Underneath It All: The Professional

 

Bulma Briefs smiled at herself in the mirror, pink lips shyly pulling upwards in her reflection.  Her manicured nails gently combed through the silky aqua tresses in adoration.

 

“So… what do you think? Fabulous, isn’t it?” the hair stylist asked her.  

 

“It is, it’s perfect Miguel.  I don’t know how you manage to do exactly what I want with out me even knowing what it is I want,” Bulma laughed.

 

The afro of curls had been tamed into a more subtle, sophisticated style.  Bulma admired the long waves that cascaded down her shoulders; she wasn’t even aware she had that much hair before today. 

 

Miguel sighed and brushed off some stray hair clippings from his tight pink button down shirt.  Bulma Briefs was his best paying client, as well as the most adventurous and creative with hair design.  But now that she was starting to head her father’s giant corporation, she felt like she needed to tone herself down.  Look the part of a professional, and so on. 

 

“So… you’re really sure it’ll be okay this long?  I mean, don’t most business woman have bobs? And those bangs that go straight across the face?” she bit her lip. 

 

“Pfft, you’re Bulma Briefs, you can wear whatever you want.  And good God, no, I refuse to do those awful bangs on you,” he gushed.  “So you’re not the uniform corporate type.  You’re more like… Victoria Secret model gone executive.”

 

Bulma smiled brightly, “I can deal with that.”

 

She paid Miguel his fee as well as a handsome tip and left the salon.  The smile still stretched across her face as she opened up the door to her convertible air car.  Dozens of bags filled the vehicle, making crunching noises as she moved them about to make room for herself.

 

Bulma started the ignition and began the short drive back her home, more satisfied then she had been in quite some time.  The magnificent mood had initiated itself at the beginning of the week with the announcement of her father’s plans for retirement.  He was growing old, and growing tired.  Dr. Teddy Briefs loved his work, but with a combination of arthritis and the desire to travel abroad growing each day, he decided it was time to pass down his beloved company. 

 

His daughter Bulma had been the best, and in his opinion, only choice.  Bulma had an uncanny gift with machinery and engineering.  Her genius was sure to keep the company booming.  However, she was still quite young, only 26 years of age, and inexperienced with the harsh business world.  Bulma was not nearly as cutthroat or malicious as the Capsule Corporation’s competitor companies.  She was an innocent; Dr. Briefs knew there were dark sides to not only the business world, but human nature that had yet to expose themselves to her. 

 

Bulma pulled the car up into the driveway and pulled out the key.  She hummed a cheery song as she picked up as many bags as her small hands could carry at a time.  It was clear it’d take more than one trip to the house to bring in her haul. 

 

In her trek to the front door, she noticed a flash of light from the corner of her eye.  She stopped and turned towards the source.  The Gravity Room was occupied and on, as usual, and there was quite a commotion coming from it. 

 

That crazy Saiyen is at it again, she thought and then chuckled to herself.  She wasn’t sure when he wasn’t at it.

 

She pushed open the front door, surprised to find her parents inside waiting on her.

 

“Bulma, dear!  Have a nice time on the town, did we?” Dr. Briefs smiled.

 

“Yes, I did, Daddy!  I got my hair done,” she said, lightly puffing it with her hand for emphasis, “and I got all sorts of new professional wear.  I’m so excited to start!”

 

“Oh, dear, your hair looks so lovely!  I always did love your hair down,” Mrs. Briefs prattled on in the background.

 

“Well, I’m quite glad to hear your enthusiasm!  I’ve got just the cherry to top your day off,” he hinted.  “Do you remember the radiation machine that I’ve been toying with?  For medicinal treatments and what have you?”

 

Bulma blinked at him curiously.  “Sure, the one for cancer patients.  You’ve been working on that for months, Daddy, how could I not know?”

 

Dr. Briefs grinned spanned his entire face.  “I did it, sweetheart.  I finally met my goal with that damned machine.  Instead of having to kill cells, cancerous or healthy, through out the body, I’ve made it so that the radiation increases only the replication of natural killer cells in the body, as well as tagging the malignant cells.  Those natural killer cells will eat away at the cancer with out harming the normal tissue the way radiation usually does.”

 

“But… won’t the replication of those killer cells lead to a different kind of cancer?” Bulma leaned in closely, thoroughly intrigued by her father’s latest accomplishment.

 

“That’s the best part- my replicated cells die off with the injection of a simple serum.  No adverse effects, you see.  At least none yet that any of my test animals have shown,” he explained.

 

“Oh my God… Daddy, do you know what this means?!” Bulma squealed.  “You’ve found a cure for cancer!”

 

“Most kinds of cancer, dearest,” Dr. Briefs corrected.  “But it’s a hell of a start.”

 

Bulma hugged her father, squeezing him tightly to her chest.  “Think of all the lives you’ll save!  You’re going to be the new Pasteur in medical science!  This is so amazing!”

 

“There’s just one last thing, Bulma,” he smiled, trying to grasping a hold of his jumping daughter.  “I need you to do something for me.”

 

“Sure, Daddy, anything I can do to help.  Do you need me to redraw the blueprints for it again?” she asked.

 

“No, nothing like that.  I need you to meet with our investors next week at the Alpha Gala.  They’ll want to see our progress reports, and within the next month come see this baby in action.”

 

“But Daddy… the Alpha Gala is your thing!  Besides it’s all a bunch of drunk businessmen and their stripper wives- oops, no offense Mom and Dad,” she giggled.

 

Dr. Briefs rolled his eyes.  “Now now, I know it’s probably not the time you feel is best to start portraying the company’s head figure.  But, this Gala is instrumental for every global corporation.  And you’ll do so well, by the end of the night, every will know who Bulma Briefs is: the hot, up and coming president of the Capsule Corporation!”

 

The doctor and his wife nodded their heads in agreement.  It was risky to send such a young, fresh faced engineer with little commercial experience to such a prestigious event, but the pay off would surely be worth it.

 

“Okay, okay, I’ll go,” she sighed.  “At the very least I have an excuse to buy a glamorous dress.”

 

“Wonderful, darling.  Take my credit card and pick out whatever you like.  Perhaps get something made for yourself,” Dr. Briefs said.

 

Bulma picked up her abandoned bags from the ground to bring them to her room.  She made it halfway down the hallway when her father’s voice caught her attention.

 

“Oh, and dearest?  I think it would best if you didn’t go alone.  Some of our competitors can get quite… competitive over new products.  I’ll see to finding you some accompaniment.”

 

Bulma shrugged and assumed her father meant her on again, off again flame Yamcha.  Through one of the bay windows in the compound, another flash of light from the Gravity Room danced by her sight.