Spike continued to chase Arie through endless dark tunnels and turns until he came to a dead end. "Damn, I lost her?" he said to himself breathing heavily. He started to turn back when he suddenly smelled a very strong scent of blood. He looked around the area for a while and found a door that he could barely see because it blended in with the wall so well. But he could tell this room was where the scent was coming from.
He slowly pushed the door open with his gun drawn and ready. The room it lead to was pitch black, for some reason the lights lining the wall had been turned off. He slowly moved around the room, every step he took making a little splashing noise, trying to find the light switch.
When he finaly found the light switch and flipped it on what he saw shocked him for a few moments. In the center of this small square room Arie stood staring at him with an evil smile on her face. She was surrounded by several male bodys, their throats slit open and blood all over the room.
"Looks like I missed the party." Spike said with his eyes focusing hard on Arie. Arie just stood there and stared at him smiling with dry blood around her mouth. "You gonna just stand there and make this easy for me now?" Spike says pointing his gun at her.
Arie suddenly stopped smiling and stared at Spike with a blank face and said "He told me I have to kill you." she smiled "If I do he says I can finaly join him."
Spike looks at her surprised "He?" Spike says "I'm sorry but it's just you and me down here now seeing how you already took out the locals." Arie smiles again and says "No, he is always with me. Spike, I like you and all but I am afraid he has given me no other choice. Failure is not an option."
Spike smiles "Well you will just have to tell whoever this guy is it's your only choice."
Right then Arie pulls out a sharp dagger covered in blood and charges at Spike.
Spike quickly aims his gun at the dagger and shoots it out of Arie's hand. She keeps running at him and he kicks her in the chest knocking her onto her back. "Would you just give up already Arie?" Spike says looking down at her.
Arie stares blankly at the ceiling and says "You are right, I have failed him, I can't beat you." Spike walks over next to her keeping his gun pointed at her. "Who are you talking about?" he asks. Arie continues looking blankly at the ceiling while saying "I have failed Dr. Ack." she says in an emotionless voice. "Dr Ack?" Spike continues pointing his gun at her and staring her straight into her eyes wondering why she suddenly seems so emotionless. "Yes Dr. Ack, he is a true god. He is everywhere all around us, he speaks to us but only some can hear." Arie says still as emotionless as a robot "He told me all about you Spike. He even told me exactly where to wait for you at. I figured you would be an easy prey, your skill is very impressive. Even he is impressed."
Spike laughs a little "Well tell the Dr. I'm very flattered." Arie looks at Spike "You think this is all just a joke dont you Spike?" she says "You don't understand, this is only the begining. Soon, Dr. Ack will rule over everyone and it will truly be a perfect galaxy." Spike smiles "Alright, that's enough Arie. Let's get you out of her."
Spike bends over to pick Arie up onto her feet and she suddenly jumps over to her dagger quickly and picks it up pointing it at Spike. "Not this again." Spike whines. "I am sorry to ruin your plans." Arie says "But i can not leave here alive."
Spike then realizes what shes going to do and he runs towards her. "I have failed you Dr. Ack. I am sorry." she then turns the dagger towards her throat and thrusts it completely through her neck before Spike can get to her.
Blood splatters and she falls lifelessly to the ground. Spike looks down at the body in the puddle of blood "Damn," he says and turns back down the tunnels "something isn't right."
--------2 hours later (back on the Bebop)
"So Spike," Jet says turning towards Spike as he walks into the main room from the shower "what the hell happened down there?"
"I'm not sure." Spike says lighting a cigarette and heading towards his chair "She was unstable and just lost it." Spike sits and puts his fett back up on the table. "She kept talking about some Dr. Ack guy or something." he says.
Jet looks over at Spike "Well, she might not have been as crazy as you thought Spike." he says in a serious voice. "Hm?" Spike says looking back at Jet curiously "What do you mean?"
Jet looks down at the floor "My friend, who called you know? Well I was trying to get a hold of him again, but i lost the number. I call the department but" Jet pauses for a second. "Yeah what is it?" Spike says. "He's dead Spike, they found his body in his apartment a few months ago. Pluss that bounty was a fake, there was never an Arie Yoshikaba at any mental facility on Mars."
Spike is stunned for a second "What?!" he shouts "So it was all just a wild goose chase anyways?! We were just wasting our time?"
Jet looks at Spike with a blank face "You know you could at least act like it worrys you a little that someone was trying to set us up." Spike looks away "How can I worry about that knowing we just wasted the whole day on a fake bounty?" he says "Anyways, she probably just set it up herself. Some crazy girl just lookin to mess with some bounty hunters."
"You know it could be more serious than that." Jet says in a serious voice looking down at the computer "That Dr. Ack guy could be a real and he might have some kind of grudge against us." Spike looks over at Jet and laughs "Sure thing Jet, let's go get some garlic and crosses and hunt this vampire god down." Spike says sarcasticaly still laughing.
"I didn't mean it like that." Jet says crossing his arms and looking down annoyed by Spikes sarcasm "Nevermind, let's just go on living like you do Spike and never worry about the future. Just live by instinct."
"Thank you," Spike says "that's more like it. Maybe now we will start actualy catching some good bountys."
"You know, that kind of life is gonna kill you Spike. You can't live by instinct alone." Jet says "Yeah yeah," Spike says while getting out of his chair and walking back down the hallway "You know I'm starting to get tired of people telling me what will and what wont kill me. They've been wrong so far, so I'll go on living the way I want."
Jet laughs and says to himself "Same old stubborn Spike."
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Thanks to everyone who read the whole story. Please review if you can, I am not sure if I am going to continue running with this story line at this point so it will really come down to what you think of it. Please review!
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------SEE YOU SPACE COWBOY