Oh my, it's been quite some time since I've updated! I know, I know, I hate it when authors leave you hanging! But enough with excuses! Here is the next chapter, please review!

I do not own DBZ.

Chapter 8

Silence. Something about it made her uneasy.

It was never a good sign in a ship full of mass murderers and mentally unstable warriors. The vacant hallways, which were regularly full of commotion and noise, were painstakingly making the blue haired genius uneasy. She hoped that it was just a rare case where everyone just seemed to want to stay in and away from trouble.

That of course was only wishful thinking, stupid actually.

She quickly brushed those thoughts off and made her way to her room. She was still pissed at how she let Vegeta get the best of her. She hated the fact that he always managed to get under her skin and into her head. He always managed to get the last laugh in every argument they had and it was beginning to make her a little crazy. She hated admitting this, even to herself, but she was beginning to feel a strange attraction to the offensive saiyan.

She let out a loud groan as the door slid shut behind her. Now was not the time to be thinking about him. She knew that she needed to be more careful about getting too emotionally attached to the men in this hellhole. Although Raditz was certainly deemed trustworthy in her book, she knew that somewhere down the lines the warrior in him would break her heart. Not that she was in love with him or anything; she was just beginning to feel like she was getting too close to someone who could be gone at any given moment without notice.

She shook her head and mentally chided herself. She really needed to get some rest. Her brain was not going to function properly if she continued to sleep so late. She had a deadline to meet at work with the requests the lizard kept throwing at her, suffice to say, she had her work cut out for her.

She proceeded to her bathroom sink and began her nightly routine to wash her face and brush her teeth. Too drowsy to bother putting on her nightgown after shedding off her clothes, she decided to sleep in her underwear.

As soon as her head hit her pillow she was gone.

Bulma jolted upward in a state of panic and confusion. She looked around in bewilderment as her eyes tried to adjust to the darkness. Had she really heard a knock at the door? She wondered if it had been just a nightmare.

She remained silent as she sat in her bed. She almost lay back down after a minute or two of silence when she heard the knock again.

She swiftly jumped out of bed and grabbed the blanket to cover her almost naked figure. She took a look at her alarm clock and groaned inwardly when it read 2:30 a.m. It had

only been thirty minutes since she had fallen into her blissful slumber, and now she was being bothered. She was beyond pissed. She stomped to her door and began to press the code to open the offensive door when it hit her like a bolt of lightning. Who could it be? Certainly not any of her coworkers would dare to disturb her at this late hour. She gulped. What if Zarbon was back from his mission… No! That wasn't possible he wasn't scheduled back for at least another week. Before she was able to continue her list of potential killers she heard a low growl through the door.

"Are you just going to stand there or are you going to let me in, woman?" a very familiar raspy voice said.

Bulma's eyes widened and she quickly punched in her code to open the door. The door slid open and she was taken back at the sight of her unwelcomed guest. Vegeta looked at her appearance and quickly looked away. He pushed past her and pressed the close button behind him. He walked to her window and just stared out into space. Bulma could only stare in stupor at his back. They remained silent for a few seconds until Bulma finally found her voice.

"Uhh, Vegeta, I'm sure you have the exact same view of space in your room. No need to come all the way to the west wing for this." She spat, not sure why she felt the need to be rude. Perhaps it was her lack of sleep. Most likely it was just out of routine.

Vegeta remained silent and motionless, Bulma wondered if he had heard her at all. She walked a few steps closer to him but stopped to give herself ample space between the two. She cocked her head at the odd behavior he was displaying, "Vegeta?" she called softly.

Silence.

Bulma began to feel irritated and inpatient. She opened her mouth and was about to snap at him when he cut her off.

"Do you see that red spot straight ahead?" he quietly said without moving. Bulma slowly walked behind him and squinted ahead at the window. She almost missed the tiny red dot, it was a small freckle lost amongst the millions of other glowing specks.

"Yes, I see it." She murmured as she looked at the side of his profile. "What is it?" she asked in curiosity.

"It was my home planet." He said in a tone that chilled Bulma. He looked and sounded so detached. As if it was something that meant nothing to him. His features never changed, he always bore the look of indifference. It disturbed her to see the vacancy in his eyes. She wondered if he felt homesick like she did.

Vegeta snapped out of his reverie and spun around. He looked at her dead in the eye and set his jaw. "I came here to propose a plan. I know about the dragon balls existence, Raditz informed me you have even seen and wished for something." He said accusingly as he circled around her. Bulma felt like he had just dropped a bomb on her, she inwardly cursed at herself for telling Raditz that piece of information.

"You're probably asking yourself what I'm thinking to do with this information, so ill just cut to the point. I want you to create that cloaking devise in the pods of Raditz, Nappa, and myself. I also want you to make me a radar to find the dragon balls. Of course, your silence is also included in this agreement." He stopped to face her again and sneered at her look of disbelief. He continued, "in return, I will let you have your freedom, that is, only once I get my wish to defeat Freeza." He finished.

"So, let me get this straight." Bulma hissed, "You want ME to put my trust in YOU to go out and not wish for something that might not even be what you say it is. And not only that, but if Frieza finds out, he will kill us both!" she said as she shook her head in defiance.

Vegeta growled and bit back his insults. He knew that the woman was not just going to readily accept his idea. He knew he had to approach her in another way. He let out a frustrated breath and placed his hands on her shoulders. She tried to push away, but he refused to let her leave.

"Look, you have my word that I'm going to wish for more strength to defeat Frieza. He needs to be taken out. You and I know that if he continues down this path more death and destruction will ensue. Someone needs to put a stop to him. He took me from my home, killed my father, and made me into his slave. I know that I'm not a saint that wants to create peace within the universe, but one thing is for sure, Frieza needs to pay for what he has done to me and to the millions of people he has slaughtered and enslaved." He said as he aggressively shook her, as if it would knock some sense into her.

"Okay, okay! Just stop shaking me!" she squeaked. He stopped and quickly let go of her, stepping back to give her back her personal space. "Oh, I'll help you, Vegeta." She said as her eyes lit dangerously. He arched a brow, sensing the cryptic meaning in her tone of voice.

"Just under one tiny condition." She said as she lifted her finger.

"What?" he asked already not liking this.

"I have to come with y-"

"No." he cut her off before she could finish.

"Then you don't have a deal!" she huffed and turned her back to him.

Vegeta grit his teeth at her childlike behavior. " You will only get in my way, besides we cant have anyone suspect when they find all of us missing." He said as a matter of fact.

Bulma glared at him and crossed her arms defiantly. "I'm coming and that's final. Now get out so I can go back to bed. Ill see you tomorrow when I'm not in my underwear." She said as she wrapped her blanket tighter around her.

Vegeta almost forgot to growl as he looked down at her but quickly turned on his heel and walked to the door.

"This isn't over woman." He spat.

"Yeah, yeah. Out!" she rolled her eyes as she ushered him out the door.

The days went by, and Bulma began to work on their secret scheme after hours. She figured if she was going to be out in the middle of space, she needed to be able to protect herself, a weapon that could do some serious damage on a strong warrior.

Although Vegeta still didn't approve of her coming along, she had made up her mind; nothing would keep her from going. She needed to be out of this ship even if it was death that freed her.

They had thought of every possible scenario of escape, leaving no small detail behind. Everything needed to be perfection. Any small factor left discounted would get them killed. They decided that they would leave two days before Zarbon returned from his mission. He would definitely poise a major threat if he were here, he was always keeping everyone on check. No doubt in Bulma's mind, he would definitely figure out their plan.

She had just about had everything done, the only thing left to do was to get into the main ship's control room, she was going to have to corrupt their system so that they would have no worries about being followed by Frieza.

The only big problem was getting into the highly secured facility without getting caught. Bulma sat in her desk; she had been there for hours after everyone retreated to bed. She chewed on her pencil as she was looking over the ship's blueprint, trying to see if they had an alternate point of entry. No matter how many detours she tried to take, she had come to a dreadful conclusion, they had none.

She thought about Vegeta's idea, he wanted to just take them by surprise and kill them all before they even got the chance to call for back up. Bulma didn't want to take that route. It was way too risky, but she figured now that she had no alternate plan that maybe, they didn't have any other option.

Bulma's train of thought was quickly halted when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She jumped in surprise and turned around in alarm.

"What are you doing here?" a very familiar voice asked.

Bulma let the breath she was holding go in relief. "Leo, you scared the shit out of me!" she stammered as she clutched her chest to compose herself.

"I hope you aren't doing what I think you are girl." He questioned her as he took a look at her blue prints and noticed things that clearly told him she was indeed scheming something.

Bulma attempted to cover her work as she hurriedly began to stash everything into her briefcase. "What do you think I'm doing Leo? I'm just trying to finish that cloaking shield Frieza ordered. He's more impatient by the day." She stated trying to sound as convincing as she could.

"Oh, I didn't know he asked you to create weapons for you to kill his own. And what is this? A blue print of all the exits and codes to enter classified quarters." He said as he snatched her paper out of Bulma's tight grasp. He tried to keep his anger in check but failed. "Bulma, whatever it is you are plotting, stop." He demanded, looking at her with resolute. He ripped the papers she had without taking his eyes off Bulma.

Bulma's eyes bulged in shock and launched her self to try and stop him from shredding anymore of her important work. "Leo, don't!" she cried.

He simply pushed her aside, not hard enough to hurt her but enough to make her loose her balance to fall back, giving him enough time to grab her suitcase. Before she could launch herself again, the older man capsulated the briefcase and put it in his back pocket. He turned around and looked down at her, she caught her breath when she saw the sorrow in his eyes. "I'm doing this for your own good Bulma. You have no idea what you're getting yourself into. I may not be your father, but I do feel the need to protect you as if I were. I'm sorry dear." With that he turned around to leave but halted in surprise when he saw none other than Vegeta standing there.

"Where do you think you're going old man? I suggest you return that this instant before I kill you." Vegeta threatened as he began to walk closer to the older man.

"I am doing what is best for Bulma, you and your Saiyan companions are nothing but trouble. Once you get what you want from her you will just kill her, don't think I don't know of your past saiyan." The older man spat vehemently. Leo never wanted it to come to this, but he knew that he couldn't let Bulma get hurt, he had seen what the saiyan prince was capable of. Yet, he wasn't afraid. His life was not his priority anymore.

Vegeta smirked; he grabbed the man by the throat and picked him up. "You will give it back weather you want to or not. "

"Vegeta, don't!" Cried the blue haired genius. She ran up to him and placed her hand on his forearm in an effort to put Leo back down. "Please!" her eyes pleaded as well.

Vegeta growled at the girl and threw the man back, sending him crashing towards Bulma's desk. He turned around and grabbed Bulma's arm harshly, she whimpered in pain.

"He knows too much, I need to get rid of him!" he said, as he gave no sympathy to the girl. As quickly as he grabbed her, he let go when he heard Leo's groan in pain. Vegeta began to create a ki ball in his left palm, and Bulma's face paled in horror.

"NO!" she thrust her entire body towards the Saiyan, not caring if she got hurt in the mix. Vegeta simply moved a step back and Bulma crashed haphazardly into a steel metal table.

"Say goodbye to the old man woman." He said as he aimed at his target.

"Waa-ait" The older man coughed as he tried to push himself up.

Vegeta growled and impatiently marched over to the man and effortlessly picked him up. "It's too late to try and get on my good side." He laughed sarcastically.

The old man coughed again, and looked at Vegeta dead in the eyes. Vegeta looked back, feeling a small form of respect towards the man in front of him, he was still not afraid of him even though he knew he was just about to kill him.

"I know of a closer planet that has the dragon balls, but this dragon grants three wishes." The old man struggled and gasped for air.

Both Bulma and Vegeta froze in shock. They looked at each other and in union both asked "WHERE!

Earth

"Dr. Briefs are we all set?" asked an impatient Goku. He had been waiting for the past three hours to take off but the old doctor kept trying to add more unnecessary features to his spaceship.

"Yes, son, I just need to hook up the cappuccino machine and add a hand soap dispenser in the restroom." the old man chirped happily.

Goku and Krillin both looked at the man incredulously and Gohan slapped his forehead in disbelief.

"We don't need any of that stuff Dr. Briefs! We just need to go, like now!" Krillin exclaimed as he jumped up and down with impatience.

"Alright, alright! No need to yell at me, son." Bulma's father replied as he slowly walked into the control deck, closely followed by the three men.

"I have labeled all of the control buttons to be easy for you to read and follow. If you need any further assistance or have any questions press this red button and you can communicate with me directly. I have supplied you with enough food and water to last you three months." the doctor said as he gave them a quick tour. The training room is upstairs, the gravity room can be used at anytime you please, just be very careful!" he warned.

"Ok, I think we can figure it out!" Krillin answered before turning to Goku, "Where is Piccolo, I thought he was coming with us?"

"He went to pick up some sensu beans, he said he felt we might need them." Goku said as he shrugged. He knew deep down that piccolo had a bad feeling about this trip, and his intuition agreed. He couldn't explain it, but he knew Bulma was alive somewhere out there. The only last hope was to go to Namek and to find the dragon balls there.

"So what happened to Yamcha, I thought he was Bulma's boyfriend? Shouldn't he come with us dad?" asked a confused Gohan.

Krillin and Goku looked at each other with the same worried look. Goku then looked down at his son and tried his best to choose his words wisely. "Son, Yamcha isn't in a good place right now. He would probably get in the way of finding Bulma. He just needs some time to get back on track. Don't worry about him though, we'll get her back." Goku said as he smiled and rubbed his hand on Gohans head.

"Hey guys, I can sense that piccolo is back! Lets get this show on the road!" krillin yelled in excitement.

TBC..

So sorry I took so long and I know it's a super short chapter. I'm not the greatest writer out there, but hopefully you enjoyed it! Please take the time to review! Thanks!