Chapter Twelve: "The Twilight Showdown"
Ed sat in front of her computer, chin resting in one palm, while she mindlessly clicked the keyboard with the other hand. Ein was positioned beside her on the floor, looking from the screen to the distant girl staring at the monitor. It'd been twenty minutes since the adults, save for Linares, left for the church to help Faye. Ed knew she never had a chance of going along. This was the most dangerous mess the world had ever been in. Still, she couldn't stop worrying about her friends.
Rem stopped it the doorway which led into the main living area of the ship. She saw the red-headed girl – Ed – and the dog, Ein, on the floor together. She wasn't entirely certain what the heck was going on, only that it was major. The blond man, Vash, told her that she would be safe on the ship with Linares. Unlike Ed, Rem had no interest in leaving. She was content to do as the adults instructed; her mother had taught her as much.
Ein barked.
Ed lifted her head and noticed the dog wagging his tail at something behind her. She turned at the waist and that's when she saw Rem in the room.
"Hi," Rem quietly greeted.
Ed's mouth quirked. Even though Vash assured her that he cared about her, she couldn't help but feel cold towards Rem Saverem. She knew she shouldn't, still, she didn't appreciate someone else, a complete stranger, taking him away from her.
Rem smiled as she crouched down when Ein trotted over to her. "Hey, boy," she sweetly cooed. She stroked his head. "You have a very nice dog." She glanced at Ed. "Have you had him a long time? My mom and dad won't let Kevin, he's my little brother, and me have any pets."
Ed simply turned around and went back to surfing the Net.
Rem joined Ed by her computer. "You haven't said anything to me since I woke up an hour ago." She watched Ed continue to ignore her, in favor of playing with her computer. "Okay. Since you won't talk ... I will."
Ed side-glanced as Rem made herself comfortable on the floor. Once she did, Ein plopped down beside the dark-haired girl.
"It must be fun to fly on a spaceship," Rem said as went back to petting Ein. "We don't go to a lot of places. We live in the outer reaches of the solar system. It's safer there, or so my dad says." She sighed. "Mom and I came to meet him and Kevin. Kevin needed surgery - he's all right - but my mom wanted to be here earlier. It's really not a good idea for all of us to travel together."
Ed glanced at Rem but didn't say anything.
"Dad's scared of the Red Dragons. I hate it. Him being scared all of the time, I mean. Just because he didn't want to hurt people anymore." She stopped stroking Ein's back. "That man, Mr. Spiegel, he might not say so, but he's scared, too. Maybe not for the same reasons as my dad, he is."
Ed looked down. She hadn't considered that. Though she'd been around Spike for three years, she'd never come to know him well. Not in the same respect as Jet or Faye. The idea that he would be afraid of anything, it didn't seem possible to her.
"I don't want anyone to be afraid anymore. People hurt each other and it keeps going on, even after they stop. It never goes away." Her eyes brimmed with tears. "My mother's dead ... isn't she?"
For the first time, Ed felt something other than jealousy towards Rem. Pity. The girl was like her, until she'd joined up with the Bebop's crew. She was alone.
Tears streamed down Rem's cheeks. "Mr. MacGruder didn't want to tell me the truth, but I know she is. I ... remember what happened." She sniffled. "The flash, the rumbling ... then the buildings falling down around us. She pulled me to the ground ... and now she's dead."
Ed moved in front of Rem and placed a hand on one of her shoulders. "When your mom did that, she wasn't scared anymore."
Rem stared at her. "What?"
"Somebody who was scared wouldn't do that. Vashy, he does it all the time. He won't let anybody get hurt. If your dad is out there, he'll find him for you. And he won't leave you until he knows you're safe. You shouldn't be afraid when he's around." She gave the girl a hug.
Hesitantly, Rem returned the hug. She felt eased by Ed's words. She didn't quite understand why a stranger would care so much, but this Vash did. It made her wonder who, or what, turned him into that kind of a person ...
"Thank you," she whispered.
The ground was wet. The sky overcast with gray clouds. The air thick with something – it wasn't heat, it wasn't humidity. If it could be classified, one would have to call it "evil". The church hadn't changed much in the last decade. The outside was a bit more worse for the wear and the scars from Spike's last visit were still visible.
He recalled falling from the window and everything that went through his mind on his way to the ground. Julia. Vicious. His life as a gangster. All of it was so long ago. Like ancient history. He glanced at Vash next to him, wondering what was going through his head right then.
Vash stared up at the church. He had bad memories of his own associated with the house of God. Wolfwood, knelt in a pool of his own blood, his cross propped against his body, each keeping the other from lying on the floor. He remembered Milly's anguished wails. Her cries chilled him to this day. Why couldn't he have saved him? He didn't deserve to die like that. No one did.
"You should stop blaming yourself for him," Spike quietly commented. He pulled his cigarettes from his jacket pocket and looked inside of the pack. Two left. He removed one and lit it. As he tucked the pack into his jacket, he looked to the blond. "In case no one told you, human beings are responsible for their own actions. He knew the risk of what he did."
"A risk he never would've taken, if not for me."
Spike exhaled smoke. "Isn't that what you wanted from him? To find an alternative to pulling the trigger?"
"Yes, but - "
"The choices we make dictate the life we lead. You should know that better than anyone, Vash." He took one long drag from the cigarette then dropped the rest to the ground. He looked back to the church. "It's also better to die doing the right thing than to live and continue doing the wrong one." He smiled a little. "I should've thanked her for showing me that."
Vash stared at him. Had Spike changed so much since he last saw him? Not only since then, but in the course of a day? What had happened to him in that time?
He patted Vash's shoulder. "Let's get Faye. And your brother."
"And the man from your past?"
"I know what I'm going to do. The choice is his." Spike shoved his hands back into his pockets and headed into the church.
Inside the church, the place was in much worse condition. Bullet holes peppered the walls and scorch marks from explosives painted others. Weak rays of light streamed through the broken stained glass windows and the bits of the ceiling that had rotted away. The only things still standing were several pews and the large cross on the front wall.
"You were told to come unarmed."
Spike glanced to his left. Lao Chan. He scoffed. That guy was nothing but a kid when he'd left the Red Dragons, now he was one of Vicious' most trusted lieutenants.
"We're not armed. You and your boys can frisk us. I know how much you'd enjoy that." He smirked.
Lao snapped his fingers and two of the six men he'd brought along stepped forward. "Make sure he's not lying."
Spike raised his hands and kept an eye on the one who searched him. "How does it feel to take orders from a prick like him, kid?"
"Shut up," the man grumbled. Once he finished, he gave Lao an all clear nod then stepped back.
"What's this?" The man who'd patted down Vash kicked Wolfwood's cross with his foot. "You hiding something in that?"
"What's so dangerous about a cross?" Spike asked as he jerked a thumb at it. "Unless you think we plan to nail you to it."
The man narrowed his eyes then pried the cross from Vash's grip. "Very funny, Spiegel. Gimme that thing." Once he had it, he used all of his strength to haul it to the front of the church.
"That everything?" Lao asked.
"Yes."
"Oh, come now, brother. You're in a church, don't lie." Knives' voice said from somewhere near the front of the building. "You and I know how dangerous you really are." He emerged from the shadows and stopped underneath the cross hanging on the wall. "We're the same, which you so conveniently seem to forget."
Spike leaned towards Vash. "I see the resemblance," he murmured.
"Where is Faye?" Vash calmly asked, ignoring Spike.
Knives shook his head. "Why am I surprised? They were always your primary concern, more than your own flesh and blood."
"You have me, you don't need her."
Lao came up behind Spike and pressed the barrel of his gun into the middle of his back. "You should've listened to Julia. She might've been able to persuade Lord Vicious to spare your life." He smiled. "She has ... influence over him these days, you know. Get up there." He waved the gun at Vash. "You, too."
Knives locked his hands together behind his back and smile on Vash as he neared. "I know you too well, brother. Your strengths, and there aren't many of them, and then there are your weaknesses ..." He chuckled. "I'd planned to use him against you." He nodded to Spike. "But the woman so eagerly offered herself in his place."
A moment later, Vicious stepped from the same shadows as Knives ... with the blade of his sword pressed to Faye's throat.
"Faye ..." Vash took one step, but froze when Vicious cut into her flesh, causing a thin line of blood to appear.
"Some of them have their uses, brother," Knives continued. "Midvalley ... Dominique ... Wolfwood." He smiled, more maliciously when he saw Vash hands tighten into fists at the mention of the priest's name. "I saw potential that they did not have in this one. We want similar things." Mostly. "We want our treacherous brothers back."
Vicious removed the blade from Faye's throat and shoved the woman forward. She stumbled down the steps and almost fell to the floor, but someone caught her. When she looked up to see which of them had spared her the pain, she was surprised to find Spike.
"Are you all right?"
She only gazed up at him. He'd never seemed to care about her welfare any other time he'd bailed her out of a bad situation. When she was able to move, she simply nodded.
"The others are waiting."
Once she was steady on her own two feet, she gave one last look to Spike then ambled up the aisle as lingeringly as possible. When she reached the back of the church, one of Lao's men shoved her outside and slammed the massive door closed behind her.
She bowed her head and sighed softly. Why didn't I stay? I just ... left them there. Am I really so horrible?
"Faye!"
Her head lifted and she glanced around when she heard Jet loudly whisper her name. Near one of the buildings across the street, she saw him, along with Meryl, waving her over. Casually, she headed in their direction.
"Are you okay?" Meryl asked as soon as Faye joined them. She noticed the cut and half-dried blood on the other woman's neck. Did Knives do that?
"Yes."
Jet placed a hand on her jaw then turned her head so he could get a better look at the cut. "Are you sure you're all right?"
She shoved his hand away. "I told you, I'm fine." She looked over her shoulder to the church. "Those two morons are the ones who're in trouble."
"Well, now that you're all clear, that's what we plan to do. Help them," Meryl said.
Jet turned over Faye's extra firearms. "Don't worry. No one is going to die today."
The door to the rectory opened without even a hint of a creak. After making sure the immediate area was clear, MacGruder slipped into the room. As he did, he carefully closed the door behind him. He wished Linares was with him. They worked better as a team, they always had.
But no. Someone had to stay on the Bebop and baby-sit the kids. Why it couldn't have been the short woman, he didn't know. Linares was a trained soldier, a proven fighter. He never dared to argue against it; Meryl was hellbent on going with her boyfriend, or whatever he was to her.
As he moved towards the corridor on the left hand side of the room, he saw one of Lao's men hanging out on the other end of it. Just the one. With his back to him. This would be easy. Holstering his gun, MacGruder crept down the corridor with precise stealth and purpose.
When he was close enough, he threw one arm around the thug's neck while clapping his free hand over his mouth. After almost a minute, the young man dropped his own gun and his body went limp in MacGruder's arms. Carefully, he laid the man down and used a pair of cuffs to bind his arms behind his back. Once he was finished, he picked up the thug's weapon and shoved it into the waist of his pants.
All right, Black. The back is secured. You and that short gal better have your shit together up front.
Gingerly, Jet pushed the front door of the church open. Once it was wide enough for a body to slip through, he motioned for Meryl and Faye to move. After checking the outside one last time, Jet followed behind them. He joined Faye on the left side of the foyer and Meryl positioned herself on the right.
"What's happening?" he asked as softly as possible.
"They're still talking," Faye whispered.
Meryl clutched one of her Derringers tightly in her hands as she watched the events unfolding at the front of the church. Jet had promised that no one would die today. She wanted to believe him, but against someone like Knives, what could they do?
End Chapter Twelve.
Song Title Used: "The Twilight Showdown" - Starlight Mints
