Irrefusable offers

Waking up with a scare, Bulma sleepily looked around confused. It took her moment to realize where she was. Sometimes this situation was still too unreal to believe… Taking a deep breath, she swung her legs out the bed. Her father was already in the bathroom, her mother still asleep. Hearing that her father was done, she got up. Not much of a morning person himself, they quietly greeted one another and Bulma went inside the bathroom to get ready for the day. The moment she got out of her shower and put on the light grey jumpsuit, the standard outfit of the science department, and started walking in monotone steps to the huge elevator with the other captivated earthlings, she knew exactly where she was and what she was doing.

As she walked, she angry looked at the scouter in her hand, still having no clue what to do with it. Today her shoulders felt heavy, her mind less strong. She hadn't slept well at all.

When she walked towards the office given to her by Dr. Ilkm, the head of the science department, there was a crowd surrounding the training bot she had been working on. Prying eyes and whispers could be heard and the large leading figure standing in the center of it all, made it clear that Ilkm had taken a personal interest in her upgraded version of the bot. His beady little eyes greedily took her in and his all too friendly voice when asking her how she was doing on the project made her want to snap at him. But remembering her position, she had never been good working for someone, she did her best to stay calm and act appropriately.

'It is doing quite well,' Bulma muttered while ignoring his eyes on her. 'I think it will be finished this afternoon.'
A few whispers followed and Dr. Ilkm made a sound of approval and overly acted how impressed he was with her work. His eyes went to the scouter she had just placed on the desk.
'And this?' he curiously asked taking it without permission.
'Nothing,' Bulma admitted through her teeth, annoyed she had not been able to much more than translate it. However, when she told him that he seemed impressed. As a matter a fact, he seemed speechless.
'It's not been upgraded, just translated,' Bulma said, not understanding how he could keep up this obnoxious act while she had done nothing special.
'That is more than enough,' he muttered astonished that she had done all of this in just one day.
'Consider it an upgrade for your race,' he pointed out. 'Very good… Very good! Excellent works, Bulma!'
'Dr. Briefs,' she corrected him. The stern look that came with the comment made him grin, and realizing she wanted to be left alone and finish her work, he asked everyone to leave Dr. Briefs alone. He would checkup on her again this afternoon. Bulma didn't bother to respond and simply rolled her eyes when he turned his back on her.

'Later, Dr. Briefs!' he said with a grin, obviously mocking her.

With a growl she turned her attention to the training bot and simply started to focus on her work again. With a sigh, she sat down and inspected the bot. A smirk formed on her lips.
Sometimes, when she had worked too long, she would go home feeling as if nothing had gone right and her work simply wasn't good enough. Only to then see it in the morning and realize how genius she could be at times.
Perhaps it was a bit of an arrogant thing to think but over the years she had concluded it was a fact. She had not only proven it to others but herself too, her work was exceptional.
Though it burned when realizing this very passionate work was for the enemy.

But if all goes right… She smirked knowingly, it will be our victory.

Quickly it was noon and Bulma decided her upgraded version of the training bot was ready to be tested. Dr. Ilkm had kept "checking up" on her several times, though he had said he'd swing by in the afternoon. It was rather obvious he could hardly conceal his curiosity to see what the training bot would be able to do.
With tired sigh, ignoring his rant of how beautiful and talented she was, she allowed him to take it with him and let it get tested during the prince's afternoon training.

'How many times does he train a day?' Bulma asked mindlessly.

Ilkm didn't answer, too consumed by his greediness to see her invention and before she knew it, he was already out the door. One of his assistants answered her instead. The prince practically trains the whole day, hence why there is no real deadline unless he demands for something new.
'Then it is all hens on deck,' he joked.

'Why is he so obsessed with getting stronger?'

Bulma could hear how dull her voice sounded, probably because, in reality, she didn't really care. She was just making some small talk. The man shrugged, reminding her of their warrior-nature.
'It's what they do,' he simply stated.
His eyes went to the door and suddenly he came closer to her. Bulma hesitantly awaited what he going to say, feeling her muscles tense up at his proximity.
'You know, Ilkm is going to take all the credit for your work… That's what he does, it's how he became head of our department!'

Bulma already had a faint idea of his motivation. So, it didn't surprise her the least. In reaction she simply snickered and let out a deep sigh. When she suddenly thought of the little extra, she had put in, she had to stop herself from laughing out loud.

If Ilkm was going to take credit for her work, he would be in for one hell of a surprise. Just like the prince…

Now utterly bored and hating the fact again that she and her father were not working in the same space, she didn't know how to spend her time efficiently. Looking around, noticing no one was paying any attention to her, her eyes glanced at the scouter. With nothing to do, Ilkm hadn't given her any instructions, she picked it up and put it on. Analyzing her co-workers, she got surprised by how high some of the numbers were. Her fellow Earthling co-worker was pathetically low compared to most.
But this does explain why we need guards around, she thought to herself.
Curious, she then took look at the Saiyans. Their power-levels were impressive. Noticing the scouter could go beyond the borders of the room, she kept looking around. Her heart started to beat rapidly when noticing just how high the level on the scouter got when she sensed other Saiyans, higher class than the ones guarding.

Ki-power… That is what they call it. Ki? What is Ki?

Thinking of beams of light and balls of destruction, she decided it was simply a measurement unit of some sort. Even she had Ki. Her blue eyes went wide when it suddenly hit her. She had always believed the Dragon Balls to be magical. But what if Dragon Balls possessed Ki-power?
What if the Dragon Ball-radar was able to detect Ki? With the difference being that it could search for a specific amount of Ki that belonged only to the Dragon Balls?

I could use this software and download it to the drones! This could work!

Finding the new revelation more than interesting, she kept looking around in awe of her surroundings. These things weren't in need of any upgrade, they gave every bit of information it could offer about its target. The sensors were so good they could tell you the size, weight and even give an indication of how your opponent look. While her blue eyes went through the room, her heart froze when seeing a Saiyan she dreaded to meet again. Raditz!

His power-level is around 1200… That's quite high compared to most Saiyans here.

Bulma swallowed, wondering if she could escape his attention. He seemed bored and annoyed. Saiyans didn't quite hide the fact they dreaded these guard duties. So far, she had been so consumed in her work she had failed to notice and truly look at the Saiyans surrounding her. The thought of escaping suddenly seemed completely impossible. If she had thought Raditz was an intimidating man, she had been wrong. His height, muscular form wasn't all that abnormal among Saiyans. To see them in groups, made her aware how incredible this army was. Their strength was far beyond that of Earthlings. We wouldn't even be able to grasp it…

Pushing a few buttons, she searched for lower power-levels. Average Earthling was around 5, 6.
The fact that they were so far apart in power, made her panic. For a moment she couldn't oppress shivers of fear taking over her body. It all seemed so unreal, so impossible. As if they were fighting an army of gods. Completely powerless against forces that were far beyond her and any of the people on this planet. All Earth's armies had ceased fighting, as it was useless against the godlike Saiyans.
And just as she was beginning to feel hopeless the scouter picked up on something she hadn't even dared to dream of.

From the power, size and what the scouter was showing, a Dragon Ball was nearby.

They have one here!? Kami is alive! We are saved!

Bulma didn't even think about what this could mean, if the Saiyans knew something or if this was a matter of pure luck.
Getting up from her desk, with the scouter still on, she tried to locate the Dragon Ball more specific. It seemed to be quite close. Realizing there was just a wall dividing her from it, she discreetly moved closer to the door.
If she got caught, she would simply say she had wandered off out of boredom since they had failed to give her a task. A poor excuse indeed, but what choice did she have?
Noting she would have to pass a guard and worse, be quite close to Raditz, her blue eyes warily went through the room. When seeing the assistant from earlier enter the other room, she decided to simply follow and pretend to be his assistant or at least be interested in whatever he was doing.
With a quick pace she followed the assistant, not even glancing at the guard, as if she knew where she was going and what she was doing. She was able to fool him and didn't dare to look behind her if Raditz had notice her or not.

The room was full of Earth's possessions. Seemingly brought in to see if any of it had value on a universal level. Sources of energy, some luxury products to simple useless objects of no worth, it was all here.
Scanning the room quickly, noticing she wasn't alone as a few scientists were walking around, some of them were Earthlings, Bulma bit her lip, straightened her back and subtly walked towards her desired object, that was hidden between trivial things that could be consider junk.

One of the stars shone brightly and immediately caught her eye. The rush made her so nervous, she was hardly able to conceal a smile. As her hand reached out to grab it another hand grabbed hers. Jumping at the touch and surprised since no-one had been around her just seconds ago, Bulma looked up with wide eyes at her captor.

His eyes held nothing but amusement, like the smirk on his face. If anything, he seemed thrilled about his catch. He didn't hurt her wrist or a made scene, he simply held onto her. Lowering his posture to talk to her, quietly and calm.
'What are you doing?'
Bulma tried not to bite into her lip, Kakarot hadn't been a very pleasant person but he hadn't been exactly mean or aggressive. She could talk her way out of this. Getting it together, noticing he was eying the scouter on her face, she quickly came up with a decent lie.
'I followed the scouter and it led me here… I'm afraid I got carried away and then simply saw something pretty…'

Keeping her eyes away from the Dragon Ball and on Kakarot, she awaited his reaction. To her surprise his free hand grabbed out exactly what she had been searching for, the Dragon Ball.
He eyed it for a moment. The seven stars and bright colors made it an intriguing object, despite its power.
'It is nice, isn't it?' he muttered.
Bulma couldn't put her finger on it but she felt as if he was playing her in some way. Last time he spoke to her, he had given her somewhat of the same feeling. Back then she had thought it was because she assumed, he thought he had found the woman his brother had been speaking of.
Now, the look in his eyes felt for some reason more malicious than before.

'You really want this?' he asked intrigued.
'I was just curious,' Bulma shrugged while giving him a smile, pretending it didn't mean all too much to her.
He answered her smile, though again Bulma felt threatened by it for some reason. As if he could see trough her façade.
I'll have to be careful around him…
'Tell you what, you can have it,' he simply said, placing it in the hand he was still holding on to.
Loosening the grip on her wrist, he now awaited her reaction.
Stunned, she gave him a puzzled look instead of a proper reaction.

'You just lost everything, if you like it so much you can have it. It's probably useless anyway. It will be our little secret,' he said whispering the last part.
'Why?' Bulma blurted out. The alarm-bells inside were ringing loud and clear.
Noticing her change in behavior, he once again invaded her personal space by pulling her closer to him. When he did, Bulma felt how light her bodyweight must be to him. She felt like feather pulled along with the wind, completely powerless.

'The greater your debt, the better for me.'

Why did those words sound ominous than any threat she had heard so far?
Watching her blue eyes widen in fear before she snatched her wrist lose from his grip, he only eyes her with an amused glint in his eyes. What defiant woman…

'And why would you want that?' Bulma asked.
He didn't answer her question, letting her know by just moving his eyes that someone was coming. Hoping the blush from being caught had disappeared completely by now. Her mind was still spinning while she kept telling her body to keep it together and not move a muscle. It was one of Ilkm's assistants, one of the friendlier ones.

'Everything alright?' he asked eying them both suspiciously. Obviously trusting neither of them.

Kakarot took the situation completely over by simply shrugging the question off and explaining he had been simply helping the pretty scientist and got distracted by her.
It irked Bulma that he had used the same way to describe the situation and herself as she had described the Dragon Ball. It made her feel caught.
Hiding the Dragon Ball in her pocket, Bulma muttered a thank you to Kakarot without making eye-contact and then asked the assistant if she could be of any help to him. He nodded but once they started walking, he asked her what she had been doing.

Her hand held on to the Dragon Ball tightly. All her hope renewed, and she was now even more determined to get out of this place. She gave him a lame excuse while then pretended to be excited about what he had been working on.

As he chatted, no longer paying much attention to her or failing to notice her tense attitude, Bulma dared to take another glance at Kakarot when he wasn't watching her. Quickly pressing the button on the scouter, it analyzed the Saiyan.

His power-lever was around 1800… That is even more than Raditz!

Feeling unnerved, she pulled off the scouter as if it was cursed. Distraught she tried to focus on what the assistant was saying but found it hard to pay attention to his monotone voice while her mind was racing. She had gone from uncertainty to hopeful and then back to being terrified in mere minutes. She couldn't really find peace again after the encounter. Having enough of his ramblings, agitated she pleaded if she could not take some time off and rest in her room but that was out of the question. One could work extra but was not to expect to gain back any lost free time, the assistant explained while grinning.
Rolling her eyes at the stiff giggle that had followed when she had asked, she instead went back to her desk and placed the Dragon Ball before her. She dared to think of a wish again.

I can never wish for it to have never happened or to simply wish back the people that have died by their hands… I can't undo any of this. I can only wish for a solution of some sorts… a power beyond theirs.

'Hey, Briefs!' some guy enthusiastically called giving her a wide grin. 'Your work is a success!'
Bulma simple smirked and gave him a nod. An odd sense of proud filled her until she shut it out and scolded herself for feeling that way. Her eyes stayed on the people surrounding her, an odd mix of races. She had caught them being proud of their inventions and serving Saiyans numerous times. Some didn't even feel any sort of shame either.
A part of her didn't understand how that was even possible but like her father had said, they too betrayed Earth when daring to think about the many possibilities this strange new territory held. Perhaps it was because of their field of work, this was something they lived for after all.
This, she thought while look at endless supply of new material, inventions and research. It was everything they wanted but a the highest of prices… Yet it is so tempting.

Suddenly the ship started to tremble, and alerted faces looked curiously at each other. Something was off. Bulma stiffened for a moment, only to then realize the explosion had been caused by her invention.
Inside she felt like gloating but outside she kept her look composed and with a false faint of confusion. Slowly getting up, hoping no one was paying attention to her, she grabbed the Dragon Ball and went with the idea to escape now instead of later.

And so the plot thickens! What do you think of the story so far?
I felt like my writing has been a bit flat, so I really tried to make this chapter better than the last one...

Also a thank you to my many guest reviewers! A few simple words are all I need to keep me motivated!
Thank you nancy103 for always leaving a kind review and to answer jazzymay377 question, you will have to keep reading in order to find out! :)