Chapter Three
Sasoli delicately covered her yawn as she landed in front of her parents cave. The only bad thing about the late nights she knew she was going to have to put in before she freed Trunks was the early mornings. She pouted, as she surveyed her only true home, it has been so lonely since Zarah left.
"Mom! Dad! I'm home," she called before entering their section of the cave.
"I just wanted you to know. . . "
Sasoli trailed off as she realized her parents were gone. Worried, she expanded her senses and found her mother's energy fluctuating, as if she was trying to control her rage. After a quick change of clothes she zoomed in to find her parents screaming, or as much as her dad raised his voice, at each other.
Ava was beyond livid. Of all the idiotic things she had come to expect from her mate, she had never expected him to let himself be injured to this degree. "What were you thinking?!"
17 was a mess. His clothes were torn and bloody, his right arm looked like an animal had used it for a clawing post, and he was limping. He, truthfully, was not in the mood for his wife's temper. Wasn't she supposed to be gushing sympathy, love, and concern?
"Did you malfunction?" Ava demanded, her eyes softened in concern though her voice did not.
"No, I was merely doing an experiment," 17 announced to his wife. "You failed."
"Failed? In what? Not being mauled as well?" Ava was outraged.
"No, you failed in showing concern for me. You don't love me."
"I don't?" Ava was incredulous, "You stupid, stupid, STUPID machine!"
"Mom?" Sasoli's eyes darted between her parents, "Dad? What happened? Are you hurt?"
17 didn't move a muscle as his daughter touched his mangled arm hesitantly as she tried to access the damage. "At least Sasoli loves me."
Sasoli eyed him with confusion as she stepped away from both of them, instinct warning her that it picking a side would only make things worse. She knelt and waited nervously for the outcome, unconsciously making sure she was an equal distance away from both of them. Her tailed flicked out and twitched, mirroring her emotions.
Ava placed a hand at her hip as she looked down her nose at him as her tailed lashed behind her, "Don't be naïve, 17, she only has feelings for you because you are her sire. She doesn't know any better."
"At least she isn't afraid to be herself around me,"17 pointed out slyly, pleased with the pain that crossed his wife's face but then was immediately swamped with guilt.
"Afraid?" Ava's lip curled as her chest heaved with indignation. "I'd think she'd be more ashamed to find out her father was injured by a bear!"
Sasoli couldn't stop the gasp of surprise. A bear?! A bear had done this to her father?! But how?! It didn't make any sense! Even at his most helpless, he should have been able to put up a force field.
17's blue eyes hardened to the consistency of dry ice, so cold that they could burn a ragged path into one's soul, and they were locked onto the black flames concealed within his wife's glare.
Ava broke the contact by turning away from both of them and took a running leap into the air. Her dark purple aura surrounded her instantly and lifted her into the night.
"Ava?" 17 swore beneath his breathe as he followed, "Where are you going?!"
Sasoli continued to kneel for a moment to regain her composure. She hadn't seen them argue like this since . . . She'd never seen them like this! Zarah had told her once that they had acted this way when she had been kidnapped at the age of five but she hadn't witnessed it. She didn't know if this was the same type of scenario that could be worked out or something else altogether. She had never felt this uncertain about anything in her life.
She shot to her feet as she felt the direction her parents had flown. The next second she was in the air speeding to the capitol. Why are they going to the city? Dread filled Sasoli's heart and linked down her backbone, she had a filling that this was not going to be resolved peacefully.
Detective Uub yawned as he finally finished typing up his report. He had been careful to omit all details concerning both the woman he had been talking to as well as all super human activity.
One thing puzzled him though about the scene in the bar. After he had grabbed to gun away from Thompson, Uub could have sworn she had took his perp down to avoid bullets and death. Only, it had happened so fast that he couldn't confirm what he had seen.
Another curious thing to note was the footage from most of the hidden cameras had come back blank. In fact, all the footage containing, or would have contained, the mysterious undercover woman was erased. Coincidence or conspiracy?
He report complete, he packed up his stuff so he could leave directly after he turned it in.
He groaned as he is cell phone went off.
"Uub here," he answered his phone, short and to the point.
"There's some kind of domestic disturbance in front of the building."
Uub winced as he recognized the chief of police on the phone. This man thought Uub could do no wrong and could solve any case, which was why his workload was always threatening to overflow. It wasn't enough for him to handle both the Scalpel case and the all the undercover cases. No, he had to handle.
"Can't the regular police take care of this problem? I just clocked out and-"
"Uub," the Chief of Police came very close to whining. "You're the best officer I have and everyone else has already left. You know I-"
"All right," Uub snapped into the phone, "I'll handle it."
He capsulated his bag and threw his report onto the stupid desk where they went and left the building. He never expected to find what he did.
In the middle of the street was a bloodied man, early twenties blue eyes and black hair, limping after a woman, also early twenties black hair eyes. . . And a tail. . .
"Saiyan?" Uub explained in confusion, he remembered the stories Goku had told him about his childhood and his regret about getting his tail permanently removed. The only thing was Vegeta and Goku were supposed to the only saiyans left in existence . . . Right?
Still not quite believing what he was seeing, Uub sent out a tentative probe to get a measure on the woman to find she was vibrating with an admirable amount of power, not enough to be any kind of threat but enough to pose a problem if she went rogue. Extending the same sense to the man, Uub was astonished to find there was no life sign to be found. What? That's impossible.
What little amount of people still on the street were just starring in amazement at the couple as they bandied back and forth.
"Where do you think you're going?" The man demanded, his voice was strong despite the massive blood loss.
"I need a mechanic," the female glared at him, "You're obviously broken!"
Broken? Uub frowned as he eyed the male's injuries. Doesn't she mean hurt? Why isn't she more concerned?
"Oh, so I'm broken just because you won't complete our circuit?" He huffed indignantly.
Circuit?
"Just leave me alone right now, 17, I can't deal with your stupidity," the woman raged. "How in the universe did you get mangled by a bear?"
The man stiffened insulted while Uub's hands shot to his cell phone to call an ambulance.
"Coming from a woman who got beaten by Dikon?"
Uub's head shot up as he studied the woman with a sharper eye looking for signs of abuse when he noticed the woman's mouth had dropped open and her power level went through the roof.
"I bet Dikon is strong enough to avoid being chewed on by a bear," she ground out.
"Are you saying he's a better model then me?! You take the side of our daughter's kidnapper?!" The man's hands fisted and as, conversely, his voice turned cold.
Again, Uub's hand went to his phone to report the kidnapping when a ball of light formed in the woman's hands and was launched toward the man.
"Leave me ALONE!"
Uub fumbled his phone and tried to dash forward at the same time when the man with no life signature at just hit knocked the energy into the sky like a volley ball.
"Ava!" The man winced and clutched at his wounded arm. "Don't start."
"I'm surprised you could block that, 17, I never would have thought a BEAR would be able to injure you than I could!"
"Mom! Dad!"
Uub glanced up to find the mysterious woman from the bar dropping from the sky.
"What are you doing?" The woman in red landed gracefully but did not run between the couple or to the injured party. Curiously, she maintained an equal distance from both her parents.
She's half saiyan, Uub concluded suddenly as the series of events in the bar started to sense. She did tackle him and got him out of the bar undetected but why? What did she need him for? Who did she work for?
"This doesn't concern you, Sasoli," the woman called Ava announced.
Her name is Sasoli.
"You shouldn't be here," Sasoli's eyes flickered nervously at the bystanders when she locked onto his location.
She paled slightly before turning back to her parents, even more determined to get her parents out of there.
"Let's go home and I'll take a walk in the woods while you guys talk."
"No, I refuse to house with an incompetent male," Ava lifted her nose into the air, "I am going to get a trade in."
"Oh, and what makes you think I want a outdated saiyan," he huffed. "Personally, I think I could do better."
"Like anyone else would have you," Amusement curled Ava's mouth.
"Is that right, well, I don't need you," 17 turned on his heel.
"I should have known better than to mate a human," Ava sneered, "Or is that less than human?"
17 stopped in his tracks, "At least my people weren't wiped out by a petty tyrant and reduced to a handful."
Ava gasped in outrage, "At least my people didn't experiment on their own to create abominations."
17 turned to face his wife, "We wouldn't even be having this conversation if you were human."
"Oh," Ava's brows lifted as she stomped up to him and slapped him soundly across the face. "That human enough for you."
Without another word she shot into the air and was gone.
17 placed a hand on his cheek before he limped in the opposite direction.
The people stood on the street in a state of shock and Uub met Sasoli's eyes wondering how they were going to explain this . . . situation.
Sasoli choked back tears and started clapping. Uub joined her lead and clapped as well.
"It's brilliant! Revolutionary! A typical relationship argument meets science fiction with a fat dollop of creative language," she clapped for all she was worth. "Beautiful."
"Yes," Uub didn't miss the nervousness in her blue eyes, "The special effects added a unique touch and didn't take away from the action at all. Brilliantly executed, they almost felt real."
Confusion cleared on the people's faces as they started to clap as well. Sly smirks appeared as they realized this must have been some kind of artsy street theater and they were on their way.
Sasoli tried to slip in with them and into the shadows when she found her way blocked by the very man she was trying to avoid.
"Sasoli, is it?" Uub smiled at the way her muscles automatically tensed in surprise. Yes, this was definitely a saiyan hybrid but how? Does Goku know about this Ava and Sasoli?
"Did you like the show?" Sasoli, through a force of will, took a relaxed stance.
"Were you undercover here too?" Uub smiled at her attempt to continue her rather ingenious ploy.
"You remember me," respect entered her eyes and died at his next words.
"You were kind of hard to forget." Uub watched in fascination as her body suddenly went from relaxed to supple.
She fluttered her eyelashes at him and inched closer into his space, "Did you think of me every second I was gone? I thought of you."
"You are good," Uub didn't move forward or backward. "Who do you work for?"
Sasoli immediately dropped her act and she put a more suitable distance between them. Respect returned full force as well as a mild confusion. She'd never met a man who didn't fall for that line, hook, and sinker. Had she lost her touch? Was she not as attractive in her regular clothes? "You've already uncovered my name, something most never get privilege of knowing. I think that's enough for tonight."
"I have dealt with saiyans before," he informed her, "You don't need to worry about an investigation."
Her face went carefully blank. "How?"
"Tell me your secrets and I'll tell you mine," his voice was dark with promise.
Her blue eyes lit up as he returned her tactic. She fluttered her lashes as she danced away laughing, "Do you have the Capsule Corp. case?"
"You mean, Trunks Briefs' murder investigation?" His dark eyes narrowed.
She pouted as his flirtatious mood vanished, "Yes, are you the head detective on it?"
"No," his head tilted to the side, "Why?"
"No reason," she made a motion to flick his nose but never actually made contact.
Uub saw her phase away but made no move to stop her. He already had an idea of her abilities and she knew nothing of his, that meant the advantage was his and he wasn't going to let her in so easily. She wasn't the only one who had secrets.
Sasoli landed in the woods to find her mother covered in dirt with a satisfied expression on her face.
"Mom?"
"Let him come back," an evil smirk, "His personal belongings are gone."
"You buried his things?"
"Whose things?" She smirked as she held her head up high and adjusted the bag on her shoulder.
"What's in the bag?"
"The cave is yours until I return," in a rare gesture of affection Ava hugged her daughter. "You are not afraid to be yourself around me, are you?"
Sasoli clutched her mother tightly, milking the hug for all it was worth. "Of course not, everyone says I take after you."
Ava smiled and released her only daughter, "I will return."
"Safe journey." Sasoli returned the parting words, feeling surreal since their positions were usually reversed.
Her mother smiled and disappeared in the trees.
"Sasoli!"
Sasoli jerked around to find her at the sound of her father's voice. "Dad, don't you think you should bandage your arm?"
"Where's your mother?"
"She's gone."
"Good," he went into the cave.
Sasoli just stood their waiting for the inevitable explosion.
Ten minutes later, "Where's my stuff?!"
17 reappeared with his arm bandaged and most of the blood washed off as the best he could. "Sasoli, what did she do with my stuff?"
"She buried it."
"What? Where?"
"I don't know." Sasoli's head was down, "She had already finished by the time I got here."
"Baby," 17 gathered her into his arms, wincing as it pulled his damaged muscles. "Don't worry. This is just a glitch in our relationship. We just need to do some clean up to get rid of bad files and defrag. We'll be fine."
Sasoli said nothing but returned the hug.
"Do you want to help me find my stuff?"
Sasoli laughed and shook her head.
"Please, you know how good your mother is at hiding things," her father complained, "That woman."
"I can't, I have to work. I have to sleep and be in early."
"Come on, Sasoli, I'm sure she couldn't have buried it too far."
"All right," she caved, "Just let me call Zarah."
He nodded, "I'll start looking."
Zarah snapped awake at the sound of his cell phone going off.
"Hello?"
"Zarah, you know how I told you to set up a meeting with the lead detective?"
"Yes, I already set it up. Did you find any leads?"
"No, but I have another condition for our cooperation with the police."
"What?"
"Detective Uub has to handle this case, he's had experience with saiyans and will know when to be delicate in his explanations."
"But how-"
"That's what I plan to find out but make the call and get him on the case."
"Done." Zarah clicked off his phone and dialed the number to the chief of police's house.
"Hello?" A groggy voice answered after the third ring.
"This is the President of Capsule Corporation and I have a new stipulation to discuss with you."
The End of Chapter Three