Chapter Four
Finished
By Moon Knight

Vegeta growled in response, "Where's Bulma? What did you do to her?"

"Oh, you mean that tramp my master brought back with him? I didn't do anything much… I just got better… acquainted with her…." the man chuckled.

"What does that mean? Did you touch her?" Vegeta roared jumping at him again, "If you touch a hair on her head I'll kill you!"

"Why would you want to go and do something like that? The little tramp was enjoying herself! She definitely knows how to please a man."

Vegeta paled. He paused taking in what he had said. When he finally regained his composure slightly, it was taken over by anger. He growled a threat at him and tackled the man to the ground. By this time Goku and Gohan had jumped in and were now holding the man as Vegeta pummeled him to a pulp. He didn't falter until the man began to laugh.

"You can't kill me Vegeta!" he laughed, "If I don't return my master will kill your woman."

"You lie!" Vegeta hissed.

"Then kill me and find out." he replied smiling. Vegeta paused staring at the man. He searched his eyes for any sign of lying, "Of course you could just let me get what I came for and go, but know this. Every punch you gave to me, I'll return to Bulma every night until she's free to go."

Goku and Gohan watched Vegeta carefully, looking for any indication of his faltering. Looking for any sign for them to release the man.

"See, you can't kill me. Can't even avenge your own pain because of your little tramp!" the man spat.

Vegeta's anger flared. He raised his fist to hit the man but Goku grabbed him roughly and forced Vegeta to look at him, "No, Vegeta! That's exactly what he wants you to do! He's trying to coax you into hurting him! Think about it, Vegeta. He has the upper hand in this situation! Both physically and with the rest of the situation! If we kill him, Bulma dies. If we hurt him, he can hurt Bulma."

Vegeta stopped. He looked at the battered body in front of him. Guilt washed over him. He would hurt Bulma, he had already promised to. And now it was Vegeta's fault. He dropped his arms and his head and signaled for Gohan to let him go. After everything Vegeta had ever done to keep her and Trunks safe, now it was he who would be the cause of her pain. Although it would be indirectly, it was he who would cause her suffering.

After the man got the blueprints and left, Vegeta slumped to the ground and sobbed as his anger, sorrow, guilt, and hatred of himself surrounded him and made him deaf to everyone's encouraging words.

* * * * *

Bulma sat trembling as she struggled to put her tattered dress back on. Her hands shook violently and her face was wet with salty tears. She stopped putting the dress on and went to the bathroom to shower. When she had finished taking her bath, she slid the ripped dress over her head, but found it to be useless. Screaming in frustration, Bulma dropped to the floor and rocked silently; hugging her stomach she began whispering the lullaby she used to sing to Trunks while he was a baby.

"You have a beautiful voice." Ja'kunah said quietly from the ledge. Bulma wrapped her blanket tightly around herself as a barrier from his touch. He smirked as he jumped off the ledge and landed softly on the ground. He walked, or rather glided, toward her smiling. He pulled a package out of his cloak and held it out to her patiently waiting for her to take it. She hesitated for a few moments staring at it. She was afraid of what might be in it. She prayed to Kami that it wasn't a body part of Vegeta or Trunks. This man was a murderer. For all she knew, he would take pleasure in showing a body part of her family to her. She took the package from him with a trembling hand, "Open it."

She did, slowly. She untied the string and allowed the brown paper to unfold itself. A pack of her capsules fell out as well as a few things of underwear and a pair of jeans and a tee shirt. She lifted a confused glance to Ja'kunah. She felt the chain on her ankle drop away and looked at it in confusion.

"Think of it as a promise. If you build me my time machine, I will allow you to leave and I shall leave you and your family alone. However, this arrangement also requires a great deal of trust in both of our parts. I have removed the chains in trust that you won't leave. If you do I will hunt you and your family for the rest of eternity. Leave and you will watch them die."

Bulma nodded sadly, knowing that building the time machine would mean separation from her family for months. She picked up her things trying to hold back the tears that threatened to spill over the threshold of her eyelids. The man left the room and Bulma to herself. She sat on the bed and got dressed into the jeans and tee shirt. She then picked up her capsules and looked through them. Her plane was there as well as her emergency house. She grabbed this capsule and threw it at the ground. Maybe with the house she could keep that greasy troll away from her and her baby.

"Vegeta," she whispered, "I'm going to do this. Forgive me, but this is something that I have to do. It's for you and Trunks's safety." she rubbed her stomach, "It's for you too."

After Bulma found a few spare droids in the capsules, she told them to take all the tables and the bed inside. She then took out the capsule with her dresser. Since her original search for the dragon balls as a child, she had learned to always carry extra clothes in her capsules. After she was settled in, and her house had all the comforts of home, she turned on her computer and began working. It didn't take her long before she had to stop. Vegeta was angry about something involving Bulma. His anger was like a cloak that covered her emotions until his fueled her own rage. She shook away the waves of emotion but they just kept coming back.

"Vegeta, what's wrong?" she shouted. She pushed as hard as she could at his emotions and turned her full attention to her work. Something that she had developed when Vegeta had been living with them, preparing for the androids. She had learned how to block out everything but the task at hand. She had even learned to block out her hunger, emotions, and fatigue. She worked for a little more than an hour before Dorei came back.

"Hey, Missy!" he shouted pounding on the door, "Come out here!"

Bulma froze and her stomach clenched. Her hands began to tremble again as she opened the desk drawer and pulled out a gun, slipping it lightly into her pocket. She stood slowly and went to the door. She opened the door and forced herself not to throw up on the greasy man in front of her. Bulma noticed that he had been hurt on his trip to her house and tried to hold back the smile already threatening to cross her lips. Vegeta or Trunks had gotten to him, and by the look of it, it had been Vegeta. He smiled and tried to come in, but she pushed on his chest and forced him out of her house.

"Just give me the blueprints." Bulma said firmly. She had controlled the tremors on the outside but on the inside she was jelly. The man smiled again with a quick skim over his lips with his tongue. Bulma felt the lump develop in her throat. She swallowed it, "I want to get straight to work, but I need my blueprints to make the time-machine."

"What? You don't want to have a little fun first?" he asked grabbing her around the backside and pulling her closer. She pulled away from him, "Well, you're gonna have to earn these, sweet heart."

"Oh? Well then lets see what I can do." Bulma said slyly. She sashayed the distance between them with her hips and put her arm around his neck gently caressing his back. He closed his eyes in pleasure. Bulma grabbed the blueprints, yanking them from his grasp and went back inside, slamming the door in his face.

"You little tramp! Get out here right now! I ain't through with you yet!" he screamed pounding on the door. Bulma smiled at her own bravado and went back to her desk. She heard the man's screams of frustration and knew that he could easily break the door down. But his master hadn't told him he could and she knew that he wouldn't. After a few minutes she heard his fist slam on the door so hard that the whole house shook. Finally she heard the man's scream of frustration as he stormed off.

"You are quite lucky."

Bulma inhaled sharply and whipped around to see Ja'kunah sitting on one of her living room chairs. She let the breath out slowly relieved that it wasn't Dorei again, but still afraid of this man as well.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to harm you. Remember, I made a promise and I always try to keep my promises depending on the size. This was a small favor considering what you are doing for me, so I shall honor my promise to the best of my abilities." he explained.

"Thank you, sir." Bulma murmured. She tried to control it but the same thought kept coming back. Why did he let his servant get the best of her in the first place?

"Because I had not made the promise yet, besides, I did not think that he would dare try it. I had not told him he could, nor had I forbidden it. What he did was on his own accord. That is why I gave you your capsules, that way you could come in here and not be worried about him coming in. He is from a civilization that will not come in unless invited or ordered. He is not very civilized, I'll admit, but since I did not order him, and you did not invite him, he could not come in."

Bulma nodded, "Thank you, and it isn't that I'm not grateful for everything that you've already done, its just, I would like to make another request." she paused waiting for a reaction. After a moment she got a nod and continued, "I would like protection over my family. I know that that wasn't part of the deal, but you even said that it was a small favor you were giving me compared to mine. If you did this, I'd call it even."

After several moments Ja'kunah nodded, "Deal."

"Thank you!" Bulma gasped trembling with the joy. More joy than she had felt in almost two months and she gave her first true smile in just as long. She regained her composure and nodded an acknowledgment to him.

"I will leave you now to your work. I expect that it shall be finished in a week."

"A week?" Bulma shouted in shock.

"Is a week not fair? I am protecting you and your family am I not? Is it not your husband and your friends who are my enemies? Yet, I am to protect them? A week, I believe is fair enough."

"But, I'll never finish this in a week!" Bulma protested angrily. She waved her hands to encompass the room of tables and equipment, "It'll take a week to build the generator, and then there's the cockpit and the boosters. Plus there's testing and fine-tuning! All of which can take months!"

"One week, two at the most." he replied firmly, "In two weeks the arrangement will be terminated and your family will be subjected to whatever suits my servant, Dorei."

"Please, I need more time!" Bulma sobbed remembering the feel of Dorei's rough but powerful touch, "I'll need at least three months!"

Ja'kunah thought this over and regarded Bulma carefully, "Fine, I shall extend the deadline to one month. But no longer."

"That's not enough time!"

"Then make it enough time!" he roared towering over Bulma. She glared angrily at him, looking brave, but feeling like a mouse staring down a cat, "If the time-machine is not ready in one month, then I'll kill your friends and family one at a time, until it is finished."

"But that isn't fair!" Bulma whined feeling anger and fear battling in her for control. Logic was out the window.

"Life isn't fair! Deal with this as if it were any other problem!" he shouted, "You were chosen for this task because of your mechanical expertise and because it was rumored that you were in the process of creating a time-machine."

"What did this person do to you that you need to go back in time to seek revenge?" Bulma shouted. Her anger had beaten back her fear, "You lost, big deal! Take your own advice! Deal with it! So it wasn't fair! LIFE isn't fair!"

Bulma didn't see the hand until it was too late to move but she felt its long fingers sting her face. She fell to the floor and slid into the wall, "Don't you EVER say such things in such a tone to me! I could have you killed and find someone else to build the machine for me!" Ja'kunah thundered.

Even after all this, Bulma's anger wasn't even fazed enough for the fear to take over, "So, you'd have me killed? Well, then why not go call someone to do it? You obviously don't like having the blood on yourself! So call someone else to do your dirty work!"

"What did you say to me?"

"You heard me! Or would you rather I put it into simpler terms. You're a coward!" she screamed, but when Ja'kunah moved closer Bulma recoiled against the wall in fear, her anger finally losing and her logic was back.

"If you value your life and the life of the child in your stomach then I would watch what I say if I were you!" he hissed. He gave Bulma one angry glance before disappearing into thin air.

Bulma let out a sigh and went to work. She had a month to finish the time machine and she promised herself and she would finish in time. She sat down and opened the desk drawer, replacing the gun. As she set it down, her eye caught a glimpse of something under the pile of papers in the drawer. She looked around before lifting the papers enough to see a pocket transmitter. Bulma's breath caught. She closed her eyes and smiled. Now she could call Vegeta and be rescued. She could go home. Goku could instant transmission to her and…. Suddenly Ja'kunah's words entered her mind, 'If you leave, I'll hunt you and your family for the rest of eternity.'

Bulma slumped into her seat. She couldn't leave. Not yet. Ja'kunah would kill her family and then her. Besides Goku and the others would have already tried the instant transmission. They would have found her, but Ja'kunah probably had traps set and shields up. Even if he didn't, would she really leave. Bulma knew the answer. She would stay. She would've stayed and finished the time machine. Vegeta would've, no, will be angry, Bulma thought, But this is something I just have to do.

She looked at the transmitter and turned it on. She entered the code for the lab and prayed that someone was there. The transmitter rang for a few minutes before Bulma turned it off and looked at the clock. It was four o'clock. Trunks would be at Goten's, and Vegeta would be… training! Bulma thought as she dialed the code for the gravity chamber. They had put a transmitter in the new ship when she had been pregnant with Trunks. Bulma had no idea how she remembered the code since it had never been used, but she did.

* * * * *

Vegeta stopped the onslaught of blasts that he was giving to Goku and listened. A ringing was sounding and he wasn't sure what it was coming from.

"What is that?" Goku asked looking around, "Do you have a transmitter on this thing?"

Vegeta's head whipped around to face the panel in the wall near the door. He flew over and hit the flashing button. A panel slid open to reveal a hidden display screen. It bleeped on to show a smiling Bulma. Vegeta swallowed waiting to awaken from this apparent dream. But he knew that he was awake by the sad look in her eyes. She was only smiling on the outside.

"Hello, Vegeta." she whispered seemingly on the verge of tears. He froze remorse rising in his heart. She had a bruise forming on her face and her arms were covered in finger-sized bruises.

"Bulma, are you alright?" he asked loudly, "Where are you? We'll be there as soon as possible! Did he hurt you? Where is he? How-"

"Vegeta! I don't have the time!" she interrupted holding up a hand, "Tell my family that I'm going to stay. I can't tell you where I am, only that I'll be fine. I've decided that I'm going to finish the time-machine for Ja'kunah."

"Like hell you are!" Vegeta hollered, "I forbid it Bulma! Tell us where you are and we'll come get you, but it's far to dangerous for you there!"

"Vegeta, I'm sorry…." she whispered as a tear rolled down her cheek and landed on the screen in her lap, "But I can't tell you where I am…. I'll be okay. This is just something that I have to do. I'll try to find out what I can here and tell you as the information comes…."

"NO!" Vegeta shouted desperately, although he knew that it was useless. Of all the years they had been married, one thing that Vegeta had learned was that Bulma didn't listen to a word that he said.

"I have no choice in the matter, Vegeta! I have to do this! If I don't he'll kill you and Trunks! I can't allow that…."

"How long will you need?" Goku asked quietly from behind Vegeta.

"Longer than I have! He's giving me a month before he starts to go after my friends! A month! I need at least three…. So I have to work day and night to finish in time and I still won't get to test it, but if I'm lucky, he'll be destroyed when something goes wrong."

Vegeta remained quiet knowing how big of a decision this must be for her but also knowing that Bulma never backs down from a challenge. He locked eye contact with his wife and gave her a slight nod. She smiled weakly and nodded back as another tear slid down her face. She kissed her fingertips and pressed them to the screen before she clicked it off.

* * * * *

The following week was the hardest Bulma had ever been through. She worked 22 hours a day to finish the generator before the week was up. When she finished that ahead of time she allowed herself to sleep that night for as long as her body needed. She awoke on Monday of the next week and got straight back to work, cursing herself for sleeping two days. She finished the cockpit next and then put the generator and cockpit in the body of the ship that she had made the droids build. Bulma was amazed when she realized that she had finished the time machine in a week in a half. She decided to tell Ja'kunah so that she could leave the next morning. She went outside and heard voices coming from the other room.

"So, when are you going back to?" Dorei's sniveling voice asked excitedly.

"I'm thinking, before that despicable human is trained. Maybe during its teenage years." Ja'kunah replied coolly.

"A teenager? How old?"

"Perhaps fourteen."

"Do you think I could have a piece?

Ja'kunah was silent for a moment, "Why, not?"

"Thank you, my lord…." Dorei muttered, "So then we're going to the year….?"

"March 15, 2020."

Bulma gasped and ran back to her house. She shut the door quietly and thought over what the men had said. They were going to kill an untrained teenager? How could she give the time machine to him? But Bulma knew that she had no choice. However, she still had just enough time to copy the time machine and go back to help the child. She looked around. There were just enough materials left to build a second generator but not enough to build a new body. She sighed and put her hands in her pockets and found the capsule container.

'The plane!' she thought suddenly, 'That has the perfect shape for the time-machine!'

She ran to the living room, changed the time machine back into a capsule, and began building a new generator. She finished the second one in two days since she had already built one before. When the cockpit for the second one was done and installed, Bulma climbed in and tested it out. She went forward in time three minutes. When she climbed out of the time machine, she shrank it into a capsule and slid it into her pocket right before Ja'kunah walked in.

"How's it coming? It has to be done tomorrow, you know." he said looking around the room frowning when he didn't see the time-machine, "Well?"

Bulma glared at him, but pulled out the capsule case and threw the capsule out the window. He went out to examine it with Bulma behind him. After a few minutes he smirked and said, "Excellent."

"May I leave now?"

"Not quite." he replied turning away. Dorei came up from behind her and threw her roughly to the ground.

"But, you said you'd protect me!" Bulma screamed trying to push the man off of her.

"And have I not? I told you that I would protect you until you finished, and I have. You have finished the craft and thus I have finished my promise of protection."

Bulma stared at him horrified as the familiar hold resumed in her mind.

**********