" Where are you taking me?"

Elise had talked Spike into going out the next day. He didn't know where they were going, but she promised it was going to be something he would like. He didn't discern what there was that he would like from his past life, but she said so.

" Just be patient. I told you you were going to enjoy this surprise. You're so eager." 

" Elise, think about it. Every surprise I've had to deal with ended with a shoot out."

" That maybe true, but that doesn't mean this is one of those surprises."

" Mm hmm. Then what's that for?" Spike pulled her coat aside and exposed her gun.

" Alright, so I'm guilty of being cautious. Not everyone has bulletproof skin like you do. Now come on, it's just a little further."

" At least give me a hint."

" Fine. You're going to really enjoy it and it doesn't involve a prairie oyster."

" Sounds good."

******************

" I can't believe you let the girl get away."

The Red Dragons stood below their leader in his office. They had just returned from cleaning up the mess left by their dead brethren. They left the scene clear of any bodies or blood and made sure to sweep down for fingerprints.

" She had some help sir. There was a guy there. He took them all down. He fought like an animal. He was like Spike."

" I don't care if he was a freaken' guardian angel-" He paused in his tirade and thought," Did you say Spike?"

" It was just a figure of comparison sir! I didn't mean anything by it!" The subordinate cowered under his leader's glare and at the gun that was pointed at him.

BANG

 " Let that be a lesson to all of you. You ever utter that name in my presence and you'll never live to regret it. Spike and Vicious are dead!! There is only Nemesis!! Understand?!!"

" Yes sir!!"

" This is the worst freakin' day of my life. Now get the hell out of my office before I make it the worst and last day of yours!!"

*********************

Spike was totally speechless. He couldn't believe what was in front of him. It was just not possible to see what he was seeing. He rubbed his eyes twice to make sure he hadn't been imagining the whole thing completely. These surprises were going to kill him.

Well, had he not already been dead.

" My Swordfish!! You salvaged my Swordfish!!"

His racer was right in front of him. His red ship that he had gotten from Duvall shown brightly in the light of the sun as Elise ripped the cover off of it to expose it to him. He had missed his ex-racer in his exile. There wasn't any real room for joy riding in hell.

The ex-racer was in perfect condition; as he discovered as he ran his fingers over all the buttons. Everything had been replaced and was brand new. His stabilization scope that he had been forced to draw while they were dealing with the hackers that could mess with their ship's systems was gone and new glass replaced it.

Elise stood on the ground in front of the ship; her black boots tapping impatiently. She opted to wear a pair of khaki cargo pants that hung very low on her hips and exposed the top part of her red thong.

Her top was a green tank top with a red, fishnet see-through shirt over it. She didn't like being confined to tight clothes and rather enjoyed the feel of the air on her arms and her stomach as she ran and she moved.

Her red hair was flowing wild and free behind her in the playful wind. She wasn't nearly as excited as Spike was, but she smiled at his childlike enthusiasm when Spike first saw his beloved ship all over again.

" Hey cowboy, you'll need these for that horse before you get back in the saddle." She tossed Spike his key from the ground.

**************

Spike leaned out and caught his key. He couldn't wait to get back in the air, or lack of air in space. He loved the rush of adrenaline when he was going 180mph or so chasing after a bounty or simply pushing it to make sure he was still on the jazz.

He needed to get back in the pilot seat anyway. He was going to have to be able to pilot again and use his quick mind and hunter's sense to keep them both alive throughout this whole ordeal. Well, at least Elise.

As he turned the key and he felt the ship start up, Spike watched all the buttons, numbers, screens and lights light up like a child at Christmas. He was actually back.

Just as he was about to tell Elise to go and get to the safety zone of the hanger, he caught sight of some people driving up to the open hanger behind her. Their car was a black Cadillac-esque with tinted windows. They rolled down to reveal gun barrels.

" Elise!! Ambush! Behind the ship now!!" Spike revved the engine and kicked up dust and sand to cover her as she would make her getaway to a safe place.

*******************

Elise figured they would at least have a day or so to themselves since the last attack was not even 24 hours ago. People rarely attacked consistently. Their targets were usually too much on guard to bother with any kind of plan to attack. But these people were the Red Dragons and they wanted her dead; so there was no telling what kind of plans they would have.

She reached into her back pockets and pulled out her two .44 Calibur Desert Eagles. Reaching into her side pockets while taking the safeties off, she slapped magazines into them and waited for an opening to start her defense against the enemies. She glanced into the shiny metal next to her.

There were about 12 men. That meant they were going to scatter and try to close her in. She needed to get rid of some of those numbers and even out the sides a bit. Deciding to take her chance now, she dashed away from the safety of the Swordfish.

The bullet fire was not far behind. Elise used her lock-on contact lenses she created for just such an out-numberment and started taking shots at all the men before anymore could take cover behind some discarded armor.

" Lock-on! Bullet time!!"

****************

Spike had already counted the men and watched with interest as Elise handled herself quite well with all the men after her hide. This was certainly something to get used too. Where did she learn to shoot like that? And where did she get that eye for accuracy? Maybe it came from all that typing?

But this wasn't the time to dwell on something like that. He needed to take care of all the men that were behind the armor and out of Elise's range. Deciding that his ray gun would do nicely, Spike hoped she could handle herself until it charged.

" Elise! Fire in the hole!"

****************

Elise didn't even turn around as she heard Spike shout. She just ran off to the right and rolled behind a nice, big piece of titanium, hoping the back draft wouldn't affect her from back there. 

When the smoke cleared. The air was silent. Neither Elise nor Spike moved an inch. They waited a good 5 minutes before they even started to move. One of the men that managed to dodge the ray was running. His left arm was missing and he was losing a lot of blood. Wherever he was running, he wouldn't make it.

Elise locked on to him and put him out of his misery. They couldn't afford to let anyone know they were still alive. As long as they were question marks, they still had an edge.

***************

Spike jumped down from his cockpit and surveyed the damage around him. Elise had handled the situation a lot better than he thought she would. She was going to have a lot of explaining to do, but right now, they needed to hook his ship up onto a trailer and take these cars back to her place and scan them to see if they could find any leads as to what might happen next and their own next move.

" Nice job Desert Eagle."

" Thanks Jericho. Faye taught me how to use a gun one day. I taught myself how to shoot. Now let's get out of here before the ISSP gets nosey."

Spike nodded and went over to hook up one of the trailers. Elise helped guide him onto it so no damage would be done to the ex-racer. Then they took both of the cars the Red Dragon thugs had arrived in to go back to her apartment.

" Now you know why I hate surprises." Spike wasn't in the car for 5 minutes before he began to look for cigarettes and hot wire it.

" Hey, this wasn't supposed to end like this. This was a good surprise Spike." Elise closed her door and began to hot-wire her car too.

" More like good ambush. You sure can pick'em Ed."

" Shove it up your tailpipe cowboy."