28
"If I had known that you'd bring us into the sewer I wouldn't've said anything." Vegeta groused as they slogged through calf-high, watery sludge. "If he had said anything, you wouldn't have heard the bloke. Quiet as he is." Jeice called up from the back of the group. Don't these people understand the need for silence? 'Apparently not. Why… …are you so… …tense?' This place reminds me of a nightmare I had before I left… right down to the stench. 'Was it the… …one where you… …had to kill…' Yes. Let's not talk about it.
After struggling through the calf-deep wastewater for several hours, even Vegeta was getting tired. "Keep an eye out for someplace we can rest for a couple of hours out of this mess." The Saiyan teen ordered as he kept moving forward. Eventually, Buter spotted a nice, dry culvert that could hold everyone, "Here's as good a place as any. What do you think, Prince?" "It'll do. Freckles and the Aussie are on guard first. Kakarot and I'll trade with you in a couple of hours. Guldo and the oldest Clown will be after us. Then we'll get moving." Vegeta stated as he helped Bulma out of the water and into their home for the night.
Once everyone was settled in, they fell right to sleep. After a few hours, Jeice and Buter got to rest as the two teenage Saiyans relived the sleepy friends. "You ok, Best Buddy?" Goku wondered, worried for his Prince. Shaking his head, the black, flame-haired teen rolled his onyx eyes, "I'm fine, Kakarot." Eyeing the other teen up and down, the spiky-haired Saiyan replied, "No. You're not. You can talk to me, 'Gete's. What's going on in that head of yours?"
Reluctantly giving in to his persistent ally, Vegeta sighed, "I had a nightmare about a week ago. We were in the sewers and I heard something splashing in the tunnels. Then I smelt Freeza…" "Blood and roses?" "Yeah, we were being tracked by something. But that something ended up being the Woman. Freeza was there and ordered her to attack me but… I couldn't hurt Her. She's my Mate…" Goku nodded in understanding, leaning back against the wall across from his friend, "I get it, 'Gete's. Cheech means everything to me, more so now than before the whole Bond thing. Which, don't get me wrong, it's nice and all; but her worry for me can be a bit distracting."
A faint smile tugged at Vegeta's lips, "Don't I know it. At least you can feel your Mate's love for you and she can feel yours for her." "Most of the time. But this is all just really confusing to both of us." Vegeta cut Goku off, "Shh. Can you hear that?" Both Saiyans stilled their breathing as they strained their ears. And there, still a fair distance away, was very faint splashing. Two pairs of coal black eyes met, "You don't think…" "I'm not taking that chance, Kakarot. Help me wake the others."
Smacking people awake with his bow, Vegeta hissed lowly, "Everybody up, we've got to move. Something's hunting us in the tunnels." Bright blue eyes shot open at her Mate's words, 'Not again.' "I am not reliving that. Don't make me live out that nightmare Woman." The proud Prince all but begged as he helped Bulma get up and out of their hidey-hole. Roughly gripping the cameraman's shoulder, Oolong asked, "What's the quickest way out of here, Larry? I'm too young to die in a sewer. A gutter maybe, but not a sewer." The silent young man pointed farther down the tunnel.
Vegeta fired an incendiary arrow down that way to see if their pursuers were in front of them. Nothing. For now... Slowly, stealthily the squad made their way towards the fire that was quickly burning out. Larry tapped the Prince's shoulder, trusting that the Saiyan could see that he was pointing to the right. Nodding, the teen shot another fire arrow a few yards down the tunnel on the left. And our backs are protected… hopefully.
The three soldiers made sure to clear the dead-end and guard the rear as their guide slipped through a small passageway between one tunnel system and another. I guess it's a good thing Nappa stayed behind. Once through, Larry held up a hand, signaling for them to wait before drawing a pistol and checking their escape route. It was a tense minute that felt much longer as the group waited for his return. Everyone sighed in relief when a familiar red and white hat came into view from the flashlights on the soldiers' guns.
After his Prince nodded for him to go first, Goku laid his trident in the crawl space and wiggled through. Bulma was next, followed by Raditz and the remaining film crew. Then Vegeta squeezed through as a sickly sweet odor began tickling his nose, but he couldn't quite place it. Reluctantly leaving the short sniper to stand watch, the white-haired man helped his lanky friend reach the others before crawling through himself.
Guldo turned around with a weird look on his face; panic hit the Saiyan Prince and his ally full force as they finally placed the smell. Suddenly, the sniper whipped back around but the creatures were too fast and swarmed the man before he even got a shot off. One launched itself sideways through the hole, trying to get at its prey. The creature was not quite black, its scales held a shimmery purple tint to them; The color of deathberries… With that thought, Vegeta fired an explosive arrow at it gapping, tooth-filled maw; giving them a few precious seconds head start. "RUN!"
Forced to jog, despite his mind screaming at him to go faster, Vegeta stayed in step with their guide with Bulma right behind him, hanging onto the bottom of his chest plate for dear life. Through twists and turns, the dwindling group kept moving even as the monstrous creatures gained on them. Without warning, a thick tail lashed out, its spike digging into Buter's gut as he was dragged out of the line and into a pitch-black side tunnel. "Buter!" "No time Jeice! Come on!" Polunga growled as she dragged the distraught soldier behind her. Turning, Vegeta shot another fire arrow in the hopes that it'd buy them a little time.
"Move, move, move!" Vegeta ordered, shoving Larry down a side tunnel as a group of their hunters were charging at them. Fortunately, it was the right tunnel, which led to a maintenance platform. "Up the ladder. Hurry." Larry yelled. Pushing his Mate towards the rusty metal ladder, the Prince launched an explosive arrow into the tunnel they'd just exited. But it didn't kill all of them. Vegeta shot two that were on fire, then Puur shrieked, "Behind us!" He was running off adrenaline, the stench of blood and roses stuck in his nose, so Vegeta snapped around and blew up the pack behind them.
But they just kept coming. One knocked the Saiyan off the platform onto the wet ground and he could finally see just what they were fighting. It was a huge, hulking reptile that was Vegeta's height, its scales were so purple they appeared black until the firelight hit them a certain way and had a massive tail with a six-inch barb to hook its prey with on the end. Its head was smooth, with deep holes in place of ears, large, angler nostrils, and rows of sharp teeth in its large, gaping mouth. The creepiest thing about this creature was that it had no eyes and a hollow place behind its jaw that was producing Freeza's scent with every breath.
Then it did something the Prince did not expect; it stood on its thick, muscular hind legs and rose to Nappa's height. Breathing in the strong scent of his enemy, Vegeta panted, "You're a big one." Suddenly, there was an arrow sticking out of both ear holes. Vegeta blinked at the blue-haired Woman who had quite possibly saved his hide, proudly smirking at her proclamation, "No one kills my Mate but me!" "That's my Woman!"
Shooting another lizard as it tried to crawl up from the water, the black, flame-haired teen sensed another one behind him but its claw dragged over his right shoulder as he turned and roundhouse kicked it away; killing it with an explosive arrow. "Everybody up the ladder! Go, go, go!" The two sons of Bardock worked on protecting the platform as the film team started to climb, while Bulma picked off the ones running along the walls.
"Take Bulma and go!" Goku yelled to his older brother. Raditz shouted over the sound of his gun, taking out three creatures, "Are you crazy!? What about you!? Or Vegeta!?" Leaping off the platform and spearing one at the base of its skull, the younger Saiyan laughed, "I've got 'Gete's! Just go!" "Now I know you hit your head as a kid!" The Saiyan with unruly black hair chuckled, shaking his head as he forced his Prince's Mate to stop fighting and climb to safety.
Barely dodging the tail that swung at him, Vegeta rolled onto his hurt shoulder, finding that the barb had skimmed his leg. Great. I hope those things aren't poisonous. "Best Buddy!" The spiky-haired teen yelled, launching his trident and nailing the lizard to the wall before it could attack again. Helping his Prince up, Goku pushed him to the platform while Jeice covered them. "You first, Kakarot. Now's not the time argue." Vegeta growled, blowing up two more places where those creatures were pouring in. "Rack off Prince! This here is a ripe rip-snorter and me mate Buter would've loved it." Jeice cackled, mowing down two lizards.
Whipping his head around to get his white hair out of the way, the soldier wondered, "Why are you still here?! Get your sorry tail up that ladder now, Prince!" "I'm the Prince of All Saiyans, you don't get to give me orders, Aussie!" Vegeta shot back, setting another creature on fire. "Heck yeah, I can! I outrank you! Plus, I ain't no Saiyan!" Jeice hollered over the noise before grabbing Vegeta's elbow and slinging him to the ladder, "Face it, Vegeta; one of us is going to die. Might as well be me." Sadly shaking his head at the strange man's words, the teen replied as he finally began to climb, "You're a blooming idiot." "Now you're talking like an Aussie, Prince!"
Seconds after Vegeta reached the next level, Jeice's cackles turned into screams as the lizards swarmed him and begun to tear him apart. Flipping the red switch on the Holo, the teen whispered softly, "Deathberry. Deathberry. Deathberry." Then he dropped the device down the shaft, ending Jeice's torment, the lizards, and their only way of locating Pods. The explosion was bigger than he thought it would be, as he felt the heat from the flames that shot up the ladder before vanishing into thin air.
Hurriedly getting Bulma on her feet, Vegeta followed Larry out a door back into the Tunnels. But Freeza Force mooks were coming down the steps, firing at them. Taking cover behind the brick pillars, Raditz and Polunga worked on them while Vegeta took out two mooks who had tried to hem the group in from another set of stairs. "Let's go, Prince! Come on!" Goku called, waving the other teen over to the group that was slowly retreating farther down the passageway.
Hearing something click, the flame-haired teen barely reacted in time to dodge a new Pod. "Avoid the lights! Don't touch 'em!" The mooks kept chasing after them until they ran past a blue pillar. Suddenly the ground began to crack and break behind them as sharp, whirling blades ate through the concrete to get at the fleeing warriors. Vegeta glanced back, seeing that his Mate was exhausted and slow. Dropping back to her, he wrapped an arm around her thin waist and jumped the five remaining feet to cross the blue line on the floor.
Both tumbled to the ground, Vegeta groaned as he rolled onto his feet and started to run again before noticing that Bulma hadn't got up. "Come on, Woman. We have to keep moving." Vegeta scowled as he walked back to check on her. Panting heavily, scared, deep blue eyes stared up into fiery, onyx orbs, "I can't… keep going… Go on… without me… I'll only slow you down…"
Crouching down in front of her, Vegeta gripped her right hand and help it up so Bulma could see the dark mark he had given her a couple days earlier, "I Chose you, Bulma. You are my Mate, just I am yours. What promise did I make to you all those years ago?" "That you'd protect me." "Always." Vegeta placed a chaste kiss to her sweet, strawberry lips before picking his blue-haired Mate up, bridal style, and followed after the others.
"I know where we are." Polunga announced excitedly, pointing towards a set of steps, "Up those stairs. There's a safe house nearby." Larry was more than happy to let his director lead the way now, especially since he saw his face on a wanted sign at the top of the steps. From the safety of her Mate's arms, Bulma saw a poster switch from Jeice to herself, 'Why'd he have… …to die Vegeta?' The Aussie died so that I could live. He volunteered. Who was I to deny his last request? 'But that doesn't…' I know, Bulma. I know.
A hooded man opened the door to the clothing boutique that Polunga had lead them to. Swiftly pushing the man aside as they entered, Vegeta wished that he could draw an arrow at the new threat; but he couldn't with his Mate in his arms, so he settled for snarling threateningly. "Easy, Prince. He's ok." The curly, brown-haired director said before addressing the hooded man, "Remember me, Icarus? We're part of Selypa's Underground. Will you help us?"
The man showed them to a hidden basement full of old clothes, dusty mannequins, and dilapidated furniture. "I can only help you for the night." A deep voice rumbled out from under the hood. Not willing to trust someone who hides his face, Vegeta ordered, "Show me your face." 'Vegeta!' It's either he shows me his face or I kill him before he can harm you, Woman. Take your pick.
Reluctantly, Icarus removed his gray hood for the Saiyan Prince to see his deformed face. He had lilac scales tattooed in perfect little rows all over his face, with two small horns sprouting from the top of his bald, tattooed head. Dark, forest green eyes met the coal black eyes of the Saiyan Prince so many had placed their hope in and asked, "Does my appearance frighten you, Prince?"
Lowering Bulma to the ground, Vegeta shook his head, "No. I remember you being a Designer for several Games before you disappeared." Icarus chuckled, "As you can see, I did not 'disappear.' I left being a Designer for the Games to be the Designer for Freeza himself. Until he decided that I didn't 'get' his fashion sense." "I'm going to kill that lizard." The dragon-like man smiled sadly, "Good luck then, Prince Vegeta."