Chapter 19 - Shooting Day - Part 2
A slight noise made Vegeta look up from his book. The Heiress was leaning against the door frame of the kitchen and staring at him. His eyes focused at once on the gun stuck in the belt of her jeans and the detail caused his instant frown. "What do you think you're doing with such toy?" he snapped.
She blinked. "I thought you'd know what these toys were made for," she retorted with a shrug.
He sighed and closed his book. "It's dangerous to have one when you don't know how to use it properly," he stated.
She glared at him. "I know how to use it, what do you think?"
He watched her in disbelief as she headed for the fridge with no other comment. They were both alone in the house since Yamcha had left in the early afternoon. A taxi had picked him up just like Shienhan had said. Bulma had bitched a lot back from the beach when Vegeta had explained that her sweet plans were to change for safety reason, but then Shienhan had called her. The Saiyan had no clue what he told her but since then, her mood had turned to a concerned quietness. She'd locked herself in her room as soon as Yamcha was gone and the Saiyan hadn't heard of her during the whole afternoon. Yet, now she was wandering with a gun by her side. All this left him quite puzzled.
With no mean to reach Goku, Vegeta had feared that his partner would get caught and the pictures lost. However, it was now early evening and Shienhan hadn't called to say things were under control while Goku was supposed to be away from Paprika Bay, so Vegeta assumed that everything had run out smoothly in the end.
"What did Shienhan tell you?" he asked Bulma as she sat at the table next to him with a plate full of food.
"He said we were endangered," she mumbled without giving him the slightest glance.
He raised an eyebrow. "Huh. I thought you didn't believe in danger," he pointed out.
She looked up at him with flaring eyes. "I said I didn't need a bodyguard," she spelled out coldly while pulling nervously a lock behind her ear.
He smirked at her. She was somehow trying to behave fearless and he found that quite amusing. "It seems you need one though," he noted.
She pursed her lips and tilted her head. "We'll see," she replied.
As she went back to her meal, he realized she would definitely never admit her defeat. "Don't you ever rely on anyone?" he asked.
"I rely on Tien. And on Chaozu. It sounds already a lot of people to me," she grunted.
He'd never seen her so harsh on her guards and for some reasons, he felt like teasing her. "And what about your baseball player? Don't you rely on him too?" he asked slyly.
She froze her gesture and her eyes drifted slowly from her plate to his face. He couldn't say if she was pissed by his words, or shocked that he dared to point out her oblivion of Yamcha. She squinted and swallow her food. "And what about you? How many people do you rely on?" she mumbled.
He was caught off guard by her counter attack. He didn't like when things slipped on his personal life and this point hadn't gone unnoticed by her. He frowned in annoyance. "I don't need to rely on anyone. I have no sniper tracking me down."
She shrugged with a smirk. "Huh. Your girlfriend would be happy to hear that, I guess."
He frowned as he needed a moment to remember the tale he'd made up to be able to call Lunch.
She sighed at his bewildered face. "I didn't mean to start an argument. I'm somewhat on edge right now. Yamcha proposed me on the beach," she resumed with a soft voice. "This damn alert screwed up everything."
Vegeta looked down at the table. He was stunned that the loser eventually had the guts to ask her for marriage, especially considering Goku had been able to trick him with a girl only a few days ago. It pained him somehow for the Heiress. She had money and fame but her personal life was a complete crap as a matter of fact. "Did you accept?" he asked before he knew it.
"Not yet. He doesn't know me enough to be aware of what he's bargaining for. Beside - Well, not yet," she answered hesitantly.
"But you will," Vegeta cut off. Once again his voice had been faster than his brain.
She kept silent and he raised his head to stare at her. She was watching him blankly with a thoughtful face. She was mulling over his statement. "I want… I would like to-" she stammered. She didn't end her sentence as a noise outside interrupted their talk.
A car had driven up the alleyway of the garden and just stopped at the front door. Chaozu's thrilling voice echoed from outside. Bulma stood up at once. An unexpected glee was shining through her features. "There he is," she exclaimed with a beam before rushing out of the room to the main door.
Vegeta rocked his chair backward on two legs as to watch through the window. A cab was parked in the alleyway and the figure of the little clown was standing next to it with a bag. The Saiyan sighed and he brought himself to stand up as well and join them outside.
He made his way to the porch and contemplated Bulma and Chaozu hugging like old friends. The short man let go of her and looked up at him. "Hey, friend, how are you?" he called.
"Fine," the Saiyan muttered.
Chaozu walked up to the porch while Bulma was leaning at the car's window in order to pay the driver.
Everything went on very quickly. As soon as he heard the first bang, Vegeta ducked instinctively to the ground and reached out for his gun. Yet, the shooting wouldn't stop and he had no opportunity to respond the sniper. All he could do was crawling behind the huge plant tub to seek shelters. He didn't see much. He heard the sound of the bullets meeting the metal of the car and the stone of the house's walls along with the glass of windows shattering. Yet, his only option was to crouch still with his head down and pray for the massive tub to be enough of a shield.
Like always he had the feeling that the shooting lasted very long but it had been actually less than a minute before the gunshot stopped. Then, everything was silent again. The Saiyan felt like he'd turned deaf all of a sudden. He'd lived such situation a hundred times in his life and it was something familiar for him and yet, he was somehow in shock. The Heiress wasn't Freezer nor any of the disreputable people Vegeta had got along with and he hadn't seen the danger coming.
Fortunately he was the quick type when it was about to collect his wits. He dared a peek through the branches. The little clown was down lying in a pool of blood. Meters further, the Heiress was sitting on the ground with her back against the cab. The car was a wreck and the Saiyan could make out the driver's head ducked down on the wheel.
He focused back on Bulma. She was motionless, her knees tightly pressed against her chest and her blank eyes glued to Chaozu's body. Vegeta crawled out of his hideout.
He was able to sneak up to the Heiress in a rush and squatted down next to her. "Are you all right?" he grumbled in a low voice. She turned numb eyes to him and gave him a slight nod. She pointed her finger at Chaozu, her mouth ajar and unable to utter a word.
The Saiyan peeked at him but didn't say anything. The little man was still and unmoving. Vegeta checked his gun and unlocked the security. He went to Bulma's weapon as well but as he grabbed it she grasped his hand. "I can do that," she murmured, "what about the driver?"
Vegeta lifted himself just enough to give a quick glimpse at the man. His head was a bloody mess and the sight was clear enough to wipe any hope about his state. "He didn't make it," he grunted.
"We have to take Chaozu in a safe place," she resumed.
The Saiyan considered the body of the little clown. He wasn't sure Bulma's idea was worth the danger but he needed her to keep a cool head and forcing her to leave her friend behind wouldn't help on that matter. "I'll take care of that. I go first," he claimed.
He ran to the body with his head down, expecting a new assault, but nothing happened. He turned around and scrutinized the settings. The small trees were dancing in the breeze and everything was peaceful. No shooting, no one in sight. He didn't lose more time and grabbed Chaozu before rushing back into the House. He rested the little man on the floor of the hallway and found out Bulma had joined them already. "How is he?" she asked, her voice tinged with a deep concern.
The Saiyan studied the injured man. A bullet had reached the point where his shoulder met his neck, another one had hit the hip and a last one, less worrying, had ended in a calf. It was a bloody mess and Chaozu's breathing was so weak that Vegeta was pretty sure he wouldn't make it unless a well equipped medical staff showed up within the minute.
"Let's carry him to the sofa," Bulma suggested.
Vegeta obliged wordlessly but he did it mostly for her reassurance. As soon as the little guy was resting on the couch she knelt on the ground next to him and started to unbutton his shirt. Vegeta left her to her hopeless and yet much needed attempt to help her friend. He considered the large window pane opening on the terrace at the back of the house. There were too many windows in that damn house. He didn't like it. What he liked even less was the stillness that followed the unexpected shooting. It was quite obvious to him that the sniper had willingly let them flee back to the house and this acting didn't match a determined killer.
"We have to call for help. Where is your phone?" Vegeta asked Bulma.
She turned to him, her face frozen in realization. "I broke it during the shooting. What about yours?" she asked in a hopeful whisper.
The Saiyan repressed a frustrated grunt. "Well, mine can only call Shienhan. Let's give it a try."
He took his emergency cell out of his pocket and dialed the sole registered number. Bulma's chief of security answered at the first ring.
"We're in trouble there," the Saiyan explained at once, "we're in the house and the sniper is lurking outside. He shot Chaozu and the taxi driver."
Silence answered his speech at first. Then, Shienhan's low voice replied. "How is Chaozu?"
"Not so fine. Injured. The driver is dead. We're stuck in there and -" He had no time to speak further as a vase exploded just a few centimeters from him. He threw himself back to the ground and waited for more shooting. Yet, nothing more happened. He glanced at Bulma. She had flattened herself to the floor as well and was giving him a helpless gaze.
He pressed the phone back to his ear. "I don't know what he's up to but hell, you have to get us out of here, Shienhan!" he groaned. The line was off. He frowned and cursed while dialing the number again. The phone was dead though. "Fuck," he hissed.
Just at that moment a series of bullets studded the wall above them. The shooting ran all along the length of the room causing a rain of fragments on their head. He heard Bulma's muffled yelp as he lowered his head down again.
When the weapon shut up at last, the only sound in the room was the Heiress weak sob. Vegeta watched her. She had her hands clasped on her head and she was trembling. "Bulma!" he called.
She didn't react. It was no wonder. She was in total shock. The Saiyan looked up at the broken window pane and wondered where the sniper was now. It seemed he had gone around the House as to place himself on the beach's side while they were dragging Chaozu inside. He was obviously playing with them. He was playing cat and mouse. Much funnier than a simple bullet right in the head.
"Bulma," he called once again with a soft voice. She raised her eyes and met his. He stretched his hand out to her. "Come to me," he whispered.
She closed her eyes in refusal releasing tears in the process. Her hair was dusted with pieces of plaster and she was still holding her head as a way to deny the scary reality.
"He can't reach you as long as you crawl. If he could, he would have killed us already," Vegeta explained in a soothing voice.
She opened her eyes and stared at him again. He could see his rational speech had allowed her brain out of its numbness. She nodded and crept slowly in his direction. As soon as she was in reach, he grabbed her hand and pulled her the rest of the way to him.
He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and forced her to crawl further to the hallway. It was the safer room for now. There was no window there except for the small glass adorning the main door which had turned into a square hole due to the first shooting.
Bulma sat straight on the ground and leaned her back against the wall. She wiped her tears away with her sleeves. "What do we do, now? Is Tien on his way?" she murmured.
Vegeta was sitting in front of her. He was relieved to see her panic cooling down. "We can't stay here. He'll end up coming into the house and we'll be trapped."
She raised her eyebrow in fear but she nodded meekly anyway.
"Do you have the key of the car?" he resumed.
"In the kitchen," she whispered.
He turned around and crept on all four into the kitchen. The keys were in a pot on the counter. He had no trouble catching them but as soon as he moved down to the ground, bullets were shot straight through the broken window. Vegeta gritted his teeth. How the hell could the sniper make his way around the house so fast? Obviousness stroke him as his mind formulated the question. There were more than one sniper. That was bad.
He hurried back into the hallway. Bulma was watching him with fearful eyes. "Are you injured?" she panted.
"I'm fine. Now, I need you to listen to me. We really need to leave this place. We'll have to cross the garden to the gate where our car is."
He observed her face as he dreaded her to lose her mind at that prospect but she just gave a firm nod. He'd faced civilian people caught in fire back at the time when he was a soldier. More often than not, they were going crazy with fear and it always ended in crap. Yet, she seemed to hold on so far.
"There's a side door in the kitchen," she said all of a sudden. "Nobody uses it anymore but we might be able to force it open, what do you think?"
He mulled over her suggestion for a moment. He noted that daylight was almost completely gone outside. "Switch on the lights in the hallway and in the living room," he ordered.
She frowned. "Why?"
"That way, he won't be able to see much in the kitchen's darkness and he won't spot our move there until we're done. Can you do that and join me in the kitchen without him noticing?" he whispered, speaking of the snipers as a a single person to avoid scaring her even more.
She gazed hesitantly at the living room's entrance. Beyond the door frame the place had turned into a wrecked battlefield. They were both well-aware that her mission was risky and he wondered if she would have the guts to accept.
She sighed. "I'll do it."
They turned on the light in the hallway first. Then she crawled carefully into the living room while Vegeta headed to the kitchen. It wasn't long before he heard a series of bang echoing in the living room. He tried his best not to pay attention to it in order to focus on the side door. It was old and rather tiny. He needed to move a small table to have access to it. All this was quite complicated because his acting had to stay unnoticed and although the light in the hallway was helping the shadows in the kitchen, he had no doubt the sniper in the front garden was watching.
The lock was rusty and a key made of flaky iron was stuck in it. At first, Vegeta thought he wouldn't make it. The whole mechanism had been out of use for so long that the key wouldn't move. On top of it, he had to be careful not to break it. Against all odds, the triggers of the lock eventually caved in, just when Bulma showed up, crawling on all four.
"It's all right. Take the keys of the car," he told her when she came closer to him.
She did as she was told and they stood still for an instant. He glanced at her over his shoulder and she gave him a helpless smile in return to let him know she was as ready as she would ever be.
He cracked the door open and they found out a huge bush had grown up just behind it, providing a perfect hideout for their exit. It looked like a good sign to them. They sneaked out the house and walked along the wall of the house as silently as possible. Another fire echoed aiming straight at the house. The sniper hadn't spotted them in the garden but his move allowed Vegeta to locate him. He'd settled up in a tree with branches wide enough to be used as support for the guy and his automatic riffle.
Vegeta froze and forced Bulma to stop behind him as well. He pointed his finger at the sniper and beckoned her to stay where she was.
Stealing in the growing shadow of the greenery bordering the garden the Saiyan rushed swiftly closer to the killer, his gun in his fist. The sound of the bullets shooting across the house facade helped him go unnoticed until he deemed to be close enough. He aimed at the man perched in the tree and pulled his trigger without a second thought.
He heard muffled yelps as the guy tumbled down the tree, breaking branches along the way. When his body hit the ground in a loud thud, Vegeta walked to him with his gun still pointing at him. The Saiyan hadn't missed that the riffle had landed a few meters away from his owner, but it was still too close to Vegeta's taste.
When he came to towering the man lying on the ground, he realized that his target was still conscious and staring at him with wide blue eyes. The bullet had met him somewhere in the ribs and he had also certainly been injured by the fall.
He was motionless and yet the Saiyan was somehow disturbed by the cold determination in his eyes. There wasn't a tiny bit of fear in his blue orbs contemplating the gun pointed at him. Vegeta had already seen that guy somewhere but he couldn't remember where.
The guy's lips stretched in an unexpected smirk. "Nice shot."
Vegeta had indeed intended to have him more seriously injured - If not killed, at least knocked out - and he felt annoyed at his mocking tone. "Shut up. I would be too pleased to make an even nicer shot right now. Can you sit?"
The guy sighed and sat up with a baffling ease despite his bloody side. He repressed a grimace and massage his aching ribs. "I think so," he sighed.
A voice was screaming in Vegeta's head. He should just kill him, he knew. Something wasn't right with the bastard. Beside the second sniper wouldn't be long to realize something was on and come to this side of the house. Yet, the Heiress wasn't far behind hiding in the shadows and he wasn't sure how she would react seeing him kill an unarmed, injured man. Best was to knock him out with his gun's butt.
He raised his arm, but he had no time to do anything else. Before he knew it, the man jumped on his feet, one of his fist grabbing Vegeta's wrist while the other one punched him right in the stomach. The Saiyan doubled over both in pain and surprise and let go of his gun. He was granted a powerful kick in the chest and lost his balance.
He muffled a grunt as he hit the ground. He found himself sitting on the ground and panting in an attempt to catch his breath. He cursed himself for ignoring his instinct. He should have killed that damn bastard in the very first place, because as far as he could remember Vegeta had never faced someone as fast and as resilient as that asshole.
The Saiyan glared up at his opponent. The killer had picked up the Saiyan's gun. He was still smirking, his black silky locks hardly ruffled by the effort. Quite stupidly something lit up in Vegeta's brain at this very moment. He'd met the guy at the boring party the first night he'd played bodyguard for the Heiress. The man had said he was a bodyguard too and they had chatted a brief moment.
"No kidding. Let me show you what a nice shot is," the sniper chuckled while aiming at Vegeta's face.
The Saiyan couldn't help but close his eyes in wait for the final sound of his life. Yet, the bang he heard was followed by the thud of a body tumbling down.
He opened his eyes at once. The killer had collapsed and was lying unmoving with a trickle of blood running down from a hole in his temple and along his cheekbones. The Saiyan turned stunned eyes to the Heiress standing a few meters away with her gun still pointing in their direction.
She blinked with a slight frown. She opened the mouth as if on the verge to say something but no word came out of her lips. Vegeta lost no time and took the gun out of the dead man's grip.
The Saiyan's instinct urged him to leave this place. Another sniper was lurking around. He struggled to his feet and caught Bulma's wrist as to drag her away to the gate where their car was parked.
Before he knew it, he was running and oblivious of the Heiress having a hard time to keep up with his pace. She didn't complain though. She was panting and stumbling but somehow, it seemed the adrenaline running through her veins helped her cope with their crazy runaway.
The gate was wide open and they both jumped in the car without a word. Bulma didn't even argue when Vegeta sat behind the wheel. The engine roared to life and the car rushed through the gate out of the garden and onto the road in a loud screech of tires.
ooo0ooooo0ooo