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

A/N: Here's Chapter five, please review!^-^






Death Angel


Chapter 5: Mercy






The day after Jun Tao and Chang Ashitomi were victims of brutal homicide, the office of Mao Yenrai along with other mentors of the Red Dragon crime syndicate were extremely hectic. There was no time to formally bury the respected mentor Tsungming Long. The phone rang every second as Yenrai and his associates planned tactics to be prepared for the bloody retaliation of the Tigers and Pythons, their vengeance burning with fury more than ever, to avenge the death of their superiors.

The Red Dragon mafia knew that the White Tigers and Black Pythons were planning a lethal retaliatory war once they received word of Jun Tao's death, which was just minutes after the razor-sharp blade of Vicious' katana sliced the lives Jun Tao and Chang Ashitomi. With them gone, the two syndicates were nothing but meager organized crime syndicates in a financial calamity. The Dragons eventually found out the Tigers' plan to prevail over the power of the Red Dragons, which is the reason why they took over the narcotic business so haughtily. They had failed, but they weren't going to accept defeat. The belligerent clan declared war on the Red Dragons, putting every gangster's life hanging by a hair. The only way that would cease the conflict was if any syndicate surrendered or if the Red Dragons gave up the Bloody Eye manufacture. The withered lungs of the Elders laughed at this. Pacifist's attempts to bury the hatchet and make an armistice were taken as an absurdity and resulted in a larger number in the death toll.

Mao Yenrai had called in Vicious, one of the assassins he raised, to have a private talk as well as to assign him to execute the plans to protect the "bloody eye" from slipping out of their hands. He was hoping it would not be a Pyrrhic victory; this was the time when every assassin's life mattered, regardless of their rank. Losing a great number of agents was literally sowing dragon's teeth.

Vicious listened attentively at the man who had taken him in so long ago and made him into what he was today, a reserved, introvert assassin who held draconian tendencies. Mao Yenrai was as wealthy as Croesus and seemed to own the Midas touch. His rank and skill in the syndicate earned him a number of adversaries from rival syndicates especially the deceased Jun Tao himself. He always had an amiable visage; nobody would ever come across the fact that he was a mobster.

Mao's customary amicable expression turned serious as he looked at Vicious. He spoke austerely, in his businessman voice.

"Vicious, the Elders are not contented with your actions." Vicious stared, emotionlessly. Mao folded his hands.

"They have notified me that as soon as Spike comes back, you will be assigned more tasks to implement. You are still a top assassin and you will still be working with Spike and Julia, but you will have more assignments to fulfill. Do you know why?"

Vicious still remained aloof. He knew he was supposed to wait for the Van to assign him to kill Jun Tao, but he took the Van's reprimand as a joke. He assumed that the faster Jun Tao was dead the shorter the trouble would be to come out victorious in the war, but his calculations were now the burden he had to carry. In a way he went against the Elders, and so he must be punished. Death was not the case. The three aged Chinese men were quite happy they received their vengeance.

Mao continued, still grim. "I guess you know. Just promise me Vicious, that you won't do this again. You know I don't raise fools," Mao said, his facial features now back to its normal cordial appearance.

Vicious didn't reply. Big deal if I have to work longer. It's practically the same damn thing he thought to himself.

"Vicious, do you have anything to say before I proceed?"

"No," he lied.

"Good. At exactly 8 post meridiem the new consignments are coming in Tharsis Bay. The modus operandi."

Vicious nodded. "It will be taken care of." He stood up from his chair and made his way out of the private office.

"Just one more thing, Vicious," Mao said from behind. He halted.

Mao spoke in his businessman voice again.

"Watch out for Judases."

***


No more waking up late at night to get artillery ready. No more smelling gunpowder. No more seeing bloodbaths and carnage...

Today was a free day for Julia. She took pleasure in the ephemeral freedom, finally being able to be herself. She lay awake in the stainless white sheets of her bed, staring at the blank ceiling. She sighed in content.

This is the life...or something like it...

It was already 7:43 PM. It was already dusk, the white rays of light in her room were now fading into a monochrome world. All day she just slept, something she's been wanting to do for what seemed like eternity. She constantly dreamed of a normal life, the life she always wanted.

Her eyelids closed and she had another dream of the arcadia that was always present in her imaginings. She forced herself to not think of her misfortunes: being a mobster, living in solitude, trapped in a world she chose not to be in. Why ruin a good day with such thoughts?

She continued fantasizing about paradise when the phone rang.

Please let it be a wrong number...

She grunted in annoyance as she picked up the receiver.

"What is it?" Her voice sounded blasé, which didn't surprise the voice on the other end of the line.

"Get ready."

It was Vicious.

Great, there goes my freedom out the window...

She sighed in dreariness. "For what?"

"It's a surprise."

"I hate surprises." Her mind trailed back when she was nearly scared to death at a surprise birthday party when she was six. She shuddered in revulsion as she thought of it.

Vicious laughed amusingly, as if he was reading her thoughts. "Then you might want to reconsider." Julia sighed. She knew she had to go. It was an Augean stable they had to clean out.

"So what, this is going to be like a date now?" she joked.

"Of course darling," he teased back, enunciating "darling" more jokingly. She could tell he was smiling. She couldn't help but chuckle.

What an asshole...

Click.

Julia set the phone down. She fell on her mattress on her back, staring at the ceiling once more.

Great...just great...

***


"It's just another day at the beach, except you're doing the honors," Vicious said, handing her a .45. Julia reluctantly took the weapon out of his pale hand and stuffed it in her coat. She headed toward the wooden docks of Tharsis Bay, with Han and a rookie named Rocco trailing behind her as Vicious and another top assassin identified as Eric Satoyasu made their way behind to hijack a boat.

The salty sea air was usually sensuous to Julia, but tonight it wasn't. She looked up at the night sky, that looked like a black cover that spread all over the sky, with tiny holes that shined in light. She was no Cassandra, but she had a great intuition that disaster was written all over this scheme. She couldn't say anything or complain as the gang of three crept through the darkness in the gangplanks, because they were already spotted by two White Tiger bodyguards, who were supervising the docks. The three immediately skirted behind a warehouse as bullets trailed their steps. Han mercilessly took them down, arousing the suspicion of more White Tigers who fired their guns aimed at Han.

"Go! I'll take care of them!" Han whispered loudly.

"Thanks Han."

Julia and Rocco hastily ran to the port where the S.S. Appollonian was parked, Julia pointing her gun forward, ready to gun down anything that would get in their way. Rocco covered her back with the bullets of his .90 caliber.

"Stop." Rocco obeyed. They were finally at the S.S. Appollonian, harboring under the silhouette of the ship's bow, which was about 15 feet above sea waters. Julia vigilantly observed their surroundings. A guard occupied the top deck, charily walking back and forth with his submachine gun around the crates that held illegal narcotics that cost a fortune. Another guard also walked to and froth the planks just feet away from them. She didn't know how many more Tigers were inside, but she had to massacre them all anyway. They had to find a way to get into the ship without making any erroneous actions that would trigger their death.

"Rocco, I'll go in first and distract them. Meanwhile, get into the ship and start hauling the bags. Let's go!" Julia whispered, a little too loud. Her voice caught the guard's attention at the wooden planks. He raised his submachine gun, ready to annihilate the source of the noise.

"Who's there?" the guard ordered. He saw a blur of gold approach him as he struggled to clarify what was forthcoming him, shooting forward. In a flash of a second the man knew he was going to be a dead man. Julia swiftly shot him in his neck, right in the carotid artery. The guard at the top deck started firing rounds of bullets at her, startled at the sudden exchange of gunfire. She ran as fast as she could to get onboard barely escaping lethal projectiles, and shot down the second guard along with two other Tigers who surfaced from behind the brown crates. They fell into the ocean as more gunfire erupted onboard. More Tigers came into view, coming from the lower decks. There was about six of them, already opening fire.

"Damn," Julia muttered, running for cover as she took down two more Tigers in two shots. From behind she could sense Rocco prying open the stacked crates, emptying them. Vicious' boat was to arrive in seconds. But it didn't.

Damn you Vicious...

She evaded the brisk flurry of bullets behind a wooden barrel. She had just emptied her first clip and was now using her second one. Dammit Vicious, where the hell are you she thought edgily.

Rocco hurriedly cracked open the crates, hoping to get the job done without getting caught. Suddenly his ears caught the sound of footsteps approaching, each step rising the adrenaline rushing through his veins. Distressed, he fumbled in his coat looking for his gun. The footsteps stopped. He looked up. It was Han, his right hand shoved in his pocket. Rocco let out a sigh in relief.

"Han, where were you? You almost scared the shit out of me. We need your help, Vicious hasn't arrived yet." Han watched him silently, not answering his comrade's question. His expression was dead serious.

"Han? You okay man? Get down before you get caught!" Rocco exclaimed. He resumed extracting the bags filled with red eye in it. Han didn't move. He raised his right hand from his pocket. Rocco heard a gun being cocked. His sight was filled with the image of Han pointing a pistol right at him. Rocco's eyes enlarged as he pulled the trigger and shouted in agony as he took three shots in the chest. By the third shot, he staggered to the floor, barely alive. Blood poured out abundantly from the holes in his chest which formed a puddle of scarlet around his dying body. He opened his mouth and tried to struggle his last words, but they never came. Han just stood there, as if nothing had happened. His cold stare met with the emerald green eyes of the young Rocco until the life in them flickered away. Unfortunately, his cry of pain blended in with the cries of the White Tigers Julia shot.

Julia was struggling to kill the four remaining Tigers. She managed to pierce three shots into one in the belly and another in the side, mortally wounding them. She rose from behind the barrel and ran near the site where Han murdered Rocco, killing the two last enemies. She sighed in exhaustion, hoping there was no more White Tigers onboard. There was an eerie silence that haunted the ambience in the ship without the sound of gunfire. She looked to her left where Rocco was supposed to be. Gun in hand, she slowly walked to her left, hoping to find Rocco.

"Rocco, where are you?" She wandered more between the crates which Rocco was supposed to be emptying. Her eyes fixed on a hideous sight. There was Rocco, lying lifeless in his own blood. Before she could gasp or run to Rocco's side, a voice stopped her.

"Don't move."

Julia immediately recognized that voice. Han.

She turned around, and found Han pointing his gun right in between her eyes. He was shaking.

"Han! What the fuck do you think you're doing? How could you?"

"I'm sorry, Julia."

He was a bout to pull the trigger when the sound of a boat coming towards them filled the air.

Vicious.

Eric instantaneously shot Han right in his skull, just when Han pulled the trigger. Julia barely avoided Han's bullet just a little, as it skidded right past the tip of her left shoulder. A sharp pain struck through her like a lightning bolt as the bullet collided into her flesh. She fell on her knees as Han fell on his back, already dead.

Eric busily hauled the red eyes bags onto the hijacked boat. Vicious ran to Julia's side.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, what the hell took you so long?"

"We had to deal with Judas here." They both turned to look at Han's dead body, his eyes still open with brain tissue spilled out of his wound.

Julia looked at Han regretfully. "I never expected he would turn against the Dragons. He seemed so loyal."

"War turns men into monsters. That's just the way it is..." his voice trailed off.

Aren't we already monsters...

"Where's Rocco?" Julia suddenly asked.

Eric spoke, "I found Rocco. He was a victim of Han's betrayal." Julia felt more remorse. First Jorel, Jin, Rocco, now Han? How could he betray the Red Dragons?

"Julia, let's go," Vicious interrupted. He helped her onto the stolen boat, while she bore the pain of her wound with stoic patience. As Eric drove the boat farther from the S.S. Apollonian, Vicious took out a remote control from his sleeve, a remote that would detonate the ship.

"Would you like to do the honors?" He held out the remote to Julia.

"No. I've done enough already."

"If you insist." He pressed the button while Julia refused to look back at the S.S. Apollonian now blazing in fire, with all those men she killed and her former comrades, Rocco and Han. There was a brief show of an enormous cloud of bright flames that illuminated the pitch-black darkness of the ocean. The boat came to a halt into the Red Dragon's secret docks, slipping the red eye into their hidden warehouses. The distribution of the red eye was officially in the hands of the Red Dragon syndicate.

***


"I didn't know you cared so much," Julia said sarcastically. Vicious acted as if he didn't hear her at all.

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" Vicious asked for the umpteenth time, while he fixed her wound on her couch.

"You love doing this, do you?" Julia asked, somewhat amused by his goading. He smirked at her.

Then things were silent again.

"Vicious," she spoke, looking straight into his dark eyes. He looked up, her glistening azure eyes reflecting in his shady irises.

"Thanks."

"For what?"

"For patching up my wound. I didn't know someone like you would even have the decency to even have the slightest bit of mercy."

He stared at her, giving her the silent treatment. She looked silently back, trying to find answers in his gaze why she was feeling something, that same feeling she had when her eyes first met his. But she found nothing, except that his gape was different. It was warm. It was sensual. It was human.

Without another word, he slowly brought his face closer and closer to hers. She knew exactly what he was going to do. He was going to do what the prince would do to the princess right before they lived happily ever after. He was going to do what woke Sleeping Beauty up from her slumber.

He was going to kiss her.

Should she refuse? Give in? After all, this was Vicious, who was acting extremely out of character. But she was charmed by this odd behavior...

Before she could decide what to do, their lips met. Her eyes closed, when she decided to release that feeling she now understood; the one that was hidden inside her ever since she met him.

Passion.