Chapter Four
The following evening . . . .
"Bye, Daddy," Bra said as she grabbed her keys and walked to the front door. "I'm going out with Goten tonight."
Vegeta glanced at his daughter from the paper and grunted. He heard her exit the door, uncapsule her car, and speed away. She drove just like her mother: too fast for her own good. He couldn't see why she drove; she could easily fly. And that idiot Goten could fly too. It would make life easier. But teenagers today, he couldn't understand them. When he was their age he never drove; then again, when he was their age he didn't even know what a car was. A car was definitely a human thing.
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Before . . . .
"Woman, I don't want to go with you to this damned convention," he said to the woman as she tried to drag him out the door.
She stopped pulling on his arm and stared at him huffily, a blue lock of hair covering her right eye. She hastily pushed it behind her ear and said, "Vegeta, I want you there."
"What? Why?" he said crossing his arms.
"Because as the hostess I can't go by myself and no one else can go."
"Well, neither can I. I have to go train, woman," he said throwing up his hands and walking back to his room to change into his training suit.
She grabbed his arm. "No training today. I capsuled the gravity machine and it won't be uncapsuled until after the convention; that is, if you come with me."
Damn. She'd gotten him. He could train without it, but he'd become stronger faster with it. He was trapped. He growled at her, crossed his arms again, and walked out the door. He heard her excitedly whisper to herself as he walked past her.
She drove them to the convention in her air car. It was a Superhero Convention and it was being held at the Capsule Corp. Ballroom. Vegeta watched the scenery pass, vaguely interested. He couldn't believe the woman had dragged him to this thing. He could be doing other things, more important interesting things. What the hell was a superhero? He posed this question to the woman.
"Well," she said carefully keeping her eyes on the road. "A superhero is someone who keeps justice. They save peoples lives. Sometimes they even save the world."
"That means Kakkarot is going to be there then."
Bulma laughed. "No, Goku's not going."
"What?" Vegeta said confused. "Wouldn't he be considered a superhero?"
Bulma scrunched her eyes together, thinking. "Yeah, I suppose he'd be a superhero—considering he saved the world from you—" Vegeta shot her an angry look, "but he doesn't really fit the profile of a superhero. And no one really thinks of him as a superhero either."
"Considering how high his IQ is, I wonder why," he muttered.
"Vegeta!" she said hitting him.
He looked at her annoyed. He was going to be surrounded by a bunch of people who believed they could save the world; he was beginning to feel sick. He was pretty sure he'd have to listen to their how-I-saved-the-world' stories. Oh Kami! Saved the world his ass; where were they he came to take over?
They reached the Capsule Corp. ballroom and the woman capsuled her car. Vegeta looked at the massive building in front of him and the people who were making their way in. They looked . . . freakish. They all wore costumes. "Why the hell are they dressed like that?" he asked her as she grabbed his arm and started pulling him to the building.
"So their secret identities remain a secret. If people knew who they were they would either be mobbed by fans or killed," she explained to him.
"That's stupid. None of your friends wear costumes," he muttered. Some sort of bat-thing looked at him darkly and he scowled back.
"Vegeta, behave yourself," she scolded him. "And I told you already, they're not superheroes."
"Then what the hell are they?"
She was silent for a moment. "I don't know."
Vegeta rolled his eyes and shook his head. They entered the building and took the elevator to the top floor. They shared the elevator with the bat-thing and his friend. Vegeta could tell they were his friends because the girl looked like a bat and the boy followed the bat-thing all over the place. The bat-thing continued to stare at him darkly. Vegeta glared back at him, wanting to start a fight.
Bulma caught his glare. She elbowed him in the ribs. "Behave."
He glowered at her, but averted his eyes from the bat.
The elevator doors finally opened. She dragged him out into the massive high-ceilinged room. The room was, what humans would say, elegantly decorated. There was a large dance floor—"These bakas can dance?"— and a big fountains that spouted colorful water. He felt it was rather tacky and ugly, but he felt that way about all human decorations.
The woman left him to go conduct her hostess duties after reminding him to behave again; he was left to mill around the freakish superheroes' or go stand in a dark corner and watch the freakish superheroes.' The corner looked very inviting. On the way to the corner he got into a fight with a guy named Superman, smashing the Superfreak into a wall. Bulma yelled his ear off and told him to behave himself. It wasn't like he started it; it was that damned reporter with Superfreak, Louis Lane. He grumbled all the way to the corner about how much of a damned harpy the woman was.
"That was an interesting show," a voice said to Vegeta.
He turned and found the bat-thing. He grunted and turned away, annoyed that anyone was talking to him.
"I've been wanting to do that for a long time now," the bat-thing said, leaning against the wall.
Vegeta smirked. "Why didn't you?"
"We're supposed to be on the same side," the bat-thing said.
Vegeta laughed. "Is that the real reason, or is it because you're a weak human?"
The bat glared at him and said nothing.
Vegeta smirked again, crossing his arms. "You're a weak human."
"And what exactly are you?" the bat-thing asked, his voice tinged with anger.
Vegeta stood tall. "I am a Saiyan Prince."
The bat considered his words carefully. "Saiyan?"
Vegeta grunted and turned away annoyed. This conversation was getting boring. The wall seemed more entertaining at this moment.
"So, you're like Superman then, from another planet," the bat-thing stated.
So the man with the big S was an alien. Vegeta smirked. No wonder why the guy just got up and shook himself off, though he made no attempt to confront Vegeta. He just glared at him and moved on, following that weak woman everywhere she went. "What planet is he from?"
"Krypton."
Vegeta started to laugh. "Krypton? I remember that planet. All its inhabitants were considerably weak, though stronger than your species," he said referring to the bat-thing.
"I guess you know it was destroyed."
Vegeta laughed again. "Know? I was there," he said.
The bat-thing looked at him confused.
"I destroyed the planet."
The bat-thing smirked at him, not believing a word that Vegeta just said. He turned and left, probably going to tell his little bat friends what he just heard. Whatever.
"Wow, Veggie-chan, you didn't smash him into a wall," he heard the woman say. She came up beside him and offered him a glass of wine.
He turned it down. "It would have been a waste of my time, woman."
"Really? Looks like you're already wasting your time."
He glared at her. She walked away.
The rest of the night was uneventful. After the Superman smashing, no one except the bat-thing came to bother him. The room was finally deserted. He looked around for the woman, wondering where the hell she went.
"Hey, Vegeta," he heard her say from behind him.
He turned and found her swaying to and fro. Damned woman was drunk. She held a glass of wine in her hand, and her eyes were glassy. She stepped toward him and he grabbed her before she could fall to the floor. "Woman, you're drunk."
She looked at him confused. "No, I'm not. Just . . . happy," she said smiling.
He picked her up and went to the elevator. Didn't look like she was driving, not that he minded; it was faster to fly. He stepped off the elevator and walked out of the building into the humid night air. He saw the bat-thing and his friends stare at him. He ignored them and shot off into the night. He reached the house in record time. He made his way to his room and placed the woman on the bed. She was sleeping already. He could tell that she'd have a huge hangover the next morning. He stripped off his clothes and pulled on more comfortable clothes to sleep in. He climbed into bed and pulled the covers over them.
"Vegeta?" he heard her softly say.
He remained silent.
"Thank you for not being that much of a bastard." She fell asleep.
He smirked and turned around, pulling her to his chest. "Whatever."
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Now . . . .
Vegeta heard the door open and close. Bra quietly walked across the living room to the stairs, probably thinking he was asleep. He remained silent, letting her think that. Just as she reached the stairs, he said, "How was your date with that baka?"
He heard her footsteps stop. "Fine," she said, and then ran up the stairs. " Night, Daddy," she called from the top of the stairs.
Vegeta sighed. Where the hell was the woman? Three nights already, definitely a record for her. He silently went to their room and lay down. The room felt so empty. He turned to face her side of the bed and gently touched the empty spot, feeling the cool sheets under his hand. He fell asleep, regretting that he was missing her.
