Disclaimer: HEY, GUESS WHAT!...I still don't own it. -.-

Chapter 5: No Reply

For some time after Vicious went in, Jet had remained on the deck, mulling silently over the state of things. Part of him wanted to think he had made some sort of breakthrough just now, but a larger part knew he hadn't gained too much ground. He personally felt better with even the most ambiguous idea of why Spike did some of the things he did, but what good was that knowledge to the situation they were in? There was no other way of looking at it; this was a mess.

Well, he decided, it wasn't helping any more to stand out here and brood. However, just as he was turning around to reenter the ship, a shrill squeal of triumph echoed from inside, followed closely by a surprised yelp from Ein at being awakened so rudely.

Giving a sigh, Jet couldn't help but crack a faint grin as he rubbed the back of his head, his tension somewhat lifting. Well, at least some things didn't change. His curiosity mildly piqued, he turned and went inside to see what had gotten Ed so excited.

He found the Bebop's resident hacker just where he'd left her, doing a happy little jig while sitting in front of her computer and giggling a bit maniacally. Her computer screen was flashing wildly, and a closer look told Jet that the culprits were the strangely cute little symbols that appeared when Ed successfully hacked into something.

"What've you got, Ed?" he asked, leaning down to get a better look.

Moving fluidly out of her little victory-dance, Ed pulled her goggles away from her eyes and snapped them onto her forehead. With the push of a button, the jittering symbols were gone from her computer screen, leaving only a page of...well, gibberish, to Jet, anyway. "Uh...what are we looking at, here?"

"THESE are the confidential super-secret files of the Jade Crow syndicate!" Ed explained proudly. Then, her voice becoming playfully mischievous, she added, "Time to crack the cooooode..."

Her fingers moved quickly and precisely, and in seconds she had decoded part of the file. She skimmed the section, and after a moment, she gave a little bounce of delight. "AHAAAAA! Found the big boss! Jerry-person!" she announced triumphantly. There was a short silence after that, which was broken by a quiet sound of recognition from their unnoticed audience.

"Jericho Slaine..." Jet glanced over to where Vicious had perched on the near arm of the couch.

"Uh-huh!" Ed chirped, nodding.

"You know him?" Jet inquired, his eyebrows lifting in slight surprise. Vicious didn't answer for a moment, his eyes skimming over the file Ed had found.

"Not personally," he finally replied, sitting back again. "His name has been brought up before. He's a negotiator for the Crows."

"How high does that put him?" Jet asked, frowning in seriousness. Vicious shifted slightly, his movement the closest he would probably get to a shrug.

"Lower than some. Higher than most."

Jet was quiet for a moment, watching Ed quickly finish cracking the code, turning the meaningless symbols into words he could understand. "The Jade Crows..." he murmured after a bit, then looked back to Vicious. "What would they want with you and Spike?"

To this, he received no answer. Vicious' eyes were turned slightly downward, narrowed in thought. By Jet's best guess, that loosely translated to 'I have no idea.'

Honestly, Vicious wasn't quite sure what to think just yet. It hadn't even occurred to him that the Crows may have been involved in this; it was an interesting development, to say the least, but it did very little to simplify things. If anything, the new knowledge had only made the situation more abstract.

Silently he continued to look over the files that the unfathomable child continued to decode, but in the back of his mind, he began to retrace the last few months, slowly attempting to conjure up the exact circumstances under which he'd heard the name of Jericho Slaine. For several minutes he said nothing, ignoring the occasional fleeting glance from Jet, who had unconsciously placed himself protectively between Vicious and Ed.

He only broke briefly from his trance when Jet seemed to grow weary of trying to make sense of things and straightened, heading out of the room, while the child placed her laptop on her head and marched after him.

Once they'd gone, Vicious moved from his increasingly uncomfortable position to ease himself back down onto the couch, leaning back and letting out his breath as he allowed his thought process to continue.

He did remember when the Jade Crows had last been brought up. It had been in a short meeting, several months prior, just before Mao had made his short-lived pact with the White Tigers. If he remembered correctly, in fact, their discussion had involved the Tigers as well. It had been one of several concerning how wise it would be to attempt an alliance with them, as the Dragons and Tigers had been at each other's throats for years. However, the farther he attempted to delve into the memory, the more the several discussions began to meld together in his mind, remaining nebulous and unclear.

Goddamned painkillers.

Well, no matter. As of yet, there was time enough for the memory to come back to him. Breathing in deep and exhaling slowly, Vicious let his eyes slip shut, almost able to feel the damned medicine slowly knocking him out.

When he woke, he was sure, the pieces would come together.

"I don't know what to make of it, Ein," Jet murmured as he sat down in his bonsai room, needing to talk to someone who wasn't unconscious or balancing a computer on their toes at the moment. In response, the dog padded closer to him and sat down, looking at him expectantly. Sensing a request for him to elaborate, he continued. "If Vicious doesn't know the guy past his name, then we're just as in the dark as before. This whole setup is trouble." A small whine indicated that he at least had some sympathy.

Realizing for the thousandth time that he had every reason to be deserving of sympathy this time, what with what a goddamned mess this was, Jet allowed himself a discouraged groan, putting his head in his hands.

Giving another quiet whimper of agreement that this was indeed quite a predicament, Ein looked around the room, then hopped up on the table and nosed Jet's arm. When he looked up, Ein nudged forward Jet's communicator and sat down, lolling his tongue out hopefully.

Jet sent the dog a look, frowning slightly. "And who'm I supposed to call, huh? The police?" he asked wryly. In response, he received an encouraging bark, which was received at once by a skeptical shake of the head. There was no way that the Jade Crows wouldn't find out if he tried to call the police. No crime syndicate was that incompetent, he knew, and he had dealt with his share of them in the ISSP.

"Why don'tcha call Faye-Faye?" Ed piped up from across the room, performing a rather impressive act of keeping her computer in the air, lying on the ground and bicycling her legs to keep the laptop spinning.

Jet blinked. "...Faye?"

...Well, she certainly had no police connections to speak of, other than himself. If they looked at her record alone, there would really be no reason to suspect. It was worth trying, at least.

Silently, he took up his communicator and turned it on. So far, so good, it seemed, as he heard it crackle to life with familiar static. He carefully punched in the code to reach her, then lifted it to his ear.

It beeped. Jet raised his eyebrows. Hot damn, it looked like he was going to pull it off! It was hard not to congratulate himself as he was rewarded with a second beep—

"We're sorry. Your call has been disconnected. Please check galactic coordinates and try aga—"

It was at that point that Jet promptly shut it off. So, they weren't going to take any chances with him.

"...Damnit."

Ehhh...this one was short, but it needed to be here. And it decided it wanted to be done right there. Sooo...meh. Next one's longer, promise!

To my über-nifty reviewers:

BunnWw-Thanks a lot! I'm glad you're enjoying it!

microfiber shoelaces-I agree completely about Vicious, that he isn't the moustache-twirling villain that a lot of people want him to be. Trust me, in this fic he has NOTHING whatsoever against puppies. -.-

Shteve-STEVE REVIEWED! (would glomp and give cookies but already did that) As for action, don't worry, there will be action, and plenty of it. :)

VanillaRose-...Know what, your review just made my day. The 'right' comment makes perfect sense, and I'm so flattered that you think it applies to this fic! Thanks so much, I love your reviews. n.n

Picon-Lol, no problem at all. Glad you're still liking it!