Chapter 22 - See You Space Cowboy
"Tatoe inochi tsukitemo - Yet, even if the mortal life comes to an end
Kono ai o kese wa shinai - This love cannot be erased
Sore wa towa o ikiru koto - That is to live forever"
When it comes to enjoying pain, there are two types of people:
sadists and masochists. Masochists were those who enjoyed
having pain inflicted upon them, while sadists were those who
enjoyed seeing others in pain. They could be considered takers
and givers, so to speak.
Death, the Doomsday Bringer, as Edward called him, was an
excellent example of a sadist. Grinning in sick satisfaction, the
bounty head currently known as Thanatos, tightened his grip
around Faye's neck, watching her face turn blue as she gasped
for air.
"There now," he cooed. "Don't worry, it'll all be over soon."
Clawing at his arm with one hand and desperately straining to
reach her gun with the other, Faye did everything in her power
to remain conscious. She went from thinking of the various
ways she was going to literally beat the shit out of him when she
got free, to what she was gonna say to Spike when he made
some smart-ass remark about the injuries she received. From
there her mind wandered to lyrics of songs she had heard, and
then to what she regretted never doing in her lifetime - she really
couldn't come up with much except to be serenaded to the tune
of Las Flores.
"When I get free…" she gasped, digging her nails into his hand.
Thanatos winced slightly. "You've made a grave error in
coming here, Miss Valentine," he told her. "I don't really know
what you expected to find, but it seems 160 million woolongs will
certainly mean your death."
"You mean yours." Faye countered, that angry gleam still present
in her eyes. She was down, but by no means was she out. "You're
not gonna get away with what you did to Spike."
"Spike?" Thanatos laughed out loud. "You poor thing, you really
are delusional. You really have no idea who I am, do you?"
To his surprise, Faye smirked. "One sick, perverted, sonuvabitch
that's just about to get his ass kicked!" She lifted her leg, kneeing
him in the stomach. With the wind knocked out of him, he stumbled
backwards away from her. Using that moment to her advantage,
Faye rushed forward, sending him spinning with a hard left hook.
He hit the ground with a thud, and Faye lunged towards him, holding
nothing back.
=====
Edward stood on the observation deck of the Bebop, looking down at
the chaos ensuing below. The little black, ant-like forms of people
piled out of the Bathsheba City Mall in droves, fleeing like mad from
an enemy that wasn't even there.
"I guess that explosion must've really spooked them." she observed.
Jet blinked; she hadn't referred to herself in 3rd person. She looked
over at him. "Edward thinks Jet used too much C-4."
So much for that, "I did not." he replied indignantly. "Besides, it was
more like C-2 and a quarter." He paused. "How long has it been?"
Edward checked her watch. "45 minutes and 15.7 seconds." She
pressed her hands against the glass windows, looking back down
towards the ground. "Spike-person and Faye-Faye will come back
won't they?" Jet remained silent. "Won't they? Jet-person?"
Jet walked away, Edward following his every movement with her
amber eyes shining with worry. Hopping into the pilot's chair, the
ex-cop began plotting the Bebop's landing procedures. "If they
don't," he replied evenly. "We're just gonna have to go in there and
get them."
=====
--Click!-- Thanatos remained completely calm, despite his current
situation. His compound was in shambles, his cover was blown, and
within the hour, the police would be crawling all over the place,
apprehending all of his employees remaining in the facility. Not to
mention he was bruised, battered, and bloodied, lying on his back with
a gun pointed at his head.
It didn't really matter, though. Standing over him, ready to send him
into oblivion, was an angel - an Angel of Death.
"You do realize," he smirked. "That if you kill me, you don't get the
bounty. I don't come dead or alive like Aeolis did."
"You knew all along, didn't you?" Her voice remained low and
steady. "You knew Aeolis would find me - you set it up from the
beginning."
"That is true." Thanatos smirked.
Faye couldn't believe her ears. "Why?" she screamed. "Do you
know what you've done?!"
"Of course." he answered. "I knew that by hiring Arnold to attack
you, it would create the necessary correlation that would lead to
Aeolis, and then invariably to me." He chuckled, resulting in a
coughing fit. "Like I told you, I can't have bounty hunters breathing
down my neck whenever the ISSP decides to raise my bounty. So, I
devised a plan; rather than having to worry, I had you all come to me.
Seeing that you and your comrades are at the top of your class when it
comes to hunting, I figured that if I got you out of the way, I'd have no
problems."
"You asshole!" Faye fired, hitting him squarely in the arm.
"You're too kind." He chuckled for a few moments, breaking out into
all out gales of laughter.
Faye shook her head, too stunned to comment. Finally everything was
making sense. "You're… you're not Vicious…"
"You're exactly right." Startled, Faye turned around. Spike stood in
the doorway, his gun hanging loosely in one hand, and supporting
himself on the doorframe with the other.
"But… it can't be…" she stammered. "If it's not him, then how is it…?"
"There was a theory that everyone, no matter how ugly they were,
had a double." He glanced over at Thanatos. "I never really believed
it until now. All this time, he'd been using Vicious' face and reputation
to get power. What with no leader to take succession after the coup
on the Van, who was there to question him when he reformed the
Syndicate?"
Faye nodded, all the while keeping her eyes on Thanatos. Who would
have thought someone as scary as Vicious could have a double?
'Bizarre…' she thought to herself. 'I wonder how Spike's taking all
this…'
Looking him over, Faye's eyes lit up in worry. Though he didn't really
seem phased by seeing Thanatos, he was still in pretty bad shape. Hell,
he looked worse off than she did. And to make matters worse, he had
come all this way, just to look for her.
She really was a bitch. "Spike…"
Noting the look on her face, he smirked, making his way towards
her slowly. "I should've known you'd find a way to get into some shit,"
he drawled. "Though, by the looks of it, I should have let you handle it
yourself."
"I guess I should get to keep the 160 million woolongs for myself
then?" she smiled, although it was an uncertain one.
He tried shrugging, resulting in his wincing in pain. "Suit yourself--," He
paused, his attention drifting over to Thanatos. Reaching into the folds
of his jacket, the Red Mafia leader drew a gun, training it on the back of
Faye's head. "Faye-move!"
Before anyone had time to react, Spike rushed forward, grabbing Faye
by her shoulders. As Thanatos fired, Spike shoved her to the side. The
bullet zinged past her, grazing her cheek before finally lodging itself in
Spike's shoulder. He fell to the ground with a thud.
"Spike!" she screamed. "You dumb ass! You should've let me take it!"
He winced, smiling up at her weakly. "I had to return the favor…" he
replied. "Besides… can't let… you have all the fun--,"
"You know what," she exclaimed. "Shut up - it's time to end this!"
She got up and walked over towards Thanatos. Loading a fresh clip,
she took aim.
"Faye…" Spike replied as he struggled to get to his feet. Damn, it hurt
to move… it was so much better when nothing short of falling out of a
building could slow him down. He watched as she hefted Thanatos up
with one hand, pointing her gun to his head. "Don't…"
"Shut up, Spike." she snapped. "I'm tired of this… I'm tired of this
game, understand? Do you realize this guy's been playing us for
suckers from day one? He knew about the bounty - he brought us all
together just so he could kill us!"
"But we stopped him, Faye," Spike said, pushing against the wall in
order to get up. "It's over."
Faye wasn't listening to him. "I really thought this guy was Vicious,"
she mused. "I was actually afraid of him… I was so certain that if he
saw you…"
"He and I would repeat the whole cycle all over again?" Spike finished.
"I already told you, Faye, that part of my life is finished."
"Is it?" She turned and glared at him. "What happens now, Spike?
What are you going to do? Leave again? Show up on my doorstep
three years from now with another bounty? I can't take that, Spike!
I can't take you leaving again! I can't take being hurt again!"
Spike paused. She hadn't said it, but he knew - Faye loved him.
She glared down at Thanatos. "I won't stand for it! I'm not going to let
him get away with what he's done - nobody does that to me, nobody--!"
--Click!-- Faye glanced back at Spike. The lanky bounty hunter, weak
and wobbling, stood tall, his eyes clear and focused. His gun sat poised
next his temple; his finger was on the trigger.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Put the gun down, Faye," he told her. "If you kill him… everything
we've done, everything we've accomplished will have been a waste."
She blinked. "Everything we've accomplished?" she repeated. "Is that
all that matters to you? Getting your money? What about all you've
told me? Was it just lies?"
Spike frowned. "Everything I've told you has been the truth," he
answered. "As far as I'm concerned, the one with lies has been you."
"What?"
Spike remained calm. "Tell me something, Faye," he replied. "Have
you ever killed anyone?"
Faye blinked again. "Yes--,"
"Now, when I say that, I don't mean on accident, like a bounty gone
bad," His expression was dark. "I mean have you ever killed anyone -
before now - with the actual intent of killing them." Faye remained
silent. "I didn't think so." He pushed away from the wall, limping
towards her slowly. "Let me tell you something, Faye - Vicious killed a
lot of people in his time; some of them had it coming, some of them just
happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The same thing
can be said about me. I sent a lot of people to their graves, and believe
me, that's not something I'm proud of. The thought of my being a cold-
blooded killer may not sound too plausible to you, but it's the truth.
Regrettably, it's something that I'll have to keep with me for the rest of
my days."
Faye stood still, loosening her hold on Thanatos slowly but surely as
she kept her eyes on Spike.
"I know you're still angry about what happened between me and
Vicious," Spike replied. "Hell, you might even have your own vendetta
out against him." Faye blinked. How had he known that? "But, he's
dead, Faye. Vicious is dead; he's not coming back. You may be tough,
but not that tough - you're not a killer." He paused for a moment. "Now
when I tell you this, believe me, because I know what it's like - I've
been through it all. If you kill Thanatos, you'll be killing the wrong guy.
It may not bother you now, but that's something you'll have to live with
for the rest of your life. You don't want to do that to yourself."
He stopped in front of her, lowering his gun and placing his free hand
on top of her gun. "So, I tell you again, put the gun down."
This time, Faye did as asked. Thanatos' head hit the ground with a
thud, rendering him unconscious.
At that moment, Jet and Ed decided to make their entrance, bursting
through the door armed to the teeth with guns, tranquilizers, and little
green vials.
"All right, nobody move!" Edward exclaimed, her face screwed up in
a John Wayne-type fashion
Faye and Spike blinked, with blank expressions on their faces.
Realizing there was no danger, Jet smirked, rubbing the back of his
head. "Hmm, guess the show's over."
"Aww… and Edward wanted souvenirs…" she trailed off, spotting
Thanatos' wallet lying on the floor. She pulled a thousand woolong bill.
She stuffed it in her pocket, tossing the wallet back on the floor.
Spike chuckled. "I did say to give me an hour." he replied.
"Ed?"
"It's been exactly 1 hour, 15 minutes, and 35.4 seconds!"
Faye sighed, scratching her head. "Well, I guess that's a wrap then."
Spike smirked, forming his hand into the shape of a gun. He pointed it
at Thanatos. "Bang." With that, he winced, lurching forward.
"Spike!" Faye exclaimed as he collapsed into her arms. "Don't do this
to me! Don't die on me, you jackass!"
"I'm not gonna die," he murmured, his head buried in her chest. "I was
just enjoying the view."
Jet laughed out loud.
Faye's face turned flaming red. However, she didn't have the heart to
be angry with him. "Lunkhead."
"Lunkhead, lunkhead, lunkhead!"
End of Chapter 22
Author's Notes -
WAAHHHHH! The End!
Just kidding... you guys would have killed me for that, wouldn't you? But
sad to say, TWTCITB is drawing to a close. ::sniffles:: It's been a great
ride, but it's almost over... ::breaks out into tears::
Next time, Epilogue - I Guess That's Why They Call it the Blues
"Tatoe inochi tsukitemo - Yet, even if the mortal life comes to an end
Kono ai o kese wa shinai - This love cannot be erased
Sore wa towa o ikiru koto - That is to live forever"
When it comes to enjoying pain, there are two types of people:
sadists and masochists. Masochists were those who enjoyed
having pain inflicted upon them, while sadists were those who
enjoyed seeing others in pain. They could be considered takers
and givers, so to speak.
Death, the Doomsday Bringer, as Edward called him, was an
excellent example of a sadist. Grinning in sick satisfaction, the
bounty head currently known as Thanatos, tightened his grip
around Faye's neck, watching her face turn blue as she gasped
for air.
"There now," he cooed. "Don't worry, it'll all be over soon."
Clawing at his arm with one hand and desperately straining to
reach her gun with the other, Faye did everything in her power
to remain conscious. She went from thinking of the various
ways she was going to literally beat the shit out of him when she
got free, to what she was gonna say to Spike when he made
some smart-ass remark about the injuries she received. From
there her mind wandered to lyrics of songs she had heard, and
then to what she regretted never doing in her lifetime - she really
couldn't come up with much except to be serenaded to the tune
of Las Flores.
"When I get free…" she gasped, digging her nails into his hand.
Thanatos winced slightly. "You've made a grave error in
coming here, Miss Valentine," he told her. "I don't really know
what you expected to find, but it seems 160 million woolongs will
certainly mean your death."
"You mean yours." Faye countered, that angry gleam still present
in her eyes. She was down, but by no means was she out. "You're
not gonna get away with what you did to Spike."
"Spike?" Thanatos laughed out loud. "You poor thing, you really
are delusional. You really have no idea who I am, do you?"
To his surprise, Faye smirked. "One sick, perverted, sonuvabitch
that's just about to get his ass kicked!" She lifted her leg, kneeing
him in the stomach. With the wind knocked out of him, he stumbled
backwards away from her. Using that moment to her advantage,
Faye rushed forward, sending him spinning with a hard left hook.
He hit the ground with a thud, and Faye lunged towards him, holding
nothing back.
=====
Edward stood on the observation deck of the Bebop, looking down at
the chaos ensuing below. The little black, ant-like forms of people
piled out of the Bathsheba City Mall in droves, fleeing like mad from
an enemy that wasn't even there.
"I guess that explosion must've really spooked them." she observed.
Jet blinked; she hadn't referred to herself in 3rd person. She looked
over at him. "Edward thinks Jet used too much C-4."
So much for that, "I did not." he replied indignantly. "Besides, it was
more like C-2 and a quarter." He paused. "How long has it been?"
Edward checked her watch. "45 minutes and 15.7 seconds." She
pressed her hands against the glass windows, looking back down
towards the ground. "Spike-person and Faye-Faye will come back
won't they?" Jet remained silent. "Won't they? Jet-person?"
Jet walked away, Edward following his every movement with her
amber eyes shining with worry. Hopping into the pilot's chair, the
ex-cop began plotting the Bebop's landing procedures. "If they
don't," he replied evenly. "We're just gonna have to go in there and
get them."
=====
--Click!-- Thanatos remained completely calm, despite his current
situation. His compound was in shambles, his cover was blown, and
within the hour, the police would be crawling all over the place,
apprehending all of his employees remaining in the facility. Not to
mention he was bruised, battered, and bloodied, lying on his back with
a gun pointed at his head.
It didn't really matter, though. Standing over him, ready to send him
into oblivion, was an angel - an Angel of Death.
"You do realize," he smirked. "That if you kill me, you don't get the
bounty. I don't come dead or alive like Aeolis did."
"You knew all along, didn't you?" Her voice remained low and
steady. "You knew Aeolis would find me - you set it up from the
beginning."
"That is true." Thanatos smirked.
Faye couldn't believe her ears. "Why?" she screamed. "Do you
know what you've done?!"
"Of course." he answered. "I knew that by hiring Arnold to attack
you, it would create the necessary correlation that would lead to
Aeolis, and then invariably to me." He chuckled, resulting in a
coughing fit. "Like I told you, I can't have bounty hunters breathing
down my neck whenever the ISSP decides to raise my bounty. So, I
devised a plan; rather than having to worry, I had you all come to me.
Seeing that you and your comrades are at the top of your class when it
comes to hunting, I figured that if I got you out of the way, I'd have no
problems."
"You asshole!" Faye fired, hitting him squarely in the arm.
"You're too kind." He chuckled for a few moments, breaking out into
all out gales of laughter.
Faye shook her head, too stunned to comment. Finally everything was
making sense. "You're… you're not Vicious…"
"You're exactly right." Startled, Faye turned around. Spike stood in
the doorway, his gun hanging loosely in one hand, and supporting
himself on the doorframe with the other.
"But… it can't be…" she stammered. "If it's not him, then how is it…?"
"There was a theory that everyone, no matter how ugly they were,
had a double." He glanced over at Thanatos. "I never really believed
it until now. All this time, he'd been using Vicious' face and reputation
to get power. What with no leader to take succession after the coup
on the Van, who was there to question him when he reformed the
Syndicate?"
Faye nodded, all the while keeping her eyes on Thanatos. Who would
have thought someone as scary as Vicious could have a double?
'Bizarre…' she thought to herself. 'I wonder how Spike's taking all
this…'
Looking him over, Faye's eyes lit up in worry. Though he didn't really
seem phased by seeing Thanatos, he was still in pretty bad shape. Hell,
he looked worse off than she did. And to make matters worse, he had
come all this way, just to look for her.
She really was a bitch. "Spike…"
Noting the look on her face, he smirked, making his way towards
her slowly. "I should've known you'd find a way to get into some shit,"
he drawled. "Though, by the looks of it, I should have let you handle it
yourself."
"I guess I should get to keep the 160 million woolongs for myself
then?" she smiled, although it was an uncertain one.
He tried shrugging, resulting in his wincing in pain. "Suit yourself--," He
paused, his attention drifting over to Thanatos. Reaching into the folds
of his jacket, the Red Mafia leader drew a gun, training it on the back of
Faye's head. "Faye-move!"
Before anyone had time to react, Spike rushed forward, grabbing Faye
by her shoulders. As Thanatos fired, Spike shoved her to the side. The
bullet zinged past her, grazing her cheek before finally lodging itself in
Spike's shoulder. He fell to the ground with a thud.
"Spike!" she screamed. "You dumb ass! You should've let me take it!"
He winced, smiling up at her weakly. "I had to return the favor…" he
replied. "Besides… can't let… you have all the fun--,"
"You know what," she exclaimed. "Shut up - it's time to end this!"
She got up and walked over towards Thanatos. Loading a fresh clip,
she took aim.
"Faye…" Spike replied as he struggled to get to his feet. Damn, it hurt
to move… it was so much better when nothing short of falling out of a
building could slow him down. He watched as she hefted Thanatos up
with one hand, pointing her gun to his head. "Don't…"
"Shut up, Spike." she snapped. "I'm tired of this… I'm tired of this
game, understand? Do you realize this guy's been playing us for
suckers from day one? He knew about the bounty - he brought us all
together just so he could kill us!"
"But we stopped him, Faye," Spike said, pushing against the wall in
order to get up. "It's over."
Faye wasn't listening to him. "I really thought this guy was Vicious,"
she mused. "I was actually afraid of him… I was so certain that if he
saw you…"
"He and I would repeat the whole cycle all over again?" Spike finished.
"I already told you, Faye, that part of my life is finished."
"Is it?" She turned and glared at him. "What happens now, Spike?
What are you going to do? Leave again? Show up on my doorstep
three years from now with another bounty? I can't take that, Spike!
I can't take you leaving again! I can't take being hurt again!"
Spike paused. She hadn't said it, but he knew - Faye loved him.
She glared down at Thanatos. "I won't stand for it! I'm not going to let
him get away with what he's done - nobody does that to me, nobody--!"
--Click!-- Faye glanced back at Spike. The lanky bounty hunter, weak
and wobbling, stood tall, his eyes clear and focused. His gun sat poised
next his temple; his finger was on the trigger.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Put the gun down, Faye," he told her. "If you kill him… everything
we've done, everything we've accomplished will have been a waste."
She blinked. "Everything we've accomplished?" she repeated. "Is that
all that matters to you? Getting your money? What about all you've
told me? Was it just lies?"
Spike frowned. "Everything I've told you has been the truth," he
answered. "As far as I'm concerned, the one with lies has been you."
"What?"
Spike remained calm. "Tell me something, Faye," he replied. "Have
you ever killed anyone?"
Faye blinked again. "Yes--,"
"Now, when I say that, I don't mean on accident, like a bounty gone
bad," His expression was dark. "I mean have you ever killed anyone -
before now - with the actual intent of killing them." Faye remained
silent. "I didn't think so." He pushed away from the wall, limping
towards her slowly. "Let me tell you something, Faye - Vicious killed a
lot of people in his time; some of them had it coming, some of them just
happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The same thing
can be said about me. I sent a lot of people to their graves, and believe
me, that's not something I'm proud of. The thought of my being a cold-
blooded killer may not sound too plausible to you, but it's the truth.
Regrettably, it's something that I'll have to keep with me for the rest of
my days."
Faye stood still, loosening her hold on Thanatos slowly but surely as
she kept her eyes on Spike.
"I know you're still angry about what happened between me and
Vicious," Spike replied. "Hell, you might even have your own vendetta
out against him." Faye blinked. How had he known that? "But, he's
dead, Faye. Vicious is dead; he's not coming back. You may be tough,
but not that tough - you're not a killer." He paused for a moment. "Now
when I tell you this, believe me, because I know what it's like - I've
been through it all. If you kill Thanatos, you'll be killing the wrong guy.
It may not bother you now, but that's something you'll have to live with
for the rest of your life. You don't want to do that to yourself."
He stopped in front of her, lowering his gun and placing his free hand
on top of her gun. "So, I tell you again, put the gun down."
This time, Faye did as asked. Thanatos' head hit the ground with a
thud, rendering him unconscious.
At that moment, Jet and Ed decided to make their entrance, bursting
through the door armed to the teeth with guns, tranquilizers, and little
green vials.
"All right, nobody move!" Edward exclaimed, her face screwed up in
a John Wayne-type fashion
Faye and Spike blinked, with blank expressions on their faces.
Realizing there was no danger, Jet smirked, rubbing the back of his
head. "Hmm, guess the show's over."
"Aww… and Edward wanted souvenirs…" she trailed off, spotting
Thanatos' wallet lying on the floor. She pulled a thousand woolong bill.
She stuffed it in her pocket, tossing the wallet back on the floor.
Spike chuckled. "I did say to give me an hour." he replied.
"Ed?"
"It's been exactly 1 hour, 15 minutes, and 35.4 seconds!"
Faye sighed, scratching her head. "Well, I guess that's a wrap then."
Spike smirked, forming his hand into the shape of a gun. He pointed it
at Thanatos. "Bang." With that, he winced, lurching forward.
"Spike!" Faye exclaimed as he collapsed into her arms. "Don't do this
to me! Don't die on me, you jackass!"
"I'm not gonna die," he murmured, his head buried in her chest. "I was
just enjoying the view."
Jet laughed out loud.
Faye's face turned flaming red. However, she didn't have the heart to
be angry with him. "Lunkhead."
"Lunkhead, lunkhead, lunkhead!"
End of Chapter 22
Author's Notes -
WAAHHHHH! The End!
Just kidding... you guys would have killed me for that, wouldn't you? But
sad to say, TWTCITB is drawing to a close. ::sniffles:: It's been a great
ride, but it's almost over... ::breaks out into tears::
Next time, Epilogue - I Guess That's Why They Call it the Blues