Chapter Three The Time Machine

"Where are you taking me?" Bulma shouted as the lights of West City faded in the distance. "I'm taking you to my lab. It's in a cave just.." he answered, but paused scowling, "You just never mind. You'll see when we get there." Bulma let out a sigh and shifted uncomfortably on the man's shoulder. She felt it digging into her stomach and she put a hand under her to protect the baby. After a while she felt the man began to make his initial descent towards the ground. He landed gracefully and threw her to the ground mumbling something about following him. She stood up shakily and looked at her present surroundings. She was in a forest. Tall pines reached toward the sky above her. Brushing her clothes lightly, she chased after the man who was now waiting for her impatiently. She ran towards him. "Try and keep up, if you want that child in your stomach to see its father." the man sneered. He turned away and walked into a cave just ahead of them. Bulma hesitated at the entrance. The mouth of the cave looked like that of a lion's mouth, with the stalactites and stalagmites as teeth. She walked though the yawning cat's mouth and followed the man. The cave was dark and Bulma felt as though she had just been swallowed by it. She rubbed the place where Vegeta had been stabbed and sighed. It didn't hurt anymore. He must have gotten a cenzu bean from Goku. Bulma followed the man through the winding path of the cave until it finally opened into a large, well-lit cavern. They were standing on a ledge that wound down to the floor below where tables sat with tools and equipment on them. Everything she would need to construct the time machine. She had been working on the plans for months and now all it needed was to be built. She followed the man to the floor and stood behind him as he conversed in a foreign tongue with his servant. The one from her dream. "As you wish, Lord Ja'kunah." the servant said giving Bulma a sweeping glance. She almost physically winced at the hunger in his eyes. She froze as the servant came back with a ball and chain in his hands. He approached her with a smile, but Bulma couldn't move away. She felt another presence in her mind. One that made her hold still as if she were being physically held. She felt the cold steel clamp tightly around her bare ankle before the hold in her mind finally ceased. The servant backed away slowly from her feet only pausing to give her leg a slight pinch. Bulma felt her insides run cold and her skin begin to crawl. "This is just an extra precaution. I wouldn't want you escaping." Ja'kunah muttered coldly. He gave her a weak smile and left. "The master wants you to get a lot of rest." Dorei, the servant told her, "He says that you are the key to his revenge. A bed is over there, and in the morning you can use the bathroom through that door, before you get to work. By then I'll have your blueprints from your office, I think." the man said with a smirk. He reached out and gave her face a light caress. Bulma recoiled from his touch, "Ah, come now missy, I ain't gonna hurt'cha. I just want to have a little fun, that's all. Get better acquainted...." Bulma tried to move away, but the ball stopped her progress and she fell to the floor. Dorei walked towards her with an evil grin as he moved his hand slowly up her skirt. Bulma tried to scream but the mental push was there again. She was completely helpless.

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Vegeta sat up in bed completely alert. He hadn't been asleep only pretending to in case the dark man returned. He had felt the extra presence in the house as soon as they had stepped onto the porch. He had known of every human and creature present in the house. The animals in the gardens didn't flinch without Vegeta knowing; Trunks was downstairs in the living room worried and pacing; his mother and father-in-law were sleeping in their room; and Goten had gone to get Trunks a glass of water from the kitchen where Goku and Gohan were talking about Bulma's predicament. Vegeta jumped out of bed and ran down the stairs, past a confused Trunks and out the door where a man was trying to climb into the basement window. Vegeta knew him instantly as his ex-torturer. Vegeta pounced on the unsuspecting man with fire in his eyes and hatred in his heart. He grabbed him off the floor by his neck and slammed him against a wall. The man reeked with the filth of the blood of hundreds of murdered souls. But then he caught the scent of something else.... Bulma's perfume. He reeked of her. "What have you done to her?" Vegeta hollered slamming him against the wall again. By now the others had come out and were standing by, watching the saiyan prince until Goku came out, "Vegeta! What are you doing?" "This is Ja'kunah's lackey, Kakarott! He's the one who held me prisoner!" Vegeta shouted so angrily Goku wasn't sure who he was for a moment. Vegeta then turned back to the man, "Where is she?" Dorei simply smirked.