Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Against All Odds ❯ Homecoming ( Chapter 16 )

Disclaimer: I don't own it, but my Vegeta doll whispers dark nothings in my ear.

Chapter Sixteen

Homecoming

By the time they docked at Primas, Nappa had regained consciousness, but was still in need of few hours of healing in the tanks. Raditz had begun recovering as well, but he was still passed out cold from his injuries. Without a word, Android Eighteen opened the doors for them to exit and Vegeta hefted Raditz over his shoulder before striding down the off ramp. They had barely cleared the hatch before the Androids powered up their ship to depart.

Vegeta shifted Raditz's weight and turned down the hall to the tanks, Nappa limping behind him. Vegeta pushed through the double doors only to encounter a thick wall of bodies blocking his path. It looked like most of the warriors on the base were standing outside the Regeneration Room, well away from the entrance. Propped up against walls or their buddies were several wounded soldiers, bleeding all over the floor, but making no move to enter the room.

"What are you idiots doing? Get out of my way." Vegeta growled in annoyance, shoving and elbowing his way through the crowd until he reached the head of the throng. On the floor in front of him were two dead bodies with charred, smoking holes in their chests and three bots guarded the door to the Regeneration Room in an aggressive fashion.

A brave man, hardened by many battles dared to face Vegeta. "That woman of yours won't let anyone into the Regen Room." The man spat in frustration, his friend was leaning heavily on him, his guts dripping messily onto the ground.

Vegeta's eyes narrowed dangerously and the man shifted, uncomfortably aware that the Prince caused more deaths in a month than he had in his entire life.

"What did you say?" Vegeta's tone was deceptively soft but on the inside he was a riot of emotion. Elation and disbelief warred for supremacy. The man lowered his gaze to the ground as he broke into a sweat, but fear for his companion's life egged him on.

"What I mean to say is that her robots won't let anyone into the room while she is in there." The man stuttered while Vegeta glared daggers at him. Before Vegeta could question him further, he heard a familiar but disembodied voice call out to him.

"Vegeta, welcome home! I am sure that I missed you while you were gone." Vegeta looked down to see that while he was concentrating on the man one of the bots had approached him and was now displaying a hologram of the woman about six inches tall.

"If you are seeing this it means that I can't greet you myself as I`d like." She batted her eyes seductively and he felt his cheeks flush softly. "Months ago I created these bots to guard me when you weren't around. You remember, right after that little incident with Raja, you know where he tried to kill you while you were in the tank? I figured it would be a good idea to have some protection while you are off rampaging on some piss ant planet." The pseudo Bulma fluffed her hair before continuing. "After all, I am a genius and I think of everything, you know." Vegeta automatically rolled is eyes at her egocentric comment.

"Anyways, I programmed them to respond to your voice, cause I figured that you would be yelling bloody murder about something when you came back. They will follow your instructions and you can do what you want with them now that you are home, hunny bunny." There was a strangled snort behind Vegeta at her last words and he whipped around to glare at the crowd warningly. Everyone seemed to find the ceiling or floor to be of the utmost interest and no one dared to look directly at him. Even the warrior whose friend was dying covered his mouth while looking at his boots.

She did that on purpose to embarrass me.

So what, she's alive!

Bulma's image winked out of existence and the bot remained still awaiting his orders. "Let me and my men pass." Vegeta order with authority, but he could barely suppress his excitement. He strode into the room, his eyes quickly searching for any sign of the blue haired onna. He quickly located her tank and he could not suppress his sigh of relief.

She is alive!

She was alive not dead. She had survived the attack and had enough wits about her to protect herself while she was vulnerable. Nappa crawled into his own tank while Vegeta dumped Raditz into a tank and set the dials. Raditz and Nappa would only need about four hours in the tanks as their rapid healing had done most of the work while they were on the ship traveling back to the base.

Once his men were taken care of he walked over to the tank that housed Bulma. She floated in the murky fluid, her hair waving around her like languid seaweed while her unusually pink skin glowed. He could see the fibers of flesh on her left shoulder knitting together a gapping wound and the left side of her face under her eye socket bubbled slightly. He checked the dials and saw that she had been in there a total of ten hours already and had another eight to go. From the read out he could see that she had been placed into the tank then taken back out five hours later, several hours after that she was put back in.

Confused, Vegeta scanned the room for an explanation as to why her regeneration cycle had been interrupted. His eye alighted on the stainless steel table in the corner of the room that was coated in blood, Bulma's blood. Understanding coursed through him as he looked at the dark congealed mess. Whoever had saved her had put her into the tank to stabilize her, before taking her back out for surgery. Rio'Kan said that they had planted a bomb and she would have had shrapnel embedded in her body that would need extracting, if that was the case.

He printed a read out of her injuries, dreading what it would say. As he read through the list he felt his face go pale and his stomach became queasy. Years of killing had left him unprepared to examine the extent of the damage endured by his woman.

Her left eye had been reduced to an unusable pulp and her skull had been fractured in three places. Her left ear drum had burst under the pressure of the blast and her face was severely lacerated. Her left arm had almost been ripped off at the socket and was left a mangled mass dangling by only a few strands of flesh attached to her shoulder. Five ribs had been broken and had pierced her lung causing her to nearly drown in her own blood and bile. She had numerous cuts and abrasions from where objects had collided with her body at an unnatural velocity. Most horrific of all, she had received second degree burns on seventy percent of her body, searing her flesh to the bone. The fact that she had survived the initial blast was amazing, that she would have a complete recovery was a miracle. Or just a matter of pure genius. If she hadn't refitted the Regeneration Tanks to recreate complex tissue instead of just healing wounds when she had first arrived on the base, she wouldn't be alive right now or she would be missing an arm, an eye and would have had irreversible scarring.

Vegeta dropped the readout and returned to stand in front of the tank, only thin glass stopped him from reaching out and holding her like he wanted too. In a moment of weakness, bolstered by the fact that no one could see him he leaned his forehead against the glass, relief evident in every pore of his body. He disregarded his pride for the first time in his life as he uttered the words that held his heart hostage.

"I'm sorry that I hurt you before I left Bulma and I am sorry that I wasn't here to protect you." Vegeta's whisper was so low that only he and the gods could hear. He raised his gloved hand to the glass, as if he was cupping her face, caressing it like it was her porcelain skin that he touched. With that said he turned on his heel and exited the room, intent of feeding the rancorous fury that clamored inside of him.

He turned in the opposite direction than where he had originally come from, moving towards the lab, when a shout stopped him.

"Hey aren't you going to call off those bots so we can get in there?" Asked the grisly warrior from before. Vegeta turned to the man, his ruthless sneer firmly in place.

"No."

"But we have wounded out here." The man cried desperately.

"Well that's their own damn fault isn't it? They should be more careful with their frail bodies." Vegeta turned to leave, the conversation unworthy of his time, he had a traitor to find and execute.

"But people are going to die." The man persisted and abruptly Vegeta whipped around, the ki blast leaving his palm before anyone could even register that he raised his hand. The man blew off his feet, dragging his dying friend with him. Blood splattered nearby warriors and there was a gasp of astonishment. The man was dead before his body came to a skidding halt at the end of the corridor.

"No one gets in until my mate is done." Vegeta hissed in a low dangerous tone, his eyes narrowed with promised violence. The men nodded enthusiastically, afraid to meet the powerful Saiyan's gaze. Satisfied, Vegeta turned on his heel to leave for the lab, this time unhindered.

As he proceeded down the corridor, Vegeta noticed the trail of blood left by his woman as she had shuffled down the hall. He could see two sets of footprints, one set obviously unsteady as evidenced by the bloody handprints that painted wall. Next to those were another small set, possibly made by a woman, who had helped Bulma walk to the tank.

A thunderous scowl on his face and vengeance in his heart he strode into the lab that he had called home for so many weeks. He skidded to a halt as the lab door slid open to reveal a disaster zone. Bulma's staff was industrially trying to clear the mess, but it was obvious that most of the lab and equipment was destroyed by the blast. Soot marks climbed the walls where the fire had blazed out of control and water damage had warped the floor tiles.

Glancing down, Vegeta nudged an unrecognizable clear glob that lay on the ground before realizing that it was a glass bottle that had melted under the intense heat. Vegeta looked up as Jace approached him, pale and distraught, blood on his white lab coat. Vegeta's eyes narrowed, more of Bulma's blood.

He ran his fingers through his hair as was his habit when he was agitated, leaning close to Vegeta to speak.

"Someone planted a bomb to kill her." His words shook with anger and shock. "I think it was attached to something on her desk, but she must have been leaning down or something because she didn't catch the full force of the explosion in the chest like she was supposed too. That's the only reason why she didn't die instantly." Jace looked over to Delia who was absently picking through the debris, concern etched on her features as she watched them talk.

"Delia couldn't sleep and came to the lab to talk to Bulma, but when she got here the lab was engulfed in flames. Whoever set the bomb also made sure to disconnect the alarms and sprinklers. Delia had to manually override the system to set them off, before she could even get into the room." Jace sighed deeply, the strain of someone sabotaging the lab wearing down on him heavily.

"I don't know how she did it, but she managed to haul Bulma to the regeneration tanks before she died. If she hadn't come when she did, Bulma would be dead for sure." Vegeta eyed the man closely, looking for any sign of deception, but the man scent was only tainted with stress and no hint of dishonesty wafted off of him.

Jace smoothed his hands over his coat looking even more distressed. "Delia came and got me and I rushed down to the tanks. It was horrible. I just… I just didn't know what to do. I let the tanks heal up her internal injuries before pulling her out for surgery. I had to pull broken glass and pieces of metal out of her, along with shards of broken bone. It was just horrible." Jace looked like he was about to break down and Vegeta huffed at him in warning. It was one thing to see a woman cry but a man in tears was completely unacceptable. Jace pulled himself together, but was still looking around the lab like a dog that had lost its master. Vegeta was unimpressed by the man's distress and was only concerned with one thing.

"I want you to gather all of the staff in a straight line in the center of the room." Vegeta commanded and Jace shot him a startled look. More lines creased on the man's forehead and Vegeta could see that he was getting ready to question him.

"Just do it right now." He barked the order causing Jace to jump. He turned away gathering everyone into the center. Vegeta glanced over to see Delia slowly nearing him, twisting her hands together in worry. Her usually beautiful mouth was drawn down into an unbecoming frown and her eyes glittered with unshed tears.

She paused uncertainly in front of him and Vegeta eyed her, trying not to look too intimidating, which wasn't very successful. He owed a lot to this woman, and he felt that at the very least he shouldn't scare the wits out of her too much. Finally, she dredged up enough courage to address him.

"Um, Sir, or uhh Prince, um sire." She stuttered, wringing her hands desperately. Vegeta rolled his eyes in agitation, trying to remind himself not to scare her as he corrected her in his most neutral tone, not realizing how frightening even that could be.

"Call me Vegeta. What do you want, woman?"

"I uhh Vegeta, I was um wondering if Raditz was uhh okay." The last word was said in a whisper, her eyes huge with concern as she bit her lower lip.

"He's in the tank. He'll be out in four hours or so." Vegeta told her impassively, briefly wondering how Raditz was going to react to her after his revelations on the planet they had purged were made known. She nodded her head and quickly scurried away to stand at the end of the line that had formed.

Vegeta stalked up to Bulma's employees like a drill sergeant, intent on humiliation. His goal was not to strike at their pride, but to claim the life of the one who betrayed Bulma. He glared at them all down the line, the hellfire of vengeance burning in his eyes. A wave of unease washed through the group and even the innocent began to sweat with uncertainty.

"Someone here tried to kill Bulmawhich means someone here tried to kill my mate. Someone stabbed her in the back like some fucking, witless coward." He hissed in fury, as he stalked up to the first person in line, Jace.

"Did you betray Bulma?" Vegeta asked in a deadly whisper his senses attuned to every nuance of the man's body, from the dilation to his pupils to his salty scent. Whenever someone lied they gave off a very distinct odor and over the years, Vegeta had learned to recognize it, one of the benefits to be a superior being.

"No." Jace answer vehemently, his head held high and his eyes full of scorn at the thought that he would betray his friend. Down the line he went asking the same question, while receiving the same answer. He could see Delia down at the end becoming more and more agitated and he knew that her delicate emotions probably couldn't handle such an intense situation. In the last few hours she been through a lot and because of his debt to her for saving Bulma, he regretted having to put her through this ordeal.

He stood in front of a fresh faced man and the stench of betrayal hit him before he even asked the question. The man looked him straight in the eye and lied beautifully. The onna would be impressed with his talent he thought absently before settling his hand over the man's shoulder, clamping down brutally.

The man's knees collapsed from under him, but he glared up at Vegeta, no fear shining in his eyes, only hate.

"You are lying." Vegeta stated impassively, his anger boiling on the inside.

The man spat in his face, his saliva trickling down his chin as Vegeta wiped his face with the back of his free arm.

"That bitch deserved to die for fucking an animal like you." He shouted, fanaticism ebbing off of him. The rest of the occupants in the room gasped and quickly moved away from the man like he was a carrier of a deadly disease. Without a word Vegeta hauled him up by his shirt collar and dragged him out of the room. The rest of the staff followed silently behind, their own thirst for vengeance clamoring for satisfaction. They felt the betrayal as deeply as Bulma would. One of their own had hurt their beloved friend and leader.

The man fought futilely as he screamed obscenities to Vegeta, which for the most part he ignored as he dragged the man down the corridor. Occasionally, Vegeta would slam the man forcibly into the wall for saying something extremely crude about Bulma, before yanking him out of the hole he created and striding on. The man's yells drew the attention of the other inhabitants on the base and soon Vegeta had a mob of people following him at a distance.

Vegeta stopped in front of the airlock, typing in the code to open the door to the decompression chamber. The man's screams became more frantic as he realized how Vegeta was going to extract his revenge. The man desperately clawed at the door jam as Vegeta pulled him into the room before the door slid shut.

One of the scientists quickly ran up to the door and brought up the viewing screen of the room so the people in hall could hear and see what was happening in the decompression chamber. They saw the man kneeling before an unyielding Vegeta, begging for his life.

"If you kill me, my people will hunt you down and make you pay." The young man threatened as a last resort, desperately trying to save his own life. Vegeta scoffed down at the groveling male.

"I killed every single one of your people. Just like I killed their families before them. They were ghosts anyways, surviving long after they should have been dead. Nothing is left of your precious resistance core." Vegeta hissed taking pleasure in the man's despair. The man's emblazed eyes glared up at the prince, his hate and anger brimming over, but Vegeta was unaffected by the dark aura.

"You will burn in hell." The man spat and Vegeta laughed scornfully into his face.

"So I have been told." Vegeta snickered and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck standing him up on his feet. He leaned in close to the doomed man to whisper his final words.

"You will live longer if you exhale." Without pause, Vegeta rammed his fist into the man's gut, causing him to release all the breath in his lungs, before slapping the button that opened the door to the outside.

The man's frail scientist body could not withstand the thin atmosphere that was very similar to outer space. Instantly, he began to choke as the pressure swelled his tongue and his eyes bulged from their sockets. His body began to convulse painfully as the airless vacuum began to suck him apart. His lungs would have exploded if he had air in them, but unmercifully he lived thirty seconds longer because he didn't.

Vegeta left the room without a word, the people silently parting to let him pass. As soon as he was out of sight, gossip rippled throughout the base and within ten minutes explanations on who the man was and his crime against the Saiyan prince was relayed in detail for all the residents.

Vegeta returned to the labs, his vengeance unsatisfied but he was left with no one else to kill. He knew that the real anger he felt was directed at himself. Anger for letting her get so severely hurt, and anger for caring about her. He stepped into the GR, cranking up the gravity, attempting to meld his body in the perfect weapon so he could achieve his ultimate goal, while desperately trying to forget the ache in his heart.

*~*

Raditz rounded the corner, stretching out his sore muscles, before he skidded to a halt at the sight of Delia standing outside of his door with her golden arms wrapped around her slender waist. His breath caught in his throat, even though she looked bedraggled and tired she was still immensely beautiful to him.

His heart sank when he thought of her delicate body being abused, like he had abused women in the past. His eyes clenched shut as the overwhelming sensation of unworthiness welled up inside of him.

"Raditz?" Her dulcet tones cascaded over his body like a lover's caress. He opened his onyx eyes to stare into her worried violet ones. A frown creased her forehead and he watched as she scanned his body for any apparent wounds.

"Are you okay?" She asked hesitantly, not understanding why he was just standing there, staring at her. Shaking off his enchantment, he nodded that he was fine before moving past her to unlock his door. Her frown deepened at his brush off, but the need to make sure that he was healthy overrode her natural instinct to turn away.

"Can I come in?" He could feel her voice reach out and wrap itself around him in a silvery web, drawing him into her. It was better for them both if he cut it off now, before she found out his true nature, before he had to see the disgust in her eyes.

"I don't think so." His tone was harsh and she flinched away, confused and hurt. She didn't understand his sudden coldness towards her. She wanted to run away and hide but she knew that if she did, she would never be able to come back. She didn't know what had happened to make him harden against her, but she was determined to thaw him.

"Please." Her voice was steel covered in velvet. She would not be denied, she would not be turned away. She placed a dainty hand on his arm and he shuddered at her touch. Her scent teased his senses and he could not resist her hypnotizing plea. Nodding, he entered the room, drawing her in with him.

As soon as the door closed he knew that this was a mistake, he could not be in a private room with her. His desire was too great. In order to put some distance between them he crossed the room to sit in a shadowy corner, fixing her with an intimidating glare.

"What do you want Delia?" His voice was not as commanding as he wanted it to be. Instead, it was a husky bedroom whisper, meant for moonlight and satin sheets.

She shifted with indecision, until finally to his dismay she moved across the room towards him. Her hips dipped with the unconscious grace of a beautiful woman, as her loose blonde hair swirled around her shoulders. She clasped her hands in front of her, unknowingly presenting herself as a chaste virgin trapped in a temptress' body.

Raditz turned away from the sight, but her voice ensnared him even deeper into her web.

"I just wanted to make sure that you were okay. I was so worried about you Raditz." His name was a breathy whisper, flowing gently past her lips as though it was uttered in the throes of passion. Raditz swallowed, shifting in his seat as his arousal became a clawing demand in his gut.

"As you can see I'm fine. Now if there is nothing else." He was more successful at being curt, but what sounded like annoyance was actually painful need. Her lavender eyes filled with hurt, darkening them to a twilight hue. In a gesture of uncommon bravery she launched herself into his lap, her arms entwining around his neck. She hid her face in the nook of his neck, desperately holding back her tears.

"What have I done to anger you?" Her words carried her pain clearly to his ears. Surprised at her action, he instinctively wrapped his muscular arms around her back, holding her against him tenderly. He rubbed his palm over her lower back soothingly and his chest vibrated with a comforting purr.

"You have done nothing wrong, my fair one. I only wished to save you from pain." His longing for her grew as he held her close and he shifted discreetly so she wouldn't feel his arousal jutting against her buttocks.

"How would you cause me pain?" Her head rested against his broad shoulder and her breath feathered across his throat seductively.

"I have done things, crimes that I unthinkingly committed, but now have come to haunt me. I never considered how my actions would affect others, only that my own urges were satisfied. When you are what I am, you tend to shut out the screams." His words were filled with despair and self loathing.

The breakthrough on the planet's surface had only been the beginning for the strong man. As he had lain under the lash of retribution, he had plenty of time to think about his sins. If he had been captured even six months before, he would have remained unaffected by the event. He would have carried on exactly the same on the next planet, uncaring and unfeeling to those he played with before killing them off.

He wasn't sure how Delia had done it, but just being in her presence had awakened him to a world he didn't even know existed. The world of the unwilling victim. Like his prince, he had felt that if you weren't strong enough to defend yourself than you deserved whatever happened to you, but looking upon the golden features of the woman who entranced his body and his heart, he knew instantly, that she had never deserved what had happened to her.

She deserved fine wines, silks dresses and jeweled combs. She did not deserve the lustful advances of a murderer and a rapist. No matter what, he had learned a valuable lesson. He still was a killer, after all he had a job to do, but he would not taunt his victims and never again would he take a woman against her will.

"Do not think that you are the only one who has committed unforgivable sins. The day will come to pass when you will look upon me with loathing and it breaks my heart to think of it." Her words carried a deep bitterness of a story untold. She pushed away from his chest, intending to escape his loving embrace, but he held her fast against him, burying his nose deep into her scented hair.

"I will never hate you. You are my light to my darkness. I will cherish you to the end of time." She gasped at his words, never imagining that such a hardened man could have such deep feelings much less express them to her. She felt tears of joy intermingle with those of regret flowing down her face. She didn't care about tomorrow or yesterday, she only wanted this one moment of happiness.

Slowly she leaned down, her eyes captured by his dark gaze and gently she touched her lips against his, shivering at sparks of desire that coursed through her. Acutely aware of her trepidation, Raditz allowed her to press her soft mouth against his while he massaged her back gently. Her tongue darted out to taste him and he had to fight the urge to crush her against him. Instead he parted his lips, letting her hesitantly enter, her tongue sliding over his teeth to delicately greet his.

With a patience he didn't know he possessed he wound his tongue slowly against hers, waltzing sensually in an erotic dance of love. Her hands fluttered up to rest on his shoulders, while his hand traveled up her back and down. Their pace was not the demanding rush of lust nor was it chastely awkward. Their first kiss was a sweet mixture of longing, desire and sorrow.