Changing Tides

Raditz grumbled behind his desk. Was this really what weakling races subjected themselves to? Earning money and wasting away behind a computer screen? No wonder Vegeta-sei had never really put much stock in currency. He remembered faintly that if one was hungry, they would hunt and gather. Nothing was processed or wrapped in plastic, and even the largest city, the capital, had a lush and healthy forest surrounding it. Saiyans didn't do well without the touch of nature for extended periods.

And then there was another thing he disliked about human culture. It was their emotions. Everybody had to know exactly how you felt, and the only way they could possibly know was if you shouted them from the roof-tops with tears running. Gods it ticked him off. Were they so disconnected with one another that they were forced to such humiliating measures?

There was one girl, a secretary, he remembered, that would blush and bid him good morning every single day. He could smell the quickening of her pulse and anticipation. She must have had a…"crush" on him. Whatever that meant. He paid her no mind.

He glanced at the clock and sighed with relief. It was Friday, which meant the weekend off, and some absurd holiday, so that also meant an extra week away from the Kami forsaken city. Just as he punched out and exited the doors, his ears picked up the soft sniffles of crying.

There was a skinny boy wearing nothing more than rags just outside the door. Where were the blasted humans with their child worship now? It was bothering him. "What's eating you, kid?" Damn he was starting to sound like his father.

He stood on shaky legs and whipped tears away. "My sister – they've taken her away. They beat her and touch her…" His voice cracked. "I can't help her. I'm not strong enough!" He looked down. Gero told him to get this man and bring him, and h would do it.

Raditz had been indifferent to the sob story, until he began to imagine a little… Kakarot, hurt like that at all… He bit his lip.

"There are others too… And one of them has a tail, and they do experiments on him! I hate it," Jin cried. He began to shake and fell down, but was caught by a large hand.

"Where are they?" The prince! Could this be where he's been this whole time? Perhaps the other is there with him?

"I escaped, but I can show you where the bad people kept me."

"Do so now."

As he followed the child, winding through the bustling city, Raditz probed his father's mind. "Dad, I think I've found the prince."

"What?" Bardock stopped midair, losing the ki he'd been gathering to knock Tora out. His comrade paused as well.

"Yeah, this kid was outside the office crying, and then he started talking about some human trafficking and underground cabal. Then he mentioned that one of the kids there had a tail. If we can flush them out, we could probably find both of them."

"When you get there, you wait for Tora and I; is that clear?"

"Crystal."

…

He really hated leading him on like he had…truly. But, there was no other way he could think of to save him from despair. Every time he returned he would make sure he said it, that he knew how to get them out. Tarble's eyes would shine slightly with hope. False hope, he knew, but it was something.

Vegeta did not know how to leave.

He did not think they would ever leave until they finally died.

They made sure that they couldn't kill themselves.

Fucking bastards.

There was no other he cared about than Tarble. That's why he would let them kill his younger brother first, to make sure he wasn't stuck in a living hell while he frolicked in the afterlife. Screwed up, but true.

He entertained these thoughts as he was scrubbed down for what must have been the first time in months. The water was frigid, and they were none too gentle, purposely scratching and rubbing his pale skin raw.

He knew what would come next. They only bathed the prisoners if someone high up in the organization was horny. He just hoped that it wasn't Gero. Not that the others were any better. Though, he couldn't remember if he'd ever actually been forced to do…that. It was always scientific experiments. It was always torture. But he'd been drugged up to high heaven so many times, it was unreasonable to think that it hadn't happened while he was too out of it to remember.

The collar would shock him so harshly he would fall limp, almost completely incapable of moving, sometimes up to an hour. His starvation didn't help him much either.

They dried him with stale rags and forced him into some shorts. There were still bloodstains that no number of washings would get rid of. He felt a shudder run down his spine.

Disgusting swine.

The fat white man leashed him, and led him down the dark corridor. Vegeta dragged every step. He took a deep calming breath as they came to a door. They've done this before. Just bear through it for Tarble; if for no other reason than him. Nineteen removed the leash and shoved him inside, locking the door.

However, when he was shoved inside, no mental pep talk could have prepared him for the horror that met his gaze. He choked on the air which was thick with the coppery scent of blood. The red was smeared everywhere. The bed, the walls, the floor…and his younger brother lay naked in the middle of it.

His brother.

Tarble, his baby brother.

He was bleeding.

He was bleeding everywhere.

Why wouldn't he stop?

It took all of two seconds for him to piece the story together.

Oh, Kami he'd been raped.

Oh, Kami…

There was a creaking that came from the bed. Vegeta knelt next to Tarble while he watched the figure emerge. Gero too, was unclothed. Vegeta felt fury engulfing him, searing his skin with white hot hatred that fell in the form of furious tears. Then he looked down at Tarble. He stared blankly at the wall, watching his own blood seep down to the floor. His pupils were contracted, giving him an insane look.

He probably was insane now.

"Tarble, it's me. It's okay now, I'm here." Vegeta gently shook him to rouse him, growing more frustrated every second. "Tarble…please."

"You. Remove your clothes." Gero pointed at him as he stepped closer. He cackled as he stepped closer, his withering bare feet slapping against the concrete floor.

Vegeta watched as he approached. He frowned as he felt Tarble's trembling only intensify. He bit his lip, drawing blood.

"I thought I told you to strip, you stupid brat."

His knuckles whitened with anger as he clenched his fists. Vegeta stood in front of his brother and bowed his head, his bangs hiding his eyes in the shadows. He was practically choking on his rage. He wanted to scream, to thrash, to tear something limb from limb.

"Are you going to do as I ask? Good then. You can start by bending over." He said with a lecherous grin.

His tail lashed behind him like a whip as he growled lowly with hatred. His toes curled with tension. He heard a soft whimper behind him and jerked his head up, staring right into the mad eyes of Gero. He bared his teeth. "NO!"

A stunned silence followed. The scientist stared seemingly in awe at the boy before he began to laugh. "So you do speak. After all these years, the first word to come out of you is one of defiance?" he gasped between chuckles. His expression became cold as he walked to the desk. He pulled his pants on and grabbed something from the top. Vegeta remained between him and Tarble.

"You forget your place," he threatened as he pointed the remote at Vegeta and the collar began to buzz. He felt as though his vein were being ripped from his body. The doctor turned the dial up and blue sparks started to dance around the tailed child. Vegeta clawed at the device and snarled, but refused to collapse.

His eyes were still unfocused when he heard the animalistic sounds of growling and snarling come from his brother. He slowly lifted his gaze from the wall to the source of the azure light within the room, and saw the shadowed outline of his brother's familiar flame of hair. Tarble did not move.

Ever since the torture session he had born witness to, he'd had a whole new level of respect for his brother. He had seen for the first time, just how strong he really was. He still could not move.

He didn't move until he heard a more (for lack of a better word) human cry escape him. Tarble shifted his nearly lifeless stare to Gero. The man who had defiled and raped him. After what seemed like hours his eyes narrowed and he began to crawl towards him undetected. As soon as he was in range he leaped and smacked the remote from his hand with an enraged howl. The gadget cracked upon contact with the ground and the lights stopped. But he wasn't done.

Tarble growled himself and became lost for a moment as he clawed and bit and thrashed to accomplish nothing more than the death of the pedophile.

His rage had finally been unleashed.

…

For once, Raditz listened to his father and waited with the black-haired child around the corner of a dark alley. He'd hushed him at last after promising to break his sister out as well.

Bardock and Tora landed on top of a building and swiftly climbed down the fire escape to remain inconspicuous. Raditz was waiting for them with Jin. "All right, what's going on, Raditz?"

Without missing a beat, he gestured to the human next to him. "This kid claims that these "bad people" have the prince and possibly his brother in captivity. I already checked and there's a locked door at the end of the alley. There are about 200 or so people underground, but I can't tell if any of them are saiyan. He also wants us to rescue his sister, which I've agreed to."

Bardock frowned. Tora and himself would have to find the princes while Raditz searched for the girl, but they couldn't very well leave this kid out here. "What about him?"

His comrade answered. "How 'bout I take him back to Fasha and Gohan, then I catch up with you later?"

He nodded. "Fine but be quick."

When Tora knelt to pick him up, Jin flinched at the contact. Before he started climbing back to the roof, Jin looked back at Raditz. He had been so nice to him… He couldn't just…

"Wait!"

The saiyans paused.

"What is it?" The teenager crossed his arms.

"I need to tell you…but the man said-"

Bardock gestured for Tora to put him down. "What man? What did he say?"

Jin sniffled. "He-he sent me to you. He said he'd hurt Juu more if I didn't bring you here. He said that he wanted more like you and that I was supposed to get you here so that he could keep you. He promised he'd let me and my sister go if I did it." He choked and buried his face in his hands. "I'm sorry."

Bardock frowned at the child. He felt, what, pity? No, more like sympathy. He placed a hand on his shoulder. "I am grateful that you told us this was a trap. Honor is a sign of a good warrior. I promise to assist you and your sibling, but you must tell me who sent you."

"His name's Gero, I think."

Raditz's eyes widened. "I knew it! I knew he was up to something! No wonder Dr. Briefs wanted me to watch him so closely!" An idea came to him. "Wait a second!"

"What is it, son?"

"Humans highly disapprove of violence – especially against children. I say that we give ourselves some more ammunition against this creep." He took out his newly acquired cell phone, courtesy of his employer.

Tora furrowed his brow. "How do you plan to do that?"

"Simple. I'll call my boss, and give him the basic version of the story. He'll call the human law enforcement, and while they're gathering to raid this place, we sneak in, grab the princes and the girl, take care of Gero, and leave him for public humiliation and capital punishment."

"I agree with most of it, but this man has committed horrendous crimes against the Royal House of Vegeta-sei. As such, his punishment should be distributed by saiyans. Not humans."

"Oh, I know that, Dad. I'm just saying that we let the natives think that they served justice. We break him out of their prison and deliver the appropriate consequence. Return his corpse the next day and planet earth breathes a big sigh of relief that another horrible monster is gone."

Tora lifted Jin again. "Where'd you get all of that?"

He shrugged as he began dialing. "Dr. Briefs let me borrow some novels since I don't actually work that much during the day." He held the device to his ear. "It's Raditz…No. I'm not calling about that… Something urgent has come up and you must listen. When I clocked out today I found a boy on the roadside. He said that "bad people" had his sister in captivity and that he had escaped. He claims that there are many other children being held by an underground cabal, and I can only guess that there is human trafficking involved. He says that Gero is one of the leaders."

Bunny stared at her husband with a tiny worried frown as color slowly drained from his face and he set down his evening coffee. "What?"

"He's led me to the entrance of the main base but there's no address. He wants me to rescue his sister."

"My Kami…"

"Dear?" Bunny set the kettle down.

"Raditz, thank you very much for this information. I will call the police. What street are you on?"

He looked down at the rectangular green sign. "Uh, right by the intersection of Spring lane and 2nd street. I need to get home soon, so I'll take Jin with me."

"Who?"

"The kid."

"Thank you Raditz. Expect something in the mail as a reward."

"Good bye, sir."

Tora took off with the child and the father-son duo wasted no time in breaking the lock on the door and charging in. They sneaked along the long winding halls, occasionally taking guards or members of the organization out of commission.

Then they reached the holding cells.

Bardock said that he could feel faint saiyan energies and that he was going after them while Raditz was to find Juu.

It was really one giant room – similar to a warehouse – lined with rows and floors of tiny cells. They all had simple metal bars lining them as doors. Looking further down though, he could see an entire section of totally closed off rooms.

As he walked past, children groped at the bars, speaking to him unintelligibly. His eyes enlarged when one managed to grab his hand, and began to undress himself. He ripped away and ran down the hall until he came to the secluded cells.

He shivered. These little kids – they scared him. And not all of them were that little. He'd seen a couple that were at least as tall as he was, but judging from the excessive blood stains, they wouldn't be around much longer.

This place was a nightmare. That anyone was deranged enough to... It chilled him in a way he almost couldn't comprehend. And the fact that nearly all of them were smiling made it that much worse.

If the King and Queen had been killed and Prince Vegeta and the other taken, why would they have been able to do the same to himself and Kakarot? He was aware now that Gero desired saiyans, and that made the threat all the more real. What if it had been them? What if it had been Kakarot and Okran that laughed like that? He wouldn't be able to take it.

He shook himself out of his little depression spell and faced the first door.

He opened them one by one. They were empty. Blonde hair and blue eyes… he thought. He reached the next to last cell and was assaulted with the scents of two saiyans, but no one was inside. Shit. Who knows where they are now?

He swiftly told his father telepathically about the cell and opened the last door. Inside was a small girl. Her shoulder-length hair was grimy but not long, showing that she hadn't been kept here for too long. When he entered, she crawled backwards until she reached the corner.

"Where's Jin?" She demanded sternly.

Raditz slowly approached her with his hands up. "Don't worry, he's safe. I sent him with my friend."

She growled. "Safe? You expect me to believe that! You're a liar! You just want me to open my legs like the others, don't you!" She was sobbing now. She looked so fragile to him… She was cracked glass.

He knelt down and ventured to place a hand on her shoulder. She flinched. "I know you're scared, but I'm not going to do anything you don't want me to. Your brother sent me to get you after he escaped. I'm getting you out of here, okay?"

Juu seemed to think this over for a minute before she reluctantly nodded. Raditz scooped her up and began jogging out, careful to avoid more of the children's hands.

By the time he reached the door to the outside, Tora was already waiting for him. As he explained the situation and handed the little girl over, he was sure of only one thing.

If there is such a thing as hell, he glanced down the end of the hallway. It's not as sick as that place.

…

Bardock fire two more stealthy ki blasts and advanced past the now unconscious guards. Sweeping his senses ahead and finding no ki sources, he began running. He had a better grasp on the saiyan energies, and they were fluctuating wildly. He kept moving, going faster as he felt one dropping rapidly.

He turned down the final hall and sprinted to the door. Not bothering with stopping to open it normally, he busted right through. As he crossed the threshold, his face was splattered with blood as a squishing sound reverberated across the room.

The lights were dim and flickering. One boy in bloodied shorts was lying on the ground. The other, who was bleeding profusely and nude, was screaming. His pupils were contracted with rage as he clawed and kicked and punched the old man on the floor. His canines were sharp and gleaming, and just as he looked back to his left, the other boy was getting up. He lunged for the other boy and old man, apparently wanting to murder the creep as well.

Said elder was screaming profanities and cursing the heavens. He finally managed to knock the younger one off but the older held on tighter. His old worn skin had gashed and bruises and he didn't like it one bit. He managed to grab the older child's collar in a moment of sheer dumb luck, and pressed a button on the side.

He immediately flew off of him and began to convulse as painful shocks of his own ki gone rogue fired through him. He grunted and struggled to get up but refused to acknowledge his pain. There was a wild and determined look to his onyx eyes, and in that moment, Bardock knew that this was the King's son. The hair might have tipped him off but it was his eyes. They were full of pain and darkness, but they were ablaze with a bright fire. A true saiyan prince.

Without further hesitation, Bardock lunged for Gero. He pinned him to the wall and held back a glowing fist of ki. "Turn that thing off now before I kill you!"

He began to chuckle. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Tarble crawling towards Vegeta, eyeing the new man with suspicion as he pressed the button again and turned the thing off. "It doesn't matter. If you kill me, you won't know how to get it off."

Bardock growled and threw him to the ground, the concrete giving him a slight concussion. "You will rot in hell." He used the bloodied bed sheets to tie him to the ceiling upside-down. With a final punch to the old man's gut, he turned.

It brought the warrior great sorrow to see the princes in such a state. They should be proud strong boys but they were broken and traumatized. He crouched down to pick them up, but his hand was slapped away by who he assumed was the eldest, Vegeta. The child glared at him while catching his breath. He stepped between Bardock and Tarble, despite his weariness.

Bardock thought for a second. He decided that speaking in their native language would help them trust him a bit. "Prince Vegeta, are you all right?"

His eyes widened almost imperceptibly. Had he not dealt with people who masked their emotions in his earlier days, he would have missed the shock. "Prince? How do you know me? How do you speak our language? Why did you call me prince?"

"You do not remember?"

"Answer me!"

Bardock had to turn his attention to the door when he heard heavy and rapid footsteps. It was Tora. "Bardock, we need to get out of here! The human police will be here shortly and we cannot let them take the princes into custody!"

Quickly, he faced Vegeta again. "You have to listen to me. I'm getting you out of here. I promise to explain everything later but we must go!"

Vegeta glanced back at his brother. They were both in dire need of medical attention, and this may be his only ticket out. He would just have to risk it. He turned back to Bardock, eyes narrowed. "Fine. But if I find out you're lying or if you hurt either of us, I will find a way to kill you."

Not offering him time to think it over any more, He and Tora scooped the brothers up and dashed out the door.

They found Raditz waiting by the fire escape with the blonde girl. Without a word they leapt off of the ground and took to the skies. Looking back, Father and son saw SWAT and police cars swarming the area. They heard gunshots and stomping. Citizens were in a panic, but soon a blue helicopter came into view with the earthling royal insignia, and all went hush.

Bardock looked at the collar that rested on Prince Vegeta's neck. He still didn't know his sibling's name but he wore an identical one. Both boys had passed out after roughly twenty minutes.

The next step was to remove the atrocious devices from them.

A/N: Raditz has got connections. It will be a long road of recovery, but something tells me a certain blue-haired girl will be more than happy to help. Wink wink.

I know you guys like it from the stats I get, so why not so many reviews?

…

Future VXB anyone? It's still a long way off though. Sigh.