Chapter 4: The Chase
Somewhere on Mars:
A city of this size contained a population of millions. So many people that even the strangest looking of them were regarded with an almost casual indifference. With a basic attitude like this what chance did one very ordinary looking policeman have of looking out of place? So far it had been zero. For an hour the T-1000 had been walking the streets, questioning various people about the whereabouts of Jet Black, Radical Edward, and the friend they had been visiting, a young woman by the name of Meifa. So far no one had questioned him and his intentions. These humans were fooled just as easily as the ones at the spaceport.
Mars Spaceport: One hour ago
"Prison transport zero one nine you are not cleared for landing. Return to cruising altitude and maintain holding pattern until..."
"You've got to let me land now!!!" A panicked voice yelled. "He's gone crazy and I don't know how much longer the door will hold!!!" The air traffic controller saw that the transport made no effort to veer off its present course and it did sound like there was an emergency.
"Security teams one and four to landing pad six, possible hijack attempt in progress. Proceed with extreme caution." The armed security teams ran out to the pad just in time to see the craft come to a wobbly but controlled landing. They were about to try to contact the pilot again when they heard gunshots and the sound of glass shattering. Looking towards the source of the noise they saw the pilot jumping from the shot out cockpit window onto the ground. As two security members rushed over to him they saw that he was bleeding from the head.
"He killed all the others!!" The pilot yelled, sounding close to hysterics. "I don't know how he got that knife on board!!! It wasn't my fault!!!"
"Easy there buddy." One of the security team told him. "We'll find out whose fault it was after this is over." He turned to another member of the security team. "Take him inside for questioning, we'll deal with this."
"Yes sir." The second team member answered. "Come on pal, let's see if you can help us sort this thing out." He said, taking the gun from the panicked ISSP pilot and leading him into the main building as the rest of the security team began to move in on the craft.
"Come on this wasn't my fault." The pilot complained as he was escorted into the office area of the spaceport.
"That's for ISSP to decide once they get your statement." The security guard said.
"Why not just take it here?" The pilot asked as they walked down a long hallway to the interrogation room. "With all these cameras…"
"There are no cameras in this area." The security guard answered. "Since criminals are supposed to have 'basic rights' the only cameras we're allowed to use are during interrogation."
"So that means that the only camera that can see anything is in that room?" The pilot asked, sounding a lot calmer then he had been just a second ago.
"That's right."
"Good to know." The pilot said. Before the security guard could ask what that meant the pilot grabbed him and punched him in the stomach. Or at least that was what the guard thought had happened. What he felt couldn't have been just a punch, the pain seemed to go right through him. As the guard tried to figure out what was happening the pilot pulled his hand away and the pain intensified a thousand fold. He also noticed that blood was coming from his stomach. Unable to control his body the guard fell onto his back, looking up at the pilot who looked down at him with cold indifference. As he began to feel life slip away the guard saw something that shouldn't be possible. The blood on the pilot's head seemed to run back up to the source and disappear. At the same time the pilot's face and body began to shift and in seconds the guard was looking up at himself. The last thing the guard saw was 'himself' reaching down and taking back the gun he had taken from the 'pilot' before and his spare clips of ammunition.
A few minutes later the door leading to the office section opened and the security guard stepped out, without the pilot.
"Finished already Jerry?" Another security guard asked.
"The guy was babbling so I had to lock him in a closet." Jerry replied. The second security guard laughed, apparently not surprised. "Have they gotten into the ship yet?"
"Not yet. Whoever tried to take it over knew his stuff. Changed the access codes and they haven't been able to break them yet."
"Interesting." Jerry said. "Well I'm going to give our friend a chance to calm down and since they don't need me outside.."
"Go ahead and take a break." The second security guard said. "It looks like it'll be a while before they get into the ship and our jumpy pilot isn't going anywhere anytime soon."
"No, I guess he isn't." Jerry replied and walked off. As soon as he left the spaceport and was out of camera range 'Jerry' walked behind a building and a second later a completely new person walked out on the other side. He then began to head for the heart of the city, never looking back once.
It was another ten minutes before it was discovered something was wrong. After finally breaking the new code to get into the prison transport the guards were surprised to find that no one was in the rear section of the craft. According to the pilot there should be someone back here, at least a dead body. Getting into the cockpit turned out to be easier, it wasn't even locked. When they entered they got a bigger surprise then the empty back section.
"Isn't he the same guy who jumped out the window?" One of them asked, pointing to the body that looked exactly like the person that had been taken into the spaceport. Wanting answers the team leader tried to contact Jerry but got no response. Deciding that they needed to talk to the apparently fake pilot they went to where he had been taken but when they got there all they found was Jerry's body, stabbed clean through. The spaceport went into lockdown in a desperate attempt to find whoever had been responsible for killing two people under their noses. Surveillance footage showed someone who looked like Jerry leaving the Spaceport but it was decided that there had to be more then one of them so police on the outside weren't warned, it was their problem now. It wouldn't have mattered anyway.
An hour later the chaos at that spaceport had caused another ISSP craft to be diverted to another one on the other side of the city. It wasn't stated what exactly had caused the emergency but when what was known was that it involved an ISSP prison transport it wasn't hard for those in the second transport to guess who was behind it.
"Looks like there're bigger things in the news now then us." Kyle remarked as they entered the city. The police override code had worked again and they got through customs with no problem. That had surprised all of them, well maybe not Arnold. Despite the fact that their faces had been all over the news a few months ago nobody gave them a second glance.
"That's actually a good thing." John answered. "Now we can look without inadvertently tipping off the T-1000."
"Where do we begin?" Arnold asked. It was a good question. If they stayed in one group they would lessen their chances of finding Jet or Ed. On the other hand if they split up they wouldn't have enough firepower to deal with the T-1000 if one of them ran into it. Hell, they probably didn't have enough firepower now to deal with the T-1000 if Arnold was right.
"We'll split up but we won't put any more then two blocks distance between us." John said, deciding that finding the others took priority. "That way we can maximize our search but still able to help each other if something happens. Keep in radio contact at all times and if one of us finds Jet, Ed and their friend we quietly make our way back to the ship and then to the Bebop. Now this thing can imitate people so if we run into just Ed or Jet we're going to have to make sure that they're the real deal. Ask them what two people Kyle and I gave our medals to. That's something only they would know and if they don't, start shooting. Arnold since you don't know we gave them to Ed and Ein." Arnold nodded in understanding.
"And what of Meifa?" Arnold asked. "I will be able to tell if she is human or not through infrared scan. That is not an option for the two of you and we have no knowledge with which to test her."
"He's got a point." John agreed. "We don't know anything and I don't want to have to do something like cut her to see if she bleeds."
"Actually we do know something." Kyle stated. "After you guys sent me back to the Bebop I really couldn't do anything but lie on the couch so to keep from being bored out of my skull I asked Ed to tell me about the bounty hunts they had been on. One of those stories had to do with Meifa when they helped her search for her father. She said that they eventually found him in hyperspace, inside one of the tunnel's walls. That sounds impossible but it's true. We should ask her where they found her father. It'll be a little hard on her but it's something the T-1000 won't know."
"Now that we've got that settled let's get moving. We have a lot of ground to cover." John said and the three of them walked in different directions.
Several blocks away the T-1000 continued it's own search, and unknown to either of the search parties their quarry was right in the middle.
Of course Jet, Ed and Meifa had no idea what was going on. For the past couple of hours they had been walking around the city and catching up. Most of the conversation had been about Jet and Ed's involvement in the battle against Skynet. Jet wasn't worried about anyone overhearing them, most people wouldn't believe it and the rest wouldn't care. Unlike most people Meifa was listening intently to every word.
"It was frightening to see how human those machines acted." Meifa said, referring to the Terminators. "They acted like they were alive when they weren't."
"That's what they were designed to do." Jet answered. "From what we saw the longer one of them was around people the more they learned to act like us."
"You mean Arnold?" Meifa asked. Jet nodded, he had told her about the Terminator Ed had made into their 'friend'. "It still seems wrong Jet." Jet tried to think of an answer for that one. They had gone over this before. While Meifa didn't believe that Arnold was evil he 'went against the balance' as she had put it. Universal Feng Shui depends on a balance of the Chi of Heaven, Earth, and all living things. The actions of the nonliving, like Skynet and its machines, disturbed that balance. To someone as sensitive to Feng Shui as Meifa if something that wasn't alive, that didn't have a soul, could influence things of its own free will, it was something to be concerned about.
"Nothing wrong with Arnold!" Ed declared. "Ed fixed him so that means he works perfectly. Everything that is broken Ed can fix." Meifa couldn't help but smile at Ed's words, as confusing as they were. Her smile broadened as Ed then took off down the street. "Bet Ed can beat you where we're going!!" She shouted.
"Kids." Jet groaned. Though Ed had been behaving relatively well she had decided that it would be fun to race Jet and Meifa to the various places they were going. Unfortunately for the other two Ed sometimes walked with them to the places and others bolted off for apparently no reason. It looked like she was going to do it again but instead of going straight and crossing the street, like she should have, she turned around a corner and disappeared, onto a very busy street. "She's doing this to annoy me I just know it. Keep going and we'll meet you there. This shouldn't take long." He told Meifa and started to run after Ed. Meifa watched Jet turn the corner and began walking herself when she felt something. It was like the time she had encountered the Predator, something felt wrong but she didn't know what it was. That feeling suddenly got stronger and she looked in the direction it seemed to be coming from. She saw someone turn the corner on the opposite side of the intersection ahead of her, out of the heavy foot traffic and onto the side street she was on. Now she was frightened. Her eyes saw a normal looking man wearing a police uniform, but there was no presence of Chi, absolutely nothing. She began to cautiously step backwards, never taking her eyes off the, thing. She was trying to think of what to do when the thing noticed her. One hand went to his gun while he pointed at her with the other.
"You! Stop!!" He ordered. Panicking Meifa did the first thing that came to mind, she turned and ran. The she had gotten only a few paces away when she heard the crack of gunfire and felt things whizzing past her legs.
The T-1000 had been searching the city in a grid pattern and so far that search had yielded few results. Several of the people he had talked to did know Meifa but had not seen her lately, or the two people she was supposed to be with. Continuing on his search he had turned onto one of the many side streets of the city, not knowing that two of the three people he had been looking for had just disappeared into the crowd in front of him. Ed was too small to bee seen and it wasn't easy to recognize someone from the back of their heads. However after taking a few steps he did notice the third person he was looking for. After a quick search on the prison transport's computers he had found Meifa's picture in a file that had dealt with her father, a syndicate consultant. What the T-1000 wasn't expecting was that she also saw him, and the look of fear on her face. Why would she be afraid? She had no criminal record so she did not have anything to fear from the police. If she had been somehow been warned about him she would not be out in the street, she would be hiding. Regardless of the cause her body language indicated she was ready to run so the T-1000 decided to deal with this like a human policeman would. He told the human not to move but it fled. Though he was much faster then any human he did not know the territory as well as she would. Since he needed her alive for questioning he drew his pistol and fired at her legs, trying to incapacitate but not kill.
Meifa ran as hard as she could. She didn't know just what that thing was or why it was after her but she knew she had to get away from it. She didn't have time to consult her luo-pan to find the best escape route so she had to do it by pure instinct. To try to escape it she ran into an alley that she knew led back to the main street. There she would be able to hide in the crowd and find Jet. As she ran she looked back to see if the thing was still following her so she didn't see that someone was walking down the alley towards her. She was so concerned on her pursuer that she didn't even turn around to see where she was going until she was halfway down the alley. When she did turn to look she found herself looking at something else that had no Chi. A giant that was carrying a large metal case and had the same dead expression that the one behind her had. She tried to stop but her foot slipped out from under her and she fell to the ground. The giant's expression remained blank as his metal case fell apart, revealing a very large gun. Time seemed to slow down as the giant grabbed the grip of the weapon with his other hand and began to point it in her direction. Panic again setting in Meifa tried to scramble to her feet and run back the other way but when she turned around she saw the first thing closing in, still aiming his handgun at her.
"Down!" She heard the giant shout from behind her. Still unsure of what was going on she did as she was told and threw herself face first to the ground. Though scared she kept her eyes open and watched the smaller of the two things approach. She heard a roar from behind her and saw a large hole suddenly appear in the chest of the first thing. The thing flinched but it did not fall, nor was there any blood. Instead the wound looked like a hole that had been punched through soft metal. Meifa didn't have much time to focus on this strange sight as another hole appeared, followed by a third, then a fourth. Each time the roar of the weapon got louder as it seemed to be coming closer. Finally a fifth shot knocked the thing down. Meifa turned to see what the giant was doing and to her surprise saw that he was standing over her. He still had the massive weapon pointed at the other thing but he was looking down at her and holding out his other hand.
Arnold had been the first to spot trouble. As he was walking down the street of one of the blocks assigned to him, against heavy flow of people in the opposite direction, he saw Ed come running out of one of the side streets followed closely by Jet. As he radioed John and Kyle that he had found them he also saw the T-1000 turn into the same street that Jet and Ed had just come out of. He calculated an eighty percent chance that their traveling companion, Meifa, was still in that side street and since the mission was to find all three of them he needed to investigate. He radioed his intentions to the others, and following a map of the city from his memory banks, entered an alley that led to the side street. He heard gunfire that was identified as an ISSP service weapon and a second later he saw a young, dark-haired female human running down the alley towards him. She was looking behind her and seemed unaware of his presence. She looked ahead and when she saw him she tried to stop and fell to the ground. Behind her he could see the T-1000 entering the alley and pointing its weapon at her. In response he deployed his own weapon and prepared to engage. The human started to get up but listened when he told her to stay down. It took several shots to down the other Terminator and according to the data that had been gathered it would not stay that way for long. The human was frightened, did not know what was going on and had never encountered a Terminator before. Arnold did not have time to give her an explanation or try to convince her that he was there to help. Keeping his weapon trained on the T-1000, which was still moving, he offered the human his other hand to help her up.
"Come with me if you want to live." He told her. It was a statement that required a fast decision and though the human looked surprised she grabbed his hand and he helped her to her feet.
At that same time: not too far away.
"Can't catch Ed!" Ed told Jet as she waited for him to come and get her.
"This isn't funny anymore Ed!" Jet shouted back. Ed seemed to think the opposite and laughing turned around to run off again. She got half a step before running into someone who wasn't there a second ago. As she looked up she saw that the clothes were unfamiliar but she instantly recognized the face.
"John person came to visit Ed!" She shouted and was about to give him a hug when she saw the look on his face. "John person not happy to see Ed?" She asked.
"I am but it's very dangerous and..." He looked up and saw Jet approaching.
"John? What are you doing here? I thought you were still on Earth." Jet said. "What's wrong?" He had no problem recognizing the look on John's face.
"I'll have to tell you later. Right now we need to get you two back to the Bebop." John said. Jet was about to ask about Meifa when he heard the crack of gunfire coming from the same side street that they had left her on. Without thinking Jet got out his gun and was about to run back to Meifa when John grabbed his shoulder. "Not that way." John said and took out a pistol with a high capacity magazine that definitely wasn't standard issue. He motioned for them to follow him and as they started moving another more powerful sounding weapon started firing in response to the first. A majority of the people on the street, who were curious and stopped to see what was causing all the racket, now started to run when they heard something that sounded like a cannon.
"What do you mean not that way?!" Jet demanded.
"Don't worry, that's Arnold protecting your friend." John told him as he turned on his radio. "What's the situation Arnold?"
"She is unharmed." Arnold replied. "We are moving to meet you, T-1000 is still in pursuit." He added onto his sentence with several more shotgun blasts.
"You two get back to the Bebop, we'll handle this and meet you there." John said and flicked off the safety of his weapon.
"Handle what!? John what aren't you telling us!?" Jet demanded.
"Jet!!" They heard Meifa yell and saw her running up to them. Behind her Arnold was still shooting at something and backing out of an alley. Whatever Arnold was shooting at was still shooting back as they heard the sharp cracks of a handgun mixed in with the booming report of Arnold's weapon.
"Jet, take those two and get them back to the Bebop. We'll cover you." John said. "Arnold! Fall back and get ready to provide covering fire!" Arnold stopped firing and jogged over to them, dropping the clip from his weapon and putting in a fresh one.
"The Hammerhead can't carry three people." Jet responded. The situation was becoming serious so he decided to stop asking questions for now and go with what John was saying.
"Why am I not surprised?" John said, trying to think. "Try to make room Jet. He's after you and Ed, not Meifa but we can't leave her here."
"Who's after us!?" Jet asked, bringing his gun up. John and Arnold didn't have to answer as the person in question came out of the same alley Arnold did. On the other hand person probably wasn't the right word. What Jet saw looked like a person, except for the three gaping holes in its chest which it seemed to be ignoring. To add to that the wounds were healing themselves, to be specific it looked like they were flowing back together. It was probably a good guess that this thing was a Terminator, but what kind of Terminator did that!?! Jet didn't have long to figure that out as the new Terminator ejected an empty clip from his pistol and began to reload another. He walked at a steady, unhurried pace and had the blank, emotionless look on his face that all Terminators possessed.
"What's going on? Let Ed see!" Ed said as she poked her head out from behind Arnold. Up until that point Jet, John and now Arnold had been blocking her view. And, unknown to her, they had been hiding her from view as well. Now that she could be seen the others noticed a distinct change in the T-1000. While he continued to reload his pistol like a professional his face now displayed intense anger and hatred. Terminators could mimic such emotions but with this one it looked like it was no act. That realism threw John and Jet off by a spilt second but Arnold acted immediately, pushing Ed behind him just as the T-1000 leveled his gun at her and began shooting. Jet grabbed Meifa and pulled her behind a nearby dumpster while John dove behind a parked car. It was almost pointless for them to do so because while the T-1000 fired his weapon at inhuman speed, emptying his entire clip in a matter of seconds, all of his shots were aimed at Ed. A majority of them hit Arnold who made no sound or movement as the bullets thudded into him. The hail of bullets stopped and the distinct sound of an empty clip dropping to the ground was what the others were waiting for. John and Jet stepped out of their hiding places and along with Arnold opened up on the T-1000. A barrage of bullets and shotgun blasts tore into the liquid metal Terminator, punching well over two dozen small holes and several large ones in its chest.
The individual shots were almost insignificant but combined they were beginning to take a toll. The overwhelming force of taking so many hits was actually driving the T-1000 back. Seeing that they had the upper hand Arnold concentrated what was left of his clip on one specific area, the right shoulder. It took several rounds but he succeeded in actually blasting the T-1000's right arm off its body. Several more blasts to the chest again knocked it to the ground. If there was any sense of victory it was quickly shattered as they witnessed a new sight. The detached arm, gun still clutched in its hand, partially liquefied and began to… flow back to its owner, who was still on the ground. The arm reconnected with the body and the T-1000 sat up, the bullet holes closing as they watched.
"Arnold, get Ed out of here and back to the ship, take off if you have to. We'll catch up." John said as the three of them reloaded their weapons.
"Right." Arnold said and tossed his gun to Jet. Quickly scanning the area he saw that the road was filled with empty vehicles, abandoned because of the gunfight. Since obtaining a vehicle was not an option Arnold picked up Ed and started running. The T-1000, now standing, began to fire at the fleeing T-800. Arnold ignored the bullets hitting him in the back and kept on running, calculating the best way to lose the T-1000 and make if back to the transport. Behind him the T-1000 started running after them, still shooting. Jet and John opened fire to try and slow it down but not only did the T-1000 ignore the bullets that were hitting him, he ignored Jet and John, running right past them without slowing. Jet looked over at John for an explanation but he looked just as confused.
"Let's not look a gift horse in the mouth." John said after a few seconds. "Is your ship nearby?" Jet nodded and told him where. "Finally some good news. That's the same spaceport where ours is. You'll have to take her with you while the rest of us wait for Arnold and Ed."
"Only if Arnold can outrun that thing. What the hell is it and why is it after Ed?" Jet asked as they started back towards the spaceport.
"A new Terminator and we have no idea." John answered as he activated his radio. "We found them Kyle. You can…"
"No time to talk John. Working." Kyle responded before the signal was lost.
"He turned his radio off." John said. "Why would he do that?"
The why turned out to be a very good reason. Kyle had heard the sounds of a gun battle and followed them. He got within sight of the others just in time to see Arnold pick up Ed and take off. He knew Arnold was fast and he had a head start but if this thing was more advanced that would mean it was faster. Seeing which road Arnold was taking Kyle began to form an idea. Like John he had started out as a beat cop and knew these streets fairly well, including all the hidden shortcuts that the maps Arnold and presumably the T-1000 used didn't show. Showing just what kind of influence the Bebop crew had on him Kyle knew his plan was, in a word, nuts.
{Which means that it's going to work.} He thought to himself as he made his way through the back streets and onto the roof of a small building. He didn't know for sure that Arnold would come this way but he would be in the area. All he need was a little guidance.
"Arnold, I know you can hear me so listen carefully." He said into his radio after making sure he was only sending to Arnold. "I've got an idea but you're going have to do exactly what I say. We're going to do what's called a lateral in football. Here's what you need to do…" After telling Arnold what he would have to do Kyle gave him directions that would lead him to the street he was currently looking down into. Arnold didn't answer, there was no way he could, but Kyle was sure that he understood. He got confirmation when he heard heavy footsteps coming his way, accompanied by the sound of gunshots. He was getting ready when his radio came to life.
"We found them Kyle." He heard John's voice say. "You can…"
"No time to talk John. Working." Kyle interrupted and shut off the radio so it wouldn't give him away. It was just in time because a blur shot up from below and went over his head. Despite the fact he had come up with this dumb idea and knew this would happen he was still surprised when he looked up and saw Ed falling towards him, laughing the whole time. All of a sudden it dawned on him just how dumb this idea was and what kinds of risks there was but he didn't exactly have time to consider that right now. What he needed to do was concentrate on catching Ed and not letting her slam into the roof of the building. Somehow he was able to move to the right spot and perform a textbook football catch. The follow-through was a different matter.
THUD!!!
The only problem was this 'football' was a person and Ed managed to knock Kyle off his feet and onto the roof, hard.
"OOMPH!!" Kyle didn't really want to say that but the air being forced from his lungs left him no choice.
"Touchdown!" Ed shouted, apparently she got the joke to. Any other time Kyle probably would have laughed but instead he clamped his hand over Ed's mouth to keep her quiet.
"Quiet!" He hissed and began listening. He heard Arnold's footsteps becoming more distant and he also heard a second set of footsteps approaching. If Arnold had followed Kyle's instructions the T-1000 shouldn't have seen anything that happened but there was still a chance that it would hear them. The footsteps got closer, then seemed to fade away. The next sound he heard was gunfire, and it was getting farther away to. If this was a trap it was a damn convincing one and since Kyle wasn't about to take any chances he made Ed stay still for several minutes, a very difficult thing for her. Now sure that the T-1000 wasn't coming up after them he took his hand off Ed's mouth and they stood up.
"That was fun!! Can Ed do it again?" Ed asked excitedly.
"Maybe later." Kyle answered. "Right now we've got to go meet up with the others. Now it's very important that you do what I say Ed, understand?" Ed nodded. "Good. Stay close to me, and don't wander off or make a lot of noise. I don't want you getting hurt. Okay?" Ed nodded again. "Then lets go."
At the spaceport John, Jet and Meifa were waiting. Using his police influence John had gotten a private hangar where the Hammerhead and the prison transport now sat. John had wanted Meifa and Jet to leave right away but Jet was determined to stay until he was sure Ed was safe. John had insisted but the older bounty hunter refused to budge. Seeing the futility of trying to make them leave John had given them a basic explanation of what was going on and who that freak Terminator was.
"I don't believe this." Jet said in response. "Liquid metal? Don't the laws of physics say that something liquid cannot get up and walk around on its own?"
"Probably." John answered. "But then again I'm positive if you ask every psychology expert that ever lived they'll tell you that there's no way a computer can become sentient." Jet was about to reply when he suddenly brought up the automatic shotgun he was carrying.
"Someone's coming." He said. John listened and heard two sets of footsteps. Neither were Arnold's so he took out his own pistol and pointed it at the hangar entrance.
"Does Ed still have to be quiet?" They heard someone ask.
"I guess not." Another voice, Kyle's, answered. "The others should be here by now and…" The two of them started walking into the hangar when they saw that John and Jet had guns pointed in their general direction. "Uh… we're real?"
"Well that thing wouldn't try to imitate two people at the same time. That's just dumb." Jet said and lowered his weapon.
"You sure about that?" John asked him. "Maybe we should test them, just in case."
"They're not him." Meifa said. The others turned to look at her.
"What makes you so sure?" John asked.
"Trust her on this John. If she says they're not him, they're not." Jet told him. John shrugged and let it drop.
"So where's Arnold?" John asked Kyle. "Last we saw he had Ed and you weren't anywhere near us."
"Actually I was and right now Arnold's leading the T-1000 through the city, as far away from here as possible. Once that thing realizes Arnold doesn't have Ed anymore he'll give up chasing him and Arnold can make his way back to the Bebop on his own. We can leave now and wait until he gets up there." Jet shook his head.
"If the T-1000 does give up, he'll head straight for the Bebop. From what John told me he knows where it is and even a machine would be able to guess if Ed isn't with Arnold she must be on the Bebop, or on her way to it."
"So what are we going to do?" Kyle asked. "We can't exactly go out and get him."
"You can't but I can." Jet said, heading for the Hammerhead.
"And what exactly are you going to do?" John asked.
"The Hammerhead is smaller and more maneuverable then your ship. I'll be able to track Arnold through his communicator and give him a lift back here faster then that T-1000 thing can follow. Then we can all leave at the same time."
"Well it does sound like a better idea then just waiting." Kyle agreed.
"It would help." John agreed. "How long will it take?"
"If Arnold's radio is still working not too long." Jet said as he shut the cockpit and started the engines. After the Hammerhead took off John turned to the others.
"We'll need to be ready to leave the second they get back. I'll stay on look out. Kyle, start the engines and get ready to move at a moments notice. You two wait inside the cockpit with him, it's the safest place there is." Ed and Meifa followed Kyle into the cockpit and he locked the door.
"Might as well get comfortable." Kyle told them as he started up the engines. "This may take a while." Meifa was about to offer the copilot's seat to Ed but the Earth hacker had already taken Kyle's advice and made herself comfortable. She was balancing herself on her head without using her hands. Since Ed wasn't going to sit Meifa sat down in the chair, deep in thought. "Something wrong?" Kyle asked her.
"No." She answered quickly. Kyle raised one of his eyebrows, not quite believing her. "Sorry. It's just that…" She couldn't find the right words.
"This is a lot to take in at once?" Kyle asked. "Don't worry about it. You'd be surprised on how fast you get used to strange and unusual things." He told her and looked over at Ed, who was now pretending to ride a bicycle while upside down.
"It's not that." Meifa said. "You probably wouldn't understand."
"Try me." Kyle said. Instead of actually answering him Meifa responded with a question.
"When you're around that machine, the one you call Arnold, doesn't it bother you that he looks and acts so human?"
"A little." Kyle answered. "Sometimes it's damn scary, but that's what he was built to do. If you think about it you could say it's not really that much different then anything that's programmable, just on a higher level."
"Then why do you treat him like a real person?" Meifa asked. Kyle didn't answer.
"Because Arnold person is a person." Ed spoke up, still on her head. "No machine man like him, Ed made him one of a kind." Meifa looked at Kyle for an answer.
"I think what she's trying to explain is when she hacked into Arnold's head she gave him a unique personality so he wouldn't be like the hundreds of other Terminators."
"Yep yep!" Ed agreed. "Ed made Arnold Arnold."
"I guess in some ways that does make him more like a real person." Kyle said. Meifa shook her head.
"When I look at them, I see emptiness. Not life, just something that is pretending to be." She said. Ed and Kyle exchanged glances, neither of them had an answer for that one.
That same time: Several miles away
Tracking Arnold hadn't been that difficult. Tracing the signal from his radio had proven to be easy, all he needed to do was change the frequency, and now Jet could see Arnold and the T-1000 was still chasing him. Kyle must have given him some really good shortcuts if he could stay this far ahead for so long.
"Arnold, this is Jet. Ed is safe and we're getting out of here. I'm going to take you back to your ship but I can't get my ship into streets that narrow. In about a hundred feet you'll have the option of going right or left. Go right and keep on going straight until you get to the main road. I'll try to get low enough for a pick up."
"Affirmative." Arnold replied. Jet maneuvered the Hammerhead above said street and waited. A few seconds later Arnold came running out of a side street and began running down it, towards the Hammerhead. The T-1000 was close behind and Jet knew he couldn't pick up Arnold without having to deal with the T-1000. Putting the Hammerhead into a shallow dive he got back onto the radio.
"Hit the dirt!" He told Arnold, who instantly complied and dove to the ground. The T-1000 stopped, realizing it had been fooled, and broke from its single-minded protocol as he became aware of the sound of engines. He looked up just in time to see the Hammerhead level out and head right for him. He had no time to react before the front of the craft slammed into him and sent him flying. He flew for almost half a block before crashing the side of a car, bending it almost in half. If he had been human all of his bones would have broken and he would have died on contact. But he wasn't human so he merely got back up and sprinted towards the now hovering craft.
Knowing that the T-1000 wouldn't be down for long Jet turned the Hammerhead ninety degrees and opened the cockpit.
"Grab on!" He shouted to Arnold, who had gotten to his feet. Arnold jumped and grabbed onto the craft, making it shudder in the process. Jet was about to take off when the Hammerhead shuddered again and this time he could feel the weight being added to the opposite side of the craft. That could only mean one thing so Jet reached down, grabbed the weapon and pointed it where he felt the slight tremor originate. Sure enough the T-1000 began to pull itself up and when it did it found itself literally looking down the barrel of the shotgun. Jet fired and instead of forming a large hole the blast actually spilt the T-1000's head right down the middle. It was enough to throw the T-1000 off the Hammerhead and back onto the pavement. That taken care of Jet closed the cockpit and gained altitude, heading back towards the spaceport.
On the ground the T-1000 got to its feet. The two halves of his head reconnected and melded together, showing no signs of what had just happened. The T-1000 watched the Hammerhead pull away, the renegade T-800 hanging from it. As it disappeared into the distance the T-1000 began to calmly walk away from the scene, not paying any attention to anything around him.
Back at the spaceport the others were anxiously waiting for Arnold and Jet to return. When John heard a craft approaching the hangar he ran out to see what was going on. On a regular day the sight of someone hanging on the side of a ship would have seemed strange but today it was almost expected.
"It's them." John said into his radio. As he watched Jet brought the Hammerhead down to a reasonable height and Arnold jumped to the ground.
"I'll wait for you guys to catch up." Jet said over the radio as the Hammerhead rose into the sky.
"You won't have to wait long." John answered, motioning for Arnold to follow him. The two of them ran into the prison transport and John shut the hatch. "GO!" He shouted to Kyle, who added more power to the engines, flew out of the hangar and raced after the Hammerhead.
On the ground the T-1000 looked skyward as two ships took off and headed for the upper atmosphere. He watched them only for a split second. He knew where they were going; all that was needed was to get another ship so he could follow them. They might leave Mars space before he did but he wasn't worried. He would find them, sooner or later. Humans eventually tired, he never would.
