Chapter 6: Full of ...Mercy
"You sent her home?" Val said after Vash finished relating what had occurred with Marlene, Brian, and Sandhya. "Do you think that was a good idea?"
"I thought it was somewhere she'd be safe," Vash said.
"Yeah, but don't forget that your brother is there. You can keep him in check, but suppose he talks this 'Sandy' person over to his side. Then you've got two super-powered enemies wreaking havoc on the world."
"I understand, but I don't really think that's going to happen," Vash said.
"Oh? Why not?"
"I just don't feel like she's that sort of person."
"And the safety of the world is depending on this feeling of yours?" Val groaned. "Great. I only just got here, and now there's trouble at home, too?"
"Don't worry about it, kid," Vash said. "So, tell me about this Spike of yours."
"Uncle Vash, it's not that sort of thing," Val said.
"I understand, you don't want me meddling," Vash sighed. "You're all grown up now, and you don't want Uncle Vash hovering around you all the time. Look at you—you really have grown up."
Val began brushing her hair. "So what about these insurance people? They nice? Trustworthy?"
"I think so," Vash said. "Could be helpful in unraveling some information. They're meeting with the doctor again today, they're going to try to bring back some clues. I doubt if he's working alone."
"If you can trust Sandy, that is," Val said. "If she's supposedly the Twilight, that means she's responsible for the flagship crash twenty-five years ago—not just this little explosion."
Vash sighed. "We can't really know, can we?" he said. "It's not like it used to be. Without any sort of proof, we can't nail Fulton. Sandhya's our only link."
"And you sent her, someone who has already carried out acts of mass destruction, to hang out with Uncle Crazy back home."
"As soon as we're done here, we'll head back. It takes time to get there—she can't be that far ahead of us."
"Then we'd better finish up here soon. I need to shower, I'll catch up with you later." Val closed herself into the bathroom, and Vash turned to leave. He headed down the hotel steps as someone was running up them. Vash braced himself as she crashed into him.
"Sorry!" The dark-haired girl grinned at him and ran on ahead. He watched her go, somehow managing to run in high heels without stumbling.
Well, she was cute, he thought, heading back to the lobby. I wonder if she knows you can see up her skirt when she runs like that.
*
"Val!" Spike burst into the room, looking around. "Val, where are you?" She began overturning pillows. "Val, you haven't disappeared too, have you? Val!" She pounded on the bathroom door. "Are you in there?"
"Yes, I am!" Val called over the shower. "What's your problem, Spike?"
"Some guy just disappeared!" Spike said. "It's really freaky!"
"Can it wait until I'm done showering?"
Spike sat down on her bed. "I guess," she said. Bored, she fidgeted, and started braiding the tassels on the bedspread. It was a cramped little room, with barely enough space to walk between the two beds. At least it was cooler than it was outside. Spike had spent nights in some baking hot rooms--back when she was with the cheapest boyfriend ever, who couldn't pay the extra cash for air conditioning. God, what a cheap-ass bastard!
This gave her something to ponder. How could someone's ass be cheap? She was still trying to figure this out when Val emerged from the bathroom.
"What are you ranting over?" Val asked.
"Huh? Oh. Zachary Fulton disappeared," Spike said. "He was, like, some famous scientist whose lab just blew up in an accident."
"You said his name was Fulton?" Val said. "What happened to him?"
"Nobody knows," Spike replied. "But none of his family or anybody knows where he went. I guess all his stuff is still at his house, but he's vanished."
"That Sandy person," Val said.
"Huh?"
"Someone my uncle told me about. I've got to talk to him. He's got some real explaining to do now."
*
"Fulton's gone," Marlene said, shoving a newspaper into her partner's face.
"What?" Brian read the headline. "He disappeared?"
"You can read. Good boy." Marlene patted his head. "I'll sum it up for you. No one's seen him since a little after we met with him. Yet everything at his house was in place, no sign of a struggle, he's just gone."
"Oh, no." Brian sat down and let his head fall into his hands. "What do we do if the client...disappears?"
"We pack up and go home, that's what," Marlene said. "This is in the police's hands, now."
"Aren't you curious about what happened?" Brian said. "First his place blew up, and now he's vanished! Don't you want to know what's going on?"
"I'm sure we can read all about it in the newspapers," Marlene said. "This isn't our job. We deal with insurance cases, not missing persons."
Brian looked at the ground. "Speaking of missing persons..."
"Oh, that's right. Your girlfriend went home with Vash last night, didn't she?"
"Shut up." Brian sat down on the floor to pout.
"Face it, it wasn't meant to be."
"Dammit, what makes women want a man like that, anyway?" Brian said. "I never should have joined this business. I should've become a legendary gunman!"
Marlene rolled her eyes. "Sure, I know I've always wanted a man on the run."
"I'm allowed to be upset, I just got dumped."
"She went out to dinner with us," Marlene replied. "It was mostly a business thing. You can hardly even call it a date."
"Still, I really liked her, and she ditched me."
"Brian, you only met her yesterday."
"Stop it, all right? Marlene, you're so cold."
"Sorry. I was trying to help..."
"You're not helping. You don't understand."
"Sorry." Marlene looked back to her work. She had several messages to write explaining the evens in June City. Brian continued to sit on the floor with his arms wrapped around his knees, eyes studying the carpet. To Marlene he looked pathetic; there was no reason for him to be so sad.
"Marlene?" Brian said out of nowhere.
"What, Brian?"
"If neither of us is married by the time we're forty, will you marry me?"
"By the time you're forty or by the time I'm forty?" Marlene answered automatically, without considering the question.
"When I'm forty," Brian said. "You're going to turn forty too soon."
Marlene breathed out through her teeth. "Whatever. Yeah, if I'm not married by then, I'll marry you. I've already got to spend the rest of my working life with you, why not my home life as well?"
*
There was a small, dark room in an uncertain location. It smelled like mildew, and the aging man in the room coughed at the stale air. The woman who stood beside him didn't seem to notice it. Her features were hard to make out, other than that she was an average-sized woman with short hair. "I'm not happy about this at all," Dr. Fulton said. "I'm too old to be kept in a place like this."
"You're in no position to complain, being the one who lost it," the woman replied. "You're lucky that this is the worst you must endure."
The scientist struggled against the ropes binding him to his chair. "It's not my fault! Didn't you see what she did to my facility? You should be worried about catching her, not punishing me!"
"The plant will be easy to find. Our detectors will bring it back shortly."
"You don't understand her like I do, Galen. She's not ready to face the real world. And if you damage her in retrieval, she could be--"
"I think you've already proven your incapability to handle it," the woman said. "You had your chance to carry out your experiments. It's past time that it returned to the hands of the agency."
"She has feelings," Dr. Fulton began.
"Oh, the poor baby," replied Galen. "Is your guilt making you sentimental, or is it old age? Your little darling is a trained weapon that belongs to the agency, Fulton."
"I just want another chance, Galen."
"We'll see about that after we find her."
*
"What makes you think anyone here will know about it?" Val asked. She followed Spike into a tavern decorated in a rustic theme. Cowboy Saloon, thought Val. Give me a break. This place is so cheesy I can taste it. Cowboy hats and lassos hung from the wall, but looked sad and unkempt; the bartender himself wore a satin shirt and looked like quite the sophisticated city boy, someone who'd never been on the open range in his life.
"Don't you know anything? Bars are the best place to go for information," Spike replied.
"From a bunch of drunks and losers?"
"Well, they haven't got anything better to do than gossip," Spike said. "And hey, if we don't find out anything tonight, at least we can have some fun!"
Val shook her head and the two women sat down at a table, Val's cross leaning against her chair. She sipped at a glass of water, while Spike ordered a cocktail. It's too early for alcohol, thought Val. She seemed to be the only one who thought so, though.
"Hey, ladiesh..." A rather drunk, middle-aged man hovered over Spike and Val. "Lend me two double dollersh and I'll buy yehs a dreenk."
"Go away," Spike replied, rolling her eyes.
"Aw, come on," the drunk continued, not so easily dissuaded. "You gotz a problem wih me?"
Val shifted her cross casually. "Don't you have a family to get home to?"
As if on cue, a woman grabbed the man by the collar and began dragging him away. "I don't believe you, George," she scolded him. "I've been looking all over town..."
"Men," Spike groaned. "They're all the same."
"Pathetic, isn't it?" Val replied. Spike almost dropped her drink, staring at Val with her eyes wide in shock. "What?"
"You...you just agreed with me!" Spike sputtered. "Are...are you feeling okay?" She touched Val's forehead. "You don't seem feverish..."
Val pushed Spike back down into her seat. "Cut it out," she said.
"Hey, we actually do have something in common!" Spike said gleefully.
"Whatever," Val sniffed. "I'm not going to argue with you about the piggishness of the opposite sex."
"Well, they're not all bad," Spike giggled. Val rolled her eyes.
"But they're not worth the effort. No matter how much they might try to deny it, none of them like the idea of me traveling by myself fighting crime."
"I so know what you mean! Oh my god, my last boyfriend was so possessive," Spike replied. "God, if I so much as talked to another guy, he started getting all short and huffy and stuff. He was such a jerk!" She laughed again and Val winced. Did the girl have to laugh so loud?
Val picked the peel off an orange with her fingernails, arranging the pieces on the table in front of her. Spike took her silence as an invitation to keep talking.
"And there was this one time, with my boyfriend two before that, when we decided we were going to be a team and stuff. And then, I get shot one time and he's all, 'you've got to stop this!' I mean, it wasn't even serious, it was just my thigh. I had to leave him as soon as I recovered."
Val looked over Spike's shoulder. "Homina," she said.
"Huh?" Spike turned. A young man had just entered. His dark hair was wind-messy, his nose aquiline. "Oh, he's nice, isn't he," she commented. "Go talk to him."
"No, Spike..."
"Come on!" Spike insisted.
"No! Who's going to want to talk to a freak who carries around a giant cross?"
"That is an awesome cross," another voice put in.
"My friend thinks you're cute," Spike replied cheerfully, and Val almost choked on her orange.
The guy just laughed. "Do you mind if I join you?"
Val was too busy coughing to reply, but Spike just grinned. "Go ahead!"
"My name's Nick," he said, flopping into a chair. He had a style that was suave and yet completely without grace. Val continued playing with the remains of her orange peel.
"My name's Spike, and she's Val the Stampede," Spike explained.
"A pleasure to meet the two of you." Val looked up and met his eyes for a moment, then looked down again, nervously. Why do I feel like such a total idiot?!
"That's really amazing. Quite possibly the coolest thing I've ever seen." Nick touched the cloth that wrapped around Val's cross, rubbing it between his fingers, and then running his hand down one of the straps. Val slapped his hand automatically.
"Stop it," she said.
"What?" Nick asked innocently, pulling his hand away.
"You're fondling it."
"Sorry, I didn't mean it as an intrusion, more of a friendly caress."
"You just met. It's too soon for friendly caresses," she admonished him. "Besides, the last time someone else touched the cross, she knocked it over." Val gave Spike a dark look.
"I'll be careful, I promise. I couldn't bear to hurt a beauty like that."
Val stared at him. "It's heavier than it looks."
"Whoa, whatcha got in there?"
"Mercy," Val replied automatically.
Nick got an odd look on his face for a moment. "Of course-- of course it's full of mercy."
Val shook. "What...?"