Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Cowboy Bebop, not matter how much I wish that I did.
Nicolette took another sip from her drink and watched Big Shot! on the television with the bartender, Al. As usual, the same old cop was passed out at the end of the
bar. Resting her head on the glass surface, she thought about all that had happened in the past few days. She looked back up towards the television upon hearing her name.
"Nicolette Jaye Montague! What a mouthful!"
"You wouldn't think it by looking at her, but his little lady has a bounty of one million woolongs on her head for theft and attempted murder!"
Nicolette groaned and looked towards Al, who got the message and turned the T.V. off. Sitting up once more, she downed the rest of her drink and left some money next to the glass. She slipped her jacket on, put the hood up, and headed home. The walk usually took half an hour, but she was in a rush and walked hurriedly. She kept her head down as she went down the street.
"Ed!" Jet was lying on the couch and heard Spike's screams from the other room. Ed darted into the room through one door and out through another, immediately followed by Ein and an angry Spike in a towel.
"Ed is sorry, Spike-person! Ed didn't know that it was loaded!"
Jet paid no attention to their usual display and went back to tweaking a small piece of machinery. Faye lounged on the chair opposite Jet, her legs hanging off of the arm rest. She skimmed a catalog full of clothes she couldn't afford, leading to a built up frustration and a sudden outburst.
"We need to get some money - now!" She shouted at Jet.
He sighed and turned on the telly. The same old fake cowboy and ditzy cowgirl entered the screen as the words "Big Shot!" flew onto the screen.
"Howdy there, bounty hunters! We've got some new information for y'all!" The man began.
"Nicolette Jaye Montague!" The blonde read off a paper, struggling with the last word. "What a mouthful!"
The cowboy motioned towards the screen showing a picture of her and continued. "You wouldn't think it by looking at her, but this little lady has a bounty of one million woolongs on her head for theft and attempted murder!" The girl was pale and had long silver hair with bangs that stopped right above her eyes, which were a piercing green and were brought out by black mascara and eyeliner. She seemed to scowl at the camera, making her look a little silly since the expression didn't match her face at all.
"Ed!" Faye shouted. Edward immediately ran up to Faye, plopped onto the floor, and saluted her.
"Yes Faye Faye?" She asked, her eyes large and full of excitement.
Faye signalled towards the screen, where the two were still talking about the bounty, and Ed immediately knew what to do. She ran off to fetch Tomato, putting her goggles on with Ein following at her heel.
Nicolette layed face down on her bed, her arms crossed beneath her head. She turned her head to look at the woman standing in her doorway.
"Nicky, you've got to turn yourself in." She said crossly. Nicolette just glared at her and returned to her previous position. The woman sighed. "I'm serious Nicky! Would you rather a group of bounty hunters come after you and get rewarded for it?"
Nicky sighed and looked back at the woman. "Look, Janey, if they get me, they get me." She told her roommate with a small frown.
"Whatever, Nicky. It's your life. Just leave me out of all of this, okay?" Nicky nodded and put her head back down as Janey left the room and closed the door behind her. She figured that they would come looking for her at her own home, so she filled a backpack up with her necessary items and headed out the door.
"See ya later, Janey." She said, waving back with one hand while the door shut behind her. Jane sighed, and shook her head.
Spike walked down the streets of Callisto, looking for the girl whose capture was to pay for food for a month. After several hours of searching with no results, Spike grew frustrated. He entered a nearby bar for a few drinks. He slipped of his jacket and slung it over a coat rack as he came through the door. It was small place with some guys playing jazz near the front. There were only a few tables with patrons at them and a couple of others sat at the bar.
As Spike downed another glass of whiskey, he looked around at the others inside. He was surprised to see that everybody seemed to be focused on something going on at the bar. He followed their eyes and saw a hooded figure drinking heavily. They had several empty glasses face down next to a half empty bottle of liquor. At first Spike didn't understand what was so special about an everyday alcoholic. He waved down the bartender.
"Why is everyone in this joint staring at that guy?" He asked in a hushed tone.
"You can't tell?" He began incredulously. "That's not a guy, fella. That's a woman. Only one in town, most likely."
Spike looked at the drinker once more and realized that it was, indeed, a woman. He understood now. Just being female in this town got you stares, so being a girl in a bar getting incredibly drunk probably drew even more attention, especially from real creeps.
Nicolette was sitting at a bar halfway across town from her house, drinking her problems away. She was on her seventh drink now and was determined to finish the bottle. The door opened and she turned her head slightly to get a look at the person entering the bar. The man was tall and twig-like, but not too skinny to be unattractive. In fact, he wasn't that bad looking at all. His dark green hair was messy atop his head and his brown eyes surveyed the room. He removed his blue suit jacket and hung it up, leaving him in a yellow shirt with a loose, black tie, slacks, and black boots. He sat down at the bar and began to drink.
Nicky returned to her drinking, ignoring the stares coming from the men in the bar. She hadn't tried very hard to conceal that she was a woman, considering that she was wearing a regular, black hoodie that fit her nicely, tight, dark blue jeans and knee high black boots. She was at the point of not caring. She was ready for some bounty hunter to just come through the door and snatch her away, hence the drinking.
After quite some time, the girl at the other end of the bar finished her bottle and stood up. She put some money on the counter to pay and began to walk towards the door. She was immediately stopped by a drunk man who'd been watching her for a while now.
"Hey there, sweet-cheeks." His words were slurred and he leaned on a table to keep his balance. "How about you and me go to my *HIC* place and have a little *HIC* fun?" He grinned as though he were certain of success. His buddies chuckled at their friend's attempt to get laid.
"Nice try, dickhead." The girl didn't sound like she'd had a single drink. She pushed right past the man, but he wasn't letting her go that easily. He grabbed her wrist.
"Awww, c'mon baby cakes!" He tried to convince her.
She'd had enough. She turned towards the man, grabbed his hand and flipped him over onto his back. Everyone stared at her in shock, except for Spike, who smirked approvingly. Then the girl's hood fell down and Spike's expression changed. He immediately recognized Nicolette and his smirk became a frown. He walked up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder.
"Excuse me, missy," he began, a smirk playing on his lips once more. "Would you happen to be Nicolette?"
She glared up at him at first but then sighed. "Bounty hunter?" She was blunt. Spike nodded, and she replied by nodding as well.
She put up no fight as Spike handcuffed her and led her out the door, grabbing his coat on the way out, the rest of the bar still quiet from the previous events.
"Bounty hunter?" Nicky asked, regretting all she'd done to get the bounty on her head in the first place. The strange man nodded and she nodded in return. He handcuffed her and grabbed his belongings and they began to walk down the street. The man began to smoke cigarette after cigarette as Nicolette just stared at her feet. Every once in a while, he'd glance towards her to make sure she wasn't doing anything fishy. They reached his ship soon enough.
"You're going to have to squeeze in here with me." He told her as he opened the pod. She nodded, not wanting to say anything stpid that would get her into more trouble. She got into the pod, sitting on the floor next to the seat, her knees near her face so she could rest her head on them. The man got into the pilot seat and closed the pod. After he fiddled with switches and nobs covering the front of the small capsule, they took off.
A/N: Well, there's a chapter. Took a while and it's not very long but I'm just trying things out, getting used to the water so to speak. Haven't written anything in a long time and randomly felt like it while watching Cowboy Bebop and here I am! If there's feedback, I'll work on it some more I suppose. Not sure yet. Oh well.