Boogie Wonderland

by Aldrean Treu Peri

Spike survives his confrontation with Vicious. That's only the beginning of the continuing adventures of the Starship Bebop and its crew whose ongoing mission is to explore new cities, seek out new bounties, and ultimately to search for some meaning to life, the universe, and everything. If you've read my previous Bebop stories you might recognize some parts salvaged here! Enjoy!

3. Chapter 3 Badlands

Early Summer 2072

West Coast of Old America

"Wanna go fast!"

"Well kid, that's just too bad. You really did a number on this racer! It's gonna take me a bit to get it fixed up." The old man considered the smoking heap of wreckage that had been towed to the garage in his shipyard. "You've got a lead foot, that's for sure. Gonna cost me as much as Spike in the long run, I can already tell."

"Spike-person! Hmm yes he does fly like a bat out of hell, hmm indeed!" Edward chortled. She imitated Doohan's stance of hands on hips with a downcast expression. "Ed did bang the ship up pretty bad," She acknowledged apologetically.

Doohan waved away her admission. "Eh the important thing is you're fine. And you won that race! So really it's all good. Tell ya what, why don't you go track down your old man while I'm fixing this up. Maybe he'll want to watch you compete next month."

"Ooooh go out and find father-person? Caaaaaaan-dooooo!" Ed did a pirouette. "Ein will come too. Have fun, gramps!"

"Uh! Gramps!"

xxx

Days later...

"Ed is bored, Ein!" Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky the Fourth, or François as her father named her, complained to the small Welsh corgi napping at her side. "Trying to find father-person has been a drag. Should have put a tracker on him!" She shook her head at her error but her troubling thoughts went on.

"What if he's too busy for Ed? He takes off more often than Faye-Faye ever did! Ed doesn't want to be all alone again! Ed didn't mind that before, but Ed misses the Bebop." She sighed. "Faye-Faye said that the best thing in the world is to belong somewhere and for Edward to find where she belongs, but maybe it isn't earth after all. Racing is fun! But Doohoohoohan has other work that keeps him busy a lot. And studying meteors is dull."

Ein whined in agreement as Ed scratched his furry head between his soft ears and sighed.

"Ein …Ed thinks that the father-person does not really need Ed around. Father-person leaves Ed all the time …but Jet-person and Spike-person and Faye-Faye didn't leave Ed, they made sure Ed was with them before going anywhere. And they're kind of a mess without Ed," She confided. "Not entirely useless but certainly not as accomplished as when Ed is on deck! They need Ed."

Ed and Ein were laying in the curve of a large crater. They had been following meteors for a few days now in the hope that they would stumble across Appledelhi during his surveys but had yet to glimpse the man or his beleaguered assistant Macintire.

Dusk was fading into starry night. It was the end of another long day of wandering the desert and they had just eaten a tough dinner that consisted of a snake Ed had caught and some of the mixed nuts she'd taken from Doohan's pantry. In retrospect she should have emulated Faye and looted the kitchen for everything edible but it wasn't in Ed's nature to plan ahead, pack ahead, or to take food from others.

Edward yawned hugely and frowned as she flopped onto her back. Ein whimpered as he nuzzled his wet puppy dog nose against her bare arm. Edward lay there a long time, not feeling up to expending the energy needed to act as monkey-ish as normal. She instead stared up at the stars thoughtfully, looking out of instinct for the familiar constellations she'd seen while on the Bebop.

At first, when they were docked planetside, she'd taken up stargazing to see if she could find whatever the others were looking for when they were watching the heavens, but after a while she had come to the conclusion that what she found wasn't anything that the others were looking for.

Edward found happiness in the stars, happiness and excitement. Shapes drew themselves in the night sky, shapes of funny animals and beautiful women who watched over her, women she called mother. She could almost imagine the night sky dropping down to earth to enfold her in a hug, her star mother singing lullabies to her and keeping her safe and happy when she is alone.

Edward wasn't so naïve to think that she could ever belong up in the stars for she was a living and breathing person, not a ball of burning gas offering light from distances so far away as to seem inconceivable. It was nice though to think that her mother was up there, guarding her no matter which planet she might be on or which family she was with, be it her father, Sister Clara and the other children of the orphanage, Doohan Grandaddy and his assistant Smiles-a-lot Miles, or the motley crew of the Bebop.

Ed couldn't remember much of her birth mother, only that she had bright red hair falling in waves past her shoulders and gentle eyes. Ed couldn't remember the color of her mother's eyes, or the sound of her voice, but she thought that her mother must have been a kind and pretty woman and that she must have loved Ed's father and Ed herself.

"Ein …Ed misses mother …and Edward misses Faye-Faye, who tells Ed how to be a proper girl, and Jet-person who comforts Ed after bad dreams, and Spike-person who gives Ed candy. Ed even misses Jet-person's bonsai plants." She sighed wistfully and shivered in the cool night air, eyes glistening. "Edward is a survivor, like Faye-Faye …but Edward wants her friends. Edward wants to go home, Ein …"

Barking softly, Ein rose and crawled into her arms, rubbing his head against her chin as Ed hugged the little dog close, still watching the stars overhead.

She had been watching the stars when the burning star faded away and the blue star grew stronger. She'd been watching the stars ever since the Bebop went away, always half-hoping that the ship would return and pick her up, even though she had been the one to leave.

As she watched the twinkling stars now, it seemed as though her star-mother was saying something to her, trying to get her to do something and she frowned slightly, unsure of what star-mother wanted. Ed gasped suddenly and leapt up, Ein cradled in her arms as she twirled around joyously.

"Ed knows what to do now! Star-mother told Ed to go back home, to go where she belongs and told Edward to look in her heart to find her place of belongingness and Ed knows that it's the Bebop Bebop! Edward's family cares for Ed there …they don't like to show it though because they like to be tough, independent people, but Edward and star-mother know the truth!"

Ein began barking happily before licking Ed's face from her chin to her temple and she giggled at that. "I guess Ein-dog misses Jet-person's cooking as much as Ed does!" She made a thoughtful noise and stopped spinning to stare up at the stars again. "How is Edward going to get the Bebop Bebop to come back though?" She thought again for a moment and then giggled once more. "Ed knows! The Bebop Remote! Ed hopes the ship is close enough …"

xxx

Meanwhile, on the Bebop...

"Man, I wish Big Shots was still on the air," Spike grouched. "If we don't get some leads on bounties soon, we'll starve!" He kicked the table angrily a few times, making the visual display on the monitor flicker.

Faye watched his display of irritation disinterestedly as she filed her nails while Jet looked through the haze of cigarette and cannabis smoke from all three of the souls aboard the ship to his younger partner taking out his frustration on the poor T.V.

"If you don't stop kicking it," Jet grumped at last, his voice increasing with volume as he spoke so his last words were a shout. "we won't be able to watch anything that's still on!"

"Kicking the T.V. won't bring the bounty show back, Spike," Faye added, smirking at the irate young man. "Why don't you just accept that we're going to have to gather the information on our own? It shouldn't be too hard."

Jet guffawed from where he sat and choked on the smoke from his spliff, laughing as he wheezed. "Oh, Faye, you're hilarious," He managed to say eventually.

Faye glared at him through narrowed eyes, the file motionless above her index finger. "What are you talking about? There's an insult in there somewhere, I just know it!"

"What you said!" Jet went on. "We're going to gather information on our own. Oh, you crack me up."

Faye slammed the nail file onto the coffee table and sat up straighter, leaning out towards the balding man. Spike stopped abusing the television to watch the scene play out. "What do you mean?" She demanded, voice threatening to go to painful heights.

Spike took a drag on his cigarette and smirked at her. "He's saying that you're funny by what you're implying. The words 'we' and 'our' to be precise. You hardly ever work to dig up the dirt on the bounty heads. Without Ed, we're – meaning Jet and myself of course – going to have to do a little bit more work to get food on the table."

"Hey!" She protested, standing up and removing her cigarette from her mouth to yell at them. "That's not true! I've done my fair share getting information on those lowlifes before! You're the one who never works that angle, all you're good for is riding in to rough them up a little and then blowing the whole works by somehow killing them!"

"Whoa, don't yell at me, he's the one who was making fun of you." Spike replied, gesturing at Jet. Spike laughed then as well. "Making fun of you, ha ha, making fun of you for how funny you are, Faye."

"I'm glad to be such a source of amusement for the both of you!" She hollered, stamping one foot angrily. "Why I oughta …"

"Hey, that's enough! Settle down the both of you!" Jet interrupted, standing as well. "We're down to our last couple thousand woolongs and we're almost out of food. Again. We need to find some bounties so we can eat for the next couple of weeks." He paused and thought for a moment. "We're near Earth right now, and both of you know that we'll never find any decent catches here, so why don't the two of you –"

"I'm going to see Laughing Bull. He might have some leads for me to check out." Spike interrupted, putting out his cigarette.

"I'm coming too, I don't particularly like Earth." Faye said, dropping her butt into the ashtray as well. She scowled at Jet. "Or the present company on this bucket of bolts."

"You don't have to come back either," Jet replied. "Don't call this ship names, she's our home. If you want me to keep putting your ship back together and to feed you here, then you'd better not say anything bad about our ship."

Spike snickered as he started to leave the recreation/den room. "Our."

"Ugh. I hate men." Faye muttered.

"Yeah, and I hate tomboys, beasts and …beasts and rugrats …" Spike trailed off as a heavy air settled over the three shipmates. "Dammit." He muttered. "I've got to get off this ship for a while."

Faye nodded pensively. "Yeah." She paused to straighten her red jacket around her arms and glanced back at Jet, who was still smoking and staring hard at the ashtray. "We'll see you in a few."

Jet nodded without looking up.

Earth.

That was where Ed most likely was, where Ed had left them all those weeks ago to find her father and, according to Faye, to find where she belonged.

Jet watched from the bridge as the Swordfish II and the Redtail sped by the view portals as he gazed down at the familiar orb of blue and …trash. The Earth was still surrounded by a halo of space debris and chunks of the moon.

'I wonder if she's found where she belongs down there.' Jet shrugged to himself. "I might as well go down to the planet. There might be some small fries at least." It would be better than sitting around the empty ship waiting for Spike and Faye to return, and hey, there was always the chance of running into the hyperactive teenager and the small Welsh corgi once he was earth side. Jet nodded to himself absently. It wasn't as if he wanted to see them or anything …maybe just to make sure they were making it okay …not like he missed them or anything …

xxx

En route from Earth-Space to the Belt beyond Mars...

"So who is this Giggling Bull we're going to go see?" Faye asked over the ship-to-ship intercom as the Red Tail and Swordfish II flew through space. It had been a few short hours since they'd left and Faye was getting bored.

Spike's laughter came through the speakers in Faye's ship, accompanied a moment later by his voice. "It's not the Giggling Bull, it's Laughing Bull. He's a …sort of a …spiritual shaman. He's given me some good advice before. Makes sense to see him since we've got nothing else to do or go on."

"Eh," Faye shrugged. "Whatever you say, Spike."

They flew on in silence for some time, Faye grumbling softly to herself about the stupidity of men until Spike interrupted her. "Hey, Faye, over this way. He doesn't live all that close to the main part of TJ. Also, whatever you do, don't argue with him over your name, trust me, I once wasted half a day doing that."

Faye looked a bit confused as they flew down towards the asteroid, Spike calling ahead for confirmation to land. "Oh-kay …" She replied. Guiding her ship along behind Spike's as they passed through the asteroid's imitation atmosphere zone and bringing the Redtail down to a gentle landing some distance away from Spike's Swordfish II.

She hopped out and looked around with uncertainty. "Where are we, Spike, the middle of nowhere?"

He barked a laugh. "Something like that. C'mon, and remember what I said. Just go with the flow, Faye-Faye."

She growled. "Don't call me that!"

They walked for a while before Faye finally spotted a tent in the distance and, after more muttering about the unholy temperature and a blister that was forming on her heel, they finally reached the dusty little outpost. Spike ducked into the tent and Faye followed slowly, a bit startled at the lack of space inside that made her resort to standing in a hunch beside the opening.

An old Indian man was handing Spike a pipe with his left hand while sand fell through the fingers of his right hand to pool on the ground.

"The Swimming Bird has lost his way and seeks a path to follow. The Wandering Chameleon follows to flee her past." The old man said in his slow voice.

Spike's stomach growled. "Uhhh …you don't have any food, do you?" He asked as Faye blinked in confusion.

"Wandering Chameleon? Is that supposed to mean me?"

"The Ancient Bandit will strike from the lovely star and his fangs will bleed torn feathers." Laughing Bull gave Spike a hard look. "The Swimming Bird will again be hunted by a woman, but it will not be as before. Place your trust in the Wild Monkey and death shall be kept at bay."

Spike drew in a lungful of the pipe smoke and closed his eyes briefly. "I wish the hunter would stop being the hunted." He muttered.

"A cornered prey is often the most lethal of beasts." Laughing Bull replied.

Spike made a noncommittal noise deep in his throat.

"I'm not running from my past!" Faye exclaimed after a moment and the Laughing Bull raised a brow to her. Frowning, Faye took the pipe from Spike and inhaled deeply. "You know, this is very mystical and all, but I honestly don't understand your riddles. I'm a wandering chameleon?"

"Actually, that sounds rather …fitting, Romani."

Faye glared at him, her right eyebrow twitching. "Gaujo."

"Pipe, please," Laughing Bull requested, eyeing the door meaningfully.

"Men!" Faye muttered loudly, thrusting the pipe back towards the shaman and stomping back to her ship.

"Your companions are …interesting, Swimming Bird. The Flying Fish on the barren world will corner Running Rock and the Wandering Chameleon will be lost unless the Wild Monkey is trusted. That is what I see."

"Huh." Spike murmured. "I'll be seeing you," He said as he too left.

Laughing Bull shook his head slowly. "Perhaps the day is approaching… when the bird realizes even freedom itself is its own cage …Great Spirit, guide their souls."

xxx

"Yo Faye, I'm going to Venus to see what I can dig up on this Ancient Bandit." Spike announced once they had taken off again. "You can head back to the Bebop if you want."

"Venus? Why Venus? That's like half a day away back the way we just came!"

"Weren't you listening? 'The Ancient Bandit will strike from the lovely star.' In the past Venus was thought to be the planet of love and because of how bright it shone in the sky it was often called a star instead of a planet. This is the best thing I've got to work on so …"

"No, fuck it, I'll come to Venus. There's nothing to do around Earth and we need cash." Faye replied after a moment, watching the Swordfish II fly launch from the asteroid into space.

"The Wandering Chameleon follows to flee her past. Even if you don't understand Laughing Bull, I do." Spike jested lightly.

"Then you know what he meant by the Ancient Bandit's fangs dripping bloody feathers? Or who Wild Monkey is?" She demanded.

There was a pause as Spike guided his ship towards the Jump Gates and gave it some thought. "I'll know once we get to the bottom of this. Wanna leave a message for Jet? Might as well let him know what we're up to even if he won't get that message until we pass back closer to Earth."

Faye shook her head slowly. "Men are stupid, arrogant, whiney babies." She complained to herself. "Tell you what, once we get there I'll check with one of my friends on Venus to see if she knows about any of the recent bounties."

"You have friends, Faye? Good for you!"

"Shut up! See if I'll come to back you up once you start floundering."

"See if I loan you the woolongs for the Gate toll."

Faye screamed in frustration.

They traveled through space and the gates in silence again for several cramped hours before finally nearing their destination. Planet hopping in their zipcraft was never the most comfortable way to travel even if they could make far better time in the smaller craft. The other downside was that both their craft were nearly out of gas now after so much back-and-forth travel across the solar system, and naturally fuel around Venus was exorbitantly expensive.

"Speaking of checking with friends, I think I'll do the same." Spike announced as Faye flew to land her zip craft on one of the floating cities.

"You have friends, Spike? Good for you!" Faye drawled sarcastically. Spike chuckled at her and gave a wave before they split out of view of one another.

His voice came over the intercom again. "I'll contact you if I find anything out. If not I guess we'll see if your little buddy is reliable."

"Yeah, no problem, whatever." Faye replied, watching the red craft speeding against the strange yellowish sky until it had disappeared in the distance. "I wonder who he knows way out in the boonies …only nuts would live on the surface out in the middle of nowhere." She laughed to herself. "Figures he would know all the nuts though, especially after meeting that Laughing Bull character. What a weirdo …"

She trailed off, shaking her head slowly, though her mind refused to dismiss the advice they'd been giving by the spiritual shaman. "Sherri should be working at the casino about now and she's mixed up in enough deep stuff to know about any bounties, and if she doesn't, I can only hope Spike finds something out." Her stomach rumbled. "Ugh I am starving!"

xxx

Spike's expression was, as per usual, unreadable as he sauntered over to the bar where Faye was sitting. One slender finger stirred the ice in her drink idly as she watched the lean bounty hunter take the seat at her side. He sat, staring at the shelves of bottled wines and liquor across the counter, hands crammed in his pockets and with a world-weary look about him.

Peering at him closer, without making it look as though she was intently observing him, Faye noticed a keen brightness to his eyes, well, to his real eye at least. Was he …no, he couldn't be …Spike didn't cry. No. The smoke in the bar was just stinging his eye that was all. Spike Spiegel was not a man to cry for anything and there could have been nothing on Venus worth shedding a tear for. Therefore, according to Faye's logic, his mahogany eye was simply irritated by the heavy smoke in the room and Spike was just being quiet like normal. Probably he was as exhausted as she was after all their interstellar travel.

She licked her lips hesitantly and cracked a sharp smile after a time, taking her finger from her drink and licking the alcohol from it in what she knew to be a sensual manner. "So …learn anything helpful, Spike?"

He barely glanced in her direction. "Nothing about any bounties, if that's what you mean. I just …went to catch up with someone, and …to pay my respects." Faye's eyes narrowed but he gave her no chance to dig any deeper. "What do *you* have for us to go on, Wandering Chameleon?"

She growled beneath her breath. "That is *not* my name. And, compared to you, I've got quite a lot of information to wade through. Turns out, there's some old coot named Ebenezer, or at least that's the alias he goes by. If he has a different name, no one knows it. Anyway, this guy is rumored to be fairly old and real upset by girls selling their bodies. Something about angels and God and souls I guess. Whatever. So, he wanders into a strip bar and by the time he goes home for the night, one of the working girls is thoroughly dead. Nothing pretty about the way he disposes of these chicks. Since he surfaced in the world of slinky women and exotic dancing, there have been over a dozen murdered girls, each a bit more gruesome than the last."

Spike made a noise deep in his throat. "So he doesn't approve of lovely young lasses getting down to the nitty gritty in front of horny guys. Can't say I blame him."

"Huh?" Faye gave him an incredulous look. "You honestly don't go for strip joints, Spike?"

"I don't really see the point in them. If you're looking to get laid, find a prostitute – as for strippers? Those dancers cost more and you get less time with them in the long run. All you get from those girls is teasing. Something to whet the appetite and keep you nipping for more. It's like gambling, just a scam."

"Well, nice to know you have some morals." Faye said at last, still watching him dubiously. She cleared her throat. "Umm, well, my friend Sherri said that he's probably going to show up at one of the clubs tonight. So far he hasn't missed an evening but he hasn't hit the same place twice. I've got a list of places he's been, places he won't touch, and places he might target."

Spike whistled. "I'm impressed, Romani. What's to keep some places off his radar?"

"Typically the bouncers. Some of these places are much better to their dancers than others. So, I've crossed off those ones."

Spike read over the names that had marks slashed through them. Kadie's Club Pecos, crossed off. Lady Sally's, crossed off. Mad Moxxi's, crossed off. Bada Bing! (this place was crossed off and the word "mafia" was written next to it)

There were four places left on the list unmarked.

Ink and Paint Club, which was known for being ritzy and glamorous but not for providing female entertainment offstage.

Maison Derriere, Cupid's Arrow, and NeverNeverLand were the last three, all of which were half strip club and half brothel.

"What about this one?"

Faye looked at the name he'd pointed out. "NeverNeverLand, for the young at heart. It's a racy little place with sex on stage to offer more entertainment to the masses. Hm. Plenty of distraction for him to make his move."

"Wonderful." Spike commented dryly. He grinned at her slowly, mahogany eyes drifting up and down her body. "Why, my beautiful Faye, I think I've got an idea …"

xxx

Meanwhile, back on Earth...

"Wonderful. Just great. Son of a bitch." Jet Black muttered to himself as he meandered through the ghostly town. The place seemed hollow, emptied of everything except his life and the hot anger in his words.

The Bebop was missing.

He had taken off for just five minutes – five minutes! – and the ship managed to completely disappear. He wondered for a moment how he would be able to get a hold of Edward without using the ship's scanners and sensors to try to locate the mischievous girl.

Up ahead at the end of the block was a rundown motel, the only place that seemed to even vaguely offer the possibility of life inside, or so the few ships parked outside claimed.

There was no telling where Spike and Faye were at the moment, and even if he knew where they were he doubted it would do him much good. The ship to ship intercom devices had a limited range on them, barely enough for a signal from Earth to reach Mars, and the chances were high that Spike had already learned whatever there was to learn from the Laughing Bull and was on his way elsewhere with Faye in tow.

As used to the situation of having Faye aboard as he was getting, Jet still enjoyed the times when she pranced away to lose at gambling and betting. The woman was a shrew - though a good-intentioned one at times - and she could quickly become too much for any one person to handle. There were several times when he had almost blown up on her, only his conscious warning him of the frailty of women saving her. Faye Valentine was anything but frail though. The next time that woman pushed his buttons she would be paying the consequences. But, as bad as she could be, she wasn't half as bad as Spike.

The boy was Trouble with a capital T.

By all rights, Spike should have been dead several times over. Danger followed him around like a starved puppy at the heels of a man with a pocket full of steak and pork. Hell, if he didn't know any better, Jet would have pinned the blame of the missing ship on his partner, but there were some things that even Spike couldn't be held accountable for.

From seemingly out of nowhere came a familiar whistling. Jet almost turned around, his first thoughts summoning Spike to mind, but then he recognized the tune and groaned inwardly.

Andy Von de Oniyate.

Great, just the sort of help he least needed.

Wait, there was still a chance, if the goofball hadn't spotted him already he could still escape from this unscathed …

"Hola, Mr. Black!" Andy called jubilantly. "I'm glad I found you. Why, if I hadn't come across you out here in the middle of nowhere death might have found you first! Luckily it is I, Sir Andy, to have found you because I know where shelter can be found!" He spurred his horse into a run and neared the cringing bounty hunter. "Oh dear, I see the sun has already started to atrophy your pathetic muscles. Fortunately, I, the greatest knight of them all, have sighted our salvation." He pointed towards the motel Jet had been en route to with a gauntleted hand. "I believe we shall find comfort and assistance at that domicile. I cannot imagine what sort of fool would live out in this wasteland but …we must take whatever help we can get when death is stalking!"

Jet ground his teeth together in an attempt to keep himself from yelling a few inappropriate things, and to keep from launching himself at the pompous fool, knocking him from the horse and beating him senseless. Speak of the devil. Well, sort of. He'd been thinking of Spike and trouble and so it made some twisted sort of sense for Andy to appear. The boy was what Spike might have been, had the other man had no brains, no instinct, no …well, no anything that made him Spike and not Andy. They were like strange dysfunctional twins.

And then, quite unexpectedly, Jet found himself laughing as he and Andy made their way to the derelict building while Andy looked on a bit apprehensively. Jet was reasonably sure that the other had pegged him to be quite insane.

xxx

Meanwhile, back on Venus...

"Well, show us the merchandise, Miss Heart." Gustavo Roberts, the pudgy, sweaty-faced strip club owner ordered, wiping a handkerchief across his face and leaning back in his chair. Spike was slouched in the chair across from him while Faye stood before the fat man, an angry tic making her left eye twitch as she subtly glared daggers at Spike.

"What? Can't you see enough right now? I'm practically naked here!" Faye snarled.

Spike chuckled. "We've been telling you that forever, Mae." He had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. Mae Heart, aka Foxxy Love, and Mike Regal, a stripper from Mars and her agent. Spike wished that he could have been the one to pick their names.

"Ditch the yellow crap dollface, if you're looking for a job here then you should already know that the boys outside will be seeing a lot more than what you're showing now. C'mon sweet cakes, let's see how much is real and how much is part of the plastic suit."

Faye growled again, her enraged eyes sliding to Spike as she began to undo her clothes and step out of them. Trying to look innocent and oblivious Spike sighed inwardly and averted his eyes, deciding to let her keep a little dignity.

After all, this had been his half-cocked plan and it was her body on the line as bait, plus even if the bounty didn't show she was still on the hook for a performance. He could afford to give her a few breaks.

The fat man's low whistle of approval almost made him glance over and he could have happily broken the fellow's wrists when he began to clap. Only after hearing the sound of clothing being put back in place did he look over again.

"Well babykins, you've just got yourself a job. There's an amber-haired girl outside with pretty red eyes, her name is Vanessa and if you find her she'll take you to the room you'll be using you can be outfitted for tonight's line-up. By the time your number is over you'll have been sold for the evening we'll have your client brought back to your room for his private entertainment. God damn but I'd love to be the lucky bastard you'll be seeing tonight."

Spike ground his teeth together and scowled darkly. She wasn't that good-looking, Christ! And the way this guy was eyeing her, like she was some slab of meat to be auctioned off to the highest bidder and passed around until she was past her expiration date was unsettling.

Protective jealousy, Spike decided, was something he didn't like feeling at all.

"Ed?" Faye muttered, aghast.

"Huh?" Spike turned around and blinked as he came face-to-face with a small woman with short, bright amber hair and ruby eyes who was wearing a smile similar to those of Edward's characteristic smiley face drawings.

"Vanessa Secoya Panazuela Scrooge, at your service!" The girl piped up cheerily, enveloping Faye in a bone-crushing hug before doing the same to Spike. "Follow V, Miss Heart! V is ever so happy to see new faces here! All the killings lately make women afraid to become dancers and V misses talking to them and learning to dance from them."

Oh good god. This girl was like Edward only …different. No wonder Faye had been mistaken at first.

Faye's mouth was open slightly, even her current fuming hatred of Spike forgotten at this strange development. Sensing a reprieve from inevitable fallout for having stuck her in this situation, Spike began to back away, waving. "I see you're in good hands, Mae. Catch you in action tonight!" And he was gone, with Faye still gaping at the overly exuberant girl before her.

"Oh, bye-bye sir," Vanessa murmured quietly, giving a sincere sounding sniffle. "Pops will never believe me. Meeting my soulmate and losing him in such a short amount of time." Vanessa flushed guiltily and latched onto Faye's arm. "C'mon, Mae-Day Heart-Cart! To the room of clothing galore!"

xxx

Meanwhile, back on Earth...

"Why, hello there, handsome." A woman's voice, faintly familiar, called out as Jet entered while Andy was seeing to his horse outside.

Frowning into the dimness of the motel lobby, Jet was vaguely surprised to recognize VT sitting by the bar and nursing a glass of what appeared to be bourbon while her cat Zeros lapped up some water from a saucer set on the bartop nearby.

"Long time no see, VT." He replied.

"Is that lowlife good for nothing bounty hunting scumbag partner of yours anywhere around?" She asked, sipping from her glass.

"He took off with the shrew to look for bounties."

"Oh I see how it is - good for them," VT interrupted with a laugh.

"Wait what? I don't - no, no, that's not how it is!" He chuckled nervously. Spike and Faye?! "Anyway I was actually hoping to run into another of our crew here planetside but now I'm thinking the kid is probably the one who hijacked the Bebop."

VT snorted. "They've got a kid? But it's not like that huh?"

"Hah! No, Ed's not their kid. And she's a teenager for another thing. A hacker from here on Earth and I...well, it slipped my mind that she had a remote to control the ship." He frowned. "I can't believe she ditched me here - she didn't even check if I was around! One minute the ship was there at the docks and then next …gone. So I'm effectively stranded."

"Damn."

"Yeah."

"Well, take a seat and have a drink on me. I've just finished with a delivery and thought I might as well wet my tongue before going back out again." VT explained, patting the stool beside her.

"What a lovely maiden!" Andy's voice exclaimed, the clinking of chain mail announcing his procession through the dim little lobby towards the bar of the motel where Jet was now sitting with VT. "This lout's eyes are unworthy to gaze rapturously upon such beauty, and yet he still stared at me when I greeted him outside. My fair lady, would you warm the man I am? The armor I am wearing chills the heart so."

VT's mouth dropped open as she stared at the blond boy.

She didn't seem to hear Jet's snort of laughter or his whispered warning for she continued to sit there, glass of alcohol held tenuously, and blinked at the strange fellow before her.

"Jet," She murmured in a low whisper as Andy stopped before her, trailing his hand delicately up her arm, a gesture that would have probably come off better had he not been wearing the gauntlets that had heated under the merciless sun outside. VT yelped and snatched her arm away, rubbing absently at the burns. "Please tell me you don't know this freak and that he isn't here with you."

"Well, I met him when he was a cowboy and I wouldn't be in his company if I had any choice in the matter. He sort of ran into me outside and I suppose I'm stuck with him until he leaves or until Spike and Faye come back." Jet replied.

"What do you say, milady? Care to dote upon such a royal and chivalrous character as myself?" Andy waggled his eyebrows suggestively and VT barked a nervous laugh.

"Rein in your horses there, stable boy, I'm not that damn desperate for action." She replied, standing up and backing away slowly.

Zeros was watching her mistress being pursued by the persistent cowboy from a safe place behind Jet on the bartop.

"Dear lady, I'll have you know that I am a knight." He gestured to the shining breastplate he wore with his gauntleted hands. His sword jangled against his armor but his lance was absent, likely outside with Onyx, the horse. Jet had begun to wonder when the former cowboy and rumored samurai had changed occupations.

The other occupants of the bar, three wiry old men who had been seemingly engrossed in their card game, came to life noisily.

"Ah ha! Crotchety little runt, that's what ya get! Why, maybe if you'd been working on the Gates back in the day with us real men you could get with a woman!" Antonio hollered from up at the bar.

Carlos guffawed loudly. "Like your horse has been jumping the hurdles of romance lately."

"Romance, bah! Women are for sex, anybody whose horse isn't put out to pasture knows that!" Antonio shot back.

"Your horse hasn't left the stables in years," Jobin cracked, slapping his hands on his thighs. "Maybe if you're lucky you can catch some action with that boy over there."

"Hey!" Andy yelped. "I want nothing to do with any of you lazy old vagabonds!"

"Lazy?! Why you little …I built the damn Gates single-handedly with only my trusty steed for company and the tavern wenches, don't you be calling me lazy!" Carlos yelled back.

"What steed? There wasn't no steed when we were building the Gates. And what tavern wenches? And what about us?" Jobin demanded, rounding on the other two senile old men.

"Aw, you two were just getting sticky with those magazines while I was doing the real work!" Antonio inserted.

"Get off your high horse, fool! Hah, high horse …look-e there, your little boy toy is trying to put the moves on VT. You're missing your chance with the fella!" Jobin called.

"What are you talking about?!" Andy demanded. "I should just challenge the lot of you to a duel and throw you into the dungeon and be done with it!"

Jet reached over and tapped VT on the shoulder. "Say, how's about we vamoose while they're arguing with each other?" He suggested.

VT nodded seriously. "I can give you a lift, Black Dog. I don't think I'd be able to leave you here at the mercy of them. Guess I'm just going soft."

The pair snuck away as the bickering between the three old men and Andy reached new heights. "What dungeon? Boy, you're delusional! This is a Motel 8; we're in the worst bar of the cheapest hotel this side of the Gates! There's no dungeon around here!" Carlos was saying.

"There's something, …" Jet mumbled to himself. "I could swear I've seen those three Gate workers before …"

"What, you actually believe they worked on the Gates?" VT asked, Zeros watching the scene unfold behind them safely on VT's shoulder.

"I'd believe their story before I'd buy Andy's. Last I saw of that nut, he was going off to be a samurai …wonder what made him switch to being a knight."

VT risked a glance back. "There's no telling with some people. Weird thing is, he kind of reminded me of Spike."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." He looked back for a moment as well and elbowed VT gently. "Andy seems to have noticed our absence. Shall we pick up the pace a bit?" Jet was reasonably sure that he was mistaken, but he couldn't help but think that for a moment, VT seemed a bit frightened as they high-tailed it back to her trucker ship.

xxx

Later, back on Venus...

Spike had to hand it to her, Faye sure could work the pole. Her eyes were half-shut, a demure little smile affixed to her face like some modern day Mona Lisa. And oh, what a work of art she was! Her body was sinuous as a snake as she twisted and wound herself around the thin pole at the edge of the runway. A little flick of her tongue and her attention diverted from the rod long enough for her to run her hands down her body and to squeeze her own ample breasts suggestively. In no time she'd pretty much gotten the attention of the house, despite the sexual activities being consummated on the wings of the stage behind her.

Sitting in a corner with his back to the wall and half his attention on the door, Spike watched admiringly and wondered briefly where Faye had learned a move that a cheerleader probably would have struggled to pull off. Then again, she had been a cheerleader at one point in her forgotten life. He'd seen the proof on the beta tape himself.

At any rate, if she ever gave up bounty hunting and quit gambling she'd be able to make a cushy living as an exotic dancer that was for sure.

Spike took his divided attention off her after watching Faye coyly smack an exploring hand that was offered by one of the men seated right at the runway.

Ebenezer would show, he had to, this was the most likely of spots and Faye was being the perfect target.

Of course, the old fox could have already been in there, biding his time until Gustavo, the porky owner, made his rounds and started getting payments from prospective men wanting some additional and private time with the dancers and …er …performers.

Unfortunately, there were already several old men in the audience, at least ten by Spike's preliminary count.

One apparently was comatose, judging by the hungry glaze in his eyes and the trail of drool that had been dripping from the corner of his mouth since the act began. Another sat stiffly with one hand missing from sight while yet a third glared around him and spat after glancing up at the stage, though Spike easily read the lusty want in his body language as well.

Too many possibilities, too many potential mistakes. He began to realize that this wouldn't be as easy as he'd hoped. The information they had to go on was very limited and he regretted not drilling Faye for more details.

Something warm snuggled against his arm and Spike absently patted the amber hair of his arm warmer, not surprised by her sudden appearance because he'd seen her coming.

For some reason, Vanessa had latched firmly and quite literally onto him and didn't appear about to let go for good. Since finding a seat in the audience of the club he'd had to pry her off no less than five times so far.

The girl had hearts in her eyes whenever she looked at him and a simpering smile that made him distinctly nauseous. She looked far too similar to Ed and acted like the other girl as well so seeing her made him think of Ed and thinking of Ed acting like this and obviously lusting after him was incredibly disturbing.

Ed was like the kid sister he'd never had. She was full of energy and with a potential destruction factor that could rival his own, and he naturally felt protective of the young girl – or rather, had when she was on board the Bebop – and he'd never imagined her crushing on him.

It just wasn't right.

Vanessa's obsessive behavior wasn't right either but there was little he could do about it and he'd tried. Maybe if he just let her stay there until he needed to bag the bounty …well, whatever happened, she certainly wouldn't be returning to the Bebop with them.

"Miiiiike" Vanessa crooned, darting up to lick his chin. He startled and wiped at the saliva with his free hand, glaring at her out of the corner of his eye. The bounty was what he needed to be concerned with. "Miiichael …will you play with V? V likes to play doctor and house and police …" She continued but Spike tuned her out as easily as he did to Faye during her rants.

There was Gustavo at last, moving through the crowd.

Vanessa had curled up in his lap and was whispering suggestively into his ear, clinging to him tightly with her left arm and running her right hand over his chest. Her ruby eyes were looking him up and down delightedly, a squeal escaping her now and then.

A young man stopped Gustavo. Nope. Two middle-aged fellows. Nope. A portly old man. Maybe. A tall, lean fellow with dark eyes and dark hair peppered with silver that Vanessa looked at as she followed his gaze. She murmured something - pa, he thought. No matter. It could be the salt-and-pepper-haired man. Another younger man. No.

Faye's little show was wrapping up, her body bare and her movements remaining erotic as she gathered up her discarded clothing as though it were part of the dance routine.

Spike's gaze was tempted to linger but respectfully he kept it moving instead. This was a good bounty, worth quite a bit, and he wanted to get it. They were out of gas for their zipcraft, hadn't eaten since they'd left the Bebop, and didn't have enough woolongs to afford a hotel room. Catching this bountyhead was more of a need than a want at this point if he were to be honest.

He strongly hoped Ebenezer would be paying for Faye's company. He wouldn't like it much if she wound up with some other old geezer looking for nothing more than a night of dark pleasures before maybe keeling over.

They didn't have too much time either, although they hadn't told Jet when they'd be back and he hadn't given them a day to return on. If tonight was a bust they'd try it tomorrow and maybe the next night but then they were calling it quits. Faye had agreed to only four shows when they'd discussed it and she counted showing Gustavo her 'goods' as one of them.

Faye was gone from the stage, a buxom blond with alluring navy blue eyes had taken over, overly ample bosom spilling out of the scanty top she wore. There wasn't enough cloth for Spike to guess at what her costume was supposed to be.

Never mind that though, Faye had five minutes to herself and then Gustavo would be leading her first client of the night back to her room and Spike had to be ready to nab the guy if it was the bounty head. Not for the first time that night Spike wished they knew what the guy was supposed to look like aside from being old.

He watched the crowd sharply, waiting for Faye's man to exit, waiting to see if it was going to be the one. Up on the stage, blondie's breasts were too much of a strain on the flimsy fabric of her top and it popped off prematurely, leaving her to pretend that it had happened on purpose and continue with her little peep show. Vanessa's left hand was digging sharply into his side where she'd wrapped her arm around him, her crimson eyes narrowed as she cocked her head to peer at him, running her tongue across her painted lips.

There. Someone was standing up. Wait, another person. Shit. Two people. Did that mean someone was going to the bathroom or were two girls supposed to be entertaining people or was Faye supposed to handle both or what? Suddenly, Vanessa lunged forward and caught his mouth with hers, her right hand reaching up to tangle in his hair as she sloppily planted her kiss, nails of her left hand scratching along his bandaged and scarred side painfully as she awkwardly shifted position in his lap without taking her lips from his, knee hitting his ribs and katana wound hard as he twisted to escape her lavished attentions. For such a slight girl she possessed formidable strength and her nails dug deep as she continued to try and kiss him.

Struggling to put his hands on her shoulders, Spike tried to push her from his lap but as she toppled backwards she brought him down too, landing on top of her and she bit his lip, grinning devilishly at him before bringing her right hand out of his hair and trying to put it down his pants.

Okay. Enough was enough and this was way too much.

Growling angrily, which Vanessa apparently mistook as him approvingly of her actions, he put his hands on her shoulders and wrenched himself upwards and out of her sharp grip. Her ruby eyes gleamed like wet blood and she snarled at him like an animal, slipping out from underneath him and leaping to clutch at his chest. He stepped out of the way and had nearly made his escape when she threw herself at his knees and wrapped her arms around his legs, bringing him down onto a table with a grunt of pain.

xxx

Yuck.

Faye shivered slightly and ran her hands along her arms, as she would have done if she was cold, except this chill and these goose bumps weren't from cool weather.

Normally she liked attracting men's eyes, knowing that as she swayed along that males of all ages were openly admiring her ass and tits. It was different, having to stand up there under the lights while all these desperate men were just staring at her while she had to undress on stage…

while she had to touch herself in ways that would make them even hotter and more eager...

She shivered again and realized she was somewhat nauseous.

Damn, and now she'd have to 'entertain' the horny man who'd paid for her services shortly and she wasn't looking forward to it.

Closing her eyes briefly as she entered the room that had been set aside for her, she prayed that it would be Ebenezer. That they'd get lucky and snag the killer the first night so Spike could crash in and help her bring him down and then she wouldn't have to dance for hungry eyes and groping hands anymore.

The icy prick of cold metal warned her of the presence of another person in her room and she swallowed hard, feeling the sharp edge of a knife graze against her throat as she did.

Cursing in her mind for zoning out and not paying enough attention to her surroundings, Faye slowly opened her eyes. She found herself face-to-face with a pair of cruel black eyes pitted deep in a thin, pale face, waxy lips pressing together wordlessly. Her emerald eyes quickly looked him over and she sighed softly to herself.

He was tall, maybe taller than Spike and Jet, with short cropped black hair liberally sprinkled with grey. He was a scrawny man and looked none too enthused about spending quality time with her.

She wondered to herself how much time had passed since she had vacated the stage, wondered when Spike would be showing up to get her out of this little pickle.

"Such a lovely whore, who would ever expect you to possess such an aggressive side? A filthy tigress you are, but do not fear, I am here to break you of your captivity. This life is not for one such as you, oh no, you're far too proud and vain to lower yourself to such dirty standards. But then I must ask myself, why were you on the stage tonight then? My precious Faye. I bet you don't know what you've stumbled into, do you?" He smiled, a sickly thing that turned her stomach. "I do so hope you aren't expecting Mr. Spiegel to show up. He's a bit …preoccupied at the moment. Hot hands and a warm mouth prove to be quite distracting for him."

White-hot anger flushed through her. As if Spike would be entertaining little sluts while she was in here with the murderer! Something about that whole speech of his seemed a bit off but the knife pressed tight against her neck made rational thought vanish in a cloud of fear and dread.

"Don't you know, darling? I'm doing this all for you. Well …mostly. I am a collector, a very wealthy man, a very dangerous and powerful man. But I don't like to see creatures of the wild trapped in such hells and made to feign tameness and meekness. This is why I free you and those like you as I have. I get to collect my valuables because of this and I hoard them as any greedy urchin might, but I am no urchin. I am the deliverer. It is only right that I should receive pay that makes me quite pleased as I am doing my work."

Panic flashed through her. This man was insane. His ramblings made no sense whatsoever. And she was trapped alone with him in a room where screams would hardly be an indicator of something amiss. And… somehow she knew she would be screaming.

He gazed at her rapturously and began to speak in another language - perhaps Latin? Hearing him invoke a God to bless his cruelty made Faye terrified in a way no other man had managed. Assault and rape were traumatic enough but justifying it through religion chilled Faye to the core.

Ebenezer had nicked her throat with the blade, she could tell by the pain that felt like a paper cut. It wasn't deep but she knew immediately that there had been something on the blade because her body was suddenly no longer responsive to her commands.

She fell painfully to her knees and then crumpled forward further, onto her face. Ebenezer was chuckling darkly over her and she could do nothing to fight back as he grabbed under her armpits and dragged her upwards to lay her onto the mattress in the room.

"This is curare poison. It paralyzes you from the neck down. I like for my angels to be calm. It does not numb you, though. You must feel the agony of repentance. You have sinned and you must atone. I will free your soul, you need not fear." His grin reminded her of Vicious, which sent a fresh wave of dread through her.

"I want to hear you scream for me," He whispered in her ear before he moved back to inspect her form on the bed. She had only been able to throw on a robe between leaving the stage and entering the room, and it was no longer closed by the tie at the waist. It had come undone or perhaps Ebenezer had undone it without her notice. But she was very aware of him pushing the sleeves down from her shoulders to free her arms.

He crossed her arms over her chest, crossed them over her heart like she was a vampire lying in repose in a casket.

She felt like she was already dead - trapped in a hellish nightmare.

Faye was surprised at the rush of satisfaction that coursed through her as Ebenezer began his work with his knife. She was glad that her throat was locked up so that her voice couldn't summon a scream. It was invigorating that she'd defied him in one small way. She thought that most victims would have screamed long before, but not her. No, Faye didn't scream until he raised the knife to lick the edge and she finally saw her own blood beginning to coat the cold, cold blade that carved into her skin.

xxx

This girl was seriously beginning to piss him off. Their awkward tussle had left the dimly lit theater room and had sprawled into the hallway that led to the girls' rooms and Spike was sick of making an advance only to be dragged back again.

Never mind how much Vanessa looked like Ed.

Never mind that Vanessa was a girl.

She had drawn blood and she had caused bruises and she was hindering him from potentially catching a bounty and that was something he would not tolerate.

Vanessa's eyes were furious and her grip none too gentle as she planted her feet and clung tightly to his waist.

Glaring at her, he kicked her feet out from beneath her but she anticipated his move and swung her body weight onto his form, sending them to the floor again but this time with Vanessa's slight form stretched out atop Spike. This position immediately became one he hated.

The familiar noise of an incoming message distracted him momentarily and Vanessa bit viciously into the forearm that was pinned between his chest and hers as he reached with his other hand into his jacket to get his comm. Failing to grab it, he just pressed the audio button and snapped, "WHAT?"

"Spike-person!" Though muffled by the fabric of his jacket, the voice was immediately identifiable.

That jubilant cry froze him and Spike glowered at Vanessa until he realized that she hadn't spoken, although she was making beastly noises. "Edward?" He questioned hesitantly.

"Hooray! Edward has found you! Jet-person wasn't on board the Bebop when Ed and Ein came back and Jet-person's talk-box must not have any batteries because Ed couldn't find him. So Edward checked on the trackers to find Spike-person and Faye-Faye and sure enough-"

Spike was panting as he continued trying to subdue the violently writhing teenager assaulting him while simultaneously carrying on this enlightening conversation with Edward. "You planted trackers on us?!"

"No no, well just you and Faye. The flight risks!"

"I'm a flight risk?!"

Ed's voice went on as if she hadn't heard him. "Jet Black Dog is reliable, no need to track. Answers calls and checks in! A good and proper soldier!" She giggled. "Wanted to tag the guns! You're never without weapons - but cleaning them? What if it got noticed and dislodged? No good! Put a pebble in your shoe."

"Whatever, Ed, that's not important right now. You've got Faye tracked? Go bust in on her, hey? I'm- " Vanessa managed to knee him in the groin "-busy!"

"Okay dokey Roger dodger! Ed to the rescuuuuuuue!"

Satisfied that he'd done something to help out Faye, since she'd whine that he didn't show up even if she hadn't been in real trouble, he turned his full attention to Vanessa who was literally frothing at the mouth at this point.

"Listen girl, I don't know what your problem is or why you keep bugging me but you're going to stop it now. Why have you been attacking me anyway? Normal little brats with crushes don't go around trying to mutilate the people they like!" He yelled.

Vanessa's ruby eyes sparked madly. "Grandfather needed the assistance of V, my love." She breathed. "V has found her soulmate and V must keep him occupied so Grandfather may free the tormented beast."

The girl's voice was full of reverence and Spike mentally shuddered. If this was how people with faith acted towards God he didn't want to see it, although he'd seen a bit of how people had reacted towards Scratch before and he figured that must be close.

Spike looked up at her and brought his face close to hers. "Guess what, V. You're a very sick little girl and I can't begin to fathom what goes on in that twisted little brain of yours but if your grandpa is with my friend I am going to help her because I've tolerated you far long enough. This ends now." And with that he slammed his head against hers, knocking her off his torso with enough force that her head smacked the hard floor twice and her eyes rolled back in her head as she finally went limp.

Staggering to his feet, one hand pressed against his aching forehead, Spike ran from the girl towards Faye's room and prayed that he wasn't too late.

xxx

Edward knew something was very wrong as soon as she reached the window outside of the room where Faye was supposed to be, according to the scanners on the Bebop and the tracker device Ed had hidden in one of Faye's boots. Standing on the ground floor outside of the window, Edward put a finger to her lips, noisily shushing Ein who had been very quiet, and listened for a moment to the man's voice raving inside.

"I'm surprised, most faint long before now. You're breathing so hard, so fast …it's exhilarating. Your eyes are unfocused though, I doubt you're fully aware anymore. Too bad, I'm sure this'd astonish you. Did you ever imagine your body could hold so much blood? Can you feel that? Your spirit is leaking out, you're being freed and soon I get my prize. The human heart is worth far more than coins and I'm going to cherish yours. You've been my best so far. See, I don't understand the other men. They think that sex is the pinnacle but I know better. You're going to be dead shortly. Hearing that last warbling breath, once I cut through your stomach I'll be able to reach inside of your body to clutch your heart. Have you ever dissected a frog? That's exactly what this is like."

Edward didn't understand much of what the man was saying and she somehow doubted he himself understood all of it but she knew that Faye-Faye was being hurt and she knew she had to stop it. From within the room came a gasp followed by an agonized moan and then a hoarse scream.

"Your throat must be sore. Poor dear. And you haven't even screamed for very long …ahh, but your screams were powerful and loud, straight from the gut those were. Do you like the patterns I'm putting in your skin? I feel like an artist …ahh, your blood is making me giddy. It tastes very fine, Ms. Valentine."

While holding Ein clutched to her chest with one arm, Ed stooped to grab a hefty stone. "Stop it! Stop it stop it stop it stop it!" Edward hollered, hurling the rock at the window and shattering the glass. Ein leapt through from Ed's arms and Edward clambored in after him.

The man, noticeably startled, stepped away from where Faye was lying on the bed. Edward lunged at the man from the windowsill, wrapping her arms tightly about his neck before he could react by slicing at her with the knife. She kicked his kneecaps hard as they both crashed to the floor where Ein dove into action and bit deeply into the hand that held the bloodied knife.

The door next to them smashed open. Bloody and battered, Spike-person stood there, mismatched eyes instantly finding Faye on the bed and going flat. Edward felt her grip on the bounty head being loosened and looked to see Spike taking her arms from around the nearly unconscious man's neck. He savagely kicked the man in the gut several times while working to dislodge Ed.

Spike looked straight at her, holding her by the shoulders gently to discourage her from turning to look anywhere else.

"Ed, go straight out this door and find a phone and call a hospital and the police. If you don't do this quickly Faye will die." His arresting gaze left her and she dashed from the room, her heart weighted heavily by fear for Faye-Faye.

xxx

Inside Faye's room, Spike was looking at Ein who still held Ebenezer's hand in a vise-like toothy canine grip. "Ein. Drop it." Growling, the Welsh corgi did and the knife clattered from Ebenezer's semi conscious grip to the floor.

Spike knelt down and slugged Ebenezer in the temple with excessive force. The bounty was knocked out at last but Spike had already turned his attention to Faye. He began wrapping sheets tightly about her wounds to prevent further blood loss.

Most of the marks from the knife were not especially deep - they weren't intended to be lethal - but they were frighteningly numerous and bleeding profusely. There were only two that were of significant risk to Faye's life and that was the deep cross mark that began at the base of her ribs. She was thankfully not conscious, but that insensate state also made Spike very worried about her obvious blood loss.

Spike had been through some fairly serious blood loss a time or three himself, but he'd never seen the damage for himself. There was a lot of blood here - on Faye's body, on the mattress - and it was alarming him in a way that blood typically did not.

Ein sat on the floor and kept a wary eye on the downed bounty head while Spike tended to Faye as sirens became audible in the distance, hurrying nearer.

xxx

Back with Jet, an indeterminate time later…

"Not gonna lie, Black Dog, it is good that I ran into you. I'll admit I wouldn't have minded more time to get to know you before. It's nice to have another opportunity." VT confided with a grin.

Jet's eyebrows rose and he found himself giving VT a closer inspection. He tended to dismiss women from his notice as soon as possible. All too often they were a distraction at best and typically never worth the pleasure they brought to the eye.

No, Jet tried his best to be respectful. He didn't leer, he didn't ogle, hell he hardly looked at all. He especially ignored women like Faye who deliberately flaunted her physique. It was easy to tell when a lady was trouble and scandalous outfit aside women like Faye just reeked of hassle and hardship.

With Faye in particular there was more to it - having gotten to know the woman and seeing her attitude and attire for the armor it was, she became more than an untrustworthy floozy. He considered her something of a younger sibling. She needed guidance and a support system she could rely on but she was scrappy and clever. He wanted to protect her but he couldn't see her in an attractive light despite her being an objectively attractive woman.

VT on the other hand… if she were indeed hinting at what she seemed to be…

Well, when granted the permission to indulge, the Black Dog certainly liked to give a woman all due consideration!

It had been a while since he'd been so boldly approached. Hell, even after giving up in his heart about Alisa he'd not bothered trying to bang his way out of depression. Sex wasn't going to fill any voids aside from the literal ones and he didn't mind his self imposed celibacy. Whenever the need got bad he always had the ability to satisfy himself after all.

This was a riveting new development in his life and he was feeling almost giddy about it. Probably the booze helped that along somewhat. To pass the time, they'd initially settled in for a game or two of cards. They'd turned bullshit into a drinking game to make it more fun and before long things had dissolved into exchanging tall tales and trying to sort truth from exaggeration in each other's life story.

VT was a confident and straightforward woman who had been a highly regarded bounty hunter herself in another life, when her husband had been alive. She'd given up the hunt and turned to the stability of the trucker life after a chase had nearly ended her life. For a woman, bounty hunting could be very dangerous when you worked solo. But she'd wanted a change of pace anyway - life without her husband was a strange and uncomfortable new world to navigate. In fact she hadn't even turned to trucking immediately afterward, she'd tried her hand at a few occupations before stumbling into this one on a wager of all things.

Jet wasn't sure what the wager had been. She hadn't confided that yet. Oh no, she'd turned to him mid-conversation and taken the playing cards out of his hand and led him to the sleeping quarters where she'd quickly taken control. It had been a far better finish to the game than the terrible poker round he'd gone against Faye forever ago.

They were nearly to Venus by now and VT was confident her connections would have spotted the Bebop if it were anywhere nearby. That had been their best guess after he'd borrowed some batteries from VT and gotten his comm working only to discover a message from Faye and Spike saying something about heading to Venus. It only made sense that Ed would have taken the Bebop to this planet while trying to wrangle up the other members of the crew.

Smoke made its way slowly from the lit cigarette in Jet's good hand to the ceiling of the sleeping chamber he was currently occupying with VT. Zeros had made himself scarce as soon as they'd gotten back to the truck and programmed in directions. They'd have to head back to the bridge of the ship to check in and figure out their next move but it would be a shame to leave the sheets until they arrived and had to make moves.

In the meantime, Jet wanted to fully indulge in the moment.

This had been a decidedly interesting turn of events. From being abandoned to being jumped was not a bad way to get the day on the right track.

It had been some time since Jet had engaged in the fine art of lovemaking, but he knew he'd held his own against VT and was pretty pleased about that. Whether this turned out to be a one time thing or a recurrence would largely depend on just how well he'd managed to satisfy her. As for himself, he'd be happy either way.

It was a few invigorating hours later when Jet Black found himself on one of Venus's floating city isles, disembarking from the truck. Jet thanked VT again for the lift and just for fun blew her a kiss before turning around to walk along the Venusian docking port to where Bebop was docked.

His boots rang out loudly on the wooden platform, making a good sound. He'd always appreciated the way footsteps sounded on various surfaces. It had been a smart thing to take note of during his ISSP days but honestly it was just thanks to enjoying the variety of tones and the music of a person's movements.

Faye's Red Tail was parked on the ship's deck, unless things had gone horribly sideways his own Hammerhead should still be down in the hangar, and for good or ill Spike's Swordfish II was nowhere in sight.

A sudden movement in the cockpit of the Red Tail had him instinctively grabbing for his gun before he realized how silly that was when it was probably Faye herself inside. Had the shrew drank herself into a stupor and passed out in her ship? It had happened before.

He stepped up to the cockpit and rapped on the tinted glass. Another movement from within and a distinctly familiar - if muffled - yip made its way to Jet's ears.

"Ein!" This was all the assurance he needed to know Ed had indeed taken the ship.

He pressed the access button to get the cockpit open and the data dog jumped into his arms as soon as there was enough space to escape the confined area. The inside was absolutely trashed - wrappers and other debris everywhere - but no sign of other life. Knowing Faye as well as he did, Jet was sure that the mess was simply due to the lazy way Faye lived and not to anyone assaulting her inside the zipcraft.

The Bebop was unnaturally silent around them as Jet and Ein went inside.

Jet moved through the rooms cautiously, going from the hangar to the living area and glancing down the bedroom halls without seeing any signs of life. The kitchen, stink stall, workshop, hydroponic room, bonsai room, bedrooms, and bridge were all void of any signs of life.

"Well, hell, now what?" Jet asked the corgi as he stood looking at the canine. As though waiting for him to ask, his comm began making noises requiring his attention.

He wasn't surprised to hear Ed's voice.

He was surprised that he needed to pick her up from the juvenile detention section of the Venusian ISSP.

Frowning, Jet hoped that Ed would have some answers as to the location of the other two. He told Ein to stay put and felt confident the dog would actually do as he said, unlike literally any other person normally on this damn ship. He quickly made his way back to the hangar intent on taking his Hammerhead to the station to liberate the youngest member of the crew.

xxx

The junior agent in charge at the juvenile center seemed overjoyed to be able to turn Ed over to Jet's authority once he arrived.

She turned with a grin towards him, her hands raised up to show how her fingers and palms and arms all the way to the elbow were all stained dark black. "Jet-person is back!" Ed cried joyously. She jumped up from the bench she'd been on and then launched herself at Jet in a flying tackle of a hug.

"Where are the lunkheads?" Jet asked once Ed jumped off and sat back down in front of her computer.

"Lunkhead, lunkhead! Faye-Faye is at the hospital still, and Spike-person too!"

"What!" Jet was aghast. "What did I miss?"

Taking Jet by the hand - his artificial one - she gave a full body wave to the junior agent, who flinched, and then the teen led Jet outside to continue their conversation in private.

"Weeeeeeell. There was a bad bounty. With delusions of God! He hurt Faye-Faye bad so she had to go to the doctor. Ed went too! BUT THEN they wouldn't let her go. They want to suck her blood! Vampire Doctors tried to keep her. But Ed managed to get a message to Spike-person! And now that's where Spike-person is - going to rescue the damsel in distress from the diabolical doctors!"

"The hospital wants her blood? How'd you end up here and not there?" He wasn't sure how more knowledge led to less understanding than before but that seemed to be the way conversations with Ed often went.

"Ed made a commotion like Spike said! Kept the people busy busy busy 'til he could get there to take care of things. Don't worry though no one knows whooooooo weeeeeee are! Ed made sure to check Faye in under another name. Yup yup yup!"

Shaking his head, Jet hoisted the teen up into the Hammerhead. "You kids just can't stay out of trouble."

"Ed is not a fan of this place. This planet makes people sound silly and makes people act awful. Once everyone is back on the Bebop, can we please go?"

Jet ruffled her hair. "Sure thing, kiddo. We can make some moves once we get fueled up and those two get back."

xxx

Smells came back to her first. Smoke, actually. It was a pleasing mix of tobacco and cannabis that drifted to her nose and soothed her as she gradually came back to her senses.

God, she'd never realized how much she truly appreciated being on the Bebop.

What a fucking bullshit couple of days.

"Need some water?" Jet's voice inquired with a gentleness that was uncharacteristic of the big man.

Faye made a sound in her throat that could have been acquiescence and she heard Jet stand up and move into the kitchen, the sounds of activity in that room, and then his return to her side.

She opened her eyes at last and made to sit up but stopped before she could make any progress as pain flashed through her upper body. "Ughhhhh," She moaned.

"Take it easy, hey? They fixed you up so you won't even have scars from this, but your body is still gonna be tender for days, maybe weeks. We couldn't afford painkillers but I think Spike swiped some when he broke you outta the hospital so I'll check his room in a bit."

Faye allowed Jet to help her sit up and accepted the glass of water he offered her. "Thanks." She sipped gingerly at the cold liquid. It wasn't what she wanted but it would do. "Where is the lunkhead?" Her voice was a rasp.

Jet was quiet for a minute. He was sitting on the couch next to Faye and reached over to turn on the monitor, letting the screen flicker to life and fill the room with distracting images and sounds. With a throat too sore for much talk, Faye decided to let the silence linger. Eventually Jet would tell her what was going on - the older man couldn't handle the quiet as well as she or Spike.

Sure enough, after they'd sat through an infomercial on Nutriboomboom, Jet had grown uncomfortable enough to be shifting around on his seat and was repeatedly eyeing the comm device he'd left sitting on the table next to the monitor. Faye watched him twitch with nervousness and finally sighed.

"Hey," She poked him in the thigh. "Light me up a bone? I don't need fancy painkillers. And, fuck, is water all we have to drink?"

Jet laughed and stood. "Okay. I'll grab some stuff for ya. Shout for me if anyone calls."

Faye shrugged and gave him a thumbs-up. It was a needless request because the device remained silent even after Jet returned with joints and a bottle of whiskey. He got a joint burning and passed it to Faye before lighting a separate one for himself. They didn't bother with any glassware and simply took turns taking pulls straight from the bottle.

"Okay big guy," Faye rasped at length. "I can tell you're trying to cushion the blow here. What the fuck is going on? Where's Spike? Why are you being so nice to me?"

Jet frowned at her. "When am I not nice?" He sighed though and took a deep chug from the bottle. "Spike's chasing down some bounties. Had me find him a couple PRs when I got back. Think he's trying to work through some shit. Get out some aggression, you know."

PRs.

The dreaded Page Two of the ISSP crime log.

Page One featured all the generic crimes that no one was too upset by except the victims. Mundane shit like murder, terrorism, robbery, kidnapping, hacking, extortion. Well, murder and terrorism weren't too mundane but they were still normal criminal activities. Page Two featured the darker crimes… pedophilia, rape, sexual assault. It was the stuff that the cops never bothered to investigate. It was the hard to prove he-said/she-said stuff. Pedophilia made people cringe and want to look away, and all too often it was perpetrated by familiar faces so it didn't usually lead to charges. Rape and sexual assault were typically shrugged off because the cops just didn't care. These were the criminals that didn't often have bounties assigned to them because no one was around to demand justice. The victims were often shamed or disbelieved and seldom had faith in the police force.

PRs were the ugliest, most reviled bounties out there. Other hunters would often back up total strangers in the quest to snuff out these bad guys. It was grimy work. But very satisfying because these were the true trash of society and taking them out really did make the universe a better place.

The Bebop crew didn't often seek out these cases. It was revolting to learn about the crimes but it was essential to knowing that your target was genuinely guilty and deserved to be caught or killed. None of the adults wanted to know the disturbing details of those bounty heads and all three were extremely adverse to Ed doing that type of terrible research.

Spike was out on his own taking this sort of work?

What a noble idiot.

It didn't take a psychologist to figure out what was going on here.

The lanky bounty hunter had gotten overwhelmed by their most recent mission on Venus. It was obvious. As a male, Spike didn't often if ever have to consider the ramifications of being a woman subject to the whims of a stronger individual. He hadn't ever been followed down an alley way or accosted on the street by some jackass trying to get a piece regardless of his target's interest or compliance. For Faye, dealing with a demented creep like Ebenzer was just another day. Well, okay not entirely - that fucker had been off his rocker. But, having to worry about being beaten or groped or worse… that was old hat. That was the type of normalcy that women had been dealing with since time immemorial.

Ebenezer was gonna haunt her sleep for a while, sure. He had hurt her in ways she didn't even want to acknowledge yet. But he hadn't actually raped her. Hadn't violated her sexually at all.

But Spike might not know that. Might have seen her laid out and assumed the worst. Was likely beating himself up over putting her in such a vulnerable position in the first place. He was oddly old fashioned in some ways. He didn't exactly pull his punches if he was up against a woman, but he was certainly adverse to hurting women. Having basically put her into the hands of a confirmed killer was probably heavy on his conscience thanks to his guilt considering what happened.

It was stupid and unnecessary and somewhat uncalled for.

Faye might have been frozen for decades but she wasn't born yesterday. She had known exactly the risk she was assuming by going undercover as a sex worker. Hell, even if it hadn't been the bounty who had come into her room, she would have still been in the dangerous position of being in an enclosed space with a stranger with unknown intentions. Anyone could have come in and taken advantage of her. Or, well, tried to anyway - Faye was a scrapper and could usually handle her own. Being pitted against an opponent with a poisoned blade had not been something she was expecting that night.

She had extra ammo and switchblades in both of her ankle boots. She had her gun in her jacket. She had plenty of ways to protect herself when she was anticipating an attack. It was the unexpected that was hard to plan for. Especially when she wasn't even wearing her usual attire.

Regardless, the assault she'd suffered hadn't been Spike's fault, even though he'd been her backup. The best laid plans tended to fall apart as soon as they went underway. You could just never predict how things would go when human nature was involved.

"You men are such babies," Faye said in her hoarse voice. She inhaled deeply on the joint despite how the smoke was irritating her raw throat.

Jet had tensed up beside her, automatically taking offense to her statement. "Eh?!"

She rolled her eyes. "It's cute. His little quest right now. Men always have to assuage their guilt somehow. It's not his fault but he's taking it so personally."

"Well, he couldn't kill the bastard. We needed the woolongs too much for your medical expenses and to refuel. Actually, here," Jet offered her a money card. "That's the remainder."

She took the card without comment. This money had been hard earned. She wasn't sure what she wanted to use it for but knew she couldn't just blow it on the ponies this time.

"You guys are taking this so seriously. I don't think you understand how common this is." Faye murmured. "It's sweet but it'll kill ya."

"Faye, you could have been-"

"Jet." Her voice was cold when she interrupted him. "I could have been raped? That's what you're both hung up on right? That's just how it is in the life of a woman. Do you… do you realize that wasn't the worst time I've ever had with a man? Would it repulse you to know that I've been in some bad spots since waking up? Not everyone is as gentlemanly as you guys."

"Faye, are you telling me-"

"It doesn't matter, Jet. The shit I went through before meeting you guys. It taught me some important lessons." She sighed and put the roach in the ashtray that Jet had set between them. "The universe is a cruel place. So we just gotta be harder. Take no guff. Don't pull your punches. Live and fight, fight and live. Don't baby me because of this. Don't make this mean anything. It's just a drop of rain in the ocean."

Her words were clearly upsetting Jet. Very likely he still expected to see the world as an overall okay place. It was sad to break that illusion but only because it was wild to her that he could have lived this long without realizing the truth of a woman's struggle. In so many ways all the men she'd ever known were just little boys. Ignorant, sometimes well meaning, but ultimately just little boys.

Feeling the effects of the cannabis and liquor starting to impact her, Faye turned to Jet for a few more answers before she wound up falling asleep again. "Where are we anyway? How long have I been out?"

He seemed happy to leave their previous topic of conversation. "Between the hospital and now? Eh, two days maybe. We're in orbit of Earth again. Gotta drop Ed off with Doohan actually. Guess he's been training her to be a racer!" Jet seemed surprised by his own words, but Faye could hear an undercurrent of excited pride in his tone. God, all men were the same. Of course he'd be thrilled about Ed wanting to be a speed racer.

Faye was more confused now than before. "Ed's back?"

"Yeah she's around here somewhere passed out. Didn't wanna leave til she knew you were okay. She saved you, actually. From that old bastard I mean. Spike only saved you from the hospital."

Impressively, Faye felt her confusion growing.

"What," She rasped after a moment.

Suddenly the sound of a vessel approaching reached their ears, followed shortly by the familiar noises of a ship docking on the deck of the Bebop. Spike had returned.

Jet got up from the couch. "I'm gonna grab you something to eat before you pass out again. Ought to get your strength up." He departed before she could reply, so she merely closed her eyes to indulge in a quiet moment of solitude before having to face the lanky cowboy ambling from the hangar to the living area.

Once again it was the smell that reached her first. Tobacco, gunpowder, blood and sweat. Yeah, there was a reason the hot water was always in limited supply on this ship - their jobs were hot and messy and none of them were roses when they came back.

The relief that she felt was prominent. Every time he came back it was the same. Like an unexpected surprise. Given the semi-suicidal lifestyle Spike favored, it really was never a guarantee.

Her eyes popped open when she felt the back of his hand press lightly to her forehead. It was amusing to see the relieved shock on his own face when she looked up.

"You're awake," Spike said needlessly. He dropped his hand from her forehead and plopped heavily onto the couch beside her. The whiskey bottle was still mostly full on the table but Spike ignored it for now and reached into his jacket for smokes and his lighter.

"What's this I hear about a hospital rescue?" She asked him.

Spike winced. He leaned up to grab the whiskey and she took advantage of his distraction to steal his cigarette. Briefly it seemed like he would fight her for it but whether he decided she looked too weak or whether he simply wasn't up for the altercation, he let her transgression stand.

The cigarette smoke hurt her throat more than the joint had, but the nicotine scratched that addictive itch like nothing else could.

"You're not supposed to be exerting yourself and that includes talking, especially since your voice is all shot right now." Spike muttered, reaching over as if to poke her torso, most of which was covered by bandages. He didn't poke her though, just made her fret about that threat momentarily so he could steal back his cigarette.

"Nice to know you worry." She muttered.

"Kinda felt like it was my fault you got hurt in the first place," He admitted. It surprised her to hear him acknowledge it, but she felt vindicated by knowing she'd guessed at his reaction.

"Well that's dumb," She asserted. "I'm fine. It wasn't a big deal."

She wasn't sure what response Spike would have made to that - if any - because just then Jet emerged from the kitchen into the hall on his way to them.

"Guess what cowpokes," Jet called as he entered the den area, carrying several plates of food. Ein came trotting out after him. Faye glanced up with minor interest as Spike looked to Jet to continue.

"Big Shots is gonna be back on the air. Some hotshot bounty hunters went down to the station it was being broadcast from and negotiated a bit with the network. They've got some big-bellied Spaniard and a cheeky little redhead to replace Punch and Judy." The ex-cop seemed pleased.

Spike's eyebrows rose. "You knew their names?"

Faye added a snort of disbelief. "Mr. Bad-Accent and Ms. Superglue-Vest, those names worked good enough for me."

The viridian-haired man laughed his agreement. "Well, there's one good thing that comes from this, I guess. We won't have to make another trip like the last one."

Faye scowled. "That wasn't my name. Why did he call me that?" She demanded, glaring at Spike.

"At least you're finally wearing decent clothes now. See, Faye? Pants aren't as bad as you might think they are and shirts can be pretty heavenly too." Spike gestured at his own outfit and back at hers. It took until this point for Faye to realize what she was wearing. Her entire midriff was covered in gauze beneath her loose white tank top and she'd been dressed in a pair of Spike's sweatpants.

"Argh!" Faye shrieked. "These better be clean pants, Spike!"

Jet licked his lips hesitantly at the commotion from his crewmates. He set down their plates and wisely backed towards the kitchen with his own. Ein, smart dog that he was, followed the big man, who had a sweat drop forming on his brow as Faye voice screeched to new octaves normally unattainable by the human vocal cords, until Spike's hand fell across her mouth.

"Faye. Shush. If this is how you're going to react to harmless teasing then I don't suppose I can poke fun at you until you're better. You can't just spring back to how you were. You've got to allow yourself some time to recover. Your vocal cords need rest too. It hurts to hear you talk. I'm not above bandaging your mouth the way you did mine."

"Humph. You always just go back to being normal jackass, careless Spike, risking your stupid hide when you're on half a leg and practically deceased." She rasped, softer than she had been speaking earlier, as soon as his hand left her face.

"I'll make you a deal then. The next time I'm a mess of mashed up flesh with more broken bits than good ones I'll sit on my ass and have you and Jet play nursemaid for me for as long as I'm hurt if you just take it easy now."

They sat quietly on the couch for a bit after that, busying themselves with eating the plates Jet had made and not really watching the images the television was displaying. Spike finished first and set his plate on the table, then lit up a fresh cigarette. He moved the ashtray from the couch between them to the table top.

"Yo, Faye,"

She glanced over her plate at the cowboy perched beside her. "Mm?"

"I was thinking of offering some defense lessons to you and Ed. See how you both do with some sparring against me. Guns can't protect you as much as you can protect yourself, if you know how."

"That...is...a good idea." She said sleepily.

Spike smirked at her. "Get some rest, it makes me nervous when you agree with me so readily." He took her plate and set it on his own.

She was too full and tired to protest but she found herself smiling at him as he moved to help ease her into a reclining position on the couch. By the time he'd reached the stairs to mosey off towards the showers, she was already asleep.

xxx

Take 'er easy, Space Cowgirl!