. O .
Archer was out cold, between the dart and the sheer trauma to his body. Nonetheless, Ray couldn't help but allow a tad more respect for the group as a whole when the doctor measured out a shot of painkiller for Archer before Vegeta began carefully setting his bones, or at least making sure his limbs were all oriented the directions they were supposed to point.
Most of what actually happened in the tunnel had been a literal blur. The man had moved so fast, at one point, Ray swore Archer remained upright by the sheer force of the hits he was taking. The scariest part had been the kid's reaction. His fear hadn't been for the level of violence he witnessed, no, Ray got the feeling the kid had seen it all before and was far more worried that Vegeta wasn't going to stop.
Ray studied the boy suspended in pale yellow fluid. His eyes were half-closed, heavily lidded, but even then, he was still following orders to stay awake as he occasionally scanned the room. Stripped down to a pair of boxers, Ray could plainly see a disturbing number of scars dotted on the youth's muscular frame. What Ray had initially mistaken for a gangly adolescent now solidified into a kid decades younger than him with a better body than anyone he knew active in the field. Ray longed for the remains of his mission bag, for the dossier inside. Maybe he had missed something. Surely Cyril hadn't overlooked a second warrior-beast guard.
"Hmmm… the lad's progressing even faster than I expected," the doctor said, sidling up to Ray. Did the man have no brains? Didn't he realize they were supposed to be ransacking and pillaging from him?
"You're not going to try anything now, are you?" the doctor asked a bit disapprovingly. "I thought I'd pegged you as smarter than the average infiltrator."
Ray had the decency to blush. "Was I that transparent?"
"Son, when you've lived as long as I have with the best poker face around, you learn pretty quickly how to decipher even the most minute changes in body language."
From the tank, the boy huffed out a larger than normal burst of bubbles as he and the doctor shared a knowing look.
"Don't worry, son. You'll live through this night."
"Ray."
"Sorry?"
"My name is Ray."
"Well, then, Ray. Make yourself comfortable and we'll do what we can to get your partner that way, too."
A cheerful digital tune beeped out in major key and both Ray and the doctor turned their attention to the regen tank, now starting to drain. The boy inside was more fully alert and sitting upright under his own power. The doctor crossed over to a locker and unearthed a couple of towels and a robe before returning to key in a few commands on the device. The hatch hissed as its seal broke and opened just in time for Ray to catch a glimpse of the last of the fluid to get sucked down the internal drains. The boy pulled off the few sensors and oxygen mask he'd been fitted with and all but bounced out of the tank.
. O .
The two women finally pulled apart, a mess of lingering ugly cry faces that hinted at far more invested into the joint breakdowns than just Lana's botched attempted kidnapping. Mrs. Briefs handed each one a hanky and followed up with a doting hug. For a moment Lana thought she'd be next, but the older woman gave her a wide berth, crossing over to the opposite side of the table.
"Well, the salad's a lost cause, but everything else seems to have survived. Who's hungry?"
. O .
Gohan accepted the towel from Dr. Briefs, wiping dry from the regen tank's liquid.
"Thanks, sir."
"How do you feel, son?"
"Much better… uh…"
"Oh, here," Dr. Briefs said, passing him a fluffy robe before checking on the babies in the playpen. "He's safe to go change?"
Vegeta nodded. "Stay on alert."
Gohan unwrapped his foot, the injury in the gravity room already a distant memory, then took off back down the secret tunnel.
. O .
"Not to sound unprepared," Ray hedged as they stared at the door as the boy left the lab, "but who are all the kids?"
"This is my grandson," the doctor acknowledged, pointing to the baby with the wispy lilac hair that Ray only now noticed matched the color of the doctor's own bowl-cut locks. "Young Gohan," he nodded towards the door, "and his little brother here are family friends. They're staying with us while their mother is on retreat with…"
"Oh," Ray whispered, "damn."
The doctor's gaze narrowed, hardened, for the first time taking offense to the intrusion. "What else did your mission entail?"
From across the room, Ray felt Vegeta's presence intensify, like it'd been back in the tunnel. Ray raised his hands in peace. "She was supposed to detain only. Your wife and daughter. As collateral."
"As blackmail," Vegeta said, his voice pitched low.
"Our sources showed multiple attempts to infiltrate this place with varying numbers of inhabitants present. No one had tried a simultaneous attempt at dealing with the others offsite, too."
"I'll give you points for creativity," the doctor allowed. He turned to face Vegeta. "Maybe I miscalculated my assumptions."
"Unless Bulma is coming into the terms now as well."
"Hm… I thought she already was." And then the doctor shook his head and walked back to his desk and continued on with his work as if he hadn't been interrupted with a critically injured trespasser and a siege on his house in the first place.
Vegeta crossed his arms and leveled Ray with a death glare that under normal circumstances would have left him either properly afraid or laughing. But instead he examined his captor and felt a dissonant tinge of arousal. Stupidly, he covered it with a wink.
Vegeta rolled his eyes and pointed at the doctor's grandson. "That one's mine."
Ray's eyes widened briefly, the attack on Archer suddenly making a whole lot more sense. He fought against the wave of lightheadedness at how close he'd come to dying this time and sighed. "Story of my life."
"It's going to sound like I'm lying when I say I'm flattered," Vegeta said, "but…"
"Ouch," Ray replied as his words sunk in. "Mmm… I can almost see how Cheryl enjoys that sort of thing. Dammit, Ray, pull yourself together! You're on a job!"
"The consummate professional, I'm sure," Vegeta snarked.
. O .
"Damn!" Lana exclaimed, jarring her arm while trying and failing to eat the lobster in front of her one-handed.
The woman who'd taken her down, patched her up, then introduced herself as Chi Chi before they started sharing a meal furrowed her brows. "I'm really sorry about-"
"I can honestly say no hard feelings," Lana interrupted. "You rightfully had the upper hand and, well, most of my targets don't offer to foot the bill for dinner and drinks afterwards. Or during."
"Stranger things have happened, I'm afraid," Mrs. Briefs replied, topping off her champagne.
The door banged open, revealing an irate and entirely too sober Malory Archer, Abbiejean in her arms.
"Lana Kane! What the hell is my granddaughter doing with some third-class, poor excuse of a nanny who couldn't keep me from absconding with her?"
. O .
"Finally! A new land mark. I swear, Cyril, this mapping system of yours is terrible."
"No, wait! This actually lines up to my map. The main lab should be… yes! Just down that hall and to the left."
"You've said that like ten times already."
"Well this time I'm sure of it. I'll bet you my cut of the mission."
"I'll take you up on that."
"So what's the plan?"
"Nothing has worked in the past," Cyril said, rummaging in his bag for two dart guns, which he cocked and brandished before breaking into a run, "so I was just going to for-" he took the first left, "SUPPRESSING FIRE!"
. O .