A/N: WHERE DID THIS INSPIRATION COME FROM?!

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z or anything affiliated with it.

-MalRev, back from the dead

DEEP - SIX

14 - How To Solve A Mystery

The commotion wasn't going unnoticed—the soccer players down on the field were raising their heads and pointing in our direction. Personally, I was more focused on the emergency exit door Goku had torn right from the fucking hinges. It was a good thing Chi Chi was supporting me or I would've fallen right on my face.

Goku turned his attention away from me and took two steps so he was standing an inch in front of Vegeta, towering over him like a skyscraper. Vegeta wasn't really the type to back down and glared up at him without batting an eye. If looks could kill, everyone in the immediate area would be dead.

Surprisingly, Raditz seemed to be the voice of reason. He was taking notice of everyone else noticing us and clapped Vegeta on the shoulder.

"We need to leave," Raditz said. "There are too many eyes around here."

Vegeta curled his lip and didn't look away from Goku. "You're going to pay dearly for this, Kakarot."

Raditz moved to pick up Bulma but Vegeta shoved him out of the way and scooped her up himself, throwing her over his shoulder like a ragdoll. He shot Goku another venomous look before turning and skulking away with Raditz at his side and Bulma's arms swaying across his back.

"Well that's a relief," Chi Chi said, watching them leave.

For the first time, concern flickered across Goku's face. He looked far more serious than usual, and there was no light in his dark eyes. He gazed after Vegeta and Raditz for a minute then looked back down at me. His expression still seemed bleak.

"Come with me, Ellie," he said. It didn't sound like a request.

I stepped away from Chi, finally able to stand up on my own, and hugged myself. My head was spinning, my brother was missing, and I had no idea what was happening.

"What are you people?" I demanded in a quivering voice.

Chi Chi's phone rang and she stepped away from us to answer it. Goku tried to put on a friendly face but he couldn't fake it anymore. Even the sunshine and chirping birds felt ominous with him looming over me. He was trying to placate me but it felt like a predator circling its prey.

He held out his hands. "Please, come with me so we can talk somewhere else." His black eyes flickered to the people walking up the hill from the soccer field.

My lower lip trembled and I shook my head, afraid I would cry if I opened my mouth. Chi headed towards the people coming to investigate to head them off, and I stepped away from Goku. He moved a bit closer, like a snake waiting to strike an injured rabbit.

"You have to come with me, Ellie," Goku said. "I can't leave you here."

When I refused again, and the group was distracted by Chi Chi doing damage control, Goku grabbed me before I could blink. It wasn't much of a struggle but I screamed just as he closed his hand over my mouth. Then I was enveloped in his arms and I could only feebly kick my legs as he carried me off towards the parking lot.

He dropped me in the back seat of a car near the edge of the lot, shaded in trees. I screamed again and thrashed my arms and legs trying to hit him somewhere. Goku used his weight to stop my legs and wrestled with my hands as I furiously tried to punch him.

"GET OFF ME!" I shrieked. It was like fighting against a bear.

Goku managed to clasp both of my wrists in one huge hand and used the other to prop himself up above me. He hadn't broken a sweat, of course—after all, he'd just torn a fucking steel door off its hinges. Was he an alien? A science experiment?

"Ellie, please," he begged. "Please let me explain. I'm not gonna hurt you."

"Where the hell is Owen? Tell me right now or I'm—"

The threat made Goku cover my mouth again, fingers stretching far enough to crush the lower half of my face in one movement. I glared at him but became still. I didn't have a death wish.

His dark eyes roamed up to the ceiling and he took a steadying breath. "There's a lot I have to tell you, and I don't want to do it here. Owen is fine. Bulma won't let anything happen to him. Can you just trust me?"

Escape seemed like an impossibility, and I didn't want to argue with the man who could tear any kind of door off its hinges. My scowl deepened but I nodded in agreement. Mercifully, he released my hands from his vicelike grip and very gingerly took his hand off my mouth.

I drew away from him, pressing myself to the window. "Fine. Make it snappy."

Goku moved to the front seat that he barely fit in and the car growled to life. I didn't know that he drove. I kind of assumed he didn't know how.

Thankfully I had my cell phone. I hesitated on sending an SOS immediately, since Goku deserved the benefit of the doubt, but I was also potentially dealing with a government experiment. Maybe he'd escaped and the pills Bulma gave him changed his appearance. What if he was actually a lizard person? What if the FBI arrested me and I never saw my family again?

He glanced at me in the rearview mirror and smiled weakly. "Please don't call anyone. I'll have to break your phone."

"Oh my god, are you going to murder me?"

His black eyes popped in shock. "What?! Of course not!" Then he rubbed the back of his head like he always did when he was anxious. "It's just… No one can know about me. Or the others."

Definitely a government experiment. I didn't risk checking my phone, but I desperately wanted to Google the number for the CIA or FBI or whoever would come collect him. Would I get reward money? Was he a serial door-destroyer? I mean, Jesus Christ. He tore a door right off the hinges.

There was a lot of emotion roiling inside me; things I had never dealt with before. I thought I knew Goku pretty well but it turned out I might not know him at all. We sort of had a connection. We'd kissed. I got him to stop taking whatever weird medication Bulma had him on. He'd warned me it helped keep him in check, but I figured it was some kind of antidepressant.

I needed to call mom and dad and let them know what was going on. Owen was in serious trouble. I would never forgive myself if something happened to him, no matter what stupid decisions he made.

Goku was flying down side roads, not paying attention to me. I wiped blood off my face with the back of my hand and sneakily slipped my cell phone out of my pocket. Miraculously, it hadn't been destroyed when Vegeta and Raditz pummeled me. All I needed to do was click a few buttons…

The car took a violent turn off the road and I was flung into the door, losing my phone in the process. We flew past trees as I scrambled to regain my balance and Goku slammed on the brakes hard when I finally had. I hit the passenger seat shoulder-first, which didn't feel so great but wasn't as bad as smashing my face off it. The driver's door shut with an angry squeak and the door I was leaning on opened, spilling me onto the ground.

My fall was cushioned by long, soft grass, and I was drowned out by the sound of cicadas singing. Goku leaned into the car as I sat up, clutching my head, and I heard a distinctive cracking sound.

He withdrew from the car with my mangled phone in his hand and a wry smile on his face. I froze as he squeezed again and the phone shattered into a million pieces. Blood ran down Goku's hand but he didn't seem to notice. His hair ruffled as a breeze rolled by and he dropped the phone at his feet, where it caught rays of sunlight and glinted off the door of the car.

Terror rose in my belly—not like the kind you felt watching a horror movie, but more like when you missed a step on a flight of stairs. It was a fear of death.

Goku shut the door and leaned against the car with his arms folded. He wasn't the goofy kid I'd met on the first day of tutoring. He was worn and pissed off. His eyes were full of anger and disappointment. This man was years older than he looked.

"Me, Vegeta, and the others—we're not like you." His gaze swept to the sparkling fragments of my cell phone. "But they can blend in okay with humans. I can't."

Holy shit. Humans? I was suddenly stricken with an intense, primal urge to put as much space between myself and Goku as possible. He wasn't a human. How wasn't he a human? What the hell was he and what did he want with me and my brother?

I gawked at him like I was watching an animal at the zoo. Goku averted his eyes to the treeline, deadly serious and still pouring blood from his hand. Inhuman.

"Bulma makes the pills to keep me at a human-safe level," he continued. "But they have to be strong, so they make me a little dopey." His jaw shifted from side to side. "It's safest for everyone. She has us… uh… run errands for her, and I especially need to be under control. But this medication isn't the easiest thing in the world to make, and she wants to be done with it and go away with Vegeta."

Ice trickled down my spine. They needed someone to manufacture medication.

Goku looked back down at me and smiled. Bees buzzed along in the grass and I felt my head starting to pulse. Oh my god. No.

"Owen has been around a lot, and he mentioned you and what a genius you are. It was perfect for Bulma—she hooked him with drugs and convinced him to lure you here. She promised no one would hurt you, and she wasn't lying. We were supposed to let you learn and graduate before making you an offer you couldn't refuse."

I was going to throw up again. I covered my mouth in horror as the blood seeped out of my face. The trees in the distance grew hazy and I could hardly hear Goku. It was all a lie. Not just the friendships—Owen had lied to me and put me in danger. Goku… he lied to me, too.

Then he shrugged, scratching his chin casually. "I was supposed to watch you, obviously. Bulma could sense me getting too close before I could." He laughed but it didn't sound happy. "The medication is already wearing off."

"You… you..." My voice trembled with rage.

Our eyes met and Goku grinned like a malicious animal. He leaned down to drag me to my feet, pulling me against himself, and I was trembling too hard to resist. I stared up at him, genuinely afraid he was about to kill me, and he idly brushed my hair away from my face. There was a subtle difference in his expression—I could tell this was not the usual Goku.

"Don't worry, Ellie," he murmured. "Love always throws a wrench in evil plans."