Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Cowboy Bebop or anything whatsoever, so don't sue!

A/N: Here's Chapter 2 of Death Angel. Thoughts are italicized. Thank you to those who reviewed, your benevolence is wholly valued.






Death Angel


Chapter 2: Blown to pieces






It was 11:43 PM as Jorel Matsumoto leaned against the black sedan impatiently tapping his foot in the underground garage of the Red Dragon Headquarters along with other members of the syndicate, Jin Ling and Han Zhang. All three men were wearing the long Red Dragon coat that symbolized that they were members of the honored crime syndicate. They were waiting for Julia, who was supposed to show up 15 minutes ago. Their assignment yet again had to do with the White Tigers, who selfishly took over the red eye deal, which strictly was reserved for the Red Dragons. The Van, three shriveled old Chinese men laden with years were the leaders of the notorious Red Dragon mafia. The White Tigers' inconsiderate act infuriated the Van, and they vowed before their followers that the Tigers will suffer greatly.

Suddenly the men heard footsteps. The noise originated from Julia, who was in her regular tight leather attire that clung to her skin. Though the sun wasn't out, she was wearing sunglasses which concealed her blue, sad eyes. She was wearing a long black trench coat; heavy with the weapons it stored. The expression on her face was nonchalant, like her tardiness didn't matter the slightest bit.

"Shit Julia, where the fuck have you been? Because of you, this mission might be blown to pieces. We won't be able to catch up with the others. Do you even give a rat's ass that we're behind?!" Jorel remarked angrily. His voice echoed violently in the cold, wide garage. The others stared silently at her. They did not want to get in the way of their boss.

"Just stop the accusations and let's go," Julia said flatly.

Jorel didn't bother to ask why she was late for he was on the verge of failing another mission. Failing this one would just increase the weight he had to carry on his shoulders. Everybody in the syndicate knew that you only get one chance, and nothing more.

The four Dragons got into the car and waited in silence as they headed to the White Tiger Headquarters.


***


The gunfight was getting worse by the minute. The White Tigers weren't going to surrender after the death of Wen Lee, whom Julia easily annihilated. The Tigers were lucky that Jorel Matsumoto failed to obliterate Jun Tao, the wise adviser to the leaders of the Tigers who got the syndicate into the red eye deal that the Red Dragons solely wanted for themselves. Jun Tao's demise would surely corrupt the White Tigers' relations with other syndicates, and would make the mafia lose at their own game.

Now, Matsumoto was making his second attempt to eradicate Jun Tao, to get on the good side of the Van. But it wasn't going to be easy.

Julia dodged a shower of bullets by harboring behind a rigid brick wall in the decrepit alleys where unfortunate souls dwelled in and where scoundrels made a living by innocent bystanders. She stared up at the Martian sky, gaping at the stars before her. When will this ever end... she thought to herself. She felt really hot and was sweating. All she could hear was the cries of pain and agony and bullets. Everything smelled of gunpowder and flesh. She felt a stinging in her right arm and saw that she was hit with a bullet. She could feel the blood rushing through her and her heart beating ten times faster. Her experience in the mafia proved one thing: she hated evading bullets, running for her life like a chicken with its head cut off. Her mind was rushing, but she could only focus on one thing: she was running out of ammunition. She must get to the others fast.

Julia tried to ignore the fact that she was losing blood and tried to concentrate in killing her enemies, who incessantly shot at her. Infuriated, she pulled out a submachine gun and started firing at the mobsters. She shot one guy in the head and tried not to think of the flesh that splat open when she shot him. She shot 4 other guys who ended up lying in red pools on the streets. She hastily looked back and forth for any sign of her crew, but they were nowhere to be seen. Then, out of the blue, 3 vans sped through the streets, running over some White Tigers, crushing their bodies like a vise. The vans held the backup crew of the Red Dragon, who were called upon when there were numerous casualties that occurred in a mission. Only Jorel's crew and three other crews were still alive. The backup squad helped very little, for they were outnumbered.

As the backup posse lent a hand in the dogfight, Julia spotted Jin Ling, who was the target of a grenade freely flying in the air.

"JIN! Watch out!"

She saw the pupils in Jin's eyes diminish in size as he looked in trepidation. It was too late.

She ran and circumvented behind a blue abandoned vehicle and shot the man who killed Jin. The pain in her arm was growing more excruciating. Her body was losing too much blood, but she couldn't give up. She managed to get up and attempted to shoot some more Tigers, but she missed, wasting her bullets. Now all that remained were a grenade, a pistol, and 2 clips. Julia was more enraged than ever. Not only was she low on ammo, she was hit again in the same wounded arm. I've truly ran out of aces...

She winced in pain as she felt the stinging in her arm grow more sore. Her fury compelled her to reach for her pistol, when a detonator abruptly caught her sight and immobilized her actions. It was just lying there, on the blue automobile, ready to burst out flaming clouds of fire right before her eyes, just like Wen Lee's yacht she detonated. In a matter of seconds, the blonde gangster was running for her life. She fell to the floor only to find that she landed on top of a dead White Tiger, who had a bullet to the head, his face blemished with dry crimson blood. Julia immediately discarded the corpse and directed her attention to her gunshot wounds. The conflict was still going on, the lingering odor of death and blood still lurked in the air. Everything was burning, like hell was breaking loose. Three White Tigers started firing at her from behind a wall, who were smiling at how vulnerable she looked, low on ammo and injured. She smiled back, heartlessly. Burn in hell, bitches were the words that fell out of her mouth as she pulled the stopper of her last grenade and tossed it at the smiling men, now smoldering in the massive flames. She smiled more maliciously at their fatalities, pleased that she got the last laugh.

She ran down the bloodstained pavement to her left with one pistol in each hand, trying to get her mind off her loss of blood. Her heart beat like a metronome, each beat escalating in rhythm. She opened fire at the Tigers head on, speedily avoiding their bullets and ruthlessly taking away their lives. An unarmed enemy popped out of a street corner and tripped her, making her loose grip of her pistols. The man laughed as he restrained her by her wrists.

"Girls are not supposed to play with guns you know," he said, grabbing hold of her guns. He made her stand up, still under his grasp. The hulking mobster was surprised to see Julia smiling.

"But girls just wanna have guns," she said with a smirk.

She slammed the hefty figure with all her strength against the solid wall he emerged behind and heard a fracturing noise. The White Tiger now had a broken spinal cord. Julia was finally free from his grasp. He yelled in agony as the tough woman before him kicked him in his groin. She ragingly took hold of his outsized head and smashed it along the wall, breaking his nose and damaging his facial features some more.

"Now be a good little boy and stay the fuck out of my way."

She picked up her weapons, and saw 3 White Tigers become road kill as a Red Dragon backup van pulled up in front of her. She heard Han screaming at her.

"Julia, get in!"

Julia looked at him resignedly.

"What are you saying?! We barely killed half of the Tigers! We can't give up now! I need more ammo! Hurry u-"

"Dammit, Julia! We're retreating! And what the hell happened to your arm?!" Han yelled. She had never seen him so angry. What astonished her more was that she forgot about her injured arm, and how much blood she lost. She was amazed she still had an ounce of strength left.

"Han, we mustn't give-"

Han interrupted her again.

"We're outnumbered! Now get in the fucking van!"

Julia reluctantly got into the van. She saw the faces of other Red Dragons, stained with blood and dry gunpowder. An upsetting silence floated through the van. Everybody was too exhausted and traumatized with anger to speak. She looked down at her arm, and closed her eyes. She started thinking.

Where's Matsumoto? Shouldn't he be here? I wondered if he killed Jun Tao...

Han started treating her wound with a first aid kit. The last thing she caught a glimpse of was the White Tiger HQ on fire and limp bodies of both opposing syndicates resting in the avenue before everything went white.


***


The following morning, while the luminous sun rose from the horizon, when the birds starting singing their morning tunes, a man was taking his morning stroll down Crater City lane. He saw a gruesome sight.

Jorel Matsumoto's lifeless body was inverted, hanging by a rope on a streetlight. The repugnant lacerations carved in his chest proved that he was stabbed horrendously. He had about 10 bullets punctured in his skin, with dry blood still pouring out of them.

His corpse was enough evidence that Jun Tao was still a living man.








A/N: I hope you like this fic so far. Tell me what you think of it by reviewing it. Till then, peace out.


~Moontenshi