COWBOY BEBOP- Amnesia Girl Blues pt.1
Faye lay awake in her bed, unable to sleep. She turned on her side and gazed at the glowing green
display of her clock. It was almost four in the morning. She wanted to sleep, desperately. Her body
longed for a rest. But her mind was alive and buzzing with questions. Who am I really? Why did I
survive the accident? Who rescued me? Was it someone I used to know? Faye turned on her other side,
looking at the clock would only make her want sleep more. "After all this time, I still don't
really know anything..." She sighed, curling herself into a ball. A knock at the door made her sit
up, as Spike's nonchalant voice called to her. "Faye?" He asked, as she opened the door for him.
Spike was standing there with two steaming hot mugs, the usual smirk etched on his face. "I thought
you could use one of these." He explained, offering a mug to her. She smiled warmly and took it,
sitting back down on the bed as he closed the door behind him. Spike leaned against the wall,
watching Faye as she sniffed the drink cautiously. "What is it?" She asked, cocking an eyebrow.
Spike took a large gulp from his mug,and sighed contentedely. "It's an old family secret,
guaranteed to help you sleep." He answered, smiling slightly as Faye sipped her drink slowly. "It's
good, what's in it?" She asked him, feeling an immediate calming sensation. She was certain at
least some of it was alcohol, rum maybe. Spike closed his eyes for a second, the smirk widening.
"If I told you that, it wouldn't be a secret now would it?" Faye laughed lightly, seeing his
point. She took another sip of the mystery drink as Spike sat down beside her, facing away.
"You know, I had trouble sleeping as a kid" He admitted, looking nostalgic. Faye blinked,
surprised at his sudden openness. "My mother used to sing a lullaby to me." He continued, gazing at
the floor. Faye finished her drink and set the empty mug on the floor, laying back on the bed.
"So, you're going to sing me to sleep? How sweet." She said jokingly. Spike chukcled softly, then
continued. "I only know one lullaby, and I doubt it'd help." He said. He layed back with Faye,
resting his head on her stomach. She gently stroked his hair, and against his wishes his mind
replayed that lullaby. The first time they had been alone together. That shootout had almost been
the end of him, but back then such a thing didn't exist. There was no beginning or end to that
life, only day after day of blooshed, and eternal torment that he longed to be free from it all but
had neither the means nor the will to escape. He was where he was, that was the way he used to
think. Then he had awoken, in that soft bed. The same lullaby his mother used to sing filling the
room. It was her, Julia. His first love. He found her, and at the same found both the means and the
will to be free of the syndicate. He had awoken the same way again, with the lullaby ringing in his
ears. It had been Faye that time, and that was when he first knew she was falling in love with him.
Just days before, she would have cut and run after being rescued, instead of watching over him for
three days and nights. Spike's nostalgia ended as Faye tapped his nose playfully. "So what was it
then?" Faye asked, as Spike's mind returned to the present. "What was what?" Spike asked back,
blinking. Faye sighed and roller her eyes. "What helped you get to sleep? You said the lullaby
didn't help." Spike smirked again, looking back at her emerald eyes. "Well, my mother would lay
down with me, and hold me close as she sang. It was comforting to have her there, and hear her
voice." Faye smiled at him. She liked him when he was like this, and found it interesting to know
that even he was once a vulnerable child. "So it was the comfort?" She asked, feeling his light
stubble as he spoke. "No, not really." Spike replied, sitting up.
Faye blinked, confused. "It's all in your head you know." He said, lighting a cigarette.
Faye studied his face, as he looked at her. "That's what my father used to say." Spike
continued. "He used to say 'Spike, you dumb kid. Insomnia is just a state of mind, it's all in your
head.' " Faye cocked an eyebrow at him, sitting up. "So, your dad thought that if you believed you
could sleep, it'd happen?" She asked, lighting a cigarette herself. Even if sleep wasn't in the
cards tonight, it felt good to be have Spike here with her. Spike smirked, chuckling a bit. "Sort
of, he thought that when people couldn't sleep it was because their heads were too full of other
stuff. He told me that I should just forget everything except sleeping, and not think of
anything." As he finished explaining, Spike locked eyes with Faye, giving her a knowing look. Faye
looked away slightly, wondering how he read people like he did. A few minutes of chatting and he
could tell you exactly what you needed. "I think he was right." Faye said finally, taking a slow
drag from her cigg. Spike blew smoke and nodded, smirking as he watched her. "I know he was, I've
never had troube sleeping since." He replied, standing up.
"Spike.." Faye called softly, as he picked up the empty mugs and headed for the door. Spike turned,
smiling gently. "You want a refill?" He offered. Faye shook her head slowly, smiling. "No it's not
that." Faye said, looking at him. Spike was standing there, waiting. "Spike I...can't stop thinking
about it, about my past. I want to remember it more than anything, but I just can't." Spike nodded,
leaving the mugs near the door as he sat back down on the bed. "I can't tell you it'll go away,
Faye. I wish I could."He said, touching her cheek. Faye took his hand in hers, holding it tightly.
"What about you, Spike? Do you still think about it?"She asked cautiously. He had already spun a
tale about his past, she didn't want to make him say more. Spike only looked at her, with eyes that
were both sad and hopeful. "All the time." He answered simply, giving her lips a loving kiss as he
got up and left.Faye watched him go, giving Spike a smile as he closed the door. She lay awake for
a long time, trying to clear everything from her mind. The questions refused to go however, and
only grew louder as she tried to push them out. "Am I going to be like this forever? An incomplete
woman?" She asked herself through the tears. She was realizing more and more that couldn't be, she
wanted to remember things. She longed to be nostalgic and remember good times and bad, the way
Spike had. She wished she could recall what life was like when she was an aspiring college student,
before she had become the indebted, tough cookie huter known as Faye Valentine. She decided that it
might come in time, as bits and pieces already had. Faye gave the questions a final shove, and this
time they stayed out. She though of nothing, and the rum from Spike's secret remedy helped ease her
into slumber.
Spike walked into the galley yawning, and hunted up some old cereal and leftover
chinese food. Finding no milk for the cereal, he opted to sprinkle it onto the fried rice and top
it all off with some soy sauce. Leaving with his breakfast, Spike took a glance at Jet, who was
coming into the galley for some food as well. Spike quickened his pace, not wanting to be there
when Jet found there was no food left. A nice fat bounty would be nice right about now, Jet
thought. He chuckled to himself as he removed the sandwich fixings from their hiding place. "Spike,
you need to get up a lot earlier if you want to fool this old dog." Jet joked, as he made himself a
turkey on rye. Spike plopped down on the rec room couch, fliping through tv channels as Faye came
in.He saluted her with his chopsticks as she smiled sleepily.
"Did it work?" He inquired, deciding to stick with a news
channel. With any luck they might hear of a criminal that needed catching. "Like a charm,
cowboy." Faye answered affectionately, tousling his hair as she walked by. There had been a time
when he hated anyone doing that, but with Faye he didn't mind.
A reporter interrupted the weather forecast, announcing breaking news. Spike's mood brightened as
he turned up the volume. He brought his fist down on the set to clear up the picture, as Faye sat
down next to him. His attention shifted to Faye, as she began hungrily eating a sandwich. Faye saw
him staring and smiled sheepishly. "Jet gave it to me." She explained. "He said you had eaten
already." Spike looked at the sandwich, overflowing with ham, then down at his own food. He hung
his head, cursing himself for not looking harder. Faye laughed, plucking a shred of ham from her
sandwich and placing it on top of his rice. "There you go boy." She teased. 'Arf." Spike replied
grumpily, snatching up the ham with his chopsticks as Ein came by, looking up at Spike's plate. The
news report was about a flight that had mysteriously exploded. No suspects, no leads. Faye gawked
at it, a piece of the sandwich suspended in her mouth. Spike thought it must have reminded her of
the accident, and picked up the remote. "Sorry." He apologized through a mouthful of cereal and
rice. "Leave it!" She demanded, still dumbfounded. It looked to Spike that she might be remembering
more. He didn't know if that was a good thing, but complied.The broadcast ended, and Faye got up
abruptly. The unfinished sandwich left behind, was greedily eaten by Ein as he took Faye's place
beside Spike. "Mongrel." Spike grumbled. He had intended to eat the sandwich himself.
Faye walked down the corridors of the bebop, unaware that they even existed. Her consciousness was
turned inwards as memories came flooding back to her. She remembered that day, the last day of her
life as a normal girl. She remembered the shuttle that had taken them to the spaceport, it had
smelled of smoke and diesel fuel. The shuttle had a gas leak and the driver had been covered in
fuel after fixing it. Even so the idiot lit up a cigarette and kept driving. As they neared the
spaceport, she looked out her window and saw the ship. She remembered being so excited then. The
ship was so big, just as she imagined it would be.
As the shuttle doors opened, she had smelled the fresh air and jumped down off the shuttle
intead of using the steps. She stood there in awe as the ship loomed before her. One of the first
trips to another planet, and she was getting on it. She had ran towards it, ahead of everyone else.
She was so excited in fact that she didn't even notice the gatekeeper in front of her until she ran
into him. She bumped into him and stumbled onto her back. As she remembered this, she felt herself
falling for real and saw the metal deck of the Bebop rushing up to meet her. Her hands caught her
as she fell headlong to the floor. She looked back to see Edward, who was slumbering heavily on the
deck. Faye had failed to see her and had tripped right over the sleeping teenager. Miraculously she
didn't wake up, but turned over in her sleep and mumbled something about ice cream cones.
Faye breathed a sigh of relief and picked herself up, continuing to walk as the memories became
clearer. The gatekeeper hadn't been mad, he had actually laughed and helped her to her feet before
asking to see her ticket.
She'd then had to empty out all her pockets nervously, finally finding
the ticket in her baggage. The man had smiled and taken it, warning her that being so careless when
on the ship could cause trouble. She had barely heard his words, as she ran past him and into the
lift. She had been so impatient to get onboard, wishing that the lift would go faster as she
watched the floor numbers climb. When the lift stopped and the doors opened, she had been greeted
by such wonderful smells. The scent of new carpeting, new paint, new everything. She remembered
thinking it was like a new beginning, she would go to another place and forget this boring world.
The mean teachers, the other students, she'd forget it all and when it came time to return to Earth
she'd have such incredible things to share with Susan and all her freinds.She had walked down the
hallway and into the ship, so lost in the grandness of it all that she'd almost collided with
another man. She had weaved around him as he went past, and looked back just for a second. Just
long enough to get a good look at his face,a tanned, weasely face with dirt and grease covering his
overalls. It must have been one of the ship's mechanics, she thought.
Faye had seen that same face, only a great deal older a few minutes ago on the news. He was a
dectective now, investigating the unexplained crash. She could barely believe it, but someone from
that day was still alive. Someone who had been there and even worked on the ship. She didn't know
why but somehow she knew that he could answer some of her questions, help her piece together what
had happened that day. Faye reached her room, out of breath from all the running. She hurridly
grabbed her red jacket and ran to the hangar, feeling excited. As excited as she'd been all those
years ago.
Spike yawned as an old drama ended on channel 234, and noted that Faye had gotten up and left about
three hours ago. He wasn't worried, only curious as to what had made her go so quickly. He decided
to go find her, and walked off. His breakfast now just an empty plate. Spike ran into Jet on his
way to Faye's room. The old guy looked angry, very angry. "What's up Jet?" Spike asked, stopping
him in the hallway. Jet grumbled, "Where's Faye? Have you seen her Spike?" Spike blinked,
smirking at the irony of both of them looking for Faye. "I was about to ask you the same thing,
pal." Spike answered, scratching his head."She took off about two hours ago, any idea where she
went?" Jet asked, looking more confused than angry now. "No idea Jet, she saw a news report about a
shuttle explosion and freaked out. That was about three hours ago." Spike returned, lighting a
cigarette."Shit, she beat us." Jet growled, clenching his fist. It was Spike's turn to look
confused now. "What? You're not making any sense Jet." Spike demanded, his curiousity growing now.
"That shuttle explosion, I just got a lead from the ISSP. They have several suspects. I'll bet that
minx went after one on her own." Spike cocked an eyebrow, thinking about that for a moment. It was
impossible that Faye could have known about that when she left, they hadn't announced any suspects.
"Jet, they didn't have any suspects OR leads when they ran that broadcast." Spike informed his
partner. They exchanged confused looks, and came to a common solution. "Unless.." Jet started. "She
knows something we don't." Spike finished. An inside track? Someone she knew?
Whatever it was, Faye's disappearance was awfully strange. And the possiblity of her being after
one of the suspects was at least worth checking. "Ok, where are these jokers?" Spike asked, walking
with Jet as they headed towards the hangar.Jet recalled the info on his comm. unit, studying the
file carefully. "We've got three, a nomadic terrorist on earth, some crazy bomber freak on Mars and
an ex-cop turned asassin who they think is on Jupiter." Spike analyzed each one thoughtfully as he
puffed on his cigarette. Jet lit one as well, seeing Spike's smirk form. "Ok, give me the mad
bomber I know Mars like the back of my hand." Spike insisted.
"Ok, I'll take the ex-cop. He should
be easy with my connections." Jet said. "And if it's neither, we meet up on Earth and grab the
third guy." Spike finished, it was a pretty good plan. "But Spike, what if he's gone by the time we
check out the other two?" Jet pointed out. Spike had to admit that wouldn't do. The answer
presented itself, as they both heard Edward snoringloudly at the end of the corridor. "She IS from
Earth after all." Jet offered. 'Yeah, should be easy enough just to find a guy and call us if he
moves." Spike agreed. Jet crept over to Ed and moved her gently. "Edward, we've got a job for
you." He said softly, shaking her more forcefully. Ed slowly awoke, her eyes sliding open. "..Ice
cream cones?" Ed mumbled, still half asleep. "No Ed, a bounty." Spike told her, hoping she wasn't
too sleepy to go. "Bounty? Edward liked bounties!" Ed cheered, coming alive all at once. She jumped
up and skittered down the hall to her room. "Guess we should hit it." Jet said, shrugging. Spike
smirked as they went to the hangar. Ed came soon after, her gun and laptop all packed and ready.
Faye was getting tired, as she wandered down the streets of Ganymede. She knew the police precinct
was at the end of this block,and hoped he would be there. She saw him, just for a second as she
approached the door. He threw it open, almost hitting her in the face with it. He was yelling into
his radio as he jumped into a car. 'Wait, I need to talk to you!" Faye screamed, watching as the
car sped off dangerously fast. "Some cop.." She said, downcast. Another cop, this one in uniform
came out the door. He held a cup of coffee in his hand as he watched the car disappear. "Damnit.."
The cop exclaimed, shaking his head. Faye studied him for a second before realizing he had wanted
to talk with the detective as well. "Excuse meee." Faye said, turning on her charm. "Y-yes?" The
officer stammered, looking her up and down. "You wouldn't happen to know a Detective Brentely would
you? I need to see him as soon as possible." Faye had her cuteness factor all the way up, as the
cop finally stopped staring and said something.
"Just missed him, I'm afraid. He can get his own damn coffee if he's going to take off like that,
shit." Faye blinked, realizing she was in luck. This guy had to have known Brentely well to be
talking about a superior like that. "Can you tell me where he went?" Faye asked politely, hoping
the cop wasn't a hardass about information like most. Thankfully, he wasn't. "There's some big
ruckus uptown, some big shot he's been after I guess. Maybe you should wait for him in my office
lady, if you stay out here someone's going to think you're a hooker." The cop looked her over
again, an amused look on his face. Faye's eyebrow twitched as her anger rose. "Thank you SO much
officer." Faye hissed, jamming the heel of her boot into the man's ankle. "Aww shit!" the cop
shouted, as the coffee spilled down onto this pants. Faye smirked evily as she walked away, fuming
at the idea of being a hooker. She got back to her ship and tuned in the police scanner. She sat in
the cockpit and listened in, until she heard a detective in pursuit of a suspect requesting backup.
She powered the ship up and lifted off to intercept them. Helping the police wasn't her style, but
it might convince him to listen to her story afterwards.
Spike landed the Swordfish a few blocks away from his destination. He didn't want his prey
expecting him. The address Jet had given was in a run down neighborhood where landing his ship
could mean misssing the bounty.
He jumped from the cockpit and took a moment to breathe in the air. "Mars always smells the same."
He mused, walking down the street inconspicuously. A couple people must have recognized him, as
shutters and windows were closed at his arrival.
The apartment building was old, even for this neighborhood. Spike chose the catwalk over the stairs
inside, in case he'd been noticed already. He saw that he hadn't, as he ascended the cat walk and
peeked in a window. There he was, the mad bomber everyone called 'Crazy Ross'. He was rummaging
around in a large closet, where various bombs and grenades sat on shelves. It seemed unlikely that
he would have sabotaged a space liner with that hardware, but the heavy stuff could be hidden
somewhere else. It was also possible he'd ordered something specifically for the job, to keep his
profile as low as possible. Ross came out of the closet as Spike moved away from the window, his
hands laden with a vest full of C4. Spike cautiously peeked into the room again, as Ross set the
vest down on a worktable. There were a bunch of rolled up documents around the table, and one
flatened out on a desk in the adjoining room. "Maybe I got the right guy after all." Spike said
quietly, as he withdrew a knife and slowly worked it into the windowpane. The blade found it's
mark, as the lock released with a click. Ross was in another room, and as soon as Spike slid the
window open he heard a trickling sound, and humming. He crept slowly through the room, and spied an
open door. The sounds were coming from just on the other side, and it sounded like Ross was almost
done his buisiness. Ross shrieked in shock as the bathroom door was forcefully shut with him
inside. Spike grunted as he shoved the old desk in front of the door, smirking. Now he could
explore Ross' belongings unhindered. Spike took a look at the blueprint on the desk,seeing that it
was a bank. He grimaced and moved back to the room where he'd entered, taking the rolled up
blueprints and looking at them one by one. There were several more banks on various planets, a post
office and what looked like someone's house.
"Small fry." Spike growled, realizing that Ross wasn't the one they were looking for. He didn't
have the scope or the smarts, from what Spike could see. He was sure they might find themselves
catching Crazy Ross sometime though, at least Spike knew where to look now. As he went back to the
window, Spike thought about moving the desk and letting the poor guy out of the john. He then
though better of it, figuring he may inadvertantely save a few lives by keeping him locked up.
Spike went back out the window as quietly as he'd come, and shut it behind him. Once he was back
down on the street, he called Jet to see if he'd had better luck. "It wasn't him, this guy's
smaller than small." Jet's voice crackled to life as Spike hopped into the Swordfish. He sat in the
cockpit for a minute, lighting a cigarette and nodding, a frown on his face. "Mine too, guess I'll
see you on Earth then?"Spike informed his partner, blowing smoke lazily as he pulled his gloves
over his hands. "Don't bother, Ed's been on that guy for hours and he hasn't moved." Jet repiled,
his gruff voice heavy with disapointment. "If it's him, he'd have moved by now. There's too much
heat, even on Earth." Spike agreed, starting the Swordfish as he sighed. "It looks like a wild
goose chase, Spike. Might as well head back." Jet suggested, his eyes showed that he'd had enough
pointless searching for one day. Spike was about to agree as he left Mars, but stopped abruptly.
His radio was picking up a report of a dectective in pursuit of a known felon, with an old police
zip cruiser as backup. "Jet!" Spike called into his comm.unit, switching over to ship to ship
radio. "What, you got something kid?"Jet asked, his mood lightened at a chance to get paid after
all. "Get Ed and go back to the Bebop, meet me on Ganymede and keep
the Bebop in close orbit." Spike demanded, turning his ship around as he headed for Ganymede.
"What? Why?" Jet asked frantically, not understanding what Spike was up to. "Just do it, Jet."
Spike repeated, then shut the radio off. If Faye was helping the cops, there HAD to be a bounty in
this somewhere.
Faye brought the Redtail hovering low over the suspect's car, until her retro thrusters were
scalding the roof. The car swerved crazily, trying to shake her. "Sorry, nothing personal." Faye
said, bringing her ship down on the car even harder. The suspect jumped out as the car collided
with a guardrail, followed closely by Brentely's car. The man tried to run, but Brentely's car
swung around to block his path as the detective got out and pointed his gun.
Faye smirked to herself, picking out a decent place to park as Brentely made his arrest. She walked
over to the scene, inspecting the mess. "You, who ARE you?" Brentely asked, eyeing her with shock
as she approached him. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Faye answered, looking him over. He
looked about 30 years older than when she'd first seen him, but it was definetely the same man.
"Are you crazy? Or is running people off the road part of your everyday life?" Brentely asked her
gruffly, shoving the cuffed man into a waiting police cruiser. "Only when they're criminals,
Detective Brentely. Is there somewhere we can talk?" Faye replied, feeling rather exposed. There
were a lot of police cars showing up now, and she didn't want to be recognized. "How do you know my
name?" Brentely asked, his voice even more gruff. It almost reminded her of Jet giving a lecture.
"I'd rather not say anymore out here, do you have a minute?' Faye insisted, grabbing his arm.
Brentely looked at her, his old greying eyebrows raised in surprise. "I guess so, sure..Since you
just helped me catch one of the most noted arsonists on Ganymede I at least owe you lunch." Faye
nodded gratefully, as Brentely opened the passenger door of his car. Faye stepped quickly inside,
glancing around to make sure the officer she'd kicked wasn't around. As Brentely got into the car
and drove off, the Swordfish arrived at the crash scene, followed closely by the Hammerhead.
"Shit!" Spike shouted, surveying the area from his cockpit. "I don't see her anywhere, but the
Redtail's right over there." Jet noticed, looking at the wrecked car standing on it's front end.
Faye's ship was parked near it, the cockpit was open.
"What is she thinking?" Spike wondered aloud, opening the cockpit as he jumped to the
ground. He grabbed the first officer he saw, one who had dark stains covering his royal blue pants.
"Have you seen a girl with dark hair and green eyes?" Spike asked him, feeling almost worried now.
"Wearing a yellow top and shorts? Probably a red jacket too?" Spike continued describing Faye, as
the officer seemed lost. His face suddenly twisted into a mask of rage, as he shrugged free of
Spike's grip and began shouting. "That crazy bitch?" The cop exclaimed, his face turning red. "If
she's anyone you know, you better damn well keep her on a leash before I find her and throw her
into lockup, you hear?" Spike closed his eyes, nodding as he understood. Only Faye could get
someone that pissed off so quickly. "Do you know where she went?" Spike asked the cop again,
putting a much firmer grip on the uniform this time. The officer seemed ready to throw Spike in
jail as well, and sharply answered the question as he stormed back to his car. "She went with
detective Brentely, he said she was a material witness." Spike gritted his teeth. Material witness?
What the hell was going on?
Faye slowly drank her coffee, a slight smile forming on her face. Brentely hadn't thought she was
crazy at all, at least not for her story. In fact he seemed interested in helping her, more than
she would have expected from an old cop. "Yes, you're right. I was a mechanic around then, only a
grease monkey mind you it never was my cup of tea. But I remember that ship very well."Faye's eyes
widened, she felt as if this was meant to be. The diner was practically empty, just the two of
them. He didn't seem to be touching his coffee tough, perhaps all this was bothering him more than
he was letting on. "In fact," Brentely continued. "That accident was what made me want to be a
detective. I knew the head mechanic that worked on her, the two of us did the final check on her
ourselves. He was a master, a real man of his trade. I could never believe he'd miss anything that
would cause the ship to explode like that." Faye remained silent, but nodded as he continued.. "He
and I checked into it , didn't get anywhere. The big wigs in charge actually threatened his job,
like they were hiding something. He gave up and got reassigned. But I kept pushing, couldn't leave
it alone something just felt so wrong about it. The last thing the basatrds in security said to me
before canning my ass was that I'd do better as a detective, so here I am." Bretenly finished,
taking a small sip of coffee. Faye nodded again, amazed that he'd gone so far just because his gut
told him it hadn't been an accident. "But other than that, afraid I can't help you. You know, your
memory and all. These days it's all I can do to keep the people on this planet from killing each
other."
"I don't think anyone can, it's alright." Faye sighed, deciding she had to give up for now. "Now
what about you, you said you were about 20 when that accident happened? I wish I knew your secret
to aging gracefully." Brentely chuckled, but Faye could tell the question had been serious enough.
"I, was on that ship actually. I almost bumped into you when we were boarding." Faye admitted,
feeling very odd all of a sudden. She was telling more than she wanted to, and feeling unusually
relaxed and chatty.
"What?" Brentely asked, shocked at the truth about his mystery woman. "Then you were actually
there! How did you survive? "Faye was becoming aware that she definetely was not ok, she felt sick.
Maybe talking about all this was affecting her more than she'd realized? "I..was
frozen..Cryogenically..They couldn't save me with the medical techniques of the time so.."
Brentely nodded, his eyes gleamed with understanding. "I get it, they put you in the freezer for a
while until they could find a way to patch you up right?" Faye could only nod, as she slumped back
in her seat. She wanted to call the Bebop and let Spike know where she was, but she'd left her
comm. unit in the Redtail. "Well Faye, I must say it's quite odd the two of us meeting like this."
Brentely said, leaning closer as Faye slid even further down in her seat. "When I first made
detective, I fought to keep that case open.But no one wanted to listen and they closed the file. I
could reopen it, with your help. We could both finally know what really happened that day. Will you
help me?" Bretenly pleaded, catching Faye's arm as she fell completely out of her seat. "I..don't
feel so good, I think I'm sick." Faye mummered, her eyes fluttering. "I think you're right, you
don't look too good Faye." Bretenly agreed, helping her stand. "Why don't we go to my place and you
can rest for a bit? I still have all the files on the accidenton my computer there." Faye shook her
head, trying to resist his grip. She never got sick like this, she'd gotten lots of sleep.
Faye knew that he must have drugged her, but why? Did he really believe what she'd told him? Did he
think she was crazy?
Faye saw that Brentely was grinning, evily at that as he picked her up and carried her outside.
"Who, are you.." She mumbled, fighting to stay awake as he put her into the back seat of his car.
Brentely only looked at her, his weasely face grinning. His grey beard twisted with effort as she
resisted him as much as she could. Brentely closed the door and started the car, driving heroff to
God knows where. The last thing she saw was his right hand on the shift stick, as he called the
precinct and said thathe was taking a witness to his place for safekeeping. A long, black scar
graced the back of his hand in the shape of a cross. And in that instant before she blacked out she
realized just who he was, and hoped with all her heart that Spike and Jet were coming.
Spike waited outside the diner while Jet questioned the employees. He was too confused and angry to
be any good at it right now. He lit another cigarette as he peered through the glass window. Jet
was talking with the manager now, looking distraught.Spike's gut came creeping up on him, as he
began getting a very bad feeling. Jet came back out, frowning at Spike almost sheepishly. That
could only mean he'd still found no leads on where Faye was. "So?" Spike asked anxiously, turning
to face Jet. "The manager said he was cashing out, and saw Faye and that detective talking over
coffee." Spike's eyes narrowed, as thoughtsof another man came into his head. Spike drove them
away, she wouldn't do something like that. Not in a million years."And?" Spike asked again, his gut
feeling getting worse. "And nothing." Jet replied gruffly. "He says she felt sick, and the
detective took her home." Spike's fists clenched as the feeling peaked. He looked back into the
diner, as a waitress cleared the table Faye had been at. Around the mug that would have been
Faye's, there was a dark ring. Spike threw down his cigaretteand sprinted into the diner, snatching
the mug from the waitress's tray. "Hey, what the hell are you doing?!" the waitress screeched at
him. Spike turned and gave her a look that said she should just take her tray and get lost. Jet
came through the doors, confusedand angry at Spike's brashness. "What gives, Spike?" He asked, as
Spike sniffed the mug carefully. He ran his index finger around the mug, and it came away dark with
powder. Jet blinked at the dark substance, then gave a knowing look to Spike who went over to the
counter. The manager was obviously sick of their questions, but Spike had a few more anyway. 'The
detective you said she was with. What did he look like?" Spike asked not very nicely. Jet thought
it seemed more like an interrogation.
"If you guys aren't going to buy anything.." The manager started. Before the sentence was
finished, Spike had reached over the counter and grabbed the man with his right hand. His left
tossed the mug to Jet, who barely caught it. Spike reached into his pocket, drawing out a few bills
while his right gripped the man tighter. He threw the bills on the counter as the manager saw
murder in Spike's eyes, and decided to talk. "Spike.." Jet growled, putting the mug down. Spike
held his free hand out to Jet, meaning that he should keep out of it. "Alright, alright." The
manager caved in at last. "He's a big shit detective around here, catches all the major bad
guys.He's pretty tall, thin. Young looking at least for his age. Big ass scar on his right hand,
shaped like a cross.." Spike's look intensified at that, and he looked to the bartender briefly.
"Four tequilla shots, one glass." He demanded, shoving the bills towards the frightened man. "Look,
they came in, they had coffee, she wasn't feeling good so they left I swear that's all I know!
Shit!" Spike released his grip, but kept his eyes locked with the manager's. "Name." He demanded
simply, snatching up the glass of tequilla. "Brentely, Detective John Moses Brentely." The manager
said, fearing for his life. Spike's eyes widened, then narrowedeven more as he downed the glass all
at once. Spike slammed the empty glass down on the counter, and left without another word.Jet
apologized to the manager and the bartender, then hurried after Spike. "What the fuck was that in
there, you idiot!" Jet exclaimed as soon as they were outside. Spike was walking quickly back to
the ships, and Jet had to run to catch up. Spike didn't answer, but held out his finger. "That's
powdered blackweed Jet, a drug that activates when mixed with sugar. We used it all the time in the
syndicate. He must have slipped her some." Jet's eyes narrowed too, as the picture began to form.
Spike, you don't think she..." Spike said nothing, but jumped into the Swordfish and started it
up. An old man, scar in the shape of a cross on his right hand. Spike pushed the feeling back down
into his gut as it threatened to make him vomit. "Alright Faye, now I'm worried."
TO BE CONTINUED.........................
SPIKE: She's gone and done it now.
JET: She sure has.
FAYE: I finally know the truth....
JET: Next episode, Faye faces her past.
FAYE; Hurry up guys!
Faye lay awake in her bed, unable to sleep. She turned on her side and gazed at the glowing green
display of her clock. It was almost four in the morning. She wanted to sleep, desperately. Her body
longed for a rest. But her mind was alive and buzzing with questions. Who am I really? Why did I
survive the accident? Who rescued me? Was it someone I used to know? Faye turned on her other side,
looking at the clock would only make her want sleep more. "After all this time, I still don't
really know anything..." She sighed, curling herself into a ball. A knock at the door made her sit
up, as Spike's nonchalant voice called to her. "Faye?" He asked, as she opened the door for him.
Spike was standing there with two steaming hot mugs, the usual smirk etched on his face. "I thought
you could use one of these." He explained, offering a mug to her. She smiled warmly and took it,
sitting back down on the bed as he closed the door behind him. Spike leaned against the wall,
watching Faye as she sniffed the drink cautiously. "What is it?" She asked, cocking an eyebrow.
Spike took a large gulp from his mug,and sighed contentedely. "It's an old family secret,
guaranteed to help you sleep." He answered, smiling slightly as Faye sipped her drink slowly. "It's
good, what's in it?" She asked him, feeling an immediate calming sensation. She was certain at
least some of it was alcohol, rum maybe. Spike closed his eyes for a second, the smirk widening.
"If I told you that, it wouldn't be a secret now would it?" Faye laughed lightly, seeing his
point. She took another sip of the mystery drink as Spike sat down beside her, facing away.
"You know, I had trouble sleeping as a kid" He admitted, looking nostalgic. Faye blinked,
surprised at his sudden openness. "My mother used to sing a lullaby to me." He continued, gazing at
the floor. Faye finished her drink and set the empty mug on the floor, laying back on the bed.
"So, you're going to sing me to sleep? How sweet." She said jokingly. Spike chukcled softly, then
continued. "I only know one lullaby, and I doubt it'd help." He said. He layed back with Faye,
resting his head on her stomach. She gently stroked his hair, and against his wishes his mind
replayed that lullaby. The first time they had been alone together. That shootout had almost been
the end of him, but back then such a thing didn't exist. There was no beginning or end to that
life, only day after day of blooshed, and eternal torment that he longed to be free from it all but
had neither the means nor the will to escape. He was where he was, that was the way he used to
think. Then he had awoken, in that soft bed. The same lullaby his mother used to sing filling the
room. It was her, Julia. His first love. He found her, and at the same found both the means and the
will to be free of the syndicate. He had awoken the same way again, with the lullaby ringing in his
ears. It had been Faye that time, and that was when he first knew she was falling in love with him.
Just days before, she would have cut and run after being rescued, instead of watching over him for
three days and nights. Spike's nostalgia ended as Faye tapped his nose playfully. "So what was it
then?" Faye asked, as Spike's mind returned to the present. "What was what?" Spike asked back,
blinking. Faye sighed and roller her eyes. "What helped you get to sleep? You said the lullaby
didn't help." Spike smirked again, looking back at her emerald eyes. "Well, my mother would lay
down with me, and hold me close as she sang. It was comforting to have her there, and hear her
voice." Faye smiled at him. She liked him when he was like this, and found it interesting to know
that even he was once a vulnerable child. "So it was the comfort?" She asked, feeling his light
stubble as he spoke. "No, not really." Spike replied, sitting up.
Faye blinked, confused. "It's all in your head you know." He said, lighting a cigarette.
Faye studied his face, as he looked at her. "That's what my father used to say." Spike
continued. "He used to say 'Spike, you dumb kid. Insomnia is just a state of mind, it's all in your
head.' " Faye cocked an eyebrow at him, sitting up. "So, your dad thought that if you believed you
could sleep, it'd happen?" She asked, lighting a cigarette herself. Even if sleep wasn't in the
cards tonight, it felt good to be have Spike here with her. Spike smirked, chuckling a bit. "Sort
of, he thought that when people couldn't sleep it was because their heads were too full of other
stuff. He told me that I should just forget everything except sleeping, and not think of
anything." As he finished explaining, Spike locked eyes with Faye, giving her a knowing look. Faye
looked away slightly, wondering how he read people like he did. A few minutes of chatting and he
could tell you exactly what you needed. "I think he was right." Faye said finally, taking a slow
drag from her cigg. Spike blew smoke and nodded, smirking as he watched her. "I know he was, I've
never had troube sleeping since." He replied, standing up.
"Spike.." Faye called softly, as he picked up the empty mugs and headed for the door. Spike turned,
smiling gently. "You want a refill?" He offered. Faye shook her head slowly, smiling. "No it's not
that." Faye said, looking at him. Spike was standing there, waiting. "Spike I...can't stop thinking
about it, about my past. I want to remember it more than anything, but I just can't." Spike nodded,
leaving the mugs near the door as he sat back down on the bed. "I can't tell you it'll go away,
Faye. I wish I could."He said, touching her cheek. Faye took his hand in hers, holding it tightly.
"What about you, Spike? Do you still think about it?"She asked cautiously. He had already spun a
tale about his past, she didn't want to make him say more. Spike only looked at her, with eyes that
were both sad and hopeful. "All the time." He answered simply, giving her lips a loving kiss as he
got up and left.Faye watched him go, giving Spike a smile as he closed the door. She lay awake for
a long time, trying to clear everything from her mind. The questions refused to go however, and
only grew louder as she tried to push them out. "Am I going to be like this forever? An incomplete
woman?" She asked herself through the tears. She was realizing more and more that couldn't be, she
wanted to remember things. She longed to be nostalgic and remember good times and bad, the way
Spike had. She wished she could recall what life was like when she was an aspiring college student,
before she had become the indebted, tough cookie huter known as Faye Valentine. She decided that it
might come in time, as bits and pieces already had. Faye gave the questions a final shove, and this
time they stayed out. She though of nothing, and the rum from Spike's secret remedy helped ease her
into slumber.
Spike walked into the galley yawning, and hunted up some old cereal and leftover
chinese food. Finding no milk for the cereal, he opted to sprinkle it onto the fried rice and top
it all off with some soy sauce. Leaving with his breakfast, Spike took a glance at Jet, who was
coming into the galley for some food as well. Spike quickened his pace, not wanting to be there
when Jet found there was no food left. A nice fat bounty would be nice right about now, Jet
thought. He chuckled to himself as he removed the sandwich fixings from their hiding place. "Spike,
you need to get up a lot earlier if you want to fool this old dog." Jet joked, as he made himself a
turkey on rye. Spike plopped down on the rec room couch, fliping through tv channels as Faye came
in.He saluted her with his chopsticks as she smiled sleepily.
"Did it work?" He inquired, deciding to stick with a news
channel. With any luck they might hear of a criminal that needed catching. "Like a charm,
cowboy." Faye answered affectionately, tousling his hair as she walked by. There had been a time
when he hated anyone doing that, but with Faye he didn't mind.
A reporter interrupted the weather forecast, announcing breaking news. Spike's mood brightened as
he turned up the volume. He brought his fist down on the set to clear up the picture, as Faye sat
down next to him. His attention shifted to Faye, as she began hungrily eating a sandwich. Faye saw
him staring and smiled sheepishly. "Jet gave it to me." She explained. "He said you had eaten
already." Spike looked at the sandwich, overflowing with ham, then down at his own food. He hung
his head, cursing himself for not looking harder. Faye laughed, plucking a shred of ham from her
sandwich and placing it on top of his rice. "There you go boy." She teased. 'Arf." Spike replied
grumpily, snatching up the ham with his chopsticks as Ein came by, looking up at Spike's plate. The
news report was about a flight that had mysteriously exploded. No suspects, no leads. Faye gawked
at it, a piece of the sandwich suspended in her mouth. Spike thought it must have reminded her of
the accident, and picked up the remote. "Sorry." He apologized through a mouthful of cereal and
rice. "Leave it!" She demanded, still dumbfounded. It looked to Spike that she might be remembering
more. He didn't know if that was a good thing, but complied.The broadcast ended, and Faye got up
abruptly. The unfinished sandwich left behind, was greedily eaten by Ein as he took Faye's place
beside Spike. "Mongrel." Spike grumbled. He had intended to eat the sandwich himself.
Faye walked down the corridors of the bebop, unaware that they even existed. Her consciousness was
turned inwards as memories came flooding back to her. She remembered that day, the last day of her
life as a normal girl. She remembered the shuttle that had taken them to the spaceport, it had
smelled of smoke and diesel fuel. The shuttle had a gas leak and the driver had been covered in
fuel after fixing it. Even so the idiot lit up a cigarette and kept driving. As they neared the
spaceport, she looked out her window and saw the ship. She remembered being so excited then. The
ship was so big, just as she imagined it would be.
As the shuttle doors opened, she had smelled the fresh air and jumped down off the shuttle
intead of using the steps. She stood there in awe as the ship loomed before her. One of the first
trips to another planet, and she was getting on it. She had ran towards it, ahead of everyone else.
She was so excited in fact that she didn't even notice the gatekeeper in front of her until she ran
into him. She bumped into him and stumbled onto her back. As she remembered this, she felt herself
falling for real and saw the metal deck of the Bebop rushing up to meet her. Her hands caught her
as she fell headlong to the floor. She looked back to see Edward, who was slumbering heavily on the
deck. Faye had failed to see her and had tripped right over the sleeping teenager. Miraculously she
didn't wake up, but turned over in her sleep and mumbled something about ice cream cones.
Faye breathed a sigh of relief and picked herself up, continuing to walk as the memories became
clearer. The gatekeeper hadn't been mad, he had actually laughed and helped her to her feet before
asking to see her ticket.
She'd then had to empty out all her pockets nervously, finally finding
the ticket in her baggage. The man had smiled and taken it, warning her that being so careless when
on the ship could cause trouble. She had barely heard his words, as she ran past him and into the
lift. She had been so impatient to get onboard, wishing that the lift would go faster as she
watched the floor numbers climb. When the lift stopped and the doors opened, she had been greeted
by such wonderful smells. The scent of new carpeting, new paint, new everything. She remembered
thinking it was like a new beginning, she would go to another place and forget this boring world.
The mean teachers, the other students, she'd forget it all and when it came time to return to Earth
she'd have such incredible things to share with Susan and all her freinds.She had walked down the
hallway and into the ship, so lost in the grandness of it all that she'd almost collided with
another man. She had weaved around him as he went past, and looked back just for a second. Just
long enough to get a good look at his face,a tanned, weasely face with dirt and grease covering his
overalls. It must have been one of the ship's mechanics, she thought.
Faye had seen that same face, only a great deal older a few minutes ago on the news. He was a
dectective now, investigating the unexplained crash. She could barely believe it, but someone from
that day was still alive. Someone who had been there and even worked on the ship. She didn't know
why but somehow she knew that he could answer some of her questions, help her piece together what
had happened that day. Faye reached her room, out of breath from all the running. She hurridly
grabbed her red jacket and ran to the hangar, feeling excited. As excited as she'd been all those
years ago.
Spike yawned as an old drama ended on channel 234, and noted that Faye had gotten up and left about
three hours ago. He wasn't worried, only curious as to what had made her go so quickly. He decided
to go find her, and walked off. His breakfast now just an empty plate. Spike ran into Jet on his
way to Faye's room. The old guy looked angry, very angry. "What's up Jet?" Spike asked, stopping
him in the hallway. Jet grumbled, "Where's Faye? Have you seen her Spike?" Spike blinked,
smirking at the irony of both of them looking for Faye. "I was about to ask you the same thing,
pal." Spike answered, scratching his head."She took off about two hours ago, any idea where she
went?" Jet asked, looking more confused than angry now. "No idea Jet, she saw a news report about a
shuttle explosion and freaked out. That was about three hours ago." Spike returned, lighting a
cigarette."Shit, she beat us." Jet growled, clenching his fist. It was Spike's turn to look
confused now. "What? You're not making any sense Jet." Spike demanded, his curiousity growing now.
"That shuttle explosion, I just got a lead from the ISSP. They have several suspects. I'll bet that
minx went after one on her own." Spike cocked an eyebrow, thinking about that for a moment. It was
impossible that Faye could have known about that when she left, they hadn't announced any suspects.
"Jet, they didn't have any suspects OR leads when they ran that broadcast." Spike informed his
partner. They exchanged confused looks, and came to a common solution. "Unless.." Jet started. "She
knows something we don't." Spike finished. An inside track? Someone she knew?
Whatever it was, Faye's disappearance was awfully strange. And the possiblity of her being after
one of the suspects was at least worth checking. "Ok, where are these jokers?" Spike asked, walking
with Jet as they headed towards the hangar.Jet recalled the info on his comm. unit, studying the
file carefully. "We've got three, a nomadic terrorist on earth, some crazy bomber freak on Mars and
an ex-cop turned asassin who they think is on Jupiter." Spike analyzed each one thoughtfully as he
puffed on his cigarette. Jet lit one as well, seeing Spike's smirk form. "Ok, give me the mad
bomber I know Mars like the back of my hand." Spike insisted.
"Ok, I'll take the ex-cop. He should
be easy with my connections." Jet said. "And if it's neither, we meet up on Earth and grab the
third guy." Spike finished, it was a pretty good plan. "But Spike, what if he's gone by the time we
check out the other two?" Jet pointed out. Spike had to admit that wouldn't do. The answer
presented itself, as they both heard Edward snoringloudly at the end of the corridor. "She IS from
Earth after all." Jet offered. 'Yeah, should be easy enough just to find a guy and call us if he
moves." Spike agreed. Jet crept over to Ed and moved her gently. "Edward, we've got a job for
you." He said softly, shaking her more forcefully. Ed slowly awoke, her eyes sliding open. "..Ice
cream cones?" Ed mumbled, still half asleep. "No Ed, a bounty." Spike told her, hoping she wasn't
too sleepy to go. "Bounty? Edward liked bounties!" Ed cheered, coming alive all at once. She jumped
up and skittered down the hall to her room. "Guess we should hit it." Jet said, shrugging. Spike
smirked as they went to the hangar. Ed came soon after, her gun and laptop all packed and ready.
Faye was getting tired, as she wandered down the streets of Ganymede. She knew the police precinct
was at the end of this block,and hoped he would be there. She saw him, just for a second as she
approached the door. He threw it open, almost hitting her in the face with it. He was yelling into
his radio as he jumped into a car. 'Wait, I need to talk to you!" Faye screamed, watching as the
car sped off dangerously fast. "Some cop.." She said, downcast. Another cop, this one in uniform
came out the door. He held a cup of coffee in his hand as he watched the car disappear. "Damnit.."
The cop exclaimed, shaking his head. Faye studied him for a second before realizing he had wanted
to talk with the detective as well. "Excuse meee." Faye said, turning on her charm. "Y-yes?" The
officer stammered, looking her up and down. "You wouldn't happen to know a Detective Brentely would
you? I need to see him as soon as possible." Faye had her cuteness factor all the way up, as the
cop finally stopped staring and said something.
"Just missed him, I'm afraid. He can get his own damn coffee if he's going to take off like that,
shit." Faye blinked, realizing she was in luck. This guy had to have known Brentely well to be
talking about a superior like that. "Can you tell me where he went?" Faye asked politely, hoping
the cop wasn't a hardass about information like most. Thankfully, he wasn't. "There's some big
ruckus uptown, some big shot he's been after I guess. Maybe you should wait for him in my office
lady, if you stay out here someone's going to think you're a hooker." The cop looked her over
again, an amused look on his face. Faye's eyebrow twitched as her anger rose. "Thank you SO much
officer." Faye hissed, jamming the heel of her boot into the man's ankle. "Aww shit!" the cop
shouted, as the coffee spilled down onto this pants. Faye smirked evily as she walked away, fuming
at the idea of being a hooker. She got back to her ship and tuned in the police scanner. She sat in
the cockpit and listened in, until she heard a detective in pursuit of a suspect requesting backup.
She powered the ship up and lifted off to intercept them. Helping the police wasn't her style, but
it might convince him to listen to her story afterwards.
Spike landed the Swordfish a few blocks away from his destination. He didn't want his prey
expecting him. The address Jet had given was in a run down neighborhood where landing his ship
could mean misssing the bounty.
He jumped from the cockpit and took a moment to breathe in the air. "Mars always smells the same."
He mused, walking down the street inconspicuously. A couple people must have recognized him, as
shutters and windows were closed at his arrival.
The apartment building was old, even for this neighborhood. Spike chose the catwalk over the stairs
inside, in case he'd been noticed already. He saw that he hadn't, as he ascended the cat walk and
peeked in a window. There he was, the mad bomber everyone called 'Crazy Ross'. He was rummaging
around in a large closet, where various bombs and grenades sat on shelves. It seemed unlikely that
he would have sabotaged a space liner with that hardware, but the heavy stuff could be hidden
somewhere else. It was also possible he'd ordered something specifically for the job, to keep his
profile as low as possible. Ross came out of the closet as Spike moved away from the window, his
hands laden with a vest full of C4. Spike cautiously peeked into the room again, as Ross set the
vest down on a worktable. There were a bunch of rolled up documents around the table, and one
flatened out on a desk in the adjoining room. "Maybe I got the right guy after all." Spike said
quietly, as he withdrew a knife and slowly worked it into the windowpane. The blade found it's
mark, as the lock released with a click. Ross was in another room, and as soon as Spike slid the
window open he heard a trickling sound, and humming. He crept slowly through the room, and spied an
open door. The sounds were coming from just on the other side, and it sounded like Ross was almost
done his buisiness. Ross shrieked in shock as the bathroom door was forcefully shut with him
inside. Spike grunted as he shoved the old desk in front of the door, smirking. Now he could
explore Ross' belongings unhindered. Spike took a look at the blueprint on the desk,seeing that it
was a bank. He grimaced and moved back to the room where he'd entered, taking the rolled up
blueprints and looking at them one by one. There were several more banks on various planets, a post
office and what looked like someone's house.
"Small fry." Spike growled, realizing that Ross wasn't the one they were looking for. He didn't
have the scope or the smarts, from what Spike could see. He was sure they might find themselves
catching Crazy Ross sometime though, at least Spike knew where to look now. As he went back to the
window, Spike thought about moving the desk and letting the poor guy out of the john. He then
though better of it, figuring he may inadvertantely save a few lives by keeping him locked up.
Spike went back out the window as quietly as he'd come, and shut it behind him. Once he was back
down on the street, he called Jet to see if he'd had better luck. "It wasn't him, this guy's
smaller than small." Jet's voice crackled to life as Spike hopped into the Swordfish. He sat in the
cockpit for a minute, lighting a cigarette and nodding, a frown on his face. "Mine too, guess I'll
see you on Earth then?"Spike informed his partner, blowing smoke lazily as he pulled his gloves
over his hands. "Don't bother, Ed's been on that guy for hours and he hasn't moved." Jet repiled,
his gruff voice heavy with disapointment. "If it's him, he'd have moved by now. There's too much
heat, even on Earth." Spike agreed, starting the Swordfish as he sighed. "It looks like a wild
goose chase, Spike. Might as well head back." Jet suggested, his eyes showed that he'd had enough
pointless searching for one day. Spike was about to agree as he left Mars, but stopped abruptly.
His radio was picking up a report of a dectective in pursuit of a known felon, with an old police
zip cruiser as backup. "Jet!" Spike called into his comm.unit, switching over to ship to ship
radio. "What, you got something kid?"Jet asked, his mood lightened at a chance to get paid after
all. "Get Ed and go back to the Bebop, meet me on Ganymede and keep
the Bebop in close orbit." Spike demanded, turning his ship around as he headed for Ganymede.
"What? Why?" Jet asked frantically, not understanding what Spike was up to. "Just do it, Jet."
Spike repeated, then shut the radio off. If Faye was helping the cops, there HAD to be a bounty in
this somewhere.
Faye brought the Redtail hovering low over the suspect's car, until her retro thrusters were
scalding the roof. The car swerved crazily, trying to shake her. "Sorry, nothing personal." Faye
said, bringing her ship down on the car even harder. The suspect jumped out as the car collided
with a guardrail, followed closely by Brentely's car. The man tried to run, but Brentely's car
swung around to block his path as the detective got out and pointed his gun.
Faye smirked to herself, picking out a decent place to park as Brentely made his arrest. She walked
over to the scene, inspecting the mess. "You, who ARE you?" Brentely asked, eyeing her with shock
as she approached him. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Faye answered, looking him over. He
looked about 30 years older than when she'd first seen him, but it was definetely the same man.
"Are you crazy? Or is running people off the road part of your everyday life?" Brentely asked her
gruffly, shoving the cuffed man into a waiting police cruiser. "Only when they're criminals,
Detective Brentely. Is there somewhere we can talk?" Faye replied, feeling rather exposed. There
were a lot of police cars showing up now, and she didn't want to be recognized. "How do you know my
name?" Brentely asked, his voice even more gruff. It almost reminded her of Jet giving a lecture.
"I'd rather not say anymore out here, do you have a minute?' Faye insisted, grabbing his arm.
Brentely looked at her, his old greying eyebrows raised in surprise. "I guess so, sure..Since you
just helped me catch one of the most noted arsonists on Ganymede I at least owe you lunch." Faye
nodded gratefully, as Brentely opened the passenger door of his car. Faye stepped quickly inside,
glancing around to make sure the officer she'd kicked wasn't around. As Brentely got into the car
and drove off, the Swordfish arrived at the crash scene, followed closely by the Hammerhead.
"Shit!" Spike shouted, surveying the area from his cockpit. "I don't see her anywhere, but the
Redtail's right over there." Jet noticed, looking at the wrecked car standing on it's front end.
Faye's ship was parked near it, the cockpit was open.
"What is she thinking?" Spike wondered aloud, opening the cockpit as he jumped to the
ground. He grabbed the first officer he saw, one who had dark stains covering his royal blue pants.
"Have you seen a girl with dark hair and green eyes?" Spike asked him, feeling almost worried now.
"Wearing a yellow top and shorts? Probably a red jacket too?" Spike continued describing Faye, as
the officer seemed lost. His face suddenly twisted into a mask of rage, as he shrugged free of
Spike's grip and began shouting. "That crazy bitch?" The cop exclaimed, his face turning red. "If
she's anyone you know, you better damn well keep her on a leash before I find her and throw her
into lockup, you hear?" Spike closed his eyes, nodding as he understood. Only Faye could get
someone that pissed off so quickly. "Do you know where she went?" Spike asked the cop again,
putting a much firmer grip on the uniform this time. The officer seemed ready to throw Spike in
jail as well, and sharply answered the question as he stormed back to his car. "She went with
detective Brentely, he said she was a material witness." Spike gritted his teeth. Material witness?
What the hell was going on?
Faye slowly drank her coffee, a slight smile forming on her face. Brentely hadn't thought she was
crazy at all, at least not for her story. In fact he seemed interested in helping her, more than
she would have expected from an old cop. "Yes, you're right. I was a mechanic around then, only a
grease monkey mind you it never was my cup of tea. But I remember that ship very well."Faye's eyes
widened, she felt as if this was meant to be. The diner was practically empty, just the two of
them. He didn't seem to be touching his coffee tough, perhaps all this was bothering him more than
he was letting on. "In fact," Brentely continued. "That accident was what made me want to be a
detective. I knew the head mechanic that worked on her, the two of us did the final check on her
ourselves. He was a master, a real man of his trade. I could never believe he'd miss anything that
would cause the ship to explode like that." Faye remained silent, but nodded as he continued.. "He
and I checked into it , didn't get anywhere. The big wigs in charge actually threatened his job,
like they were hiding something. He gave up and got reassigned. But I kept pushing, couldn't leave
it alone something just felt so wrong about it. The last thing the basatrds in security said to me
before canning my ass was that I'd do better as a detective, so here I am." Bretenly finished,
taking a small sip of coffee. Faye nodded again, amazed that he'd gone so far just because his gut
told him it hadn't been an accident. "But other than that, afraid I can't help you. You know, your
memory and all. These days it's all I can do to keep the people on this planet from killing each
other."
"I don't think anyone can, it's alright." Faye sighed, deciding she had to give up for now. "Now
what about you, you said you were about 20 when that accident happened? I wish I knew your secret
to aging gracefully." Brentely chuckled, but Faye could tell the question had been serious enough.
"I, was on that ship actually. I almost bumped into you when we were boarding." Faye admitted,
feeling very odd all of a sudden. She was telling more than she wanted to, and feeling unusually
relaxed and chatty.
"What?" Brentely asked, shocked at the truth about his mystery woman. "Then you were actually
there! How did you survive? "Faye was becoming aware that she definetely was not ok, she felt sick.
Maybe talking about all this was affecting her more than she'd realized? "I..was
frozen..Cryogenically..They couldn't save me with the medical techniques of the time so.."
Brentely nodded, his eyes gleamed with understanding. "I get it, they put you in the freezer for a
while until they could find a way to patch you up right?" Faye could only nod, as she slumped back
in her seat. She wanted to call the Bebop and let Spike know where she was, but she'd left her
comm. unit in the Redtail. "Well Faye, I must say it's quite odd the two of us meeting like this."
Brentely said, leaning closer as Faye slid even further down in her seat. "When I first made
detective, I fought to keep that case open.But no one wanted to listen and they closed the file. I
could reopen it, with your help. We could both finally know what really happened that day. Will you
help me?" Bretenly pleaded, catching Faye's arm as she fell completely out of her seat. "I..don't
feel so good, I think I'm sick." Faye mummered, her eyes fluttering. "I think you're right, you
don't look too good Faye." Bretenly agreed, helping her stand. "Why don't we go to my place and you
can rest for a bit? I still have all the files on the accidenton my computer there." Faye shook her
head, trying to resist his grip. She never got sick like this, she'd gotten lots of sleep.
Faye knew that he must have drugged her, but why? Did he really believe what she'd told him? Did he
think she was crazy?
Faye saw that Brentely was grinning, evily at that as he picked her up and carried her outside.
"Who, are you.." She mumbled, fighting to stay awake as he put her into the back seat of his car.
Brentely only looked at her, his weasely face grinning. His grey beard twisted with effort as she
resisted him as much as she could. Brentely closed the door and started the car, driving heroff to
God knows where. The last thing she saw was his right hand on the shift stick, as he called the
precinct and said thathe was taking a witness to his place for safekeeping. A long, black scar
graced the back of his hand in the shape of a cross. And in that instant before she blacked out she
realized just who he was, and hoped with all her heart that Spike and Jet were coming.
Spike waited outside the diner while Jet questioned the employees. He was too confused and angry to
be any good at it right now. He lit another cigarette as he peered through the glass window. Jet
was talking with the manager now, looking distraught.Spike's gut came creeping up on him, as he
began getting a very bad feeling. Jet came back out, frowning at Spike almost sheepishly. That
could only mean he'd still found no leads on where Faye was. "So?" Spike asked anxiously, turning
to face Jet. "The manager said he was cashing out, and saw Faye and that detective talking over
coffee." Spike's eyes narrowed, as thoughtsof another man came into his head. Spike drove them
away, she wouldn't do something like that. Not in a million years."And?" Spike asked again, his gut
feeling getting worse. "And nothing." Jet replied gruffly. "He says she felt sick, and the
detective took her home." Spike's fists clenched as the feeling peaked. He looked back into the
diner, as a waitress cleared the table Faye had been at. Around the mug that would have been
Faye's, there was a dark ring. Spike threw down his cigaretteand sprinted into the diner, snatching
the mug from the waitress's tray. "Hey, what the hell are you doing?!" the waitress screeched at
him. Spike turned and gave her a look that said she should just take her tray and get lost. Jet
came through the doors, confusedand angry at Spike's brashness. "What gives, Spike?" He asked, as
Spike sniffed the mug carefully. He ran his index finger around the mug, and it came away dark with
powder. Jet blinked at the dark substance, then gave a knowing look to Spike who went over to the
counter. The manager was obviously sick of their questions, but Spike had a few more anyway. 'The
detective you said she was with. What did he look like?" Spike asked not very nicely. Jet thought
it seemed more like an interrogation.
"If you guys aren't going to buy anything.." The manager started. Before the sentence was
finished, Spike had reached over the counter and grabbed the man with his right hand. His left
tossed the mug to Jet, who barely caught it. Spike reached into his pocket, drawing out a few bills
while his right gripped the man tighter. He threw the bills on the counter as the manager saw
murder in Spike's eyes, and decided to talk. "Spike.." Jet growled, putting the mug down. Spike
held his free hand out to Jet, meaning that he should keep out of it. "Alright, alright." The
manager caved in at last. "He's a big shit detective around here, catches all the major bad
guys.He's pretty tall, thin. Young looking at least for his age. Big ass scar on his right hand,
shaped like a cross.." Spike's look intensified at that, and he looked to the bartender briefly.
"Four tequilla shots, one glass." He demanded, shoving the bills towards the frightened man. "Look,
they came in, they had coffee, she wasn't feeling good so they left I swear that's all I know!
Shit!" Spike released his grip, but kept his eyes locked with the manager's. "Name." He demanded
simply, snatching up the glass of tequilla. "Brentely, Detective John Moses Brentely." The manager
said, fearing for his life. Spike's eyes widened, then narrowedeven more as he downed the glass all
at once. Spike slammed the empty glass down on the counter, and left without another word.Jet
apologized to the manager and the bartender, then hurried after Spike. "What the fuck was that in
there, you idiot!" Jet exclaimed as soon as they were outside. Spike was walking quickly back to
the ships, and Jet had to run to catch up. Spike didn't answer, but held out his finger. "That's
powdered blackweed Jet, a drug that activates when mixed with sugar. We used it all the time in the
syndicate. He must have slipped her some." Jet's eyes narrowed too, as the picture began to form.
Spike, you don't think she..." Spike said nothing, but jumped into the Swordfish and started it
up. An old man, scar in the shape of a cross on his right hand. Spike pushed the feeling back down
into his gut as it threatened to make him vomit. "Alright Faye, now I'm worried."
TO BE CONTINUED.........................
SPIKE: She's gone and done it now.
JET: She sure has.
FAYE: I finally know the truth....
JET: Next episode, Faye faces her past.
FAYE; Hurry up guys!