Homeward Bound

Chapter 7: Vengeance

It was the first time they had ever seen his two bedroom apartment, and Goku was pleased about the effect it had on them. The two boys and Vegeta stood still in the doorway just staring at the living room very quietly.

"What do you think?" he finally said after several moments. Gohan turned to his father and grinned.

"You have a lot of creativity," he said as he wandered around the room admiring how the gentle colors soothed his soul. "I like it."

"I'll give everyone the nickel tour," he said as he led them into the kitchen. "It's not that big."

The living room was themed in blue: navy carpet, navy curtains for the windows, and a navy sofa and easy chair. The pillows that sat in the corners of the sofa were medium blue with light blue stripes.

The kitchen was beige-and-white tile with white painted oak cabinets. There was a small oak table against one wall with matching chairs and the only appliances on the counter were a microwave and a coffee maker. He smiled sheepishly at the lack of food and drink in the fridge and motioned to the faucet. "I can always offer water."

"You and I are going grocery shopping later," Vegeta told him in a voice that allowed no arguments. "Chocolate chip ice cream isn't even real food."

"Hai, Okaasan," he said in a mock shameful voice. The boys laughed and the tour continued.

"My bedroom's on the right but this one here," he opened the door to the completely bare room on the left, "was always going to be Gohan's bedroom on the weekends. Since I've never gotten visitation rights it just stayed empty."

"It can still be mine Tousan," Gohan told him with a smile. "Kaasan's got to let me spend time with you."

"Why's that?"

"I could always call social services at any time and tell them how she neglects me. You know that she does." He sighed as he remembered the loneliness that still was threatening to overwhelm him at times. "I love kaasan, but she doesn't understand."

Goku frowned. "I'm not sure I understand either."

"He needs people to talk to and to just be around. Spending time with others makes him happy." Colby explained it simply, but he still helped the adults to see. "My parents are around all of the time, but they don't speak to me unless I've done something wrong. Then they yell." His home life had been torturous in his personal opinion. It was one thing to have strangers hurt you intentionally, but when people who were supposed to love you unconditionally continuously told you how much they hated you it created a pain so deep that nothing could ease it away. He felt it always as a dull ache in his chest that grew worse as he remembered his mother and father. They wouldn't care that he had run away and would have never tried to rescue him as Gohan's father had done. He envied his friend for having someone that cared.

"If you ever need kind words, advice, or a shoulder to cry on you can always call one of us." Goku gave him a hug that took a little of the dark chill from his soul. The small bit of comfort wouldn't heal him completely, but it was a start.

He looked at the three of them with tears glittering in the corners of his eyes. "Arigatou. I can't tell you how much that means to me." He wiped at his eyes and went to the bathroom for a tissue.

The phone's high-pitched rings interrupted the brief silence that had fallen over the remaining three after Colby's burst of emotion. Vegeta was the closest to the phone and picked it up on the third ring.

"Son residence." One black eyebrow rose and he shot a look at Goku. Covering the mouthpiece he said, "Some hysterical woman is asking for you. I assume that it's ChiChi."

"Let me get this one." Gohan took the phone from him and after releasing a deep breath he spoke. "Konnichi-wa Kaasan. How are you this afternoon?"

There was a startled pause and then a lot of half-sobbed, half-spoken words. "Gohan is it you? My baby's alive!"

"Hai, I am. Nothing bad happened to me and I made some new friends. Fellow prisoners you know."

ChiChi's voice came over the line tinged with confusion. "Who was the man that answered the phone? I've never heard him before."

"Vegeta is tousan's..... P. I. that he hired to find me. He's sort of like James Bond with all the equipment that he has. I like him, he's nice." The short Saiya-jin laughed at little at that. He had been called many things but nice had never been one of them. The most commonly used adjective was "scary".

"When are you coming home? I need to know so that I can prepare a big meal for everyone and clean the house from top-to-bottom. Would you like chocolate or vanilla ice cream, dear?"

"Kaasan?" he asked in a worried tone. "Can we afford all of this?"

"I'll find a way. Only the best for my little sweetie pie." Gohan scrunched his face at the newest cutesy term of endearment. She had never used many before.

"We took the other kids to the main police station here in Tokyo and tousan took custody of my friend and I. If everything goes well I should be back by tomorrow afternoon. I'm looking forward to your cooking, Kaasan. See you later."

"I'll be waiting for you. Ja, Gohan-chan." He hung up the phone with a relieved sigh. Gohan never knew that a single telephone conversation could be so draining.

"Did she sound very worried?" Goku asked him. "Was she crying?"

The boy nodded mutely while trying to hold back tears of his own. Causing his mother pain was the last thing he had wanted to do. The time it should have taken to Tokyo was short enough that he could have been calling her from the city mere hours from leaving the bus terminal. Certain people interfered with a routine trip and created a situation that left everyone in the world worried and filled with questions. Where would Cyrus strike next? Is my child safe from him? Is *any* child safe from him?

That train of thought led him directly to something he should have thought of a while ago. Cyrus had hurt Colby physically and his father was a doctor. It was only logical that he was checked out to see if any permanent damage had been done. It was such a small space and though Gohan knew it was possible, he just didn't see how anything could fit into it without damaging the fragile layers of tissue. He would speak to Colby as calmly as possible, and if that didn't work he would get on his knees and beg. Making sure that his friend was okay ranked higher than any shred dignity he possessed. To do anything less would be considered selfish.

"Colby?" he said quietly with a look to Vegeta. The man nodded and moved a far enough distance away to suit Gohan's needs. "Let my father examine you. Please."

"Back *there*?!" He was more than a little shocked... and embarrassed. "I don't even let my own mother see back there."

Gohan's eyes showed just how serious he was. "Cyrus is man-sized and you're just a kid. It had to have hurt you."

"I didn't feel anything until after," he looked down, fresh tears in his eyes. "But by then I was so ashamed and angry that I didn't really notice."

"Did you bleed?"

He shook his head. "Not after. He had so much of that crap in the needle that I didn't feel anything but numbness during." He shuddered as he remembered what he had seen the only time he opened his eyes. There had been a look of such intense delight on his face that it twisted Colby's stomach into knots. That image would haunt his nightmares for years to come, he was sure of it.

"Well," Gohan sighed, "if you won't let my tousan examine you then I'm going to have to. I'm just so scared that he really hurt you, Colby."

"Okay," he said finally after a moment's thought. "I trust you with my life, Gohan, more than anyone else in the world."

The two of them vanished into the aqua depths of the bathroom, neither noticing the look of pure rage on Vegeta's face. "That bastard is going to die as slowly as possible!" He swore it, on everything that made him the prince of the Saiya-jin. Goku turned to look at him with a strangely calm expression even though he had heard everything as clearly as Vegeta had. Searching the small drawer of his phone table he pulled an address book from it's depths.

"I guarantee his death," he said in an emotionless voice that contrasted greatly with Vegeta's righteous anger, "but first we need the right tools. A quick death isn't going to happen."

Vegeta nodded, the heat of his rage turned down to a slow boil. "I agree."

"There is a guy on the close by that knows everything there is to know about torture..."

***

Goku couldn't stop looking at Colby with worry in his eyes even though he knew it might upset him. Gohan did the right thing by asking him questions and he was deeply proud of his son. Vegeta noticed his agitation and gently squeezed the hand that was clenched tightly on the steering wheel of his SUV.

"We will stop him and get revenge," he said quietly. "Justice will be served." Goku nodded and went back to concentrating on the slick highway pavement.

It had begun raining while they were crossing the vast city of Tokyo, the rhythmic pattering lulling Colby in a deep, healing slumber. Gohan stayed awake long after his friend was dead to the world watching the scenery slide past his window. Vegeta silently watched him stare blankly from the rear-view mirror and wished that he could do or say something to make him feel better. Finally he spoke, but it didn't make the boy any happier.

"I heard, Gohan," he said quietly. "You did the right thing."

He looked at him in confusion. "How could you from across the room by the front door? We were near the hall and you were next to my tousan."

"Vegeta isn't ningen," Goku explained. "He's Saiya-jin."

"Really?" the boy asked with an interested expression. "We learned all about them in school last year. Do your people really live in the jungle?"

He nodded. "We take only what we need from the land, always giving something back. My father's the highest in the nation but I left to find my own path. Your destiny is what you make it, not what you inherit."

"You're Saiya-jin no ouji?" he asked, eyes wide. "There weren't any pictures in the book."

Vegeta nodded. "I overheard, though I didn't try to, and we have a plan to bring Cyrus to justice."

"Wait a minute, what did you say? Are you going to kill him?!" His voice rose uncontrollably and made Colby stir restlessly. He quieted himself and settled for an extremely angry look.

"This isn't open for discussion, Gohan," he father said even while indecision upset his stomach. "He hurt Colby and therefore should pay for his crime."

"Insanity is legal to plead in a courtroom, tousan. Are you going to deny Cyrus that right?"

"That man isn't insane! He knew full well what the hell he was doing!" Just the thought of Cyrus' crime made Goku's blood boil and profanity slip through.

"We will find him and kill him." Vegeta told Gohan. "End of discussion."

Nothing more was said until Goku pulled into the driveway of Gohan's home.

***

The man that Goku knew lived in an abandoned factory that he had partially converted into a home on the western edge of Eastern Capital. The heavy steel door was flanked on both sides by burly guards dressed in black who could barely even cross their arms over their bulging muscles. Vegeta raised an eyebrow at the tight security and tossed a sideways look at his companion.

"They prevent rescues," Goku explained and then there were no more questions.

The front room was dark wood furniture with burgundy upholstery, not at all what Vegeta had been expecting. Actually ancient stone was a lot closer, but it would have to be liberally coated with life blood in order for it to match his mental image.

A tall man with a orange bandanna tied around his bald head stood leaning against a doorway with a pleasant look on his face. "Son Goku! Long time no see. How's life in the medical field?"

"Same old, same old but I'm not here to exchange pleasantries." He carefully kept his face blank so that it matched the look on the other man's face. "I need your expertise, Ten."

Tenshinhan's demeanor changed as fast as a ningen could blink. He was suddenly all business, motioning Vegeta and Goku into his office with a callused hand. "Let's talk, then. There are many available options to choose from."

"Who are you?" Vegeta blurted, not one for polite questioning.

Ten smiled and tapped himself on the chest. "I am me."

"*What* are you then?"

"My profession is simple. I punish people for the wrongs they have committed based on what my clients ask for. I also assassinate upon request."

"Skills like the ones Goku has spoken of can't be learned from just anywhere." He was certain of it. Tenshinhan had a style that he had seen somewhere before, possibly in eastern Europe.

"No, they can't," he agreed. "I am a former court assassin and torturer of a small country no longer in existence. The king was too squeamish to preside over things himself, so I did them in his place. I have seen many, many different kinds of styles but those of ancient China interest me the most."

"I was looking for something that would keep a man alive and in pain for a short while but nothing overly messy." Goku fidgeted just a little bit but the other two men both noticed. Vegeta laid a hand on his knee and Tenshinhan's faint smile grew amused.

"You are not a killer, Son Goku. Your conscience still bothers you. I would let the one beside you do the work, he has seen a lot."

"How do you know that?" Vegeta asked, a little nervous that Ten had accurately read him.

"Your eyes are jaded, filled with the sights that you have observed. Goku's eyes are empty of shadows, he has never witnessed the agonizing pain of suffering."

"I have seen people suffer," Goku said softly. "You have never seen true suffering until it's done by those who haven't even begun their lives. Not all the children I take care of make it, you know. The kids who are terminally ill just touch something deep inside of me and I grow closer to them than to any other child. When they die it hurts almost more than anything else in the world but I move on and don't let death hold me back. The reason why I don't have shadows is because what I have seen of death doesn't haunt me. I just embrace it as a normal part of life."

Tenshinhan let a true smile cross his face for the first time. "You have the first pure heart I have ever seen. In a world where innocence and kindness hardly ever exist anymore you still hold on to hope. Amazing."

"What can I do to extract revenge but does not involve torture?"

"There are various chemicals that makes the person delusional for a short while, but while physical pain will eventually fade, mental pain goes on forever."

"He doesn't want to permanently scar the man mentally, just make him feel sorry for what he's done." Vegeta gave Ten a hopeful look. "Isn't there a way to make someone feel weak and helpless? That would definitely punish Cyrus for his actions."

The other man froze. "Did you say Cyrus? As in *the* Cyrus, master of all things illegal?"

"Hai," Goku replied. "He kidnapped my son, and after hiring Vegeta to track him down we went after him. He raped a child, Ten. I want him to pay for that."

Ten looked at him with the most neutral expression that he could manage. "Was it your son?"

"Do you actually think I'll be here right now instead of standing over his mutilated corpse?" he asked without the slightest trace of humor. "Morals be damned."

Vegeta explained. "It was a friend of Gohan's. I think they met during the incident."

"I see," he said as he got up from his chair. "There is something I have that seems to be working well. Follow me please."

To one side of the large room was a dark curtain that Vegeta hadn't noticed before. Ten swept it aside to reveal a metal door that he pulled out a key from his shirt pocket to unlock. Down a narrow flight of steps they went, the stone walls pressed in on either side and feeling cool to the touch. There was yet another door at the bottom and this one was locked electronically.

"You never show anyone your chambers, Ten. What made you change your mind?"

"Cyrus' reign of terror and intimidation has gone on for far too long. It's time someone who has power to do something about it. You two can succeed."

Then they went through the doorway and Vegeta's questions trailed off into startled silence.