They raced through the base, moving quickly. They knew they could be spotted at any time. The last thing they wanted was to be found. Raditz knew what they would do to Onna. Especially if they discovered that she was with child.
He growled low in his throat, like he would let that happen. No one would touch his family. He would make sure of that.
She led him through the compound, knowing exactly where they were headed. Having shared a body with Zera had been more of a help than she thought it would be. It was like she had an internal map of the place. "We need to get to the pods."
He nodded. "They'll be looking for us. We did take our time." He grinned at the thought.
She rolled her eyes at him. "Let's focus on escaping now. We can do that when we get back to Planet Vegeta."
"Not if we shared a pod." He chuckled, only for her to give him a glare.
"I know you're happy right now, but I need you to focus, dear." She said, looking around a corner.
Raditz sighed. She was right. He should have remembered this place better, but at the time, he was too focused on getting Gure out of here that he really didn't remember it. But it looked like Onna knew the way. All he could do was follow her.
No matter how much he tried, he just couldn't get this place down. It was like a never ending maze. "We're almost there." She said.
He looked over at her. "How do you know?" He really saw nothing around that would really give away their position.
"I've been down here plenty of times." Onna explained. "There's no way that I can forget this place."
The door in front of them opened, letting them see the entirety of the hanger. It was full of soldiers, but they paid them no mind. They must have believed that Onna was still Zera. He was nothing more than her prisoner. He immediately put his hands behind his back, making it look like he was being taken away in cuffs.
Onna looked over at Raditz, slightly confused, but got what he was doing seconds later. This could work. It seemed that the soldiers were fine with their presence, not saying anything as Onna got onto a nearby computer. A pod was good, but a ship would be better. It would work better with them trying to escape.
"Lady Zera, I didn't think you would be out here with your toy." What looked like a captain finally came up to them.
Raditz stayed quiet, letting his mate do all of the work. "I'm having him sent back to my home world. I'll need a ship readied as soon as possible." Onna said, making herself sound like his former tormentor.
"But shouldn't we run everything by your father? King Cold hasn't said anything about a prisoner transfer." The captain questioned.
"My father doesn't have to tell you everything." She shouted. "Just get my ship ready for transport!"
"But, ma'am…" The soldier started.
"Do you value your life, soldier?" She said putting on a sadistic grin that made Raditz swear that Zera changed her mind. But even looking at her, he knew it was Onna. The smell didn't change.
The man ran off, putting in their shipping order. As they waited, it felt like torture. Every passing second that went by dragged, making them worry about getting caught. All it took was Cooler or Frieza coming by and they were toast.
"Lady Zera, your ship is ready." The captain said, still shaking from earlier.
She grinned. "Very good. Now come on, Love. Let's go home."
Raditz gave her a glare then made it look like she was dragging him to the ship. As soon as they were on the vessel, he pulled his arms away from his back, while she moved to start the ship. They worked quickly, starting the ship up and flying away from the hanger.
Raditz chuckled at his mate. "Now that was the performance of the century."
"But it worked." She laughed.
He moved over disabling the tracking devices on the ship, smirking as he did so. "Next stop, Planet Vegeta."
She smiled at him. "Finally, I get to go home."
He moved his tail up, wrapping it around hers. "Kakarot's going to be pissed at me."
She gave him a puzzled look. "Why?"
"I promised to be there when he returned. I bet he's been stewing about it for months." Raditz laughed.
She purred against his chest. "Well you did have a good excuse. He can't fault you for that."
"You don't know Kakarot." Raditz watched as they went into hyperdrive. "He can hold a grudge for some time." That wasn't the only reason he was worried about his brother. What if Kakarot remembered his actions? His brother wouldn't be happy with him after finding out that he messed with his memories.
"I bet he'll be just fine." Onna said.
"We can only hope."
Bulma sighed. She had stayed with Vegeta and Gure. The two of them were having her look through the computer systems. They were trying to see if there was a way to track the ship.
"I hate to tell you both, but it looks like they've disappeared. Tarble must have turned off of the tracking signals." She said.
Vegeta growled. "There has to something. We're missing something."
"Maybe the others have found more in Tarble's chambers?" Gure said, trying to lighten the mood. But nothing seemed to be working. She just wanted to know where he was going and who this woman was. If she knew that, she could move forward.
Vegeta sighed. "Send more people in from the lab. I want the hanger looked over. There has to be a clue there."
Bulma stood up. "I think Gure's right. If there's anywhere to start, Tarble's room may have the most answers." She put the order in for the lab techs to look over the hangar then moved to walk with her husband and Gure.
They walked quietly. What was there really to say? Talking about Tarble was hard, especially since all of this could have been avoided. Vegeta knew this was his fault. If he had listened to Bulma, Tarble wouldn't have left…at least he hoped he wouldn't. Tarble would have talked to him about what was going on. But he was so focused on the spy. He had been watching Zunn, instead of looking at the big picture.
He growled again as they reached the door to Tarble's room. He could still smell his brother inside, but knew that Tarble was nowhere to be found.
The door opened and they walked into the large sitting room. To Vegeta's shock, the walls appeared to be covered in dust. It looked like no one had cleaned the place in months.
The Emperor walked around, going to open one of the windows, only to discover that they were sealed shut. "What is this?" He said in disbelief. When did this happen?
Bulma walked by a shelf, picking up the watch she had made Tarble. "It looks like he hasn't touched this in forever." Bulma said. "Did he stop training?"
"It looks like it." Vegeta said, starting to wonder where Kakarot and Bardock were. They said they were going to check this place, but they were nowhere to be found.
Gure looked down at a small table, she didn't know why, but something that was sitting there caught her eye. It was the only thing in the room not covered in dust.
The Tech-Tech picked the book up, reading the title. "The Fall of King Arble." She opened it up, finding it to be in a strange language. "Do either of you know what this is written in?"
Bulma moved over first. "It's not saiyan…but I think it might be Tuffle. That's odd, why would Tarble be reading a work of fiction when his mind was on you."
Gure looked away. "His mind had to be elsewhere if he left with that woman."
Vegeta growled. "He was devoted to you. This Betra is the one that messed with him. I'm certain of it."
Bulma gave Gure a smile. "Vegeta's right. Tarble started training so he could find you. He was working to save you. We just don't know what happened between then and now."
The door to Tarble's bedroom crept open and Bardock walked into the sitting room with Kakarot. "You don't want to go in there." Bardock said, looking down at Gure.
Vegeta raised an eyebrow. "What did you find?"
Kakarot looked away from the Emperor. "It seems that Tarble wasn't the only one using that bed."
"How do you know?" Bulma asked, hugging Gure as the Tech-Tech burst into tears.
"Well, we kind of found a bra hanging from the light. There was no sign of blood though." Bardock said, looking confused.
"Is there something wrong with that dad?" Kakarot asked.
"Well, it's strange. Usually in the process of mating, there are some traces of blood, but there's none of that in there. It's like Tarble knew not to mate with her, but at the same time, he was sleeping with her. It doesn't make any sense." Bardock looked back into the Prince's room. "Instinct should have taken over…but it didn't."
"So he didn't mate with her." Vegeta said, pushing by Bardock and staring at the room. It wasn't right. The walls were supposed to be a pristine white, but they were jet black. Again, it looked like the windows were covered up. His eyes looked up, finding the bra and what looked like a very thin piece of fabric.
Vegeta flew up, grabbing it off of the light. He really couldn't figure out what it was.
Bulma walked in, seeing what was in his hand, then turned red. "Vegeta, put that down!"
He stared down at his mate. "Why? What is it?"
"Vegeta, that's underwear." Bulma said angrily.
The Emperor turned red, before dropping the pair of panties he was holding. "How in the hell is that underwear? It's just string!"
Bulma didn't want to laugh right now, but she couldn't help it. "It's usually just for sex."
Vegeta only cocked his head to the side. "But why would you need clothes on for that?" He was still confused by the concept. This just looked like a waste of string. "Don't answer that." He flew down, looking around the room again. "I really can't believe that he was living like this."
Bulma stared at the windows. "I do have to wonder who did this. Tarble wouldn't have boarded up the windows himself."
Vegeta nodded. "It must have been that spy. I just wonder how she was able to pull it off. Tarble wouldn't have been keen on locking himself up."
"Maybe he didn't know that it was going on." Bulma stated.
"What do you mean?" Vegeta asked.
"Tarble's very trusting of others. She must have gained his trust, then used that trusted to get close enough to him that he didn't even notice as he spun out of control. She had to have planned this from the start." Bulma said, pacing. "I just wish I knew where she was doing this. If she was in the palace we would have seen her, but Tarble never left the palace. It just makes more questions than answers."
Vegeta growled. The idea of that woman in his house was enough to make him fume with rage. How did she even get in? He thought that their security was the best. Now he wasn't so sure. "So she spent all of her time turning Tarble against me."
"Not just you. Gure and me too. She had to turn him against everything that he used to be. That's why he was so different the last time we saw him. He was completely lost to the lies she told him." Bulma said.
They stopped talking as Gure walked in. She was still holding that book in her arms. But it looked like her eyes were focused on something that was on the floor. "Gure…" Bulma started as the Tech-Tech walked over to what she had seen.
Gure picked up what she had just seen. It was a strange piece of metal. "It looks like a key..." She turned to look at Vegeta. "Is there anywhere that this fits?"
Vegeta stared at it. "I've never seen that before." That was odd. How did he not notice it when he walked in?
Bulma's eyes went wide. "This may be what we are looking for." Gure nodded in agreement.
"So Betra left behind a key to the place she was meeting Tarble at." He sighed. "Now we'll have to find out where that is."
In the next room over.
Kakarot sighed, looking around the room. He had missed so much. If he was here nothing like this would have happened. He cringed, as a sharp pain rang through his head.
"Are you okay, Kakarot?" His father asked.
Kakarot winced. "Yeah. I probably just need some sleep."
Bardock smirked. "That kind of happens with a new baby."
He grimaced as something flashed before him. For some reason, he could see the battlefield all of those years ago. His father in front of him was no longer standing in front of him alive, but was lying down as a corpse. Kakarot shook his head, making the scene disappear. He was starting to breathe hard. Where did that come from? Had he seen this before? Why didn't he remember it before now?
"Are you sure you're okay?" His father asked.
Kakarot nodded. "Yeah, I think I just need to go lie down." This all had to be a mind trick.
He didn't want to think about it. But at the same time, he wanted to know what it meant. If he was just remembering that now, maybe he could discover what killed their mother all those years ago. Finally, he would have answers to what happened that day.
To Be Continued…
Author's Note
Yes, it's back. Look forward to tomorrow's update. As promised, this will now be updating on Fridays and Saturdays. Things are really picking up and it looks like the mystery is starting to be revealed. Not only that, but it looked like Kakarot is finally getting his own arc that isn't humor based.