Chapter 2: A Defeat and A Victory

            Yamcha and his two top underlings marched angrily back to their headquarters.  As Yamcha completed a few DNA scans and entered his office, Piccolo and Tien stood attentively at the door.

            "Man, Yamcha's not happy about Vegeta getting away with his life and the money,"  Tien commented.

            "That's obvious.  It's pointless though--Vegeta's a dead man walking.  And so are his little friends,"  Piccolo said snidely.  "The boss' plan with the setup should've work perfectly.  But, we forgot to take Vegeta's fighting experience into the picture."

            Tien nodded.  The thought of seeing that jackass Vegeta dead brought a cold smile to his lips.

*****

            As Yamcha stepped into his dark office, he felt the presence of another person.  When the door slid closed, he reached for his gun, which sat in its holster on his waist.  He could smell the person's perfume in the air.

            The lights suddenly flashed on.  His gun was immediately cocked and facing the mysterious individual.  Just as he was about to shoot, he realized who was sitting on his desk.  He let out a quick sigh.

            "I'm going to shoot you one of these days Ms--"

            "Miss Bulma,"  the bright eyed woman said.

She curled a lock of her blue hair with her fingers.  Yamcha had to admit that she was, indeed, quite sexy.

            She was clad in a revealing black gown that fell to her ankles.  The slits where high on her thighs and the neck was low; showing cleavage, but not enough so that she could be dubbed 'a slut'.  Her sleek, black high heals clinked lazily together as she gave Yamcha a cool smirk.

            She had fair skin, bright blue eyes, and her strange aqua hair was pulled back in an elaborate design that had no true name.  Her ears shown with sapphire earrings that gleamed in the light. 

            "I'm looking for a job, Yamcha," she examined her finely manicures nails.  "Do you have anyone that needs some special help moving on to the next life?"

            Yamcha smiled cruelly.  This girl--no--woman had perfect timing.  "Actually, I do."

            She raised a delicate eyebrow.  "Go on."

            "You remember that pointy haired bastard, Vegeta?  He needs some of your 'special help'." 

            "How much?  When?  Where is he?  Do you have a picture?"  she asked routinely.

            "Umm, honestly, we don't know where he is.  You can have one million dollars of the sum he owes us.  As soon as possible and he has three friends that need to be taken care of," Yamcha answered.  He walked to his files and retrieved a picture of Vegeta. "This is him."

            "If you want four people dead, then I want four million," she stated while taking the picture.

            "Honestly!  You assassins are so greedy!"

            "We have to be," she smiled sweetly, although he could sense the venom behind it.         

This woman was a true enigma.  She could at one moment, be a complete airhead; the next, a deadly professional; a moment later, the being that could bring men to their knees.  No one ever knew what she was thinking and no one could see through her perfect masks.  She was one of the best assassins in the business, who had never let Yamcha down before. 

"We'll discuss your pay after the four are dead."

"I'm sorry, that won't work for me," she said monotonously.

"What?"

"I don't even know what these four have done or who the other three are and you want me to take them down without pay?!"

Yamcha snarled.  "Fine then, I'll call you when I have all of the information."

"Good." she retorted as she slinked out of his office.

She threw a card with her business information at his feet.

*****

            Instead of skipping town, like they had previously planned, they transferred out all of the stolen money from Krillin, Gohan, and Goku's accounts to Vegeta's various ones.  Since no one had seen their faces, the other three were fairly safe.  So now, Vegeta laid low in the basement of Goku and Krillin's bar.  

A week after Yamcha's run-in with the assassin, his two most infamous minions came in the bar; very nonchalant.  At first, Goku panicked, but after a save from Gohan, kept up a cool facade.

            "Uhh, what can I getcha?"  Goku tried acting normal.

            "Have you seen this man?"  Tien held a picture of Vegeta out.

            "No!  Never!"  Goku replied quickly.

Vegeta, who could hear from his current position, smacked his forehead.  Kakarot needed acting lessons...badly.  Fortunately, Krillin came to his aid.

            "Oh that guy?"  Krillin asked, pretending to be clueless.

            "Of course," Piccolo growled.  Krillin gulped.

            "Yeah, he used to come around.  I haven't seen him for weeks though."

            "If you see him; tell him he's a dead man.  The Rat-Pack's after him."

            Krillin took a couple of steps back, frightened by the man's tone of voice.  "Uhh...sure thing, Man."

            "Good," the two men left as quickly as they had come.

*****

            "They're hiding something," Piccolo said to Deserrei, a female operative.

She merely nodded in response and pulled out a cell phone.

            "Background check," she glanced at the bar's title and shook her head in disgust, "'Barrel Of Monkeys'."

            With that done, the three drove away in a black sedan. 

*****

            Two days later, Yamcha stood grinning at the paperwork before him.  Ah yes...the three were papers on the three people who helped Vegeta out.  He also had more information on Vegeta with him.

            At first, Yamcha had thought it strange that Vegeta had people helping him, but now it made sense.  You see, he knew that the money was in their accounts, so they were obligated to help. 

            Oh well, all three would die and Yamcha's life would be easier.  He grinned mischievously.  'Oh happy days...'

*****

            Bulma screwed on the silencer and closely examined her gun.

            "Oops!" she giggled lightly at her mistake.

The safety was on! 

            With it now off, she took her place behind a booth at an opera.  She felt...so much like the assassin who took out Lincoln.  Had her victim dreamt about his demise as Lincoln had?

            Her devilish smile turned to a frown as the wailing voice of an opera singer floated into her ears.  Maybe she'd kill her, too.  She'd certainly be saving the men in the audience some time.

            Her gun was positioned perfectly in her purse, so no one could see it.  She, being the genius that she was, easily evaded the metal detectors and security.  Her purse (with the gun, of course) was swaying at her side as she adjusted herself into position.

            Her hand reached into the expensive bag and she extracted, not her gun, but her eyeliner.  Which, in turn, she 'accidentally' dropped.  As she bent down to pick it up, her eyes found the hole she'd made nights before.

            The eyeliner was placed back in her purse and her hand was on the trigger...

            "Damn it!" she cursed aloud.

After receiving several strange looks from bystanders, she apologized and answered her ringing cell phone.

            "What?" she hissed.

            "Testy are we?"  Yamcha asked, snootily.

There was a sound of large applause and murmuring voices from inside the theater.

            "Thanks to you, my...'client' got away...before I could 'help' him."

            "Oh, so terribly sorry.  You'll get him later?"  his sarcasm was evident.

            "Go to hell, unless you have an actual job for me."

            "I have information on the three friends of Vegeta and more on Vegeta."

            "That's lovely, Yamcha, but there is the matter of money."

            He sighed. "I'll give you a half a million as a...down payment and another half after he's been dealt with."

            "And how much do I get paid for the friends?" she asked as she headed to exit the opera house. 

            "..."

            "Yamcha?"

            "We'll discuss that after they're dead."

            Bulma frowned.  Oh well, at least she would come out of this with a million dollars in her pocket.  "I'll kill Vegeta, but not his friends.  You put a bounty on their heads and I assure you that I have some...associates that will deal with them."

            Yamcha wondered how secure the phone line was, but quickly dismissed the thought.  "What kind of bounty should go on their heads?  To attract these, associates of yours?"

            "Hmmm, I'd say put 333,333 dollars on each of their heads.  It's a roughly a million split three ways."

            Yamcha did NOT want to lose two million dollars on four incompetent fools!  "You expect me to pay two million dollars to kill four idiots?!"

            "Exactly, Yamcha."

            "...Fine," the line went dead.

            She smirked and placed her cell phone in her purse.

            "Hah!  I'd rather walk than go home in such filth!"  Bulma spun around.

A wide grin spread across her face.

            Her victim had gotten into a fight with their driver. 

            "Hi!  Good help's so hard to find nowadays, huh?"  Bulma said sweetly.

            The man sighed.  "Yes, quite hard.  What's a beautiful young lady such as yourself standing around here for?"            "Oh, I was just coming from that lovely opera.  You seem to need a ride...my limo is just around the corner.  Please, take it!  I'll get a cab."

            "I could do no such thing--"

            "But I insist!  You can't just take a cab...someone of your status!  Pah!  I wouldn't allow it!  Come now, come now!  It's just around the corner," she said persistently.

            "Well...I suppose I can't turn down such a pretty lady's offer,"  Bulma beamed as she directed him towards her nonexistent limo.

As he turned the corner and entered a building to take a 'shortcut' to the 'limo', he found himself trapped.

            Meanwhile, Bulma nonchalantly walked into another entrance to the building (when she felt that no one was paying attention). 

            "What's going on here?!" her prey shouted.

            "Oh nothing...just a little assassination," she said darkly from the shadows.

He began to back away, but stopped dead in his tracks as he felt the cold steel of a gun in the back of his head.

            "See you in the next dimension."

**********

I saw the Aurora borealis in OHIO!  OHIO of all places to see the Northern Lights!  It was just great!  (Nov. 5th 2001)

Uhh...thanks to the three people who reviewed...I guess I'll continue...for now...

Next time: We'll finally meet the bounty hunters.  Bulma follows through on her plans of assassinating Vegeta, and Yamcha reveals a startling secret.