Chapter Twelve

The Notorious Tea Boy of Capsule Corp.

xxxx

August flew by in a blur, and Gohan didn't even realise that September was upon them until he had a rather frantic wake up call from his mother that young saiyan had spent the entirety of the summer holidays either holed up in his bedroom or loitering around Satan City as The Gold Fighter. He had purposely been ignoring Piccolo, who had been hovering outside his bedroom at odd hours, and he had even managed to get himself out of the numerous barbecues and meet ups at the tropical island of Kame House.

He was still furious with Lime, the girl hadn't so much as text him with an apology, and he'd be damned if he went over to Chazke Village to beg for their friendship. In fact, he had pretty much spent the rest of the summer alone, even Icarus hadn't been to visit for a while.

Goten, to his delight, had been spending a lot of time with Trunks and Marron over at Capsule Corp., more so when he had realised that Gohan was too busy brooding to play with him. Chi-Chi had been beside herself at his utter reluctance to participate in any sort of social gathering, though she had surprisingly allowed the teenager to be left alone with his thoughts. His mother had actually been rather calm, despite everything, although if anyone were to mention his expulsion she would burst into tears.

Which is why, he presumed, she was so excited when Bulma had called at the end of August, informing her that they had some job openings in Capsule Corp. that would be perfect for him. Gohan hadn't been given much information on what jobs, or much choice in the matter when he had accepted anyway.

Although he knew that it wouldn't be a high flying job, given he had no qualifications, anything would be better than baking in his bedroom with all the windows open, listening to music if only to drown out the sound of Piccolo's gruff breathing as he meditated outside.

So, at seven am on Monday the fourth of September, after being forced into a smart suit by his mother. Gohan grabbed his packed lunch of corned beef sandwiches off the counter and blasted off in the direction of West City.

When Bulma had opened the door to him, she gave him an enormous hug, although it was rather difficult to return, what with her bulging belly. The baby was just weeks away from its due date, and Gohan couldn't help but feel a little worried as she showed him around the complex. But Bulma had merely scoffed when he voiced his concerns.

"Oh Gohan you sound like your mother," she said, rolling her eyes as they trudged through the hallways, "I'm a working woman you know, I can't just leave when my feet start to get a little achy. Although just between you and I, I am looking forward to some time off once the baby comes."

The young saiyan followed her, yawning slightly, "Bulma, this is great and all, but why did you call me here this early for a guided tour? I've seen the labs and stuff before."

The blue haired woman turned to him, giving him a wicked smirk, "You haven't seen the half of it yet kiddo, just you wait."

He frowned as she turned a sharp corner near to her office that he had never had any need to access before. To the side of them was a lift, he could see his reflection in the shiny metallic doors it was so pristine.

"So there's a code to this," she informed him, "0803, got it?"

He nodded as she punched the numbers into the keypad next to it, causing the doors to slide open with a satisfying ping.

Down they travelled, and it seemed like an age had passed when the doors sprung open again and they stepped into a brightly lit corridor. No windows were present, although the walls were painted a crisp white with several pieces of framed artwork nailed to them.

He obediently followed Bulma, wondering just how far underground they were as she waddled in front of him. The carpeted floor soon turned to tiles as they crossed a bridge, which was encased in glass window panes. It ran over a trickling stream below them, and Gohan recognised a few of Mr and Mrs Briefs' animals frolicking at the banks.

He looked above him, realising that they were indeed still underground; he couldn't glimpse a hint of a blue sky.

"Bulma," he mustered, "this place is-"

"I know," she grinned back at his awestruck expression, "Now hurry up and stop dawdling, theres still lots to see!"

Over the bridge they went, and into another part of the complex, filled with rows upon rows of desks with around a hundred people typing away at computers or answering phones.

"This is HR," Bulma informed him, waving at a few employees as they walked past, "and this - oh Pepper thank you."

The teenager blinked as a woman with brunette curls appeared out of nowhere and thrust a take out coffee cup into her hands.

"Decaf skinny mocha latte with an extra shot Miss Bulma," Pepper smiled, "I've also taken the liberty of cancelling your morning meetings with the board as you said you were busy."

"Ah yes, this is my friend Gohan," Bulma introduced, "It's his first day today."

"Charmed," she nodded professionally, shaking the teen's hand. Before Gohan could even muster a 'nice to meet you' she was gone, answering the bluetooth headset she had strapped to her ear.

"One of my assistants," Bulma explained, as the women disappeared around the corner, "come on lets go."

Gohan was amazed by the amount of respect Bulma had from her employees, and she seemed to know the name of every single one of them, no matter what their department.

"Its important to take the time remember people's names Gohan," she informed him as he voiced this observation, "It's a good way for people to remember you, you know."

He hadn't realised just how much work Bulma managed until he had witnessed it for himself. As they walked, various people were running up to her spouting a million questions and arrangements, he didn't know how she wasn't completely overwhelmed.

"Miss Bulma! There you are! Materials for the new XL-CC hover car, we were thinking black with a speckled finish, or maybe a dark grey."

"Dark grey John, always a classic, we did the speckled finish two years ago."

"Fabulous! Love it!"

"Miss Bulma Areocorp wants to move their meeting with you from two pm until three pm on Thursday."

"Two pm or nothing tell them Amanda, I'm a very busy woman. If it's that important they can fit around my schedule."

"Miss Bulma, I've got King Furry's secretary on hold-"

"Tell them I'll call them back."

"Miss Bulma, I've gone ahead and made dinner reservations for you and Mr Vegeta at Le Westro Blanc this evening, how's seven for you?"

"Lovely, thank you Percy."

Once they had managed to escape the fray, they came to a large foyer, complete with plush leather sofa's and a tropical fish tank in the corner. There was a reception desk at the back wall, with a young woman sat at it, various filing cabinets behind her and papers strewn around her work space.

It sort of reminded him of a doctor's surgery, were it not for the large solid metal doors that reached as high as the ceiling at the back of the room.

"This is where you'll report to every morning at nine," Bulma informed him, "You'll be working in the main engineering lab-"

The halfling's eyes lit up, "I will?! Oh thank you Bulma! Thank you! I thought you were going to sit me behind a stuffy old desk!"

"Don't thank me just yet kid," she warned.

He was about to ask her what she meant when he realised he was being introduced to the receptionist. He put her age at about eighteen, she had short brown hair and dark eyes, framed by heavy eyelashes. The woman wore a sharp suit that was tight around the bosom, and she looked at Gohan with a flirtatious smile.

"This is Chrissie," stated Bulma, "she started here last month. Chrissie, this is Gohan, he's new. It's his first day today."

"Hi there," she smiled, "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Gohan grinned back, causing her to blush.

Bulma rolled her eyes, tugging on his elbow, "Come on stud."

He chuckled as they approached the metallic doors, and watched as Bulma leaned her face towards the key pad fixed to the wall. Gohan thought it strange that it had no numbers, but realised why as a small laser protruded outwards, scanning Bulma's iris with a small humming sound.

"Ms Bulma Briefs, CEO, access granted."

"That is so fucking cool," stated Gohan, as the doors began to tinker and clunk.

"We'll get your's sorted once I've added you to the payroll," Bulma grinned, the doors beginning to open, "Now Gohan, allow me to show you where the magic happens."

It was like some sort of organised chaos, as he was immediately greeted with the sound of feverish voices, the clanking and drilling of tools, as well as the sight of hundreds of workers bustling around an enormous underground bunker. It could have fit four football stadiums by Gohan's calculations, especially seen as at the centre of the room was a great shining spaceship.

The spaceship itself was surrounded by people in lab coats, that also donned protective visors and gloves. Some were high up on ladders, working on the electrics, sparks from their tools falling onto the pristine tiled floor below. Others, held clipboards and complex looking diagrams, their brows furrowed in concentration as they studied them, occasionally pointing upwards to the ship. Another was busy spray painting the Capsule Corp. logo on one of the wings, giving a cheery grin to a few workers who were heckling him from below.

The halfling noticed that there were various other projects going on in the room apart from the spaceship. Numerous consoles and complicated control systems lined the walls, each one with a person sat in front of it; typing, analysing and pressing buttons that the young saiyan had no clue as to their function.

The bunker had three floors to it, each platform housing offices and labs that ran in a circle around the walls of the complex. There was a large group of employee's gathered round on the floor above Gohan, who reminded him of being in a stock market. They all had mobile phones glued to their ears, and were talking in various languages, flailing their arms about them and clutching bits of paper in their hands.

As he followed Bulma deeper into the building, a room to the left of him caught his eye. A group of teenagers, boys and girls, sat around a large diagram in one of the labs. They too wore white coats and goggles, looking like they were having a heated discussion.

"Interns," Bulma informed him when she caught him looking, "Some of them just finished school, they come here as an apprenticeship, work whilst they study sort of thing. Looks like one of the mentors has gotten them busy already."

Although the whole place was awfully busy, the young saiyan didn't feel intimidated at all. In fact, he was actually excited to get to work. He smiled, as he followed Bulma off towards a small corridor, passing a row of doors along the way. One in particular made him almost sequel in excitement, it read; Harold Thatchley, Head of Engineering.

Next a few more offices, a store cupboard on the left, another corner and then -

"And this is you," said Bulma, as they entered a brightly lit room.

The smile Gohan had slipped right off his face, "It's a kitchen."

"Well, this is where you'll be spending a lot of your time working," she sighed, not looking at him directly in the eyes, "The kettle's over there, the tea bags are just in that cupboard above the-"

"A tea boy?!" He gaped, the cogs in his head clicking into plave, "You got me a job as a tea boy?! That's why you didn't tell me!"

Bulma sighed again, looking a little guilty, "Oh Gohan everyone's got to start somewhere. And you're not just a tea boy, you'll be running errands, doing a bit of filing, things like that!"

"You've got to be joking."

"I'm not joking mister," she continued, her eyes narrowing in disapproval at his tone.

The teenager groaned, leaning up against the counter, "You said it yourself Bulma, I'm smarter than most of the people that work for you! I know I can do their job just as well, if not better!"

"Really now?" she scoffed, folding her arms across her chest and giving him a pointed look, "Prove it."

"Prove it?!" Gohan gaped, "Bulma you know-"

"I know," she pressed, "But show me a certificate that officially proves to me that your good at maths and physics, at least at a secondary school level."

"Well I-"

"Exactly," said Bulma, "I'm sorry Gohan I can't just give you a job off the bat with no qualifications, what about all those interns that have worked hard and passed their exams to get in here? You've only got as far as informal tests;and although I might be able to get you the chance to take your end of school exams next summer, this is all I've got. Who knows, you might not need any qualifications and work your way up from here, stranger things have happened. Oh don't look at me like that kid, it would be immoral of me to just hand you an apprenticeship!"

"It's immoral of you to make me a bloody tea boy," Gohan grumbled.

"Give it a chance," she cooed, offering him a smile, "At least it gets you out of the house huh? And keeps you out of trouble."

"I suppose," he muttered glumly.

"Brilliant," Bulma grinned, checking her watch, "Right, it's now ten to nine, I'd better let you get on with work!"

"Whatever."

"What was that Mr. Son?" she asked, raising an eyebrow in amusement.

The young saiyan sighed, "I mean, yes Miss Bulma."

He felt ridiculous. Having had been instructed to change out of his suit, he was subjected to wear a navy blue polo shirt with red piping - exactly the same as the cleaners and canteen staff. He was more annoyed that the shirt did nothing to hide his scar, though no one seemed to have pointed it out yet. Three hours in, and so far he had spent the majority of the morning interrupting the engineers asking if they fancy a cuppa. None of them looked like they needed any help with their work, and even when Gohan had politely asked he had been ignored.

He found he was surprisingly good at making tea and coffee, his speed meant that he could make around ten cups a minute, which some people seemed more than grateful for. It seemed that Capsule Corp. was fuelled by caffeine after all, no wonder Bulma drank so much coffee.

The young saiyan was on his fourth round of the complex that morning, the metal tea trolley clattering as he pushed it in front of him. It didn't take him long to stuff his headphones in his ears, turning up his rock music so that it blocked out the heavy drilling in the main wing. Gohan bustled past the workers, only stopping when someone flagged him down for a refill.

He was about to make his way back to the kitchen so that he could sneak out for a quick cigarette, when he caught sight of the bunch of interns that he had seen earlier. They were gathered around part of the ship engine as a tall balding man instructed them. Gohan watched longingly, as the teacher passed the socket wrench to a sandy haired boy to let him have a go at taking it apart.

The older teens looked at their mentor in interest as he started making motions with his hands. Gohan had never seen that type of engine before, intrigued, he took out one of his earpieces and abandoned his trolley, stealthily making his way up to the small group.

"… so you see how that would only work on this model," the mentor continued, "It's complex, but I'm sure when you've taken it apart and put it back together a few times you would be able to make sense of it in no time."

"Fascinating," a black haired girl nodded, "But I'm curious to know how this sort of engine would cope with the change in atmospheric pressure."

The man smiled, "Ah Iris, now that is a good question. But I would like you to research that for one of your projects this year. I want a two-thousand word report before Christmas and you must be able to demonstrate just how different pressures might effect the inner workings of this piece at the start of the new year. The labs, as I'm sure you know, are available to you twenty-four hours a day, so yes, you may work on your projects after hours."

The young saiyan was almost drooling at the thought. What he wouldn't give to be working throughout the night, his hands covered in oil and grease, figuring out the components of a piece of machinery. He would have to build a pressure simulator of course, similar to Bulma's gravity chambers, to show how much pressure the engine could take. A two-thousand word essay was nothing, he could easily do it in a night.

He sighed inwardly, he would much rather be doing that than stuck trailing a sodding tea trolley around all day.

Speaking of.

"HEADS UP ON THE FLOOR! MOTOR COMING IN!"

CRASH

Gohan winced, the sound echoing throughout the bays of the complex as a large motor was lowered from above. The little group he had joined looked up in shock as a collective gasp sounded around him. People walking on upper floors who had heard the noise were peering their heads over the balconies. Workers in white coats surrounding Gohan groaned and muttered noises of despair, slowly, the young saiyan turned, silently praying that it hadn't hit what he thought it had.

"WHAT TOSSER LEFT THE TEA TROLLEY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BLEEDIN' FLOOR?!"

The halfling sighed, Bulma had instructed him to grab an early lunch after he had no choice to go and ask her where he would be able to find a new trolley. She was both shocked and amused that he had been at Capsule Corp. three and a half hours and had already managed to break something.

After being yelled at by several employees, some of which the company's finest scientists, Gohan had managed to salvage some of the china, although most of it was slightly chipped. He was just thankful that the motor hadn't been damaged, he would have been in a lot more trouble if that had been the case..

He yawned as he sat himself at one of the canteen tables, getting out his sandwiches and taking an enormous bite. He never realised that being a tea boy could be so exhausting.

As he ate, Gohan caught sight of the interns he had seen in the labs. They made their way through the canteen, lining up to get their food before sitting at the next table over, talking casually over a news article one of them was reading.

The teenager couldn't help but roll his eyes, as a picture of The Gold Fighter beamed out at him - 'Crime rates drop! Study shows: The work of The Gold Fighter!'

That was the last thing he needed right now.

It was true that ever since he and Videl managed to thwart Borbonne's plans and put Eddie the 'L' behind bars, did everything go quiet all of a sudden. The Gold Fighter had barely been called upon all summer, and when he had it was only for chasing down speeding cars or small residential robberies. Gohan had thought that maybe Borbonne had given up on his plans, but Videl wasn't convinced, and like the stubborn girl she was, wouldn't rest until he was locked up in a police cell.

Although it was a positive step, he still didn't like looking at himself, as his alter ego was splashed across newspapers and magazines.

"I still can't believe that there's a real superhero out there in our life time," The sandy haired boy who Gohan recognised as the one with the wrench sighed whimsically as he put down the newspaper, "It's surreal."

"Surreal is right," the mousy haired girl next to him said sceptically, "I don't care what people say, it's impossible for normal people to be able to crush guns with their bare hands and fire beams. There's got to something in that suit of his - and no kid is smart enough to make that himself, I think he's had help from somewhere."

"Oh Erin, so what if he's a bit of a Bruce Wayne? It's still cool," another girl with long black hair and glasses stated.

Erin shrugged, taking a bite of her mashed potato.

"Funny though," the boy opposite the black haired girl frowned, "The paper failed to mention that Stanley Coyne was killed last week."

"Oh come off it Thomas, just because your Dad works for Mechacorp you believe that complete tosh their spouting?"

Thomas shook his head, "I'm just saying his death was strange, some kind of weird burn on him but no sign of fire or struggle."

"They put it down to a heart attack," the black haired girl spoke, "There was no reason for them to print anything but an announcement in the obituaries!"

Gohan, who had been following the conversation closely, couldn't believe his ears and suddenly blurted, "Stanley Coyne is dead?!"

The four interns turned to him in interest, as Erin spoke; "And you are?"

"He's the new general assistant, surely you recognise him from earlier?" said Thomas, before Gohan could speak. The boy gave him an amused smile as he addressed him, "Sorry about your trolley mate, not a great start to the morning eh?"

The young saiyan snorted, "You're telling me, too bad I wasn't under it as well."

"That bad huh?" Thomas chortled along with the rest of the group, "How long have you worked here for?"

"First day today," said Gohan, raising a fist in mock victory.

"Ouch."

"Yeah," he sighed, before attempting to get back on topic, "Sorry, what were you saying about Stanley Coyne?"

Thomas blinked, "Oh yeah, Mechacorp is in uproar at the minute. That's why I'm surprised no one's run their mouth to the press yet. Why do you ask anyway? Did you know Mister Coyne?"

"In passing," He shrugged, "I just didn't know he had died was all."

The young saiyan was surprised when Thomas motioned for him to join them.

"Oh here we go," the other boy of the group groaned as Gohan sat down.

Thomas ignored him, "Word has it that it was The Borbonne Family that did it. He left a note next to the body apparently-"

"What a load of rubbish!" the boy spouted again, "You trying to scare the new kid or something?"

"Hush Roy," the black haired girl hissed.

"Said something along the lines of, 'your weapons will be as useless as a corpse against us'. Freaky huh?"

Gohan stared at the fair haired boy, it certainly was more than a little freaky. And why hadn't Bulma mentioned the death of Capsule Corps. biggest rival to him? Maybe she didn't know, it wasn't front page news, no, all the media cared about these days was The Gold Fighter.

As much as the young saiyan disliked the man, Coyne didn't deserve to be murdered, if it even was a murder that is. Thomas seemed to think so.

"My Dad's team were the ones that found the body," he explained, "proper shook them up it did."

The young saiyan frowned, something told him there had to be a clue somewhere on the body relating to where Borbonne would strike next. But the big question was how Borbonne was able to infiltrate such a high security building such as Mechacorp, let alone murder it's CEO. The death certainly did sound suspicious - he expected The Gold Fighter would be paying Videl a visit soon.

"Can we please stop talking about this now?" The girl named Erin whined, "All this morbid talk is ruining my lunch!"

Gohan was offered to join them for the rest of the lunch hour, although Coyne's death wasn't mentioned again. He learned the names of the interns, Thomas, Erin, Roy and Iris. They were all aged eighteen and nineteen, and were shocked when Gohan told them his ag,; they expected him to be older. They had laughed when he told them, colourfully, how his first day was going, and he quickly found that his initial jealously of them melted away as they finished their lunch.

He had been rather disappointed when they had to return to work, mainly because he was left with his own thoughts. Thomas had been adamant that Coyne's death wasn't due to a simple heart attack, and despite what the other interns were saying, Gohan had always been a good judge of character, he couldn't help but believe the boy.

The afternoon passed by slowly, and Gohan was relieved when five o'clock rolled around. He exited the large building along with everyone else, but as he walked out into the grounds, he caught sight of a certain Namekian from over the hustle and bustle of people heading home for the day.

"Hey kid," said Piccolo on his approach.

"What are you doing here?" asked Gohan, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Came to see how your first day was."

The teenager sighed, feeling a little guilty, "Thanks, it was alright."

His mentor stared, "Good."

"Sorry for yelling at you, and storming off," he mustered finally, looking up at him.

"And ignoring me?" Piccolo pressed.

"Yes alright Piccolo, I've been a brat, okay?" Gohan huffed heavily.

"Well I'm sorry for trying to push you too hard, I was only doing what I thought was best. I know now thats not what you needed."

Gohan offered a small smile, "Thanks, I should head home, Mum's just itching to interrogate me."

"I'll come with you," said Piccolo, before catching the teenager's incredulous stare, "What? It's been a while since we just flew together."

"Just flying?" the young saiyan asked specifically, "You sure this isn't an elaborate plot to get me on my own before Vegeta comes hurtling out of nowhere and you both gang up on me?"

"You're starting to develop a complex," the Namekian chuckled darkly, "For your information, Vegeta and I have taken to exploring our power separately. We think it's best for our growth."

"Your ego's more like," Gohan grinned wickedly, "Honestly, if I didn't know any better I'd say you pair are starting to get competitive…"

Piccolo glared at him as they lifted into the air, "Shut up Gohan."

xxxx

The next day saw Gohan take a different route home from work, one via Satan City. His mother was raving when he returned with Piccolo after his first day, and after scolding him for not replying to her onslaught of text messages, burst into tears exclaiming how there was still hope for him yet.

His second day as the glorified tea boy of Capsule Corp. was just as uneventful as the first, if the fact of the destroyed tea trolley was ignored of course. He ate lunch alone, as the intern's had run over in one of their experiments, so he didn't have anyone to talk to apart from Chrissie at reception, and all she did was fawn over him.

So, after taking a longer lunch than he was supposed to, Gohan used his watch to contact Videl as The Gold Fighter and managed to arrange to meet up after she had finished school.

The young saiyan knew Bulma would positively string him up if she found out he had snuck out of work before the end of the day. But Videl's school day finished at three and he didn't want her to get bored of waiting for him. As much as he didn't want to admit it, Videl was a lot more acquainted with police records than he, and might know something more about Stanley Coyne's death.

When he arrived at Orange Star High School, she was already waiting for him on the roof. Without waiting for some snarky comment from the girl, Gohan launched into what he knew about Coyne and his suspicions. Videl frowned, listening intently as he spoke; and remained in thought after he had finished.

"Videl?" The Gold Fighter mustered, "Are you going to say anything? Because you've just been staring like that for about five minutes."

"I'm thinking," she said, ignoring his agitated tone, "Of course I've heard of Stanley Coyne's death, there was a brief story about it on the news the other day, but they said he died of a heart attack."

"That's what I want to find out," said Gohan, "Because from what I've heard, it sounds a lot more suspicious than that."

"I agree, it certainly sounds like Borbonne's doing, attacking the head weapons company like that," Videl mused, "But it'll be impossible for me to access West City's police records, I only have access to Satan and East City's."

The teenager groaned, "Oh come on, you're the daughter of the world champ aren't you? I know! Some people find you attractive! Can't you just bat your eyelashes or something? Flirt with the coppers?"

Videl stared at him, "you've got to be joking."

"No honestly, some people find you attractive," he replied.

If looks could kill.

"Ugh, this is so frustrating," Gohan huffed, throwing his arms up in the air.

"You're telling me," said Videl, "I just wish I knew what Borbonne's motive was. At first I thought it was just getting money for arms so he could cause more chaos and control the major gangs in the world. But from what it looks like he didn't steal any weapons from Mechacorp. What's he hiding?"

"Something bad I predict," the young saiyan sighed, "I just wish we could get access to those records."

The girl frowned again, looking deep in thought; "You said something earlier, about finding out for yourself… then why don't we do that?"

"Do what?" Gohan blinked in confusion.

"Inspect the body of course!" she said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "There might have been some clues that have been overlooked. You said that you heard the cause of death was just put down to a heart attack because they couldn't find anything else, right?"

"Right…"

"Then they wouldn't have bothered looking into the postmortem results any further would they?" she pressed.

"You seem to know a lot about this sort of thing," he observed, not sure whether to be scared or impressed.

"I want to be an officer when I'm a big girl," Videl mused smugly, "I have to know about these sort of things. So, are you in or what?"

"What for exactly?"

"I'm sure with a little persuasion that the Champ's daughter and The Gold Fighter can get into anywhere," she grinned, looking pleased with herself, "Police records can come up inconclusive, we're better off investigating for ourselves."

"Are you suggesting we go to the morgue?" Gohan grimaced.

Videl rolled her eyes, "Finally, you caught on. You can fly behind my copter, there's no way I'm being carried by you again."

Watching her clamber into the yellow jet, the halfling sighed, "Wow Videl, you sure know how to show a bloke a good time."

xxxx

In all fairness, Gohan hadn't anticipated spending his evening at West City Hospital's Mortuary, and by the looks of the Mortician and his assistant's faces, they hadn't expected The Gold Fighter and Videl Satan to waltz in and demand to inspect the body of Stanley Coyne either.

'Police matters', was all Videl had offered to tell them, before barging her way through to the chamber where the bodies were kept.

Although the young saiyan had certainly been acquainted with cadavers in the past, he had never been to a morgue before. It was cold and dark, shiny metal cabinets lined the back wall, whilst steel table's stood in neat lines in the centre of the room. Various equipment lay on silver trolley's next to the few tables that had bodies upon, a white cloth strewn over the top of them.

The lights flickered to life as they stepped into the room, and Gohan and Videl were almost blinded by the sudden brightness. There was the familiar, musty smell of death in the air, which caused the halfling to wrinkle his nose in distaste. Videl looked even more uncomfortable, but simply shot him a murderous glare when he asked her if she was alright.

"He came to us straight after they found him," the mortician drawled in a thick voice, taking the sheet clean off the body, "With no family to speak of and the postmortem to carry out, we're still deciding on what to do with the body."

Gohan heard a sharp intake of breath from Videl as he stared down at the lifeless form of Stanley Coyne. His chubby face, now pale and sunken, had turned a horrid grey and blue colour around the eyes and lips. A white hospital gown covered his enormous belly, contrasting with his darkening skin. His hair was limp and dry, the rings on his fingers had long since been removed.

"Speaking of the postmortem," the teen saiyan questioned, not taking his eyes off the body, "Can we have a look through your findings?"

The mortician snorted, "I hardly think there's any point, the results were inconclusive, the only medical reason I have to draw on is the fact that this fellow was rather overweight. Heart attack - like most cases nowadays. I don't know why the police have sent you youngsters to investigate in the first place, I thought the case was closed."

"Well thank you, you've been remarkably unhelpful, you can go now," Gohan stated in annoyance, brushing past the man and leaning closer to the body.

"Well i never," he spluttered, turning on his heel and storming away in offence, "in all my years!"

The young saiyan ignored him, rather glad the nosy git was out of his way. He bit his lip, staring at the man that once was Stanley Coyne, before taking a deep breath and ripping apart his gown at the chest.

"What are you doing?" Videl hissed, finally over her initial shock of seeing a dead body.

"Heart attack my arse," Gohan snorted, inspecting the man's chest, "What the bloody hell do they call this?"

Just as Thomas had said, a large burn spread from Coyne's navel, over his chest and up to his left shoulder blade.

"What is it?" Videl asked, a little pale as she stared at the bubbled flesh.

"Ki burn," he stated, his mind racing.

Stanley had been hit with a Ki blast, there was no doubt about it, close enough and it would have blasted right through him. By that logic, it looked as though it had been fired from a distance, but was still enough to kill him. For Gohan and his friends, it may have left a small mark, but for a normal human, a hot ball of Ki would have been able to fry him from the inside.

It stirred the question of whether it was actually Borbonne's work, then again, he had been known to associate with brutes that were Ki users in the past, such as General Tao. But someone like Tao wouldn't have been sneaky about this sort of thing, he would have blasted clean apart Stanley apart. No, someone who had experience in Ki control wouldn't have been this tentative to use it.

So who was it? If it was one of Borbonne's goons, then how on earth were they able to use Ki? It would cause some serious damage if they could.

"What the bloody hell is a Ki?"

Gohan sighed, as Videl's angered shouts cut through his thoughts. It seemed she had been trying to get his attention for a while, and was dangerously close to his face.

"This!" the halfling shot back, illuminating a ball of ki in his palm for a split second before dissipating it, shrugging as the soft glow left her eyes, "In a nutshell."

"B-but that's just-"

"If you say tricks again Videl, so help me I will shove my boot up your backside," he growled, "Now do me a favour and be quiet, I'm trying to think!"

The girl frowned angrily, "I'm just trying to understand you pillock! You're the one who asked for my help remember?"

"Alright, sorry," he sighed, turning towards her, "I'm just struggling to get my head around it myself. Ki, or, life energy rather, is very difficult to control and if Borbonne has use of it, then there could be trouble."

"Then you think we were right to worry about Borbonne?" she asked.

"Judging by the look of this bloke, I'm more worried about who his accomplices are," replied Gohan, staring back at the burnt flesh on the body's torso.

Frowning to himself, he called the mortician back inside.

"Is there something I can do for you?" he asked haughtily as he approached.

"Actually yeah," the young saiyan spoke, "Did you report on the burn to the man's chest?"

The mortician blinked at him, "Well of course, but it didn't relate to the cause of death. We put it down to a work injury, man deal's with dangerous tools you know."

"As CEO?" Videl scoffed, "I doubt it."

Gohan rolled his eyes at the man, "If you had bothered to open him up, you would have found that his entire chest cavity had been cooked to well done, tell me, did you actually do you job properly? Or did you decide to skip over that fact?"

The mortician winced before lowering his voice, "Are you mad boy? Can you imagine the pandemonium that would cause? No one knows how it happened, it's best to keep things like that under wraps, the press would have a field day!"

"The public have a right to know the truth," Videl snarled, "I hope you haven't kept this snippet of information away from the police, else I'll be obliged to report you."

He coughed and spluttered, giving the teenager's all the information they needed to know.

"Well Miss Satan," said Gohan, shooting the man a glare, "I'd say that concludes our investigation for tonight, shall we?"

The girl nodded, taking one last look at Coyne's body before following him out of the morgue and into the night.

"How did you know that?" she asked once they had left the building.

"Familiar with the attacks," he replied simply, "Damn it, I was hoping I was wrong."

"But what does it all mean? You're saying Mr. Coyne was attacked?"

Gohan sighed, a sudden breeze brushing through his long golden hair, "I'm not saying he was attacked Videl, I'm saying he was murdered."