TWENTY: intrusion
Stryker finally pushed his empty bowl away without asking for another serving. Meryl had to smile. The big man had Vash's appetite above all else. She wondered what it would be like if she gave them a single sandwich and told them to duke it out to see who would get it. She suspected nothing less than a stalemate.
"You know, I've spent the last three years of my life roaming the planet, wondering what to do." The girls looked to him, curious. "If Vash is really…well, I was cloned from his blood, then maybe I should stay with him."
The girls shared a look. "You're sure?" Meryl asked.
"Oh, that's wonderful!" Milly echoed.
He shrugged. "He's the only one who can answer my questions. I don't even know who I am, truly. It's obvious he does."
Meryl smiled. It seemed he was ready to accept the story they had shared with him. They really hadn't given the man much to doubt. When Vash wanted to get a point across, he had a very soft way of speaking that could make the coldest of hearts want to believe the truth of his words. "I'm sure Vash would welcome you with open arms, Sean. I know Milly does, and so do I."
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"That's it?" Faye asked as she wrinkled her nose at the ship nestled snugly against the granite walls of the cave, her eyes and ears open.
"I think so," Spike replied.
"What a pile of junk!"
"And the Bebop isn't? Beggars can't be choosers, Faye, or didn't you know that?"
She shot a look to him and drew her handgun. Just give me a reason, you little shit. "Can we just get this over with?"
He grinned. "I think that's my line."
"Damnit, Spike! You're such an asshole!"
"Hey, could ya keep it down?" he said. "I know you want to kill me, but do ya have to alert every bad guy in a ten mile radius?" He considered his words as he glanced to the shuttle behind her. "Better yet, keep right on going. You'd make a good distraction while I rush in and grab the bounty."
She growled. "Would…you…just…shut the fuck up?! I know what I'm doin', alright?!"
He rolled his eyes, grabbing a cigarette from within his pocket, along with his lighter. "If you ask me, this is going to be a complete waste of time."
"You didn't have to come, you know that?"
After he lit his fresh smoke, Spike stuffed the lighter back into his pocket. "Somebody's gotta keep you out of trouble."
Faye rolled her eyes. "Just…" She clenched her eyes shut, fighting back the anger raging through her heart. "Let's go, okay?" Holding her gun at the ready, the young woman slipped off into the shadows of the corridor.
Spike sighed and followed after her, hands stuffed into his pockets. He casually glanced about the seed shuttle. He didn't see any reason to have his gun out. No need to reveal just what kind of threat he was with a gun.
Not yet anyway.
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"It makes me happy you want to stay, too," Milly announced as she gazed with bright eyes to the man across from her. She had watched him closely as he ate the meal she'd prepared with Vash-like efficiency. If nothing else, the two had identical appetites.
Meryl had to smile as she drew her fingers slowly along the tabletop. She was about to ask Stryker a question when the man slowly rose and turned his eyes to the door. She looked at him and glanced back.
Then she noticed it, the faint scent of smoke in the air. The kind from a cigarette.
She reached her hand into her cape and grabbed a derringer.
As she rose, Stryker was already halfway across the room. She reminded herself of his abilities. She suspected he had known for a while now. Vash would have waited until one of the others indicated they had.
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Eventually, Spike pulled his gun free and tossed the burning cigarette butt to the ground. The sound of voices down the corridor clued them in on which direction to go. They had decided not contact Ed; there was too much risk involved in communicating right now, and Spike hadn't wanted to face the consequences of loosing the upper hand. Suddenly, Faye froze at the sound of a woman's voice: "It makes me happy you want to stay, too."
She looked to Spike. He nodded but said nothing. They listened intently to the shadows, waiting. Several moments passed, and there was no sound. Then there was the shuffling of chairs. Soft footfalls approached, at least three sets of feet. Faye realized that they were coming from just beyond a door right next to her. She wasn't quiet sure what they were here to face, but whatever it was, they were going to face it shortly. As she took a deep breath, the footfalls fell silent.
"Maybe you should stay away from the door. Let me handle it." Faye's blood nearly curdled. Her eyes grew as wide as saucers as she shot Spike a look. It was that voice again. The man from town. Vash the Stampede.
"Who do you think it is?" said the voice from before, the woman's voice. "We didn't see anybody in the desert." There was a silence, and the voice trailed out to the hallway as the girl called to them. "Hello? Who's out there?"
A second female voice followed: "Milly! I don't think that's helping."
Spike smirked. "Nothin' here but us rats," he called back.
Faye shot a look to Spike. He shrugged. "Oh, you're a big help," she said curtly, and jumped into the doorway, lifting her gun. "Don't. Move."
There were three of them, as she'd expected. Vash stood to the right, and a small woman to the left. Between them stood a girl that towered over Faye, who stood nearly six feet tall herself. The girl in the middle gave her a smile, something out of place that seemed to somehow fit the voice. "Oh! Hello. What're you planning on doing with that?"
The smaller woman lifted two of her own weapons, narrowing her eyes.
Faye gawked at the derringers, suppressing a laugh. "God, ain't that a kick in the shorts," she mused. Her eyes turned toward the man in black. It was him, no doubt. The same man from the town. "Hey there, hon. Remember me?"
"Not exactly," Vash said, glowering.
Faye lifted a brow. In that moment, her phone rang. She groaned in irritation and shot a look at Spike. "Damnit, not now!" she shouted. "Spike, would you take that?"
"What the hell's going on in there?" he asked from behind her.
The phone's insistent ring racked her brain. "Answer the phone damnit! It's Ed!"
"Okay, okay…I got it! Geesh."
Faye smirked and focused of the three across from her. "Sorry about that. It's just so hard to get good help these days, ya know." She eyed Vash for a moment, and then frowned. "Hey, wait a sec. You weren't wearing black last time I saw you. And what's up with the hair?" The man crossed his arms, glaring down at her. Faye could swear the man's hair was six inches longer than it had been back in town. She shot a look to the two women. "I remember seeing you in the doorway of the bar. Just who the hell are you?"
The big girl leaned forward. "I guess nobody told you who we were," she said matter-of-factly. Her grin was pleasant, trusting, despite the pistol trained on her. "Well, this is my friend Meryl Stryfe, better known as Derringer Meryl. And that's our friend Mr. Stryker, and he's a real good shot. And my name is Milly Thompson but you can call me Stun…oops!"
As she was making her own introduction, she opened her overcoat and a huge hunk of black metal spilled free, crashing to the floor at Faye's feet. She stared down at the weapon. Some kind of gun? she wondered.
The big girl was bright red. "Sorry 'bout that."
Faye shook her head in frustration. "Now just hold on. Your name's Stryker?" She pointed the gun at him, though not threateningly. Her hand went to her hip as she tried to make sense of the situation. "Alright, I'm seriously confused. If your name is Stryker, then where the hell is Vash the Stampede?"
"You just missed him," the man said, glaring. "What are you, another worthless bounty hunter out for the sixty billion? Do you know how many people bounty hunters end up hurting just because he's too slick for them."
"Uh…"
"My real name's Sean Ryker. I'm just a vagabond, nothing more. Not anymore, anyway. And you won't be getting that reward. Even if you wanted to, you couldn't catch him. Just ask all the people who've failed."
Behind her, Spike was in the middle of a conversation with Radical Edward.
The girl's eyes were covered by her goggles, and she chattered on endlessly about something that seemed insignificant to him. Something about spare equipment in the ship. Spike really didn't give a shit. What mattered was the first bit of news she had already shared.
"Look, Ed," he interrupted. "We're kinda busy at the moment. Why not check out exactly what it is Jet wants from the hull so we can get it and get back to us, okay? Until then, just let us do our job, okay?"
He hung up and rolled his eyes.
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Ed leaned back. "Hey! Meanie!" She crossed her arms and then leaned toward the TV, adjusting something on Tomato. "What's going on in there, Ein?"
The dog simply barked.
Behind her, Jet poked his head through the kitchen door. "Hey Ed, any luck in that seeds ship?"
"No luck. Real bounty-person left, but Spike-person hung up on Ed!"
The old man shrugged. He actually felt a little sorry for the girl. He smiled and pulled out a small paper bag. "Come here, Ed. Faye bought some chocolate when she was in town, if you want some."
At the mention of chocolate, Ed shot to her feet and started to run toward him, only to be snagged back by her goggles, as they were still connected to the computer. "Ack!" she cried as her feet flew out from under her and she fell flat on her back. After a moment, she struggled to her feet and ripped the goggles from her eyes. She half-crawled, half-ran to where Jet waited. "Edward likes sweets! Can Ed have chocolate, Jet-person? Puh-leaze?"
He grinned. "All right, all right." He gave her a bar of candy, chewing on his own. It'd been a long time since he'd eaten anything sweet. It actually tasted pretty good.
Ed tore the candy from his hand and raced off to Tomato. She barely had the wrapper off before she took the first bite. "Woah!" She giggled and shook excitedly.
Jet followed, leaning over her shoulder. "You said Vash left the area."
"That's right."
"I want to get a look at this duplicate," he said, approaching the television. "Can you get a link?"
"Affirmative!" she squealed, and went to work.
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"Faye?" He pushed past her through the door and leaned against the counter. He noticed the big girl rambling on about something. She paused a moment as he came in and waved unexpectedly. He actually raised a hand to wave back.
"Oh, are you a bounty hunter too? I don't know what you plan on doing but Mr. Vash is the kindest, gentlest person in the whole universe. He's also the toughest guy I know." She beamed. Spike thought she talked too much, but she had a redeeming quality that Faye was severely lacking. She wasn't a bitch. "And he can see your bullets coming before you even squeeze the trigger," she added. "It's really amazing, ya know?"
"Yeah," Spike said. "I guess that would be something."
"Look, I'm real sorry you came out all this way but if you're here after the bounty you have to leave, 'kay?"
He stared at her. She was almost as weird as Ed was. He was smiling, despite feeling like a rat. "Sorry for the intrusion," he said. "We'll just take what we need and be out of your hair." With a sigh, he looked to Faye. He took the young woman by the shoulders and ushered her from the room. "Real smart Faye. Let's not go around picking fights if we don't have to, okay? He's obviously not here. Let's get what we need from the ship and just get out of here." He lowered his voice. "So if you're done playing…"
"God damnit, lunkhead! Yes, I'm done 'playing,'" she muttered, a scowl on her face. She pushed away from him and started off down the hall. With a shrug, Spike followed her down the hall.
She led him outside and snatched the phone from Spike. "Now let me show you how to handle those two bozos. Getting info from you people is like pulling teeth." She punched in the code to tap into Ed's communication signal and waited. After a moment, Ed's face appeared on the screen.
"Faye-Faye!" the girl giggled, her face stained brown.
"Hey Ed. I just wanted to ask about Vash…hey! That's my chocolate! Where did you get that?!"
"Jet-person found sweets in the kitchen!"
"If you little bastards eat all of it, I'm gonna kill you!"
A moment later, Jet's face took the place of Ed's. "Can it Faye. It was my money." His face expanded as he leaned closer. The sound of Ed's endless giggles didn't even fade. "You two think you can get the parts I need? Ed can upload the information to you."
Faye glared. "Yeah, we can get the parts, but if you eat all the chocolate, you'll have more than a few bad parts to worry about." She sighed, shaking her head. "Well, let's get this done. We hafta walk all around this junk pile until we get everything Jet needs." She smiled. "And then we're going after Mr. Sixty Billion."