Val stood up from her desk, cracking her stiff upper back as she moved. It had been a few months since she, Daiki, and a few other Capsule Corps scientists had come to the Southern Capital to help fend up the ever growing tide that waxed and waned of the novel heart virus. The medicine they perfected seemed to help more often than not those who were sick with it already, but it had still spread around the area and had popped up a few other places in the country nearby and did not seem to quite give up. Daiki had even caught it recently, but lucked into a mild case of it where he was mainly tired and sluggish for two or three days before recovering. He commented that the anti viral medicine they made seem to help, but that it seemed to be a bit hard on his system and it did not flush out the virus as fast as it should have.
Val leaned over the computer, looking at the newest formula of the medicine she had been working on, comparing it to the newest strand of the virus sample wise. She huffed, wondering if or how to tweak the formula for the new mutation. She felt tired herself, vision blurry from staring at a screen too long. She rubbed her thighs absentmindedly, annoyed at how she struggled to find the right balance at training on her own. She felt like she did not go hard enough, and then would overcompensate in a way where she would go too hard, making her think she might have hurt herself. She wanted to go back to train with Piccolo, to see him, but could not risk accidentally passing the virus asymptotically to Goku. She might not have caught the virus herself yet, making her wonder if she had natural immunity thanks to her alien DNA, but she had seen enough young, healthy people catch the virus and that some of them did not make it, even with the medicine.
"It has to be good enough by now," she heard someone say behind her. She looked behind her, seeing Daiki standing there in the doorway. "Shouldn't you finish packing?" he asked her, nodding around her room.
She hummed, muttering, "right." She saved the newest formula, turned off the computer, and looked around the room she had been staying in. She should pack more. "Can you help me, please?" she asked him, knowing he had already been packed and ready for days. He stepped over and helped her without a word. "Thanks," she told him, giving him a small smile.
They were going back to Capsule Corps early tomorrow morning. Things were okay enough now in the Southern Capital to go back, plus Bulma's pregnancy was harder on her than expected. While she was put on bed rest, Daiki and Val were to take over for her in the interim, on the joke from Bulma that it would take two people to replace her. Val packed half hazardly, not caring if things were not packed right since she would just throw them in her room when she got back. Meanwhile, Daiki was was meticulously detailed about how nice everything he packed was, to the point where the clothes he packed for her she noticed ended up being color coded.
"When we get back to Capsule Corps, will you go back to your friends to train with them again? The ones in the mountain village?" he asked her.
She nodded, "I need to train, but still only three days a week, since we need to help Bulma," she answered. She thought about all the complaints Bulma had about being pregnant, each one sounding more unappealing than the last. She thought about Piccolo again, wanting to see him, wanting to know where the two of them stood after she abruptly ran off to meet Bulma. Beyond just the vague details given to her from Chichi's texts.
"Wait two weeks though, remember," he reminded her. "Just in case you get sick since you insist you don't want to pass it on to your friends out there. And test yourself first to make sure you don't have it."
She shook her head to herself. "I know I know," she answered, thinking how she had a negative blood test earlier that day that she had done herself, finding it helpful yet annoying that she had to get the thickest needle she could find and had to do it over one of the scars on her forearm from before she grew to do it. Even then, it took even her a few tries to get it. She had never thought she would feel begrudgingly grateful to have those scars after all. She did not want to risk being around Vegeta nor Bulma right away when she got back, but the later had said it would be fine if she was negative right before she arrived.
They resumed packing, Val liking how it took less time for her to get her things packed. She never understood how since she moved to this planet that she could accumulate so much stuff. She went to bed late, sleeping hard before she woke up early enough to take the transport with Daiki and the others back to Capsule Corps.
She set her stuff down in her room, with Daiki waiting outside her room for her to do so. Then the two of them turned down the hallway to head to Bulma's room. They had to stop when Vegeta blocked their way. "Morning," Val said tiredly. He looked between the two of them. Val noticed Daiki seem to back up and step partially behind her. "Your wife has beckoned, so I came once, my prince," she stated, voice dripping with sarcasm. She gave a half mocking bow as well.
"You've been exposed to that heart virus. Test first," he demanded.
She looked at him absurdly. "We did. Yesterday." She looked back at Daiki. "Negative."
"Again," he simply demanded, not backing down.
She stared at him ruefully and then gave in. She turned around, clasping Daiki on the shoulder comfortingly to go in front of her. "Come on," she sighed. She did allow her a small, annoyed smile, especially when she noticed he was walking behind the two of them.
She led both of them down to her lab, settling herself down with the thickness needled syringe she could find to draw her own blood. She felt Vegeta's eyes on her. "Want to do the honors?" she teased, more so focused on the blood draw from a vein under a scar than on him. She took the blood, dropping a few drops into the test strip. Once it showed negative, she held it up to him tauntingly. "Negative. Can you read it from here?"
He grunted and looked away from her and over to Daiki. "What are you waiting for?" he demanded.
She looked over at Daiki, shaking hand searching over his own veins to find a suitable one. She stepped over to him, pushing his hand away and running her own over his forearm. She picked up the syringe next to him, drawing just enough blood from him to test it. She tested it herself, finding it negative.
"We're fine, then," she reported, dangling Daiki's test up. "Can we go to your wife now, or is there another thing you need first?" He grunted at that, but nodded. She turned back to Daiki, asking, "do you want to head up first while we talk in private?"
"Yeah, sure," he rushed out, looking relieved to get away from the more intimidating of the two of them.
She watched him leave with a small smile and shake of her head. She turned back to Vegeta, asking cockily, "how is it you're strong enough and brave enough to face the androids coming, but fearful of a tiny little virus that's proving quite easy for me to beat?"
"You hadn't caught, have you?" he asked, dodging her question.
She shook her head and shrugged. She held up her hands and forearms, musing, "if it was going to get me, it would have gotten me in the Southern Capital. Perhaps I'm immune, like I was with the black water mist. Perks of being part bird, I guess. Daiki even got it and survived thanks to the antivirus he and I created."
He gave her a bit of sour look. "You still watched it kill a few, at least," he reminded.
She blinked at him, recalling exactly as he said. "It's fine. It hasn't gotten me. So it won't get you or Bulma or your child," she responded, sounding and feeling a little less confident than before. "It got Daiki, but he was fine."
"He survived it?" he sneered, looking over the door. "Don't pass it off to Kakarot either. At least not until I have had my rematch," he growled.
She clicked her teeth at his comment. "I go back there in two weeks, but for now I'm going to see your wife," she told him. She heard him follow her along.
She left the room, bringing both Daiki's negative test and her own with her. She went up the Bulma's room, that Vegeta now shared with her. She saw Bulma sitting up in her bed. Daiki stood at a formal distance from the bed, listening intently as she spoke, taking notes on a little notepad in his hand furiously. She was explaining the things he would need to take over while she was on bed rest.
Val sat down on the side of the bed, creating a triangle between the three of them while Vegeta stood by the door. She saw a laptop sat down next to Bulma with a design on the screen that looked similar to Litt battle armor. Bulma finished the point she was making with Daiki and greeted Val with a tired, "well hello."
Val looked her over, seeing her stomach looking like she swallowed a beachball. "You're as big as a house," she commented with a smile.
"Still prettier than you are," Bulma said right back. She rested her hand on her oversized stomach. "Give it two more weeks. Two weeks of mainly sitting around," she added with a frown. "It's so boring already. But someone has to kick and squirm and fight and train in there... He near cracked a rib the other day. Guess he's bored, too."
Val held up the tests. "Negative," she reported. She looked back at Vegeta. "He insisted we test. Even though we did less than 24 hours ago."
"Awe, that was sweet of him. Told you he was a big softy," Bulma commented, looking over at him. "Totally gives off the save the damsel in distress vibes after all." Val heard him grunt, but say nothing back. She shrugged. "Right, I was just going over things with Daiki since you both will be covering while I'm on bed rest, so I can do that now. You'll be here for two weeks all the time and then back to three days here, three days training, right?" she asked to clarify.
"Right. Just to make I sure don't pass the virus to-" she halted herself recalling Daiki was in the room. "To, you know, anyone who might have trouble with it," she tried to say smoothly.
"I'll have lots for you to do over the course of two weeks," Bulma warned. "Now..." she preempted before launching into her own explanations.
When Bulma was finally done talking, Val felt a bit confused on top of tired, but sounded like everything said was doable. She left the room, bidding Daiki goodbye as he headed home. The lot of them who had gone to the Southern Capital had all planned to go home once they dropped stuff off at Capsule Corps. Val hummed, heading down to the lab she shared with the other researchers, assuming it would be empty. It was not.
"Oh, hello, Junko," she said, surprised to see the stocky, shorter woman there. "I thought you went home already with the others." Val stepped up next to her, with their work stations side by side.
Junko straightened up from her slouch and turned to face Val. "I will, but just needed to type a few things up first," she answered and then yawned. "I need a bit more coffee though. Want any?" she offered.
"Sure, if you wouldn't mind," Val answered, feeling a little tired herself.
Junko stood up, clearing her throat and giving a quick cough. Then she went over to the kettle they all shared.
Val booted up her computer, trying to think what to start working on first. She cursed herself for not taking notes on what Bulma told her and Daiki. She sent a quick text to Daiki, asking for pictures of his copious notes from the meeting. By the time he had sent them all, Junko had brought her her coffee, setting it down on her desk. "Thanks," Val said, trying to decipher Daiki's chicken scratch.
"No problem," Junko answered with a bit of raspiness, clearing her throat again. She sat down at her station, head in her hand and elbow on the table.
Val frowned at her phone. She pushed wheeled chair over to where Junko was, asking, "Daiki sent me a picture. Can you read this line at all?" She pointed to the part she counted read.
Junko bent her head down low to the phone. Val pulled her head back just a bit since she was a little too close for comfort. Junko blinked and rubbed her eyes. "Not sure. Sorry," she answered.
Val huffed. "That's fine. Thanks though." She pushed her chair back to her work station and shot Daiki a text to ask him what he wrote instead.