Chapter 14: An Affinity for the Caustic
"Delicate in every way but one – the swordplay. God knows we like archaic kinds of fun – the old way. Chance is the only game I play with, we let our battles choose us,"
Bulma Briefs did not wake up with the sun shining or birds singing outside her window. The moment she'd woken up, the revelation of the week before hitting her every morning since the robbery had happened.
The Pod Corporation had somehow managed to steal very important documentation from the Beta Research and Development Team. She knew it had to be them. Those conniving bastards.
It was work that had meant to be shown at the upcoming Technological Sciences Symposium and now the team was left with nothing. Thankfully the Delta team that was working with Bulma's father would have a paper along with a presentation ready for the end of the month.
It had to have been Darius Stark, CEO of Pod Corp. He didn't have any scheduled presentation time at the Symposium, but a few days after the break-in, there was Stark's face greeting her on the TV in the kitchen. Vegeta was sitting at the table, eating his daily breakfast: a chicken coop full of scrambled eggs and a few dozen pancake stacks.
"-proud to present some incredible evidence about Dark Matter and its place in the universe. Thankfully, we were able to retrieve a timeslot at the last second-" The Heiress could barely stand seeing the deviously handsome man grin as he spoke before she flipped the TV off.
What was more disconcerting than the incident itself was the fact that Bulma had no idea how Darius Stark had done it. Capsule Corp. was known for its extensive background checks and rigorous interview process. That way, the moles and spies would be weeded out against those who truly wanted to work for the company.
She sighed heavily while pouring two cups of coffee, staring into the intense darkness of the liquid for a few moments while she brooded.
"I was watching that," The gruff voice of her belligerent houseguest spoke between forkfuls.
A threatening, "No you weren't," actually shut the Prince up, and Bulma expanded, "That man is systematically trying to ruin my corporation. He's the one behind this theft, I know it. All the facts line up to him, but I just can't figure out how he did it,"
"There's one way to find out,"
"And how is that, all mighty Prince?"
"For all those brains you claim to have, sometimes you don't really use them do you?" Before she could retort, he continued, "Capsule Corporation is not prey, it is the effusive predator in this situation. This is an empire that you control with nearly complete omnipotence, but those around you are trying to destroy what your father has built. Show this Stark man how powerful you really are,"
She smirked at the word effusive, knowing that he'd found it among the books that she'd lent him. Leaning on the table, Bulma handed him one of the cups of black coffee. Surprisingly, he took it, his hand feathering over hers in the lightest of touches, "So you're saying I should threaten him,"
"Ah, now the woman understands. Yes, use those proverbial corporate muscles that you have. You are Bulma Briefs, President of Capsule Corporation, which – from what I understand, is one of the top five most profitable companies in the last one-hundred years," A blue eyebrow raised with a curious thought flitting through her mind, Where did he learn that from?
Mulling the idea over, Bulma became pensive. She knew that it had been Darius that had stolen the project's evidence and research. Perhaps Vegeta was right and this required a sort of retaliation. "I think you're right, Vegeta. I'm going to have my secretary request a meeting with Darius Stark later this afternoon. I'm sure he can't wait to rub this in my face and when we meet… I will threaten him within an inch of his life," The sinister timbre in her voice caused desire to flare and curl within the Prince. He tamped it down quickly.
"Of course I'm right," He gifted her with a rare devil-may-care smirk before adding, "And I think I will accept you calling me 'All Mighty Prince' from now on, woman,"
Stepping away from the table, Bulma gave him a mocking bow, "Oh yes, All Mighty Prince," She chuckled before standing and grabbing her coffee cup, "Now I have other matters to attend to, such as setting the Beta Team loose in our labs to try and figure out who could've stolen all that data,"
Vegeta had known that Bulma had been sarcastic in upholding his title, but the scene had been rather comical, so he simply nodded and watched her walk away; legs long and hips a-sway.
It wasn't until she was out of sight that Vegeta continued his breakfast. He admitted to himself that the woman had a certain allure about her when she was fired up and on the hunt.
The complaining of the Beta Team about 'how it was unfair that they now had to find proof' instead of 'working on a new project to recover their losses' only fueled Bulma's anger. The twelve scientists that made up the team were acting like children. If she found out that one of the twelve ended up being the mole, Bulma had half a mind to fire the entire team.
"Look, I know that this isn't what you thought we'd be doing today, and I know how upset each and every one of you is at the loss of this research, but you all know your own equipment and computers the best. If something is out of place or something seems strange in your own work environment, it will be you who could tell best, not someone who rarely comes through here just to update the equipment-" Bulma tried to explain, but the group began loudly complaining.
One person started shouting that they were 'a theoretical physicist, not a computer scientist, dammit' and many echoed his sentiments.
The youthful president took a breath and counted to ten.
She only got to five-and-a-half. Then, Bulma did what she was best at: Politely and loudly screaming.
"Focus! I have a great idea! How about everyone gets together with a study buddy and talks about the fuck that I don't give regarding your complaints! Your work is gone, completely and utterly gone! Darius Stark and Pod Corporation have stolen everything that you've worked for. Do you want to get evidence and put this bastard behind bars? Do you want to make sure this never happens again? You are to each go through your desks and work spaces and see if anything is out of place,"
"President, the most that we'll be able to do is tell if anyone tampered with our findings physically, but it's obvious that the data was stolen electronically, otherwise it would take them months to understand the theories that we had laid out in our workspaces," The senior director of the Beta team had stepped up to face her.
"If I didn't have it, Director, I would ask you where the rope is," Her voice ground out.
Turning a pair of icy irises onto the shorter man, "Renaud, I want to exhaust every possibility we have so that we know. There is no way research of this scale and importance just suddenly disappeared without a trace. Once you have completed this task, you will all be free to begin a new project, pending that it is approved by myself and my father. You are all dismissed,"
The ants scattered in front of their queen, rushing to finish the task laid out before them. The senior director glared at her before doing the same.
"Impressive," The familiar, deep voice in an unfamiliar setting made Bulma spin on her heel.
"Vegeta?" She tilted her head in confusion, "What are you doing here?"
"I was curious to see how you would handle this situation. On Planet Vegeta, there were a few times that the Royal family was in danger of mutiny, but my father handled them beautifully," The Prince was dressed in casual human clothing, making him less intimidating, but there was still a shadow of danger to him.
"How did he deal with problems within his kingdom?"
"Usually with bloodshed. I think you handled that rather well without it, however if I were in your place, I might have made one of them defecate themselves to prove a point," He offered.
Bulma "Employees aren't the same as subjects, Vegeta. I respect them, they respect me. Besides, those were the people that had their work taken from their noses last week. They aren't too happy with anyone right now,"
"Even so, the one that spoke against you was rather annoying. I would've scared him just for fun,"
Bulma laughed, shaking her head. "Yes Vegeta, you would make a fine President,"
He changed the subject. "When is your meeting with Stark?"
"I wanted it to be this afternoon, but unfortunately he can't meet me until just before dinner, and with our meeting at 6, I'll probably be home late,"
"I will be here at 6:30 to make sure that you make it home promptly. When your agrestic mother knows you are to dine with your parents for dinner, I am denied eating until you arrive home –entirely unacceptable," His wording made the pair of bright blue eyes roll.
"What if Darius and I are still meeting?"
"Then I won't have lost my opportunity to cause self-defecation," His words rung wickedly.
"When did you become so resplendently hilarious? And why?" She reveled in their newfound word-games. It seemed to keep their yelling down to a minimum, anyway.
"The Prince of Saiyans is never hilarious, dear virago. I will see you at 6:30," There was a hint of blush on his cheeks as he stalked away, Bulma bemusedly noticed.
Darius Stark was as sharp-dressed as they come. Dark, perfectly coiffed hair with a pair of eyes as brilliant as Bulma's, she knew that this man was rarely one to intentionally trifle with. He was also at least a foot taller than herself and seemed to be in very fit shape. She made a silent promise to Kami before standing from behind her desk and meeting him at her office door. She nodded for the secretary to take her leave and then escorted the suited man to a chair.
"Mr. Stark, How good of you to come," She smiled demurely.
"I wouldn't have missed this meeting for the world, Miss Briefs," His voice was honey, but with an edge of steel.
"Please, call me Bulma,"
"Thank you, Bulma. I must insist that you call me Darius then,"
Bulma Briefs couldn't think of how the situation could become more WASP or Stepford-like, so she decided to cut to the chase. "Well, Darius, do you have any idea why I might have asked for you to come by?"
"A meeting of the minds?"
She let out a soft chuckle, "Not quite, I first wanted to congratulate you on your recent success and rather quick submission to the SciTech Symposium. We had to give up our spot due to recent and unfortunate events in our research department. I'm glad that someone of a worthy caliber was able to replace my team,"
"Oh, you're speaking about that dreadful robbery that happened in your R&D labs last week, do you have any idea who might've stolen such precious information?"
"Oh, I believe I have an inkling, Darius," Bulma kept her voice light and blameless, devoid of anything next to anger.
"I'm sure you do. I bet you have the best investigative team in all of West City on the job. I'm sure they'll find the culprit in no time. Perhaps even in time to reclaim their presentation spot,"
God, the asshole could win an Emmy with his false sincerity. The President and Heiress of Capsule Corp wasn't in the mood to play game anymore.
The match was struck, the single flame flickering.
"That wouldn't be too good for you if my team did, would it, Darius?" Her sharp blue gaze narrowed as her implied accusation set in.
He let out a laugh full of disbelief mixed with confusion, "I'm sorry? Are you insinuating that I had something to do with this fiasco?"
"You had your hand in this, Darius. I'm not sure how you did it, but you or someone in your company got their hands on my research. From the moment that you announced your 'sudden and surprise' presentation at the Symposium at the end of the month!"
The match had been dropped, flames slowly growing.
His palms went up in mock innocence, "Now, now, there's no need to get so riled up about this, Miss Briefs. The truth will come to light eventually. Don't blame my success on your downfalls,"
"Darius… Do you happen to be familiar with the concept that glory and gore go hand in hand?" Her words were slow, her voice low and threatening. Bulma was coursing with a protective anger. This man was threatening to take away her family's legacy. She wouldn't have it.
"I'm not sure that I quite get what you're saying, Bulma,"
Standing up, she moved to corner the man, nearly pinning him against her desk with her very presence. "Let me make myself understood, Darius. I don't take kindly to those who try to hurt my company, my family or my livelihood. Pod Corporation will never be as great as Capsule Corporation. It will never happen and your attempts at changing its fate are sad and insignificant,"
Whispering in his ear, "I will soon defeat you. This is not a democratic industry. Capsule Corporation is an empire and I am its Empress. I will build a bridge above you or I'll tunnel underneath you, I will feast on you, excrete you and feed you to the flowers in my courtyard. If I need to, I'll go through you and absorb your fucking company. I'll put in hour after hour, let's be crystal clear: I'm going to destroy Pod Corporation if it takes a day or fifty years. Even if the Himalayas were in my way it will happen. Waiting doesn't seem to work with you, so I will be the one to,"
Bulma stepped away, a sweet smile plastered on her face and she motioned towards the door. "I'm so glad that you could come by and meet with me, Mr. Stark. Have a pleasant evening, Capsule Corporation is looking forward to the return of Pod Corporation at the Tech-Science Symposium,"
Darius stared at her, emotions warring inside him. He was enraged that she would threaten him so blatantly after he'd stolen such important research, but he was also terrified and enamored with her. Such was the power of the young azure heiress.
Silent, Darius Stark, the CEO of Pod Corporation left her office.
Burn bridge, burn.
Sighing, she sat on the edge of her desk. Glancing over, the clock read 6:13pm. Bulma cleaned up her desk, making sure to change her password on her accounts and encrypt every machine that was visible, and headed towards her balcony. Vegeta was setting his feet upon the concrete terrace as she closed the doors and locked them.
"I did it," She struck a prideful pose that was not unfamiliar to him.
"Ah, so there's a good side and bad side to your endeavor,"
She tilted her head, "What?"
"Well, the bad side to this is that I didn't get to scare the shit out of anyone while dragging your ass home. The good side is you won't be screaming about shit being on your carpet while we return for dinner,"
"Yes, you are ever the optimist, Vegeta," She murmured, rolling her eyes.
"Did you achieve the desired results?"
"Well, I didn't make him crap his pants, but he did leave the room quickly and with a look of horror on his face," Bulma shot the Saiyan man a dazzling smile.
Vegeta shook his head, "I have no desire to know what you said to that man, probably something vulgar. Your mind is much filthier than I had ever anticipated,"
During the quick flight home, Vegeta kept the secret that he'd gotten there right at six, just to watch the scene from the shadows outside. He'd approved of the way that the woman handled herself. It was always entertaining to see her ire focused on someone other than himself.
The only problem was, why couldn't he get the image of her leaning close to him and whispering in his own ear?
Dusk had left long ago. Stars were slowly drifting into view as the sky fell into darker shades of blue. Below the sparkling blanket and skyline, a pair of sinister forms were meeting in a ghostly alleyway.
"They're onto us. I'm sure they have no idea who stole the data, so you should be safe for a while longer. It's impressive how careful you've been," Darius paused before reaching into his tailored jacket and producing an envelope.
"What you've given me is excellent. This presentation will do much for the company. It'll show the world that Pod Corp is capable of integral and important research,"
Stark had begun to hand over the envelope, but paused momentarily.
The other figure tilted its head, "I'm glad that you have used what I've found to advantage. The way you're acting leads me to think that there's something else you require of me, Mr. Stark,"
The taller man nodded, "What you found is all theoretical, nothing solid or tangible. I need more. I need something that Pod Corporation can create and get into the market, we need to make a profit. Do you think you can manage that?"
The smaller figure's lips formed a smirk, "Certainly. It'll take a few months – maybe even half a year – to find something that valuable, but I'll find something that will put us ahead of Capsule Corp. I've covered my tracks well,"
"You have done well. I trust you to get this done," The CEO spoke before leaving the envelope with the smaller figure.
Glancing out of the alleyway and making sure there was no one that would notice him, Darius Stark made strides down the street and into darkness.
A/N: First off, thank you to everyone who's been following me and leaving me reviews! You guys are amazing and it is so encouraging to know that you all are enjoying the story so far.
Do you know how long ago I wrote this chapter? I wrote most of this chapter the night before Halloween 2013 and edited it the day of Halloween 2013. So I've been waiting a long time to give everyone this. It seems that after Vegeta was cared for by Bulma, he seems to accept her friendship… and perhaps something more? Does anyone think I should make Vegeta more brooding? Is there anything I can improve upon?
The next chapter will be one of the longest in the fic, I hope you're excited.
Fun fact: When I go back through the episodes, if there's a scene in the fic that's in the show, I try to keep it pretty close to canon. However, if I think the conversation is simply for a humorous effect, I take it out and try to make the event more realistic in my mind.