Disclaimer: (does the I-don't-own-ANNNNYTHING dance)

A/N: Though I doubt this applies to anyone who's been sticking with this fic so far, let me just warn you that if you have NOT seen Session 5: Ballad of Fallen Angels, then Vicious' reasoning in this chapter will make absolutely NO sense. So if you haven't seen it, go watch it before reading on! Either way, it's an awesome episode!

For everyone else, by all means, carry on. :)

Chapter 6: Cat Blues

Jet was still shut up in his bonsai room when Vicious awoke, which frankly came as little surprise. From what he'd seen in the past few days, it seemed that the room served as the bounty hunter's sanctuary, to which he would retreat whenever there was something he didn't want to deal with. It was the closest Jet could get, Vicious supposed, to a defense mechanism against some of the grief that would inevitably find him now and then.

Sliding into a sitting position, Vicious streched a bit, testing not only his flexibility but his pain threshold. Perhaps now he could manage to get farther than the balcony, he thought with distaste; he hated weakness with a fervor, and being a victim thereof was beginning to grind on his nerves.

Therefore, it was in blatant defiance of the weakness that held him back that he stood, ignoring the ache that began to spread from his abdomen outward, then slipped his hands into his pockets and silently left the main room. There was a room that he had passed on the way to the bathroom that morning that looked decent enough for him to put to use.

In so doing, his mind gradually returned to the situation with the Jade Crows. At least now his mind was clear, he noted as he reached the object of his search and entered the room. He sent an uncaring glance out the large window therein, then brought out his hands from his pockets and fell easily into the stance for a warm-up kata. Practicing always helped him think.

Alright, he thought to himself as he began, taking note of what he could and couldn't do in his condition. He knew only a few key things about the Jade Crow syndicate: they were small but growing; they were willing to trade Spike for himself; they were obviously not working alone, based on what Slaine had said over the vidphone; and they had been worth mentioning among the Red Dragons just before he took it upon himself to assassinate Mao and Carlos...

...Carlos.

The thought made Vicious give pause. Carlos had been the leader of the White Tiger syndicate, and around that time, the Tigers had quietly undergone an act of branching out. Catching wind of it, many smaller syndicates had jumped at the chance to appeal to the Tigers in the hope of forming an alliance with them.

Small syndicates like the Jade Crows.

Noticing that he'd stopped moving completely at the realization, Vicious proceeded again with the kata, now doing it mechanically, his mind elsewhere. Alright, so he had a starting point now. And...yes, that had been the reason the Crows had been brought up with the Dragons in the first place. It was the only time they had ever been a threat, for apparently they were the most prominent of the smaller syndicates, and were likely to strike the fastest. If the Tigers were going to join with anyone, it would have been the Crows; unless, of course, the Dragons beat them to it. An alliance between the Tigers and Dragons would have formed, as Mao had put it, 'an unstoppable force.' He was even so bold as to compare it to the force that was created when Vicious and Spike had first partnered up.

Vicious had quickly put an end to that nonsense.

And after that, if he remembered correctly, the White Tigers had been outraged, and refused all other offers. After all, their clan was notorious for its ability to hold a grudge.

If that was true, it had very likely been a slap in the face of the Jade Crows; and by this time, Vicious doubted that anyone in the organized crime community didn't know that he had been behind it.

So. If he was anywhere close to being on the right track, then the Jade Crows were working with the White Tigers on this, and that was why they wanted him. He certainly wouldn't put it past the Tigers to hang on to his offense for this long. Assuming that he was correct about everything else, that only left the questions of what Spike had to do with it, why the two clans were working together, and whether or not the Crows really intended to give Spike up once they had Vicious himself. It wasn't difficult to guess what they wanted him for, as he supposed it would be an understatement to say that neither clan thought too highly of him just now.

At this point his thoughts were paused once more, as a twist too far in the wrong direction sent a severe jolt of pain through his torso, stealing his breath for a moment and forcing him to give himself a short break. Easing carefully out of the position, he moved toward the wall to use it as a support and briefly closed his eyes.

Counting his breaths in the back of his mind, Vicious turned his attention to the present. He highly doubted that any of the information he'd just uncovered would be of any use to the bounty hunter, who happened to be slowing to a stop outside the room at that moment and was, most likely, sporting a disapproving frown. Not surprising. That was simply the man he was. He had made that very clear from the moment he had set foot in the Red Dragon HQ.

Letting his eyes slide open again, Vicious calmly met—sure enough—the very expression he had expected. Unfazed, he kept silent, watching Jet expectantly; if he had a reason for being there, let him talk.

At length, Jet seemed to perceive that he was being waited on, and his expression eased a bit.

"Got anything?" he asked, attempting not to seem too hopeful and succeeding to a point. At least he was keeping the lecture in his expression to himself.

As the ache in his abdomen continued to fade, Vicious slowly pushed away from the wall, glancing again out the window as he replied.

"I don't know why they have Spike," he said plainly; for that was, of course, what the bounty hunter meant. The taut silence immediately following the statement suggested that he had surprised Jet somehow; perhaps because, thinking back, this was the first time he had heard Vicious say Spike's name.

A stifled sigh, and the subject was dropped.

"...They've blocked out the signal around this ship somehow," Jet informed him after a brief silence. "No way to send anything out, to the police or otherwise."

Seeming to notice when Vicious reflexively stiffened at the mention of the police, Jet changed his pitch slightly. "Don't suppose you'd know how to get around that?"

Vicious shook his head silently, then seemed to think of something and regarded Jet with a strange, narrow-eyed expression that couldn't quite be placed. Unsure what was going through his head, Jet only stared back blankly.

Seeing that he clearly hadn't thought of the obvious solution, Vicious moved his eyes to just behind Jet, where Ed was rolling around with Ein and imitating his bark with rather disturbing accuracy.

Following Vicious' gaze, Jet's eyes fell upon the untamed child, remaining on her for a spell. He blinked.

As Ed turned to stare at Jet, her mouth still open in readiness to tug on Ein's ear, Vicious slipped his hands into his pockets once more.

"I'm not the one to ask."

"En-cr-yp-tion, dis-tr-ac-tion, al-ter-ca-tion, in-for-ma-tion..." Ed sang to herself absently, swaying comfortably from side to side as she saw to the blocked signal, while Jet reclined a bit in the chair behind her, watching over her shoulder. Once again, Vicious had made him feel like the resident dimwit, though this time it didn't seem like he had meant anything by it. Thinking about it, Jet brought himself to the conclusion that the culprit was just stress. It was Spike who thrived on situations like this, and Jet had no problem just playing the backup. However, when it came to taking the lead himself, he personally hated it.

Thus, it was with a combination of relief and dread that he looked up when Ed announced triumphantly, "Allll done!"

"Really? That's it?" he asked with raised eyebrows, and was answered with a nod. Rubbing the back of his head, Jet took a glance at her computer screen. "Will they be able to tell they've been blocked?"

Ed shook her head vigorously. "Nope nope! Ed installed a loop-de-loop in the signal so they won't notice annnnything!"

"Good thinking."

Heaving a sigh, Jet turned to the vidphone. He knew this wasn't something he could handle on his own; thankfully, he also knew that Bob still owed him one last favor. If the ISSP couldn't do anything about this—and he knew they could—his list of options would be cut to a fraction.

Developing a persuasive pitch in his mind, Jet reached out with resolve and punched in Bob's code.

One beep.

Two.

"Yeah?...Oh, hey, Jet."

Sending Ed a thumbs-up, Jet couldn't hold back a slight grin of triumph as Bob popped up on the screen. "Hey." Bob seemed at once almost suspicious at Jet's good mood, and scrutinized him for a moment.

"You alright, Jet?...I heard about the outcome of that Dragon fiasco. Sorry about your partner." That's right, the last time they had talked was when Bob had warned him to get off of Mars before the Dragons got to him or Spike.

"Yeah. Well, about that..."

By the time Jet was finished explaining his situation, Bob had already gone through the necessary phases of skepticism, uncertainty, and disbelief, and it was only now that he really seemed to be taking it seriously. Jet knew Bob believed him now because he had taken to a slow shaking of his head toward the end of the explanation, which meant that he was starting to absorb that yes, it was a bizarre situation, but a real one.

"...Alright, Jet. I believe you. I think you're nuts, but I believe you. So, what do you want me to do about it?"

"Depends," Jet replied, cracking a lopsided grin. "How many more favors do you owe me?"

"Just one," Bob said pointedly, his brows slowly furrowing at Jet's expression. "...That doesn't mean I'm gonna do anything too crazy, Jet, but what do you need?" Alright, time to put on the persuasion.

"I need you to form a squad. That's all. Half the guys still owe me for something or another, so throw my name in if you have to. Once I know the arrival date and time, I'll let you know, and—"

"And what, we'll come to the rescue like the cavalry?" Bob asked incredulously. "You're insane, Jet. You were when you were with us and you are now. The ISSP doesn't tangle with the syndicates, you know that. And none of my guys are gonna put their asses on the line to save one guy they've never met. It isn't in their job description. I know you know that."

"Yeah, I do." Jet sighed, rearranging his argument. "But I also know that law enforcement is in their job description. It's why they signed up in the first place. They're hired to save lives, and if you don't do anything, people are going to die!"

"People die all the time, Jet," Bob said soberly. "We can't save everyone in the galaxy. Look, I'm not telling you to join up with the syndicates or anything. I'm just saying it's easier if you do things their way. Less blood gets spilled that way." Jet knew very well why Bob couldn't meet his eyes while he said that; he doubted Bob believed it himself. "It doesn't sound like these guys want anything except that Dragon you're holding."

"Who says they're telling the truth about that?" Jet challenged, growing frustrated. "The syndicates aren't exactly notorious for their honesty, or their pacifism. There's something else going on beneath this trade they're asking for. I can feel it."

Bob only continued to shake his head, meeting Jet's gaze again. "Sorry."

Jet couldn't let it end with that. "Look. Just bring it up with the guys, alright? Then they can decide for themselves. I'll give you the date when I know it."

Bob finally gave a defeated sigh. "Alright, alright. I'll bring it up. But don't count on anything, Jet. It isn't going to happen." With that, Bob's side of the vidphone clicked out, and Jet looked away.

That hadn't gone quite as well as he'd hoped.

...I really hope everyone was able to follow Vicious' brainwork there. Could you? -.o

Random Tidbit: Why "Cat Blues" for this chapter? Well, in case you haven't noticed, the chapters haven't necessarily been titled for the songs themselves, but the titles in particular. The basic V-logic behind this chapter's title is that Jericho Slaine's character was inspired by the song "Macavity, the Mystery Cat" from Cats, the musical. Sooo, it seemed appropriate to have "cat" in the title of the chapter where everyone's trying to figure out how to deal with him.

...Okay. Just in case anyone cares. Yeah. Um. I'm going now. (points at review button as she slinks out of the room)

To my crazy-cool reviewers:

VanillaRose-:X My lips (/fingers...) are sealed, sorry to say. I'm so glad you're into it, though. :)

Shteve-Yes. I am doing it all to torture you, of course...AND SUCCEEDING BRILLIANTLY! (insert maniacal laughter) XD

microfiber shoelaces-Hmm...vacuums... (wanders off pondering) Lol, I did understand the puzzle-piece analogy, which was actually quite a good one for the situation right now. n.n

Milky Wings-Wow! What a wonderfully long review! For the record, it effectively turned me into a beaming, shiny-eyed fangirl, so thank you so much for the wonderful compliments. I'm honored that my fic is one of your first non-Spike/Faye ventures in fanfiction!

Picon-So glad I've piqued your curiosity! Yeah, right now a lot of things are up in the air, but you know what they say about what goes up...