A/N: 05.10.2020
Guess what?
IT'S MY BIRTHDAY! How about we celebrate with TWO Sessions! To be honest, I though it was going to be only one but this turned into a much longer Session than I expected. So, Session XXV will be up at the same time as this one.
Also, I finally realized something. If anyone has ever seen the show Burn Notice from the USA Network, don't Sam and Fiona remind you of Jet and Faye? Just something I noticed. I wonder if that was intentional, if Matt Nix was a Cowboy Bebop fan.
Anyway, enjoy!
Session XXIV: Violence Symphony
"Only the dead have seen the end of war" ~ George Santayana, Soliloquies in England and Later Soliloquies, 1922 (also attributed to Plato)
The crew was on Europa the following morning. They even flew the Bebop to Europa, imagining that Vega and Hanan had far more to worry about than them. So far, they were right. To be safe, they parked the ship somewhere out of the way where neither syndicate would find right away but it was close enough that they could make a quick getaway, if need be.
They figured that need would arrive soon enough.
Spike, Jet, Elektra, and Faye were sitting in one of the higher floors of a building overlooking the European syndicate compound. The compound was a sizeable area, about the size of a public park, with a large mansion sitting in the center of it. There were two obvious entrances that both led to public streets. Jet figured the syndicate had secret entrances and exits, as well, but the attacks would definitely start at the most obvious places. Spike was looking at the building through binoculars, looking for any sign of the Red Dragons.
"Well?" Jet asked.
"They're out there," Spike lowered the binoculars. "But no one's moving yet. Europa's sure as hell ready for war."
"No surprise there."
"All the same, we better get down there. We move when the gunfire starts."
"We don't wanna wait for Dice and the others?" Faye asked.
"They'll get here when they can," Spike answered.
Faye nodded. She looked at Elektra, "You gonna be okay?"
Elektra finished setting up her sniper rifle, "Yeah, right. I've got it easy."
"Just watch your back," Spike said. "Just in case they've got snipers, too."
"I've got it."
Jet stared at Elektra, nervousness in his eyes.
Elektra looked at him and smiled, "I'm fine, Jet. I promise. Go. I'll watch your back."
"Just…" Jet said. "Just be careful."
Elektra held her smile.
"Oh, God!" Faye groaned. "Kiss already! It's not like we don't know!"
Elektra laughed. She looked at Jet, "I can wait."
Jet nodded, blushing.
"Are they worse than us?" Faye asked.
"I refuse to answer that," Spike smiled.
"Let's just go," Jet ordered.
Spike, Jet, and Faye made it to the alley, across the street from the compound. As they observed the area, Spike noticed someone walking up behind them. He looked to see Dice approaching them.
"Hey, Dice," Spike greeted.
"Anything yet?" Dice asked.
"Nope."
"Where's everyone else?"
"Elektra's got us covered from that building," Spike pointed at it. He handed Dice an earpiece. "Juarez and Jordan aren't here yet."
Putting the earpiece in, Dice stared at the mansion. He glanced briefly at Spike then back at the mansion. "You've come a long way, kid. I'm proud of you."
Spike tried not to smile.
"Guys," Elektra said, through the comms.
"What is it?" Jet asked.
"Duck."
They immediately dropped to the ground.
Suddenly, a missile flew through the sky and hit the front gate of the compound, exploding on impact and sending debris and bodies everywhere.
"Thanks for the heads up," Faye whispered to Elektra.
A similar missile attack occurred at the second entrance. Out of seemingly nowhere, the Red Dragons pulled up in over a dozen vehicles, practically surrounding the compound. Immediately, a firefight broke out. After a few minutes of staying in the alley, Juarez joined the group.
'Glad I didn't miss anything,' he signed.
"Yeah," Spike replied. "You're just in time for the fun!"
The war between the syndicates was beginning to go inside the Europa mansion.
"Now?" Jet asked Spike.
"Let's do it!"
Spike led the charge as the group moved in behind the Red Dragons, opening fire on anyone they could. They got inside the compound perimeter and quickly approached the mansion. They took cover behind some trees, keeping up the gunfire as did Elektra.
"I don't see Vega yet!" Faye shouted.
"He could've gone around the other side," Jet informed.
"Elektra?"
"Nothing," Elektra replied. "I just see more cars pulling up. I think it's both Red Dragons and Europeans."
"You want this guy, kid?" Dice asked Spike. "We gotta do some lookin' on our own."
"Alright," Spike looked at Faye. "Faye! Stick with Juarez and Dice!"
"What?!" Faye asked, stunned.
"Me and Jet will find Vega."
Faye shook her head but stared at him. "Fine! Just remember what I said about dying!"
Spike smiled. He and Jet rushed off to head to the other side of the house. Faye, Dice, and Juarez looked at the door before them.
Dice looked at Juarez, "Ready, kid?"
Juarez nodded.
Dice looked at Faye, "Shall we, Ms. Faye?"
"Yeah! Let's!"
Hanan, Jamil, Pierce, and a few of their soldiers arrived at a secret garage, underneath the mansion. They were accompanied by Liam, Justin, Cross, and a few Red Dragon defectors.
"They arrived with more forces than you said," Jamil said to Justin.
"Vega must've hired extra soldiers," Justin deduced.
"It seems his not quite the unstable sociopath you described him as," Hanan noted.
The door to the garage, leading up to the street, exploded, causing the European soldiers to pull Hanan back and form a protective barrier around her. From the smoke, gunfire erupted as Red Dragon soldiers entered the garage. The gunfight began to claim lives on both sides with Jamil and Pierce getting Hanan back to the elevator, all three getting inside of it, and going back to the mansion. Liam, Justin, and Cross looked to see that Vega was a part of the particular group of assailants. The battle continued but Vega rushed forward, getting close enough to Cross to stab him in the chest with his knife. Justin tried to shoot Vega, but Hagen shot him first, the bullet hitting Justin in the head. Liam backed up to the elevator, pressing the button feverishly while still firing at his former syndicate. A knife flew through the air, lodging firmly in Liam's stomach. Liam looked down at the wound and sank down to the ground.
Vega stalked toward Liam, brandishing another knife.
Though he was losing strength, Liam tried lifting gun but Vega grabbed his arm.
Vega moved Liam's gun away and put his knife to Liam throat. "You chose the wrong side."
Liam was started sweating.
Vega, quickly, slit Liam's throat then pushing Liam's body aside. Vega looked at the elevator had just arrived back down. He motioned for Hagen and Kaito to get on the elevator.
Vega, Kaito, and Hagen rode the elevator back up to the mansion. They arrived at the mansion and saw no sign of Hanan.
"Find her," Vega said. "I want her head."
After Elektra helped clear a path for everyone to infiltrate the mansion, she just kept an eye out for any trouble, shooting only when she saw one of the team in any danger. She heard the door behind her start to open and quickly drew her sidearm. She didn't pull the trigger when she saw Jordan standing at the door, also having her pistol aimed at Elektra.
"You could announce yourself!" Elektra said, as they both lowered their guns.
"I was making sure it was really you," Jordan said. She moved next to Elektra, "What's the situation?"
"A war." Elektra handed Jordan an earpiece. "The ISSP has been given strict orders to stay out of this."
"Typical." Jordan put the earpiece in. "They don't wanna get involved until the bodies stop twitching. Hell, some of their guys are probably working one side or the other."
"No kidding." Elektra looked back through the sniper scope.
"Where's everybody else?"
"Inside, already."
Jordan looked at Elektra, studying her body language. She smiled. "It's that guy with the metal arm, right? Jet."
"What about him?" Elektra asked.
Jordan smiled bigger. "Holy crap. You're actually in love."
Elektra shook her head. "Are we really doing this right now?"
"No, we're not. I've got this from here. Go watch your future ex-husband's back."
"You're so encouraging."
"It's a joke! Damn. You finally get some and you're still so rigid." Jordan shrugged, "Must not have been good."
"I hate you," Elektra seethed.
Jordan lightly moved Elektra out of the way of the sniper rifle. "I got this. Go. Watch their back."
Elektra blinked.
Jordan smiled. "It's good to see you have actual friends, Elektra. I was the closest thing to a friend you've had and that was so depressing."
Elektra laughed. "Thanks."
"Go."
Spike and Jet fought their way through the mansion until they ran across Hagen and few Red Dragons.
Hagen and Spike locked eyes and, immediately, opened fire on each other, while simultaneously ducking for cover.
As he hid next to Spike, Jet caught glimpse of Hagen, recognizing him from the footage at the casino and Spike's description.
"Go," Jet said, getting Spike's attention. "Find Vega. I'll handle this."
Spike considered that for a second. "Jet…"
"I'm serious. Do what you gotta do."
Spike paused for another moment but nodded. "Thanks."
After Jet returned the nod, Spike rushed off back down the hallway, and Jet fired at Hagen, killing the other Red Dragons and keeping Hagen at bay. After Spike was gone and Jet emptied his clip to keep Hagen pinned down, Hagen rushed toward where Spike headed. Jet heard Hagen coming and tackled Hagen as he was about to pass. Jet and Hagen brawled for a few moments, both knocking the other's gun away. They struggled with one another until Jet punched Hagen with his metal arm, easily knocking a tooth out. Hagen stumbled back but Jet quickly rushed at him and punched him again. Hagen was dazed and Jet punched him one more time, seemingly knocking him out.
Jet let out a relieved breath and stumbled over to get his gun.
Hagen tried to get up, slowly, reaching for the derringer he had in his pocket.
Gunshots erupted and Jet turned around, surprised. He found Faye fired three shots, hitting Hagen in the head and chest, killing Hagen instantly.
Jet stared at Hagen then at Faye, in amazement. "What?" Jet asked. "Are we friends now?"
"How about begrudgingly sociable coworkers?" Faye replied.
"Works for me." Jet looked out of the window and saw Jamil and Pierce guiding Hanan out of the mansion and, seemingly, off of the compound grounds. "Faye. Go find Spike."
Faye didn't know what Jet saw out of the window, but she knew that timbre and look all too well. "Jet," she said in a warning tone.
"Go."
Faye rolled her eyes, "Look, I'm gonna admit this. I owe you. And… I owe Elektra. Let 'em go. They'll get what's comin' to 'em." She sighed. "I don't want anything to happen to you. Or any of us."
Jet stared at her. "That's probably the nicest thing you ever said to me."
Faye nodded, "You're probably right and that's really sad."
"Go, Faye," Jet ordered. "Spike's settling his past. I'm gonna go finish things with mine." He hurried after Hanan and the others.
"In words I usually save for Spike, you better not die, moron!" Faye yelled at Jet then she rushed off to find Spike.
Spike searched a number of hallways of the mansion. 'How big do they really need this place to be?'
He turned to go down another hallway and saw Kaito just coming out of a room he had been searching. When they locked eyes, they both paused.
"Kaito," Spike said, in a sympathetic tone, "just tell me where Vega is and walk away."
Kaito swallowed and exhaled. "You know I can't do that."
"Kaito…"
"Sorry, Spike." Kaito, quickly, lifted his gun and fired. Spike dove to the ground.
Kaito ducked back into the room he just checked, reloading his gun. Just as Kaito finished, Spike rounded the corner, tackling him to the floor. They wrestled with each other, both firing their guns, and hitting nothing but the floor and the wall. They eventually forced the guns out of each other's hands and went on to brawling with one another. After a receiving punch from Spike that knocked a few teeth loose, Kaito pulled a knife he had hidden behind his back. Kaito tried slashing at Spike but Spike moved out of the way, just before the knife connected. They hesitated from attacking from one another, knowing how deadly the other was.
Kaito rushed at Spike but Spike managed spin and kick Kaito's arm. Kaito was caught off-guard and he stumbled, but he quickly gathered himself and went on the attack. Spike managed to dodge Kaito's stab attempts and got in a lot of strikes anywhere he could. Kaito went for one more stab but Spike dodged, twisted Kaito's arm, and jammed the knife in the side of Kaito's chest.
Kaito grunted, letting out a moan of pain.
Spike gritting his teeth and whispered, regretfully, "I told you. I told you."
Spike pushed Kaito against the wall, leading Kaito to slowly slide down to the floor. Spike released his hold on the knife and back away from Kaito.
Kaito's breathing was becoming more and more labored then he started up at Spike. "Lin died protecting Vicious. How'd Shin die?"
Spike looked down, sadly. "Helping me."
"And I'm dying protecting Vega." Kaito scoffed. "Fitting."
"I'm sorry, Kaito."
"Not… as sorry as I am… Spike. I wish… none of this… would've ever happened."
"Yeah," Spike whispered. "Me too."
Kaito took a few more deep breaths. "It's gonna come down… to you and Vega. May… the best man… win." He leaned his head to the side and closed his eyes.
Spike exhaled, gritting his teeth in anger. Even in regret. He got up and rushed out of the room.
Jet ran back outside of the mansion and saw Hanan heading across the street with Jamil and Pierce, heading toward a parking garage. Jet saw the trio go up the stairs and pursued, cautiously. When they came to the floor just below the top floor, Jet peered from around the corner.
Only for Pierce to open fire right away.
Jet ducked back down. "Yeah," he whispered to himself, "should've seen that coming." He jumped up and fired a few shots to find that Pierce had already ducked behind another car and Jamil moved Hanan out of the line of fire.
Jet hurried out of the stairwell and kept firing at Pierce. Jet ducked down behind another car when he just caught sight of Jamil having his gun drawn, followed by Jamil and Pierce firing at Jet. During one lull, Jet jumped and rushed toward Pierce was. When Pierce rose up to fire, Jet dove over the hood of the car to tackle Pierce.
Jamil tried to line up a shot while Jet and Pierce wrestled each other. Jet managed to move Pierce's arm and aimed Pierce's gun at Jamil, and made Pierce fire. Jamil took a bullet to the shoulder, spinning him around and sending him to the ground. Pierce punched Jet and rolled so Pierce would be on top of Jet. Jet made use of his metal arm, swung as fast as he could and punched Pierce in the face, which caused Pierce to drop his gun. Jet scrambled over to the gun and got his hand on it just as Pierce grabbed his leg. Jet turned and fired twice.
One shot missed.
The other caught Pierce right in the head.
"STOP!"
Jet looked to see Hanan with a gum aimed at him.
"Drop the gun," Hanan ordered. "And put your other on the ground."
Jet gritted his teeth but slowly put the gun down.
"Slide them to me."
Jet pushed the guns over to her.
Hanan walked toward him, stopping out of his reach. She narrowed her eyes, "Jet. Black. Correct?"
Jet said nothing.
"Yes. Yes, that's who you are. My father considered you a formidable foe. Until Udai and Fad took your arm away. Then… you stayed out of our business." Hanan began to circle him. "You know… I considered putting you on the list of my father's old enemies to eliminate, but I decided against it. Just as my father did. And do you know why? Do you know why my father let you live, Jet? Do know why he didn't consider you a threat anymore? Because you weren't a threat anymore. We broke you. All it took was you losing your arm and you became pathetic piece of trash!"
Jet growled at her.
"Shame. You weren't even on our radar. So, you would've lived through this. Too bad. Time to put the black dog down."
A gunshot echoed.
Jet flinched. But he opened his eyes to see he wasn't hit. He saw that Hanan didn't even fire. Hanan stood in shock as she looked at the bullet hole in her chest.
Jet looked at Hanan's wound, perplexed. Jet and Hanan followed the path the bullet must've taken to see Elektra standing there, holding her gun.
"Go to hell, bitch," Elektra gritted. She fired two more times, and Hanan fell back. She was dead before she hit the ground.
Elektra walked up to Hanan's body, kicking her gun away. When she confirmed Hanan was dead, Elektra went over to Jet. "Jet!" She kneeled down next to him. "Jet, are you okay?"
"Yeah," Jet replied. He smiled at her. "Thanks."
She smiled. "Anytime."
Jet saw Jamil was trying to line up a shot. He grabbed Elektra, rolled her out of the way, took the gun from her hand, and fired at Jamil, killing him instantly.
Elektra looked at Jamil's corpse then at Jet, "Are we starting another tally?"
"Only if you want to," Jet said. He heard footsteps. "We better get outta here."
Faye and Spike caught up with each other, taking out a few more assailants along the way. They eventually caught up with Vega and six Red Dragon soldiers. Faye and Spike opened fire on the group, hitting two soldiers immediately. The Red Dragons turned around and opened fire on the two, causing them to duck out of the way.
Faye groaned. "I really hate you."
Spike winced a bullet ricocheting off of the wall. "Yeah. I get that. Ready?"
Faye nodded.
They jumped out and opened fire. They killed three more Red Dragon soldiers, leaving two soldiers and Vega alone.
Vega growled. He shook his head. "Oh, screw it." He reached in his pocket, pulled out a grenade, pulled the pin, and tossed it down the hallway.
Spike saw it after it bounced once. "FAYE!" He rushed at Faye tackled her to the floor.
The grenade detonated.
The explosion took out a good section of the mansion, sending bodies flying everywhere.
Faye regained consciousness first, seeing Spike was on top of her.
Faye grunted in pain. She moved Spike from on top of her, laying him on the floor. "Spike?" She shook him a bit, "Spike!"
Spike groaned a bit, fighting to come back to consciousness.
Faye heard footsteps and looked up to see Vega advancing toward her. Faye, quickly, found her gun, jumped up, and fired at Vega. He managed to get out of the way of her shots and punched her. Faye reacted with a punch of her own. Vega came back with a kick but Faye managed to just barely dodge it. Faye went for another punch but Vega grabbed her arm, twisted it around, got behind her, pulled a knife from his back, and held it to her throat.
Faye stopped, immediately.
"You're a fighter," Vega growled. "Impressive. Faye, right?"
Faye didn't say a word.
"Yeah, you're one of Spike's buddies. From that ship. Quite a rap sheet, Faye. List of debts that could put a small business in bankruptcy."
"Kiss my ass!" Faye said, defiantly.
"The mouth on you," Vega growled.
"Vega!" Spike shouted.
Vega turned around, using Faye as a shield while keeping the knife pressed to her throat. Spike gritted his teeth as Vega was smart enough to not let himself to be too exposed, preventing Spike from having a clear shot.
"Spike," Vega groaned. He laughed. "I don't know why I didn't see it coming. You getting in my way."
Spike growled but actually found himself shaking. Vega's knife was way too close to Faye's throat. While the look in Faye's eyes was dominated by bravery, Spike could see a touch fear in her.
Honestly, it was breaking his heart.
Vega saw Spike's gaze and narrowed his eyes. Vega quickly scraped his knife against Faye's throat. The movement left no damage but it was enough to make Spike and Faye jump.
"NO!" Spike shouted.
"Oh, I get it!" Vega chuckled. "I can't believe this. You actually got a thing for this woman."
"Vega…" Spike gritted, "I swear to God…"
"You?" Vega chuckled, "You swear to God?" He looked at Faye, "For this woman?"
"Spike, just shoot him!" Faye shouted.
"Shut up, Faye!" Spike replied.
"Is this why you keep coming after me?! Why you wanna risk it all, Spike?! For her?!" Vega yanked on Faye's hair, jerking her head back and drawing a shriek from her.
"VEGA! STOP!"
"You should know, sweetheart," Vega whispered to Faye, though he was loud enough for Spike to hear. "Spike? He's a grim reaper. I'm sure you know about Julia. She was around him five minutes and got gunned down."
"Five minutes after your stupid syndicate sent out a kill order that was stupid as hell!" Faye declared.
Spike's eyes widened.
Vega's grin fell away and looked at her. "What?"
"You heard me," Faye said. "Julia died because your leader's half-assed orders and way of doing things. That had nothing to do with Spike. It had everything to do with your dumbass group! Just proof your entire syndicate's full of crap!"
"Watch it, lady!"
"Or, what? You're gonna cut me? Go ahead! You're down what? 300 guys? Spent how much money, weapons, ammo. To take down Europa? Great plan. Did you forget one thing? Wasting all your time and money taking them down, you tanked your own group!"
Vega growled.
"Face it, Vega," Faye whispered, "do whatever you want to me. Because your stupid, bull-headed ass… just killed your own syndicate."
Vega seethed. "Your girlfriend's got a mouth, Spike. I'll do something about that."
Faye quickly elbowed Vega and moved out of the way. Spike took a shot but Vega dropped to the ground, getting out of the bullet's path. He threw the knife as Spike, causing him to dodge. He produced another knife.
Faye turned toward Vega.
Vega rushed at her.
And plunged the knife into her gut.
Faye let out a quick grunt as her eyes widened.
Spike looked up, fear and rage entering his mind. And his heart. "FAYE!" He opened fire at Vega.
Vega left the blade in Faye and rushed out down the hallway.
Spike got up and ran to Faye as she crumpled to the ground.
"Faye?" Spike asked, in a panic, as he propped her up. "Faye! Faye!" He looked down and saw the knife was more to her side than he thought. Still possibly fatal, no matter what, but her chances were slightly better.
Slightly.
"Spike?" Faye breathed out, starting to go into shock. "Spike…"
"Faye, hang on!" Spike said, terrified. "Please! Please, hang on!" He started to pick her up.
Faye grunted.
"I'm sorry! Just… just hang on!"
Spike hurried down the hallway, eventually finding Dice and Juarez. Dice saw Spike carrying Faye and his eyes went wide.
"What the hell happened?!" Dice asked.
"We're gettin' outta here!" Spike replied. "Now!"
"Right!" Dice looked at Juarez, who nodded. They took care of all of their assailants as they hurriedly exited the mansion.
Jordan was still watching the mansion from the sniper nest, when she saw Spike and the others. When she saw Faye, Jordan's eyes widened. "Oh, son of a bitch!" She got on her comm, "Elektra! Your friend Faye got hurt bad! I'm pulling out!"
"Okay!" Elektra replied. "Stay in contact! We have a van nearby. We'll meet you."
They got to the van the Bebop crew used to move around Europa unnoticed. When they got in the van, they laid Faye on the floor. Jordan arrived at the van and she and Juarez stayed outside of it, keeping a lookout for any trouble.
"Damn," Dice grumbled. "He got her good."
"Faye," Jet said, "I swear if you die…"
"Shove it, Jet," Faye groaned, painfully.
"What do we have in here?" Spike asked.
Jet searched through their supplies and found some medical spray and gauze. "We got something, but we need to get her to hospital."
"Not one here!" Faye argued.
"Yeah, yeah, I know," Jet said.
"We need to take her to Drew," Elektra declared.
"In Alba City?"
"On Mars?" Dice asked.
"We can trust him," Elektra said.
"That's just a long flight."
"Yeah, but Elektra's right," Jet agreed. He brought the medical items over and looked at Spike. "We… need to take the knife out."
Spike looked at Faye, nervously.
Faye rolled her eyes, "Oh, for God's sake! Do I look like I wanna die?! Just do it!"
"We'll have to be quick." Jet looked at Dice, "Mind pulling it out?"
"Promise she won't kill me later," Dice replied.
"I promise not to kill you," Faye reassured. "Shooting you might still happen."
Dice stared at Faye. "Okay, it's official." He looked at Spike. "I like her."
"We'll have to be quick," Jet reminded.
"Want something to bite on?" Spike asked Faye.
"I'll settle for Vega's heart, if that asshole's got one," Faye groaned.
"Faye…"
"Just take the damn knife out!"
Dice moved around and grabbed the handle of the blade. Jet got the medical spray ready, along with the gauze. Faye started taking deep breaths and Spike grabbed hold of her hand.
"On three," Jet said. "One. Two." He took a breath. "Three!"
Dice swiftly pulled the knife out. Faye grunted, doing her best not to scream. Jet immediately applied the spray, which acted as an antibacterial and pain reliever spray, as it turned into a seal gel. To an extent, it also helps to repair some damage but not enough to take Faye out of the danger zone. It was just a temporary fix. Jet finished with the spray then applied the guaze.
Faye let a few deep breaths as some of the pain subsided. "Okay. I still want someone to kill Vega."
Spike steadied his breathing, silently making a promise to do just that.
"Let's get the hell outta here," Jet said.
To Be Continued...
A/N: Oh, dear! We're closing in on the end, my friends. As it's about to come down to a battle between former friends.
Next Session:
On the flight to Mars to get Faye to the hospital, Spike and Faye have a heart to heart. Vega goes to visit Olivia one final time. Spike searches his soul to discover his true reasons for going after Vega and how he wants this to end.
Next Session ~ Until The End