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Both Saiyans knelt down in the middle of the room, their twitching tails wrapped tightly around their waists. Frieza was sitting on his hovering chair, giving his back to them, his tail hanging off to the side and banging on the edge slightly. That meant he was displeased.
Zarbon and Dodoria stood at each of his sides, staring at the two other men.
After a long silence, Frieza finally spoke, without turning around.
"Why is Prince Vegeta in the medical bay?" he asked.
Nappa cleared his throat.
"The Ginyu Force." He said.
Frieza didn't need any more explanation as he smirked. He finally turned to face them, his eyes glaring.
"You know I do not appreciate being lied to." He said darkly.
Both men looked at him confusedly.
"We are not lying, Lord Frieza." Radditz said. "The Ginyu Force – "
"I didn't mean that, monkey." The tyrant spat. "I meant the way you've been stealing medicines from me to heal the prince after a punishment. That's lying and it makes me very upset."
Both saiyans paled. They remained silent, not knowing if it was better to try to keep the lie up and deny everything or accept it and embrace the punishment. They stared at Frieza with wide eyes. The tension in the room could be cut with a knife and the saiyans realized that their silence was only angering Frieza further.
"Lord Frieza, we – we were just veiling for the prince's life. We never meant any disrespect." Nappa stuttered.
"You stole from me and thought I wouldn't notice. You went against my word and gave him medical attention even when I ordered that none was to be given to Vegeta." He said. "How is that respect, monkey? Do you really think I'm such a fool?"
"No." Radditz spoke quickly. "No, Lord Frieza. Not at all. We respect you." He hastily thought of an excuse. "Uhm, we actually just healed him after training sessions, not after punishments. We, uh, we just grabbed the medical supplies thinking it was okay. We never meant to steal from you."
Frieza's eyes narrowed and he clenched his jaw. The saiyans' hearts beat madly.
"You cannot lie to me, monkey. And you know it." He said. "However, I will let that slip if only for just a second, because something else is bugging me. You three are hiding a much deeper secret. And I hate secrets among my men."
He jumped from his chair and clasped his hands behind his back, slowly walking over to them. The saiyans tensed.
"We don't know what you're talking about, Master Frieza."
"You three have been acting very weird lately. Especially the little prince." He began to walk around them like a predator. "This is my baseand I know every single thing that happens within it. You can't fool me, you can't lie to me, and you can't hide anything from me." He stopped before them and glared down at them. "You have ten seconds to spill your beans."
"My lord, there isn't anything we're hiding from you." Radditz said. "I swear."
"Maybe a torture session would loosen their tongues." Zarbon said.
Frieza laughed as they stiffened.
"Yes, maybe." He said. "But something tells me that they still won't tell. Especially the kid."
Frieza was certain that they were hiding something. But, once again, he didn't know what that was, or if they even were capable of understating it enough to tell. He didn't want to torture them without getting any answers at all and having a word being spread that he hadn't been able to force any information from the monkeys.
"Master Frieza – " Radditz began.
"I won't torture you or the little prince right now. But just keep in mind that whatever you are hiding, I will find it, destroy it before your very eyes, and give you the slowest death I can think of. So, if I were you, I would spit it out." He said. "I will be waiting patiently for an answer. Understand?"
They nodded. The fear was ebbing away when they realized that Frieza didn't intend to punish any of them, but then he smiled insanely.
"There will be no food for you until further notice." He said.
"But, Lord Frieza, the prince is very injured. He needs to be fed or he won't heal properly." Nappa said.
"Well, that is just too damn inconvenient, isn't it?" he growled as he turned to walk over to his chair.
"Master Frieza, the beating the Ginyu Force unleashed on Prince Vegeta was too heavy. If you can't give him a tank then he at least needs to eat." Radditz tried to argue.
"You monkeys are good at healing." The lizard answered bored, climbing to his chair.
"He is awfully undernourished, sir." Nappa tried to explain. "He hasn't had a decent meal, and several days without food always make him sick and very weak."
"Would you rather have me torture him until he cries? Because if that's the case, I'll be happy to oblige." Frieza said.
The two sayians looked at each other and shook their heads slowly, glaring at the tyrant.
"Superb. You are dismissed.
Vegeta slowly opened his eyes and looked over at Nappa and Radditz, who were standing next to his bed, their faces angry. He blinked a few times.
"What did Frieza tell you?" he asked.
They looked at him and opted to use the mental link they shared, no longer trusting anywhere in the base. Vegeta winced as the thought entered his mind. It usually took a generous portion of ki to maintain a mental conversation between saiyans and he was still weak.
"Frieza is onto us."Nappa spoke. The small kid paled and looked at them wide eyed.
"What?"
"He knows about us healing you in secret, and he also told us that he knows we are hiding something." Nappa said.
Vegeta swallowed and his heart beat madly. He hastily sat up, ignoring the growing dizziness in his head.
"But he didn't tell you anything about an escape attempt or something. Right?"
"No." Radditz answered. "But they are watching us, Vegeta. We have to be extremely careful."
"That's odd. He didn't beat you up or anything."
"He said that we're not going to have food."
Vegeta's heart dropped at that and his stomach grumbled, but he was still very suspicious that Frieza hadn't beaten anyone up for the robbery. He was planning something much worse. He swallowed as he had a sudden flashback of that horrible day when Frieza had punished him for escaping.
There was no hope in keeping his sobs in. All he knew was pain that he never thought could be possible. He twisted and convulsed in his own blood as he cried and wailed, his throat aching from screaming higher that he ever thought he could.
"You can never escape. You are mine. You are here, with me, and you will never be free. There is no planet, no moon, no sun and no black hole where you can scurry into, Vegeta. I will find you. I will always find you and oh, dear, you have every reason to fear me." The lizard spoke as he continued his torture.
He shuddered and shook his head, trying to block the memory away.
The two adult saiyans stared at him worriedly as the memory, unbeknownst to Vegeta, slipped into their link. They swallowed as the prince looked up with wavering resolve in his little face and he jumped off of the bed. He grabbed his scouter and looked up at them.
"We need to talk to them."
PRESENT
"How much longer?" Vegeta pressed.
Dr. Brief rolled his cigarette in his mouth as he thought while he twisted a screwdriver.
"I'm not sure, but it's almost done, Vegeta."
The prince rolled his eyes. That was the answer he always got.
He was very worried, but the truth was that he was also extremely bored. There was a short list of things that Vegeta did to distract himself day to day besides training, eating and sleeping. He sparred with Kakkarot or Trunks, he spent time with Bulma, he had sex with Bulma, he took Bulla shopping – only because he would never let her drive that car and potentially injure herself –, he fought with Bulma, he fought with Trunks, he fought with Bulla and he made fun of Kakkarot.
And now he couldn't do any of those things.
Gohan and Goten were his only options to spar, but they were useless. Gohan was always busy with work and Goten was always busy with girls.
He had trained for days on end, until he had even grown bored of the Gravity Room. That was why he sparred with Kakkarot. He loved being alone but the Gravity Room was suffocating after a while.
He had even tried to talk to Mrs. Brief but she was so annoying. He couldn't stand it.
So he flopped on the sofa, again, to try to watch T.V. But oh, how he hated human television.
He turned it off and sighed exasperatedly.
He was about to go out and wreck a forest to distract himself when Dr. Brief called his name. His hope lifted a bit as he walked down to the lab hastily.
"If everything goes well, it should be done within the next few days." He announced.
Vegeta smirked.
I know it's short guys. But trust me, the real action will start in the next chapter.
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