The day went by slowly for Logan, also known as Wolverine, as he was chosen to watch over the strange man that had been found instead of Magneto. Logan didn’t trust the situation at all. How the heck had those two… people just appeared from no where. The woman that Storm had taken in didn’t know what was going on, and she was telling the truth since both the Professor and Jean Grey had probed her thoughts.

He stared moodily at the muscular shape of the man lying silently on the table. Jean Grey had managed to get the man into a basically stable state of health, upping his chances of living. Logan, if he had his choice, would just let the man die. Something about him just wasn’t right. The stranger seemed … inhuman… to his senses.

Logan’s eyes trailed over the man’s battered body, sizing him up. The man obviously physically strong. It was impossible not to notice. Muscles were corded up and down every inch of the man’s body. But how in the heck had these two strangers survived the brunt of the blast that took out Magneto’s hideout? Logan snorted in disgust. He hated not knowing what was happening and he hated things he didn’t know about. Right now, he really hated this strange man.

A click from the doorway snapped Logan to attention, as he saw the Professor glide in, sitting in his hi tech wheel chair, followed closely by Jean Grey. Their grim faces made Logan hold his tongue, a very rare thing for him to do. They approached the bed, staring at the bandaged figure mutely. The Professor broke the silence.

"Logan," The Professor’s calm voice called him to attention. "Guard the doors. I’m going to attempt to scan our patients mind." Logan looked at the Professor in surprise, but nodded. The Professor looked over to Jean Grey. "You know what you have to do to break the connection between me and him if things get out of hand…" The Professor trailed off as she gave a slight nod also. Logan watched in mild interest as the Professor eased into position to be directly behind the man’s wild flare of hair, placing his hands on either side of his head. Then the usual expression of blankness crossed the Professor’s face as he descended into the depths of the stranger’s mind. Logan sighed. He just hoped they knew what they were doing.

Charles Xavior, also known as the Professor by his students, felt the calm overtake his body as it did every time he read someone’s mind. He touched just lightly, a slight brush of his thoughts, against the strangers, and got a very violent reaction. Charles found that the man’s mind pulled his mind into it with the intensity and ferociousness of a black hole. He found himself tugged and thrown into a wall of pure mental steel.

Charles struggled to raise his power, managing to take a bit of control over the situation. Whoever this man was, he certainly didn’t have a normal human mind. Charles suddenly reeled in shock as an alien thought hit his mind with the force of a hammer-blow.

No… Not human… alien… The Professor struggled to sort out the sudden angry barrage of information. Saiyans. Some kind of planet full of bloodthirsty people with tails. Royalty. Anger. Power. Hate. Fear…

The Professor jerked away from the thoughts. It was too much at one time. This man… no, he wasn’t a human man. He was an alien. A… what did he call himself again? A Saiyan. Prince of a powerful race, or so that’s what he collected from the confusing jumble of thoughts he had received.

Charles called upon more of his strength, and ventured into the Saiyan’s mind, now knowing a bit of what to expect. He was successful in deflecting the Saiyan’s natural instincts to protect his thoughts. The Professor was amazed. He had never seen abilities for telepathy this strong in a being before. But this man’s telepathy was used for defensive only. Charles found that there was very little that he could sort from the Saiyan’s mind without trying to breach the wall of smooth ice that blocked any attempt to see the Saiyan’s thoughts.

Charles went to the top most memories, searching for the ones that had confusion and pain in them. The ones the Saiyan hadn’t had time to protect with his mental shield. He stumbled upon the memory almost by accident. That’s when he saw Magneto and the machine, the metal poles, this man’s effort to save the woman since she was the only one he knew smart enough to figure what was going on out. He relived the moment where the Saiyan’s anger was released in a blaze of blinding destruction, forcing even Charles’ astral eyes to blink at the brightness. Then the memories went blank.

The Professor knew he had the information that he needed, or at least the information he had made this trip for. But this alien intrigued him to no end. Charles wanted to know what was going on. Who was this man?

Charles made one last attempt to breach the man’s mental barriers. He found a crack in the man’s defenses. The woman. Bulma. This man… no… his name was… Vegeta. Vegeta was confused by this woman. The only person who had ever accepted him, talked to him without fear. The Professor probed deeper in these thoughts, knowing that he was slowly making it past the mental barrier. He saw the times that this Vegeta had thought of her, the times they had argued, all the confusion, anger, and annoyance he had for Bulma because of the way she made him feel.

The Professor gave a mental imitation of a smile. It was almost as if this Vegeta was in love with her… The sudden backwash of mental fury from the Saiyan drove the Professor back from his mind. Images rushed past in a whirlwind of anger as the Saiyan threw the Professor from his mind.

Charles felt a stabbing pain as he was forcefully driven out. He heard short clips of words… rushing and tumbling by in a dizzying tornado of thoughts.

The Professor yanked out of Vegeta’s mind with a cry. It had been too much for one time. He began to focus, he saw Jean Grey asking what was wrong and helping him as Logan stood at her side, concern written on his features. Charles knew that Vegeta was a force to be dealt with. He had to tell his comrades, before the powerful Saiyan awoke. They had to find out how to deal with his powers before it was too late.

"There!" Bulma backed off in satisfaction as she put the finishing touches on the regeneration tank. "I am such a genius!" She plugged it into the generator, causing the lights to begin to blink.

Bulma turned around as she heard the door of the lab opening. To her surprise, it wasn’t Storm, like she had expected. It was a man in an antigravity wheel chair that came up to her, looking grim. He looked at her for a while, making her nervous, before speaking.

"You are the one who came in with the Saiyan, are you not?" The man asked in a low voice. Bulma blinked. How did he know what Vegeta was? She certainly hadn’t told him!

"Well, yes I am…" She answered, confused. "Is he alright?" Sudden concern washed over her. Why else would someone else come in here unless something had happened to Vegeta? The older man nodded absently before smiling at her and offering his hand.

"Hello, Bulma!" Bulma started as he said her name. "I’m Professor Charles Xavior of the X-men! I just want to ask you a few questions about your recovering companion. Don’t worry, he’s in fine shape!" Bulma relaxed as he answered her unspoken question before getting suspicious.

"How… how do you know who I am?" Bulma was shocked at the response she got.

::I have the ability to use telepathy, Bulma. But do not be afraid. I will not harm you.:: Bulma backed away. He’d just spoken directly into her mind!!! She blinked.

"Wha…?" The Professor cut her off with a wave of his hand, signaling for her to follow him.

"We can talk on the way to the medic bay. Your friend there is…. How shall I put it? Very… different." The Professor turned around, gliding out of the door with a curious Bulma close behind. Somehow she got the feeling that he wasn’t going to harm either her or Vegeta, and so she put her trust in her feelings.

"Of course Vegeta’s different! He’s not exactly from around here." Bulma trailed off hesitant, wondering how much information she should give away. The Professor laughed.

"Don’t worry! If I really were evil I would have just forced the information from you! But I really prefer the person giving up the information willingly, rather than me having to force them." Bulma nodded, realizing this was very true. She’d seen a lot of strange things in her days, and she had learned that the enemy very rarely would go to the extent of keeping her safe for this long, when they could have killed her and Vegeta easily beforehand. The Professor smiled warmly at her.

"I just want to know what your friend exactly is. I tried to scan his mind, and all I discovered is that he was trying to protect you from dying." Bulma gasped in shock. Had Vegeta really wanted to protect her? Did he really care? The Professor looked at her strangely. "You don’t know the half of it, Bulma." He muttered under his breath. Bulma was able to hear him, though, and was very confused by this response.

Ah well! Bulma thought. If he can take all the information he wants from Vegeta, why is he asking me about him? I really don’t know that much about Vegeta except that he’s an arrogant jerk! That saved her life… She had to stop thinking. She was just getting more confused. She looked over at the Professor as they continued down the hall.

"Why do you want me to tell you if you already saw Vegeta’s mind?" Bulma asked. The Professor sighed.

"Well, it seems that your friend has some type of mental powers that are even too powerful for me to break. He has some kind of shield around his mind, making it impossible for me to actually read his thoughts." The Professor looked over at her almost pleadingly. "Bulma, the feelings I got from his mind before he kicked me out were violent and full of hate, pain, and rage. I'm afraid that none of my comrades have even a chance of beating your friend if he makes a full recovery. So what I’m asking from you is how do we control him? He’s way too powerful and violent to just let loose." The Professor watched her closely.

Bulma agreed with everything the Professor said. To tell the truth, she hadn’t really thought that far ahead. All she had been trying to do was make the regeneration tank for Vegeta. She had never thought of what to do after that….

Bulma nodded at the Professor. "Alright. I’ll tell you all I know about him…." And she proceeded to tell him about how Vegeta had come to earth to destroy it but was beaten and barely escaped alive. She had to tell him about the dragonballs and what they did. She told him about Namek and Freeza and Vegeta’s death. Then she told him how he had gotten wished back alive and she had invited him to stay at her place.

By the time Bulma had finished the explanation, both she and the Professor had halted outside of the medic bay. The telepathic mutant was just staring at her in a mixture of shock, disbelief, awe, and fear. He knew that she was telling the truth, and that scared him.

"So…" The Professor started slowly, thinking over the new information carefully. "You seem to have quite a bit of control over him." Bulma blinked at this.

"Well, I don’t know about control…. No one really controls Vegeta. He kinda has a mind of his own." A very stubborn mind at that! Bulma thought. But she realized what the Professor was asking. Bulma mentally cringed, but she couldn’t refuse. The Professor and his friends had, after all, saved Vegeta from dying and probably her as well. So, dreading her next words, Bulma straightened up.

"Very well, Professor Charles Xavior." She said formally, "I will do my best to control and pacify the Saiyan until we can find a way to repay you and get back to our world." The Professor smiled at her.

"Thank you, Bulma. That probably means the existence of our planet." He turned from her briefly to type in a code. The door to the medic bay slid open to reveal a shocking sight.

"Vegeta!!!" Bulma gasped. She saw him pressing one of the mutants against the wall, pinning him there, growling. He didn’t look nearly close to full health, the cruel markings of his past wounds standing out on his olive skin. He looked over to where she stood in the doorway with shock in his ebony eyes.

"Woman?" He whispered, then let out a howl of anger as the mutant he had pinned escaped his weakened grasp. Bulma saw claws extend from the mutant’s knuckles, using them to slash at Vegeta. Vegeta uttered a guttural curse and leapt over the man’s attack, using the man’s momentum against him and slamming him into the wall. Vegeta ignored everyone else in the room, except the man, who was groaning on the ground, rubbing his head.

Vegeta advanced on the prone form. Bulma could see the killing light in his eyes. Bulma rushed forward, grabbing Vegeta’s arm and walking so he had to look at her.

For a moment, they didn’t speak. No one dared interrupt the silence lest they get Vegeta’s wrath. Vegeta’s eyes bored into Bulma’s with a burning intensity. His hand reached up to brush a strand of hair out of her face.

"Woman… you…" He trailed off, gulping. Bulma smiled at him.

"Yes, Vegeta. I’m fine." She placed her hands around his neck, pulling him closer. He stiffened as she hugged him, softening slightly to place his hands on her back.

"I’m fine because of you…." She whispered huskily in his ear. He pulled back, face flushing slightly. "Thank you Vegeta." Bulma murmured to him.

That seemed to shake him from his dazed state. He blinked before pushing her away from him, gently.

"Where the heck are we?" He growled. The mutants had gathered around them, but had made no move or threat yet. Vegeta glared at them menacingly, not knowing quite how to take the situation. Bulma took Vegeta’s hand.

"Don’t worry, Vegeta. They’re on our side!" Vegeta peered at Bulma skeptically as she led him away from the crowd. She heard a voice in her mind as they left.

::You are the only one who can contain him. We need his help, but only you can get him to agree. Please, Bulma….:: Bulma shook her head. She was sure that that had been the Professor, but what had he meant by help? She sighed, causing Vegeta to look at her strangely.

"What’s going on?" He snapped at her, extremely confused. Bulma began to explain the little that she knew as they made their way to the regeneration tank. After she had finished, she glanced at him, walking steadily beside her. He seemed to be pretty much recovered at first glance, but she could see the paleness of his skin compared to its usual healthy tan. Bulma frowned, noticing his apparent wound on his chest, she saw the deep scar it was going to leave. Bulma felt a stab of guilt. The Professor had told her that Vegeta had taken the blow so that he could save her life.

Bulma sighed as she got to the science faculty that she had been staying in. She opened the door to reveal the regeneration tank before her. She walked over to the controls.

"There. I made that for you so that you can recover and we can get home. Happy?" Bulma told him absently as she set it up. She turned to face him as she finished and smirked at his look of astonishment. He shook his head.

"Woman, you never cease to amaze me…" Vegeta mumbled as he walked into the regeneration tank. Bulma smiled, happy with the veiled compliment that he had given her. She pressed the button and the machine rumbled to life, filling up with the healing fluids. Vegeta’s eyes met hers as he slipped into an unconscious state, staring at her with something like gratitude in their onyx depths. Bulma waved at him before the machine indicated that he was unconscious and healing at a steady rate.

The door, once again, opened behind her and Bulma didn’t even have to turn around to guess who was there.

"Where is the unnatural freak?" A sharp voice came from behind. Bulma turned to find herself faced with the whole X-men gang. The man who had spoken was the one that Vegeta had been grappling with. The Professor pushed his way to the front of the group.

"Ah… Bulma! It seems you’ve got the situation under control!" He gestured towards the Saiyan that was floating silently in the healing liquids. He smiled at her warmly. "Now that we aren’t worrying about rampaging aliens, let’s introduce ourselves. This is Wolverine," The Professor pointed to the man that had spoken before. "He has the power of regeneration and has metal claws that come from his knuckles. His skeleton is lined with metal and his senses rival that of a wolf. Next there is Rogue." A young girl stepped forward. She was slim and well built, quite cute and looked normal except for the streak of white in her hair. "She has the power to absorb anyone’s abilities. But that makes a problem since she cannot make human contact without killing that person very quickly." Bulma looked at the solemn girl in pity. That would be terrible. "And this is Cyclops," The Professor moved so that a sturdy man came forward. He looked normal besides the ruby visor he was wearing over his eyes. "He has the ability to shoot lasers from his eyes. Unfortunately, the power can only be controlled if he’s wearing these glasses. Without them, he just shoots whatever he looks at. Then there is Storm," Bulma nodded at the white haired woman that stepped forward. "You’ve already met her. She has the power to control the weather." Bulma gaped for a moment before the Professor went on. "Then, last but not least, there is Jean Grey." Another woman stepped forward, a gentle smile on her face. "She is my student. She is also telepathic and I’m teaching her to use her telekinetic powers." The Professor took a deep breath before speaking again. "Now that you know about us, why don’t you tell us about you."

Bulma nodded. They had given her plenty of information and she saw no harm in telling them anything, so she did.

"Well, I’m Bulma Briefs, the daughter of Dr. Briefs who is the president of Capsule Corporations. I’m very rich and a genius, but I’ve spent most of my life gathering the dragonballs with Goku and my friends. Vegeta here used to be one of our most dangerous enemies until he was kind of forced to fight with us. He lives with me now, and we don’t get along that well, but he seems to respect me more than anyone else. That’s about all about me." Bulma stopped as all the people in front of her gave her looks of confusion.

Bulma frowned. "Don’t you know what Capsule Corporation is? It’s very famous and its headquarters are in Satan City." Bulma still received blank stares. Rogue was the first to speak.

"Um… Ms. Briefs. There is no such thing as Capsule Corporation or Satan City. Are you sure you’re correct?" Rogue backed off as the Professor turned to the others.

"I should explain something to all of you. It appears that this girl and her alien friend aren’t from our world. I believe, if what you’ve said and what I’ve gotten from your mind is true, that you somehow got transferred to a different dimension." The X-men all looked quite shocked at this last bit of information. "But." The Professor continued, "The only time that strange things like this happen in our world is if they serve a purpose." The telepathic mutant turned back to Bulma. "I believe that you and him aren’t here on accident. Someone must have brought you."

Bulma was, to say the least, stunned at this last bit of information. She hadn’t really thought of being in a different dimension. She had just figured that they had been blasted off to some strange place. But then again, she was still in shock from the whole gravity room thing, and hadn’t really been thinking that clearly since.

The Professor waited patiently for her reply. Bulma looked at him thoughtfully.

"Well, I don’t see how or why anyone would want me and Vegeta. I mean, we don’t have anything in common and we don’t work together well. I don’t even like him and he doesn’t like me. We are the worst people they could have summoned…" Bulma was cut off by a snort from Wolverine.

"I don’t care what kind of purpose you have. All I want to do is kill that alien!" Wolverine glared at the still form in the regeneration tank. "He doesn’t seem like the type to help anybody so I say we should take him out when we have the chance!" He snarled, starting forward. Rogue stepped closer to him, putting a gloved hand on his shoulder.

"Wolverine, calm down! You don’t know anything about him! Just let the Professor deal with it, okay?" Rogue gently tugged him back. At first, Wolverine looked like he was about to strike her away, but his face softened at her touch.

"Alright," He agreed, "But if he ever does anything I don’t like…" Wolverine trailed off, leaving it hanging as a threat. Bulma laughed at him. He turned to glare at her.

"What’s so funny, woman?" He snapped. Bulma just laughed harder, until Wolverine approached her, furious. "WHAT IS IT?!?" He yelled. Bulma wiped the tears of mirth from her eyes before answering him.

"You… you and him are almost…. Identical in personality." She broke out into laughter again at the incredulous look on Wolverine’s face.

"I WILL NOT BE COMPARED TO HIM!!!" He screamed at Bulma. Bulma just giggled. Wolverine moved to threaten her, but Cyclops grabbed him.

"Wolverine…" He said threateningly. Wolverine took a deep breath before backing off, mumbling darkly. Storm moved forward next to Bulma.

"How long until he’s out of your…. Machine?" She asked softly. Bulma frowned, thinking hard while studying the screen.

"I’d say, about another two hours." Bulma bit her lip in concentration as her fingers flashed over the computer panel. Rogue came up behind her and Storm.

"Ms. Briefs? I have a question for you." The soft voice caught Bulma’s attention. She turned around to face the young woman.

"Yes?"

Rogue frowned slightly. "Well, it seems to me that this man has a lot of power and knows how to control it, am I correct?" Bulma nodded. Rogue continued. "How do you keep him in check if he doesn’t care about you and you hate him?"

Bulma opened her mouth to respond, but nothing came out. She paused. The girl was correct. Why did Vegeta allow her to semi control him? He didn’t allow anyone else to barely even approach him. Bulma shook her head at Rogue.

"You know, I can’t answer that one. I really don’t know myself." Rogue looked at her intently before smiling secretively.

"Oh." She said. "I see….!" Then she left a very bewildered Bulma behind. Storm placed a hand on Bulma’s shoulder.

"Don’t worry about Rogue. She sometimes understands things that even Jean Grey and the Professor can’t." Then Storm left her too. Bulma looked around the room. She saw the men and Jean Grey chatting outside of the door. Bulma sighed. Things were just getting too weird for her. She’d feel better once Vegeta was healed and out. Bulma didn’t know what was possessing her, but she missed Vegeta’s sharp wit and arrogant attitude. It was almost as if…. Bulma shook her head, refusing to follow that train of thought. She had to get herself busy with something or else she was going to have other crazy thoughts. Bulma sat down at a table next to the regeneration tank and began to fiddle with her calculations on how the dimensional barrier was opened. But the next thing she knew was exhaustion overtaking her body. Bulma laid her head on the table and fell into a deep slumber.

A dark figure slipped unnoticed into the science lab. He turned to peer in at the sleeping blue haired lady that lay next to his destination. The regeneration tank. He walked over, checking to make sure that the woman was really asleep, before turning to the controls of the tank.

"How in the heck do you open this thing," He mumbled as his fingers flashed over the keys. A sudden blip sounded and a whoosh as the healing fluids were released from the tank. The door to the side opened.

Wolverine scowled. That wasn’t what he had wanted to do. He had wanted to somehow change the liquid in the tank to a new solution, which would have weakened that alien. He cursed his stupidity. Now he had just released it.

Wolverine didn’t have time to move as steel fingers clamped over his neck.

"I suggest you don’t move, human, unless you want to die," A deep voice hissed into his ear. Wolverine growled, kicking backwards with his foot. A sudden pain flashed through his skull as the alien behind him struck him in the back.

Wolverine snarled something unintelligible as he turned to face his assailant. But to his surprise, the alien wasn’t even looking at him. Wolverine followed the man’s gaze and saw it fell upon the sleeping woman. Wolverine turned back to the alien.

"What are you really doing here, freak?" Wolverine snapped. Vegeta scowled heavily before turning his eyes to gaze relentlessly at the mutant.

"I had no choice as to coming here. I really am not able to answer your question." Vegeta clipped out harshly. Wolverine frowned before his eyes laid sight on a slight twitching in the air. He glanced down at the Saiyan’s waist and almost fainted in shock as he saw a TAIL waving in the air. Vegeta smirked smugly.

"Oh, yes, human. I’m not of your kind. It seems that my tail was brought back by the regeneration tank." Vegeta stalked slowly forward, a cruel gleam in his eyes. "And I will thoroughly enjoy showing you what I can do…." Wolverine’s eyes narrowed as his claws came from his knuckles.

"You idiot! After all we’ve done for you, you’re just going to repay us with violence?" Wolverine felt a slow growing pit of fear in his stomach as the gleam in Vegeta’s eyes grew.

"Oh no, you mistake me. I will repay my debts to your comrades, but what have you done to help me? Nothing. And then you take me from the regeneration tank before I’m fully healed," Vegeta tisked mockingly as he shook his head. "Poor little mutant. You’ve just earned yourself a one way trip to Hell!" Vegeta lunged forward at the last word. Wolverine crouched down, knowing he hadn’t a chance but not willing to die without a fight.

Vegeta grinned savagely at the prospect of a battle with the weak mutant. He lunged forward to tear him limb from limb, but suddenly collapsed on the ground with a howl as a streak of liquid fire flashed up his spine. He hissed in pain and turned around to find Bulma clutching doggedly onto his new tail.

"Let me go, woman!" Vegeta growled menacingly. Bulma shook her head, a furious look on her face.

"Vegeta!! I can’t believe you!!! After all the help they’ve given, you are NOT about to hurt ANY of them, DO YOU UNDERSTAND!!!" Vegeta winced at the volume of the woman’s shout. Wolverine watched in amazement as the powerful Saiyan was manipulated like putty beneath Bulma’s small hands.

Bulma squeezed Vegeta’s tail tighter, causing him to let out a small sound of pain before he spun on her viciously.

"WOMAN!!! Just mind your own dang business! This isn’t your concern…" Bulma’s eyes narrowed and Wolverine almost saw Vegeta’s eyes widen in fear.

"Vegeta," Bulma said in a low, threatening voice that made Vegeta’ tail puff out. "You are going to leave everyone here alone unless I say so, and you will obey the rules and you will stay at my side, out of trouble, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!?!?!?!?!"

Vegeta nodded his head, speechless as a sudden wave of terror overcame him. Was this why Kakarot was afraid of his wife? Vegeta cringed in front of Bulma as she released his tail and turned away from him in a huff.

Vegeta stood up slowly, cursing himself for his weakness. I can’t believe I let the baka talk to me like that!!! I am the Prince of all Saiyans and she is just a low class baka with a very big mouth!!! I should kill her!!! But Vegeta barely repressed a shiver as Bulma glanced back at him.

"Well," She snapped, "are you coming or not?" Vegeta started after her when he heard a sound behind him. He knew it was that stupid mutant that insisted on being a pest. Vegeta barely restrained himself as the mutant laughed at his back.

"The all mighty alien is controlled by a human!!! Now that’s funny!!" Vegeta snarled something unintelligible at the man before stalking after Bulma’s lithe form, tail lashing angrily behind his ridged body. Someday, Vegeta vowed, Someday he’d make them all pay!!!

* * * * *