AN: Here's the last of the prewritten material… Now I need to go watch some Bebop for inspiration for the next chapter… I know what I want to happen, but I'm not sure how to get it to that point. ^^;;

Disclaimer: Yare, yare, I don't own bebop, now shoo you evil lawyers.

***

Faye yawned and stared at their young captive for a while. He wasn't very talkative. She had tried to pry more info out of him about Spike, but he had fallen silent and refused to answer her. She wasn't exactly sure what they were going to do with him. They couldn't exactly let him go, but she didn't really like the idea of killing him either. She sighed and thought about Ed. They hadn't seen her in almost eleven years. Faye didn't think that she knew Spike was dead, and she hoped that Jett would be the one to break the news to her. Above, she heard a hissing sound that told her Jett was back, and a loud squeal immediately following implied that Ed was with him.

"Oi! This is heavy!" Jett complained, coming down the stairs, carrying a suitcase.

"Quit being a wimp, Jett!" the reply came, followed by a giggle. Liam's eyes grew a little larger as he watched a long pair of tan legs come down the stairs, followed by a lithe body and a red head with golden eyes attached. This was the famous "Radical Edward"? She put the computer she had been carrying, down on the table and grinned at Faye.

"Hi Faye-faye," she said. Faye rolled her eyes and smiled.

"You're twenty-four now, you think maybe you could grow up a little?"

"Nah, grown-ups are no fun," Ed answered, turning her attention toward Liam. "Hi Liam." Everyone jumped in surprise at Ed's sudden use of Liam's name.

"Ed, how'd you know that was his name?" Faye asked. Ed shrugged.

"He's got green eyes, so he couldn't be Spike…" Ed replied. "The only other person around that looks like Spike would be Liam, and he's got green eyes."

"What? How do you know me?" Liam asked, alarmed. Ed smiled softly at him.

"I hacked into the Red Dragon files, looking for info on Faye, Jett, and Spike's whereabouts. It told me where Faye and Jett were, but when I asked for Spike, you popped up… I'm glad you're okay."

"Huh?"

"They were planning on killing you."

"Jett?" Faye inquired, glancing at him. Jett shook his head.

"Not us, I didn't quite like the idea of killing him, myself…" Jett said.

"Me neither," Faye replied.

"No, no, not you two. Red Dragon." Liam blinked.

"What?"

"Red Dragon, they want you dead, or at least, out of the picture, that's why there's a bounty on your head," Ed replied a-matter-of-factly.

"WHAT?!?" Liam practically shouted. Ed cringed and looked toward Jett.

"…That was him?" Jett asked. Ed nodded an affirmative. "When I went out to pick up Ed, there was a bounty notice on the vid-screens, for a Liam Arkwright. Wanted for selling company secrets and killing two employees of Red Dragon… Is that you?"

"…Huh? I… I didn't kill anyone in Red Dragon, or sell any secrets… What are you talking about?" Liam said, looking confused.

"We better leave Jett," Ed suggested. "I'll explain it all to you when we're away from the surface." Jett nodded and headed toward the bridge. "You could at least, uncuff him…" she said, nodding toward Liam's restraints.

"Are you sure, Ed? He was sent to kill the two of us," Faye said, gesturing in the direction that Jett had gone.

"Actually he was sent to kill all three of us, but I don't think he can do much with that shoulder," Ed replied cheerfully. Liam coughed loudly, how did she know all of this?

"Well, he's a trained assassin, Ed. His shoulder being hurt shouldn't matter…" Faye replied uncertainly.

"Oh, he won't kill us. We still have info on the bounty on his head, and if he kills us, he won't get that info," Ed reasoned, as she unlocked the handcuffs. "Right?"

Liam rubbed his wrists and thought for a second. Ed was right, she knew things that he wanted to know, and it wasn't likely that she'd tell him if her friends were killed. Why should he kill them anyway? If Red Dragon had a price on his head, he didn't work for them anymore, did he? Faye watched him warily, but said nothing.

"We're entering orbit, we should be… Why did you uncuff him?" Jett said as he re-entered the room. Ed shrugged and handed Liam the pack of cigarettes that were sitting on the table. Liam blinked and stared at the pack. Ed seemed to know a lot more about him than he did about her. She smiled at him and leaned over, turning the vid-screen on. Liam pulled a cigarette out and stuck it in his mouth. He glanced around for something to light it with, but Ed was already holding a flame out for him. Liam raised an eyebrow and lit his cigarette; there was something strange about this girl.

"Well, since we're on our way away from the planet, I guess I can tell you what's going on," Ed said, closing the lighter and handing it to Liam. "A month ago, my father died. So, since I was pretty much alone, and bored, I decided to look up my old comrades from the Bebop. Well, I did a standard search for all three of you, and came up with two classified ISSP files and three huge files on the Red Dragon databases, which weren't classified, but definitely not open to the public. Well, that never really stopped me before, so I hacked into the bigger Red Dragon files. I found out where you two were and what you were doing." Ed stopped and took a breath; then she smiled at Liam and continued.

"The third file was the biggest and hardest to hack into. I figured it was Spike's file, since he used to be in Red Dragon. I didn't know he was dead…" she stopped for a second. "Anyway, it ended up being the files on Liam Arkwright, and everything related to him. I didn't understand why I had come up with Liam's files when I did a search for Spike Spiegel until I came across this…" Ed pulled a computer disc out of her pocket and inserted it into the Bebop's computer terminal. She opened a video file called 'succession1.vid'. The screen showed a large office, that Liam recognised as the 124th floor office of Thakur. Thakur and another person that Liam didn't recognise were there, talking. It looked like it was security tape. Ed turned the sound up.

"…doesn't realise the rules. At least, as far as I know, no one has told him…." The unidentified man said.

"Well, that's good for us then, isn't it?" Thakur replied.

"What about that guy that took him in? Mike Secrist? He hasn't told him?"

"Not as far as I know. Liam seems to be rather oblivious when it comes to the succession rules."

"Well, how exactly does he fit into them?"

"Okay, the original three Dragons were killed before choosing a successor, so the person that killed them became leader. That was Vicious. Then, Vicious died before choosing a successor. So the person that killed him became leader, that was Spike Spiegel. However, Spike died from his wounds in the battle with Vicious, so technically, Vicious killed him. Seeing as Vicious, obviously, couldn't take over, it moves to the next of kin, that is a member of Red Dragon."

"But Liam wasn't a member or Red Dragon until four years ago…"

"His grandfather is Robert Arkwright…"

"Oh… Shit… So when he's eighteen…"

"Yeah."

"When does he turn eighteen?"

"In about five months."

"Bloody hell. So what are we going to do?"

"Get rid of him."

"Why? Can't we just, not tell him? I mean, if he doesn't know…"

"Idiot! Everyone knows he's Spike's kid… And everyone knows the rules… There'll be a coup if we don't get rid of him-"

The video faded and went black. Liam turned to Ed with wide eyes.

"Are they saying that I'm supposed to be the next leader of Red Dragon? Because me father died without a successor and no one killed him, so it goes to me?"

Ed nodded. Jett and Faye looked at each other, and then at Liam. This was too weird.

"You're Spike's SON?" Faye and Jett said at the same time. Ed started laughing and fell off the table.

"You mean you couldn't tell?" she said in between chuckles.

"Well, it was rather odd…" Jett started.

"That he looked so much like Spike, but we didn't think…" Faye continued.

"That Spike even had kids…" Jett finished. They looked at Liam.

"…He didn't know about me…" Liam said quietly. "My grandfather is Robert Arkwright… He's a big business owner in downtown Crater City, and a member of Red Dragon. Me mum, Melinda Arkwright, met Spike and they had a fling."

"Wait, what about Julia?" Faye interrupted.

"This was before Julia," Ed replied. Liam nodded.

"Mum got pregnant and had me. Spike met Julia shortly after she got pregnant, so Mum didn't see 'im, thus couldn't tell 'im… Then we found out when I was about six that 'e 'ad died, and that was it." Liam took a long drag from his cigarette, inhaling deeply. He stared at the floor, seemingly lost in his thoughts.

"Your mom died when you were still young, didn't she?" Ed asked. Liam looked up at her.

"…Yeah."

"And you lived with your uncle?"

"…It's all in the file, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is… That's where you got that scar isn't it?" Ed replied, gesturing to his face. Liam looked away again, his bright green eyes unfocused and distant.

"…'E was a drunk… and liked to 'it fings… Me grandfather wasn't too 'appy with 'aving a bastard around, so he let me uncle watch out for me… Then Mike come along, and killed me uncle cos' he owed money to Red Dragon, and wasn't paying up. Mike took me in, then when I turned sixteen, it was pretty obvious who I was related to," Liam finished, his accent had started thickening.

"So, what are we going to do?" Jett asked, looking from Ed to Liam. Liam reached for his shirt and hissed in pain, pulling his arm back.

"I don't expect anyfing from you. You can turn me in for the bounty, or you can drop me off at the nearest planet. It's all the same to me…" he replied, feigning nonchalance. Faye raised an eyebrow.

"How much was the bounty?"

"Faye!" Ed exclaimed, glaring at her.

"Fifteen million woolongs," Jett replied, glancing at her.

Faye whistled. "Fifteen million? Wow…"

"I can't believe you two are actually contemplating this. He's Spike's son, you can't even be considering it!" Ed scolded them.

"Don't do me any favours just cos Spike Spiegel is me dad, 'kay? I never knew 'im enough to call 'im that, or for people to do me favours because of it," Liam growled and stood up.

"Well Faye, I guess that's it… We'll be beating the bounty hunters off by the dozen you know…"

"Yeah, I know, but hey… I was bored with Mars anyway," Faye replied, lighting a cigarette of her own. Jett smiled and nodded to Ed.

"Alright, for Ed's sake, not Spike's, we'll help you out. Okay?"

Liam turned at looked at the three people staring at him. Why were they doing this? For heaven's sake, two of them had contracts on their heads for informing on Red Dragon, the organisation that seemed to have placed him in a position of power, whether it knew it or not. He knew that no matter what they said, they were doing it because they had known his father. Was Spike Spiegel such a person that they would stick their necks out willingly for his child… just because?

Liam shook his head. "Bloody hell…"