Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ or the characters

Thank you again to all of my reviewers, including Concerned Guest. As to that review, as far as OOC Vegeta, you might like the story because he's IC for the story line even though he's OOC compared to the show. But nonetheless, I'm glad you're interested in the story :D And very happy you decided to review ^_^

"Who is this?"

Vegeta Sr. sucked in a surprised gasp at hearing her voice. He hated his own reaction to this woman. Every time he heard her voice, a part of him, an innocent part of him that he long thought was dead and buried, would stir. It disgusted him. He had reacted similarly when she called to ask for assistance to get full custody of the bane of his existence, going as far as to fake a paternity test with her and some random stranger so that that Bardock had no legal ground to stand on. Of course, the cop hadn't been privy to this information. Bunny had pleaded with the judge to keep it under wraps because "she had never told her husband" about her mistake. He had not heard from her since she had called to inform him of Vegeta dating her daughter over a voicemail.

"It's been a while, Bunny," he said smoothly, though he was shaking inside.

"No," she replied, sounding very upset and irate. "No, no, no. No! Did that son of yours tell you? I swear; those two are-"

"Vegeta told me nothing," the man interjected, not knowing why he defended his son at the moment. It's not like he cared about him enough to protect him. "I heard from someone else. Is it true?"

"I'm not discussing this with you," Bunny snapped. "I want you to hang up and leave me alone. Never call me again."

"If you really wanted that," Vegeta Sr. started, "then you wouldn't be talking to me now. You'd be the one hanging up instead asking me to be the one to do it."

There was a moment of silence before the bite in Bunny's voice dissipated. "I always hated how you did that. Dissecting my feelings like your stupid business partners."

Vegeta Sr. chuckled out of genuine humor before his expression soured. "Apparently not all my business partners. Is it true?"

"I wouldn't lie about something like that," Bunny replied, her voice raw with emotion. "We were supposed to be happy, but you chose that villain over me."

"If I had known, I wouldn't have gone into business with him. I would have found a way to keep you safe."

"Would you have even believed me?" Bunny jeered, anger returning. "You didn't trust me enough to end before you even began. And what is this number? Where are you calling me from?"

"Prison," he said grimly. "Apparently Kooru had me sign a contract where I volunteered myself as a fall guy."

"Oh," Bunny answered monotonously. "Well, good luck dealing with all that. I need to go."

"Wait!" Vegeta Sr. said a bit too eagerly before softening. "Please, don't go."

The woman released a frustrated sigh. "What do you want from me, Vegeta? I'm married now, across country, away from you and that life. My life isn't perfect, but it's better than what I had. I hated my children, because they reminded me of what I lost. The only reason I was even with Bardock was because we both ended up at the same bar on the two year anniversary after Kooru had hurt me and he lost his parents."

"Apparently, Kooru is responsible for the death of his parents," Vegeta Sr. stated absentmindedly.

"What?" Bunny shrieked. "Okay, this is over. I'm done with all of this. One way or another, you people are going to bring me into this, and I'm not going back there. Unless I hear that Kooru is dead and his threat is no longer being held over my head, this is over. Have a nice life, Vegeta."

The line went dead.

"Let's go," the officer said as Vegeta Sr. slowly hung up the phone, the same look of shock plastered on his face as when Bunny broke off their engagement. "You've used your one phone call. Hope is was worth it."

Had it been worth it? To hear her voice regardless of the fact that she had banished him from her life? To be honest, it had been, but now the man had to live with the fact that he signed his life to the man who ruined his happiness and took from him the one woman and child he would have ever truly loved.

Frieza was going to pay. After, he'd tie up all the loose ends of his life.

"Well, well, well," Kooru began in a sickeningly sweet voice. "It seems the child is tuckered out. I must ask. How do you like your accommodations?"

Bulma was terrified, and unconsciously gripped Tarble closer to her. "Please, let Tarble go. He's a child and isn't involved in this. He doesn't know where we are. He told me that man kept him blindfolded. Just let him go."

"You make some excellent points, my dear," Kooru said, pondering her request, "however, I wanted both of you here as my guests."

"Why?"

"Tell me, child, what do you know about me? And be honest, or I will know."

"If you already know what I'm going to say," Bulma responded, glaring at her captor, "then why go through the trouble of making me say it?"

"Because I want to hear it from the source. Don't worry; I already knew your mother would tell you, and I do not intend to go after her. I know she'll never confirm accusations to the police or state them in court, so I am not bothered by you knowing."

"Why?" Bulma questioned. "Why did you go after your friend's child?"

"In the world of business, there are no friends," Kooru remarked with a cruel laugh. "There are only those who will help you get ahead, and those you leave to handle the fallout of your deals. Your husband's father was in the latter category, as I'm sure he'll be finding out soon enough."

Bulma shivered, grimacing, surprisingly feeling bad for her horrible father-in-law. "And what about my mother, and my unborn brother or sister? Why did you go after them?"

"She would have gotten in my way," Kooru returned, walking around the warehouse to the window. Bulma glanced at the door, wondering if she could make an escape. Of course, Kooru probably locked them in there, and her attempt would result in three deaths. She stayed put. "She had a sway over Vegeta like no other person, much like you do with the younger Vegeta." He turned to the girl, smirking, as he looked into her panic-stricken face. "Oh, don't worry, my dear," he assured her. "I don't intend to do business with your husband, nor do I intend to kill you or your child."

"Then why do any of this?" Bulma asked. "If you're not interested in Vegeta, me, or my child, then why did you take me and Tarble?"

Kooru turned fully to face her and smirked down at the overwhelmed, sleeping child. "Did you know that in your arms lies a child prodigy?" he asked her. "That little one knows more about numbers than most. I wish to groom him much like Vegeta groomed his elder son, but don't worry, this boy will have more freedom, and he will also have you. The reason as to why you are here is to keep the boy in line. He'll do anything asked of him to keep you safe. It's also for my own personal amusement. Where I'm not interested in making your husband my fall guy or going into business with him, he'll do anything I ask to keep you, your child, and his brother safe, even say…transferring all of his father's assets to me. Yes, that would do. Plus, I can stick it to your father."

"What does my father have to do with any of this?" Bulma nearly shrieked. It was bad enough that she was being used against everyone she loved, but he had reasons for Vegeta and Tarble. Why would he want to go after her father? What did he want from him?

"You see, child," Kooru elucidated, "back in college, I was in the drug trade, and there was a cop who was a pain in my ass. He always busted me when I was making trades, but I always got off on a technicality. The man hated me, and made it his mission to take me down.

"He and his wife ended up dead, only for their son, a fellow student of mine, to come home and find them dead with my gang name written in their blood. That man grew up to become an officer himself, and a father to two children before he got separated from one in a messy divorce. Now, he's also on my tail, but if he wants his daughter to live, he'll back off."

"You're a monster," Bulma choked out as she began to cry. She hadn't known that her father's parents were murdered. She hadn't known that the man who killed her mother's child also murdered her grandparents. Now, he was holding hostage to make everyone bow down and cower at his feet.

"Hm, maybe," Kooru replied. "Now, my dear, I shall leave you two alone again, but I will be back shortly. Try not to miss me too much."

And with that, the criminal walked out of the room, leaving Bulma once again to blame herself for ever going out in the first place. She should have listened to her gut reaction. Now, everyone was in danger and it was all her fault.

"That son of a bitch," Vegeta growled, gripping tightly on the door handle. "Drive faster. We need to get there."

"Do not tell me how to do my job, Vegeta," Bardock snapped. "I'm not in the mood. I'm driving as fast as we can, making sure we don't get into any accidents, and worrying about my daughter."

"You can do more than I can do," Vegeta admitted. "I have to sit here and listen to him degrade my wife and make her fear for all of us. I have to listen to him say he wants everything from my father's company and plans to keep my wife, child, and brother there until he sees fit. I can't even kill the bastard without having to face consequences."

"I understand how you feel," Bardock admitted, his grip on the wheel loosening and his voice softening. "Why do you think I became a cop? If I had found Frieza sooner, he would be dead. I wouldn't give a shit about police brutality or senseless murder, abusing my post. Who would go against the word of a trusted official claiming self-defense? Against a mob boss no less. Only those close to me would have known it was pure vengeance."

Vegeta nodded. "That's going against so many laws, though."

"Do you think I care?" Bardock scoffed. "The asshole murdered my parents. My mother hadn't even done anything to him. And don't get me started on his underling."

"There's more?"

"Dodoria…he killed the woman I had intended to marry and my best friend to try to get me to withdraw from the police academy," he recounted. "Gine and Tora…they were the only people I could confide in when my parents were killed. They understood my need for vengeance. It's hard to believe, but Kakarot is a lot like her, even though he came from a completely different woman. Gine was peaceful, but she also wouldn't take shit when someone went after those she cared about. Tora…well, Tora was a lot like you."

"Me?" Vegeta questioned, slightly shocked.

Bardock nodded. "His father was an asshole, too. Always wanted him to be some damned doctor. Tora was smart enough for it, but he didn't want it. He just wanted peace in his life. Didn't want to be a surgeon like his father groomed him to be. Actually, he wanted to be a writer. Mysteries were his thing, where he'd analyze the psyches of his criminal characters and explained why they did what they did. Brilliant man, and easy to confide in. He probably would have stopped me from marrying Bunny, though, and then we wouldn't have Bulma or Kakarot, so in a bittersweet way it worked out for the best."

"Don't worry about thinking that way," Vegeta remarked. "A lot of things would have been different had certain events not come to pass. If Frieza hadn't gone after Bunny and killed her child, she would have stayed with my father, and Tarble and I wouldn't be alive. You would have been alone with no Bulma or Kakarot, and I wouldn't have met the love of my life. Shit happens. Can only try to move on from there, however insane it sounds or heartless we may seem because we're happy with the turnout."

"We're getting Bulma and Tarble out of there safely," Bardock promised. "I swear it to you. No one but Frieza is dying today. Well, except any of his other lackeys."

"Sounds like a plan," Vegeta agreed before a gun was shoved into his chest. He looked to his father-in-law in astonishment. He had just handed him an officer's gun. Vegeta didn't even want to think of who he had taken in from.

"It's my spare," he told the boy. "Have you ever shot before?" Vegeta nodded. He remembered Raditz and Nappa taking him and Jay to the shooting range a long time ago when they were younger. "Good. If you get to Frieza before I do, shoot him. I don't care. They'll think I was the one who did it, and like I said, I'll claim self-defense."

"Heh," Vegeta chuckled. "You and Kakarot are so different. Strange when you look so much alike."

What Vegeta didn't realize was that Kakarot was not all that different from his father. He was out for blood, too, though his need was significantly lower. He kept his mind rational as he went to his father's girlfriend and demanded she help him get to where the others were. She had rejected his desire, angering Kakarot, but that didn't deter him.

"Well, who am I registering this to?"

"Goku."

Working at a law firm, Kakarot knew some people who sold guns illegally on the streets. They didn't ask for identification, just a name. If they saw him later in the firm saying he purchased a gun from them, he could easily lie and say he had never gone. They wouldn't have his true name written on their records.

"What do you need it for?"

"Nothing that concerns you," Kakarot replied defensively.

"Look," the dealer said, "I'm doing this as a favor. I know your name isn't Goku, but I'm just going to let it slide in case I get caught only if you tell me why you're risking your precious internship for this."

"How…how do you know so much about me?" Kakarot inquired, his voice shaky and wary.

"Do you forget so easily?" the man replied. "The name's Piccolo. Your firm was against me in the last case I had to deal with. Ring a bell?"

"Right," Kakarot answered solemnly. "You really won't tell if I tell you my reason?"

"I can already tell you aren't a criminal," Piccolo replied. "So why in God's name do you need a gun?"

"My sister's been kidnapped by a mob boss that killed my grandparents and our mother's unborn child before she ever met our father," Kakarot confessed, noting how psychotic it sounded. "I can't sit on the sidelines and let my dad and brother-in-law deal with this alone."

Piccolo searched the teenager for a minute and could see how torn up he was about it. He could see a hint of self-loathing, but a strong determination to protect his family. That was something to be respected, unlike the petty criminals that had been using his services. "Do you have the money in cash?" Kakarot nodded. "Good. It won't be traced back to you. If you kill with it, dispose of it. If it's ever found, it'll be traced back to Goku."

"Thank you," the teenager replied, handing Piccolo an envelope with quite a bit of money that he had been saving for his and Chi Chi's new place before they decided against it.

"Go help your family. And Goku…don't ever come back to this side of town again."

Kakarot nodded, silently thanking the dealer, before taking off. He had somewhere to be, now. He was through sitting on the sidelines.

A/N: So, now we're getting closer towards the action, and of course, more bombshells are being dropped. Also, sorry to DBZ fans, but this is most likely the only chapter Piccolo will be in. I hope that doesn't bother people, but we already know who our focus group is. And I'll be honest, after the Frieza drama…the story is not over yet! You'll see what I mean later ;)