Chapter 104
In a bloodied heap Queen Vegeta drops the barely alive form of Mikami after returning. The Tuffle is not moving bar her chest as she takes shallow breaths. For now she is alive though with the state of her she wishes that she was not. Queen Vegeta has tortured her. Her screams rang out loud and she is confident they have done their job in destroying the morale of the Tuffle forces, the number that will attack them will be less due to terror. Looking down at the mess she has made she casually states that they no longer have any meat shields for protection.
Vegeta holds the back of Misaki's head tight with his one arm. She is being forced to look towards him and is not allowed to catch sight of the woman behind her. By her side Ryoko is also looking at Vegeta. She has been warned what to expect, warned of the intentions of Queen Vegeta and what manner the children she took shall return in. It might be cowardice to not see what another Vegeta can do with their sadism yet she understands that it will not help her prince if she breaks down at the sight of that torture. Hate filled eyes glare at him from Misaki. She wants her freedom to help the girls. She holds Prince Vegeta equally responsible for whatever has happened to them.
"You monster! What have you done?" Goku exclaims and takes an aggressive stance with Piccolo backing him up.
The Queen of all Saiyans is not impressed by his display against her, for she knows he cannot strike her, and does not like his trait of compassion.
"What I did was have a brain and realise the young one was a fraud. She was the one to shoot Prince Vegeta, worm had disguised herself, used her sister as cover for this front and when I presented her the opportunity she attempted to take my life. Her sister is not as practised at dodging blades as my royal self. She killed her sibling. I then did what was correct by Saiyan edict. No weak or pitiful Tuffles will challenge us, only the strong."
"Murderer!" Misaki roars at either Vegeta and bucks and attacks for her release.
" … I, Queen Vegeta of all Saiyans, hereby formally announce my declaration of total war against the virtual Tuffle race in its entirety. There. Does that please you? Now everything I do is completely legal. I make the rules. The laws of Saiyan-kind are what I say. What I did was correct and just, and this planet is Saiyan land. My land. I have said some words which apparently is all you other races need to legitimise killing, you allow Juraians to kill when your emperor says that – I just never really cared for politics so excuse me having forgotten proper etiquette."
Goku goes over to check on Mikami as Piccolo guards him as the one who can attack Queen Vegeta. Her vitals are weak. She has lost a lot of blood, and more. Her will to carry on went when she pierced her sister's heart. Goku shakes his head in dismay and asks if she at least found the medical ward. A non committal shrug comes from the queen as her attention is on her son and the backs of two women.
"I kept my word as a Queen of Saiyans. I was attacked and thus my promise annulled, even then I did not kill this sniper. Is it the torture? Why would you be against that? A grand amount of Tuffles will no longer dare to face us in battle, thus their lives spared exactly as you have been blathering on about. Prince Vegeta, you agree with my actions? How many have you heard scream for mercy?" People rally against her even though she sees her actions as having worked in their benefit. Her morality does not let her see any action she commits as wrong. She knows her child is on her side for he lent the children to her, he gave permission. She is not taunting him, her question is more curious – wanting to know of the deeds of her child and what he is capable of as a Saiyan.
"In some sense too many, what I did to Ryoko I cannot forgive myself for how I failed herself and me. On the flip side, one less woman than I want. How long until your foul odour leaves you helpless?" His threat is clear. His mother smiles in response.
The street they are in darkens. Queen Vegeta remarks to herself that a full response unit can not have mobilised in that short time frame. Looking up they see the underside of a small single pilot troop transport and a 5 metre tall machine strapped to its base. It appears that the Tuffles have figured out that with lower gravity they can move heavier objects than intended. The ship detaches its cargo and jets off. Queen Vegeta dives out of the way as the machine drops on her position, and lands in a cloud of dust dangerously close to the downed form of Mikami that only thanks to Goku is not crushed. It rises. From its compact form used for transportation it stands to its full height. 5 metres grows to 8. A large bipedal mech stands facing the Saiyans.
Two thirds of the humanoid robot is legs to ground and balance it with feet close to two metres in diameter to distribute its weight. Heavy metal plating protects the legs, joints and torso and the metal plates are coated in a coarse paint. The legs of it house two knee joints both working off of a ball and socket mechanic to enable great articulation and flexibility. In comparison its arms are stubby and barely larger than a normal man's, they end with an under-slung firearm beneath each wrist. No head emerges from the torso of the mechanical suit. That weakness has been engineered out and all vital points reside within its armoured core. Turrets are mounted on both its shoulders. Without hesitation it raises its arms to point at the Saiyans and its turrets rotate to ensure all enemies are locked on.
Goku with Mikami in his arms rolls under its large gait for dodging feet is easier than dodging lasers. Vegeta pivots and using his weight, his legs and his back puts power behind his throw and launches Misaki clear behind him – dangerously walking the fine line of snapping her neck with that action. He would shout at Ryoko to run however the time before the foe takes its turn is over. Weapons are trained. Lasers tear through the scene. Queen Vegeta closes the distance to the mech easily with her low profile and proximity and gets close to Goku and her victim to evade the danger. Prince Vegeta sees Ryoko reacting to try and protect him from taking any-more shots for her, he acts faster than her and as they dive at the other he has more mass and succeeds in pushing her down. Bolts of blue light harrow Piccolo as by the skin of his teeth he sprints behind a nearby wall and keeps going as the heavy weaponry chews through it.
Rolling with Ryoko beneath him and securing her to him with his tail Vegeta barks at her to keep herself safe so he does not get distracted. From the back of the mech apertures open and twin missiles poke out and begin to launch. Green and pink extends and purple splatters the scene in a fiery explosion. Piccolo is down an arm after reaching out from his cover and swatting at them before they could properly accelerate. The mech reacts little to the close proximity blasts and begins turning its attention to the pressing issue beneath it. Queen Vegeta and Goku push at one of its legs each to topple it. In response it bends itself on its second knee joint to lower its centre of gravity and moves an arm to point beneath it at the Saiyans. Goku and Mikami evacuate from the ankles of the colossus and head to where Piccolo is. Fleeing is not the action Queen Vegeta takes. She nimbly jumps onto the metal arm so that it cannot fire on her and jumps again to grab onto its chest. From here the shoulder turrets cannot aim down at itself and she only need to be wary of the arms repositioning.
Tears gas pours out of vents on the torso and thighs of the mech. Holding her breath Queen Vegeta's vision becomes blurry and begins to clamber about in haste as she cannot see if the enemy has a bead on her position. She gets herself under one of its shoulders and jams a fist into its joint whilst sending her legs and tail out behind her to bar the arm and restrict its elbow movement so it cannot fire back at her. Coughing as she works the arm gets torn out and she falls to the floor with it. Her sight is nothing but a bleary mess with the strong tear gas blinding her and filling her lungs. Shade passes over her and she reacts. The large foot of the mech presses down on her as she catches it – her actions brought on from forgetting how weak she is comparatively without ki and naturally this would have been safe for her. A yell comes from her in pain as its weight pushes down on her.
Several dozen metres further down the street another woman screams. Dazed and confused Misaki had scrambled to her feet in disarray at what was going on. She was an easy target to hit stood up and not moving. 4 laser blasts rip through her gut. Misaki collapses out of view from her allies.
Vegeta curses. The mech's attention is drawn to him as he stands and pushes Ryoko behind him and palms her a piece of concrete from the floor. He roars at it as his mother roars holding the foot aloft over her head yet for her shortness it does not aid her as she cannot see where to move. Vegeta rolls to the left as Ryoko rolls to the right. He sprints towards the metal giant and as it goes to fire a rock clatters against the barrel of its gun causing it to miss. Vegeta closes the distance following Ryoko's planned save. He tackles the leg and with his mother pushing at the other side when she feels his impact the mech topples.
From above the pole of a street light slams down and smashes the shoulder mounted turrets. Goku manoeuvres the pole in the enclosed space of the street and retracts it to impale it through the hip joint of the mech whilst it is down. Vegeta acts quick to get to its last arm cannon and crumples the barrel in his fist. Its weapons and mobility are offline. Looking behind him he sees Ryoko already running off to check on Misaki. Queen Vegeta rubs at her eyes and barks in alarm and fear as the tear gas around the mech turns to jets of flame. She and her son roll back. Another street light is held over the mech and then threateningly comes in line with the main chassis of it ready to stab through. Flames stop. Pressure valves release. The top opens and out crawls a man.
Albino skin, no hair, 5 green eyes and no nose. This humanoid crawling from the wreckage is no Tuffle. Vegeta pauses and then thinks to his own son and how Trunks is not a Saiyan and accepts Washu's lineage having left her species. He draws a dagger of plasma from his back and starts reaching for a pistol.
"Here I thought I'd get to have some fun, and you monkeys-"
Moving by smell and sound alone Queen Vegeta is upon him. The man's lower jaw becomes detached and crushed by the hand of the Saiyan matriarch. She headbutts him to the ground and then she feels a large metal pole in between her and this downed man. She grips it and yanks. Goku does not let go and tells her to not kill him. The street light pushes her away from her prey.
Prince Vegeta walks up and kicks the man's neck so that it breaks and death comes swiftly.
"That was no Tuffle. And that was a killer by his own rights, Kakarot I know the criminally insane and that scum would have butchered us all if he could. Washu will not care for his demise. Not all her bloodline holds her ideals, or are worthy of her. Mother, you need to act faster if you intend to kill and not toy with them first." He states as he kicks the body again so it rolls back into the hatch in the mech and out of sight.
"He called me a 'Monkey'. That vile lowlife had the audacity to call the Queen of Saiyans a 'monkey'! He deserves a thousand deaths. I am Queen Vegeta. I am the strongest female Saiyan. … I am a person! Not a monkey, not a beast. Make them all suffer. They do not get to insult your Queen." From the effects of the tear gas on her face and eyes Queen Vegeta gives the false appearance of someone on the verge of tears from that insult.
Aggravated pants come from Piccolo as he steps out from cover and regenerates his lost arm with effort. Queen Vegeta is busy wiping at her face and her stinging eyes with Goku dropping the street light and hurrying off with Vegeta to where Misaki was thrown and fell. As they approach they are given a worried look from Ryoko but a thumbs up so the worst fears pass. A cluster of three shots have ripped apart a large chunk of the right side of her gut and charred the innards, then a final dots her other side dangerously close to both her spine and her ribs. Ryoko holds Misaki's hand for there is nothing else she can do for these wounds.
Goku checks her pulse at her neck whilst Vegeta clicks his fingers before her eyes to see how responsive she is. Surprisingly for them her breaths are calm and controlled though accelerated. Ryoko hurriedly escapes from holding Misaki's hand as the squeeze coming back start trying to rearrange where here fingers are placed. The Queen of Jurai is a stranger to war and as such is using lessons from antenatal classes to deal with pain and regulate her breathing to reduce stress. Looking up at them her first words are asking where Washu's grandchild is. Vegeta turns to Goku for he had her last and Goku turns about back where the downed mech is to see Piccolo carrying Mikami, not approaching for they were keeping her from Misaki's sight and not going close to Queen Vegeta. Goku reassures her that Mikami is still alive and did not get hurt in that fight. Moving her in this state is risky. Goku removes his top and puts it under her head as a pillow.
"More will come. We have minutes until this place shall be overrun by their forces. Leave the wounded to their fate." An order is barked from afar by Queen Vegeta.
Prince Vegeta motions for Piccolo to approach. He tells Goku to extract a small pole from the downed mech, confused the other Saiyan goes to do so. Piccolo stands next to them and Vegeta takes Mikami from him and lays her down atop of Misaki, giving the child now woman to the maternal queen and trying to stop her from moving. Misaki hugs the grandchild of Washu. Drones appear in the air viewing them and scouting their position. Returning with a metre long rod of metal Goku jams it into the concrete near Misaki according to Vegeta's orders and they then attach the white jacket Piccolo is wearing to it. A ceasefire flag is made for those who cannot fight. Vegeta looks down at his bloodied jacket and knows what must be done.
He steps to the side and motions for Ryoko.
"I've got a plan that you are not going to like."
"... You're charging into war? Then I come with, I'm here for you Vegey. I saved you then with that throw, see we work well together and I'll keep you safe." She nods at him and grabs his tail.
"That is not what my plan entails. My plan is for your safety, and that is the part you shall not like. Surrender yourself with Misaki and the girl. Wait for me-"
"No! I won't wait for you in a Juraian dungeon. I'm by your side Vegey. Don't put me back in a prison. Please, I can't-"
Ryoko falls unconscious to the ground following a sharp chop to her neck. He rolls her over beside Misaki and tells her to keep Ryoko safe. With that done he walks to where his mother is with her recovered eyesight. Piccolo calls out that they do not need to go out there and engage the Tuffle forces. A mocking laugh comes from Queen Vegeta. Her son shakes his head.
"I am Vegeta, Prince of all Saiyans, and I shall not bow nor waver in my resolve when an enemy faces me. Kagato knows how Saiyans work, I know this is a trap. But if the solution is to not be a Saiyan then I refuse. My mother shall die if I abandon her to fight alone, I do not intend Kagato to think he can kill us off that easily." Vegeta solemnly explains his reason. As a Saiyan he has no alternative.
"It would be exciting to see any Tuffle force strong enough to bring me down, but do calm down with the insults to my strength."
"Are you crying, mother?" A taunt comes from the dominant son.
"I was the one to first beat your tears into submission, you would do well to remember that." She punches his shoulder and smiles. This excites her, going into battle with her child against Tuffles.
Her smile lessens as she turns about and sees Goku remaining stood with Piccolo under the white flag. She barks a command as queen for him to march into battle, which he refuses and she seethes that after this is over she shall deal with his treason. Goku has a family to think of that are worrying over him and what they are doing is only pointlessly endangering their lives. Civilians are not foes he wants to face. Prince Vegeta looks back and nods in understanding at his rival. The two Vegetas then rush off towards where the Tuffle base was to intercept the army.
With a sigh to himself Goku sits down and looks at Misaki coddling Mikami and sympathetically weeping over the pain that this girl has gone through. Smiling down at the queen Goku lightens the mood by telling her that he has some really good news that she will want to hear. She perks up but her attention is still on Mikami. Goku explains to her that through some interference from Washu Chichi is now pregnant with a girl that they will name Chibusa. The sound of vehicles closing in and marching footsteps gets louder as he jokes to her about his wife's shift in behaviour and her clinginess that Misaki finds so cute as a departure from when she last saw Chichi.
Bones shatter. Vehicles flip. Lasers fire and some hit their targets. Queen Vegeta panics as a row of flamethrowers ignite. Side by side mother and son fight, always closing the distance and moving to stop the ranged advantage of the Tuffles destroying them. High impact rounds drive them from their feet. Hydraulic and pneumatic melee weapons crack against their skin. Tuffles fall like cut wheat around Queen Vegeta. Prince Vegeta keeps within his bounds of trying not to give into the slaughter however some give him little choice and some break with too much ease. Gas weapons fill their lungs. High voltage shocks render their muscles worthless. Concussive forces rattle their skulls. Detainment and capture comes for them at the hands of a few dozen soldiers each.
Goku and Piccolo sit meditating in separate prison cells from the other. Manacles of plasma bind them – for Goku this also contains his tail and for Piccolo his elbow and shoulder joints to prevent his elastic limbs. Forcefields contain them and prevent escape. Cameras watch them along with many other sensors and their restraints tie them to a wall so the furthest they can reach is the cell door but never pass even if it opens. Each cell has a bed and a portable latrine, and no privacy for said latrine. What Tuffle clothing they had left has been removed for baby blue prison fatigues.
"So, would you rather face Frieza in here, or Chichi when she finds out her jobless husband got himself arrested?" Piccolo jokes to his friend.
"I'm sure Chichi will understand … eventually. I ain't done anything wrong. At least they did take prisoners not shoot us."
It is not long until a third prisoner joins them. Ryoko is carted on a medical trolley into a cell still unconscious after they have checked her for the wounds leading to her unconscious state. She is set down on the bed by a few Tuffle guards. Chains are put on her, they inject her with a stimulant and the guards leave. 10 minutes later she wakes with a sore neck. 15 minutes later the guards have to come back in and administer her with tranquillisers to calm down her hysterics. Goku and Piccolo look at Ryoko with concern. That was a hell of an outburst and she was close to severely hurting herself to break free – all the while calling for Vegeta.
An hour passes until their next cell is filled. Misaki is humble and graciously thanks the guards for their care of her. A Queen in rags and prison is grating against her vanity and pride yet it is easy for her to contain. Her laser wounds have been healed through time in a healing tank. She smiles at her comrades she is reunited with and with concern asks about Ryoko. The worry for Vegeta's fate is one she can understand and having researched the past of Ryoko she knows of how long she was wrongly incarcerated for. The lack of privacy surrounding the toilets is unsatisfactory for her. This is a hastily erected prison with no indoor plumbing to work off. Misaki calls for the guards to converse with them and be amiable. She wants to know of the Vegetas and their possible trial surrounding their imprisonment. This information is not available to the guards.
Two spiky haired warriors are wheeled into the prison block. Muzzles cover their faces. Hands, arms, tails, legs and feet and securely bound several times over. It has taken a while longer for their battle wounds to be healed. They are on upright trolleys and unable to freely move or transport themselves.
"Which one of you is the Vegeta that Prisoner 003 – Ryoko is asking about? It is unsafe for us to waken her in her state and keeping her in this prolonged coma is unwise for her health." One of the guards asks. He faces them both to the knocked out Ryoko.
Affirmation in the form of a grunt comes from the male Vegeta and he is let into the cell and tethered to the same wall as Ryoko. A minute later another guard comes in and injects a stimulant in Ryoko for the second time. After the guards leave and lock and reignite the cell door they remotely deactivate a few of his restraints so he has some limited movement. Queen Vegeta gets similar treatment as she is put in a cell neighbouring Misaki. Misaki is glad that they are alive and well but she shares a distrustful glance with her rival queen.
The question is asked by Goku of what happened in the fight. An impish chuckle comes from Queen Vegeta. All she can say is that she lost count and that she is moderately proud of the performance of Prince Vegeta in being her sole reinforcement. A slew of insults to Goku and his Saiyan pride follow. Misaki goes quiet in silent prayer for the fallen. When she is finished and Queen Vegeta has finished her rant she looks at her future son-in-law and asks if he partook in murder. His dark eyes look back and nods that there were several who did not survive his encounter or were too dangerous to be left alive. She grimaces in response. Queen Vegeta teases that if he had both arms functioning at the time of battle then Prince Vegeta might have given her a run for her money. The shot through his shoulder is healed as are the rest of his wounds and he shrugs in response as he sits beside Ryoko's still slumbering form.
"Queen Vegeta … why do you fail to call Prince Vegeta by his relation to yourself? I freely call him my son, and you I have not heard once say that as his mother." Misaki has noticed this error too much to let it pass as a mother herself.
A disinterested sideways glance is given to her by Queen Vegeta.
"Is Prince Vegeta not a more honourable title to call a Super Saiyan 3? He has rejected my challenges or want to defeat me as most Saiyan offspring aim for. Sure I bore him, nursed him and led his first few weeks in the world of Saiyans … he is a man grown now, need I call him that?" Familial bonds and maternal instinct are not things within Saiyan culture that would lead her to insist on calling her son her son. In truth she likes calling him Prince to remind him of her status over him as Queen. Calling him son brings the connotation of his destiny to beat her down and surpass her.
"Weeks? I understand that you suffered a premature death yet were you not there for your child-"
"Huh? Do you have to incessantly yammer trash? Are you suggesting that I failed my duty as mother? I did what was required. He got food from my breasts, learnt the sanctity of keeping his mouth shut and the punishment for shaming himself with tears. What more is there after those torturous weeks where I am disallowed to leave his side or go out and fight? I saw him on a couple more occasions after that. Witnessed his first kill. Beat discipline into him when required to remind him of his place. If you are not aware I did have an occupation to fulfil within the Saiyan army and a title as the Queen of all Saiyans to uphold. Take your xenophobic insults against any false failure I have made and kindly gag yourself forthwith."
The ugly head of institutionalised child abuse rears itself. As a Saiyan she did everything and more expected for her child allowing for the fact that she died birthing Prince Vegeta's brother. Being judged against the Juraian culture she does not hold is not something she cares for. She lives and breathes as a Saiyan and shall act as Saiyan rule dictated by her allows. The Queen looks to her Prince and sees that he does not care in the slightest over this argument either and so the point is moot regardless. This does not sit well with Misaki. Queen Vegeta then snidely comments that he was far too busy being groomed and nurtured by King Vegeta that she would just have been in the way, trained for his singular fate of defeating Frieza that he failed in.
"And a good thing he was the one responsible for training me and not yourself. Even my son's fighting style is more refined and efficient than your own. Maybe your genes are the ones holding me back from utterly demolishing Kakarot, if I were to score your abilities I'd give you a 9 … out of 100." Vegeta repays insults in kind and mockingly laughs at his inferior mother. Evil intent shines in his hardened expression. "3 times on that field I intercepted attacks on your behalf. None fatal to me, but to you they could have been. That is quite the humbling debt that you owe me, my Queen."
An icy silence falls on the prison as the two Vegetas grin in conflict at the other. That is until Queen Vegeta's stomach rumbles and her metabolism demands sustenance. She roars out for a guard and food, threatening them if they do not comply. The reply from the guards at the entrance to the cell block is the designated times that meals shall be provided to prisoners. Without a clock that information is of little use other than telling her she is not getting food right now. A stirring comes from the woman sharing a cell with Vegeta as the stimulant undoes her sedation. Her eyelids flutter as she rouses from her unnatural slumber and as Ryoko goes to stretch and feels resistance those feline eyes of hers snap wide in panic.
Rough fingers knead and scratch her hair and a shushing sound comes from above her. Ryoko recoils from the touch with her restricted movement and looks up to see the man whose name she was about to scream out. Tears stream from her golden eyes and with explosive force she awkwardly propels herself into Vegeta and wrestles to get her manacled arms around him. She is finding great relief that he is alive and well, and did not sacrifice himself to get her locked up like her haunted past reminds her could happen. He has returned and is back with her. Whatever mental blockers cause her issue in touching him are forgotten in this moment.
"Hush, you should not be expecting me to fail in battle-"
"No! B-but you did, you must have. We're- we're … Vegey help." Even when emotional she understands he has to have lost to be imprisoned with her. Being imprisoned with him at her side is a marked improvement, though the situation is vastly greater than she can handle.
"I have set things in motion when I was recovering. A pleasant surprise, so … it should take half an hour the task I set but I'd give it a couple of hours so get comfortable and bear with until those chains are permanently removed." Vegeta confidently dismisses her worries by promising her freedom. Her eyes scan his and search for any trace of a lie. He is not lying.
"Is asking a girl to wait all you can do? Who? What? I need to know." Her desperation for freedom shall not hinge on baseless faith, she needs reassurances and definite knowledge that her fate shall not abandon her in chains.
"We are under surveillance. If it talk too much the plan shall fail. They left my residence prior to and due to Misaki's arrival and an agreement they had surrounding that." His lips spill what only most within these cells and that one person will have knowledge on. Identifying them will have them found out by the guards for suspicion of being a traitor. Vegeta then reaffirms to everyone to not speak of this person or say their name.
Neither Piccolo, Goku nor Queen Vegeta can understand whom is being referenced. It does calm Ryoko for a moment as she thinks and ponders as it does not make immediate sense to her. A slight movement on her behalf reminds her of her binds. She quietly asks Vegeta to break it all with his strength. His pragmatic reply is that until he frees his own wrists and arms he shall be limited in his ability to level her restraints and her bones and flesh will shatter before the manacles do. Nodding towards the cameras again he continues that he will not be allowed the time to complete freeing himself.
"Prince Vegeta, what pray tell is that wretch in your arms and why does that snivelling coward have but only the audacity to claim yourself as her own? Has breeding outside of Saiyan stock left you confused and attracted to … whatever mess that is?" A harsh leer is sent from the Saiyan matriarch to this fearful woman holding her son in abject disapproval. No elite warrior by her definition should choose a frightened mess like that.
His priorities lie not in amusing his mother in argument nor butting heads with her over his plethora of life choices. Vegeta calmly ignores the insults of his mother and calms Ryoko down with his presence. He reminds her that they are only within his training room. The door closed now shall open soon and that for now she should count her blessings that she has him trapped in a room with her with no way to leave her. Queen Vegeta is ignored and she detests it. Ryoko's vision is purely of Vegeta's chest and body. She uses him to block out any visual cues of her captivity.
To aid this situation Goku begins working out in his cell to pass the time. The movement catches Queen Vegeta's attention. Her basic Saiyan competitiveness and want to impress her intended mate has her dropping the issue of Ryoko's fear and focusing on challenging Goku. She mirrors his motions and exercises to show off her own physical competency in comparison to his own and tries to outdo him. A silent thanks is unspoken from Prince Vegeta. There is no training equipment at hand, their bindings restrict their movements and with the gravity being at Earth's normal level it comes down to speed being the one thing they can use to challenge themselves with. Whilst those two occupy each other in exercising between their cells Misaki quietly lays herself down on her bed and faces away. Silently she internalises and processes the events of today. The crux of the matter that Queen Vegeta's villainy and her own mortal peril all derive from her own mother's actions hurts her, and she fears what else this Counteractor business could lead to or what might become of her.
Internal strife gradually diffuses into Ryoko's mind. The calming warmth she finds in Vegeta bit by bit is replaced by discomfort in touching him. A battle of attrition begins within her over which fear shall dominate her actions; that of the man who broke her or of the cell that stole 40 years of her life. Vegeta senses a growing tension within her hug around him and a shifting in her arms. She needs distraction from her environment. Vegeta tries to think of a conversation to start up that will aid her, not bring focus on her entrapment nor provoke some snide comments from the others he does not have privacy from.
"That one. The weird cross shape under your ribs. How'd that happen?" Ryoko nods her head and breaks the silence herself. She continues the game from their date of having him explain his scars to her.
"... That was the joy of Kakarot breaking a few of my ribs with Kaioken in our first bout."
A mischievous chuckle comes from Queen Vegeta in the background as she still exercises against Goku and asks him inquisitively about what Kaioken is. Goku pauses to think of how to explain this. Kaioken is not a simple technique, nor is its origin one he can just describe without having to go into the afterlife, features of it, the Kais and Queen Vegeta's own damnation in comparison to his own fate.
"At the edge of your hairline going up."
"Fighting the Ginyu force and Recoome pile driving me into the ground before I blasted his teeth out."
"You slaughtered the Ginyu force? Was it a good battle? What happened to those freaks when they faced Saiyan might?" The game of Ryoko's is interrupted again by Queen Vegeta. She is too eager to learn of these instances and interesting events that occurred during her dismissal from this plane of existence. For all her high and mighty Saiyan ways she is under half the age of her son mentally and maturity wise she has room left to develop. Earnest for growth in personal betterment she wants all knowledge she can gain.
"This icky rough patch under your arm." Ryoko is not paying attention to Queen Vegeta trying to spoil her game.
" … Under my arm? Huh, what was that? Pretty sure it was Frieza, either one of his disciplines of almost burning me alive or some blast of his during a different torture." He cannot recall this one definitely. It is an old scar and one in a place he does not normally see.
No words come from Queen Vegeta this time. Her eyes are looking at her own tapestry of burns running the length of one of her arms. Misaki is not enjoying hearing discussions of pain and brutality.
Ryoko asks Vegeta to open his mouth and show her his tongue. He complies and she nods and smiles seeing it healthy and without a scar in the shape of teeth. She then asks for his hand. It takes a bit of movement from this bound embrace but she gets to see his palms. She sees the faint line across his palm newer than the rest. Ryoko's smile grows. This scar she does not need to ask over. She lifts her manacled arms up over his head and terminates the hug. She continues facing him and focuses on not looking at the cell or thinking about imprisonment. Ryoko's eyes drop down to Vegeta's lap and then back up. Her head tilts to the side as she thinks. She remembers something interesting and asks Vegeta about what Tights said about her books based off his adventures and one of him being stranded somewhere. Vegeta nods, he can tell this tale to occupy her as they await for his plan to take place.
He was a teenager at the time, younger than his mother currently is, and his power level in the mid-teens of thousands. His comrades of Nappa and Raditz had purposefully been separated from him and sent on a different mission to harass a refugee flotilla. Frieza did not trust them together. By himself he was sent to a far distant planet to survey and cleanse – the mission objectives were clear that no life forms were to remain for the harvesting and selling of the planet. It was an uneventful trip of 2 months in a space pod. Upon entering the upper atmosphere of the planet the entire pod's electronics and computers died. The planet was covered in high magnetic storms, it had very few layers of defence from its closest solar body and was ravaged by it. With no control he crashed.
Pods like that can easily withstand impact into the ground. The damage to its control, thrust and life support were substantial and growing worse from the highly magnetised environment. Within its inventory was enough supplies when active and on mission for a month, if you were not Saiyan, and a week otherwise. Temperatures were high, the clouded skies trapping in all heat, and so his first action was to haul his pod into the nearest cave to shield and shade it. He knew this planet to be worthless for naught but mining and quarrying with its inhabitability. His scouter listed many clumps of lifeforms and all of them were beneath the planet's surface. Detonating the surface would be simple however also out of bounds for the nature of his job and the thin ice of his relationship with Frieza needed little heating with a failure on his part. He was sent there to either die or do his job.
Rock and metal meant nothing to him to tunnel through. Light, air supply and a direction back to his broken ship were important. Flying directly over one unknown settlement and burrowing straight down he eradicated the town. Only seeing the creatures in the flashes that killed them he brought an insectoid corpse back with him to his cave for examination. No clothes, no armour, no technology, implants, and signs of weakness from untreated illness so also no advanced medicine, Vegeta was on an uncivilised world. Just from journeying about that short distance he felt uncomfortably hot and had to remove his armour, gloves and boots. Leaving the corpse out in the open for an hour earnt him a free cooked meal. He rested at night and slaughtered the few groups of assassins in the dark. Come day break he burnt the skies apart. Ki blasts tore through every cloud and storm he saw. Without cloud cover the daytime temperature rocketed. He dug for water and found none. His rations would not last his mission in that environment.
"Galaxy Police, Officer Mihoshi Kuramitsu reporting. I am here to interview the jailed, check that their imprisonment meets galactic standards for POWs and I have a signed affidavit from Commander Mikumo speaking of his will to grant the party, and especially the two Queens, audience with himself. So pretty please let me in." From outside the cell block a cheery voice interrupts Vegeta's story telling. Two hours have yet to pass, one has only just gone.
Opening the doors without the guards accompanying her the cavalry arrives to save them. Grinning to herself in accomplishment she stands triumphant. In the exponential growth of generations and the escape of Washu's bloodline from her planet some trace Tuffle heritage is found within the blonde police officer. A great granddaughter separated by over 500 generations exists. A simulation of Mihoshi exists. Talk of Vegetas and Saiyans and Jurai got her attention early on, sneaking her way into the medical ward she saw the healing form of Prince Vegeta in the tank and from there she began her plan to help her friends.
This ray of hope is all it takes. Ryoko throws herself against the bars, the tethering chains biting at her wrists and neck as she presses closes to her saviour, and loudly and unashamedly begins pleading and asking Mihoshi for immediate release and rescue. For all his stoicism a grimace finds itself on Vegeta's face at this poor display. In her desperation Ryoko is about to make use of her friendship with Mihoshi when a sharp tug on her chains silences her throat. The thing about having an inside agent is for the enemy to not know of their true allegiance. Vegeta growls out a warning for her to silence herself or he shall do so with force. He raises his hand at her, instead of in a threatening motion it shows his open palm and the scar from their blood pact that he hopes she is not too far gone in terror to notice. Ryoko falls deathly quiet. There is an immediate shift in her behaviour. Now her fear is directed at her cell mate and it is faked, she shall act this part for her chance to perform a jailbreak.
An eagerness also arises in Misaki at this friendly and familiar face. She politely introduces herself to the police officer and Mihoshi bows then thinks about it and stops bowing as these are prisoners despite Misaki technically being one of her employers. The green guy with antennas at the end she has not met before yet knows to be Piccolo and has seen him fighting the replacement Saiyaman on television. There is another she does not know. Putting on a professional smile she walks to this unknown woman's cell. Mihoshi introduces herself and states her business here. An unimpressed eyebrow raises on the muscled woman's face. She looks past the natural blonde to her son and glares at the insult that this person is their plan to get out, she then looks back at Mihoshi.
"You're here to check our imprisonment and conditions?" Queen Vegeta asks, crossing her arms. Mihoshi nods. "Lack of privacy, no access to running water, no meals currently have been provided, no access to natural light, improper sharing of cells, mixing of prisoners of different security ratings and dangers in the same block, sloppy disposition of the guards, open latrines which will lead to disease and hygiene issues, no hygiene products for use with said latrine, painful restraints, restraints that hinder my ability to rest and/or sleep, no facilities for exercise or entertainment. During my healing it should be apparent that I have recently given birth: none have asked about my infant, none care that there is an unattended newborn left out there, that child will die quickly without proper feeding so within 3 hours my jailers are going to be guilty of infanticide. On a more personal note that whimpering mess there got her request of her mated partner of my son to share a cell with her and so as Queen I demand at the minimum the same treatment in being placed with Kakarot – and do not ask his permission for he is sick in the head."
Mihoshi blinks several times. That is a lot of information she was not expecting. The complete summary of what she needed is provided to her, and more. She cannot remember all that is said. With a start she turns around and points at Vegeta then looks back at this woman calling herself queen and asks the word 'son'. The imprisoned woman nods and goes on to remind this police officer that she has a second child. Mihoshi calls out to the prison guards and with abject confusion starts asking them what they are supposed to do about dependent newborns and incarcerated mothers. The answer is gruff in that it does not matter until they find the child. Mihoshi jogs back to Queen Vegeta and asks about where she left her infant. A lie comes from Queen Vegeta of a neighbouring city and it being within the ship her squadron landed in; this should distract some of their forces to a doomed search and rescue mission.
From the next cell a stern and disapproving look is being sent by Misaki over this fallacy of a baby in danger, this woman taking advantage of her own pregnancy and child's death. One of the prison guards gets on his comms and messages out for this mission to begin to search for her child and about the technicalities of handling a mother and newborn situation. Mihoshi pauses the guard and reminds him of the list of complaints and failures of this prison facility that Queen Vegeta pointed out that break Galaxy Police regulation so they shall have to be addressed in accordance with either relocation or upgrading this prison. Whilst they deal with that she waves at the prisoners and cheerily asks if they are ready and looking forward to getting to talk to Commander Mikumo. Ryoko nods eagerly with her feline eyes staring for any sign of her getting out this bondage.
"OK, so … about this meeting guys uh, Commander Mikumo said he would only talk with the royalty of the party. Can I have a show of hands to who is royal and how?" The smile on Mihoshi's face becomes more sheepish. There is a catch to how she got this meeting organised that she chose not to argue with for the issue of time.
Both Vegetas and Misaki raise their hand confidently. Ryoko a second later raises hers. Piccolo grins to himself and then raises his, and then Goku does the same. Mihoshi pauses, this does not add up and lying to her will not speed up matters. She asks them in turn to explain their regal claims.
"Vegeta, Queen of all Saiyans, most powerful female Saiyan alive and ruler of this planet, also current despot of the Planet Trade Organisation."
"Vegeta, Prince of all Saiyans, first born prodigy of Queen Vegeta. Super Saiyan."
"Queen Misaki Masaki Jurai, empress through marriage to Emperor Azusa of the Juraian Empire."
The obvious answers get a nod from Mihoshi. These all make sense. Now she moves onto the other claims she is suspicious of.
"Lady Ryoko, princess through engagement with Prince Vegeta."
"The Great Demon King Piccolo, heir to Demon King Piccolo, former Guardian of the planet Earth and former honour guard to Leader Guru of the Nameks."
" … Son-in-law of the Ox-King? I'm married to Princess Chichi."
Mihoshi is confused. She thinks Ryoko is probably lying and is not technically royal yet, and despite this she is friends with her and wants to really help her out of this mess. As for the others 'Demon King' scares her and she does not know who the Ox-King is or if that person truly exists. She hesitantly asks for them to confirm that everyone in their cells is royal and she gets that confirmation. Mihoshi nods and sees that Misaki is maintaining strong eye contact with her. The police officer sees a great sympathetic remorse and anxiety within this queen. She tells Misaki not to worry and gets interrupted.
"Excuse me, for I must know, Commander M-Mikumo you say? I believe I know of this man you speak, know him but he shall not know of myself. … Oh skies above. Commander Mikumo i-is the father of Mikami and M-M-Min-Minami?" This knowledge weighs heavily upon Misaki.
She turns her head with disgust, shakes her head at Queen Vegeta, appalled. This is the situation Kagato put them in, his ploy to destroy Washu absolutely pits them with her son as the enemy leader. Misaki can see little hope of diplomacy in a talk after what the Vegetas have done. She has little clue how he is capable of holding a meeting given the sins of Queen Vegeta.
One lone chuckle comes from Queen Vegeta at this 'coincidence' as Mihoshi solemnly nods, Mikumo is their father. A tirade of insults erupts from Misaki at this unfeeling monster having slaughtered one of his children and tortured the other with no mercy and only amusement at their pain. Insults of monster and savage are old hat to most Saiyans. Queen Vegeta puts on a show of looking around the few unoccupied cells and frowning to herself. She smiles.
"So if this is the prison, then where is that girl who so eagerly stabbed her weaker sister to death? I know there were plenty of witnesses. It is a good thing then that I dolled out 'righteous' Saiyan justice to that murderer when she was in my grasp." Remorseless. Saiyan sadism reigns as she grins. Fresh from hell itself she looks back at Misaki and sees what evil it takes for her to witness that power again. That unknown entity excites her and if it can be unleashed in the midst of the enemy then all the better. Confidence and arrogance imbue her."It is only fair. I mean, that squad being dispatched to find my newborn will terminate it upon its discovery. Is that not your whole intention? Kill all Saiyans by order of Frieza? Even if you do bring the babe to my breast all you do is doom it to a slow, painful death at the hands of Frieza. That wretched girl got an easy out with a knife to the chest, compared to the horrors Frieza shall show to the rest."
Vacuum replaces air for a split second. Lungs, eyes and extremities burn from the sudden pressure differential. Breathable air returns. The virtualised people continue on as normal. Energy flickers. Cell walls and restraints switch off. Both Ryoko and Queen Vegeta pounce at the exit to their cell. Energy flickers back on. Barriers erect again, the chains of energy reignite and their restraints they started escaping from automatically start arranging back into their proper placement and alignment. Both women impact onto the cell wall and throttle themselves on the restraints before reeling back. Queen Misaki is sat on her bed and weeps in grief for the pain of Washu.