Chapter 2
"WHERE'S MY SOUVENIR?! YOU SAID!!! YOU SAID!!!" Ed screamed
"Ed! Quiet down would you!" Faye yelled back
Samus looked around the ship. She could see that it was a hunk of crap but they made it quite inviting for someone who had just been under a police grilling by the great Mars I.S.S.P. Spike lay on the couch, an icepack on his face where Samus punched him in the jaw. He had a very angry look on his face and made sure he wouldn't have to make eye contact with Samus as he rested. Suddenly Ed jumped into Samus' lap. Ed just looked at her with her wide eyes for a few minutes.
"Who're you?" Edward questioned
"My name is Samus."
Without giving any more thought to it Ed hopped off and began screaming again.
"SAMUS SAMUS! I GOT A SAMUS AS A SOUVENIR!! WEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
After Ed was finished ranting Ein gave a bark. Samus picked up the Welsh Corgi and began to pet him, much to Ein's delight. Finally Jet came into the living room from the kitchen.
"Do you like shitake mushrooms, Samus?" Jet asked
As Faye sat down a look of disgust grew on her face at the mention of shitake mushrooms whereas Edward had quite a different reaction.
"MUSHROOMS, PLUSHROOMS, PADDED ROOMS, SPOOKY TOMBS, DARKNESS LOOOOOOOMS! TEE-HEE-HEE!"
"Erm... Mushrooms are fine, Jet, thank you." Samus forced out, bordering on being frightened of Ed
"Aw, Jet, how many of those damned mushrooms do we have left?" Faye whined
"Don't knock 'em. Food is food. Think of all the times we haven't have food. You should be thankful for all these 'schrooms." Jet rationalized using his chopsticks to grab some of his mushroom stir-fry.
"So, Samus, where'd you come from?" Faye asked
"Another system." Samus replied simply as she took a bite of her own food
"What do you mean another system?" Faye questioned
"Another solar system, of course." Samus said
All eyes quietly darted to look at Samus. Even Spike was intrigued despite the fact he wasn't Samus' biggest fan at the moment.
"Another solar system? You're kidding..." Jet exclaimed
"Not at all."
"But, that's impossible!" Yelled Spike now getting into the conversation, "No one has colonized outside of this Solar System."
"You're wrong, Spike." Samus said coolly
"Alright, so what's the other system like, then?" Spike asked smugly
"Well... it seems much more modernized than this one. For the longest time I thought this system was destroyed. Those were the stories." Samus recapped, "Plus, the system I'm from is practically hinged on scientific discoveries."
Spike sunk in his chair a little as she described her home system.
"How so?" Jet questioned
"Well... Let's say you worked for a computer company. That computer company would manufacture computers for scientists. I mean, sure, they'd make personal computers and things of that sort but the main bulk of everything is for science. That's just what people place real emphasis on."
"Even bounty hunters?" the inquisitive Faye asked
"Not directly, but yes, I do a lot of my worked hired by scientists." The mysterious woman replied
"That sounds boring!" the attention-deficit Edward spoke up
Jet just glared at the crazy child. Edward rolled her eyes slowly and smiled a massive smile.
"Well it IIIIISSSSSSSS..." Edward went on
Suddenly in front of Samus the TV switched on. A gun slid out and fired before the theme song to the show began to play. Her arm was halfway between her and the off button when she glanced up to her new companions glued to the screen. She leaned back in her chair then as Ein hopped into her lap and began eating the woman's food. Normally Jet would have corrected the Welsh Corgi but he, too, was watching the TV with much interest.
"All you bounty hunters in the star system... HOW Y'ALL DOIN'!?" one of the cowboys on the screen screamed out at all his viewers
"Well, why are we wastin' any time today, sugar? Let's get to them bounties!" the cowgirl proposed
"What an idea Judy! Today on the top of the list is a gargantuan bounty!"
"Gargantuan?! REALLY?!" Judy gushed over her own dialogue
"That's right, all you cowboys and cowgirls! His name is Martz Radioson. He apparently has ties to the mafia."
"Oh, the MAFIOSO!" Judy exclaimed, wide-eyed
"Oh, but hold yer horses, Judy. The police didn't even post this guy's bounty! It was Don Fiero, a kingpin in underground activities."
"Well, golly, why would he put a bounty out on one of his own people?" the blond questioned
"He musta' given some information to the police and went back on the syndicate and on top of that he was nearly apprehended for the usage of Dark Gates!"
Samus suddenly was quite interested in the selected program of the bounty hunters and the particular bounty being showcased at the moment. The mention of "Dark Gates" peaked her interest in the subject.
"Then what are we waiting for, Punch, let's show this lucrative bounty-head to the universe!"
"Shucks-howdy! A whopping nine million woolongs!" the cowboy enthusiastically yelled as his face on the TV was replaced with the dossier of Martz Radioson.
Suddenly Samus became borderline livid. The picture on the television in front of her made her want to destroy her entire solar system. Plastered across the universe for all to see was the picture of her former bounty, the one that had escaped through the Dark Gate. Immediately as the information set in, Samus threw her plate down to a hungry Ein as she grabbed her briefcase and ran towards the deck of the modified fishing ship.
"Where are you going?!" she heard Faye yell after her
There was no stopping her now. She had lost her bounty. There were probably a million bounties running around her home system whilst she relaxed on Mars and chased a mob betrayer around in circles. When she finally reached the deck she then remembered the crucial fact that... her ship wasn't there. She then was desperate. She ran over to the Redtail and attempted to find a way into the craft. When she found none she turned around to see the poofy haired Spike staring at her with a smirk on his face.
Spike wondered why he had followed this woman out to the deck. He could have just as easily stayed on the couch, nursing his jaw. Of course, that just wasn't his style. But, there was something else. He racked his brain to figure it out as he followed Samus down the corridors of the Bebop. When he saw her struggling with Faye's ship, however, that's when he knew what it was. It was her hair. Her hair was blond and radiant and wavy. Her face had that kind of look to it as well. He knew what it was. She just looked like Julia. The more he gazed at her he realized it. He was probably bitter with her earlier because he was bitter with himself. He was angry at thinking that it was Julia. It only unearthed battles he'd rather not fight again. But when she finally gave up her quest to open the hatch to Faye's ship Spike strolled up next to the mysterious woman. He dug into his pocket and drew a small cardboard box. He flicked his wrist and the end of a cigarette protruded from the opening. He stuck the box under Samus' nose as he leaned against the Redtail.
"Wanna' smoke?" Spike asked in his usual, laid-back tone
"I don't smoke. It causes over two thirds of the deaths in my system." Samus sighed the information to Spike. Lung cancer was not her subject of choice at the moment
Spike just shrugged and took a nicotine stick out and clasp it in his lips. He then drew his lighter and lit it, taking a drag as well. He blew the smoke from his nose and turned to Samus.
"What's bugging you?" he sighed out his question
"That was my bounty." Samus answered with an amount of force Spike had only ever known Julia to use
"Welcome to the Bebop. For some reason the big ones always get away." The cowboy's sarcastic tone kicked in
"You don't understand," Samus began looking straight ahead with another dose of force, "He... was my bounty."
Spike nodded his head in complete lack of understanding. He had never been so connected with a bounty that he couldn't allow it to get away or for someone else to apprehend them. Bounty hunting just wasn't like that to him. There was only one thing he wanted and he would have to pay a particular price for that as well. However, he did know of times when Jet insisted on taking someone in or, for that matter, even the cold hearted hard luck woman, Faye, got emotionally connected with a bounty on occasion. The two stood in silence for a moment. Samus, cringing at the thought of some shmuck catching her bounty and God knows what would happen. Spike, just thinking of the various philosophies of bounty hunting between him and his partners. Incidentally, that train of thought led the cowboy to his next question.
"Why were you trying to steal Faye's ship, anyhow?" Spike pushed himself away from the resting spot that had become the side of the Redtail
"That bounty is a matter of paramount importance." Samus coldly replied
"You've made that clear," Spike spoke as he turned away from her to face the waning sun, "But don't you have your own ship somewhere?"
"It was impounded and I don't have the cash to get it out."
"You're beginning to sound like a real cowgirl already." Spike remarked in a low, droning voice
"How's that?" Samus turned toward Spike
"You're in desperate need of funds."
"The struggle of finding quick cash. How I loath thee." Jet nodded as he listened to Samus' story of the Dark Gates and the bounty
"Jet, isn't there something you can do to get her ship back? You know, pull some strings?" Spike questioned
"As long as she gets her own ship and doesn't try jacking mine anymore." Faye pouted
Samus gave an apologetic look to Faye but, defiantly, Faye turned away. Faye really already had accepted her spoken apology Samus had offered before she began her story but Faye, being the woman she was, wasn't going to make that apparent to anyone until it mattered and would reflect good upon her.
"In the I.S.S.P. world..." Jet started, "Favors are a precious thing. Once you use one, it's gone. They owe you nothing and you owe them nothing. Debt is a hard thing and favors are lifesavers."
"Jet...," Spike whined, "We gotta' help her go after the bounty. After all, it's what we live for."
"Actually, you all. I've been thinking about the reward money..." Samus ran her finger around the edge of her glass that the bourbon Jet had poured her sat in. "I really can't use woolongs, and, well, the reward is really immaterial to me. I would be glad to give it to you all and allow you to divide it amongst yourself."
Spike listened to Jet and Faye and finally heard what he wanted to hear. He had already made it clear that woolongs would be worth nothing in her system and that they would help her to the best of their abilities as long as they acquired a hefty sum of the bounty whence the job was completed. After Samus voiced the fact that she would donate the reward to the Bebop fund Spike daydreamed about the Peking Duck he would, no doubt, purchase and devour with a small portion of his share.
Faye had nothing against Samus from the start and, true, she had been waiting to forgive her for attempted grand theft spacecraft when the time was right but that idea went out the window quite quickly. When Samus proposed the residents of the space ship Bebop hold on to the wonderful nine million woolongs Faye had no objects and had no problems about forgiving Samus but becoming her best friend.
Jet hated calling in favors for the riffraff he had seated before him. He was constantly calling in valuable favors to bail Spike out of trouble or certain death. Lord knows Faye was much too much trouble. And here they go asking him to help a stranger they've had on the ship only long enough to have a normal, Bebop-esque, cliché, lapse of sanity. However, Jet thought of the possibilities when she mentioned the vast figure of nine million woolongs begins transferred to the Bebop safe. Jet only thought on the matter a fraction of a moment more. Thus, without further ado, he grabbed the communicator.
"Bob... yeah, this is Jet. I need a favor."