Gohan was confused. He'd expected the trial to leave Lindsey more upset, more withdrawn, and jumpier than ever. Yet here she was, sitting in the middle of the floor of the garage, viciously pounding her thumbs on the game controller, yelling at the screen and shoving Catie with her elbow at the same time.
"You'll never beat me!" Catie laughed as her fighter on the screen flipped and punched at Lindsey's character.
"You're cheating!" Lindsey accused.
"Man, she seems like she's doing a lot better," Trunks said quietly to Gohan as they stood and watched.
"Yeah, she is," Gohan answered.
"You don't seem too happy about it," Trunks questioned.
"I don't get it," Gohan said, keeping his voice relatively low. It wasn't really necessary, the video game was so loud. "I thought she'd be upset after the way the trial went last week."
"Maybe she feels better, having faced them or something," Trunks offered.
"I guess," Gohan said. "I'm probably over thinking things."
"Just enjoy the fact that you have her back. I thought you were losing her there for awhile."
"I did too," Gohan replied.
"YES! VICTORY IS MINE!" Lindsey yelled, jumping to her feet and throwing her hands over her head.
"Now who's cheating?" Catie griped, getting up and flopping on the squashy leather couch next to Jenny.
"You!" Lindsey cried, pointing at Seventeen. "You're next, biotch!"
Seventeen smirked. "You can't beat me," he said in his smooth voice as he sat on the floor and picked up the controller Catie had abandoned.
Lindsey plopped back down next to him, staring eagerly at the TV. "You're going down, robot."
"Whatever you say," Seventeen responded as he selected his fighter. "And that's android. Not robot."
"Robot," Lindsey repeated, never looking away from the screen.
"You'll get her next time, babe," Trunks said as he sat next to Catie. He put his arm around her shoulders and rubbed her arm.
"I would've had her if she hadn't distracted me," Catie said, scrubbing irritatedly at her cheek.
Jenny was still laughing. "I can't believe she licked you."
Trunks threw his head back and laughed.
"I'm glad you all think it's funny," Catie mumbled.
"Not fair! Not fair!" Lindsey shrieked, leaning over and mashing the buttons again.
"HA HA!" Seventeen laughed as his fighter finished Lindsey's with a special technique.
"You can't beat an android at a computer game, Lindsey!" Leelee laughed.
"You're in trouble now!" Lindsey shouted and threw herself on Seventeen's back yelling, "RARRRR!"
"Hey!" Leelee yelled and dived on her friend and boyfriend as the two of them play-wrestled on the floor. "My boyfriend! MINE!"
Trunks stared wide-eyed at the tangle of arms and legs on the floor. "She really IS better."
Seventeen was flat on his back, pinned under the two women playfully shoving and pulling at each other.
"Vengeance shall be mine," Catie growled as she flung herself from the couch and grabbed Lindsey's waist, both of them falling over. "Get her, Leelee! Get her!" Catie screamed as she pinned Lindsey's arms behind her head.
Leelee grinned evilly as she began to tickle Lindsey's ribs. Lindsey screamed in protest, writhing and giggling madly.
"Gohan, help me!" Lindsey cried between giggles.
Rolling his eyes, Gohan hauled Catie to her feet and plunked her on the couch next to Trunks. "Contain her, would you?" he laughed. He then pulled Lindsey away from Leelee, who rolled to the floor beside Seventeen. She lay there gasping and giggling to herself.
"My hero!" Lindsey proclaimed, covering Gohan's face in kisses.
"Killjoy," Seventeen said to Gohan as he sat up. "I was enjoying that."
Jenny laughed, then suddenly gasped, clutching at her side.
Piccolo jumped. "You okay?"
Jenny sighed in annoyance. "It's just the baby kicking," she told him for the sixth time that day. She eyed the other girls, "You all remember this when you're having their kids. Babies of warriors kick like mules."
Trunks and Gohan blushed and looked at each other nervously, as if the idea of having babies terrified them.
"Yeah, not thinking about that right now, Jen," Lindsey said, lighting a cigarette.
"I wish you would stop," Gohan sighed.
Lindsey blew the smoke at him. "I could do a lot worse, ya know."
"What do you mean by that?"
Lindsey shrugged and looked away from him, dragging on her smoke.
"Seriously," Gohan pressed, "what did you mean by that?"
"Nothing," Lindsey answered.
Gohan started to protest, but was interrupted by a loud noise. Viktor and Kolya had burst through the door, dragging Toby with them. He looked hurt and confused.
"What's going on?" Trunks asked, getting to his feet.
"Shh," Jenny hushed him, watching the scene before them.
Viktor held Toby by the front of his shirt, bellowing at him in Russian. His burly face was inches from Toby's frightened, baby-face. He looked close to tears.
Catie was frightened by the expression on Kolya's face. His chiseled features looked cold and mean as he stared down his nose at Toby. There was no sparkle in his eyes, no smile on his lips. He crossed his hands and held them in front of the buckle of his belt, standing still as a statue with his shoulders squared and feet planted firmly on the concrete. She'd never seen him look so intimidating.
"WHAT YOU DO?" Viktor yelled.
"I… I don't know!" Toby stammered. There was a panic in his voice. "There was a glitch in the computer system or something!"
"YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DONE?" Viktor's broken English rang through the garage.
Viktor was a huge man, nearly as tall as Piccolo and twice as thick. He had a thick beard that he combed into two points on either side of his chin and a handlebar mustache. Thick silver rings hung from his stretched earlobes. His pale blue eyes were murderous.
Kirill strolled through the door, a large silver pistol in his hand, a cigarette hanging from his lips. He held the pistol even with his shoulder, the barrel pointing towards the ceiling, watching the scene before him with a lazy interest.
Lindsey's insides turned to ice. The sniper's presence brought a whole new context to the situation.
"WHERE THE MONEY?" Viktor screamed.
"I don't know!" Toby cried.
Kolya grabbed Toby away from Viktor and slugged him in the jaw, spinning Toby on the spot and dropping him to the floor.
"HEY!" Gohan yelled and started towards the group of men, but Lindsey grabbed his arm and stopped him.
"Don't!" she hissed.
Anger flashed in Gohan's eyes as he looked at her and Toby cried out again, Kolya's heavy boot connecting with his ribs.
"I'm not just going to stand by and watch them beat that kid up," Gohan answered in a quiet, angry voice.
"You'll do as you're told or Kirill will put a bullet in your eye," she whispered back.
Gohan crossed his arms. "I'd like to see him try."
Lindsey shook her head. Saiyan or not, she didn't see how brute strength could save someone from a 45 caliber bullet.
Kolya crouched down next to Toby as he pushed himself to a sitting position on his knees. "You tell us where the money is," he growled.
"I sent it to the account!" Toby pleaded. "I don't know what happened!"
Kolya was breathing hard through his nose. He stood and nodded once to Kirill.
The gun clacked noisily as Kirill pointed it at Toby, a red dot glowing on his temple.
"Kirill!" Jenny cried, getting to her feet as fast as her pregnant belly would allow.
Fear for what Kirill would do to Jenny if she intervened, Lindsey started across the garage against her better judgment.
"What is going on here?" she asked with a great amount of authority in her voice.
"He take the money," Kirill said around the cigarette in his mouth. "The money for La Bella Notte."
Lindsey froze, terror flooding over her. If Toby had messed up that deal, then Yorgi meant to have him killed. And anyone near Yorgi now was in serious danger.
"The hell is wrong with you?" she spat at Toby.
"I didn't do anything!" Toby cried. "I transferred the money to the account!"
Kirill slowly and deliberately moved his finger to the trigger.
"Stop!" Lindsey cried and flung herself at Kirill, smacking into his arm and throwing his aim off. The round shattered several bottles of alcohol on the bar as Viktor and Kolya ducked.
"Lindsey!" Catie cried and started for them, but Trunks grabbed her.
Everyone stood rooted to the spot. Kirill's green eyes narrowed at Lindsey. He dragged from the cigarette hanging from his lips and exhaled the smoke through his nose. He racked the pistol and pressed it to her forehead.
Fear held her to the spot as she closed her eyes. She was entirely numb. 'This is how I die,' was the only thought that ran through her mind. There was no emotion in the thought, just empty acceptance.
"Stupid cunt," he hissed at her.
She felt the cold metal retract from her skin and when she opened her eyes again, Kirill was gone. She breathed heavily, her chest heaving as she did so. She barely had time to register what had happened when her feet left the ground and her back slammed against the wall.
Kolya had her pinned by her neck with his hand. "STUPID!"
"Kolya, I…" Lindsey gasped.
"Get off her!" Gohan shouted as he marched towards them.
"Yorgi kill you now," Kolya said and released her. "You understand that? Now Yorgi kill you!"
"Not on my watch," Gohan said, grabbing Kolya by the shoulders and spinning him away from his fiancée.
Kolya seemed to puff up as he stepped closer to Gohan, staring down at the shorter man who had interfered in what Kolya considered a private matter.
"I'm not scared of you," Gohan said in a low voice. "Don't you ever put your hands on her again."
Kolya narrowed his blue eyes at Gohan as his fists trembled in anger at his sides. He took a deep breath and snorted like an irritated bull. He said something to Viktor in Russian and they left.
Lindsey rubbed at her neck as Gohan rushed to her. "You okay?"
Lindsey nodded, fixing her eyes on Toby, who was sitting on his knees, leaning over with his face in his hands.
"You stupid son of a bitch!" she screamed, taking a couple steps towards him and kicking his shoulder with her bare foot. He yelped and cowered.
"Lindsey!" Gohan scolded.
She spun around, her dreadlocks flying. "You have no idea what he's done!" She turned back to Toby. "You better hope Yelena can fix this," she said in a low tone. "Get out of here."
Not needing further prompting, Toby found his feet and fled the warehouse.
Jenny met Lindsey's eyes. "This is bad, isn't it?"
Lindsey nodded as she tugged up the striped arm warmers she wore. "I'm going to see Yelena." And with that, she left the garage, leaving everyone but Jenny shocked and confused.
"What just happened?" Seventeen asked.
"Whatever it was, Toby messed up bad," Jenny said, staring at the spot on the floor where Toby had been cowering. "He wouldn't order Kirill to execute someone if it wasn't really, really bad."
"Yorgi told them to do this?" Gohan asked, surprised.
"Well, yeah," Jenny answered like Gohan had gone completely stupid.
Gohan was silent. What kind of mess had he landed himself in? He now understood why everyone feared and revered Yorgi the way they did. He was going to have one of their own murdered over money.
"Maybe Yorgi isn't as great as you all think he is," Gohan said in a low voice.
"Don't be like that," Jenny said as she sat next to Piccolo again.
"You don't see anything wrong with this?" Piccolo asked.
"Not everything is all pink ponies and rainbows around here all the time," Jenny answered. "Everyone is fine as long as they do what they're supposed to do. Toby didn't do his job."
"I thought Yelena handled the accounts," Gohan asked.
"She does," Jenny answered, "But she's got a lot she's working on right now. They let Toby handle this one, trying to let him move up a bit."
"This seems like it was important. What in the world could Yelena have been working on that was more important than this?" Gohan asked.
"Your wedding," Jenny answered flatly.
Gohan blinked several times. "Oh."
"Yeah, oh," Jenny replied sarcastically. "You know, the wedding Yorgi's paying for. The one he assigned Yelena to plan for you."
Gohan was feeling guilty and angry at the same time. He appreciated all that Yorgi was doing for him, but he disagreed with the way Yorgi treated people. He acted as though every person that worked for him was a puppet on a string that he could command. Like well-trained dogs, Kolya and Viktor had sniffed out Toby and drug him to the garage to attack him until they got the information they wanted. Kirill had a bullet with Toby's name on it and Gohan doubted if he would have hesitated to kill Toby, even if he'd given them the information they wanted. Even Jenny had forbade anyone from interfering what was clearly going to be a murder. Yet at the same time, Yorgi had been more than supportive during Lindsey's ordeal, from her stay in the hospital, through the trial, and after. And without even knowing Gohan, Yorgi had welcomed him into his home and declared him part of the family.
"You know, the big happy day where you and Lindsey proclaim your love for the whole world to know," Jenny continued, trying not to smile. "You know, where you get all dressed up, and say 'I do.' And you get to smoochie-smoochie your new wife in front of everyone. You know, the day…"
"Alright, I get it!" Gohan laughed.
Jenny giggled, proud of herself. At least she'd managed to distract them all long enough for Lindsey to appeal to Yelena and get this mess straightened out.
Yelena was typing furiously on her computer, her forehead wrinkled slightly in concentration. Lindsey leaned over her, staring at the screen.
"I don't think Toby would have just taken it," Lindsey said.
"Nor do I," Yelena answered. "He made a mistake. I just don't see where. The money isn't in either account."
"No one is stupid enough to steal that much money at once," Lindsey continued. "Especially not from Yorgi."
Yelena nodded.
Tika tika tika tika tika went Yelena's fingers over the keyboard. Finally she sat back, sighing in relief. "There it is. He put it in the wrong account."
Relief flooded Lindsey as she fell to her knees, the air rushing from her lungs.
Yelena printed a piece of paper and handed it to Lindsey. "Take this to Yorgi."
Lindsey snatched the sheet of paper and ran from the room, pounding on Yorgi's door when she reached it.
"Da."
She opened the door to see Kirill, Viktor, Kolya and Yorgi standing in the middle of the room. Yorgi looked like he could strangle her to death. His face was turning red, his lips pressed into a thin, flat line. Lindsey had to swallow hard to shove down the fear she felt rising in her chest. Yorgi had ordered people killed before. Would he really do the same to her?
"Yelena found it," Lindsey said, rushing forward and pushing passed Viktor. She shoved the piece of paper in Yorgi's hand. "He put it in the wrong account," she gasped as she tried to catch her breath.
Yorgi's eyes scanned the paper for a long moment. He looked up at the other men and said, "Leave us."
Obediently, the three men left, closing the door behind them.
"You are stupid," Yorgi said to her.
His words hurt, but she didn't protest. You don't argue with a man who's considering what caliber of bullet to put in your brain.
"But you are loyal," he continued. "You risk you life for him."
Lindsey licked her lips. "I don't think anyone is dumb enough to steal that much from you, Yorgi. I knew it had to be a mistake."
"The deal we made is in jeopardy now," Yorgi said slowly. "I have the papers, but they have not been processed yet. If Mr. Dalessandro does not receive the money by tonight, he will withdraw."
"I'll take it to him," Lindsey offered, eager to prove to him that she was worth keeping around.
Yorgi nodded. "I will make the arrangements. You dress nice, and you take X and Gohan with you."
"Gohan?" Lindsey asked.
"I trust him."
Lindsey nodded and left without another word.