Disclaimer: ........hmph. You know very well that I don't own Cowboy Bebop or it's characters. The owners (or their lawyers or whoever) just want me to say it to rub it in. It's a conspiracy, I say!!!!
.......er.....hehe, ignore that little outburst....
just wanted to let y'all know that i'm not going to apologize about whether or not the story is in my opinion too short or long. What is my opinion but useless?? Jeez, all I am is the author...if u guys think its too long/short not enough action/content WHATEVER u tell me. Hence the whole purpose of reviewing (did i mention that i LOVE reviews??)....so review, k? Suggestions are always welcome and may i say that calling my work crap (although im sure none of u ppl would say such a thing ^.^) is not a suggestion. Alright, if u for some reason or another didn't skip my little ramblings then i'll let u read what u came to read ~.^
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I walked out of the syndicate, frustration pumping through my veins. All of that stress and worry, and I hadn't had a good fight. It was very disappointing, not to mention all the pent up energy I had was making me need to do something...such as hurt something, or rather, someone.
I walked briskly down the street, noticing the small signs of the city waking up. Still, though, I say no cops rushing to the scene of the Red Dragon headquarters, which didn't exactly speak well for the law enforcement, if they were that lazy or scared to at least see the building.
I looked around for the gangs that had been so prevalent when I hadn't needed them, but I was totally alone in the alleys, except for the usual drunks sleeping along the sides. There were no payphones, either, and the streets were still unusually empty. Grumbling to myself, I wondered how I could get back to Jet. I'd need his help to find Spike, as he'd disappeared without a trace.
Well, almost without a trace. The blood I'd soaked up would be good in finding out if it really had been Spike that had fought Vicious. I sighed, resisting the urge to lash out at a wall and further bruise my hand. I looked at the wall wistfully, before noticing a man in front of me, swaggering in my direction with a cocky grin that meant trouble.
I turned around and sure enough, two more were coming up behind me. A smile found its way onto my face as I evaluated the men. Easy prey: this was going to be fun.
"Hey, cutie," the one in front suddenly spoke up, his voice harsh in the still morning air.
"Dump out your money, and maybe we'll go easy on you, huh?" One of the two in the back rasped, before all three started to laugh nastily.
"Why hello." I smiled at them tauntingly, "You know, it's not my habit to get raped or robbed, so you'll have to excuse me when I bow out." I snorted as they looked at each other; all three of them confused. I was sure none of their 'prey' had ever spoken comprehensive words to them.
"Get 'er!" The man in front yelled.
"Ooh, not so loud, they're not deaf, ya know," I admonished, advancing to meet the one in front with a punch to the face, which he took with a rather satisfying surprised look, before I ducked with a sweep of my leg, to spill another on his back.
"Ow," I muttered, shaking the hand I'd bruised earlier.
The man's head hitting the pavement cracked loudly as I hopped back and stood in a crouch before disdainfully dispatching the last with a kick to the chest followed by another kick to the stomach.
I looked down at them; surprised they'd already been knocked out. Daintily rubbing my knuckles I shook my head in disgust as I stepped over the one I'd hit first, when suddenly my foot was grabbed and yanked.
Cursing with surprise I dropped and rolled, coming back swiftly to my feet to face him. He charged at me like an idiot, swinging his fists as if he could hit me. I grinned as I sidestepped his charge, aiming a kick at his butt to hurry him along. He howled his rage, turning around to regard me before taking out a knife, eyes glinting as he looked behind me, his cohorts probably up.
While he stupidly looked behind me I kicked his knife hand at the wrist, flinging the knife up and away, before I feinted a punch to his face and landed one in his stomach. Another followed that, which he clumsily blocked with an arm, before I hit him in the face: a finishing blow. He staggered back, eyes rolling up rather comically, and fell heavily.
I turned to face the other two, but only one was up, charging towards me with a knife extended. I rolled my eyes and ducked left, grabbing his wrist and turning to throw him over me. He fell with a loud "oof" and stayed still.
Very satisfying, I thought to myself, grinning like an idiot.
"Pathetic," I scoffed, dusting myself off before blowing the downed men a kiss. I sauntered down the alley, most of my frustration gone. If only I could find a way back to the Bebop. I concentrated on all the logical solutions half-heartedly; not paying any attention to the road when I stepped out onto it, thinking it was empty.
Skidding tires and a loud horn made me jump back to see a taxi come to a stop before me. Perfect. I climbed in after the man yelled at me about watching where I was going in the Goddamn streets, thinking that other than the obvious; the day wasn't so bad.
"Where y' headed?" He drawled out slowly, as if reluctant to give me a ride.
"One mile NE of the Mars Battle Memorial. There's a big ship that crash-landed there, which is where I need to go." I leaned back, ready to ignore the man the whole 45-minute trip back.
The man turned to stare at me. "You!" At his exclamation I looked at him, recognizing him as the cab driver I'd had earlier.
"You." I narrowed my eyes at him; he'd wasted a lot of my time.
"So, how'd it go?" He asked slyly, a little smirk on his face. I frowned at him, but answered peevishly, "The Red Dragon's leader annoyed me, so I had to kill him. Could you go now?" I raised an eyebrow at him, in all seriousness, as he stared at me, mouth half-open, as if debating whether or not to believe me. What a gullible man.
"Any day now, Mr. Cab Driver." I added in an impatient order. After another few seconds of staring he turned around and hit the gas pedal, snapping my head back with the sudden acceleration.
"Ow!" I complained.
After about half an hour into the ride, during which he'd looked at me nervously around 20 times from his rear-view mirror, he cleared his throat, "Uh, lady?"
"Yes?" I purred.
"Did you- Did you really kill...him?" He asked in a hushed voice. I debated playing with him, before deciding on a partial truth.
"Not really," I demurred, "he was already dead when I got there. Saved me the trouble of killing him," I added whimsically. Silence suddenly loomed up like a giant wave, almost palpable it was so thick.
"Vi-Vicious dead?" The man was hunched over his steering wheel, fear drenching his words. I knew the feeling, although I would never admit to it. Which, as Faye Valentine is never empathetic or sympathetic, seriously annoyed me, as I felt the emotions stirring to life within me.
"Well if lying in a pool of your own blood without breathing or moving doesn't constitute dead, then no." I replied in a sarcastically sweet voice, which apparently went over his head.
"Really dead!" He breathed, "why, this means-" he cut off, suddenly humming something happily. I just shook my head and ignored him.
When we finally got to the Bebop, I got out slowly, not wanting to have to do anything else but eat and go to sleep. I dug around in my pockets for some bills to pay him, but he waved a hand in protest.
"Naw, don't worry about it. On me." He laughed, speeding away.
Abruptly I wondered how he knew who Vicious was, and stared after his cab uneasily, but put it behind me as Jet yelled from the hatch, "Is Spike dead?" I stared after the cab for a few more seconds, knowing that Jet was probably waiting for the affirmative so he could say in a grave voice, "I told you, Faye, Sitting Bull said he'd die!" I could hear it now.
"Well, is he?" I turned towards him, seeing him with his hands on his hips with that ridiculous apron and chef's hat. I sighed.
"I dunno." I started trudging towards him.
"Well is he alive then?"
"I dunno." Jet stared at me, eyebrows lowered.
"Is he in a hospital?"
"I don't know, okay?" I replied, shoving past him into the ship.
"Did you get to the Syndicate okay? Another cab came after you left, claiming to be from some Hongo's Cab Service or whatever..." He trailed off as I stared at him.
"Yeah, fine." I replied, thinking, the cab driver is long gone, just like...
"So what happened, then?" Jet asked, plopping down onto a couch.
I laughed, "It's a lot worse than him being dead, now we're going to have to work at getting him back, and I mean really work." I started, and at his look of surprise I told him the gist of it.
He just stared at me after I'd finished and groaned. "This is gonna be awhile."
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YOU GOT A LONG ROAD AHEAD OF YOU, COWGIRL
Whew! I tell you what I do for u guys...that chapter wasn't originally in what i have written down, i just sat down this morning and wrote it up. It took me an hour to write it, and 2 hours to type it. Did i mention before that i hate typing? ugh....i have about seven chapters written up, and because of my screw up now i have to add in more...so sit back guys, cuz you're in for a long haul ~.^ soooooo, tell me, didja like it or what? think it's too short? One of the things i was worried about was that it might be a little boring to u guys, cuz it doesn't seem like the plot is actively going anywhere (hehe, thats why i added in faye beating up those three punks ^.^) tell me if u do think its boring because the next chapter (although i only have half of it done...i really don't know how i'm gonna incorporate this back into my story -.-) has mostly only dialogue, so if u thought this was boring (O.o) then i have some work to do! R&R, its the only way i can determine whether or not im doing good...plus its a great way to get me to work (c'mon guys...this is a once in a lifetime opportunity...get me to work) hehe, okay i see some of u guys throwing out zzzs so i'll wrap it up. i'll give u a teaser from what i have...(btw, is the teaser actually worth it, or am i just wasting space?ANSWER ME!!!)
"Yeah, Faye. Groan all you want today. Tomorrow, you're gonna get your ass moving and find a bounty job. Today you can find a new way to get the info on the bounties. Groan all you want, but I don't want to hear it tommorow.
"I'm gonna go back to the gravity generators, I think I can fix those." Jet gave me a reproachful look before he left.
"Ohhh." I groaned in the most frustrated voice I could muster, "I'm not meant for hard work." I complained to the air. Of all the stupid-ass times to go after bounty heads...
OK, then .... wow, i wrote a lot *sheepish grinz* since the ff.net equipment was down for awhile i'll be updating soon... maybe in a couple of days (whenever i get around to typing it up). Other than that i think i like the 1-2 week updates...
|Treekat|~*