Nine – His view
The wound on his body hurt abnormally. It burnt down his whole skin and he wanted to scratch it open, rip off his skin to get away whatever it was that gave him such agony but he couldn't move his hands. He yelled out in frustration as the pain crawled over his head and into his temple until an unbearable pressure build up behind his eyeballs.
Screaming was the only thing that gave him even a little bit of satisfaction as he could actually verbalize his pain.
But as soon as he started to yell, all he felt as an answer was a sudden tiredness that overcame him and he fell yet again into a disturbing sleep that didn't give him any peace at all.
He dreamt about Vegeta; saw what he would do with Chichi, saw what he already had done to other people but all Goku could do was stand by and watch. He had no voice, he couldn't reach her; he only heard her scream his name over and over again while Vegeta took her in the most disgusting ways one could imagine. Goku's mind was tormented by the pictures his dream created.
She wanted for him to help her. She wanted him by her side. He yelled his answers as often as she screamed for him; renewed his promise to her: that he would he stay by her side always….but she never really heard him. He never reached her. And the dream repeated itself mercilessly again and again.
Time was no matter as he had no idea how much time passed while he dreamt his nightmares. He just wanted to be freed from it. From those imaginations that infiltrated his brain…
When he finally woke up and slowly could open his eyes, his hands were still tied to a bed and his body was wet due to the cold sweat that glued itself on his skin. The burning sensation was gone but something was still very painful. He exhaled loudly to keep in a groan and looked around, analyzing his surroundings.
He was lying in a room he didn't know.
He tried to remember what had happened but all he actually could remember was Chichi's face and how she was pulled away from him forcefully. Depression flew over him and Goku shut his eyes close, screamed his anger out and crashed his head into the pillow repeatedly until a new wave of tiredness overcame him. He felt helpless, frustrated but above all he was sad and disappointed in himself. He had been unable to do anything…
His sleep this time was accompanied by an emptiness, mirroring his inner self – his soul.
The second time he came to consciousness he felt he wasn't alone in the unkown room. His hands weren't tied anymore either and he wasn't feeling any hurt. Rubbing his face with his hands carefully, he looked to his left and saw Yamcha leaning nonchalantly on the doorframe. Goku looked at him with wide eyes, alerted.
"How are you feeling?" the man wanted to know and Goku tried to sit up abruptly only to feel a short wave of pain through his body. A hand pushed him back softly into a lying position. "You shouldn't move to much, you're still healing."
"What happened? Why are you here?" Goku wanted to know with a slight angry voice, not letting go of the tension inside of his body. His throat hurt with every word and he felt parched all of a sudden. But he didn't care.
Why was Yamcha here? Hadn't he been the one searching for him and Chichi? Was it his fault that they got witnessed?
"The fragment of a bullet has bored itself into your stomach, but you were lucky it was only on the surface."
Well, that explained the pain but not why Yamcha was with him. Goku's brain was too occupied in thinking about Chichi, he hadn't even realized that the wound in his abdomen. But now he clearly felt the bandage around his torso.
"How long have I been lying here?" he was still being on guard.
"About four days…"
Four days?! In four days Vegeta was able to do what god knows to Chichi! And Goku….he wasn't able to protect her in that time….he should just-! A hand on his shoulder told him he should relax as he was trying to sit up again.
"I'm sorry I couldn't protect her…" Yamcha suddenly said with a sad smile.
"You?" Goku blurted out disbelievingly before his mimic turned angry. "You wanted to protect her? Don't make me laugh! You're one of Vegeta's dogs, why would you want to protect her! You were the one who saw us! It's your fault she got kidnapped! You're just one of Vegeta's like all the others!"
"Well, if I really was on his side 100 % I could have already killed you, couldn't I?" Yamcha's voice was gently speaking although it gained in volume. There was no sign of a lie, no sign of anger although Goku said many things to make him angry.
Goku didn't feel sorry nor did he trust him just because of Yamcha's reaction. He may have been a friend to him while being Bardock but this was different now.
"How should I know? I don't know what Vegeta has planned to do with me now that he has Chichi, do I? And why should I believe you anyway?" Goku swung his feet from the bed and touched the ground with his feet. With one movement he loosened the needles that were still inside of his veins and ignored the short pain. Yamcha didn't stop him and just shook his head.
"Listen, Bardock…or whatever your real name is…I can't command you to believe me, but I can guarantee you that I always was just there for the young Miss to protect her. My mission wasn't really the same as yours, but even I had the command to keep an eye out for Vegeta. It's pure coincidence that our ways crossed each other. Master never wanted to involve any other, especially his own grandchild. That's the reason he told me to infiltrate the Sai CorpYet it seems as if I have failed."
Goku was too furious too even get all the information he just heard. But all in all his head was circling around the words. Master? So Yamcha was from Chichi's grandfather? He had protected her all along? He was a spy just like himself? Goku has tried to stay calm but the last sentence cut his patience: Yamcha had said he had failed.
"Sure you did!" the sarcasm could be heard through the whole building as Goku yelled at Yamcha with all the frustration he got. Although he could say the same to himself as well. He wasn't doing any better. Trying to stand up he felt his knees shaking and Yamcha was by his side as soon as he lost control of his feet.
"Told you, you shouldn't stand up so fast." And again a calm voice from this man. He was irritating Goku!
"I don't care about myself! I have to save her, no matter what! My life means nothing if I'm unable to get her back!" Goku stated, his voice quivering.
"Well, but you can't help her if you don't listen to me and lie down! Your body needs more rest."
"We don't have time!" Goku yelled furiously. "Any minute could be too late! You don't even know what he might do to her, do you! How can you stay so calm? If you really were always there to protect Chichi than how come you're not there to save her now! Do something that makes me believe in your words, damn it!"
And here he had thought Yamcha was one person he would want to save after he had brought down Vegeta! He felt betrayed from a man he had betrayed himself. Yamcha was like a friend to Bardock…and Goku felt like he had lost him.
"Your yelling is not going to get us anywhere, Goku. You should calm down and listen to Yamcha." Suddenly a familiar voice echoed through the room and Goku's eyes couldn't get any wider as he saw the one speaking. This…couldn't be true, could it? He was absolutely confused now. Was he still dreaming?
"Krillin?" Goku questioned the man with a tired voice who stood before him and grinned his usual smile.
"The one and only."
"But how…why…I don't…."
"I thought that it might confuse you, but don't worry. We're on the same side, just like in the past, you know? Beating the bad guys was our motto when we were in training, right?" He chuckled and entered the room. Goku sat down as his remaining strength left him in one blow; Yamcha and Krillin were standing before him.
"I don't understand any of this…" His mind was a mess now.
"Well, our intention wasn't to confuse you, but we're all sitting in the same boat now: Your intruding wasn't planned by us either."
"Planned? What was planned?" Goku looked at his longtime friend with sad and tired eyes. Here he hadn't seen him since about two and a half years and now he was meeting him in such a situation….unexpectedly. Krillin patted his shoulder gently.
"Don't worry, Goku. We already thought of a plan to get Chichi back. Our boss is quite stressed out and wants us to handle this mater as soon as possible. But we need you for it. Healthy."
Goku's head fell and he buried his fingers into his hair. He just had to understand all of this.
"Get some more rest and something to eat." Krillin suggested. "I'll be back this afternoon and tell you everything from the beginning. And don't worry too much. We know for sure Vegeta didn't do anything to Chichi up till now. She's safe. But we have to do something really soon or it might be too late."
Krillin turned around and walked out of the door before Goku questioned him silently.
"Too late for what?" He just wanted to know, although he was scared to hear the answer. The bald man sighed.
"We don't know what he wants to do with her exactly, but we can foresee that it's not going to be very pleasant." Goku just nodded his head. That was just what he was afraid of and what he didn't want to hear. Were his nightmares going to come true? He hoped otherwise.
After eating and resting some more he almost felt like a new made man although his wound still hurt a little bit every now and then. But it was bearable. He wasn't made out of sugar and the pain killers were helping a lot. Thinking of Chichi was helping him greatly as well.
When Krillin returned he showed him the way through the building shortly and in curt sentences. So Goku was still in the city. In fact he was in the tower block of the Sato Corp where he had wanted to get in anyway. Well, more like he wanted to get Chichi in here, not entering it all alone. His gaze shifted to his small build friend all the time while said little man told him about this and that and…
Goku didn't really listen to him, he just took the information he marked as most important.
"So you work here since about five years? And you're responsible for "Special Operations"?" Goku repeated and got a "Yep" as an answer. Unbelievable. And here he thought he had been the one with secrets.
"I can't believe that I didn't know any of it…" he muttered more to himself but earned a low chuckle. "And what about Mr. Sato? How come he never actually just contacted Chichi? Why just watching her from afar?" he couldn't stop feeling angry while saying this because obviously he wasn't watching her good enough!
Krillin sighed before he went into a room with a big TV and sat down. Goku followed him while he looked at the baldy turning on his laptop and tapping something in with fast fingers. He waited patiently. The TV turned itself on and the logo of the Sato Corp circulated on its screen. Only then Krillin started to speak.
"Vegeta already had tried to attack Mr. Sato's daughter once, right after he had inherited the business from his father at the age of fifteen. Mr. Sato knew by then that he was targeted. It was hard enough to protect his daughter alone, with his deceased wife he only had his closest employees to discuss his personal matters with. The young Miss had been stressed out and became ill very easily every since then although she was attacked just once. Her health got worse."
"What had happened to her?"
"That's top secret. Not even I know what had happened with Vegeta actually. But it was enough to destroy her soul. As a result they gave her a different surname in order to protect her. Ever since then she had called herself Takagi instead of Sato."
Goku nodded as a response and Krillin continued. " When she met her future husband, Mr. Ox, she actually started to relax and live again, her health improved and both of them moved to the next big city, in order to leave everything behind them. But Mr. Sato knew it wasn't over for now. He always had watched the career of Vegeta and the threatening letters he got were proof enough he was being pressured, still."
"Why not handing any of it to the police?"
"Because there was no sign of Vegeta in the threatening letters whatsoever. Nobody except us knew where those letters were coming from. And Mr. Sato was afraid of the consequences….it would have broken his daughter if anything had happened to her again. So he just kept on watching the situation and his daughter until another unexpected thing occurred. Meimei got pregnant."
"And they got an additional family member they had to protect." Goku added lost in his thoughts. Finally he started to understand the whole problematic of Chichi's life.
"Exactly." Krillin agreed. "As a decoy they had tried to fool Vegeta and have given Chichi away, only to adopt her two years later again, hoping they would have escaped him." Goku didn't want to even think about the feeling her parents must have had in those two years of patiently waiting for their only child to return to them.
"But sadly it wasn't enough to stop Vegeta from his plan to take revenge on Mr. Sato."
Goku breathed in audibly and closed his eyes. This situation was even worse than he had imagined. He knew some of the things Krillin had told him now, although he never really understood the adoption-part in it. After checking her DNA it was obvious Chichi was a relative to the Sato Corp but that her family had tried to protect her so hard…he felt ashamed of himself. He always cursed her family for not properly looking after her. But it was actually himself who had not watched out.
That day, when Yamcha was waiting for them on the train-station….Goku knew now he had been only there to warn them. Damn it! So it was entirely his fault!
The door clicked and took both of their attentions towards the sound.
"Well then! Let's start the meeting!" suddenly Yamcha blurted into the room and flopped down right beside Goku. For a thirty-two year old man in this kind of situation he was acting rather happily.
About three more men entered the room; Goku didn't know any of them.
They introduced themselves as Tenshinhan – a big man with a stern look - , Chao Zu – a smaller one with a constant grin on his face – and Picollo – a two meter man who hid his face under a mask permanently. Krillin added that this guy was a professional assassin, working only under the name of the Sato Corp, therefore he needed to hide his true identity.
"Assassin?" Goku wondered. "Do you plan on killing Vegeta immediately? But…that wouldn't really make the Sato Corp any better than the Sai Corp, would it?"
Krillin nodded.
"I know what you mean, but you don't have to be afraid. He knows his orders. Killing Vegeta's not one of them."
"What about killing others?"
"As long as we're not safe, he will do anything he can do in order to guarantee safety. He has the permission to kill anyone who's dangerous. Vegeta's off limits though. Only capturing, nothing more."
"Hn." Goku wasn't really convinced but accepted the silent man who just leaned on the nearest wall while all of the others sat down. And the meeting started.
It took them about two and a half hours to discuss everything and anything. Even the smallest detail like "which gadget would be the most useful" was discussed before everyone was approving of the operation – except Picollo. That guy just waited the whole time on the wall quietly and vanished with one elegant movement from the room after Krillin dismissed all of them.
Soon after that all of them went away until only Goku and Yamcha were left alone. Krillin just excused himself with a smile by saying his one year old daughter waited for him to take her to bed. Goku didn't dare to comment it. Krillin wasn't just married but a father as well. Time sure was passing by quickly.
A hard slap on his back took him back to reality.
"Don't worry, Bar…uh I mean, Goku. We're going to get your little sweetheart back safe and sound." Goku tried a smile, but he thought it looked more like a grimace. When both men walked out of the room Goku gazed at the profile of Yamcha.
"How come you're here and not with Vegeta. Aren't you afraid he might get that you're just a spy?"
"Nah!" Yamcha waved his hand as if the answer to the question was too obvious. " I don't care about it. I already made it clear to myself that I might die while working in this section." Goku lifted his eyebrows.
"You haven't worked for Mr. Sato before all of this happened?"
"No." the man shook his head, looking sad all of a sudden. "I became part of him after meeting Krillin again. I knew him from college times and he helped me get in here. I took the part of the spy as soon as I heard they searched for one."
"How come?"
"Because Vegeta took away what was dear to me…and after I got to know you…" now he looked at Goku again with his usual brother-like grin. "…I didn't want the two of you to experience the same things that I did with…" he swallowed hard yet continued smiling but Goku got the hint nonetheless.
"I got it." He just commented and walked further down the floor right into the room he was coming from.
"Hey Goku." Yamcha suddenly took his attention back before he could walk though the door of his room. "Have you ever wondered why Chichi landed in front of your apartment door?"
Goku blinked a few times and shook his head no. That was one question that he still was wondering about. Yamcha smiled.
"I'm sorry I never told you anything, but it actually was me who gave your address to her father."
"You?" That took Goku by surprise.
"Yeah. I had communicated with him just before Vegeta killed him. First I thought I was too late but Chichi was clever enough to take the note." Yamcha smiled, still showing the relieve he felt the whole time.
"But why me? You only knew me as Bardock. You didn't know my real intentions, why trusting a stranger in that matter?"
"You may be right, but….you still had something good in you as Bardock and I just couldn't believe you were one of those guys like Radditz or Nappa. Your eyes may have been cold, but you didn't look like someone who would kill anyone."
"Why didn't you give her father your own address?"Goku no clearly wondered. If he had contact with him then why making such a drastic decision?
"Because I already was on the "list". If she had been with me,Vegeta would have found her right away."
Goku remembered the state Yamcha was in before he went into Vegeta's office the last time and his eyes widened.
"It was you who let her escape that day, am I right?"
Yamcha only chuckled lightly, put his finger on his lips as if to make a hush-sign and winked at Goku. Said one just found another piece of the puzzle regarding Chichi's life. And his own.
Turning around and leaving him alone again, Yamcha told Goku to get a good rest before he vanished into his own room just right down the floor. The spiky-haired man just shook his head ever so lightly before he went trough the door before him. He got a lot of information today and his brain already pulsated under his scalp, his painkillers were slowly stopping to work as well. But he didn't care.
Tomorrow they were going to get Chichi back.
Goku just hoped Krillin's plan was going to work.
Laying down on the bed with his hands crossed behind his head he looked a the ceiling, thinking about the black-haired girl. He hoped she was alright. He hoped Vegeta hadn't done anything to her yet. In almost five days many things could have happened.
And Vegeta hated to wait.
He whised they were just in time, but his consciousness told him otherwise. He hated himself for being hopeless…
xXx
Three o' clock in the morning. A knock on his door signalized him that it was time.
They started their operation.
It was clear that they had enough of this spy-like thing, because right now they were going to take action. They were going to capture Vegeta. By pure force.
Krillin was the one in the off; he was going to analyze the situation from afar and helping them from the outside. Yamcha, Tenshinhan, Chau-Zu, Picollo and Goku himself were the ones doing the work in the front. The men met each other without much words, all they held in their hands were their weapons.
Goku was the only one without any.
"Why are you so…unshielded?" Yamcha whispered to him and Goku smiled.
"I'm good enough with my fists and feet. I don't need those." He pointed to the little shotguns on every ones hips. Yamcha just nodded.
Suddenly everyone turned his head to a certain direction and Goku followed their gaze. A small man on a cane was walking towards them and Goku knew after one look that this must have been Mr. Sato.
Chichi's grandfather.
"Please bring her back safely." The old man pleaded with a warm and gentle voice. The sadness clearly could be heard. Chichi meant everything to him, obviously. And everyone agreed with a nod and a low answer. "We will."
Goku formed his hands into fists and bored his nails into his palms.
"Wait for me Chichi." He whispered to himself before he turned around and followed the others to the black van that was standing on the street, hiding in the darkness of the night and waiting for them.
It was time.