Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Two Sides to a Story ❯ Poetic Justice ( Chapter 5 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Two Sides To A Story
Chapter Five


Blood… Oh God, there was blood everywhere! And the-the screams
were… deafening…

It was never Hector Romesco's intention to ally himself with the
Devil incarnate. For much of his adult life, he simply chose to
concentrate on his studies and the pursuit of science. It had never
been in his nature to purposely want to harm anyone. If asked whether
he was capable of blind vengeance, he would have responded with a
laughing negative. It was his unfortunate luck, and his trusting
nature, which ultimately led to his premature demise…

>>>>>

Hector was nursing a coffee in the small rest area on the far
side of Sector Two when the first alarm sounded off. He had been
patiently waiting for his fiancée to finish taking her samples from
Specimen V and, at the noise, all of his blood turned to ice. Felicia
Brevas, his beloved, had confided to him on more than one occasion that
she feared their newest acquisition. If not for the intriguing elements
that his blood work revealed, she would have asked for a transfer to
Level One. Hector worked there in the cloning sector across from
Weapons Advancement where Specimen F ("No need for such formalities.
Call me Frieza.") was permitted to associate with the staff. Despite
his repulsive appearance, the alien proved to be sociable and charming
and Hector eventually warmed to him the more they interacted.

"You're not like the other one," Hector had commented to him
three days after Vegeta had been brought back and secured in Isolation.

Frieza had been watching the sparse sea life outside of the
observation view port of the young scientist's office. Level One had
been his home for the last two years and he displayed no irritation at
the limited confines of his prison. He was permitted surprising freedom
in the few areas that he was allowed to visit, this office being one of
them. "We're a completely different species. Mine being the far more
evolved of the two, of course," he remarked condescendingly. "Saiyan's
are savage little monkeys."

"'Monkeys'?"

"They possess tails, quite redundant appendages but for one
unique quality that allow them to shape-change."

"Into what?"

"Nothing important," Frieza dismissed. He tapped at the thick
glass, frightening away a curious jellyfish and his black lips
stretched into a humorless grin. "A curious by-product that made them
efficient cannon-fodder. Nothing more."

"I get the impression that there was some familiarity between the
two of you. Do you know him personally?" Hector asked.

"Only by reputation," Frieza lied smoothly. His reflection's cold
grin stretched even further as he elaborated, "This male, Vegeta, I
believe his name to be, is only a lowly Saiyan even by his own
definitions of the breed. Ignorant but very deadly. He cannot be
trusted."

Leaning away from his desk, the human nodded in blind acceptance.
"They have him in restraints in Isolation but Felicia told me that
sedation is becoming a concern. Apparently, his immune system is
unprecedented and counteracts all of their drugs. Commander Bedlam
fears that an escape is imminent."

Dropping his leering smile, Frieza assumed an expression of deep
concern and finally turned away from the window. "I know of the anatomy
of this breed. I can offer a formula that will be more effective in…
controlling him, if you would like it."

Hector jumped to his feet and offered the alien his chair in
front of the computer. "We'd appreciate anything you can give us that
will help, Frieza. Will it really work?"

"Oh, it'll work. Trust me," Frieza purred and began entering
complex molecular interactions into the medicinal database. His grin
was back, wider than ever.

>>>>>

Emerging from the break room, Hector joined a squad of guards
rushing to the Isolation sector. He prayed that it was only a false
alarm but deep in his heart he knew that somehow, Felicia was involved.

"Sir, you don't have clearance to come in here," the Lieutenant
on duty informed him as the immense doors cycled up to open. The
instant the metal barriers parted, he could hear the terrifying shrieks
of agony and felt a responsive pain in his own chest. "Let me in!
That's my fiancée! I know it! I have to get in there!"

"I'm sorry, sir, but this is a restricted -Hey!" Hector
shouldered aside one of the soldiers and cast a frenzied look inside of
the chamber. The transparent cube was streaked with dark blood and the
scene of utter pandemonium. At least six guards were seated on the
Saiyan male as Professor Willis was injecting him with the synthetic
tranquilizer that Frieza had concocted. His struggles were weakening
but Hector couldn't help but notice that his right arm was coated in
dripping gore up to his elbow.

More agonized screams wrenched the scientist's gaze away from the
feral alien. His wide eyes turned to where medical staff had crowded
around a second individual lying on the floor. A pair of legs were
kicking weakly and Hector recognized them at once. "…Felicia?
!!FELICIA!!"

The doctors lifted her onto a stretcher and Hector almost passed
out on the spot. Felicia's usually immaculate white lab coat was coated
in blood from her breasts to her knees. A single rope of grayish
intestine protruded from the gaping wound on her midriff and at first,
Hector couldn't figure out what that strange growth was. "Felicia!"

"H-Hector?" Felicia looked around blindly and finally saw him.
Her face was ghostly pale and streaked with tears. "Hector! It-It
hurts! It hurrrrrrrrrts-" She vomited an immense gout of blood that
appeared almost solid with its consistency. After that, she succumbed
to wrenching convulsions.

Hector never saw her body go into its horrific death-throes on
the stretcher, by then he had mercifully passed out.

Her remains were cremated and the memorial service was held in
the chapel on the Main level where the entire off-duty staff attended.
All of the people employed at Installation 15 were deliberately chosen
for their top-secret positions because none of them possessed any close
relatives. It was standard practice but none of it eased Hector
Romesco's heart that he should be the sole person left behind to mourn
her unfair passing. He took a mandatory two-week absence and didn't
return in much better spirits than how he'd left, but for one major
factor; He wanted vengeance.

Predictably, Frieza was there. He easily assumed the literal role
of being the Devil over his left shoulder, whispering dark suggestions
into the scientist's half-listening ear.

"Saiyan's are prideful monkeys. You can't hurt them with words or
even punishment. Only one thing penetrates their eternal arrogance,"
Frieza told him with a sly, knowing tone.

"What's that?" Hector asked apathetically. He had a picture of
Felicia as the wallpaper on his computer desktop and now stared at her
carefree smiling image with tears in his eyes. It had only been three
days since he had returned and her death was terribly fresh in his
mind. He hadn't slept in days and, quite unknown to him, his psyche was
desperately vulnerable to suggestions.

With the insight of a true predator, Frieza homed in on that
weakness and began murmuring his intentions without hesitation. He had
been locked away in this place and rarely made demands beyond his wish
for liberties involving more freedom of movement. Now he had another
favor to ask. Humans were so unappealing to his personal tastes but he
had always enjoyed the unique sensation of Saiyan flesh against his
own. His simple request would benefit the both of them…

…and Hector went right along with it.

>>>>>

Professor Gerald Willis had his nose in a report he was preparing
for an upcoming briefing and barely glanced into the monitoring room as
he stepped past. He immediately did a double take and backtracked until
he was standing outside of the door.

All of the monitors that recorded the activity inside of
Isolation, where Specimen V was kept, now only displayed blank grey.
"What's going on here?" he barked as he entered the room.

The guard on duty jumped to his feet. "Sir?"

"What's happened to the damned surveillance cameras!?" he
thundered.

"They've been placed into a ten minute self-diagnostic, sir."

"I gave no order for this. Who was the authorizing party?" Willis
asked curtly as he crossed the room.

"Doctor Romesco, sir. He presented the necessary clearance." The
guard handed him the convincing paperwork that even had a passable
forgery of Willis' own signature at the bottom, granting the procedure.
The scientist looked at this with dawning realization and then turned
to the console that monitored Specimen V's vitals.

The readings were off the scale.

"Shit!" he hissed under his breath and slammed his palm down on
the emergency button. Immediately, clarions sounded off on all levels.
Grabbing the nearby microphone, he said over the speakers; "This is
Professor Willis! There's a security breach in Isolation! All Special
Cadres and medical personnel assemble there at once!"

Leaving the flustered guard behind, Willis bolted downstairs and
joined the rest of the rush to the huge double-doors at Level Two. He
wasn't assured to see that the Major and his staff assigned to the day
rotation were assembled on this side of the room trying to get back in.
Standing among them was Hector Romesco.

Grabbing fistfuls of the younger man's coat, Willis slammed him
up against the nearest wall. "You idiot! What have you done?"

"He deserves it! He killed Felicia!" Hector yelled back. His eyes
rolled with exhaustion, grief and temporary insanity. "I don't have any
regrets!"

"!!WHAT DID YOU DO?!!" Willis roared.

The young doctor only continued his inconsolable babbling and
Willis let him go with an expression of disgust. Hector slid
strengthlessly down the wall and hugged his knees to his chest as his
body was wracked by sobs. Ignoring him, Willis turned on the red-faced
Major sliding his code-key uselessly back and forth in the security
slot. "What's your excuse for leaving your post?"

Swallowing, the Major admitted, "I don't have one, sir."

"I'm going to have Commander Bedlam feed your body to the
sharks," Willis promised him, oblivious of how foreboding the threat
would turn out to be. There was no lie in his cold eyes and the officer
felt his recent promotion go sailing out of the window with the threat.
"What's the problem with the release sequence?" the Professor asked
next. He shelved the deliberate security lapse for a later time when
more proper and less rushed reparations could be made.

"The sensors are reacting to a breach in containment, sir," the
Major informed him.

"Internal or external?" Willis queried, not liking the idea that
the next room could be flooded with thousands of tons of frigid
seawater.

"I'm not getting any indications of an external rupture-"

"Then open the damned doors, you idiot!"

"Sir, there's something wrong with the interior servos. I may not
be able to get them to cycle closed again once they're open."

"!!NOW!!"

Opening his mouth to begin the debate about proper over-ride
procedures, the Major determined that he was no longer a sterling
advocate of protocol and silently entered his personal sequence. By
now, all of the staff had assembled and the soldiers held their weapons
at the ready. The doors reluctantly accepted the code and began their
laborious cycle to open. Before they had parted more than a crack, the
first of the agonized wails penetrated the tension. Like fingernails on
a blackboard, the deafening cries spiraled up almost into the
ultrasonic. They would pause long enough for one quick intake of breath
and then start again louder than ever.

Willis charged in even before the Special forces soldiers were
able to restrain him. The scene of chaos was far and beyond his worst
expectations. The steel walls of Isolation were charred and pitted and
even the careful welds holding the panels together were buckled in
several areas. It almost appeared as if the chamber had been exposed to
atrocious heat for a short duration. All features had been scrubbed
clean from their surface, including the cameras positioned at each
corner and trained in the center of the room. There, even the
supposedly shatterproof cube was lying in pieces; reduced to dime-sized
fragments like windshield glass on a highway. Lying amid the clutter
was a pale white figure huddled into a tight, shuddering ball. Willis
recognized him with complete bewilderment. "Specimen F?"

"Ohhhhh, youlittlemonkey! Howcouldyoudothisto MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-
" Frieza was screaming over and over.

There was the mutter of a low sound, almost similar to a chuckle,
and Willis turned to the far corner. Beside him, the soldiers released
the safeties on their automatic weapons and trained them on their
target.

Huddled down into a defensive crouch, Vegeta distrustfully eyed
the scientist as the man moved in for a closer look. The Saiyan
appeared none the worse for wear for whatever the explosion that had
razed the chamber. Only his face appeared marred, with a blistering
burn on his left cheek and his lower jaw smeared with a dark purple
liquid that appeared to be blood. With a snorting cough, he spat out a
chunk of meat at the shocked scientist's feet.

It took almost a minute for Willis to recognize the four-inch
length of flesh he was looking at. He glanced at Frieza's howling form
and back at the Saiyan and wisely moved away. He was cupping his own
groin and trying not to be too obvious about the gesture.

"Puts a whole new spin on the expression, 'Bite me', doesn't it?"
Vegeta snarled with deadly seriousness.

"HorridlittlemonkeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-" Frieza screeched.
He managed to raise his head once before slumping back and gripping his
severed, spouting limb with both hands. The lower part of his gown was
bright purple and his tail flailed about crazily in his agony, smashing
anything it came in contact with.

Willis was on the verge of hyperventilating. Both aliens were
free of their bonds and conscious. While he watched, the Saiyan was
struggling to remove the padded restraints that still encircled his
wrists and ankles. His movements were clumsy and uncoordinated from
residual sedation. Somehow, with some Herculean effort, he had managed
to actually pull them free from the metal brackets that they had been
secured to. The terrified scientist motioned to the medical staff
behind him to assist the injured alien.

"Every-everything's going to be alright, Specimen V. C-calm down
now," he intoned gravely, stepping aside to permit the guards to do
their job.

The instant the soldiers advanced, Willis saw a terrifying change
come over the Saiyan male. He had been shaved shortly after he had been
brought to Installation 15 and now his close-cropped black bristles
assumed an odd blond twinge. His black eyes became twin emeralds of
concentrated rage. With a roar of anger, his left hand shot out and
released a blast of white-hot energy. At the contact, the soldiers did
not so much burn as explode from the impact. The contrail of deadly ki
traveled the length of the room and detonated against the wall, causing
the steel to twist with a rebelling squeal of tortured metal.

"I told you- My name is Vegeta! PRINCE OF ALL SAIYANS!" he
bellowed and threw another volley at the resisting barrier.

A different sound joined the general alarms. A small hole formed
in the center of the blast crater etched into the wall and a trickle of
water seeped from it. Almost immediately, the puncture became a
widening crack and seawater began to flood into the chamber at an
alarming rate. "External rupture in Sector Two, Isolation," a computer
voice informed them. "Containment of Isolation now being implemented."

"Clear this room," Willis ordered. "Everybody out or we'll be
trapped in here!"

No member of the staff was going to risk their own lives for a
pair of aliens, intriguing though they were. Dropping their gear they
sprinted for the exit, joining their comrades in the corridor as the
first rivers of bloody water dribbled out after them. Anxious eyes
watched the doors, waiting for the cycle that would effectively close
them and save the rest of the Installation from a devastating flood.

The doors didn't budge.

"Containment of Isolation unsuccessful," the computer said
pleasantly, as if they were all blind to the fact.

Trying to avoid giving an 'I told you so' look, the Major tried
unsuccessfully to enter various over-rides and get the barriers to
close. The water was rushing out of the room in a greater flow as the
fissure widened. Willis felt a foreboding pop in his ears as the
pressure in the corridor began to compress. He went to a glass covered
box mounted on the wall and shattered it with his elbow before pressing
the button.

"One minute to complete evacuation of Level Two," the computer
voice suddenly boomed over the speakers. "Fifty-five seconds to
complete evacuation of Level Two… fifty seconds to-"

"Everyone upstairs now!" Willis commanded. He passed the cringing
form of Hector Romesco and reluctantly hauled the weeping scientist to
his feet. He half-pulled, half-carried the man to safety even though he
didn't feel the bastard deserved it. When Commander Bedlam got through
with him, Romesco was going to wish he had been left behind.

The water was up to their ankles when Willis looked back at the
smoking chamber of Isolation one last time. The reason for his entire
life's work was being abandoned to its fate and he couldn't help but
feel a pang of regret for the loss.

It didn't mean that he had to die for it, though. Without a
second thought, he pounded up the stairs to the safety of Level One.

>>>>>

Vegeta had greyed out with the second discharge. It wasn't until
he felt the shock of ice water against his face, did he realize that he
was now alone in the rapidly flooding room. Pushing himself up into a
sitting position, he ignored the floating pieces of soldiers he had
killed and eyed the flooding crevasse with satisfaction. Beyond that
twisted metal was freedom. It was all he could ever have hoped for.

A gibbering, strangled curse filled his ears, barely audible
above the deafening alarms and the roaring of water. He noticed
Frieza's shuddering form and forced himself to his feet, managing to
succeed on the second attempt. The numbing water was already to his
knees and the metal was groaning from the diverse pressures. There
wasn't much time before the chamber imploded but a morbid curiosity
plagued him into investigating.

Frieza was sitting up and the chill of the water must have helped
him gain his senses. At least he had stopped screaming. "Vah-ghe-tah,"
he rasped hatefully. "You-UGH! You d-dare do this? You- I… I'll kill
you!"

His own face an impassive pale mask, Vegeta strayed too close and
that repulsive pink tail wrapped around his ankle with crushing force.
He didn't even notice, staring down into the face that had haunted his
dreams for more years than he ever wanted to count. Here was a
celestial boogey-man groveling at his feet; a planet slayer beyond
reckoning. Vegeta's own personal demon in the flesh. He had felt a part
of himself wither and die at the sight of his greatest terror remade in
all of its hideous glory. The sensation was a holdover of the child who
had been rendered helpless and forced to submit to the alien's
perversions even as his indomitable pride contorted in agony. No more.
At the first invading touch, his will had resurfaced and with that,
followed the superhuman strength. The transformation to Super Saiyan
had never been so fast or so primal. Vegeta had literally pounced on
the first thing to catch his eye and, to Frieza's chagrin, his
straining erection had been the sole target for the Saiyan's wrath.

Even now, at the creature's mere touch, Vegeta could feel that
power suffusing his pores in reaction. The Super Saiyan transformation
had always been motivated by extreme emotions and what the Saiyan felt
for his former tormentor eclipsed everything in comparison. "I've
learned something from you that I never would have expected, Frieza,"
Vegeta confessed as he looked into the other alien's wild, enraged
visage.

"Treacherous, despicable little monkey," the ghastly alien
sputtered. "What could YOU possibly learn?"

"You taste like chicken," Vegeta sneered and spit on him in
contempt.

With a hard yank, the Saiyan pulled his leg free and stepped back
as he powered up. He saw Frieza's eyes widen almost comically at the
sight of the transformation (which would have been a whole lot more
impressive if he still had his damned hair!) but didn't linger to
provide an explanation. The walls around them were bowing noticeably
and the seawater had reached his waist. It was now or never.

"I'm condemning you to Hell," Vegeta growled, his eyes never
leaving Frieza's as he gathered his ki. The water pulled away from him
in a clear circle as that golden aura protectively cocooned his slight
form. The Saiyan finally looked away to the wall and the spouting
fissure before directing his cold gaze to the ceiling.

Frieza wasn't going to Hell alone.

>>>>>

Commander Bedlam was trying to calm his men on the Main level
when the entire Installation buckled with what felt like an explosion.
Scarcely before the computer could inform them that Level One had
suffered a breach in containment, Vegeta plowed through the floor
barely ten feet away from the shocked officer. Pausing in his retreat,
Vegeta and the infuriated officer exchanged one chilling glare. The
human's gaze contained only hatred and loathing, a desire for
redemption for the Saiyan's past atrocities when he had first visited
this world. For Vegeta, his gaze reflected his indignation over what he
had endured in the present. There was a union of kindred spirits and
similar wills in that brief glance but it was short-lived. Without a
word, the Saiyan plowed through the ceiling of the Main level in
pursuit of his freedom.

One room away, Hector Romesco rose from the couch where Professor
Willis had unceremoniously dumped him and now walked calmly to the
window. He ignored the terrified screaming and the alarms and hardly
felt the cold water start rushing around his legs. An odd peacefulness
had suffused his being in spite of the anarchy beyond the room. He was
actually smiling when the first crack appeared on the foot-thick glass
before him. As he watched, the glass transformed into a spider web of
minute, hairline breaks.

"Felicia, my love… I'll be seeing you soon," he whispered and
betrayed one shaky, grieving sob of relief.

The window exploded a heartbeat later.

It didn't take long for all three levels of the underwater
facility to flood. Once the mass of water overpowered the pressure
maintained in the structure, it crumpled in on itself like one immense
beer can. An explosion of air, debris and bodies surged from various
ruptures. Some items settled reluctantly to the bottom while others
danced briefly in the black currents before being buoyed to the surface
far above. Small shrimp and scavengers attacked the bodies and scraps
of flesh they found, attracting larger fish to the unique buffet.
Eventually, the sharks homed in on the party and by the time they were
through, very little were left of the soldiers and staff of
Installation 15.

>>>>>

Exploding through the ocean's surface in a huge geyser of water,
Vegeta burst into the blue sky with a howl of triumph. He spread his
arms wide to the sunshine and released a rare bark of genuine laughter.
"I made it! I'm free! I'm-"

-and that's when his ki extinguished itself.

There was no warning to the act. No telltale weakening of his
aura. No internal precursor that should have alerted him that he had
exhausted his reserves. One second he was blasting away from the water
in a powerful vertical arc, the next his power simply turned off as if
someone had flicked a switch. He was better than thirty feet in the air
when this happened and now tumbled helplessly back down to the ocean.
Only one startled thought had time to whip through his mind -This just
isn't fucking FAIR!- before he slammed into the dark blue water.

The bullet wounds on his back were only partially healed and the
impact was excruciating. To make matters worse, the Saiyan's dense
muscle mass immediately worked against him and started to pull him
under. Floundering about more in blind urgency than logic, Vegeta
struggled to keep his head above water but he knew he wouldn't be able
to keep up this pace for very long. Spots of darkness hovered in the
corners of his vision and his limbs were getting heavier with each kick
and stroke. Inhaling a mouthful of salt water, he started coughing and
only succeeded in swallowing more of the bitter liquid. He managed one
more weakened kick and sank like a stone.

…trunks… i'm sorry, he thought incoherently, surrendering to the
pull of the black depths below, i never got to be a father… bulma… you
and i-i…

A gigantic air bubble buffeted him aside and bright scraps of
material swept past him. The remains of the Installation had finally
reached the surface and the debris was flowing all around him. More out
of luck than accuracy, Vegeta managed to snag an object before it could
get past him and allowed it to pull him back up. Breaking the surface,
the Saiyan inhaled desperate lungfuls of precious air. He gripped the
lifejacket he had caught in a hold that was almost a lover's embrace.
It was an unknown length of time before he even registered that there
was a body included with the offering.

The soldier's mangled face didn't dawn on Vegeta's numbed senses.
Under normal circumstances he might have recognized the person as being
Tucker, the human he had taken hostage in his aborted escape attempt
over a week (weeks? months?) ago. After that close call, Tucker had
taken to wearing a lifevest under his uniform whenever he was on duty.
He had even slept in it. Unfortunately, it had only succeeded in saving
a lifeless corpse.

Lacking the strength to unfasten the garment, Vegeta flipped the
body over so that he didn't have to look at that face and held onto the
life jacket with two panicked fists. Resting his cheek against the
cushioned fabric, he fell into a dark faint allowing the ocean to take
him and his odd raft wherever it dictated.

>>>>>

It could have been only an hour or a full day when Vegeta finally
roused to something poking his right shoulder. He gave one irritated
shrug and tried to fall back asleep but that urgent tapping continued.
"G'way, Nappa… " he grumbled, "don't wanna train t'day… 'm tired… "

There was a loud squawk and something sharp dug into one of the
wounds on his back. Vegeta released a startled shout, whirling to
confront his attacker and lost hold of the jacket. The shock of the
water roused the last of sleep from his dazed mind and he floundered
back to the surface, coughing and sputtering. A seagull was sitting on
the back of his floating corpse, watching as he grabbed onto the orange
preserver with its small, black eyes. Vegeta's own blood was smeared at
the point of its beak and the Saiyan lunged for it with an outraged
curse. All he got was a handful of feathers for his efforts but the
bird wisely took the hint and flew away. At first, the Saiyan was
amazed how resourceful the earth creatures are to be able to fly so far
from land, until it dawned on him:

Perhaps land wasn't so far away.

He tried to draw on his ki again but there was nothing but a
vague ache in the back of his brain. It felt like a muscle that had
been deadened by an attack and was loath to work again. With a
grumbling sigh, he kicked the water and directed himself and his
rotting prize in the direction that he had seen the bird fly. He kept
his thoughts carefully neutral during this process, concentrating only
on the effort and avoiding anything else. He was a pro at such single-
minded pursuits and knew that he couldn't afford to be distracted by
thoughts of Frieza (who was now probably being slowly digested in some
sea creatures belly), his past tortures or even what he was going to do
if-when he reached safety. He was only interested in obtaining that
latter concern first.

Despite his body's insistence to rest, the Saiyan kept swimming
with that customary stubbornness that so categorized his personality.
Life had offered him only two choices in his current plight; he could
swim or he could die. After viewing a spectacular sunset of firestorm
reds and oranges, the Saiyan kept kicking long after darkness enveloped
him. He had no direct course to follow and was numb to the pull of the
poles that might have helped his sense of direction. For all he knew,
he was swimming in aimless circles and eventually ceased his efforts.
Buoyed by the rhythmic flow of gentle waves, Vegeta directed his gaze
skywards. Had he thought that he had felt loneliness when he had been
stargazing on that dinosaur island? He hadn't even grasped the concept
compared to how he felt this very moment. There was going to be no
miraculous intervention to save his hide this time, he realized. He was
going to die here. Whatever his past sins, he had paid them back in
spades for all of this suffering. This was no deserving end for the
Prince of all Saiyans. Hopefully, judgement would take that into
consideration when he surrendered to the next dimension.

"Father, I'm finally coming home," he said in a voice devoid of
fear. The life jacket slipped from his aching fingers and the eager
depths of the ocean quickly pulled him under before he could react.

He didn't go far. Almost immediately, he embraced coarse sand and
the expression on his face would have been comic at any other time.
Settling his feet on the bottom, he stood up to his full height in
water that reached his chest. Casting an incredulous gaze to the nearby
shore, his eyes finally registered the vague outline of rocks and palm
trees of an island. Kami knows how long he had been paddling around in
this shallow inlet of the beach. It could have been for hours!

Staggering to shore, he started chuckling to himself at the
irony. The muted snickers eventually became loud braying laughter. By
the time he made it ashore, he was practically screaming with the humor
that was interlaced with shock and hysteria. He collapsed in the damp
sand even before the last shout echoed over the small island, his body
surrendering to its exhaustion. On his face was an expression of
contentment and relief before he fell asleep.

>>>>>

The rest of the night passed quietly and without any disruptions
to the Saiyan's peaceful slumber. The sun had been in the sky for
several hours before he finally began stirring in the welcome warmth.
His entire body ached but the heaviness from the drugs appeared to have
finally left his system. His mind was alert when he sat up and began
considering his surroundings. He looked down at his palm and tried to
form a small ki ball and almost instantly, a bright lance of pain
pierced his skull. The harder he tried to focus his power, the worse
the pain got. Finally, he abandoned the effort before his head
exploded, or seemed about to. Something was desperately wrong, he
understood that now. What the hell had the humans done to him?

Further down the beach, he saw a flock of birds crowded around
something and rose to investigate. Tucker's body had made it ashore and
the crabs and birds were enjoying a decent breakfast. Vegeta waved the
winged vermin away and considered the corpse for a moment and then
looked down at himself. The soldiers uniform was tattered and ripped
but it was a far cry from the hospital gown that the Saiyan had been
forced to wear. Vegeta was sick of parading around bare-assed and
decided to undress the human's stiff body. Tucker was seven inches
taller and a good sixty pounds heavier and his clothes hung on the
Saiyan's too-lean frame. The pants alone would have puddled around his
ankles if he hadn't poked a new hole into the belt and cinched it tight
around his waist. He even wore the combat boots, though they were two
sizes too big. Once he donned the cap to protect his vulnerable scalp,
the picture was complete. Dressed as he was in army fatigues, the
entire troop of Z Fighters could have walked right by him and not
recognized who he was.

Vegeta wondered how long he was going to be stuck here until his
power returned and decided to reconnoiter the area to check its
potential resources. He was terribly hungry and if he didn't hunt
something down, and soon, he was going to be feasting on Tucker a la
king before the day was over. It wasn't a thought that held much appeal
for him and got his legs moving.

About a mile down shore he came across tracks that made the blood
in his veins turn into shards of ice. There was a large furrow in the
sand as if something had dragged itself from the water. Following that
were curious three-toed tracks marching up the beach towards an outcrop
of volcanic rock. Vegeta was shaking his head in dismay even as he
followed the tracks, shaking his head in dread. "It can't be him.
That's not possible. It can't be-"

"!!MONKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!" Frieza leapt from the safety of the
rocks, howling at the top of his lungs. He plowed into the startled
Saiyan and the pair rolled head-over-heels in the sand before Vegeta
managed to kick the alien away and scramble to his feet, backing
quickly away.

Facing him in a wary crouch, Frieza hadn't emerged unscathed from
his escape of Installation 15. He had lost his gown sometime after
Vegeta had escaped and his nude body plainly displayed the dark bruises
and gashes of his ordeals. Factoring in the Saiyan's own little 'trim'
job and Frieza looked like he was in a world of hurt. He was suffering
terribly but he wasn't dead.

Not yet, Vegeta vowed. He raised his hand palm-up in an
instinctive gesture and called out; "Gallic Gun-" He gripped his head
and fell to his knees with a wail of agony.

Frieza's cold laughter barely penetrated the haze of pain around
his thoughts. There was a tickle above his upper lip, and when he wiped
his nose the back of his hand came away streaked in blood. He looked
over at the gloating alien with only confusion in his dark eyes.
"What…?"

Chuckling, the pallid creature regarded him spitefully. "Do you
like it?"

Vegeta only stared at him.

"My gift to you, Vegeta," Frieza grated in his raspy voice. "You
think that the human's managed to subdue you with their primitive
restraints and their watered-down drugs? You should have suspected
something in your first escape attempt when your blast failed to
penetrate the glass."

"What did you do to me?!" Vegeta screamed at him.

Gripping his mutilated flesh, Frieza dropped the false humor and
regarded him with an expression of chilling hatred. "You've been
exposed to a poison of my making, Saiyan. The human's, those trusting
fools, thought it some extraterrestrial sedative. Can you believe it?
It weakened you, that's all they cared about. But it's also been
devouring the portion of your brain that houses your power. You've been
exposed to it for almost three weeks now," he released a bitter laugh
of amusement. "Longer than I could have ever dared hope."

"I had my power. I was the Legendary Super Saiyan! You saw it!"
Vegeta yelled at him.

"Yes, I saw it," Frieza admitted but his face was still twisted
in that gloating smirk. "I hadn't realized you'd managed the
transformation. It's of no consequence. The adrenaline surge must have
allowed the change but it didn't last, did it my little monkey? Where
is your Legendary Super Saiyan power now?"

Breathing heavily, Vegeta looked down at his hands in growing
fear. He couldn't deny the ache in the back of his skull where he
normally felt that responsive click of his ki. There was nothing for
him to draw on. How on earth could he face off against Frieza without
even the ability to fly? With an expression of utter hopelessness, he
faced the cadaverous-looking alien with the first tendrils of fear
worming itself into his gut.

Pursing his lips like a man about to blow someone a kiss, Frieza
purred, "I hope that my penis grows back soon. It appears we're going
to be stranded here together for a very long time, my Prince."

That did it. Power be damned, Vegeta launched himself at the smug
creature and landed a series of blinding kicks and strikes. He still
had his martial arts and his arcane speed and he attacked Frieza with
every style he knew before thought had time to become purpose. One bent
knee got past half formed defenses and broke a rib. An elbow whipped up
and cracked Frieza's cheekbone. There was a satisfying explosion of
expelled air when Vegeta forced both fists directly up into the aliens'
vulnerable diaphragm. Throughout the frenzied combat the sallow
creature presented little of a challenge. At first, Vegeta suspected
the lack of participation was some sort of ruse; something to draw him
in and exhaust himself before being attacked. It didn't happen. When
the Saiyan pivoted on his heel and struck Frieza squarely in the face
and knocked him over, he stayed down.

"Why aren't you fighting?!" Vegeta screamed down at him. He
kicked the grotesque alien squarely in the ribs and derived no
satisfaction as the object of his rage only stirred weakly in the sand.
He deserved this battle. There were scores to settle that only the two
of them could rectify. Kakarrot was dead and there was no meddling son
who could interfere this time. Frieza had stripped him of his world,
his people, his title, his honor and now his very power. All that he
had left were the remnants of his pride to sustain him. "You owe me
that much, you bastard! Fight me!"

"… I can't…" came the hoarse response.

"I won't tolerate any more of your bullshit! GET UP!!" He grabbed
a fistful of Frieza's clammy flesh and was unprepared when that skin
sloughed off of the alien's breast bone with a moist sucking sound.

Staring at what he was holding with an expression of surprise and
disgust, Vegeta threw it away and wiped his hand on his thigh to rid
himself of the feel of that decaying flesh. He forced himself to take a
closer look at the alien lying in the sand. Frieza looked as if he had
aged centuries since he had visited Vegeta in his cell. What had he
said back then? Something important… There's still a way to go before
I'm complete. I've been very cooperative with the humans to get what I
want.

"You-you have no ki," Vegeta realized.

Sputtering on a mouthful of bile, Frieza spat out, "I have ki, I
just cannot use it-"

"-without causing your cells to degrade. How many times have you
had to be cloned?"

"You can't count that high, monkey," Frieza rasped with his usual
patronizing manner.

Kicking sand in his face, Vegeta stalked a short distance away.
"You're not Frieza at all," he finally said in frustration. "You're
just a piece of flesh that didn't have the sense to shrivel up in the
desert before the humans found you."

"As long as one strand of my DNA exists intact, I'll be
resurrected to the Frieza who owned you, beloved chibi. The humans have
other labs, other scientists. Tomorrow or a hundred years from now,
someone will find my remains and the pattern will start all over
again."

"…no," Vegeta was shaking his head. Quite unexpectedly, he was
thinking of little Trunks. What would the boy do if faced with the
resurrected tyrant at some unseen point in the future? Was he going to
turn his back now and surrender his only son to that unknown hell?

Like his father had done to him?

"No," he said in a stronger voice. He stamped back and stood over
Frieza's dying form with his hands clenched into fists by his side.
"You're not coming back ever again. It ends here and now."

"What could you possibly do about it?" Frieza shot back, defiant
to the end.

Cupping his hands in front of him, Vegeta locked his wrists
together and splayed the fingers as if he was gripping an imaginary
ball. "I have a going away present I think you'd like to see," he said,
squeezing his eyes shut. He began to concentrate on searching for
whatever miniscule scrap of ki he could salvage amid the damage. The
pain settled in almost immediately, galvanizing with its ferocity but
he pressed on. His hands started glowing and Frieza's leering grin
dropped in shock.

"You-you can't do that! I won't allow it!"

Blood flowed from Vegeta's nose in a flood and soaked the front
of his newly acquired clothes. His bloodshot eyes wavered back and
forth between black and green before settling on that piercing emerald
regard. "No adrenaline surge is responsible for this," he snarled as
the glowing ball in his hands increased in size. Tendrils of bluish
static snapped at the air as the power-up continued until it reached
critical mass. "It's just good old-fashioned hatred, Frieza. I'm giving
you a one way ticket to Hell!"

"You can't do this-"

"!!FINAL FLASH!!"

"-to MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-"

The compact ball of energy exploded from the Saiyan's trembling
hands and hit the thrashing alien at point-blank range, incinerating
most of him on the spot. Vegeta could have aborted his attack then and
there and perhaps saved himself from serious damage but he wasn't
taking any chances. Concentrating the blast into Frieza's charred
remains, he punched down into the islands bedrock and through to the
planet's mantle. Magma flowed up the path he had created and he barely
had time to leap to safety when the first of the red hot lava spewed
from the fissure, reaching a height of over ten feet before spreading
outwards.

There wasn't even a molecule of Frieza left over when the molten
rock slowly oozed over the area. Vegeta used up the absolute last
tendrils of his ki to enable him to get to safety before this new
volcano engulfed him. He made it about a mile up the beach before
collapsing face first into the sand.

Struggling to get his breath back, Vegeta gripped his throbbing
skull and started screaming from the excruciating pain. Blood continued
to pour from his nose and he was unaware that he was shedding crimson
tears in his agony. A tiny rivulet of blood trickled from his left ear
and ran unnoticed down his cheek. Blackness mercifully closed in and
his unconscious body made several weakened convulsions before it went
still. The sand around his head darkened in a spreading pool of blood.

The nearby palms rustled briefly with a sound that was almost a
mourning sigh. A gentle gust of wind swept over the unresponsive form
of the lone Saiyan with a gesture resembling a saddened caress. The
souls of several hundred thousand murdered Saiyans had been vindicated
by the battle and now were free to seek out the peace that had eluded
them for so long a time. It was the greatest gift that the Prince of
their once-proud race could have ever bestowed upon them. Vengeance.
Redemption. Freedom. Surging skywards in triumph, several hundred
thousand voices called out their sincere gratitude to the source of
their affection.

Long live the Prince.


----------------------------------------------------- -----
Chapter Six: Baby Trunks' health takes a turn for the worst.