It had been two days since he had briefly escaped his prison, and now he was back in the cellar beneath the conference room. Broli wasn't too sour about his apparent defeat, though - for this event was a victory in defeat's clothing.
The Super Saiyajin's breakout was, in fact, a coverup for his real purpose. He had split himself into two entities, and while one lured the guards away, the other crept into King Vegeta's chamber and examined his journal, tearing out a single page.
He still had the page.
Broli produced the rumpled paper from his burlap garments, reading it over again.
Dear Journal,
Broli could not believe that anybody could be so stupid. Only an idiot would write evidence of treason down in his journal. Even the one paper alone told Broli that his opponent was lacking in mental capacity.
Now all he needed was an army.
-----
"That cans it!" Raditsu shouted as soon as he was sure the bread-carrying page boy was out of earshot.
"What cans it?" Kakarotto frowned.
"That breadboy! What the hell is he DOING?!"
"We could always follow him and find out, brother."
"Sometimes, you're so brilliant that I want to slap you, Kakarotto."
As stealthily as they could manage, the two burly Saiyajins moved into the deserted foyer of the castle. Raditsu's eyes focused immediately on the rug in the middle of the floor, a gaudy affair done up in reds and greens and yellows. "There," he said. "I bet there's a trapdoor under it."
"How cliché," Kakarotto remarked.
"Shut up and go check."
Shrugging his broad shoulders, Kakarotto stepped over to the rug, pulling it up to reveal a pair of indents in the floor. Inserting his hands into the indents, the burly warrior gave a sharp tug, and a square section of the floor swung open.
"I knew it," Raditsu smirked. "The old 'Trapdoor Under The Rug' is the oldest trick in the book."
"So, are we going down?" Kakarotto asked.
"Of COURSE we are, you nimrod!
"You go first, then."
"Chickenshit." Scowling, Raditsu pushed past Kakarotto and hopped through the trapdoor.
The area beneath the foyer was damp and musky, smelling faintly of stale vomit. There were no signs of civilization, however - the chamber was more of a cave, its walls formed of green stone. A thud from behind alerted Raditsu to Kakarotto's arrival.
"Dismal," Kakarotto noted.
"Shut up," Raditsu told him. "I think I know what's down here, and if I'm right, we don't want to piss it off."
"Are you saying that they keep the Super Saiyajin down here?" Kakarotto whispered incredulously.
"Yes, you idiot!"
"No need to get harsh on me."
"Shut up and follow me, frickwit."
With Kakarotto a few paces behind, Raditsu strode through the rock-walled hallway, and into a fair-sized cavern with a ceiling about five feet above his head. Lining the walls were several skeletons, but Raditsu didn't really notice them. His attention was on the sole resident.
Sitting against the wall was the biggest man Raditsu had ever seen, probably about seven and a half feet in height. His black hair was long and unkempt, falling about his stony face like the head of a dirty mop. His eyes were a cold black, and his nose was rather long. Oxlike shoulders, a hugely muscled chest, and arms like tree trunks told Raditsu that this was definitely a powerful fighter.
Apparently, the huge man had noticed them; his dark eyes were aimed directly at Raditsu.
"Is that him?" Kakarotto whispered.
"Yes," Raditsu nodded.
"Don't talk as if I weren't here when I'm looking right at you," the massive Saiyajin said darkly. His voice was deep and seemed to shake the earth, but was somehow cultured at the same time.
Raditsu looked sharply at him. "You're the Super Saiyajin?"
"I am," the man nodded.
"You have a name?"
"Broli," came the reply.
"Raditsu, and the short idiot is Kakarotto. Why the blazes are you locked down here?"
"Probably because King Vegeta thinks I'm insane," Broli shrugged. "He had my father killed just for being the parent of a Super Saiyajin."
"Dishonorable," Raditsu muttered.
"You don't know the half of it," Broli told him. "Last night, I recovered a page from King Vegeta's diary that makes him guilty of treason."
"Against his own government?" Kakarotto snorted.
"Against Freeza's," Broli corrected, producing a rumpled page from his burlap tunic. "Read this."
Raditsu took the paper and unfolded it, his eyes skimming it and his expression hardening as he did so. "Dishonor!" he declared, then turned to Kakarotto. "Read this, lamebrain."
Wordlessly, Kakarotto took the paper and read it over, his lips peeling back to reveal his gritted teeth as he finally crumpled it and threw it to the ground. "Backstabber!" he spat. "He's going to attack Freeza from behind!"
"It's tactically sound, but it's against every code in the Saiyajin religion," Broli said sagely. "We're supposed to fight with honor, not with knives in the back."
"Hold on a minute," Raditsu frowned, looking at Broli. "If you've been down here for as long as I think you have, how'd you get so smart?"
"Benefit of being the Legendary Super Saiyajin," Broli said with a shrug. "I guess my brain patterns have been enhanced or something."
"We have to DO something about this!" Kakarotto announced. "We HAVE to stop Vegeta!"
"You're talking about treason, you moron!" Raditsu snapped.
"So is Vegeta!"
"Whatever we do, we'll have to have help if we want to bring Vegeta up short," Broli advised.
"We?" Raditsu and Kakarotto said in unison.
"I'll be lending a hand. Face it: My intelligence AND my power will be a valuable asset to you."
"So you'll be leaving the cellar?" Raditsu asked.
"No. I'll stay down here. If Vegeta found out that I escaped, he'd be suspicious. Here's the deal: Tell someone you trust about this, and show him the evidence. Then we'll talk again, and plan a strategy. Oh, and tell that Kiwi fellow, too."
"Kiwi?" Raditsu blinked, recalling the purple squidlike bodyguard. "You sure?"
"Yes," Broli said firmly.
"Right," Raditsu nodded. "We'll bring Vegeta up short if it kills us. Come on, numskull." The last comment was directed at Kakarotto.
"I'm coming," Kakarotto nodded, following as Raditsu turned back into the hallway.
"Come back in three days with a report," Broli called after them. Raditsu only nodded as he pushed up the trapdoor and climbed back into the foyer.
Conflicting emotions and loyalties duelled in Raditsu's mind as he walked towards his room. He agreed that Vegeta's actions were wrong, of course, but did he really have the guts to commit high treason and rebel against a royal command? The duel continued even as he flopped down on his bunk, not even bothering to remove his armor, and tried to go to sleep.