"A young and dumb ISSP recruit gave me a few details on these four guys. They always move together so once you find one, they'll follow." Jet rattled on about the four bounty heads he dug up when they landed and docked on Olympia.

Spike lit up a smoke, "Okay, which one is worth more?"

"Not much by themselves which is why you better catch them all."

"Why do I feel like I have heard that before?"

Jet groaned, not having patience for his partner's quips. "Anyway, they frequent two watering holes, O'Doneley's and Sigma. Their bounty has been posted for over two months and if they're as dumb as they are, moving around together, they won't be heavily armed. These sort of guys let their guard down too often."

"What are they in for?"

"Money laundering."

"No wonder they're on clearance," he sighed. "After I bag these guys what do you need me to get in town?"

Jet handed him a piece of paper, "Here are the parts I need for your ship and then grab some grub to get started."

Spike ran through the list of parts. Oil and fuels made sense, jump-start rods for the jet engines also a go figure… "A reacher? You need a reacher to fix Swordfish? What sort of deep engine shit are you doing?"

Jet grumbled, "Look, I don't see you crawling through your own hull to figure out why the engine cut out on Saturn or that one time you got stuck out of Jupiter's orbit. Quit your griping and just grab it on your way back."

Spike tucked the list in his pocket and made his way out of the hangar and to the warf. The destination was six blocks from there. He would be in and out, cash in and cash out. He just wished it was a little more interesting than that.

/

She paid her docking fees and locked up her ship leaving Junior behind. "Good boy, and remember, bite first," she cooed. Of all her finds since leaving Earth the dog was the best. She swung her leg over her bike and motored off into town, almost running over some green haired dude walking in the middle of the causeway. "Move, you idiot!" He flipped her off, but she shrugged it off. Just another day.

The details she found on the four bounty heads were simple, so simple Annali would be back by the afternoon, even with a quick stop at an autoshop to pick up parts tune up her bike. Ducati parts were not easy to find, but there was always that one place on some asteroid that had what she needed. She hit up the first bar, Sigma, based off a tip on the database. Nothing to speak of there. It was one of the few places in the pub block that wasn't open before noon. O'Doneley's was quiet little place before the lunch hour, for four bounty heads to be in there was to hide in plain sight. ISSP trainees would overthink it and miss them entirely, but the ranger regiment taught her better. Annali parked her bike outside of the establishment and made her way through the heavy swinging doors. The atmosphere was exactly what she expected, lonely and pathetic. Smoke filled the air as well as cheap whiskey and beer. She spotted the four bounties huddled in the far corner, relaxed and chuckling amongst themselves. The only wildcard was the sight of a green haired loner at the bar in a tacky blue jazz suit.

While she was confident in her shooting game, the last thing she needed was to worry about a civilian getting stuck in the crossfire.

/

Spike recognized her from the causeway where she almost hit him. You can't miss the casual army get-up in a colony of near-lawlessness. Also, a lot of the women on the colony were hookers. She was a pretty sight if heavy boots and leather jackets were your thing.

Oh great, competition, he thought. The brunette strode up to the bar a few stools away and ordered her drink, which he noticed was Maker's Mark. That was an old Earth drink.

She wasn't going to make it easy if he played fair, and god, he needed the cash. Spike was no stranger to playing a con with the ladies, but only for big bounties, and right now it just made him seem desperate. She was about to pull out cash when he spoke up, "Hey, put that on my tab."

She glanced over and raised an eyebrow in skepticism, "Thanks but no thanks."

"It's the least I can do for being in your way."

She smirked, "Oh yeah, your that weirdo who was taking up the whole causeway."

He got up and moved closer, to get more acquainted with her and move her out of the place, "And you're the madwoman on a motorcycle who doesn't yield to pedestrians."

She didn't falter when she took her drink, which meant that she was a woman who couldn't be bargained with. Great. "You got me there, but you could be more self-aware and not ignore a roaring engine."

"I must have been daydreaming, I guess."

She took another drink, "You make a terrible flirt, you know that?"

"What makes you think I am flirting?" he asked coolly.

"You made your move pretty fast. You're looking for action. Frankly, I am not interested in you."

He nodded, "True, but there isn't a whole of choices here."

"And what gives you any indication that I am searching for a fleeting companion?" she snarked. It was obvious she was getting annoyed by his presence. Maybe he could annoy her out?

"Touche, so at least let me buy you a drink and send you on your way."

She glanced around and pulled out her gun, a ruger, and placed in front of him. Well, she does mean business, he thought. Possibly a syndicate hitgirl who was sent to track him down after all these years.

She hunched over and whispered, "I would appreciate it if you left quietly. Hell, I'll pay your tab. I'm here on business and what I do, well, I don't like civilian casualties. I suggest you leave now."

Spike kept his cool. She really was competition. She was serious. Too bad, he was serious too.

/

Annali was disappointed when he didn't move after she gave him her ultimatum. She finished her drink, feeling the burn in her throat and the fluid hit the bottom of her stomach like an anvil. She picked up the ruger, "Fine, but you have been warned."

It was like the air changed then. Annali was aware of four different guns trained on their backs. The bartender shrunk behind the bar. The guy in the cheap suit next to her didn't freak out but instead pulled out his gun.

She huffed sarcastically, "Alright boys, we'll be leaving so you can continue to conduct your meeting here." Annali diverted and shoved Mister Cheap Suit down to the ground. She made her shots with her empty shot glass at one of the guys as a distraction, and then took her gun to shoot at two of the guys, only injuring them and stunning them to the ground. The other two proved more elusive and they began to fire as well.

It was about to be a full-fledged firefight. Another day of thrills.

/

Bullets fired, but not in a chaotic fashion that you would see in the movies. Each fire was deliberate. Spike had very little ammo to begin with, especially since he wasn't planning on using a bar brawl to take out the bounty heads. Each fire had to count, but he kept track of each one around him. The lady's ruger didn't go off much, which could mean she was just as skilled as he was or dead. Most of the shots were coming from the one guy she hadn't put down. Spike made the bar his fort and waited out the shit storm of gunfire, only getting once or twice to make his shot to get the guy down. Nothing crazy, he wasn't in the mood.

He didn't see his competition in the bar. After a few more minutes the gunfire ceased leaving the faint sound of sirens in the distance outside. Easy cash, he thought. He got up and took stock of the establishment, which looked like a warzone. "Jet is gonna kill me," he sighed.

Spike found the guy who was taking aim at him only moments ago and was pleased to see that he was only unconscious and nowhere near death. "Even alive you're not worth much. Hundred thousand woolongs really."

Just as he was about to cuff him he heard the sound of handcuffs clicking shut in the far corner.

"Hey!" he yelled accusingly. He looked over and saw the lady collecting the three other guys and shoving them onto the floor. "I was here first, they're mine."

She chuckled, "They don't assign bounties, I got these guys fair and square. First come and first serve."

"I was here first."

"Well you didn't make that first move. You're not exactly an assertive cowboy, are you?"

"If you're so sure of yourself why are you after four money launderers?"

"If you're so good, why are you after them?"

Spike didn't fight this one. She already took his pride down a few more pegs from where he already was. Nothing he said got her to falter. She was like a thick stone fortress.

The police showed up, he got paid for his one guy and she got paid for her three. The smug look on her face was just her showing off.

God, did he hate women with attitude.

/ / /

Jet wasn't exactly pleased with how the day was going. He did what he could to tune and fix whatever he could on his comrade's monoracer. He really needed the reacher, but waiting for it was wasting time. He attempted to make one of out other tools he had lying around, but nothing was going to get the fine and articulate work done without creating more problems. A reacher was essentially a mechanic's kind of robot; it made pulling any engine apart a thing of the past and cut down on time. To pull apart the engine would mean more time would be wasted just getting to the problem. The next best option was the physically crawl into the engine, but neither of them were small enough to do so.

He was also not pleased to see Spike walking into the Bebop that afternoon with very little in his hands, just a small bag of groceries really. "What the hell happened?" he asked.

Spike shrugged, "It didn't go as well as I hoped."

"Spill it," Jet growled. "They were four low-level thugs and you couldn't even catch them?"

"Oh I got one. And all I got was a fifty thousand for him."

Jet groaned, "They were each worth one hundred thousand."

"The end justifies the means."

"Not if the means lost cash."

Spike had nothing to say to that so he started to walk past the wreckage that was his ship to bring in their soon-to-be short-lived food rations. Jet was right, but at the rate they were going, how long was it going to be before they could go catch the big fish? Small fries bored him, and he wondered if one could be bored to death. Regardless, Jet was going to send him out again to catch another bounty after he unloaded.

He didn't hear the faint sound of a motorcycle outside pulling in at the dock next to them.