If Vegeta had been conscious for the trip, thinking about his time on Earth would have driven him mad.

As it was, he was plagued by circular nightmares about Kakarot and Earth and swords and that woman - what had Kakarot called her? - Chi-Chi. If Kakarot was a disgrace to the Saiyans in every other way, he had least had the decency to find a mate with some guts. Vegeta would have been impressed if she hadn't held him at swordpoint, kicked him in the face, spat on him, tossed him around like a child, called him a coward, and then had the gall to let him live.

They'd let him live. Why the hell had they let him live?

The pod went out of stasis as it prepared to land on one of the many way stations Frieza had positioned across the universe. Vegeta grimaced as it impacted and his broken body was jostled, and with his last remaining bit of consciousness, he slammed the button to open the pod. He let his body fall out of the opening, snarling at the resounding gasps from his little 'welcome party' - and then everything went black.

When he awoke again, it was when the fluid was drained from his healing tank. Vegeta ran his tongue around the inside of his mouth, taking attendance of all his teeth. It seemed they managed to regrow the one Chi-Chi (he couldn't think the name without his face twitching in disgust) had kicked out. His tail... that was a different story. No matter. The power he had gained as a result of the battle had already sent him careening through the limits set by his Great Ape form. In fact, he thought with a wicked smirk, I may even be strong enough now to face Frieza.

Vegeta fixed his expression into his usual scowl before tugging the mouthpiece off and exiting the tank.

Well, maybe facing Frieza was still a bit ambitious. It was hardly as though Vegeta had any witless lackeys laying about for him to sacrifice to test the waters. He needed insurance - he needed immortality.

And if he couldn't get it on Earth, he would have to get it on Namek. The Namekians had created the dragon balls - surely they must have a set of their own. Vegeta was sure he could convince them to let him 'borrow' them. He could be very persuasive when he wanted to, after all.

"-and Cui needed to have a word with you as well-" The medic's voice suddenly cut through Vegeta's busy thoughts as he was mid-way through dressing himself.

Vegeta paused with one arm through the opening in his armor. "What of?" he demanded shortly, making sure to mask his excitement with gruff indifference. He couldn't wait for a chance to lord his new power over that repulsive bottom-feeder.

"He didn't say, exactly," hummed the medic, already distracted as they paged through stacks of medical notes on their desk. "Something about you leaving your last mission for - where was it, Earth? It was Earth, wasn't it?"

Vegeta pulled his body armor on all the way. "Indeed."

"I guess it's just some bureaucratic nonsense he's been tasked with," said the medic with a wave of their hand. "I hear the higher-ups are wanting to put him in a leadership position, which I suppose is reason enough to task him with such trifling matters."

"Apparently. Well, I wouldn't want to keep him waiting," Vegeta said, sarcasm edging his words. "Where has he got to?"

The medic scratched their chin. "Hmm, training room? He usually is around this time."

Fully healed and clad in fresh armor, Vegeta made for the door.

"Oh- uh, Vegeta?"

Vegeta froze mid-step, and turned around to see the medic - still at their desk - lofting a bright red scouter in their hand. "You'll be needing this?" they said with the slightest hint of a smirk.

They think I'm a dunce, Vegeta realized, and it took all of his self-control not to burst out laughing. They could think that - in fact, everyone could think that, if they wished. It would only make it that much more satisfying to see the look of horrible realization on their faces before he blew them all to pieces.

"My bad," Vegeta said, smiling with a sickly sweetness that made the medic frown.

He ducked back into the room and swiped the scouter out of the medic's hand with just a bit more violence than necessary, and made a show of fixing it over his ear. He left without another word, focusing on not walking too fast on his way to the training room. If Vegeta were any less disciplined, he would have skipped. From his perspective, the path to victory was clear: first he'd defeat and humiliate Cui, then he'd become immortal and do the same to Frieza, and after that, the universe was his oyster. And it all started in the training room...

Or, as it turned out, just outside the training room.

"Well, well, well, look who it is," came Cui with a distinctive lisp.

Vegeta peered over his shoulder at Cui, in all his aquatic purple glory, and suppressed a smirk. "What did you want, Cui?" he asked.

Cui came up behind him and clapped him on the shoulder, a show of affection that only could have disgusted Vegeta more if it were in any way genuine. "Aw, what's the rush, little prince? Afraid you're in trouble? Worried Lord Frieza's going to put you in a time out or send you to bed without dinner?" Cui cooed.

Vegeta shrugged the hand off of his shoulder and turned around to face Cui, arms folded over his chest. "Would you get to point already? I heard you had business with me, but if all you wanted to say was that Frieza misses me, I think I have better things to do," snapped Vegeta.

"Hey, hey, cool it," said Cui. "Lord Frieza's just curious about a few things - like why you ditched your mission to go to Earth, and why Nappa and Raditz didn't come back with you, and why you neglected to talk to anyone about any of it." Cui wiggled a finger at Vegeta as though he were chiding a disobedient puppy. "You haven't gone rogue on us, have you, little prince?"

"More pressing matters, they were too stupid to live, and I don't care about anyone's feelings - and to answer your last question, not at the moment, though if you don't get your hand out of my face in the next few seconds I might change my mind," Vegeta said.

Cui grinned, but lowered his hand anyway. "Well, uh... we'll need to make a more detailed report, but-"

"Where is the bastard, anyway?" asked Vegeta, making a point to look around the hallway as if Frieza were just around the corner.

"Bastar- Lord Frieza? Why..." Cui's grin grew wider and more infuriating. "He left for a little backwater planet not too long ago. Let's see, what was it called... That's it, Namek."

Vegeta's blood ran cold. "Really."

"Really," Cui said.

"And why exactly is he going to this... Namek?"

"Oh, I think you know perfectly well why he's going to Namek," Cui said. He tapped his scouter, and gave Vegeta a little wink. "After all, you did tip him off."

Fuck. Vegeta dropped all social pretenses and shoved Cui out of the way, knocking him into a gaggle of cadets and causing an absolute ruckus along the way. Cui shouted at him to freeze, but Vegeta was all but flying down the hallway, maneuvering through the corridors with the dexterity of someone who had grown up there - and the speed of someone in a panicked frenzy.

All at once, he burst out into the open, knocking several soldiers over while he was at it. Someone was getting ready to board a pod and take off on official Frieza Force business - Vegeta grabbed them by the back of their armor and threw them out of the way, before jumping backwards into the pod and pulling the door closed. Through the domed window, he could see Cui coming after him with a dozen soldiers in tow. They did no good, however. Vegeta wasted no time punching in the coordinates for Namek, and scarcely bothered watching their gaping faces as the spacecraft took off into the vast universe.

How could he have been blindsided like this? Vegeta took the scouter off of his face, regarding it with disgust. He'd been a fool to assume his reliance on the damn gadget wouldn't come back to bite him in the ass. For a brief moment, he was tempted to just smash it in his fist and be done with it, but his tactician's senses got the better of him. Frieza might know about dragon balls, but there was no way he could know about Vegeta learning to sense energy. The scouter could still come in handy later as a decoy.

Furious, and with nowhere to direct his anger outward, Vegeta settled deeper into the seat and turned the scouter off completely.

This is fine, he told himself. So Frieza's after immortality as well - whatever. I'll just have to gather those damn dragon balls up before he does. Besides, I bet the stupid bastard doesn't even know how to use them...

A thought that Vegeta wouldn't entertain was that he, also, had no clue how to use the dragon balls.

But that, as far as he was concerned, was a problem for when he got to Namek.