Title: Until Proven Guilty
Rating: PG ( K+ ) – For very mild swearing and life being just plain unfair.
Disclaimer: In the criminal justice system, the People are represented by two separate yet equally important individuals. Videl, who investigates crime, and Saiyaman, who brings criminals to justice. These are their stories.
Spoilers: Uh...Gohan is Saiyaman?

Summary: TwoShot. She slammed the barred door behind him and locked it securely. "In the meantime, I'm going to go get a court order forcing you to reveal your identity. See ya later!" GhVi Week 4.0, GhVi.

Theme – Innocence (Day 2)

GhVi Week 4.0 is brought to you by SweetestIrony, OrangeStarLove and Videl-Gohan. If you're interested in participating (or just want to see the entries of others), please visit us on DeviantArt.

Part One: Innocence

"B-But I'm innocent!" Saiyaman blustered, his cheeks flaring red beneath his helmet. As he turned around to face his accuser directly, his chains jangled mockingly.

Samesaid accuser nudged him roughly and he turned back around. "Tell it to the judge," she suggested, her face betraying an unholy amount of glee at his predicament. "After I unmask you."

"B-But Videl-san – !"

"Don't 'but Videl-san' me, Mister Saiyaman!" the female crime fighter snapped as a guard opened up the nearest jail cell in anticipation of his new prisoner. The hinges squeaked fiercely as the door was pried away from its stationary position. "You were caught jaywalking and now you'll have to face the consequences."

Saiyaman wholeheartedly protested, "I was flying! How can I jaywalk if I wasn't even on the ground?"

"I guess that's something to take up with your lawyer, isn't it? Might make a good defense," Videl suggested, grinning as she shoved him inside his new home. She slammed the barred door behind him and locked it securely. "In the meantime, I'm going to go get a court order forcing you to reveal your identity. See ya later!"

Videl spun on her heel and skipped a few steps down the hallway, whistling a jaunty tune as she went. Her pigtails bounced behind her with every cheerful step.

"Just great...," the superhero mused regretfully, tearing his gaze away from the end of the corridor just as Videl disappeared from sight. Knowing well and good that there was no way the judge would refuse her request (even if she weren't the famous offspring of the Man Who Saved the World), he was completely screwed.

He should have seen this coming from miles, leagues, even solar systems away; Videl was getting frustrated with the chase and was looking for a quick solution. Arresting her fellow crime fighter on a ridiculous charge that would probably never make its way into a real court was a brilliant way to get the information she wanted. All she had to do was throw him in a cell and then ask a judge to force him to reveal his identity as part of the normal booking process. Within an hour, Videl's suspicions about Son Gohan would be confirmed...

...Unless, of course, he could get away.

"Hold out your hands," the guard ordered without even pretending to be polite about it. What a nice fellow.

As Saiyaman allowed the guard to remove his handcuffs through a small opening in the bars, he began plotting his escape.

000

"Oooh, Mr. Saiyaman!" Videl called cheerfully, waving around a folded slip of paper victoriously. "I've got my court or – "

All of the teenaged crime fighter's taunts died at the back of her throat as she came to a stop in front of her prisoner's cell. He was...gone! And so was the barred window that used to be on the opposite wall. In its place was a large hole and a pile of dusty rubble.

"GUARD!" Videl screeched, whirling around just as he came lumbering up behind her. "What the hell happened?"

"Uhh...," the guard hedged, scratching at his bald spot beneath his hat. The dark rings beneath his eyes were especially obvious under the harsh glare of the fluorescent lighting that flooded the cell block. "He escaped?"

With the court order crumpling in her clenched fist, she growled at him. "Gee, do you really think so? Because I think that maybe he's hiding under that pile of rubble over there. What happened? How did he escape?"

"Uhh..."

"Perfect," Videl grumbled, turning away from the guard to observe the scene again. Half of the wall had been massacred when that masked buffoon had made a dash for freedom and his guard couldn't even be bothered to notice! "My tax dollars at work."

"Eh...?"

"Just open the door," Videl commanded testily. The guard whipped out his keys as bidden and allowed her entrance to the partially demolished prison.

The teenage detective perused the cell with a keen eye once inside. She made a valiant effort not to touch anything (lest it become contaminated by her presence) and instead relied on her deductive reasoning skills to pick up clues with her eyes. In the corner, something shiny caught her attention.

Videl carefully made her way toward the object, stepping over chunks of rubble in her path, and knelt down beside it when she'd gotten close enough. With the hem of her shirt, she picked up a piece of drywall that was obscuring it and moved it out of the way. Underneath she found a food tray with an uneaten helping of...something on it.

"When did you serve dinner?" Videl queried the guard, still squinting at the meal. Though she was still confident about being able to track down her nemesis, she doubted if she would ever be able to identify what they were attempting to feed him.

The guard scratched awkwardly at his bald spot again before replying, "Uhhh...'bout half an hour ago, I guess. 'Round 7:30."

"Which means," Videl began, rubbing her chin. "That he escaped within the last half hour. He couldn't possibly have gotten far. Do me a favor and call the judge; I need an arrest warrant for an escaped prisoner."

"R-Right..."

Just as the guard had scampered out of visual contact, something else grabbed hold of Videl's attention. There was something stuck under the food tray...it looked like a scrap of red cloth.

Gently, Videl tugged it free of its confinement and held it up for observation. It was...a note. Written in gravy.

"SORRY," it said in gigantic block letters. "COULDN'T STAY. SEE YOU AT SCHOOL. SM."

"'See you at school'?" Videl repeated aloud, scrutinizing the new clue with her chilled blue eyes. There had obviously been an attempt at disguising the handwriting (even forensic experts couldn't differentiate samples written in block lettering), which suggested a clever mind capable of covering its tracks, but the last sentence was damning. She finally had confirmation from the suspect himself that they were classmates.

Videl grinned at the hastily penned letter. Saiyaman might have slipped through her fingers this night, but tomorrow was another day.

"I called the judge," the guard informed her, seeming to suddenly materialize at the cell door. His pudgy face was dripping with sweat and he was wheezing; clearly, he didn't get enough exercise from eating donuts and watching soaps. "He...He said that he's issued a bench warrant for Saiyaman's arrest."

"Thanks," replied Videl, standing at her full meager height. The scrap of cloth with the personal message from Saiyaman was already tucked safely in her pocket where no one could see it. "I'm on it."

After discharging the capsule hooked to her key chain, there was a loud poof, a shrill whine and a soft thump and her jetcopter materialized inside the tiny cell. She got behind the controls and exited the same way as Saiyaman; through the crumbling hole in the wall.

"See you at school," she muttered to herself, smirking at the dark skyline while her engines roared. Now that he was guilty of something worse than a traffic violation, Videl had leverage. Leverage that she would use to the best of her cunning abilities. "Gohan-kun."

Author's Notes: Moving on to Part Two...

. ( . Ms Videl Son . ) .

– Who's your daddy? GohanVidel