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Nappa and Radditz entered the Throne Room just as Vegeta was awakening. They blasted through the doors ungracefully, and before they even reached the center of the room, Jeice and Burter were holding them in place, so that they wouldn't interfere.
Vegeta blinked confusedly and put a hand on his head, before everything sank in. A chill ran down his spine and his whole body froze as he recognized the floor of Frieza's Throne Room. He didn't dare to look up as fear gripped his heart tightly. He stayed on all fours as he waited for Frieza to speak, but instead, the lizard walked around him slowly.
"So," he said at last, "you were stealing from me."
Vegeta swallowed.
"No, Lord Frie – " he was cut short as Frieza sank his foot hard into his stomach. He cried out and coughed, wrapping his arms around his abdomen.
"Get up." Frieza said coldly.
Vegeta obeyed, anger coursing through him at Frieza's smug face. He glared at him before the lizard grabbed his hair and thrust his knee into the child's stomach. Vegeta wasn't done screaming when Frieza drove his knee into his stomach three more times. He released his hair and Vegeta sank once again to his knees, gasping and coughing blood.
"You know I hate being lied to, Vegeta. I would've thought you'd learn your lesson by now. Jeice and Burter caught you red-handed and you still dare lie to me?" he growled.
The kid coughed a few more times before attempting to speak.
"I… I was just taking the cables… to fix my scouter." He said between labored breaths.
Frieza scoffed and turned to Zarbon. His henchman immediately walked forward, the shiny red article on his hand. Frieza took it from him and examined it. Vegeta weakly lifted his head and went deadly pale when he saw his scouter in Frieza's grasp. His much undamaged scouter.
"See, monkey, I sent Zarbon to retrieve it for me. I wanted to see for myself what was wrong with it and maybe help you fix it." He lied smoothly. He looked down at the prince. "Get up."
Vegeta got to his feet and tried to hide his fear as it sank in that not only were Nappa and Radditz watching. The strange creatures were there as well, staring in shock. He swallowed when Frieza thrust his hand before him, showing him his scouter.
"Does this look damaged to you?" Vegeta swallowed but refused to answer, angering Frieza, who clenched his free hand and struck a punch against the saiyan's cheek, who was sent crashing, once again, to the ground. "Answer me."
"No." he muttered as he once again got up.
"I thought so." Frieza answered, handing the scouter back to Zarbon. "Then I guess that story isn't going to work anymore. Now, be honest, Vegeta. My patience is running thin. Why were you stealing from the Technology Laboratories?"
For the first time in his short life, Vegeta's mind was completely blank. He usually had something to say, but he found with rising panic that no excuse was coming to him. He looked up at his guards, but they also seemed to be at a loss for words. He swallowed.
"I… I don't know." He whispered, knowing that would only anger Frieza further.
Not a second to soon, Frieza's tail whipped into the air and crashed against his side, fracturing several of his ribs and sending him flying into the wall. Vegeta coughed more blood, and his master was on him in a second, growling as he slammed his foot hard on the child's chest. His sternum cracked, and Vegeta screamed again, trying to breathe through the horrible pain. But Frieza didn't give him any rest as he grabbed his hair again and flung him forward, making him land on his face and injured chest.
He put his clawed foot on the back of his neck and applied pressure, making Vegeta groan.
"Are you ready to talk, monkey?" he asked.
But when the prince remained silent, Frieza lifted his tail striking him hard on the back. Vegeta screamed and cursed internally for not having worn his armor that day. Frieza slammed his tail over and over on the small child's back, bruising and slicing his skin open, cracking the back of his ribs. The pain was unbearable and he screamed, writhing and shaking at the relentless torture. With his eyes closed tightly, he couldn't see the expression on his comrades. Nappa and Radditz were shaking with rage, and the young girl behind them was crying as Trunks held her in place so that she wouldn't run to his aid and reveal herself.
Finally, Frieza stopped, lifting his tail which was now dripping with blood. He removed his foot from Vegeta's neck and watched as the tiny saiyan struggled to breathe and not to cry. His back was a mess, his blue spandex ripped and covered in blood, and the skin underneath in a much similar state, except it was also tinted with dark bruises.
"Maybe your monkey guards can shed some light on it." He commented. He looked up at then and smiled at their horrified expressions. "Will you continue to watch your prince suffer, or will you cooperate and start talking?"
The saiyans looked at each other, but remained silent.
"We have to think of something!" Radditz exclaimed in Nappa's head.
"But what? We can't tell him about the plan."
"Well?" Frieza urged, but they remained silent. "You're all useless."
He looked down again at the tiny child and kicked him on the side, making him roll onto his injured back. He whimpered before Frieza slammed his bloodied tail onto his chest, and several more cracks echoed around the room, accompanied by his agonized scream.
"He's just a kid!" Bulla said between sobs.
"Bulla, we can't interfere." Trunks said. "The machine could collapse again. Calm down. Frieza will get tired soon."
Vegeta heard them and could only hope that Trunks was right. But another part of him knew better. Frieza was just getting started. He trembled with fear. He didn't know how much more he could take. His whole body was already swimming in excruciating pain, with his back completely destroyed and his ribs and sternum shattered. He could barely breathe, he could barely move, and he was using everything in his power not to start crying. And Frieza wasn't even nearly done.
"Vegeta, you know I will beat the answers out of you. Why don't you stop wasting all of our time and spit it?" he said calmly, almost smiling at the sight of the small child in so much pain.
Vegeta looked up at Frieza and eyed the tail with dread.
"I…" he said, his voice raspy. He hesitated a second too long and the tail slammed against his stomach, making him throw up blood. He cried out as it came rushing out of him in a huge stream. He gasped and shook. "I was… just… trying to piss… the technicians off."
Frieza's eyebrows rose and then lowered in a frown. He placed his claw on Vegeta's neck and stepped hard, choking him. He smiled as Vegeta choke and tried to gasp for air, his hands clawing at his foot, but Frieza didn't relent.
"M-master…" he choked out. "I-I… It's true."
Frieza removed his foot after a few moments and watched as Vegeta clutched his neck protectively and coughed.
"Trying to piss them off." The overlord repeated. His tail snaked towards Vegeta's feet and in half a second, the small prince was hanging upside down, the tail holding him by his ankles. His eyes widened as Frieza lifted him so that they were face to face. "Trying to piss them off by stealing cables that they won't miss? I would believe you, but we both know that nobody would've noticed those things missing if Jeice and Burter wouldn't have caught you."
Vegeta swallowed, but didn't say anything.
"The last time you hid a secret from me and I let it pass, you ended up trying to escape from me." Frieza said slowly. "You do understand why I don't tolerate that you hide secrets in the base, Vegeta. And I am sure you remember very well what happened that time."
He watched with extreme happiness as Vegeta's face went pale and his eyes widened with fear.
"M-master…" he said, beginning to shake.
"You are planning something." He growled. "You and your monkeys are hiding something from me. And I will find out what. You know I can make you feel pain beyond your understanding."
Vegeta heard Bulla's anguished sobbing in the background and he tried to be strong, but his resolve quickly faded as a fist sank into his bruised abdomen, followed by a flurry of them. Fists and kicks and knees slamming into his face and stomach and back. He couldn't help it. Frieza wasn't controlling his blows as he often did. He was still hitting him enough to keep him conscious, but the strength was also enough to make him scream nonstop and cough blood in worrisome streams. Each punch and kick was terribly painful, spraying blood all around and making him feel as if he was getting beaten by three Ginyu Forces.
When Frieza finally stopped, Vegeta was a mess of whimpers and blood. He was shaking terribly, but he was unable to stop it as the pain he was feeling was monstrous. Blood seemingly seeped from every inch of his tiny body and he couldn't open his eyes, either because he lacked the strength to do it or because they were already swollen shut.
Frieza dropped him to the ground and his lips curved downwards. He slowly licked the blood from his fists before looking up at Nappa and Radditz.
"He's a strong kid. I will beat him like this all day and night if that's what it takes for one of you to start talking." He said.
Vegeta slowly opened his eyes and watched as Bulla fought with teeth and nail to run over to him, but Trunks was stronger.
He licked his dry, bloodied lips and took a deep breath before attempting to get up. He stumbled to his feet and panted, before the tail slammed against the back of his head and sent him once again to the floor.
Frieza placed a foot on his back and grabbed his tail, uncurling it from his waist.
"Let's see." He said, his lips curling in a cruel smile. His hands began to glow and Vegeta whimpered as he realized what was about to happen. The uncomfortable heat soon turned into white hot pain. Frieza was burning his tail.
And he couldn't keep himself from screaming. It was so horribly painful, as Frieza squeezed and burnt and tugged at the same time on one of the most sensitive parts of his body. The agony spread up his spine and down his legs, and he writhed as it seemed that his whole lower half had caught on fire. His eyes watered terribly as his screams broke into anguished sobs, but he still tried not to spill any tears and definitely, to not beg. But it was proving to be a horribly difficult task as Frieza slowly ran his burning hands down his tail, as if stroking it.
When his ki-ridden hand reached the base, the tears began to pour down. He knew Frieza wouldn't be reacting like this over a few stolen cables, but Frieza was onto them. Frieza knew they were planning something bad, and he was going to do everything that crossed his twisted mind until they blurted it out, either his comrades in pity or him in pain.
His gaze dimmed and he lost consciousness for a few moments. When he came to, the pain was as bad as it had been at the beginning. He lowered his eyes and caught a glimpse of his tail. It was completely burnt and bloodied.
"Get up." Frieza hissed.
Vegeta tried to, he really did, but his legs felt non-existent, as if Frieza had really burnt them off. The ice-jin leaned down and grabbed his arm with an exasperated sigh, pulling him to his feet, but the saiyan's legs gave in, his lower back too injured to support his weight. So Frieza held him by the wrist as he once again began to beat him with his other fist, slamming it several times against his cheek and his broken chest, before slamming him to the floor.
The small child was crying by now, his anguished sobs and whimpers trying to be choked down.
Frieza lifted his tail again, and then it happened.
A girl and a scream suddenly materialized next to Frieza, holding his tail between her arms.
"What the – " the lizard said before stepping back in shock. The tail slipped from her arms and she glared at him.
Her face was covered in tears and she was still hiccupping, but she looked positively angry.
"You will pay, Frieza." She said, ignoring Goku and Trunks who were telling her to run.
Frieza smiled and looked down at Vegeta still sprawled on the floor, but glaring at her.
"Now, things are coming to light."
I'm the cliffhanger queen.
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