Mwaha, and so it continues.
Chapter 4
Ambience
"Are you ready, sweety?"
"Sure, why not."
"Okay, now make sure to keep your eyes closed. They will be very sensitive."
I felt the bandage being carefully removed from my eyes. Earlier I was informed as to why I had lost my vision. She said that my eyes were exposed to a very harsh direct light that had traveled into the back of my retina and bursted all of my capillaries. Therefore once they were fully healed and a blood supply was restored, I would be able to see just as well as before.
She asked me what strong light I had been subjected to.
I said I couldn't remember.
I lied, yes, but trust had not been ensued yet.
The final wrap was removed. My eyes were clinched shut.
I was sitting on top of a table, so I was told, in a nightgown. My hands were clasped on my lap. I was very cold and nervous. I could only imagine what I would see when I opened up my eyes.
There was only one way to truly know.
Slowly I relaxed my eyes and they gradually opened. Astonishingly bright light suddenly shot through the small crack between my eyelids and seared the back of my retina center. Startled, I flinched. The brightness was surprising.
"Here, hun, let me dim the lights for you."
Dim the lights? What did she mean by that?
I heard footsteps recede and then advance towards me once more. "Okay, now open up."
Cautiously I tried again, reluctantly allowing myself to peep through cracked eyelids. No flashing light passed.
My eyes slowly flickered open revealing to me a sizable square room with white walls. The floor was a speckled dark blue as too the ceiling. White counters flanked the walls to my left and right (and I presumed they were there behind me also) holding mechanical devices I had never seen before.
The feeling of not belonging grew within the pit of my stomach.
The table I sat on was metallic, probably some form of steel, and the gown I beared was a soft blue. If I stood it would most likely reach to my knees.
"How do they feel?" Startled from my own thoughts, I looked up to see a petite woman with blue hair. She looked kind and matronly adorning a concerned smile. Her eyes searched for mine.
Before a dangerous eye contact was made, I averted my head and stared at the clenched hands on my lap. They were cold and seemed thinner than usual. I, in all likelihood, had lost half my body fat throughout this timely ordeal. That would have to be replaced soon.
"They feel fine. Tired, sore, but fine." My voice was smooth once more. When being brought into this room, the blue haired woman offered me a drink. I accepted entrusting in her more than the man.
He might have been in this dim room, but I didn't want to look. Not now.
"Well that sure is good to hear. Now why don't you lift up your head and let me take a look." She stepped up, placed her index finger under my chin, and forced me to look into her eyes. This position was unbelievably nerve-wracking and uncomfortable.
Where I grew up, eye contact meant to challenge, and I was certainly in no shape for such a thing.
"Hm," she bit her lower lip, "not too bad. You're a quick healer." She stepped back and smiled, seemingly proud of her work. "Still seems to be a bit of irritation, but it looks like you'll be good as new in no time."
Her hands found their way to her hips and erected herself into a straight posture.
"Who are you?" Her face fell as I said this. Perhaps she was expecting thanks, but I was in no mood for showing any signs of gratitude.
She took a few steps backwards and placed her right hand on the counter, left hand still gracing her side. She exchanged weight from one foot to the other. "You don't know?"
That was an absurd question. "Of course I don't know." I unfolded my hands and placed them at my sides and pressed them flat and firm on the table. I too sat up straight and glared at her, past her at some moments, but never into her eyes.
"What's your name?" she asked.
"I asked you who you were," I said rather harshly, but my point had to be established. I was not to be taken lightly or made a fool of. I was nobodies jester and I will certainly allow nothing but what I want.
She won't demean me.
"Just tell me your name and I'll tell you anything you want to know about me."
"I refuse to do such a thing."
"Then you will know nothing."
I frowned, "Tell me."
"What's it to you?"
Dare I look into her eyes? Eh, what the hell...
My eyes traveled from the adjacent wall to her head as I ensued in a staring match. Not only did I look but I pierced, fighting for domination. "I wish to know why I am not dead."
The blue haired woman glared back, surprised by my sudden audacity. "Did you wish to die?"
"I wish to know who you are."
A chuckle sounded to my back. "Two women, both embellishing the meaning of a bad attitude, having a verbal lock-down. Quite the entertainment if I do say so myself."
I spun my head and prepared to retort. He spoke again before another breath left my mouth. He looked at me and said, "The onna just wishes to know if you have lost your memory; not your life history," he smirked. "And besides, I'm sure your life history would be a bore. Am I correct?"
He was not the tallest of men, but he held a very powerful presence. Tall spiky black hair erupted out of his scalp from a widows-peak. He was tan, scarred, and formidably muscular.
"Vegeta, get out of here." My head swivelled once more to the woman. Her arms were crossed as she peevishly leaned against the counter.
"I have every right to be here. This is my home, the therefore it is moreover my room." His smirk grew as he ambled back into my vision from the right. "And I have every right to see who is in one of my rooms."
"Vegeta, this is my house and you know it. Now leave." She sent him a strong gaze for being such a thin woman. Due to his superlative nature and lack of true verbal punishment towards the woman, I judged these two held some variety of a relationship.
"But this house would no longer be here if not for me," Vegeta said, believing he held victory for this little debate.
"Oh, but 'you' would not even be here if not for me; so go. I have to talk to the girl." She tried to dismiss him with a wave of her hand.
The man was stubborn. "You would not have even been there to save me to save your house to-"
"Oh my gosh, just go away!" The blue haired woman relieved the counter of her weight and pushed Vegeta out of the door. He was grinning. I assumed his only goal was to vex the woman and he appeared to be successful.
She slammed the door and locked it. "I know the lock is no good, but if he breaks down another door, ooh I swear..."
I just gave her a strange look and spoke, "Your partner..."
"Mate, husband, dork, yeah. That's him." She walked my direction and took a seat next to me on the table. She extended her hand towards me and said, "Let's start over. Name's Bulma. How about you?"
I just looked at her hand and said, "Have you ever thought that I just don't want you to know anything about me?"
Bulma sighed, "Well, you're going to be a toughie, huh?" She placed her extended hand on her thigh. That statement was more rhetorical than not.
"Excuse me?" A lock of hair found a place in front of my face so I brushed it behind my ear.
"You're seem tough, strong, but you don't have to be hard-headed here. I'm a nice person...well, most of the time. Heck, we're not all prefect, but hey, loosen up a bit. You seem like you've got a stick up your ass."
I chuckled to myself, 'If she only knew.'
"What's so funny?" She smiled and patted my shoulder, "I'm trying to bond here."
"You just want to know who I am, and until I know everything about my location and the beings surrounding me, I cannot release any amount of information about myself."
"Jeez. That must be some pointy stick up there. What the hell is with you?" A sour look played across her face as she looked at me.
I looked ahead at the white wall before me and mumbled, "What would you think if you were taken away, trapped for years, and then one day you found freedom..." I turned my head and looked into her eyes. "What if that freedom was dangerously threatened and you fought for your life or, hopefully, for a peaceful death? What would you think if you were supposed to die, but instead you woke up in a place you didn't belong? What would you think? What would you do? Tell me. I'm curious."
Her eyebrows furrowed and head tilted thoughtfully. "What happened to you?"
I paused for an extended moment, then said,"...I died and went to heaven, but something went wrong."
~*~
The casing on my leg had been removed and the wrappings around my stomach held the same fate. I was now perfectly capable of moving when I wanted to wherever I wished. For six days I had been exploring, learning the hallways and corridors. Bulma allowed me to go where I willed saying, "It's not like you're a cripple. Now get to doing something, Hop-a-long." I did not like that name, but due to the fact that I refused to relinquish my true identity she had to call me by something. Hop-a-long is what she created. At first it was Spew (It took me a while to handle this place's food correctly), but then I started calling her Disgorge. As you can guess, she retired Spew.
Our level of trust had risen slightly. I allowed friendly conversations on certain occasions and a pat on the back was no longer an awkward, alien experience. Eye contact, however, was avoided whenever possible.
I still had a small limp in my step, but I was attending physical therapy sessions from one of Disgorge's employees so it was improving. My abdomen was tender and I had frequent headaches, but a marvelous drug called Adhill or Admril or Advil or something like that ebbed those pains greatly.
I had another marvelous discovery during my short travels. Disgorge called it a mirror. I had never seen myself before. To be able to know the exact features of my face was astonishing. I never knew I had blue eyes or a small scar on my cheek. Disgorges husband had to pull me out from the bathing room by my ankles.
Now, I am telling you of these friendly occurrences because they are what I choose to remember and narrate. Anything else that happened was purely monotonous; sleeping, eating, walking, then sleeping again but only after eating once more.
Well, there was this one affair that came to pass that I found to be interesting.
It was the fifth day, making it yesterday of course, and an unavoidable thought made it's way through my brain.
What was outside these walls?
I had seen no windows, no doors leading to an outside environment, no skylights or pictures even.
Earth. That was where I was, inside the 'Capsule Corporation' residence. What that was, I didn't know. From what I could easily conceive, however, these walls belonged to Disgorge (A.K.A. Bulma) and her partner Vegeta.
Vegeta, definitely the angry man. His intelligence and understanding, nonetheless, was held very wisely. The power at which he embraced was far beyond what I could comprehend. That was in for further investigation, but it's another story.
Once the thought was fully meditated I exited my corridors in search of Bulma. Sure enough I found her working in her quadrant of the facilities. As I entered the room I was once more overwhelmed by amazingly technical gadgets and drawings. Reluctantly I walked past (such applied science was not available on my planet). Her fingers speedily clicked away on a 'keyboard' pressing digits I had never seen before. I approached and spoke my mind, "I want to go outside."
She jumped not knowing I had entered her laboratory. She turned and said, "You're still not one-hundred percent, Hop-a-long. Don't you want to wait until I can give you a big grand tour?" She removed her glasses and looked at me.
I turned my head to inspect the nearby gadgets. "I want inconspicuous clothing and nothing else. I will be fine."
She dropped her head and rubbed her eyes. "Now?"
"Of coarse."
Bulma sighed, "Want me to come with you?"
"No."
"Hop, you're still breakable."
"But I'm no cripple."
"I know that, but...you have no clue what's out there."
"And that is why I wish to go."
Bulma placed her glasses on the table before her and leaned back into her chair. Another sigh escaped her lips as she said, "There should be some clothing in the bottom right drawer next to your closet. Pick similar colors, please."
"How do I get outside?"
"I'll have someone escort you."
"But once I'm outside, I will be alone."
"Ugh, fine." She leaned forward and placed an elbow on the table's surface and allowed her hand to find her chin.
"I'll return before supper dining."
"If you don't I'm sending Vegeta after you."
I nodded and left. While exiting though the doorway I heard Bulma yell, "And I mean it! Don't you dare get into trouble!"
So I dressed and finally left the compounds. I felt so free. There was grass. I had not seen grass for years. Oh, and the sky was beautiful. Such a lively blue, and the clouds were so light I wished I could touch them.
Not only did my surroundings give me joy, but the sight of the other people encircling me. They were smiling...for the most part. They seemed so happy and liberate.
I just walked for two hours, looking at the gigantic buildings and the amazing shiny, wheely contraptions. They sped by quickly, but whenever a red light shown and they stopped, I just gazed at their beauty.
I didn't know where I was, but I didn't care either. I was lost in the moment of superfluous freedom.
So there I was, inspecting everything I could, when I heard something far away. I jumped. It appeared that no other person heard what rang though my ears. That befuddled me.
However, I thought nothing of it, but I was still curious, so my feet lead me to something I really didn't understand.
More shiny, wheely contraptions, all surrounding one building. Men all in uniforms of some kind (they were black) were kneeling and pointing small guns at other bigger men with bigger guns (at that moment, I didn't know they were guns, but I was later informed by Vegeta).
Immediately I sensed the danger of this situation, so I proceeded closer. I knew Disgorge would've had a cow if she knew I was doing this (and when she found out she really did).
I casually walked past a set a barricades and then another until I was behind the farthest wheely thing from the building. I kept on walking.
I could see the large men not so far away, grinning and waving their firearms. They adorned black vests over their initial clothing and thick black gloves. Their height I guessed to be three feet over my own head. I laughed to myself as I continued to walk at the building. They were large, but the force they held was far less than what I had ever faced before.
"Miss! Dammit! Get her out of here!." I turned and saw one of the uniformed men looking my way. He was huddled behind a door of a wheely thing.
I just grinned and said, "Oh, don't worry about me," before continuing on.
I broke past the final barrier of wheelies (I'm getting tired of saying wheely things) and into the supposed restricted ground. I heard mumbles and such behind me.
I stopped and looked into the center man's eyes.
Heh, it was challenge time.
There were five of them, all with guns.
"Fucker. Lookie' here. These bastards sent us a little girl as a consolation gift." The other men laughed at his comment. So did I.
"She's a pretty bitch, ain't she?" another one chimed. They all chuckled again.
I folded my arms and tilted my head to the side as I looked at them. I leaned my weight backwards and relaxed on my heals. "You don't know what you're getting yourself into, do you?"
"One hell of an evening, little girl." The man farthest to the right approached me. "Now be a good girl and come with me, bitch." He extended a hand to grab my forearm. I kicked his knee. It bent backwards and began to collapse on him as the shin bone protruded through the crest of his leg with a pop. As he dropped his head fell past my shoulders and I threw a palm strike between his eyes. The man's head whipped back, blood spraying from his nose, and so did the rest of his body as he slammed into the concrete and bounced. His skill cracked on impact and blood began to seep and lazily snake along the blacktop.
The other men drew their guns.
It felt good to be superior for a change. I loved that felling of total dominance.
"Fucking bitch!" One yelled.
I just smiled and looked into another set of eyes. I wanted another one punch.
The men behind me were silent. I could feel their eyes all on me. I yelled back to them, "What are these men doing here?" It was quiet, but I soon received an answer.
From way in the back I heard a man yell, "It's the Federal building. There are more men inside with the hostages."
"How many?" I kept my eyes glued on the eyes of the men in front of me.
"....We don't know."
I just chuckled and muttered sarcastically, "Hell of a reinforcement group we got here." I folded my arms again and addressed the group of, now, four. "So, who's next?"
The center man aimed his gun my way and fired. The banging sound bursted though my ears as I jumped into the air and over their heads. The fire of his artillery followed my path upwards and then to the ground. I landed behind the group close enough to touch the building. Holes exploded into the concrete wall beside me. I sprinted adjacent to the building and then allowed my feet to begin the travel up on it. I pushed myself onto the wall and ran ahead sideways. The man continued to be too slow for my actions so high from the ground, so another gunner joined in as I reached a height of forty feet.
I felt the spray of concrete rocks smack my face as bullets barely missed ahead of me. I took one final push off the building and flipped into the air, spinning. I heard a hiss as one metal slug whizzed past my ear. With one final flip I landed feet first on one of the gunner's shoulders. I squeezed his neck with the crest of my feet and jumped forward flipping his body over and above mine as we spun in the air. His back hit the blacktop and the ground cracked. My feet still clung tightly to his head, my toes now pointing at his shoulders. I eased my weight onto the balls of my feet and twisted.
His neck snapped.
The other shooter had finally met my movements so I jumped once more allowing the slugs to impale the center man's legs.
The force of these firearms was finally a realization to me as both legs of the man blew clear off, blood spraying the nearest uniformed men and flooding th ground. The scream of the man was unearthly.
I met the earth behind one of the final two gunman and dug my heal square into his back.
The graphic nature of what happened to the man's legs mortified me. I could not tell how much force I put into the kick.
The man's ribs split though his abdomen and his backbone snapped in half, fracturing and then puncturing his heart.
He collapsed in a heap resembling the shape of the tip of an arrow.
The final man stood there shaking. The smell of urine reached my nose as I noticed wetness in the crotch of his pants.
I was heaving for oxygen.
He rose his gun and fired without me expecting it. He missed hitting the concrete in front of me, however, rocks from the blacktop sprung at me and imbedded themselves into my shins and thighs.
I screamed and fell to my knees and closed my eyes.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
I heard the shots but none of them came near me.
Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang.
They seemed frantic and hurried.
"It's not nice to hit a lady." I heard the low voice of another man.
Crap.
I opened my eyes to see the man fall onto his stomach, holding his hands over his head.
I looked over and saw a guy in normal clothing standing beside me. He crouched down, picked me up, and carried me away from the scene.
And, well, I guess I lost consciousness right about there, all I know it that the man was not Vegeta. He was someone else.
Woohoo!!! Long chapter!! I just sat down and kept on going baby, like the little energizer bunny.
Err, sorry if you're a little squeamish. That scene might have been a little too graphic ^-^;;
I finally got to GOHAN!! He is now going to appear much more in the next chapter so be happy!!
~*~
