Mars
Vicious sat at his desk and sighed in frustration. Shin had just left after informing him of the fact that Obsidian was still in the possession of the man called Jet. He opened the pill bottle he had removed from his desk drawer and swallowed two of the painkillers that he used to tame the headaches that ripped though his mind. Stress induced migraines the doctor had called them. For all the advances in medicine they had made in the past hundred years, understanding of the human brain was still beyond the grasp of the current medical professionals. Vicious couldn't help but blame himself for the current state of affairs.
If only he had paid more attention to her living arrangements, to her guardian, to any multitude of things. He should have had Lin and Shin check on her weekly when he was away at that damned war. A muscle in his cheek twitched as he thought of all the things that he could have done but didn't. He had been wrapped so tightly in his grief over losing Spike and Julia to what he still saw as an unforgivable betrayal. He casually flipped on the communicator and dialed Shin.
"I want you to go to Obsidian's school and talk to her teachers. See who her friends are and talk to them about what she has been like lately."
"Yes Sir."
"I will run her abductor through the database and see what we have on him." Vicious was tired and it was reflected in his voice. He hadn't slept well since he found out that she was gone. The bags under his eyes were dark and they seemed to make him look almost hopeless.
"Sir, if I may suggest. Get one of the data runners to take care of it and try and get some sleep. You won't be at your best when we go to retrieve her if you are sick."
"Your concern is noted." Vicious stated flatly as he ended the transmission.
Perhaps Shin was right. He didn't want Obsidian to see him like this. He stood and walked down to the dojo to try and wear himself out. Perhaps if he wore his body down enough, his mind would rest during his sleep instead of conjuring images of what may have happened to his little girl.
***
Hyperspace on the way to Ganymede
Obsidian timidly opened the door to her room and stepped into the hall. She had been in there for about two hours, crying off and on. She truly did feel sorry about hurting Jet like she had. She wasn't quite ready to face him and tell him yet so she walked down the hall that lead to the back cargo areas. She planned to rummage around in some of the boxes she'd seen back there and see if there was anything interesting in any of them. Instead, what she found was Spike doing his katas over and over in the shadowy darkness. She watched him silently from the doorway as he gracefully went through the motions of fighting his invisible opponent. Sid could almost see him in the backyard of the little house she had lived at, teaching her those same moves patiently when she was just a little girl. He seemed almost godly back then, his fluffy green hair being teased gently by the wind, smiling his encouragement at her childish attempts to mimic his movements. Vicious would always sit to the side, smiling and watching, occasionally calling out his praise.
"Are you going to join in, or did you forget everything I taught you?" He smirked as he continued his workout.
Obsidian smiled wistfully at her memories of what she called the old days before joining him at his side. "How long have you known I was there?"
"About ten minutes." He replied casually before stopping to correct her stance. "You've gotten rusty, don't you practice anymore?"
"Ah you know," She replied in a teasing sarcastic tone. "Life's been just too busy with work and I never seem to find the time."
Spike seemed to sober at her reply then sighed and looked a little defeated. "I'm sorry Baby Blue. I didn't know, I should have known, should have paid more attention. I guess I failed you back then."
She stopped and shook her head. "Nobody failed me. I should have said something. I guess I was afraid. I thought that I could handle it, then I was too afraid of Vicious being angry that I had lied to him so many times, saying I was happy and things were fine." She looked small and fragile just then, staring up at him with pain filled eyes. "I miss our family. I want us together again, like it used to be."
He shook his head. "No Obsidian, it can't be like that anymore. I can't go back, and neither can you."
She froze. "What? What do you mean I can't go back?"
He looked out the window as hyperspace flew past. "I failed you back then, but I'm not going to make the same mistake again. You deserve better than that. You're going to be safe from that life now."
"Spike, what are you talking about? You can't keep me here. Vicious would be so worried."
"I don't give a damn how Vicious feels. You aren't going back to him or the syndicate. It's not safe, it's not a good life for a little girl."
"So what? You walk out on everybody just cause you don't like it anymore, and now you think you have the right to run my life? You didn't give a shit about me; you didn't even spare me a backward glance when you left. You never asked if I wanted to go then and now you think you can just take me away from Vicious like you did Julia? What the fuck gives you the right?"
Spike knew she was right, and it made him angry with himself. That anger crept into his voice as he replied almost with a growl. "Because I'm the adult and you're the kid. You do what you're told, because I know better than you what that life is like and where it will take you. For that matter, I'm not doing this to hurt Vicious, but to keep you safe!"
"I don't want your damned safety. I want my life back. I want my family back. If you won't come back and be part of our family again, then at least let me go back to Vicious. We were happy, and he'd keep me safe this time!"
"I said no and that's final!" He shouted angrily. "You better get used to it here, you're going to be here until you're eighteen or we find you a nice, safe, foster home."
"You absolute bastard! Shove your 'safety' and shove your foster dump off!" Obsidian shouted before turning and running out of the room.
Spike growled softly before dropping himself back into his katas and pushing harder than he had in a very long time. About an hour later he walked toward the shower, worn out both physically and emotionally.
***
Jet tried to calm his mind and rioting emotions by the careful meditation of trimming his precious bonsai trees. He'd been sitting there with the clippers for about half an hour just trying to figure out where to place the first cut, when Spike walked in hair still damp from the shower. He looked at his partner, towel still around his neck, then sat and began to talk. Jet did not interrupt, he knew Spike needed to let it out.
"She was five when I first met her. I had noticed that Vicious had been calmer back then, more relaxed when he'd return from where ever he disappeared to. I would bug him all the time at first, where he was going, who he was seeing. He would laugh and say he had a girl that he'd go see. I thought he had a girlfriend he was hiding from me. I would tease him about it. I'd say things like 'time to go have your girl make you smile' when he got tense. I didn't know he had a kid."
Spike sighed and lit a cigarette. The smoke curled in the air and he stared off into the past. Jet was silent waiting for him to continue, knowing that interrupting him meant he might not finish.
"After a while I was riding his ass about meeting her. I felt left out I guess, we were like brothers, we did everything together. I pushed and pushed, accusing him off letting a piece of ass come between us. He swore that wasn't what was happening. We almost came to blows over it. Finally he relented and took me to the edge of the territory. It was a quiet little neighborhood. Not like the shithole it became." Spike paused in his ramblings and took a long drag off the cigarette.
Jet laid down the clippers and turned his full attention to his partner. "I laughed at him about the house with its tidy yard and white picket fence. I told him he was living in a dream. He had scowled and told me to mind my tongue and manners when I was there. I laughed again and he just shot me a glare that would freeze ice in Tijuana. I put up my hands in surrender and agreed. We knocked on the door and a man answered. He was pretty nondescript, mid thirties, thinning hair. He let us in and smiled pleasantly. We walked into this clean little living room and the guy motioned to the backyard saying 'she's outside'."
"We walked outside, and I was making little guesses in my head about what kind of girl could keep his attention for two whole years. Nothing could have prepared me for Obsidian." Spike looked right into Jet's eyes as he said that. "She was playing on a swing in the cutest little blue dress. When she saw Vicious, she smiled and it was like coming into the sun after years in the dark. She ran to him with open arms and a huge smile on her face. Vicious simply smiled and kneeled to catch her. The part that shook me the worst was the fact that she called him Papa back then."
Jet started, shocked, and Spike let out a bitter laugh before taking another drag on his cigarette. "So Vicious is her father?" Jet asked with a bewildered tone.
Spike shook his head and stubbed out the cigarette butt. "No, he told me the story later that night. He took her while on a mission to Ganymede during August of 2062. He was supposed to collect a debt that a woman owed, and instead took the daughter."
"I was a detective back then." Jet confusedly stated. "I don't remember any syndicate kidnappings of little girls."
"You wouldn't." Spike stated. "It was never reported."
"What, but why?" Not reporting it was like not caring to Jet. How could someone not care about that little girl, especially her parents?
"It was a single mother and she would have been killed if she said anything. As it was, Vicious was disgusted by the fact that the woman had tried to flee the house when they arrived, leaving Obsidian alone in the house with them." Spike shook his head and looked into Jet's eyes. "Kids go missing all the time when the syndicates are involved. Nobody really cares, some of the lucky ones end up in orphanages, and the other ones end up with the syndicates themselves. How do you think I joined?"
Jet settled back in his chair and seemed to contemplate this new information. "So Vicious took her from her real mother and decided to train her to work for the syndicate?"
"Originally, yes, but as time passed he seemed to actually see her as a daughter. I helped him train her in martial arts, swordplay, and he and I used to take her to a small shooting range in her neighborhood to teach her how to shoot. It was bliss for Vicious. It wasn't too long before he had gotten together with Julia and the two of them seemed to really be tight. It was 2067 when she really 'came of age'" Spike sneered. "Her eighth birthday. Vicious and I were as excited as a couple of proud parents, her shooting was extremely advanced for her age and she had made a significant improvement in both Jeet Kune Do and Tai Chi Chuan. We took her out to a tattoo parlor and got the Red Dragon symbol tattooed on the back of her neck."
'That was the night everything started." Spike dropped his head into his hands and spoke while looking at the floor. He didn't seem to be able to look his friend in the eye anymore. "That night, after we dropped her off, Vicious and I went out and got flaming drunk. The limo dropped Vicious and I off at our respective apartments, but when I went inside mine, Julia was there." Spike looked up at Jet, almost pleading with him to understand. "I had almost gotten killed a few months back when a mission had gone bad, and she had nursed me back to health. I thought that I was dreaming, or I was just too drunk to care. We started messing around that night and it was like playing with fire. I loved her, I still love her. She was my best friend's girl. Hell, he was pretty much my brother."
Spike stopped and lit another cigarette. Jet knew that this was hard for him, he didn't usually chain smoke like this. "That was the first night that Joseph hurt her." Spike stood and flung the lit cigarette into the corner, anger and frustration in his every move. "He raped her that night but I was too busy fucking my best friend's girl to do anything. He raped her and beat her over and over but I was too worried about keeping Vicious from finding out about me and Julia to notice."
Jet honestly didn't know what to say, 'it's ok' just didn't seem to cut it. Instead he just stayed silent as Spike dropped into his chair again. "Julia couldn't stand kids, she went out to see Obsidian once, then came back and laughed at Vicious' pathetic attempt at normal life. The worst part was, I still loved her anyway. After that, everything was strained. Vicious couldn't get away as often because tensions between rival syndicates were through the roof. I stopped showing up completely to see her and then, a year later, well, I met you. I made a lot of bad moves back then, I don't regret what I've done except for leaving Obsidian behind."
Jet nodded and Spike stood up. As he turned to leave, he looked back at Jet. "Vicious will come for her, but I don't intend to let him have her. I just thought you should know the whole story."
Vicious sat at his desk and sighed in frustration. Shin had just left after informing him of the fact that Obsidian was still in the possession of the man called Jet. He opened the pill bottle he had removed from his desk drawer and swallowed two of the painkillers that he used to tame the headaches that ripped though his mind. Stress induced migraines the doctor had called them. For all the advances in medicine they had made in the past hundred years, understanding of the human brain was still beyond the grasp of the current medical professionals. Vicious couldn't help but blame himself for the current state of affairs.
If only he had paid more attention to her living arrangements, to her guardian, to any multitude of things. He should have had Lin and Shin check on her weekly when he was away at that damned war. A muscle in his cheek twitched as he thought of all the things that he could have done but didn't. He had been wrapped so tightly in his grief over losing Spike and Julia to what he still saw as an unforgivable betrayal. He casually flipped on the communicator and dialed Shin.
"I want you to go to Obsidian's school and talk to her teachers. See who her friends are and talk to them about what she has been like lately."
"Yes Sir."
"I will run her abductor through the database and see what we have on him." Vicious was tired and it was reflected in his voice. He hadn't slept well since he found out that she was gone. The bags under his eyes were dark and they seemed to make him look almost hopeless.
"Sir, if I may suggest. Get one of the data runners to take care of it and try and get some sleep. You won't be at your best when we go to retrieve her if you are sick."
"Your concern is noted." Vicious stated flatly as he ended the transmission.
Perhaps Shin was right. He didn't want Obsidian to see him like this. He stood and walked down to the dojo to try and wear himself out. Perhaps if he wore his body down enough, his mind would rest during his sleep instead of conjuring images of what may have happened to his little girl.
***
Hyperspace on the way to Ganymede
Obsidian timidly opened the door to her room and stepped into the hall. She had been in there for about two hours, crying off and on. She truly did feel sorry about hurting Jet like she had. She wasn't quite ready to face him and tell him yet so she walked down the hall that lead to the back cargo areas. She planned to rummage around in some of the boxes she'd seen back there and see if there was anything interesting in any of them. Instead, what she found was Spike doing his katas over and over in the shadowy darkness. She watched him silently from the doorway as he gracefully went through the motions of fighting his invisible opponent. Sid could almost see him in the backyard of the little house she had lived at, teaching her those same moves patiently when she was just a little girl. He seemed almost godly back then, his fluffy green hair being teased gently by the wind, smiling his encouragement at her childish attempts to mimic his movements. Vicious would always sit to the side, smiling and watching, occasionally calling out his praise.
"Are you going to join in, or did you forget everything I taught you?" He smirked as he continued his workout.
Obsidian smiled wistfully at her memories of what she called the old days before joining him at his side. "How long have you known I was there?"
"About ten minutes." He replied casually before stopping to correct her stance. "You've gotten rusty, don't you practice anymore?"
"Ah you know," She replied in a teasing sarcastic tone. "Life's been just too busy with work and I never seem to find the time."
Spike seemed to sober at her reply then sighed and looked a little defeated. "I'm sorry Baby Blue. I didn't know, I should have known, should have paid more attention. I guess I failed you back then."
She stopped and shook her head. "Nobody failed me. I should have said something. I guess I was afraid. I thought that I could handle it, then I was too afraid of Vicious being angry that I had lied to him so many times, saying I was happy and things were fine." She looked small and fragile just then, staring up at him with pain filled eyes. "I miss our family. I want us together again, like it used to be."
He shook his head. "No Obsidian, it can't be like that anymore. I can't go back, and neither can you."
She froze. "What? What do you mean I can't go back?"
He looked out the window as hyperspace flew past. "I failed you back then, but I'm not going to make the same mistake again. You deserve better than that. You're going to be safe from that life now."
"Spike, what are you talking about? You can't keep me here. Vicious would be so worried."
"I don't give a damn how Vicious feels. You aren't going back to him or the syndicate. It's not safe, it's not a good life for a little girl."
"So what? You walk out on everybody just cause you don't like it anymore, and now you think you have the right to run my life? You didn't give a shit about me; you didn't even spare me a backward glance when you left. You never asked if I wanted to go then and now you think you can just take me away from Vicious like you did Julia? What the fuck gives you the right?"
Spike knew she was right, and it made him angry with himself. That anger crept into his voice as he replied almost with a growl. "Because I'm the adult and you're the kid. You do what you're told, because I know better than you what that life is like and where it will take you. For that matter, I'm not doing this to hurt Vicious, but to keep you safe!"
"I don't want your damned safety. I want my life back. I want my family back. If you won't come back and be part of our family again, then at least let me go back to Vicious. We were happy, and he'd keep me safe this time!"
"I said no and that's final!" He shouted angrily. "You better get used to it here, you're going to be here until you're eighteen or we find you a nice, safe, foster home."
"You absolute bastard! Shove your 'safety' and shove your foster dump off!" Obsidian shouted before turning and running out of the room.
Spike growled softly before dropping himself back into his katas and pushing harder than he had in a very long time. About an hour later he walked toward the shower, worn out both physically and emotionally.
***
Jet tried to calm his mind and rioting emotions by the careful meditation of trimming his precious bonsai trees. He'd been sitting there with the clippers for about half an hour just trying to figure out where to place the first cut, when Spike walked in hair still damp from the shower. He looked at his partner, towel still around his neck, then sat and began to talk. Jet did not interrupt, he knew Spike needed to let it out.
"She was five when I first met her. I had noticed that Vicious had been calmer back then, more relaxed when he'd return from where ever he disappeared to. I would bug him all the time at first, where he was going, who he was seeing. He would laugh and say he had a girl that he'd go see. I thought he had a girlfriend he was hiding from me. I would tease him about it. I'd say things like 'time to go have your girl make you smile' when he got tense. I didn't know he had a kid."
Spike sighed and lit a cigarette. The smoke curled in the air and he stared off into the past. Jet was silent waiting for him to continue, knowing that interrupting him meant he might not finish.
"After a while I was riding his ass about meeting her. I felt left out I guess, we were like brothers, we did everything together. I pushed and pushed, accusing him off letting a piece of ass come between us. He swore that wasn't what was happening. We almost came to blows over it. Finally he relented and took me to the edge of the territory. It was a quiet little neighborhood. Not like the shithole it became." Spike paused in his ramblings and took a long drag off the cigarette.
Jet laid down the clippers and turned his full attention to his partner. "I laughed at him about the house with its tidy yard and white picket fence. I told him he was living in a dream. He had scowled and told me to mind my tongue and manners when I was there. I laughed again and he just shot me a glare that would freeze ice in Tijuana. I put up my hands in surrender and agreed. We knocked on the door and a man answered. He was pretty nondescript, mid thirties, thinning hair. He let us in and smiled pleasantly. We walked into this clean little living room and the guy motioned to the backyard saying 'she's outside'."
"We walked outside, and I was making little guesses in my head about what kind of girl could keep his attention for two whole years. Nothing could have prepared me for Obsidian." Spike looked right into Jet's eyes as he said that. "She was playing on a swing in the cutest little blue dress. When she saw Vicious, she smiled and it was like coming into the sun after years in the dark. She ran to him with open arms and a huge smile on her face. Vicious simply smiled and kneeled to catch her. The part that shook me the worst was the fact that she called him Papa back then."
Jet started, shocked, and Spike let out a bitter laugh before taking another drag on his cigarette. "So Vicious is her father?" Jet asked with a bewildered tone.
Spike shook his head and stubbed out the cigarette butt. "No, he told me the story later that night. He took her while on a mission to Ganymede during August of 2062. He was supposed to collect a debt that a woman owed, and instead took the daughter."
"I was a detective back then." Jet confusedly stated. "I don't remember any syndicate kidnappings of little girls."
"You wouldn't." Spike stated. "It was never reported."
"What, but why?" Not reporting it was like not caring to Jet. How could someone not care about that little girl, especially her parents?
"It was a single mother and she would have been killed if she said anything. As it was, Vicious was disgusted by the fact that the woman had tried to flee the house when they arrived, leaving Obsidian alone in the house with them." Spike shook his head and looked into Jet's eyes. "Kids go missing all the time when the syndicates are involved. Nobody really cares, some of the lucky ones end up in orphanages, and the other ones end up with the syndicates themselves. How do you think I joined?"
Jet settled back in his chair and seemed to contemplate this new information. "So Vicious took her from her real mother and decided to train her to work for the syndicate?"
"Originally, yes, but as time passed he seemed to actually see her as a daughter. I helped him train her in martial arts, swordplay, and he and I used to take her to a small shooting range in her neighborhood to teach her how to shoot. It was bliss for Vicious. It wasn't too long before he had gotten together with Julia and the two of them seemed to really be tight. It was 2067 when she really 'came of age'" Spike sneered. "Her eighth birthday. Vicious and I were as excited as a couple of proud parents, her shooting was extremely advanced for her age and she had made a significant improvement in both Jeet Kune Do and Tai Chi Chuan. We took her out to a tattoo parlor and got the Red Dragon symbol tattooed on the back of her neck."
'That was the night everything started." Spike dropped his head into his hands and spoke while looking at the floor. He didn't seem to be able to look his friend in the eye anymore. "That night, after we dropped her off, Vicious and I went out and got flaming drunk. The limo dropped Vicious and I off at our respective apartments, but when I went inside mine, Julia was there." Spike looked up at Jet, almost pleading with him to understand. "I had almost gotten killed a few months back when a mission had gone bad, and she had nursed me back to health. I thought that I was dreaming, or I was just too drunk to care. We started messing around that night and it was like playing with fire. I loved her, I still love her. She was my best friend's girl. Hell, he was pretty much my brother."
Spike stopped and lit another cigarette. Jet knew that this was hard for him, he didn't usually chain smoke like this. "That was the first night that Joseph hurt her." Spike stood and flung the lit cigarette into the corner, anger and frustration in his every move. "He raped her that night but I was too busy fucking my best friend's girl to do anything. He raped her and beat her over and over but I was too worried about keeping Vicious from finding out about me and Julia to notice."
Jet honestly didn't know what to say, 'it's ok' just didn't seem to cut it. Instead he just stayed silent as Spike dropped into his chair again. "Julia couldn't stand kids, she went out to see Obsidian once, then came back and laughed at Vicious' pathetic attempt at normal life. The worst part was, I still loved her anyway. After that, everything was strained. Vicious couldn't get away as often because tensions between rival syndicates were through the roof. I stopped showing up completely to see her and then, a year later, well, I met you. I made a lot of bad moves back then, I don't regret what I've done except for leaving Obsidian behind."
Jet nodded and Spike stood up. As he turned to leave, he looked back at Jet. "Vicious will come for her, but I don't intend to let him have her. I just thought you should know the whole story."
