Howdy folks! So it's been a hectic few months. Never thought that engineering school would be kicking my ass as hard as it is, but here we are. I admit, this one took a lot longer to write because I got to about 16K words and realized that I could put a bunch of the stuff into other chapters. So, after about a month of editing whenever I got the chance, this is the result. Hope you enjoy.
Chapter 12: Trail of Crumbs
Videl felt a peculiar sensation washing over her. She had a sense of vertigo that made her feel as if she were being tossed in the surf off of Satan City's port, a strange muted sound assaulted her throbbing head. It was as if someone had filled her ears with fluid. She could make out the sounds of someone yelling, a woman's voice, she thought. She tried to open her eyes, but they refused to respond, leaving her in a veil of darkness. A different voice made itself known, the gruff tenor of a man. She tried to move, but found that her limbs were likewise unresponsive.
Where… am I? What's going on? She thought groggily. Something about this whole situation seemed vaguely familiar, and it sent a wave of panic through her. Flashbacks of the time she'd been drugged at her eighteenth birthday party came parading through her mind, and she felt a wave of nausea at the thoughts. She'd been on the treacherous road to sexual assault that night at the hands of one of her classmates, and it had only been Gohan who had seen it coming. Only Gohan who had intervened and stopped it before it could happen.
Gohan…
She felt her hands twitch as she tried to sit up, though no other movement came. Some of her senses were starting to come back. She still couldn't see, but she could smell now. Wherever she was, there was a metallic tang to the smell in the air, and the harsh scent of bleach and other cleaning supplies. Her hearing was starting to sharpen, and over the voices, she could hear the faint beeping of what sounded like a heart monitor.
Beep… Beep…"… What are you trying to tell me, woman?" came the gruff males voice.
"Look. You can't hurt her! I'm telling you, she-" began the woman she had been hearing earlier, but she was cut off. "And I'm telling you, it's not your decision to make! The boss wants to make sure that she stays sedated and unwilling to fight, and after what she did to my guys out there, I plan to make sure he gets what he wants!"
Videl listened with rapt attention, doing her best to focus and retain as much as she could from this conversation that she was sure she wasn't supposed to be hearing. She fought to keep her emotions in check, lest the steady beeping of the monitor give away her consciousness.
"It's not that simple, captain!" yelled the woman desperately.
"Really?" roared the captain, "It seems pretty god damned simple to me! We went in there, she beat the shit out of three of my men, one is in critical condition and being rushed into surgery, and now you're telling me that she shouldn't be treated like the bitch she is?! Where do you get off?"
"Look! Look at this! Look at these hormone levels! Her blood sugar is down, she's got a fever like she's fighting an infection!"
"So? We shot her with two of those tranq rounds, she's going to have all sorts of issues righ-"
"Dammit, you moron! She's pregnant!" yelled the woman, who Videl guessed was a nurse, or a doctor. She felt her heart skip a beat as the realizations set in. Whoever the man was, she was now his captive. The events before she'd blacked out started coming back, along with an aching sensation in her right cheek and her back, and the tell-tale pain in her hands and wrists that resulted from fighting. The monitor started to beep a little faster as things started falling into place.
I was attacked, right after Gohan left. Five… Six men? Masked, black gear. They shot me twice, I thought I was going to die then… But it was a tranquilizer. That explains what happened, but who are they? What do they want with me? Oh kami, what about the baby?! What if they…
Her thoughts trailed off as the beeping started to pick up it's pace alongside her panic, and there was a long drawn out pause in the conversation. She still couldn't open her eyes, but could feel both of their eyes on her.
"She's waking up," said the woman, much quitter than before, "If we're going to have this conversation, then we need to take it-… Wait!"
Videl could feel his approach before the woman had yelled at him, and knew that she was about to get hit. The blow came to the side of her face as the captain slapped her hard. She couldn't control her body, and felt the strain in her neck from her head snapping around. A strong hand grasped her chin and forced her head back to center roughly, pressing her jaw up until she felt a sharp pain in her teeth.
"Wake up, bitch! I've got a score to settle with you." Growled the captain viciously.
"Captain!" shrieked the woman, now much closer. Videl still couldn't open her eyes, much less move or speak. She felt helpless, completely at the mercy of the Captain, and she knew that was in short supply. The heart rate monitor started beeping even faster, reflecting the terror she was feeling.
"Captain, let her go!"
"Piss off woman!"
There was a pause, and she could feel the captain's hand tighten, to the point that she thought her jaw was going to break. Then the woman spoke up again, in a much more professional, business-like tone, "She's a hostage, Captain. If she dies, not only do we lose any information she might have, but you'll send her husband into a rage that nobody from this planet could stop. You will kill us all if you kill her, not to mention the child she's carrying. Everything that's been planned will have been for nothing."
It shocked Videl that this woman, whom she hadn't even laid eyes on yet, was defending her, trying to save her life. Were it not for the fact that she seemed to be in on whatever plot had gotten her abducted in the first place, she would have been inclined to hug her.
Regardless of Videl's feelings about the woman, her words had the desired effect. The captain growled out, "Fine… But this isn't over," and released his grip on her face. Her jaw ached even more, and she could tell by the warm rush of blood in her skin that it was likely swollen from whatever blows she must have received at her home. The sound of an electrically locked door buzzing open assaulted her ears, followed by the sound of booted feet and the harsh crash of a steel door slamming shut.
In the silence that followed, Videl could feel the woman's eyes on her, and heard her sigh heavily. She heard the sound of feet around her, and the woman started speaking to her in much gentler tones.
"I'm sorry about that Videl. I… Well, I doubt anything I say is going to convince you to trust me, but I am here to help you. Specifically, I was hired by these goons to… what was it they called it? See to the medical needs of criminals incarcerated here? It seems that parts of my contract with them were omitted." She paused again, and Videl could feel by the sharp tug on her forearm that the woman was manipulating what was certainly an IV. "I'm starting you on some fluids right now, I've got to try and get that sedative out of your system before any lasting damage is done to your baby."
A cold sensation flushed into her arm as the fluid started pumping. While the woman fell silent for a while, doing whatever Videl could guess, things started coming back under her control. The first thing she realized was that she was parched, and felt like she hadn't eaten in days. She began wondering how long she'd been unconscious. She felt her limbs were starting to respond to her impulses. It was at this point that Videl realized that she was restrained, straps holding her down onto whatever cold surface she was laying on. More than that, she could tell that her shirt had been removed, leaving only her underwear to cover her.
"My name is Doctor Jeanine. I would pull those straps, but I'm afraid they've got them locked. Short of cutting them, I can't get you out." She said sympathetically.
"Hnnn." She barely managed to make a sound, and was startled at how raspy and worn her voice felt. A weight seemed to lift from her head, and her eyes cracked slowly open. Everything seemed blurry, the bright fluorescent bulbs recessed into what looked like a concrete ceiling were beating down on her. A shadow was hovering over her, and after a moment, her vision started to clear. She finally saw the woman who claimed to be helping her.
Jeanine had dark skin, close to the color of milk chocolate, and her pitch black hair was pulled back into a bun at the back of her head. She was wearing – oddly enough – a plaid button-up shirt, and what appeared to be denim. A stethoscope hung around her neck, and there was a red badge pinned to the pocket over her left breast. She seemed thin to Videl, like it'd been a while since she'd seen a solid meal.
"Don't try too much yet, okay? I understand, you're probably scared, and more than a little angry… But any wrong move and they'll sedate you again. Please, for your own sake, don't try anything," said Jeanine, and Videl was surprised to see the worried look up towards the door the captain had left through before she turned back and whispered, "at least not yet."
Videl groaned and attempted to lift her head, but was unable to. Recognizing she was still far too weak to even do that, she fought with her uncooperative mouth to speak, "W-who… are…"
"Shhh, Videl. Just chill for a minute, let your body boot back up. I'm going to do a couple tests, I want to be sure your baby is okay. How far along are you? Just say yes or no, first trimester?"
Videl hesitated before grunting out a painful "yes". There was no point in trying to pretend right now, as she saw it, her only real chance of making it out of here alive right now was to play along until an opportunity presented itself.
"Okay, less than two months?" She struggled out another yes. "Shit… Okay, I will have to have a talk with my employer," she spat the word venomously, "about your treatment. Hopefully what they did to you isn't going to harm the baby, but it's still early. I don't want there to be any further complications, not while I'm here to try and stop it."
There was another pause in the conversation while Jeanine rummaged around outside of Videl's field of view, pushing some machines around by the sound of it. She returned to Videl, standing over her once more and looking her in the eye. "Alright, Videl, I'll give you the run-down while I'm working. At least, what I think I can get away with telling you. My employer is a private organization – I don't know the name of it, considering the position I was interviewed for was a state penitentiary – and I have since been forced underground with them for, 'security' reasons. Whatever they are, I'd say they're more of a private army, and they've got some tech here that I've never seen before."
She paused as she pulled up Videl's shirt and started running an ultrasound over her belly, looking off over Videl's head at the monitor. She looked tense for a moment, and Videl struggled to turn her head, fearing that what she would see. She managed to turn her head just enough to see the screen out of the corner of her eye, and felt a flood of relief when the image focused in enough to see a tiny gummy-bear looking blob with a rapidly beating heart contained within.
Jeanine sighed in relief, "Well, at least there's that… It's no coincidence to me that you were captured on the same day that that video of Goku was released. It's a little too convenient, considering the family ties."
Videl stared back at her for a moment, trying to piece together what she was being told. By the sounds of it, this woman had no clue what she'd walked into. But then, there was the possibility that she was playing dumb, trying to appeal to Videl so that she would talk later. Videl breathed heavily a couple times, then managed to whisper out, "ANTISA".
Jeanine nodded and said quietly, "I thought of that too, but it just didn't make sense to me. ANTISA has been trying to handle everything on the political side of things, I find it hard to believe they have the means to get all this hardware they've got down here. Tanks, guns, aircraft, all sorts of stuff I've never seen the likes of before, on par with or better than the stuff coming from CC."
Videl searched her face, looking for any sort of deceit, but she looked genuine. If anything, it seemed like the doctor was simply as lost as she was for an explanation. Videl averted her eyes and started moving her limbs more to try and test her motor skills again, and was pleased to feel that most of her muscles were twitching and pulling at her command again. She turned her head about slowly so as to not strain her neck, and took a good look around her. Barren walls of concrete greeted her everywhere she looked, not even a decent paint on them to brighten the room. The floor seemed to be polished though, and the door which the captain had retreated through was a heavy looking steel door with a massively thick pane of glass looking out that was only about the size of a brick.
"Kinda dank and dungeon-y, isn't it?" asked Jeanine with a grim hint of a smile on her lips, looking towards the door.
Videl cleared her throat as best she could and said, in a slightly stronger voice now, "Mmhm. Where, though?"
Jeanine turned back to her with a look of guilt and said, "Even if I knew exactly where, I couldn't tell you. Don't get me wrong, I want to help you as much as I can, but I want to keep my own head squarely on my shoulders, too. All I know is that we're way below the surface here, and all I saw on the way in was forest. Thick enough to keep most of the daylight from reaching me after I'd gotten out of the car. But for now, don't worry about that. I'm going to try and clean you up. It might hurt a bit, considering you're pretty beat up. They didn't exactly give me a chance before they brought you in here, and you've still got blood all over you. I just want to make sure you don't get any infections from your injuries."
Videl didn't respond, but allowed herself to be cleaned up. Not that she had much of a choice in the matter. She gritted her teeth together as Jeanine wiped her off with a rag, poking parts of her skin that were most definitely swollen, and very painful. Ignoring the pain, she started thinking hard about how she was going to get out. And more importantly, how this had even happened in the first place.
The why was obvious, she was being held as a bargaining chip against Gohan and the others. But what was really eating at her was even more disconcerting, and something she'd never thought she would experience. Why couldn't Gohan find me? Why couldn't he help me when I was attacked? What stopped him? There's nothing left in the universe that he can't handle, so what kept him?
She felt more than a little let down by the thought, wondering in some dark part of her mind whether or not Gohan had elected to respond at all if he had sensed that something was wrong. Anger started welling up inside her, and she started longing for a solid face for her fists to smash in. No, it's not like him, she thought, fighting back her own emotions. Not at all, if he'd sensed what was happening, he'd have come running.
"You know," said Jeanine quietly, not looking directly at Videl, with a peculiar expression on her face, "in spite of what you're currently going through, I have to say I envy you a little. Always have."
Videl turned her eyes upon the doctor quizzically. Her unspoken retort was understood, and Jeanine gave her a weak smile, "Well, you're a powerful woman. And you've gone and hooked up with a… well, a very… very powerful man. It's like something out of a fantasy, honestly. I mean, regarding your husband's wrath? Right before you were brought in, the whole place was shaking. I thought the whole structure was going to collapse. When I asked what was happening, they said that he was attacking us."
Videl furrowed her brow, staring back, watching the woman's eyes trace back and forth as the thoughts in her head passed before them. Jeanine continued, "Of course, it wasn't until after everything had calmed down that they told me he wasn't anywhere near here. I still have a hard time understanding it, but it's like we could just… feel him. From here."
Jeanine's weak smile faded into a grim expression and she glanced at the door, resting her hands in her lap and dropping her voice further, "I'll just say I'm glad he wasn't, because if he'd come here, I'm sure I would be dead by now. I can promise you this, when the time comes, I'm going to find the fastest way out of here, and I'm gone. I just hope that you make it out of this whole thing alive… That'll be my one solace."
Videl stared hard at her. In spite of the words the woman was saying, they only served to fuel her anger further. "You…" she began unsteadily, "have no idea… What he's going to do… I've seen him… do things… terrible things… to people, who hadn't even… wronged him."
"Shh" began Jeanine, grasping her arm gently, her dark complexion looking just a little bit pale, "I know… That's why I want out. Now, save your breath Videl. Let your wounds heal, I'm going to see if I can convince these vultures to let me feed you."
Videl clamped her mouth shut and hesitated, but decided that it probably was for the best. She still wasn't fully out of her groggy state of mind, and she desperately wanted to eat something, even if they wouldn't let her out of restraints to do it. Jeanine gave her a sad sort of smile that Videl was certain was supposed to be reassuring before returning to the large metal door and knocking on it hard. The buzzer rang through the air again, and with a single backwards glance, she disappeared through it. As the door slammed shut, the lights in her cell went out, and she was left in the ringing silence, with only the light through the little porthole and her thoughts to keep her company.
ELSEWHERE
Lime calmly opened the door in front of her with a quick scan of her eye, the large metal and glass panes receding into the wall as she was allowed access into the Capsule corp. research building. She looked over her shoulder to make sure that Krillin was still right behind her, his shiny new badge pinned to the front of his Satan City police uniform.
"Lime, I don't want to sound like a pessimist here, but what do you hope for me to accomplish. I mean, I'm just the rookie on the force, and it's already well established that I'm Goku's oldest friend. Even in a professional capacity, I doubt I'd be able to help him out." He stated glumly. The dark circles under his eyes belayed the sleepless night that he had experienced, just like all the others.
They'd received a bit of unfortunate news the morning before from Dende, who'd left his lookout for one of the extremely rare occasions in which he needed to interact with them. They were surprised to find that Goku had thought to simply use Shenron to wish Videl and Chi Chi back into custody. But there was a major catch. The Kais had heard about many of the wishes that had been made on the Dragon balls, including some of the more petty ones done long ago, and Dende had been told to put a stop to it. As it turned out, messing with the natural order of the universe tended to bring about more problems than it ever solved. Dende wasn't entirely sure how high it went, but he'd stated very plainly that they were not to use the Dragon Balls except in a world-endangering situation. The news had not been well received. Gohan, who had been attempting to track down his wife before the visit, had gotten his hopes up, and abruptly smashed on the spot. A spurt of anger which had left its mark on the inside of Capsule Corp.
in the end, they'd agreed that they had gotten too comfortable with the safety-net that was Shenron, and the ability to undo any damage done, no matter how insignificant it was in the long run. If word had gone higher than even the Supreme Kais, then perhaps they needed to be reminded of how the universe worked, regardless of how little they liked it. Lime shook her head and continued into the building, saying shortly, "He's been at this since she went missing, Krillin. He hasn't slept, eaten, or left that damn computer. His dad is hanging out on the lookout until we can sort things out, and he blatantly refuses, not even to get his hand looked after. At this point, I'm willing to try anything."
She was, of course, referring to Gohan. And she was right. After his discovery that Videl had been taken, Gohan had spent every waking moment trying to track her down. The first few hours had been spent scouring the globe, searching for any sign of her ki or his mother's. Failing that, he'd gone straight to Dende to see if he knew what was happening, but the little guardian had been unable to provide any information for him, much to everyone's disappointment. Even Dende seemed confused as to why he hadn't seen anything happen, stating that at the time it had happened, he'd been meditating with Piccolo, trying to extend his senses as far as they could go. Out of any further leads, Gohan had brought the transmitter device, still connected to his own TV, to the Capsule Corporation buildings, and had started trying to break into it.
They passed through another door to find the research lab in total disarray. There were papers scattered everywhere, books tossed about, and one overturned desk that had until recently been bolted to the floor. There were still chunks of concrete scattered about from their abrupt and violent removal. Bulma stood by the door, her arms crossed in front of her chest and an anguished look on her face as she watched Gohan furiously running test after test, running through hundreds of lines of code and searching for any clue he could get. At her side, Sproute stood as her recently appointed bodyguard, as silent and sullen as ever, though now she was dressed in a baggy black hoody and jeans so as to look like your average human. As they entered the room, Bulma turned her head sharply towards them, and gave them a hopeless look.
"Hey Bulma, any news?" asked Lime hopefully.
Bulma shook her head and looked back towards Gohan, who was still staring intently at the computer monitor. "Nothing. It's incredible, he's gone through enough data in the last few hours to fill up an entire hard-drive. He's run so many different encryption algorithms since I got here, there might not be any others for him to try anymore. Hell, I suspect he's run most of mine a few times over each. He even resorted to trying to go through that video of Goku attacking that church, looking for anything that could give him a hint."
Krillin groaned quietly and muttered under his breath, "Man, I feel bad for whoever decided that this was a good idea… Once he gets a target, he's gonna bite and hold on 'til they're in shreds."
Inwardly, Lime had to agree, but at the moment she was too tired to really let it show. She sighed and grasped onto Krillin's wrist, dragging him closer to Gohan, who didn't seem to notice their approach. They got to within a couple feet of him when he suddenly looked over his shoulder at them, and the stress of the entire situation was plain in his expression. He gave them a quick, sparing glance and simply spat, "Not now, Lime."
Trying her best not to get angry with him, she looked towards Krillin and said, "Yes, now, Gohan. Look, you've been at this for too long already. You have to get some rest."
She nudged Krillin, who looked understandably nervous, and he cleared his throat. "She's right Gohan, you're wearing yourself down, working like this. You gotta come at it with a fresh mind if you're going to-"
"I cant!" he suddenly blurted, cutting them off. He continued to stare at the screen, though it was evident that he wasn't actually reading anything anymore. He took a deep breath and turned towards them, "I'm sorry… I can't take a break. They took my mom, they took Videl." He opened his mouth, struggling to get more out, but no further noise would come from his throat, so he shut it.
Lime sighed heavily and rubbed her brow in frustration, "I know, Gohan, but you're not doing them any good by running yourself into the ground like this. We'll find them, but right now you've got to take a breather."
Gohan fixed her with a stern stare that made her wish she were anywhere else, but Krillin came to the rescue and diverted his attention, "Hey, have you reported this yet? I know the police aren't exactly as good as you at finding people, but it couldn't hurt to have extra eyes out, right?"
Gohan hesitated, and then blinked a couple times in surprise. He muttered, "No…"
Krillin nodded and took a deep breath, "Okay, look. I'll bring it up, I'll report it for you. Regardless of my relationship with you and your old man, they have to take missing people seriously. Videl will automatically be pushed up to the top of the force's priority list, but your mom… Well…"
Gohan gave him a pleading look and asked, "What? What about her?"
Krillin rubbed the back of his neck and grimaced, "Well, it's just that… That, it'll likely be thought that your mom ran off into hiding with your father. There was no struggle at your parent's house, the only evidence of anything happening was that transmitter that detonated, right? There's not enough there for anyone to follow, and I doubt they'd even try to, considering how it all looks right now. I'll do whatever I can to get it pushed, but I can't promise anything. Especially considering the whole climate in the city right now."
Gohan considered him with tired eyes for a moment, then looked back towards the screen with a thoughtful look on his face. "Right… I shouldn't be surprised… Please do that? You're right, any help I can get right now…"
Krillin nodded and hesitantly reached out to grasp his shoulder, and Gohan didn't brush it off. "Come on, kid. You've gotta go get some shuteye, come back to this when you've got your head on straight."
Lime, sensing the moment was right, walked around to his other side and gently pried his hand off of the mouse, taking care not to agitate the burns and blisters on it. She eyed the wound with a grimace and held his hand open for her to inspect, saying, "And you need to get that cleaned up before it gets infected."
Gohan looked down at it, then back up at Lime with a tired stare, "But I don't get infections that easy, you kno-"
"Yeah, I know it, Gohan! Would you just listen to me and go?" she said, exasperated. Gohan jolted a little at her tone, but seemed to finally give in, and gave the screen one last hopeless stare. He gritted his teeth and nodded, allowing the other two to help him stand, which was surprisingly difficult for him, as he had been sitting for far too long, and with no sleep.
Lime, relieved that he was actually complying with her after almost four hours of trying, wrapped one of his large arms around her shoulder and led him back towards the entrance to the lab. She gave Bulma a relieved look, which the blue haired woman returned with a sad sort of half-smile. Gohan looked over the lab real quick and halted suddenly, giving Bulma a sheepish sort of look. He started to apologize when she held up her hand to stall him, saying calmly, "Don't, Gohan. I've made much larger messes in less stressful situations. I'll get it cleaned up, and I'll get a team of guys working on that transmitter to see what we can uncover. Go get some sleep."
With that, Gohan was led by the arms back through the building and into the family dome of the compound. Krillin and Lime remained silent for the majority of the walk, knowing where they were going by heart. They passed through many doors before finding themselves in the medical ward, leading him to one of the rooms to lay down.
Gohan stepped away from them and sat down heavily on the side of the bed, looking at his hand for what seemed to be the first time, prodding the red and puffy flesh experimentally. Lime leaned up against the door frame, and Krillin headed off towards the pharmaceutical pantry to retrieve some of the synth-senzu fluid that Bulma had been manufacturing.
"It's not that bad," he said thoughtfully. Lime was about to retort when he pushed on one of the blisters gently, only to accidentally burst it. He hissed through his teeth and winced, quickly grabbing up a tissue from the bed-side and pressing it against the now bleeding wound.
"Yeah, not that bad." Deadpanned Lime. She shook her head and sat down in the chair across from him, staring hard at him. She didn't know what to say. She'd been trying so hard to get him to rest, to help him handle his own frantic search, that she hadn't really thought about the next step. Gohan noticed her expression, and stared back. They sat in silence for a few seconds before Lime finally said, "We'll find them."
Gohan didn't immediately respond, staring at the ground between them. It felt totally inadequate to Lime, simply saying it. But it was all she could manage in that moment. Gohan sighed heavily and retorted, "We shouldn't have to be searching for them. They shouldn't have been taken."
Lime couldn't argue that point, but that brought up another question she'd been asking herself, "How did this happen, Gohan? I know I can't sense energy like you can, but you two have been so attuned to each other for years now. Since we were in high school. How did she get taken without your noticing it?"
She almost regretted asking the question as it fell from her lips, but Gohan didn't seem to be affected by it in a negative way. Instead, he furrowed his brow in thought and pondered her for a moment before stating, "Honestly, I have no clue. I mean, I could hear her inside my head when Spopovich nearly killed her, before we were even fully bonded. I could always sense her emotions at some points when she got really agitated or sad, but I just… I couldn't sense her at all this time." Lime bit her thumbnail and considered what he was saying, wondering how it was even possible. Gohan continued, "That's what scares me the most, Lime. It's as if she just vanished off the face of the Earth. Not even Dende can sense her, but it's not like she's been killed. I'd be able to feel that, just like what mom used to say, or what dad told me... It's like she's just, gone. Like she was never there to begin with."
"But how? We know she's not, so whoever took her must have a way to hide her, right?"
"Possibly. But I could sense her through mountains, inside buildings, even from planet Vegeta if I tried. There should be nowhere on Earth that she can be hidden from me, and yet, whoever took her succeeded."
At that moment, Krillin came back in, toting a little spray bottle of pale green fluid. Gohan and Lime looked up at him as he entered, and immediately went to Gohan's side. "Alright, hold it out. Lime, mind getting me a wrap for it?"
She nodded and quickly fetched a clean white bandage that was rolled up and taped from a cabinet across the room. She returned as Krillin was spraying the fluid on Gohan's burnt hand, and promptly began wrapping the appendage. As she was wrapping, she posed the question, "What if there's a way to mask someone's energy? I know you and the others are capable of doing it, but could someone forcibly hide your energy?"
Gohan nodded, "Yeah, I suppose. But we're talking about some powerful women that got kidnapped here. I mean, they had to be some exceptionally strong people if they were able to take Videl down, and I know all of the ones that are too strong for her to handle on a personal level. Shoot, even my mom can put up a better fight than even a dozen normal humans. So, they'd have to be able to mask themselves, and be able to hide both Videl and my mom from me, even when I concentrate on finding them specifically."
Krillin tilted his head curiously at the subject of their conversation and said, "Well, that sounds oddly familiar."
Both Gohan and Lime looked at him quizzically. He leaned up against the door, rubbing his forehead and closing his eyes in concentration. "Look, I got two theories about these guys, and I really hope it isn't the first one."
Gohan didn't need to think too hard to know what his godfather was going to say first, feeling the word echo in his mind before he'd even said anything. Androids.
"The first possibility I can think of is more androids made by Gero. But seeing how Gero's lab was destroyed, the last known android being Cell? Well, I find it pretty unlikely that there's any more of them running around."
"Right." Said Gohan tiredly, but now that he had Krillin talking about it, his mind was whirring back into action. "I think it's safe to assume that that is out of the question. What's your other idea?"
"Well," he began uncertainly, "It kinda makes me think of something Bulma told me a long time ago. The first time they were hunting down the dragon balls, they ran into Pilaf, who had one of the dragon balls at the time. She said that he had a way to mask the dragon ball, regardless of its magical properties or the technology involved in finding them. I mean, how do you hide something that should literally be impossible to hide?"
Gohan understood the implications of what he was saying, but thought that maybe it was a little too convenient. "But we actually know where Pilaf and his, uh… I hesitate to call them this, but where his goons are. That was by accident, they didn't realize that putting it in a metal box would hide it, and there's not very many people who even know that it's possible to sense energy like us. So who would have done it?"
Krillin shrugged, "I don't know, man, I'm just spit-balling ideas at this point. Hell, it could just be they got hit with some really hard sedatives or something, I don't know. If you want to start a list, who do we know that hates the Sayans enough to want to do something like this, and which of them has the means to do it? If it's normal people we're talking about here, then we're dealing with some very wealthy and well-organized normal people."
Gohan yawned widely and blinked in surprise at how tired he was suddenly feeling. The cooling effect of the senzu wash on his hand had numbed the pain he hadn't even realized was aching there. Lime gave Krillin a stern look and tied off the bandage with a little jerk that brought both men's attention to her. "We can worry about this later. For now, Gohan, get some sleep."
Krillin grinned sheepishly at her, and Gohan allowed her to push him back onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling, thoughts still whirring through his mind. She sighed heavily and sat down on the bed next to him, brushing his hair away from his eyes and pursing her lips, obviously unsure of what to say. Gohan, knowing she was feeling as stressed as he was, nodded and took a deep breath, closing his eyes and willing himself to fall asleep.
He was surprised when he could already feel the world closing in around him as his fatigue started to catch up. The last thing he felt before sleep would take him was Lime's lips as she kissed him on the cheek, a sensation reminiscent of their childhood that seemed so far behind them now.
When he woke again, it was still light out. He rubbed his eyes tiredly, and realized that the bandage on his hand had been removed. The skin where it had been was still a little pink and warm, but otherwise, was healed. Gohan had to marvel at the stuff, it really was something amazing. For a moment, he felt good. It wasn't until he remembered why his hand had been hurt in the first place that his momentary sense of groggy euphoria melted away. He stood up immediately, and started making his way back towards the lab, feeling out with his senses again to see if there was any sign of Videl's ki. He wasn't expecting to find anything, but it still left him feeling hollow when he couldn't sense her.
He passed back through the hallways towards the research dome, passing a few CC employees along the way, most of whom either pretended not to notice him, or gave him a wide berth. He was glad for it. Right now, he couldn't handle the apologies and well-wishes he knew would be showered on him were he not who he was. Before long, he'd made it back into the research dome, and was greeted by the sight of a full research team manning the computers, poring over all the information he'd been sifting through earlier that day. At the head of it all was Bulma, who was standing behind one of her employees, animatedly talking him through something on the monitor at his workstation.
Sproute grunted in acknowledgement as he entered, passing directly in front of her, to which he merely nodded in return. Gohan got right behind Bulma as she was directing her employee and asked, "Anything new?" He had a hard time keeping the anxiety from his voice.
Bulma jumped and whirled around, her eyes wide, but relaxed as soon as she realized who it was. She breathed heavily with a hand over her heart and a half amused, half exasperated look on her face. "Gohan! Kid, you need to stop sneaking up on me like that. If some harbinger of the apocalypse doesn't kill me, then it's going to be you giving me a heart attack."
Gohan gave her a half-hearted smile, but gave her a look that plainly said he wasn't ready to be making jokes yet. She cleared her throat and re-formed her face back to a professionally cool look, nodding towards the monitor. "Show him," she said to the pale faced man sitting at the desk which Gohan had been forced to leave not long before.
"Right," he nodded. His fingers began flying over the keys, and snippets of information started popping up on screen. "Well, whoever did the encryption on this device was brilliant. It doesn't follow any of our known encryption keys, but our newest algorithm was able to achieve some success with the Data. This means they used multiple encryption methods in tandem, which is remarkable in..." he trailed off when he felt both Gohan's and Bulma's eyes boring into the back of his head. "Here's the things we've been able to learn from the transmitter; first, this is not a commercial product. Most likely it's a hand built and programmed piece of hardware, just going off of the way the board itself is built."
"I figured all that out earlier, most major companies don't include explosives in their products," said Gohan with a roll of his eyes, holding up his still-healing hand. The man at the computer turned a bright shade of red and laughed nervously. Gohan indicated back towards the screen, "let's skip the run-down. What can you tell me about any addresses, locations, anything that will give me a point to start looking."
"Eh, right," he said, clicking away on the keyboard once more. "Well, unfortunately there's not a lot to go off of. We got some IP addresses, but cross referencing them with our database shows that almost all of them are from out of country. I'm also certain that this thing has to connect via wi-fi, there's NIC in here, but no hardware powerful enough to be a satellite transceiver or anything like that. Which means-"
It dawned on Gohan suddenly, "There was someone nearby who was transmitting it. Our homes are too far removed from everything to be able to get wired into the big networks directly, so they had to have been somewhere within a few hundred feet of our homes after the kidnapping. Plant the device, wait for someone to enter the home, and then transmit. It'd have been easy enough to drive up in a vehicle and hop on…" He trailed off suddenly, his eyes focusing as another thought came to mind.
Bulma tapped his arm, looking at him anxiously, "you alright kid?"
Gohan slapped himself on the forehead, "There was nowhere nearby that they could have hidden a vehicle, I'd have seen it! They probably piggy-backed onto the dish at my house, it's the only way to get any internet access or TV that far outside of town. That way they could be long gone by the time the transmission was being sent."
The pale faced CC employee pushed his glasses up his nose and said thoughtfully, "Well, if that was so, then at the very least, we could figure out what satellite you're connected to. That could narrow something down."
"Right, get on it." Nodded Bulma authoritatively, "Call up the satellite management guys across town, they manage all the carriers in this area. They should be able to tell us exactly what satellite we're looking for. Make sure they know it's me making the request."
The employee nodded, and Bulma half dragged Gohan away from him so he could work. "Feeling any better?" she asked tentatively.
Gohan shook his head and said lightly, "No, but there's no use in me wallowing right now, is there?"
Bulma nodded, "Yeah. Well, I've had a few ideas come up from some of the others about who might be our kidnappers." Gohan gave her a hard look, begging her to elaborate. She sat him down at the table which he'd flipped earlier, and passed him a cup of coffee, "It's cold, fair warning."
Gohan didn't really care much, he took the paper cup and sipped on it, fixing Bulma with an attentive stare. "Well," she began, taking a deep breath, "I never thought I'd be saying this, purely out of disbelief at their apparent abilities, but a lot of the guys think it was ANTISA. Or at least, that it's meant to look like ANTISA. I'm not convinced they're the ones pulling the strings, but it's far too convenient that the day Chi and Videl are abducted, Goku apparently goes on a rampage at a small-town rally being put on by them."
Gohan nodded in understanding, "Yeah, I had that thought too. But if they're just a front, then who's really doing it?"
Bulma sat back in her chair and sighed, "Well, that's the hard question, isn't it? Motive is simple enough to explain, but the means is a little more difficult. If we hadn't seen the last of them, I'd have guessed it was the Red Ribbon army, finally coming back to get their revenge on Goku."
Gohan grimaced, the words of his earlier conversation with Krillin echoing in the back of his mind. "Yeah, and Androids would be perfect for sneaking in and back out with a hostage. But there's a problem with that. The army was destroyed and disbanded over thirty years ago now, that would leave very few people from back then who would still be in fighting shape. And, like you said, all the androids they built are accounted for already."
Bulma nodded, "Exactly, which leaves one possibility in my mind. When's the only times that you can no longer sense someone's energy, or whatever it is you guys do?"
Gohan fixed her with a hard look, feeling tired of running around the same topic over and over again. "When they're near death, or just simply dead. But I already went over-"
"What if," Bulma cut in, holding up a finger to stall him, "they were made to appear dead? What if they were sedated or poisoned so that to you and the others, they would disappear? There wouldn't be a point in killing someone and then taking the body, but what if the person they took was made to seem dead?"
Gohan considered her words, the implications of Videl and his child being poisoned sending a flare of anger through his gut. "I suppose it's possible. But they'd have to still be able to hide Videl once she was revived. I doubt they'd be foolish enough to try and keep her under, they'd want information on us. You know just as well as I do that Saiyan couples have a much closer bond to one another, I can sense her so much easier than anyone else. Hiding her is no small feat."
Bulma nodded and chewed on her lip, "You're not wrong, I didn't really think about that bit. So either she's dead, they've got her so sedated that she seems dead, and has been since the abduction, or..."
"Or they've got a way to mask energy." Gohan stated dryly.
"Uh, ma'am?" called the employee whom they had left behind, interrupting any further discussion, "I've got something."
Gohan and Bulma stood and rushed to his side, looking at the monitor and quickly scanning the information. The man quickly stated, "Look, around the time of the attacks yesterday, the sat-comm team logged a node change on this satellite here." he pointed at a long log, seeing four different highlighted entries. "Here, and here, these two connections were changed to be a direct link from this one address marked here, and the other end is-"
"Our address. Point to point?" Gohan asked eagerly, feeling apprehensive.
"Yes sir," nodded the man, "and you're not going to believe where the other address is." Gohan peered at it, but the string of random characters made no sense to him. Seeing he wasn't going to get a response, the man pushed his glasses up on his nose and said with a haughty smirk, "ZTV broadcasting center, Satan City."
Gohan and Bulma both stared at him hard. He was correct, it was certainly difficult to believe. Bulma rubbed her chin and thought out loud, "But… why would a major broadcasting company like ZTV be in on all of this? What would they gain from it? If anything, getting involved in something like this would likely tank the entire company if word ever got out, it's too much of a risk for them to take."
Gohan took a deep breath and closed his eyes in frustration, dryly saying, "They probably don't realize what it is they did. I'm willing to bet it's one person, and I've got a gut feeling about who it is I need to pay a visit."
ELSEWHERE
Captain Wilhelm of the Red Ribbon Army marched smartly through the dark corridors of their underground lair. He wasn't in a good mood. As intelligence officer, it was his job to keep track of potential threats, targets, and now, hostages.
"Sergeant, make sure to log the damage done to Videl. Also make a note that Mrs. Son still hasn't woken up, and it's currently unknown if we will be able to safely resuscitate her considering how hard she was sedated. Our good captain is going to pay for his mistakes today, even worse than his men did if I have anything to say for it." he growled through gritted teeth. The sergeant in question nodded his head and threw a quick salute before falling back a few paces behind him and writing quickly in a green notebook.
He had only just been informed of the condition that his two hostages had been in upon arrival at their facility. Needless to say, he wasn't going to be getting any information out of Chi Chi, though he still held some hope for Videl. Of course, he and Captain Fisher shared a rank, but that didn't stop him from wanting to put a hole in the man's skull. Not like it'd do any real harm to him, he hasn't got enough going on up there, he thought sardonically. Well, at least the caskets worked.
"Oh, and file a report on the casket mk.1. The mobile version of the spirit shield system is a success. Our boys down in R&D are going to be happy about that, at least."
"Yes sir."
"Good, now get going." He waved off the sergeant, who saluted again and headed off in the opposite direction. The captain passed through a heavy metal door and walked past a line of vehicles, his hands held behind his back as he reviewed the trucks and tanks on either side of him. Seeing that everything seemed to be in order, he took a detour off his usual route, and passed between two of the vehicles to find the two trucks that had been equipped with the "caskets".
To anyone else, it would have just looked like a standard large SUV. But with the doors open and the rear hatch up, it was very obvious that the whole vehicle was armored. He peered in the back of the one nearest him, and saw the crew huddled inside the fairly spacious interior cleaning up. There were still bloodstains on the floor of the vehicle as well as the concrete just outside the tailgate, and several bloody rags were littered about as they worked. This must have been the one Videl came back in.
He left silently to avoid disturbing the men working on the vehicle, and made his way towards his next destination. He passed through another hatch into a man-trap. After receiving the all-clear, he left through the opposite door, this time entering a much narrower concrete hallway lined with guards every so often. He passed an open door which he could hear laughter coming from, and on a whim, decided to step inside. There were four men lounging about in what had clearly been made into an impromptu recreations room. The barren concrete walls were still as dreary as all the others, but there were a few personal amenities that had been moved in. For one, the room smelled of strong coffee, and four men sat with their backs to him, lounging in lawn chairs that they had no doubt brought in themselves. They were watching a film on a small television that looked like it had been pulled from the barracks. It wasn't until he saw their weapons leaning up against the wall that the Captain spoke.
"Enjoying yourselves?" he asked, causing the four guards to jump up, one of them knocking over a chair in the process. They spun around, and seeing who it was, immediately jumped to attention with slightly guilty expressions.
"Uh, yes sir. It's an old comedy someone brought in from outside, we're off duty at the-"
"I can see that." The captain said, cutting off any further explanation. He placed his hands behind his back and nodded to the weapons, asking a little too calmly, "Your rifles, are they in good working order?"
All at once, the four guards turned pale as they realized their mistake. The one who had spoken earlier swallowed past the lump in his throat and nodded, "Yes, sir. Daily maintenance as usual-"
"That's good," drawled the captain, "now, you do realize who we have being held down here, don't you? The power that these people possess?" Another guard was about to speak, but he raised his voice, cutting them off, "Now, those particular weapons are specifically designed to be able to take out any living thing, the amount of firepower you four have been given goes far beyond a standard uniformed military, and you just leave them unattended against the wall?"
Silence followed the question, none of the four guards knowing how to respond. The captain calmly strode over to the rifles and picked one up, removing the magazine and inspecting the ammunition within. "Depleted uranium tips, hydro-reactive fluid inside a steel jacket. Extremely high velocity rounds up to a range of three-hundred and fifty meters. No modern body armor can stand up to these rounds within that range, and if you get shot with one, the resulting explosion from that fluid hitting your blood would spell instant death. These weapons, in the hands of someone like Videl Satan, would be her ticket out of here, no matter how worn down and battered she might be. Even in her current state, I doubt any of you four could take her on in a one on one fight. I don't think I need to tell you what her escape would mean?"
Again, no response from the four men. They merely watched him apprehensively while the television behind them said boisterously, "I'll bite your legs off!" He slammed the magazine back into the rifle and threw it at the nearest guard, who barely managed to get his arms up in time to catch it. "Don't let me catch anyone else leaving their weapon unattended. It's either in your hands, or it's in the armory. No in-betweens."
"Yes, sir." The four men chorused. He nodded and turned about on his heel, walking back out of the room without a backwards glance. Morons.
He made his way further along the hall and stopped at another steel door that was flanked by two armed guards. They snapped to attention when he halted in front of them, and leaned in to peer through the view-port. "Any change in her state?" he asked.
"No, sir." Said the guard to his right. The captain could make out the form of Chi Chi laid out on her table, nude except for the undergarments she'd been wearing. A monitor beeped away in the background, and he could see that she was covered in diodes. He sighed, shaking his head. Without another word, he turned and continued along the hallway until he found his final destination. The two guards there snapped to attention as well, and he looked through the view-port into the room of Videl Satan.
The lights were on, and Jeanine was sitting next to Videl, spoon-feeding her what appeared to be applesauce. "How long has she been in there?" he asked quietly. The guard next to him responded, "About half an hour. The doctor's been trying to get her to keep some food down, but it doesn't sound like that's working too well. They've been pretty quiet, but Videl keeps retching."
"Hnn." Grunted the captain. He took a breath and closed his eyes for a moment to compose his face, then said, "No one is to interrupt me until I finish interrogating Videl. It will be short today, barely more than an introduction."
Without waiting for a response, he pressed the lock release, and entered the cell. Jeanine jumped up, whirling around to face him. He was surprised to see that Videl seemed very alert, as her head turned about to face him. "How is your patient doing, doctor?" he asked, putting on a polite smile and making eye contact with Jeanine. He was happy to see the look of distaste and unease on her face. She knew why he was here.
"Just trying to get her to keep something down. She's still weak after everything. But, well…" she hesitated and looked at Videl, who was staring at the captain with a look of disdain on her face.
"Come now, Videl." He said calmly, bouncing on the balls of his feet and giving her that same polite smile. "You and I are just meeting for the first time, and I'm hoping I'll make a better impression than my counterpart, whom you've already met. The least you could do is show me the same courtesy."
"Obviously, there's no need to introduce myself." she spat venomously.
The captain smiled wider. "I am pleased to see that your tongue is as sharp as ever, especially given your current state. Please, eat. I just want to ask you some questions."
Videl gave him an incredulous look, like he'd just grown a horn out of his forehead. She traded a glance with Jeanine, then asked, "What sort of questions?"
"We'll get to that in a moment. Please, eat something." He smiled imploringly. He could feel Videl's disgust with how sickly sweet he was being. That was good, it meant that getting under her skin was going to be easy. Jeanine attempted to give her some more applesauce, but Videl refused to even acknowledge the spoon, glaring hard at him. He sighed and straightened himself, "Very well. Jeanine, do me a favor, and leave us for a moment?"
The doctor looked at Videl apologetically, but nodded in response, collecting the food items she'd brought with her and making her way to the door. Within seconds, she was gone, leaving only Videl and Captain Wilhelm. The room echoed with the hollow sound of the metal door for a few seconds, then a harsh silence settled in.
"I should start, I suppose, with an apology for my colleague's behavior. We did not realize that you were carrying a child, and the dose of sedative you were given was a lot for a bear... Harming you or your child was never our intent, and he will be punished for his actions. Not to mention the injuries you have sustained as a result of your encounter..." he gently ran his fingers over her swollen cheek. She recoiled instinctively, shutting her eyes and refusing to look at him.
"Let's skip the pleasantries, I'm not foolish enough to believe that anyone here actually cares about my needs or wants, so let's just get it over with so I can go back to sleep." Videl snarled, her eyes opening after a moment to fix firmly on his, a bright fire shining behind them.
"Ah," he smiled knowingly, removing his hand from her jaw and taking up the seat which the doctor had vacated. "But it'd be rude of me to skip the pleasantries, and I don't make a habit of being rude to people whom I respect."
"You kidnapped me from my home, had me beaten, put my child at risk, and somehow managed to do all of this without Gohan knowing where I was. Trust me, I don't care what you want right now, and I hardly believe you respect me any more than I respect you. Ask your questions."
The captain sighed heavily, interlocking his hands below his chin and staring back at those intense blue eyes. "Very well, then. Regarding your husband, or more correctly, his people. What are their intentions with this planet? With the people of Earth?"
Videl stared back at him for a moment before answering, "The Saiyans? I don't know what their intentions with the Earth are, not exactly."
"Put me in the ball-park."
She sighed and laid her head back, saying, "You know as much as I do. They said that they wanted to make a colony here, coexist with us."
"Ah, but there's always an ulterior motive. No colony has ever been established that didn't have a long-term goal besides just living somewhere. So, what is their true purpose? Surely your husband, being who he is, must know something."
"Like he said, if the Saiyans did have plans to take over or something, they would be able to without much of a fight at all. They used to conquer planets with tiny teams, or even just with a baby! But the guy they used to do that for has been dead for nearly twenty years, so they've been out of the business for a while." She said, shaking her head and staring up at the ceiling.
"Well then, why would they want to colonize here? What could they gain?"
"You're really going to keep grilling me on this?" she laughed humorlessly, "You're even dumber than I would have given you credit for. They want allies, and you're not making a very good impression, I promise you that."
There was a pause in the conversation, the captain looked for a moment like he was furious, staring hard at her. But seconds later, he had his polite smile on his face. "Well, I'll withhold judgement for now, considering that we still don't know much about them. Let's ask a different question, then. Have you been to their planet? I know they have a way to get there quickly, so have you?"
"How about you answer one of my questions?" she retorted irritably.
He hesitated, then smiled widely and shrugged, "I see no harm in it. Though just as I don't necessarily trust any answer you give me, I doubt you'd believe anything I tell you in return. You first, answer my question."
She glared at him for a moment, her eyes calculating, measuring his reaction to what she would say, "Yeah, I have."
"And how many Saiyans are there?" he asked, his voice sounding quite disbelieving.
She smirked deviously and said, "Why, worried you'll be even more hopelessly screwed than before?"
He raised his eyebrows and smiled wider, "Not at all, actually. I'm more concerned with how much ammunition I'm going to have to acquire in order to be able to fight them in force. How many body bags I would need. I've no doubt that the Saiyans only number in the tens of thousands, considering the things your husband said before."
"And you think he was telling the truth? Honestly, he's trying to make peace with the people of Earth, do you think he'd really tell us how many Saiyans there actually are?"
"Well, you seem to know different, Videl. So how about you enlighten me?" He was starting to sound a bit impatient, but quickly recovered his composure to a totally neutral stare.
She pulled out a snarky tone and said, "I already answered your question, I think you owe me one. How did you manage to take me?"
There was another pause, in which the captain considered her carefully. His expression was unreadable, though Videl swore she could see the fires of hatred burning behind those grey orbs. He gave her a consoling sort of smile and said, "Well, perhaps you should have thought out your question more carefully... As to how we took you? Well, you were there. You were sedated heavily via tranquilizer rounds, subdued by armed men after a brief but intense fight, and transported here against your will to a secure location, and you will never be found again unless we allow it."
He stood up, leaning over her and getting close enough to her for her to smell the brand of toothpaste that he brushed with that morning. "And I think you'd do well to remember that while you're down here, you can easily be subdued again, in case you have any... ideas." He placed a hand on her exposed belly, right below the navel, sending a chill through her that was visible in her shaking limbs. Her eyes no longer held any defiance, now there was a hint of fear and anxiety in them. "And I assure you, for the sake of your child, that is not something that you want to do. I've no intention of harming either of you, but I have every intention of learning everything you know about the Saiyans. If I cannot get you to cooperate, then my colleague will likely be asked to try, and I cannot vouch for his actions. You know why? Because he's an animal, and just like any wild beast, he's unpredictable. I might even get to watch."
The smile never left his face, but this time, his eyes held a sadistic sort of glee. It was hard to mistake the look in them as those grey orbs scanned her body, spread out on the table as it was, barely clothed at all. It turned her stomach. He removed his hand and walked to the door, pausing with his back to her and saying, "I will leave you with your thoughts for now, Videl. Next time I come in this room, I hope you will be more agreeable, for your own sake. Just remember, this is all for the safety of the Earth. I hope that you'll be able to see it my way."
The door buzzed open, and the captain left. Videl could feel the air in the room cool down at his departure, as if the anger she was feeling from him was suddenly hidden from her. Jeanine entered the room again, looking over her shoulder while the door was shut. She hurried to Videl's side and looked her over, "You okay?" she asked quietly. Videl merely nodded. Jeanine gave her a smile and nodded, "you did well."
Videl allowed a hint of a smile to dance on her lips and nodded in return, looking the doctor in the eye. "Thank you, Jeanine. You were right about him. He hides it well, but he's got a short fuse."
Jeanine's smile started to fade, and she sat down heavily in the chair next to her. "Unfortunately, he'll keep coming back until he's sure he's got every bit of information from you. So long as you keep him thinking that you know something he doesn't, he'll keep you alive. I can say for certain his work ethic is incredible, thought I can't say the same for his morals. Be careful how you handle him, I'm not sure what he'll do if you actually piss him off..."
Videl sighed and laid her head back on the hard table, flexing her muscles as best she could to relieve the tension in her back. "Do you think he'd really carry through his threat? Bring that other guy back in here?"
Jeanine pursed her lips and sighed, "I can't say. This is new territory for me, too. I hope not, there's something seriously wrong with that guy." Videl nodded, and felt the adrenaline leaving her body after the interrogation. She felt drained. Must be the sedative, I'm still feeling it. She fought back a yawn. There was a loud knock on the door, and Jeanine rested a hand on her shoulder, "I'll be back in a bit, okay? Try to rest a little."
Once again, Videl was left in dark solitude as the doctor left. She was starting to trust her, in spite of her suspicion that the doctor was playing the metaphorical "good cop". She stared up at the ceiling, running everything through in her mind, and trying to think of a way to get out.
A/N: So, lots of things developing. Lots of things currently sitting in another document, waiting to be used. Now for the hard part, putting it all together in a way that is entertaining to read. I hope that the whole "Don't use the dragon balls for petty shit" thing doesn't bother people too much, but it seriously annoys me that no matter how you look at a Dragon Ball story (including canon), there's always that get out of jail free card. The hard part? Making the characters decide on their own that they shouldn't use the dragon balls so much, that it leaves them to be reckless. There's no real way around that, and that is one of the few things I give GT credit for. They actually had a reason to not make a bunch of wishes on the dragon balls in a short amount of time! So, the best I can think of without ripping it straight from GT is to give the main characters a warning from the gods (none in specific, but anyone who has watched Super will know) to not abuse the power they have. That's all I got for you today, I hope you enjoyed it. Shoot me a PM if you have ideas, Review if you like, and have a good day/morning/night/whatever time it is. I'll see you next time.
