A/N: Thanks again to all who've been reading. : ) Also, I truly do enjoy constructive criticism, so keep it coming! I want to apologize as well; it seems no matter how many times I read through my chapters, I miss something! I'll try to cover up as best I can for my mistakes as long as you bear with me! It's been forever since I've cranked out anything. Excuse aside, enjoy.

Chapter Three

Bulma immediately pulled her hand from her father's grasp and crossed her arms over her stomach softly. She was still a bit unnerved as a result of her recent encounter with Vegeta. "I am not moving another foot until you explain to me what is going on. I want every detail."

Dr. Briefs closed his eyes and sighed, rubbing his temples. "Sweetheart, can we at least go back into the lab?" They continued down the long hallway to the first door and walked through, her father keying the coded lock back in place. He sat down heavily onto the nearest chair, but not before catching his daughter's eyes with a look of suspicion. "I want answers first. How did you bypass the lock?"

Bulma sat next to her father, a bright crimson burning her cheeks. She looked downward, fiddling with her zipper on her oversized coat that seemed to get her in trouble. "Lucky guess."

"By the gods it was! You nosy little girl."

Bulma's slender fingers covered over her father's. "Daddy," she started, smiling, "you haven't raised me to be any less."

"Hm. This is true."

"Now please tell me what's going on. It makes me uneasy to have a crazy man locked up in my lab."

The doctor laughed, retrieving the mysterious stack of papers he had hid so feverishly earlier. He handed them to his daughter. "Here are the copies of the letter from Vegetasei, the planet of the Saiyan race. They are an extremely strong people and are responsible for many needless deaths in this galaxy. We have been on uneven terms after a trade excursion was intercepted by an unmarked ship. King Vegeta's lead advisor, Bardock, assumed it was planned by Earth to insult their planet. It was not our ship and yet the Saiyans thickly assume it was; they are so untrusting of anyone. Our planet has no plans on getting on the bad side, if you will, of their own.

"And why would we?" He stated, his tempers rising at the unjustness, "In mere strength, our race is inferior to the Saiyans and we know that any day we could be the target of an unprecedented attack. Earth is no threat! Yet as a people we are dishonored by their accusations, treated as common slaves and now ordered to fix a genetic failing of the perfect Saiyan race."

Bulma sat in silence, soaking up the words of her father. He was clearly riled up, but she couldn't help but feel mediocre and insulted. In all her knowledge and intellect, she had failed to detect her planet was in grave danger and her own father kept it from her. She had never known there was life outside of Earth! What a bubble we live in… She clasped her hands together and placed them in her lap, glancing at her father to continue and dismissing her faint annoyance with him.

"The first messenger from Vegetasei was a man named Goku. He was kind enough and made it clear that he was just passing along orders from his father, the King's advisor. He actually landed just south of the Corporation. The dumb brute landed the thing sideways, smashing a small barn just south of here," he said, quickly pulling up a map on the large computer screen to display the coordinates. "One of our employees took the information and passed it along to me. It cost our company thousands to keep the entire event under lock and key; imagine what shock humanity would endure to discover we are not alone in this universe!"

Bulma silent agreed, she was one of the best and brightest of the world today and her mind was still numb from realization. Dr. Briefs clenched his fist tightly before beginning his next sentence, his voice filled with irritation. If she received her looks from her mother, it was her unstable personality she inherited from her father. Granted, he was much more mature and able to hide his dissatisfaction than his twenty year old daughter. "We received the command to discover a cure and the given consequences of failure, although not lightly. I am sick and tired of being treated as inferior to these beings. Times have changed," he added, now smiling mischievously, "to where those with the biggest guns do not always win."

She sat quietly, thinking about her father's statement and his change in demeanor. Those with the biggest guns…

"Others would do well to realize this. When King Vegeta sent that messenger Goku here to Earth, I'm not entirely sure the man was in his right mind. The man was large but a bit dim and he left a valuable piece of equipment behind. It is called a Scouter. It reads the energy levels of anything placed in front of it. Because of this piece, we were able to catch Vegeta before he had a chance to do any damage to our planet. The moment he stepped off his air-tight ship, a capsule of scentless gas was released and he collapsed just long enough for a bot to place that power-harnessing collar around his neck. We had to be sure no bodies were in the area for him to detect.

"I don't know why he is here but I do know that not only do we have leverage against the planet, but we are very close to discovering the cure to Dextis." Her father beamed with pride that he had temporarily outsmarted the stronger race. "You can't use brute strength to overpower intelligence. They may be superior in many aspects, but they are unfamiliar with Earth's technology just as I am to theirs. However, because of the Scouter, I hope to discover more about their science."

Bulma rose from her chair, unsure of the situation she was precariously thrown into. She had so many questions, but one suddenly jumped through her lips before she could think clearly. "He said he was a prince?"

"Yes, dear. He is the King's one and only son."

She paced back and forth, her eyes scanning the letter of threat from Vegetasei. The terrible man definitely acted as such. "Father, what does this do to us? Why are you keeping him here?"

Dr. Briefs stood and looked downward, as he if he was trying to choose his words carefully. "Well… he has an interesting decision to make. His father, the King, does not know he is being held captive and it seems Vegeta does not want his father to attain this knowledge. I presented him with three choices: he could help us, I could tell his father to rescue him, or he could freeze to death so my team can perform diagnostics on his remains."

"Dad!" Bulma exclaimed, shocked at her father's indifference. This… whatever it was, was really getting to him. She had never seen him so worked up over anything, no matter how unbalanced he could be at times. "Well, what has he chosen?"

Her father shrugged. "He must not realize silence speaks volumes. He is currently rotting in that cell and has been for twenty days. I suppose he thinks he will just blast his way out, but that will not be happening anytime soon. He is a stubborn boy and he thinks it is productive to hurl insults at some and completely ignore others. Frankly, I don't care what happens to him as long as he stays in our control, especially now that we have almost created a competent cure."

Wow, this is a lot to take in all at once. Bulma slid her fingers through her messy hair, unconsciously flipping it backward, away from her face. She shot a glance at the large clock hanging on the opposite wall. It was almost ten, and the frost was finally melting off the front lawn in the midmorning sun. She groaned, closing her eyes in distaste. "I will never get my beauty rest now that Earth is dealing with a problem of this magnitude."

Her father laughed, the cheery sound soothing her nerves and her bad attitude. "Of course not, sweetheart. But with genes like ours, you could get two hours of sleep and still be stunning." A small blush whispered across her cheeks as her father signaled for the two of them to walk towards the computer. Her loving father fueled her ego, he really did. She wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing.

He sat and began typing away at the main screen, numbers and symbols flashing. Bulma's eyes shot across the screen, reading and translating the characters as if it were second nature. It was merely the specific modifications her father was making to the Saiyan Scouter. He was running the diagnostics to ensure proper functioning of the device.

"Father, as captured as I am by this technology," which was no lie, she was extremely fascinated in the alien science, "I need to at least shower or something. Make myself look half presentable if I am going to be working today. I was hoping," she stuck out her lower lip for emphasis, "that someone would've let me take a little nap…"

Swinging around in his chair with shock, her father knocked a small pile of note cards off the table. Besides their steady hands, clumsiness was another endearing attribute passed on from father to daughter. "Are you joking?" He clicked his tongue in disappointment, leaning over to pick up the mess. "Now that you know these details, I expect you to be extra diligent in your work ethic, starting now."

The rest of Bulma's face followed suit into a scowl. "That better not have been a jab at my work habits, because I work hard to-"

"Shower, please. Come back when you are done so I can update you on the details."

"Not without another cup of coffee," Bulma grouched. She turned and stomped to the house, her heavy boots clunking out the door.

*********

a/n: This chapter seems to be a bit long-winded, but it was necessary. : ) I've rewritten a few parts to make it as broken-up and interesting as possible. My first draft was all dialogue (ugh how terrible!). As always, constructive criticism and ego-raising praise is always welcome (or anything else, whatever).

Also, I've been watching a few episodes for entertainment's sake of DBZ because it's been so long! I will try to hold as true to the show's characters as possible with my personal interpretation. Let me know if anyone is out of whack (except for Dr. Briefs, he just kind of came out this way and I like it!) or if it really bothers you, shoot me a message and I'll explain myself. :D Be patient.