Chapter Five: Bounty Paper Towels

*This time the landing was slightly more tolerable. Now that Sai knew what to expect from the strange anomaly, she also knew that when she landed, she would have to begin all over, with new and unusual people in a new and unusual land. Not that she minded. It was almost a welcomed change, to be able to start over anywhere she wanted. Finally, she could see land in sight. She braced her self for a long, hard fall.

Suddenly she wished more than anything she had allowed Vegita to teach her to fly. No, stop. She wasn't going to allow herself to get sucked into regrets about the past. If she did, she wouldn't be able to concentrate and prepare herself to take the fall with grace. Still… wait. She wondered…

"Nimbus!" Closing her eyes, she knew already that had been a waste. The cloud was from the other Earth, and it wouldn't work in this place… Something soft came up below her. She peeked, then opened her eyes fully. No, she was seeing things! The cloud was actually beneath her, suspending her in mid air. Well, this certainly was a pleasant turn of events. She let the cloud lower her to the ground slowly, and then hopped off and sent it on its way. Looking around, she knew she wasn't in Kansas anymore.

All around her the sky was reddish orange, not blue, as it should be. There were hovercrafts making their way swiftly through the air, and people were milling around everywhere. Finally, she got so fed up trying to simply figure out where she was that she asked someone.

"I'll tell you for a thousand woolongs!" The man laughed hard.

"I don't have any money." She shrugged angrily.

"Then tough. Hard to believe some people these days. They think just because they're on Mars and not Earth people will be nicer. Idiots, the lot of them." As he left, her jaw dropped in awe. Mars! Then she remembered her supposed attitude and put her poker face back on. But Mars! People in this world had already colonized the planets. That in it's self was a miracle to her. Suddenly, a large fight broke out right in front of her.

Two large men began to duke it out right in the middle of the street. A small circle gathered around to watch the fight, but the majority of the people simply passed on without acknowledging it. Sai joined the circle to find out what the fight was over. But it was past that point. Now all the men cared about was winning, not the real reason they had been fighting.

As she watched, she critiqued their pitiful moves. No style, no sense of grace, and they weren't in tune with their movements in the least. In her trained fighter's eyes, it was a klutz attack.

"Enough." One man swore, and pulled a gun. Within seconds, the second man was dead. The crowd simply dispersed, as if the fight was nothing. She stood, silent. Where were the police? Was there no justice in this colony? Then she heard the sirens. But they were just too late. So much for the system. Slightly cross that a man had died for nothing, she stalked off across the street, where she could sit at a café and watch the cops work without being in their way.

"Order?" An older waitress approached her.

"Nothing."

"Order something or get out."

"All I have to pay with are American dollars." She answered.

"What kind of money is that?"

"The kind I have. Take it or leave it."

"Hold on a second. Let me talk to my boss." The waitress disappeared. As Sai sat watching the crime scene, she overheard two men talking behind her.

"So the one who pulled the gun was a member of the Syndicate"

"Yes sir. I wonder how that new leader of theirs, Vicious, will handle this." The first man snorted.

"Probably murder whom ever tries to investigate him. And the guy who shot that poor sap over there too. You see, Vicious can't leave anything like this on the Syndicate's records if he wants that crime ring to keep thriving like it has."

"Yeah. Or maybe he'll put a bounty on the guy, you know, make it look like he wants to help the cops."

"That's a good possibility too." As Sai listened, she gathered facts. One, that the cops didn't have a very high level of respect from the public. Two, there was a huge crime gang called the Syndicate that was headed up by a man named Vicious. And three, a bounty? She vaguely remembered hearing the term, but couldn't quite remember what it meant.

"Hey girly! The boss says he can take thirty dollars worth of your money to pay for food for you." Sai looked this woman over. Something was wrong with this. There was no way the exchange rate could be that high for American money.

"May I speak to your manager please?"

"Yeah, I'll… never mind, here he comes now. Sir, she wants to speak to you." The waitress turned Sai's attention over to a scraggly looking blonde man with brown eyes and a large nose.

"Hello Miss. You really have American dollars there huh?"

"Yes. But I have a hard time finding the exchange rate to be that high- you wouldn't be…lying… to me, would you sir? The police are only just across the way, and I'm sure they wouldn't have any trouble…"

"Stop, stop, stop! Now then, there's no reason to bring those cops over here. So you know your money, alright then, fine. Carry, give her whatever she wants for two dollars."

"Two?" Sai questioned. Now it seemed too low.

"Alright, fifty cents!" The manager began to hyperventilate. Sai could see sweat beginning to bead up on his forehead. Wow. The American money Bulma had given her was worth so much here! Truly almost priceless… she inwardly laughed at her joke. Money as priceless…

Soon the waitress brought her out a drink and small basket of fries, her order. Sai had no change, so she gave the waitress a dollar and told her she could keep the change. The look on the face of the woman had been… priceless.

After eating, Sai found herself wandering the streets. She knew not where she was going, but only that if the rift had opened and dropped her here, then there had to have been a reason. But so far all she had seen was crime and a society that had morals very different from what she was used to, even in the Gundam world. She passed a pawnshop and stopped to watch the televisions in the window. The program playing was called Big Shots. Though she thought it was an unusual name, she watched anyway.

"Today on Big Shots we have a real baddie!" A woman who had skimpily clad squealed.

"That's right folks! This man is responsible for looting the grocery stores on Mars, Venus, and even Earth!" A black man appeared beside the woman. "What's so bad about stealing groceries? A lot apparently, since the bounty on his head has been set at a whopping fifty million woolong!"

"That's right everyone! Catch him and the fifty million is yours!" The woman nodded excitedly with her co-host. Sai smirked. Now she remembered what a bounty was. People received money for turning in a bandit in the days of the old west. Well, she supposed, the police must have had such a problem with crime that they had reverted back to that system. How perfectly cowardly of them. They couldn't even take care of their own work. She smirked. Probably too fat to catch anyone. Sai walked on.

Suddenly her sensitive ears picked up the sounds of a fight. She stepped around the corner and found herself observing what she had heard only seconds before. A group of seven or eight were beating on one man. The man, already on the ground, was still trying to get back up, but slowly losing ground. It wasn't that the man on the ground wasn't strong, no; he looked like he could take one or two of them on. But all of them, all together? No. She sighed. She felt it her obligation to help him.

"Hey!" She yelled to get their attention.

"What do you want girly?"

"Let him go. Now. Or you'll have to fight me." She gave them the ultimatum. They all stopped. Their apparent leader stepped up front.

"You? Fight us?" He looked her over. "Alright honey. And after we knock you out, we'll just have a little fun with you're body. Don't worry babe. You won't feel anything, you'll be too beaten to notice anything."

"Try it and see." She sneered. They let go of the man all together and advanced on her. A few punches, kicks, and simple fighting moves later, and all but one of the men was lying on the ground.

"No way!" He yelled. "I'm out of here!" He yelled as he ran. Sai simply smirked. It had felt good to beat the crap out of them, but she was a little depressed she had had to hold back as much as she did. One ki blast would have sent them all to hell. Oh well. She stepped over to the man who was kneeling on the ground and offered him her hand.

"Want help?"

"Sure, hey thanks." She simply grunted and nodded. As the man tried to stand, he doubled back over and groaned. Sai sat him back down and looked him over. He was bleeding heavily in his mid section.

"They used knives on an unarmed man?"

"Yeah. Apparently their parents were apes- they never learned any manners." The man laughed before wincing. "Look, could you get me to my ship? It's close by."

"Hnn." She grunted, nodding in affirmative. Then she easily hoisted the man over her shoulder, ignoring his surprised shouts and complaints. As they walked the short distance to his ship, she couldn't help but ask.

"Why did they beat you up?"

"You hear of the bounty on the man who was robbing the grocery stores?"

"Yeah, on Big Shots this afternoon." She answered.

"I just turned him in. They were after the money."

"You caught him?"

"Yeah. Him and a roll of Bounty paper towels from his last raid." The man laughed slightly, and then coughed. As Sai put him in his ship, she realized he was about to pass out.

"Can you get home on your own old man?"

"Old man?" He grunted in discomfort. "I'm not… that… old." He was wheezing heavily.

"Want me to take you home?"

"I'm living on a ship in space, it's pretty far out of the way. Don't bother."

"Name of the ship?" she asked as she climbed into the smaller pod with him. Guilt was telling her she had to help him get home. She had already seen one man die today; she couldn't bare it with any other.

"The Bebop. The name's Jet, Jet Black." And he passed out.

"Roger that." Sai acknowledged the sleeping man. *