I've found that writing one story is a little monotonous so I've decided to start a side project of the sorts- this story. This isn't a crossover, but I will draw some inspiration from Cowboy Bebop. It is an alternate universe fic and I need to explain the backstory just a bit (what I don't reveal shall be revealed later in the story). Here's what you need to know…

Fry came to the future as usual, but managed to evade Leela completely after running out of Applied Cryogenics (he also doesn't run into Bender), he met Farnsworth who owns a bounty hunting company (Still known as the Planet Express- this will be explained later). Farnsworth gave him a job as a bounty hunter where Fry put his video game skills to good use- hunting down people with a bounty on their head. While Fry was doing that Leela was fired for losing him. She decided that she should devote the rest of her life to tracking down Fry and set out after him (You'll be introduced to the other characters such as Bender, Amy, etc. as the story progresses) (It's a good Idea to assume that most of the stuff that happened after the first episode didn't happen, although I'll get to a lot of it).

I don't own Futurama or Cowboy Bebop.

With that out of the way I can begin.

Futurama Bebop Episode 1: Humble Beginnings

Fry stared deeply into the black coffee on the table in front of him. His own reflection revealed so much, yet so little. Who was he? Why was he here? To make a quick buck off of some criminal, or to be a hero- be someone, something he never could be back in 1999. He took a sip of the coffee and looked across the street. There, leaning against the wall of a two story apartment building was his target. A black market dealer whose name he'd completely forgotten. The café he was seated in sat directly across the street from the crack house where the man usually operated. Fry knew this guy was dangerous when he was drugged up, but he seemed calm for the moment. Fry's phone vibrated in his pocket and he answered it, his nephew's face stared back at him, "What do you want?", the old man shouted angrily.

"You called me Professor."

"Huhwa?"

"I didn't call you… you called me."

"Oh, so I did. Have you located Mendeleev?"

"Who is that?", Fry asked, trying to recall who the professor was referring to.

"The extremely dangerous criminal you're after, you babbling idiot!"

"Oh, him? I found him a few minutes ago, but I thought I'd get some coffee first."

"Get that coffee to go, we're out of cash and my arthritis medication isn't going to pay for itself."

"Okay, he doesn't look too tough."

Fry turned the phone off and refocused on the man across the street, "Alright… I think I brought ammunition this time."

Fry patted his jacket's pocket to make sure he had extra ammunition stowed away if he needed it. He reached into his jacket and pulled a Beretta from the inside pocket; he'd tried future guns, but found that nothing matched the simplicity and user-friendly interface of a weapon from his own time. The fact that owning the gun made him feel like a complete badass only served as icing on the cake to the pizza delivery boy turned bounty hunter. He checked that the magazine had bullets in it; it'd taken him another bad experience to figure out that the magazines don't come loaded. He gulped down the last of his coffee and laid a few bills at his spot. He pushed his chair back, cocked the pistol, and left the café. He tried to keep the gun concealed, but Fry and being nondescript don't go together well, anyone within a thirty meter radius was able to tell that the red haired boy was packing. The man's posture straightened and he turned towards Fry- black hair, tall, caucasian- he matched the description well enough for Fry to continue his approach. Pedestrians began to shuffle nervously away from the two men. Fry realized his cover was blown and gave up on hiding the gun, "Your name Mendeleev?"

"Possibly", the man slowly let his right hand creep behind his back; if Fry wasn't so oblivious to anything other than the exceedingly obvious he might have noticed.

"Well if you aren't him you should say so, so I can go back to lunch."

The man paused for a moment, wondering if Fry was being serious, "So if I said I wasn't Mendeleev you'd go away?"

"Possibly", Fry answered sarcastically. He tightened his grip on his pistol and wiped the sweat from his brow with his the sleeve of his free arm.

"That's a risk I can't take." The man's expression stiffened as his fingers wrapped around the laser pistol tucked in his belt.

"What's the risk, if you say no I go awa-… ", Fry's brain caught up with what the man meant as he pulled the concealed weapon from its hiding place. Fry dove into a nearby alley as the man leveled his gun and fired off a chain of shots.

"God Dammit!" Fry inched his way towards the edge of the building and peeked around to get a look at the target. His face was greeted by another volley of shots. He quickly ducked back into the alley before popping out to shoot back. He leapt out into the open, trained his weapon on the man and leveled the barrel. He squeezed his fingers around the trigger and nothing happened. He squeezed again, still nothing. He rolled behind a mailbox as the man fired at him again. That's when Fry realize the safety was still on, he smacked himself in the forehead and flipped the switch to fire. As he did so he heard the sound of a metal magazine clanging to the ground. He stood up and pointed his gun at the drug dealer yet another time, this time when his fingers closed around the trigger the mussel flashed and a bullet flew from the depths of the gun. Evidently Mendeleev wasn't expecting Fry to actually shoot back (since he hadn't yet) and he didn't duck or anything. The projectile whizzed through the air and sliced through the drug dealer's left shoulder. He stumbled backwards and dropped his handgun. Fry moved in after him, but the man spun on his heels and took off down the street. Fry tucked the Beretta into his jacket and took off after his target. He took his phone from his pocket and dialed his nephew, "Farnsworth, he's headed down twenty-second street."

"He got away?"

"Yes, he started shooting and I hit him and then he ran. Just cut him off before he gets to the spaceport."

Farnsworth's face disappeared and Fry slide the phone back into his pocket. Mendeleev was still ahead of him by a little less than five meters. He shoved his way through a crowd and Fry followed suite, muttering apologies as he pushed pedestrians to the ground in an attempt to keep up with the deranged man. Fry was losing ground quickly and he knew it, "Come on Professor."

Mendeleev rounded a corner and briefly disappeared from view. Fry pushed himself to go faster, as he rounded the corner a fist slammed into his gut and he doubled over in pain. He fell to his knee and groaned. Fry looked up at his attacker, but the man was already fleeing. Fry's hopes began to fade as the man took off again, leaving Fry in his wake.

"No, no, no!", Fry panicked, he pulled himself to his feet and stumbled after the mad man. It was obvious he wasn't going to catch him, but Fry wasn't one to give up on something he set his mind to. Suddenly an electric-mucus colored blur slammed into the ground in front of the deranged man. The Planet Express Ship slid along the ground, uprooting sidewalk and asphalt as it slid. It slammed into Mendeleev and sent him flying through the air; he crashed through the window of a nearby shop. Fry hobbled out of the way of the skidding ship and climbed through the broken window. Mendeleev lay sprawled across the floor on a pile of glass shards. Fry looked him over- he was clearly breathing- Fry breathed a sigh of relief, at least he'd get paid for this. The door on the side of the Planet Express ship opened and his nephew poked his head out of the opening, "Did we get him?"

"Yes", Fry smiled and clicked a pair of handcuffs into place on their targets' hands, "You take him to the station, I'm going to enjoy a cup of coffee and maybe a victory cigar."

Fry helped get the criminal on board the ship and left his nephew to take the man in; given that the crackpot would be able to remember where the police station was. Fry took his time walking back to the quite little coffee shop- after all he'd just been in a chase and a shootout. He hummed familiar old tune as he went, kicking every stone he passed, "Damn I'm lonely." The future was awesome with all of its technology and gadgets, but he still missed the twentieth century and his family. He felt so detached from the professor, even if the scientist was his family; the old man treated him more like a trained monkey than an uncle. All Fry really wanted was a friend, but he found it exceedingly difficult to relate with many people from the future. So far he'd only gotten to know two people, his nephew and that cryogenics worker that was chasing after him, and the latter worried him. He'd seen a brief display of her martial arts skills and that was enough to ensure him that he would meet his demise if they ever got into a fistfight.

He finally arrived at the coffee shop and entered the building, "I'd like a cup of black coffee with sugar."

A girl behind the counter nodded and turned around to begin making his coffee. He took a newspaper off of the counter and placed a five dollar bill in the payment box, and then made his way to the shop's patio. He seated himself and opened the newspaper. The headline read, "Mets only lose by 10!"

He wasn't really interested in that since he didn't really care for sports- not to mention that he couldn't read very well and the paragraph written about the game seemed to stretch the entire front page. He flipped to the comics page and absently stared at the Garfield comic. He couldn't tell what the characters were saying, but it seemed like the loveable orange cat was being scolded for something. His critical analysis of the comic was cut short by the waitress brining him his cup of coffee. He thanked her and paid for the drink, it wasn't until she left and he took a sip of his coffee that he noticed the woman at the other end of the patio glaring at him. One eye, purple hair, Applied Cryogenics coat… it was her.

"Shit", he took another sip of his coffee and held up the newspaper to hide his face, but he knew she'd already seen him and with any luck, recognized him. He lowered the newspaper just enough so that he could see her; she had already stood up from her seat and was making her way towards him. He slid back violently in his chair and haphazardly threw his cup of coffee at her before sprinting off down the street. She chased after him shouting, "Wait!"

He didn't, he just kept running, trying to put as much distance as possible between him and his one eyed pursuer. He threw a glance over his shoulder, only to see that she was gaining on him- there was no way he was going to outrun her. Then he got an idea, as he passed a corner he stopped and pressed him back flat against the side of the building. He took his gun from his coat and tightened his grip on it. Then she rounded the corner, moving too fast to react to Fry swinging his gun at her head. The butt of his Beretta collided with her forehead with a loud whack and she toppled over, then rolled into the street. He turned to leave her when he spotted a truck headed towards her. It wasn't a hover truck, it was an antique tractor trailer from his time, and it was headed straight at her. He couldn't leave her in the street; he grabbed her by her boots and dragged her out of the street as the truck rolled by, "You owe me", he muttered to his unconscious companion. She stirred slightly and he jumped back, startled. He took his phone from his pocket and dialed his nephew, the old man answered after a few rings, "Yes?"

"Professor, I need you to pick me up."

"Who are you?"

"Your uncle, remember?"

"Oh my yes. You went for a cup of coffee while I took that gentleman to the police station, right?"

"Yes. By the way how did that go?"

"What?"

"Taking him in. Everything go smoothly?"

"Oh my no, I'm being held at gunpoint by his angry customers", Farnsworth panned his phone around so that Fry could see the three thugs that had his nephew surrounded.

"I'm coming professor, don't worry."

"Now I am worried", the old scientist's image disappeared and Fry sighed, he cocked his pistol. Fry looked at the purple haired cryogenics worker and wondered how he'd rescue his nephew carrying an unconscious woman around with him. He patted her pockets looking for anything of use and found a laser pistol tucked away in her coat, it was set to stun- this surprised him a little, but he didn't think much of it. She stirred again; he stuffed the laser pistol into his jacket and took a pair of handcuffs from his pocket. He clicked them into place on her hands as her eye opened. She groaned and rubbed her head, "Ow… I swear to god Brannigan… ", she seemed a little shocked to see the red haired boy still within a thousand meters of her. Then she noticed the handcuffs and her expression hardened.

"Sorry, I don't know if I can trust you yet. The few times we've met you've chased me and tried to stick a chip in my hand."

"So rather than running away you just handcuff me and sit down on the sidewalk next to me?"

"Well you kinda rolled out into the street and almost got hit by a truck."

"Oh… well thanks."

"Your pistol was set on stun… not gonna do much killing with it on that setting."

"I was actually trying to thank you."

"Really?" Fry was a bit surprised by her response; he'd expected a much different answer, "For doing what?"

"Making me realize how little I'd lived in my life, I never even tried looking for my parents until I lost my job at Applied Cryogenics."

"Sorry about that."

Fry stood up; she was being surprisingly cordial for someone who was just cracked in the head. Then he remembered how skilled she was at martial arts and he took a few steps away from her.

"Do you have a job right now?"

"No, I've been living off of my savings."

"Oh, I might be able to get you a job with my nephew. He's an awful pilot and I'm sure he'd love to have someone else fly for him. That is if you can fly."

"Can I fly? Pffff", she waved her hands dismissively, as long as I don't have to parallel park we'll be fine."

"Great… one more thing before I take the cuffs off."

"What?"

"We kinda have to save my nephew from some thugs."

"Fine by me, I wasn't doing anything today anyway."

Fry unlocked her handcuffs and nervously handed her the laser pistol he'd relieved her of a few minutes prior. She changed its setting to kill and checked the charge. Fry watched her with amusement, she was so fluid, like all of this came natural to her. She reacted so coolly to the information he'd just thrown at her. She was clearly a born leader, someone who would be invaluable to him and his nephew in the future… and she was beautiful- that helped. His train of thought was violently derailed by the Planet Express ship soaring overhead; it fired a salvo of shots at them before it smashed into a billboard and then plummeted into the street. The cyclopes took off towards the crash site, it occurred to Fry that he should have asked for her name, but assumed it'd be fine if they were properly introduced after they saved Farnsworth. The cannon on top of the ship was still operational and shot at the duo as they approached the ship. The cyclopes kicked the side door open and stormed the bridge before Fry even reached the ship. When he finally caught up with her she was standing on top of pile of three moaning bodies, a broad grin spread across her face, "It was easier just to take them alive."

Fry chuckled, "That's good, we'll be able to collect their bounty. …I never did catch your name."

She stepped down from the pile of bodies, "Leela, and you are?"

"Fry, Philip J. Fry."

He shook her hand and turned to look for his nephew, but the old man was nowhere to be found, that was until he revealed himself. Farnsworth poked his head out from the bathroom and shouted, "You're hired!"

Next episode: Leela, Fry and the Professor track a lost animal worth a hefty sum if returned to its 'owner'- Mom.