FORTY-SIX: resurgence

The heartache she could handle. It was the understanding that the end was approaching and there was but one way to combat finality. There could only be one end now, and that would mean the death of everyone onboard the Millennium Arc.

But what could Meryl, one small and seemingly helpless young woman, do in Vash's name to save them all from the torturous end that Quinn intended of everyone she knew?

She trembled in her chair, staring at those lifeless eyes, praying that it wasn't true, wishing it was just some horrible dream that she could just open her eyes in the end and find him lying next to her back at New Hope. Her heart told her otherwise, that this was all too real and that the terror of her life, the loss of her dearest friend, the only lover she had ever known. She wished her heart would stop then and there and take her from this world in blissful, merciful death.

But she couldn't die now.

His words returned to her in a rush, and she knew her plight, her destiny. That means that we might have to trust each other to protect ourselves. One false move can be devastating. If a soldier turns to help a fallen comrade on the battlefield, most likely he will end up just as dead as his friend. Heart pounding, she peered over to Faye Valentine. Her eyes were wide with shock, just as Meryl's were. Terrible, powerful sobs raged from the lungs of Milly, behind her. So much tragedy; the big girl couldn't handle it all at once. Meryl thought it was a miracle she herself hadn't fainted from the shock.

Then again, somewhere in the back of her mind, she had feared something like this would happen. The female plant-spawn—the "pure born," as Vash had called her—had butchered him. This Wolfwood impersonator…what did he have to do with all this?

Something else Vash had told her about rang true: When I gunned down my impostor, he was wearing this coat, and he had my Angel Arm magnum. I don't know when they got it, but they would have had to have taken it from the place where I fought Knives last year. It means they must also have Wolfwood's Cross Punisher. If I know the Gung-Ho Guns, they'll try to use it against us.

Meryl thought with grim irony that Vash had proven equally prophetic in his death than he had been in his life.

Standing at the primary viewscreen, a very shocked and very disturbed Jebidiah Quinn spun toward his partner. Morgante watched back with equal shock quickening his heart. "Send him in," the scientist said, still shaking. "I would very much like to meet this man."

It seemed things were not exactly going as planned.

Spike peered quietly over to his silent sentry as he touched the little device hooked to his ear. After a moment, the plant-spawn let go of the comm-link and peered back, frowning. "We're being asked inside."

The bounty hunter frowned back. "That a good thing?"

"Hard telling. Could be he never expected anyone to actually succeed, and now he's not sure what he wants to do next. Could be he's just stunned and wants to shake the hand of the man who proved Vash the Stampede is no more than a mortal man." The plant-spawn grinned, peering through the black visor that covered his eyes. He adjusted the devise, starting off toward the Millennium Arc. "Remember, be careful. And watch what you say. This is a guy who would just as soon kill his friends then risk anything going wrong."

Spike smirked. "Yeah, well I'm an awful lot like Vash the Stampede myself," he said, turning an amused eye to his escort. "I'm one tough sonuva bitch to kill."

Edward laughed her fool head off, not for the first time that day. Her eyes locked on the viewscreen in main engineering to the handsome young face peering back. A man, similar to Vash, she thought, handsome with hazel eyes and platinum-blond hair. There was a small smile on his lips as he studied her.

"So you are Edward. Rem said I might have the opportunity to meet you."

Edward grinned. "Your ship is amazing. Edward's never seen anything like it!"

His smile widened. "Nor had I, when I first encountered her. The Millennium Arc is unique. No one has ever seen anything like it, nor are we likely to see anything like it again."

"It's a gateship!" Ed giggled at her discovery, bouncing up and down in her chair.

Her new friend chuckled. "Ah, very perceptive. And, dear Edward, can you tell me what it is that a gateship is used for?"

A wide-eyed Edward leaned forward. She kept her voice low, as if she was afraid someone might be listening in on their conversation. "Teleportation."

"Very good. You understand then how you and your friends found your way to our world." It was not a question, and he didn't wait for a response. "I first activated the Arc over a hundred twenty years ago, when I discovered her. I sought understanding beyond what I already knew. Back then, I couldn't comprehend the significance of the knowledge. I knew only that the Arc could connect with its point of origin instantaneously with its activation. Within the last year, I have spent a great deal of time studying the Arc, coming to understand the potential of a gateship."

A fool grin spread across the girl's face. "You brought Bebop to Gunsmoke!"

He slowly shook his head. "No, that was Rem. The hologram you spoke to in the command center is the visual representation of the ship's artificial intelligence. When I activated her, I gave her the name of a human who had ." He held his arms out and shrugged. "I hope you find her helpful. I was the one who designed her. I used someone who was very important to me during my childhood, a young woman that I have since forgotten. In the past year, I came to know her again, used her wisdom to help guide me to my own salvation." He gazed cryptically at Edward, his smile evaporating slowly as he sighed. "Without Rem, I would never have been able to accept my fate."

Edward smiled. "What fate is that?"

Millions Knives, twin brother of one Vash the Stampede, held out his hands and gestured to the darkness in the screen about him. Edward leaned forward, eyes shimmering with anticipation. "'Until you realize there must be room in this world for all of us, you have to understand there will be no room in it for you.' My brother's final words to me, before he left me here to think of the consequences of my actions." He leaned forward. "Now it is time for me to make amends for those actions. Edward, I will need your help, if you will trust me."

The girl grinned ear-to-ear. "Edward will most definitely help!"

Spike Spiegel shot his escort a look as the door between him and the command center slid open. He grit his teeth as he peered about. There, he saw Jet and Faye, surrounded by technology that he could scarcely believed. His friends were both being heavily guarded by a pair of Gung-Ho Guns. Vash's friends were also there, all three, the big and small girls, and his duplicate. Spike bit his lower lip and strode into the room. No one spoke a word, as though everyone knew that this was a moment in which no one could speak until spoken to. Spike turned his eyes slowly to the old man in the center of the room. Next to him stood a woman he didn't recognize.

For a brief moment, his escort froze. He stood stiffly just beyond the door before giving Spike a shove with the butt of his rifle. "Move," he said in a flat voice.

"Yes, yes, Mr. Spiegel is it?" Quinn started toward him. "Congratulations, young man! You have no idea how troublesome that Vash the Stampede has been to my business."

"I think I could guess," Spike grumbled as they met halfway. Quinn thrust a hand out to him, and for a moment, Spike simply stared. Then he reached out and shook it. His eyes drifted briefly to the young woman behind the man. He nodded to her.

The girl smiled. "Welcome to the Millennium Arc, Mr. Spiegel. Though I believe this is not your first visit."

"It's our first meeting, Miss…?"

"Saverem," she replied. "Rem Saverem. I am a holographic representation of the last surviving crew member of Project SEEDS."

Spike arched a brow. "Interesting," he said quietly, and fixed a look on Quinn. "Just tell me something. Where do I turn in the remains to collect the bounty?"

"There is no collecting, Mr. Spiegel," Quinn replied. "Gunsmoke is dead. The money will soon be worthless."

Spike thrust his hands into his pockets. "That what a gateship's for?"

Quinn smirked. "In a way." He lay a hand on the bounty hunter's shoulder and led him over toward the main viewscreen. Spike went without protest, glancing back to see that Jet and Faye had both fixed him with angry stares. He shrugged in their direction and looked up to the viewscreen. "This is a resurgence, my friend. Nearly two centuries ago, we of Project SEEDS dreamed of a whole new world meant for mankind to regain the greatness that God intended of such a race. We were doomed to failure because of two vile creatures unlike the world has ever seen, no more than bloodthirsty vermin that sought to bring an end to the dream that was Project SEEDS."

"That's a Goddamn lie!" Meryl's voice cut through the air like an explosion. All eyes shifted suddenly over to her. A firm hand gripped her shoulder, her father's hand. A warning to stay silent. He didn't hurt her, but she turned her angry glare up to him. "Get your filthy hands off of me!"

"Meryl," Morgante warned, his flesh and blood eye narrowing only slightly.

"Oh, it's all right, old friend. I understand the hate in her heart. I would expect no less of the young woman." He eyed Spike and winked. "About two thousand years ago, the Millennium Arc crash-landed here on this very world. Its crew, however, was born almost two hundred years into our future. This crew was not human. They were very much like Vash the Stampede. Plant-born humanoids from this very world, spawned from the very plants that bring life to this world."

Spike gave him a look. "Wait a second. Are you telling me that this ship was built by race of creatures like that?" He thrust an angry finger toward the viewscreen, to the army of clones that waited just outside the Millennium Arc.

"That, my boy, is precisely what I am saying."

"And what exactly is it you plan to do now that you have control of it?"

"The answer is Gunsmoke," Quinn said cryptically. "What we have to do is rid ourselves of the plant-spawn that threaten our very humanity. I am taking us to the past, where we will use this army to annihilate our enemy." He held up the cross, hanging from the broken chain that Morgante had torn from Meryl's neck. Slowly, he strode over to the console. His fingers slid over the port where the key was to be inserted. A smile stretched across his face. "The time of redemption is upon us," he whispered, and pressed the key into the port and turned it ninety degrees counterclockwise.

In that moment, the lights in the command center faded. Then, from the center of the room, next to where the Rem hologram stood, a brilliant flash of red light filled the room. Something hissed as a pressure valve was released. A three foot diameter section of the floor slid open. Silence swept through the room. Everyone watched, wide-eyed, as a man emerged from the floor on a platform. A tall man, six feet six inches, with short-cropped platinum-blond hair and a smirk with the devil's confidence ground into his features, hands clasped behind his back, a figure with a prestigious personality.

"Ah. It has been a long time, hasn't it, Jed?"

The doctor stumbled back against the console beneath the main viewscreen, eyes wide. "No…it can't be!"

"Oh, it can, and it is," Knives said, almost gently, as he started slowly toward the old man, arms still clasped behind his back as he drew ever closer to his enemy. "You really are a sly old dog, aren't you, Jed? Think you could shy away from Legato and draw one of his most reliable soldiers right along with you?"

Quinn slid his gaze to Morgante. The massive soldier stood there, glaring. His harsh gaze was not set on Knives, but Jed. Realization sunk in, and he looked slowly back to Knives.

"But Bane killed you…"

"You think I'm a fool?" Knives said, grinning deviously. "Jed, I surrendered my freedom to the outside, but in here, I am still king." He held his arms out. "The man your clone destroyed was a plant-spawn. He was also just a clone, just as the man who killed him."

Spike gawked. "Can somebody please tell me what the hell is going on here?"

"It is a fight for the future, a battle for the resurgence of life," Knives said darkly. "Much as my dear old friend just revealed to you. It is an opportunity for myself to right the wrongs that I have done to the people of this dismal world. It is a simple truth. Until I'd realized there must be room in this world for all of us, I had to understand there would be no room in it for me."

Meryl felt herself gasp at his words, words she knew had been Vash's last to his brother in this world. Her heart pounded in her chest, nearly forcing the very air from her fragile lungs. She shook furiously as she stared up at Knives. Her hands balled into small fists as she fought against the tears that threatened to consume her.

Knives eyed her, bowing his head with a sly smile. He turned away from her. "I have come to understand that as simple truth. It is my destiny. Isn't that right–" He turned again, fixing his sights on the clone soldier who had escorted Spike into the room. "–Vash the Stampede?"

The clone stood there for a moment, fixing his emotionless gaze to Knives. All eyes shifted suddenly to him. He broke into a huge grin and easily discarded the thin black visor set over his eyes. "You've got that right, Knives!"

"Noooo!"

Eyes wide with wild rage, Quinn made a dash for the viewscreen, but Spike had no intentions of letting him get very far. Spinning back to his right, he whipped his foot through the air, connecting the kick sharply, heel against Quinn's face. The man shot from his feet and crashed back onto the titanium floor of the command center.

As Morgante untied the ropes that bound Meryl Stryfe and Faye Valentine to their chairs, and Jet Black helped to ease Stryker off the ground, Vash closed the gap between him and his brother and threw his arms around him. Spike loomed silently over Quinn for a moment and shook his head, turning his attention to the girls. The moment Meryl was on her feet she charged Vash with what could only be a look of fury and threw a powerful fist into his face.

"Hey!" Vash shouted, holding his cheek for a moment before turning his attention down to her. "What the heck was that for!"

"That was for scaring the living hell out of me, Vash!" Meryl shouted. Then, her countenance softened. She reached up and cupped both of his cheeks in her hands, pulling him down to peer into his eyes. His hair was cropped short, like the rest of the clones, but looks didn't matter. What mattered was that here he was, alive and well, standing before her. That had been the disguise, and everyone had fallen for it. "And this…is because I love you." She kissed him tenderly there, in that moment. It was a long, slow, passionate kiss, and all that saw it knew there was no shame in the moment. The love held there between them was that pure. "So much," she whispered through the tears welling up in her eyes. Her fingers slid slowly through the short spikes of golden hair.

"Sly bastard," Stryker breathed as he inspected his predecessor with a smirk.

Vash grinned over to him before gently scooping Meryl up into his arms, turning her full circle before returning her to her feet. They parted slowly as Vash peered to his brother. "Knives, this is the woman I love…the woman I want to marry."

Knives peered down at her. A genuine smile, something she never would have thought possible from this man who had caused Vash so much pain for so long, softened his features. "Congratulations, Miss Stryfe. Your father has told me some wonderful things about you." Meryl peered to Morgante from the corner of her eye. She refused to part from Vash, and looking at Knives was hard enough. She simply nodded and buried herself deeper into her lover's embrace. Knives's smile was genuine. "If ever there was a human worthy of my brother, it would be you."

"If ever there was a man worthy of Meryl, it'd be Vash!" Milly replied, rushing over to bury her friends in one of her bone-crushing hugs. Meryl allowed her guard to slip, and smiled gently as she found herself warmed within her big friend's embrace as she and Vash still clung to one another.

"Good work, lunkhead," Faye said as she gave Spike a casual slap on the shoulder. She had worked her way over to her comrade, all the while watching the three friends and now, apparently, Vash the Stampede's brother. She flashed Spike a smile that told him how relieved she was that he was here, how relieved that he had figured out a way beyond creating a deathtrap. "For a second there I thought you'd gotten us the biggest bounty of all time. As worthless as that would've been."

Spike smirked over to her. "Yeah."

"Of course you know I would've had to tear your nuts off for hurting Vash, right?"

The bounty hunter gave his partner a sidelong glance. "Me hurt Vash? What dream did you just wake up from?"

"I don't know. Maybe I haven't yet."

Spike shot a look to Jet. "Where's Ed?"

Jet was standing stiffly, rubbing his soar shoulder as he stared back at his partner. By the blank expression on his face, Spike knew he didn't have an answer. Faye turned her eyes to the floor. There'd been a lot of death, and they both knew it. If Edward was nowhere to be found…

Neither had the courage to be the first to voice their fears. Thankfully, someone else spoke before their fears could be realized. "This is all well and good…" All eyes shifted toward Stryker as he turned slowly to the viewscreen. "But what the hell do we do about them?"

Knive's face twisted into a devious grin. "That's simple enough. When I created them, I added a built-in automated destruction sequence."

Vash spun to him. "What? You mean it's that simple? How do we activate it?"

"That part is not so simple," his brother replied, though his grin remained. He cast Vash a sidelong glance, hands clasped behind his back. "First, we'll need the Angel Arms."

Vash held up the gun. Knives's gun. His brother drew his gaze silently along the black steel. His grin widened. "You've kept it in pretty good shape."

"I think you should thank Sean for that. He's the one who fixed it."

Knives merely smiled as he reached for his weapon.

"And here is yours," Morgante said quietly as he handed the silver weapon over to Vash.