Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Standard Lines ❯ 1. The Story of Us ( Chapter 1 )

A/n: read and enjoy!! Please review if you can. Thank you

Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the characters

Warning(s): V, AC, AL

Reminder: this whole story is fictional. Means I made up the names and roles of the characters that aren’t from DBZ. Please, enjoy

  Standard Lines  

“Why good morning master Briefs” a mid-skin white haired man greeted with sarcasm as Trunks walked in the door to the big Capsule Corporation building

“Morning Charles” Trunks smiled tiredly. The Brief’s family servant Charles; he had become more of a father to both Trunks and his sister Bra since their parents died. It had been a long and tragic evening that night. While the blue-eyed girl, eight years old at the time, cried in the middle of the living room soon after hearing the terrible news Trunks stared out the window, angry, swearing on his parent’s life he would avenge their deaths. And he had. The first time he ever killed he was thirteen and his heart felt more at ease than it felt conflicted. He had killed his parent’s killer. His hands were stained with the blood of this madman that had taken away the most precious thing he ever had. He felt revived, calm. He felt complete

Charles, of course, knew nothing about the homicide. The morning after the murder he had stared at the picture of the dead man on the paper, briefly, with a strange sentiment filling his eyes. Trunks, who sat across him at the kitchen table as if waiting on line to read the paper, felt Charles knew the man or at least had seen him before. Whatever it was seemed to keep the older man distracted the rest of the day. He had dropped plates unintentionally, had forgotten to make important phone calls, and did not get to important meetings with the Brief family accountants. The behavior was unlike him. When Trunks confronted him, thinking he was somewhat linked to the killer, Charles confessed what it was that had his mind troubled
“The man on the front page…he killed your parents” he trembled. Trunks tried to act like he had no knowledge of the fact and it worked well enough to convince Charles he had nothing to do with it... or so he thought. Charles, on the other hand, had had an intuitive gut feeling that Trunks was a suspect maybe even responsible. He had raised the child since he was eleven years old and could read him well like a book by now. Ever since his parents had died the lavender haired boy with eyes so bright they could lighten the world with just a blink had become angry and deeply resentful. His appearance had turned rough giving the impression that he had died on the inside. He looked emotionless. Yet what Charles couldn’t seem to explain was the calmness with which Trunks had handled such a revelation. He wasn’t disturbed or distraught. He felt indifferent. Of course Charles would never push the child to confess. He had been waiting for someone to get back at the miserable scum that had killed Ms. Bulma and master Vegeta. He loved serving them, especially Ms. Briefs, she was a warmhearted woman. She made him feel like her family was his family too and so was the way he learned to take care of the kids after they were gone forever
“Might I ask where you’ve been? I last recall seeing you walk out that door yesterday” Charles spoke with irony again. Trunks chuckled weakly
“Relax” he said with eyes so tired they were closing on him “it was a late night” he yawned walking past the servant with worn-out steps
“Where is your partner-in-crime?” asked Charles knowing fairly well that where there was one there was other
“You mean Pan?” Trunks turned to face the older man with a smirk “she was right behind me” he indicated. Charles turned to the door where a tired Pan quickly appeared behind it
“Why good morning” the man greeted again with as much sarcasm as earlier before “might I ask where you have been? It is nine o’clock in the morning” he informed. Pan sighed
“I know. It was a late night. I’m sorry” she said looking at Trunks. Trunks mouthed the words ‘lab.’ Pan nod, ever so slightly, so Charles wouldn’t decipher their silent language. Charles didn’t seem to catch on
“A late night indeed” he said “you think I haven’t been up all morning worrying about the lot of you?” asked Charles with a steep voice. Pan shook her head
“Sorry. I should’ve called-”
“There was just no time” Trunks came behind Charles. Charles narrowed his eyes at her then eyed Trunks to do the same
“You have better call next time. Or I will go to the extremes to find you” he said and with that he was out the door to the kitchen. Trunks and Pan walked to the lab together…

(())

“Trunks!”
“Hey babe-” Bra threw her arms around Trunks before he had a chance to say another word. Typical. Bra suffered from an anxiety problem that if not controlled could get dangerously severe. Psychologists had declared it developed because of the shock she went through when she learned her parents were dead. Two years went by with her not saying a word at all or even making a sound. The day she finally opened her mouth to speak she said
“I’m scared” and burst into tears. Trunks had held her close to his chest feeling the tears roll down his bare skin. From that moment on he knew she was extremely scared of losing him even when she wouldn’t say it out loud. The nights she couldn’t be on the ground with the rest of the team seemed endless to her. Until Trunks made it home safe she just couldn’t drift into a peaceful sleep no matter how hard she tried. She needed to know he was alive
“I’m so glad you’re ok” Bra snuggled closer to him. Trunks breathed in the scent of her hair cupping her head in his hands. White cherry blossoms; every time; her hair smelled like a whole field of them
“Are you ok?” he looked into her eyes. Bra nodded but Trunks could tell by the puffiness in her eyes she hadn’t slept much
“I sent a message to your PDA-”
“I got it” Bra interrupted “I just…couldn’t…” she looked to the ground. Trunks breathed out anger slowly beginning to build up. He didn’t like her worrying sick over him. It didn’t make her any good. She was a brilliant girl, incredibly like her mother, therefore in charge of the intelligence part of their project. Sleepless nights slowed down their progress. She couldn’t work on a tired mind. The emotional tension from the previous night wore her out. It always did
“Bra” Trunks grabbed her shoulders “listen to me. You have to stop-”
“Trunks come on. She was just worried” Pan interrupted
“I know she was” said Trunks never breaking eye contact with his sister “I promised to send a message the moment we were done with the job. You said you would go to sleep when you knew I was ok. You have to stop-”
“Let go of me!” Bra snapped breaking free from his weak embrace “I tried to sleep but I couldn’t” she explained
“Is this gonna happen every time I’m on the ground and you have to stay here?” asked Trunks with a frown
“No!” said Bra “I just had a bad feeling”
“You always have a bad feeling Bra. I risked getting caught to send that message ‘cause I wanted you to get some sleep. We need you to decipher all the information today. You can’t do it with barely two hours of sleep” he said
“Yes I can! I can read through all of it in an hour and identify suspects within thirty-”
“No! You can’t!-”

“Yes I can!-”

“No you can‘t!-”

“Yes I-”

“Alright stop it. Both of you” Pan stepped in between the pair “Trunks just give her a chance. If she says she can do it she can do it. I don’t think she’d mess around with this stuff. None of us would” she said sounding rational. Trunks stared at Bra behind Pan now
“One mistake, a slip, and we’re done for. Focus” he looked at Pan
“You better hope you’re right” he turned on his heel and walked away and out of the room. Pan turned to Bra
“Don’t worry about him. We had a long night” she said. Bra nod once
“I know” she said quietly. They stared at one another in silence
“Well we better get this going” Pan waved the pages in the air “we‘ve got schematics in the afternoon…”

(())

Two hours had gone by. Bra had been able to decipher the information that Pan and Trunks had confiscated and was now on to identifying the suspects. It was a long list

“Thurman had a lot of people working for him” Pan read through the lists of suspects a big cup of coffee on hand. Her hair was straight and down long enough to reach her elbows. It was wet from taking a shower and smelled of sweet honey

“They didn’t work for Thurman” said Bra from the big computer system inside CC’s private lab

“What do you mean?”

“Mr. Bill was the one working for them” Bra handed her a sheet of paper containing all sorts of information “he was getting paid to cover their tracks. Say a politician wants to kill his competition to get ahead. They send their people to get the job done and Bill would clear the space before the police got there” she explained. Pan nodded

“I see” she read through the lists again “and these are-”

“The first row is the name of the shooter. Beside it is the name of the person that assigned the job, the description of the job and their target. The last row indicates whether the killer got the job done” explained Bra. Pan breathed profoundly

“We’ve got a lot of work to do” she said

“It’s interesting most of these guys were hired by the same person” Bra pointed out

“Who‘s that?”

“A guy named Costello. I’ve researched every database available even governmental structures. There are no matches for this guy which means Bill probably had access to the federal system and erased the file before anybody could see it. There’s a probability Costello is not our guy’s real name” Bra said

“How did Bill Thurman manage to infiltrate our government‘s system?” asked Pan more angry than confused

“He sabotaged the codes. When the system was back up it picked up his id as if he was one of them” Bra explained

“What security clearance did he have?” asked Pan

“Level three. That‘s two levels more than the clearance we have” said Bra. Pan thought for a second

“We need to find his access code. We can use it” she said

“It’ll be a lot easier for Costello’s people to track us down. They’ll know we’re logged on from one of the systems here” said Bra

“That‘s true” Pan sighed frustrated “if we log on somewhere else they’ll know it’s one of us” she said

“Well…” Bra smiled in achievement “not if we assume a different identity” she said. Pan furrowed her brows

“Who’d you have in mind?” she asked. Bra stood from her seat and walked over to the other half of the room filled with nothing but boxes full of paperwork

“Linda Hoffman had just gained access to all of Bill’s accounts, hadn‘t she?” she said pulling out Linda Hoffman’s profile

“Linda Hoffman is dead” Pan quickly reminded

“Yes” Bra agreed “but what if she never really died? All we need is a different system” she said. Pan analyzed the plan

“Sounds like we’re cutting corners. We can find someone else. Someone whose file hasn‘t been altered. Someone that‘s still alive” she said. Trunks entered the room now dressed in black basketball shorts with no shirt on a towel around his neck having just come out of the shower

“What’s going on?” he asked

“We have a lot to do” said Pan. Trunks walked over to the computer station. Pan was distraught by his manly scent. Cool Water she had gotten it for him as a birthday present…and couldn’t be more glad he wore it still. Bra explained her idea to Trunks and Trunks didn’t seem ok with it either

“It’s linked back to us. We were the only ones that messed with Linda’s profile before she died” said Trunks

“They don’t know it was us” the blue haired female protested

“Bra these people have killed important figures within the government and have gotten away with it. We have to assume they know better than that” Trunks said “aside from Bill’s access to the federal system what else have we got?” he asked

“Names, targets, descriptions of the jobs. Bill wasn’t the assassin nor was he in charge of hiring the killer. He took care of clearing the scene before the cops got there” Pan said handing him the list of names she had been given earlier

“Where’s Goten?” Trunks asked. Bra’s head spun at the sound of the name. She didn’t know what it was but her stomach felt queasy whenever he was around her. Her thoughts would get all disrupted and she could not concentrate no matter how hard she tried. Her breath quickened and her heart beat so hard she could hear it. She surely felt a lot of affection for the guy. The fact that he went to the extremes to make her smile was amazing to her. She felt grateful

“I thought you knew where he was” said Pan

“Has he called?” asked Trunks alarmed. Pan shook her head. Trunks turned to Bra

“Get a hold of Goten ASAP” he ordered

“What’s all the fuss about?” Goten entered the room now with Marron close behind him

“Where did you go?” asked Pan relieved

“We went to the coffee shop around the corner” said Marron “I needed caffeine” she held up her big cup of coffee

“What’d we miss?” asked Goten

“We’ve got names and targets” Bra walked up to him and handed him the list of suspects she had developed

“Let’s get on this. We need to find Costello” said Trunks

“I don’t think Costello is our guy” said Pan. Trunks locked eyes with her

“Why?” he asked his temper rising

“Well because we don’t know who Costello is. We need more information to determine our position” said Pan

“What are you suggesting?” asked Marron

“That we go for the men that work for Costello. Make them talk” she said. Everyone seemed to agree…everyone except for Trunks

“We‘re gonna waste time we don‘t have. The second we kill one of Costello’s men they’re gonna be looking for us and we won’t be able to stabilize our position” he said

“For all we know, Trunks, Costello could have an army guarding his doors and we won‘t be able to make it through-”

“It’s a risk we have to be willing to take-”

“It doesn’t make sense” Pan was angry now “we’re not going to risk getting killed just to get to Costello. It’s not worth it. Not until we know who he is and what he’s up to” she said. Trunks breathed out

“Listen we don’t have the time to play hide and seek with this guy! He’s gonna kill us the second we get to his men! I’m not gonna draw back on getting to him because you’re scared-”

“Scared!?” he had pushed the buttons for Pan “we don’t know who this guy is. We don’t know what he’s capable of. We don’t even know if he’s real! You wanna go after a fucking shadow!? Go ahead! But I’m not the coward here! You are!” she yelled. Whenever Pan and Trunks got into this sort of fight they got physical. Anticipating the situation Goten and Marron moved on to precautionary positions. Goten wrapped his arms around Trunks and held him back away from her while Marron did the same with Pan

“Let me at him! I’m gonna kick his ass!” she yelled

“I’m gonna break her face!” Trunks struggled to break free and so did Pan

“You guys” Bra started in a soft voice “I found something” she said falling to her knees. The room fell silent. A single tear rolled down Bra’s cheek. Trunks pushed Goten off him and ran over to Bra kneeling before her and holding her face in his hands

“What is it?” he pulled her face up so their eyes would meet “Bra” he called but could tell her mind wasn’t here. Trunks sighed looking behind her…where he found what she had seen. Browsing through the information Bra had uncovered a file that contained pictures of the targets assassinated. Their father had been one of the targets. His face was purple. An iron chain had been wrapped around his neck. His eyes were bloodshot and had bruises all around them. His mouth seemed broken. His lips were swollen more than usual. Trunks felt the urge to throw up but fought hard to hold it in

“Come on” Goten’s hand fell on his shoulder “you don’t need to see that” he said with a stern voice

“Don’t touch me” Trunks slapped his friend’s hand off his shoulder “I gotta go-”

“Trunks come on-”

“I’ll be back at night” he walked up to Pan. His stony eyes sent shivers down her spine “can you make sure Bra’s alright?” he whispered

“Yeah I’ll take care of her” Pan cupped his face in her hands “be careful” she whispered. Trunks placed his hands over hers and pulled them off him

“Call me if she gets worse” he walked past her and left the room. The room fell silent. Bra was sobbing on the stairs to the computer. Marron was seating beside her stroking her back gently. Goten stared at Pan as she gave a step towards the door

“Don’t do it” said Goten. Pan turned to him

“I have to” she said and with that she was out the door…

(())

“Keao” a semi-bald man in his early forties was on the phone. He was dressed in a teal suit with a mustache that was as white as the color of his hair. His features were sharp and clean. His piercing eyes expressed hatred but above all power; the kind of man people usually feared

“Is this a secure line?” Keao asked from the other end of the line

“It’s my limousine line. You said there were matters that needed my immediate attention?” said the man

“Yes” Keao sighed “Bill Thurman is dead” he announced. The man felt short of breath

“Who did this?” his voice was reduced to a mere whisper

“We do not know signore” said Keao

“Do we have any leads?” the man was angry now

“We found the casket of the bullet that went through Mr. Bill’s head signor. We’re afraid that’s the only lead we’ve got” Keao spoke regretfully. The signor stood on the line pensive. Bill’s folder contained confidential information regarding the country‘s leader, Raphael Donnatte, and all of his acquaintances. There would be massive murder had it fall in the wrong hands. Important people would die; people that had been essential for the dictatorship regime to rule the lands. Citizens would be destroyed. They would never gain their trust in the government. He couldn’t risk getting caught, not him, or the members of their organization. Had he been too careless? Had he underestimated what his enemy was capable of?

“Gather everyone. Gather all of our things. We need to move along…”

(())

“Trunks” called Pan entering Trunk’s majestic bedroom. It had large walls made of marble with long windows covered by triple-sheet curtains to keep the light out when the day was bright. The floors were made of polished stone. The bolted ceilings made the room look bigger and more spacious. A door at the side of the room gave way to a nice balcony with a view to the city. It was impressive

“Trunks?” Pan called again. Trunks appeared out the walk-in closet with a gun on hand and a rack of bullets in the other. He started charging the gun his eyes never meeting with hers

“Don’t” Pan said lowly “it’s not going to bring him back. It’s not going to make it hurt any less” she said. Trunks looked up at her. His face was splotchy. The look in Pan’s eyes brought peace to his heart. He sniffled and continued to charge his gun

“I’m gonna make him die the same way he killed my father. I’m gonna break his teeth and then I’m gonna put a bullet through-”

“Stop” Pan shook her head at him “don’t do this to yourself” she walked over to him and held on to the gun. Trunks let her have it easily. She ran her hand through his beautiful lavender hair

“Come ‘ere” she whispered. Trunks let his head fall on her shoulder gently. It was there, with his face lost in her beautiful brunette hair, that he let himself cry. Pan let the gun hit the floor. She held him close to her feeling his body tremble as he shed tears. Trunks held on to her tight. He didn’t want her to move. He didn’t want her to go. He wanted her right where she was, holding him the way she was holding him, it felt soothing

“I‘m so sorry” she whispered. Trunks breathed out. Images of his father being strangled and in pain suddenly rushed through his head. He had loved his father more than anything in the world. What he most admired about him was the courage he had. His father was the bravest man he ever knew. And they killed him. They strangled him with iron chains until the blood in his eyes burst. They punched him ’til his mouth was broken. They tortured him. Why would they….

“Hang on a second” Trunks broke free from Pan’s warm embrace “we need to look at the autopsy” he pushed past her headed towards the door to exit his room. Pan furrowed her brows

“W-Wait!” she called. Trunks turned to her

“My father was tortured” he said “there must’ve been a reason for that” he added cleverly. Pan breathed out

“Trunks there’s no reason. They killed him because he stood against our government’s principles and because he stood against the regime. It’s what they do. They’re trying to create a unilateral government and they can’t do that if there’s people that still believe in other political systems--”

“If all they wanted was to eliminate people that believed in other kinds of governments they would’ve shot him in the head and get it over with. My father had something they needed. Whatever it was he resisted and didn’t give it to them-”

“You don’t know that-”

“You’re right I don’t. The autopsy will tell us the cause of death. It could’ve been because they killed him right after they got my father to confess but it could’ve also been he died on them because of the injuries sustained” explained Trunks. Pan furrowed her brows puzzled

“Trunks I-I d-don’t-”

“Please” Trunks was practically begging. Pan rolled her eyes

“Fine. But you have to promise you’re gonna throw your whole theory out the window if you’re wrong” she said. Trunks turned his back on her walking out the room

“I’m not wrong” he whispered to himself “that’s what’s fucked up about it…”

End of Ch. 2. well I hope you liked it. Please let me know what you think. I will appreciate it very much. Thank you for reading my story