Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Obsession ❯ Strike Two. ( Chapter 4 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: HeartlessChild 
Anime/Manga: Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Romance / Adventure | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 05.30.2004 | Pages: 7 | Words: 10.4K | Visits: 927 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Romance / Adventure | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 05.30.2004 | Pages: 7 | Words: 10.4K | Visits: 927 | Status: Completed
"Soar to Heaven and pierce the Earth..."
---Jung Chang
~*~
The glimmering white inner structure of the incredibly large dome, took his breath away.
The walls arched around like a cocoon as though they were in a semi- spherical bubble that was beyond any references to width or breadth in scale. The entire structure surrounded them like the interior of the C.C mansion, only this was beyond the size and capacity of the C.C mansion.
Vegeta's eyes darted side to side, as if he could not gather enough of the images before him. "What the fuck?!" He muttered to himself as he peeked over and above Bulma's shoulder as he looked up.
It was like nothing he had seen before in his travels across the space. Even Frieza did not have such a vast amount of electrical or technological equipment that could amass to this!
From the ledge that he and Bulma stood upon, many others were jutting out from the immaculate white interior walls. They all seemed to be at different levels to one another. The ledge that he and Bulma stood upon was the lowest of them all and upon looking at them critically, Vegeta could see that there were thousands of ledges dotted around the curved walls of the shining dome structure.
Even though Bulma had somehow managed to cause the dead-end wall of the tunnel to completely slide open, as he looked back, he could still see that the tunnel was behind him and leading to the exit of the monstrous structure that was before him.
Not that he wanted to leave anyway.
Ledges aside, the piece of the dome structure that truly caught his eye, were the mass of incredibly large see-through cylindrical tubes that were above his head.
The tubes came out from under each of the ledges and looked as though they could fit two people inside quite snugly. The hollow, cylindrical tubes seemed to twirl into twisted shapes as the darted from under one ledge and connected to another ledge from the underside.
It was amazing to see such odd pieces of structured tubes, that had been created so intricately, weave around one another as though acting like a portal.
Not only were the tubes a shock to Vegeta, but the masses of people that streamed out from the ledges was beyond his comprehension as well, each person was donning a white lab-coat and carrying a piece of wood that Vegeta's common sense told him was a 'clipboard'.
He blinked in awe as the masses of people stepped out of their own tunnels and on to their own ledges, and one by one and even in large groups, vanish in to thin air!
"Where the hell are they all going?" He demanded furiously, "What are those tubes?" He wanted answers, and he was going to get them.
Bulma's eyes danced merrily at Vegeta's uncomfortable tone of voice, she did not turn around and look at the giant structure.
Instead, she glared at him fearlessly with the ever-present smug look on her face. "That," she explained logically, "Is our transport system for 'Ground Zero'. Each tube that connects to the thousands of ledges above us are inter-linked with different laboratories of 'Ground Zero'. The people are simply being teleported by hovercraft, like the one we came down in, through the see-through tubes."
"Why can we not see them move through the tubes?" He asked, perplexed by the entire notion of humans teleporting themselves by way of tubes.
"Because they're being teleported, they're not actually moving through the tubes! If they did, they would all be twisted and deformed because the tubes weave around like the sinews of our nervous system."
"Then what the fuck are the tubes for?"
Bulma groaned in frustration, "Since when did you become such a dolt Vegeta?"
He glared at her, unmoving.
She sighed and shook her head, tapping her foot impatiently as she explained. "The tubes kind of act like a telephone communication line. The people are being transmitted through the tubes by wave capacity, molding their bodies into waves and thus causing them to be like the oxygen we breathe. From this, they can easily move through the tubes from laboratory to laboratory and each tube can hold up to a thousand people, each being teleported to the different areas of 'Ground Zero'."
She turned around and fully walked out onto the ledge, moving to the right side. She motioned for Vegeta to follow her. Vegeta complied silently, although suspiciously.
He stood beside her, the pace of his heart quickening in a sick and twisted manner. Damn his hormones! He would have to continue beating these weak feelings out of him, it seemed. He brought himself to attention as Bulma pointed down to her feet and looked at him with an expression of a wild predator.
She lifted one foot and brought it down with a soft thump, as if pressing a button with her foot.
In a flash of light, she blurred from his vision and disappeared without a trace.
Vegeta held back a cry of surprise as she completely vanished from his sight. Where had she gone?! Did she think she could leave him here on the ledge? He growled and uncrossed his arms. He stood as still as a statue, closing his eyes as he reached out to feel for her ki. The woman was too slippery for her own good.
Another growl erupted from his throat as he was bombarded with various and unfamiliar ki signatures. There were too many humans in the damn place for him to detect her! Had his senses really become so distanced that he could not even pinpoint her location? He resolved that a high aptitude of training was required, more intense and rigorous than the one he was already enduring.
"Hey, Vegeta! Up here!" A familiar feminine voice cried out to him distantly.
He snapped his head up to the right and found that he had to squint slightly to make out Bulma's tiny form on one of the ledges that seemed to be kilometers up from the ledge he stood upon. How had she gotten there so fast?!
As he blinked from the surreal notion of Bulma teleporting, she was standing before him once again, grinning in a cat-like manner.
He was at a loss for words.
Swallowing hard, he frowned as he found a flaw in the seemingly perfect piece of technology. "If this tube you traveled in is connected to that ledge, then how do you expect to get to another room? Won't the tube still be connected to the ledge that you teleported to?" It made sense to Vegeta. How could the humans move to different laboratories when certain tubes were only connected to certain ledges.
Bulma glowered at him and cocked her head to the side, "Do you actually think I am an idiot to not take that into account?" She smirked at him, and Vegeta could have sworn he felt his pulse rise another ten beats.
"Well Vegeta, watch this!" Bulma strode over to the tunnel they had come from and Vegeta could see an alpha numerate panel against the side of the opening into the tunnel, very much like the one where Bulma had to punch in a password, only much larger in size.
She turned to him and pointed to the ledge on the far side, it seemed to be like the ledge was separated by an ocean of air. How did they manage to build such a gigantic structure underneath a populated city, undetected?!
Bulma kept her arm pointed to the far ledge, "That is room 13BULBRF." She stated factually. "Each door that leads to the different laboratories has a code." She turned and punched in the code '13BULBRF' into the panel on the wall.
Suddenly, Vegeta could sense the slight quiver of the ledge beneath him and he watched as the tube that was connected to the ledge that he and Bulma were standing on, dematerialized and formed itself again, now connected to the ledge on the far side of the room that was coded '13BULBRF'
"Amazing..." He breathed, suddenly glad that Bulma had not heard him. But another question came into his mind, "If you move the tubes like that around, won't people be teleported to different destinations by accident?"
Bulma shook her head, "Our scientists travel in large groups and are only allowed into this section of 'Ground Zero' if it is urgent for them to leave their stations. Even then, if the tubes do move whilst they are inside, nothing will happen because their atoms will still be in course for their prior destination."
"Why are there thousands of people here now? Surely that is dangerous if all these molecular atoms are flying around."
She rolled her eyes, "Honestly Vegeta, stop trying to flaw me and my father's creation!" She folded her arms haughtily. "If you must know, there is an emergency as of now. These people are retreating from their posts in the different laboratories and returning above ground. Each employee has an allocated tunnel that can be accessed from a certain point in the city. Their allocated tunnel to 'Ground Zero' is in walking distance of each of their homes."
"Do you mean that you have entry ways to this underground city from different positions in Satan City?" He almost cried out, but held himself back in his reserved and bored nature, although he was far from bored. She was undoubtedly, a genius and that turned him on even more... Damn her!
"Yes Vegeta," she replied irately. "I can access 'Ground Zero' from my room and basement. Those are my personal means of access. My father's is in his study and my mother's is in her green house of specialist and rare flowers."
She almost smacked herself as she just gave Vegeta the entire information of access means in the C.C compound of 'Ground Zero'. Well, it wasn't like he would be able to gain access to 'Ground Zero' without genetic identification and a password. But she was sure that by now, her father had already created Vegeta's genetic code for identification and had a password ready!
It was all highly top secret, although the government was apart of this project that Bulma and her father had created, so they had to be careful around whom to trust.
Vegeta snapped to attention, "You're mother has access to this place?" He barked, secretly feeling hurt that the ditzy blonde had privilege to enter this amazing underground city and he hadn't.
Bulma frowned, "Of course she has access to it! She's the one that helped the funding of this project and supported my Dad when he was first experimenting with his capsule business. It would be wrong of my father to leave her in the dark about this underground city."
"What do you mean by that?"
Bulma turned away with a wistful smile, giving Vegeta a highlighted profile of her face. She sighed, "My father was a poor man before he met my mother. She was the daughter of a Texan oil tycoon, my grandfather. They were more than rich, they were practically living in more grandeur than the Queen of England." She paused to chuckle heartily, nervously fidgeting with her hands.
"My father did have money that had been willed to him, enough for him to get by without living like a beggar. But it wasn't enough money for him to start his capsule project. And so he applied for a loan at the local back, which was rejected. My mother had met him at that very bank, and from there they started talking."
"She told me that she thought my father was rather... Strange, at first. But the more they spoke to one another, the more she began to like his honesty and reliable character. From the day they met, she knew she could trust him and so she decided to fund his capsule project. My father was a proud man and he refused my mother's offer. But you know how insistent and persuasive she can be!" Bulma exclaimed with a light laugh.
She had been so immersed in revealing the story of her mother and father's relationship, that she hadn't noticed the strange look that had danced its way across Vegeta's face as he gazed at her longingly.
She continued on, unaware of the feelings she was causing the Saiyan Prince to incur. "After bouts of arguing, my father finally agreed to my mother's proposal, knowing that he couldn't put up a decent argument with her. My father couldn't argue his way out of a paper bag... Anyway, my father accepted but not before he promised to pay my mother back for her loan, along with triple interest!" She shook her head and smirked knowingly. Her father had indeed paid her mother back, with more than what she had bargained for.
"At first, our company struggled to find its feet and it was in that time that my mother and father bonded and grew close. But one day, the stocks rose to such a great height, that my father knew we would never be toppled in the business market again. He had officially become the richest man in the country with his trading of capsules. Gradually, our stocks immersed into the international trade and our company grew and grew to even higher prospects. We are the world's leading technological supplier and the only business to delve into different planetary stocks. And so, the rest is history..."
She trailed off and looked up at the wondrous inter-linking tubes that were in the air above them, as if suspended by a magical force. "So you see," she said quietly, "It's important for my mother to be apart of everything my father does." Bulma smiled softly, "She's my father's good luck charm and without her, he wouldn't be the man he is today." She snapped out of the wistful moment and turned to glare at Vegeta, who had managed to mask his face once again without a trace of emotion blanching it.
Vegeta had been completely silent as she retold the story of her mother and father's union. Indeed it had been an interesting story... One full of disgusting human emotion and feelings. He had almost felt the bile rise in his throat as he listened to the story, but he could honestly say that the only enjoyment he had gotten from it, was the softened features of Bulma's face as she told the story.
She had looked so... Peaceful.
It brought a shudder to Vegeta to realize the great impact the small human female had on him. He blinked slowly as she glared at him with a burning intensity that even he could not match. That look lit a fire under his soul, almost causing him to growl with desire. Yet his face had returned to his stony expression, one that held mild contempt. He remained silent and let her speak.
Bulma continued speaking, not noting Vegeta's strange demeanor. "Now, if you'll excuse me Vegeta, I've wasted enough time with you. Follow me if you want to, but I have a meeting to get to!" She promptly turned around from her position near the tunnel and slowly ran forward, as though she were about to jump off the ledge.
Vegeta's eyes widened in a pure reaction of horror. She was heading straight off the ledge, about to jump off. Was she insane?! Reacting out of impulse, he flew forward after her.
Bulma had just reached the edge of the ledge and was about to jump off the edge, with her arms spread out like wings, when she felt a corded and muscular arm wrap around her tiny waist and drag her roughly back. She sputtered in anger at the restriction.
When Vegeta had firmly brought her to the center of the ledge, he grabbed her arm and pulled her to face him, sending her the most disdainful glare he could muster.
"Have you gone mad woman? What the fuck do you think you're playing at?" He lashed out in a venomous voice. Even he was surprised to the extent of his anger.
But apparently, Bulma was not even phased by the scowl he sent her way. Instead, she was infinitely furious. "What is your problem?" She all but screeched.
"MY PROBLEM?!" He roared with ferocity, "What the fuck is YOUR problem?! I'm not the one without any flying power trying to jump off a heightened ledge! Are you a complete air-head that your brain has discarded the truthful notion that you CANNOT fly?" He was seething with such anger at her childish and idiotic behavior that it was beyond him how someone as intelligent as Bulma would think of jumping off a ledge that was high in the air.
Bulma snarled at him, rolling her eyes. She pointed her finger and poked him in the chest with a perfectly manicured fingernail. She could have sworn she felt his body tense... "YOU are the idiot Vegeta!" She hurled back with equal fervor. Not waiting for a returning comment, she grabbed his hand and pulled him to the edge of the ledge and jabbed the air as she pointed her finger down from where they stood.
Out of surprise from her soft hand touching his, he allowed himself to be steered towards the edge. He looked down at what she was pointing at, and damn near fainted at the sight before him.
Black mist!
It glittered and sparkled as though pearls of jewels had been dotted amongst the hydrogen and oxygen atoms of water, that had evaporated to create a hazy swirling mist below them. It wasn't just shocking to Vegeta, it was breathtaking. He had not come across this form of mist before and he wondered how a black mist had been formed. He knew the answer led back to Bulma.
The ledge that Bulma and Vegeta were standing upon was the lowest of all the ledges, and yet the black mist that swirled and covered the entire expanse of the city dome structure, was even at a lower point than where they were standing. And she had been about to jump from the edge, into that blackened and glittering mass of mist?!
"Your point is? That only proves my theory of your idiotic nature to want to dive into THAT." He stated, although he had a good idea her answer would be unusual.
Bulma glared at him, "The Black Mist is another transport, teleportation system. Anyone that is genetically registered to come into contact with the Black Mist gets directly teleported to the main control room of 'Ground Zero'. My father is currently in the main control room, with a hundred other scientists, manning the satellite systems of this world and fifty other that have an intergalactic contract with our planet and more importantly, my father's business. We have to get there, NOW!" She stepped away from him and stood on the edge, looking at him from the corner of eye.
Vegeta paled. Fifty other planets? He had been led to think that Earth had no clue of other species existing before he and his comrade had arrived to destroy the large world of water. But FIFTY?
She smirked wickedly. "Come on Vegeta," she teased, "Don't tell me you're afraid of a little free-fall?" She chuckled as he growled at her. "Dad has registered your genetic code to enter the main control room. You're lucky, only the handful of scientists in the control room actually have been granted access to the main control room. The other employees haven't been given that privilege."
Vegeta had just stood there, trying to find the correct words to bark at her with, but he couldn't seem to place his thoughts in a logical order and so he remained quiet, for fear of sounding like a complete imbecile.
Bulma laughed heartily at his silent resolve. Flashing him the most evil and seductive look she could gather, she spread her arms like a bird spreading its wings, "Catch me if you can," she whispered and promptly threw her head back, laughing as she jumped gracefully off the ledge, head first. As she soared down, her body leveled horizontally and it looked as though she was actually flying down into the black mist.
If he had been blown away before, he had been completely bowled over by the little stunt she had just pulled. She had just jumped off of the edge, free-falling down into the black mist as though she had no care in the world if she landed flat on her head and cracked her skull open. In a twisted way, Vegeta trusted Bulma's intentions, but he had never been shaken like this before as he saw her jump off the ledge and free-fall down into the swirling black mist.
The look she had given him!
The words she had spoken!
They had sent a shiver of anticipation down his spine as he watched her fall gracefully down, slowly approaching the swirling black mist.
"Catch me if you can."
He would do more damage to her if he did manage to 'catch' her! He knew in utter certainty that if he did capture her, he would devour her whole in the unsettling feeling of passion he was experiencing. And in all honesty, he had accepted the challenge without a moment's hesitation, knowing full well that he would win and capture her. He always won, no matter what the challenge was...
Oh Gods, what was she doing to him?
If this continued, she would slowly drive him insane with desire. He blinked in awe as he saw her body completely vanish into the black mist, disappearing completely from his view. She looked simply amazing in that tight leather outfit, free-falling as though she were a majestic and colorful bird.
He finally concluded that he had lost it and was getting involved in something he would not be able to back away from. He smirked as he remembered the seductive yet evil smile she had given him. That was the side of the woman he wanted to see more of!
With a minuscule shrug of his shoulders, he suppressed his ki to nothing and jumped off the ledge, following in Bulma's example.
He however, closed his eyes and cannon-balled into the black mist.
And with that one gesture of acceptance, Vegeta found himself plunging into a world that was far beyond even his own comprehension.
~*~
When Vegeta opened his eyes, he found himself crouched down on the ground like a tiger ready to spring up and pounce on its prey. He looked to his right and saw Bulma crouched on one knee before him, breathing heavily from the surge of adrenaline she had experienced.
What a rush!
Vegeta had never felt anything like he had when he was free-falling into the black mist. He couldn't say that he suppressed his ki often, but the sensation of ki having left his body and his falling from the ledge had been an experience to certainly remember.
He rose slowly, watching Bulma uncurl from her crouched position like a graceful feline. As soon as he tore his eyes away from her, he realized he was standing in the center of a group of human scientists, each one staring at him wide-eyed. He drew his lips into a sneer, baring his canine teeth in defense.
They all immediately dispersed and went about bustling around what Bulma had defined as the 'control room'. He crossed his arms and glared at her, silently demanding an explanation. Bulma merely shrugged at him.
He took the time to look around him and once again, almost gaped at what he was presented with. There was no ceiling to the room, only the black mist that swirled above like clouds. Many desks surrounded them, each one was occupied by a scientist with a white lab coat. They all seemed like cloned drones.
Looking up again, he could see that there were different floors to the control room and that each floor surrounded them in a circle, with a railing. He could see people moving around on the different and heightened floors above him, as they stepped closer to the railing to observe the new comer that their leader had brought. Him.
The hundred people that occupied the control room, some standing on different floors, had quieted to a stony silence as they watched Vegeta with cold glares.
He soon realized that he and Bulma were standing at the center of the control room, right on the very bottom level. As Bulma stood in front him, he looked beyond her head and saw a large screen the size of several deluxe movie screens in length and width. The screen was on and the information that was being transmitted to Vegeta from it, was unbelievable.
In the top right hand corner of the screen, there were multiple large pictures of satellite stations that were orbiting the very planet they stood upon.
Below the pictures was a geothermal image of the Earth and its plates. Until now Vegeta had not considered the Earth's core to be of such a high temperature, but now he knew as the bright yellow core of the geothermal image glowed in a blinding light.
His eyes roamed the rest of the screen and in the center there were dozens of different images at different angles of the Earth's solar system. He watched in awe as the images captured many uninhabited planets circling the burning sun.
Where were all these pictures coming from? Did earthlings really have so much technology to send out different satellites to the four corners of their solar system and transmit images back to its base? It seemed so...
But what had caught Vegeta's attention the most, were the satellite transmissions that were on the left side of the large screen. Many more images were flicking onto the screen and being replaced by others and all of them were different worlds that had living creatures on them. In total, Vegeta had counted fifty different planets and from the images he could see, he recognized many of the planets from his travels with Frieza. The planets that they had not purged completely...
He almost fell over in shock as geothermal images of those planets appeared as well. His eyes lowered and he immediately saw VIDEO images of planet Earth itself, as though hidden cameras had been planted across the entire world.
Suddenly, he began to wonder of the privacy that humans seemed to have. If they were being spied on by this entire communications software, then no one could be able to hide anywhere! He had never come across any satellite system like this! It was awe-inspiring. Yet he couldn't help feel angered at the thought of being spied on.
Bulma was looking at Vegeta quizzically, wondering what he was staring at when she finally realized it was the telecommunication satellite software behind her. She looked at him closely as his eyes narrowed, deep in thought as he stared at the screen. Bulma followed his gaze to the video images of Earth. She chuckled as she came to realize why he suddenly looked so tense.
"Don't worry," she quipped, "We don't spy on people personally. The video images you see are not meant for spying but they are there in case any danger occurs within each of the regional continents. We have weather satellites to back up the video images. That way, if there is a dangerous storm heading for any of the regions in the world, we can inform them in advance."
"It's all highly professional and we would never dream of specifically spying on one person... Well, unless we knew for certain to doubt a person that had vengeful motives." Her eyes glistened knowingly and a feral smirk twisted on her lips.
If only the Z Senshi knew of what Bulma and her father were spying on when no one was in the underground city but themselves. When every single one of the scientists had gone back to the comfort of their own homes, she and her father would creep into the control room and gather up prestigious information about a certain person...
Vegeta saw the strange glint in her eyes and was about to demand what she meant, but found himself cut short as someone spoke before him.
"Bulma, I wish you wouldn't use the Black Mist to teleport yourself here. What took you so long?" A raspy voice spoke from behind Vegeta. He frowned and turned around to face Bulma's pale lavender-haired father.
Vegeta stepped to one side and viewed the interaction between Bulma and her father. He had always been interested in how earthlings behaved with their maternal and paternal kin and vice versa.
They seemed to act so much more amiably towards one another than Saiyans had with their own offspring. He wondered how such a feat was possible. In Vegeta's mind, it was a waste of time to interact with one's offspring and felt that the Saiyan culture of sending the Saiyan children away at a young age was a much more realistic and economical method.
Bulma sent her father an annoyed look, "I know you improved access to this control room, Daddy!" She huffed indignantly, "But I always enjoyed using the Black Mist as my transport system, so please no further berating."
Dr. Briefs' eyes twinkled brightly at his stubborn daughter's reaction. He froze for a moment before glancing at the clothes she wore. The leather ensemble... Oh dear.
She always wore it whenever she was in a most foul and disagreeable mood. He cursed silently to himself. Now was not the time for her to become enraged! For he knew his daughter's wild and enigmatic temper was far too difficult to handle.
He coughed before replying, "Now pumpkin, you know I was only commenting." His eyes slipped to his daughter's right side and found himself staring at a solemn Saiyan Prince. "Welcome Vegeta," he said quietly before turning back to Bulma. "We have important matters to deal with, Bulma." He spoke sternly.
Vegeta's ears piqued. He had never heard the Doctor speak in such a way towards the woman before! It was certainly different from the parental tone of voice he normally acquired. The Doctor's voice was hard and business-like, even a little cold, which Vegeta found somewhat comforting.
Bulma noted the hard tone in her father's voice and nodded. "What's up Dad?"
Dr. Briefs, shook his head before he walked around the couple, staring at the large screen filled with different satellite images and video images. "It seems as though your suspicions about Blue Dwarf were correct... And we had been kept in the dark about it. Pluto has been demolished."
Bulma growled fiercely, "I knew it!" She clenched her fist angrily, "I'm never wrong and yet you ALL ignored my pleas to hear me out!" She had never felt so hurt and betrayed. Not even Bulma's own team of scientists had believed her when she said that the Blue Dwarf was approaching Earth's solar system.
Dr. Briefs sighed as he continued to stare at the screen, his hands clasped behind his back. "You were indefinitely right Bulma," he knew what was coming next. She always had a means of showing her business-like demeanor in such situations. He on the other hand, was not so cold and hard-headed as his daughter.
Bulma shook her head in disgust.
Vegeta could only watch, enamored by her entire being and spirit. As though a lightning bolt had struck, he saw her hand lash out and point out above her to the first floor above where they stood. He looked up and saw a man standing at the railing, wide-eyed and pale faced as he was pointed at by the 'Lady' of Capsule Corporation.
"You," Bulma hissed, narrowing her eyes at the man that stood behind the railing. Her arm moved again and this time she was pointing past Vegeta. It was then that he noticed the tall blonde haired man standing close by.
"You," she said again with an even colder voice. Her arm had only moved again like an agile serpent and this time she was pointing to the highest top floor of the control room, just before the Black Mist neared.
"And you!" Her voice boomed and echoed throughout the large room, bouncing off the domes interior structure of the control room. Everyone held their breath as silence ensued, before Bulma's voice resounded through the room again, "Get down here this instant!" She hissed.
Vegeta was almost taken aback by her cold demeanor. Bulma had never possessed such a voice of venom in her life and yet here she was, directing it to three large looking men. He felt another shiver travel up his spine, and wondered why Kami was tormenting him in the worst way possible? Was this a cosmic payback for the crimes he had committed? It certainly felt like it...
The three men that Bulma had pointed to, all scurried over like children waiting to be told off by their mother.
Not a single word was uttered by Bulma's father as he stood stoically in front of the screen of images, not turning to look at the spectacle that was occurring behind him.
Apparently, the entire room and floor full of scientists had stopped what they were doing to watch the beautiful blue-haired woman exact her power as their leader.
Vegeta turned to stand by Bulma and he watched her stand next to him, with the cruelest expression on her face.
As the three men approached the genius scientist, she walked forwards and stood like a solitary figure with her hands on her hips and tapping her stiletto heeled foot with impatience.
He could sense an intense anger burn up from within her, and Vegeta felt over come with the need to pull her away from the situation and take her to a remote island where he could-
Her voice interrupted his aching reverie.
"Explain," Bulma demanded to the tall blonde-haired man, still tapping her foot with her hands on her hips. Even though she was in heels, he was still marginally taller than her. But it did not phase her. This cocky, bastard had better have a good explanation for dismissing her as he did a few days ago.
"Miss Briefs," the man spoke condescendingly, "I felt that your theory of the Blue Dwarf colliding with our sun was completely preposterous. That is why I never saw it fit to inform anyone of the Blue Dwarf colliding with Pluto." He glared at the small woman, believing that she should have no business running the C.C Empire.
There were minor gasps from the scientists on the floor above as the man spoke.
Vegeta raised a thick eyebrow in amusement. This day had just been filled with so many exciting things! He thought to himself wryly. Somehow, he knew that the man would suffer great consequences for speaking in such a manner with Bulma.
Bulma howled in rage as she stalked up to the over-confident man. She would show him! She would cut him down to size like he had done to her a few days ago, in front of all these people. No one messed with Bulma Briefs!
A few days before, Bulma had noticed an imploded star that had been pulled into their galaxy. She had seen it on the various images on the main terminal screen and from the data she received, knew it was ten times bigger than their own Sun.
The Blue Dwarf had somehow been pulled into their galaxy by the strong magnetic fields of the planets within their galaxy. She had spent the whole night in the control room, drawing up calculations and theories of the course of the imploded star and after a sleepless night, she had found the answers.
Using calculations of space propulsion and magnetism, she used the data from the many satellites and found out that the Blue Dwarf was heading straight for their own star, the Sun! It would slowly wipe out all the planets aligned in its course towards the sun and gradually come into a cataclysmic collision with the sun.
Luckily, or rather unluckily, Earth's position would not be on the Blue Dwarf's course and so it would ultimately collide with the Sun. The collision would most certainly cause Earth's entire solar system to implode on itself and assuredly cause a rip to occur in the universe, an involuntary black hole.
That black hole would mean that anything and everything would be sucked into it, into an oblivion.
Upon finding this out, Bulma had called an emergency meeting in 'Ground Zero' but the blonde-haired man and his two colleagues behind him, chastised her for her inability to comprehend space dynamics. They labeled her unreliable in anything to do with space magnetism fields and said that they had already learned of the existence of Blue Dwarf and calculated that it wasn't a threat to the solar system.
But Bulma's calculations determined otherwise. For hours she argued with them and finally, they had scolded her like a little child for her interference and sent her away with a heavy heart. She had never been wrong in her entire life and she would never accept her findings to be false.
And now to learn, that not only was she right, but that the blonde-haired man had kept Pluto's demise a secret was unforgivable! He knew what was going to happen and yet he failed to inform the department of his mistake. His stupidity may have meant the end of them all!
"What did you just say Yosho?" She demanded, returning from the bitter memories.
The blonde-haired man waved his hand as though he were brushing away a fly, "Like I said Miss. Briefs, the Blue Dwarf will not be colliding with our Sun. It is a simply preposterous idea." Yosho looked as though he were utterly bored.
Vegeta almost took a step back as he could have sworn he saw steam coming from the woman's ears. Earlier, he would have enjoyed her discomfort. But to see her in such distress brought a growl of annoyance from him. That Yosho man was too damned arrogant to see his mistakes and still believed he was right! Suddenly, Yosho seemed to remind the prince of himself...
Bulma strode up to Yosho, her heels clicking loudly and confidently on the tiled floor beneath. Before replying to Yosho's comments, she looked past his shoulder at the two men that were already cowering in their boots at the woman's rage.
"What do you two have to say for yourselves?" She demanded coldly. Her look could have melted the ice-caps of the Arctic.
The raven-haired man with the bushy mustache stammered, "I-Well, he-Yosho told us to remain quiet. He said that if we disobeyed his command he would lower our rank and that we'd never work in the control room again!" He spilled every detail of Yosho's true character under the heavy scrutiny of the tiny yet powerful woman.
Satisfied with his answer, Bulma looked at the other man. "And you, Zie? Was it the same circumstance for you?"
Zie nodded and found himself looking at the floor, like a child that had just been scolded.
"Then you have no business here. You two are excused." She hissed, her temper still had not diminished.
The two men all but ran from their position under the angered woman's watchful eyes.
Bulma returned her blazing gaze to Yosho. Her anger flared tenfold as he looked at her sardonically.
Vegeta waited with bated breath for the woman's explosive anger. So far it had been lying dormant and he was curious to witness how angry she would get.
Yosho took a breath before speaking, uncaring of the spoilt woman's attitude. "Miss. Briefs-"
"First of all," Bulma boomed as she held up a finger to stop him talking, "It's Lady Briefs to you. Secondly, I think you are one incompetent, idiotic, unreliable and insufferable man, I have ever had the displeasure of working with." Her voice had lowered to an icy whisper, as she stepped closer to Yosho.
"Not only have you proven that you are unworthy for this job, but you have also put this entire solar system and galaxy in jeopardy! Your stupidity may have cost us our lives if my father had not detected Pluto's demise."
Yosho opened his mouth to speak, but was once again cut off by the ferocious woman.
"Lastly," she hissed in contempt, "Effective immediately, I am terminating your access to 'Ground Zero' permanently. You no longer belong or are welcome in this prestigious facilitation. Consider yourself fired." She paused, noticing that the man's face had paled considerably.
To be exiled from 'Ground Zero' was a travesty, horrific in its own right. Once your access to the underground city had been terminated, there was no other place for rehabilitation. Having a job in 'Ground Zero' meant a large salary and privileges that every employee could boast about and to be fired... Well, you can only imagine the repercussions.
"Please!" Yosho started, "You have to-"
"You will still be given your yearly salary, which will be only a quarter of what you earned when you worked here. I am sure you know the consequences of revealing any secrets of 'Ground Zero'."
"But, please you have to understand-!"
"Security will lead you out," she continued, ignoring his pleas for mercy. The little bastard deserved it!
"Lady Briefs, I beg you to reconsider! Please!" Yosho exclaimed, feeling his heart jump into his throat. 'Ground Zero' had been his entire world. What was he going to do if he was expelled from it?!
Bulma shook her head and turned a deaf ear towards the pleas of mercy. The man was ignorant and unreliable for his job. As she stared up at the large screen, she heard Yosho struggling behind her against the security guards of 'Ground Zero'. She smirked cruelly.
That was what you got for calling Bulma Briefs 'incompetent' and 'unworthy' to be apart of the C.C project of 'Ground Zero'. She knew she wouldn't have to worry about him revealing the secret of 'Ground Zero' for he would only be hailed a mad man by the population of Satan City if he did.
Vegeta gaped at the spectacle that had just occurred.
She had been so ruthless and cold! His heart thundered in his chest as he watched the Yosho man be escorted away by two burly security guards. It had been so surreal!
The other scientists that had been grimly watching, remained stunned by their leader's outburst. They stared at her in fear that she would pick on one of them and lash out.
Bulma noticed the stares she was receiving and so snapped her head up as she looked at the people on the various floors. "Show's over people!" She thundered, "Get back to work!"
Instantly, they returned to there work, whispering to one another of their employer's terrible temper and unexplainable sexy fashion wear.
Vegeta almost smirked with pride at the comments that were made on her beauty. His Saiyan hearing could pick up a great deal of conversations occurring around him, but then he tuned them out and focused solely on Bulma. He viewed her profile silently and saw a glimmer of regret held in the blue depths of her eyes.
Her head tilted to the side and her gaze briefly met Vegeta's.
He found himself staring back at her, allowing the sensation of drowning to over come him as he looked into her eyes. A momentary spell had been cast over the proud prince and stubborn woman as they held each other's gaze in emotions of uncertainty and hidden passion.
Then she blinked;
And the spell had been broken.
Bulma shivered as Vegeta's face remained stoic as he stared at her. The strange look of intensity had once again crossed his features and Bulma blinked, looking quickly away from him.
She hadn't shown anyone that didn't belong to 'Ground Zero' this side of her personality and the realization of it brought a chill of excitement to her. She had never felt so alive! It were as if she had been hiding herself in shell of a woman's character that was only half true and now to have Vegeta witness her power of authority and fiery temperament, meant the world to her.
Of course, she would never tell him that.
Sighing, she looked away from his burning gaze and strolled up to the large screen.
Vegeta watched from hooded eyes as she made her way to the long desktop underneath the screen. He plainly saw a keyboard with some large buttons and other smaller keys.
He let his eyes follow her lithe form as she made her way to the center of the exceptionally large keyboard and press a round yellow button. A smirk tugged at his lips as she had to bend slightly to place her lips near a thin metallic rod sticking up from the keyboard. He had a very nice view of her rear end.
But as she spoke into the metal rod, his attention refocused to the melodic chimes of her voice.
"Attention all 'Ground Zero' workers and specialist scientists," her voice echoed from the speakers indented into the sleek walls. Everyone paused momentarily to listen to her message.
"As of now," Bulma continued, "We will enact a temporary shut down of our facility for exactly five days. All activity will cease, there is no reason for all of you to stay here. A situation has arisen which will soon be taken care of."
There were clear gasps echoing around the control room.
"Leave your stations immediately and retreat home. I repeat, retreat home." She sounded like a controlling General, Vegeta thought to himself. Her emotionless tone of voice brought a flicker of concern to him.
"Go home," she paused briefly before adding quietly with a strained voice, "Go home... And be with the ones you love." She removed her hand from the yellow button and slowly walked over to her father. She lightly placed her hand upon his left shoulder.
People were muttering in concern to their colleagues about what was happening but the all quietly began to pack away their things, ready to depart from the amazing underground city.
Vegeta watched as one by one, everyone walked towards the large door on the opposite side of the large screen, marked 'Exit' and he wondered what was going on. Why had Bulma suddenly shut down an entire city operation and let two hundred thousand people go home? Something was amiss and he had an idea it was something to do with the Blue Dwarf, or whatever Bulma had called the confounded thing.
He had enough of remaining quiet and decided to find out what was going on. He marched up to Bulma and father, a fierce expression causing his eyes to smolder at the sight of Bulma's dejected face.
As he approached Bulma and her father, he was beaten to the punch by the Doctor.
"I had hoped it wouldn't come to this..." Dr. Briefs said quietly to his daughter as he gazed at the screen filled with different images of different planets, geothermal and skeletal outlines were part of these images!
"I know Daddy," Bulma said softly. She didn't lift her hand from her father's shoulder, "But it was for the best and you know it. We can handle Blue Dwarf ourselves. It would be better not to involve and worry our employees. The added stress to the secrecy of 'Ground Zero' would only impair their judgment. We can take on this problem by ourselves."
Dr. Briefs sighed and smiled tightly, "Yes, of course we can. Have you calculated how far Blue Dwarf is from collision with the Sun?"
Bulma was about to speak when Vegeta stormed over.
"What in the blazes is going on woman?" He demanded as he stood slightly away from the father and daughter. He felt uncomfortable in their presence...
He actually felt like an underling compared to their genius, even though he was considered to have been the best strategist, leader and technician in Frieza's liege. Vegeta would die before he would tell anyone from the Z Senshi of his apparent genius. It was obvious that a prince of a planet needed to be knowledgeable in all aspects. But, he was a warrior first, and an intellectual after. Those were his priorities and so it would remain that way.
Bulma flashed him a cold smile, "At least you'll be useful for something," she commented snidely.
Vegeta narrowed his eyes at her, "I demand an explanation. Why have you involved me in your pathetic underground city secret?"
Dr. Briefs held back a smile at the conflict that was prominent between Vegeta and Bulma.
She rolled her eyes in annoyance, "I've involved you with a good reason!" She snapped sardonically, "We're going to need your help in destroying Blue Dwarf." She said as if it were the easiest task in the universe.
"Why the fuck would I help YOU?" He asked, as is if Bulma had completely lost her mind.
"Because," she said glaring at him, "Without your help, our entire solar system is going to implode if it collides with the Sun!"
"I help no one!" He roared.
Bulma sneered, "Yes I can see that, you jackass! Why do you have to be so difficult?" She shrieked. "I wouldn't even need your help if the Z Senshi knew about 'Ground Zero'. I'll bet Goku would have helped without a second thought!" She added in, knowing it would rile him up.
"Do NOT bring Kakarott into this woman!" He thundered, "That idiot wouldn't even knew how to help with his lack of brain cells!"
Bulma had to silently agree that Vegeta was right on that argument. "If you think you're smarter than Goku, prove it! Help us out with Blue Dwarf." She reasoned slyly.
Vegeta snarled, "Are you deaf woman? I help no one!"
"Yeah, I heard you the first time, you ignoramus! The whole fucking universe heard you!" She turned to her father, her eyes ablaze. "It's at times like this I really wish we could have told the Z Senshi about 'Ground Zero'!"
"I'm sorry Bulma, you know that we simply could not tell them, because they would not understand the concept of this operation."
"Yes, but at least they would have helped. We need them Daddy, admit it!"
"We do," Dr. Briefs ensured. "But we can't reveal ourselves. If Vegeta doesn't want to help then it's up to us to go into space and remove Blue Dwarf. Or if we can't do that, we could simply demagnetize the imploded star, so it will be set off course and not collide with our Sun. Perhaps it will work..."
Bulma bit her lip in apprehension. Then she whirled to face Vegeta, "No wonder all the planets we trade with are so disgusted with the very mention of your name!" She spat, "You son of a bitch, you can't even get off your damn high horse to help us in a crisis and yet you still expect us to feed and clothe you like an infant." She looked away in disgust. And then, Bulma added insult to injury, "I can see why your father gave you away to Frieza. He was probably relieved to get your slimy self off his hands."
"That's enough Bulma," Dr. Briefs interjected, although it was too late and the damage was already done.
Vegeta stood frozen from Bulma's biting words. No one had ever said anything remotely cruel to him relating his father, for fear of their lives, save for Frieza. And yet this woman stood fearless, spitting out insult after insult.
He growled at her false assumption of his father and somewhere in the depths of his blackened soul, he could feel the cry of a Saiyan child being held captive in a dank room of an enemy ship's hull.
She would never know of the pain he suffered! NEVER!
In blinding anger he stormed over to her and wrapped his icy fingers around her fragile swan-like neck, wanting to crush it in his grasp. But he knew he wouldn't... He couldn't. The fear that had been present when he attacked her in the medical room was starting to emerge from her eyes at that very moment and Vegeta felt as though he had been dealt a blow to his stomach.
His grip, not harmful but firm, remained around her neck. "Get me out of this Hell hole, bitch. NOW!" He said through gritted teeth, with a barely controlled rage.
The moment Bulma felt his fingers wrap around her neck, Bulma knew she had said too much. She just couldn't stop herself! She didn't know why he was being so stubborn and refusing to help them when they needed him the most! She somehow knew that this was the only way to get through to him.
Dr. Briefs was stunned into silence as he watched his daughter being mauled by the angered Saiyan. But deep down, he knew that the Saiyan Prince would never harm his daughter. Would he? He turned around to face the large keyboard and began to immediately let his fingers fly over the smaller keys.
"Bulma, I'm teleporting you both out of here!" He said urgently. He knew it was for the best if Vegeta was in the light of day, rather than in the enclosed control room of 'Ground Zero'. It was not the first time that people were affected by claustrophobia of the underground city.
Their first few employees had become rather irate at spending their time enclosed and so he knew it would take a while for Vegeta to adjust in the setting of 'Ground Zero'.
Bulma felt immobilized, but managed to nod as she heard her father's voice grow distant.
Vegeta growled as he looked down into her fearful eyes. He blinked and instantly, he felt his body shift into a lighter element.
He opened his eyes to find himself on the gravel drive-way at the front of the Briefs' mansion. He snarled and unclasped his hand from her smooth throat. She had felt so good under his touch that he wanted to enclose her in his arms and kiss her pouted lips for an eternity...
He looked away, ashamed he was still thinking such things even after her poisonous tongue had lashed out at him.
As soon as he stepped back Bulma looked at him with a pained expression. "Strike two..." She whispered somewhat sadly.
He frowned at the comment, finally understanding by what she meant as 'Strike Two'... The second time he had come close to hurting her. Would he ever learn to control his temper?
Would she ever learn to control her sharp and venomous tongue?!
Bulma's heart was pumping the adrenaline hormone wildly around her body. She slowly began backing away from Vegeta as though he would jump upon her once again. She reached down to her belt and pulled out a small capsule.
Fingering the capsule, she shook her head at Vegeta and pressed the button, throwing it a few feet away from her. It landed towards Vegeta's right and in direct line of the high arched gates of the mansion.
Vegeta's eyes snapped to the capsule and he watched it explode in a combination of a bang and smoke.
He raised his eyebrow as the smoke cleared to reveal a sleek cat-like motorcycle. Like the ones he had seen on TV when the GR had malfunctioned and he was forced to watch the program with Bulma's father, to pass the tine. He had been bored to tears as they drove around in continuous circles amongst dirt. He had found the entire program pointless.
He grew confused. Was that what Bulma was going to do, drive around in circles amidst dirt?
Before he could say anything, he saw her push past him and jump on the bike. She turned the bars, revving the engine from a purr to a loud roar. Without waiting for any reaction, Bulma accelerated forward, feeling her back tyre skid as she sped away through the open gates of the long driveway. Even at her sped, it had still taken her two minutes to reach the gates that led out into the busy center of Satan City.
She was on a rampage.
It was then that Bulma realized she had forgotten her helmet.
Vegeta watched her gain speed like a mad woman as she urgently tried to ride towards the exit gates as fast as she could. The woman was an absolute lunatic! She was stark raving mad!
She was... Utterly gorgeous on that motorcycle and Vegeta knew it. Not thinking, he rose up into the air with a smirk. His past anger forgotten, he realized she was trying to get away from him on her little bike! Well, Vegeta loved the thrill of a chase. It was natural in Saiyan blood and the prospect of chasing Bulma brought his blood to boil.
He smirked as he flew after her at top speed.
This was one challenge that he would definitely win.
---Jung Chang
~*~
The glimmering white inner structure of the incredibly large dome, took his breath away.
The walls arched around like a cocoon as though they were in a semi- spherical bubble that was beyond any references to width or breadth in scale. The entire structure surrounded them like the interior of the C.C mansion, only this was beyond the size and capacity of the C.C mansion.
Vegeta's eyes darted side to side, as if he could not gather enough of the images before him. "What the fuck?!" He muttered to himself as he peeked over and above Bulma's shoulder as he looked up.
It was like nothing he had seen before in his travels across the space. Even Frieza did not have such a vast amount of electrical or technological equipment that could amass to this!
From the ledge that he and Bulma stood upon, many others were jutting out from the immaculate white interior walls. They all seemed to be at different levels to one another. The ledge that he and Bulma stood upon was the lowest of them all and upon looking at them critically, Vegeta could see that there were thousands of ledges dotted around the curved walls of the shining dome structure.
Even though Bulma had somehow managed to cause the dead-end wall of the tunnel to completely slide open, as he looked back, he could still see that the tunnel was behind him and leading to the exit of the monstrous structure that was before him.
Not that he wanted to leave anyway.
Ledges aside, the piece of the dome structure that truly caught his eye, were the mass of incredibly large see-through cylindrical tubes that were above his head.
The tubes came out from under each of the ledges and looked as though they could fit two people inside quite snugly. The hollow, cylindrical tubes seemed to twirl into twisted shapes as the darted from under one ledge and connected to another ledge from the underside.
It was amazing to see such odd pieces of structured tubes, that had been created so intricately, weave around one another as though acting like a portal.
Not only were the tubes a shock to Vegeta, but the masses of people that streamed out from the ledges was beyond his comprehension as well, each person was donning a white lab-coat and carrying a piece of wood that Vegeta's common sense told him was a 'clipboard'.
He blinked in awe as the masses of people stepped out of their own tunnels and on to their own ledges, and one by one and even in large groups, vanish in to thin air!
"Where the hell are they all going?" He demanded furiously, "What are those tubes?" He wanted answers, and he was going to get them.
Bulma's eyes danced merrily at Vegeta's uncomfortable tone of voice, she did not turn around and look at the giant structure.
Instead, she glared at him fearlessly with the ever-present smug look on her face. "That," she explained logically, "Is our transport system for 'Ground Zero'. Each tube that connects to the thousands of ledges above us are inter-linked with different laboratories of 'Ground Zero'. The people are simply being teleported by hovercraft, like the one we came down in, through the see-through tubes."
"Why can we not see them move through the tubes?" He asked, perplexed by the entire notion of humans teleporting themselves by way of tubes.
"Because they're being teleported, they're not actually moving through the tubes! If they did, they would all be twisted and deformed because the tubes weave around like the sinews of our nervous system."
"Then what the fuck are the tubes for?"
Bulma groaned in frustration, "Since when did you become such a dolt Vegeta?"
He glared at her, unmoving.
She sighed and shook her head, tapping her foot impatiently as she explained. "The tubes kind of act like a telephone communication line. The people are being transmitted through the tubes by wave capacity, molding their bodies into waves and thus causing them to be like the oxygen we breathe. From this, they can easily move through the tubes from laboratory to laboratory and each tube can hold up to a thousand people, each being teleported to the different areas of 'Ground Zero'."
She turned around and fully walked out onto the ledge, moving to the right side. She motioned for Vegeta to follow her. Vegeta complied silently, although suspiciously.
He stood beside her, the pace of his heart quickening in a sick and twisted manner. Damn his hormones! He would have to continue beating these weak feelings out of him, it seemed. He brought himself to attention as Bulma pointed down to her feet and looked at him with an expression of a wild predator.
She lifted one foot and brought it down with a soft thump, as if pressing a button with her foot.
In a flash of light, she blurred from his vision and disappeared without a trace.
Vegeta held back a cry of surprise as she completely vanished from his sight. Where had she gone?! Did she think she could leave him here on the ledge? He growled and uncrossed his arms. He stood as still as a statue, closing his eyes as he reached out to feel for her ki. The woman was too slippery for her own good.
Another growl erupted from his throat as he was bombarded with various and unfamiliar ki signatures. There were too many humans in the damn place for him to detect her! Had his senses really become so distanced that he could not even pinpoint her location? He resolved that a high aptitude of training was required, more intense and rigorous than the one he was already enduring.
"Hey, Vegeta! Up here!" A familiar feminine voice cried out to him distantly.
He snapped his head up to the right and found that he had to squint slightly to make out Bulma's tiny form on one of the ledges that seemed to be kilometers up from the ledge he stood upon. How had she gotten there so fast?!
As he blinked from the surreal notion of Bulma teleporting, she was standing before him once again, grinning in a cat-like manner.
He was at a loss for words.
Swallowing hard, he frowned as he found a flaw in the seemingly perfect piece of technology. "If this tube you traveled in is connected to that ledge, then how do you expect to get to another room? Won't the tube still be connected to the ledge that you teleported to?" It made sense to Vegeta. How could the humans move to different laboratories when certain tubes were only connected to certain ledges.
Bulma glowered at him and cocked her head to the side, "Do you actually think I am an idiot to not take that into account?" She smirked at him, and Vegeta could have sworn he felt his pulse rise another ten beats.
"Well Vegeta, watch this!" Bulma strode over to the tunnel they had come from and Vegeta could see an alpha numerate panel against the side of the opening into the tunnel, very much like the one where Bulma had to punch in a password, only much larger in size.
She turned to him and pointed to the ledge on the far side, it seemed to be like the ledge was separated by an ocean of air. How did they manage to build such a gigantic structure underneath a populated city, undetected?!
Bulma kept her arm pointed to the far ledge, "That is room 13BULBRF." She stated factually. "Each door that leads to the different laboratories has a code." She turned and punched in the code '13BULBRF' into the panel on the wall.
Suddenly, Vegeta could sense the slight quiver of the ledge beneath him and he watched as the tube that was connected to the ledge that he and Bulma were standing on, dematerialized and formed itself again, now connected to the ledge on the far side of the room that was coded '13BULBRF'
"Amazing..." He breathed, suddenly glad that Bulma had not heard him. But another question came into his mind, "If you move the tubes like that around, won't people be teleported to different destinations by accident?"
Bulma shook her head, "Our scientists travel in large groups and are only allowed into this section of 'Ground Zero' if it is urgent for them to leave their stations. Even then, if the tubes do move whilst they are inside, nothing will happen because their atoms will still be in course for their prior destination."
"Why are there thousands of people here now? Surely that is dangerous if all these molecular atoms are flying around."
She rolled her eyes, "Honestly Vegeta, stop trying to flaw me and my father's creation!" She folded her arms haughtily. "If you must know, there is an emergency as of now. These people are retreating from their posts in the different laboratories and returning above ground. Each employee has an allocated tunnel that can be accessed from a certain point in the city. Their allocated tunnel to 'Ground Zero' is in walking distance of each of their homes."
"Do you mean that you have entry ways to this underground city from different positions in Satan City?" He almost cried out, but held himself back in his reserved and bored nature, although he was far from bored. She was undoubtedly, a genius and that turned him on even more... Damn her!
"Yes Vegeta," she replied irately. "I can access 'Ground Zero' from my room and basement. Those are my personal means of access. My father's is in his study and my mother's is in her green house of specialist and rare flowers."
She almost smacked herself as she just gave Vegeta the entire information of access means in the C.C compound of 'Ground Zero'. Well, it wasn't like he would be able to gain access to 'Ground Zero' without genetic identification and a password. But she was sure that by now, her father had already created Vegeta's genetic code for identification and had a password ready!
It was all highly top secret, although the government was apart of this project that Bulma and her father had created, so they had to be careful around whom to trust.
Vegeta snapped to attention, "You're mother has access to this place?" He barked, secretly feeling hurt that the ditzy blonde had privilege to enter this amazing underground city and he hadn't.
Bulma frowned, "Of course she has access to it! She's the one that helped the funding of this project and supported my Dad when he was first experimenting with his capsule business. It would be wrong of my father to leave her in the dark about this underground city."
"What do you mean by that?"
Bulma turned away with a wistful smile, giving Vegeta a highlighted profile of her face. She sighed, "My father was a poor man before he met my mother. She was the daughter of a Texan oil tycoon, my grandfather. They were more than rich, they were practically living in more grandeur than the Queen of England." She paused to chuckle heartily, nervously fidgeting with her hands.
"My father did have money that had been willed to him, enough for him to get by without living like a beggar. But it wasn't enough money for him to start his capsule project. And so he applied for a loan at the local back, which was rejected. My mother had met him at that very bank, and from there they started talking."
"She told me that she thought my father was rather... Strange, at first. But the more they spoke to one another, the more she began to like his honesty and reliable character. From the day they met, she knew she could trust him and so she decided to fund his capsule project. My father was a proud man and he refused my mother's offer. But you know how insistent and persuasive she can be!" Bulma exclaimed with a light laugh.
She had been so immersed in revealing the story of her mother and father's relationship, that she hadn't noticed the strange look that had danced its way across Vegeta's face as he gazed at her longingly.
She continued on, unaware of the feelings she was causing the Saiyan Prince to incur. "After bouts of arguing, my father finally agreed to my mother's proposal, knowing that he couldn't put up a decent argument with her. My father couldn't argue his way out of a paper bag... Anyway, my father accepted but not before he promised to pay my mother back for her loan, along with triple interest!" She shook her head and smirked knowingly. Her father had indeed paid her mother back, with more than what she had bargained for.
"At first, our company struggled to find its feet and it was in that time that my mother and father bonded and grew close. But one day, the stocks rose to such a great height, that my father knew we would never be toppled in the business market again. He had officially become the richest man in the country with his trading of capsules. Gradually, our stocks immersed into the international trade and our company grew and grew to even higher prospects. We are the world's leading technological supplier and the only business to delve into different planetary stocks. And so, the rest is history..."
She trailed off and looked up at the wondrous inter-linking tubes that were in the air above them, as if suspended by a magical force. "So you see," she said quietly, "It's important for my mother to be apart of everything my father does." Bulma smiled softly, "She's my father's good luck charm and without her, he wouldn't be the man he is today." She snapped out of the wistful moment and turned to glare at Vegeta, who had managed to mask his face once again without a trace of emotion blanching it.
Vegeta had been completely silent as she retold the story of her mother and father's union. Indeed it had been an interesting story... One full of disgusting human emotion and feelings. He had almost felt the bile rise in his throat as he listened to the story, but he could honestly say that the only enjoyment he had gotten from it, was the softened features of Bulma's face as she told the story.
She had looked so... Peaceful.
It brought a shudder to Vegeta to realize the great impact the small human female had on him. He blinked slowly as she glared at him with a burning intensity that even he could not match. That look lit a fire under his soul, almost causing him to growl with desire. Yet his face had returned to his stony expression, one that held mild contempt. He remained silent and let her speak.
Bulma continued speaking, not noting Vegeta's strange demeanor. "Now, if you'll excuse me Vegeta, I've wasted enough time with you. Follow me if you want to, but I have a meeting to get to!" She promptly turned around from her position near the tunnel and slowly ran forward, as though she were about to jump off the ledge.
Vegeta's eyes widened in a pure reaction of horror. She was heading straight off the ledge, about to jump off. Was she insane?! Reacting out of impulse, he flew forward after her.
Bulma had just reached the edge of the ledge and was about to jump off the edge, with her arms spread out like wings, when she felt a corded and muscular arm wrap around her tiny waist and drag her roughly back. She sputtered in anger at the restriction.
When Vegeta had firmly brought her to the center of the ledge, he grabbed her arm and pulled her to face him, sending her the most disdainful glare he could muster.
"Have you gone mad woman? What the fuck do you think you're playing at?" He lashed out in a venomous voice. Even he was surprised to the extent of his anger.
But apparently, Bulma was not even phased by the scowl he sent her way. Instead, she was infinitely furious. "What is your problem?" She all but screeched.
"MY PROBLEM?!" He roared with ferocity, "What the fuck is YOUR problem?! I'm not the one without any flying power trying to jump off a heightened ledge! Are you a complete air-head that your brain has discarded the truthful notion that you CANNOT fly?" He was seething with such anger at her childish and idiotic behavior that it was beyond him how someone as intelligent as Bulma would think of jumping off a ledge that was high in the air.
Bulma snarled at him, rolling her eyes. She pointed her finger and poked him in the chest with a perfectly manicured fingernail. She could have sworn she felt his body tense... "YOU are the idiot Vegeta!" She hurled back with equal fervor. Not waiting for a returning comment, she grabbed his hand and pulled him to the edge of the ledge and jabbed the air as she pointed her finger down from where they stood.
Out of surprise from her soft hand touching his, he allowed himself to be steered towards the edge. He looked down at what she was pointing at, and damn near fainted at the sight before him.
Black mist!
It glittered and sparkled as though pearls of jewels had been dotted amongst the hydrogen and oxygen atoms of water, that had evaporated to create a hazy swirling mist below them. It wasn't just shocking to Vegeta, it was breathtaking. He had not come across this form of mist before and he wondered how a black mist had been formed. He knew the answer led back to Bulma.
The ledge that Bulma and Vegeta were standing upon was the lowest of all the ledges, and yet the black mist that swirled and covered the entire expanse of the city dome structure, was even at a lower point than where they were standing. And she had been about to jump from the edge, into that blackened and glittering mass of mist?!
"Your point is? That only proves my theory of your idiotic nature to want to dive into THAT." He stated, although he had a good idea her answer would be unusual.
Bulma glared at him, "The Black Mist is another transport, teleportation system. Anyone that is genetically registered to come into contact with the Black Mist gets directly teleported to the main control room of 'Ground Zero'. My father is currently in the main control room, with a hundred other scientists, manning the satellite systems of this world and fifty other that have an intergalactic contract with our planet and more importantly, my father's business. We have to get there, NOW!" She stepped away from him and stood on the edge, looking at him from the corner of eye.
Vegeta paled. Fifty other planets? He had been led to think that Earth had no clue of other species existing before he and his comrade had arrived to destroy the large world of water. But FIFTY?
She smirked wickedly. "Come on Vegeta," she teased, "Don't tell me you're afraid of a little free-fall?" She chuckled as he growled at her. "Dad has registered your genetic code to enter the main control room. You're lucky, only the handful of scientists in the control room actually have been granted access to the main control room. The other employees haven't been given that privilege."
Vegeta had just stood there, trying to find the correct words to bark at her with, but he couldn't seem to place his thoughts in a logical order and so he remained quiet, for fear of sounding like a complete imbecile.
Bulma laughed heartily at his silent resolve. Flashing him the most evil and seductive look she could gather, she spread her arms like a bird spreading its wings, "Catch me if you can," she whispered and promptly threw her head back, laughing as she jumped gracefully off the ledge, head first. As she soared down, her body leveled horizontally and it looked as though she was actually flying down into the black mist.
If he had been blown away before, he had been completely bowled over by the little stunt she had just pulled. She had just jumped off of the edge, free-falling down into the black mist as though she had no care in the world if she landed flat on her head and cracked her skull open. In a twisted way, Vegeta trusted Bulma's intentions, but he had never been shaken like this before as he saw her jump off the ledge and free-fall down into the swirling black mist.
The look she had given him!
The words she had spoken!
They had sent a shiver of anticipation down his spine as he watched her fall gracefully down, slowly approaching the swirling black mist.
"Catch me if you can."
He would do more damage to her if he did manage to 'catch' her! He knew in utter certainty that if he did capture her, he would devour her whole in the unsettling feeling of passion he was experiencing. And in all honesty, he had accepted the challenge without a moment's hesitation, knowing full well that he would win and capture her. He always won, no matter what the challenge was...
Oh Gods, what was she doing to him?
If this continued, she would slowly drive him insane with desire. He blinked in awe as he saw her body completely vanish into the black mist, disappearing completely from his view. She looked simply amazing in that tight leather outfit, free-falling as though she were a majestic and colorful bird.
He finally concluded that he had lost it and was getting involved in something he would not be able to back away from. He smirked as he remembered the seductive yet evil smile she had given him. That was the side of the woman he wanted to see more of!
With a minuscule shrug of his shoulders, he suppressed his ki to nothing and jumped off the ledge, following in Bulma's example.
He however, closed his eyes and cannon-balled into the black mist.
And with that one gesture of acceptance, Vegeta found himself plunging into a world that was far beyond even his own comprehension.
~*~
When Vegeta opened his eyes, he found himself crouched down on the ground like a tiger ready to spring up and pounce on its prey. He looked to his right and saw Bulma crouched on one knee before him, breathing heavily from the surge of adrenaline she had experienced.
What a rush!
Vegeta had never felt anything like he had when he was free-falling into the black mist. He couldn't say that he suppressed his ki often, but the sensation of ki having left his body and his falling from the ledge had been an experience to certainly remember.
He rose slowly, watching Bulma uncurl from her crouched position like a graceful feline. As soon as he tore his eyes away from her, he realized he was standing in the center of a group of human scientists, each one staring at him wide-eyed. He drew his lips into a sneer, baring his canine teeth in defense.
They all immediately dispersed and went about bustling around what Bulma had defined as the 'control room'. He crossed his arms and glared at her, silently demanding an explanation. Bulma merely shrugged at him.
He took the time to look around him and once again, almost gaped at what he was presented with. There was no ceiling to the room, only the black mist that swirled above like clouds. Many desks surrounded them, each one was occupied by a scientist with a white lab coat. They all seemed like cloned drones.
Looking up again, he could see that there were different floors to the control room and that each floor surrounded them in a circle, with a railing. He could see people moving around on the different and heightened floors above him, as they stepped closer to the railing to observe the new comer that their leader had brought. Him.
The hundred people that occupied the control room, some standing on different floors, had quieted to a stony silence as they watched Vegeta with cold glares.
He soon realized that he and Bulma were standing at the center of the control room, right on the very bottom level. As Bulma stood in front him, he looked beyond her head and saw a large screen the size of several deluxe movie screens in length and width. The screen was on and the information that was being transmitted to Vegeta from it, was unbelievable.
In the top right hand corner of the screen, there were multiple large pictures of satellite stations that were orbiting the very planet they stood upon.
Below the pictures was a geothermal image of the Earth and its plates. Until now Vegeta had not considered the Earth's core to be of such a high temperature, but now he knew as the bright yellow core of the geothermal image glowed in a blinding light.
His eyes roamed the rest of the screen and in the center there were dozens of different images at different angles of the Earth's solar system. He watched in awe as the images captured many uninhabited planets circling the burning sun.
Where were all these pictures coming from? Did earthlings really have so much technology to send out different satellites to the four corners of their solar system and transmit images back to its base? It seemed so...
But what had caught Vegeta's attention the most, were the satellite transmissions that were on the left side of the large screen. Many more images were flicking onto the screen and being replaced by others and all of them were different worlds that had living creatures on them. In total, Vegeta had counted fifty different planets and from the images he could see, he recognized many of the planets from his travels with Frieza. The planets that they had not purged completely...
He almost fell over in shock as geothermal images of those planets appeared as well. His eyes lowered and he immediately saw VIDEO images of planet Earth itself, as though hidden cameras had been planted across the entire world.
Suddenly, he began to wonder of the privacy that humans seemed to have. If they were being spied on by this entire communications software, then no one could be able to hide anywhere! He had never come across any satellite system like this! It was awe-inspiring. Yet he couldn't help feel angered at the thought of being spied on.
Bulma was looking at Vegeta quizzically, wondering what he was staring at when she finally realized it was the telecommunication satellite software behind her. She looked at him closely as his eyes narrowed, deep in thought as he stared at the screen. Bulma followed his gaze to the video images of Earth. She chuckled as she came to realize why he suddenly looked so tense.
"Don't worry," she quipped, "We don't spy on people personally. The video images you see are not meant for spying but they are there in case any danger occurs within each of the regional continents. We have weather satellites to back up the video images. That way, if there is a dangerous storm heading for any of the regions in the world, we can inform them in advance."
"It's all highly professional and we would never dream of specifically spying on one person... Well, unless we knew for certain to doubt a person that had vengeful motives." Her eyes glistened knowingly and a feral smirk twisted on her lips.
If only the Z Senshi knew of what Bulma and her father were spying on when no one was in the underground city but themselves. When every single one of the scientists had gone back to the comfort of their own homes, she and her father would creep into the control room and gather up prestigious information about a certain person...
Vegeta saw the strange glint in her eyes and was about to demand what she meant, but found himself cut short as someone spoke before him.
"Bulma, I wish you wouldn't use the Black Mist to teleport yourself here. What took you so long?" A raspy voice spoke from behind Vegeta. He frowned and turned around to face Bulma's pale lavender-haired father.
Vegeta stepped to one side and viewed the interaction between Bulma and her father. He had always been interested in how earthlings behaved with their maternal and paternal kin and vice versa.
They seemed to act so much more amiably towards one another than Saiyans had with their own offspring. He wondered how such a feat was possible. In Vegeta's mind, it was a waste of time to interact with one's offspring and felt that the Saiyan culture of sending the Saiyan children away at a young age was a much more realistic and economical method.
Bulma sent her father an annoyed look, "I know you improved access to this control room, Daddy!" She huffed indignantly, "But I always enjoyed using the Black Mist as my transport system, so please no further berating."
Dr. Briefs' eyes twinkled brightly at his stubborn daughter's reaction. He froze for a moment before glancing at the clothes she wore. The leather ensemble... Oh dear.
She always wore it whenever she was in a most foul and disagreeable mood. He cursed silently to himself. Now was not the time for her to become enraged! For he knew his daughter's wild and enigmatic temper was far too difficult to handle.
He coughed before replying, "Now pumpkin, you know I was only commenting." His eyes slipped to his daughter's right side and found himself staring at a solemn Saiyan Prince. "Welcome Vegeta," he said quietly before turning back to Bulma. "We have important matters to deal with, Bulma." He spoke sternly.
Vegeta's ears piqued. He had never heard the Doctor speak in such a way towards the woman before! It was certainly different from the parental tone of voice he normally acquired. The Doctor's voice was hard and business-like, even a little cold, which Vegeta found somewhat comforting.
Bulma noted the hard tone in her father's voice and nodded. "What's up Dad?"
Dr. Briefs, shook his head before he walked around the couple, staring at the large screen filled with different satellite images and video images. "It seems as though your suspicions about Blue Dwarf were correct... And we had been kept in the dark about it. Pluto has been demolished."
Bulma growled fiercely, "I knew it!" She clenched her fist angrily, "I'm never wrong and yet you ALL ignored my pleas to hear me out!" She had never felt so hurt and betrayed. Not even Bulma's own team of scientists had believed her when she said that the Blue Dwarf was approaching Earth's solar system.
Dr. Briefs sighed as he continued to stare at the screen, his hands clasped behind his back. "You were indefinitely right Bulma," he knew what was coming next. She always had a means of showing her business-like demeanor in such situations. He on the other hand, was not so cold and hard-headed as his daughter.
Bulma shook her head in disgust.
Vegeta could only watch, enamored by her entire being and spirit. As though a lightning bolt had struck, he saw her hand lash out and point out above her to the first floor above where they stood. He looked up and saw a man standing at the railing, wide-eyed and pale faced as he was pointed at by the 'Lady' of Capsule Corporation.
"You," Bulma hissed, narrowing her eyes at the man that stood behind the railing. Her arm moved again and this time she was pointing past Vegeta. It was then that he noticed the tall blonde haired man standing close by.
"You," she said again with an even colder voice. Her arm had only moved again like an agile serpent and this time she was pointing to the highest top floor of the control room, just before the Black Mist neared.
"And you!" Her voice boomed and echoed throughout the large room, bouncing off the domes interior structure of the control room. Everyone held their breath as silence ensued, before Bulma's voice resounded through the room again, "Get down here this instant!" She hissed.
Vegeta was almost taken aback by her cold demeanor. Bulma had never possessed such a voice of venom in her life and yet here she was, directing it to three large looking men. He felt another shiver travel up his spine, and wondered why Kami was tormenting him in the worst way possible? Was this a cosmic payback for the crimes he had committed? It certainly felt like it...
The three men that Bulma had pointed to, all scurried over like children waiting to be told off by their mother.
Not a single word was uttered by Bulma's father as he stood stoically in front of the screen of images, not turning to look at the spectacle that was occurring behind him.
Apparently, the entire room and floor full of scientists had stopped what they were doing to watch the beautiful blue-haired woman exact her power as their leader.
Vegeta turned to stand by Bulma and he watched her stand next to him, with the cruelest expression on her face.
As the three men approached the genius scientist, she walked forwards and stood like a solitary figure with her hands on her hips and tapping her stiletto heeled foot with impatience.
He could sense an intense anger burn up from within her, and Vegeta felt over come with the need to pull her away from the situation and take her to a remote island where he could-
Her voice interrupted his aching reverie.
"Explain," Bulma demanded to the tall blonde-haired man, still tapping her foot with her hands on her hips. Even though she was in heels, he was still marginally taller than her. But it did not phase her. This cocky, bastard had better have a good explanation for dismissing her as he did a few days ago.
"Miss Briefs," the man spoke condescendingly, "I felt that your theory of the Blue Dwarf colliding with our sun was completely preposterous. That is why I never saw it fit to inform anyone of the Blue Dwarf colliding with Pluto." He glared at the small woman, believing that she should have no business running the C.C Empire.
There were minor gasps from the scientists on the floor above as the man spoke.
Vegeta raised a thick eyebrow in amusement. This day had just been filled with so many exciting things! He thought to himself wryly. Somehow, he knew that the man would suffer great consequences for speaking in such a manner with Bulma.
Bulma howled in rage as she stalked up to the over-confident man. She would show him! She would cut him down to size like he had done to her a few days ago, in front of all these people. No one messed with Bulma Briefs!
A few days before, Bulma had noticed an imploded star that had been pulled into their galaxy. She had seen it on the various images on the main terminal screen and from the data she received, knew it was ten times bigger than their own Sun.
The Blue Dwarf had somehow been pulled into their galaxy by the strong magnetic fields of the planets within their galaxy. She had spent the whole night in the control room, drawing up calculations and theories of the course of the imploded star and after a sleepless night, she had found the answers.
Using calculations of space propulsion and magnetism, she used the data from the many satellites and found out that the Blue Dwarf was heading straight for their own star, the Sun! It would slowly wipe out all the planets aligned in its course towards the sun and gradually come into a cataclysmic collision with the sun.
Luckily, or rather unluckily, Earth's position would not be on the Blue Dwarf's course and so it would ultimately collide with the Sun. The collision would most certainly cause Earth's entire solar system to implode on itself and assuredly cause a rip to occur in the universe, an involuntary black hole.
That black hole would mean that anything and everything would be sucked into it, into an oblivion.
Upon finding this out, Bulma had called an emergency meeting in 'Ground Zero' but the blonde-haired man and his two colleagues behind him, chastised her for her inability to comprehend space dynamics. They labeled her unreliable in anything to do with space magnetism fields and said that they had already learned of the existence of Blue Dwarf and calculated that it wasn't a threat to the solar system.
But Bulma's calculations determined otherwise. For hours she argued with them and finally, they had scolded her like a little child for her interference and sent her away with a heavy heart. She had never been wrong in her entire life and she would never accept her findings to be false.
And now to learn, that not only was she right, but that the blonde-haired man had kept Pluto's demise a secret was unforgivable! He knew what was going to happen and yet he failed to inform the department of his mistake. His stupidity may have meant the end of them all!
"What did you just say Yosho?" She demanded, returning from the bitter memories.
The blonde-haired man waved his hand as though he were brushing away a fly, "Like I said Miss. Briefs, the Blue Dwarf will not be colliding with our Sun. It is a simply preposterous idea." Yosho looked as though he were utterly bored.
Vegeta almost took a step back as he could have sworn he saw steam coming from the woman's ears. Earlier, he would have enjoyed her discomfort. But to see her in such distress brought a growl of annoyance from him. That Yosho man was too damned arrogant to see his mistakes and still believed he was right! Suddenly, Yosho seemed to remind the prince of himself...
Bulma strode up to Yosho, her heels clicking loudly and confidently on the tiled floor beneath. Before replying to Yosho's comments, she looked past his shoulder at the two men that were already cowering in their boots at the woman's rage.
"What do you two have to say for yourselves?" She demanded coldly. Her look could have melted the ice-caps of the Arctic.
The raven-haired man with the bushy mustache stammered, "I-Well, he-Yosho told us to remain quiet. He said that if we disobeyed his command he would lower our rank and that we'd never work in the control room again!" He spilled every detail of Yosho's true character under the heavy scrutiny of the tiny yet powerful woman.
Satisfied with his answer, Bulma looked at the other man. "And you, Zie? Was it the same circumstance for you?"
Zie nodded and found himself looking at the floor, like a child that had just been scolded.
"Then you have no business here. You two are excused." She hissed, her temper still had not diminished.
The two men all but ran from their position under the angered woman's watchful eyes.
Bulma returned her blazing gaze to Yosho. Her anger flared tenfold as he looked at her sardonically.
Vegeta waited with bated breath for the woman's explosive anger. So far it had been lying dormant and he was curious to witness how angry she would get.
Yosho took a breath before speaking, uncaring of the spoilt woman's attitude. "Miss. Briefs-"
"First of all," Bulma boomed as she held up a finger to stop him talking, "It's Lady Briefs to you. Secondly, I think you are one incompetent, idiotic, unreliable and insufferable man, I have ever had the displeasure of working with." Her voice had lowered to an icy whisper, as she stepped closer to Yosho.
"Not only have you proven that you are unworthy for this job, but you have also put this entire solar system and galaxy in jeopardy! Your stupidity may have cost us our lives if my father had not detected Pluto's demise."
Yosho opened his mouth to speak, but was once again cut off by the ferocious woman.
"Lastly," she hissed in contempt, "Effective immediately, I am terminating your access to 'Ground Zero' permanently. You no longer belong or are welcome in this prestigious facilitation. Consider yourself fired." She paused, noticing that the man's face had paled considerably.
To be exiled from 'Ground Zero' was a travesty, horrific in its own right. Once your access to the underground city had been terminated, there was no other place for rehabilitation. Having a job in 'Ground Zero' meant a large salary and privileges that every employee could boast about and to be fired... Well, you can only imagine the repercussions.
"Please!" Yosho started, "You have to-"
"You will still be given your yearly salary, which will be only a quarter of what you earned when you worked here. I am sure you know the consequences of revealing any secrets of 'Ground Zero'."
"But, please you have to understand-!"
"Security will lead you out," she continued, ignoring his pleas for mercy. The little bastard deserved it!
"Lady Briefs, I beg you to reconsider! Please!" Yosho exclaimed, feeling his heart jump into his throat. 'Ground Zero' had been his entire world. What was he going to do if he was expelled from it?!
Bulma shook her head and turned a deaf ear towards the pleas of mercy. The man was ignorant and unreliable for his job. As she stared up at the large screen, she heard Yosho struggling behind her against the security guards of 'Ground Zero'. She smirked cruelly.
That was what you got for calling Bulma Briefs 'incompetent' and 'unworthy' to be apart of the C.C project of 'Ground Zero'. She knew she wouldn't have to worry about him revealing the secret of 'Ground Zero' for he would only be hailed a mad man by the population of Satan City if he did.
Vegeta gaped at the spectacle that had just occurred.
She had been so ruthless and cold! His heart thundered in his chest as he watched the Yosho man be escorted away by two burly security guards. It had been so surreal!
The other scientists that had been grimly watching, remained stunned by their leader's outburst. They stared at her in fear that she would pick on one of them and lash out.
Bulma noticed the stares she was receiving and so snapped her head up as she looked at the people on the various floors. "Show's over people!" She thundered, "Get back to work!"
Instantly, they returned to there work, whispering to one another of their employer's terrible temper and unexplainable sexy fashion wear.
Vegeta almost smirked with pride at the comments that were made on her beauty. His Saiyan hearing could pick up a great deal of conversations occurring around him, but then he tuned them out and focused solely on Bulma. He viewed her profile silently and saw a glimmer of regret held in the blue depths of her eyes.
Her head tilted to the side and her gaze briefly met Vegeta's.
He found himself staring back at her, allowing the sensation of drowning to over come him as he looked into her eyes. A momentary spell had been cast over the proud prince and stubborn woman as they held each other's gaze in emotions of uncertainty and hidden passion.
Then she blinked;
And the spell had been broken.
Bulma shivered as Vegeta's face remained stoic as he stared at her. The strange look of intensity had once again crossed his features and Bulma blinked, looking quickly away from him.
She hadn't shown anyone that didn't belong to 'Ground Zero' this side of her personality and the realization of it brought a chill of excitement to her. She had never felt so alive! It were as if she had been hiding herself in shell of a woman's character that was only half true and now to have Vegeta witness her power of authority and fiery temperament, meant the world to her.
Of course, she would never tell him that.
Sighing, she looked away from his burning gaze and strolled up to the large screen.
Vegeta watched from hooded eyes as she made her way to the long desktop underneath the screen. He plainly saw a keyboard with some large buttons and other smaller keys.
He let his eyes follow her lithe form as she made her way to the center of the exceptionally large keyboard and press a round yellow button. A smirk tugged at his lips as she had to bend slightly to place her lips near a thin metallic rod sticking up from the keyboard. He had a very nice view of her rear end.
But as she spoke into the metal rod, his attention refocused to the melodic chimes of her voice.
"Attention all 'Ground Zero' workers and specialist scientists," her voice echoed from the speakers indented into the sleek walls. Everyone paused momentarily to listen to her message.
"As of now," Bulma continued, "We will enact a temporary shut down of our facility for exactly five days. All activity will cease, there is no reason for all of you to stay here. A situation has arisen which will soon be taken care of."
There were clear gasps echoing around the control room.
"Leave your stations immediately and retreat home. I repeat, retreat home." She sounded like a controlling General, Vegeta thought to himself. Her emotionless tone of voice brought a flicker of concern to him.
"Go home," she paused briefly before adding quietly with a strained voice, "Go home... And be with the ones you love." She removed her hand from the yellow button and slowly walked over to her father. She lightly placed her hand upon his left shoulder.
People were muttering in concern to their colleagues about what was happening but the all quietly began to pack away their things, ready to depart from the amazing underground city.
Vegeta watched as one by one, everyone walked towards the large door on the opposite side of the large screen, marked 'Exit' and he wondered what was going on. Why had Bulma suddenly shut down an entire city operation and let two hundred thousand people go home? Something was amiss and he had an idea it was something to do with the Blue Dwarf, or whatever Bulma had called the confounded thing.
He had enough of remaining quiet and decided to find out what was going on. He marched up to Bulma and father, a fierce expression causing his eyes to smolder at the sight of Bulma's dejected face.
As he approached Bulma and her father, he was beaten to the punch by the Doctor.
"I had hoped it wouldn't come to this..." Dr. Briefs said quietly to his daughter as he gazed at the screen filled with different images of different planets, geothermal and skeletal outlines were part of these images!
"I know Daddy," Bulma said softly. She didn't lift her hand from her father's shoulder, "But it was for the best and you know it. We can handle Blue Dwarf ourselves. It would be better not to involve and worry our employees. The added stress to the secrecy of 'Ground Zero' would only impair their judgment. We can take on this problem by ourselves."
Dr. Briefs sighed and smiled tightly, "Yes, of course we can. Have you calculated how far Blue Dwarf is from collision with the Sun?"
Bulma was about to speak when Vegeta stormed over.
"What in the blazes is going on woman?" He demanded as he stood slightly away from the father and daughter. He felt uncomfortable in their presence...
He actually felt like an underling compared to their genius, even though he was considered to have been the best strategist, leader and technician in Frieza's liege. Vegeta would die before he would tell anyone from the Z Senshi of his apparent genius. It was obvious that a prince of a planet needed to be knowledgeable in all aspects. But, he was a warrior first, and an intellectual after. Those were his priorities and so it would remain that way.
Bulma flashed him a cold smile, "At least you'll be useful for something," she commented snidely.
Vegeta narrowed his eyes at her, "I demand an explanation. Why have you involved me in your pathetic underground city secret?"
Dr. Briefs held back a smile at the conflict that was prominent between Vegeta and Bulma.
She rolled her eyes in annoyance, "I've involved you with a good reason!" She snapped sardonically, "We're going to need your help in destroying Blue Dwarf." She said as if it were the easiest task in the universe.
"Why the fuck would I help YOU?" He asked, as is if Bulma had completely lost her mind.
"Because," she said glaring at him, "Without your help, our entire solar system is going to implode if it collides with the Sun!"
"I help no one!" He roared.
Bulma sneered, "Yes I can see that, you jackass! Why do you have to be so difficult?" She shrieked. "I wouldn't even need your help if the Z Senshi knew about 'Ground Zero'. I'll bet Goku would have helped without a second thought!" She added in, knowing it would rile him up.
"Do NOT bring Kakarott into this woman!" He thundered, "That idiot wouldn't even knew how to help with his lack of brain cells!"
Bulma had to silently agree that Vegeta was right on that argument. "If you think you're smarter than Goku, prove it! Help us out with Blue Dwarf." She reasoned slyly.
Vegeta snarled, "Are you deaf woman? I help no one!"
"Yeah, I heard you the first time, you ignoramus! The whole fucking universe heard you!" She turned to her father, her eyes ablaze. "It's at times like this I really wish we could have told the Z Senshi about 'Ground Zero'!"
"I'm sorry Bulma, you know that we simply could not tell them, because they would not understand the concept of this operation."
"Yes, but at least they would have helped. We need them Daddy, admit it!"
"We do," Dr. Briefs ensured. "But we can't reveal ourselves. If Vegeta doesn't want to help then it's up to us to go into space and remove Blue Dwarf. Or if we can't do that, we could simply demagnetize the imploded star, so it will be set off course and not collide with our Sun. Perhaps it will work..."
Bulma bit her lip in apprehension. Then she whirled to face Vegeta, "No wonder all the planets we trade with are so disgusted with the very mention of your name!" She spat, "You son of a bitch, you can't even get off your damn high horse to help us in a crisis and yet you still expect us to feed and clothe you like an infant." She looked away in disgust. And then, Bulma added insult to injury, "I can see why your father gave you away to Frieza. He was probably relieved to get your slimy self off his hands."
"That's enough Bulma," Dr. Briefs interjected, although it was too late and the damage was already done.
Vegeta stood frozen from Bulma's biting words. No one had ever said anything remotely cruel to him relating his father, for fear of their lives, save for Frieza. And yet this woman stood fearless, spitting out insult after insult.
He growled at her false assumption of his father and somewhere in the depths of his blackened soul, he could feel the cry of a Saiyan child being held captive in a dank room of an enemy ship's hull.
She would never know of the pain he suffered! NEVER!
In blinding anger he stormed over to her and wrapped his icy fingers around her fragile swan-like neck, wanting to crush it in his grasp. But he knew he wouldn't... He couldn't. The fear that had been present when he attacked her in the medical room was starting to emerge from her eyes at that very moment and Vegeta felt as though he had been dealt a blow to his stomach.
His grip, not harmful but firm, remained around her neck. "Get me out of this Hell hole, bitch. NOW!" He said through gritted teeth, with a barely controlled rage.
The moment Bulma felt his fingers wrap around her neck, Bulma knew she had said too much. She just couldn't stop herself! She didn't know why he was being so stubborn and refusing to help them when they needed him the most! She somehow knew that this was the only way to get through to him.
Dr. Briefs was stunned into silence as he watched his daughter being mauled by the angered Saiyan. But deep down, he knew that the Saiyan Prince would never harm his daughter. Would he? He turned around to face the large keyboard and began to immediately let his fingers fly over the smaller keys.
"Bulma, I'm teleporting you both out of here!" He said urgently. He knew it was for the best if Vegeta was in the light of day, rather than in the enclosed control room of 'Ground Zero'. It was not the first time that people were affected by claustrophobia of the underground city.
Their first few employees had become rather irate at spending their time enclosed and so he knew it would take a while for Vegeta to adjust in the setting of 'Ground Zero'.
Bulma felt immobilized, but managed to nod as she heard her father's voice grow distant.
Vegeta growled as he looked down into her fearful eyes. He blinked and instantly, he felt his body shift into a lighter element.
He opened his eyes to find himself on the gravel drive-way at the front of the Briefs' mansion. He snarled and unclasped his hand from her smooth throat. She had felt so good under his touch that he wanted to enclose her in his arms and kiss her pouted lips for an eternity...
He looked away, ashamed he was still thinking such things even after her poisonous tongue had lashed out at him.
As soon as he stepped back Bulma looked at him with a pained expression. "Strike two..." She whispered somewhat sadly.
He frowned at the comment, finally understanding by what she meant as 'Strike Two'... The second time he had come close to hurting her. Would he ever learn to control his temper?
Would she ever learn to control her sharp and venomous tongue?!
Bulma's heart was pumping the adrenaline hormone wildly around her body. She slowly began backing away from Vegeta as though he would jump upon her once again. She reached down to her belt and pulled out a small capsule.
Fingering the capsule, she shook her head at Vegeta and pressed the button, throwing it a few feet away from her. It landed towards Vegeta's right and in direct line of the high arched gates of the mansion.
Vegeta's eyes snapped to the capsule and he watched it explode in a combination of a bang and smoke.
He raised his eyebrow as the smoke cleared to reveal a sleek cat-like motorcycle. Like the ones he had seen on TV when the GR had malfunctioned and he was forced to watch the program with Bulma's father, to pass the tine. He had been bored to tears as they drove around in continuous circles amongst dirt. He had found the entire program pointless.
He grew confused. Was that what Bulma was going to do, drive around in circles amidst dirt?
Before he could say anything, he saw her push past him and jump on the bike. She turned the bars, revving the engine from a purr to a loud roar. Without waiting for any reaction, Bulma accelerated forward, feeling her back tyre skid as she sped away through the open gates of the long driveway. Even at her sped, it had still taken her two minutes to reach the gates that led out into the busy center of Satan City.
She was on a rampage.
It was then that Bulma realized she had forgotten her helmet.
Vegeta watched her gain speed like a mad woman as she urgently tried to ride towards the exit gates as fast as she could. The woman was an absolute lunatic! She was stark raving mad!
She was... Utterly gorgeous on that motorcycle and Vegeta knew it. Not thinking, he rose up into the air with a smirk. His past anger forgotten, he realized she was trying to get away from him on her little bike! Well, Vegeta loved the thrill of a chase. It was natural in Saiyan blood and the prospect of chasing Bulma brought his blood to boil.
He smirked as he flew after her at top speed.
This was one challenge that he would definitely win.