FREELANCERS- Old Dogs Still Dance
Jet was standing in the rec room, washing the Bebop's windows even though he'd done so right after they'd landed on Venus.
Jet hadn't realized this until he was half finished, and chose to believe he was just that desperate for subterfuge as
opposed to admitting that age was beginning to take it's toll on him. It seemed only yesterday or, he couldn't quite
remember but almost certainly sometime during the last week he'd mistaken one of his socks for an oven mitt and
burned his flesh hand trying to take a pan of lasagna from the oven. Jet didn't like to think about going senile
and turned his focus towards other, slightly less troubling things. Here he was, cleaning the rec room's viewports
for the second time today. He'd been doing the very same activity when Spike had walked out, determined to
confront Vicious and bury his checkered past once and for all. And later on, when a pregnant Faye had kept her
goodbyes as short and painless as possible he'd cleaned the windows all day long. Staring out of them, beholding
all the world through a wall of glass. Reality didn't quite seem real that way, as if he were watching a movie.
Maybe it was his way of dealing with life, convincing himself that he simply viewed it rather than interact with it.
"Damn Edward, always has to have her Goddamned lasagna." Jet grumbled, worrying about his only remaining
partner/roommate being so late getting back.
Chase felt extremely weird, as he watched Ed sniff blissfully at the ashtray. That was weird enough in and of itself
but she wouldn't stop staring at him, examining every last one of his features. He looked down at her irritably,
which only made Ed smile wider at him. "God he used to look at me like that all the time...You're so much like him
it's fucking unreal!" Edward confessed, leaning closer in her reclining chair that seemed completely metallic and
very uncomfortable. Chase stood up abruptly, grinding his cigarette down to nothing in the ashtray. He was so sick
of all this meaningless shit, people he'd never met before talking as if they knew him. Friends of his father popping up
everywhere and all of them insisting he was the spitting image of a legendary bounty hunter. "Alright, fuck this."
Chase shouted, walking quickly to the door and swinging it open so hard that it crashed against the shelves on the wall.
"Whoa! Take it easy with my shit asshole!" Edward shouted back, following after Chase as he stalked angrily through
her shop. "Hey!" Chase yelled at her, whirling around and grabbing her shouders tightly. "Stop wasting my time bitch!
I've been running around all day long, there's a nasty band of goons after my head and the only thing you tell me
is how much like Spiegel I am!" Edward shoved Chase away violently, pushing him against the wall with impossible strength.
"I know all that you fucking idiot!" Edward retorted, startling Chase with her sudden outburst. "Why do you think Faye sent you
here? My shop doesn't show up on radar, I'm protecting you! Fucking asshole!" Chase shoved back at the mention of
his mother, turning away from Ed shaprly. "Faye, is dead." He admitted coldly. "Just like my dad, and whoever you think
I am you're mistaken." Edward took the news harshly, gasping as she made a whining sound with her throat.
"You let her die? You jusr ran away and let her die? That wasn't the plan she was supposed to go back to the Bebop!
What the fuck are you good for anyway?!" Edward went off on Chase, punching him hard across the jaw.
Chase stumbled back a little, it hurt a lot. She was way too small to be that strong. "Plans change."
Chase growled back, rubbing a palm across his jaw. "People die, and I never said I was good for anything. You're
the one that thinks I'm so much like my dad." Edward crossed her arms in front of her, badly upset. She cocked her
hips to one side, glaring at him with a pouty expression. He glared back at her, hating her even though they
were strangers. She had no right to judge him against anyone, least of all a man he'd never even met.
"Well goddamnit, I don't know what the fuck we're supossed to do now. Christ can't it ever be simple?"
Edward said suddenly, apparentely shurgging off the rage in an instant. She threw her hands into the air in a
surrendering gesture, going behind the front desk and rummaging through the junk until she found the comm unit.
"Stay." She ordered, drawing a downsized Ak-47 from under the desk as Chase turned back towards the door.
"You expect me to believe anything in this junkyard works?" Chase questioned, receiving an immediate reply
as the wall to the left and right of him suddenly bled smoke. Chase hadn't heard a single shot.
"All my shit works." Edward said darkly. Chase became very obediant as Edward spoke with an
unknown party on the phone, thinkiing he was safer with the stupid goons chasing him.
This girl Ed, was frighteningly smart.
Jet picked the call up in a hurry, relieved to hear Ed's voice. She was sure on about something though, as she explained
that plans had to change. Also that Spike's kid was a damned intolerable prick, and that Faye had died.
Jet took the last part very hard, leaning against the hallway for suport as his legs suddenly went weak.
The world was such a cold place, taking his friends away one by one. As a cop he'd often thought himself invincible,
the black dog that never stays down. Spike, Faye and everyone he'd met since his retirement really,
were his constant reminder that immortaltity was a myth. Jet Black put his grief aside, saving it for when he could
let it out easily. Their chances at the bounty were a lot worse now, no Faye to run interference. That also meant
no one stationed on the ground to take off with the bounty while the police chased after Ed's decoy.
"Alright Ed, here's what we'll do.." Jet spoke into the comm until, entering his room and frowning at his tan coat
and fedora. The old threads always made him feel young again. Too young, too cocky. They made him do things he shouldn't.
It wasn't going to go well with him on the ground helping Edward capture their prey. Jet had the weirdest idea,
wincing and holding the comm unit away from his ear as Edward expressed her lack of enthusiasm for the
revised plan. "He is NOT coming with us!" She angrily refused, smacking her palm against a bookcase as Chase
flinched on reflex. "I wouldn't trust this guy to do my fucking laundry let alone catch our bounty! Out of the question!"
Jet sighed heavily, as Ed forced him to rely yet again on cheap tactics. "Ed, I'm really very hungry you know.
I cooked some lasagna today with you mind but I'm just..So.." Jet even threw in some fake sobs, hoping that she'd fold.
"Ohhhh, Jet! I'm sorry, your poor tummy must be feeling so icky! Alright, I'll bring him back with me and we'll
figure something out but just this once ok?" Chase's eyes widened, as horror crept over him. Was she actually
talking about taking off with him? To help them net a bounty? "You honestly think I'd let you
kidnap me, you crazy freak job?" Chase shouted, reaching for the door handle as his eyes suddenly closed on him.
Jets of gas shot from the ceiling as his body slumped to the ground,
until Ed took her finger off the button concealed in a drawer of her desk.
"Of course not." She answered Chase's sleeping form, cuffing one of his hands and snapping the other cuff on her own
wrist. "We'll be waiting." Edward spoke into the comm unit before hanging up.
Jet was standing in the rec room, washing the Bebop's windows even though he'd done so right after they'd landed on Venus.
Jet hadn't realized this until he was half finished, and chose to believe he was just that desperate for subterfuge as
opposed to admitting that age was beginning to take it's toll on him. It seemed only yesterday or, he couldn't quite
remember but almost certainly sometime during the last week he'd mistaken one of his socks for an oven mitt and
burned his flesh hand trying to take a pan of lasagna from the oven. Jet didn't like to think about going senile
and turned his focus towards other, slightly less troubling things. Here he was, cleaning the rec room's viewports
for the second time today. He'd been doing the very same activity when Spike had walked out, determined to
confront Vicious and bury his checkered past once and for all. And later on, when a pregnant Faye had kept her
goodbyes as short and painless as possible he'd cleaned the windows all day long. Staring out of them, beholding
all the world through a wall of glass. Reality didn't quite seem real that way, as if he were watching a movie.
Maybe it was his way of dealing with life, convincing himself that he simply viewed it rather than interact with it.
"Damn Edward, always has to have her Goddamned lasagna." Jet grumbled, worrying about his only remaining
partner/roommate being so late getting back.
Chase felt extremely weird, as he watched Ed sniff blissfully at the ashtray. That was weird enough in and of itself
but she wouldn't stop staring at him, examining every last one of his features. He looked down at her irritably,
which only made Ed smile wider at him. "God he used to look at me like that all the time...You're so much like him
it's fucking unreal!" Edward confessed, leaning closer in her reclining chair that seemed completely metallic and
very uncomfortable. Chase stood up abruptly, grinding his cigarette down to nothing in the ashtray. He was so sick
of all this meaningless shit, people he'd never met before talking as if they knew him. Friends of his father popping up
everywhere and all of them insisting he was the spitting image of a legendary bounty hunter. "Alright, fuck this."
Chase shouted, walking quickly to the door and swinging it open so hard that it crashed against the shelves on the wall.
"Whoa! Take it easy with my shit asshole!" Edward shouted back, following after Chase as he stalked angrily through
her shop. "Hey!" Chase yelled at her, whirling around and grabbing her shouders tightly. "Stop wasting my time bitch!
I've been running around all day long, there's a nasty band of goons after my head and the only thing you tell me
is how much like Spiegel I am!" Edward shoved Chase away violently, pushing him against the wall with impossible strength.
"I know all that you fucking idiot!" Edward retorted, startling Chase with her sudden outburst. "Why do you think Faye sent you
here? My shop doesn't show up on radar, I'm protecting you! Fucking asshole!" Chase shoved back at the mention of
his mother, turning away from Ed shaprly. "Faye, is dead." He admitted coldly. "Just like my dad, and whoever you think
I am you're mistaken." Edward took the news harshly, gasping as she made a whining sound with her throat.
"You let her die? You jusr ran away and let her die? That wasn't the plan she was supposed to go back to the Bebop!
What the fuck are you good for anyway?!" Edward went off on Chase, punching him hard across the jaw.
Chase stumbled back a little, it hurt a lot. She was way too small to be that strong. "Plans change."
Chase growled back, rubbing a palm across his jaw. "People die, and I never said I was good for anything. You're
the one that thinks I'm so much like my dad." Edward crossed her arms in front of her, badly upset. She cocked her
hips to one side, glaring at him with a pouty expression. He glared back at her, hating her even though they
were strangers. She had no right to judge him against anyone, least of all a man he'd never even met.
"Well goddamnit, I don't know what the fuck we're supossed to do now. Christ can't it ever be simple?"
Edward said suddenly, apparentely shurgging off the rage in an instant. She threw her hands into the air in a
surrendering gesture, going behind the front desk and rummaging through the junk until she found the comm unit.
"Stay." She ordered, drawing a downsized Ak-47 from under the desk as Chase turned back towards the door.
"You expect me to believe anything in this junkyard works?" Chase questioned, receiving an immediate reply
as the wall to the left and right of him suddenly bled smoke. Chase hadn't heard a single shot.
"All my shit works." Edward said darkly. Chase became very obediant as Edward spoke with an
unknown party on the phone, thinkiing he was safer with the stupid goons chasing him.
This girl Ed, was frighteningly smart.
Jet picked the call up in a hurry, relieved to hear Ed's voice. She was sure on about something though, as she explained
that plans had to change. Also that Spike's kid was a damned intolerable prick, and that Faye had died.
Jet took the last part very hard, leaning against the hallway for suport as his legs suddenly went weak.
The world was such a cold place, taking his friends away one by one. As a cop he'd often thought himself invincible,
the black dog that never stays down. Spike, Faye and everyone he'd met since his retirement really,
were his constant reminder that immortaltity was a myth. Jet Black put his grief aside, saving it for when he could
let it out easily. Their chances at the bounty were a lot worse now, no Faye to run interference. That also meant
no one stationed on the ground to take off with the bounty while the police chased after Ed's decoy.
"Alright Ed, here's what we'll do.." Jet spoke into the comm until, entering his room and frowning at his tan coat
and fedora. The old threads always made him feel young again. Too young, too cocky. They made him do things he shouldn't.
It wasn't going to go well with him on the ground helping Edward capture their prey. Jet had the weirdest idea,
wincing and holding the comm unit away from his ear as Edward expressed her lack of enthusiasm for the
revised plan. "He is NOT coming with us!" She angrily refused, smacking her palm against a bookcase as Chase
flinched on reflex. "I wouldn't trust this guy to do my fucking laundry let alone catch our bounty! Out of the question!"
Jet sighed heavily, as Ed forced him to rely yet again on cheap tactics. "Ed, I'm really very hungry you know.
I cooked some lasagna today with you mind but I'm just..So.." Jet even threw in some fake sobs, hoping that she'd fold.
"Ohhhh, Jet! I'm sorry, your poor tummy must be feeling so icky! Alright, I'll bring him back with me and we'll
figure something out but just this once ok?" Chase's eyes widened, as horror crept over him. Was she actually
talking about taking off with him? To help them net a bounty? "You honestly think I'd let you
kidnap me, you crazy freak job?" Chase shouted, reaching for the door handle as his eyes suddenly closed on him.
Jets of gas shot from the ceiling as his body slumped to the ground,
until Ed took her finger off the button concealed in a drawer of her desk.
"Of course not." She answered Chase's sleeping form, cuffing one of his hands and snapping the other cuff on her own
wrist. "We'll be waiting." Edward spoke into the comm unit before hanging up.