Despite the fact that school has started
(NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) again, I've found the time to
write. Enjoy part five. This one's mainly centered on Spike and crew
instead of Ed, but she'll come in to play later. Enjoy. -Randall Flagg2
The door swung open and Spike stepped out onto the surface of Ganymede. Jet, Ein and Faye followed closely behind. After finding out information on John Mathers' relations, they had decided to try for the woman named Sonya Rockwell first. Although Spike didn't normally didn't enjoy old detective films, he decided to try the Ganymede grille first. "Jet, you check the alleys with Ein and see if there's anybody who might have some urban stuff on him. Faye, you check around the city." Spike ordered.
"Since when are you the leader?" Jet asked.
"Since now. Now split up." Spike said, clapping his hands together for emphasis. They did just that.
~*Spike's point of view*~
I've seen cheerier expressions on Vicious' face! Everybody's pretty bitter (not that that isn't like me), and nobody wants to make conversation. I sit down with a beer and decide to ask the owner if he knows Sonya Rockwell. He gets surely and asks me if I'm related to Mathers. At the mentioning of his name, everybody rises up and corners me. Guess it's time to fight. Soon enough, everybody is sprawled out on the floor and I'm trying to catch my breath. I ask the owner again if he know who Sonya Rockwell is. He says that he doesn't know, but that somebody else does. Some guy in one of the more slummy sections of Ganymede named Craig Niles. Satisfied, I leave to find the crew and the Niles guy. I only hope he's willing to talk.
~*Ein's point of view*~
Jet's asking an alley guy if he knows that Sonya girl we're looking for. The guy says he doesn't know, but if he wants to know that badly he should talk to Craig Niles, whoever he is. Sheesh, they find so much information on Ed's computer and yet they still can't find anybody! Sometimes I wonder why I stay with them. Just as we start leaving the alley, my nose goes crazy with a weird smell. I turn around to see the alley man holding a piece of cloth. He tells Jet that it was part of a sweater Craig before Mathers went bad. He let's me smell it and my senses go crazy. I've smelt that scent before we went into the alleyway. I tug on my leash to let Jet know that I can find the scent. He gets what I'm saying and lets me lead the way. I wonder how the others are doing.
~*Faye's point of view*~
Damn it! I haven't found anything on Sonya or Mathers at all! If this keeps up, I'm going back to the bebop. Maybe I'll ask that woman over there. She tells me she doesn't know where Sonya is, but that she has heard of someone who knows her. A guy named Craig Niles who lives at the far south side of town according to her. Then I see Jet and Ein walk past me. The mutt seems to be in a real hurry. Maybe they know about Niles as well. I'll go get Spike.
~*Authors point of view*~
"You say they were heading south?" Spike asked.
"Yeah, Ein seemed to be in a big rush. Maybe we should follow them." Faye and Spike headed south, passing by shops and apartments among other things until they came to a jewelry shop. They went in to find Jet speaking with a man in his mid thirties who had short black hair and a thin, gaunt face that almost seemed to be deprived of all emotion. Spike interrupted them.
"Your Craig Niles?"
"Yeah. I know why you're here. You want to know about my ex-friend John Mathers." he said in a creaky voice that to Spike sounded as well melodious as a rusty door hinge. "Your friend Jet has already told me about you and what you do for a living. I always feared that he might get a bounty on his head one of these days."
"We want to know if you know anything about him." Jet said.
"I know quite a bit about him. When we were boys, we were friends. We had a lot of things in common with one another. The difference was that he was a tad more religious than I was and that kind of annoyed me. Religion was never something big in my life, so I found it pretty boring. Whenever we did something, he would always find a way to relate it to the bible or something that had to do with Christ or God or whoever was in the Holy Scriptures. As we got older, religion started dominating more and more of his life. He started doing strange things in "the name of God" as he put it. He started getting more violent towards peope. He would yell at people for doing just about anything. He would chastise teachers in front of the class for lessons he found blasphemous. He even beat up a few guys for smoking pot in the locker room, claiming that they were "Inhaling devil's fire and needed to be rebuked." Then one day, I asked him what had happened to cause religion to take over his life as it had. He just looked at me for a few moments, then he started hitting me with a crowbar that was in a nearby box. He called me all sorts of religious terms that has to do with demon worshipers, unbelievers, and other mumbo jumbo. Our friendship ended that day. We went our separate ways and never spoke to each other again. Before he disappeared, he started getting into computer hacking again."
"Again?" Spike asked.
"Yes. Before our relation turned sour, we would sometimes hack into websites and spread a virus or two. We never did anything serious though, and we only got caught once. I was good on my own, but he was a complete wizard at the thing. Some people say that now his talents rival somebody named Radical Edward." Spike didn't like that. If somebody could rival Ed's hacking skills, they might have problems finding them. Niles made an end to his tale. "That's all I know about him, besides the fact he's a cult leader now. Anything else?"
"Yeah, do you know about a woman named Sonya Rockwell?"
"I do. She lives in the building opposite me. She used to have a relationship with him and she knows a hell of a lot more about him then me. See you." he said. The bebop crew left the store. They had to pry Ein's paws off of his ears first, since Niles' voice had taken it's toll on the welsh corgi's sensitive hearing. Soon they were in the apartment and at the check-in desk.
"Do you have a Sonya Rockwell in here? We're friends of hers." Faye said, lying through her teeth. She doubted this would work. Much to her surprise, it did. They were told that her room number was 1906 on the second highest floor. They went to the elevator but were stopped.
"Sorry, but you'll have to leave the dog outside." the woman said, pointing to Ein. He was a bit disappointed to have to miss out on the action, but he went without a fuss to the outside of the hotel. Spike, Jet and Faye took the elevator up to the eleventh floor and knocked on the door to room 1906. The woman who answered the door was a young woman who looked kind of like Faye, but her hair was curly and pink.
"Yes?"
"Are you Sonya Rockwell?" Spike asked.
"Do I know you?" she asked, raising her eyebrow in curiosity.
"You don't know us, but we know somebody who might be related to you. Have you heard of a guy named John Mathers?" Faye said. She recoiled as if struck upon hearing that name.
"How do you know about him? Do you work for him?"
"No. We work alone. He has a bounty on his head and we want to find out about him. All the data pointed towards you and his father Reginald. Do you have any information Miss. Rockwell?" Jet asked. Sonya said nothing for a moment.
"Reginald died a day ago. I read it in the paper." she said in a voice that was almost a whisper. Then her voice cracked and she began to violently weep.
"Did I say something?"
"No." she sobbed. "It's not you. It's just that my memories of him are painful. Come in if you want." The three bounty hunters quietly entered Sonya Rockwell's apartment room and sat down on a couch. Faye went to her and offered her the red cloth she wore around her arms for her eyes.
"Just calm down and tell us what you know. We didn't mean to upset you." Faye said as the woman wiped her eyes. After awhile, her cries became sniffles.
"I- I'm sorry. I'm better now." Sonya said, and sat down opposite them. "What do you want to know?"
"Do you know his whereabouts? We're trying to find him."
"Alright, I'll tell you. I've known where he's been hiding for fifteen years. Back then, things weren't as bad. We were young lovers who didn't have a care in the world. People had told me not to go near him because he was religious, but I thought that I could change him for the better. Our relationship went on for a year or two, and then he started to turn bad again. He started insisting I dress the way he saw fit, and I don't mean in slutty clothes that reveal my body. He always wanted me to wear a dress or a skirt, saying that I should wear what God had determined I should wear. Then we started getting into fights a lot. None of them turned physical though. One night, I was coming back with ice cream for us when I saw him beating up a kid near my car. I later learned that he did it because he said the kid was listening to obscene things and needed to be corrected. I broke up with him that night. Six months before the gate incident, he told me he was going to go set up a new society on Calisto. After the gate accident, he disappeared entirely. He must have gone to Calisto like he said he would."
"But we already searched there and we didn't find anything!"
"He probably set up some kind of defense below the planets surface. I know this because after he left he told me in a letter that he had gathered people just like him and that he was "going to educate people in the way of God". I just know that he's been killing people. I had a feeling he would eventually."
"That sick fuck." Spike thought to himself.
"That's all that I can tell you. Reginald might have more to tell you, but I told you he's dead."
"That's all we need to know." Faye said, standing up. "I hope we didn't disturb you."
"It's alright. You didn't disturb me at all." Sonya said. The bebop crew left her apartment, got Ein, and headed back to the ship. They didn't know if they could find this guy. He seemed to have broken every rule on leaving clues or evidence, but at least they had confirmed his whereabouts. All they could do for now was hope that Ed could find a way to hack into the bebop and lead them to John. In layman's terms, it didn't look good for the good guys.
Back in the dorm, Ed woke up gently. She hadn't had any nightmares about last night, but she was still terrified of it all. She was still sucking her thumb which she suddenly bit down on with a hiss as a crimson bolt of agony blasted up her butt and back. She had almost forgotten about being whipped for looking at the drawings Ray had done in the bathroom. Ed took her thumb out of her mouth and saw she had broken the skin with the bite. It hurt, but not nearly as bad as the marks on her back. She lay back down on her stomach, being careful not to irritate the slashes on her back. "Edward want to see Ein and bebop again." she whimpered. Then the door banged open, jerking everybody else awake. Matthew Straker stood in the doorway, his shadow flitting around the room like a dancer performing on- stage. Ed shuddered.
"Get up sinners. Today, the fire comes for you!" he grinned, his teeth almost like wolf's fangs.
Chapter 6 to come soon. R&r please. Randall Flagg2
The door swung open and Spike stepped out onto the surface of Ganymede. Jet, Ein and Faye followed closely behind. After finding out information on John Mathers' relations, they had decided to try for the woman named Sonya Rockwell first. Although Spike didn't normally didn't enjoy old detective films, he decided to try the Ganymede grille first. "Jet, you check the alleys with Ein and see if there's anybody who might have some urban stuff on him. Faye, you check around the city." Spike ordered.
"Since when are you the leader?" Jet asked.
"Since now. Now split up." Spike said, clapping his hands together for emphasis. They did just that.
~*Spike's point of view*~
I've seen cheerier expressions on Vicious' face! Everybody's pretty bitter (not that that isn't like me), and nobody wants to make conversation. I sit down with a beer and decide to ask the owner if he knows Sonya Rockwell. He gets surely and asks me if I'm related to Mathers. At the mentioning of his name, everybody rises up and corners me. Guess it's time to fight. Soon enough, everybody is sprawled out on the floor and I'm trying to catch my breath. I ask the owner again if he know who Sonya Rockwell is. He says that he doesn't know, but that somebody else does. Some guy in one of the more slummy sections of Ganymede named Craig Niles. Satisfied, I leave to find the crew and the Niles guy. I only hope he's willing to talk.
~*Ein's point of view*~
Jet's asking an alley guy if he knows that Sonya girl we're looking for. The guy says he doesn't know, but if he wants to know that badly he should talk to Craig Niles, whoever he is. Sheesh, they find so much information on Ed's computer and yet they still can't find anybody! Sometimes I wonder why I stay with them. Just as we start leaving the alley, my nose goes crazy with a weird smell. I turn around to see the alley man holding a piece of cloth. He tells Jet that it was part of a sweater Craig before Mathers went bad. He let's me smell it and my senses go crazy. I've smelt that scent before we went into the alleyway. I tug on my leash to let Jet know that I can find the scent. He gets what I'm saying and lets me lead the way. I wonder how the others are doing.
~*Faye's point of view*~
Damn it! I haven't found anything on Sonya or Mathers at all! If this keeps up, I'm going back to the bebop. Maybe I'll ask that woman over there. She tells me she doesn't know where Sonya is, but that she has heard of someone who knows her. A guy named Craig Niles who lives at the far south side of town according to her. Then I see Jet and Ein walk past me. The mutt seems to be in a real hurry. Maybe they know about Niles as well. I'll go get Spike.
~*Authors point of view*~
"You say they were heading south?" Spike asked.
"Yeah, Ein seemed to be in a big rush. Maybe we should follow them." Faye and Spike headed south, passing by shops and apartments among other things until they came to a jewelry shop. They went in to find Jet speaking with a man in his mid thirties who had short black hair and a thin, gaunt face that almost seemed to be deprived of all emotion. Spike interrupted them.
"Your Craig Niles?"
"Yeah. I know why you're here. You want to know about my ex-friend John Mathers." he said in a creaky voice that to Spike sounded as well melodious as a rusty door hinge. "Your friend Jet has already told me about you and what you do for a living. I always feared that he might get a bounty on his head one of these days."
"We want to know if you know anything about him." Jet said.
"I know quite a bit about him. When we were boys, we were friends. We had a lot of things in common with one another. The difference was that he was a tad more religious than I was and that kind of annoyed me. Religion was never something big in my life, so I found it pretty boring. Whenever we did something, he would always find a way to relate it to the bible or something that had to do with Christ or God or whoever was in the Holy Scriptures. As we got older, religion started dominating more and more of his life. He started doing strange things in "the name of God" as he put it. He started getting more violent towards peope. He would yell at people for doing just about anything. He would chastise teachers in front of the class for lessons he found blasphemous. He even beat up a few guys for smoking pot in the locker room, claiming that they were "Inhaling devil's fire and needed to be rebuked." Then one day, I asked him what had happened to cause religion to take over his life as it had. He just looked at me for a few moments, then he started hitting me with a crowbar that was in a nearby box. He called me all sorts of religious terms that has to do with demon worshipers, unbelievers, and other mumbo jumbo. Our friendship ended that day. We went our separate ways and never spoke to each other again. Before he disappeared, he started getting into computer hacking again."
"Again?" Spike asked.
"Yes. Before our relation turned sour, we would sometimes hack into websites and spread a virus or two. We never did anything serious though, and we only got caught once. I was good on my own, but he was a complete wizard at the thing. Some people say that now his talents rival somebody named Radical Edward." Spike didn't like that. If somebody could rival Ed's hacking skills, they might have problems finding them. Niles made an end to his tale. "That's all I know about him, besides the fact he's a cult leader now. Anything else?"
"Yeah, do you know about a woman named Sonya Rockwell?"
"I do. She lives in the building opposite me. She used to have a relationship with him and she knows a hell of a lot more about him then me. See you." he said. The bebop crew left the store. They had to pry Ein's paws off of his ears first, since Niles' voice had taken it's toll on the welsh corgi's sensitive hearing. Soon they were in the apartment and at the check-in desk.
"Do you have a Sonya Rockwell in here? We're friends of hers." Faye said, lying through her teeth. She doubted this would work. Much to her surprise, it did. They were told that her room number was 1906 on the second highest floor. They went to the elevator but were stopped.
"Sorry, but you'll have to leave the dog outside." the woman said, pointing to Ein. He was a bit disappointed to have to miss out on the action, but he went without a fuss to the outside of the hotel. Spike, Jet and Faye took the elevator up to the eleventh floor and knocked on the door to room 1906. The woman who answered the door was a young woman who looked kind of like Faye, but her hair was curly and pink.
"Yes?"
"Are you Sonya Rockwell?" Spike asked.
"Do I know you?" she asked, raising her eyebrow in curiosity.
"You don't know us, but we know somebody who might be related to you. Have you heard of a guy named John Mathers?" Faye said. She recoiled as if struck upon hearing that name.
"How do you know about him? Do you work for him?"
"No. We work alone. He has a bounty on his head and we want to find out about him. All the data pointed towards you and his father Reginald. Do you have any information Miss. Rockwell?" Jet asked. Sonya said nothing for a moment.
"Reginald died a day ago. I read it in the paper." she said in a voice that was almost a whisper. Then her voice cracked and she began to violently weep.
"Did I say something?"
"No." she sobbed. "It's not you. It's just that my memories of him are painful. Come in if you want." The three bounty hunters quietly entered Sonya Rockwell's apartment room and sat down on a couch. Faye went to her and offered her the red cloth she wore around her arms for her eyes.
"Just calm down and tell us what you know. We didn't mean to upset you." Faye said as the woman wiped her eyes. After awhile, her cries became sniffles.
"I- I'm sorry. I'm better now." Sonya said, and sat down opposite them. "What do you want to know?"
"Do you know his whereabouts? We're trying to find him."
"Alright, I'll tell you. I've known where he's been hiding for fifteen years. Back then, things weren't as bad. We were young lovers who didn't have a care in the world. People had told me not to go near him because he was religious, but I thought that I could change him for the better. Our relationship went on for a year or two, and then he started to turn bad again. He started insisting I dress the way he saw fit, and I don't mean in slutty clothes that reveal my body. He always wanted me to wear a dress or a skirt, saying that I should wear what God had determined I should wear. Then we started getting into fights a lot. None of them turned physical though. One night, I was coming back with ice cream for us when I saw him beating up a kid near my car. I later learned that he did it because he said the kid was listening to obscene things and needed to be corrected. I broke up with him that night. Six months before the gate incident, he told me he was going to go set up a new society on Calisto. After the gate accident, he disappeared entirely. He must have gone to Calisto like he said he would."
"But we already searched there and we didn't find anything!"
"He probably set up some kind of defense below the planets surface. I know this because after he left he told me in a letter that he had gathered people just like him and that he was "going to educate people in the way of God". I just know that he's been killing people. I had a feeling he would eventually."
"That sick fuck." Spike thought to himself.
"That's all that I can tell you. Reginald might have more to tell you, but I told you he's dead."
"That's all we need to know." Faye said, standing up. "I hope we didn't disturb you."
"It's alright. You didn't disturb me at all." Sonya said. The bebop crew left her apartment, got Ein, and headed back to the ship. They didn't know if they could find this guy. He seemed to have broken every rule on leaving clues or evidence, but at least they had confirmed his whereabouts. All they could do for now was hope that Ed could find a way to hack into the bebop and lead them to John. In layman's terms, it didn't look good for the good guys.
Back in the dorm, Ed woke up gently. She hadn't had any nightmares about last night, but she was still terrified of it all. She was still sucking her thumb which she suddenly bit down on with a hiss as a crimson bolt of agony blasted up her butt and back. She had almost forgotten about being whipped for looking at the drawings Ray had done in the bathroom. Ed took her thumb out of her mouth and saw she had broken the skin with the bite. It hurt, but not nearly as bad as the marks on her back. She lay back down on her stomach, being careful not to irritate the slashes on her back. "Edward want to see Ein and bebop again." she whimpered. Then the door banged open, jerking everybody else awake. Matthew Straker stood in the doorway, his shadow flitting around the room like a dancer performing on- stage. Ed shuddered.
"Get up sinners. Today, the fire comes for you!" he grinned, his teeth almost like wolf's fangs.
Chapter 6 to come soon. R&r please. Randall Flagg2