Chapter one~ More than meets the eye.

~Trunks~

Pacing back and forth in a spacious lobby Trunks Brief ran his hands through his lavender hair and sighed as he gave his best friend an annoyed look. The 28 year old held a lot of responsibility as the president of Capsule Corp, and with a still heavy university load to get his doctorate, his time was not as flexible as he liked. "Goten, you know I can't just go flying out of here. Mom has cracked down on that and honestly I really have a lot to do since we still haven't filled the head of engineering chair," he argued as he tried to get Goten out of his lobby.

"Aw, come on Trunks! Go on the double date with me. I've been trying to get this girl to go out for months and she wants to go with her friend. You are my in with her," Goten insisted.

Trunks shook his head at his old friend and tried to figure out a way to pacify him and get back to the huge pile of work that was waiting for him on his desk. No matter how old they got Goten still acted like he was in high school instead of 27. Even now while Trunks stood there in a very uncomfortable three-piece suit, Goten sat on the lobby couch gazing out the window in athletic clothes. Sometimes he envied his friend. While he slaved away at a big corporation, Goten made his living training goofs at Mr. Satan's gym. Although he enjoyed the part of his job that involved innovating new technology, he didn't really have much time for hobbies.

"Look maybe if you moved it to another night. I can't just drop everything and leave right this second," he said trying to sound more stern than before.

"Um…okay," Goten answered completely not playing attention as he gawked out the window.

Trunks stomped over fully annoyed, "what in the world are you looking at?" The young man turned his blue eyes out the second story window only to completely loose his train of thought. He felt his heart flutter in his chest as he watched what had to be the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen walking towards the Capsule Corp entrance. Her long, curly, fiery red hair shone brightly in the sun as it cascaded down to her lower back. Fitted dark gray slacks and a button up white shirt with gray cuffs revealed a curvaceous figure. As he watched her look up at the sign, he saw a beautiful face to match. From where he stood he could see full lips, and a hint of lively color in her eyes which made him wish he could be down there to see her up close.

"Excuse me Goten but are you just here to distract my son?" Bulma's voice rang out behind the two young men making them jump up in surprise.

As Trunks turned to see his angry mother staring at them he began to regret not being able to get Goten out of here. No matter how many villains he had fought his mother was by far the most terrifying being on the planet. Looking over at his friend he knew she also intimidated Goten as he shot out of his seat.

"Sorry Bulma! I'll be on my way I was just stopping to ask Trunks a favor," he said scrambling to his feet.

Bulma looked at the boy with an unimpressed expression, "uh-huh sure. Just get on your way he's got enough to do without you needing him all the time." Bulma turned her eyes to her son, "listen Trunks I'm interviewing the perfect guy today. I know you've been busy, but if this guy is what I think he is then your work load should lighten up soon okay?"

Trunks nodded at his mother and felt grateful she recognized that he was a little over his head in work. Almost on cue he heard the intercom in Bulma's office ring through, "Bulma your interviewee is here."

Seeing the excitement in his mother's face Trunks knew this guy must be impressive. "Oh great! Send Ray in please," Bulma replied happily.

A short few seconds later as Trunks tried to get Goten to be on his way, the second floor elevator binged announcing the arrival of its occupant. Trunks watched his friend look behind him and practically melt in his seat as the sounds of heels rhythmically clicked on the wood floor.

"Oh my, she's not a guy after all," Bulma whispered to her son as her eyes grew wide.

Turning around Trunks watched in quiet amazement as the red haired beauty stepped into the lobby, there was a small smile on her lips. And now that she was close he could see that her eyes where a crisp, beautiful shade of green.

"Doctor Brief, you look surprised, am I too early?"

Trunks tried to steady his nerves as he heard her voice; the melodious sound was just as beautiful as the person that was standing in front of him. His mother stepped forward with a friendly laugh.

"I'm sorry doctor Winshier but when I read your first name was Ray, I assumed you where a man. You must imagine my surprise when you walked in. Not only are you a woman but a beautiful one at that!" Bulma extended out her hand, "Nice to meet you."

Trunks watched as a blush spread across her pale skin. Surely a woman of her beauty had to be used to such compliments?

"Oh, well that happens from time to time. Engineers are not usually women and to be honest my full name is Rayina, but no one has called me that in many years Doctor Briefs. So please, call me Ray," she said giving Bulma her best smile.

"And please call me Bulma, Doctor Briefs is my father!" Bulma said turning to her son, "this is my son and the President of Capsule Corps Trunks Briefs."

Trunks tried to steady his nerves as he found her beautiful green eyes assessing him, "it's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Briefs."

Taking her soft hand he tried to sound as confident as possible, "please call me Trunks. The pleasure is all mine. I don't usually get to meet the people my mother interviews until after they are hired." Her strong handshake took him by surprise. It was certainly stronger than any other earth woman he'd ever encountered. Or maybe it was a sign that he should be going back to his rigorous training routine.

Bulma continued her good manners and turned Ray's attention to Goten, "and that bum is my son's friend Goten. He was just stopping by for a second and is on his way out."

Goten quickly jumped up and shook Rayina's hand giving her a full on grin, "nice to meet you Ray, I sure picked the right day to be hanging in this lobby. I don't work here but I'm a trainer at Mr. Satan's gym if you are ever in the need of a good workout."

"Mr. Satan huh?" Rayina answered with skepticism in her voice, "thanks but I manage to stay in shape pretty well on my own."

Trunks watched as Goten looked down at his hand suddenly surprised, "I would think so. That's quite the handshake you got there."

Bulma quickly intercepted before Goten could begin hitting on the poor girl, "Why don't we go in my office and start your interview Ray."

"Of course, it was nice to meet you both," Ray said as she was being led towards Bulma's office. Leaving both men in the lobby.

Trunks promptly turned his eyes back at Goten, "well things around here might get a little more interesting if she gets the job."

"Hell yeah for the first time ever I'll wish that I was smart enough to work here," Goten agreed.

~Rayina~

Rayina could feel the butterflies in her stomach as she walked into Capsule corp. The spacious white lobby was as she imagined, pristine and sleek, accurately setting a precedent for the cool high-tech company that it welcomed you to. Quickly smoothing out her dark grey slacks she smiled at the brunette middle aged receptionist, "good morning. My name is Ray Winshier and I'm here for an interview with Dr. Bulma Briefs."

The brunette quickly smiled at her but not before giving the young woman a once over, "of course I'll page her up. Just a minute please." She cleared her throat as she picked up the phone and dialed an extension. "Bulma your interviewee is here," she smiled into the phone as she took another peak at Ray. Clearly being surprised by the woman's age. Applying as engineering chair of a corporation as successful and important as this usually took years of hard work. Rayina knew that the woman was wondering how she even ended up getting to the final round of interviews.

Hanging up the phone the woman quickly returned her practiced smile, "she's ready for you dear. Just go around the corner here and take the elevator to the second floor."

"Thank you," Rayina said as she began to make her way.

"Good luck!"

Hearing the receptionist wish her well only made Rayina's nerves a bit worse. Normally she would not feel like this about anything. Her resume was impressive enough to gain attention from the brilliant Bulma Briefs, and Rayina was used to excelling at everything she did. However, ever since her arrival on Earth she had known that this was her dream job. Getting this job would mean so much for her; it would definitely cement her transition to living on earth. With so much riding on landing this job, she began to really feel nervous for the first time in a long time. Quietly entering the elevator, Ray took a deep breath as she pressed the button for the second floor. Trying to steady her breath she squared her shoulders and relaxed her face. If she were to get this job she would need confidence. In the first round of interviews she sat among a room of other applicants. Mostly men in the mid forties, and she recognized some of her competition. Her only shot was to wow the pants of the heiress and let her know that she was the right woman for her company.

Closing her eyes she could sense three life forms on the second floor, two of them with peculiar energy waves. The unexpected finding peaked her curiosity. These two energies where much stronger than any human she had yet to encounter. Did Capsule Corp have other aliens working for them? She always kept her origins vague, but perhaps it would be nice to meet other foreigners. The elevator softly binged announcing her arrival and Ray took one last deep breath as the doors opened. Putting a smile on her face Ray walked into the second floor and felt her stomach flutter as she watched Bulma Briefs whisper something to her companions. She looked surprised. Next to her was a man with black hair and casual clothes. He immediately grinned at Ray making her wonder what he was doing there. Most offices had some sort of dress code and he looked like he belonged at a park or a gym. Next to her with his back turned towards Ray was another man with purple hair. She guessed that was her son Trunks, the president of Capsule Corp.

As Ray began to walk towards them the man in the suit turned around and looked back at her calmly. Feeling a little self conscious Ray smiled at them as she approached. Quickly trying to not get distracted by how handsome Trunks Brief was in person. She had seen plenty of pictures of him and his mother online and in the news, but there was no way that any woman would look into those blue eyes and not at least recognize the fact that he was even more stunning in person.

"Dr. Brief, you look surprised, am I too early?" she asked glad her voice didn't sound as nervous as she felt.

"I'm sorry Ms. Winshier but when I read your first name was Ray, I assumed you where a man. You must imagine my surprise when you walked in. Not only are you a woman but a beautiful one at that!" Bulma extended out her hand, "Nice to meet you."

Immediately Ray felt her cheeks flush as Bulma complimented her. No matter how many years she had been on earth she still was not used to being considered beautiful. "Oh, well that happens from time to time. Engineers are not usually women and to be honest my full name is Rayina, but no one has called me that in many years Mrs. Briefs. So please, call me Ray," she said giving Bulma her best smile.

"And please call me Bulma, Dr. Briefs is my father!" Bulma said turning to her son, "this is my son and the President of Capsule Corps Trunks Brief."

Ray turned to Trunks as he smiled at her and took her hand, "it's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Briefs."

His shake was strong and firm, "please call me Trunks. The pleasure is all mine. I don't usually get to meet the people my mother interviews until after they are hired." Ray quickly noted that the strong energy level was coming off him and his friend. This was interesting, he was definitely an earthling, but how could he have such a strong energy level? This was almost as distracting as those blue eyes; Ray quietly wondered what it would be like to work with such a handsome boss.

Bulma continued her good manners and turned Ray's attention to his dark haired friend, "and that bum is my son's friend Goten. He was just stopping by for a second and is on his way out."

Goten quickly jumped up and shook Rayina's hand giving her a full on grin, "nice to meet you Ray, I sure picked the right day to be hanging in this lobby. I don't work here but I'm a trainer at Mr. Satan's gym if you are ever in the need of a good workout."

"Mr. Satan huh?" Rayina answered with skepticism in her voice, "thanks but I manage to stay in shape pretty well on my own." She tried to not laugh at the thought; she had seen this Satan guy before and quickly decided all the stories about him were not true. Goten's energy level feels similar to Trunks, there must be a connection between them, she thought, this is odd.

Goten looked down at his hand suddenly surprised, "I would think so. That's quite the handshake you got there."

Ray suddenly became nervous; the overwhelming situation must have caused her not fully to hold back on her strength. Thankfully Bulma seemed eager to move on and interrupted the exchange between Ray and Goten.

"Why don't we go in my office and start your interview Ray," she suggested politely.

"Of course, it was nice to meet you both," Ray said as she was being led towards Bulma's office. Thank goodness, the last thing I need is someone pointing out that I'm not normal in front of Bulma, Ray thought as she walked in and sat in the chair in front of her desk.

Getting her thoughts in order Ray quickly found herself focused on the interview as Bulma asked her several questions about her resume and background. Happily pointing out that she was the top student at MIT and that she graduated early with her doctorate made Bulma smile. Then when it came to her resume and accomplishment Ray was more than happy to give in full details how she was able to aide a small company into being the forefront of new mobile phone technology. In fact, Capsule Corp recently bought this company, which is how she had found out about the job opening she was interviewing for now.

"Well let's cut to the chase Ray, what sets you apart from the other engineers applying for this job? You are much younger and overall have less years of experience. Tell me why I should choose you over them," Bulma said with a spark of intrigue in her eyes.

Ray knew that she needed to say the perfect thing, the interview was going so well, and this would make or break it. "From my experience all the engineers that I've worked with like to sit behind a desk and draw up plans, but that's as far as they will go. I tend to like to build and test my own prototype in order to ensure that everything is perfect before presenting and manufacturing my work. I understand that this job will also have me doing more administrative things but I have so many big ideas that I want to work on my own that where not possible when I worked for these smaller companies. I am confident that I can lead your team while also bringing fresh and new ideas to your company. I like to not only plan out my work but build it with my own two hands and make it a reality."

Bulma smiled at Ray, "I talked to your boss at Digitech and he told me that when you pitched the hologram phone you had it completely built and debugged. He said I would be at a loss if I didn't give you this job."

Suddenly Ray fell quiet feeling a little shy and at the same time proud of the praise from her current boss. Her words fell at a loss as Bulma looked at her kindly, obviously reading the nerves that she was trying to hide. "I won't disappoint you Bulma, I promise. I may not be as job experienced as the other applicants, but I have been working with technology and mechanics since I was young. I will give you a hundred percent of my talents and make you proud you took a chance on me."

Bulma grinned as she stood and extended out her hand, "alright then. Ray, congratulations, I would officially like to offer you the position as Chair of Engineering and Innovation at Capsule Corporation."

Ray weakly held out her hand as she sat in her chair half stunned, "really?"

Letting out a laugh Bulma walked over and winked at the redhead, "of course! Its about time we had another woman around here kicking ass!"

Getting on her feet Ray quickly began to feel the excitement shoot through her body, "I can't believe it, thank you Bulma!" She shot up her feet, her head spinning with disbelief that she'd gotten the job.

Bulma's blue eyes looked out into the lobby and much to her annoyance Goten was still there chatting away with her son, "well let's share the good news with Trunks. You will be helping him so much. He has been taking on all the tasks of your position since the previous chair passed so suddenly. Do you mind starting on Monday?"

Ray tried her best but couldn't hide the satisfied grin on her face as she followed the blue haired woman out of her office, "I would love to!"

He heard her chuckle, "I am so glad you came along Ray, you are just the fresh new energy my company needs."

~Trunks~

Trunks and Goten still stood in the lobby as his mother and Ray walked out of the office. He hadn't realized that 45 minutes had passed, being too distracted by ineffectively kicking his best friend out of the building. The Saiyan was stubborn as ever and said he couldn't leave without asking the red haired beauty for her phone number.

Hearing his mother's laughter he turned around and immediately caught his breath as he looked at her. Rayina walked towards them as she gave her mother a brilliant grin, pure joy radiating from her face. He quietly thought that she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

As they walked up he smiled at her feeling her excitement to be contagious, "I can see the interview went well."

Bulma placed her hand on her son's arm as she smiled at Ray, "yes it did son. You should properly welcome your newest employee."

"Congratulations Ray, I'm sure you will be a great asset to our company. My mother doesn't get excited about just anyone," he said trying to not get lost in those beautiful green eyes. He suddenly realized he couldn't just let Goten sweep in with all his charm. He'd had to find a way to get him to stall long enough to have a chance. Before Trunks had a chance to speak he saw a sudden dive in the demeanor of Rayina's face. A sudden flash of panic then tension met her eyes as she snapped her head towards the window.

"This can't be good," she murmured to herself catching everyone off guard.

"What was that?" Bulma said also noticing the change in her employee.

Rayina briskly walked towards the window then looked back at the group with uncertainty. Locking her eyes with Bulma she took a deep breath then spoke with a serious tone, "listen Bulma I will explain everything when I come back I promise."

"What? What are you talking about?" Bulma asked.

"I'm sorry I have to go," she responded as she opened the window and flew out.

Trunks did a double take as he watched her go. Wait?! She actually flew out the window, normal earthlings couldn't do that. Suddenly Trunks felt a huge surge of energy coming from several hundred miles south of the city. The energy was strong and pure evil, it seemed to be fighting against another weaker yet pure energy signal. Trunks reached out his senses and felt Ray quickly flying towards these two signals. This was the first time he noticed she had a different energy signal than other earthlings. Who was she really?

"Trunks do you feel that?" Goten said a hard look gracing his usually carefree face.

"Whats going on?! You both have that look on your faces that happens everytime there is some big problem going on," Bulma's voice rang through Trunks thoughts.

Turning to her he began to walk towards the open window, "mother it seems there is a huge and strong energy signal several hundred miles from here fighting with someone. Ray is headed for them, I'm not sure why or how but she may be in trouble. This person is strong and from what I can tell they aren't good."

Bulma swallowed hard, just when she thought things where getting back to normal after the whole evil Shenron thing. "Okay go help her!"

"Right!" both boys said in unison as they flew away. Leaving the heiress behind wondering what kind of crazy new trouble was brewing out there in this ever-threatened planet of hers.