Gohan and the Celestial Kings

Chapter 11: Ultimatums

Gohan had finished his work for CC for the rest of the month. Now if he could finish this prototype of the backup system he could get in some much-deserved training, even if it meant having to deal with Vegeta's incessant chatter about being an elite warrior without rival. Alas, life is never as simple as getting one's work done, and dealing with the embodiment of the vice of pride, Vegeta the Prince of Saiyans. No sooner than the prototype was finished that something pertaining to the visitors that were to be coming popped up.

Shingen came ambling into the office holding the file of what they would be exposed two while at CC. The file was as thick as Shingen's cubit, at the very least. "Sir, I am sorry, but for the visitors we can't possibly show them all of these projects. All of them are lengthy enough and we also need to make sure that the boss gets to show them the GR and Green Houses. She is adamant on doing those herself."

"Shingen, there is no denying that this is these are the highlights of this department in the past few years. If we wish to make a good impression to attract future employees than we must show them only the best." Gohan gave offhandedly as he wiped oil from his hands.

"I do not argue your reasoning sir. it is just that we will not have the time and resources to go over all of these with them. What I recommend is that we simply show the creme de la creme; furthermore, I would humbly recommend we keep to recent or active projects. It would mean that less needs moved about and disrupt the normal work flow."

"So, it is to be the cream's cream. I see the point, and it would also do well to let them see a normal workday to let them know what they would be getting into should they pursue work here. The only question would be, what should remain?" After a moment's pause he grabbed the file from Shingen. "I will have it limited to 5 or less projects by the end of Wednesday, from their it will be your responsibility to get everything in place for our guests. I will do my best to keep it recent, but for now I need a good spar. I know that I haven't gotten weaker, but a week without a fight always makes me feel like I am getting rusty. For now, dismissed."

"Yes, sir. See you Monday." With that Shingen was gone.

Gohan finished cleaning off his desk, changed into a gi, and went off to have a 5-hour bout with Vegeta that left the Saiyan prince wounded with a hyper-extended knee, 3 cracked ribs, and several torn muscles. Gohan walk away mostly unscathed, with minor scratches on his arms.

"Brat, one day, I will surpass you. I am the Prince of all Saiyans and will be the best…"

Vegeta's rant was cut short by Gohan. "Vegeta, your pride is not harmed by a loss against me. Forget your that I am also a Prince. Thus, your nobility is left intact, for you lose not to a commoner, but royalty, royalty by blood, like yourself. So, save you your grumblings and let me treat your injuries, the Senzu bean salve has just passed the tests, and should be more than able to heal your injuries."

Vegeta was near having a conniption fit, he was placed in the position of being wrong, and was offered aid by the one who defeated him. Human mercies he would never fully comprehend. He had right to blabber about pride to the boys jabbering oaf of a father, as he was a low-class warrior. However, Gohan was through his human half every bit as royal as he.

On top of that hybrid Saiyans were stronger than full-blooded Saiyans due to the mix of human and Saiyan genes. Yes, the hybrids gained strength faster and did not need to be beaten to near death to gain the level of power that would have been common only among the Saiyan's Imperial guard. That is not to say that they didn't get the same boost either. The hybrid also was more likely to remain in control during a fight, and thus not take pointless damage, though they could be enraged it would take much more provocation to do so than a normal Saiyan. It is ironic, in its own way, that a race in which most of its population choose to remain week that revitalization of power could be bestowed to a race that bragged of and depended on their strength.

Vegeta followed Gohan to the infirmary and grudgingly excepted the salve.

'I might not like most of these humans or their lay about ways of thinking. I mean, Leisure, who has time for that when war can come right out of the shadows, but I will admit that for all their indolence they have thought of things we didn't. The cultivation and adaptation of these beans, even the manipulation of Gravity. The short bald human even harnessed energy in a way I had not seen before. Compared to me Kakarot's friends are weak, but compared to any other Saiyan that I knew before coming to earth the first time they would have likely won if they were as they are now. I can't forget that they were far weaker than Raditz when he came.'

"Vegeta. Vegeta. Earth to Vegeta. Vegeta! Well his name is having no effect on pulling him from his thoughts." Gohan gave a moment's pause to consider his next action.

Vegeta thought on, '… if … no. They wouldn't let me, and I have Trunks to be concerned with as an avenue to restoring the Saiyans. Still I can't but wonder what it would be like having maybe a dozen or so of my people back just to make the process fa…' Vegeta was slammed out of his thoughts when Gohan slapped him and sent him colliding with the infirmary wall.

"What was that for!" Vegeta shouted while pealing his back off the wall. It was not as if the strike hurt, but it was out of the blue and uncalled for.

"You were stuck in your thoughts and you were thinking too loudly, so when calling your name failed to rouse you from them, I took to the next best solution when it comes to you, striking. If that slap hadn't worked it would have been a punch and if met with further resistance a flurry of kicks until I drew upon your fighting instincts to pull you back into reality." Gohan gave, cool as a cucumber.

"What do you mean I was thinking to loud. I was thinking just loudly enough." Vegeta growled.

"Vegeta, have you forgotten that I train quite often with Piccolo. Last year I learned how to passively read minds when they think too deeply, and it is much more preferable than having to probe a mind and be lost in the thoughts of another. You have the habit of screaming in your head which makes you very hard to ignore. As I stated this ability is passive, I can ignore some thoughts, but not if they are incredibly loud, best I can do is try to muffle those. The ability does not hinder my work only because those that work in the labs think calmly and with an inside voice, so they might solve the problems and formulas that they must work with."

"How much did you hear. Those were my thoughts and are not for public consumption." Vegeta said as he grabbed Gohan's shoulders in a vice grip.

Gohan was unfazed. "I am hardly the public Vegeta. We all live in obscurity, except Yamcha, but he holds his tongue quite well when it comes to the Z-Fighters. As for what I heard, your voice became impossible to ignoble after the word Leisure." This made Vegeta seething in anger.

"Calm down Vegeta, I never reveal one's thoughts to another. It is not my place. On another note, you shouldn't be so hesitant with us. Yes, there would be objections, but we are logical for the most part. Given some time I am sure you could persuade the majority of the other Z-Fighters to allow a few of them to be brought back, if they were to be monitored and kept in check by you and or me."

"How could you be sure? The others might not be so keen on letting people that know only warfare to come back to this life, especially when some of these earthlings were killed by Nappa."

"Vegeta, do not forget yourself. You tried to kill us and yet, hear you stand. You made connections with us, why not others. You see, from what I glean from your constant rants about the Saiyans, they would follow your lead and orders once revived. They might get grumpy that you didn't act with more prudence, but one encounter with your new-found strength would set them right in line. They could neither fight nor argue with the results of your training with me and using the GR. The true question is whether or not you would be willing to maintain order? I will not pretend that it is a simple question, as most things are only simple when someone else has the final say in the matter. It comes down to you. I can analyze you and predict your actions from my findings, but this is a matter of will, and as such can only be answered by you. Only oneself knows the measure of their resolve."

Vegeta digested what Gohan had said while silently lifting a prayer to Dende that the Half-Saiyan would stop giving a mini-lecture when asked anything.

The only times Gohan was of few words were when he focused on work or training. Ask a question then and you would be lucky to get an answer. In short if he was talking in a fight, he was bored, or troubled by something unrelated to the task at hand.

"I might bring it up some other time. For now, go fiddle with your pens or wires or whatever it is you do here. I am going to bed." Vegeta said trying to sound disinterested and failing miserably.

"You are retiring quite early, but after a spar I would suppose that it might be warranted. I shall get back to my duties. Rest well, Vegeta. I want another spar tomorrow and it will do neither of us good if you are still reeling from today's spar by then."

Gohan got the line-up for the guests finished on Tuesday, and the week had been passing with relatively few incidents in the city until late Wednesday. The Red Shark's made good on their plan to capture the Mayor and deliver their ultimatum. Mr. Satan, as usual, was a no show. But the city's vigilante and youngest detective had made themselves available. The former by a multi-form that held 70% of his power for today, just in case; the latter by her usual service to the city.

Videl was not pleased with this turn of events. The thugs had the Mayor at gun point and were heavily armed to fight off the police. She also had to stay aware of History's Keeper, he might not be aggressive to the police, but he was still a wild card.

"You will have to make due with me, my father has better things to do than lower himself to fight a bunch of lowlifes like you." She said to vent her irritation. She recognized the large man that was obviously in charge from her dream. She was still not sure about that, but the feeling she had about this could only be described as chilling.

"I send for the father and get the daughter. It is almost as if he is afraid he could lose. It is equally apparent that he cares not for the life of this public leader." The gargantuan gang head gave aloud for the press as he measured up Videl with his eyes. After a moment, he rose. "If he will not come for his people than he might come for his daughter."

"Before you two start trading blows, I have some suspicions that I would like answered." Keeper stated plainly. Both turned partially to look at him.

The large man gruffly gave. "What, you want a piece of the action?"

"No nothing so rewarding as that. I guess I will simply ask you flat out." Keeper said as the air started to grow heavy with his strength. "Who is your employer and why go after this particular target?"

The man was incredulous. Everything had been done in secret, so how did this armored man know. 'Is this guy a spy, or is he well connected. It doesn't matter now. He knows and must die for that.'

"How did you know!" The gang leader and Videl shouted in tandem.

'Why should they be surprised?' "Time for a lecture gentlemen and lady."

Videl snapped out, "Why on earth do you want to give a lecture? Why not give a strait forward answer to what we are wondering?" with no shortage of venom.

"Miss Satan, life is a wild and untamable beast. That has been proven throughout history in the accounts of individuals and the annals of great nations. Now to answer your question, imagine me as a teacher. If I only teach what will be on the test and ignore the rest of the textbook, have I fulfilled my obligation to prepare you for the chaos that is your life? Obviously not. That is why I seek to lecture you now, as there is much information as to why I am here as well. Moreover, you are a detective, information is your friend. Now do I have the green light to continue?"

The two nodded after a moment of thought.

"Very well." He took in a deep breath and exhaled. "I should start off with the simple fact that crime spikes are nothing new, and happen for a myriad of reasons. When they occur without an apparent reason they are usually some form of turf war or the like and are often short in duration, a few weeks perhaps. That makes a crime spike like this one a blaring anomaly that seems to shout, 'notice me'. The spike has lasted for months and did not have an event to act as a trigger, no election, natural disaster, or radical law being enacted. That is part of the reason I came here, so I might understand and record this anomaly. It was a simple task to narrow down your target with the glove that graces my left hand. It is a communications glove that I have adapted to rule over the communications the area I am at, including intercepting and jamming other communications if I wish. I used it to trace the large sums of money that you lot," At the gang leaders look of shock Keeper changed the course of his sentence slightly, "yes, I know that all the underbelly of this city is involved, were paid. I could not track it to your employer as they paid in cash, but the rest of you should have deposited your pay in less suspect amounts and intervals." He spoke as he needed to, sometime half-truths, or even lies, and back to whole truths just to bind everything together. "Once your target was clear, the question had to change from who is the target to who is the one holding the gold. That could be narrowed down by two questions. Who has the wealth and autonomy to finance this operation on their own? And, what would they gain from doing so that would make all the risk worth it? A third question could be asked: Who is brave or fool enough to go against Mr. Satan? Those questions have narrowed my list down to a score of potential financial backers to this spike. I am simply tired of chasing the clues, so I will ask one last time. Who is your employer?"

Everyone was shocked. How could this armored man do so much more than their own detectives had accomplished. The Police still had a list of about 150 very plausible suspects and another 200 plausible but unlikely suspects. They hadn't even found out the purpose of the spike themselves, but from Videl's friend and classmate.

The shark leader was not going to answer, he would lose his cut if he gave anything away. His unwillingness showed.

"Since you will not give me what I want, perhaps you can be persuaded to give an ultimatum?" Keeper said drawing his sword. "There must be someone listening in to all of this and giving report back to the one with the money. That being the case perhaps I should sever your limbs to send my message."

"You don't scare us. Men, destroy him." There was a flurry of bullets before the onslaught was stopped abruptly.

Every weapon was in pieces, and all but the leader and hostages were out cold and had bruises and cuts forming on them, nothing major, but enough to make them all look like rag dolls. Keeper held is sword before him its back facing his mask. He slashed it back to his side before sheathing it.

"Did I not press hard enough that I tire of all of this chasing of clues and dealing with peons such as yourself. Now for the finish." He said before holding his right arm up and extending the spike tipped index finger of the gauntlet toward the leader. "I pity you not for what I shall put you through but it will serve as an effective way to get the attention of your employer. Now brace yourself for pain beyond anything you have ever felt." With that lighting shot from the spike and electrocuted the beefy man.

Before the man could collapse into unconsciousness Keeper held him by the neck and force fed him a bean that restored the man.

"Why?" The man asked in confusion.

"This is not a mercy. I am not done with you, and have much more pain to put you through. I will make you feel it all." Keeper said with his eyes glowing red. He moved so fast it was as if he phased in and out of being from the square to the side wall. He shot beams of red from his eyes to take out the man's right knee. That was followed by an axe kick to his targets left shoulder. Next came a slash of his sword across the back, and a week energy blast to the man's left thigh.

"I am finishing this. You are a waist of time everyone's time, so this last technique will have to do.." Keeper placed his index and middle fingers to his forehead. "This is the technique of Piccolo. You should consider yourself fortunate to fall to a skill invented by the Son of the Daemon King, really you are not worth it. SPECIAL BEAM CANNON!" Keeper shouted. The spiraling beams dug into the man's right side. The man fell to the ground and darkness took him.

"Keeper!" Videl shouted. "What do you think you're doing. You might have killed that man, or more importantly the hostages."

"I am doing what the law cannot, sending a message to one that has the resources to dissuade the law if need be. As for that pile of refuse that calls itself a man, do not fret he lives. I can feel his energy and that of everyone here. I would not kill my opponents unless I have no other choice, but I needn't show the mercy of a quick and easy defeat either. Moreover, it sends a clear message to their employer. I have sent an ultimatum, by way of demonstrating my skills, daring that entity to continue with this course of action while I am around to make them rue their actions should they rise to the challenge. A line in the sand you could say."

Videl continued to glare at the armored vigilante. "You do not have that authority. You are not recognized as a law enforcer."

"Miss Satan." He chided. "Have I ever claimed to be an officer? No, I have not. As for authority, I act under the Guardian with some autonomy. If you have a complaint take it to him or a higher power. I wish you luck if that is your course for it will not be easy. Now, I believe that you have some hostages to release and criminals to arrest. Farewell, Miss Satan." He said as he flew to the roof of city hall and proceeded to drop a few beans for the police to use on the injured.

The message was received and soon after the crime spike would end.

-Next Day, Orange Star High School-

When the principal walked in with a stack of papers the students were confused, all that is except for Gohan who pretended to be. The papers were permission slips for a long-term study trip that would prove to be a once in a lifetime opportunity for students to get hands on learning an acquire skills in either service, martial arts, or the sciences.

'And so, it begins.' Gohan thought as a slip was passed to him. 'I hope they enjoy what I have for them when we get to it. First we must suffer the Champion's boasting.'

Dende decided to chime in. 'It is a small price to pay for enlightening them to anything remotely useful, Gohan.'

'You are right, but I will not be sparing that man's kitchen the wrath of a Saiyan stomach.' Gohan thought to his friend. Gohan grinned as Dende laughed. It would certainly be interesting.

-End-

Review please and favorite if you like the chapter.

AN: (End of first arc, the crime wave arc. Exceedingly brief intro to field trip arc. There will be at least one more arc after the field trip is done, so worry not about this being the beginning of the end, more of an end to a beginning.)