I do not own bebop...too bad, soooooo sad. Enjoy & Review please...This story can wind up going quite a few different ways in my mind. Let me know how you would like to see it play out. I can't guarantee that I won't just have it my way, but I am truly interested in y'all's view of where the story is going or should go. As our ideas are gained through someone else's fiction, I appreciate your writers' views on mine. This is my first non school mandated fiction ever, let alone fan fiction, so let me know if I am ruining the characters or something. I won't cry I promise. I may pout but I won't cry.

Chapter 3 – Familiar Thuds

Spike was having dreams. He kept seeing Julia's death play out in his head, he heard the shots, he saw her hair fan out as she fell in slow motion. Sometimes he felt like he could feel even feel her hair, or hear her humming, but then the feeling passed. He knew he was dreaming. He knew he had been badly injured. He knew Julia was dead, he saw it with his own eyes this time. He knew he was being treated for some sort of coma. The big question was for how long? He knew he had woken up briefly.

The woman's hair...that's why he was thinking of Julia; it was too painful. He wished Faye were here to yell at him a little. The very thought of it was oddly soothing. He drifted back into the darkness and tried very hard to imagine Faye yelling at him...or swiping his last cigarette...or even hitting him with his own goddamned pillow and knocking him back into a blissful state of unawareness...

"Geez, why do I miss that..." garbled a just barely coherent Spike as he lost consciousness again.

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Faye woke up in her room just as sad and dejected as she was when she went to sleep. Four am. She didn't even have the chops to go back to sleep till noon like any decent person. Nooooo she had to be awake so her brain could torture her.

"It's ALL YOUR FAULT SPIKE!" she yelled to her shower walls. She would have to go to that building and try to find him or never rest well again. After all, he had always come after her, even when he didn't want to, he was there for her. She just hoped she had not waited too long. Katsu had left a few weeks after the incident, and she had promised him that she would check on Spike in a few months after the trail was colder.

"Why do I make promises to people anyway, it only leads to trouble," sighed Faye as she lit a cigarette and surveyed her vast closet. She had purchased a ton of clothing lately in search of her perfect uniform, nothing she liked as well as her yellow shortsuit mind you, but there were a few contenders. She had totally ruined her favorite almost a year ago when she and Katsu found Spike.

After many different colors and outfits later, she decided on a midnight blue form fitting tank top with a halter collar. It made her boobs look great. No one would suspect her of kicking their asses with her assets showing like this now would they? A pair of matching shorts and a new red shirt, and she was good to go. The midnight blue brought out her hair just right.

"This may be my new favorite" She quipped.

Now she just had to think...where was that place? Faye was sure she could not find the research institute from her suite at the hotel. She had to go back to the steps of the syndicate and start again from there. All of her memories were so jumbled. Spike was so badly injured. She wondered if this would be a wild goose chase. She reached under the pillow and pulled out her gun. It was her favorite too. She smiled down on it like a proud mother. The Glock had served her well over the years, and she felt no need to give it up. She had just purchased a few competition trigger springs, a 22 lb recoil spring and Glockmeister firing pin power spring with her last cleaning and the gun was in tip top condition.

"At least one of us is..." Faye had a feeling she would need that gun tonight and was none too thrilled about it. Imagine - her not looking forward to a fight - now she had really lost it.

"OK pull it together girl, who are you scared of, Spike?" She asked herself, "Please..."

She exited the room and headed for the stairwell, she could not take the closed pressure of the hotel's elevator full of patrons right now. She had to be alone.

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Jet poured through the pages of data that he was sure came from Ed. At the end of one of the posts he found the word tomato. Good at least she was doing well. One less thing to worry abou..

"Wait a Minute, what was that address, where is that page, Oh, how could I be so stupid?" He was scrolling back through pages like a madman. He had hit enter and gone back to the beginning of the file. He poured through the data again, looking for the page. That had to be the place. Why would Ed pick that page to put her mark on if it was not significant? What page had that been, why didn't he mark it. What an idiot I am.

"Ah here it is. Downtown that's not so far" he said to the computer. But the data on the page was not encouraging. No patients, no nursing staff, no trauma center, no information about the kind of research done, and only one doc. Why would anyone go there???? It was a long shot, but one he had to take.

He wrote again to all the known addresses for Ed. He had at least saved the bulk address file. It was time to find his crew, or at least find out what happened to them. His newly restored arm was functioning like clockwork. He had no idea why he had held on so tightly to the old one. I suppose I was just filling time he thought. It had taken a few months before it was fully tuned and operational. It had newer nanomachines that received information from his brain and caused the proper nerve and muscle functions to be performed in the new arm. They actually learn as they go now, amazing what nanotechnology has done for the prosthetics industry. His range of motion and strength were improved as were the arm's coverings, base materials and sensitivity. The control was the best factor, he no longer felt like he to try twice as hard to achieve the correct motion.

"OK, got everything, let's go Jet old man." He headed out for the hammerhead and felt a little like his old self again.

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As Kitty pulled at her hair band and tried to will her hair into confinement she noticed a slow smile cross the green haired man's lips. She couldn't help but think how handsome he was. He was coming into a lighter vegetative state. He was responding well and showed many signs of waking up again soon. He had no more central line and his brain functions had returned if he was smiling. She exercised his body and noted the many scars. The wounds were numerous old and new. The deep lacerations in his side and leg she had tended were healing nicely. They had to have been wounds from a sword. Hard to imagine one surviving the multiple GSW's not to mention the sword lacerations on top of it. There was a latticework of scars covering most of his body. She occupied her thoughts by trying to discern what may have caused each one. She was beginning to think, well confirm really, that this had been someone very accustomed to violence.

Kitty was tempted to hook Spike up to the brain wave monitor and see what he was thinking about. She had not yet done this. At first it was because of his injuries. Now as she studied him more, she was not sure she wanted to burst her bubble just yet. How would she feel her handsome patient if he was some super bad guy who had killed numerous times? Who was she kidding? The roadmap of his injuries, the money, the clandestine need for a doctor, it all added up to only one thing: One very bad thing. She wouldn't think about it now, but in the back of her mind this reeked of syndicate involvement.

"Faye," Kitty was sure she heard him say it. He may be coming around again.

"Faye, they killed her, they killed Julia, I saw it Faye, and she's dead goddamnit. Dead, "he said. His face had changed. It was a cold and hard then relaxed again.

That must be his sister she thought. But who was Julia, some lover or perhaps a partner in the syndicate? I wonder if he'll come completely around again, his words were more slurred than before. Slower. More garbled this time. She did not think he was conscious yet. She waited a few minutes to see if he spoke again but he did not.

She should be getting back to the main lab. She had let so many reports pile up while caring for her patient. She struggled to make time for it all. To make matters worse, it was hard to concentrate on work with so many thugs about, who were expecting other thugs to be about...It can really ruin a girl's concentration. They had been so close to memory retrieval several times lately. The trick was getting the retrieved memory information back to the part of the brain that needed it. Well, that could access it. They were working on a drug that would allow the process to succeed. Kind of reformats the memory center of the brain so the good information can be replaced. Not quite there yet though, just a few more tests, a few more molecular adjustments, and they will have it.

She will be glad when this is all over; she wanted to get back to practicing real medicine. Her green haired patient had reminded her of that. Emergency medicine was an adventure of its own. She excelled at what she did here. It paid about a billion times more than any hospital job she had ever had. She had been able to make a nice life for herself. A house in the City, a cush job, exciting science, but for some reason she was still board to tears.

"What the hell was that?" Kitty exclaimed in surprise as a few loud thuds rocked the building. Conrad burst through the door and forced her under the bed of her now semi-comatose patient.

"Hey," she protested.

"Stay there!" He yelled, "I have to get to the labs, they're under attack." "Don't move."

"I can't just hide under my patient, are you crazy!" "We have to evacuate him to safety!"

"SHIT! Lady you're the one who is crazy." "What the hell does this guy mean to you? He's a vegetable! Grab the end of the bed, I can't believe I'm doing this," exclaimed a frustrated Conrad as they exited the room out into the hallway.

"This way!" barked Conrad.

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Spike heard the familiar thud of gunshots and stirred. Dr. Lancing didn't notice. He remembered her name at least, but then when did he ever forget a sexy woman's name. A smart one too it seemed. He heard it again. He was moving, fast, they were flying down a hallway. It was total chaos. He thought he smelled smoke. They moved through a doorway.

"I think that was a door," said a confused Spike. More thuds, "Gunshots," Spike growled under his breath. His expression hardened. That sound did not confuse him at all. His whole body prickled with the excitement. A determined snarl settled on his lips.

"BANG" he said.

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Oh God, what the fuck?...thought Kitty. She could hear more gunshots, and the sound of fire, and breaking glass. Her heartbeat was off the scale. So this is what the real fight or flight response feels like she thought. She was trying hard to listen to Conrad but he was gesturing towards the noise and not away from it. 'That way' was the last place she wanted to be. But they worked their way into the break room's back entrance to spite her mind's screams not to. The secondary labs were this way, and an exit.

More shots, Conrad went to the door to check the hallway and his body slammed backwards with the impact of several gunshots, he dropped onto her patient's bed as she rushed over to look for a pulse.

"Oh Goddamnit, Goddamnit, Goddamnit; There's Fucking Nothing IN HERE!" cursed Kitty. She had her hands in the man's neck and armpits, looking for a pulse.

"Fuck nothing in here either." She said as she dropped her hands from the pulseless body.

"I'm here," Spike stated slowly as he pushed the body off of him and proceeded to stretch.

"Shit! Don't scare me like that!" cursed a very startled Kitty.

"Am I too late to join the party?" he asked in a voice like velvet.

He had Conrad's gun and was covered in his blood. It was a gruesome sight, and it reminded Kitty of when she first saw him. Before she knew it he had taken a position by the door and fired a few rounds already. She was too shocked to speak. He was chatting her up like this was some cocktail event!

"I'm Spike, you're Dr. Lancing right, nice repair job you do good work," he smiled. "I never would have thought you'd curse like a gatedigger though."

"I'm, I'm, I, ah," Stammered Kitty.

"Stimulating," he smiled again, "But we have to leave, that is if you want to live. This seems to be a hazardous worksite you've got yourself." He stopped talking abruptly as he heard the undeniable thud of gunshots coming from the exit he wanted. He leaned out the door and aimed.

"Faye! I almost shot you. What the hell are you doing here?" Spike spat.

"Shut up Spike before you get yourself and the good doctor killed. "Follow me, and keep shooting" Faye ordered. "This place was so quiet before." She smiled.

"I'm not the quiet type Faye." Spike deadpanned.

Kitty was still in shock but managed to keep up with the two. Amazingly all she could think about was the man's name.

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Just so you know there would be much more initial debilitation of the musculoskeletal system at the initial recovery from coma. I know this, but, it just does not work that way for our man Spike OK. He never dies when he should, so why should a simple coma keep him from kicking ass, he's not the cautious delicate type after all.