This chapter is brought to you by ShadowMajin.

…

Chichi nervously looked to her house, light pouring through the windows as if to mock her with its homey appearance.

Paul Kay was in there, claiming to be her long-dead kid, and despite all of her training and experience, the dark-haired woman felt like she could crack at any moment. That was why she was standing outside her gardening shed in the backyard, her cellphone gripped tightly in her hand and the most nerve-wrecking sound buzzing in her ear.

That would be the ringing of her outgoing call.

"This is Father."

Chichi immediately entered her shed, being sure to keep an eye on the back door. She didn't want Kay coming out and overhearing her. "I have some news on that missing person you've been looking for," she replied evenly.

"And which missing person would that be?"

Coded talk, she could work with that. It was oddly comforting considering the last few hours she had endured. Chichi could feel her old self stirring. "Oh you know, that friend of your sister. The last one to see her."

There was a long stretch of silence before Father said, "Well, that's swell. Mind telling me if he's okay?"

"He is. He's currently eating pie at my dining table."

"Then why haven't you killed him?!" Father suddenly screamed, breaking their code. "That's your job, you bitch; now do it!"

Chichi scowled. How dare this guy break the code. You never break code with an undercover agent, even if she's not in the field. She had started the code and Father had accepted that as their form of conversation. "Considering the things he's been doing lately, that is unwise. Simply putting him to sleep is-"

"Your job," Father interrupted. "Now do it, Agent, or I'll come down myself and-"

"Die," Chichi shot back. "Just like everyone else, you twit. Do you not remember Orange Star? I do, and I refuse to underestimate this guy, do you hear me?"

Another silence surfaced, this one with clear undertones of anger in it. "Very well," her boss growled back. "But I order you to keep an eye on him, do you hear me? You want to pussyfoot around this, be my guest. Your assignment is to befriend him like Devil did, which I know you can do. That is your specialty after all."

The dark-haired woman stiffened. While she had come to the conclusion that she would have to do such a thing, especially when Father began ranting of doing the deed himself, it was unpleasant to be ordered to do it. Hopefully the assignment would be short. "When can I expect back-up?"

"As long as it takes."

The dialtone blared into her ear, causing Chichi to pull the phone away and look at it. That was not the answer she was looking for. A day or two, sure, she could babysit this guy, but from the sound of that answer, the dark-haired woman felt she was going to be in for the long haul, which was not what she wanted.

Kami damn it all.

…

"And that wraps up Day 1 of the Tactical Securities hearings. For those of you just joining us, NAIE Agent Tien Shinhan presented his opening arguments before the Congressional Committee of Judicial Investigations, in which the director of the National Agency of Inquiry and Enforcement, Jackie Roshi, and Senators John Malone, William Engvall…"

Videl sighed as she slouched in her chair, the television providing background noise. That's all any of the big news networks had been broadcasting since she showed up at the airport in Ginger Town and now in North City. She couldn't blame them for the coverage consider how gigantic the story was, but it got old very fast. Fortunately, she'd been on a flight and missed most of the hearing, so she was about to get the highpoints, as few as those were.

The dark-haired woman was currently seated at the counter of the airport bar. She had a little time to kill before she had to report to her contact for the intel on her target. This had brought her to the bar for a quick drink, one she found herself needing more of as the bar's TV showed endless coverage of Shinhan's hearing with annoying talking heads providing commentary. It was like they were treating this thing like some sport's broadcast, with all the color commentary and play-by-play announcements. It was sickening, if viewed in a certain light.

"After some initial resistance from the committee, Shinhan proceeded to lay down his case, and a lot of it was rather shocking, to say the least."

Lifting up her cup, Videl took a sip, feeling the liquor burn its way down her throat. She wasn't a hard liquor fan by any means, but sometimes a girl had to indulge, and this was one such time. The dark-haired woman would have to get something more appealing to the palette once she was done, if only to wash down the strong aftertaste. She scrunched her face in distaste. Yeah, she wasn't going to order this drink again.

Glancing at the other patrons, Videl could say that none of them were of any importance. A look out into the hustle and bustle of the actual terminal told her the same thing. It wasn't that she was actively looking for threats, but it was always best to stay alert, no matter how muddled the mind was. It was almost strange to be doing it though, considering she hadn't been on an actual assignment in quite some time.

I wonder why that is…

"Though the big story is of the revelation of Shinhan's alleged source who worked for the defense contractors…"

Videl blinked before returning her attention to the television. Source? Since when did he have a source? Now this was an interesting tidbit. There had been a lot of suspicions, but nothing definitive about additional help. Videl had been under the impression that perhaps Gohan had been involved, though why he'd gotten in contact with Shinhan and how was beyond her. She had no proof as to Gohan's involvement and was keeping her thoughts to herself, but if there was someone else involved in this crazy scandal, she found herself interested to know.

"...apparently an employee of Tactical Securities got in contact with Shinhan and informed him of the company's real business. Why they chose now to contact the authorities was part of a hotly debated exchange between the committee members and Shinhan. Though the agent didn't reveal the identity of his source, he did provide for him the alias Dormant."

Videl clutched her cup tightly. Dormant? What were the odds that was a reference to Project Dormancy? And if that was right, there was only one person the dark-haired woman could think of that was involved with that.

At least now she had confirmation of her assumption of Gohan's involvement with Frieza's fall. That had always been a point she wasn't certain about, considering there was no proof placing the young man at the attack.

So now her timeline was shaping up more. After leaving her in the hospital, Gohan had taken on Tactical Securities, just like he'd said he would, succeeded, and delivered his spoils to a still-living Agent Shinhan. After that, he cleaned up his old life and vanished into the ether. Considering how difficult his current trail was, Videl had to shudder at what it would be like when she was done with her job.

Shaking her head, Videl looked at the remains of her drink and wrinkled her nose at it. Pushing it away, she then pulled out her wallet and threw some bills to cover her tab and the tip. The dark-haired woman was certain she was finished here; she needed to get the details on her job and get it finished as quickly as possible so she could take back up the search for Gohan.

…

Chichi heard the footsteps before she saw Kay. The dark-haired woman was in her faded pink bathrobe, sitting at her dining room table and sipping a cup of coffee. Looking up, she saw Kay as he entered the room, his hair sticking straight up in the air. Though that was the way his hair was the previous day, for some reason she got the impression that it looked mussed up.

"Good morning," he greeted her, slowly trudging towards the coffee pot.

"Good morning," she returned, taking another sip.

There was some rattling as Kay opened a cupboard and pulled out a coffee cup, setting it down on the kitchen counter. As he picked up the coffee pot and began pouring himself a cup, he said, "Thank you for letting me spend the night."

"It would've been rude to kick you out," Chichi replied, not even sparing him a glance as she placed her drink down. "You are claiming to be my son, and I'd rather not toss you out without confirming it somehow."

"Confirming how?"

"DNA test." Finally, Chichi turned to face him, leveling him with a stony look. "I've just had my family killed in a month's time, and if I'm going to be accepting a relative, I want to make sure that he's telling the truth. I hope you understand."

Kay stared back at her, seeming unsure by her stance. "I guess so," he eventually mumbled back. "So when do we do this?"

"Whenever you find a lab willing to do the test." Upon seeing his baffled look, Chichi explained, "I work most days, so I don't have the time to be running around looking for a lab. I don't have a clue as to what you do, so I'm assuming you've got the time to spare to do this. I'm willing to let you stay here until you do, but don't think for a moment that if I see you lollygagging around, I won't throw you out."

The young man caught up to her thinking. "I understand," he said simply before walking over to the table, carrying his own cup of coffee, and taking a seat in one of the chairs. "So what do we do until I find one?"

Chichi shrugged. "Tell me about yourself. What do you do, your hobbies, travel, and such."

Kay went quiet as he looked down at the table. He seemed uncomfortable with the question, to which Chichi suspected she knew the reason why. Apparently, he didn't have a cover for himself to fall back on.

Then he spoke, "I used to work in accounting not too long ago. It wasn't all that exciting to be honest, just a bunch of people and me crunching numbers." A faint smile appeared on his face. "Though if you met some of the people there, you'd think numbers was their life."

Really? An accountant? That was his best cover story? Chichi would've rolled her eyes had she been unprofessional. Instead, she figured she'd at least try to confirm his so-called employment. "What firm was it?"

"Syron Accounting."

The dark-haired woman raised an eyebrow. Syron? That was unexpected. They were a rather renowned accounting firm in the west, with branches all over. Oddly enough, their headquarters was in some small town, which the the current claim was that that was where the firm started. It was like Wally-World out in that podunk town of Maple Town, just with accounting.

"Do you still work there?" she asked.

"No, I left last week."

Last week? Not last month? "Why?"

Finally, Kay looked to her. "Like I told you last night, I found out my father had been keeping things from me, so I decided to do some investigating. When I found out he had a wife, I wanted to meet with you."

Chichi stared at him. That was it? Just a "oh look, daddy has a wife I didn't know about, let's go meet her," and he was off? Where did his claim about her being his mother came from? "And the whole deal with you claiming to be my child?" she pressed.

A blush appeared on the young man's face before he answered, "I did some research." This caused the dark-haired woman to stiffen. Just how much "research" had he done? "And I found out the two of you were married long before I was around. With no divorces or anything like that, I figured you might have been my mother." He paused for a moment. "And then I found a picture of you and it...I felt like I recognized you. Nothing solid, I admit, but you definitely looked familiar."

It sounded superficial, but Chichi got the feeling that Kay was being truthful. Still, she wasn't going to just let this slide by. "That's all you have to support your claim? I don't mean to be rude, but it sounds flimsy to me."

"Thus the DNA test," he said.

That...hadn't been the direction she expected. Chichi thought Kay would try to defend himself, which would allow her to press deeper into his digging around. Returning the conversation back to its beginning closed that off for the time being. For some reason, the dark-haired woman felt off-balanced. Was this what Devil meant when she couldn't figure him out?

In that case, she needed to make a strategic retreat and regroup. This tactic had failed, and she wasn't sure how to regain control of the conversation without exposing herself. At the very least, Kay had provided her with an exit strategy. Taking a deep breath, Chichi gathered herself as she began feeling choked up. Nodding, she began to speak, her voice loaded with emotion. "I lost my husband not too long ago, then my son. Now I have you showing up claiming to be another. I can't tell you how much I want that to be so, but I can't stand anymore." A tear began running down her cheek. "I can't take anymore losses. I just can't."

Chichi could say without a doubt that she wasn't faking. After a marriage full of deception, it felt rather refreshing to speak the truth, to not hide her real thoughts. It was sad that this was the most honest she could be to someone outside of her agency, and it had to be the one person that had a bull's eye on his back. Then again, perhaps her targets were the only people she had been honest with, showing them her true self in their last moments.

Thankfully, Kay was empathetic to her plight. With a nod of his head, he said, "I understand. I'll arrange for the testing soon. If you want, I can leave the house until we have a result."

The dark-haired woman shook her head. "No, don't worry about that. It's...nice to have another person in the house. It's less lonely."

"Alright." A pause. "So do you have any plans for the day?"

Running a hand across her face to wipe away the growing number of tears, Chichi replied, "I need to check in at work. I've been off for quite a while, as you can imagine, and I'm sure my boss will want me in as soon as possible."

Kay nodded as he looked away, staring off into space. "I'll go find us a lab then. I'm not sure how long this will take, but hopefully they'll go fast. I don't want to cause any unnecessary pain."

Oh, now you don't want to cause pain? Chichi wanted nothing more to snap at the youth, but she bit her tongue. A sharp tongue was not the tool she needed at the moment. Her tears were her best weapon for the time being. Sucking in a deep breath, the dark-haired woman let out a sigh. "I suppose I'll need to be getting ready then." With that said, she pushed herself out of her seat.

"You do that," Kay responded. "I can make us a small breakfast."

"You can cook? What kind of stuff?"

Another blush appeared on his face. "Nothing fancy. Some eggs, toast, maybe some bacon if there's any."

He wasn't kidding about his limited talent. Still, that menu didn't sound all that bad right now. "The eggs and bacon are in the fridge. I think I have some bread around here, but you'll have to hunt it down."

Stepping away from the table, Chichi began walking out of the dining room and towards the hall that led to her bedroom. A quick shower and dressing up should give plenty of time for Kay to get the food ready. It was an odd feeling, letting someone else use her kitchen, but she didn't feel like cooking for someone she didn't like. Once she reported to Father, hopefully a competent plan could be made and this guy would be a menace no longer.

The sooner the better.

…

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