Disclaimer: Still don't own Dragonball Z *sigh*

A/N: Feel free to check out my new story 'Sparks: The Legacy of Ezio Auditore', it's an Assassin's Creed fan fiction, something I've never tried before.

Chapter 17

The Vigilante Registration Act

The sound of crying made Vegeta open one eye very slowly. He heard footsteps emerge from Appura's room and thump two doors down the hall way to where the nursery was. Thump, thump, thump. It was Gohan's turn. Appura's footsteps were more of a shuffle. Kabu had been out of hospital for a week now, and though his ki was significantly stronger than it had been, Vegeta's grandson would never be a warrior like the rest of them. His lungs were too weak to cope. According to Bulma, the doctor's suspected he might even develop lung conditions as he got older that would require medication and gentle exercise to maintain his health. No excessive running, no fighting, no flying. The child was, for all intents and purposes, human. Vegeta knew he couldn't really turn his nose up at that notion. His own wife was human, and his son half-human. His grandson had more Saiyan blood than his son. It was just rotten luck that he had been born early. If he'd stayed inside his mother for those final few months, maybe he'd have been strong. Vegeta smiled sleepily. He could almost picture it. The strength of the Saiyans, the image of Vegeta himself, only with Gohan's height. A mighty warrior. There was still time though. Time for Appura to have another son, to provide many more sons, she was only eighteen after all.

The thumping noise of Gohan's sleepy walk down the hall with a grizzling infant told Vegeta it was time to get up. It was the six am feeding. Vegeta hauled himself out of bed, casting a glance over his shoulder at his wife. She was rather unceremoniously sprawled across the bed, legs and arms everywhere, sleeping with her mouth open, a thin trail of drool leaking out the corner. He snorted back laughter. For all the glamour and sophistication she oozed when in the public spotlight, in private, Vegeta was just as likely to find her in an oil-stained t-shirt, sweatpants, barefoot and picking her nose. But that was why he loved her. She had just as many sides to her as he had to himself, something he had overheard his daughter saying just last month. Something about being like a twenty-sided dice. He liked that analogy and had stored it away in his arsenal of witty comebacks for a later date.

He pulled on some sweatpants, his not Bulma's, and a white vest before leaving the room, making sure to slam the door in order to rouse his wife. He wandered down the hallway, stretching, banging six times on both Trunks and Tarble's doors. Gure, being very homesick, had returned to her home planet in the last few days. Tarble had decided to remain on Earth for a whole year in order to train with Vegeta and the others. Vegeta had no qualms about that. It had been the perfect opportunity to wind his daughter up by suggesting that Tarble start with her as 'basic training'. Vegeta plodded into the kitchen to find his daughter already there, tapping away at her laptop whilst her mate leant against the counter behind her. "It's nice," Gohan was saying, "But it's on the far side of town, too far away from work."

"Ok, valid point," Appura said, clicking on a button, "How about this one?" Vegeta saw Gohan's eyes widen.

"Yeah, location wise it's perfect, but can we afford it?" Vegeta raised an eyebrow at that as he poured himself a cup of coffee. Money, they were talking about money, something that had been a taboo subject between the pair ever since Appura had fallen pregnant, and the source of countless arguments about how much Appura had spent on stuff that Kabu would never use.

"You can't, but I can, remember I've got several million zeni sat in the bank, doing nothing except gathering dust and interest," said Appura, "I've bought one house before, why not buy another, outright, no mortgage, no monthly bills to keep a roof over our heads. And it's a five minute flight away for my dad, thirty seconds Instant Transmission for yours." A house! They were talking of moving out. Vegeta could have danced on the spot. Even though the main house of Capsule Corp was very large, its occupancy had doubled quite recently and Vegeta wanted someone out, not that he'd ever say that out loud in case Bulma overheard, in which case, he had little doubt he'd be the one to go. Oh, if only he could think of a way to convince them to take Tarble and the boy. Then it would just be a matter of convincing the woman to put her retiring parents in a home and then Vegeta would be happy.

"I don't want you spending all your money on a house…" Gohan started.

"Oh, save it, Gohan, I had the same lecture off your dad when I tried to give him money," said Appura, "Look, Gohan, I've picked out these house, find one you like and we'll go look at it, if you like it, then we'll buy it." Her face which had briefly hardened softened at Gohan's hurt expression.

"Ok, look," she said, standing and walking up to him, "I know you're kind of old fashioned and want to be the provider and everything, so, consider this as, oh I don't know, my dowry."

"The dowry traditionally comes from…" Gohan trailed off and nodded his head towards Vegeta who was watching the exchange out the corner of his eyes.

"Yeah, well, we're not exactly traditional are we?" Appura said, smiling. Gohan returned the smile.

"Fine, we'll have a look at them," Gohan said, handing their son over to her.

"Thank you," Appura said. She began leaning in towards Gohan, Vegeta immediately averted his gaze only for a beeping noise to end their moment. Vegeta turned to find Gohan fiddling in his pocket and pulling out his cell phone.

"It's from Videl," he said, "She says to put on channel seven." Vegeta frowned. Gohan reached over and turned on the small portable TV that Mrs Briefs liked to have on as background noise. The three leaned over to look at the small screen. It was the news. A General from the army stood in front of the camera, talking to the crowd of reporters. "Hey, I recognise him, he was on the news the morning after Mom and Yamcha's wedding," Appura said. Vegeta shushed her.

"General Greed!" A reporter yelled out of the crowd, "Would you care to explain the Vigilante Registration Act for us please?"

"It's pretty self-explanatory," explained the General, "In response to the increasing amount of damage caused by so-called vigilantes such as the Great Saiyaman, this act will make it a criminal offence for vigilantes to act without registering their true identity with the authorities. This way there is accountability for their actions."

"But, General, isn't the whole reason the vigilantes are acting because the police and the army can't catch proper criminals?" called out another reporter. General Greed began turning red.

"These vigilantes care nothing for the health and safety of citizens; they are merely after the glory. They prevent the police and army from dealing with these criminals in the proper way!" Greed barked.

"But what about the petitions to stop this act that was signed by the police officers of four major cities?"

"I have seen no petition; there will be no more questions. My final statement is this, any vigilante who acts without registering will be arrested on sight. That includes the Great Saiyaman, Saruo and the Gold Fighters. Good day." And with that, Greed stomped off the stage.

"That man has no idea what the word 'vigilante' means does he?" Appura said, turning off the TV.

"A registration act? That's really bad news," said Gohan, "And not just for us. If we can't act without being made into a criminal, then people are going to suffer. And they'll want to know how we can fly and how we're so strong."

"Something's off about this whole thing," Vegeta muttered, "Saiyans appear on Earth and when they can't catch us, they try to draw us out by making the people of Earth suspicious of our abilities. I think Kuda is behind this."

"We don't know that, besides, those Saiyans were too few to be more than a scouting party," Appura replied, "Kuda could be years away, even if he's already left, but, yeah, you're right, Dad, something is off here. I think somebody knows we're not human and is trying to draw us out. The best thing we can do is carry on as normal, just minimise the vigilante stuff."

"Agreed," said Vegeta.

"Hey kiddo, knock, knock," Yamcha's voice made Appura turn from her place on the sofa.

"Oh, hey Yamcha," she said before noting the box in his hands, "What's with the box?"

"Well, I was going through your mom's stuff like you asked, and I found all this, thought you might want to keep it," Yamcha replied. He set the box down in front of the sofa. Appura slid off the sofa and sat on the floor, taking the baby monitor with her as Yamcha sat down on the sofa. Bulma walked in as Appura was opening the box, followed by Trunks and Gohan. They sat down and chatted as Appura began to rummage in the box.

"Oh, Kami, I can't believe this is in here!" Appura squealed, pulling her head out the box, brandishing a video tape.

"What is it?" Gohan asked.

"My birthday that Dad crashed, first time I ever met him," Appura said, handing it over. Gohan gave it a cursory glance before putting it in the player. The video started looking at a concrete playground with a long line of trestle tables covered in pink decorations, paper plates and balloons. A sign had been fastened to the chain-link fence behind it that said 'Happy Birthday Appura!' in big letters. The camera swivelled around and showed a very young Appura looking up at the camera. She was wearing a pink princess dress and was showing off a grin with a missing tooth.

"Hello Princess!" came Ima's voice; she was behind the camera, "Happy birthday!" Appura grinned and giggled before running off to the group of children that were gathered near the tables. She was hugging a boy who Gohan guessed was a young Chester. The image blurred and flickered before returning to later that day, Appura was sat in the middle of the table, clapping her hands at the sight of a massive cake that had been set before her. The other children were singing happy birthday as Appura blew out the candles. "Ok, guys, time to open the presents!" Ima called, she had surrendered camera duties to someone. The kids all ran from the table towards the large pile of gifts, wrapped in varying shades of pink. But they had barely reached the pile when there was a mighty crash and the camera shook. It turned back to the tables, which had vanished along with the cake. As the dust cleared, Gohan could make out the outline of Vegeta standing up. "What the hell is that?" cried the person behind the camera, a man.

"Appura's father," Ima replied. She looked pale and drawn. Gohan realized that he'd never seen Ima that scared before, not even the day she died. The dust cleared, and the Saiyan Prince was stood in the debris of the tables.

"I remember this," Appura said, pulling Gohan's attention from the TV.

"So do I," said Vegeta.

"You still owe me a cake," Appura said as the TV showed her and her father stood the far end of the playground to everyone else. She was stood, shaking slightly as her father circled her.

"Wait for it," Appura said, "Three, two, one…" There was a scream from the TV. The Vegeta on the screen had lifted Appura up by her ankle, apparently knocking her head on the concrete as there was red drops coming from her head and Ima was running across the playground screaming at Vegeta that he was an idiot.

"I still have a scar from that," Appura commented as the tape went to static and she turned back to the box, now with Trunks sifting through the contents. The box was filled with videos from Appura's childhood showing school plays, dance recitals and early singing performances, even a couple of her with a band featuring Chester. There were photos too. Photos of Appura as a baby, some of her at school age, some of her with her friends and her mother. One in particular had Trunks in tears of laughter. It was about eight years old, a photo of Vegeta sleeping on the sofa. At the opposite end to him was Appura, also asleep. Trunks was sprawled on Vegeta's chest. "Staged," Vegeta commented, "Bulma put him there."

"Still cute though, you really were exhausted, this must have been when Trunks had colic about six months after Cell," said Bulma, "He had us up all night, well he had me up, when he didn't stop crying because I was asleep, Vegeta got up once or twice out of being annoyed by the noise." Vegeta snorted. Appura looked up at Yamcha.

"Thank you for bringing these to me," she said.

"Anything for you, kiddo," Yamcha replied.

"Read 'em and weep, boys," Videl grinned, placing her cards on the table. The three other squaddies she was playing groaned and threw their cards on the table before reaching into their pockets for their wallets. Videl was just counting her winnings when a coughing noise made her turn around. Her commanding officer was stood there! He was here, in the mess hall that stank of sweat and cigarettes. She immediately stood up straight and shot off a salute.

"Sir," she said.

"At ease, Satan," he said, "I've been sent by the General. He wants to see you." Videl swallowed nervously. She hadn't met the General yet, only seen him across the training ground once in a poor light. She hoped she hadn't been caught sending that message to Gohan this morning. The Vigilante Registration Act didn't have any implications for her, having hung up her cape well over a year ago, but it did have consequences for Gohan and Appura, and more importantly for Kabu, their infant son. She'd seen a picture of the child from the day he'd been brought home from the hospital. On her last day leave she had bought an adorable Great Saiyaman baby suit and sent it to them. Gohan would find it funny at least. But now she was wondering if she had left a trail, connecting her to two vigilantes.

She followed her commanding officer out the mess hall and across the base towards the General's office. Years of practice and months of training were allowing her to keep her face blank but inside, she was terrified. Had she put herself and the others in danger? The officer stopped out the General's office door and knocked three times. "Send Satan in," came a voice. The officer opened the door and stood aside. Videl nervously stepped into the office. The door shut behind her.

The office was bigger than it looked from the outside but was illuminated by a single light that hung in the middle of the ceiling over the General's desk. The corners of the room were shrouded in shadow and Videl had an inkling that people were hiding in the darkness. The General was sat behind his desk made of highly varnished and polished mahogany with a brass plate bearing his name 'General Rufus Greed'. Two chairs were sat in front of the desk, one of which was already occupied.

"Ah, Videl, how nice to finally meet you," the General said, "Please, sit down, I was just talking with your father." Videl hurried forward a little too quickly. Her father, sat in the chair, looked terrified. More scared than Videl had ever seen him before.

"What's going on here?" Videl asked the General, "Why is my father here?" She turned back to Hercule.

"Are you okay Daddy? Are you hurt?" Hercule seemed incapable of answering her, his eyes kept darting to the corners and he whimpered.

"I've brought your father here to ensure your co-operation," replied the General, he too was watching the corners of the room, "Now, Videl, tell me. Does the word 'Saiyan' mean anything to you?"