"Un-Important"
Chapter One: Under Pressure
Blood was pounding in her head, making it difficult to pay attention to the company director's proposal. Bulma Briefs stared blankly at the glass of water in front of her, and then closed her eyes. She massaged her temples in a futile attempt to lessen the pain. If only she had gotten enough sleep last night. Vegeta had stormed into their bedroom, threw down his training towel, and then kissed her so thoroughly that it left her tingly inside. He then proceeded to take his frustrations out on her in a very "tiring" way. Not that he had stayed when he was done. No, that was below him. He just got off the bed and left to train. It was 7:30 am.
Breakfast was no picnic either. Trunks was chattering on about Goten and their adventures, Bulma's mother was just talking for the hell of it, and Dr. Briefs was continuously telling her how to run HER company.
"…Well dear I thought that these pastries were particularly cute…."
"….And Goten said that Dad was scary, and I said nuh uh, Mom's WAY scarier."
"…But you should really give them a pay raise. The company can't survive…"
"….And so I said to her, Ms. Briefs IS my daughter!......"
"….Goten says you're too old to be a Ms. Briefs……"
"….I mean you are THE Ms. Briefs……"
" Ms. Briefs….ahem….MS. BRIEFS…AHEM!"
Bulma's head jerked up, then immediately winced as pain exploded in her head.
"Ms. Briefs, I'm sorry to disturb you, but what to you think of my proposal?"
Bulma looked warily at the chart, numbers and figures scrawled over in an illegible hand, making the chart look like ants were crawling all over it. "Give me your report, and I'll tell you on Monday," she stated diplomatically. That way, she could figure out what the hell he wanted and, hopefully, get some rest in between. "Meeting Adjourned." As the board members left, Bulma checked her watch and then her day planner. A ray of hope flared up in her chest, her schedule was free for the rest of the day.
She heard a rumble in the distance. Funny. It wasn't supposed to rain today. Then the ground underneath her lurched and sent her sprawling backwards. "What the fu……" she trailed off as dark figures descended from an ever-darkening sky. Another explosion rocked the building and the windows around her shattered. She grabbed the sides of her head, the pounding had become worse, the noise…the explosions. There is TOO MUCH DAMN STRESS IN MY LIFE, DAMMIT!! She stripped off her shoes, high heels were not equipped for running. She moved to run out the door when a silhouette filled the window behind her, casting a formidable looking shadow in front of her. She turned slowly, and stared.
The thing was tall, skinny, covered in dark blackish purple fur. It had long thin arms and legs, and bony looking fingers. The face was bat like… in fact, the whole thing was bat like. But it had a squashed nose, and when it opened it's mouth tiny fangs could be seen. A pair of large wings adorned its back, huge, ugly batwings. It moved off the window sill, loping towards her. She broke out of her stupor and ran out the door.
The blood was pounding in her veins, in her head. She took a quick look behind her, the creature had been startled and then it followed her. His long legs catching quickly up with her. It grabbed her shoulder and jerked her back. She fell with a thump against it's chest. It grabbed the side of her head and bared her neck. Bulma struggled furiously with the creature that was holding her.
"AAAAARRRGGGGHHH!!!! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING YOU OVERGROWN TROGLYDITE?!"
The creature looked surprised at her speech. Bulma took advantage of his confusion and wrenched free and ran down the hall.
"Kami.. What is he? A frelling vampire?....Geez Aliens…. Why are aliens never nice?......Why do they always kidnap me……AND WHY THE HELL DO THEY ALWAYS COME TO EARTH?!!!" She skidded to a halt, adrenaline pumping through her body. The hallway was blocked by a cave-in. If she could only get home…..She saw the smooth panel of the elevator door through a hole in the wreckage. Damn. She looked behind her, the creature was walking calmly towards her, a smirk on its squashed bat face. She began to tug at the pieces of plaster and wood frantically, chucking pieces at the bat thing. The thing just grinned wider and swatted the flying plaster with ease. The hole in the wreckage got wide enough that Bulma could squeeze through it. She hurriedly squeezed through, but the thing grabbed her ankle.
She furiously kicked at it's face, and momentarily wished she still had her heels on. Getting kicked with her heels on would make anyone wince. She hit it in the eye, and the creature let out a scream that shook the walls of the compound. Bulma scrambled through and ran. She took a quick left and ran into a dead end. To her right was the smooth panel of the testing lab. A crash was heard back down the corridor, and Bulma pushed in an override code and slid into the room.
Silence greeted her. She sighed, she needed to think. Apparently its eyes were extremely sensitive to pressure. But what about light? The corridors had been dimly lit due to power lossage, but the creature had followed her exact footsteps. Not taking the general direction towards her. He was following her some other way. He wasn't using sonar, unless it was at a level that humans couldn't hear, but that wouldn't take him through her exact path. She furrowed her brow in thought. And then she caught sight of a red splatter leading to where she was sitting. She pulled up her foot, it was bloodied. With her blood. The broken glass in her office. She must have been so preoccupied with the Bat-men that she hadn't noticed her feet getting cut on the broken shards. Even now, the adrenaline was coursing so thoroughly that she didn't feel any pain at all. She had to cover up the smell of her blood. Somehow.
There was nothing around the lab organic, it was the shock lab. Bulma prided her company in selling products that even in severe storms could withstand electrical shocks, and impulses. A machine to her right gave her an idea.
The creature sniffed around, his right eye slightly blurry from the impact of his quarry's foot. These humans were easy prey. He caught the scent of his prey's life-essence. And chuckled. This female would give good sport.
He found the door where his chase had entered. With a minimal amount of strength, he crushed the door in, and entered. The room was in absolute darkness. The bat-man chuckled. This woman may be feisty, but she was stupid. His kind lived in darkness. He could see beautifully. And he could see the beautiful foot peeking out from behind a square machine. The alien walked quietly over and stood in front of the machine. All of a sudden a blinding white light illuminated the room, and the creature shrieked in pain. Then he fell backwards, completely still.
Bulma crept out from behind the machine, her eyes covered with odd bug shaped goggles. She turned the pulsating machine off and cautiously crept around the body, turning on the light when reached the switch. She pushed her goggles upon top of her head and went over to the body. The eyes of the bat thing had turned milky white, as opposed to their midnight black. Her hypothesis was right. Since the alien's eyes were extremely sensitive to pressure, she guessed that they were also sensitive to light. More so, even. The O.E.P.M, Ocular Electrical Pulse Machine, produced blinding light that carried an immense electrical pulse. Sending too much electrical signals to the brain. She grinned, feeling very proud of herself. Now all she had to do was get home.
***
Stress. That was what her life was all about. Nothing else. Just plain stress. She had tried to convince the Z fighters that she had devised a way to kill them. But they wouldn't let her finish! They were so arrogant in their confidence in their abilities, they hadn't even thought of the casualties.
She wrung the towel out and pressed it against Krillin's face. He, Yamcha, even Goku and Vegeta, had sustained extensive injuries. She and Chichi were helping them heal. Korin's supply of Senzu beans had been depleted on Gohan, Trunks, Goten, and Piccolo, who got the worst of the damage. As she cooled the small fighter off, her mind
turned to the afore-mentioned warning….
***
"You guys, I've figured out a way to kill them!" Bulma cried happily as she ran into the group just before they headed off to fight. "You don't have to fight! Look, their eyes…"
"Woman, what are you babbling about?" Vegeta interrupted. Bulma looked pissed off for a moment then opened her mouth to answer when Krillin jumped in, "Look Bulma, we know that you wanna help, but you haven't seen these things! They're like bats..."
"I know-" she attempted, but Vegeta interrupted again.
"No you don't. You've never fought these creatures before. They attack at night, and hide during the day…They are virtually indestructible."
"You guys aren't listening! I KNOW how to kill them! I developed a weapon..." This time it was Yamcha who interrupted.
"Bulma didn't you hear Vegeta? Look if he says it's impenetrable then it is. And don't you think it's a little arrogant of you to automatically assume that you can beat them without even testing it?"
Bulma stared agog at the ass that was once her boyfriend, were they not listening? She had seen them. She had killed one. AND THEY CALLED HER ARROGANT! What were they doing? Automatically assuming that they'll come home. She'd try one more time…
"You guys. I've SEEN them, they attacked Capsule corps FIRST…."
Vegeta turned, "Woman. Cease your lies. You know for a fact that if one alien tried to attack you, you'd run screaming before you'd ever fight it. You run screaming if a spider comes within a ten foot radius of you. We have no need of you. Now go do something useful, like fix my GR."
With that he and the other Z fighters took off, leaving a teary Bulma in their wake.
***
Those assholes. But as pissed off as she was, she wasn't going to let them be in pain, as much as they deserved it. Her head was pounding worse than ever, and her feet were throbbing with pain now, too, since the adrenaline had worn off. But she hurried on, knowing that her pain was not nearly as great as theirs. But a bitter voice in the back of her head kept muttering.
__They wouldn't be in much pain if they had listened to you. They don't appreciate you, girl. So don't delusion yourself. Think of how many times you've warned them, how many times it could have ended without bloodshed…without any of your friends dying__
::Yes they do, she answered stubbornly, They just….::
__Keep it up, you've almost convinced yourself that you mean something to them. How many times have you helped them, and never gotten the credit for it? You're always friend of Goku, the wife of Vegeta…To everyone else, you're a side package. And you know it__
::I don't do it for the credit! I do it because they needed my help, and I gave it. Because they're my friends.::
__Sure? But how many times have they thanked you for what you did? It's always, If it wasn't for Vegeta coming in at the last moment… or …I'm sure glad Goku got there in time…It's never…wow. Bulma really came through this time…or even…Thanks for your help Bulma. Some friends.__
Bulma couldn't reply this time. It hurt too much. The truth hurt too much. Well, she'd see whether or not she meant anything to any of them. She was determined to prove that voice wrong.
It had to be wrong.