Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Sins of the Past ❯ Smells Like Basement ( Chapter 14 )

Well, I did promise a new chapter with each review, so here you go! I'm so happy everyone is enjoying the story!!! Hope this chapter doesn't disappoint! Happy Thanksgiving!

Chapter 14

Smells Like Basement

The computer read out made no sense. Although it probably would to someone who knew how to read it, Amma thought. "Hmm," she nodded, trying to keep her face neutral.

"You have no clue what it means, do you?" Pheas asked, shaking his head.

"Nope, not a clue. Care to explain, and would you prefer I sit here and look stupid for a while more?"

"Simply put, the systems didn't blow on their own."

"You can make it a bit more complex," she rolled her eyes, "I already knew that much."

"Someone purposely shorted them out. There is no way Ab breaking through that window could do that."

"So the question is who? I think we can figure out why without too much trouble."

"Why what?" Sousan asked, sauntering in, and snatching the readouts off the table.

"I did not say you could look at those!" Amma snapped, trying to pull them out of his hand. He easily moved them out of her reach.

"What now you'll have to kill me?"

"It's a possibility." Pheas shrugged, "Can you understand what it says?"

"We were wrong about Ab shorting out the electronics." He shrugged, "That still doesn't explain what happened or why."

"You can not read those!" Amma cried, "You were listening outside the door, weren't you?"

He let out an exaggerated sigh; "First of all, yes I can read this. Unlike you I paid attention to this kind of stuff when we were at the Academy. I didn't spend my time drinking and picking fights."

"Don't forget sex." Pheas grinned, "She did a lot of that too."

"Don't want to think about that, that's your territory anyway." Sousan shuddered, "And second of all, if this is so top secret why are you having the conversation where any asshole could walk in?"

"Did you short the system out?" Amma asked, an evil glint in her eyes.

"He really did fuck your brains out didn't he?" Sousan threw the readouts on the table, "To even ask a question like that…"

"Then it doesn't matter if you overheard does it?"

"That's not the point he's trying to make." Pheas said reasonably.

"I know that! He is pissing me off though." She took a moment to calm herself, "Where did the original short occur?"

"Hard to say, I don't have a proper system reader. It'll take some checking. I'll have to go to all the trouble spots and manually check them."

"Fine divide them up and have Mr. Know It All over there help you." She turned on her heel and left the room.

"What did you do to her last night?" Sousan glared at Pheas.

Amma could hear Goten coming long before he entered the room. She was glad for the distraction, the computer screen was starting to hurt her eyes and she wasn't making any progress on it anyway. "Hey, kid," she called, "you're late. I expected you here hours ago."

"I was doing stuff." He said as he entered the room.

"What kind of…" she began, shutting down the computer, but the smell hit her before she could finish. It was damp, musty, earthy smell that was hard for her to place, "Have you been playing in the mud or wh…" she froze staring up at the tall, turbaned figure who stood behind Goten.

"This is Mr. Piccolo." Goten told her, hurrying over to sit on the arm of her chair.

"Why is he here?" Amma muttered out of the side of her mouth.

"He wanted to talk to you about Vegeta."

"Guess I don't have to ask how he found out about all this right?"

"It wasn't me this time." Goten pouted, "It was my mom, she told everyone."

Amma rolled her eyes, "Of course." She motioned Goten closer so she could whisper in his ear, "Does he always smell like that?"

Goten leaned away, scratching the back of his head, giggling, "Uh huh."

His laughter was contagious, and Amma was forced to clamp her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing herself.

Piccolo cleared his throat.

Amma and Goten looked at him guiltily for a moment, then Amma said, "Hey, kid, why don't you run and find Abraxious? He should be up and around now, and he actually likes kids."

"'Kay." Goten hopped off the arm of the chair and was off.

Piccolo and Amma regarded each other for a long moment. "As much as I'd love to continue this stare down, I'm a busy person, so maybe we should just get right to the point."

"That suits me."

She motioned for him to take a seat, but he shook his head. Shrugging she said, "You have come to plead the Saijin no Ouji's case?"

"No."

She waited for him to elaborate, but when he stood silent, she asked, "Then why are you here?"

"To tell you to release him."

"Can't do that."

"And why not?"

"Until I know he is no longer a danger, I can not release him."

"And what gives you the authority to judge that?"

"The Intergalactic Council."

"That's not what I meant." He folded his arms and glared at her.

"I realize that, but if you are trying to make this into a theological discussion, forget it. You won't suddenly change my mind with that sort of argument. Regardless of what I decided, he will still have to face that judgement in due time."

"If you believe that, why would you feel it necessary to judge him now?"

"The laws of man must be answered to first." She shrugged.

"I can give you my word that he has changed, and is no longer the danger he was."

"You say that like it should mean something to me. Why should it matter anymore to me what you say than what his wife or anyone else says?"

"He was once my enemy." Piccolo told her, "But he has changed since that time. I watched him sacrifice himself for this planet. He did this knowing he would not be rewarded in the afterlife."

"He's still here. I would say that is some reward."

"He didn't know that at the time. He committed a selfless act that alone should show that he's changed."

"Possibly." She shrugged, "But apparently no one stays dead for long here, so how do I know what was in his head when he gave his life?"

He was beginning to appear frustrated with her, "You sound like you're asking for guarantees, you should know that's not possible."

"True." She admitted, "But I don't think I'm asking for much. All I want is for him to tell me he's changed. I don't think that's much, is it?"

"For him, yes it is."

"Then as I told him, there's nothing I can do."

"He will never tell you what is truly in his heart. I only heard it once myself, when he was near death."

"Men say a lot of things near death, that doesn't necessarily make them true."

He glared at her; "You have an answer for everything don't you?"

"No, I don't. I don't have an answer for the most important question of all. Does the Saijin no Ouji deserve to die? And at the rate this is going, I don't think I ever will."

"But you would send him to his death anyway?"

"If I have to, yes. Why you would want to save him, I don't know, but I have a feeling you're honest in what you tell me. You know him better than I, tell me how to save him." Amma had thought about touching him, but something held her back. She had a feeling she could trust his words.

Piccolo came towards her, "If you want to know what is in Vegeta's heart, talk to Goku. After their fusion, he would know better than anyone except Vegeta."

"Then bring him here." She shrugged, "Apparently I have an open door policy. Everyone else just shows up."

Piccolo nodded once and left.

Amma leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. She didn't think a conversation could be so exhausting, and it wasn't over yet. Maybe she could have a quick nap before Piccolo returned.

"Hey, Am," Sousan disturbed her plans, "I have the…" he clamped his hand over his nose, "What the hell have you been doing in here?"