Children's Games: Part 3

Rated PG for rampant bad language and some rather explicit violence.

Summary: Five years after Spike's death, Faye and Jet find an old friend and new trouble, and the beginning of a new adventure.

The instant the door creaked open on the ship, Jet was awake. He had slept out on the couch to keep a closer eye on David, and just as they expected, someone was coming for him.

Jet appeared completely asleep on the couch as the intruder slipped inside. He could hear the light footsteps, ever so cautious, as they approached him. Jet waited for just a moment, until he was absolutely certain that David's rescuer was standing right over him, before he struck.

He lashed out with his metal arm, connecting with nothingness. He rolled to his feet to see a rather frail person landing a back flip. The face was shrouded in the darkness, but a pair of brown eyes looked up at him. As Jet reached out to grab the intruder, the form dropped into a crouch, as a thin leg snaked out, tripping up the much larger Jet and sending him to the deck plates with a crash.

David awoke with the sound of Jet's landing. He smiled at the intruder, and laughed out loud at Jet's predicament. "Good girl! Get me out of here, and I'll give you something really good back at the hideaway!"

Jet reached for his gun, trying to get his feet under him. When he spun to face the intruder, the brown eyes were an inch away from his face. He blinked a few times as David's words made their impact, and Jet paused.

The intruder's mouth moved cautiously, slowly, as if trying to force out the words. "W-wait, Jet p-per-son." The words sounded strange, almost in a foreign tongue, and it took Jet a long moment to recognize that the intruder had spoken his name. The gentle, high-pitched voice tugged at his memory. Jet's brow wrinkled as he put a face to the name; an idealistic young girl from many years ago.

Jet reached out a hand to touch the girl's cheek. "Ed? Are you Edward?"

The intruder's hood was brushed back, and the familiar red hair, slightly tanned skin and brown eyes greeted Jet, in a friendly manner.

"Ed is Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky...the fourth," she said, confirming her identity.

"Ed...How did you get here?" Jet asked the girl curiously.

Ed's eyes shone brightly. "Jet-person have food? Ed-ward is hungry."

Jet laughed out loud. "Of course, Ed. Lemme get some lights in here and wake up Faye. She's not gonna believe this…"

It was a happy reunion on the Bebop as Jet, Faye, and Ed sat down to a very late dinner. David got re-gagged in the corner so he wouldn't interrupt, as Edward slowly told her story. Jet and Faye listened patiently as the girl got used to speaking again.

"The Children take good care of me," Ed finished. "And I don't get shot at as much there as I did here!"

Jet had to laugh at her comment. "Well, that's the truth. But, do you like it?"

Edward frowned. "Not really. It feels good to do some-thing, but I'm still stuck on Earth. It's not home any more."

Faye smiled. "You wanna come back and work with us? We've left your room open…"

Ed's eyes dropped to her lap. "I can't come back here…" She looked up and saw where Spike would normally be sitting. She couldn't deal with this.

Ed hastily stood up and headed towards the door. "I…I have to go."

Faye ran after her. "Wait, Ed! Please don't go!" She snagged Edward's arm. "You're one of the Children, right? We don't want you to get hurt while we're taking them in."

Ed looked at Faye angrily. "If you take them all in, what am I sup-posed to do then? Just join back with you and try to forget how I let Spike die?"

Jet and Faye looked at each other. This threw them completely off guard. "Ed, it wasn't your fault," Jet explained. "You were too young to understand what was going on then, but I think you should know now. Spike was in love. It killed him. His obsession with Juila and Vicious, and his inability to let go of his past consumed him. Even if you had been here, he still would have gone off alone after the Syndicate. It's not your fault."

Ed sat back down. "Spike…"

Faye put her hand on Ed's shoulder. "Maybe you should sleep here for the night. Get some rest, this has been rough on all of us."

Ed shook her head. "Ein is back at the hide out. So is Alex. They would be worried."

Jet nodded. "Get some rest, but please, come back and see us. We've missed you, Ed. Do…" Jet sighed deeply, thinking of all the money going down the drain, but he asked the question anyway. "Do you want us to leave The Children alone?"

Ed's brow furrowed in conflict. "I…I don't know. I'll be back. Can I answer that later? I promise I'll come back."

Jet nodded. "You want us to send David with you?"

Ed instantly shook her head, to David's muffled protests. "Keep him. In case I change my mind."

With that, Ed slipped out into the darkness.

Faye watched Ed leave, while standing very still, mouthing something to herself.

Jet looked at his partner curiously. "Faye?"

"…twenty-nine…thirty!" Faye dashed over to the computer screen. "All right, let's see if it worked!"

Jet looked confused. "Faye, what did you do?"

"Put at transponder on her scooter, duh." Faye lit up a cigarette. "I'm not losing Ed again, and I'm not losing this opportunity to pull in a huge bounty."

Jet growled. "I cannot believe you! Using Ed to get money? Is there nothing you won't do?"

"The beacon's activated. We should be able to follow it right to our prize in just a few hours," Faye was completely ignoring Jet's tirade.

Jet stormed out of the room in frustration. "Unbelievable!"

At the break of dawn, Faye set out in her ship to follow the beacon signal. It actually went farther out into the wilderness, not too far from their landing site. The Children had been practically under their noses the entire time.

Faye touched down over a ridge from where the signal was coming from. She approached on foot, cradling her rifle in her hands. If there were any external guards, she would take them out from afar before anyone knew what was happening. She carefully peered over the ridge.

A single coyote scavenged for scraps in the middle of a blank valley.

"What the hell?" Faye voiced her confusion aloud.

She stood up and walked down into the valley to investigate. As she approached, the startled coyote dropped what was in its mouth. Faye's eyebrow twitched as she spotted a familiar-looking transponder.

"Jet," she spoke into her comm unit.

"Found the place?"

"I think that girl paid a little too close attention to Spike."