Band on the Run
Author's Note!
This fic is an opinion in itself. It is what I think would happen if the Cowboy Bebop movie came after the series instead of between eps. 22 and 23. Ed and Ein have returned, having been unable to catch up with Ed's father, and Electra is a part of the mix. Putting that aside, enjoy the story! (my reason for thinking this way is at the end of the chapter)
Gemini
Chapter One: A place to call Home
Electra glanced at Spike as they both descended from the top of the radio tower. She could tell that he wasn't in any shape for a long walk, but she knew that the elevator would be too closely watched, since Vincent had detonated all of the Jack-O-Lanterns in his very last terrorist attack.
"Hang in there, Spike. It won't be long till we reach the bottom." Electra murmured, as she shouldered his weight, inwardly wincing when she felt him flinch at her touch, imagining the bruises and wounds from the recent fight with Vincent, and his still healing injuries from the monorail fight.
"Electra, remind me again why we couldn't take the elevator." Spike muttered, wheezing as they reached a lower level platform and sat down, allowing him to catch his breath.
"The elevator will be too closely guarded. The ISSP officers down there will more than likely shoot first and ask questions later, if we took it." Electra said, as she took a look at the still bleeding gunshot wound in Spike's right side. She could see that the bullet had grazed him, and that Vincent had obviously grabbed the wound during the fight, tearing it open even farther.
"What will you do, Electra?" Spike asked, his voice soft.
"What do you mean?" Electra replied, confused.
"Now that this is over, what will you do? You know what the military will do to you." Spike murmured. Electra nodded, somberly.
"I know. I guess I haven't really thought of what I would do after my final encounter with Vincent." Electra admitted.
"You're like I was, after I faced my past." Spike said, as he looked up at her, meeting her gaze.
"What happened to you? What was your situation?" Electra asked, with some curiosity mixed into her concerned expression.
"Do you really want to know?" Spike asked, answering her question with one of his own. Electra nodded, then listened as Spike began to explain himself.
Flashback
"Bang."
With little more than a groan, Spike fell forward, consciousness slipping away as he did. He didn't feel it when he hit the stone steps face first, nor did he feel when some men picked him up less than an hour later and loaded him onto a stretcher. All he was aware of was the pleasant blackness of unconsciousness. Then he became aware of a woman's voice, bidding him to survive. At first the voice was Julia's, then it changed into that of Faye. Then, faintly, he heard Jet's voice in the background, becoming clearer as he returned to the realm of the living.
"Can you hear me, Spike? You almost didn't make it." Jet said, as he appeared before Spike's pain-filled gaze. There was a look of concern and relief on the older man's face as Spike's eyes focused on him.
"What…………….what about Vicious?" Spike heard himself ask, his voice strained and weak.
"He's dead. In fact, he was probably dead from the very beginning. Just like you." Jet murmured. With that thought in mind, Spike sighed and drifted back into uneasy slumber.
Far away, Laughing Bull sat star-gazing near the fire, with his aging wolf companion at his side. He watched grimly as a star, Spike's star, faded away.
"Farewell, Swimming Bird." Laughing Bull thought, sadly, as he looked away from the sky and at the fire. Then, suddenly, in the sky above, Spike's star flared back to brilliant life, startling Laughing Bull from his gloomy musings.
"So he survived. Let us hope that the ghosts from his past don't haunt him." Laughing Bull murmured, a tiny smile appearing on his wizened features for a brief moment, then disappearing almost as quickly as it had appeared.
End Flashback
Electra listened, enthralled, as Spike recounted what had happened to him before they had met, of his recovery from his last fight with Vicious, of the disbanding of the Red Dragons, and of the somewhat hectic return of Ed and Ein to the Bebop.
"You have been through so much, and yet you are so strong. I don't think I would have lived through it." Electra admitted, a little ashamed of herself for making Spike relive his painful past.
"You never know. You're a strong woman, Electra." Spike said, with the same gentleness that he had had when they were imprisoned.
"You may say so, but you don't know how much I wanted to die with Vincent tonight." Electra said, sadly, as she gazed back up the way they had come.
"I do know…………probably more than you realize." Spike murmured, as he pulled himself to his feet, wincing when the movement pulled on his gunshot wound. Electra was at his side in a heartbeat.
"We'd better get you to a hospital before you lose too much blood. C'mon." Electra said, as they began their descent again. By the time they got to ground level, the crowd was dissipating. Electra almost breathed a sigh of relief; but she knew that they could be stopped at any time. She was impressed by the way Spike was holding up, but she knew that he was weakening, despite his almost nonchalant approach to handling pain. His pauses to catch his breath were getting longer, and his expression was becoming strained, as he struggled to breathe.
"Hey! You two!" a voice called, as an ISSP officer approached, his flashlight in one hand, and his gun in the other.
"Great." Electra thought, as she rolled her eyes and stopped.
"Yes, officer? What can we do for you?" Electra asked, struggling to remain calm and patient.
"Were you two upstairs just now?" the officer asked, with suspicion readily heard in his voice.
"Yes." Electra said.
"Did you see the terrorist up there?" the officer asked, again. Electra steeled herself, then nodded.
"Yes, we did. He was holding me captive up there and this man saved my life. He's been hurt." Electra lied, ignoring Spike when he gave her an incredulous look.
"Is the terrorist still up there?!" the officer asked, anxiously.
"Cares more about terrorists than civilians. Sorry Vincent." Electra thought, as she again nodded.
"But he's dead though. He won't be hurting any more people." Electra said, as she started walking away.
"Hey! Wait! You need to go down to the station to answer some questions!" the officer shouted. It was then that Spike let out a groan and fell to his knees, clutching his injured side, his face paler than it had been moments before.
"Spike! Oh god, hang on!" Electra shouted, as she kneeled down in front of him, worry flashing across her features. She was shocked when he briefly opened his eyes and winked, showing that he was only acting. She hid the grin that threatened to show itself; this man was unbelievable!
"Is he all right?" the officer asked, finally noticing that Spike was hurt. Electra squashed the urge to roll her eyes; this officer was an idiot!
"No, he isn't. He's been shot. Now, move aside. I need to get him to a doctor before he gets much worse." Electra ordered, as she shoved past the cop, dragging Spike along with her. When she'd gotten to her car, and when she was sure they were no longer being watched, she signaled that it was all clear.
"You can come back to life now, Spike." Electra said, jokingly. Spike opened his eyes and lazily grinned at her.
"What'd you think? Should I go into the movie business?" Spike asked. Electra sighed and shook her head.
"You are unbelievable, Spike Spiegel. You really had me worried back there." Electra scolded, as she unlocked and opened the passenger side door so he could sit down. Spike shrugged.
"You'd have to get used to that, if you're going to join the crew." Spike said, getting a confused look from Electra for that remark.
"What do you mean?" Electra asked, as she wrapped a compress bandage around Spike's waist to try and stem the bleeding.
"Since you have nowhere else to go, why not join up with the Bebop? We're a bunch of misfits who don't really belong anywhere, anyway. You'd fit in well." Spike said, hinting at something. Electra looked at him in confusion; was he actually saying that he wanted her to join him?! Then she cast a look over her shoulder at the now quiet tower, looking at the place where she knew Vincent's body lay.
"What should I do, Vincent?" Electra wondered.
"He'd want you to go, Electra. He'd want you to find your place again. It's what he was unable to do." Spike said, his voice losing its nonchalant quality, and his eyes gaining a certain wisdom that was almost beyond his years. Electra gave Spike a look of consternation; this man, who could be both irritating and soothing at the same time, was offering her one ticket to freedom. A ticket that could lead to the rest of her life.
"All right. I think I will take you up on your offer. Which way is the Bebop from here?" Electra asked, as she got in and started the ignition. Spike smiled, his first true smile that evening, and said, "I'll show you the way. You just concentrate on driving."
Author's Note #2!
My reason for writing this fic this way, is because of that one scene after Spike's monorail battle. The scene of Jet talking to him. It doesn't seem to connect with the rest of the movie and seems to refer to the fight between Spike and Vicious.