Chapter 2: The 'Morgue'

Faye grabbed the business card as she exited the coffee shop and shoved the small card into one of the pockets of her trench coat. She grumbled as she looked once more at the address on the card. She stepped out on the curb and waved a taxi over to where she was standing—it was just as easy to ride the cab to the address as it was to walk all of the way back to the zip craft three blocks in the opposite direction.

As she pulled herself into the vehicle, she read off the address for the cab driver to go to and leaned back in the seat. She watched the old brick buildings and the occasional skyscraper as the taxi passed them. The more that she stared out the window lost in thought that she was, the more she found herself lost in thoughts of the past.

It was not until two days after it happened that she was able to come to the building. She ran into the skyscraper and saw that all of the damage had not yet been cleaned up. The police were still trying to sort out the bodies of the dead and the injured that were occupying nearly half of one wing of the local hospital. No arrests were made for those that had escaped unscathed and few that were taken out on stretchers, either to the hospital or to the morgue were considered innocent of any crime.

She pushed her way through the tape and up the blood-spattered stairs, hoping that perhaps when she reached the top, he'd be there. However, all she got for climbing the thirty stories up to the top floor was a police escort out. After a few hours of questioning, she was ruled out as a possible member of the syndicate. Immediately, she ran out to the hospital, hoping to find and identify Spike. She did not find him there nor did she find him in the morgue. He had not died, he had not gone to the hospital, and he had not returned to the Bebop. Faye knew better than anyone that he wouldn't die and she was the only one left to believe it.

Which brought her back to the fact that she had been told to go to the morgue for answers. She was nearly afraid of the idea of actually finding the answer there in a place of death and decay. She had told herself too many times that he was not dead. After all, several times she had seen him survive worse things that bullet wounds.

"Here ya go, lady."

Faye blinked a few times, bringing herself back to reality. As she looked out the window, she saw that the building that he had taken her to was not quite what she had expected. She looked down at the card and back up at the driver. "Are you sure that this is Twenty-three Thirty-three West Wise?"

"Yes'm. I've lived in this town all my life and I know it like the back o' my hand."

Faye slowly opened the door as she dropped her fare into the driver's hand and stepped out of the taxi. She stared at the weathered old brick building, probably only held up by the dirt that had worked its way between the cracks over the years. Though she knew the building was no morgue, she cautiously walked up the steps to the front door. She hesitated before knocking, knowing that there was a chance that behind this door would be the person to tell her 'He's dead.'

The sound of wooden floorboards creaking clued Faye in on the fact that someone was indeed coming to answer the door. In a matter of seconds that seemed hours, the aluminum door creaked open, revealing a middle-aged, balding man. His eyes seemed scared as they looked over Faye, still in her trench coat, now wearing a pair of mirrored sunglasses. "Y-ye-y-yes?"

Faye withdrew the card from her pocket and handed it to the man. "Vee sent me."

Whatever color that had been in the man's already lightly colored face was lost as he stared at Faye. "V-vee?"

Faye nodded, a smile coming to her face. "I have a few questions for you, that's all. I'm not gonna kill you."

The man smiled as he pulled the door open and welcomed Faye into his home. He often stuttered and tripped in his speaking and always managed to be as gracious as possible to the woman he had just allowed to enter his home. He was quick to brew a pot of tea and served a cup to Faye as they sat together around the kotatsu that had been centered in what could have been considered his dining room. He spoke frequently of how much he owed the syndicate and just how much he happened to adore Vee—it was all getting on Faye's nerves quickly.

"Tell me, do you remember a man by the name of Spike Spiegel?" Faye leaned forward, eager to hear what the man had to say.

The man's brown eyes narrowed into a solemn stare. "That man died five years ago. Looking for him won't do you any good."

Faye slammed down her tea cup as rage flared in her emerald eyes. "Then why have I been sent on yet another wild goose chase? Why haven't I seen a body or a grave or something? No one has proved to me that he's dead and I know for damn sure that a few bullets couldn't have killed him!"

The man stared in confusion as he saw a few repressed tears slide over Faye's cheeks. Apparently, she really did need to find Spike. The man stood from the kotatsu and moved to shut all of his curtains. As he finished, he sat back down, opposite to Faye. "You aren't just any regular messenger from Vee, are you? Well, you listen, that man is dead and best left alone. You'll be getting into more trouble by trying to hunt him up than if you just left him be where he is—dead."

"Dammit, I not from the syndicate! I don't know nor care just who Vee is, all I need to know is where Spike is!"

The man took a long sip of his tea as he looked around the room, as though making sure that no one had sneaked in to eavesdrop. He lowered his voice as he leaned forward, is gaze boring into Faye's eyes. "Just how do you know Spike?"

Faye sighed as she stared into her cup. "Six and a half years ago, I was stranded—my zip craft had run out of fuel. After begging dozens of other ships to at least tow me to the next planet, an old fishing ship stopped and let me on. Well, these two guys just happened to be a pair of bounty hunters that I had a run-in with before.

"I'm not sure when or how it happened, but I started staying in that old fishing ship with Spike. I was able to stay so long as I helped out when it came time to catch a bounty-head. He was just… a really good friend."

The man nodded as he reached for a pen and a sheet of paper that he had beside the kotatsu. He held his hand over the paper as he wrote several lines on the paper and then folded it before handing it to Faye. "Don't look at that paper until you get out of this area. Don't come back here looking for me either, I won't be here."

Faye shoved the piece of paper into her pocket as she stared at the man, whom had just begun packing some of his belongings into a suitcase. "Why are you leaving?"

The man hesitated as he shoved a few personal items into the suitcase. "I was supposed to have died that night five years ago. So if Vee sent you, the syndicate knows I'm alive—I have to leave."

Faye turned for the door, knowing that the man would tell her no more. As she reached for the handle, the sound of his voice stopped her. "Huh?"

"I said, good luck finding him. Tell him that Wes said 'Good luck'." The man smiled for a brief moment and then gestured for Faye to leave.

Faye walked out of the old building, just in time to wave over another taxi. No sooner than she had told the taxi where to go and the vehicle had begun to move, she heard an explosion. She turned around to see that the old brick building was in flames. The cab driver looked up at the rearview mirror, but acted unaffected by the sight.

Faye sat impatiently in the cab, nervous now because of the explosion. She realized that the man was probably killed for abandoning the syndicate. However, it seemed rather obvious that the syndicate knew where he had been—why did they wait until then to kill him?

Faye shook her head, pushing the thought from her mind. [That man was none of my concern… As it is, I've got to return to the ship… All this mess with the syndicate has gotten me so tense that I can't think… But Vee—who was she? Apparently that man knew and feared her, but she had seemed harmless enough…]

"You gonna get out or sit 'n stare at the seat all day? I've got quite a few more hours to work, lady."

Faye broke from her thoughts as she dropped the fee into the man's hand and hurried into the parking garage. She stepped in and took the elevator to the top floor, where she had left her zip craft. As soon as she sat in the seat of the Redtail, she reached into her pocket for the paper that the man, Wes, had given her before she left. She slowly unfolded the page, her eyes taking in every word it had to offer.

'Go to Ganymede, in the capital city, there is an old pawn shop called 'Randy's Gold 'N Guns'. Ask the owner to speak with you privately, not in the shop. Tell him that Wes sent you. Good luck finding Spike, but be careful of the syndicate.'

[So, he is alive… I'm so glad…] Faye sighed as she re-folded the piece of paper and shoved it back into her pocket. She jammed her key into the ignition, turned it, and then slammed the clutch into gear. By now, she was more than ready to return to the Bebop.

A.N. Well, then end of chapter two—I know that if I don't say something about this, someone is gonna ask me about it. The man, Wes, described as balding—I know that he just happens to be the second man described as such, but that has no meaning at all. It just happened, I don't know how or why. But, I thought that I'd mention because smoe smartass would tell me 'Hey, you used the same description twice...'

Also, for those of you who might not be too rich in Japanese vocabulary, a kotatsu is a heated table. (I.E. Love Hina, V1, Keitaro and Naru were studying at the kotatsu.) It's okay, I didn't know what one was for a while either...

Okay folks, now its your turn, now that you've read, it's review time! Please?

Ja ne,

V Shape Otaku