One Year Later...
The dusty blades of the lone, yellowed fan cut lazily through the air. It was muggy in the small Officer's Station, and there was simply no way to escape it. The two Officers on duty passed the time by playing a silent game of cards. They had long ago abandoned their attempts at conversation and had instead resorted to grunts and teeth-sucking.
They raised their heads at the sound of footfalls following the jangling of the bell above the office door. A man in a blue suit with puffy hair strolled towards them, his jacket thrown idly over his shoulder. They both jumped and backed away as he approached.
"What?" He said. The cigarette between his lips jumped with every word. "Is there something on my face?"
"You!" One of the officers hissed. "What're you doing here?"
"I came to see one Patty LaVelle."
"You...you can't do that." The other guard said, reaching for his belt. Spike looked at him curiously.
"Why not?"
"...because! You unlawfully aided in the harboring and escape attempt of a criminal," the officer spat, and then added, "I saw it in the news!"
"Well, let's put it this way," Spike held out one hand and then the other, "the woman that you're talking about hasn't yet stood trial. On one hand, she may be innocent. And if she's innocent then I'm not guilty of any wrongdoing at all. But, on the other hand, if she is guilty...well, are you sure you want to butt heads with a man crazy enough to harbor her on his ship?"
The officers stared at him in disbelief. They had never been spoken to like that before. They watched in awestruck silence as he stuck his hands back in his pockets and walked past them. He reached the gate in front of the hall housing the temporary prison cells and looked back at them.
"Open sesame?" He said in a sarcastic voice. The officers jumped again and reached for their walkie-talkies. They began to speak rapidly into the small metal boxes and Spike sighed. He wandered into the control room and pressed a few buttons. The gate slid open with a grating whistle and he walked through.
The cell room was relatively small. Four cells branched off on either side of a single hall. The imprisoned men began to rouse themselves and heckle him, but he ignored them in favor of the quiet singing coming from the end of the hallway.
He stopped before the last cell and simply stood there, listening to the voice coming from within. When the song was done he smiled and gave a small applause.
"Nice. I like it. Very blues-y."
"Can you guess what it's about?"
"I have a few ideas. But go ahead, tell me."
"It's about a tall, pale hotshot with poofy hair and sleepy eyes. Seen anyone like that recently?"
"Him? He's probably still at the bottom of some whiskey bottle, fiending for a pack of cigarettes."
She laughed. "You remembered." The woman leaned into the light and snaked her arms between the bars. She let them rest there and smiled wanly. She looked tired and thinner than the last time that he saw her. But she was still beautiful, even in her pale orange jumpsuit and rusty shackles. "Mr. Spiegel."
"Ms. LaVelle." He noticed the dark purple blotch blooming around one of her eyes and his face fell. "Did they hurt you?"
"Oh. This? I told the officer outside a joke about his mother and a dog. I guess I'm the only one who got the punchline," she said good-naturedly as she touched the ugly mark for emphasis. He stared at her, his expression dark and calculating. Though he had committed many violent acts during his career as a bounty hunter, punching a woman had never been one of them. That was a devilish offense, punishable by a god-given rage that he felt rising within him. She noticed his expression change and she shook her head in a placating manner.
"It's nothing, really. They'll get what they deserve when the time comes. Spike," she sighed his name as if it was the sweetest thing that she had ever tasted. The sound of it silenced the rowdy prisoners around them. In the still moment that followed she tried her best to envision ways to make her next statement as candid as possible, while still retaining some sense of aloof dignity. But there was no way for her to utter what she was thinking without risking some soulful disadvantage. She drew her eyes from the floor and decided that, after all that they had been through together, she was strong enough to speak. And if Lady Luck hadn't abandoned her yet, he'd receive her message with the good graces that she'd been dreaming of. "I wanted to tell you something. I tried when we were on the rooftop of the SM building but the wind must've whipped the words right out of my mouth. I…"
The look on his face softened, just barely perceptibly. The words seemed to freeze on her tongue because she realized that he already knew what she wanted to say. Unbeknownst to her at the time, it had always been there between them, ever since they had danced with the traveling gypsies in the forest.
But it wasn't right, not anymore. He didn't have to say anything or even shake his head. Because the distance, and pity, in his eyes proved the one thing that she had feared the most, above dying and losing her freedom.
He had always been lost to her.
That's the way life goes, Angela had once told her, there's always Another Woman.
A self-pitying sigh escaped her throat and she looked away, awkward and uncomfortable now. But she was old and wise enough to know when it was time to swath her defeat in an attire of grace and forgiveness. She wondered who She was, and what She looked like. Beautiful, she decided, and stately. Probably unlike any other woman that had ever graced the galaxy. "I see," she said in a voice that threatened to betray her at any moment, "she must be one helluva lady."
Spike was careful enough to let a moment pass in which Patty collected herself before speaking again. There was no need to answer in the affirmative, the truth was already there in the space between them. "After some digging, I was able to find the judge in charge of handling your case," he said. "A bit crotchety, but I'm sure he'll listen to reason. Problem is, they won't let me speak to him or anybody about what happened. Trust me, Patty, the last thing I wanna do is leave your planet without giving a statement."
"For a ruthless bounty hunter, you sure do have a heart of gold. But don't bet on it," She rolled her eyes, "The people in charge of assuring the System's authority aren't fond of being challenged, I should think. But thank you, though."
"Do you still have the recorder with Angela's admission of guilt?"
She shook her head woefully and shrugged. "I dunno, Spike. Last I heard, it just magically grew two legs and walked right on out of the evidence room."
The implication was obvious, she didn't have to say anything else. Spike clenched and unclenched his hands in his pockets. The thought of someone making the evidence for the faultiness of the System disappear was maddening. And yet he was no stranger to the flightiness of the law when it came to keeping its citizens oppressed. He wanted to vent his frustration and then decided against it, seeing as there was nothing really that could be done at the moment. Instead, he let his weary shoulders droop and rubbed his hand across his eyes. "So what're you gonna do," he finally asked. She held her palms out to him and he placed his hands in hers. Both of their hands were cold, cold as ice, but he noticed that her's were still clammy with anxiety.
"I'm gonna do all that I can do. I'm going to go up against a court of law and tell my story."
"They're not gonna like that. I'm worried for your safety."
"No. Don't be." She pursed her lips and then smiled, trying desperately to ignore the smarting in her eyes. Whatever the circumstances, the sight of him still filled her with a hopefulness that was as inexhaustible and expansive as the universe itself. It almost made her giddy, like a pure and all-encompassing high. "I've been thinking, and it's a bit like the Domino Effect that you told me about. In order to set a chain of events in motion, the first domino must fall. And if I'm that domino then, Mother Mary at the discotheque, I'm going to make sure that the events leading up to the toppling of the System are wild, and spread like wildfire. Remember, I'm a dangerous woman. Dig it?"
Spike said nothing. She squeezed his hands and he looked back up at her. "Yeah," he said slowly, "I dig it. What do you want me to do?"
"I want you to turn around and walk your pretty self back to where you came. I want you to go and live your life hunting down the real bad guys, not the innocent souls betting a bad deck against God. And when you're up there in that starry frontier, I don't want you to even think about me. 'Cause, up until the point that I die, I'm going to be thinking about you enough for the two of us. And, in my head, we're always going to be back-to-back partners in crime," her chest jumped as she gave a tiny, mirthless laugh, "in my head I'm going to That Woman, the luckier one. Go," she reached through the bars and shoved him backward. "Get out of here. Don't say another word."
She was serious, he could see that much. And he didn't want to ruin the moment by talking back to such an obstinate woman as herself. Though it pained him to do so, he turned on his heel and walked away from her.
"See you space cowboy," she said and began to sing as he walked down the hall and passed through the metal gate. She sang, and thought to herself that the sight of a man turning his back was truly the saddest sight of them all.
X
Here ends the verbal recount of the events leading up to the trial of Patricia LaVelle - Classification: Harmful, supplemented by written accounts given by Spike Spiegel, Faye Valentine, Jet Black, Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivruski IV (herein referred to as Ed,) Donald Lee - Classification: Detecting, Officer Theo Tobias of the New New New York precinct - Classification Upstanding, Officer Jan Lorens of the New New New York Precinct - Classification: Upstanding, Officer Frederick C. Allens of the Merit Society Police Section -Classification: Upstanding, Officer Frank Makaio of the System Maintenance Sector- Classification: Upstanding, Officer Edward Ziauddin of the System Maintenance Sector - Classification: Upstanding, Bennet X - Classification: Harmful, and Elijah LaVelle - Classification: Good.
Documentation utilized includes the death certificate of Angela Williams, death certificate of Dany Dempson, death certificate of Jarred Penniman, death certificate of Josipa Wells, death certificate of Sidonia LaVelle, marriage certificate of Angela Williams née Lee and Gregory Williams, court records for the trial of Donald Lee, Manual Record for the town of New New New York for the year of 2071/2 (compromised/unusable.)
Other form/s of documentation include one (1) Mobile Device with recording function filed under the name of Spike Spiegel (compromised/unusable,) and Classification records for aforementioned citizens of Earth 2.0 with the exception of Spike S., Faye V., Jet B., and 'Ed.'
Verdict: Patricia LaVelle has stood trial and has been found guilty for the murder of Angela Williams, Josipa Wells, and Sidonia LaVelle. Patricia L. has also been found guilty of disturbing the peace, unruly behavior, inciting civil unrest, illegal use/possession of a firearm, calling presiding Judge a 'yellow-livered ninny-sucker,' illegal tampering of a state-mandated Device, breaking and entering, kidnapping on two (2) accounts, theft, and attempt to evade authorities.
*Updated Record for Patricia LaVelle, year 2073*
Classification: Harmful
Status: Terminated.