a new idea struck her. Without hesitating, she leapt back into the passage and floated around the cement staircase. She pushed herself up against the underside of the steps, hiding herself from view. Until they moved down the stairs and looked up, at least.

She could feel through the cement as well as hear when the goons ran down the section she was pressed up against, and heard one of them curse when he saw the three unconscious thugs. "She must have gone down, come on!" one of them said, and the footfalls continued.

Not waiting for them to spot her, as soon as she saw the first one turn the corner to head down the stairs to her right, she lunged out. The man didn't even see her before he was unconscious thanks to a boot across his face, and the three thugs behind him just gawked in surprise. Another one was on the floor before they even tried to bring their weapons to bear, and with a gymnast's flip, Videl landed behind the last pair. A kick sent one tumbling down the steps, and a final jab knocked the last one out just as he was turning around.

She double checked the men with hurried precision, making sure they were all out cold. Right. Seven down, who knows how many to go? She was surprised when no one else charged out to challenge her, sure that the other Red Shark gangsters must have heard the sounds of the fight. Fine. If they want to play sitting duck, all the better. She crept down to the landing of the tenth floor and saw light washing out from the small gap underneath the closed door. Reaching up, she deactivated the night vision setting on her visor, and near-blackness returned. She walked up to the door and pressed her back against the wall, right hand reaching out to grip the knob. Taking a last deep breath, she twisted the knob and flung the door open.

As expected, a massive hail of bullets greeted the opening door, filling the stairwell with sparks and flying cement fragments. She heard a commanding shout, indiscernible through the racket, and the gunfire stopped. Not wasting any time, she detached herself from the wall and dove into the room. She leapt behind the nearest cover she could find – a thick desk next to the doorway – just as another volley of bullets filled the air over her head with lethal fire. Bulletproof suit or not, she was not about to stand around in that hail of fire. Bulma's new design protected her, but it didn't make her invincible.

She peered around the edge of the desk, trying to get a decent glimpse of the situation. The floor was arranged with two sections of desks and cubicles, separated by a wide central aisle. She saw the heads of several thugs who were taking cover behind the desks, their guns out and all pointed in her direction. The walls were set with offices, the shades on the interior windows left open to reveal one gangster with a group of huddling hostages inside each room.

"Give it up, little girl," an all-too familiar voice called from far back in the room. "You're trapped, and you know it."

Videl didn't grace the Boss with a reply, short of smiling to herself. She reached down to her belt and pulled two small capsules from pockets on the inside of the band. Holding one in each hand, she clicked the tops and tossed the two tiny canisters over her shoulders, in the general direction of the center of the room.

Even before the muffled boom had faded, she reached up and pressed another small button on her helmet, turning her view into the eerie rainbow of infrared. As the thugs gave shouts of surprise, and even a few wild shots that came nowhere near her, she rose up and charged back into the room.

The smoke capsules had worked wonders, filling the room with a dense white fog that made it impossible for the goons to see their own noses. Videl, relying on her infrared sight, charged into the scattered gunmen, knocking each out before they even knew she was upon them. She worked fast, darting methodically from point to point and dispatching each man with a single blow, part of her knowing the smoke was already beginning to dissipate. However, by the time the room was clear enough to see a few feet, every one of the thugs scattered through the room was lying unconscious. Senses still alert, she noticed the sounds of struggle coming from the offices along the walls. Though she couldn't see for sure, it looked like the hostages, seizing upon the distraction, were overwhelming the typically inept goons guarding them.

Videl shut off the infrared view once the smoke had cleared enough to see the whole room, and looked around. Groups of police officers were coming out of the wall offices, many of them cheering. She gave them a broad smile, watching with satisfaction as a few set to handcuffing the unconscious crooks.

Her gaze stopped cold. Standing at the back of the room in the middle of the central aisle, the familiar hulking form of the Boss stood tall, his arms crossed smugly. A small smile tugged on the edge of his thin mouth, and the look sent shivers down her spine. Some of the policemen had grabbed the weapons from the downed criminals, and now trained them on the imposing leader.

"You must have been in a real hurry to go back to jail to pull a stunt like this," Videl said. Oozing confidence, she placed her hands on her hips and stared down the Boss across the aisle like an old western sheriff regarding a bandit at high noon. "I wouldn't be smiling if I were you. After all, it's not like you can get out of this one with an insanity plea."

To the total surprise of all present, the Boss tossed his head back and laughed. A deep, booming sound that all but rattled the windows, it was devoid of any fear or doubt, or anything the Boss should have been feeling at this point. If anything, the man sounded like he had just heard the best joke in his life.

"I don't see what's so funny, big guy," Videl said when the Boss finally quieted down again.

The smile he gave her was so cold and certain that she almost dropped down into a fighting stance out of concern that this nutcase would attack her in some suicidal rage. "I don't zink so, you little brat. You got lucky last time, and you did nice work vith dese worthless fools I brought along, but I'm not going to go so easily."

"You're nuts," she replied, incredulous. "First off, you have a whole lot of angry police officers with guns staring at you. Second, if you've forgotten me, then I guess one of my kicks to your head the last time I beat you up damaged your memory. I'm not worried about some two-bit con."

The brutish man's grin only widened. "Ve'll see about that."

She was about to toss another smart remark at him when he vanished.

She heard a rapid succession of thuds and gasps, and all of the police officers seemed to double over one by one, the guns disappearing from their hands. Videl's eyes darted around frantically, but she couldn't catch a hint of the Boss anywhere. The officers kept falling like they were being bashed with an invisible set of dominoes, until with another blur of motion, the Boss reappeared exactly where he had been standing before. Only now, his massive arms were laden with dozens of firearms, and not a single cop was standing.

Videl could only stare at him wide-eyed. No… no way! I've never even seen Gohan move that fast! How could he possibly do that?

The Boss worked the cluster of firearms around in his hands, and she watched in shocked silence as he proceeded to crush every single one of the guns together until they formed a single metal lump the size of a bowling ball. He dropped it with a dull thud on the carpeted floor, and folded his arms again. The grin spread even further. "Looks like ze angry police officers vith guns are out of ze way," he said casually. He paused and cradled his chin in one hand, as if thinking. "I guess that just leaves one other little problem…" His gaze dropped to her, and his smile turned vicious.

Fighting off her confusion, Videl dropped into a ready stance. "You're welcome to try," she said, a trace of a confident smile breaking through. I've taken this guy down before. So what if he's a little faster? I haven't exactly been sitting around since I took care of him last time.

Without another word, the brute's form blurred again, and she barely had time to gasp before a massive leg was swinging towards her head. Her left arm rose to block, but it only added to the impact of the leg as it was slammed into the side of her head. She went tumbling across the room, plowing through the rows of desks straight into the side wall. She came to a stop and shook her head, thankful for her helmet. Before another thought could form, the Boss was on her again, a fist swinging straight down at her. She managed to roll away before the massive hand left a crater in the spot she had been sitting a split-second before.

As he pulled his hand free, she leapt up and sent a strong roundhouse kick right into the back of his head. He didn't even flinch, and her surprise left her wide open to the uppercut that sent her crashing into the fiberboard ceiling, tearing a gouge twenty feet long before her back struck an unyielding water main and she dropped back to the floor. Videl struggled to regain her footing. She might have been able to deflect some of his first attack, but that second punch had felt as if all the physical pain she had ever experienced in her life had been brought back in the form of a single strike. Even through her surge of adrenaline, the world was beginning to blur at the edges of her vision. She had barely made it to one knee before she felt all her breath leave her when a boot dug deeply into her stomach. She curled up on the floor in agony, her eyes widened in shock as she struggled to take in air.

She didn't even notice the massive shadow that now stretched over her. A huge hand reached down and grabbed her by the collar of her vest and cape, dragging her off the ground. She clutched her stomach, eyes still wide but unfocused as she gasped for a breath.

"Vell. Looks like you're a bit surprised, no?" he said, the same vicious smile on his face. He reached his other hand up and knocked off her helmet with the casual flick of a finger. His gaze flitted up and down her body, as if surveying a fish caught on a hook. "I zee your sense of fashion is as poor as your fighting skills." He dropped her, only to meet her fall with a tremendous spinning roundhouse kick before she touched the ground. The battered girl was sent tumbling through more desks, coming to a stop in a back corner of the room.

Her eyes were fluttering as she even now stubbornly fought off unconsciousness, both from the pain and the lack of oxygen as she still struggled to breathe. She barely registered the fact as the Boss stood over her, reaching down for her throat with a crushing hand. Mere inches from her neck, the hand stopped, and wavered. The Boss' face was twisted with anger. "Damnit!" he growled, the hand still hovering inches from a killing grip. With a sudden jerk, he reared back and grabbed his skull as if his head had just been stabbed with a red-hot poker, writhing and howling in pain and rage. Slowly, his convulsions stopped, and the weak voice that came out would have almost been pitiful if anyone had heard it. "Fine… you win…"

Inside the Boss' head, the struggle turned one sided. I'm not quite that forgiving. It's time I took matters into my own hands. And for that, I'll need some hands.

The huge man grabbed his head a second time, screaming and convulsing. It lasted only a few seconds this time. He stood up straight once again. "That's better." The voice was no longer the deep accent of the Boss, it was a strange mix of both that and the voice he had been hearing in his head ever since that last night in the prison.

Videl didn't notice the inner struggle in her own failing fight against pain and unconsciousness. At last, even her stubborn will gave out. Her eyes fluttered shut, and she felt blackness take her, not knowing if she would ever see light again.

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Gohan's brow was furrowed in concentration, his eyes open but unseeing. The minutes of the last period had drug on endlessly, even as he passed time by keeping track of Videl's ki. He felt a strange energy signature rise near her, and he focused his sixth sense upon it. The odd feeling about the new ki refused to go away. It felt almost as if two people were occupying the exact same point, and what was worse, they were strong.

The dull sensations of the brief battle played out like some horrible movie on fast-forward. Videl's energy dropped like a rock, even as the odd source spiked. It was sheer luck that the sickening feeling of Videl's ki slipping into near-nothingness coincided with Mrs. Storbul's announcement that class was over. He jumped out of his seat as if he had been sitting on a hot plate, unnoticed among the rest of the students that stood up to hurry out of their dungeon. His eyes wide but still unfocused, his knuckles white as he gripped the edge of the desk, Gohan just stood there as the rest of the class filed out. No one noticed him in their hurry to depart.

His thoughts finally breaking through the numb shock of the moment, Gohan shook his head, only dimly aware that he was alone in the classroom. He hurdled the four rows of desks before him, landing right next to the door and taking off down the empty hall at a dead run. He rushed up the stairs to the roof, changing into his Saiyaman costume as he took flight purely by reflex. With an eruption of energy and a thunderous sonic boom, he took off at top speed towards the fading sense of Videl.

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Next chapter: Warning Signs