The occupants of the room looked at the lizard-like man like he was crazy. He let out a chuckle at the shocked looks on their faces.
"Ah yes, I have marvelous things planned!" He exclaimed as he clapped his hands together before he turned towards Bulma.
"It's such a shame for you, dear, watching your friends die a slow and painful death at my hands. This is going to be so much fun!" A wicked grin crossed his face for a moment.
Bulma laughed and gave him a crooked smirk.
"You're such a faggot." She laughed harder at the outraged grimace he adopted, knowing he despised the old nickname. His face turned an ugly shade of red, his fists balled up at his sides.
"Frieza's a faggot, Frieza's a faggot!" She sung out as she watched him grow angrier with every syllable that came out of her mouth.
"Bulma! Leave him alone!" Goku shouted from the sidelines, afraid for his sister's life. One could never know what the monster would do. His already loose temper plus Bulma's taunting could not create a favorable outcome.
"Frieza's a fag-" The last word never came out of her mouth as a solid fist made contact with her jawbone. A defined crack resounded through the room making everyone cringe in pain. Goku and Turles watched helplessly as Frieza stood over their relative, his fist still beside Bulma's face, a murderous scowl on his face.
"I told you to behave, bitch. One more outburst like that and it'll be that pretty little head of yours. Understand?" He whispered calmly in her ear. Malice and resentment was laced heavily through his words.
Goku almost punched Bulma when she spit in his face, an insane smile creeping over her lips.
"Does the woman want to die? Why can't she just leave him alone?" Vegeta asked himself, observing the situation with narrowed eyes. His arms were crossed tightly over his chest, his fists clenched so tightly his knuckles were white. It pained him seeing his woman being treated like this, but there was very little he could do. Charging the man was out of the question. With the number of guards littering the premises, he'd be dead before he made it five feet, but there had to be something he could do! It seemed as if Kami was listening to his prayers when Frieza ordered his men to clear the room.
"Guards, you are dismissed. I wish to have some privacy with our guests, except you, Zarbon." He commented when the blue-skinned man made his way to leave.
"Yes, Lord Frieza." He bowed his head slightly in thanks.
"Still kissing Frieza's ass, I see?" Turles asked as he walked to stand beside his cousin, mirroring his stance. If not for the scar on his left cheek, they would have been identical.
"Still second best to Kakarott?" Zarbon shot back, a victorious smirk playing on his face. Turles' eyes narrowed as he glared hatefully at the man.
"Ooh, hit a sore spot, did I?" Turles growled at his comment and went to step forward before Goku's hand held him back.
"Don't let him get to you. He only wants to get a rile out of you." Goku whispered in his ear. Turles took a deep breath before he nodded.
"You're right, but what else are we going to do? I've never seen Bulma look so, so, crazed." he replied as he eyed his cousin who was staring off in the distance. "I don't know how much longer I can stand seeing her like this."
"Well, what do you expect us to do? Waltz up there and ask the bastard nicely to let her go?" Vegeta hissed as he butted into the conversation.
"Vegeta's right," Goku said, "We need a plan, but what?"
Krillin and the others joined their little conversation, adding an important detail.
"Well, we have the upper hand. It's five against two. We can easily win!" Krillin stated as he looked to the others hopefully.
"What! I'm not going out there!" ChiChi whispered loudly as she glanced at the trio in the middle of the room.
"Chi's right. Neither she nor 18 can fight him. They'd be toast if they even thought about it. Besides, i'm sure Frieza is armed." Goku stated as he put his hand to his chin. 18 huffed and crossed her arms with a pout on her face.
"I can fight."
"Don't even think about it. Frieza's a beast. He'd tear you to shreds with one hand. See how Bulma's held up against him? You wouldn't last five seconds." Turles commented as he looked pointedly at the blonde.
"Whatever." she mumbled as she too looked to their helpless friend. It really was sad how miserable she looked. No. Miserable wasn't even the word. More like delirious, traumatized, psychotic, the list went on. Maybe listening to the plan Goku was brewing was the best idea at the moment.
"Look, honestly, I have no idea what to do." Goku cut Krillin off before he could be interrupted, "Even if it is us against two, we are outpowered. If both of them made it out of what I delt them last time, I have no idea what it would take to take them down now." He ran his fingers through his unruly hair in frustration. Silence reigned over the group.
"If you all are finished with your little party, I have things to do today." Frieza hissed impatiently as he eyed them hatefully.
"As you can see, it is a wasted attempt to rescue the little bitch. She is mine, and only mine. I believe I have made that clear. Now, why don't we play nice?" His words fell on deaf ears as Goku whispered his plan to the others.
"When I say now, I want all of you to run and hide behide a stack of crates. Got it?"
Turles and Vegeta immediately frowned.
"No way. I won't hide like some coward!" Vegeta growled out lowly. Turles shook his head in agreement.
"I'm with Vegeta on this one." Goku scowled at them as he gestured towards Bulma.
"We don't have much of a choice! I'm sure neither of you thought to bring a weapon, did you?" He sighed when Turles pulled his Browning 9x19 mm Hi-Power pistol, Vegeta his Jericho 941 F, both looking to the taller teen pointedly.
"You were saying?"
Goku groaned before he sighed for what felt like the hundreth time that day.
"Okay, here's what we do. On three, we split. I'll create a distraction so you guys can get away. Once we're all somewhere safe, we'll corner them. We all have weapons, besides you guys," he pointed to Krillin, ChiChi, and 18, "so each of you come with one of us." Everyone nodded.
"One, two.." ChiChi latched on to Goku, 18 took Turles, and Krillin was left with Vegeta. They each spotted their destination and prepared themselves. Goku took his gun out of his waistband and cocked it, hiding it partially behind his back.
"THREE!" He shouted. Many things happened when that one word escaped his mouth. Two shots rang through the air, each couple dove to different piles of crates that were spread out, Frieza started laughing hysterically, and Bulma began singing 'I'm A Little Teapot' in an eerily high voice.
"You fools!" Frieza's whole frame shook as he laughed. "You honestly think you can trick me?" A sly smirk spread across his face as he pulled his own weapon out, pointing it to Bulma's head. He clicked the safety off and cocked it, pointing it at Bulma's head. He then turned towards Zarbon.
"Please do get our little friend, would you?"
Zarbon bowed at his waist.
"Yes, Lord." As the blue-skinned man took off, Frieza turned his attention to Bulma.
"And you, shut the fuck up!" he hollered, spittle flying out of his mouth and the gun waving around dangerously. Bulma didn't even acknowledge him, but merely kept singing as if she had no disturbance at all. He narrowed his eyes at her actions.
"I'll deal with you later." A smile replaced his frown when Zarbon walked back in, a bulky man in tow. He was around 6'8 with cropped red hair. A wide grin was plastered on his face the moment he stepped through the doors and spotted Bulma, his straight yellow teeth gleaming in the artificial light. He bowed as he stopped short of Frieza, muttering a 'hello'. He looked to Bulma and smiled wider.
"'Ello pretty." He mumbled, standing straight once more. The others watched on in ignorance as the man addressed Frieza and Bulma. Then and only then was when Bulma quit singing and glared at the large man.
"Fuck off, ugly." She spat, turning her head to the side. His smile dropped and he looked to Frieza.
"Wat hur poblem?" Confusion was laced thickly through his words, making him sound even dumber than he already was. Frieza waved her off.
"Ah, it's that time of the month I believe." The man nodded in understanding.
"O'. She git real mad wen it dat time o' da monf. But if it dat time o' da monf, Barny canot pla' wit da pretty?" He cocked his head to the side, eying Bulma warily. Frieza smiled cruelly.
"Oh, don't worry about all of that. Today is a special day. You get to do something very special. Show us what you and the bitch do whenever you 'play'. How does that sound?"
Barny looked to him with wide eyes, his smile returning.
"Whatever they do, I'm thinking it's not anything good." Goku whispered worryingly to Turles, who wasn't too far away. His suspiscion was affirmed when Barney stalked up to Bulma's chair and looked down on her, his eyes roving over her body like a lion watching it's prey.
"Go away stupid. You're not wanted here." Bulma glared at him, trying desparately to find a solution to her problem. Being tied up and all, she had no way of defending herself.
"Pretty, we git to play in fron' o' e'erybodi 'nd yu all tide up!" His hands went to his buckle, fumbling with the holes. Bulma rolled her eyes as she watched him fruitlessly try to undo his belt. Finally, his anger overtook his thinking and he ripped it off, throwing it to the side. His smile returned.
"Dat betta. Now cum hir pretty." His hand went to her face, his fingertips slightly brushing her jawline. He flinched back when she jerked her face away from his touch. He tenderly reached out once more, clamping her chin in his firm grip.
"Yu stop movin' ya hear?" His other hand moved to her shoulder, his confidence building as he realized she couldn't fight back this time. He slowly slipped her frazzled strap off of her shoulder revealing her grime covered skin. Even through all the dirt one could still make out its milky appearance. His hand moved to her neck, skimming slightly at the juncture where her heart beat the hardest. When she tried to jerk away, his vice-like grip on her face kept her still.
"No. Bad pretty." He growled, looking for her other strap, which he had ripped off a few days prior in a little scuffle he had had with Bulma. Seeing that it was missing, he shrugged and moved to lower her dress to reveal her chest. That was when Bulma noticed the others were still in the room, watching her with confusion written on their faces. She clenched her eyes shut and shivered in horror, knowing she couldn't do anything to save her shattered pride.
Her friends were going to watch her get raped.
Humiliation was one thing Bulma was very familiar with, growing up with Frieza and all, but this was on a whole new level. She could stand someone teasing her or scolding her in front of a crowd, it had happened on several occasions, but she would not, COULD not, allow this to happen. It was too private. It took her issues with Barney to a personal level. As redundant as it may be, she wasn't going to go down without a fight. She thrashed in her bindings, attempting to thwart his hands. In her struggle, the ropes tied around her wrist dug deeper into her skin than they already were, tearing the skin and causing blood to slowly well up and flow down her hands.
"Stop movin' pretty!" Barney yelled as he tried to get hold of the top of Bulma's ratted dress.
Bulma never slowed in her movements. There was now a little pool of blood underneath her hands and it was growing in size.
"No. No. No, no, no, no, NO!" She cried out, shaking her head as she attempted to get away. She threw her head back and screamed, the shrill shriek resounding off the walls. Barney grabbed her face with both hands and brought it face to face with his own. His eyes were narrowed and his mouth was set in a thin line, opposed to her bewildered, wide-eyed look.
"I wan' yu to shut tha fuck up. I will kill yu i' yu don. Got it?" His hand traveled roughly to her breast, squeezing until she cried out in pain.
"I sid SHUT THA FUCK UP!" he bellowed, reeling his hand back.
His open palm never made contact with Bulma's delicate cheek. Warm liquid splattered across Bulma's face and upper chest. The lumber man looked down to his stomach in confusion. There was a small round hole right were his left lung was. He opened his mouth to speak. A trail of blood dribbled down his chin before he fell to the side, his body causing a loud 'thud'. Bulma looked up and saw Vegeta standing behind a crate with his gun still raised. A thin line of smoke waved out of the barrel. His face was set in a deadly calm look, his eyes devoid of any emotion. He looked to Bulma and worry flickered through his obsidian orbs for merely a second before it disappeared. They held a silent conversation with that one look. On the sidelines, ChiChi and 18 let out a loud gasp, turning away from the now dead man. Krillin was having an even harder time keeping his lunch down as he watched the blood pool around the lifeless body.
A slow clap brought them out of their stupor.
"Bravo, Vegeta. I was wondering how long it would take one of you to get him, defiling your little friend like that." His sly grin was still present.
"You little bastard." Goku seethed, his face turning a deep shade of red. He was trying oh so hard to hold his rage in.
"Oh, it was nothing," Frieza shrugged, "he was a burden anyways, obssessed with the girl. He was like a stray, feed him once he keeps coming back for more."
Everyone glared at Frieza at that comment.
"You won't get away with this." Turles commented from the side. He made a bold move and stepped forward, away from the protection of the boxes.
"Turles, get back here!" 18 whispered as she motioned for him to get behind the boxes.
"No! I'm not going to stand by and play his little games!" he whispered back before taking another step.
"Ah, so we have a brave one. Finally stepping out of Kakarott's shadow?" Frieza mocked as he watched the lanky teen closely.
"Fuck off, Frieza. I want Bulma freed and I want it to happen now. We've played your games long enough." His deep voice held finality and demanded an answer.
Frieza just shook his head and looked to the blue-haired captive, who was breathing heavily and shaking.
"You want her, take her." He lowered his gun, returning it to behind his back. He slowly reached and untied Bulma's hands, remaining silent as they fell limply to her sides. He crouched down, wary of the large body on the floor and cut the bands holding her legs to the chair. As he took them away, he could see the bruises that were forming. As he finished, he stepped back, bringing Zarbon with him.
"Turles, be careful." Goku whispered as he watched his cousin go towards his twin. Turles looked to him and nodded, a determined look in his eyes.
He stepped forward slowly, aware of the unresponsiveness his cousin was displaying. As he approached, he took a closer look at her. He shook his head, appalled at her state.
"Bulma?" His voice was low and soft. He sighed in relief when she looked up to him. Her eyes were lifeless and dull, the fire they once possessed doused. He gently reached out and grabbed her under her arms, lifting her out of her chair. She allowed him to carry her, too tired and hurting to care where she was going. Turles watched Frieza as he drug his cousin back to his hiding spot, mindful of her injuries. When he got her to safety, he gently set her on the ground, noticing 18 standing over them. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw ChiChi run behind a couple of stacks, finding the quickest way to her friend. A few seconds later, she stopped at Bulma's side, accessing her wounds. As she looked at her, her eyes began to water. She covered her mouth with her hand and let out a quiet sob, falling to her knees. 18 moved beside her, rubbing her back soothingly.
"She'll be okay." 18 whispered, unsure if it was true or not. She had lost a lot of blood after all. ChiChi nodded her head, tears spilling down her face.
Looking to Frieza with hate, Turles whispered sadly to himself, "She may not."