Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Lab Monkey ❯ We are what we are ( Chapter 7 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ, but I adore Vegeta, probably to my own detriment.

Chapter Seven

We are what we are

You should have killed him.

Chi Chi's words whispered through Bulma's mind. Her vision blurred as she stared down at the scattering of micro chips and metal bits that was meant to be her salvation. She glared at them hopelessly, finally sweeping them from her desk in a fit of frustration, her head sinking into her arms as the parts clattered to the floor.

She rubbed her eyes fiercely on her sleeve, choking back the sobs of despair. What was she going to do? For the first time in her life, she was in a situation that she couldn't control and she hated it. She was overwhelmed with feelings of helplessness and remorse.

Shortly after she had fled Vegeta's lair, she had become aware that her lab was under surveillance by the government. General Lee may not have gotten permission to remove Vegeta yet, but he was making damn certain that she couldn't move him either. Without any other recourse Bulma had retreated to the sub levels of her lab where her precious ship Isis was docked.

She gazed out her window, soaking in the site of the gentle curve of the bow and gleam of metal as it rested in the docking clamps. She lost herself in her fantasies of running away, leaving it all behind and exploring new worlds. A very large part of her would do it too, just forget everything and run, but in the end she knew that she wouldn't get very far before the guilt ate her alive.

She looked sorrowfully at the scattered parts on the floor. After many hours of intense brainstorming she had concocted the idea of creating a collar for Vegeta. A thick band around his neck that would deplete his ki, leaving him as harmless as a normal human man. Once locked into place it would be impossible to remove and no matter where the army took Vegeta, he wouldn't be a threat to the world as long as he wore it. The plan was ingenious, infallible, a perfect work of art. Except for the fact that she didn't have the proper parts to complete the job and everything she used as a substitute failed miserably. Perhaps in a week she could construct something that would be suitable, but at the moment she was out of luck and out of time.

Bulma glanced at the clock, feeling the weight of the world as the second hand ticked by. Her gaze wavered and she turned her head, refocusing on a new object sitting on the upper corner of her desk. Sound receded and the world stopped spinning as that object dominated her sight, an unforgettable reminder of her duties. Gradually she became aware of a steady thump echoing in her head, the only sound in a sea silence. She exhaled slowly as the sound became clearer and she realized that it was the harsh tick of the clock matching the heavy rhythm of her heart.

So this is what it felt like to be responsible for other people. Bulma felt a cold sweat bead on her brow and trickle down her neck. Icy fingers of inevitability squeezed her heart, reminding her that immortality was the sweet dream of fools. She couldn't allow Vegeta to get free and slaughter the human race. Her brothers and sisters, her grandparents and children. Drawn together by the common bond of humanity, they were all family and Vegeta was going to destroy it all.

Worse of all, he was going to laugh while doing it.

Echoes of his cruel laughter ricocheted through her head, blending with Chi Chi's cries as she stood over her husband's broken body. In the darkness of her mind, the instinctive voice of survival whispered to her, drowning out her ability to reason. Yamcha's face rose up, pleading for her to save them. To save them all.

The door opened and Bulma blinked, turning her attention to her assistant.

"He's back and he brought reinforcements." Asuka stated calmly, as if being invaded by the army was an everyday occurrence. Bulma nodded serenely, her smooth features impassive.

"I will be right there. Stall the General as long as you can." Asuka backed out of the room and Bulma stood slowly. With a quivering hand she reached out and picked up the dart gun loaded with a lethal dose of serum. She tucked it in her belt, at the small of her back, slipping on her lab coat to cover it. She glanced one last time at her beloved ship before turning away and exiting the room.

Bulma walked into the noisy lab, the chatter of people dying down at her entrance. With a nod of her head they filtered out, the news of their impending doom already reaching their ears. They had their orders and they retreated to secure locations throughout the lab, awaiting what could possibly be the worst holocaust to ever befall their precious planet.

She continued forward, her eyes locking with Vegeta's. He stood cockily in the center of the room, dressed in his uniform, complete with white gloves and boots. "Going to a party?" She questioned snidely. He crossed his arms over his chest and grinned at her like a cat that had just ate the canary and was now picking his teeth with its dainty bones. Without a word she walked up to a panel beside the door, flipping it open with a flick of her wrist and began to punch buttons in a random pattern. A slight hiss could be heard in Vegeta's cell and he cocked a questioning brow towards the air vents of his room.

Bulma moved in front of the force field, her face pale and strained. "I corrected the mistake I made with your last cell. I built a mechanism into the oxygen filtration system that releases sleeping gas into the air when the proper command is activated. You will be asleep in five minutes." Her words were calmly spoken, but a subtle tremor wracked her body.

Vegeta's head whipped back around, glaring vicious daggers into her heart. "Turn it off right now bitch." He hissed vehemently. She shook her head mutely, watching as he abandoned his post in the center of the room to examine the vents. He snarled with fury when he realized there was no way to plug them or avoid breathing the poison that was slowly saturating the air.

He turned around advancing on the force field with deadly menace. "No matter. I will wake up eventually." His voice was a promise of retribution. His freedom was only a heartbeat away. The woman's government was foolishly taking him away from his secure prison and when he awoke the entire world would pay for the humiliation he had suffered at her hands. Something flashed in Bulma's usually bright eyes. A hint of darkness, a growing shadow that caused his gut to twist.

She turned away, rubbing the back of her neck as she walked up to her desk. He saw her remove something from the behind her back, but the fall of her white coat, shielded the object. There were some soft clicks as she adjusted something in her hand, but he was distracted from her movements as when her soft voice drowned out the hiss of the filtration system.

"When I was a little girl, I used to play Queen of the World. I was gonna cure disease and invent a potion of eternal youth. I was going to be the most beautiful, smartest Queen ever and everyone was going to love me." Her dulcet tones washed over him, pricking his skin with invisible needles of dread.

"There's your problem woman. You think too small. Why be queen of the world when you can be queen of the universe?" Vegeta looked nervously over his shoulder at the vent, before returning his gaze to Bulma's slender back. Something was wrong. Did she lie? Was it not sleeping gas that she released, but a poison? He crowded closer to the force field and further away from the infected air by the vent. "Besides such a soft-hearted approach to world domination would have ended in failure. People only obey what they fear and scorn what they think they love."

Bulma shrugged, her eyes blurring as she looked down at the gun in her hands, Vegeta's words only reinforcing her determination. She compulsively checked the chamber a second time, seeing the dart that carried the lethal serum. She had cared for Vegeta long enough to know what would kill him and there was no doubt in her mind that her drug would be more than effective.

"I grew up eventually, but I never completely forgot my dreams. A part of me still wants a field of summer strawberries or maybe I'm still waiting for my prince on a white charger to take me away." Tears formed in the corner of her eyes and her voice cracked under the strain. Vegeta who had lost interest in her meaningless meanderings and was glaring at the offending vent again, straightened at the sound.

As she turned, his eyes raked over her, taking in the white brackets around her mouth and the shadowed pools of her eyes. Tears poured over her ashen cheeks and clenched tightly in her right hand was a shiny metal gun. Vegeta's heart thudded at the sight and his coal black eyes locked with her blue ones.

"What are you doing, woman?" He questioned sharply, disbelief evident in his tone. This little human had the gall to preach to him about the sins of murder while all the time she harbored the ability to kill in her heart. Worse she planned to murder him while he slept under the spell of her gas, bequeathing him a coward's death and not the honor of dying in battle. Did she really think she had the fortitude to kill him? It was obvious from the way she was trembling that she could barely stand under her own power. His body relaxed and he grinned wolfishly at her, confident that she would break. "You won't do it. You are too weak."

The shining ivory of his fangs glistened under the light and Bulma couldn't suppress her shivers. Bile rose up, threatening to choke her and she locked her teeth together, swallowing it down. "Why do you have to be so evil, Vegeta? Why are you such a monster?" Her strained words that she spat out through clenched teeth wiped his smile away and his natural biting intensity returned. He leaned up against the door jam, crossing his arms and ankles in a false projection of nonchalance. His eyes told a different story as he examined her with a predatory gaze.

"I am what I am." His words were dark with the certainty of untold universal truths. You can't change what you are no matter how much someone else wants you to be differently.

"But why?" More tears poured from her eyes like a waterfall spilling from a fathomless well of sorrow. She looked at him so longingly, as though he had the answers that would make her world whole again. As if she could just understand his reasons, then she could understand him, but she would never be about to comprehend him, because she could not conceive of the torment that was his life. Of all her book learning and grand inventions, she had never experienced life as he had seen it and never would.

He shrugged, looking away from the unchecked emotion that shone in her eyes. "Dunno." He glanced at the television screen, repeating something he had heard in the dark of night as he sat alone, caged in his cell. "A product of my environment I suppose." He looked back at her, hot anger blazing in his eyes. "You're the genius. Why don't you tell me?"

She squeezed her eyes shut, spilling more tears as she shook her head from side to side, unable to stomach the loathing and animosity directed towards her. His words did nothing to satisfy her, to abate the churning in her soul. "What could you have possibly seen to make you this hateful? This horrific."

He snorted at her, disgust curling his lip. He looked away, concentrating his attention on the vent. He could smell a hint of gas in the air now and he knew it was only a matter of minutes before he became helpless before the woman. "Not just what I have seen, but what I have done. My entire life is a hell that only the strongest could survive. Something a sheltered, weak creature like yourself could never understand."

Bulma looked down at her toes, an irrational voice in the back of her mind wondering why she chose to wear heels today instead of sensible running shoes. "So you are a monster because you've had a tough life? Lots of people have it rough."

Anger shot through Vegeta at her words and he shot up from his relaxed pose, growling with poorly repressed fury. How dare she belittle his sacrifices under the rule of his lizard master. The sacrifices of his people. "Frieza..." He started before cutting himself off abruptly. Why, suddenly for the first time in his life was he tempted to make excuses for his behavior. He was a bastard and he was proud of it. He enjoyed annihilating worlds and exterminating entire races. That's what he did. He purged planets and he was damned good at it. "I'm a killer and you will remember that when I'm ripping your world apart. Maybe I will leave you for last so you can see the smoking ruin that I will leave behind. You haven't lived until you smelt burnt flesh in the wind." He purred with perverse pleasure as he watched her skin become paler and her tears form into rivers.

She dropped her head into her hand, her sobs wracking her body. "I won't let you do it. You hear me? I won't let it happen, not when I can stop it." She choked on her sobs, hugging the gun closer to her body. Too late, Vegeta realized his mistake and he berated himself for allowing his rampant tongue to get the better of him once again. Desperately he scrambled to repair the damage he had caused with his thoughtless words. If she wasn't going to kill him before, she certainly was now.

"Don't be foolish. You're not a killer. You wanted to be Queen of the World, remember?" Vegeta grimaced at his words, fighting the urge to roll his eyes. She just continued to sob, turning her back on him once again. Vegeta swallowed and his lungs began to burn as the poisonous air made its way to him. Urgency gnawed at him enhancing the dread that was slowly engulfing him.

He leaned closer to the force field, his wicked voice dropping to a husky pitch as he coaxed the woman in front of him. "Don't tell me you want to be like me. A murderer. Do you know what it is like to see the life drain out of someone's eyes? To have their screams echo around you long after they are dead? Do you want the last thing you see before you fall asleep to be my face, lax with death, and the first thing you see when you wake up? Do you want to visit my grave between your waking hours, when you mind wonders through the realm of dreams?"

Bulma's sobbing became more wretched and her body shook under the onslaught. His words wove themselves around her, binding her in an unbreakable hold of guilt. She knew he spoke the truth. He reached into her mind and plucked the words right from her. She would never be able to look in the mirror again and her remorse would suffocate her with its cloying thickness. She shook her head. She knew it was a small price to pay, for the preservation for her world. She had to do it. She had no choice.

"And I will be there, Bitchess." His pet name for her, struck her hard. How she hated that name and yet whenever he said it she felt something flutter deep inside. It wasn't the word as much as it was the tone. A controlled caress of affection that hid an underlying violence of passion that could not be denied. "I will be in your dreams every night, reminding you of your crime. You won't be able to withstand the guilt. You are too puny, too weak. You cannot survive." His conviction rang out across the room, slapping Bulma harshly. She dried her tears, straightening her bent spine, sniffing as she turned to face him.

He looked into the swirling darkness in her eyes and his hand tightened into a fist. He could see his defeat in the twilight shadows and cold sweat rolled down his neck. "It must be done." Her simple words underscored his fate and his head whirled as the poison seeped into his cells. He slid down the portal, dropping to his knees before the shield.

"Bitchess." He whispered one last time. Not a word of pleading, but a word of respect. She would face her own demon and remain strong. For all of her fragility, she had the heart of a fighter.

"Sleep well Vegeta." Bulma whispered back as the darkness closed in on him and the knowledge that he would not awaken accompanied him into the abyss.