Galactic Megamix By DoomaWriter

Author's Notes: Whoah, it's been a while since I updated, eh? I hope you all didn't forget about me. Those who've been keeping up and let down at my laziness, I'd like to apologize. But here's the next chapter. Don't worry, its real this time.

Part 6: Spike Spiegel (Three Solos)

On Mars.

The usual, everyday bustle of the police station was instantly silenced. Through the glass doors came a booming crash and the sound of a body hitting the floor. The man at the front desk looked at the tied and gagged person who had just been thrown to the ground and then looked up at the fuzzy-haired man who had just thrown him there.

Spike walked in the doors and stopped with one boot on top of his newly caught bounty's head. He smiled and rubbed his hands together. "Sorry about that," the bounty hunter began. "But he put up a little fight and wouldn't come quietly."

With a puff from his cigar, the man behind the desk looked at the suspect's face, and then tapped a few keys upon his computer. After a moment, his fingers stopped and he adjusted the screen so that Spike could see the display as well. "Let's see here," the officer said. "You caught Roku Swanson. This guy's wanted for petty theft and resisting arrest...."

When the words hit Spike's ears his smile began to fade. He didn't like where this was going. These weren't the crimes of a high-paying bounty.

"So you're reward for capture comes to...one thousand one hundred wulongs."

It was a miracle Spike didn't collapse on the floor right then and there. He knew it was too easy to be true. But without Ed or Jet's computers he couldn't really tell the prices of the people he caught. It took him a long time to even find out about this one.

The officer handed Spike his card with the amount of wulongs it represented. With a sigh, Spike took it and walked out of the office. All the while, he could hear the laughing of policemen in the background. Once outside Spike took a long pause before turning and kicking a nearby trashcan, spewing its contents everywhere.

---

Meanwhile, upon Venus.

The large, empty room was dark. Only one light in the dead center gave it any sense of illumination. Below the light, three figures sat upon their knees, wondering why they had been summoned. From the blackness came the sound of footsteps that echoed as they approached the three. When they stopped, the shoes and the lower legs were the only things that could be seen from the one who had been walking.

"Do you know why you all have been brought here?" The voice of the hidden figure asked from out of nowhere.

The three looked toward one another, hoping that the other would know. Finally, the largest one turned forward and said, "No, sir."

A faint chuckle could be heard. "Well don't worry. It's because you all are being rewarded."

One of the men in the light gave out a sigh of relief. Another began to smile proudly. Yet the last, largest one remained with a serious look. He knew that he hadn't done anything recently that deserved any kind of appreciation. Was it that his whole career was being evaluated?

"First, we'll look at you," the bodiless voice began again. A finger came into the light and stopped at the one on the left end. The one in a trench coat and shades. As the man looked up, his necklace swayed and sparkled in the light. "Arin Johnson. If it weren't for you, we wouldn't of known that Spike Spiegel was alive. Because you came face to face with him yourself."

Arin smiled in confidence.

"And then you failed to capture him. As a matter of fact, we have records of you running away! You even allowed him to take your gun!"

Arin was no longer smiling. He was now sweating bullets. The two other men beside him had inched away from him, leaving plenty of space between Arin and themselves.

"Tell me," the person in the shadows continued, anger clearly in his voice. "What would of happened had he gotten that gun looked at and traced it all the way back to us!?"

"I-I d-don't kn-kn-know....Boss. I-I never thought of-of that-"

A gunshot rang out and Arin was silenced. The impact to his head had forced his body to fly backward. He landed outside of the light. All but his leg, which made his tattoo of a blue penguin visible. The other two men looked on in horror.

"Next..." the voice said, regaining its calm tone. The finger now pointed to the man who had been in the center of the three. "Eric Hein isn't it?"

The man in the center nervously nodded his head, confirming his name. Like most men he worked with, he wore a blue business suit. He had an earring with a chain that ended at a nose ring. His hair was long and dyed orange, though now it contained a gray strand or two.

"I want to thank you, Eric. You managed to escape an entire police force and deliver us a very important package. For that, I will not shoot you."

Eric's sweating stopped and he began to show a smile still riddled with nervousness.

"But you found it necessary to waste ammunition upon a trailer carrying...farm supplies? And not to mention that while you ran from the police, you had to use a space ship with our logo branded on the side for all to see!"

Knowing what happened if he made excuses, Eric got up and turned to run, only to receive several bullets in the back and falling in the dark to meet his predecessor.

"Now finally, we have Stone. I have absolutely no complaints with your performance and I'm not angry about getting you out of jail. What I do have complaints about is how you thought you could run away from the Blue Penguins and hide out at some circus....Getting nervous? Go ahead and run."

The largest one only sat there. He closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable.

"Oh that's right...you can't do much running now can you? Too bad."

A final shot and all three men were now dead. The figure walked away from the light and his footsteps echoed in the large room again. Finally, with the flick of a switch, the light turned off.

"Run while you can, Spike Spiegel."

---

Meanwhile, upon the other side of Mars.

A man sat in the same seat Vicious did that faithful day. The room had been rebuilt along with the whole building. He sat and thought, and as he thought he became angrier and angrier. He had Vicious' sword sheathed and in his right hand. He tapped the floor with the bottom of the sheath slowly as he thought. He couldn't use the sword as Vicious could but he just had to hold on to it.

"Spike Spiegel..." Ghost said to himself. "You were the one who abandoned us years ago. You were the one who tried to fool us. You were the one who destroyed our headquarters. You were the one who killed our leader and then abandoned us once again!"

He stood up, the rage overwhelming him. "I was a fool for not stopping you when I had the chance! But I won't make the same mistake twice. I shall avenge the Red Dragons by taking your head!"

---

Elsewhere, incapable of knowing any of this, Spike stood at a gas station, filling up the Swordfish. With his usual casualty he glanced at the machine and saw that he had gone over what he wanted to pay by fifty wulongs and hurried to stop the pump and to unlatch it from his ship.

Inside, the owner looked at his computer and saw that his customer had gone over what he paid and ran out the door. "HEY YOU!"

Spike leapt into the ship and hurried for it to take off. The side door was still open as the ship swayed upward and took off with the owner running out of the gas station door. He took off his hat and flung it to the ground. He shook his fist at the retreating space ship as Spike flew off.

See you later... Space Cowboy