Chapter 3

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"Higher and a little more to the left."

"Hurry it up, Woman. I do not have all day to play interior decorator."

"Have a little patience. You're super strong and the only one who can fly around here. I just don't know where Dad put the ladder." Actually, she did know. It was stashed away in her lab. Looking up at his levitating form, she smiled. Since the carnival, she no longer denied her attraction for the Saiyan prince and often tried to find ways to be with him. Getting him to do grunt work was relatively simple. Vegeta always liked a good ego massage, however small.

Bulma looked up and noticed his muscular legs bulging through the leg openings of his shorts. Slightly disappointed with the view, she made a mental note to get him new, looser shorts. The Saiyan had grown two sizes since he began training for the androids.

"Woman, if you do not make up your mind now, I will just imbed it in the wall here." Although he seemed less inclined to brush her off, Vegeta's demeanour toward his housemate remained mostly unchanged.

"Okay, okay. It looks good right there." She tossed Vegeta a few screws to mount her new shelf. "I wonder... ," she mused, and her tongue snaked out toward him.

Vegeta felt a whisper wet sensation on his calf. He doubted the occurrence. Then he felt it again. "Woman, are you licking me?"

Bulma looked up at him with wide-eyed innocence and feigned ignorance. "Huh? What did you say, Vegeta? I wasn't paying attention."

He shook his head. "Never mind."

######

Time to shower. He wiped himself down before donning his T-shirt. He did not want the ditzy blonde one pawing him again. To Vegeta, any contact other than those during sparring was considered too much physical contact. He passed by the older Briefs woman as she was watering her plants. She waved cheerily at him.

As he walked up the stairs to his room, he heard grunts and heavy breathing coming from the room next to his.

"Just a couple more," she gasped. "Niiiiinnnnne...," came the groan.

THUD CLUNK A couple of heavy objects hit the floor.

"Dammit! Stupid, weak, body!" screamed the all too familiar voice.

He heard a barrage of foul language followed by some foot stomping as she launched into another tirade. Within moments, Bulma yanked open her bedroom door and walked smack! -- into a Saiyan prince.

Locking onto his dark eyes, she saw the injustice of it all. Bulma growled into his face as she grabbed two fistfuls of his shirt. "Why?! Why can't I become a superhero?"

Before he could comprehend the statement, she shoved herself back and stalked toward the kitchen, still muttering under her breath about fairness, mutants, and Saiyans. He just stared at her retreating back. She was dressed like he, in a ragged T-shirt and black jersey shorts.

He looked down at the two crumpled sections of his shirt and pulled out the neckline to examine his chest. Yep, his nipples were still intact, although a little red from the twisting of her tiny fists. Vegeta shook his head and peered past her doorway. A workout bench sat in the middle of the room. Dumb-bells of varying weights were scattered about the floor.

"So, she's been training." He went in and picked up some weights. "Hmmpf! Even a babe on Vegetasei could toss these with ease. How pathetically weak."

Bulma sat in the kitchen, still ranting. "I have beauty, I have brains, why can't I have super strength and fly? Why couldn't I have been born strong, like everyone else I know?"

Unbeknownst to most people, Bulma owned a large collection of comic books, mostly Spiderman, Wolverine, and Ranma 1/2. Unfortunately, she sometimes slipped into another reality after reading them. "Aaahh, to be able to fly about and kick some ass."

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"Vegeta! Dinner time!"

He ignored her. Ten seconds later, her face appeared on the video screen.

"Vegeta, come in for dinner."

He continued to ignore her.

"Vegeta," she said slowly, "As my guest, I expect you to come in for dinner, remember? If you refuse, I will sabotage the gravity room to the point that even my dad can't figure out how to fix it for a week."

"Woman, you would not dare."

"How long have you lived here, Vegeta?"

"Fine!" He shut off the machine and marched into the house. "Stupid, overbearing wench."

"I heard that!" The communications link was still on.

"I meant for you to hear!"

Dinner was quiet as usual. The prince never had anything to say. Mrs. Briefs informed them that Yamcha was coming back to the city sometime that week. Bulma smiled happily and clapped her hands together. Yamcha was still a dear friend and she missed him.

Vegeta lifted his eyes from his plate and saw a dreamy look on Bulma's face. He surmised that she was fantasizing about that loser ex-boyfriend of hers. "Hmmpf!"

"What was that Vegeta?" Bulma's mother asked.

Not wanting to be the focus of attention, he quickly replied, "The Woman wishes to be a superhero."

"Again?" Dr. Briefs interjected. "Bulma, are you reading those comic books again? I thought that you quit. Remember that last incident?"

Before Bulma could stop him, Dr. Briefs continued his tale to a now interested Saiyan. "She tried to get a radioactive spider to bite her and only ended up in the emergency room with a severe allergic reaction and radiation poisoning! Get a grip on reality, Daughter! Your mother and I do not want to experience something like that again."

"Dad! I was really young at the time. I was only twenty-five. Besides, I haven't bought any new comics in ages."

"Then stop re-reading the ones you already own."

Bulma blushed. "I can't help it. Spiderman... and Wolverine... so powerful.," she trailed off, becoming dreamy again. Bulma's mother giggled and winked at her.

The Saiyan's curiosity was piqued. She was not thinking of her weakling boyfriend but some others? He wondered about these superheroes. He thought that the Woman's friends were the strongest beings on the planet.

After his workout, Vegeta walked toward his room. He paused at Bulma's door, hearing the grunts and groans again. He knocked.

"Who is it?"

"Vegeta."

"What!" She never expected Vegeta to knock. Perhaps the prince had manners after all. "What do you want?"

". . . Nothing."

Bulma burst through the door. "Wait." It was not everyday Vegeta asked for something. "Do you have a question?"

He looked at her and nodded once. "You apparently still desire to become a superhero."

Bulma nodded. "Who doesn't want to have special powers? Come here. I'll show you." He followed her into her room. She reached underneath her desk for a long, narrow cardboard box. "These are my Spiderman collection." She opened the box and pulled out an early edition for him. "I keep them in plastic to protect them," she stated proudly.

He removed the flimsy comic from its protective shield and examined it.

"Careful!" she cried.

Vegeta gingerly flipped through the pages. When he finished, he handed it back to her. "It is a flimsy book full of pictures and some words. Surely it could not tell a story with so few pages."

"That's the point. The authors only write enough so that you want to read more and have to buy more comics."

"Makes sense in this capitalistic society. Define their purpose, especially those two you were mumbling about at dinner."

Bulma began her explanation of superheroes: these beings had special powers, saved the world, protectors of justice...

The Saiyan thought that they sounded remarkably like Kakkarott and the others. So, the Woman desired to be like them.

"Okay, Spiderman is the guy I just showed you. He gets his powers from being bitten by a radioactive spider. Unfortunately, it doesn't work like that in real life."

"And Wolverine?"

"Wolverine is this short, ill-tempered guy with wild hair who has an amazing ability to heal. He was trained to be an assassin -- Weapon X. His skeleton is adamantium and claws come out from his knuckles. Usually, he causes more trouble than solves them because of his temper. And he kills. No, correction, he doesn't kill anymore. Or at least he tries not to."

Vegeta wondered for a moment why that character seemed so familiar. "And why do you have such an interest in them? They are imaginary."

"It's an escape from reality. I like Spiderman because he has real problems -- rent, job, girls. And he's a genius. I like Wolverine because he's unpredictable. He's pure rage unleashed when he's mad. And it doesn't hurt the way that they're drawn, either. Mmm-mmm."

Vegeta narrowed his eyes further at her comment. "Why do they wear costumes?"

"Are you kidding? Defending the world takes a toll on the environment. Buildings get blown up. Forests get burned. Innocent bystanders get injured. If people knew who these heroes were, they'd have lawsuits coming at them from all directions."

Vegeta nodded, understanding now why Kakarrot chose to battle in remote areas. And the lawsuits would explain why he lived in the boonies and bathed in a barrel. The Saiyan prince was familiar with Kakarott's living conditions. He had sparred with the third-class at his mountain home during the times Dr. Briefs did maintenance checks on the gravity pod. Vegeta's thoughts turned back to the Woman. "Did not the other losers teach you anything?"

"They were always training for a tournament or trying to save the world. I would have just held them back at that time."

"Why do you not invent a suit to enhance your powers?"

"Thought about it. But that's no fun. I want the power to be inherently mine."

"What about modifying your genetic code or chemical concoctions?"

"Thought about that, too. Nope. No one's messing with my DNA. All those cloned mice and sheep always have something wrong with them. Out of the question there. Besides, biology isn't my field. And as far as drugs are concerned, all I ever succeeded in creating were laxatives. Poor Oolong." She thought back on Oolong and the piggy diarrhea pills. The pills' effects lasted for almost two years on the little porker.

"Then you are chasing a dream, Woman."

Bulma became dejected. "Yeah. I came to that conclusion long ago. I just relapse every so often. I mean, if Krillen and Yamcha can become super strong and fly, then why can't I?"

Vegeta gave a "don't know, don't really care" look.

"Heaven knows that I've tried. The spirit is willing, yet the flesh is weak. I guess I shouldn't be greedy. I am a gorgeous genius."

"Vanity, thy name is Woman."

Bulma scrunched up her face. "The name is Bulma! Can't you address people by their rightful names for once? Speaking of which, Yamcha, and not loser or weakling, is visiting this week. I don't want you starting any fights with him, got that?"

"You need not concern yourself. I have no desire to waste my very breath on that pathetic human."

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Vegeta walked toward the door of Capsule Corps.' living quarters after a session in the gravity pod. His Saiyan ears picked up heavy breathing and groaning. 'The woman must have resumed her exercises. I must give her credit. She perseveres even though the task is beyond her reach."

Opening the door, the sight before his eyes momentarily stunned him -- a writhing mass of naked, tangled limbs were on the living room floor. "No! Not them....!"

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