The old Indian chief sat in his teepee and was like always, lost in
thought and clouds of marijuana. His large, creased, eyes opened as he
stared out at the setting sun. He watched as one single star, that had
appeared to had flickered out, came back to life in and instant, and
flashed brightly amongst the night sky once more. He only laughed and shook
his head "One who dies not knowing true happiness... has never lived at
all.. " he murmured to himself watching the sky then closed his eyes, going
back to sitting peacefully, sand flowing from his hand, endlessly.
Faye hovered over his head and looked at the mummified figure as he laid on the yellow couch motionless "think he'll make it?" she asked with, perhaps, little or no concern. She lit up a cigarette right in front of his face and breathed it on to the head of the mummy.
"Not with you blowing toxins in his face" Jet said with a twinge of annoyance in his voice. "You're being obnoxious, com'mon, let's go to sleep, he's not waking up tonight either." he told her and stood from the yellow chair walking towards the hallway.
Faye sighed and followed, "you never were any fun Jet, I'd swear to god you have a sense of humor made of lead."
"The expression is 'heart of lead' don't you know anything?" Jet asked in disgust as they disappeared into the darkness of the Bebop.
Session #27 - Break On Through to the Other Side
There was a slight cringe that came from within the mess of bandages, then movement and a slight moan. The figure brought his hand up to his face and sighed heavily "Why can't I just die and get it over with? What's keeping me from death?" Spike's voice came out muffled through the bandaging.
Faye sat up in her bed at Jet rushed to the door in his boxers. "Someone just opened the hanger!" he told her. The two of them ran to the launching deck and watched as Spike fired up the swordfish. They watched as he pulled the last bit of bandage off his cheek. He seemed to turn around and look at them in slow motion. He brought his hand up, forming a gun with his fingers. He pretended to shoot them then sped off into the blackness of space. Faye jumped into the air easily, because of the lack of gravity. She hopped onto the red tail and opened the pod, jumping in and securing herself as Jet motioned for her to follow. She zoomed into the open vacuum of space and looked around, The Swordfish and Spike were no where to be seen.
Jet sat in the control room as Faye's voice came in over the intercom link "I've been searching for hours Jet. He's nowhere, and if he's anywhere, he's probably half way down a gate to Mars by now" Jet nodded in agreement "Yeah, you're more then likely right. There's no point looking for him anymore, just com'mon back inside. We might as well take of for Mars." Boomed his deep voice over the intercom. Jet looked down rubbing the front of his head, trying to comfort a pounding headache. Suddenly a laughing smiley face snapped its way up onto all the monitors in the control room "Friendly Faces! Friendly Faces!" the ever- sweet voice rang out. Jet looked up to see Ed's face pop-up with Ein on the visual communicator "Jet's friendly face! Remember Ed's friendly face?" she asked and pushed her face up so that it took up the whole communications screen. She looked much older for only being gone a few months. You could tell she was female now, a much more feminine figure and an actual chest. Jet sat up "Wow... Ed, I hardly recognize you. Where'd ya get to?" he asked the young girl through the video link. Ed's face went suddenly sad "Ed went to find her Papa, but he's always running around." Ed paused slightly long enough for her face to light up again "So! Ed lives with Ein now, but we miss Bebop very, very much. Will Jet and Faye-Faye, and Spike come to pick us up on Earth?" she asked politely begging into the window. Jet's mechanical hand scratched the back of his head "Oh, well, I don't know Ed, We're right by Ganymede. getting to Earth would take us a week, and we have to go find Spike." He told the young girl "Spike is missing missing? Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope! Ed made a new friend who will find Spike for you! She's super, super nice and won't charge..." she said he hands together as if praying. Jet smiled at her act of innocence. "Oh yeah, how old is she?" he asked thinking it was just another one of her silly girl-friends she made on earth. Ed shrugged "Ed doesn't know, but she's much older then Ed, maybe Faye- Faye's age, but maybe a bit older. Ed doesn't know her whole name, but Ed calls her Dark" Jet blinked wide-eyed "Dark Acleans?" he said suddenly, the surprise sending Ed falling over onto her back. She sat up immediately and sent Jet a picture of the women. The picture was an old mug shot. There looking straight a head into the camera was a woman 5'10 inches high, black hair pouring over her shoulders, golden eyes staring with hate at the camera. "That is Dark Acleans! We'll be there in a week to pick the three of you up ok Ed? Make sure Dark doesn't go anywhere." Ed was simply dancing in the background with Ein "Bebop, Bebop, Going on the Bebop, Bebop." Jet cut communications with Ed just as Faye showed up "Change of direction we're going to Earth..." Jet said to her, pressing several buttons on the control panel. Faye only blinked at him a few times and raised a brow "why did you find out if Spike was there?" she asked him looking up to the monitor to see that it would take them 168 hours to reach Earth. Jet shook his head "Nope the next best thing..."
Ed ran around in figure eights, her arms held out to the sides, trying her best to imitate an airplane. Ein barked in protest at her actions and looked to the sky, then out to the sea, from where they were standing on shore. "Yay! Yay! Ein, Bebop is coming to pick us up today!" she said happily, picking up the Welsh corgi, who whimpered slightly. They stood by the shore as a purple coloured pod-ship moved overhead then landed about a hundred feet from Ed. Ed clapped her hands excitedly "Dark!, Dark! Bebop, Bebop!" She sang flapping her arms. The hatch of the pod opened up and the same women with long black hair lifted herself up out of the ship, hair being pushed away by the breeze. She wore a pair of thinly frames glasses, glowing green words jumping across them. She touched the bridge of her silver frames, the green letters flickered away. She turned her head and looked down at the young girl with spiky red hair. "Ed, your friend is late." She said with a smile and hopped down onto the sand. Ed sat squatting on the ground, looking up at Dark. "Well, Ed really didn't know when Bebop was coming. Bebop isn't ever late though." She said cheerfully hopping up into the air. Dark only looked down at the young girl with a slightly annoyed look on her face. She scratched her head and turned to look out to sea, just as the large, brown ship, moved expertly into the water. "Bebop is here!" Ed said enthusiastically, running along the shore. Jet moved down onto the shore after he had parked the huge beast. He ruffled the young girls' hair and chuckled "Hey, there, how's it going?" He asked with his soulful voice. Ed immediately jumped up on Jet's shoulders, wrapping her long arms around his head He tried batting her away as she spoke "Ed missed Jet and Faye-Faye very muchly" she said affectionately with a pout on her lips. Dark stepped up to them casually. She wore a meek smile along with a slightly baggy get up. Her clothes hung off of her, all four sizes too big. "Well, well, the infamous Jet Black, haven't seen the white of your eyes in quite some time." She said and looked up at Ed "I'm told that my services are required?" she asked him as Faye walked over to the two of them. "I still don't understand the logic behind it Jet... Why are bounty hunters, hiring a bounty hunter, to find a bounty hunter?" she asked him a bit confused, placing the palm of her hand to the side of her head. "Ed knows! Ed knows!" she told everyone enthusiastically, jumping off Jet's head and onto the sand, beginning to run in circles. "You are getting Dark to find Spike, because Dark and Spike are two of the best bounty hunters! Dark finds people really good! She found all Ed's friends in 'hide-and-go- seek'" Dark smiled and shrugged "Well, I might be a bit rusty, but I still have the 'Feral' so at least I'll be moving fast." She told them and Jet laughed. She smiled and looked over at it. It was an older model, maybe as old as the swordfish, but it was one of the fastest, second only to a few, including the swordfish. It was a deep purple, the word "Feral" stenciled in bright, red letters on the side. Jet shook his head looking over at it "You had that hunk of junk when you first starting hunting, you mean to tell me you haven't let it go yet?" He asked her with a smirk, crossing his arms over one another, a cocky smile on his face. "Or have you grown attached to it?" he asked. She simply raised a brow and nodded "yeah, so what? I grow attached to big, clunky, metal things, but last I remember 'the Hammerhead' was in much much worse shape, so talk about the pot calling the kettle black.." she told him and turned to go back to her ship. "Open the hanger and I'll drop it inside, that is... if I have the job." She said looking over her shoulder with a bit of a cunning look on her face. Jet looked over to the disapproving Faye and shrugged "Yeah, ya do, but you do need to find him" he told he, moving his arm out as if dismissing a thought "I mean it. No dicking around Dark, you've been known to have too much fun on your missions." But by the time he finished his sentence, Dark was already half way back to her ship.
Dark lit a cigarette as she walked into the living quarters of the Bebop, a big rusted, dimly lit room, with high ceilings and leaky pipes. She took in a deep breath, as if enjoying the smell of it all. Jet was also smoking a cigarette on the large yellow couch, still partially covered with bandages from the week before. The thin glass monitor sat on the coffee table as Jet looked at it, rubbing one of his temples. "Listen Dark, Spike loves Mars, he was born and raised there, and so he'll more then likely go back for a bit of a visit. Also that's where the." "Red Dragon Syndicate is... You speak to me like I have no idea who Spike is..." she said to him taking a long haul of her cigarette. "He's more then likely going to see if Vicious is still alive, which is stupid on his part, considering that Vicious has about eight biotechnology firms that his syndicate has strong ties in. Even if he had been dead for a hundred years those companies would find some way to bring him back." she said leaning her elbows on her knees and pointing at Jet "You gotta quit underestimating me... I've done my homework on every outlaw in the Galaxy, and I have a memory like a steel trap." She told him biting down on the tip of her finger with a set of pearly white teeth. Jet chuckled slightly and shook his head "You always could light up a room with that smile" he told her as she blushed, a bit surprised by what he said "Now, on to this whole Spike thing." "Always was a pain in the ass that guy... You'd think he'd show some appreciation for us nursing him back to perfect health, well. nearly perfect." Faye said as she walked in from the bathroom a towel tied around her head. Dark watched the two of them and shrugged, turning the monitor so she could take a look at the figure of Spike that stood, looking blankly into the camera. She closed her eyes and smiled meekly. "I don't want either of you to worry your pretty little heads about dear ol' Spike here... I'll have him home safe and sound in three weeks, a month, max. I got a whole list of places in my head where he might be. He'll be easy to find, cause I get the impression, that he doesn't think you'll be looking for him." she explained and heaved herself up, stretching her arms over her head. "Why do you say that?" Faye asked "We've argued in the past, but never enough for us to completely hate each other." She explained "I don't think there's anything that would really compel Spike away from us..." "Yeah, she does have a point. And even if Spike just wanted to see if Julia and Vicious were still alive, we could have gone with him, it would have been no big deal." He said scratching his head "All three of us know that Spike is a secretive guy, and there would have been no way in hell that he would get you two involved with his past, especially if it could possibly put you in any harm." Dark told them her voice growing in volume as she finished her stretch. "So, I'm not surprised why he felt the need to go it alone... Plus who knows, he might not find a damn thing and come straight home." She explained and shrugged "Well I dunno. But I'll try to find out." She scratched her head, then casually patted herself down, cigarette dangling from her mouth. "I'm a professional, I'll get the heart of it, track him down with expert speed.." she said pulling out a pair of gun metal grey Desert Eagles she spun then around her index fingers a cunning smirk on her face. "I'll bring him back and this second death of his will all be just another horrible memory to nurse him through." she said stilling the guns in front of her and pulling the triggers at the exact same time. An ominous click came from both guns. She looked over her shoulder, a huge grin on her face. "Now that I seem all professional and all..." the paused and lifted her right hand to scratch the back of her head "got any bullets?" A large moan escaped the throats of both Jet and Faye as Ed wheeled by spinning Ein around in her arms "Oh! The Irony!" she sang out over and over again.
Jet held a small palm organizer and a digital pen; he spoke from the ground up to Dark who organized things in her pod "Digital Communicator?" "Check" sang Dark's voice from above "Four spare fuel rods?" "Check" "Enough food to last you at least seven days?" Dark smiled like the tresire cat over the top of the pod hatch. Jet only sighed and looked up her. "Enough food to survive on for seven days?" he restated the question. She sighed "Check" "Your passport?" "Check" "A hundred and fifty rounds of ammo?" "Check." Jet shrugged "Well then you're good to go I suppose." He paused and jumped into the air, floating, he gripped onto the rim of the pod hatch. "Listen, Dark, I know you kinda retired you're self, so if this is too much for you." "Too much for me?" she asked a bit stunned and certainly offended "I hate to tell you old man, but I'm one of the best the galaxy has ever seen, and if finding your little egotistical tree house member is too much for me to handle, then I might as well just live on the bebop pretending to be a bounty hunter like you.." Dark said with passionate retort, flustered by what he had said. She glared back at him and smirked "He'll come home Jet, I know he will." She said and gave him a friendly shove, sending him away from the hatch, which she closed briskly, sealing it. Jet moved back to the hanger's platform and pushed a few buttons. He turned around to see Dark looked back at him. They saluted each other and smiled. Jet exited into the hallway, enclosing the hanger in darkness. Within a few seconds the hanger opened, a loud sucking noise followed, and the emptiness of space revealed itself to Dark. She put her glasses on, green letters flickering across them quickly. She looked out into the stars and took in a deep breath. "Home." she whispered to herself and took off, immediately engulfed into the blackness.
"Your attention please..." ".we are currently approaching your destination, please be prepared for any distresses that may be caused from entering or exiting the gate. Thank you for traveling with us." "Your attention please..." ".we are currently approaching your destination, please be prepared for any distresses that may be caused from entering or exiting the gate. Thank you for traveling with us." "Your attention please..." ".we are currently approaching your destination, please be prepared for any distresses that may be caused from entering or exiting the gate. Thank you for traveling with us." The same voice rang out at the same time, the words jumbled into a fit of confusion. Dark sat inside the pod of the "Feral" which was filled with wrappers from food. She heaved a sigh of relief "Oh, thank god... It's about time I got out of this shimmering yellow hell hole." She muttered pushing a few buttons on the operations key board. The pod was cold and poorly ventilated; the air was stale and made her oversized t-shirt stick to her skin. The monitor blipped in front of her and Jet's face popped up. "Just getting to Mars now I'm assuming?" he asked huffing slightly into the screen. Dark looked towards the glowing red planet and nodded "mhmm... just arrived in fact" she muttered unenthusiastically. "However, Mars is a bigger place then most realize. not like I'm gonna find him over night..." she said casually and then suddenly increased her volume "SO YOU CAN STOP CHECKING ON ME EVERY THIRTY SECONDS!" she hollered and closed the video link.
Dark landed the Feral about a block and a half away from the larger downtown area. She decided to take in the sights that she hadn't laid eyes on for more then 5 years. The day was rather temperate, a bit windy. It was autumn on mars, and if there had been any trees they would have turning orange just about now. She took a deep breath of smog filled air, and smiled. She had considered Mars home for so many years that it seemed impossible for her to ever dream of leaving. Back then Dark was unaware to the fact that good things often change, more often then not for the worst. Her feet hit the cement sidewalk for thirty minutes before she came to the street she had been wondering towards. She looked up at the large building that stood in front of her and put on a huge smile, as if finally home after a journey. She busted open the door to the small convenience store. A whiskey bottle out of the corner, but it Dark's enthusiasm, she didn't realize how abandoned the place had become "Hey Annie!" she called out as soon as she opened the door. A few kids were sitting on the ground looking at outdated issues of Playboy and Penthouse. She looked at the kids and scowled "What the hell are you little bastards doing here?" she asked and pointed to one. "I remember you! I babysat you when you were in the second grade." The boys jumped to there feet and ran for the door, but just before the last one left he spoke "Annie's been dead for almost six months lady.." he said and rushed out. Dark's expression dropped at the looked at the now empty doorway with a blank stare. There were no tears, no outbursts of emotion... nothing, just shock. She looked at the large bloodstain on the cushioned seat, then over to the barrels of ammunition spilled over. She walked to the back stairwell and began climbing it. Several droplets of blood adorned the staircase as she traveled upward. She came to a door and opened it. There on the roof top of another building laid a grease spot, left from a fatal bullet wound. Dark hopped over a small balcony and walked over to it. She crouched down beside it and looked it over. From behind her came the slow and shaky cocking of a gun "Don't you move a muscle." Came and elderly, decrepit voice of an old man. Dark slowly put her arms in the arm and turned to look at him. She smiled meekly "it was raining that day, wasn't it?" she asked him
She sat in the old man apartment. He was very obviously a squatter who had adopted Annie's apartment after she had died. She looked around and then over at him "Well..." he said and then paused, taking a sip of coffee with a shaky hand "I don't really now much about that day... but I do know that everybody around on Mars knows that the greasespot on the roof over there is connected with the explosion at the Red Dragon Syndicate." He shrugged "the man that was here with that woman died in that explosion. I hear she was a beautiful young thing. blonde hair stretched down her back, blue eyes that you could get lost in.." he told her and shrugged "never knew her name. but chances are if you go back to the syndicate building you'll see what I'm talking about." Dark stood and left the tea he had made her untouched on the coffee table. She nodded her appreciation to the old man. "Thanks for the information, but I gotta get going" she said to him in a monotone, looking over her shoulder "and you should stop drinking the alcohol. with shakes that bad, you never would have shot me anyway.." she told him, walking down the stairwell. Moving back into the store from the stairs she moved over to the counter, pouring herself a glass of the old whiskey left there. She looked at the picture of Mou Yenrai, Annie, and the other man in the picture. She lifted the glass to the picture "To you... and to your inability to keep yourselves alive." she said and took back the drink, aburptly leaving the store.
Of course, just to make things more complicated, the power had been turned of from the Red Dragon Syndicate, causing her to climb eighteen flights of stairs before reaching the top. "Just my luck... you'd think that a multi-billion dollar syndicate would be able to pay their electrical bill even after they've abandonded it..." she sighed and looked at the number 10, indicating what sotry she was on. "Agh! Eight more? Jesus Christ... what the hell was this building for?!" she screamed as she continued climbing. Huffing and puffing all the way up she finally made it to the eighteenth floor and pushed the door open. She gasped as she looked out into the top floor which had been completely destroyed by some sort of bomb. Rocks were everywhere, dusty footprints and of course blood. Two different splatter patterns. One from a gun shot the other from a katana's fatal slashing. "It was a wonder Spike lived through that." she said to herself. She saw a rolled up piece of paper on the ground, pinned beneath a rock. She picked I up and unrolled it, peering at the scratchy writing that was signed there; obviously male. After squinting at it for a moment she turned it up side-down to make sure she was reading it correctly "Rusty Wolfhoul?" she asked herself and then looked up to a marble flight of stairs, where large, dried droplets of blood had been continuously washed away yet still stained the tile an orange color. She put the piece of paper in her pocket and ran up the stairs as fast as she could, as if she was expecting to see something to open her eyes to give her a clue of some sort. She stumbled before she reached the top. A sudden flash of white fluttered amongst her strong eyes, which widened at the chaotically peaceful sight. A sea of white doves shifted left and then right before then took of into the darkening grey sky. It seemed like thousands of them, fluttering feathers roaring in Dark's ears as the wind generated by each tiny wing lifted her hair towards the sky, just as the sky opened up and poured a blessing of rain on the parched city streets. Looking up into the sky, almost hopeless, she screamed to the sky. "Show me where he's gone! Tell me if they chose to live in a work like this them choose to die." She received no answer from the doves, only the now distant sound of frantically flapping wings. "And. give me a concrete reason why I came back." she said and stuffed her hands into her pockets. She blinked a few times and looked down at her left hand. which held the small piece of paper she had collected only moments ago "Rusty Wolfhoul"
Dark stood in a small phone booth, the receiver pinned between her ear and her shoulder "Hi! Directory assistance?" she asked in a hopeful tone "I was wondering if you could give me the number to a Rusty Wolfhoul." there was a slight pause "Yes, I'm assuming this is a local call." another pause. "Yeah, I'll hold." Completely soaked from head to toe Dark waited in the, thankfully, dry telephone booth, looking around at the few odd pedestrians taking shelter under anything they could find: newspapers, restaurant canopies, fighting the wind with an umbrella. "Yeah! I'm still here." Dark answered as the operators voice came back over the receiver. "No such number, huh? Well, alright, thanks for your help." she said politely and hung up the phone. Sighing heavy she leaned her back up against the glass wall of the phone booth and slid down to the ground. Some water from outside crawled along the concrete, like a heavy river who's damn had burst. Watching it for a moment relaxed her somewhat, and she smiled as she picked up the phone book and idly leaved through it.. It sprang out at her, and if she had been standing she would have been knocked flat on her ass "Rust E. Wolfhowl! Oh sweet Jesus, there it is." she told herself in a very surprised, yet hushed tone. Jumping to her feet, as if she had just been released from a giant spring, she picked up the receiver and tossed in another quarter-woo-long. She shook so much with anticipation that she had to hold the phone instead of using her shoulder to keep it up. It rang a few times before the sound of a young man's voice echoed over the phone "Hello?" he asked as if a bit shocked to hear to phone ring. "Sorry if I woke anyone up, but you don't know me... I was just wondering if you have heard of anyone named Spike Spiegel. It's sort of urgent." She told him. "Come to the Oleander Pass... where the mountains reach the stars. My grandfather will talk to you there." Were the only words he said before he hung up the phone. She stared at the phone in disbelief. She hung it up gently and looked back out at the rainy streets. Pulling a pen from her coat pocket she pulled up the sleeve and wrote on the underneath of her arm 'Oleander Pass, Olympus Mons' She smiled to herself before running out into the rain, and as it struck her face, she smiled in personal triumph.
On her way back to her she bought a latte and a map of mars that doubled as an umbrella. Hopping back into her zip craft and looked at the map and sipped the cooling coffee getting a bit of foam on her upper lip. "Onwards towards victory!" she yelped with cheer as she placed the key in the ignition and flew off towards the massive mountain in the distance. the largest on in the galaxy... where the peak seemed to kiss the sky with it's snow cap
Faye hovered over his head and looked at the mummified figure as he laid on the yellow couch motionless "think he'll make it?" she asked with, perhaps, little or no concern. She lit up a cigarette right in front of his face and breathed it on to the head of the mummy.
"Not with you blowing toxins in his face" Jet said with a twinge of annoyance in his voice. "You're being obnoxious, com'mon, let's go to sleep, he's not waking up tonight either." he told her and stood from the yellow chair walking towards the hallway.
Faye sighed and followed, "you never were any fun Jet, I'd swear to god you have a sense of humor made of lead."
"The expression is 'heart of lead' don't you know anything?" Jet asked in disgust as they disappeared into the darkness of the Bebop.
Session #27 - Break On Through to the Other Side
There was a slight cringe that came from within the mess of bandages, then movement and a slight moan. The figure brought his hand up to his face and sighed heavily "Why can't I just die and get it over with? What's keeping me from death?" Spike's voice came out muffled through the bandaging.
Faye sat up in her bed at Jet rushed to the door in his boxers. "Someone just opened the hanger!" he told her. The two of them ran to the launching deck and watched as Spike fired up the swordfish. They watched as he pulled the last bit of bandage off his cheek. He seemed to turn around and look at them in slow motion. He brought his hand up, forming a gun with his fingers. He pretended to shoot them then sped off into the blackness of space. Faye jumped into the air easily, because of the lack of gravity. She hopped onto the red tail and opened the pod, jumping in and securing herself as Jet motioned for her to follow. She zoomed into the open vacuum of space and looked around, The Swordfish and Spike were no where to be seen.
Jet sat in the control room as Faye's voice came in over the intercom link "I've been searching for hours Jet. He's nowhere, and if he's anywhere, he's probably half way down a gate to Mars by now" Jet nodded in agreement "Yeah, you're more then likely right. There's no point looking for him anymore, just com'mon back inside. We might as well take of for Mars." Boomed his deep voice over the intercom. Jet looked down rubbing the front of his head, trying to comfort a pounding headache. Suddenly a laughing smiley face snapped its way up onto all the monitors in the control room "Friendly Faces! Friendly Faces!" the ever- sweet voice rang out. Jet looked up to see Ed's face pop-up with Ein on the visual communicator "Jet's friendly face! Remember Ed's friendly face?" she asked and pushed her face up so that it took up the whole communications screen. She looked much older for only being gone a few months. You could tell she was female now, a much more feminine figure and an actual chest. Jet sat up "Wow... Ed, I hardly recognize you. Where'd ya get to?" he asked the young girl through the video link. Ed's face went suddenly sad "Ed went to find her Papa, but he's always running around." Ed paused slightly long enough for her face to light up again "So! Ed lives with Ein now, but we miss Bebop very, very much. Will Jet and Faye-Faye, and Spike come to pick us up on Earth?" she asked politely begging into the window. Jet's mechanical hand scratched the back of his head "Oh, well, I don't know Ed, We're right by Ganymede. getting to Earth would take us a week, and we have to go find Spike." He told the young girl "Spike is missing missing? Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope! Ed made a new friend who will find Spike for you! She's super, super nice and won't charge..." she said he hands together as if praying. Jet smiled at her act of innocence. "Oh yeah, how old is she?" he asked thinking it was just another one of her silly girl-friends she made on earth. Ed shrugged "Ed doesn't know, but she's much older then Ed, maybe Faye- Faye's age, but maybe a bit older. Ed doesn't know her whole name, but Ed calls her Dark" Jet blinked wide-eyed "Dark Acleans?" he said suddenly, the surprise sending Ed falling over onto her back. She sat up immediately and sent Jet a picture of the women. The picture was an old mug shot. There looking straight a head into the camera was a woman 5'10 inches high, black hair pouring over her shoulders, golden eyes staring with hate at the camera. "That is Dark Acleans! We'll be there in a week to pick the three of you up ok Ed? Make sure Dark doesn't go anywhere." Ed was simply dancing in the background with Ein "Bebop, Bebop, Going on the Bebop, Bebop." Jet cut communications with Ed just as Faye showed up "Change of direction we're going to Earth..." Jet said to her, pressing several buttons on the control panel. Faye only blinked at him a few times and raised a brow "why did you find out if Spike was there?" she asked him looking up to the monitor to see that it would take them 168 hours to reach Earth. Jet shook his head "Nope the next best thing..."
Ed ran around in figure eights, her arms held out to the sides, trying her best to imitate an airplane. Ein barked in protest at her actions and looked to the sky, then out to the sea, from where they were standing on shore. "Yay! Yay! Ein, Bebop is coming to pick us up today!" she said happily, picking up the Welsh corgi, who whimpered slightly. They stood by the shore as a purple coloured pod-ship moved overhead then landed about a hundred feet from Ed. Ed clapped her hands excitedly "Dark!, Dark! Bebop, Bebop!" She sang flapping her arms. The hatch of the pod opened up and the same women with long black hair lifted herself up out of the ship, hair being pushed away by the breeze. She wore a pair of thinly frames glasses, glowing green words jumping across them. She touched the bridge of her silver frames, the green letters flickered away. She turned her head and looked down at the young girl with spiky red hair. "Ed, your friend is late." She said with a smile and hopped down onto the sand. Ed sat squatting on the ground, looking up at Dark. "Well, Ed really didn't know when Bebop was coming. Bebop isn't ever late though." She said cheerfully hopping up into the air. Dark only looked down at the young girl with a slightly annoyed look on her face. She scratched her head and turned to look out to sea, just as the large, brown ship, moved expertly into the water. "Bebop is here!" Ed said enthusiastically, running along the shore. Jet moved down onto the shore after he had parked the huge beast. He ruffled the young girls' hair and chuckled "Hey, there, how's it going?" He asked with his soulful voice. Ed immediately jumped up on Jet's shoulders, wrapping her long arms around his head He tried batting her away as she spoke "Ed missed Jet and Faye-Faye very muchly" she said affectionately with a pout on her lips. Dark stepped up to them casually. She wore a meek smile along with a slightly baggy get up. Her clothes hung off of her, all four sizes too big. "Well, well, the infamous Jet Black, haven't seen the white of your eyes in quite some time." She said and looked up at Ed "I'm told that my services are required?" she asked him as Faye walked over to the two of them. "I still don't understand the logic behind it Jet... Why are bounty hunters, hiring a bounty hunter, to find a bounty hunter?" she asked him a bit confused, placing the palm of her hand to the side of her head. "Ed knows! Ed knows!" she told everyone enthusiastically, jumping off Jet's head and onto the sand, beginning to run in circles. "You are getting Dark to find Spike, because Dark and Spike are two of the best bounty hunters! Dark finds people really good! She found all Ed's friends in 'hide-and-go- seek'" Dark smiled and shrugged "Well, I might be a bit rusty, but I still have the 'Feral' so at least I'll be moving fast." She told them and Jet laughed. She smiled and looked over at it. It was an older model, maybe as old as the swordfish, but it was one of the fastest, second only to a few, including the swordfish. It was a deep purple, the word "Feral" stenciled in bright, red letters on the side. Jet shook his head looking over at it "You had that hunk of junk when you first starting hunting, you mean to tell me you haven't let it go yet?" He asked her with a smirk, crossing his arms over one another, a cocky smile on his face. "Or have you grown attached to it?" he asked. She simply raised a brow and nodded "yeah, so what? I grow attached to big, clunky, metal things, but last I remember 'the Hammerhead' was in much much worse shape, so talk about the pot calling the kettle black.." she told him and turned to go back to her ship. "Open the hanger and I'll drop it inside, that is... if I have the job." She said looking over her shoulder with a bit of a cunning look on her face. Jet looked over to the disapproving Faye and shrugged "Yeah, ya do, but you do need to find him" he told he, moving his arm out as if dismissing a thought "I mean it. No dicking around Dark, you've been known to have too much fun on your missions." But by the time he finished his sentence, Dark was already half way back to her ship.
Dark lit a cigarette as she walked into the living quarters of the Bebop, a big rusted, dimly lit room, with high ceilings and leaky pipes. She took in a deep breath, as if enjoying the smell of it all. Jet was also smoking a cigarette on the large yellow couch, still partially covered with bandages from the week before. The thin glass monitor sat on the coffee table as Jet looked at it, rubbing one of his temples. "Listen Dark, Spike loves Mars, he was born and raised there, and so he'll more then likely go back for a bit of a visit. Also that's where the." "Red Dragon Syndicate is... You speak to me like I have no idea who Spike is..." she said to him taking a long haul of her cigarette. "He's more then likely going to see if Vicious is still alive, which is stupid on his part, considering that Vicious has about eight biotechnology firms that his syndicate has strong ties in. Even if he had been dead for a hundred years those companies would find some way to bring him back." she said leaning her elbows on her knees and pointing at Jet "You gotta quit underestimating me... I've done my homework on every outlaw in the Galaxy, and I have a memory like a steel trap." She told him biting down on the tip of her finger with a set of pearly white teeth. Jet chuckled slightly and shook his head "You always could light up a room with that smile" he told her as she blushed, a bit surprised by what he said "Now, on to this whole Spike thing." "Always was a pain in the ass that guy... You'd think he'd show some appreciation for us nursing him back to perfect health, well. nearly perfect." Faye said as she walked in from the bathroom a towel tied around her head. Dark watched the two of them and shrugged, turning the monitor so she could take a look at the figure of Spike that stood, looking blankly into the camera. She closed her eyes and smiled meekly. "I don't want either of you to worry your pretty little heads about dear ol' Spike here... I'll have him home safe and sound in three weeks, a month, max. I got a whole list of places in my head where he might be. He'll be easy to find, cause I get the impression, that he doesn't think you'll be looking for him." she explained and heaved herself up, stretching her arms over her head. "Why do you say that?" Faye asked "We've argued in the past, but never enough for us to completely hate each other." She explained "I don't think there's anything that would really compel Spike away from us..." "Yeah, she does have a point. And even if Spike just wanted to see if Julia and Vicious were still alive, we could have gone with him, it would have been no big deal." He said scratching his head "All three of us know that Spike is a secretive guy, and there would have been no way in hell that he would get you two involved with his past, especially if it could possibly put you in any harm." Dark told them her voice growing in volume as she finished her stretch. "So, I'm not surprised why he felt the need to go it alone... Plus who knows, he might not find a damn thing and come straight home." She explained and shrugged "Well I dunno. But I'll try to find out." She scratched her head, then casually patted herself down, cigarette dangling from her mouth. "I'm a professional, I'll get the heart of it, track him down with expert speed.." she said pulling out a pair of gun metal grey Desert Eagles she spun then around her index fingers a cunning smirk on her face. "I'll bring him back and this second death of his will all be just another horrible memory to nurse him through." she said stilling the guns in front of her and pulling the triggers at the exact same time. An ominous click came from both guns. She looked over her shoulder, a huge grin on her face. "Now that I seem all professional and all..." the paused and lifted her right hand to scratch the back of her head "got any bullets?" A large moan escaped the throats of both Jet and Faye as Ed wheeled by spinning Ein around in her arms "Oh! The Irony!" she sang out over and over again.
Jet held a small palm organizer and a digital pen; he spoke from the ground up to Dark who organized things in her pod "Digital Communicator?" "Check" sang Dark's voice from above "Four spare fuel rods?" "Check" "Enough food to last you at least seven days?" Dark smiled like the tresire cat over the top of the pod hatch. Jet only sighed and looked up her. "Enough food to survive on for seven days?" he restated the question. She sighed "Check" "Your passport?" "Check" "A hundred and fifty rounds of ammo?" "Check." Jet shrugged "Well then you're good to go I suppose." He paused and jumped into the air, floating, he gripped onto the rim of the pod hatch. "Listen, Dark, I know you kinda retired you're self, so if this is too much for you." "Too much for me?" she asked a bit stunned and certainly offended "I hate to tell you old man, but I'm one of the best the galaxy has ever seen, and if finding your little egotistical tree house member is too much for me to handle, then I might as well just live on the bebop pretending to be a bounty hunter like you.." Dark said with passionate retort, flustered by what he had said. She glared back at him and smirked "He'll come home Jet, I know he will." She said and gave him a friendly shove, sending him away from the hatch, which she closed briskly, sealing it. Jet moved back to the hanger's platform and pushed a few buttons. He turned around to see Dark looked back at him. They saluted each other and smiled. Jet exited into the hallway, enclosing the hanger in darkness. Within a few seconds the hanger opened, a loud sucking noise followed, and the emptiness of space revealed itself to Dark. She put her glasses on, green letters flickering across them quickly. She looked out into the stars and took in a deep breath. "Home." she whispered to herself and took off, immediately engulfed into the blackness.
"Your attention please..." ".we are currently approaching your destination, please be prepared for any distresses that may be caused from entering or exiting the gate. Thank you for traveling with us." "Your attention please..." ".we are currently approaching your destination, please be prepared for any distresses that may be caused from entering or exiting the gate. Thank you for traveling with us." "Your attention please..." ".we are currently approaching your destination, please be prepared for any distresses that may be caused from entering or exiting the gate. Thank you for traveling with us." The same voice rang out at the same time, the words jumbled into a fit of confusion. Dark sat inside the pod of the "Feral" which was filled with wrappers from food. She heaved a sigh of relief "Oh, thank god... It's about time I got out of this shimmering yellow hell hole." She muttered pushing a few buttons on the operations key board. The pod was cold and poorly ventilated; the air was stale and made her oversized t-shirt stick to her skin. The monitor blipped in front of her and Jet's face popped up. "Just getting to Mars now I'm assuming?" he asked huffing slightly into the screen. Dark looked towards the glowing red planet and nodded "mhmm... just arrived in fact" she muttered unenthusiastically. "However, Mars is a bigger place then most realize. not like I'm gonna find him over night..." she said casually and then suddenly increased her volume "SO YOU CAN STOP CHECKING ON ME EVERY THIRTY SECONDS!" she hollered and closed the video link.
Dark landed the Feral about a block and a half away from the larger downtown area. She decided to take in the sights that she hadn't laid eyes on for more then 5 years. The day was rather temperate, a bit windy. It was autumn on mars, and if there had been any trees they would have turning orange just about now. She took a deep breath of smog filled air, and smiled. She had considered Mars home for so many years that it seemed impossible for her to ever dream of leaving. Back then Dark was unaware to the fact that good things often change, more often then not for the worst. Her feet hit the cement sidewalk for thirty minutes before she came to the street she had been wondering towards. She looked up at the large building that stood in front of her and put on a huge smile, as if finally home after a journey. She busted open the door to the small convenience store. A whiskey bottle out of the corner, but it Dark's enthusiasm, she didn't realize how abandoned the place had become "Hey Annie!" she called out as soon as she opened the door. A few kids were sitting on the ground looking at outdated issues of Playboy and Penthouse. She looked at the kids and scowled "What the hell are you little bastards doing here?" she asked and pointed to one. "I remember you! I babysat you when you were in the second grade." The boys jumped to there feet and ran for the door, but just before the last one left he spoke "Annie's been dead for almost six months lady.." he said and rushed out. Dark's expression dropped at the looked at the now empty doorway with a blank stare. There were no tears, no outbursts of emotion... nothing, just shock. She looked at the large bloodstain on the cushioned seat, then over to the barrels of ammunition spilled over. She walked to the back stairwell and began climbing it. Several droplets of blood adorned the staircase as she traveled upward. She came to a door and opened it. There on the roof top of another building laid a grease spot, left from a fatal bullet wound. Dark hopped over a small balcony and walked over to it. She crouched down beside it and looked it over. From behind her came the slow and shaky cocking of a gun "Don't you move a muscle." Came and elderly, decrepit voice of an old man. Dark slowly put her arms in the arm and turned to look at him. She smiled meekly "it was raining that day, wasn't it?" she asked him
She sat in the old man apartment. He was very obviously a squatter who had adopted Annie's apartment after she had died. She looked around and then over at him "Well..." he said and then paused, taking a sip of coffee with a shaky hand "I don't really now much about that day... but I do know that everybody around on Mars knows that the greasespot on the roof over there is connected with the explosion at the Red Dragon Syndicate." He shrugged "the man that was here with that woman died in that explosion. I hear she was a beautiful young thing. blonde hair stretched down her back, blue eyes that you could get lost in.." he told her and shrugged "never knew her name. but chances are if you go back to the syndicate building you'll see what I'm talking about." Dark stood and left the tea he had made her untouched on the coffee table. She nodded her appreciation to the old man. "Thanks for the information, but I gotta get going" she said to him in a monotone, looking over her shoulder "and you should stop drinking the alcohol. with shakes that bad, you never would have shot me anyway.." she told him, walking down the stairwell. Moving back into the store from the stairs she moved over to the counter, pouring herself a glass of the old whiskey left there. She looked at the picture of Mou Yenrai, Annie, and the other man in the picture. She lifted the glass to the picture "To you... and to your inability to keep yourselves alive." she said and took back the drink, aburptly leaving the store.
Of course, just to make things more complicated, the power had been turned of from the Red Dragon Syndicate, causing her to climb eighteen flights of stairs before reaching the top. "Just my luck... you'd think that a multi-billion dollar syndicate would be able to pay their electrical bill even after they've abandonded it..." she sighed and looked at the number 10, indicating what sotry she was on. "Agh! Eight more? Jesus Christ... what the hell was this building for?!" she screamed as she continued climbing. Huffing and puffing all the way up she finally made it to the eighteenth floor and pushed the door open. She gasped as she looked out into the top floor which had been completely destroyed by some sort of bomb. Rocks were everywhere, dusty footprints and of course blood. Two different splatter patterns. One from a gun shot the other from a katana's fatal slashing. "It was a wonder Spike lived through that." she said to herself. She saw a rolled up piece of paper on the ground, pinned beneath a rock. She picked I up and unrolled it, peering at the scratchy writing that was signed there; obviously male. After squinting at it for a moment she turned it up side-down to make sure she was reading it correctly "Rusty Wolfhoul?" she asked herself and then looked up to a marble flight of stairs, where large, dried droplets of blood had been continuously washed away yet still stained the tile an orange color. She put the piece of paper in her pocket and ran up the stairs as fast as she could, as if she was expecting to see something to open her eyes to give her a clue of some sort. She stumbled before she reached the top. A sudden flash of white fluttered amongst her strong eyes, which widened at the chaotically peaceful sight. A sea of white doves shifted left and then right before then took of into the darkening grey sky. It seemed like thousands of them, fluttering feathers roaring in Dark's ears as the wind generated by each tiny wing lifted her hair towards the sky, just as the sky opened up and poured a blessing of rain on the parched city streets. Looking up into the sky, almost hopeless, she screamed to the sky. "Show me where he's gone! Tell me if they chose to live in a work like this them choose to die." She received no answer from the doves, only the now distant sound of frantically flapping wings. "And. give me a concrete reason why I came back." she said and stuffed her hands into her pockets. She blinked a few times and looked down at her left hand. which held the small piece of paper she had collected only moments ago "Rusty Wolfhoul"
Dark stood in a small phone booth, the receiver pinned between her ear and her shoulder "Hi! Directory assistance?" she asked in a hopeful tone "I was wondering if you could give me the number to a Rusty Wolfhoul." there was a slight pause "Yes, I'm assuming this is a local call." another pause. "Yeah, I'll hold." Completely soaked from head to toe Dark waited in the, thankfully, dry telephone booth, looking around at the few odd pedestrians taking shelter under anything they could find: newspapers, restaurant canopies, fighting the wind with an umbrella. "Yeah! I'm still here." Dark answered as the operators voice came back over the receiver. "No such number, huh? Well, alright, thanks for your help." she said politely and hung up the phone. Sighing heavy she leaned her back up against the glass wall of the phone booth and slid down to the ground. Some water from outside crawled along the concrete, like a heavy river who's damn had burst. Watching it for a moment relaxed her somewhat, and she smiled as she picked up the phone book and idly leaved through it.. It sprang out at her, and if she had been standing she would have been knocked flat on her ass "Rust E. Wolfhowl! Oh sweet Jesus, there it is." she told herself in a very surprised, yet hushed tone. Jumping to her feet, as if she had just been released from a giant spring, she picked up the receiver and tossed in another quarter-woo-long. She shook so much with anticipation that she had to hold the phone instead of using her shoulder to keep it up. It rang a few times before the sound of a young man's voice echoed over the phone "Hello?" he asked as if a bit shocked to hear to phone ring. "Sorry if I woke anyone up, but you don't know me... I was just wondering if you have heard of anyone named Spike Spiegel. It's sort of urgent." She told him. "Come to the Oleander Pass... where the mountains reach the stars. My grandfather will talk to you there." Were the only words he said before he hung up the phone. She stared at the phone in disbelief. She hung it up gently and looked back out at the rainy streets. Pulling a pen from her coat pocket she pulled up the sleeve and wrote on the underneath of her arm 'Oleander Pass, Olympus Mons' She smiled to herself before running out into the rain, and as it struck her face, she smiled in personal triumph.
On her way back to her she bought a latte and a map of mars that doubled as an umbrella. Hopping back into her zip craft and looked at the map and sipped the cooling coffee getting a bit of foam on her upper lip. "Onwards towards victory!" she yelped with cheer as she placed the key in the ignition and flew off towards the massive mountain in the distance. the largest on in the galaxy... where the peak seemed to kiss the sky with it's snow cap