Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Shattered Glass ❯ Broken - Part II ( Chapter 6 )

Shattered Glass

Written by Namek Kaia

Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ… you don't own this fic. It's what makes the world go `round…. ^^v

Chapter Six

Broken - Part II

( The Aftermath of Passion )

Piccolo's eyes slowly opened to the sight of a strange bedroom ceiling, illuminated by the twilight of early morning. As his eyes closed again, his mind resurfaced the events of the previous night and brought a satisfied smirk to his lips. He soon became surprised that he eventually had fallen asleep. The clock read 6:05, meaning he hadn't slept but about 4 hours. Then, as if it was his habitual morning routine, he reached to his side to pull closer to him the body of that exquisite female he had met only the night before. Another surprise came when his hand was met only by the cool of the sheets.

The Namek's eyes flew open and saw the other side of the massive bed empty and smooth, leaving no evidence that anyone had been there in that last few hours. Surely it wasn't a dream…he thought as he sat up and used his senses to scan the room, then the lower level of the house. A wave of relief passed through him when he sensed her small aura in the living room. But something wasn't quite right with her. He could feel it, not in his mind, but in his heart.

Piccolo threw back the sheets and rose from the bed, the chill of the morning air caressing his naked form. As he walked across the room, he materialized some training pants so as not to walk around her house in the buff. He followed her unmistakable scent back to the living room, but paused in the open doorway with the uncertainty of how she would respond to him because what had happened last night. For him, it was a complete revelation, and a once-in-a-lifetime experience. But did she feel the same way, or did she regret the entire thing?

He stood watching her for a few moments; sitting in her rather large, plush leather recliner with the coffee table scooted closer and almost touching her knees. Sitting atop it was her cereal bowl, which she was picking at slowly. She wore only a small red velvet robe, most likely an expensive one, embroidered with elegant golden patterns. Her shoulders were slumped and the strange feeling he had sensed from the bedroom grew stronger, though he still couldn't distinguish what it was. She was this big bundle of complicated emotions, and he couldn't be sure that she even knew or understood what she was feeling. Her spoon lazily danced in the milk like her mind was somewhere else or she wasn't really interested in the food at all. The bowl was still mostly full, but had been sitting there so long that even he could see that it was soggy with milk.

She took a hesitant bite of the soggy cereal and then paused with the spoon in her mouth. And though he could not see it, her face twisted before she dropped the spoon. He winced from the clash of the spoon against the bowl as he continued to watch, not sure what was wrong. Both her hands went to cover her mouth and she nearly choked on the cereal as the sob rose in her throat. She barely managed an awkward swallow before she broke down into sobs with her face in her hands, and not for the first time that morning.

Piccolo felt guilt and a little disappointment in thinking that she cried in shame for what they had done, that she realized now what a mistake it had been. He carefully made his way into the room, trying not to startle her. And while he feared her reaction to him, the strange urge to comfort her was overpowering. With ease, he slid the coffee table away so he could kneel in front of her and contemplated what to do next. Should he touch her? Should he ask what the matter was? Should he do anything at all except stay there until she acknowledged him?

He studied her with his brow wrinkled in both confusion and concern. Her crying was soft, like she had cried too much already. Traces of tears leaked from behind her hands as her body shook with sobs. He felt how tired she was, how totally drained her body seemed now. It pained him to see her like this, so much that he couldn't help but to say something.

"Andréa? Andréa… what's wrong?" he asked, trying to make his voice soothing.

Her crying slowed and she gradually lowered her hands away from her face, revealing a tear-streaked face and reddened eyes, but her gaze did not meet his. It was like she was ashamed to look at him. Piccolo couldn't stand it anymore. He decided that he had to do something… even if it was something he didn't want to do. "I'm sorry about last night. I guess… things just got out of hand and…"

"What?" she interrupted, half strangling on more tears. Now her sad brown eyes met his and she looked genuinely hurt from what he said. He could see her eyes welling up with tears again.

Piccolo paused for a second. Maybe she's upset about something else… but what else could make her this upset? "Do you not regret what happened last night?" he asked.

"No! Of course not… but you do, don't you?" Her hands again went to cover her face and she made a weak, whimpering noise. "I'm so sorry."

"Andréa, of course I don't regret last night. I only thought that you were ashamed of what happened between us. I didn't mean to make you more upset."

She lowered her hands and looked at him with hopeful eyes as she sniffled. "So you liked it?"

Piccolo smirked at her. "That would be understating it, yes," he joked in a low tone, wrapping his arms around her waist and leaning in to kiss her. He could taste the saltiness of her tears on her lips, bringing back his first question. "So why were you crying like that? What's wrong?"

Her face saddened as she sighed. Her hand pulled at his forearm. "Sit with me. I have a lot to tell you."

Despite his confusion about what she meant and the desire to be closer to her, he rose to his feet and moved a matching recliner closer to hers instead of sitting in the same chair with her. He settled in and turned his attention back to her, hoping that whatever she had to tell him would remove these strange feelings that he felt coming from her. She breathed in and released a shaky breath before she began.

"Piccolo… I know we only met last night, and that things happened somewhat fast, but I… feel certain things for you that I don't normally feel for anyone." She stopped him when he started to speak in response. "Please, let me finish… or I might not say what I need to say." A smile crept across her face when he relaxed back into the chair, his hand reaching out for hers in case she needed comfort of some kind.

"Because I feel the way that I feel about you, I want you to know the truth, something no one else has heard outside of my company, which is not really a company at all." He opened his mouth to speak, but let her continue before she had to stop and interrupt him. "Remember last night when you asked me about my parents? Well, it's the truth that I never knew them, but what I didn't tell you was that I was never given the chance to. They were killed when I was only a few weeks old by SEICO1, which stands for the Scientific Enhancement Institution for Carbon-based Organisms. It's the black ops organization that I am forced to work for. I don't know exactly why my biological parents were killed, but I do know that it was probably because the organization wanted me as a test subject for their newest Bio-genetic Enhancement Program. SEICO was growing desperate for test subjects because of the many failures with enhancements in humans, despite their success with plants and animals. I never understood how it was possible, but scientists began to see better results in subjects that were younger. It was something about the genetics being more vulnerable to interference or something, but they concluded that the younger the subject, the better the results. So began the experiments on infants, and I was to be the first. I was also their first success. And that's why I was able to survive the jump off the cliff on the day when we first met. I'm built stronger, faster, and smarter than the average human. I also heal quicker, which is why I can now walk on my leg after it being so badly damaged." She paused and took another long, shaky breath.

"I also lied to you about how my leg was injured… and I'll get to that in a minute. An organization like SEICO is by no means research-based. They put up a front as a research organization called BioCom, which is how me make connections with other businesses, like Capsule Corporation. In actuality, it's an organization that creates and uses genetically enhanced soldiers to carry out discreet and/or illegal missions assigned by the governments of the Alliance, a force of several different governments from all over the galaxy whose dominant government resides here on Earth. So they established SEICO's base of operations here as well. My coworkers and I were designed to be able to complete these missions with ease, but it's no James Bond world. That's for sure. It's…"

"Uh… who's James Bond?" Piccolo interrupted, not understanding what she meant.

Andréa gave a short laugh. "Oh, I'm sorry. James Bond is a fictional character… a secret agent that is featured in various movies. He goes out on his mission, blows up some stuff, beats the bad guy, and gets the girl. The good guys always win and they rarely ever die. That's not how it is as a SEICO agent. It's brutal, much more brutal than anything seen on television. It can go from `no man left behind' to `every man for himself' if the slightest thing goes awry. And it's not because we're cowards. That's just the way we have been trained, from the time that we are able to walk as toddlers to the time we perfect our skills as young adults. The trainers mold you early on, to prevent rebellions. But we're not stupid. On our undercover missions, we see how everyone can live lives that we never will be able to live and experience things that we never will be able to experience. They erase specific details about missions, so we don't have the knowledge to leak secrets if we're ever captured, but they don't erase the memories of the outside world, the world that we can't have. It's like they're taunting us… or torturing us. I can remember that my leg was injured during a shootout that occurred when we were caught on a stealth mission somewhere north of Dinosaur City2 at some Holy Land or something, but I can't remember what we were doing or why we were there."

Something suddenly resurfaced in Piccolo's mind. It was something Dende had said to him while he was meditating about a month ago. "Piccolo, some of the sacred scrolls are missing. You haven't seen them, have you?" Kami's Tower was directly above the Holy Land of Korin. Could her organization have stolen the scrolls from the Lookout? And if they did, why would they want Namekian scrolls?

"But I can remember seeing happy families going out for ice cream, couples kissing on park benches, and mothers consoling their children if one of them fell down and scraped their knees." Tears welled up in her eyes again, and she paused to fight them off. "And I have to remember that I could never have any of that. Because I'm not allowed to fall in love. Because I'm not allowed to have a family. Because I'm untouchable… like shattered glass."

**********

SEICO Headquarters - Assistant Director's Office: 0624 3

Dar paced around his office with long strides and a hard frown that reflected his annoyance. Patches of his dark hair peaked through his bandaged head and swayed with his movements. He radiated anger, so much that even Karn, who was rarely ever frightened by anyone, was taking special precautions. Yune was retreating as far into the corner of his plush chair as he could. Even though he would not say a word to Dar with him this angry, the strategy still was to hide himself for fear of meeting the end of Dar's fist.

Karn was trying very carefully to calm down his superior and oppose him at the same time. "But Mr. Syres, what she is doing is treason. She should be treated as a traitor. What you are doing is giving her a free pass," he explained in a gentle tone.

"I know what I am doing!" Dar retorted as he stopped his pacing. "She is my betrothed and I will decide what should be done with her."

"She was with one of them, sir. A Namek. He's the only one known to be living here on Earth. But not only that, he's also been rumored to be the son of Piccolo Damioh." 4

Dar stopped. "He's what?" His jaw was set as hard as stone and his eyes were ablaze with fury.

"Uh… rumored to be the son of Piccolo… Damioh" Karn replied hesitantly.

With a roar, Dar slammed his fist into his desk, making a large crater in the center and nearly breaking it in two. He closed his eyes and tried to calm himself down. When his breathing evened, he had made his plans. "We did erase Andréa's memory of Operation Midnight, right? She doesn't know our plans and she doesn't remember what Nameks are, right? And she doesn't realize that what she's doing is high treason, right?" he asked angrily through clenched teeth.

"R-right, sir. Yes sir. Of course, sir," Karn agreed, mentally kicking himself for his stuttering and his fear.

"Then we're moving the plans up, just in case. Get the scrolls before she finds them - tonight while she's being briefed. And complete the damn operation immediately after she gets back from her next mission. Am I understood?!

"Yes, sir!" Karn and Yune stood and said in unison, the left the room in a hurry.

Soon after the door was closed, another grunt and slam could be heard… followed by the crash of a broken desk.

***********

Andréa jumped as the antique grandfather clock in the hall chimed at 7:00. For the last half an hour, she had been relaying how her life had been as a SEICO agent, what she could remember as her various undercover personas, and even the event of her boyfriend's death the year before when her superiors had found out how close she had become to him. That's when the room had fallen silent. She continued after recovering from being startled.

"Oh… where was I?" she asked.

"Alex Peatry."

"Right. They gave me no mourning period or anything. I was briefed for my undercover mission the next morning. They shipped me off here to Satan City and enrolled me into Orange Star High School as a junior, even though I was 21. That's how Videl and I became such good friends. I told her the same story I told you last night. She thinks that I'm an orphan who's trying her hardest to make it in the real world. When I have to go on "business trips", she covers for me at school and gets my homework for me." Andréa gave a small smile as she continued. "Videl is such a good friend… and it hurts so much to not be able to tell her the truth."

"Why me and not her? I'm sure she could keep it to herself. It wouldn't be the first time she's had to do it." Piccolo explained, referring to her knowledge of the Son family.

"Because the mission is to investigate her. If I told her, it could jeopardize the entire thing."

"What are you investigating about her?" he asked.

"I'm supposed to find out what she knows about something called a Saiyan. Dar thinks that she could be our link to them. But I don't know what he wants the information for or what he plans to do with it when he gets it."

"What have you found out?" Piccolo asked, not all that concerned for the Z squad's safety, but still curious.

"Not a whole lot. The only things I have are rumors and a hunch that Gohan could be a better source for what I need, but he's not my assignment. It's really hard for me to be sneaky about getting the information, especially since she's one of the only friends I've ever had. I can't find it in myself to betray her, or her trust. But Dar is pushing me for information as soon as I can get it. If I fail this mission… there's no telling what he'll do to me."

"Why don't you just leave? You have your friends here. You have… me. Just stop letting them control you like this," he reasoned.

She hesitated for a while. "It's much more complicated than you make it seem. I have obligations that are beyond my control."

"You don't owe those people anything, Andréa."

"Not to them. I'm not the only one they did this too, you know. The others like me have undergone the same kind of treatment. They're my family, Piccolo… the only family that I've ever had. I can't just abandon them. And it's too risky for us to all escape at once. SEICO will find us, wherever we go. To be free, we have to disable headquarters, meaning that we destroy the entire corporation. And that takes time and skill that none of us have right now. I have to stay… I just have to," she explained sadly.

"Then let us help," he offered.

"Us?"

"Me and my… friends. I doubt the SEICO people have a chance against us." Piccolo wasn't at all sure that the Z squad would help Andréa and her friends, but he was sure that Gohan would be willing, which meant that Goku would also help. Goku could easily persuade everyone else to disable an unethical organization like SEICO.

"First, I have to help you and your people." At his look of his confusion, she grabbed his wrist and stood, motioning for him to follow. "Since this undercover mission takes a substantial amount of time, SEICO memory scientists have to suppress the memories of my missions instead of erasing them since I need to remember certain things to acquire the information Dar needs. So, I have a small percent chance of actually remembering what the missions are for and why we are sent." They came to the main staircase and Andréa led him to the third floor, but never missed a beat in the conversation. "Ever since I saw you again at the club, I had been getting this strange déjà vu-ish feeling. And it triggered something when you mentioned that you were Namekian. I remembered this morning after you had dozed off why you seemed so familiar."

"And?"

"And all the memories of my injury came back. The briefing, the mission, the shootout, the escape, everything about it. We were somewhere North of Dinosaur City, in an area called the Holy Land of Korin. In that area is an extremely tall tower, and in that tower is where the sacred Namekian scrolls are kept."

So it was her that stole the scrolls….

"Our mission, Operation Midnight, was to steal the scrolls so that they can be used against the race of Nameks… to destroy them."

Say what?! "What does your organization have against Nameks?" Piccolo knew that the Namekian texts of the sacred scrolls had the potential to do things that the dragonballs could not, but he wasn't sure if they had the power to kill his entire race. They were only used in very rare and desperate circumstances when the dragonballs were of no use.

"Nothing. The Alliance and the other SEICO agencies don't even know about Operation Midnight. President Draco Pratt is behind the operation. His town and his family were destroyed in an attack by Piccolo Damioh when he was a child. He was the only survivor, and has sought revenge ever since."

"Piccolo Damioh was my father."

Andréa hesitated after reaching the first door on the third floor, looking into his eyes with that same sad expression as before. "I know…"

She led the way into the large room that functioned as part of an attic and headed straight for the far closet. Piccolo noticed that this room smelled different than the rest of the house, somewhat mustier. He could tell that things in this room were not used very often, if at all. Andréa walked into the closet towards the back and kneeled in front of a box that she had dug out that morning. She offered him the box and looked away as if she was shameful of its contents, "Here." Inside were the scrolls that had been taken from the Lookout. "I want you to have them. They belong to you and you're people."

"But what about Operation…"

"They won't know that I remember, so I am not to blame if the scrolls are missing. And if they still think that I've betrayed them… then I'm prepared to endure the consequences."

"Andréa, I'm honored that you trust me enough to tell me all these… really unbelievable things about you, but none of this explains why you were so upset this morning," he explained.

She stood and he could see the tears building in her eyes again. "Because… we can't see each other ever again."

~ TBC ~

Don't forget the endnotes at the bottom if you need them!

*****

That was probably a bad place to leave it, but it was the only way that I could think of to end the chapter. Sorry you guys have waiting so long for something so short, but considering it was supposed to be included in the previous chapter, it's pretty long. Anyways, so what do you guys think about Andréa now? Is her story at all feasible? What's going to happen to our once-happy couple? Did she just use him for sex? Is it all a lie? Oh, so many questions! There are many more surprises to come, and Andréa is in for some big ones as she finds out the truth about her past. Until next time!! ~ NaK

~ Review Responses ~

A special thanks to all my readers and reviewers! You guys are great! If I leave anyone out, I apologize and I'll get ya next time ~_^

Fanfiction.net -

Delta Damioh: Thanks! Reviews like that make me more confident about my lemons and make me want to write more, which sadly won't fit into the story for a while. Oh well. Sorry for the long wait, hope you'll still read and review! By the way, you're pen name was what made my decision about the spelling of his father's name in this chapter. ^^v

Catgirl-13: I'm glad you like the lemon and didn't think they were moving too fast. Since there's not a lot of room for emotional development through a relationship, I had to put it in the sex, you know? Lol. Thanks for the compliments. I hope you keep reading!

hippiechic: Wow! Almost a K lemon? What a compliment! :D Thanks chica. I'm really glad you liked it. And I'm really proud that you think I did a good job. I'll try not to slack off so much from now on. Lol. See ya!

fury: Well I'm happy to know that you think lemons are my forte. Hope this chapter wasn't too much of a let down. Keep reading, if you will!

Mediaminer.org -

PiccoloLover #? : Thanks for taking time out to review! I especially like it when readers notice how detailed I am with things, and like it. Lol. I hope you'll keep reading!

1 SEICO: Pronounced like psycho (rhymes with Geico. :D)

2 Dinosaur City: Actually Giran's (a dinosaur-like creature that was one of Goku's opponents in the 21st Budokai) City, but I could find no official name for it

3 0624: Military time - not to be confused with a room number

4 Damioh: There are six million different spellings… this is the one I went with