Chapter Twenty Nine

The two human detectives froze after Beasely dropped his gun.

Uub exhaled and was grateful 17 couldn't be killed by a simple bullet.

17 rubbed his forehead briefly before deliberately stepping on the gun, crushing it to pieces.

"What is he?" Himbon peeked around Uub.

Beasely backed away from the android and actually joined Himbon.

17 ignored them and crossed to Uub, "I'll take her."

"You can't," Himbon burst out, "We don't even know who you are!"

Beasely agreed, "He's right. He can't take a potential witness without a badge."

The two detectives glanced at each other and quickly retreated to opposite corners.

"Who are they?" 17 glanced at Beasely, "A bit trigger happy."

"You have no idea," Uub glanced at Himbon, "They're both murder suspects at the moment."

"What!" Himbon exploded, "Who was tied up and left for dead here?"

"Valjean betray you?" Beasely sneered.

17 tucked his phone in the corner of his neck, "Give her to me. I'll take her back to Capsule Corp."

"You can't. What if he tries to hurt her?" Beasely protested.

"I'm her father," 17 rolled his eyes, "Come on, give."

"I can't," Uub adjusted his hold.

"Give her to me," 17's brows lowered, "Not now, Ava."

Uub sighed and managed to display his wrist.

"Again," 17 dropped his arms and spoke into his phone rapidly, "She's fine but they've managed to reattach. What? I'm not going to tell him that!"

17 wandered away to argue with his wife in privacy.

Uub turned to the other detectives when Beasely's eyes widened, "She has a tail!"

Himbon was blessedly silent though he was all ears.

"Don't worry about it," Uub glared.

"But-"

"Get over it," Uub ordered and was pleased when Beasely just nodded uneasily.

"How can you say that?" Himbon was cross, "She has a fucking tail. And why are you shirtless? And what's that smell?"

Beasely dropped a shoulder self-consciously, "I was also wondering."

Uub's expression darkened to an impressive degree, "I had a bad day."

"But what about her tail?" Himbon insisted then glanced covertly at 17, "Does he have a tail?"

"No, he doesn't."

"Was it an experiment?" Beasely glanced at her.

"Ava wants you to try petting it," 17 wandered back and waited expectantly.

The detectives quieted.

Uub turned his back on all of them. He wasn't going to do it with them watching. He readjusted his hold to free hand enough to gently stroke the soft fur on her tail.

Sasoli's eyelids fluttered as she smiled and rubbed her cheek against his chest. Her tail loosened until it relinquished it's grip altogether.

Intrigued, Uub wanted to continue stroking it to see if he could wake her up through stimulation alone but, as always, it was not the time or place. She went completely limp once more.

Well, at least he would be able to get here out of here . . .

Uh-oh.

"You made it worse," 17 snapped into the phone, "It's around his waist now. What should he do now? What do you mean you don't know? Excuse me."

He stomped away.

Uub sat on the bed and leaned her upper body between his chest and right arm. He made her as comfortable as he was able to at the moment.

"You're stuck together?" Beasely phrased it as delicately as he could.

Uub nodded.

17 reappeared, "She wants to know why her tail attached to you in the first place."

Himbon and Beasely were all ears.

"I picked her up and she went limp-"

"Limp?"

"She was . . . twitching. Himbon said they were trying to cut off her tail."

17 relayed the message, "Hold on, she's talking to Bulma."

Uub was tired, he just wanted the day to end. He glanced wearily at the detectives, "You both say you're innocent and the other is the killer."

"Yes," they both answered then glared.

"Alright," Uub shifted his hold on Sasoli and stood up, "We're going to the police station. One of your stories can fall apart there."

"We can't," Beasely paused, "I mean, you can't go into the station like that, Uub."

"I hate to agree but . . ." Himbon trailed off.

"I see," 17 was back, "Ok, Bulma said that her adrenaline must have kicked in and was fighting off the chemical agent at an accelerated rate.

"Her tail attaching to you is a sign of her coming out of her drugged state. She might just be sleeping off the rest of the effects though if you try to wake her. . .

"What? Vegeta? Ok, wake him up then and we'll know for sure if he saw Sasoli's attackers. Hmm . . ."

He left.

Himbon and Beasely tensed though in anticipation of the end or horror of being caught Uub wasn't sure.

He glanced at the female in his arms.

"Might just be sleeping . . ."

"Sasoli?" He called her name softly.

No response.

Just his luck, "I wonder if Vegeta saw anything."

"Who's Vegeta?" Beasely asked nervously.

"He guards the door," Himbon surprised Uub by knowing, "He's a brainless thug. Not a suitable witness at all."

Uub sighed, this was getting old fast.

Adrenaline, that was the key.

Ava climbed onto her brother's bed and put her hand on his chest. His heartbeat was slow and steady. She brought her fist down hard. The pace picked up.

"Vegeta," she ordered, "Wake up."

She hit him again . . . and again.

Vegeta frowned and actually swiped at her to leave him alone.

"You're just sleeping now," Ava rolled her brother onto his side, "You've brought this on yourself."

She aimed her fist for his tail spot.

Cupid was at a loss.

He hadn't expected Uub to suspect both of them.

Smug bastard, he acted like he didn't even care who really tried to kill Sasoli.

The tail thing Cupid didn't understand at all. If Uub had really dated her before then shouldn't he know the tricks to it?

And her dad . . . wasn't human . . . couldn't possibly be. . . He shrugged off the bullet in the head like a fly had accidentally collided with him.

Cupid eyed the broken gun with regret, the weapon had so much potential and the father broke it. His wits were his only allies now and the knife Valjean was kind enough to leave lying around.

He eyed the bothersome detective.

Damn him! He wasn't supposed to be up and about ruining his plans but it couldn't be helped at the moment.

If he killed the detective now then Uub would know for sure who the killer was . . . and he couldn't afford that . . not yet.

It seemed the only way to get these people was to catch them off guard.

Cupid eyed the man on the cell phone, that one had to go and soon.

Vegeta tumbled off the bed with a yelp and immediately popped up to give a death glare.

"Because you are my sister, Ava, I will give you ten seconds to explain before I kill you."

Ava brushed off the death threat, "Vegeta, did you see who took Sasoli?"

Vegeta's death glare diminished into annoyance, "Of course, I did."

"What did they look like Vegeta? Who were they?"

"I'll tell you," Vegeta yanked on his sister's tail hard enough to bring her to the floor with him.

Ava let out a pained yell and pouted at her brother.

"Do you want to know or not?"

"Yes, I do."

"Sasoli, wake up," Uub sat down on the bed again so he could touch her face lightly, "I need you to wake up."

Himbon and Beasely stood back about five feet away from them, any closer and Uub would glare at them until they backed off. They were otherwise ignored and feeling left out.

17 rolled his eyes at Uub's attempts to wake his daughter. She wasn't going to wake up until she was good and ready. She was a lot like her mother that way.

"Ava? Hmm, is that right? Are you sure that's who the killer is? Ok, I'll tell him."

17 turned unknowingly into the downward stroke of a knife meant for the back of his head. It's tip penetrated the skin of his neck and pierced a random relay that controlled his motor functions.

17's energy jumped into the metal of the knife and into his assailant's hand, electrocuting him and the detective who tried to stop the attack.

He hit the ground unhurt but unable to move, speak, or even blink.

Uub glanced up to see three bodies hit the ground unmoving and possibly dead.

He sighed.

"17?" Ava cocked her head to the side, "Did you tell him? 17?"

Vegeta frowned at the growing distress on his sister's face, "Do you know where he is?"

Ava shook her head, "17?"

" . . . Um, hello?"

"You're not 17," Ava's brow lowered, "Where's 17?"

17's cell phone was sacred to him and he didn't let anyone talk on it.

No one.

"Well, he has a knife sticking out of his neck, don't get me wrong, he's fine . . . he's just not moving."

"I see," Ava didn't know if she should be alarmed or not, "I'll get Bulma."

She clicked the phone shut, effectively ending the call.

"No wait," Uub clicked the phone shut, "Damn it."

He placed the phone next to 17 and then crossed to the two detectives.

"Ok, I should tie you up but I can't because Sasoli . . ."

He trailed off as Sasoli's tail slipped of his waist.

"Why thank you."

He placed her on the bed.

"Rope," he glanced around and found a large coil of it, "Convenient."

He hummed softly as he tied up his fellow detectives when a sound he had been waiting to hear since this whole mess began broke the silence.

"Uub?"

He was at her side in an instant.

"Sasoli."

She sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"What's going on? Where's Valjean?" Sasoli stiffened and glanced over her shoulder. She relaxed and smiled at Uub, who she still notice was still shirtless.

Uub returned the smile and got her up to speed. She accepted everything with a surprising amount of ease. The hard part was showing what had happened to her dad.

"Dad!" Sasoli reached for the knife to pull it out.

"No," Uub stopped her, "You should never pull out an object that is embedded in the skin like that, you should always take them to the hospital first."

Sasoli nodded reluctantly and turned to the two detectives who were tied up. She frowned and scrutinized them closely with their lax unconscious faces.

Himbon stirred and his eyelids fluttered open to scream.

The scream brought Beasely around quickly who stared at Sasoli with some surprise.

"Why am I tied up? You're in on it! I should have known," Himbon was hysterical, "It was all a plot to assassinate me!"

Sasoli slapped him, "That's quite enough, Himbon."

Himbon glared death at her.

Beasely swallowed nervously, "Aren't you supposed to be unconscious for the day?"

Sasoli cocked her head to the side, "I know who the killer is."

"You do?" Uub was surprised, "How?"

Sasoli nodded, "I know because he tried to kill me before."

Ava found Bulma at Bardock's bedside. He had just snapped awake and was being caught up to speed.

"Bulma, 17's been stabbed in the neck!"

The scientist glanced up with interest, "And?"

"He's not moving at all but Uub says he's fine," Ava was very concerned, "Is that right?"

Bardock looked to Bulma.

Bulma chewed her lip in thought, "Yeah, I think so."

"You think or you know?" Ava was short.

"I know, it's just all of his main connections are in his neck. Dr. Gero must have thought he was clever, since, really, it was unnecessary. 16 wasn't made the same way, which saved him from Cell-"

"Bulma," Ava cut her off sharply, "How do we fix him?"

She arched a brow.

"It depends on what connection was interrupted or severed. However, since he's not moving I'd say his motor functions-"

"Bulma," Ava snapped.

"Just pull out the knife," Bulma harrumphed.

Ava dashed out of the room.

"Go on," Bardock was intensely interested in what Bulma had to say. True, he had promised 17 , his new friend, that he would not experiment and/or check out the android's blueprints but he hadn't made any promises about discussing his technology.

Bulma was immensely pleased.

Finally, someone who could appreciate her genius.

"Well, you see . . ."

"What!" Uub couldn't believe his ears, "Say again?"

"You heard me," Sasoli turned her tail swirling around her drawing all male eyes in the room, "I . . ."

She trailed off as the eyes shot up to meet her guiltily. She glanced down, half expecting to find an article of clothing undone, what she found was her tail.

She yelped and went to wrap it around her waist when a sharp pain hit her.

She smoothed a hand over her tail with a barely suppressed whimper.

Uub placed a hand on her shoulder, "It's a bit late to hide it, Sasoli."

"I don't care," she glared at the tied up humans. She pulled out her shirt so she could loop her tail loosely around her hips instead of tightly around her waist. "I don't want them looking at it."

"Why do you have a tail?" Beasely was curious.

"Yes, I think we have a right to know," Himbon stated nastily, "Especially since you intend to kill us both."

"Don't be ridiculous," Uub rolled his eyes, "The murderer will go to jail and the innocent one will go free. Sasoli, which one?"

Sasoli opened her mouth to say when Himbon mentioned the one thing that could turn Uub's attention from the matter at hand.

"I know who Scalpel is."

End of Chapter