Chapter Twenty-Eight

Ava sat up, surprising the hell out of everyone in the room.

"What happened?" Her voice was thick with sleep and disorientation, "Where's Sasoli?"

Bulma glanced at 17 nervously.

17 sat by his wife calmly, "She's been kidnapped again."

Ava's eyes cleared instantly but the madness 17 feared was thankfully absent.

"Fate seems determined to make her a victim," came the resigned acknowledgment.

17 smiled, "Yes, but fate doesn't know Sasoli very well. Uub's looking for her."

"And he will find her," Ava stated with absolute confidence.

"Yes, he will."

Uub strode in the doorway and quickly crossed to the couple, "You're awake. How?"

"She had the least amount of exposure," Bulma picked up her stuff, "There must have been less chemical to work through her blood. I guess Goku will be up next, "she tilted her head, "Vegeta will be out of it the longest, after Zarah of course. He was the one most exposed to it. Then Bardock? Depends."

Bulma left muttering to herself about balances.

Uub turned his attention back to the couple, "Zarah owns some land. They say that the murderers took her to a cabin near there. Do you know where it is?"

Ava gave him a blank look as she shook her head.

17's eyes slanted to his wife before meeting the detective's, "I can take you there. You'll never find it without one of us."

"I'll go," Ava tried to stand but her legs wobbled before they gave out.

17 caught her and placed her back on the bed.

She looked at her legs with disbelief, "They betrayed me."

17 rolled his eyes, "You'll be fine. Your body is still rejecting the chemical and until it's completely gone you'll have to stay here."

17 quickly left the room before she could find anything to throw at him.

Uub departed but not quickly enough to miss her last words.

"Find her and she's yours."

Cupid was panicking.

Everything had gone wrong in a span of seconds. Valjean was out cold, possibly dead. His plan to torture answers out of her had gone flying out the window.

She was too strong.

If she could knock Valjean clear across the room while unconscious then he had no hope of controlling her while fully aware.

Cupid narrowed his blue eyes.

Where had they put that nosy detective?

Uub flew as closely behind 17 as was deemed polite, though the android had already told him to back off more than once.

"We're here," 17 hovered, "What now?"

"They said the cabin was near here. Show me the perimeter of the property so we can find the cabin."

17 rolled his eyes and dropped to the ground.

Uub's blood boiled as he also descended. One would think the android would take this more seriously, considering his daughter's life was at stake-

A good-sized cabin appeared with the matching car parked next to it.

"We live in this forest," 17 remarked dryly, "This is the closest cabin for miles."

"Thank you," Uub nodded and then stopped, "You should probably stay here. I don't know what I am going to find."

17 stopped his half-formed protest before it even reached his lips. The detective was right, 17 wasn't ready to see the worst scenario.

"Oh, and don't touch anything," Uub pulled out his gun, it was mostly for show.

17 crossed his arms offended.

Uub raised his power level and kicked the door open. . .

. . . and lowered his gun.

Sasoli lay in plain view on a bed. Her clothes were intact, he sighed with relief, though, strangely enough, her tail was exposed and twitching erratically. Her eyes were moving rapidly under her closed lid, and her body twitched randomly as if desperately trying to wake up.

Himbon was his second surprise as he lay bound and unconscious.

A gash somewhere in his hairline had fresh blood running down the side of his face.

The most surprising thing was Valjean collapsed against the far wall also unconscious but possibly dead.

What on earth had happened?

Uub crossed to Himbon and used his ki to cut through the ropes. He patted the fellow detective's cheek and shook him.

"Himbon, wake up!" Uub nodded when the blue eyes opened.

"Uub?" Himbon sat up and clutched at him desperately, "It's Valjean! Valjean and Beasely!"

"Beasely?"

Himbon glanced around frantically until his eyes landed on Sasoli, "Oh, thank god, she's still alive. I thought they killed her."

Uub grabbed Himbon before he could take another step toward her.

"Tell me, what happened from the beginning," Uub demanded putting himself between Himbon and the demi-saiyan.

Emotions flashed through his pale blue eyes before Uub could identify them.

"We have to get out of here," his blue eyes burned with fury, "Beasely's still out there."

"I can handle Beasely-"

"Think so? He got me and her without breaking a sweat. We have to get her out of here, at least. I'll take her, just give me your keys."

"You're not going anywhere until I know what happened here."

"Here?" Himbon threw his arms out, "They said something about her having a nice tail and then something about cutting it off. Then I heard an angry growl and then a thud. Then everything went black."

He placed a hand to his aching head and then pulled back his blood covered hand.

"I'm going to bleed to death."

Uub rolled his eyes and checked it.

"You'll be fine. It's a shallow cut, I've had worse."

"We have to get out of here," Himbon gripped Uub's arm hard, "For all we know Beasely could have this cabin wired to explode."

Uub turned to pick up Sasoli.

"She has a tail!" Himbon was absolutely appalled.

The reincarnated man spun around and grabbed the human by his shirt front.

"Do you have a problem with her having a tail?"

Himbon had never felt so scared in his entire life.

"No," he shook his head rapidly.

"Good," Uub released him and turned to study Sasoli. He went for her tail so he could place it in her lap. The last thing he wanted to do was to step on it.

Himbon held his breathe.

Sasoli's tail wrapped around his wrist, this made him sigh, and her body relaxed into a peaceful state.

"Not again," Uub scooped her up into his arms and was surprised at how she fit perfectly into his arms. She was a lot smaller then he thought she was, it must be her personality that made her seem so much bigger.

He turned to the door only to be blocked by Himbon.

"Again?" Himbon's blue eyes were dangerous slits, "You knew she had a tail the whole time? She's your ex-girlfriend . . ."

A light went on behind his eyes, making them almost colorless.

Uub clutched her a little tighter to his chest.

"Then you know why she has one. Tell me."

"I thought you wanted to get out of here," Uub tried to move past him and was blocked.

"Tell me," Himbon demanded, "They were going to cut it off, you know, I guess that's why Valjean's dead."

Uub glanced at the fallen man. It was true, one did not touch a saiyan's tail without permission though he had gotten a very different reaction.

"Did her family experiment on her?"

Uub blinked at the odd question, "No, just leave it alone. Pretend you never saw it."

"How can I? She's a . . ." Himbon quickly rethought his next word when Uub shot him a dark foreboding glare ". . . unique individual."

"Drop it," Uub was becoming angry . . well, angrier. This entire day was a personal tour of hell and now Himbon thought he had the right question him.

"I can't!"

The door swung open and Beasely stumbled in.

Himbon grabbed Uub's gun before he could protest and pointed it at Beasely.

Beasely's dark blue eyes widened with terror.

Himbon pulled the trigger.

Bulma was right as usual. Goku popped up next and demanded to know what happened to Sasoli and Vegeta then himself.

Then after Goku had understood what had happened was all a setup to catch Sasoli, he revealed what happened at the door.

The two detectives had appeared at the door, the blond one Vegeta didn't like, first and then his partners. One had demanded to see Uub immediately and the other one Sasoli.

Vegeta had refused to let the blond detective in the building even though Goku had pointed out he had the correct paperwork. The other detective would have been allowed in but the blonde had refused to let his partner in without him.

So Vegeta refused to let either in but had Goku call for them to come to the door.

Ava listened closely, she remembered 17 on the phone.

Then Sasoli came and argued with both of them when something caught her eye. She took off with both detectives on her tail, figuratively, of course.

Then her energy flared and disappeared altogether.

Vegeta took off, energy flaring impressively before he too went out.

Goku, torn between going and guarding the door, had waited until he saw Uub before he too went and his world went black.

Ava clicked the pieces together in her mind, if Vegeta had gone as quickly as Kakarot said then he might have seen who took Sasoli.

She pulled out her dreaded cell phone, it was brand-new. 17 had gotten it for her the other day insisting that it would be easier to keep track of each other this way. Especially since they were both working now.

She dialed the number.

The cabin was silent as Himbon continued to pull the trigger and Beasely patted himself unable to believe he was intact.

The empty gun clattered to the floor.

"Why isn't there any bullets in your gun?" Himbon asked, his voice surprisingly calm.

Beasely inhaled a shuddering breath, "Uub is known for never using his gun, no matter the situation."

"Then why did you flinch?" Himbon sneered.

"Let's see if you flinch," Beasely pulled a gun from behind his back.

Himbon squealed and ducked behind Uub, "I told you he's the killer!"

"What?" Beasely was outraged, "I'm not the killer! He is!"

Uub stood between the two furious men, one armed with Sasoli in his arms and was perfectly calm. It didn't matter who was the killer at this point, as long as he had Sasoli then she was safe.

The door swung open.

Beasely swung around and pulled the trigger.

17 took a bullet to the head.

"17!" Ava became alarmed at the sudden silence over the phone. "17!"

A grunt, "One moment, Ava."

She relaxed instantly at the sound of his voice and eyed her twin.

He saw something.

She knew he saw something.

End of Chapter