To HelpComputah and Kendra Luehr (my only reviewers): Thank you. You both have been very influential and helped me update faster than I expecting. Thank you for reviewing.
--
Chapter 6: The Players
He sat in the dark looming over the laptop. The light from the computer in the thick darkness was just a dull glow to him. He had spent the good part of his life slumped over the laptop, seeing what he could steal or screw up or bend to his will. Soon, Earth satellites had become too easy and he turned to buildings, ships, and even cities. He had been directly responsible for the largest black out on Alba City.
So naturally, hacking into government and syndicate files was a piece of cake. It only took a few minutes to get a beeping noise meaning satisfaction. He looked down eagerly at the screen.
He had brought up four files and were looking them over, studying the facts well enough to at least try and conjure them up from memory. Jet Black was the first bio he had read. Followed by a Miles Coltrane, which was obviously a fake name. He wondered who would be that big of an idiot to choose the names of two famous jazz legends and horrifically merge them together. Only an idiot or a cocky bastard would do that.
He read Faye Valentine's over quickly before skipping to Francois Lutvin. He knew almost instantly that she was the one known as Radical Edward. He wouldn't forget her style. She was the one who gave him the greatest challenge. The adrenaline that he hardly got for hacking anymore. All because it had become so easy.
At the same time, he was mad that he had almost been beaten by a little girl. He didn't see how she could possess such vast knowledge of the hacking trade, as he liked to call it, when it had taken him at least half his life and that was about the age of Radical Edward. Then suddenly his frown was replaced by a smirk.
"A child prodigy..."
For once, Rally was excited and nervous about how this would work. He couldn't say that it felt bad.
--
"So," Spike said, leaning against the couch and draping one arm across. "What's this guy's story?"
VT's face remained neutral as she explained. "Rumor has it that he grew up in a slum on Mars. All the men in his family were naturally tall which is why he's a giant. He was poor then killed a guy when he was thirteen, you know all that BS you hear when you see a gangster movie. Somehow, he ended up being a bounty hunter. He was my husband's rival. They used to go head to head all the time for bounties and as I recall, they tied in the end. He obviously hates being tied with," VT said, only to see Spike yawn. She raised an eyebrow. "Heart-Piercer?" he asked, letting her know that he was still paying attention.
VT shrugged. "The legend goes that he shot a man in the heart from three hundred feet away when he was wearing a cavalier. Don't know how the hell he did it..."
Spike smiled. "That's only if you believe in that stuff. Legends are usually lies."
"Regardless, he's a dangerous person. I'd advise ya to keep your distance when battling because he has a shitload of explosives on him," VT said. In the background, Spike could hear Faye saying something close to 'amen.'
Spike turned back to VT. "So why all of a sudden? Why not before when your husband bought the farm?"
"I didn't know where he was," VT explained. "He has the knack for disappearing quickly. That bastard can escape pretty well.... Guess you know now why I didn't like bounty hunters."
"Not even bounty hunters like bounty hunters... so what's the story?"
--
Leo practically choked on the shit that they dared call coffee. But despite its bad taste, he downed it. He needed the energy. The last few days had been nothing short of hectic. He blamed his partner, Taurus. Who had been doing nothing but talking non-stop about how he wanted to kill bounty hunters.
Now, cops didn't really like hunters but Leo realized that the level of obsession that Taurus was experiencing was NOT healthy. Such things as stealing mannequins and using them for target practice in the middle of night had almost got Taurus arrested himself. Leo wondered what the hell kind of shock Taurus was going through but soon decided that he didn't want to know.
Right now, Leo was going to the NOTORIOUS man himself to pick him up. When Taurus answered the door, he looked around behind Leo to see if anyone was there. "Did you come alone?!" Taurus asked his voice frantic.
Leo just rolled his eyes. He was so sick of this. "Taurus..." he said trying to push the door open. Taurus held it though and Leo was forced halfway between the door and outside, a very uncomfortable position for him to be in.
"Stop!! They're here! I know it! They're using the bushes for cover!!" Taurus whispered loudly.
Leo gritted his teeth. "Taurus, you live in an apartment..." he just watched Taurus nod dumbly. "There ain't nothing out there but a goddamn hallway!" Then he forced himself in.
Taurus wasn't expecting it and fell down on the ground, nervous. He reached around quickly and found an empty can of beer. Then he held it up and as to throw it at Leo. "I'll use it! I knew you were with them!" Taurus yelled. Then he threw it.
Standing there with a look of pure annoyance on his face, Leo let the beer can bounce off his arm before lowering himself to Taurus and backhanding him across the face. "Snap out of it! Your ISSP you dumb bastard!" Leo yelled. He had had enough of this. He just hoped that the slap would snap Taurus out of it.
Fortunately that was what happened. Taurus calmed down and his breathing returned to normal. Leo could imagine that he was gaining his rational thought right before his eyes as Taurus stood up and rubbed his cheek. Then he turned to Leo. "Whoa... thanks. I totally went overboard there. It's just that...."
Leo waited as Taurus clenched his hands. "Damn Rome and that other bastard, DT! And that Rolenzo and that chick! Dammit!" Taurus yelled before he turned back to Leo who, during this emotional cry, was looking at his watch before looking back up at Taurus.
"Yeah, whatever. The chief sent me to tell you that me and you are assigned to find Rome. He woulda told you himself if you hadn't disconnecting the phone from the wall," Leo said. This caused Taurus to look back and see that his phone was at the other side of the room and broken in half. He didn't even remember doing that. He forgot it then as he turned back to Leo.
"I'll gear up but before that we need to get a sketch artist. I need a match on some... annoying bounty hunters," Taurus said. Leo just nodded before walking through the trash piles back to the door.
"Hey, how did you enjoy it?" was Leo's final question.
"Enjoy what?"
"Your vacation week."
"My.... VACATION WEEK!?!"
"Yeah this whole week you spent in your house, your vacation time."
"Ah shit!"
For once in a few days Leo laughed.
--
"He walked into the bar I was at and demanded that someone tell him about a hacker named Mo Use," VT said. "Made it sound important. You know him?"
"Bad hacker person!!" Ed screamed when everyone was silent before fake crying. "He cut me off!"
Faye and Jet were growing more confused as the explanation got more and more angles. Jet was a man of logic so he tried to make it seem like he understood everything. Faye didn't really care; she just wanted the money on Rome. She silently hoped that Rome was connected to this some other way then all of them hunting him. The smell of money was coming back to her.
"Anyway," VT responded, "It turns out that him and your boy there know each other. You might want to question him when he wakes up."
By some divine timing, they heard a groan and everyone turned to see Pouch Rolenzo coming to. "Must be my lucky day," Spike said as he walked over to Pouch and smiled as Pouch looked up. It only took Pouch a second to realize he was tied up. Then his anger melted into fear and then he tried to hide that as well. "Like I said you aren't that great of a liar."
Pouch gritted his teeth. "You have the wrong person!"
"You tried that one already." Now Spike had stopped being amused and irritation was kicking in. "Who's Mo Use?"
"I don't know anyone named Mo Use!"
Spike sighed, closing his eyes and letting out a yawn before turning back to Pouch. "I don't want to resort to torture. Doesn't look good on the karma thing, you know?"
"But Rall-" Pouch must have spit out something he shouldn't have because then he closed his eyes and his mouth. When Spike tried to speak to him again, he just shook his head and ignored him. For a moment, Spike actually thought that he was going to have to torture him. He even threatened it...
A moment later, Pouch had cried out at the sharp pain in his shin. Successful at breaking his vow of silence, Pouch looked at the Spike who was actually watching in surprise, his hand was scratching the back of his head as he looked at the scene in front of him.
Faye was standing forward with her sharp heel jammed into Pouch's shin. She was looking more annoyed than Spike was and her teeth were gritted. Pouch looked at her in surprise before crying out again as Faye pushed on her heel. "I'm so sick of eating dog food and there are at least two other places on your body where this would hurt much more than it does here... now talk!"
Jet was surprised to find that it worked as Pouch started to talk. "Uh, Mo Use is the alias Rally goes under. He's a really good hacker," Pouch said.
"Who the hell is Rally?" Faye asked.
"My brother, he's younger by two years."
"Why is he after us?"
"What?.... ARGH!!" Faye drove her heel in again to see Pouch talk twice as fast. "He... he heard that you guys were competition and when he found Radical Edward in side, he cut you off!" Pouch said, then he felt Faye's heel being lifted from his shin and he let out a deep breath.
"And what does he know about Rome?"
"Rome? Who's Rome?" This time, Faye found a much more painful spot. Jet turned away, he just couldn't watch. Spike had also respectively turned his head while Ed watched in amusement.
Pouch groaned before speaking in a hoarse voice: "He said that if I couldn't catch Rome at the hotel, the gate would have to do. He said that Rome was planning... to leave Mars!"
"Are you sure?"
"Would I be lying?"
"I don't know, maybe I need to put on more weight..."
"No, I'm telling the truth! I SWEAR!!"
"You'd better be."
Spike smiled as Faye walked by. "A woman's touch?" he asked in amusement.
"Say all you want but I'm going to be the one that's 50 million richer!"
"You're going to make a casino 50 million richer..."
--
Rome had somehow managed to get away. He was relieved to find that the bounty hunters were distracted with each other and was more relieved that he wasn't on the roof when the female hunter had blown it to hell.
"I thought I was picking the delicate one."
After that, he went back to his thoughts. He had to figure out how to get off Mars. He realized that with the cops, the feds, and a bunch of crazy hunters on his back, there was no way he could stay. He cursed having the tattoo of a rose on his hand. He had almost forgot why he got it in the first place.
Almost...
The most logical option was to try and disguise himself but he didn't have any disguises. His red hair and dark blue eyes made him very easy to spot, not to mention the tattoo. Since he couldn't risk being carried out in a freight (he wasn't sure if the cargo holds had enough oxygen to breathe) the only option was the most illogical of them all:
Try and leave traditionally. Of course, there would be cops everywhere and the hunters. It was a big risk and he had a nil chance of actually escaping but it didn't matter. Either way he was dead. That was how he figured it, he had nothing to lose.
"Lady Luck's been on my side this far... I just hope she'll be generous for the other half..." Rome smiled and realized that even if he died, it was probably what he deserved. Everyone had be responsible for their own deeds.
Welcome to life, Rome...
--
"8000 wuolongs? What for, I just gave it to ya to look at!" DT shouted at the mechanic. Now, the mechanic was very strong and intimidating, he had always been able to get away with scamming because everyone who had come in was shorter than him. Now he saw the bad karma in it.
DT had stood a foot above the man, was larger and looked stronger. He somehow got away with being more handsome but that wasn't a hard thing, considering the mechanic looked like a cross between a fat Elvis, a biker, and a date rapist.
"Okay," the mechanic said, "How about 4000?"
"300."
"300!?!"
"300." "Come on pal, I..." the mechanic then found himself being lifted off of the ground. He was shoved against the wall by the hulk of a man and suddenly he started to grow very uncomfortable. He didn't doubt that DT had half a mind to beat the shit out of him. "Okay, 300."
DT smiled. "Doesn't 250 sound so much better?"
The mechanic gave a nervous smile.
--
When they dropped Pouch off at the authorities for the 5 mil, a silence had grown over the Bebop. Jet didn't ask what was going on because he knew that his crew was trying to form plans in their crazy minds. Jet didn't even want to think about it because he knew that Spike never followed through with his plans and Faye always screwed them up. Jet and Ed were the only ones who made good plans and now, it was up to Jet to figure one out.
"How about we all go after him and split the bounty 50/50/50?" Faye suggested, braking the silence.
Spike scoffed. "AKA 90/5/5, right?"
Faye would have responded if Jet hadn't spoke up. "Okay, I have an idea."
"What?" Faye and Spike both spoke at the same time.
"We work on this... together for once," Jet suggested. Once he was finished, he found Faye's angry face looking at him. He raised an eyebrow.
"What is this? Family therapy? Let's just divide and conquer. That's how we always do it!" she exclaimed.
"Hmm..." Jet said. He never had much confidence in the idea in the first place. It just didn't seem like something that his crew would do so he didn't expect them to say so. "What about you Spike?"
Spike lifted his head up from the couch and stretched before standing up and walking away from Jet and Faye. Before he had left the room, he turned. "You do what you want. I've got someone else to take care of..."
Faye smiled and turned back to Jet. "How's 70/30?"
--
Rally Rolenzo closed the laptop and loaded his gun. He had used it before, just never on people. Now that his brother was in jail, he would have to do it himself. He would get the bounty for Rome all by himself. He had it all planned out so that he, and only he would get the bounty.
That didn't mean he didn't want resistance. He secretly hoped that he would run into Radical Edward once again.
--
Leo and Taurus were in a ship, in disguise once again and cruising in the skies above Alba. Leo hated it. Taurus couldn't say he felt the same way. He was shaking in his seat, anxious to meet them all again. "Damn bounty hunters..." he whispered.
"What was that?" Leo asked.
"Nothing."
--
Edmund Rome was almost there. He could see the gate ahead. All he had to do was charge through it and avoid the cops and he was home free. Straight to Venus or Ganymede or any other planet beyond. For once, he wasn't as scared as he was excited.
Still, he wasn't there yet.
But he was close...
--
A rainy day...
His rival had died in the streets that day. It had been more or less his fault but Destructive Troy refused to make amends. "Bounty hunters know the dangers of their work."
His excuse for killing.
"Even some fear in his eyes," he said as he thought of the fuzzy haired bounty hunter who had challenged him on the roof.
--
Spike smiled as he loaded his gun, turned and aimed very quickly. Then he pulled the trigger.
"Perfect shot..."
He extended his hand out in the shape of a gun:
"BANG!"
--
A/N: Next chapter is the big action chapter. It might be a while until I get around to it though. I hope you enjoyed this chapter for what it was for. Please Read and Review. Thanks.