Chapter 32- Blackmail

"Hey Geta. You look bored." Goku said as he walked into the room.

Vegeta continued to stare at the TV screen.

"Well...I talked to Dr. Briefs, and he said that if you wanted to go somewhere you could as long as you don't do anything...um...active like."

The TV clicked off and Vegeta's attention became focused on Goku. "Really?"

"Yeah. But when he said out, he didn't mean football or arcades. I think he meant something along the lines of sitting around doing nothing, just not in this particular place."

"Sure why not." Vegeta said sliding off the bed. He was relieved to finally be getting out, even if it was only for a little while.

"I've only got an hour before the JV game is over and varsity practice starts, though. So...uh... where are we going?"

"I don't care." Vegeta said and led the way out.

After riding around aimlessly for about ten minutes, the two decided to go to Vegeta's apartment to get him some more clothes and anything else that he might want while he was staying at Capsule Corp. It didn't take long, mostly due to Vegeta not having many possessions. After about twenty minutes, Goku threw Vegeta's two clothes stuffed duffel bags into the back of his truck. Vegeta checked his old motorbike, which was still sitting outside the apartment building, to make sure that it hadn't been stolen or damaged, and the two got back into Goku's truck to drive around aimlessly again.

"You know I was thinking. You and Bulma seem to get along well." Goku said after a few minutes.

Vegeta threw him a sidelong glance but didn't confirm or deny it.

"And I think she likes you."

"When you are being like this, it makes me want to start calling you Kakarrot again."

"Like what? I was just saying..."

"Well stop just saying."

The two sat in silence for a few seconds before Goku started talking again.

"She's really pretty you know."

Vegeta let out an exasperated growl.

"And I was thinking..."

"Shut up."

"I was thinking that you two would do really well together."

"Who set you up?"

"What do you mean?"

"There is no way that you are saying this without someone having told you to say it. So who told you to say it?"

"Geta..."

"Don't call me that Kakarrot. Who was it?"

"But Geta..."

"ChiChi?"

"Ge..."

"It was her, huh." I was more a statement than a question. "Don't lie to me."

"Maybe. So will you go out with her?"

"What are you getting out of this?"

Goku finally gave in. "ChiChi promised that if I got you to go out with Bulma, she'd come visit my grandpa."

"I thought your grandpa was dead."

Goku gave him an odd look. "No. He just lives out in the country."

"So let me get this straight. If I agree to date that girl, then your woman will go visit your grandpa who is, in fact, still alive."

"Right."

Vegeta nodded his head while thinking. "What do I get out of it?"

"What?"

"What do I get?"

"Um...a rich and pretty girlfriend."

"Not good enough, but I've got an idea."

"Okay."

"What say you talk to the coach and get him to let me come back in...uhh...two weeks."

"But Geta!"

"That's the only way I'll do it."

"Why me?"

"Because you're a suck up."

"I am not!"

"Yes you are. Don't argue with me. He likes you, so ask him."

"Alright, but don't you think two weeks is kind of pushing it?"

"Of course not."

"Are you sure?" Goku asked.

Vegeta nodded.

"Well I guess I can talk to him at practice today." Goku said stealing a glance at the clock. "And speaking of which, I kinda lost track of time."

Vegeta leaned back and crossed his arms as Goku sped back to Capsule Corp. He didn't know if he could get along with Bulma well enough to go out with her, but he'd try if it got him back on the football field.

"So Bulma. Are you planning on getting a new boyfriend any time soon." ChiChi said between licks of her ice cream. ChiChi and Juuachi had decided to take Bulma to the mall after school.

"I dunno."

"You know who I would go for if I were single." Juuachi put in.

Bulma looked from one to the other questioningly. They both grinned.

"What are you guys getting at?" Bulma asked suspiciously.

"Oh come on Bulma!" ChiChi exclaimed throwing all subtlety out the window. "It's obvious you like him."

"Who?"
"Vegeta." Juuachi said as if it should have been obvious.

"Well yeah, he's good looking..." Bulma thought out loud.

"He's totally hot." Juuachi piped in.

"...and he's popular..."

"The most popular guy in school." ChiChi added.

"...and he's strong..."

"He's totally ripped." Juuachi said again.

"But he's got issues." Bulma concluded.

ChiChi and Juuachi both stopped and whirled toward her. "What do you mean!" They exclaimed at once.

"Well his dad is trying to kill him, that kind of qualifies as an issue."

"Bulma listen to yourself." ChiChi said quietly, opting for a different approach. "How would you feel if your own father was trying to kill you. Wouldn't you just hurt inside?"

"He needs someone to talk to." Juuachi added. "And you two understand each other."

"You can't let him suffer alone. That would be just cruel."

Bulma just stared at them and then looked down in thought. What they had said would have seemed highly comical, if she hadn't thought the same things herself once or twice. But that didn't explain what that had to do with her dating him.

ChiChi and Juuachi shared a look that said that they would laugh about their little speech later.

Bulma, after finishing her contemplation, looked back up at them. "So why don't you two talk to him?"

ChiChi and Juuachi looked dumbstruck.

"Um...well...we can't" ChiChi said.

"Yeah. He won't be able to feel that he can open up to us." Juuachi added. "He doesn't really know us."

Bulma thought for a second. "Why not Goku?" She asked.

"It's not the same." ChiChi said almost defensively.

"Yeah. And plus, you can always be there for him. None of us can do that." Juuachi said.

"So please?" ChiChi pleaded "Just for a little while."

"Until he gets back to his old self? Make things a little easier for him?"

"I guess." Bulma said. "But how do you know that he even wants to go out with me?"

"Oh don't worry about that." Juuachi assured her. "He does."

"At least he'd better." ChiChi said under her breath.

Rehtaf pulled his car around the back of a little old house. The house was in the middle of nowhere, but if someone did happen to drive by, he didn't want them to see his car. With hopes high that his problems were about to be solved, he stepped out of his car and around to the front of the old house.

"But come on coach."

"Goku I can't let him play unless a doctor clears him."

"But coach, you know how much is riding on this. What if it would just be for practice. Not for games."

"Well I don't know."

"Please coach he really wants to play."

"I want him to play too, but what if he gets hurt again. I'll be responsible. So unless you can get a note from a certified doctor that says he can practice, play, or whatever, I cannot allow him on my field."

Goku gave the coach a pleading look, but the coach didn't back down. Sighing, Goku gave in, put his helmet back on, and ran to where the other players were practicing.

"Ma'am?"

The old lady looked up expecting to see a new customer but instead saw an old one. She could feel her palms start to sweat, but she did not budge from her chair.

"I need your help." The man said.

"No. I will not help you." She replied with bravado, silently thankful that her oversized robes didn't allow him to see her trembling. "I know what you did."

The man got over his slight shock at the refusal quickly. "You do? Did you see it in a vision? Can you tell me what I should do now?"

"I refuse to help you any longer. I gave you a gift, and you used it for a horrible purpose."

"Why do you say that it's horrible?" He asked taking a step closer to the table.

"I saw the boy. I saw what you did to him."

"How did you see?"

"How everyone else saw."

"How?" He asked growing confused.

"It was on the news. You've made quite a name for yourself, but it is not a good one. Perhaps it is you who are evil, and not the boy." The old lady was surprised at her audacity when speaking to this man. She did not have time to dwell on her bravery, however, for the table in front of her was knocked away from her and into the wall. She heard her crystal ball shatter and her pebbles and tarot cards fall to the floor, but only distantly. All of her attention was focused on the furious man who was crouched down in front of her.

"Don't you ever say that again." He roared, his face only inches away from hers. "It was his fault that all of that happened to him, and to me! Why can't people understand!"

"I understand that you are insane!" She heard herself yell.

He didn't respond, but she could see him shuddering under his own intense rage as he stared into her eyes.

"Now please." She said much more calmly than she felt. "Leave my home."

"No." He breathed, still inches away from her. Fear was slowly intermingling with the blind rage displayed on his face. "You will help me."

"I'm sorry." She said, somehow managing to look away from him.

"Please." He whispered in a trembling voice.

She couldn't bring herself to look at his face, and so continued to stare at her scattered things as she answered him. "The last time I helped you, you tried to kill a child. That was not what I helped you for. I will not be a part of your evildoings. I refuse."

"You cannot refuse." He said, his anger returning. She stiffened as his hands wrapped around her throat. "I am not giving you that option. You will help me."

"No I will not." She said knowing that she was signing her own death warrant. And indeed she was.

"Oh Vegeta dear." Mrs. Briefs called cheerily from the kitchen. "Will you come here."

Vegeta was beginning to wish that Dr. Briefs hadn't given him permission to leave his room and wander around Capsule Corp. He now had to get things for himself, and to top that off, Mrs. Briefs, who had unofficially adopted him as her son, had taken to beckoning him to her for the weirdest of things.

Sighing, Vegeta eased himself from the couch and walked to the kitchen. He hoped this wasn't another cross-stitching lesson.

"Just sit at the table dear." Mrs. Briefs said as he walked in and then turned back to the stove where she was stirring something.

Vegeta did as he was told, and sat silently wondering what she wanted this time.

"So I was talking to Mr. Briefs this morning," Mrs. Briefs said as though it was unusual to talk to her husband. "and he told me that you were probably ready to start eating solid food. But he also said to start light. And then I was wondering what kind of light he was talking about, because he wasn't very specific, and so I prepared many tasty things for you to try." She began ladling something into a bowl.

Vegeta stared at her as she placed a bowl of chicken noodle soup and then a bowl of vegetable soup in front of him and then headed back to the counter. He missed eating things, and although this wasn't what he would have in mind when it came to 'tasty', he was glad that they were finally getting him off of broth and Dr. Briefs's experimental 'energy drinks'.

Mrs. Briefs returned a few seconds later with a salad and some mashed potatoes. Vegeta reached for the potatoes and dug in, as Mrs. Briefs placed a tuna fish sandwich and some macaroni and cheese on the table.

"Would you like anything else?" Mrs. Briefs asked after she had given him a bowl of icecream, one of jello, and another of pudding, and then a cup of apple juice.

Vegeta shook his head. "'s good." Vegeta answered through a mouthful of maccoroni causing Mrs. Briefs to giggle.

She sat down at the other end of the table, deciding to talk to him as he ate. "Mr. Briefs also said that you're getting healthy enough to go back to school soon."

Vegeta glanced at her but didn't respond.

"Bulma was telling me about your homework sessions. Speaking of Bulma, she and her friends went to the mall today. She should be home soon. I told her to pick up some chocolate for me at the candy shop. I hope she didn't forget. She's very smart, you know, but she tends to be very forgetful. Why I remember one time when she was seven, she..."

Vegeta half listened to Mrs. Briefs as she droned on about Bulma's childhood. His mind was drifting to other things, like how he would get Bulma to go out with him and uphold his end of the deal. He hated to admit it, but he was drawing a blank.

Rehtaf stood silently as he let his gaze drift from the dead woman at his feet to all the objects that were displayed around the room. With his last lifeline gone, Rehtaf didn't know what to do. The thought crossed his mind that he could just forget the whole thing, but he quickly tossed it out. It was his obligation to deal justice and destroy the terrible thing that he had unknowingly created. His duty was obvious to him, but the question of how to carry it out had him stumped.

He allowed his feet to take him around the room, and as he halfheartedly glanced at all the trinkets that were lined up on the shelves, he thought back to other justice bringers who people had doubted. People had thought that Batman was crazy too, but then when they saw how good he was, they created comic books and movies about him. He had performed such great acts that anyone now would say that he was just a character drawn up by someone's imagination. Then, the Men in Black- defeating alien invaders with amazing weapons, black tuxedos and cool catch phrases. Many people would say that aliens do not exist, but it is because of the Men in Black that no one ever sees them.

What he wouldn't give to be like that- wearing a disguise and defeating criminals. He'd bring justice to the world, and people would praise him.

He stopped. Why couldn't he be like Batman or the Men in Black?

Looking around the room, he didn't see anything that looked like an adequate disguise. Not disheartened yet, however, he pulled the old fortune teller's glasses off her face and put them on. He walked over to an old mirror with some kind of foggy special effect behind it.

"Mirror, mirror on the wall," He said adjusting the glasses a bit and then slicking his hair back with his hand. "Who's got the best disguise of all?"

Dare I update so soon?

Hope ya' liked!