Hey….me second cowboy bebop fic, first wasn't very popular…so I killed it…hope yous guys like this one!
And uh...ignore the weird lines and money signs and stuff, im still not used to this damn weird formatting they have going on now...why cant i make huge spaces of just nothing, HUH!?
Radical Cowgirl Ed…Bebop:
Welcome back…space cowgirl….
By: ME!!!!! ME I TELL YOU PATHETIC MEAT-BAG TYPE PEOPLE!!! MEEEEE!!!!!I'm insane sometimes……..OO! shiny object!
$#$#$
Ed stared at the cop sitting across the table from her and laughed softly, "Radical Edward you say? Naw, never heard've him."
The police officer was having none of that, "'Her', you mean, don't you? We have reports from the last 10 or so years that the infamous Radical Edward was in fact a woman, and while I can hardly believe that someone as young as you are could be…Edward, you're our only lead so SPILL IT!!"
Ed just turned her head slightly to look at the wall, this wasn't the first time this had happened, "I'm tellin' ya, I'm not her, or him, or whatever it is."
Calming down a bit, the officer left the room and consulted with his superior, and was told that they had to let her go, they had nothing solid on a one, 'Marina Escobar', fake name if he ever heard one…but what the boss said goes. He came back in, wanting to bash the girl's head in as she just sat there, patiently waiting to be told she could go…goddamit, "I know you know something about Edward, so why don't you just spill!?"
Smiling widely, Ed stood up, "Well, if that's all, Officer Marster, I believe I'll be going now." Scooping up her jacket, she left the once again thwarted officer sitting there staring holes into the file he had spread out on the table. Marster had brought her in quite a few times ever since she took up shop on Mars, and she was getting tired of being cuffed, and he was getting more and more rough…maybe she would go visit with Jett and Faye on Ganymede….
$#$#$
Ed shook her hair out of the blonde wig, letting the dark red mass settle around her face as she started up Ein 2.0, her cruiser. She set in the coordinates for Ganymede, and sat back to enjoy the ride. Running her hands over her face, she thought of all the stuff that had happened in the last 10 years that the cop had mentioned.
"I still can't believe Faye and Jett have two kids, do you, Ein? Spike and Aurora are dolls…but jeesh, those two?"
Simulated barking came from the ship's computer…run by Ein's brain actually. Ed had gotten the idea from watching an old movie from the 20th century, a movie called Tank Girl, and promised Ein that should anything happen to him, she would hook him up to a ship…and she did. Ein was hit by a very low flying ship during a very high speed chase five years ago, and after pulling a few string and getting him cryogenically frozen, went to work on a system that would work with a living brain…and found one. A little illegal, a little unethical, but who cares? After four months, Ein 2.0 was hooked up and ready to roll!
She reached out and pet the surface that she had designed to have special 'nerve endings' so Ein could feel like he was being petted, "And you big guy…who woulda thunkit that you were a data dog, eh?" She giggled as she remembered her first real conversation with Ein after he was connected to the machine and discovered what he could really do, "You're a better hacker than me aren't you big fella"
The ship barked.
She giggled again and ran her hands through her hair again, letting the heavy locks settle a bit more. Her hair had finally tamed down a bit in the last few years, but still had that untamed look to it, just a bit longer and less well…weird looking. Adjusting a bit in her seat again, Ed closed her eyes and got ready to sleep the trip away.
A few days later, Ed stepped off her ship and stretched a bit before starting on the long trip to Faye and Jett's Bar in the middle of the city. Black Valentine's was one of the better known local bars due to the atmosphere…and the very public, entertaining fights between the two owners, husband and wife team Faye Valentine and Jett Black. Married only 9 years, they had an 8 year-old boy and a 3 year-old girl…the girl of which Ed hadn't seen since she was an infant. Ed still had a habit of taking off without warning. With the occasional run-in with the law and the pissing off of people she really shouldn't be messing with…Ed usually had a good reason to hightail it out of where ever she was.
She also had to stop referring to herself in the third person after a few years. Seven years ago she had pissed someone off, spoke in third person in front of mixed company, and almost got blown up. She wasn't fond of the apartment she had been staying in all that well, but she sure as hell didn't want to be blasted into itty bitty pieces and smarted up right quick. With the help of Faye and Jett, who she tracked down rather easily a bit afterwards, had bought the identity of Marina Escobar, and had been slightly more cautious since then. Not that she couldn't have made the identity herself, but she didn't want to take the risk of Marina Escobar having any ties to Radical Edward in any shape, way or form, so decided to let someone else do the dirty work and just pay them. Handsomely to be sure, she didn't want to be screwed on this.
But…cops like Marster wouldn't stop so easily in nabbing the 'infamous' Radical Edward, so she was being extra careful lately. Prison was SO not something she planned on experiencing. Not that she couldn't hack into the police database and delete everything they had on her…hey…not a bad idea!
She was still mulling over the details when she finally reached Black V's and stepped inside. The place was allowed to have the kids run around because of the safe environment the local police, who adored Jett, made sure was around here. Speak of the little devils…a slightly big-for-his-age dark-purple headed boy was teaching his itty bitty black haired sister how to cheat at goldfish, if she wasn't mistaken, judging from the way they were sitting at one of the booths, and the way he kept groaning dramatically as little boys were wont to do.
"C'mon Aurora! It ain't that hard! Now, hold the cards like this-"
It seemed she had walked in on the end of the lesson as the little girl threw the cards away and crossed her chubby little arms, "No more cards! Play Jr. Detectives now!"
"Now way! We agreed half an hour of cards…then maybe Detectives, its only been 40 minutes! That's so not half an hour!"
The little girl looked up at the clock on the wall and her eyes teared up, she knew she was being cheated even though she couldn't tell time yet, the little doll, "No!"
"JEESH! Alright, one more raised voice from up there and I'm coming out!"
Spike craned his head around and called out to the back room, "No! It's alright, we're being good!"
But…technically that was another raised voice and Faye came out of the back room, her longer hair up and a streak of flour on her forehead, "What are you two up to? If you're making your sister cry again Spike Black I'll-" She stopped where she was, staring at the door and whispered softly, "Edward?"
It had been almost three years since Faye had last seen Ed. She had been staying with Jett and her for about a few months, a little while before she had little Aurora, but had left when the baby was only four months old. She had still been growing out of her rather…awkward adolescence, but now she was all grown up. Just a bit shorter than she was, Ed still had that perfect honey skin and thick dark red hair, though much tamer than before, falling nearly to her shoulders in a slightly curled, chunky mass. The thin white shirt and bicycle shorts she had favored even then had turned into a tight white tank top and black jeans that started just at her hips, dear god where did she get hips? She had black knee-pads, presumably from all the time she spent working on Ein, black gloves that seemed to support her wrists and hands…probably from working on her many, many toys, and very heavy black boots. She blinked at her in confusion, and tried to clear her head as Ed smiled at her shock, then did a double take to her chest.
"Where the hell did you get THOSE?!"
Ed stopped smiling and turned red a bit, which gave Faye a bit of pleasure, 'That's for just showing up out of the blue and scaring the crap out of me!'
"They uh…well…." Ed crossed her arms over her chest and grew redder. For the longest time she was flat chested…up until a year and a half ago. Then, one day they got bigger…and bigger…AND BIGGER, until they almost rivaled Faye's in size, that was, before the kids, they were even bigger now then they were before. "I'm a late bloomer…I guess…."
"Damn late I'd say…why haven't I hugged you yet?" Faye shook her head, making her ponytail sway and rushed forward to take the younger girl in her arms and squeezed tightly, "Oh god it's been what, three years since you last took off? What the hell is the matter with you?!" She walloped Ed on the head, making her cry out, "Ack!"
Spike and Aurora giggled at this, seeing Mommy mad at someone else besides then was funny.
"I had to get out of here, it was stifling! New baby girl this, new baby girl that…not that I wasn't happy for you guys its just that…so much…PINK!" Ed visibly shuddered.
Aurora blinked and figured out in her little girl mind that the lady her mommy was hugging and being mad at…it was her fault, and started to cry.
Spike just threw up his arms and glared at the stranger, "Look what you did, lady!"
Ed just raised a brow to the little smart-mouth-to-be and hugged Faye one more time to stand in front of the little guy…and pull him into a noogie, "What'd you call me, Spikey McGee?"
Faye laughed softly at the nickname Ed had given her son…she sure did come up with the oddest things, then smiled as she felt two very familiar muscular arms wrap around her from behind, "I take it she came home finally."
She turned her head to give her husband, and more often than not most aggravating man in the world, a kiss in greeting, "She did…but knowing her, for how long?"
Jett shrugged and gave her one more squeeze before letting her go to pick up Aurora in comfort and had her giggling happily and wanting to meet the Auntie Ed she had heard so much about, and enfolded Ed herself into a huge bear hug, "It's been way too long, young lady."
Ed grinned and hugged him back, "Jett-person!"…what? Somethings never change.
He set her on her feet and held her at arms length as Aurora and Spike milled around her legs asking random questions, "You doin' ok? No trouble?"
That was the very short questioning he had been giving her the last few times she came home in a scrape, but this time she just shook her head and smiled, "None, just thought I'd stop by for a while, you know, like always."
Like always was code for 'until I get the need to migrate again and have travel fever', but all three of them knew that. Ed smiled at that thought and took in Jett, "Heey…you don't look the least bit older!" She turned to angle Faye with a mock suspicious glance, "Did you exchange him for a battery operated version?"
Faye burst out laughing as Jett turned a bit red, then shooed the kids out of the room with promises of time with Ed later and sat them all down, "No, no, he's just been taking good care of himself."
Jett puffed out his still impressive chest, "Damn right I have, and so has she!"
Faye rolled her eyes, but Ed could tell she was proud of her slightly filled out figure that still made all the men's heads turn…until they got a gander of the man on her arm and that rolled their tongues back in their mouths right quick, "Yeah, yeah, whatever."
Running a hand on the table, Ed finally asked the question she asked every time she came home, "So…my room still available?"
Jett smiled warmly and covered her gloved hand with one of his own, and answered in unison with Faye, "You know it is."
Later that night, Ed was sitting in the bed she used everytime she came home and slipped on her web cruising goggles and lost herself in the web, going back to the time when she was Radical Edward, hacker extrodinaire, feared by passwords and firewalls alike. She became a bit nostalgic and looked up the time when she was happiest…living on the Bebop, which was actually in storage at the moment, gathering dust. She found all the different bounty heads they had collected, all the different places they had been and…
Ed bolted upright in bed, had at some point drifted onto her back and her eyes moved wildly over the screens as she pulled one after another, after another as she checked, double checked, confirmed, reconfirmed, and finally was left staring blankly at a practically unassuming medical report from ten years ago. The hospital was not even third rate, the doctor probably a fraud…but the patient description…
Tall, Dark Moss Green Hair, Cybernetic Optical Replacement Unit…
She blinked at the screen before sliding her eyes shut, and when they opened again, Radical Edward was back, and she had one hell of a purpose.
"So…He thought he got away from me, did he? Tsk tsk, Spike-person…."
Ummm….review and lemme know what ya think, k? -''''