It was raining again. She figured she'd have to hit the bounty trail again soon. Jet wasn't as young as he used to be, and Ed was younger than her years. Sometimes, Faye wondered if Ed was all there, if she'd ever grow up.

Right now, it didn't matter. They needed food and parts for the Bebop. Like it or not, Faye was the new breadwinner.

She had the sudden image of a dark-haired man laughing his ass of at that. The vise around her chest tightened another notch, and the braving for nicotine bit into her like a rabid dog.

Fuck you, Spike, she said to the memory. I was always just as good as you at hunting down a bounty.

I just wasn't so good at holding on to the reward money.

Sometimes, the urge for the game nearly dragged her back to the tables. It felt so good to win, and she longed for that rush.

"FayeFaye?" Ed's voice echoed through the rain from the ship. "Jet-person says to get out of the rain before you wash away."

"I'll be right in, Ed. Tell Jet to keep his pants on."

"Okaaaay..." Ed replied uncertainly as she disappeared back onto the ship.

Faye slicked her dark hair back from her face and stared up into the weeping skies. She wished she could do the same.

~*~

Faye pushed the accelerator forward, zipping around slower traffic in pursuit of her mark. That little piss ant would not get away. Her growling stomach wouldn't let him.

She wouldn't let the little weasel die on her either. They needed every woolong of his bounty.

She keyed the mic on her radio. "We're three blocks away, Jet. Get ready to catch."

She forced her quarry into a left turn. A satisfied smirk curved her lips upward when he ran straight into Jet's waiting "net." She yanked back on the stick so she wouldn't join him. "Great job, Jet. I'll be right down to take him in."

"Want me to tranq him first?" the mechanic asked dryly.

"Bite me," she resisted the urge to touch her healing black eye, a present from their last bounty head, a skinny computer hacker named Ralph. Her firm grip on his testicles kept him from misbehaving after that.

"If I go straight for the balls, he won't be any trouble," she explained, pleased by the strangled choke coming from the other side of the line.

~*~