Dragonball Z: The Catalyst
Act I:
Chapter 6: Allegiance
It was much different than a scouter. On a scouter it was just a number. In many ways that was terrifying as well, but this was something completely different. Raditz could feel both Vegeta and Nappa's power levels, and it was astounding. He sent almost a tremor through his body, especially Vegeta.
The shock-waves of power from Nappa destroying the human city in the distance had been fantastic, he'd not seen anything like that since Antios, when Nappa blasted those bug men into atoms with that attack.
They would come to take him back into the fold, he was sure of it. Especially when Vegeta saw his new strength.
"You should consider leaving this place, now," Raditz said.
"The side of the mountain, with this leg? Why don't you just fly us out of here?"
"My comrades have arrived. I sincerely doubt you'll live long regardless. You are going to kill everyone on earth aren't you?" Violet pointed out bluntly. "I suspect that includes me, whether I am on the side of the mountain or the bottom of it."
Raditz felt irritated, especially over the fact she wasn't listening to him. Though he really hated the fact she was right.
"Why do you care exactly anyway?"
"I've been trying to figure that out for days," Raditz informed her bluntly, not sounding impressed, his voice mixed with annoyance.
Violet started to smirk. She'd been dealing with men her entire lives, especially ego driven muscle bound idiots like Raditz. It was very convenient for her more than anything that she'd ran into Raditz now. He'd been her ticket out of West City, and as far as she was concerned, he was her ticket out of a genocide as well.
"Oh I get it now. The genocidal maniac who sells planets claims he doesn't get why he's sparring someone? You are terrible at concealing your feelings," Violet said, sounding bored and disinterested almost as she spoke.
Really, it was useful that the idiot seemed to care. She knew full well she'd manipulated him several times, including saving her from the police.
Raditz's eyes went wide with surprise. She'd been more combative than ever since he'd picked her up from that 'bank' in West City. Worse yet, he'd just allowed her to be combative. If he were smart he'd have beaten that temperament out of her by now. But given she had no value, why would he beat her when he should just kill her?
And now she was making claims that he held some kind of hidden feelings for her.
"Don't press me woman," Raditz warned.
"Or what? You'll kill me?" Violet dared.
This planet was dangerous. Kakarot had been sucked into this world, and now sought only to protect it. Perhaps... perhaps this world used some kind of strange talent from its human occupants to lure foreign, more powerful beings to its defence. Maybe that was why Spade helped him, or perhaps why this woman was driving him into insanity?
He stared at her, convincing himself almost for a moment, that Violet had used special powers on him, at the behest of planet Earth itself, to try and manipulate him to save itself.
It was at that point Raditz started to think he was losing his mind. She'd been a fascinating creature from the moment he saw her execute half the people on that bus to get the Dragon Ball, and kill her own ally to gain more for herself. She was cunning and brutal, everything a saiyan aspired to be in many senses, it was strange to see a human emulate these traits. The fact she didn't hurt to look at as well, obviously helped.
"This is the last time I'll warn you woman. Get out of here before my comrades arrive, and you just might live."
Before Violet could respond.
"Making deals with the locals are we Raditz?"
Vegeta's voice somehow silenced everything. Raditz, before he responded verbally, knelt down on one knee.
"Prince Vegeta." He started, before looking up at Vegeta. "I-"
"Was wasting your time talking to this Earthling? Tell me Raditz, what have you accomplished in the last year?" Vegeta asked harshly.
He, of course, read Raditz's power level, but that was no excuse for the fact this planet was still brimming with humans. There was also no evidence so far that he had the Dragon Balls. Just what the hell had he been doing?
"I was trying to gather the Dragon Balls, Prince Vegeta."
"Oh? And how many have you gathered."
Raditz felt himself shrinking before Vegeta's scrutiny.
"I. Well. Prince Vegeta, I had almost all of the seven balls."
"Had?" Vegeta's voice was dangerous, and his features were looking less than impressed.
"Well, yes. You see my Prince I lost them when I was ambushed by the defenders of the planet."
"And how many of them did you kill for this indiscretion against our agenda?"
Raditz normally would have said a dozen, were this any other world. He'd never been stopped from doing his mission without taking a bloody toll of his enemy. What did he have to show for it? He maimed a green man who healed himself.
"None. Prince Vegeta."
"Well if you have failed at these things, at least you have eradicated most of them humans then?" Vegeta already knew the answer.
Nappa was starting to chuckle in the background as he smirked down at Raditz, implying he knew full well what kind of treatment Raditz was about to receive.
"I've killed tens of thousands of them Prince Vegeta."
"Oh? I was under the impression there were a few billion of them. Well good job Raditz, those thousands will surely make a dent."
"So let's begin to appraise your performance over the last year. You've been defeated, multiple times, by weaklings. You've failed to gather my Dragon Balls, and you've failed to eradicate the humans, and I caught you just now trying to save one of them. Tell me Raditz one thing you've done other than increase your pathetic power level?"
Raditz was left at a loss of words over his Prince's scathing appraisal. He knew full well he'd utterly failed, and expected the worst. Before he'd just expected a beating, now he was expecting an execution.
"He's done nothing but serve you the entire time," Violet cut in. "He wouldn't even use the Dragon Balls for his own gain until you arrived." She added.
"Who is this woman to speak with me?"
"I've been assisting Raditz gather the Dragon Balls, Sir," Violet started to explain. Raditz turned to her, his eyes clearly from the expression on his face, telling her not to say another word.
"Oh? So you are equally responsible for this failure then? Or tell me Raditz, is it all this human's fault?" Vegeta mocked.
"Its not her fault, Prince Vegeta," Raditz immediately spoke up.
"I disagree. Raditz, kill the woman."
Raditz felt himself freeze in that moment, his eyes looking at Vegeta and Nappa. Kill her? He felt his arms grow almost weak before he turned to her for a moment. There she was, propped against a rock, her leg bandaged from where she'd been shot by the primitive weapons on this world. She seemed... resigned, before she smirked at Raditz.
"You always told me you'd get around to killing me eventually," she reminded Raditz.
She could see now her plans to survive by being on Raditz's good side were hardly going to succeed. Even her survival instincts were not fooled by her normal optimistic view on how to get out of a situation. There was really no reason for him to die along with her, given he'd tried to avoid this outcome all together. It was almost heroic of him.
Raditz powered the energy blast, forming it in his hand, slowly pushing his hand out and preparing to fire. His face was stressed, unable to hide all his anxiety and distress over being forced to do this.
Vegeta watched with the ice cold eyes he'd been given from years of serving with Frieza. Raditz was troubled, it was clear to Vegeta that Raditz had developed feelings for this human.
"Nappa." Vegeta said, turning and smirking to him.
"Yea, Vegeta?"
Vegeta just nodded to him, giving his elder saiyan a message without words. It was clear what he wanted done. Nappa started to chuckle, nodding back.
"Well Raditz?" Vegeta barked.
Raditz turned about, facing towards his master.
"I don't see the point in killing this one," he finally said, almost defiantly.
"Are you disobeying my orders, Raditz?" Vegeta asked, his eyes showing pure rage.
He could see how weak Raditz was becoming. A few thousand humans? So what? They'd all killed billions, tens of billions. This world was making him soft. He couldn't function like this, would he get all sentimental the next time he was asked to level a city? Oh please, don't make me level the schools, I don't like to massacre children? Or don't make me blow up the hospital?
Vegeta's disgust was so apparent that Raditz couldn't find the words to answer.
Colonel Violet's heart was racing now as she saw the big one looking at her, smiling with sinister intent. That was the same kind of look Raditz gave before he killed someone.
And with that thought, there was a massive blast next to wear she was resting against the rocks. An avalanche from above slid down, crashing down the mountainside.
Raditz was knocked free from the blast by the wave which followed it. Hovering in the air he turned to the smouldering rocks and sliding mountainside. He froze in horror, slowly realizing what just happened. His eyes never left where Violet should be, now all that was there was rocks as the mountain slide finally stopped. He felt paralysed. He couldn't speak.
"Failure will not be tolerated Raditz." Vegeta said, his smirk returning to his features. "Neither will weakness."
The cancer had been cut out, and Raditz reminded of his place, as far as Vegeta was concerned.
"Get yourself in order, and meet us to finish off these humans which have given you so much trouble. Maybe you'll be able to redeem yourself."
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A hooded figure stood near a pool of transparent energy in a dark room or space, another two hooded figures across from him as the tallest and most 'familiar' of the three, the one with the greenest skin, scowled angrily.
"Vegeta wasn't supposed to do that."
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With that, Vegeta felt his own power flowing towards rapid flight.
"Let's go crush the two strongest fools first Nappa." Vegeta said to Nappa.
"With pleasure."
With that the pair took off, leaving Raditz behind.
As they rocketed into the distance, Raditz immediately flew towards the shattered mountainside, pulling up rubble, tossing huge boulders aside and scattering fragmented rock with his energy, attempting to dig deeper to find where the tiny power had once been, it was taking too long. It was almost a half hour before he started to make real progress.
Light broke through through the darkness for the lone human inside the broken mountainside. Her lungs were filling with blood, each breathe was becoming more and more difficult, more and more ragged. Her bullet wound in her leg was the least of her concerns, because now both her legs were broken, as was her right arm. She felt hot blood trickling down from her forehead and mouth, as well as hotly running down her sides.
She was a bloody ruin. They'd not even been courteous enough to make it quick.
Her eyes noted the figure that finally pulled the last boulder away.
He just stood there, looking at her. His pride was too much that he couldn't kneel at her side. She weakly smiled, he'd gone through all the trouble of liberating her from the avalanche, but wouldn't go through the trouble of being near her side, which she could see he was fighting with himself to do.
"I'm... dead, Raditz." She managed, her voice sounding thick with blood.
"You aren't dead yet." Raditz told her, sounding irritated, before finally kneeling next to the broken body. "I'm sure this is nothing that can't be fixed."
He didn't mention the broken bones, or the fragments of rock now sticking out of her. She was right, she was dead, and he knew she was too, but he just couldn't say it yet.
Weakly, her only arm remaining unbroken, her left arm, moved out, grasping his hand for a moment.
"I didn't think dying would be this painful," she admitted, sounding irritated by that fact.
Raditz looked at the hand quietly, before looking up at her. He knew all too well how painful death could be. He'd killed so many, in so many different ways, slowly or quickly. He couldn't even remember how he killed all of them. He'd massacred cities, planets, parents, children, it didn't matter. And it still didn't matter, even now. He didn't care about any of them or their foolish lives.
It was this one that stuck, this one was the one he'd not wanted to see. He'd even fought off his pride to try and save her.
"Raditz."
He didn't respond.
.
"I've killed a lot of people. Hundreds of people," she said weakly. "I've killed people who thought they were my friends. I've used everyone, everyone to get more. You were my ticket to staying alive. I was... going to make it. Survive."
She smiled bitterly.
"A lot of good that did," she said, before a cough full of blood came up. "..."
Raditz's face was was almost void of emotion as he watched the woman dying, making her final words to him. It wasn't because he was void of emotion, his insides felt cold, as if he couldn't quite keep something contained.
"You are a monster Raditz," she finally whispered, her eyes filling with tears, tears at the thought of her own death largely. "But you were supposed to... sa... m."
Her eyes started to go dim, her head starting to nod off. Raditz moved his hand to support it, as if holding her head up would stop her from fading away. She had no more words, she was completely still.
"Woman?" he asked quietly. The only response he received was the cold wind, blasting through the air on the mountain.
"Violet?" He tried her name this time, something he never did. His voice as much more quiet this time, either he was in shock, or he'd lost his voice, he almost didn't hear the name pass his own lips.
Raditz looked down at her hand, which had tried holding his only a minute ago. It was lifeless, off to the side. He felt something itching at his eyes as he knelt down there. It couldn't end like this. He decided that at that moment, carefully pulling the broken body into his arms, her head falling back without anything holding it in place. She was like a marionette with cut strings.
With that, he took off, blasting towards West City.
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A Hospital. The humans had them as most cultures did. Raditz's large frame burst through the front doors, knocking down the automated sliding doors before storming towards the counter.
"Fix her." he said, placing the bloody body in front of the receptionist, who screamed.
"Cease screaming!"
The woman just looked terrified, before picking up the phone.
"W-we need doc-ctors to emergency."
When the doctors arrived with a stretcher, they quickly took violet, carefully however, placing her on the stretcher and checking her pulse. The first doctor paused, his eyebrows knit before looking at Raditz.
"I'm sorry, but. She's dead."
"Unacceptable." Was the blunt response. With that, Raditz opened his palm and blasted the doctor to ash.
How dare he mock him? What kind of doctor was he anyway?!
Patients and staff began screaming.
"Fix her." He then demanded, grabbing another man in a coat.
"I can't she's dead!" The man screamed. A look of disgust and anger came across Raditz's face, before he throw the man through the side of the building. She wasn't dead yet. By now, most of the staff and patients had run for their lives, leaving Raditz alone, as he stormed through several rooms. A half dozen more staff met Raditz's wrath.
But even as he went looking for more doctors to 'fix' Violet, he started to finally calm down.
Raditz found himself next to the stretcher, carefully arranging the broken body respectfully. There was a void now, a void as he realized she was very much dead.
Vegeta and Nappa.
His hand slowly slid from hers. She died only as he came to terms with how he felt. She was taken from him by his own allies. And taken for what? She was just as ruthless as they were. What would have she been not willing to do?
"Another botched job, Raditz? Well that's no surprise, given that we sent you to do the job."
Vegeta's voice rang in his mind.
Raditz felt himself starting to tremble with rage.
"This planet was pathetic, there was barely any challenges here. Well, except for maybe Raditz. Hey Raditz, I hope the children on this planet didn't give you too hard a time!?"
Nappa's words range through his mind now as well. He'd been loyal for so long. He'd never asked for anything, all he'd asked was for respect. They couldn't even give him that.
His teeth clenched together as he looked down at the dead woman. What could he do to kill Vegeta and Nappa? He was nothing compared to them! He was weak, if he hadn't been weak, this would have never happened!
"Failure will not be tolerated Raditz." Vegeta said, his smirk returning to his features. "Neither will weakness."
That was it. Something broke behind his eyes as the words were uttered again and again in his mind. There was an inhuman scream of anger, coupled with grief. The whole building rumbled violently, then the whole block as Raditz was completely unable to contain himself. His body blasted through the roof of the building, careful ironically, to have not harmed the corpse of Violet, though not caring for the living patients themselves.
His mind felt out across the world, feeling all the powers on the planet centralizing in one space. In the badlands.
An aura surrounding his body, Raditz blasted off towards it, his eyes maddened.
"NAPPA! VEGETA!"
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A/N: For me this was a really difficult chapter to write. Not the part with Vegeta chewing out Raditz, but everything to do with Violet and Raditz, as in my mind its not simple.
To be blunt, Raditz's attraction to Violet is because she's a reflection of a Saiyan. She acts like he'd expect most saiyan women to act. Now given her power level is 40, you can obviously guess she doesn't fight like one. But her actions aren't so different, neither are her attitudes. And let's not forget she's easy on the eyes, and looks familiar to a saiyan in anatomy. Then when you also take into account the recent help he'd received from humans asking nothing in return, he was bound to be heading towards a disaster like having 'feelings'. Though I hope I was able to show he still has a complete disregard for life that he finds annoying or unimportant.
For Colonel Violet herself, its even more complicated. I think she may be a sociopath, or is at least a borderline Sociopath. Which means in reality she may not really be able to feel for Raditz, and I think much of her death scene was feeling bad for herself. She used Raditz as much as she saw Raditz using her. As soon as she figured out that the world was going to end, it was all about saving her own ass. Can she feel for Raditz? I dunno. But its not entirely important right now as she's dead, and that probably won't change for a while if ever. I'll have to do some stff with her eventually, whether in flashbacks or the afterlife, as we go along however, as I really liked writing Violet.
Next chapter largely focuses on Piccolo and the humans fighting the saiyans. Expect Nappa and Vegeta to take up more than a few chapters. :)
Power Levels Update:
Nappa: 4700
Raditz: 3550
Piccolo: 3500
Krillen: 1410
Tien: 1400
Yamcha: 1325
Gohan: 1300
Chaotzu: 1000
Colonel Violet: 0 XD