Chapter 7: Battle Plan

On board the Bebop Jet was assessing the damage done to Swordfish, Hammerhead and Red Tail. The Swordfish had the least amount of damage but that was putting it lightly. Having its wing blown off and crashing into a building would seem like major damage to most people but that would be before they saw the Red Tail. Here was an almost total loss. The cockpit now had two new entrances, both courtesy of their alien bounty. Jet still had trouble believing that both holes were made by fists. The impact from the crash made the once sleek looking craft dented and charred almost beyond recognition. Finally there was the Hammerhead. It had the least amount of visible damage, just a through and through hole but the real damage had been done when it had sunk to the bottom to the bay. When Jet opened one of the panels to examine how the interior circuitry held up water had come pouring out.

"Damn, it's going to take a week to repair all this." He grumbled as he picked through wires and circuits that were lying on the floor. As he tried to sort out where the parts came from he found out just how waterlogged the Hammerhead was. Everything had been soaked through; it would take at least a day for it to dry out to the point where he could work on repairs without fear of being shot through the wall by an errant electrical charge. "With my luck it'll probably rust to." He mumbled to himself as he left the hangar. [Of course that's the least of our worries at the moment.] He reminded himself as he entered the lounge. Spike looked surprisingly calm despite of everything that had happened. Faye, on the other hand, looked ready to explode at any moment. Being brought down by someone barehanded was bad enough but the Predator had also totaled her ride. Ed sat at her computer looking through the files MPU had dug up. She had seen a little shaken up when he had first cut her down but now she seemed to have bounced back to her 'normal' ways. Sometimes Jet wished they could brush off things like that so easily. Ein was lying on the table, his midsection bandaged. He had been lucky, only a few cracked ribs and no internal injuries.

"So what's the story?" Spike asked when he caught site of Jet.

"You want the bad news or the really bad news?" Jet asked in response.

"Like things could get any worse." Faye sneered.

"There's a basic law in the universe." Jet explained as he sat down. "That says that things are never so bad that they can't get worse."

"That's really encouraging Jet." Faye replied sarcastically. Jet decided to go ahead despite the remark.

"The bad news is that the Swordfish Hammerhead and Red Tail are out of commission until we can get some money to repair them, even then it's going to take a long time to get them back in the air."

"And the really bad news?" Spike asked. It was time to let the other shoe drop.

"The really bad news is that I still can't figure out how that Predator found us in the first place and I don't know if he'll come back. The best I can do for now is move the Bebop as far away from any other ships as I can. If he tries to swim out somebody is sure to spot him. Now what about you two? I'm hoping you did your best to avoid telling them what all the commotion was about?"

"Actually we told the police commissioner we were after a bounty. When he asked which one we told him Dragonslayer. Then he asked who he was so they could look for him." Spike explained.

"And what did you tell them?" Jet asked, wary of the answer.

"The truth." Spike stated calmly. "We told them that he was an alien who takes people's skulls for trophies." Jet's mouth dropped open in surprise. "We didn't exactly have a story that would sound believable, so we just told them the truth." Jet waited for him to continue but Spike remained silent.

"So he did nothing?" Jet asked.

"Oh he did something." Faye stated acidly. "He started laughing so hard he fell off his chair. After he got back up he told us that if we didn't tell the truth that we could be arrested for obstruction of justice."

"So we told him the same thing again. Then he starts to lecture us on the importance of cooperation between bounty hunters and police. When we didn't change our story he said we might have to end up paying for all the damages caused yesterday if we didn't cooperate. We didn't think he was serious." Spike finished.

"Well he was serious!!" Jet stated angrily. "We might not have any problems now but if they want to they can stick us for every single damage from the dogfight. The cops that fished the Hammerhead out of the drink told me the rough estimate, including the damage to vehicles and injuries to civilians, was over two hundred million." Spike sighed and started to look up at the ceiling. Faye's mouth hung open in surprise. "So that leaves us with one option."

"We have to catch this guy." Spike stated, still looking up at the ceiling.

"Catch!? The hell with that!! I say we kill him and drag his corpse in as proof!!" Faye shouted.

"As much as I hate to admit it I agree with her." Jet spoke up. "Trying to take him alive is too risky. Our best shot is to kill him and bring in what's left for identification."

"That won't work. They already think we're lying about Dragonslayer being an alien. If we bring him dead they'll just think it's a fraud."

"Cops aren't stupid Spike." Jet said, slightly offended at what Spike was implying. "If his body doesn't prove our story his equipment will."

"If we were dealing with level headed people it would. But what we're dealing with now is a bunch of people who think we blew up a couple of buildings for fun then lied about it. We kill him the cops are going to think we had his body and equipment made in some special effects house, no matter how high tech or authentic they look."

"So we're stuck trying to capture supposedly one of the best hunters in the galaxy." Faye said glumly. "Any ideas on how we're supposed to do that?"

"I've got one." Jet spoke up. "And it starts with old fashioned detective work. I'm going to read everything in the files MPU has, not just stuff we think we need. After that we'll see what we can come up with."

"And what if our friend decides to pay us another visit?" Spike asked. Jet took out two pairs of mechanical sunglasses and handed a pair to Faye and Spike.

"The hangar is sealed off and the bridge is wired to sound an alarm if someone breaks the glass. Those glasses are set to view in infrared, so if you hear that alarm put them on, grab whatever artillery you can and get ready."

"And what if he happens to sneak past all your little security measures?" Faye asked, unconvinced.

"That's when we use our foolproof early warning system, Ein." Ein lifted his head up and let out a whine at being volunteered. "His ears and nose already saved us once and there the best things we have for detection." Ein let out a satisfied bark at having being praised and lay back down, happy that he was able to help in such a big way.

"There's just something wrong about a dog going on an ego trip like that." Faye mumbled. Ein let out a small growl at the remark and in response Faye stuck her tongue out at him.

While the Bebop crew focused on detection across the city the Predator focused his efforts avoiding it. His plamcaster was repaired and fully recharged and the minor injuries he had sustained had been treated and gave him no trouble. But if he couldn't get his cloak back in working condition he would be forced to abandon the hunt and get a properly working unit. He had tried to activate it several times but it would only spark and sputter. Finally, after many adjustments, he activated it and again the light bent around him, leaving him free to move about as he pleased. One of his options now was to go and try to find his spear but he knew that would be fruitless. Some ooman had no doubt found it by now and it would be impossible to retrieve at this point. The next thing he needed to do was decided how to handle the prey he was now after. Spike and his hunting party had proved formidable in their flying craft but they were all destroyed now, the only one he knew for certain was still alive was Spike, but the crashes of the Twin Gun and Harpoon craft were survivable. He had to assume that both had survived and all had retreated back to the ship to lick their wounds. That was the most important decision at the moment. His tracker was still working and he could find his way back to the vessel. Should he return to the vessel or let the oomans try to find him? Going back to the ship seemed infeasible. These oomans would not be fooled the same way twice, now they would be on their guard and watching for him. Weakened as they were they could not be underestimated. They had proven themselves good fighters so far but they had not had a chance to use what made oomans worthy prey, their intelligence. It was decided, the oomans had shown him what they had for muscle, now it was time to see what they had in the way of brains. He set out to find a suitable way to test them.

On the Bebop Jet had Tomato set up on the lounge table and was reading the files with great interest. Ed hung onto the back of the couch; reading over Jet's shoulder but being surprisingly quiet. Across the table Spike and Faye sat watching the TV, looking for any leads that might show up.

"Haven't you found anything useful yet?" Faye asked Jet, impatience in her voice.

"Maybe." Jet answered, not looking up. "It says here that in L.A they were able to track a Predator to a slaughterhouse where he was feeding."

"Not many slaughterhouses around here." Spike said. "Might be able to do the same thing."

"Before you get any ideas about that the slaughterhouse was the same place they tired to capture him with those fancy suits that held in body heat. The Predator caught on and butchered the whole team."

"Just a thought." Spike answered. As Jet went back to reading Big Shot's theme started and the familiar logo popped up on the TV screen.

"Hey amigos, this is Big Shot." Punch started.

"The guide to the biggest bounties in the solar system." Judy finished.

"Well amigos we got something really big, only one bounty to show today and it's worth mucho dinero."

"Oh sugar you're not talking about that horrible Dragonslayer are you?" Judy said in obvious mock terror.

"You got it Judy. This mean old hombre has a dead or alive posted on his head for five billion dead and ten billion alive."

"That's a lot of money!" Judy broke in, bubble headed as ever.

"That's right but that's because this here is one nasty dude. He killed seventeen people so far and ….." He stopped as a hand reached onscreen and handed him a slip of paper that he unfolded and read it. "Uh oh. Looks like we got some bad news. Turns out that it's no longer seventeen victims but twenty."

"Oh dear no!!" Judy exclaimed.

"Afraid so. These three banditos were a trio of muggers that had been causing problems lately. Well they ain't goin' to be causing trouble no more. It says that they were killed in the same way other victims of the Dragonslayer were but with one very big difference. We at Big Shot got an exclusive photo that you're going to see for the first time here." The screen changed to a photograph of the murder scene. All the really gory parts were kept off camera but the camera zoomed in on a wall not far from the victims. On it, scrawled in blood, was the word BEBOP. Faye and Spike glanced at each other but said nothing.

"What's up guys?" Jet asked. Faye and Spike continued to watch but Spike answered.

"We made the news." He said without taking his eyes off the screen. "And not in the good way."

"Anything I would want to know about?" Spike didn't answer. "Guess not."

"Bebop? What's that all about sugar?" Judy asked. Jet began to listen but decided he didn't want to see what would be coming next.

"Bebop is the name of the ship three bounty hunters came from and tried to catch this slippery bastard." They then showed footage of each of their respective crashes. Spike raised and eyebrow and Faye narrowed her eyes. "As you can see, they didn't have too much luck. Two crashed real big and one turned his ship into a submarine. These bounty hunters, they seemed muy loco. This one," It showed a picture of the Red Tail. "She tired to use missiles on a person. And this dude," A picture of the Hammerhead falling into the bay was shown. "He try to catch the guy with a vehicle grappling hook. Makes you wonder if they know what they doing." Jet let out a low grumble and Faye's eye began to twitch again. "The police say that these guys were after Dragonslayer, but didn't say why they would use such loco methods to get him. Even when we asked them this is what they did."

"Did either of you two talk to anyone else except the cops?" Jet inquired.

"Not me." Spike answered. "What about you Faye? Faye?" Faye remained silent and stared at the screen, oblivious to what was going on around her. On the screen a tape was being shown of somebody behind a camera that was shoving his way through a crowd of people towards a still smoking Red Tail.

"Outta my way! Coming through! Move it bub! I haven't got all day!" He roughly pushed people aside until he came up to Faye who stood looking at the Red Tail and shaking her head. "Hey lady! You own this thing?"

"What if I do?" Faye replied when she saw that he had a camera.

"How do justify such excessive force in the apprehension of one man?" The cameraman plowed ahead. "Does this mean he's as dangerous as they say or was it some kind of personal power trip for yourself?" Faye didn't answer verbally but instead brought her arm back and camera got a very good close up of her fist before it went tumbling. When the picture came back into focus it showed a ground level shot of the cameraman, on his back and out cold. Spike and Jet turned towards Faye.

"What?! The little creep was asking for it!!" Jet pretended to go back to reading the files and Spike turned his attention back to the TV, which had now gone back to the Big Shot studio.

"Guess she was a little angry about losing such a hot ride." Punch said.

"Or maybe how much she was going to pay for it." Judy added.

"That's right. All that damage is going to cost a pretty penny to fix, and if she and her friends keep on blowing up buildings she ain't gonna fix it anytime soon."

"Awww, too bad." Judy turned to face the camera. "I feel for ya honey I really do but…." The screen exploded in a shower of sparks and flying glass. Ein let out a loud yelp and jumped off the table, almost clearing Jet's shoulder. Despite his own surprise Jet was somehow able catch him, to both their amazement. On the other side of the TV Faye sat pointing a smoking gun at the now obliterated screen. Spike had covered his head to protect against any flying glass and only after he was absolutely sure Faye wasn't going pump any more rounds into the set he cautiously lowered them. Faye still had a deadly look in her eye but lowered the gun.

"Not that I object to what you just did." Spike said calmly "But,…… COULD YOU GIVE US A BIT MORE WARNING NEXT TIME!!!

"JUST WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING!?!?!" Jet yelled. "That didn't do anything but scare the shit out of us!!!"

"But it made me feel a lot better." Faye said, beginning to smile.

"That's no excuse!!! Have you ever heard of ricochets!?!? You could have hit Ed or me!!" He turned around to make sure Ed was ok but she was nowhere in sight. "Now where did she go?" High pitched laughter start up but when they looked around they couldn't find where it was coming from. They all looked at each other then all looked up to see Ed hanging from the ceiling fan.

"Faye Faye made good light show. She made Ein fly. BOOM!" She started laughing harder.

"Well it's nice to see someone had fun with that." Jet said. To Faye he added. "Next time you get mad at the TV try turning it off."

"That's not nearly as fun." Faye responded with a smirk.

"Speaking of fun." Spike interjected, getting back on track. "Have you found anything that can help us catch this guy?"

"The stuff they have in here is sketchy, the technical readouts, physiological reports, they even tried to put together a psyche file on these guys."

"In other words no." Faye said rudely.

"Nothing direct, but I think we can improvise."

"This should be interesting." Faye replied.

"If you have a better idea I'm all ears." Faye didn't answer. "All right then. We don't know how long this Predator has been in the city, but he can move around and attract little or no attention. Even with a cloaking device that should be hard, and that means he probably familiar with the territory. What we need to do is lure him somewhere where the environment is unfamiliar and we can use to our advantage. After thinking it over this would probably be the best place." Calling up a map of the city Jet zoomed in on a large factory type building.

"A metal processing plant? What makes that the best place?" Spike asked.

"There are a lot of places that a person can hide body heat without elaborate means. Also the intense heat will hopefully throw off the alien's infrared vision."

"He can see in more then infrared Jet." Spike reminded him.

"I know that, but without knowing exactly what kind of vision he has we have to work with what we've got."

"I say we go for it." Faye volunteered "It beats sitting around here waiting for him to come back."

"Well Spike that only leaves your vote." Spike just shrugged.

"Why not. The worst that can happen is we'll be killed."

"Nice to she you still look on the bright side of things Spike." Faye said coyly.

"If you two are finished we have a plan to make. This plant is mostly automated so we'll only have to take care of a few guards."

"Ok we get in. How do we lure our friend there and how do we catch him without him setting off his self destruct device?"

"To answer that I'm going to call a friend of mine that has some connections we can use. In the meantime get any weapons and equipment you'll need ready." As Jet went to place the call Faye and Spike checked their guns and infrared glasses to make sure they were working. "I've got a meeting place all set up and we need to get there before nightfall." It was a little embarrassing hitching a ride to shore but they didn't have much choice. Jet led them to a pawnshop run by a weasly looking man with greasy hair and a dirty jacket.

"Well if it isn't Jet Black come to visit one of his down on his luck friends."

"Stuff the poor guy act Joe. Do you have what I asked for or not?"

"Oh I got the stuff. Question is what do you want with all this?" Joe asked as he set the stuff on the counter. "Flare gun with three flares, two road flares, two tranquilizer pistols and sixteen darts, each loaded with enough juice to knock out five men, complete with belt holster and pouch to hold the darts. Fifty feet of steel alloy chain. MP5 with laser sight, five clips of ammunition, now that makes the most sense of the group. The other stuff though…."

"The first rule of this business is not to ask questions." Jet warned.

"Right. So how you going to pay for all this?"

"You said that my credit is good here so just put it on my tab. I should be able to pay you back in a few days."

"And if you don't?" Joe asked suspiciously.

"Lets just say I won't expect you to be at my funeral." Joe raised an eyebrow but just shrugged and went back to work. After they left Jet handed Faye and Spike the tranquilizer pistols and eight darts each. He loaded the MP5, chambered a round, and then slung it over his shoulder.

"Hey wait a minute! Why do you get a real gun and we get this crap!?" Faye protested, motioning to her tranquilizer pistol.

"Because I'm going to be running interference, you two are the ones that are going to bag our bounty."

"And after he's knocked out we tie him up with that chain and drag him to the cops." Spike finished.

"Simple really." Jet mentioned.

"And if this little plan of yours doesn't work?" Faye asked.

"Think of it this way. At least we'll be immortalized in the guy's trophy case." Spike put in.

"That makes me feel a whole lot better." Faye sneered. Securing the processing plant turned out to be easy. After tying up two security guards and locking them in a janitor's closet they put their secret weapon in the control room. Faye and Spike hid themselves among the vats of liquid metal and machinery as Jet went up to the roof. Once he was on the roof he took out the flare gun and loaded his first flare.

"Guess it's do or die time." He said to himself as he pointed the gun straight up and fired.

Several blocks away the Predator stood overlooking the scene where he had left the message for the hunting party of the Bebop. Several hours had passed and they were nowhere in sight. He expected them to at least respond to the challenge but none had come to investigate it. He was about to give up when a flash caught his attention and almost overwhelmed his vision when he turned to look at it. After adjusting to deal with the intensity he saw a ball of light floating down from the sky. He began to ponder the meaning of the light when another smaller ball of light shot into the sky and exploded into a much brighter one. Looking in the direction of the souse of the light he saw a third ball shoot from the top of a building. Zooming in on the building he was surprised to see the one armed one called Jet was firing them into the air. Jet then took out two things and somehow ignited them, giving off a glow that again threatened to overwhelm his thermal vision. After laying the burning sticks down brought out a weapon and began scanning the horizon. These oomans were cleverer then he gave them credit for. Instead of reacting the way they were expected to a challenge they had responded with a challenge of their own. He let out an approving growl and began to make his way around other buildings so he could approach that one from behind and hopefully avoid any detection they had waiting for him.

On the roof Jet scanned the rooftops with his infrared glasses, watching for anything strange. The plan was simple. Once the Predator showed up he engage him in combat and lure him down into the plant so they could capture him. He should be attracted to the heat of the flares and since he didn't know all of them had infrared specs he would approach from the front. The only problem was he was nowhere in sight and that began to make him nervous.

Climbing up the building the Predator pulled himself onto the roof. Jet was still looking in the opposite direction, expecting him to come from the direction he was facing. This proved that they had something they at least thought would compromise his cloak. Unfortunately for them they had grossly underestimated their opponent. Clenching his fist he extended his wristblades and stalked forward to collect his first trophy of the night.