Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Feeding Genius ❯ Master Suh's Master Plan ( Chapter 28 )

Feeding Genius

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Master Suh's Master Plan

Disclaimer: This story is mine, but DBZ isn't… unfortunately.

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The look the Namek gives me is disturbing. I thought I had his trust - does he discount his own words so quickly? He has his plan and I have mine. He wants to fight Faylorn and I have given him his opportunity. They will fight and the outcome has already been decided, but it is not my place to obey his suicidal tendencies. He has his pride to satiate, but we both have the same objective - to save Trunks. He can have all the honour he wants, but I am here to help the son of my former pupil - a soul that is innocent, and caught up in a nightmare that should not be his fate to endure. His parents are accountable, Faylorn is accountable and so am I, but not the child. He will be safe, and at his father's hands, I hope the honour of my own life will be given some redemption.

Piccolo cannot hold off Faylorn for long, this I know for fact, and that is why I have to deceive Faylorn. I seems my whole life is one big deception. Am I destined to be this way forever?

However much the thought of the Namek's demise is repugnant to me, I have to continue with my own objectives. Piccolo has made his own choices. He must now act on them. His diversion and integrity will not be wasted by me. Besides, he is not the only one risking it all for this situation. I am not secure. I do not know how much trust Faylorn has in me. It would only take one communication from his father to learn of my treachery. I have no doubt that Rian and he have met and discussed my escape from Gleya.

I told the Namek that I would find a way through the force field, and making Faylorn think that I have deliberately lured the fighters of Earth to him, so he can eliminate them at his own leisure was the only way for me to achieve this. If the Namek has the sense that I attribute to him, then he would have already told the others to get away from here as quickly as possible. I do not need them here to get in the way, and it is ridiculous for them to interfere when Piccolo and I, for now, have the situation under control.

It is hard for me to restrain myself. The four fighters around me are nowhere near as powerful as their master, and I have a hunch that it will be incredibly easy for me to dispose of them, but that would defeat the object. For now I have to control my anger and channel it towards the greater good. I pause for a moment, and am glad to see that the native earth warriors have abandoned their hiding places and are flying away from the scene, shouting to Gohan to do the same. The boy, however, is fiercely loyal to his Namek mentor. It could well be his downfall, and I have to hide a grimace. He will be killed for sure if he does not leave now.

Trading blows have already been initialised between Faylorn and Piccolo. It will only be a matter of time before they have finished feeling out each other's fighting styles and decide to get serious. One child is already in mortal danger because of this situation. It will make me sick to the stomach knowing that another is willingly putting his life down for the cause. Gohan is a good creature and holds phenomenal ki for a child his age, but he is no more able to defeat Faylorn than his master is.

Vegeta, with his wealth of experience, power and cunning, I am convinced, is the only one able to make an impact. I just hope he manages to get here soon.

There is an explosion a little distance away, nothing major, but it shakes the ground and distracts Faylorn long enough for Piccolo to bark orders at his protégé. "Gohan!" he screams. "Get out of here, right now!"

"But Piccolo!" he sniffles. "I can't leave you."

"You will… right now! This is my fight, kid, now leave and wait for Vegeta."

"But I can help, we can fight together… please!"

"You heard him," shouts one of the humans. I think it is Yamcha. "We have to get out of here."

"I'm not leaving Mr. Piccolo to fight on his own!"

"I'm telling you to leave!" Piccolo adds, as Faylorn flies up to him, slamming him into a neighbouring mountain and causing great slabs of rock to crumble and spill into the valley below. "You're distracting me," he continues, brushing off the attack with a huge release of ki that causes the top of the mountain to entirely collapse. "Faylorn will kill me if you stay and then he'll kill you too!"

I know I have to act. Even after the Namek's speech, Gohan is still reluctant to leave. I look at the four warriors around me. This will work out for the greater good in the long run. "What are you waiting for?" I bark at them. "A written invitation? Your Lord has his hands full with the Namek and the others are planning to escape. Go after them!"

"With all due respect Ma'am," the unshaven, blue-haired man next to me says. "We only take orders from Lord Faylorn."

Ugh! His breath smells like rotten eggs.

"And do you think he would be happy knowing that you let potential assassins escape?"

I have no fear about the outcome of my orders. Those around me are nothing compared to the other members of the Z Senshi. Gohan could sneeze on the arrogant fighter next to me and send him swiftly to the next dimension.

"Or are you scared of four puny Earth fighters and a child?"

It works well. Bless this universe and the puffed up egos that in habit it!

"We are the Fatoia fighters! The only power we fear crossing is that of Lord Faylorn himself. We will defeat the enemy, and then you will be in no doubt of our awesome power!"

I smile in acquiescence. They chant some ridiculous battle cry, and prance into the air as though they were about to compete in a ballet rather than a battle. The Fatoia fighters indeed! I snort. Faylorn must have extreme confidence in his abilities to hire such a ragtag group of losers for this mission. I have an inkling that his arrogance might just be his downfall. Of course, it might well be Piccolo and Vegeta's as well.

I watch just for long enough to see that my predictions are correct. With barely minimal fuss, the man I was ordering around a minute ago is falling to the ground as nothing more than a small shower of ashes. Good work, Mr Tien.

The power being emitted from Faylorn and Piccolo is growing by the second, shaking the entire temple to its foundations and making more of it's frail walls collapse. I don't doubt Trunks' ability to withstand the collapse, but it will make it harder for me to find him if he were to be in that portion.

I am about to walk through the outer wall gate when something is catapulted in my direction and it takes all my speed to avoid getting hit. "You will wait there!" says a voice above me, and I turn to see Faylorn hovering over my head, his hand outstretched and readying more energy. "Only once I am finished here will I allow you to enter. If you are indeed loyal to me, then help my fighters. Don't let the humans escape!"

Shit! I hadn't planned on this happening. I had hoped he would be too occupied with fighting Piccolo to be able to detect my movements. I have to think quickly. How can I diffuse this situation? Think Suh, think!

"I am ever loyal to my Lord, but it does not matter if they escape. Indeed, it will be wiser to let them go. Vegeta still doesn't know where you are. He is coming here to fight you, the Namek told me as much, but they lost contact with him before they found your hideout. Do you want to fight Vegeta or not?"

Damn! Where's the Namek? Surely even Faylorn has not defeated him so easily?

"Your words are wise, but it only takes one person to deliver a message and there are five fighters. Dispose of four. I do not care which one you let escape."

I feared this would be his response. I cannot disobey his orders if I wish to keep my ruse in tact, but I cannot kill the fighters either. Indeed, I am unsure if I would even survive attacking them head on. Each, in their own way, are exceptional fighters. Individually they would not cause a problem, but as a group, they are deadly.

There is no chance to reply. Piccolo swoops over my head and even has the time to snarl at me before pouncing on Faylorn again and fighting harder than ever. I have no choice. While Piccolo is still fighting and distracting Lord Faylorn, then there is still hope. I already know which fighter I will let leave.

I power up and fly into his face. "Leave here Gohan." I snarl for extra effect and speak loud enough for everyone to hear. "Tell Vegeta where Faylorn is. Piccolo will die fighting Faylorn, I will kill your friends, and if you don't leave you will die too. Faylorn and I will take over Earth and make its people work for the Consortium. My Lord, however, wishes to fight with Vegeta. You have the chance to try and save your world and make sure your friends do not die in vain. Take it."

Still the kid will not accept the truth that is so glaringly in front of his face. His loyalties are something exceptional. I'm sorry Gohan, I'm sorry you have to make this decision. I don't want you getting hurt. Please leave.

Tears are rolling down his young cheeks, curving around his jaw and dripping from his chin. "I thought you were on our side!" he screams, so much anger and betrayal in his features. "I thought you cared about me, Trunks, Piccolo… all of us."

Oh god, Gohan! I do care, I do, but I cannot do anything else right now. I project this to him, hoping that I have some dormant psychic skill, and the words will somehow filter through. It doesn't work. His face is just as angry and hurt as before. I frown, knowing that the only way to continue is to crush his belief completely.

"You thought wrong. I care for nothing but my Lord and the Consortium."

With no further ado I bring my knee up to meet his unprepared ribs. Winded, he drops a little before catching his equilibrium. "Leave this place!" I order.

With tears still pouring, and much to my relief, he does just that.

That's it. Fly away Gohan. Fly away and be safe.

I turn, trying to hold onto my resolve as I face the other four fighters. I find my beads, thumbing them to clear my mind. There is a bead for every form I know, and I use them to meditate, to help me think before I act. There has to be a way I can avoid killing the fighters without being killed myself. I just wish it would hurry up and come to me.

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"You're bleeding," I state, looking down her long legs and seeing the discolouration of bruises, and the crusting of dried blood as fresh red liquid trickles over the top.

"Yes," she replies. "I was digging through a mountain of scrap metal trying to find your worthless carcass. But it's nothing really, just a few scratches."

"Let me take a proper look," I say, lifting her skirt and smirking wickedly.

She smacks the back of my hand and readjusts the fabric as we fly over the barren landscape. "Seven-Zero-Two might be watching!"

I roll my eyes. "It's just a machine." I try to lift her skirt for a second time. "I want to know how far up these scratches go."

"Not that far, hentai!"

"Seeing is believing," I mutter.

She blushes. "Vegeta! Please just concentrate on flying. We're almost there."

Relenting, I look out across the horizon. "And you're sure this place exists?" I ask. "I can't see anything."

She huffs - her anger and indignation, as always, a wonderful thing to see. "Of course I'm sure! It's all right here… see?"

She lifts up a piece of paper and practically shoves it in my face. I squint to see the small type so close up. "It says fuck all!" I reply. "All I can see are numbers in galactic standard."

"You're right." She smiles. "Its computer code."

"I presume you understand it?"

She nods. "It's almost identical to the codes we use on Earth. In fact, if I didn't know better, I'd say that someone stole it from us."

I chuckle. "With Earth's backward technology? Feh! I very much doubt that. It is more likely that Earth stole it from the rest of the universe."

Her cheeks begin to turn red, but my laughter gives me away. "Ugh! I hate that you enjoy taking the piss out of me! But you're right. It is possible we were the ones to steal the code," she agrees.

"So, what does it say?"

"It's a list of commands from a specific source. The source we're now tracking."

"When I was fighting there were larger droids," I say, watching the machine running below us. "They were commanding the others. You do realize that the code you're tracking is probably from one of Seven-Zero-Two's bigger, stronger and uglier cousins?"

"Nuh uh!" she protests. "They were nothing more than an information relay. You know, like giant pylons so the commands could be spread around the planet easily. Wherever the droids came from originally, they were being commanded from this source."

We fly a little way in silence.

"Am I still on course?" I ask.

"I think so, it should be behind that big chunk of rock over there."

I slow as our target comes into view. The damn woman is spot on as usual. It looks like an old army base. I cannot mistake it. It has the Ice-jin's symbols scrawled all over it, but it looks fresh - new. I know Frieza liked desert planets for his bases because he could make great cities out of inexpensive metal and not have to worry about corrosion. The only thing that concerns me is that the ground is completely clear of sand or dust. Surely the thing would have been covered by now if it were uninhabited for the last five years.

"Not bad for a backwards Earth scientist, eh?" Bulma snipes, as I touch down on a large platform. The padded circles inform me that it is a pod landing strip.

"Feh!" I snort. "Lucky guess."

She isn't paying attention. Instead she is studying the signs. "Looks like we have Frieza to thank for this little mess."

"Yes," I say, noticing something more intriguing than the signs. "This base was originally Frieza's, but that is not the end of the story."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that someone else has been here, if not still is here."

I see her re-reading the signs. She is trying to find what information she has missed. "How can you be so certain?" she asks. "I can't see anything out of place."

"Then turn around and look over here," I say, pointing to one of the landing zones and the pod that is imbedded snugly in its berth. "I think you might recognize the livery."

She steps away from me, and runs to the pod - emotion thick on her face. "No! It can't be."

"But it is, isn't it, Bulma?" I say, strolling casually behind her. "Tell me I'm mistaken. Tell me it isn't the Commander's livery."

She collapses a few feet away from it - tears in her eyes. "Rian," she sobs. "No! I refuse to believe it."

"How can you refute it when the evidence is right in front of your face?"

She lifts her head to look at me. "I know you don't understand this concept, Vegeta, but Rian is my friend. He wouldn't do this to me."

"And what makes you so secure in his friendship - his fancy clothes, his clean-cut appearance, or maybe his playboy smile? Face it Bulma, he sent us both out here to die. You have no more security in his friendship other than being female and susceptible to fine words and false charm."

She cannot doubt my words, of that I am certain, but her emotion has gotten the better of her. Instead of facing up to reality she turns - venting her anger and frustration on me.

"You don't know him, Vegeta! Not like I do. Otherwise you wouldn't even suggest such a thing, or are you jealous? Rian was there for me. I spent so many evenings with him, telling him my troubles, telling him how much I love you, and how angry I was that you had thrown that love back in my face. He was the one who was there for me, the one who made the pain hurt a little less, and the only one who understood how I was suffering. He helped me so much, listened so well, and I refuse, absolutely refuse to believe that the whole time he was plotting to kill me. It doesn't make sense. I know what this looks like, but there has to be some other explanation. There just has to be!"

Her words are toxic to me. Listen to the way she speaks - hear the pain and anger in her voice when she recounts how I hurt her! It is painfully obvious to me that she still has not accepted that I regret my behaviour, and she is still too hurt to acknowledge her own blame in the whole affair. It makes me angry and when I am angry I am likewise irrational.

"Yes," I admit. "I am jealous of that sleazy fuck! And I probably have good reason to be. Tell me Bulma, was it just innocent counselling he gave you, or did you do more in these meetings? How angry with me were you? Angry enough to sleep with someone else just to spite me?"

It is a low blow I know, but it is a question I have wanted to ask ever since I recovered. She will escape it no more.

Her eyes steel over as she stands, her cheeks pinched with anger. The look makes my spine tingle. She squares up to me, making sure I can see the indignation in her countenance, and then she slaps me hard across the face. No doubt I deserve it, but she is the one who has pushed me to voice my biggest fear.

"Fuck you, Vegeta!" she spits. "I never slept with him. I was angry with you yes, but I am not a slut, so fuck you!"

She goes to slap me again but this time I catch hold of her hand. I pull her arm and crush her body to mine, breathing deeply to calm my anger. This is not helping my cause any, and if we want to beat Faylorn then we need to stay focused - together - as we should always be.

"Very well," I whisper in her ear. "I will accept this. I can see the truth in your eyes. I believe your integrity if not his. I just want to know one thing and then I will let this rest. Tell me he didn't try for it, tell me he didn't want to seduce you, and then I will be more willing to look for alternative excuses."

"I… I." There are fresh tears as she struggles in my hold and then goes limp. I support her as dejection overtakes her anger. "I can't."

"So he did try?"

She whimpers into my chest. "He did," she admits. "But I said 'no' Vegeta. I swear I said 'no'. I was angry with you, but I was not unfaithful. No matter how mad I am at you, I could never be unfaithful. I love you too much."

Insanely relieved at her words, and glad to see her anger is quashed, I hold her as tight as she is holding me. "That is all I needed to know, Bulma. In the long run I believe it is all we both need to know."

She looks up to me with those twin pools of blue. They shimmer in the harsh desert light and silently question me. I am in no mood to refuse her.

"You openly put your trust in the commander didn't you?"

She nods, hiccupping through her tears.

"That means he took advantage of your trust, trying to advance on you when you were vulnerable."

Her eyes widen, and then she looks down. She knows I am right.

"He has already abused your trust once." I continue. "You're right. We can't take this at face value, but you might have to face up to the fact he has taken advantage of your trust on more than just one occasion." I touch her face, brushing away a few tear-soaked bangs. "Either way we will not find anything more out here. We need to go inside and resolve this issue once and for all."

I start to walk forward, and to my relief she walks with me. "I'm sorry, Vegeta," she says. "I'm sorry for getting angry, but your words that day…." She sighs. "I can't change the fact that they still hurt."

"I know," I say as we reach the entrance. "I know."

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A/N - Miracles do happen! I actually managed to get this chapter out pretty quickly! I hope I didn't make Vegeta sound too sappy at the end, and I also hope you like Master Suh's POV. I think it needed a little insight into her mind, to keep the story fresh and flowing. Let me know what you think. *hugs* Ember