Chapter Six: The Capture of an Angel

It was late. The moon was only a sliver of white, and it barely provided any source of lighting in the dense woodland. Tall, thick trees cast long, dark shadows across the forest floor. The sounds of chirping insects and high-pitched crickets singing in the air were the only noises, aside from the occasional breeze of wind, rustling the leaves on the trees and the bushes down below them.

Vegeta arrogantly stomped over a thorn bush, loudly crunching the dried leaves beneath his feet. He knew it probably wasn't in his best interest to make such a racket while he was hunting. Not to mention the fact that if he failed, he would have to spend some time in the torture chamber, and his reputation as the best Angel Hunter on the planet would be flushed down the drain, courtesy of Ginyu and that big oaf, Recoome.

He pulled his bow off of his back and removed a blue arrow from his quiver, holding them both in opposite hands as he stepped lightly, concluding that he had to find an Angel sooner than later, and his pride wasn't going to help him if all it did was make a lot of noise.

He ran his fingers lightly over his leather belt, reminding himself of his tools. He had his handcuffs, which he brought with him on every assignment, a good ten to fifteen yards of thick string, and three of four yards of cable wire. He also had his bow and blue arrows, but it was like saying that he brought his legs with him. He just wouldn't be a Hunter if he didn't have his bow and arrows.

Stepping over a patch of dried leaves, Vegeta squinted into the darkness. It was difficult to see two steps in front of him, but he knew that he could take an accurate shot at about two hundred feet, even in the night. He could snipe a beetle in pure daylight at over a mile's distance. He just hoped that two hundred feet would be enough when he encountered his prey.

Angels, as Vegeta had learned throughout his days as a huntsman, were quick and agile. They could run at the average human's sprinting pace for miles and not be winded. It was one of the key reasons he had chosen arrows as his weapon of choice. Once an Angel started running, you had to stop it in its tracks, or it would be long gone by the time you blinked. Vegeta was a fast runner, but his pride and arrogance wasn't going to lie to him. He could never match the speed of a frightened Angel in all his life.

So, one of the primary rules when hunting was to allow yourself to have the element of surprise. If the Angel didn't spot you, then it wouldn't flee, and it made it all the more easier to capture them. But in the darkness, in the middle of the night, sound and sight were a Hunter's enemy. Sight, because of the limits of the visible eye. Sound, because an Angel didn't always need to see a predator to know that someone or something was stalking them.

Vegeta silently sighed and leaned against a thick oak tree, nocking his first blue arrow and closing his eyes as he listened to the sounds of the forest. He knew the consequences of failing to find an Angel before midday tomorrow. He wondered how he thought he could pull it off. After all, the group of Hunters had been out here for nearly a week now, and no one even found a piece of evidence that they were even hunting in the right place. There hadn't been a sign of an Angel, and the Angel Hunters out here were the best of the best.

He remembered how Jiece and Burter said that they passed the same area of the woods multiple times as they had hunted. This could have two explanations. The first was that the two of them were making excuses. The second was that the Angels had found some way to protect themselves using magic of some kind. And Vegeta was inclined to believe the latter choice. But then, how would he be able to tell where the magic took its effect? It was too dark to track his own footsteps, and he couldn't wait until dawn, because then he would be out of precious time. He had to find a way to get an Angel now, but the more he thought about it, the more hopeless it all seemed. What a stupid idea it was to challenge Ginyu and Recoome in the dead of night!

But then, a sudden crackle made Vegeta freeze. It had come from behind him, behind the oak tree he was leaning against. He dared to turn his neck so that he could glance behind him to see what was there, but he just growled at what he found.

He pulled back the string and his first blue arrow and fired at the buck that stood not ten yards behind him, nailing it in the middle as he listened to the loud pops of both its lungs bursting in its chest. Vegeta mentally reprimanded himself as he walked over to it for forgetting about his convictions against making noise, but seeing that the only thing he could find was a stupid deer made him hot-tempered. He was getting aggravated and he knew that his hunting would take the repercussions of it if he didn't get himself under control.

Another crackle from behind him made Vegeta whip around in frustration. He turned in the same motion as he ripped his first blue arrow from the chest of the buck at his feet. He nocked it against the string on his poised bow and pointed it directly at the sound of the crackle. When he let the arrow fly, he listened to it whistle through the air and come to a stop with a loud thud. Vegeta snarled and walked in the direction of his arrow. The thump was the sound of it hitting a large tree. Whatever had made the noise must have been a squirrel or something small, like a baby owl or a bird, he presumed. If it had been something bigger, like another deer, he would have hit it for sure.

He found his arrow, as he had guessed, stuck in the dark brown bark of a tree trunk. He lowly growled as he ripped it from the tree and replaced it in his quiver. He didn't even bother setting it on his bow. There was nothing out here but trees and stupid animals. If anything, he would be able to spot an Angel during the day, but at this hour, he wouldn't have been the least bit surprised if they were all asleep, utilizing the protection of whatever magic they had at their disposal.

If he found one Angel, it would be a simple task to find the others. Since Angels were known to fear pain, his torture methods would easily make an Angel say what magic was being used in this woods. And maybe he could even force a captive to lead him straight to where the other Angels were hiding. The only problem was finding an Angel to capture, first. And with each second that passed, that looked more and more hopeless for him.

But he just couldn't go back to the encampment without an Angel. The second he arrived empty-handed, Ginyu and Recoome would shove him in the torture chamber, and since they were Hunters, there was no doubt in his mind that they were as skilled as he was in the art of pain. He could picture them sharpening their blades at that very moment, snickering as they thought about what they would do to him first.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts, but they were only redirected. He should be the one sharpening his blades as he pondered how to make those two worms scream and beg for mercy. But instead, he found himself trying to find a way out of it all, like a coward. He could run, but then he'd never get paid for the job, and now he was out of an apartment, so that wouldn't do him any good. He could always tell Ginyu and Recoome that he found a way to detect the Angel's magic and he knew a way to get around it. But that would be lying, and they'd definitely make him back up his words with proof, which he didn't have. He could go back and fight against them, or even kill them, but that would only guarantee that no one else in the compound would follow his orders. And there was no certainty that the others wouldn't try and throw him in the torture chambers anyway.

So, Vegeta knew that if he failed tonight, he would have to endure the most humiliating moment of his life, even if it killed him to do it. He would have to allow them to drag him into that damp room and shackle his wrists to the ceiling as they took their time with his screams as his blood puddled on the floor at his dangling feet.

He just couldn't fail. It wasn't an option. He had to find an Angel, and his best bet was to find out a way to map out where the magic took its effect on him. He couldn't see very well, but he'd just have to make do. But as he began walking, another crackle came from behind him. He just slowly turned around and sighed.

"What is it, now?" he growled, partly to himself, and partly to the forest around him. But when he locked eyes with an aquamarine-haired girl, he just stood there. He lifted an eyebrow. "Who the hell are you?" he asked. What was a young woman like her doing out in the forest in the middle of the night? He noticed a brown leather sack swung over her right shoulder. Her eyes were wide, so he guessed that he had surprised her with his deep voice. She was probably expecting to find someone else out here almost as much as he was. "Going somewhere?" he asked, jabbing his chin out to question why she had a bag and was roaming the woods at what must have been around three in the morning.

But as soon as he took a step towards the mysterious girl with the strange aquamarine-colored hair, he saw her notice his bow and arrows, as well as the standard equipment on his belt. She whipped around and sprinted into the darkness, away from him.

And that was when it clicked. The way the young woman had moved, it had been so quick, so fluent. It had been beautiful… inhuman. It had been graceful… like an Angel. But if the girl was really an Angel, then where were her wings? Was this a premature Angel? He'd never caught a young Angel before.

Without a second to waste, Vegeta drew a blue arrow from his quiver and closed his eyes for only a moment, listening to the sound of the Angel's footsteps as she crashed through the underbrush. She wasn't being very subtle, but it was probably because she thought that the darkness was her ally in this situation. He nocked an arrow, stretched it back as far as the string would go and opened his eyes. He had a shot, but the guarantee that he wouldn't kill the Angel when he let the arrow go wasn't certain. But he had to make a choice. He knew he wouldn't get another opportunity like this one. It was now or never.

Vegeta steadied his hands and released the string, letting the arrow fly. He closed his eyes again and listened as it whistled through the air and, finally, hit something. But, it had sounded like the thud of an arrow hitting a tree and sticking there. He quickly opened his eyes and darted in the direction he had shot, blindly, into the dark of the night and the shadows of the tall trees above.

When he came to a halt, he let out a relieved breath. The Angel wasn't just alive, but it was conscious and there was no sign of an injury. He had just grazed the top of her shoulder, and her white shirt was pinned between a tree and the metal tip of his blue arrow. She stopped squirming when she heard him approaching. She let out a horrified scream.

"Help! Somebody help me! Somebody, please—"

Vegeta backhanded her and watched as her head whipped to the right from the impact, and her aquamarine hair fell in front of her face as she dropped her head. Vegeta grabbed his handcuffs and pressed his knee into the middle of the Angel's back, forcing her to kneel down, her face almost touching the ground. It also ripped her shirt from the tip of the arrow in the tree.

"Give me your hands," he said, holding his out in front of her face. "Reach behind your back and give me your hands."

"Get away from me, you monster!" the Angel screamed, tucking her hands into her armpits and pressing them tightly against her as she cradled herself and curled into a ball. It was purely instinctive for a defense, but Vegeta wasn't in the mood. In fact, he was quite proud of himself. He could just picture the looks he was going to get from the other Hunters when he brought his catch back to the complex. Now, he began to think about the things he would do to the two imbeciles that challenged him, forgetting all about his worries from before. It was almost as if they never existed in the first place.

"Just do as I say and you'll be fine. Now, give me your hands."

Vegeta had no doubt that this Angel knew exactly what he was, and what he was trying to do. He always assumed that an Angel knew when it was being preyed upon, and when it had to face defeat, but he had never felt an Angel know him like this before. It was as if she knew him by person, as if she had done this with him before. It was an odd feeling, but he knew that something about this one was different than his other conquests… But it didn't matter. Every Angel was only a form of payment for him, after all…

The Angel shook her head violently and screamed again, but it was only a scream, not words. It was high-pitched enough to make Vegeta wince, but he pushed his knee harder against her back. She screamed again, but he just pushed harder, into the light fabric that creased under the force of the pressure. The Angel was terrified into silence, into submission. Her scream ceased.

"Give me your hands!" he shouted. If asking nicely wasn't going to give him results, then fear would certainly do the trick. But the Angel didn't move, almost as if she had this thought that if she ignored him, he would go away. Vegeta had had enough. He wasn't going to be ignored.

He pressed his knee down harder, earning himself another scream from the aquamarine-haired Angel, and leaned down to pry her left hand from beneath her right arm. She wasn't very strong, but when he had a firm grip, and he twisted her wrist in front of her so she would move how he wanted her to, she lifted her head up and bit down on his arm, hard. Vegeta growled and he felt blood trickle down his elbow, but the Angel was persistent and didn't remove her teeth from his flesh.

"Goddamn it!" he shouted. He brought his free hand down on top of her head and heard a squeal exit her mouth. He gripped her hair and twisted it into a big knot. He pulled as hard as he could, grunting with the force combined with the sharp pain in his forearm, until he felt the hairs ripping out of her scalp and her teeth were out of his arm.

The Angel screamed again, but he clamped his hand over her mouth as he twisted her wrist further, bringing it behind her back and applying the first handcuff. He noticed blood coming out of the top of her head, where the hairs had been torn out, and he reprimanded himself for wasting such a valuable red liquid. After all, it was the entire reason he was out here in the first place. It was now soaking into her hair, making it look purple and even more unnatural than it had before.

It didn't take much force to get the Angel's other hand and bring it behind her back, handcuffing it to the other one. All she was doing was whimpering.

Vegeta stood, pulling the Angel up with him by the metal handcuffs, threatening to break her shoulder blades if she didn't stand.

"Walk," he said, glancing over the bite wound on his right arm. It was still bleeding a bit, but it wasn't dangerous not to treat it right away. "That way." He lifted one hand to point in the direction of the compound where the other Hunters were waiting for him and his failure. Well, wouldn't they be surprised. He had to admit, though, that finding this premature Angel had been purely out of luck. He used no skill whatsoever, and he just happened to stumble upon her. He had been at the right place at the right time, and that was it.

The Angel didn't move, so Vegeta grabbed a handful of the back of her white shirt and pushed her forward with force that would have knocked her over, had he not been holding onto the handcuffs with his right hand to hold her upright. But the Angel still didn't move. She was resisting.

"Fine then," Vegeta lowly snarled. He slapped her across the face and pulled her unyielding form beside him as he headed for the compound. The last thing he needed was for the sun to come up and he not make it back before midday. He knew that they'd certainly call him out on it. They were bent on his failure, and he wouldn't give it to them. He was going to enjoy making Ginyu scream, and he wondered how much blood Recoome could lose before that brainless oaf passed out.

The Angel still refused to cooperate, so Vegeta pulled her hard on the handcuffs. Her refusal to walk caused her to stagger and she fell as Vegeta tugged, dragging her along behind him.

"Stop!" the Angel shouted, tears rolling down her face, but Vegeta didn't even consider it. "Please, you're going to break my arms! Please, stop! Stop it, I'll walk! I'll walk!"

He stopped walking, but he'd be damned before he helped her stand. But the Angel managed to get to her feet pretty quickly. Vegeta lifted an eyebrow as he tightly gripped the handcuffs in one hand and raised the other to the Angel's face. He grabbed her by the chin and lifted her head, looking her over. Her face was stained with tears. He hadn't noticed that she had been crying all that much. A bit of blood was on her forehead and he reprimanded himself again for making her bleed. The left side of her face was already bruising, too, from where he'd hit her a couple times. Her eyes were closed, but he examined her anyway. Her eyebrows were straight and almost perfect, as if they'd been plucked for a special occasion. Her nose was perfectly sloped and her lips were red and full, the dark color probably from him striking her. There was a faint flush on her cheeks, probably from embarrassment because he was looking her over.

"Open your eyes," Vegeta commanded, but the Angel didn't respond. "You're going to listen to me, one way or the other," he added, "I'm only asking nicely to give you the opportunity to save yourself from some pain. Trust me, Angel, if I want to see your eyes, I'm going to see them whether you like it or not."

At that, the Angel opened her eyes, but they were narrowed at him in rage. Vegeta could feel her fear though, so her façade held nothing over him. But as he noticed how bright and blue her eyes were, she spat, into his face. Vegeta flinched and closed one eye, where he had been hit. He slowly wiped away the saliva from his face and looked at the Angel again.

"That wasn't very nice, now was it?" he asked, mockingly and sarcastic, but she spat at him again, and Vegeta flinched once more.

Without bothering to wipe it off, he snarled loudly and pushed on the Angel's back, walking forward and leading her ahead of him, until her face came in contact with a thick tree, her breasts pressed up against the rough bark and her feet just grazing the roots of the large maple. Vegeta forcefully pressed his body against hers and breathed hard, right next to her ear. He pushed his hips forward in warning and as a show of his dominance over her. He felt her stiffen at the feel of him against her backside and he smirked.

"Scream," he whispered, "Or I'll make you."

The Angel kept quiet, probably bent on doing the opposite of whatever he told her to do. What an arrogant little girl she was. It kind of reminded him of himself. But then again, if she was anything like him, she would have put up more of a fight.

Vegeta let go of the handcuffs and grabbed the Angel on both sides of her hips, pulling her closer to him. He heard a whine, but nothing more, so he used his right hand to grab the hairs that had already been pulled on and tugged a bit. The Angel cried, but he could hear her trying not to make a loud noise, lest he think it was a scream. He pulled on her hair until her head came back and pushed harder on her body with his as he used his other hand to turn her head towards him. She looked at him with hatred and panic in her eyes, but still no scream.

"There are those beautiful eyes of yours," Vegeta commented offhandedly, smirking and backing away from her, grabbing her handcuffs a split second before she tried to dart away. He pulled her back and pressed her against his side, pulling the handcuffs down hard enough so that she finally screamed from the pain in her shoulders. "This could all end if you'd just do as I say," Vegeta said to her, but in the next second, the Angel kicked back with her right foot, hitting Vegeta in the leg, below the knee, right above his ankle, and the force caused them both to fall over as the Angel lost her balance on her left leg.

Vegeta tried to ignore the pounding. Any harder and she could have cracked the bone. He bent over as he supported himself with both hands, shaking his head to focus his eyes. But before he knew it, the Angel was on her feet, and her foot hit him in the stomach, knocking him onto his side on a pile of dried leaves. Vegeta grunted, trying to reject the agony. He couldn't let the Angel get away. She was already on her feet. Once she started running, he wouldn't be able to catch her. Not in the darkness after being hit like that.

The Angels foot slammed into his stomach again and he coughed up saliva, but before she could pull her leg back, he grabbed her by the ankle and yanked it forward, as hard as he could. He listened to her hit the forest floor, and offhandedly noticed that the sky was lightening a bit.

He slinked forward and got on his hands and knees, hurrying to cover the Angel before she got another chance to stand and flee at speeds he couldn't compare with. He dropped himself when he was over her, and she yelped at the pain of her hands being sandwiched between the ground, both their weights, and the metal handcuffs. She kicked with her legs, but she was only wasting energy at that point.

Vegeta rolled off of her and quickly grabbed the handcuffs behind her back, standing and yanking her to her feet with him. He looked down at himself and snarled. He was stained with dirt, mud and leaves, and something that didn't smell too pleasant.

He couldn't take this anymore. This Angel was a pain in his ass, and there was another two miles that they had to walk to get back to the Hunters' base. He lifted his hand and balled a fist, coming down hard on the back of the Angel's head.

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The first thing they did was stare in shock at the sight before them. The second thing they did was nervously shift their weight from one foot to the other at the sight of a captured Angel, and the news that Vegeta had won the challenge. But the final thing that the Hunters did came three seconds after Vegeta walked through the doors.

Jiece and Burter risked their lives first and burst out laughing at the sight of him, covered in mud and leaves and his arm covered in dried blood, an obvious bite mark on his forearm. And the aquamarine-haired Angel slumped over his shoulder, also covered in mud and a bit of dried blood matting down her hair was enough to make the entire complex burst into laughter.

"Geez, Vegeta," Guldo said with a smirk, "What, did you rape her before you even got here?"

"Couldn't handle yourself so you had to knock her out?"

"Was she that much for you?"

"Everybody look out! Vegeta's caught himself a premature Angel. Look at the pathetic thing. It doesn't even have its wings yet!"

At that comment, the room burst into laughter once more, but Vegeta just snarled, showing his white teeth to the other Hunters before stomping off to the torture chamber to lock the Angel up and leave her there until he was ready for her.

"How old do you think she is?" he heard someone ask as he walked away. The sound of his boots on the tile floor, covered in mud, sounded more like sloshing through a swamp. "She couldn't be over twenty years old, and look at what she did to Vegeta…"

He stopped listening to them, prideful in the fact that none of those voices had been Ginyu or Recoome. He wondered where they were. Probably hiding, he presumed. They had to know that they'd lost the challenge by now, and they were surely shaking in their boots.