All characters belong to Bandai and Sunrise Inc.
Sorry I been gone so long, I just didn't have access to a computer. But I'm back!
1
Spike was waiting for her in his room when Julia returned from her mission. She'd just taken out a former Syndicate member who'd ran off with a cachet of information to Delaware's developing Special Ops office. She'd been torn about whether to let him go or kill him and in the end turned him over to Delaware, who took the information and then promptly erased the member's memory with a neural implant. She was sweaty, but satisfied, and wanted nothing more than to exchange her catsuit for a robe. When she saw Spike, she let out an exasperated sigh.
"Spike," she groaned, "Why are you here?"
Spike put out his cigarette. He laced his fingers together and cracked them against his knees. For all the world he looked like a father about to discipline a child. "Because," he said, "I think we should have a talk."
Julia ignored him and headed to the shower, starting to unzip her suit once her back was turned. "It doesn't really have anything to do with you."
"What?"
Julia closed the door and shouted through it, "Vicious!"
Spike heard the shower turn on and decided to wait for her to come out. Luckily, she showered quickly, emerging in a white bathrobe.
"Why are you still here?" she asked.
Spike sighed. "Listen. The day is coming, soon, when we're expected to take out the Red Dragon Syndicate. It will be harder than it was with the Komodo Syndicate. You know the White Tiger Syndicate will probably jump to help. There are a lot of people we can jail instead of killing, and Vicious is one of them." Julia's lips narrowed at this. "I don't know what you're doing with him, but if you care about him, you might not want to betray him as badly as you're going to." Seeing her face he continued, "Or are you planning on turning your back on what you're being paid to do?"
She thought for a minute, and then decided she couldn't trust him. "What are you planning to do, Spike? Kill him or turn him in?"
"I don't really know yet. It depends on how things happen."
"You'll have to kill him if Yenrai turns the Syndicate over to Vicious."
"He won't do that for a while."
"So when are we going to do this, Spike? When is soon?"
His eyes narrowed. "Are you going to answer my question?"
Slowly, she started to shake her head. "Maybe once I've got it sorted out in my head I'll try to give you an answer."
Spike stood up, angry. "Goddamn, woman, did you just fall into this? Did you even think-" She put a hand to his mouth.
"Spike," she said. "You were willing to die for Vicious."
She took her hand away and he smiled a little. "Who says it was Vicious I was willing to die for?"
Startled, Julia took a step back. "Don't say that."
"What?"
"Fuck you, Spike. Just tell me if you're his friend or not."
"Yeah," he said, and put his hands in his pockets. "Yeah, I am."
"Okay, then. I'm his lover. And as far as I know, we both go around killing people that maybe don't deserve to die. But we also give information about the Syndicate to Harley and Delaware. So to me, that means we haven't exactly decided whose side we're on yet." She looked for his reaction. It was subtle, but it made her want to go on. "Sun-tzu said spies had to be paid well because they could be bought as counter-spies. Because spies don't have any values any more. In the end, they just work for themselves. And the people they care about."
It was a long, uncomfortable moment, before Spike said anything. "Are you saying-but you could just be saying it to- to test me or something. I don't know you, Julia. I have no idea who you are."
"Then don't trust me," she said. "It's never a good idea to trust anything."
Spike nodded. "Guess we'll just play this one by ear, huh?" he said. Julia nodded. Then he left. She pressed a thumb to her lips and decided to be troubled later.
2
The White Tigers sat in the place of air. They were nine of the blood. Marriages weren't permitted in the room, only those born of Tiger blood. The Blue Sharks sat in the place of water. There were eleven of the blood there. The twelfth, the youngest son of the youngest generation, had joined the Belt asteroid wars. The Black Adders sat in the place of earth. Like the Komodos, they were a matriarchy. Of the seven that sat there, two were men. The Komodo place, metal, was vacant. Vicious was the only one in the place of the Red Dragons, fire. He had come to these meetings since he was sixteen, the year his father had killed his sister in front of him. He knew the Dragons were the most feared among the families, and knew he would have to live up to the name his father had given him in order to settle what had been unbalanced. His reputation was formidable within his own syndicate, it was true, but among the families he was second to his father. Everyone knew his hadn't been the deadly shot. He sensed the imbalance. He knew the rules. His father's bird sat on his shoulder. He knew what he had to do, and he wasn't afraid. All he had to do was close his eyes and find the refuge of his memory of the girl who'd killed his father, and he smiled at how easy it was to face this thing.
The grandfather of the White Tigers spoke first. "You see how empty this room is becoming."
Vicious didn't respond. The smile was still on his face.
Alsha of the Black Adders spoke next. The Adders were as black as their name. Her skin was so dark it shone blue in the right light, and it was hard to pinpoint, from a distance, exactly where her skin stopped and her hair began. Her three daughters looked the same. Only her stature marked her maturity. She was one of the most feared assassins in this galaxy. She hid her deadliness in diplomacy. "We appreciate the alacrity with which you dispatched those responsible for the fall of the Komodo syndicate."
Alcibiades of the Blue Sharks was the last to speak. He was an orator, a politician. It was natural his would be the words that outlined what had come to pass between the families. "The metal is no more, and the fire is nearly out. The balance that the families have achieved in unity has dissolved with the missing piece. We have denied it for a time, but your actions have brought this truth to an attention we cannot dismiss. You know the rules, Vicious. The families are permitted everything but the murder of one another."
Vicious smiled as he interrupted. "My sister." Whose death had at long last been avenged by the woman who was his deadly angel.
"She was not of the blood," Alcibiades said brusquely. "She was born of your mother's mistress. Neither was you mother of the blood. Will you bring up the deaths of your friends and argue they were family too? No. Everything is permitted except one rule. That is the law at the highest echelon. Everything but that which threatens the echelon. We help all those of the blood, but for tensions which arise between blood, it is the blood alone who must stand against it. The blood must be strong. You were weak.
This is not all," Alcibiades continued. "The Illuminati aren't the only threat to us. A police force is attempting to resurrect. They are now calling themselves the ISSP and they number as many as all those in the Syndicates. Centralized forces are easy to attack. We have no choice but to decentralize. Perhaps your actions came at an opportune time. From now on, all the families are out for themselves."
Vicious stood. "You say everything is permitted except for what threatens the highest echelon. If this were true you would not have permitted the madness of my family. For how many generations did you watch fathers drive their sons to an insanity they called strength? Did you do nothing out of fear or because you were waiting for the breaking point which would allow your personal ambition to take the place of solidarity? Well, now I have all the room in the world for my own ambition, and you have not considered the implications of that. I have never cared for the families or the syndicates. I care nothing about your survival, or the survival of my own syndicate. Perhaps if you were each to go your own way you might avoid all that threatens you. You know there's more than the ISSP. There are independent agents, and more will come, because they smell the blood of this break. And I will make you bleed worse. You allowed the insanity that nearly came to me. Don't thank your gods that it didn't come. You mistook the insanity of my fathers for strength. You will know strength when I come to you, because I have it now. You will pay for what you permitted, and what you did not permit, and the price I have estimated is war." He was still smiling. He looked back at the stares that had hardened at his speech. No one would kill him. That was the funny part. This was a sanctuary, and everyone was still so brainwashed they would adhere to the rules that would be the death of them. He'd never been brainwashed, only constrained. It would still take a lot for them to even attempt to kill him. They would only try to weaken the syndicate. They wouldn't achieve even that, though. He wasn't his father's son for nothing.
As he left the room, his gait was easy and graceful.
3.
Lin and Shin stood on either side of Corso, the new candidate they had chosen for the Red Dragons. He had soft, curly blonde hair, limpid eyes, and girl's lips. He was also a better shot than either Julia or Spike, and unequaled so far in hand to hand combat. He'd just returned from the Asteroid Belt wars, where he had been a celebrated sharpshooter.
Mao Yenrai spoke for the elders. "Your superiors and your planet wished you to stay on, but you left when your term was up. Why?"
"They don't pay a soldier much, honestly sir," Corso replied. "You see veterans walking around the same as they were before the war or poorer. Doesn't seem much point risking your neck for nothing."
"You don't feel an allegiance to your planet?"
"Of course I do, sir," Corso grinned. "I served my duty, didn't I?"
Mao Yenrai nodded. "I trust Lin and Shin have informed you of the way in which we determine a candidate's application?"
Corso nodded, a lock of hair falling over his eye, and a smile split his face. 4.
Vicious didn't see Spike as he went into Julia's building. Spike watched him go in, then leaned against a televideo booth, lit a cigarette, and stared up at Julia's window. Moments later he saw Vicious come in. She came into view from the right. He could see from her silhouette that she was naked. It was funny the way the two came together when no one was looking, as if they were magnets of opposite charges. They immediately went for each other, Vicious cradling her chin and drawing her closer with a caress, as she ran a hand through his hair. They looked at each other for such a long time, their eyes kissing before their lips bothered to meet. He didn't know why he wanted to see what they were like when no one else was watching. It was like they were a puzzle he was piecing together, or a part of the puzzle that Julia was. Most people you at least thought you had figured out. From the beginning Julia was a mystery. He'd never met a woman like that before. They were usually such open books, talking and revealing themselves without even knowing it, trying to wear mystery like it was a dress, always exchanging it for ego. Julia never said anything he was sure about. He'd only met one other person as unreadable as her, and it was Vicious. He broke his gaze and started to walk away. Yeah, they made a funny kind of sense together. He just wished they didn't.
Sorry I been gone so long, I just didn't have access to a computer. But I'm back!
1
Spike was waiting for her in his room when Julia returned from her mission. She'd just taken out a former Syndicate member who'd ran off with a cachet of information to Delaware's developing Special Ops office. She'd been torn about whether to let him go or kill him and in the end turned him over to Delaware, who took the information and then promptly erased the member's memory with a neural implant. She was sweaty, but satisfied, and wanted nothing more than to exchange her catsuit for a robe. When she saw Spike, she let out an exasperated sigh.
"Spike," she groaned, "Why are you here?"
Spike put out his cigarette. He laced his fingers together and cracked them against his knees. For all the world he looked like a father about to discipline a child. "Because," he said, "I think we should have a talk."
Julia ignored him and headed to the shower, starting to unzip her suit once her back was turned. "It doesn't really have anything to do with you."
"What?"
Julia closed the door and shouted through it, "Vicious!"
Spike heard the shower turn on and decided to wait for her to come out. Luckily, she showered quickly, emerging in a white bathrobe.
"Why are you still here?" she asked.
Spike sighed. "Listen. The day is coming, soon, when we're expected to take out the Red Dragon Syndicate. It will be harder than it was with the Komodo Syndicate. You know the White Tiger Syndicate will probably jump to help. There are a lot of people we can jail instead of killing, and Vicious is one of them." Julia's lips narrowed at this. "I don't know what you're doing with him, but if you care about him, you might not want to betray him as badly as you're going to." Seeing her face he continued, "Or are you planning on turning your back on what you're being paid to do?"
She thought for a minute, and then decided she couldn't trust him. "What are you planning to do, Spike? Kill him or turn him in?"
"I don't really know yet. It depends on how things happen."
"You'll have to kill him if Yenrai turns the Syndicate over to Vicious."
"He won't do that for a while."
"So when are we going to do this, Spike? When is soon?"
His eyes narrowed. "Are you going to answer my question?"
Slowly, she started to shake her head. "Maybe once I've got it sorted out in my head I'll try to give you an answer."
Spike stood up, angry. "Goddamn, woman, did you just fall into this? Did you even think-" She put a hand to his mouth.
"Spike," she said. "You were willing to die for Vicious."
She took her hand away and he smiled a little. "Who says it was Vicious I was willing to die for?"
Startled, Julia took a step back. "Don't say that."
"What?"
"Fuck you, Spike. Just tell me if you're his friend or not."
"Yeah," he said, and put his hands in his pockets. "Yeah, I am."
"Okay, then. I'm his lover. And as far as I know, we both go around killing people that maybe don't deserve to die. But we also give information about the Syndicate to Harley and Delaware. So to me, that means we haven't exactly decided whose side we're on yet." She looked for his reaction. It was subtle, but it made her want to go on. "Sun-tzu said spies had to be paid well because they could be bought as counter-spies. Because spies don't have any values any more. In the end, they just work for themselves. And the people they care about."
It was a long, uncomfortable moment, before Spike said anything. "Are you saying-but you could just be saying it to- to test me or something. I don't know you, Julia. I have no idea who you are."
"Then don't trust me," she said. "It's never a good idea to trust anything."
Spike nodded. "Guess we'll just play this one by ear, huh?" he said. Julia nodded. Then he left. She pressed a thumb to her lips and decided to be troubled later.
2
The White Tigers sat in the place of air. They were nine of the blood. Marriages weren't permitted in the room, only those born of Tiger blood. The Blue Sharks sat in the place of water. There were eleven of the blood there. The twelfth, the youngest son of the youngest generation, had joined the Belt asteroid wars. The Black Adders sat in the place of earth. Like the Komodos, they were a matriarchy. Of the seven that sat there, two were men. The Komodo place, metal, was vacant. Vicious was the only one in the place of the Red Dragons, fire. He had come to these meetings since he was sixteen, the year his father had killed his sister in front of him. He knew the Dragons were the most feared among the families, and knew he would have to live up to the name his father had given him in order to settle what had been unbalanced. His reputation was formidable within his own syndicate, it was true, but among the families he was second to his father. Everyone knew his hadn't been the deadly shot. He sensed the imbalance. He knew the rules. His father's bird sat on his shoulder. He knew what he had to do, and he wasn't afraid. All he had to do was close his eyes and find the refuge of his memory of the girl who'd killed his father, and he smiled at how easy it was to face this thing.
The grandfather of the White Tigers spoke first. "You see how empty this room is becoming."
Vicious didn't respond. The smile was still on his face.
Alsha of the Black Adders spoke next. The Adders were as black as their name. Her skin was so dark it shone blue in the right light, and it was hard to pinpoint, from a distance, exactly where her skin stopped and her hair began. Her three daughters looked the same. Only her stature marked her maturity. She was one of the most feared assassins in this galaxy. She hid her deadliness in diplomacy. "We appreciate the alacrity with which you dispatched those responsible for the fall of the Komodo syndicate."
Alcibiades of the Blue Sharks was the last to speak. He was an orator, a politician. It was natural his would be the words that outlined what had come to pass between the families. "The metal is no more, and the fire is nearly out. The balance that the families have achieved in unity has dissolved with the missing piece. We have denied it for a time, but your actions have brought this truth to an attention we cannot dismiss. You know the rules, Vicious. The families are permitted everything but the murder of one another."
Vicious smiled as he interrupted. "My sister." Whose death had at long last been avenged by the woman who was his deadly angel.
"She was not of the blood," Alcibiades said brusquely. "She was born of your mother's mistress. Neither was you mother of the blood. Will you bring up the deaths of your friends and argue they were family too? No. Everything is permitted except one rule. That is the law at the highest echelon. Everything but that which threatens the echelon. We help all those of the blood, but for tensions which arise between blood, it is the blood alone who must stand against it. The blood must be strong. You were weak.
This is not all," Alcibiades continued. "The Illuminati aren't the only threat to us. A police force is attempting to resurrect. They are now calling themselves the ISSP and they number as many as all those in the Syndicates. Centralized forces are easy to attack. We have no choice but to decentralize. Perhaps your actions came at an opportune time. From now on, all the families are out for themselves."
Vicious stood. "You say everything is permitted except for what threatens the highest echelon. If this were true you would not have permitted the madness of my family. For how many generations did you watch fathers drive their sons to an insanity they called strength? Did you do nothing out of fear or because you were waiting for the breaking point which would allow your personal ambition to take the place of solidarity? Well, now I have all the room in the world for my own ambition, and you have not considered the implications of that. I have never cared for the families or the syndicates. I care nothing about your survival, or the survival of my own syndicate. Perhaps if you were each to go your own way you might avoid all that threatens you. You know there's more than the ISSP. There are independent agents, and more will come, because they smell the blood of this break. And I will make you bleed worse. You allowed the insanity that nearly came to me. Don't thank your gods that it didn't come. You mistook the insanity of my fathers for strength. You will know strength when I come to you, because I have it now. You will pay for what you permitted, and what you did not permit, and the price I have estimated is war." He was still smiling. He looked back at the stares that had hardened at his speech. No one would kill him. That was the funny part. This was a sanctuary, and everyone was still so brainwashed they would adhere to the rules that would be the death of them. He'd never been brainwashed, only constrained. It would still take a lot for them to even attempt to kill him. They would only try to weaken the syndicate. They wouldn't achieve even that, though. He wasn't his father's son for nothing.
As he left the room, his gait was easy and graceful.
3.
Lin and Shin stood on either side of Corso, the new candidate they had chosen for the Red Dragons. He had soft, curly blonde hair, limpid eyes, and girl's lips. He was also a better shot than either Julia or Spike, and unequaled so far in hand to hand combat. He'd just returned from the Asteroid Belt wars, where he had been a celebrated sharpshooter.
Mao Yenrai spoke for the elders. "Your superiors and your planet wished you to stay on, but you left when your term was up. Why?"
"They don't pay a soldier much, honestly sir," Corso replied. "You see veterans walking around the same as they were before the war or poorer. Doesn't seem much point risking your neck for nothing."
"You don't feel an allegiance to your planet?"
"Of course I do, sir," Corso grinned. "I served my duty, didn't I?"
Mao Yenrai nodded. "I trust Lin and Shin have informed you of the way in which we determine a candidate's application?"
Corso nodded, a lock of hair falling over his eye, and a smile split his face. 4.
Vicious didn't see Spike as he went into Julia's building. Spike watched him go in, then leaned against a televideo booth, lit a cigarette, and stared up at Julia's window. Moments later he saw Vicious come in. She came into view from the right. He could see from her silhouette that she was naked. It was funny the way the two came together when no one was looking, as if they were magnets of opposite charges. They immediately went for each other, Vicious cradling her chin and drawing her closer with a caress, as she ran a hand through his hair. They looked at each other for such a long time, their eyes kissing before their lips bothered to meet. He didn't know why he wanted to see what they were like when no one else was watching. It was like they were a puzzle he was piecing together, or a part of the puzzle that Julia was. Most people you at least thought you had figured out. From the beginning Julia was a mystery. He'd never met a woman like that before. They were usually such open books, talking and revealing themselves without even knowing it, trying to wear mystery like it was a dress, always exchanging it for ego. Julia never said anything he was sure about. He'd only met one other person as unreadable as her, and it was Vicious. He broke his gaze and started to walk away. Yeah, they made a funny kind of sense together. He just wished they didn't.