Chapter Seven
Uub drove to the department and booked his perp on auto pilot while his mind raced with very real possibilities. Everything clicked with almost oily ease with one exception, Sasoli would never break in and steal secrets of her family's company.
"I protect this company."
However . . . the stolen secrets never seemed to make it back out into the public. Then again, Capsule Corp. technology was very complex and was probably hard to reproduce without looking exactly like the original.
Still, being a saiyan would ensure that she would not think twice about consorting with criminals since they would pose no real threat.
Uub's eyes darkened, but that didn't mean it wasn't dangerous. Drug slipped into drinks would always be dangerous, saiyan or not, and . . . she had no training to deal with such people!
"Um . . . Detective Uub?"
Uub's stormy expression cleared and he glanced up to meet the slightly scared face of a rookie.
"Yes?" His dark brow lifted.
A shaky hand pointed at his hand, "Um . . ."
Uub glanced down to find he had crushed his metal paperweight into the shape of his hand.
"Oops . . ." Uub dropped the paper weight, surprised that he would lose control of his body so much in front of everyone. "It's in the training."
He bet a hasty retreat, hoping that the rookie would just take his word for it.
17 entered his home only to be shoved right back out.
His eyes lit up, "Ava?"
"No, dad," Sasoli stood in the cave entrance, the exact image of her mother except her eyes.
Those came from him.
17 noticeably drooped with disappointment. "Don't do that, Sasoli, I thought you were your mother."
"Obviously," she snarled, "What did you think you were doing? Flicking my nose like I am some dog?!"
"Don't act like this is the first time I've done it," 17 snorted and brushed by her to enter his domain.
"It is the first time you did it in public," Sasoli followed determined to get answers.
"It's the first time you needed it in public," 17 replied dryly, "Sasoli, drop it, I don't want to get into an argument with you right now."
"Since when did you not jump at the chance to argue?" She lifted a sardonic brow.
"Since my wife left me!" 17's temper snapped and he turned to his daughter. "I flicked your nose because it's an inside joke between me and your mother. All of you are just my pet monkeys who need to be disciplined."
Sasoli's mouth dropped open.
"Ava didn't like it either," 17 sneered, "But then when have I ever cared about whether anyone thinks my jokes are funny?"
"No wonder Mom thought you were malfunctioning," Sasoli shot back and disappeared into her room only to reappear a second later.
17 caught the object she threw at him. It was her cell phone.
"That's all the help you're going to get from me," Sasoli had her bedding in one arm and was gone in a brilliant flash of light.
17 slumped over just a bit more.
"Great," 17 slumped into a random chair, "It's not enough for you to chase away your wife so now, you chase away your children as well."
He looked at the cell phone his daughter had thrown at him. He sighed and dialed the number to his cell phone, which had disappeared along with the rest of his stuff.
He listened carefully and started the tedious process off locating his stuff.
He took two steps into the woods and listened.
Nothing.
Two steps.
Nothing.
Two steps.
Nothing.
Damn, it was going to be a long night.
Zarah snapped awake as a life force entered his home. He checked his wife to find her sleeping soundly on his chest.
Carefully, he moved her and got off the bed. The energy did not seem to be malevolent and seemed to settle in peacefully ten feet from the entrance and five from the capsule house Pan insisted on having.
Stealthily, he made his way to a window and slipped out so he could make his way to the front.
Shit, he cursed mentally as the energy disappeared. This was one of the few times that he hated the house within his cave.
The air shifted and he jerked his head to the side, barely dodging a fist. He grabbed the arm and stepped into the missed punch and came face to face with the intruder intent on head bunting.
Sasoli's face flashed before his limited vision before their heads collided.
Zarah shook his head as he regarded his sister rolling on the floor, clutching her face in agony.
"And you say I got soft," he snickered.
"Shut up," she groaned.
He grinned and sat on his haunches.
"What brings you out here? Shouldn't you be getting your warrior's sleep for work tomorrow?"
He instantly sobered when she went still and remained silent. He sighed and slowly scooped up her dropped bedding. He turned and entered the capsule house with Sasoli on his heels.
He dropped her furs onto the bed in the spare bedroom he'd thought they would never use.
"You have to admit," Sasoli's words stopped her brother at the door, "that the head bunting was a new move for you."
"Pan can be vicious when she wants to be," the corner of his mouth lifted and he shut the door behind him.
Sasoli glanced around her surroundings, feeling lost but not alone. This room was not hers, and yet, it was far from sterile plain hotel rooms she was forced to use on the job. She stared bemusedly at the pictures which adorned the walls and wondered how the small saiyan had managed to capture all of them in one picture.
The setting was common enough, in front of her parents cave with the flowers in bloom. Her mom and dad were sitting together under a tree as they scrutinized her and Zarah's fighting technique.
Pan was quite a photographer, she'd managed to catch all of them smiling.
"Pause and reflect."
Sasoli sighed as she considered her father's words.
"There is such a thing as going too far, Sas," 17 confided in her, "I'm mean . . . just look at your mother."
Ava arched her brow sharply in his direction. "What drivel are you feeding her now?"
"See what I mean?" His snicker to full blown laughter when Ava slapped him in the back of the head.
Sasoli fixed her bedding on the mattress and turned off the light.
One thing was certain, she had spent too many years working on her own. Everything had become too serious for her, her job as a spy was no longer fun. Everyone had grown and learned to poke fun at themselves without her.
Look at Bra. She had held a grudge against Goten for most of their lives and now she was marrying the goof. Trunks had turned from a trouble making teen into a responsible, not to mention successful, adult. Maron had opened up from her shy cold exterior and was happily dating Trunks. Goten had grown a spine. And Zarah . . .
Sasoli buried herself in her furs and closed her eyes tightly.
She might have played a big part in her brother's union with Pan but it was Zarah who had decided he wanted to leave his laboratory. He was the one who decided to claim adult rights and leave their parents cave. He was the one who wanted to marry Pan.
All Sasoli did was rush nature and get her brother beaten within an inch of his life for it.
She opened her eyes to survey the room unhappily.
"Pause and reflect."
Such a simple order, and yet, so painful to follow. She had no romantic interests, besides Uub but even that was a stretch, no friends outside of family and even some of them didn't like her so much, and interests or skills beyond her job as a spy.
In truth, her job took everything she had to give . . . her time . . . her skills . . . her mind . . . her life. . .
She usually came home about ten times a year, if she was lucky. She didn't have time to stop and reevaluate her life or . . .
"How sad is that?" Sasoli huffed to herself, "I can't even imagine what I'd do on a day off that doesn't involve fighting."
"She's a saiyan, 17, leave her alone."
Her father rolled his eyes and pulled her into a tighter hug.
"Ignore her, baby, you might be a saiyan but you're human too."
"I'm sorry, daddy," Sasoli barely blinked back tears. It was time for her to grow up.
17 cursed to himself softly. He had scanned most of the forest and still nothing.
Two steps.
Silence.
Two steps.
Nothing.
Two steps.
Nada.
Two steps.
Zip.
Two steps.
Zilch.
Two steps.
Noth- Wait. . .
17 went still and tuned out the sounds of the forest. There . . . the faint sound of his phone.
He shoved his daughter's phone into his pant's pocket and started to dig with his hands.
"She couldn't have buried it too deep."
An hour later.
"Ah ha!" 17 was covered in dirt as pulled his phone from the ground triumphantly. He did a little victory dance and glanced down to look for the rest of his stuff when he realized something very important.
There wasn't anything else but dirt.
"No," 17 gasped in disbelief as he clawed at the dirt only to get more of the same. "Shit! She got the last laugh."
17 brushed himself off as best as he could before he made his long trek home. There was no use looking for the rest of his stuff until his wife came home.
The android stopped and glanced around the empty forest. Then again, there was nothing to go home to . . . maybe it was time to wander again.
End Chapter Seven