Here's the next installment of Fateful Days.

Enjoy my lovelies~

Pamgie

Chapter 2: Escape

She released the breath she didn't know she was holding as soon as the coordinates were set into the navigation system and she deactivated the pod's tracking device. She leaned back in her seat and took her hair down, running her fingers through it to get out any tangles.

Oh how she wished she could have stuck around to see if that pathetic excuse for a living being bit the dust or not, but she didn't have a death wish at the moment so she would have to wait for the reports to come in.

Her thoughts on her mission were interrupted by other ones. Mainly, who was that handsome mysterious man that ran into the shuttle bay as she was leaving? She couldn't be sure but he almost looked Saiyan. He was wearing the traditional PTO armor so he had to be one of Frieza's lackeys. She didn't have the time to check and see if he had a tail, but those eyes and that jet black hair were near dead giveaways.

As she was lost in thought, her com buzzed. She quickly fished it out of her cleavage, the only place to store anything in that kami forsaken dress and answered. A bald three eyed man was looking back at her.

"Report."

"Things went as planned...for the most part." She added

The three eyed man narrowed his eyes at her. "Bulma...what do you mean 'for the most part'? Did you not release the gas?"

"Yes, that part went off without a hitch, you can relax Tien." Bulma placated her peer.

"Okay...so then what didn't go as planned?"

"I...saw someone." She answered, not sure how exactly to state her suspicions.

Tien raised an eyebrow in confusion. "You saw someone? I would imagine you saw lots of people, you were at a gala." He replied with snark.

"Haha, very funny. I'm serious though, I-I think I saw another...Saiyan."

This peaked the man's interest. "Are you sure? Did they have a tail?"

"I was in a bit of a hurry, so I can't be sure, but the hair and the eyes told me he was."

Tien grasped his chin in thought. "Hmm, this is interesting. I thought their planet was destroyed. I'll have to do some research, maybe Goku can lend some insight."

Bulma laughed. "Goku? Don't be silly! He doesn't remember anything accept being found by that old man in the forest. I'm surprised he even figured out he's a different species from us all together. If we hadn't intercepted that communication from all those years ago, we wouldn't even know planet Vegeta even existed in the first place."

"You don't give him enough credit Bulma. Maybe he has some suppressed memories or something. I'm sure you're father could help us out with that."

Bulma shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe, that's a long shot though and you know it."

"It's worth a try. Get some rest, I'll see you in a few hours. Good work."

Bulma smiled. "Thanks Tien, see ya in a few." And the com went dark. Bulma put it back in it's hiding place, loathing not having pockets right then. She initiated the sleep gas and closed her eyes, hoping the next couple of hours would go by quickly. She wasn't a fan of PTO space travel.

The banquet hall was a disaster. Bodies lay everywhere, tables were overturned and food littered the floor. There were only a few survivors, and they were slowly making their way to the shuttle bay.

When the gas was released, Frieza realized what was happening and quickly yelled to his soldiers to find the bitch that dared to attack him before he covered his mouth and ran for a hidden exit behind his throne.

As for Vegeta, he just walked back to his barrack, knowing full well he should take advantage of any rest he could, as he wouldn't get any for some time thanks to the woman's attack. He reached his door and put in his code, hoping to have some alone time before his torture session was to start, but instead he found his comrade Nappa snoring away on the top bunk. He shook his head in frustration and once the door closed he slammed his fist into the metal wall, leaving a decent dent behind and consequently waking his older, bald room mate.

"Hhhuh?" Nappa groggily woke up. "What the hell man? Didn't you see I was sleepin'?" He rubbed his eyes as he sat himself up and jumped down from the bunk.

"I don't give a fuck." Was Vegeta's only reply as he punched the wall once more, adding a second dent next to the first one.

"What's eatin' you? I thought you were at Frieza's fancy party?" Nappa asked as he walked over to a nearby chair and picked up his uniform, starting to dress.

"I was. One of the guests tried to kill the bastard."

Nappa's eyes widened in shock and surprise. "No shit?! Who was it?"

"A blue haired woman. Looked like a Saiyan except for the hair, her thin build and lack of a tail."

"How the hell did she get the chance to attack Frieza?"

"She hid her weapon, poisonous gas, in her..." Vegeta couldn't get himself to finish the sentence, his mind instantly pictured that voluptuous chest, attached to rest of her curvy body.

"In her...?" Nappa prodded.

"In her cleavage dammit!" Vegeta finished quickly, sporting the tiniest blush.

"Nice! And what's wrong with that? Did she get the job done?" Nappa joked.

"No, that's the problem. The whole reason I was there was to apparently make sure no one was plotting against him, or trying to kill him."

Nappa's smiling face quickly turned to a frown. "Oh. Well shit." He scratched his head.

"My thoughts exactly." Vegeta gruffed out.

"Where's the woman now?"

"She escaped."

"Double shit." Nappa replied.

Vegeta growled and clenched his fists. Just then came a knock at the door. Vegeta knew exactly who it was, so he opened the door, and without even greeting the green skinned alien, he pushed him aside and began walking down the hall towards Frieza's quarters.

"Hey! Monkey! Where do you think you're going!?" Zarbon yelled as he quickly caught up to the Saiyan.

"Where do you think?" Vegeta growled out. He immediately felt a punch to his face that caused his whole body to ram into the wall of the corridor.

"Show some respect Ape. I could end you here and now if I wanted, but lord Frieza has other plans for you." Zarbon sang the last part sickeningly.

Vegeta glared at the feminine man, rubbing his cheek before continuing on his way. Thinking about how he wanted to destroy the self absorbed idiot gave him the smallest bit of pleasure, but it was enough to push the thoughts of his impending torture away for a moment. It wasn't long before they both stood in front of the doors that led to Frieza's quarters. Two low ranking soldiers stood guard but stepped aside as they saw Zarbon and Vegeta approach. Zarbon nodded to both men and walked through the doors with Vegeta in tow.

As they approached the lizards throne, Zarbon kicked Vegeta in the back of the knees, causing him to fall to his knees, his hands bracing himself from falling, in front of the ice-jin. He looked back with seering hot rage in his eyes at Frieza's lackey but said nothing.

"Ah, Vegeta. Nice to see you again this evening. Thank you for showing the proper respect."

Vegeta said nothing and refused to look the lizard in the eyes.

"I'm speaking to you, monkey. The proper thing to do would be to respond." Frieza's tone darkened.

Vegeta raised his head slowly, choosing to speak the truth, knowing it wouldn't make a difference what he said in the end. "I have nothing to say."

"Oh really? You had one job tonight. One! And your feeble monkey brain couldn't even comprehend that! How hard is it to keep your eyes open and look for anything suspicious?" Frieza spit out.

Vegeta's eyes narrowed at the man's insult to his heritage but didn't answer.

"Not only was there an attack on my life, but by a weak female no less, who YOU let ESCAPE! You will pay dearly for your incompetence." Frieza smiled wickedly, looking like he was going to enjoy what came next. He lifted his finger and pointed it at Vegeta, who was still kneeling on the ground. A beam of ki came shooting out and hit Vegeta in the shoulder.

He grimaced and grunted but tried not to make much noise, despite the extreme burning sensation in his shoulder, as the lizard tended to enjoy it more when his torture subjects screamed out in pain.

"Oh come now, no need to play tough Vegeta. I know that must have hurt like hell." Frieza sang. He shot another beam of ki into his other shoulder, causing Vegeta to fall face first to the floor, his arms in too much pain to brace himself. He grunted loudly and moaned as he could feel tendons and muscles tearing in his shoulder. Now he wasn't able to utilize any of his ki attacks since they required the use of his arms and hands.

Frieza daintily came down from his throne and floated over to the prone Saiyan on the floor. His lips turned up in a smirk. "You know, if you had just done your duty like I asked you to, we wouldn't have to be in this position."

He circled Vegeta's shaking body, his reptilian tail lazily following along.

"However, because you failed me, I must make an example out of you to the rest of my soldiers. After all, we wouldn't want people thinking they could get away with not doing what they're told, now can we?"

In the blink of an eye, Frieza's tail moved with swift precision and whipped the Saiyan in middle of his back causing his armor to crack and break into several pieces onto the floor.

"Oh dear, looks like you'll be needing a new suit." Frieza chuckled as his tail lashed the Saiyan's back, now only clad in his spandex bodysuit.

Vegeta growled out in pain and rolled onto his side, only to grunt when he remembered his shoulders were badly injured. There was no position that would bring him relief now, besides laying flat on his stomach, basically submitting that he is the lesser warrior. So he stayTd on his side, gritting his teeth, his whole body shaking.

Frieza continued his assault until the back of Vegeta's body suit was in tatters and there were deep lacerations littering his back.

The pain got so bad that Vegeta didn't have the energy to even vocalize, the only sounds heard were the slapping of Frieza's tail against bare skin and Vegeta's quiet grunts and heavy breathing. The lizard becoming dissatisfied at the Saiyan's reaction decided to change up his moves. He walked to Vegeta's legs and pushed his three toed foot down hard on the back of one his knees. This caused him to scream out the last of his energy.

"Oh good! And here I thought I had killed you! Before you completely lose consciousness, I have a new job for you. Find. The. Bitch." Frieza cackled. He followed that up with stomping down on the back of Vegeta's other knee rendering both of his legs useless.

Vegeta lay motionless on the floor, his vision faded to black. His last thought was how he had failed his people, his father, in getting revenge for them against the lizard bastard. Instead, he would share their fate.

"Pathetic, didn't even last 10 minutes this time. I must be getting stronger. Zarbon! Take this fool to the brig. Let him rot in there for a few days, then his monkey friends can come get him.

"Yes my Lord." Zarbon bowed and walked up to Vegeta's nearly lifeless body, hauling him up and carrying him out like a sack of potatoes.

In the darkness, he began to stir.

The first thing he felt was pain. Everywhere. Frieza had done a number on him this time. He opened one eye slowly, then the other, blinking several times to acclimate to his surroundings.

The brig. The bastard put him in the brig. The Saiyan prince feared nothing in this world or the next, but small confined spaces made him feel very uncomfortable. In the dim lighting he could make out a bucket in the corner next to a basin with some rancid looking water in it. The rest of the cell was barren. The only light coming from a small window in the door about 8 feet away.

As he looked around the cell he could hear the faint sound of boots on tiled floor, slowly getting louder.

They stopped when the light from outside was blocked by a lone figure. The door to the cell wooshed open and there stood what Vegeta assumed to be Zarbon, though due to the flood of light from the room he had to squint.

"Well, you're finally awake." Zarbon sang as he waltzed in the room. "Oh dear, Vegeta, you reek!" Zarbon whined, plugging his nose.

"You're monkey friends are here to collect you."

Vegeta raised his head from the floor as his two comrades rushed in, squatting beside him.

"Vegeta, can ya hear me?" Nappa's voice rang through the cramped cell.

A grunt was his only reply.

"Well, get moving. I don't have all day to babysit Saiyans." Zarbon warned.

"Damn, he looks bad this time." another male voice chimed in.

Vegeta then felt himself being lifted off the ground as the last known remnant of the Saiyan race carried their Prince to the med bay.

They waited there for six hours.

Both men had fallen asleep in front of the regeneration tank that held their leader and Prince.

The tank finished it's healing sequence with a loud beeping sound, startling the two from their slumber.

They watched as the liquid from the tank was sucked out, leaving a very naked Saiyan in it's wake. His eyes opened and he removed the breathing mask from his face and opened the door to two eager looking faces.

"You had us worried there for a minute." The one known as Raditz said.

Vegeta merely grunted and walked over to a table where a new body suit and armor lay, starting to dress.

"Yea, you were in there for twice the recommended time." Added Nappa. "We didn't know if you were going to make it."

At that comment Vegeta turned his head as he fixed his gloves over his hands.

"You doubted your Prince would survive?" He countered. His eyes hard and his look unwavering.

Nappa rubbed his bald head in nervousness. "Well yea, you were unconscious for three days this time. We weren't sure what was going to happen. You just happened to be awake as we were walked by the cell today."

"It's good to have you back." Radditz said as he came up and slapped Vegeta on the back. The shorter Saiyan quickly turned around and glared. "Do that again. I dare you." He rasped out.

Radditz chuckled nervously and backed up a little. His hands in a position of surrender. "No harm done. Just glad you're not dead."

Vegeta nodded back.

"So what did I miss." He asked as they all began walking back to their barracks.

"Frieza cut our rations again, everyone's rations actually. He's really pissed about the assassination attempt." Raditz said.

"Tch. Is that all?" Vegeta shot back.

"Actually, he assigned us to a new mission." Nappa joined in.

At hearing that, Vegeta's mind went back to a memory from three days ago. "Oh good! And here I thought I had killed you! Before you completely lose consciousness, I have a new job for you. Find. The. Bitch."

"Yes, Frieza has tasked us with finding the woman that tried to kill him." Vegeta supplied.

"How'd you know?" Nappa wondered.

"Because he told me during our last...chat." Vegeta couldn't get himself to admit he had the shit beaten out him.

"Gotcha. There's a catch though. We only have three months to search the entire galaxy for one person." Nappa said.

"Of course we fucking do. Since when did Frieza ever make anything easy on us?" Vegeta snarled.

"Good point." Radditz added.

Vegeta thought back to that evening, to her. He was royally pissed at the woman for causing his most recent brush with death at the hands of Frieza. Although deep down he knew it wasn't completely her fault, he needed someone to direct his rage towards and she would do for the time being. Despite being the most beguiling creature he'd ever laid eyes on.

"We've no time to waste then. Let's get moving."