*listens to Christmas music* Kenny G rocks! Well, I decided to update sooner than usual. Anyone else notice how much alike Wolfwood and Spike are?

PLEASE REVIEW!!!

One is the Loneliest Number

Chapter 10

The Price of Freedom

"Where the hell did the bounty go?!" Spike yelled at the top of his lungs as he searched the ship for the two missing people. The bounty hunter fumed and raged about while taking long drags on a cigarette. His blue jacket was resting discarded on a yellow chair and his pale yellow shirt remained unbuttoned as a result of Spike's stressing.

Jet looked up from his bonsais at his stressed out friend, "Who Vash and Kat? They went to that attraction in Tokyo." Jet refocused his attention on the miniature trees and continued to clip off small portions off them.

"And what the hell are we doing on earth?!" Spike hissed after taking an unusually long drag of his cig.

"It's where Kat lived," Jet replied not really listening, "Fea is gone too." The older bounty hunter growled in frustration when Spike slammed his fist down on the table. This caused the table to dent and Jet to cut off a branch he hadn't meant to. Jet looked up into the face of the enraged Spike.

"WHAT?!" Spike yelled at the top of his lungs rattling the windows of the ship.

^_^

Kat threw open the door to her house and was faintly aware of the sound the door made as it crashed against the wall behind it. The person Kat recognized as her mother came out from the kitchen with a bunch of other white robed people that looked like doctors.

"Where have you been?!" her mother scolded as she ran over to check over her daughter, "And why do you smell like sand and alcohol?"

Kat's anger flared as she remembered the people outside wondering where she had gone. 'So it is true! I'm a test subject?! I've been watched my entire life and experimented on?! Isn't there a law about that? Why didn't anyone try to stop it? Why me? Am I a clone or something?!'

Her thoughts were cut short when the doctor/ scientists moved to sedate Kat, "We thank you for coming home but we really do need you back."

"Why haven't you asked me what I've wanted?! Get another guinea pig because I'm sick of being one! You sick bastards have no idea what it's like to find out that your entire life is a lie!" Kat screeched. 'My friends… All my friends lied to me! The whole world lied to me! My life has been one huge lie! I guess one is the loneliest number… But Vash… he's the only one who hasn't lied… partly because he didn't know this happened but still…'

The doctors advanced on her again but stopped dead in their tracks when a cloaked figure appeared behind their 'test subject'.

Vash stepped through the door and clicked the safety off his gun. All who had still been attempting to catch Kat froze immediately.

"Who's this?" Kat's mother asked as she took a step closer gesturing to Vash.

Kat almost exploded with anger and she recoiled from the hand that attempted to touch her, "You're not my mother so stop acting the part. I demand to know my real past! I deserve to know it!"

The woman in front of Kat looked crest fallen, "Come to the kitchen and we'll talk there…"

"I'm not moving from this spot," Kat hissed stubbornly.

The woman folded her arms and closed her eyes as a frown creased her brow, "Very well. You want to know the truth so be it. You're a test subject, a clone made from scratch. I'm the scientist who created you therefore I am your mother. You were created for the soul purpose to see what people acted like back in the early 2000's. It became known to the public a few years back and ever since then you've become somewhat of a celebrity. We allowed people to come in and study you. These people who were more interested in you are known to you as your 'friends'. You became an attraction and many people fought for your freedom. I must say, you've developed well over the pas-"

"Fuck you," Kat said with unusual cruelty.

"Excuse me?" her 'mother' asked.

"I do believe she said fuck you. And who am I to disagree?" Vash hissed as he turned his aim to the woman positioned in front of Kat.

Kat began to head for the stairs. As soon as she was out of earshot the scientists began to murmur to each other, "I still don't understand how she managed to get through the TV. Mark, you didn't accidentally replace it with a transportation screen did you?" Another scientist twitched slightly, "…Well I uh… they look so much alike now a days…" The other scientist began to yell at his colleague.

Kat reached the door to her room and threw it open. Vash, deciding that the scientists didn't pose as much of a threat, followed her. When he reached Kat he saw that she had begun to tear apart her room.

Kat was currently using a chair to smash her mirror. She paused when she spied something in the wreckage, "A camera?! I'LL KILL EM! They W-WATCHED me?! They've been watching me change?! GOD DAMN FUCKERS!"

Vash felt his anger rise with Kat's. The scientists from the kitchen heard the yelling and had followed the two up the stairs, "You must calm down! You could hurt yourself!"

Kat noticed they had grabbed some of her grandfather's guns, "It's not me you should worry about, it's you!"

She made to lunge at them but was grabbed from behind. Kat let out something between a screech and a roar as she felt herself being pulled backwards. Vash's anger flared when he saw other men grab Kat from behind.

He raised his gun but saw that they were holding Kat at gunpoint, "Shoot us and we'll shoot her!"

"You can't shoot her!" the one scientist protested, "She's our only link to the past!"

Vash's finger began to tighten on the trigger. The scientists began to fight and Vash saw the movement of the scientist (who was holding Kat) as his finger began to tighten on the trigger. The man, oblivious to the fact that he was about to kill Kat, was surprised when he heard her scream. The man loosened his hold on her and dropped dead. A small trail of smoke pored from the tip of Vash's gun. The man slumped against the wall and a trial of blood wiped itself down the wall as the man crumpled to the ground. The carpet began to change from eggshell white to crimson. Kat felt her stomach lurch when the stench reached her nose.

Vash's eyes were concealed behind his orange glasses hiding his emotions. 'I won't let them experiment on her…I can't let them do to her what they did to Tessla. I can't let another innocent die.'

The other scientists (who were not busy throwing up from seeing their colleague's intestines splatter everywhere, including on them) raised their guns and fired. Plaster rained down from chunks in the wall. Vash had dodged their bullets and was angrier than ever. The scientist's expressions changed from rage to shock.

"I can see that no one will be leaving here alive unless there's some kind of deal. I'll go in her place," Vash offered knowing that this was Kat's only ticket to freedom.

"We don't need you!" one of the scientists snarled, "After all the work put into her, she's priceless!"

"It's fine with us," another scientist smirked as he winked to the rest of them.

The other scientist snapped, not seeing the wink the other had given him, "We can't let her go!"

"I agree! She can't go free!" another scientist yelled and fired at Vash.

A sickening sound filled the room as a bullet passed through the abdomen. Vash's eyes grew large behind his glasses and his knees buckled. He hadn't expected to be caught off guard. 'How could I have let this happen?!'

Kat crumpled into his lap and her blood mixed with the color of his coat.

"You shot her you fuck!" a scientist yelled.

"She got in the way!" another scientist protested as his words slurred from his overdose on alcohol.

The scientist's coats began to flap as a breeze picked up and came from the center of the room. The scientists stopped arguing and cringed when they caught sight of Vash. 

Orange glasses laid splayed on the ground and glowing sapphire eyes glared at them proving that Vash had snapped. The eyes belonged to a madman or better yet, a devil from the deepest depths of hell.

The casing of Vash's gun had popped off and an energy wave pulsed from the creature in the center of the room. The other men were blown back from the sheer force of the pulse. Glass from the mirrors, lights and window shattered and rained down on them.

Vash's arm grew scaly and a giant cannon began to appear as his arm transformed. The north wall crumpled and disintegrated to make way for the massive cannon. The scientists lay with their backs plastered against the walls as the energy from the cannon began to crush them. Their lungs began to collapse as they slowly died. 'We'll be long dead even before the… creature fires!'  

Kat's last words fell on deaf ears. A blinding light covered the room as everything was reduced to rubble. The ground beneath them broke away and crumbled. Kat's world went black.

(A/N: The re-write of this chapter looks A LOT better then the original! Still strange but not crappy! Whoo! PLEASE REVIEW!!!)