- 21 -
Nightmares
part 2
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Vegeta tried to lift his head but his neck was too weak to support it and it rolled down again causing a sharp pain to vibrate down his back and join the countless other pains that inflicted him. He was amazed he was even alive, never mind that he was in a state that could hardly be considered as such. Living. Ha! What a farce his life was. Being beaten multiple times a day to the point he was almost dead, then being thrown into a healing tank for maybe a minute or two so he wouldn't die so he could rot here in this room. What sort of life was that? But this was his norm, had been for... He had long since lost track of what day it was - not that he could really tell being locked in a dark, windowless room on a ship out in the middle of space somewhere.
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Day after day he endured this foggy, drug-induced state of awareness to the point that he hardly remembered what it was like to have a clear mind. Then again, that could be a blessing. With his senses dulled it was oh-so easy to forget where he was and the pain he was in. Letting everything go as he burrowed deep into the shadows of his mind, hiding within any memory he could just to forget his present predicament. It had gotten to the point that he was reaching for memories that he had buried in the depths of his mind for a reason. Dark things that he regretted; things he had had to once bury to stay sane; things better left alone.
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He didn't know why he was fighting to live anymore. At first he had told himself that it was because it was a matter of when and not if he got out of there, and then... then he would kill Freeza. Tear him to pieces. But how realistic was that? Bardock wasn't going to save him, not this time. Not when the vile lizard kept his pet monkey close at all times to play with whenever he felt like it. And the Saiyans could care less whether their prince lived or died. Vegeta started to chuckle, softly at first and growing louder each second. He sounded like a crazed man, and in truth he probably was. The thought that anyone would mourn his passing alone was amusing, but that his own people would... He was a prince of a dying race that hated him. What could be funnier?
His lungs reached their limit and he gave into the reeling coughing fits that quickly made him wish he hadn't laughed no matter how horribly poignant and ironic it was that it was exceedingly funny. No. No one would miss him when he finally gave up. The old fool was the only one who would probably feel something, but that was more due to him failing his duty to protect the prince than actually caring. Tash... There was him, his cousin. He still wasn't fully sure what existed between the two of them. Both knew Vegeta would kill him if it was something he had to do to finally kill Freeza, but nothing short of that would allow him to end the irritant that was Tash. He looked too much like Tarble and himself... and every time he even came close something kept him from doing it.
Drip
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He hung there by his scabbed over, bloody wrists on a chain against a hard, cold wall; wondering what there was left to live for if there was no escape? Because you fear what the souls of those you massacred and tormented will do to you?... He tried to swallow as he slowly shook his head, attempting to rid himself of the voice. It was right of course. For a Saiyan, if you did not join the gods at their table in the afterlife then you were given to the damned. The ones you killed and wronged as you clawed your way to the top, whether it be for power or extravagant commodities. The former was more likely, but both had once been the greatest sins a Saiyan could commit as far as the ancients were concerned. Yes, they all wanted power and honored it, but there had been other qualities along with it. It was better to die in battle for your people than to return beaten. And even then most times only the Saiyans that died in the heat of battle were remembered over those that won... Or at least it had once been like that from what stories he could remember as a boy. When had that changed? The Saiyans used to believe that that no Saiyans, even the king, were allowed to place themselves over the wellbeing of the people... When did they start looking out only for themselves? When did it become brother against brother? When did things get so horribly fucked up?
"Grrr," he growled lowly and it emanated throughout the small room.
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Why was he thinking this? These could very well be his last moments alive and he was contemplating the ethics of his people. How absurd. Do you have anything better to do? Of course he didn't. He was locked in a freezing, pitch dark six-by-six foot room with nothing but his own thoughts, the wheeze of his breaths and the constant madding drip, drip his blood made as it splattered on the metal floor. Through his broken nose he could smell the rotten, choking stench of decay and death from long gone inhabitants with his own metallic blood covering over it. What else was there to think about? Wallow in self-pity about how shitty his life was? He had never been one to do that. First of all, he would have to at least know another life, one that was without the horrors and animosity that filled his. He didn't know such a life. Sure, he knew other better lives existed, but he couldn't even begin to fathom such a life. When Bardock freed him he had kept himself separated from others for a reason, not wanting to see any other life... not wanting to know what it was like. It was why he had trained every day, nearly all day, and mostly alone until he was half dead. He had starved himself. He had forced himself not to sleep days on end. Why? Why would someone do that when they were no longer forced into such a life? It was the only life he knew. He didn't know how else to live and truthfully he really didn't want to change what he knew. He knew who he was in this life. A coldhearted, ruthless murderer who had the misfortune of being captured by his master after knowing the taste of freedom. But then had he really been free? If he lived and acted exactly like he did when he was Freeza's slave could he really say he had been free?
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Vegeta stiffened as he heard the footsteps approach his dark cell, mind freezing like a cub experiencing his first battle. How pathetic was that? He couldn't even think frantically when he heard those footfalls anymore. He gritted his teeth, trying to fight the rising fear.
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If it was just the normal shit, Vegeta would simply laugh it all off. Break his bones, whip him, cut him... anything you could think of more often than not it had been done to him. All of that he could take. Even Freeza's sick fascination with maggots and other disgusting worms was something he would rather endure over what he knew was coming. Most of it was psychological. He knew what they were trying to do, the fish-alien bastard had told him up front the first time they met. They wanted to find some way to control him... through his brain. Literally hijack his mind and take all control of his body from him, maybe even his thoughts. If it worked Freeza could simply program him to be whatever he wanted him to be. That was something that downright terrified him. For countless times now they had supplemented some of his torture sessions so he could be a test subject for this project. Making it realer, and besides the psychological aspect, the physical was not that enjoyable either.
Thump Thump Thump-
The footsteps stopped at the door to his cell. He could hear the beeping as someone entered the code. Swallowing, he found himself praying to the gods that it wasn't him. That it wasn't the fish-alien coming to do another round of experiments on him. Whoever thought he would be praying to actually see Zarbon's smug face on the other side? It was crazy! But that was how horrifying the thought of not being able to control his own body was for him.
"Hello, Vegeta." He squinted as the light blinded him and his heart sank as fish bastard's voice echoed in the room. When he was able to finally see the alien's ugly mug wearing a sickening smile greeted him. "You ready for another round? I do think we have it this time."
Vegeta growled at him, a dark threatening sound that would make anyone's hair stand on end any other time. The disgusting alien only chuckled as he took a step into the cell. In spite of his wounds and that he was practically dead, Vegeta fought suddenly against the restraints and reopened the scabs on his wrists, blood ran down his arms and the drip, drip, drip increased drastically. The alien patiently stood before him, waiting for him to tire as he pulled a syringe from his coat. Shifting sideways to use the light, he casually tapped the needle, all the while his yellow eyes glinting with amusement.
"Are you done yet?" he asked when Vegeta couldn't keep fighting, what little energy he had left, spent. "I would just hate to accidently mar you with this..." The fish-alien pinned him, quickly giving him the injection in his neck.
Vegeta felt the liquid almost burn as it spread through his system, making every muscle relax against his will to the point that his muscles became unresponsive and basically turned into a rag doll for the fiend before him. Unable to speak, he did the only thing he could do: growl. The alien only smirked arrogantly as he unlocked his ki-blocking wrist restraints from the chains on the wall before roughly throwing him over his shoulder.
"Come now, your majesty, once everything is set up as it should be I promise you will enjoy yourself immensely."
No. No he wouldn't. He knew this with every fiber of his being. He would not ever enjoy himself. But he could do nothing as he was carried to that dreaded lab. He couldn't even utter a word, only growl. The hopelessness of it all had never far, but he had never felt this much despair before now. Perhaps it was the way the alien had walked in wearing that smile that told him that he knew something Vegeta didn't. Or the way he was humming a cheerful tune under his breath. No, it was definitely the last one. He was far too happy. What was Vegeta going to do? He wanted to yell, to roar out, and to do anything to stop it. But he couldn't.
His panic grew the closer they got to those sinister doors and he knew deep down that they were his doom.Shit, shit... this can't happen. Whatever technology they have they can't take my will from me! I-It's impossible. With every thump, thump of the fish-bastards steps Vegeta's heart raced even faster to the point that he thought it might burst through his chest. Magick never worked on me... this won't work either. But that was why he was so scared; magick could be overcome with enough willpower to combat it. If they took his will, then there would be no willpower. Could they even control his nature? Vegeta held no qualms about it, he was a horrible man who killed... and sometimes he even got pleasure from it. Yet, even he had some things he would never do. Things Freeza knew and would no doubt take his own sense of twisted pleasure from when he made Vegeta do them.
When they walked through the lab doors, the harsh, stinging stench of chemicals greeted them. There was also an underlying hint of putrid and charred flesh. The reek of death overwhelming. Roughly and without warning, he was thrown down onto a frigid, hard metal table, his head cracking painfully against it, whichmomentarily made his world swirl around before his eyes as it become one blur of colors. After the wave of dizziness passed, he found himself looking at the poor sods who had been his stand-ins until they got the experiment just right so it wouldn't kill him. It was from them that this subtle, vile odor was coming. They were tossed haplessly off to the corner of the room, and from the faces that were distinguishable, it was dreadfully clear by their contorted faces and their agape mouths left from when they gave their last screams, that this... this was going to be the worst thing he would ever experience.
Squeezing his eyes shut, Vegeta struggled to block out the image of them, striving to find some safe place in the shadows of his mind to hide as they locked his ki-blocking restraints in place on the table. But the decaying corpses stayed with him, and in a way they almost looked like they were laughing at him, taunting him with the death he wouldn't get. Knowing they died for him to live through this new experiment, but dying would be much preferred over what would happen if it did succeed. Poor but lucky sods, the lot of them.
All thoughts ceased as the scientists helping the fish bastard cut into the skin of his head and then his skull, his eyelids squeezing shut even tighter. In a desperate attempt he searched out one mental link, a frantic all or nothing to reach Bardock. Even if he couldn't save Vegeta, Vegeta simply wanted to be anywhere but in his own head right then. He reached out, flailing about like a drowning person lost at sea. It didn't matter that he knew he wouldn't reach someone. All that did matter was that he was doing the only thing he could do.
Vegeta's sleep-state shifted unexpectedly from a memory that had been hidden deep within his mind -his subconscious trying to protect him until the fever unlocked it- to a twisted dream with persistent events of the memory remaining as someone's mind brushed against his own. What they said was only a jumble of words, but it was all he needed to latch onto their mind. Unfortunately his dream made this person incompetent in the way of mental links, and instead of pulling him afloat and out of the water, they both were dragged below the surface.
With the scientists all set up, they then applied a charge to the device still externally wired into his brain. Every muscle in his body tensed, including the diaphragm and heart, briefly stopping them from functioning before releasing the charge and they sprang back painfully to their natural rhythm. He gasped for air as the distress of it washed through him. Again and again they did this, and each time they got the same results. During the down times he could hear the scientists talking... taking notes. And during these times he would try to focus on them, on anything really to gain some kind of ground... to block this charge somehow. Maybe if he distracted himself. He thought he almost had it only for them to make the device apply the charge to a different neuron in his brain and heat flamed across his skin. It was like they had dropped him in a boiling vat of viscous liquid that not only burned but ate away his flesh like some kind of acid. He was only temporarily relieved of this burning acidic sensation before it was replaced by the worst freezing cold imaginable. His brain falsely sensed that every cell was screaming out as if they had become solid ice crystals and were shriveling up due to the imbalance of water before dying.
The next minutes felt like hours as they cycled through each sensory input. First the somatic sensory system, affecting what his skin felt and the pressure of a ghost hand upon him, heat and cold once again, phantom vibrations, moving his limbs, and pain receptors in general. Then it was the sensory receptors that controlled his vision, auditory, gustatory, and olfactory systems. With all of them established, they then went through them again at random, never letting him gain his bearings. The pain he felt not just from the simple pain receptors, but from all the others was like nothing he had ever felt before. It was like every cell was fighting each other; that his own brain was against him.
Then it stopped. His body tingled with the lingering sensations from overstimulation; his heart pounded in his chest, threatening to give out as his lungs heaved for air to satisfy strained muscles screaming for oxygen. They had successfully taken over his body, but those where just his senses. Not once had his thoughts or emotions not been his own. This alone was the only reason he hadn't crumbled just yet: if he had his will he could fight. He knew this. His problem was just that he was weak, his head wasn't clear from drugs, and it was so new. Oh, he had come close to simply wanting to give up, praying to the gods that it killed him, but for some reason he held on.
"Force him to sleep with that and then install it, I will tell Freeza the good news." the fish-alien said and Vegeta could hear him moving to leave.
"Of course... sir!" the lead scientist replied swiftly, hastily gathering what he needed. Something suddenly crashed to the floor, one of the instruments oddly sounding like his name as it did...
"Oh, and Herred..." Vegeta opened his eyes barely, head still at the side only able to see the pile of decomposing corpses as his now most feared and hated (which was amazing that anyone could surpass Freeza in that category) called out from the door. "You better not mess up... It's your head, not mine, if anything goes wrong."
The head scientist nervously swallowed before Vegeta felt himself slip into oblivion.
Vegeta jerked awake, sitting up alone on that cold, hard table; the bindings on his wrists and ankles were gone. He was perplexed as to why they would so carelessly free him and leave him alone. Were they really that confident in their stupid device? And yet, somewhere in his mind he knew that he was only dreaming. That after they had installed it they hadn't trusted it completely to hold him, deciding instead to make sure it would control him and that in the end his worst fears had come true. They had taken his will, at least in part... This was only a dream, and anything could happen in a dream.
Even so, he did not trust this faint knowledge fully and sprang to his feet, lowering to a defensive stance as he took in the room around him. It wasn't the lab. There were no rotting corpses on the floor. There were no strange machines and horrible, bitter and stinging smelling liquids. He was in a simple large metal room... that oddly smelt of fresh air and cut grass -even as the clearly closed off room felt like a thousand degrees and steam could be seen all around him. Several yards before him was an actual boiling pool of standing water the room was that hot.
He had just been about to relax when, through the steam, he saw someone. He tensed quickly, swiftly calling his ki to him to be ready. Faintly he acknowledged the feeling of a sharp pain, but brushed it off as he braced himself. Then there were two figures in the steam, so he gathered more ki to him and even more when he recognized one of those figures as the slimy, scaly, indigo-skinned alien, Cui. The steam funneled around Vegeta and Cui's companion -some strange orange-furred female with a face one could only describe as akin to a jackal- held up her arms to brace herself from the lashing wind, only remaining rooted as Cui held onto her.
Vegeta stopped gathering his energy and the two buffoons fell, not expecting the sudden stop of wind, which almost made him laugh. Almost being the operative word. He was far too furious just then to show any amusement over anything. As they gathered themselves to face him again, he glared at them with murderous intent. He hadn't seen Cui since Bardock freed him, but the memories he held of the dishonest snake were enough to make him want to kill him ten times over. Lucky for Cui and his lady companion there was only one person he wanted to waste the energy on killing: the fish bastard who dared to steal his body from him. Any moment Freeza could show up, and while he knew he was no match for that vile lizard, he could feel his power coursing through his veins and believed it enough to at least get his revenge on one of his most hated enemies.
For a few minutes he let the silence continue; he could smell their fear and oh was it glorious. He missed this feeling, the one of being in control... the one who had the reins and called the shots. No more was he the weak one, forced into submission and tested on like some crazy scientist's victim. No more would he be that victim!
Fed up, Vegeta broke the silence. "Where is he?"
Cui smirked, his voice taunting, "Who?"
Frustrated that the alien would toy with him, his upper lip pulled back into a snarl, "Don't play ignorant, Cui. You know damn well who I'm referring to."
Cui didn't say anything for a few seconds, eyes glancing to his female companion before shrugging casually. "What's it to you? You're not going to be leaving this room, Vegeta. And even if you do, you can't kill us all."
His eyes narrowed before looking to the ugly jackal-like female and back to Cui as he snorted, "Who's going to stop me? You, Cui? I think not." Vegeta lowered into his stance. "Unless you want me to assist you to the afterlife, I suggest you tell me where he is... now."
Cui still had not lowered into his own stance, just staring at him and wearing that infuriating smirk. It confused him as he realized then that while he could smell his fear in the air around him, his body language was anything but that. The moron was never that good at hiding his emotions... Perhaps he had practiced a lot... He pushed the thought away, uncaring.
He was about to taunt him further when Cui didn't answer, but the female spoke up before Vegeta could continue his insults. "Please, Vegeta. Really listen to him..." While the jackal-female stood next to Cui, looking just as conceited as him, her voice matched neither her expression nor the words... He brushed it off just like the issue with the fear.
"Cui," Vegeta snapped, interrupting her, "Tell your whore to be silent before I decide to kill her for fun when I'm done with you."
The female's face contorted with rage and she yelled as she pushed past Cui, "I'm not a whore, asshole." Cui grabbed her arm, forcing her to stop and she rounded on him. "Let me fucking go, Cui! I don't care what Freeza said, I'm not going to let him call me that."
"Ulsa..." he sighed, rolling his eyes.
"No. Don't Ulsa me!" She yanked her arm away. "I earned my spot on this ship like everyone else."
"Ulsa," Cui said darkly and made her hesitate a little.
She huffed, "It's fine, Cui..." Her tone changed then, again not matching her stature. "I only plan to tell him the facts, maybe they can jar that thick head of his..."
Before Cui could say otherwise, the orange-jackal female continued to walk closer to Vegeta and he tensed, wondering if she had a death wish and was a little surprised he hadn't just killed her with a small ki blast as she came nearer. It wouldn't take much; by the look of it she had to be one of the weakest soldiers in Freeza's ranks. Even weaker than Gauldo, and that was saying something. Not really worth the effort then. He would need his ki to fight his true enemy. It was the only reason he was trying to talk Cui into giving him the whereabouts of the fiend he loathed so much instead of killing him right then and there.
Beads of sweat rolled down his back and he wondered why it was so hot in this room. What room was he in? He didn't recognize it from his years serving Freeza, but then that had been a long time ago... The female walked through a small puff of steam that lazily rose to the ceiling and in that single instant he saw a flash of cerulean. It left before he could really grasp what it was, and he ignored it, believing it to be the heat toying with him as she finally came to a stop before him.
"Vegeta, you must listen." Surprisingly she completely disregarded his dark look as she boldly stared back, yellow eyes meeting his dark ones. What she said would normally anger him, but it just didn't match the tone, "You escaped Freeza, but you're trapped in this room. I don't know what you're seeing, but you can't escape this place. He..." His dream suddenly shifted on him and he found himself staring into cerulean eyes. "...is not this Cui guy you keep talking about... but Bardock's son... And I am... the one who saved your inconsiderate ass from dying in that crash. Is this ringing any bells, Vegeta?"
Vegeta's brows creased in confusion, but other than that he did not let it show outwardly how much this troubled him. What just happened? Why were her eyes suddenly a different color? And how was he not Cui? He sure wasn't Raditz. With her being closer, he also could smell her scent; it struck him at how familiar it was and how much it called to him. Puffs of steam would also rise from the floor and through them the ugly jackal-wench was replaced with this stunning Saiyan-like woman with flat shoulder-length light-aqua hair. He was trying to put a name to the face, but Ulsa didn't fit. For some reason his body relaxed a little against his better judgment.
She dared to step closer, closing the gap between them so they were less than a yard apart and the concern he heard in her voice startled him, "Don't you remember anything, Vegeta?"
"What are you doing?" A sharp pain shot through his head as her voice echoed from some hidden place in his mind. "You nearly died two weeks ago... You're in no condition to be walking around. So get your ass back there now mister."
He was suddenly pulled into a memory, finding himself looking up at this same woman as she stood with hands on her hips in a revealing outfit she had called later a... two piece. Vegeta shook his head, bringing his hand up to his head as another sharp pain surged through it. 'They're a fruit here on Earth... called strawberries...'Another image of her sitting next to him on his end table holding a small box of red fruit out to him took him by surprise. The breeze picked up, blasting him with her scent again, the same sickly sweet smell he remembered and had grown used to... and even was attracted to now.
He blinked as he looked to the woman standing before him, seeing both the ugly orange-jackal and the beautiful human. The pressure in his head grew and he gritted his teeth. Okay, so he knew the woman... but why was his dream doing this to him? Was it some coping mechanism to remind him that he wasn't on that ship anymore? That Freeza's chip failed after a whole year and a half and that he was safe?
"What about that day in my lab, Vegeta?" The woman took another step closer to him.
She turned around in his hold, facing him. "Look first of all, I'm not your enemy... no one is here. We don't give a shit..." Vegeta closed his eyes.
"... But that's not the point...what is, is that we're here with a gun to my head and I'm not afraid."
"And why is that?"
"Because I excite you..." She stood there pressed against him; her lips hovered over his as she spoke. "Don't think I can't feel how your heart is beating slightly faster this close... I'm guessing those around you don't stand up to you that often, which I can't blame them cause you can be very frightening. And while me standing up to you irritates the shit out of you, it also intrigues you..."
He shook his head, trying to clear it.
"I'm a hypocrite, an enigma, and oh-so more wrapped up into a tiny little package that doesn't know when to shut up and tends to let her anger get the best of her. And best of all you can't seem to figure out what I'll do next, which deep down is what's really troubling you. Isn't it?"
Vegeta stumbled backwards and bent over slightly, growling as his head throbbed and his blood felt like it was boiling under his skin. He knew all this, why was his dream forcing him to remember? This woman's name was Bulma. The most annoying and infuriating woman he had ever met. And yet, at the same time he was starting to wonder if this wasn't a dream and this alien female wench was trying to put some spell on him. That she was a witch. The fogginess of his mind and the sharp pains felt the same as magick.
"Vegeta, what's wrong?" She stepped forward. "Please... tell me what's wrong." He glanced up at her, the steam tinting the metal green at her feet."I can help... ju-"
As she reached out with her right hand to touch him, Vegeta noticed movement from the corner of his eye. I should have known! He cursed himself as Cui took his moment of distraction to attack him. How dare this damn witch try to trick him. He wasn't going to let anything stand in his way in getting his revenge against the fish-bastard. He would kill that scaly fish, flay him alive before roasting his worthless carcass.
The female was again the ugly orange-jackal bitch and frankly it was about time she met her end, he had enough of her. Lashing out, going to hit her arm and make her a pile of broken bones on the floor, he pulled back the force at the last second. She still slammed into the ground fairly hard, but nowhere near enough that would do much damage let alone kill her. Unsure why he did that, he promptly pushed the issue from his mind and surged forward to get behind Cui and elbowed him in the back of his head, sending him flying forward through a small section of vertical pipes that had been hidden by the layers of steam. Vegeta followed after, puzzled as to why Cui was so slow to regain control... He jumped on top of one of the pipes that had a smaller vertical one connecting it to another huge vertical pipe. He looked around, wondering what all these pipes were for. Was this the fuel room of the ship? That didn't make sense... that room was supposed to stay cold. Not to mention how weird the pipes looked... they were like pillars that reached high into the ceiling with smaller ones that connected them and some that seemed to not go anywhere.
Vegeta shook his head and with his arms crossed balanced on the pipe as he glared down at Cui who finally managed to correct himself, gathering his ki around him. When the moron finally found him, Vegeta jeered at him, "That took longer than what I remember about you, Cui... have you been slacking?"
The indigo-alien's eyes narrowed as it glanced at the jackal-bitch. "Damn you, Vegeta. If you killed her, I don't care what Freeza's orders were, I will make you pay."
He laughed, not so much as amused as trying to instill fear in the moron. "I would like to see you try, but unfortunately I have another to deal with and don't have time to play. Now tell me where he is!"
Cui gave a strange growling noise that was rather uncharacteristic of him. "You're delusional from this heat if you think you can beat him, but if you really must know, it doesn't matter. I don't know where he is."
Vegeta's eyes narrowed. "Bullshit... now tell me where he is before I'm forced to use what I learned from Freeza and make you more... willing to give me the information I want."
Cui shifted, glancing again at his female. "I don't know where he is... but I can get you the information."
"Hn..." He looked to where his enemy had and heard the blasted witch moan. Why had he held back? Now he was just going to have to deal with her again. "Stop stalling, Cui. If you think I would let you out of my sight just so you can get Freeza then you really are denser than Zonion's asteroid belt."
"Really, Vegeta... I don't know where he is."
Hopping down from the pipe and landing silently on the ground, he growled out as he started for the female, "Then perhaps you need some encouragement-"
Vegeta was caught off guard by Cui's brazenness as he attacked him head on without any sort of trickery and he went flying through the sea of pipes from a back kick after a knee to the gut. His back slammed into one of the pipes, stopping him and he stumbled to his feet, shaking his head. He looked at the indented pipe, sneering with disgust finding that it had hurt far more than it should. Looking at his hand, he felt his energy flow through him and it felt unsteady. Not much of a surprise if he somehow just escaped and found his way here to this room unknowingly, the drugs could still be in his system. He looked sideways through the pipes to find Cui picking up his female. That was it, he had enough of this. He would get the information out of him one way or another, even if it meant wasting his energy on the likes of him.
He sprinted through the pipes, a streak of motion too fast for most to see and appeared before Cui as he was standing. Vegeta didn't allow him time to contemplate what was happening as he pulled back and punched the moron in the face, sending him soaring backwards landing in the boiling pool of water, and as he left, Vegeta grabbed the female around the neck and hoisted her up before him, smirking as she wheezed, tears filling her blue... no, yellow eyes. Her small hands wrapped around his wrist, but her kittenish claws didn't break his skin even though she looked to be putting all her effort into it. He started to laugh, this jackal-bitch was a joke.
"Let her go!" Cui roared, jumping from the boiling water.
Vegeta stopped laughing, holding her off to the side so he could see the indigo-alien and tilted his head. Confused as to how he didn't have a single burn on him... there was no way he got his ki up in time to protect him... There was also the little tidbit that Cui was dripping wet.
He gave him a dark smirk anyway, cruelly shaking the female a little. "Imagine that, Cui has actually attached himself to someone..."
"If you kill her, Vegeta, you will get nothing from me." The alien finally lowered into his stance.
Vegeta frowned, starting to get really baffled by all these changes Cui had undergone. "Your stance is off..."
"It is not, you are just not seeing things right, Vegeta." The image of a tall, tailless Saiyan with familiar hair and a ridiculous orange outfit flashed in his mind. Vegeta blinked and it was gone. "Let her go, Vegeta. I'm serious... you kill her, no matter what you do you will get nothing from me."
Vegeta shifted his gaze to the female, wondering what was so damn special about her... she certainly wasn't the most... All thoughts ceased as his eyes met crystal blue, staring at him with fear. He held the woman, not the jackal-witch and something inside him was upset that she was like this and more importantly he was the one doing this to her. He shook his head, obviously she was trying to ensnare him again and he would not fall for it. He was really getting tired of both of their games.
"Fine. Catch." Without warning he threw her at the boiling water, knowing that it would kill her for him as he charged the distracted Cui.
Grabbing his shoulders, Vegeta kneed him again in the gut before elbowing him in the back. As the moron was falling forward, he did a round house and kicked him with enough force to carry him past the boiling pool of water where he landed on the metal floor and slid back a ways. With this all happening in a matter of seconds, the woman hit the water just after he kicked Cui to the other side, and before he could think to move the boiling water sprayed up and splashed him. Only... it wasn't even close to being scorching. In fact, it was freezing against his skin.
All around him he saw the flash of green, the yellow to his right and trees to his left, before him a pool and the blue-haired woman sinking to the bottom of it. Her light-aqua hair floated all around her like the rays of some blue bursting super nova, and before he truly thought about it, he found himself diving in after her... Something that felt like his nature reacted, taking control for that second and spurring him on to save her. Next thing he knew he was breaching the surface of the boiling water that wasn't so boiling hot with the woman in his arms coughing the water out of her lungs. Why did he just do that? The jackal-witch was just tricking him... enchanting him to see things that weren't there, his nature should know this more than anything. Or maybe this was all just one huge fucked up dream. If his subconscious was trying to tell him something, it sure was going about it in a roundabout way.
Vegeta levitated both of them out of the water, staring at her wide azure eyes as she caught her breath. Her left arm hung limp and he dimly recognized that her shoulder was dislocated from him shoving her into the ground, but other than that and some hidden gash in her hair she looked perfectly fine. He could smell her fear, could see it now on her face, but something kept her from screaming bloody murder at him and lashing out. His feet touched the ground, making sure to keep Cui in his line of sight. Dream or not, he really didn't feel like getting caught off guard again.
"Vegeta?" the woman whispered, hesitant.
Her voice... Why was he dreaming this? There was no uncertainty now, he was in a dream. He could remember everything perfectly clear. Escaping, the crash, and then the weeks spent here. The reason he was in a hot steaming room with a boiling standing pool of water was because of that damn fever he couldn't shake. Why he was fighting Cui and some strange alien female who turned into Bulma was far beyond him though. He was also pretty sure Cui turned into Kakarot and this room turned into the backyard. But why? Why would he dream this?
His vision suddenly went hazy, the sharp pain returning in his brain and he let go of her legs... setting her down on her feet before he backed away clutching his head. He dug his fingers into his hair, feeling his ki rise and fall, rise and fall, over and over. One second he was hotter than ever before, then he was hot and cold. How was that possible? How could someone feel like they were burning up from a fever and then freezing to death at the same time? His skin prickled with phantom sensations and he could swear he was hearing things. Whispers. Screams. His legs gave out and he fell to his hands and knees, growling as he squeezed his eyes shut from the waves of conflicting sensations.
"Vegeta... what is wrong? Just tell me!" She cried out, voice shaking with pain, fear and concern. He looked up when heard her take a step forward, holding her left arm to her.
"Stop, Bulma!" "Monkey..." "Your majesty..." Vegeta's eyes snapped to the new rough voice that was familiar to him, then there was the dreaded higher pitched one that haunted him since he was a child, and the fish-bastard.
Bardock... No, it was Freeza. No! It was that damn fish-alien-bastard. He was unsure what to believe anymore as even his nature was bewildered by all the sensory inputs overloading him just then. He forced himself to his feet and backed away, upper lip flaring up and he gave a feral growl of warning. Sight... smell... taste... sounds... everything and anything to do with touch. All of it was fucked up. Everything was always changing. On top of this he felt like he was being backed into a corner by this newcomer who he could somehow tell had a lot more power than Cui... or was it Kakarot?
"Boy." "Pet." The alien-bastard simply smiled as the other two called out to him, all stepping forward towards him. He stumbled back, the phantom feelings making it difficult to stay coordinated, but he managed to stay on his feet. "You need to stop this." Bardock pleaded, but with a strong tone while the other two both said, "You can't run from me."
Vegeta lowered into his defensive stance and hissed, "Stay back if you know what is good for you."
It was hard to think clearly with all the ruckus and wayward input from his senses, but he was starting to think his dream was warning him that his blood sickness was not the only thing inflicting him still. The chip... Had they removed it when he short-circuited it? Probably not. Freeza had been livid when Vegeta miraculously overpowered the unbeatable chip that had worked for over a year with no issues. Well none that he knew of, but the head scientist and the fish-alien had known of the issues and had been working to fix it. In the end it was Freeza's own fault for accidently picking a planet that had a hidden Saiyan base on it and his nature had picked up on their mental links, giving him all the willpower that had been stolen from him to overcome the damned chip. Never again would he accidently destroy a base and feel all those lives screaming across the link as they blinked out of existence. It had been the most sickening feeling he had ever felt and it had confused him at the time given he had been too far away to feel those on Planet Vegeta die. It had been worse learning later what it all meant.
So was this his subconscious? His nature warning him that the chip -though defective and far out of the reach of Freeza and his lackeys- alone could still haunt him and take his will from him? Damn it, will I ever be free of him? His thoughts rattled in his head, joining the chaos.
"I won't hurt you, boy." "Oh, and you're going to stop me, my pet?" "You forget who took your will? I can do it again with a mere thought." Again the three people in one entity walked forward. "Calm down, your body can't handle the ki..." "You should know better than that by now, worthless monkey, that you can never beat me." "Go ahead, attack and seal your fate."
Vegeta shook his head and gritted his teeth, wincing. A strange ringing in his ears started and grew with each second. If it was Bardock then he should know better than to push him... If it was really the other two then of course they would come after him. But then again, why did he care? It was just a dream.
"You will not control me again," his voice rumbled deep from his throat, sounding more and more like an animal.
"Ha! How will you stop me?" "Shit Vegeta, I'm not Free-" The sound of his mentor's voice vanished as before him stood the fish-alien-bastard who did this to him and the images of the other two also disappeared, leaving only his haughty smiling face . "You couldn't stop me before, what makes you think this time will be any different, Vegeta?"
Vegeta's fear rose. He could smell it himself through all the other false scents. It disgusted him, but he could not help it. This fiend took away everything. All those things Vegeta would never lower himself and his own pride to do had been done in that year and a half. Raping, torturing children, eating victims... alive. That was only a small part of the rap sheet Freeza racked up as he played the monkey Prince. Almost like one of those avatars he heard Bulma briefly mention when describing video games once. His rage suddenly overwhelmed the fear as his fight or flight (which for a Saiyan was only fight) response kicked in. He had to kill this alien. Kill him before he could take anyone else's will from them. Even if this was all a dream, he had to beat this shadow in his mind and stop him from haunting him like Freeza. One crazed lunatic in his head was enough.
The alien must have sensed the change in him because he was the first to move, flying toward him from the other side of the pool of... only the gods knew what it was... Vegeta blocked the elbow aimed at his neck, then the obvious knee to his stomach and the attack that knee was supposed to cover up. He let the fish-bastard attack again and again, blocking every move as he got a feel for the way he fought. Somewhere in the back of his mind he recognized the style as something he already knew... but he was far too gone to make the further connection to who it was. Knowing the style, however, he abruptly caught his attacker's punch after moving his head to the side, and using it as leverage he brought his elbow into his enemy's solar plexus before continuing with a back fist to his face.
Vegeta then took the fish-bastard's couple seconds of shock and grabbed his arm with his other hand, turned into him, and threw him over his shoulders with enough force to send him headlong into those pipes that were looking more like trees than anything else. Before he could charge after his enemy and finish him off, though, someone else attacked him suddenly from behind. He just barely managed to bring his arm up to block a kick to his head before letting this new combatant get a few hits in to see his style. It didn't matter who the guy was, if he was on that alien's side then he was Vegeta's enemy too. He blocked a few more pathetically weak attacks from the faceless, nameless being, finding all of them to be humorously slow and hardly worth the effort. But perhaps it couldn't hurt to toy with the fish-bastard's friend?
And so Vegeta did, punching the idiot who decided to join a fight he was obviously outclassed in, back and forth, up and down. He was, of course, pulling all his punches and hits. The guy would be no fun to him dead. But there was no denying that he was feeling each one and probably wondering what the fuck he got himself into.
So focused he was on tormenting this new opponent, Vegeta forgot in his hazy, blood-raged, and sensory-overloaded state that the fish-bastard would not be down for the count forever. No, he didn't remember this would-be fatal mistake until he himself was flying head-over-end into the pool with such a force that he cracked the bottom of it slightly. He looked up from below the silvery surface, some strange chemicals burning his eyes and he growled with rage, bubbles escaping to the surface. He surged up high into the sky, water trailing below him falling back into the pool.
After blinking the stinging chemicals from his eyes, he then locked onto his prime target, ignoring the now unconscious friend of his enemy. Guess I didn't pull back enough; feeble weak moron should have stayed out of it to begin with. He snorted before he started to charge up a ki blast in his hand... only to find that it was more difficult than it should have been to form the small ball of energy. He pushed it though, managing to gather enough for almost a basketball sized orb of light. He was frustrated, however, to find that he was breathing so heavily and that... his heart hurt of all things.
Whatever, the energy was collected and he threw it at the alien he loathed almost if not more than Freeza. The ball of energy took him by surprise, but for reasons Vegeta couldn't grasp he didn't simply dodge it. It was going infuriatingly slow for some unknown cause... giving him ample time to move out of the way. Instead he stood his ground, flaring his ki up, yelling at he caught it and threw it back up into the sky harmlessly. Why would he do that? It didn't make any sense to Vegeta.
Yet then, he shouldn't care. If the fish-bastard wanted to protect the scenery so badly... Vegeta would gladly oblige him in his quest. He went to charge another ball of ki, but instead of one basketball-sized orb he formed one in each hand the size of baseballs. He wasn't about to make one any bigger than that, comprehending that something was horribly wrong when he did and that it drained far too much of his strength to make it. His enemy was yelling at him anxiously, but it was no use, Vegeta couldn't hear anything over the ringing, screaming, and whirlwind of other sounds in his head.
He started to fire them off, scattering them all over the place as he tried to make it impossible to get them all... and to his enemy's credit... he managed to actually catch and deflect all of them safely. Vegeta would have continued this far longer than he did, rather amused, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to gather the ki... That and his heart was really starting to hurt, to the point that he almost honestly fell from the sky because he couldn't keep his ki up enough to stay there.
Panting slightly, he slowly lowered to the ground, trying not to alert his enemies to his weakness. He rolled his shoulders when his feet touched down, wanting more than anything to clutch his chest, but he refrained. Before him the fish-bastard breathed far heavier than him -which was a good thing in all things considered. He had to end this now. Enough toying with him. He could feel his own ki drastically fall and if he didn't end it soon then he might actually lose this fight. Something he wasn't about to let happen. This fiend had to die. He would not control him -or anyone else- ever again. Vegeta would see to that.
Vegeta sprang forward, making it seem like he was going to attack head on, then suddenly jumped to one side and instead of punching or kicking, dropped down and swept his opponent's feet out from under him. He followed with an elbow aimed for the alien's stomach, but he rolled out of the way just in time.
Both got to their feet, circling each other, waiting for the other to attack. The fish-bastard lunged forward first, coming in for a punch Vegeta could tell was fake and when he blocked it, his enemy kicked for his knee to knock him off balance. He brought his foot up, blocking with his shin and when he put that foot back down he swiftly did a turn, briefly flashing his back as he did a round house. His antagonist jerked back just in time, but then made the mistake thinking Vegeta would be open. As he came in close Vegeta abruptly hopped to the foot he just kicked with and again showed his back as he back kicked him in the chest, forcing him to stumble backwards. Vegeta followed, not letting him get any ground as he kept the alien on the defense. That didn't mean Vegeta wasn't getting hit. He was, and good ones at that. But as the fighting between them lasted uninterrupted for over six minutes, Vegeta noticed how at the beginning his enemy had been trying to avoid his chest... like he knew Vegeta's chest was screaming at him and was trying not to hurt him. After those six minutes of harsh fighting, the alien started trying to hit his chest... having no more reservation upon realizing that he was not going to win if he kept it up.
It was another thing that only served to confuse Vegeta. Why would this bastard care if he hurt him? He hurt him far worse when he took his free will! He took what little honor Vegeta had left and snuffed it like how a swirling black hole devoured everything around it, leaving a cold empty expanse of space in its place. When he first woke up from the crash, he hadn't remembered everything. His mind hid it all to protect him, but each night he progressively remembered more. First he recalled the rapes... it wasn't until he got this damn fever that he started reliving everything else in any detail.
Would killing him solve any of this? No, probably not. But it sure would make him feel better squashing his head with his foot against the earth.
Vegeta abruptly found himself on his back, sliding, realizing he had gotten ahead of himself. He still had to defeat the guy before he could even think of doing that. Turning the skid into a roll, he popped back up onto his feet before the alien thought he would and attacked, returning the hit as he sent him flying into a pipe tree. Standing straight he walked over to the fish-bastard who slowly got to his hands and knees, spitting up blood before he barely managed to get to his feet. Neither of them had much left, but Vegeta refused to let this... this... he really had no word to describe how ghastly this alien was in his eyes.
He looked up, meeting Vegeta's dark gaze. "You better be ready for the afterlife because you're getting a first class trip there. And who says I'm not generous?" He sneered, "Considering you took away my free will, giving Freeza the chip to ride me around like one of his fucking hovercrafts... I should do far worse than a quick death." Vegeta grunted as he started gathering enough ki to end it all, deciding he really didn't want to dirty his boots over this lowly brute.
He hadn't collected much when a young boy cried out, "Grandpa!"
Followed shortly by a man and woman yelling in unison, "Gohan!"
Vegeta was startled in that it was the first time he could hear someone speak over all the noise in his head in a long while. He looked over his shoulder just in time to see the mop of black hair flying at him and hit him in the back. He fell forward, gasping for air... the kid fell back, knocked unconscious from the force. Muttering a string of curses in multiple languages, he was able to get to his feet... more slowly than before mind you. But still far better off than the fish-bastard.
He turned, glaring at the cataleptic runt, tempted to walk over and break his neck with his foot, but the alien's pleading voice ceased such thoughts, "Please... don't Vegeta."
Vegeta growled, tail lashing. Who was he to ask anything from him? But then that had not been the fish-bastard's voice... or were the ringing and screams interfering with what was really being said again?
"Why not? Why do you even care? Breaking his neck is far better than all the shit Freeza had me do." He turned his back to the boy though, facing his true enemy.
He opened his mouth, going to give a little more detail when someone somehow snuck up on him and... hugged him... with one arm. His breath froze in his throat as the familiar position and her scent hit him. Her breath, like the other day tickled his skin and he could feel her breathing and feel the vibrations of her beating heart.
"You are not a monster, Vegeta. Stop this. Please... don't let them rule you like this."
It was her voice, just like before, hardly above a whisper, that brought the whole illusion down around him. Like he was suddenly dunked in a frigid ice bath and he came up, mind clear... free of all the ramped sensations.
This was not a dream.
He blinked as his vision was freed from the hallucination; a badly beaten Bardock was barely standing before him. With the overload of sensations gone, his ki evaporated just as quickly... leaving him drained and dizzy as he slowly fell to his knees. She did the same, holding him, and he used her as his anchor to keep the craze of mind away. The reality of it crashed down around him. He had almost killed the old man... his mentor... He had hurt the woman badly and had been so close to killing her. Unfortunately it wasn't a question either of what happened. The chip was still there and with the fever it had sparked up to cause these hallucinations and she stopped it. She had been close to stopping it sooner on two occasions if it hadn't been for the clown and Bardock. Why? Why her?
He finally fell to his hands and started coughing... blood. It seemed father and son had a knack for re-breaking his ribs, only this time he could feel fluid fill one. His head still hurt, but he was... himself. She moved to sit next to him, good hand on his back... rubbing. He collapsed fully to the ground, feeling the darkness creeping in... She moved again so that his head was in her lap. He looked up at her, edges of his visions darkening. He could see the blood covering the side of her face from that gash on her head, her other arm still hung limp.
"You are the craziest woman..."His voice trailed off and she smiled at his bewildered words. "Why? Why are you helping me?"
The woman's eyes lit up more. "Because you're not about to..." There was movement all around them, but he was only paying attention to her. "And you're my friend. I promised nothing would hurt you here..."
"Hn, you're doing a wonderful job, woman." His tone was sarcastic, but not harsh.
She chuckled a little. "Well, if someone had brought up this chip before now we might have been able to do something." Sighing, she stroked his hair and he found his eyes closing against his will. "It must be really small... and really advanced if my father did not see it with the scans. I thought you said no one has the knowledge of chips."
He hesitated before replying, "No one does, this... race... came from nowhere. I didn't recognize them, they-"
Vegeta was interrupted when Bardock suddenly collapsed, passing out. He opened his eyes a little and they both looked at the older comatose Saiyan lying face first in the worn grass. She laughed suddenly, finding some form of amusement in it, and he just stared at her. This woman is insane... But he did find himself smirking a little. So much for the old man being even with his power level... he couldn't wait to finally be healed; his power was going to be incredible.
He found his eyes closing again as he, too, gave into nothingness..
~~~~.~-~.~~~~
Beta'd by LPphreek
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