"Holy Hell!" She whispered, to herself, unaware of the oxymoron. Things were going to get ugly...







She'd been preparing for a hostile fleet, and so the sight that greeted her eyes as the jump gate closed, and the ship came through, caught her totally off guard. It was the Bebop, no doubt with Jet at the helm. Her squeal of joy at the sight of her friend came out a choked cry as she remembered the monolith behind her. Jet had just walked into a very bad situation.

In a matter of moments, her image was plastered onto the Bebop's view screen.

"Listen, Jet, no time to talk now, just get out of here."

Maybe it was the wild look in her eyes, or the urgency in her tone... or maybe it was the huge black ship that was turning toward them, and charging its main cannon, but either way, Jet didn't ask any questions. He hit the reverse thrusters on the ship, and went back through the jump gate, just as the cannon finished charging.

The two of them were temporarily safe in hyperspace. Jet turned to the figure on his view screen, a questioning look in his eyes.

"Not now, Jet, there isn't time, it won't be long before they follow us through the gate, we've got a ten minute head start at best, and we have to make sure we lose 'em before I head to Venus."

"Venus? Lose who? Who were those guys? Wait a minute, what the hell is going on?"

"I told you, there isn't time... listen, I don't know if they saw you or not, but either way, we have a better chance of losing them if we spit up."

"Okay..." Jet said, feeling a little confused.

"We'll meet back on Venus, tomorrow morning. There's a diner, Chevy's, be there. I'll fill you in the situation."

"Alright, I have to say, I'm dying to hear what this is all about."

Faye smiled, wryly, "Hopefully not."




Dimitri stared, half dazed, at the jump gate. A slow smile spread across his face, and deep in his throat, a rumbling began. It started low, and built, until a crescendo of laughter bubbled over his teeth, and spilt over his lips.

He laughed for a good, long time; long enough to make his subordinates on the bridge start to give him looks. After a while though, he finally calmed down, and wiped the mirthful tears from his cheeks.

The woman had spirit, he had to give her that, but if she didn't start dealing more respectfully with the syndicate, that was all she'd have. Did she actually imagine she could escape? Where would she go?

"Don't pursue them, let the rats scurry back into their holes, we are watching them." His subordinates nodded. And he continued to stare out at the jump gate.

"I'm going to my quarters," he said, after a moment, and turned to leave the control room.

Now that the initial novelty of the situation was wearing off, he found her refusal not so much amusing, as infuriating. He couldn't let her find the subject; it was too soon. He needed the dissention in the Red Dragon. He needed the powerful organization weakened by lies, deception, rumors, and disloyalty and if she found him now... Dimitri smirked; he'd just have to make sure that didn't happen.




Faye was chain smoking. She sat in a corner booth of a small diner, waiting. She hoped Jet got out okay; oddly enough there hadn't been any sign of pursuit, but she was still worried. If she some how managed to get Jet hurt...

She took a long pull off her cigarette, before grinding it into the overfull ashtray on the table in front of her, and motioned to the waitress to bring her more coffee.

She jumped as the door opened, and she turned around, hopefully. No. Not him.

She turned back to her coffee, lighting another cigarette. It just didn't make sense. She had been ambushed by an unidentified syndicate official, who had demanded she give up her search, but how had he known? She shook her head. Kataki had said that only his highest-ranking advisors had been privy to the information he'd given her... but he'd also said that there were rumors circling through the ranks...

Faye sipped her coffee. There was something here she was missing, but what?

She turned as the door opened a second time, and was rewarded by the sight of her comrade. She motioned to him, and, after a brief look around, he came to sit at her table.

"Jet! I'm glad you're okay." Faye said, beaming at her friend.

Jet slid into the seat opposite her. "I should be, your friends didn't make any move to follow you," He closed his eyes, "honestly, that makes me more nervous than if they had."

Faye's only response was a wry smile.

He leaned toward her, over the table, "what's going on, Faye? Why are you're files being searched by syndicate hackers? Why are you being threatened by thugs in giant black ships? What have you gotten yourself into?"

"I've just been asking myself that same question."

"And?"

"Well..." she looked away, briefly, trying to decide how to tell him. "Jet, what if I told you Spike was alive?"

Jet's face went ashen, "don't say that, Faye, don't tell me that."

"Well, I had a meeting the other evening with Kataki,"

"Kataki? Oh no," his eyes widened, "you didn't."

Faye nodded. "He told me that Spikes body was missing; he asked me to find it." She paused to take a drag off her cigarette. "He also said that there were rumors that Spike was still alive, and he said that Spike had been spotted in several different places."

She exhaled slowly, blowing out a puff of smoke, " He didn't deny that these sightings were genuine, and I couldn't take the chance."

Jet stared at the table for a long time. Long enough, thought Faye, to burn the wood patterns into his corneas. At long last, he swung his gaze to hers.

"So how far have you gotten?"

Faye closed her eyes, a sigh of relief escaping her lips. She hadn't been sure how Jet would react to the news, but he seemed to be taking it pretty well. Was his mind reeling, as hers had? Was his throat tight, and dry? Was he dizzy, as she had been? She opened her eyes to look at her friend's face. If so, he hid it well.

"Well," she reached under the table, grabbing the laptop off the seat next to her, and bringing it up onto the table. "See for yourself," she said, flipping open the top, and inserting the security disk.

Jet watched wordlessly as Faye scanned the disk for the appropriate section. He inhaled sharply as Faye stopped the footage. "Oh my God," was all he said.

Faye shook her head, closing the notebook. "I just don't know what the hell's going on, Jet. The only other people who are supposed to know about this are Kataki's advisors. Why would they try to stop me from doing a job that Kataki hired me to do?"

Jet cleared his throat before speaking... perhaps it *was* dry, Faye mused.

"I don't know, but I have a feeling that you'll find the answer to your questions when you find this... this look-alike."

Faye nodded, she'd been thinking the same thing, but... "Do you think I should be worried about uninvited guests dropping by?"

"Definitely, but do have any choice?"

Faye shook her head, "I guess your right, it doesn't matter." She looked up into her companion's eyes, "can I assume that you're going to assist?"

"Well, I can't just wait around for you to call me."





Corbin 26 walked down a crowded Venus thoroughfare, ignoring the mob that jostled him from all angles. He'd just finished a job, doing bodyguard work for a small time Venus arms dealer; he was doing a lot of that lately.

The client... a Mr. Townsend, had needed to hire extra help, while he was waiting for one of his larger deals to go through. The job had been beneath his abilities, but the pay was good, and he needed the money, which he was on his way to collect, right now.

He pulled out a pack of cigarettes, and placed one in his mouth; he was doing a lot of that lately, too. He wasn't even sure when he'd picked up the habit, in his earliest memory, he was holding a cigarette in his hand, inhaling thick, acrid smoke.

Maybe he was born with a cigarette between his fingers; breathing carcinogens into his infant lungs... he couldn't remember.

He sighed, as he reached the designated place, a pet shop, on Main Street, and turned the deserted alley next to it.

Why'd this stuff always have to happen in a deserted alley, anyway? he mused, reaching into his pocket for a light, and groaning when he came up empty, he must have left his lighter in the hotel room... damn.

His train of thought was derailed by the sound of a car engine. He stood stock still as a black Mercedes peeled out around the corner, behind him, and came speeding in his direction. The vehicle skidded to a stop two feet from him, and the passenger door flew open.

"Gotta light?" he asked.

"Mr. Twenty-six," came the impassive greeting from the man who had just exited the auto. It wasn't Townsend, he noticed, but one of his men.

The stranger tossed him a matchbook

"Please," came the gritty tones, "call me Corbin, we're friends aren't we?"

"I don't believe so, I don't think we've ever met face to face."

Corbin held up the matchbook, "Trust me, right now, you're my best friend."

The stranger flashed him a half smile. "In that case, I suppose I should introduce myself. My name's Nicky, and I have a present for you, from Townsend." He set a silver case on the hood of the car. "It's all there," he said, cracking it just enough for Corbin to see the stacks of green beneath.

"I'm sure it is... Well, I can't say it's been a pleasure working for Townsend, but at least it pays well."

The other man smiled, "Corbin 26... interesting name. I'm sure there's a story behind it."

Subject 26 lit his red filtered cigarette, and smiled, "When I figure it out, you'll be the first to know."



The duo, one tall man dressed in frayed jeans and a tee-shirt with torn sleeves, and a shorter woman, sporting a long blue jacket over boot-cut black jeans and black tank top, stood in front of an old brick building... hard to imagine that the ancient building material would be found in a place like this. In the middle of the Venus shopping district, cold, hard steel would have been more appropriate.

Why was it that the future had a distinctly unfuturistic feel? Faye thought to herself, as the two of them passed through an arched doorway that Faye thought was maybe a little too ornate for a cigar shop.

She blinked, furiously, as she stepped from the bright light outside into the dimly lit shop after her partner. She paused for a moment, letting her eyes adjust to the rapid change, then headed to the counter where Jet was already conversing with the clerk.

"My friend and I are looking for someone... tall, lanky, messy green hair, perhaps you've seen him?" Jet was saying.

"I may have, and then again, maybe I haven't."

Faye smiled at the woman, biting back her annoyance, then reached into her bag for the photo.

She laid it on the counter, "this is the man we're looking for." She stated, impatiently. She was hungry for answers. "Have you seen him?"

"Well, I don't know."

Faye reached into the pocket of her jacket, pulling out a stack of bills and placing them on the counter.

"Perhaps I can refresh your memory."

The clerk raised one eyebrow, glancing from Faye, who's hand had crept to the gun belt at her waist, to a mean looking Jet, and back again, finally deciding that it was probably better to take the money than not.

"He was in here two days ago, bought a pack of smokes... I don't know his name, but he left this on the counter." The woman tossed a matchbook in Faye's direction.

"It's from a local bar, just a few blocks from here, you might want to check it out."

Faye placed a card onto the counter, it had her phone number in bold across the top. The clerk raised an eyebrow to her, questioningly.

"If you should see this man again," Faye informed her.

"Don't worry, I'll let you know."

Jet tapped Faye's arm, and inclined his head toward the door. Faye turned with him, and left through that damned arched doorway, while the greedy clerk counted her cash.

"Well, now what?" Jet asked.

"I was just going to ask you the same question."

Jet shrugged his shoulders, "hey, you're running this show, not me."

"I suppose I ought to go and check this place out, then," she said, stretching her arms high above her head. "It doesn't really take both of us, and I do need someone to be my eye in the sky, so to speak."

"You want me to sit on my ass and do surveillance?" he asked.

"You really know how to take the romance out of it."




Ed saw the room through Faye's eyes... or rather Faye's eyewear, thanks to a tiny camera imbedded in the bridge of her sunglasses. She had picked up on the signal that came from that camera to the monitor in the Bebop, and decided to tap into it... hey, it had to beat professional wrestling, right?

"Why don't you take another look at the picture..." she was saying to the bartender.

Better than wrestling... yeah right. Ed rolled her eyes. She was profoundly bored.

She was about to turn the scene off, and go back to the broadcast of 'Death Games' 3000, when she noticed an image in the mirror behind the bartender. Someone was watching the exchange with far more interest than herself. He had just glanced over Faye's shoulder as he walked past her, and turned pale at the image on the photo. He took the seat next to Faye and began listening intently to the developing conversation. Ed decided that it would be beneficial to all if she found out the cause for his interest.

She ran him through her database. A smile spreading across her expressive face, as the file popped up.





"Jet."

He jumped as the scene in front of him was replaced by the image of a young girl with short red hair.

"Ed, I'm a little busy," he said, managing to keep the annoyance out of his voice.

"Oh, I know," she said. "You're watching Faye's back... and doing a lousy job of it." The window containing her face shrunk into a small box in the left hand corner of the screen.

"Did you even notice that guy on Faye's left? You can see him in the mirror on the other side of the bartender." A red arrow popped up, pointing him out.

"His name is Nicholas Greene; he works for a man named Townsend. The guy's pretty well connected, and judging by his reaction to the picture, I'd say he's seen this guy, even if the bartender hasn't."

Jet shook his head, "I'm impressed, Ed. Nice work."

The teen beamed.

"Now to pass this information along."






Faye sat up in her seat, Jet's voice sounding jarringly unnatural issuing from within her ear canal.

She took in what he had to say, looking into the mirror behind the bartender. He was right there next to her, hanging on every word that was uttered between the two of them.

Her eyes narrowed, as she burned his image into the back of her mind. She'd be seeing this man again soon... very soon. She smiled deviously, She was getting close.

"Huh?" she said, suddenly becoming aware of a voice that didn't originate in her head.

"I said, 'are you okay, miss?'" the bartender replied.

"Um, yeah," she dropped a twenty Wulong note on the bar, in payment for her drink, and stood up. "It's just been a long day."

"Since you can't help me, I'm not going to waste anymore time here."

The second she was through the door, she pulled off her sunglasses, and turned them to face her.

"Get down here, now, Jet, We're going to talk to this guy tonight." She couldn't hear his reply, because she'd already dug the earpiece from its resting place, lodged just inside her ear canal, and tucked it into her pocket.