A/N: The first portion of this chapter was the original Chapter 25. I rewrote some lines and removed a few in order to meld it in with the original Chapter 26.
Enjoy!
Bebop Blues
Chapter 26 – Spy: On the Run
She ran down the corridor, her earpiece buzzing with static. Her glock was in both hands as her heels clacked on the floor.
She heard the footsteps down the hall.
She had memorized these blueprints.
Twenty more feet.
Door.
She slid in and waited as a guard ran past her to find the disturbance she left in her wake.
To throw him off her trail.
"Pixie, you copy?" the voice in her ear asked.
"Roger that, Songbird."
"Pup and I just split; Tiger is on his way to the console room."
"Why the hell am I Pup?" a male voice chimed in.
"Spike's a dog's name, but Jet is Dog," Songbird answered.
"This is ridiculous, Mai," Spike tried again.
"Shush," she answered.
Faye rolled her eyes. So much for a stealth mission; Mai and Spike bickered like actual siblings.
"Faye, I'm at the console room; your turn," came Roy's voice.
"On it."
She waited and glanced at her watch.
Perfect.
She dashed down the hallway.
It had been two months since Mai had woken up.
Two grueling months of awkwardness and rehabilitation.
Faye was still bothered by Mai's recovery. She felt that she needed to rest another month.
The burn on her face never healed properly.
As if some divine power sought to ridicule her further, the burn had healed into a scar that bore a striking resemblance to a dragon curled around her mechanical eye.
Faye hadn't seen the one on her back.
She suspected it was quite a sight.
Mai and Roy hadn't left each other's vicinity much during the last two months, and Faye was back to sleeping alone.
She hated it.
She had managed to coax Mai into a few smoking sessions and one or two drinks.
But Mai remained distant.
She actually suspected that it was her own doing to blame, as she felt terrible for not telling Mai the truth.
Secrets weren't the intention.
It was just hard to discuss.
The weight of it all was daunting.
The lack of Mai in Faye's presence made Spike more available instead.
And he was much more agreeable than usual.
Thus, the vicious dynamic changed again.
Faye slid into the console room.
Roy was already typing away at the panels.
"Hm..." He frowned as he furrowed his brow.
"What? The Mighty Roy can't hack it?"
"For starters, it's Psychedelic Roy, and secondly, it's a decoy."
"That's your hacking name?" Faye looked at him incredulously.
"We need to find the real console."
"Down my hall," Mai answered. "I'm here right now; try Corridor 5, Holding Room B."
Without a response, Faye and Roy dashed for Mai's location.
They stealthily strode down each hallway, flattening against walls, dipping into empty rooms, and pressing against the corners of the floor when necessary.
They hadn't planned for a decoy.
Their memorization of floor plans and schedules was put to good use, however, as guards and sentries passed them without taking notice.
At last they reached Mai's room.
"Always late," a smooth voice commented from beside them.
"Can it, Lunkhead," Faye interjected.
Spike exhaled his cigarette in Faye's face, and she choked back a cough.
"Cancer sticks," she muttered under her breath.
She lit up a joint.
Roy was next to Mai at the console; they seemed so incredibly close, but distant all at once. Mai eyed his fingers with interest and a hint of excitement. He clicked and tapped fervently.
Spike dropped the remains of his cigarette and twisted his foot over the ash. Without a word or warning, he pulled Faye's out of her hand and stole a drag.
"Hey!"
He said nothing.
"What's your issue?" Faye asked as she swiped her cigarette back.
"Same old, same old," he replied.
Faye groaned and turned to face Mai.
Roy had an arm around her as his other hand tapped the screen some more.
Mai looked concerned.
Roy spun her to face him and kissed her deeply.
Faye blinked before blushing a bit.
"Two hours," he said as he pulled back.
Mai frowned. "That's cutting it close."
"That's what we've got," he responded.
"Two hours for what?" Spike asked.
He had a fresh cannabis cigarette in his mouth.
"Until the whole system reroutes the electricity, and the detonation sequence starts; the rerouted electricity will cause an explosion at the end of the sequence," Roy answered, lighting a joint of his own.
"And how long does the sequence last?" Faye asked.
"Seven minutes," Roy answered.
"You two know the plan from there." Mai nodded at each of them.
Faye and Spike nodded in return.
"Spike, Mai, you two head after Victor. Faye and I will get Rin; from there, Jet and Rose will cover us so we can make a quick escape through the entrance."
Faye found the pairings odd.
Mai seemed unperturbed.
"Roger that," Mai responded.
"Sync your coms," Roy instructed.
They exited the console room.
Two hours.
Seven minutes.
Spike and Mai dashed down the hall.
The time for stealth was over.
This was the final battle.
The last push.
They were lucky to encounter no one as they made their way to Victor's presumed location.
Roy and Faye were not so lucky.
No sooner had they turned the corner to their first hallway did someone spot them.
Roy silenced him quickly.
But the commotion brought more men their way, and Faye fired over her shoulder to keep them at bay.
They dove into a nearby storage closet as they turned another corner. The men ran past the door.
"What's your end game?" Faye asked him as they exited the closet and took off down the hall again.
"What?"
"Why me? Why not Mai?"
"You know that answer."
"Then why not Spike?"
"Because she needs a Spiegel."
Faye groaned. "So I'm useless to you."
"No. Mai can't fight him with you there. She'd be too busy worrying about you."
"Why haven't you told her, then."
He grew silent as they continued their trek.
"Out with it."
"Because you and I both know that Mai is a dead woman walking. It's her or Rin, and I know the choice she'd make. I can't put that pressure on her."
He paused solemnly before adding with near silence, "I can't bear that weight."
"You're an idiot." Faye was growing angrier and angrier. "Keeping that from her! She'll die here, and you know that. This entire mission is a suicide plot for her."
"Then why didn't you tell her, Faye?"
That hurt.
Because she couldn't tell her.
Because it wasn't her place.
Spike and Mai were less frustrated with each other than Faye and Roy.
As Mai led the way, Spike hovered behind her soundlessly.
The lack of adversaries made them uneasy.
There should have been an army after them.
"Who's Rin?" Mai asked.
She hadn't gotten an answer in all these months.
Though she hadn't remembered the episode of her brief awakening after the explosion on the Bebop, Rin was built into the plan against Victor.
All she knew was that Rin could pry the gem apart and turn it into whatever liquid it truly was and cure the world of old age.
That bothered her.
She needed more than that.
"A girl."
Mai groaned. "Cryptic."
He raised an eyebrow.
He promptly slammed into her.
"The hell?"
"Something's not right," she stated flatly. "Why hasn't Victor sent anybody after us?"
Spike had wondered that, too. Her unease mirrored his.
Her eye began to whir.
He spun her to face him and pushed her against the wall.
His fake eye pierced hers. It was still moving and vibrating in its socket.
His hand was on the wall above her head as she peered up at him.
"It's all just a dream, Mai."
He stared at her intently.
She blinked, but did not move.
He was uncomfortably close.
"So what can you remember?" he asked.
Her eyes went wide.
The fake one rotated again.
He pulled back and led the way with a slow walk, his hands in his pockets, his shoulders hunched, and his cigarette nearly spent.
He knew now that Victor wanted them to find him.
He had some kind of plan for Mai.
They strode in silence, smoke wafting between them ominously.
Mai was nearly broken.
It was apparent.
The normal wall of enigmatic confidence was slowly decaying and crumbling into remnants of hazy memories.
She was a dead woman running.
Spike signed lightly.
He preferred the cryptic, killer Mai.
Not the ghost.
She slammed into him this time.
He hadn't realized he stopped.
"Buck up, Miss Dragon," he commented dryly.
She gave a weak chuckle. "I'm not sure that I can."
She gripped the back of his jacket childishly.
She seemed all the short stature she was at that moment.
Small, meek, and burdened.
"I remember, Spike."
His eyes went wide.
"Spike! Mai! We've got a problem!"
Faye's voice was loud and clear over their earpieces.
Back to reality.
Spike was thankfully for Faye's timing.
"What's up?" Mai asked concernedly.
"Victor's got Roy."
Red.
"Where are you?" Spike asked, trying his damnedest to keep Mai's vision clear.
"I'm headed your way." Mai snarled her response.
She bolted towards the incoming footsteps and nearly ran into Faye.
Faye looked flustered. She was heaving and panting, and the metal of her glock was hot.
"Mai!" Faye exclaimed.
"Where is the bastard?" she responded.
Her eyes were narrow slits.
Faye's mouth went taut. "Cool it."
Spike was about to make some snappy comeback about taming dragons, but Mai seemed to instantly relax.
"Yeah. You're right," she answered.
Her confidence pulled forward. She walked with her head high and her shoulders back as they headed towards Victor again.
"What about Rin?" Mai asked.
Faye bit her lip. "It's complicated."
Mai raised an eyebrow.
"If we don't have Roy, we can't get Rin," Spike answered matter-of-factly.
"Well-" but Mai was interrupted by the sight that came into view as they turned the corner.
A bloodied Roy lay strewn across the floor.
Barely conscious.
Barely breathing.
As they ran to him, his wounds took full shape.
Gaping cuts and slashes.
A bullet hole or two through his thigh.
They barely missed his femoral artery.
Gashes in his torso.
Slices in his arms.
A streak across his face.
But he was breathing.
He choked back blood as Mai leaned over him.
He was cradling something.
Mai pulled him up and held his back straight.
He coughed again.
The bundle in his arm wriggled.
"I got him pretty good, Mai," he said with a smirk. "Rin survived without a scratch."
Mai frowned at him.
The bundle moved again.
"Roy, why have you been gone all this time?" she asked, her voice a whisper.
Faye and Spike stared.
Spike in disappointment.
Faye in disbelief.
Roy smirked again. "Because when you see Rin, Mai, you'll lose yourself."
But before she could ask:
Bang.
The world went black.