Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Against All Odds ❯ Purge ( Chapter 12 )

Disclaimer: Don't own it

Author's Note: Some of the actions of our favorite Saiyan men in the next couple of chapters may be uncomfortable for some readers. As much as it pains me to write it, the fact of the matter is, they are bad men. Not that we don't love them any less, but we can only hope that through time and understanding that they will learn the folly of their wicked ways.

Also in this chapter as well as the next couple of chapters Vegeta will refer back to a memory of Bulma and an argument that they had. For all of you that have a short memory, like me, this occurred in chapter six when Vegeta got all pissy about staging their sex scene in his room.

Chapter Twelve

Purge

Vegeta awoke to the acidic aftertaste of the antiseptic that was used to put him to sleep during his long voyages, burning the back of his throat. He rolled his tongue around in his mouth trying to drum up enough spit to swallow and relieve the scathing pain. He cracked his sleep-encrusted eyes and was met with the vastness of space.

To his right he could see the heavenly body of the planet he was sent to purge drifting into view. It was a deep blue, with emerald green continents shrouded in a white swirl of clouds. It hung there like a shimmering jewel cushioned in diamond studded velvet. He felt the prodding finger of memory, but he pushed it away.

He called up the details of the planet's statistics on his ships computer, scanning rapidly through the data.

Breathable Atmosphere - I hate that helmet

Industrial - Better try to leave the factories intact

Over populated - Great what a pain in the ass

Pre space travel - Good they can't run away

Mobilized military with low ki - Weaklings

Nuclear weapons.

Vegeta raised an eyebrow at the last one. He hated dealing with weapons of mass destruction and it seemed every primitive world they went to insisted on using them. The hardy Saiyans could withstand the devastating power of the bombs although their injuries would be severe, but that wasn't what he was worried about.

The nasty weapons did nearly irreversible damage to the environment causing the value of the planet to drop drastically. This reversal of fortune would be sure to upset the money hungry Ice-jinn. The last thing Vegeta needed right now was to draw Frieza's unwanted attention because he had fucked up a mission. Besides, previous experience had taught the Saiyan prince to avoid angering his "master" at all costs, especially when it came to his finances. The skin on his back itched at the thought of the beatings he had received in the past.

"Computer display all sites containing nuclear weaponry."

His monitor blinked for a few moments before bringing up a topographical map coated with red dots indicating nuclear weapons. Vegeta sighed deeply. Animals.

He downloaded the tactical data to Nappa and Raditz's computers and the three pods broke their formation, each drifting towards the most heavily populated areas on differing continents.

Genocide was never easy and it was time consuming. It would take months to hunt down every single soul on a planet especially when the population was in the billions. Instead they struck in dense metropolitan areas, reducing their victim's numbers to mere thousands through precise surgical strikes designed to cause the most damage.

Vegeta's `job' would require a mere twenty-four hours of what he did best -- torture, rape, murder... annihilation of an entire species along with another precious piece of his ever vanishing soul Then the new inhabitants would take charge of cleaning up the remaining refuse or hire out to specialized extermination teams that came in to overpower any resistance.

He impacted heavily in the center of a large city. When the dust cleared he could see a crowd of pale faces in a distance trying to peer though the glass of his pod. He bitterly grit his teeth, steeling his iron-clad resolve.

Shit. They are humanoid. I hate purging them.

He found it distasteful to slaughter a race similar in appearance as himself and it bothered him more than it should. He would rather deal with an insectoid race or better yet, reptiles, so he could imagine that it was Frieza's blood that stained his hands. Absently he wondered how the Onna's people had reacted in the first moments, when the purge team had landed in their mists. He pushed the wayward thoughts away as the door opened with a soft hiss. He uncurled his compact body from his seat resisting the urge to stretch out his stiff muscles. Seeing an invader crack a huge yawn wasn't very threatening plus it was disrespectful to the species that you were about to wipe out from existence.

The crowd pulsed with excitement and moved a step closer, their curiosity overriding their fear. Their wide eyes shimmered with awe and Vegeta had to brush away the faint tingle of loathing he felt stabbing at him whenever his victims looked at him. It was always their eyes that he saw in the darkest moments of his dreams, before he awoke drenched in sweat, before he could regain control of his errant unconscious mind that plagued him.

For Vegeta this was always the most difficult part. In earlier years he had taken an almost maniacal pleasure in reeking havoc among the populace, committing unthinkable atrocities that he dared not remember for fear that his own sanity would vanish along with the forsaken race he destroyed. He laughed at their suffering with a gaiety that he had forced himself to feel. The destruction he wrought was the only outlet he had for his tortured psyche, but after a while the pain he inflicted ceased to be a balm on his soul and the ruthless strangle hold he had on his emotions tightened until all he felt was a numbing emptiness.

Soon he had stopped seeing the faces of the people he killed. Instead he viewed them as trash that needed to be swept away to make room for their superiors. Unable to protect themselves from the deadly onslaught, they lowered their value to beneath the Prince's notice.

This moment, however, was always the hardest. Right before the shouting began, when they were all still innocent.

Vegeta deliberately raised his hand sending a ki blast through the heart of the throng and closed his ears to their screams.

Vegeta moved from city to city unphased by the blood bath he left behind. Predictably the world leaders sent the military to combat the threat. He swept their toys away with ease, not even feeling the burning kiss of their bullets. Eventually they brought their prized nukes to bear and Vegeta had to move quickly to intercept them, either destroying them or send them spiraling into outer space before they could detonate.

By the twelfth hour Nappa, Raditz and Vegeta crossed paths and paused to rest before splitting up again. More than half of the planets population had been decimated and the other half crouched in defeat as they realized that there was no sanctuary from the demons that had invaded them.

Raditz touched down next to Nappa, holding a squirming mass of pink and white. He dropped the bundle on the ground to reveal a girl no older than fourteen, terror wafting off her like a bewitching fragrance.

"Look what I found." Raditz grin was cocky while Nappa lustfully rubbed his crotch. The girl tried unsuccessfully to make herself smaller and unnoticeable. Vegeta watched the scene impassively, briefly wondering what the Onna would think if she could see his men now. Raditz reached down to grab the girl by her hair, hauling her up against him while smiling down at her tear streaked face. She struggled valiantly until she realized escape was impossible, so instead she settled for spitting in Raditz's face.

Vegeta felt a ghost of a smirk on his lips, but it quickly disappeared when Raditz struck the girl forcefully across the face causing her lip to bleed. Vegeta had seen this exact scene many times over the years and it always ended the same. No matter how defiant they started out they always begged in the end.

It will never be enough until he is bleeding at my feet, begging for me to stop, like I begged him too.

The memory of Bulma's tear streaked face as they had argued about consummating their relationship in front of the cameras rose up in his mind. She had been talking about rape; he saw it in her eyes as her despair threatened to swallow her alive

Raditz threw the girl on the ground and pinned her there with one large booted foot on her stomach, while he looked over at Vegeta.

"What do you think My Prince? Do you want the first crack at her?" His cocky grin was back on his face.

"I think that golden skinned whore of yours is going to dislike the scent of another female on you." Vegeta said without inflection.

Raditz frowned down at the young girl, probably picturing how he would respond to any accusations from his love interest.

"I don't think her sense of smell is developed enough. Besides it's not like we are doing anything, she's still a bit standoffish. Raditz reasoned out, but he still made no move towards the girl. In fact his frown became even more pronounced as he shifted his gaze away from her.

"She doesn't like men very much." Raditz glared at the offending horizon.

He appeared to be struggling with some sort of moral dilemma and Vegeta took a marked interest in this. Perhaps if he watched someone else attempting to deal with a newly developed conscience that ironically enough had a female voice he would learn how to overcome his own new inner turmoil.

"Do you suppose she has been," Raditz prodded the girl with his foot, "you know."

"Raped?" Vegeta growled at the man harshly.

Raditz swallowed hard and nodded.

Visions of Bulma clawing at her arms while tears streamed down her face, trapped in some vicious memory of the past, floated in Vegeta's mind. "She is a beautiful woman with no ki to speak of, who lived in Frieza's court, what do you think?" Vegeta spat.

At his words Raditz visibly recoiled. He stared down at the girl he had pinned and almost gently removed his foot from her while taking a small step away. The girl eyed him, but made no move to run.

"Do you suppose that's why she is so skittish?" Raditz asked, still glaring at the girl, like it was her fault that he was suddenly questioning the morality of his behavior.

Vegeta rolled his eyes in annoyance. "I don't have time for your stupid questions, dumbass. Use your own brain for once." A visible shift took place inside of Raditz, one minute he was self assured and the next he was snarling in righteous indignation.

"Well it's not like I'm doing anything wrong! She's going to fucking die anyways." Raditz spat at the girl who curled up on the ground, her terror stricken features paling even more than before. Vegeta quirked a brow at the agitated man, Raditz hardly ever yelled and he certainly never did so at his Prince. Vegeta's growl warned the man that his behavior was unacceptable and Raditz calmed slightly, but he still glared down at the girl.

Raditz looked up at Vegeta with a glint in his eyes the prince had never seen before. The closest that Vegeta could decipher was that it looked like self-loathing.

"She would hate me." Raditz words were barely audible. "She should hate me."

Vegeta's eyes narrowed as he studied the handsome man. "Why do you care?" His words were scathing, but they held a hint of curiosity. Do I care? He asked the vision that hung in his mind of the onna.

Raditz squirmed, but could not answer his prince. His thoughts and feeling were so tangled that he could not form an acceptable reply.

Nappa let out a great bark of laughter. "Women, they make you weak. That's why I never took a mate. Give her to me if you don't want to soil yourself."

At his mocking words Raditz cheeks grew warm and he refused to meet the other male's eyes. He moved away from the girl who quickly tried to run, only to be snatched up into Nappa's bear like arms. She tried to struggle again but it only made Nappa snicker with pleasure.

"Come on Pretty, it will be fun."

He started to shred her clothes from her body taking pleasure from her struggles. Vegeta turned away, he did not want to hear or see what would happen next so he ascended into the air to fly off to the nearest town, noting that Raditz did the same. Not that it absolved him, thought Vegeta uncharitably he was the one who brought the girl in the first place. Vegeta swept his uncharacteristic thoughts away with a disgusted growl.

Vegeta stalked through the next metropolis, toppling skyscrapers in his fiery wake. People darted across his path like frenzied prey, allowing him to cut them down with ease. A flash of yellow disappeared into an alley and he changed his course to follow.

He rounded the corner to find a woman huddled against the dead end wall, wrapped protectively in her arms was a lavender haired girl, no older than six or so.

Purple hair, how absurd, almost as ridicules as teal hair.

He raised his hand to blast them but suddenly they both looked up at him at that moment and he was captivated by their gaze. Their matching blue eyes were the same deep cerulean as the Onna's. He tried to wrench his eyes away, to force his body into motion, but he could not look away from their riveting stare that kept him immobilized. Their pleading looks and terrified whimpers pierced his deafened mind, invading the comfortable void that he retreated to during his missions. Unaccountably his throat tightened and his stomach clenched as a near unperceivable tremor ran down his extended arm. An image of the Onna superimposed itself over the older frightened female and for a moment Vegeta was staring at the visage of Bulma.

Could I kill her if I had too?

His face hardened to an impenetrable mask as he began to gather his ki in the palm of his hand. His victim's whimpers grew louder and more pitiful as they tried to press themselves further into the unyielding bricks, pathetically trying to escape their impending deaths. Waves of heat began to roll off of him, causing the females to sweat with more than just fear. Still they stared at him, their wide eyes conveying their panic and despair. His ki increased and he shook with the effort to hold it, but he could not unleash his power on them.

Could I kill her?

Visions of Bulma laughing, her eyes sparkling while relating her day to him or her flushed face as she hurled insults, haunted his mind. His jaw ached with the intensity of his indecision and waves of power rippled out from him. Street garbage and boxes blew up against the walls with the force of his energy, while discarded papers swirled around him.

The blue ball in his hand grew blindingly bright and finally the mother pressed the child's face into her breast, shielding the girls eyes, while clenching her own haunted eyes shut and turning her pale face away from his. The paralysis that held him shattered and the ball flew from his hand with startling velocity.

One moment they were curled around each other in a protective huddle and the next they were no more, along with the smut covered wall and everything behind it. A scorched path of destruction swathed its way through the city and went on for miles until eventually sliding off the planet and into space.

He stood there, his body shaking with exertion while he stared out across the burned landscape.

You hesitated.

His breath came in pants and he felt a trickle of sweat slide down the back of his neck. His gloved hands fisted at his sides as he gritted his teeth in frustration.

You've allowed her to reduce you to nothing more than a pathetic, sniveling weakling.

His anger ignited a latent fire that had been dormant inside of him. It flared to life and clamored for release. Vegeta's head fell back on his shoulders as he glared at the baby blue sky that was nearly obscured by the nearby buildings. His arms extended out from his sides on their own accord as his muscles bunched with anticipation.

"I am not weak!!" He screamed in fury at the universe while the fire inside of him exploded from his body and rippled out in an ever expanding ring of destruction. He roared his rage until his throat was raw and all of his immense energy poured out of him until it slowed to a mere trickle leaving him drained. But still, even further down inside of him, something flickered.

A power yet untapped. Dwelling deep inside of him, waiting to be born.

He fell to his knees as his vision began to fade to black. He braced his weight on his hands as he leaned forward to fight the nausea that threatened to spew forth.

Vegeta!

Nappa and Raditz sounded in his head simultaneously.

Are you okay My Prince?

Both men's concern was apparent as they felt the phenomenal surge of power that had emanated from their leader.

He assured them that he was fine before ordering them back to work. He raised his weary head and his eyes widened at the sight that greeted him. The entire city was gone. He sat amid the broken rubble, the destruction stretching out for miles in a radius around him. It was similar to the blast pattern of a nuclear warhead without the radiation damage.

He glanced around searching for any sign of life, but there was nothing. No barking dogs, no screeching birds and no panicked screams, just blissful silence. Vegeta dropped his head, awed with the physical proof of his growing strength. He could not stop the rumble of laughter that bubbled up from inside of him and poured from his lips, the sound foreign to his own ears.

He flipped over to lay on his back, looking up into the clear sky, the laughter echoing around him. He failed to hear the soft footfalls of someone landing behind him, but he did hear the mocking claps. He sprung to his feet, spinning to face his opponent while desperately fighting the wave of dizziness.

Behind him he saw a single man, holding a strange gun like devise in one hand while awkwardly smacking his hands together. He was dressed in a dark ankle length jacket and long blonde hair hung to his shoulders. He would have been handsome if his nose hadn't been broken is some long forgotten battle and he didn't have a pink scar that ran down his left cheek. His green eyes glittered with malice while he smirked at Vegeta, as though he knew a secret that the Prince was not privy too. A guttural growl rose in Vegeta's throat in response.

"Well done, Prince Vegeta." He spoke with admiration, but his eyes glared daggers of disgust. The man's lips twisted into a snarl and hate laced his next words. "Too bad your power can't save you."

Vegeta saw the man raise the weapon and he willed himself to materialize in front of the man to wrench the gun away, but his exhausted body would not respond fast enough. Before he covered half the distance the man squeezed the trigger, hitting Vegeta square in the chest.

Vegeta expected to feel nothing but an annoying sting of a bullet, but instead he dropped to his knees on impact, shuddering violently. It felt like bands of unbreakable steel were lacing around his limbs and stealing his already depleted strength from his very body. In desperation he tried to call out to his men, but with a sinking despair he realized that he could not summon enough energy to send a mental shout. With a mocking laugh, the man strode over and with one swift blow that should have left the prince unhurt, he knocked Vegeta unconscious.