Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Against All Odds ❯ Security ( Chapter 4 )

Disclaimer: I don't own it, and if you try to sue me I will throw my Vegeta doll at you.

Author's Notes: Thanks so much for the reviews, they make me feel warm and gooey inside.

Chapter Four: Security

They agreed to meet in her lab the next morning. The cameras in the hall would see a man rendezvousing with the woman he had been intimate with the day before and it was a secure place to talk.

Her lab techs were all loyal to her, but the only one party to her perfidy against the throne was Jace. Vegeta insisted on telling Nappa and Raditz and she was forced to agree. Vegeta would never convince his bodyguards that he was in love with a weak ningen female. He claimed that they were completely loyal to him and she had to trust him.

That made a total of five people that knew of their plan to overthrow the Lord. In retrospect it was three to many. It could be their downfall, but for now they just had to hold their breath and hope for the best.

She met him at the secured doors of her lab. As the doors slid open to reveal him standing in the hall impatiently, she felt the barest twinge of attraction. She tried to tell herself it was because of what she was about to do. The game was afoot and everyone was watching.

She reached out and pulled him into her, vaguely surprised that he let her. She locked her lips over his and wrapped her arms around his neck, while dragging him into her lab. She wasn't prepared for the riot of sensation this caused inside of her. It sent a little shiver down her whole frame. Over his shoulder she glimpsed the utterly shocked faces of his men.

I guess he hasn't told them yet.

As soon as the door closed behind them he shoved her away from him wiping his mouth on his forearm. The warm tingle she had felt was quickly replaced by indignation. She wasn't that bad of a kisser and she had been considerate enough to pop a breath freshener before he arrived.

What a jerk.

"If you are done Your Highness, I suggest we collect your men from outside." She sneered.

The hard look she was becoming familiar with settled on his handsome features. "Leave them. I would see this room that you have lured me here for first." He demanded in a cold voice.

She huffed and turned on her heel, leading him to the other end of the lab. Her people wisely pretended to ignore the visitor and continued to work. They were used to her meeting people, but they had never seen her kiss one before. However, they knew better than to question it, or talk about it. The first thing she showed him was her `bug detector', while launching into a description of her security protocols.

"Twice a day the lab is swept for any foreign surveillance devices that should not be here. The sweeps are performed randomly and by a different person each time." She explained in a businesslike tone.

"When you leave the lab you open yourself up to contamination. Someone could accidentally brush up against you in a crowded room, but what they really did was plant a bug on you."

Vegeta snorted. "No one brushes up against the Prince of all Saiyans either by accident or on purpose woman. Not if they want to live long."

She glared at him. "That may be so, but we can't take any chances now can we? Every time you enter the lab, immediately come to stand in the center of this."

She pointed to a raised platform that was wide enough for someone to stand on. At each corner were pillars that stood about eight feet tall. She motioned for him to step on, but he crossed his arms and a mulish expression formed on his face. She rolled her eyes and stepped on the platform instead. Instantly an orange beam appeared at her feet and began to creep up her body.

"This machine will scan you to make sure that you haven't been bugged." She explained. When she was done she stepped off and held out her arm in invitation for him to get on. He shot her one last suspicious look before complying. As soon as he was done she led him over to her room.

The entrance to her quarters was locked of course. In order to enter you had to have a retinal scan, a DNA scan and a voice scan. After unlocking the rooms she led him passed the living area to another set of doors.

"This room is locked by a ten digit code. It is nearly impossible to crack." She grinned as she punched in the code. He looked down at her with one brow raised. "People say that I am paranoid, but you woman, are scary." He said in a dry voice.

She straightened to glare at him. "Look, what we are doing will get us tortured until we beg for them to kill us. I don't know about you, but I want to avoid that at all costs." She finished her words with a snap. He just eyed her before he grunted and faced the door expectantly.

She tapped the button that opened the door and led him into a small foyer that was about six feet across and eleven feet wide. Directly across from where they stood was another heavy door with a key pad. Instead of walking up to it, she drew him to the left. Standing against the wall was a Regeneration Tank.

"This is the tank I was telling you about. It works exactly the same except the rejuvenation rate is quicker." He nodded in understanding, he had spent a great deal of time in the tanks and he needed no instruction on how to use it.

She strolled up to the next door and typed in a different code. The door slid open to reveal another thick steal door right behind it. Vegeta glared at her with annoyance and she sighed.

"Don't look at me like that. There is a reason that there is another door." She snapped.

"Yah, you are a loon." He hissed.

She sniffed and crossed her arms. "Do you know how I ended up on this backwater star base? The same base that you were currently stationed?" She asked snidely.

He just stared coldly down at her. "I asked Frieza for a favor and in order to get that favor I had to invent something that would make that ugly lizard happy." She was grinding her teeth now, talking about Frieza always made her angry.

"Capsulation." He stated impassively.

She blinked in surprise. "You have heard of it?"

"You would have to be deaf and dumb not to. The greatest invention of the century or some shit. What does that have to do with the door woman?" He demanded impatiently.

"How do you think I got the Gravity Room here, Prince Vegeta?" Sarcasm dripped from her lips.

Understanding flared in his eyes. "Capsulation."

"Exactly. I then decapsulized it in an already existing room. A room within a room. It makes for easy clean up. In less than five minutes the proof of our treachery will be palm sized and easily hidden." She smirked at her own genius and even Vegeta graced her with a small cold smile. She was almost flattered.

She opened the door and led him inside a spacious room. It was circular with metal siding and control panel that dominated the center. She led him up to the panel and spent the next hour explaining exactly how it worked.

When she was done, he turned to her with an intense expression. "This may actually work. I can become strong enough to kill Frieza and avenge my people." For a second a look of hope flitted across his usually cold eyes, but it was stowed away so quickly that she almost missed it. "I suppose I won't kill you now, Bulma." His tone was serious and she knew that if he hadn't been satisfied with what he saw today, she would be dead on the floor right now.

"Yay, me." She replied completely deadpan.

She took him back into the living area and into her small kitchen. She offered him some Gilian Ale which he accepted while leaning causally against the counter. She watched as he tipped his head back to swallow the brew. She practically slapped herself when she realized she was staring at his muscular throat and the little bit of bronze skin that peaked out of the collar of his shirt.

"This is the only place that we can be ourselves. Everywhere else we are being watched, even in my lab." She uttered in order to break the hypnotizing spell of his skin.

"The only person on my team that knows about this plan is Jace, everyone else is loyal to me, but it is safer for them if they don't know what is going on." She turned away to get her own ale. The way he was sucking his down, made her think having some wasn't a bad idea. He grunted in response.

"This means we have to move into the next step of our plan. We have to have our `relationship' documented." She said in her most neutral tone. She knew the Prince hated this part of the plan.

He tensed as he stood up from the counter. "This is not going to work woman. Saiyans do not fall in love. No one is going to believe it for a minute."

"You have mates don't you?" She asked still trying to stay neutral.

"Yes, but that is different. Besides even between mates there is no show of affection, it is a private matter between them." He explained.

"How do Saiyans take a mate?" She was trying to work out an acceptable answer for their problems.

"I fail to see how this has anything to do with what we are talking about." He snarled.

She rolled her eyes. "Just answer the question Vegeta."

Before she knew it she was pinned up against the far wall. Vegeta was glaring angrily down at her. "Don't you ever tell me what to do Bulma." He hissed into her face. She gulped and nodded her head slowly. He pushed away and stormed into the living room area. She trailed behind, desperately trying to get her composure back.

"I was just asking because it may give me an idea on how to pull this off." She said softly.

He sat in one of her plush chairs before putting his feet up on the coffee table. She barely contained the grimace that was in danger of appearing at his action.

He sighed. "The male threatens or kills any other males in the area then marks the female in front of witnesses. Thus making her his." This time she couldn't stop the grimace that twisted her features.

"So in other words, the male forcefully dominates his territory, before aggressively claiming his prize." He raised a brow at her wordy explanation.

"Whatever." He replied before taking another sip of his ale.

She moved around to sit on the couch drinking her own beverage while she was deep in thought. "Well there seems to be no way around it. The only way to convince people, is if you claim me as your mate."

He nearly spit out his drink at her words. "I will do no such thing, madam." His voice was frosty and his face dark.

"It wouldn't be binding of course, just a show for everyone to see. I assume there is more to claiming a mate than just what you said." She quickly tried to appease him.

He was quiet a moment before he volunteered the information. "After the male takes the female in front of the witnesses they then consummate their bonding. Once done they are full mates under Saiyan law."

"Well then, since we aren't going to consummate, a little show for the locals would be ideal." She grinned impishly.

He examined the label on his ale for a few minutes, considering her words, before he looked up and nodded.

"Great the first thing we need to do is pick out another male. Preferably someone you don't like since you are going to have to kill him." She was ticking off her fingers, as if her comment was the most natural thing in the world. Vegeta eyes however, widened a fraction.

"Woman?" He adopted the same neutral tone that she had earlier.

She looked up from her thoughts. "What?"

He stared at her for a minute. "Are you planning a murder with me?" He asked more than a little shocked at this weakling across from him.

"It's not murder. He is a pawn that will be sacrificed for the greater good. Our greater good." Her tone was steady and even as she met his hard gaze unblinkingly.

He continued to stare at her with an unfathomable expression and she felt compelled to explain herself. "Look, obviously I am not an angel or I wouldn't have entered into a partnership with a cold-blooded killer." At her words his eyebrow twitched slightly.

"Oh yes, I have read your file. The question you have to ask yourself is what kind of person would agree to help a man such as yourself come into power." She was careful to mirror his expressionless face as she spoke.

"The answer is someone who is only concerned with their own welfare and that of their people. You have given me your word and I have to trust that your Saiyan honor will not allow you to break an oath once given." She flinched internally at her words. If he chose not to honor his end of the bargain all was lost.

"As soon as we entered into this compact we were wagering our lives. Do you really think I care about some faceless individual? Just because I am not a warrior like yourself does not make me any less dangerous. I will do what I have to survive and to win." By the time she was finished her lips were curled in a deadly sneer.

At that moment she was totally and utterly ruthless. She would have her prize at any cost. Even at the life of an innocent. Well maybe not innocent. No one under Frieza's command was sin free. Including Bulma. For a brief moment, he felt a tightening in his groin before he tamped it down cruelly, but not before a stray thought seeped into his mind. She would make a magnificent queen. He nodded his head in ascent and listened as she elaborated their plan.

"Great, now here is what we are going to do."