Disclaimer: I don't make any profit from this work of fiction

Chapter 59

Knock Knock

Deep in an inner world, Bulma was finishing her next survival plan when she felt the giant earthquake.

Something was wrong.

She dropped everything in a panic. She could sense that an intruder was in her mind. It was similar to when the psychic alien had wormed into her mind but this was different. When Special Agent Beri had come it was through her permission and she had been with her to answer her questions. This had the same feeling but she had no idea where or why the intruder was. She couldn't wake herself up without causing some damage. She was completely vulnerable and she couldn't help but feel anxious.

It was a familiar darkness that gave her a sense of dread. It had been gone for the whole evening but now it was back and much stronger than before. She tried to recall her training for such an emergency, her mind was her will, her thoughts had power against a psychic attack if she kept her mind clear she could defend herself and push out the intruder. She tried to ignore her fear and ignore her racing thoughts of worry.

She stepped out of her laboratory mentally locking the door behind her. Her Ice entrance room was darker than before and the ice wall that had been there was now blocks of rubble on the floor. The black bolted door was also lying broken on the floor. A swirling fog of darkness greeted her.

"Knock, knock." It hissed.

She looked across through where the wall had been and saw a winding staircase. As she looked closer she noticed that the stone was shaped like bones.

"They are bones..."

Bulma tried to ignore the voice but her head turned involuntary to the hissing sound of the scratching voice that crawled at her skin.

"You're not invited." Bulma said looking at the formless mist.

"You're mistaken, I am inviting you for a tour." He said.

She knew that voice, it was Vegeta. It haunted her for years and now her nightmares were invading her meditation.

"I don't want to see anything you want to show me."

The form was now human shaped but it was incorporeal as if a black cloud had formed into a muscular man. He held out his hand.

"The only way to survive is to join me."

"No. There's another way, you get out now! Get out! I don't need this! I don't need you or the FBI or anyone but me!"

"Sounds so familiar..." He laughed, ignoring her angry tone as if she was just joking.

A flash appeared above them and a vision of a young Vegeta was surrounded in rubble. A large bald man was on the floor screaming in pain as a beam shot from Vegeta's hand.

"I don't need trash like this! I don't need any of you weaklings. I can do this by myself!"

The vision disappeared as quickly as it had arrived. It left no doubt in Bulma's mind that this was the real Saiyan prince or a mental projection. He had just shown her his own memory.

"I didn't know Saiyans had mental abilities." Bulma said cautiously. She couldn't escape until she got him to leave on his own.

"It's an ancient blood magic as we called it. Nothing you can do will escape from this bond until death. I am here to stay but for now I shall send my regards and welcome you to return. I am coming for you Bulma."

"Don't... Stay away..." Bulma recoiled back into her broken room. The dark figure was now clearly Vegeta but he still was blurred like an old film. He wasn't really here, only a avatar image.

"I am coming. You are my link to my revenge and so precious an item of mine that I will kill everyone who harms you."

Bulma couldn't stomach what she was hearing and pushed back mentally, she retreated to her side of the room and a new ice barrier formed in front of her.

"Never." Bulma announced clearly. "This is my world, my mind. You're not welcome here."

"Such a shame... I will be waiting." He slightly touched her barrier and it cracked from his touch. He could easily break through again.

She backed away from the ominous stairway and as she tried to create a mental barrier. It was more like a thin bubble now rather than the thick ice she had before and it would not protect her. Instead of being a frosted thick wall of ice it was now like a window into the darkness that was Vegeta's mind.

She had to keep away and block him out. Bulma kept repeating the words, blood magic in her head making her lower stomach ache. The knife wound even in her mind hurt sometimes and now it was screaming in pain. He had tasted her blood, it wasn't just a sick perversion but a way into her mind. He must have been worming his way in for the past month. The dark whispers she heard and feeling of being watched. They were all real.

''Shit...' Bulma cursed. She wasn't a psychic, she needed someone to force him out. All she could do was defend. Her pride of creating her inner world was now in doubt, she hadn't done it alone. The darkness had taught her since she started. The darkness that was now Vegeta. No, it had always been Vegeta. She could feel him pacing back and forth in front of her barrier. He was waiting for her to accept his offer. He didn't see her as a person but as an object to own, or perhaps a pet. He wanted her to join him for his own dark plan but on his own terms.

"Like in hell I ever would." She walked further back and to her own reality. She was back in a darkened cell staring at the blinking light of the camera. Her heart was pounding loudly and her whole body was shaking. The night sky was starting to show signs of dawn coming and the faint light calmed her a little.

''You can't escape me..." The dark voice whispered. "You are going to be my tool whether you want to or not. There is only a choice if you don't fight it."

Bulma clutched herself and thought of a better place. A safer place.

'I checked your house, it's not that safe any more. I know where you live, I know where you sleep. I know all your dark thoughts.'

He had caught her mentally, she was a prisoner here too.

Bulma focused on the light outside, she had to wait for dawn. Her hope was coming, not any Prince or Knight but her by her own abilities. She had to plan carefully and move slowly but she knew her opportunity was going to come.

She had to believe, like her father always told her,

'Believe in yourself Bulma, I do, your mother does but at the end of the day it's all on you.'

She remembered that moment from her father. It had been after a machine she had been working on for a Science fair had exploded and she had been crying. The deadline for submission was too close. He had said those words while scratching one of their many cats. A cigarette in one hand and his attention more on the cat than her. But her 8 year old self had taken those words and forged on to win the high school science fair and carry on to graduate. She had been a genius not from her parents, but for her own sake. She lost her drive to learn forgetting those words.

She had buried it with her interest in science. All her memories and feelings held back by her ice prison in her heart.

It went without saying that she won that science fair so she could graduate and move on to something more interesting like College. She had done it by herself then, she could do it again.

She was a genius, she knew that and years of being held down in the FBI system had let her forget that. She had already started her plans for escape. She just had to adjust it for avoiding Vegeta. She couldn't let him take any more blood. She had to push forward and risk it all for her freedom.

000

For Special Agent Yamcha the morning had brought the bad news for his team. One member had failed the psychic exam and was in a holding cell along with the majority of Special Agent Tao's team. Tao was still missing but an investigation of his home had brought even more bad news. There had been an attack on his remote cabin a few days ago and there were signs of a fight.

He would not be coming in for questioning any time soon. Maybe never from his blood they had found at the scene.

Yamcha put down the report and tried to massage his growing headache away. This was the second worst week he'd ever had. The utmost worst was of course when Vegeta and his men originally arrived and changed everything.

This felt more stressful as he needed to lead and guide his team to successfully bringing the culprits to justice. A loose Saiyan prince was not something he wanted to deal with alone.

He put in a request for back up from any Force 1 members stationed on the space station but there he had no idea if they would send anyone or if he'd be on his own. He was secretly hoping that they would send a whole task force so he could pass on all the responsibilities.

The door flew open in a dramatic fashion and without even looking up from his report Yamcha greeted the psychic alien Beri.

"Good morning Special Star Agent Beri. What brings you here?"

"I heard the news!" She shouted. "Frambois failed the test and so did Viola!"

"That's confidential information you shouldn't be shouting it with an open door."

Beri shook her head and laughed at his comment. "It's perfectly safe. Nobody is around, anyway, I didn't just come here for gossip, I was ordered to accompany you to Tao's cabin."

"I'm not going there today..." Yamcha said but his phone suddenly rang and the smug look on Beri's face intensified.

It was the order from Piccolo's secretary to follow up the investigation of Tao's house with the high level psychic.

"I didn't use my powers, I was told yesterday that was what I would be doing. I get to interrogate the suspected spies once they're all gathered. That could take another day and I think they want to double check with different psychics. A guilty conscience can give a false positive. I don't want to waste my time with guards that feel guilty about missing a chance."

"Do you think Viola is like that? Agent Viola is someone I recommended for promotion, she came to my office last night and seemed extremely worried."

"She should be, I have little faith in her. I'm hoping to get to peer into her mind and see what her aura is all about." Beri said. "I personally can't stand the woman."

"That's because she was never in your fanclub. Same as Framboise."

"He's actually the one I think feels guilty, Viola is just shady. My main issue with Frambois is that he never finds me cute!"

"You do know he's not attracted to..." Yamcha almost finished his sentence but changed it to. "He's not interested in love or cute things."

He didn't want to be giving another social studies lesson to the alien as he'd gone over human sexualities before and it didn't make any sense to the alien from an asexual culture. She refused to learn anything about Earth culture. All she really wanted was for people to admire her but romantic feelings were a mystery. She associated it with the 'disgusting' reproduction of lesser beings.

He let her chatter away about her fan club while he organised his team. He had found it easier to ignore her and pretend that he was listening. She knew he wasn't but she also didn't care that much.

It wasn't long until he had gathered a small investigation team and headed out to the cabin. It was a long journey with a primping Queen and Agent Mikan in tow. He was a complete fan of Beri and was asking her questions not related with anything important.

"So do you have a favourite colour?" He asked.

"It's not visible to the human eye, the closest would be ultra violet, I suppose but it a deeper shade and more sparkling like me."

Yamcha focused on driving as the fanboy interview continued the whole way. He tried counting the fake laughing as she ate up all the compliments. It was keeping her busy so he decided to let it be for the trip.

He stopped as they came to the driveway, just a single dirt track winding up to the cabin. A wreckage of the car was the first thing they saw and it had all been cornered off. A few agents were standing guard and greeted him as he parked up.

This was the complete edge of nowhere. The main road was miles away and the dense forest surrounded the hillside cabin. There would be absolutely no chance of finding any witnesses or neighbours to ask questions to. This investigation would probably be finished quickly unless the star agent found something. Or more specifically the psychic residue of the suspect.

"Have you met Special Agent Tao before?" Yamcha asked trying to force her to step into work mode. He'd let her have her diva moments from the early morning and the whole car ride. It was time for her to prove why she was the star agent.

"Of course, he hated me so I kept my distance. His aura was always aggressive and even a little evasive."

"How can an aura be evasive?" Yamcha asked. Aggressive he could imagine fine but evasive wasn't an emotion.

"He sometimes blocked me, he had some kind of gadget or mental ability to stop my light mind scan. He appeared as a brick wall to me. So evasive... It means he avoided me too. That is what that word means in your language, doesn't it?"

Yamcha had another large headache break out and he breathed slowly before asking again. "Did you not ever tell anyone he was using mental blockers." He knew the answer before he said it but he had to ask.

"Nobody asked me." Was her expected answer which she gave in her usual matter of fact tone.

"Okay... I would really appreciate it if you see or feel anything similarly suspicious to myself or Assistant Director Piccolo in the future."

"Yeah, sure..." she shrugged.

Yamcha couldn't dwell on it but pushed back his internal rage that he knew she could feel and do his job. He was a professional and Beri only did and said those things for her own amusement. He focused on his breathing and wrote down a quick memo on his notepad.

"Agent Mikan is to stand guard while you do your psychic sweep of the area. We've already collected and photographed and evidence so don't worry about messing up the crime scene... I know, you're not worried, Special Star Agent Beri, I was talking to Agent Mikan. He's going to guide you if you zone out. I'm recording the scan beside you. We're starting from the car crash site and moving through the building. Be sure to keep the evidence tape out of Special Star Agent Beri's way as it won't be visible to her."

"Keep me safe from getting tangled up." Beri said winking at the larger agent who was at least double her size. The tiny alien went straight to work and opened her inner eye that let her see the psychic residue.

She choked as directly in front of her was the body of an agent she knew. The image jumped out and engulfed her with the leftover feelings and thoughts.

"Agent Violet died here!" she cried pointing down to the small ash pile that was mixed in with the dirt. "She burned to death by her own abilities!" Beri took a while to speak again as she was overwhelmed with the emotions from the dead agent. She couldn't separate them from her own and she struggled to push the soul out. Her own strong idea of self usually kept her safe but the unexpected appearance of Violet had caught her off guard.

The woman's soul was twisted by a torturous death her flesh burning her alive as the culprit's steel grip stopped her from escaping. She had been in the car, things became blurred and Beri had to step back. She was becoming sucked into the situation as if it was happening to herself. The memory of the dead agent was clawing at her to try to ask for help. She was pleading to another person in the area but she couldn't separate herself from it and became the target for Violet's anguished cries for help.

The unusual silence from the confident to the point of being annoying Special Agent disturbed the others. Beri couldn't hold back tears as she experienced the same pain as Violet and her body quickly fell unconscious to protect herself from further torment.

Agent Mikan grabbed her as she fell to her knees and Yamcha told him to take her away from the spot. He had to keep videoing the area. The idea that they were now on a murder scene greatly complicated matters. The forensic team would need to be called back.

He closed his camera and ordered a full shut down of the investigation.

"A dead body has been discovered, Agent Violet, one of the missing agents has possibly been identified. Bring the homicide forensic investigation team now. We can't continue until we have confirmation."

"I think you'll find that my psychic readings are always 100%..." Beri said weakly. She had been carried back to the car and was wrapped up in a blanket.

Agent Mikan was the medic of Yamcha's team and was treating her for mild shock.

"Just take your time. We might be here for a while." He said with some experience. This was originally a missing persons investigation and now it had been upgraded to homicide. It was going to take a while for a team to arrive and for them to even finish.

"Sir are we heading back?" Agent Mikan asked. He didn't want to see Beri in this state.

Yamcha shook his head. "I don't know, this is taking up our precious time. I want to continue once more after I talk to the Chief." He knew from previous cases that the longer a missing person case continued, the worst it got for the person you wanted to find. It was getting more likely that Bulma would turn up dead. More than anything he didn't want that. Tao, he honestly didn't care if he never found him. He was a traitor.

He wanted to save her.

He wanted her to be safe, but that hope was slowly dying within him.

000

Author's Note: Here I am, still surviving. In real life I had a big move, like from one country to another so I have been stressed and job hunting and in among all my job hunting, I thought I'd focus on something fun for a change and finally updated. I also had a family bereavement recently, a cousin I hardly knew, but it brings back the feeling that life's too short and we should do things we enjoy while we can.

Vegeta has woken Bulma up to his manipulations but is it too late for her to escape or is she now trapped? Special Agent Beri finally had a nice change of pace from being annoying to in pain but she's like that on purpose. So feel free to hate on her, she's not there to be liked. I find it fun to write the grating characters for some reason and giving us something to hate on as Vegeta is very bad but it's that kind of bad that makes us fans of him so…*shrug*

Next update should be soon, or I shall try. I appreciate all likes and comments.