---40:35:56---
An inclination towards uncaring sympathy always governed him, but he was Spike Spiegel, a name synonymous with obstinate. Not obstinate in the way that he might be resolute and unyielding in his attitude, but more like stubbornly blind to anything that he found too troublesome or boring. Yes, he was your kung-fu, gun-ho all out master of apathy. Don't blame his emotions either, poor suffering, fear, love, sadness, and hate along with the symphonic march of angst and remorse. They would knock so hard against his chest one by one begging for some duly deserved attention. Not Spike Spiegel though, this man would not be oppressed, relieved, or released by any single emotion.
So that's why he tucked away his stupid little sentimental tugs, as he called them. Sure, he had pity on the poor woman for suffering such troublesome and life-threatening events on her birthday no less, probably the first birthday she had remembered in years. But he only allowed pity, as harmless as it was, so he stubbornly ignored the rest of his nagging emotions. Besides he had entertained them enough in the past few months. He didn't mind guilt though. He held it close to him as his constant shadow and companion. Guilt always had the possibility of bringing hidden insecurities to the surface, but he had no problem taking that risk. That one remorseful sentiment had the odd effect of overriding everything he felt. This way he could keep one emotion in order and not have to deal with the rest. It was a technique he felt quite proud of having concocted.
That's how Spike Spiegel managed to walk alongside Faye without saying anything pitifully and irrelevantly stupid. He had one problem though, a non-emotion related problem. What was curiosity anyway? Did it fall under the mood or the tendency category? Whatever it fell under, Spike suffered a chronic case of it. Chronic because he could do nothing to predict or avert it. So as he walked along side the beautiful shrew, his inquisitive mind started wondering about her again. How come she spoke French? Was she French, or was it an odd ironic coincidence she spoke it? What was she thinking right now? Did she feel hopeless?
He scowled mentally at his wandering mind. He just wanted to get this over with as soon as possible. Now that he thought back to it, he had been surprised that she didn't protest or scold him for even insinuating that she undergo some crazy military tests. In fact, she hadn't said much of anything as he retold the events of the night before. She had simply glanced at him, nodded, and muttered something like, "What are we waiting for?" That was it. That was all the reaction she gave him, and truthfully it kind of worried him. Perhaps, she had become just as desperate and hopeless as he had.
They quietly stalked down the white corridors of Sirius headquarters, their muffled steps echoing loudly throughout the halls. They sounded muffled because security had forced them both to wear some kind of paper slippers over their shoes mumbling something about a clean environment. As they walked together both distracted by their own preoccupations, he felt a tinge of skin brush against his hand. He swallowed his unexpected reaction of surprise and pulled his hand closer to his body. His eyes shifted to the right to steal a sideways glance of the silent shrew. The corner of her eyes drooped down, and she seemed lost in whatever worries he had probably caused. He honestly wanted to say something to at least ease the awkwardness between them, but he couldn't. He had words in his mind, but no coherent thoughts.
"I don't like leaving my Glock with them." She suddenly muttered as two emerald eyes glanced to the side meeting directly with two mismatched russet ones. He rubbed the goose bumps that had traveled from his hand to the rest of his arm, and shifted his eyes forward.
"Yeah, it's a bitch, but I think I'm more annoyed at these things. They're ridiculous." He muttered glancing down at the light blue paper slippers. Faye chuckled.
"You do look pretty stupid." Her eyebrows rose playfully.
"Yeah, well, you don't pull off the look either." He smirked.
"We're here." The guard in front of them informed them. Spike glanced up at him. He had completely forgotten he was there.
"Down the hall, to the--," The man started but Spike interrupted him.
"Yes, I know." Faye glanced at him with a dark expression on her face. "Let's go." He told her and kept on walking towards their only chance.
-----
"General Michael Perkins," He smiled warmly and offered his hand. "You must be Faye Valentine," the old voice brightly stated. Faye glared at the slightly trembling hand with some kind of suspicion and finally shook it. Spike raised an eyebrow at him. The old deceitful son of a bitch knew about Faye already. He knew just about everything he needed to know, didn't he? "Sit down please."
"You can help me?" Faye's tone was low but demanding. Spike suddenly felt like the third wheel in the conversation as both Faye and Perkins stared somberly at each other.
"I wanted to meet you personally, so I could explain to you what our specialists will do." His smile faded, and his tone turned serious like a doctor attempting to ease the phrase 'we don't know if the treatment will work; your illness is after all terminal.'
"You don't know, do you?" She raised her voice.
"Ms. Valentine, no one knows. We at least understand what it is in theory." He spoke in his military kind of reasonable tone.
"You mean no one knows but her." Silence governed the room for a while. Perkins frowned his old man frown and glanced at Faye with some hint of pity. She in turn sighed. "Okay, tell me, what was that about the specialists?"
"They're going to examine your heart, take some pictures, as well as other tests: toxicity report, blood, etc. It's going to be a long process. You will go from the neurologist to the cardiologist and so forth."
"And you don't even know if you'll be able to help?" She questioned him. Spike didn't like the fact that she would become a military lab rat either, but what choices did they have?
"You have five hours tops. I don't care how you do it." Spike commanded at Perkins, who simply smiled in return. He then turned to Faye whose eyes had widened into an indignant expression. Crumpling her eyebrows, her lips parted as though she were about to say something with that stubborn look of refusal in her eyes. Perkins interrupted her before she even spoke.
"Very good then. Ms. Valentine, if you'll follow Dr. Javid." He instructed almost excitedly.
"I want to speak with her alone first." Spike stated. He felt Faye's eyes on him, but remained staring straight into the old man's blue eyes. Perkins glared at him with dubious eyes, obviously tired of him barking orders, but the gentle smile never faded from his lips. This time Perkins was the one in no position to refuse, and he knew it.
"Of course." Perkins signaled to a door on the right back corner of the room. "My conference room, it's secure."
Spike headed towards the dark wooden door with Faye treading at his heels. He could tell she was angry by the poignant click she made at each step. Her lips had probably pursed to a grimace, and her arms were most likely crossed beneath her chest. He tried to organize his thoughts and think of what he would say that would convince her to stay. He counted on the ten-second walk to the conference room for his mind to concoct some kind of plan, a quick one at that. She hated anything having to do with doctors since her awakening from cryogenic sleep, but she would have to deal with it.
Light spilled into the darkness as he opened the door of the small room, but the minute he stepped inside all the fluorescent lights turned on revealing a long conference table with large blue office chairs and a screen at the other end. Faye closed the door behind them, and Spike turned around to face her.
He had been wrong. She didn't have her arms crossed or a grimace on her face. Those emerald eyes glared at him with a kind of helplessness in them that jabbed at his chest. His hand had the sudden urge to reach out and touch her, comfort her, do anything to tell her it would be okay, but he stopped it.
"You can stay here Faye. We can take care of everything else." He kept his tone as low and unrelenting as possible. Faye's glare dropped to the ground.
"They aren't even sure. It's a waste of time." Her words were barely audible.
"I don't want you out there anyway. It's better if you're still and--," He stopped. He had no idea what he was saying anymore. "This is our best bet."
He breathed in and headed for the door. She needed to deal with it one way or another damn it. As he reached out to open it, he felt a tug at his black jacket, and his body froze. What was she doing? What was wrong with her? Didn't she understand her position? The urge to apologize invaded him again, but he brushed it aside like always.
"Faye," he started but his mouth closed shut the moment he felt her head press against his back. She still gripped the bottom of his jacket tightly. His heart drummed wildly at the sheer closeness of their bodies. He wanted to turn around and—
"I don't want to stay here alone." It sounded like a little child's plea. That wasn't Faye Valentine's forceful voice. That wasn't like Faye Valentine at all. "Please?"
He wanted to punch his chest and command his heart to settle down. Could she feel it? Could she feel his heart threatening to drill out of him?
"Let's go, Faye." He emphasized each word with poignant annoyance, and she let him go. They returned to the cold office of the warm General who had a questioning look on his face. Spike nodded at him and warily rolled his eyes towards Faye, who stood by his side now. With one hand on her hip, she stood upright with her chin high and a defiant glare dancing in her eyes. That was how Faye Valentine survived - by putting on a show for everyone. In that conference room had been the second time in his life she had willingly shown him her vulnerable side. The first time had been right before he left to meet with Vicious, but it had been different. She had demanded he stay back then, but this time she had almost begged.
"General Perkins." A black-suited man burst with a grave tone of voice. His green eyes stared at the General with a 'deer in headlights' look.
"I am in the middle of an important meeting." Perkins shot him a piercing glare while still keeping his kind smile. Spike wondered if it hurt to have your face display two different moods at the same time.
"It's an emergency, sir. We have a security breach." Green breathed out hard.
"Then do something about it," Perkins demandingly suggested. Green glared at him for a bit longer, and Perkins frowned. "Fine, show me the live feed right now. Pardon me." He apologized to Faye and Spike.
Green barked an order to his comm. while Perkins turned around to face the fairly large holographic screen that had turned on behind him. Several images of the facility started flashing until the screen froze on one.
A woman walked away from the camera, her long dark curls trailing behind her.
"Alyssa!" Faye yelled out before Spike or anyone else could react. The camera had a glitch, flashed off, and once the picture came back Alyssa's figure had vanished.
"Jesus Christ, seal the area off and find her!" Perkins shouted like a startled angry old man.
"We're in the process of evacuating and sealing the area. The sweep team is in their given positions already and--,"
Spike didn't hear the rest as he rushed out through the door. Faye called out to him as her boots clacked against the marble floor. He pushed some guards out of the way, and took a moment to glance back at Faye who had been keeping up with Spike's pace just fine. He couldn't let the military get to Alyssa first. Once they did, he might never see her again. Sirius would rather bury her alive before they would allow anyone access to her genius. Yes, they didn't function much differently than a syndicate. No, Perkins had no need for them if they captured the mastermind who created that nano hybrid inside Faye.
"What are you doing? Security is too high. We'll never get to her in time." Faye exclaimed the minute they stopped at one end of the hall. Spike glanced to both sides which under the white uniform of the walls appeared to be identical.
"Faye, I'd rather help her escape than let them get her." Right, his instincts instructed to him, and off he rushed down the hall with Faye's heels slamming against the marble floors. They reached a left turn that awaited them with an entourage of Sirius security.
"You need to come with us," a nameless face ordered as he reached out for Spike. Spike grabbed the man by his outstretched arm, and with one fluid motion flung him to the ground. Faye dodged the falling body and prepped herself up for a fight. Both bounty hunters with fists ready fought off the five men with ease.
"God, I needed that." Faye muttered slapping dust from her hands, a gesture of a job well done.
"Let's go." Spike told her and sprinted down the hall. His heart beat wildly from the run, the fight, and the anxiety that had been building up for the past few minutes. He suddenly stopped startled by the lack of sound of Faye's heels clacking behind him. Spike whipped around to find Faye squinting while glaring a small black speaker on the corner.
"Do you hear that?" She whispered. The sound over the building's P.A. system grew louder and so did the anxious beating of Spike's heart.
Quand il me prends dans ce bras
Il me parle tous bas
Je vois la vie en rose…
Edith Piaf's muffled sultry voice rang loudly through the pallid walls. Spike's senses panicked and prickled all over his body. The romantic ballad had turned into an announcement of death for him. Faye glared at him perplexed by the bellowing voice of the French singer. That song slowly rhymed every situation into disaster. Those lyrics were a time bomb. His eyes immediately widened. A time bomb. Alyssa had done more than breach security.
"Faye, run! We need to get out of here." Her brows furrowed even more, but he had no time to explain to her the gut feeling he had. Spike grabbed her by the arm and yanked her towards the exit signs. They followed the green letters through the white maze until they reached a door with a guard standing vigil by it.
"This area is sealed off-," Before the guard could point his rifle at the couple, Spike kicked him and knocked him unconscious. Faye pushed open the door, which opened up to the loading docks at the back of the complex.
"We still need to get past the iron gates."
"Well, are you ready?" He gave her that half-smirk of his which his face always managed to fumble in the most unprecedented dangerous situations. Her eyes widened as she stared at the gates somewhat dejectedly.
"That's your plan?" Her lips curled to an annoyed pout. "Run head on?"
"And climb the gates." He added knowing that she had obviously figured that part out too. His smirk faded and his eyes glared ahead of him tracing their course and trying to estimate how many bullets they would have to dodge. His head leaned out while his eyes scanned all sides and caught a good amount of twenty guards scattered here and there. "Odds never looked better." The sarcasm spilled out. It was much better than the fear setting in anyway. He glanced back to Faye letting her know that the time had come. Her eyes wore a grave expression, but a decided one at that.
…C'est toi pour moi,
Moi pour toi dans la vie
Il me l'a dit
M'a jure pour la vie…
Spike honestly had no idea how he had missed the onrush of steps, but when the redheaded man reached them with guns in hand his instincts kicked in and his feet went with them. The man dodged the kicks before Spike realized the redhead had not aimed his guns at them yet.
"Get out, I'll cover you." He muttered his order and Spike's brow furrowed. "What hell are you waiting for? Go!" Spike wanted to ask who the hell the guy was, but he thought better of it as he heard the song nearing its end. The lanky man grabbed Faye's arm and pulled her outside focusing on the gates about one hundred feet away from them. Bullets fired off everywhere and he glanced back questioning his own trust on the man whom had so graciously offered to save them. The man still stood near the back door drawing attention away from them with his guns blazing towards the guards.
When they reached the gates, he released Faye's hand and cupped both of his to spot her. She grimaced at his gesture, but placed her boot on his hands.
"I hate this," She muttered as she grabbed his shoulders for support. She reached over to the metal gates and pulled herself up over them. "How are you going to get through?" She asked as she jumped down and stared back at him. He smirked and jumped almost missing the top of the gate and barely holding on by his fingers. He grabbed on tighter and pulled his body up.
It was when he jumped down that time stopped. The entire structure behind them exploded sending them flying a few feet and down against the ground. He hit the cement from the forceful wave behind them, and scratched his palms against the hard gravel. His ears throbbed with pain as warm liquid dripped from his nose. His face scrunched, and he felt a bit nauseous. He wiped the itching liquid now streaming past his lips to find his hand stained in red. Immediately, he searched around for Faye while trying to clear his eyes from the invading black smoke. The flames reflected on the shattered and cracked remains of the windows in the buildings in front of him. The air had become hazy and he wandered off to side wondering where Faye had landed. She couldn't have been too far. A sudden fit of coughs pushed out of his throat as the air became hazier by the second. His ears began to gradually hear sound again and he finally spotted her face through the black air as she stood up.
"Faye?" He called out to the woman who had a glossy confused shine in her eyes. "Faye, are you okay?" He came close enough so that she might hear him. She groaned and looked over her shoulder. A jagged piece of glass had lodged into her lower back.
"Fuck." She spat and then followed it with a trail of coughs. Never in a million years did he think he would see her bleeding. Sure, they had worked on pretty dangerous missions but she usually handled herself no problem or ran away before the situation got too messy. He stared at her blood with utter disgust as it had been a plague quickly spreading down her back and legs.
"We've got to get you some help." He urged and noticed that her eyes remained dazed and numb. He grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him. "Faye? You're hurt." Her brow furrowed as she blinked several times without any sign of comprehension of what he had just said.
"I can't hear you." She muttered. He sighed as his hand fell back to his side. Meanwhile, Faye attempted to take a step, but her face quickly contorted into a grimace and from her lips escaped a low grunt.
"Here." He latched her arm on her good side around him and helped her walk to the nearest alley. A couple of ideas ran through his head as to what he should do, the first being to call Jet. However, he quickly recalled that he had left his comm. link in his ship which was by now back at the Bebop like Jet had promised. As for Faye's, she had left hers with the guards along with their guns. "Fuck, just great." He muttered under his breath. Faye gripped his shoulder urging him to stop. He helped her to lean against the building wall on the alley for support while he figured out what to do. "We should take you to Celia's." He decided that it might be best, because at least Celia was only a few blocks away.
"No, I'd rather go the Bebop." Faye interjected unexpectedly.
"You can hear me now?" She frowned and nodded. "You could be seriously hurt."
"Yeah, but who needs that extra kidney and it's not like-," a gasp that transformed into a shout swallowed her words in mid-thought, and she held on to her side not too close to the wound. "We've got to get it out first."
"Hell no, not right here." He shook his head disapprovingly. Besides he was still shaking inside out from the explosion that still blazed behind them.
"Fine, I'll do it." She reached for it, but he stopped her hand while glaring gravely at her. Damn her, his heart almost leapt out of his chest. The woman was crazier than he thought.
"You may have perforated a kidney for all you know and that will just make it worse. Listen, we'll wait for the cops, I'll get a comm. and call Jet, just hold on." He exclaimed exasperatedly as he heard the sirens bellowing throughout the city.
"Well thank you, Dr. Spiegel." A cough escaped her once the sarcasm had leaked out of her voice.
"Oh darling, you really ought to listen to him for once."
Spike tensed up the minute he heard that phrase. Both his and Faye's eyes snapped at the direction of the voice, right in front of them down the alleyway. Alyssa smiled at them sardonically with her black eyes glowing in the grey mist. Spike instinctively reached for his gun only to be reminded that he didn't have one this time.
"I really did not mean for you to get hurt. Honestly," her eyes narrowed with pretend confusion, "I thought you would get out in time, but I guess that can't be helped now."
Faye always tended to react faster than he did. It was typical of her to snap before a person had even finished their sentence.
"You mother-fucking bitch! What the hell do you want? You think doing all this will bring your father back?" Alyssa's smiled remained still as ever ready for a snapshot, but her eyes menaced Faye. Didn't anyone ever teach that shrew not to shout at someone who had just blown up a building? Damn, he really wished for his Jericho right now.
"Oh!" Alyssa brought her hand to her lips as her eyes revealed some amused astonishment. "Darling, he still hasn't told you yet." Then turning to Spike, she said, "Won't you tell her at all Spiegel?" He glared at her fiercely taking his breath in deep and hard clogging his lungs with the hazy smoke. Damn him for letting his gun be confiscated and blown to bits. Shit, he wanted to say, but instead panic arose in him. Dreary panic spread through and prickled every nerve in his body.
Shut up.
Her grin widened and he realized he had just let her revel in his fear.
Shut up.
"Well, if you won't tell her. Then I will."
Shut up. Shut up. SHUT UP.
His head throbbed as he alarmingly stole a glance towards Faye who had her eyes dead set on Alyssa.
"You see, the reason why I chose you Faye…"
Fuck. Shit, Fuck. He wanted to lunge at her, slit her throat, choke her, punch her out, something, but he couldn't move. No, Spike the-idiot Spiegel could not move.
"… was because, well, he's in love with you." He remained still, and Faye's eyes narrowed. "You're the spark in his life." Alyssa laughed that annoying pretentious giggle of hers. "Now isn't that ironic. You sparked him back to life and you'll spark nine million people to their death." She tilted her head to the side and smirked. He couldn't take it anymore. He'd kill her right there with his bare hands. His body tensed and moved forward threatening to lunge at her, but she quickly cocked her gun at him. He hadn't even had the chance to notice where she had pulled it from. She pointed it at him, and then slowly aimed it down at Faye's wounded side. "I don't think so."
"I-," Faye grunted. Jesus, he had already forgotten Faye still stood there listening to this shit. "I am glad your father…" She paused to catch her breath which seemed to be running out a little too fast. "That your father isn't alive to see the shit you've become." It took a lot of strength to spit those words at her.
Alyssa's eyes immediately darkened at the mentioning of her father as if suddenly a black emotion had been released within her and now poured out through her glare. Spike's eyes focused on her for the first time, her lose shirt, her black pants and the dark circles under her eyes under a layer or two of powder. Her lips were purple kind of pink and her hands polka-dotted with black, blue, and green bruises. Her dark eyes would flash with resentment, then confusion. The gun trembled tighter in her hand as her lips pursed with anger. She was just about ready to shoot Faye, and a chaotic rage resonated around her. Spike had no idea what he would do, but every muscle in his body was ready to do something.
"No, not this way, Faye." She calmly interjected her own anger. A blanket of composure had suddenly wrapped around her as a sinister smile danced its way across her lips. "Bon chance, cherie." She turned around, and Faye reached to grab her. The second she did her hands instead fell to her side as a desperate shout escaped from her lips.
----
Jet's face paled the moment he jumped off the cockpit of the Hammerhead and saw Spike holding a limp Faye in his arms. A small black-red pool had stained the ground at his feet. He stared back at Jet with a sour, yet glad expression although dreading the fact he would have to explain himself to his partner. God, he had fucked up too much in the last twenty-four hours.
"What the fuck happened?!" Jet rushed, then walked, then rushed again towards him as if his own feet had no clue as to where they were headed. Spike had gracefully borrowed a comm. from one the patrol units that suddenly swarmed the Sirius headquarters. Most of the officers were too busy to know what had really happened, which gave him the perfect opportunity to contact Jet.
"Corner of Juno and 70th, in the back alley, hurry she's hurt." He said before running back to where he had left Faye Valentine barely standing. Jet had probably been worried to death knowing him, but it's not like the former cop hadn't been used to it. Spike had never been tactful about anything, and now was the least likely time to start.
"Jesus Christ." Jet muttered as his hands flailed about Faye and her injury. "Why aren't you rushing her to the damn hospital?"
Spike's eyes narrowed at him already feeling the twinge of jealousy returning to his chest.
"She insisted, more like demanded that I call you instead. She only passed out a few minutes ago. The stupid brat threatened to rip it out if I took her anywhere else." He spoke briefly, no pauses, very solemn tone. Mismatched eyes stared at worried dark ones with a suspicious intensity.
"Goddamn it, stubborn woman." Jet muttered pressing his hand against her forehead. Spike's twinge grew to a hook and then a kick.
"Jet?" Faye's eyes squinted open. "Take me home."
"Yeah, you're fine Faye." Jet reassured her, and she slipped back into unconsciousness.
It took them a couple of minutes to figure out how to most comfortably position her inside the Hammerhead in order to take her back to the Bebop. They finally agreed on an arrangement in which Spike sat in the seat while holding her propped up and assuring the piece of bloodied glass wouldn't slam against anything.
As they flew back to the Bebop, Spike found himself staring at Faye, her face so quiet and pale. Her lips were a little dry, but still had that small hint of pink in them. That pink soft complexion that he couldn't help but stare at, which suit him just fine. He'd think about anything but the warm blood in his hands. He needed to forget that warm guilt dripping onto his skin.
The silky texture of her skin awakened his suppressed emotions once again. He tried constantly to rip them from his mind and shred them into little nothings, but instead they molded into pieces of him which he couldn't discard. He'd then bunch them up and hide them somewhere, anywhere as dark as he could find, and locked it so tight, air-shut in order to asphyxiate it.
Stupid Faye Valentine, who dripped thick as honey into his soul and left him with sweet unwanted thoughts and sweet unwanted guilt. Stupid Faye Valentine whom he had left alone only to later find out she made him feel alive and overwrought with shreds of silky emotions. He hated her so much, but not as much as that jealousy burning in him. No, not as much as this insane need to save her. Not as much as he hated Alyssa. Not as much as he hated himself. No, not as fucking much as he hated the ironic fact that his hate had warped out of shape and into love.
He's in love with you.
He wanted to die.
He wanted the earth to swallow him and keep him six feet under damn it!
That was all he had ever wanted anyway.
-----
"It's not too deep," Jet frowned as he examined the wound. He had placed towels on the yellow couch and laid her there on her side. With the movement of one hand, he signaled Spike to give him the first aid kit without ever removing his eyes from Faye's red back.
"Shouldn't we call someone?" He suggested as he handed the white box to Jet. Spike found himself grimacing. "She looks like she's lost a lot of blood." Jet flicked the box open and removed a pair of metal pliers out of it. With the delicate calculated precision that he managed his Bonsai, he slowly pulled the jagged glass which turned out to be much smaller than it originally looked.
"She'll be fine. We'll manage." Jet stated as he discarded the glass on a towel and proceeded to take out some more supplies. Somehow Spike realized that the 'we' in Jet's sentence had excluded him and the jealousy rose again.
"What the fuck? That's not good enough."
"Not good enough?" Jet's voice resonated with calm anger. He pressed a piece of gauze against the wound and began cleaning it with the disinfectant liquid he had. "This isn't what is threatening her life right now, Spike." He had said it so slowly, pressing with guilt. Like a fucking Catholic—mea culpa, mea culpa—was what Spike had been reduced to and in front of this all-demanding priest no less dressed as a self-righteous former cop.
"Jesus Jet, what the fuck kind of self-righteous attitude is that? It's not like I meant for her to get hurt." These were the times that reminded Spike of the little pet peeves he hated about Jet. His stupid cop attitude was one of them. Jet had the right, and Spike, well; he damn near owned the wrong.
"Faye-Faye is even more hurt." Ed had said sadly before returning to her work. She had taken the vid-screen of the Alpha-Catch, and now proceeded to hook-up her tomato to the contraption while Ein's little snout served as the holding hook for all her cables. He wondered if that was how Ed coped with things by being drowned in little technical jabbers and miles of wires.
"Damn it," Jet muttered as he dressed the wound. "Just tell me what the hell happened." Good old Jet, always patient and keen to ignore Spike's idiotic outbursts.
How did he cope with things? Spike didn't cope with anything. He simply forgot. He learned to forget. But how could he forget something happening right then? In the present anyway?
"We were there and Alyssa just appeared. The place went ballistic and we barely escaped before she blew it up. She got injured because of the explosion. There was debris everywhere."
"No Spike, this is still because of you." Wait a minute, had The Jet really said that? Had he just come out and said that?
This wasn't a dream. He was alive.
He wanted to die.
But he couldn't. He didn't want to, no, it had nothing to do with death. He felt like dying, but he didn't want to. He wanted to live. He wanted to kiss her. He wanted to be with her To save her. God, he wanted to so much to save her. What hell was wrong with him anyway? Where had this come from?
"I know it is. I'm not trying to say otherwise."
Yeah, Jet had the right. He had fucked up and dragged the entire Bebop into this, dragged her into this. After all she had been through, if one person in this damn insignificant system in the lonely branch of some faraway galaxy known as the Milky Way—what kind of name is that anyway?—deserved to live her life free of his bullshit, it was Faye Valentine.
"Just pull your shit together. You're falling apart, Spike. Do it for Faye at least, if nothing else to you matters."
Faye Valentine, how he loved the drive-me-to-insanity ring to that name so much. He would say the name over and over in his head until he didn't know what it meant anymore. The grand savior of a thought hit him so suddenly. All of it had to be insanity. Julia was insanity. Faye was insanity. No better explanation existed than the fact that all women evil, angelic, and ordinary had driven him one more step to dive into the never-ending pit of madness—a hard corrosive madness that rusted in the very cognitive workings of his mind.
But damn it, the word ordinary lingered in his thoughts, a tomboy kind of ordinary dressed in yellow with short violet hair and bright red lips. Yeah, that real kind of ordinary.
He wanted to feel something real so badly.
He wanted to feel Faye Valentine.
------
In the two hours she had been unconscious, Spike had left to find her some non-scarring ointment for dressing her wound and some tranquilizers as directed by Jet. But not until after Jet insisted he clean himself up and bandage his scratched hands. When he returned, he found Faye sitting on the yellow seat across from the couch with few cords extending from patches attached to her chest and back. Ed typed at her keyboard some more after adjusting a cable or two connecting the Alpha-Catch screen to her computer.
"You're back." Jet commented, occasionally glancing towards Spike and away from Ed's busy movements. Spike dropped the meds on the yellow couch and plopped down glaring at the whole spectacle. Faye glanced towards him briefly, her emerald eyes denoting nothing in particular. At least nothing that Spike could decipher. He had grown so clumsy with feelings and his own intuition lately anyway.
"What's going on?" He asked wondering if anyone would care to answer him.
"It's ready!" Ed joyfully shouted and pressed a button. "We're scanning to find the bomb Spike-person. Ed will solve this problem."
Yeah, that would be just great. A crazy girl and her dog save the world.
"I hope this works Ed." Faye said in her familiar doubtful tone.
"How are you feeling?" Spike asked her.
"Could be better." She responded glaring at the vid-screen which would occasionally flash with snow.
"Brought it for the pain." Spike picked up the pill bottle and stood up. "It's not alcohol but it'll do." He said, walking over to her and dropping the bottle on her lap. She glanced up at him and nodded, then turned back to the screen.
"It's picking up a signal!" Ed exclaimed and the rest narrowed their eyes at the screen. It had suddenly turned black and had a small flashing red dot on it.
"What's that?" Jet asked rubbing his temples in confusion.
"That is Faye-Faye, and now to find the bomb." Ed uttered and typed at the screen as a small green grid formed. "That's the city." The blinking red dot was near the middle, shifted up in the upper left of the grid.
Spike shut his eyes forcing them to blink and wondering if he had just imagined it. Ein barked fiercely at screen. Faye and Jet were looking at each other in confusion, and even Ed had muttered one of her infamous but misunderstood "nyah's." The screen had definitely flashed entirely green. It hadn't been his imagination. He narrowed his eyes on it again, waiting for the next flash.
"Ed, what the hell was that?" Faye's voice shuddered with confusion.
"Ed will slow down the signal and see…" She tapped some keys here and there. "And there." She pressed her last key with extra emphasis. Spike's eyes widened, and his breath caught in his throat. He hoped to God, if there was a God, that what he feared wouldn't be true. To his dismay, he was about to find out he was right.
The screen hadn't flashed all green again. Instead, once the red dot blinked, a kind of domino effect undulated throughout the rest of the grid. Small green ripples emerged all over different places that pinged off each other and to the next.
"What is this?" Jet had stammered to the second word and finally the third.
"Ed—uh—well," The girl stood frozen in front of the screen just like the rest of them. Spike's heart choked in his throat. "I'm sorry." That was the lowest Spike had ever heard the girls' voice go. "You see, there isn't just one bomb. There's one hundred and thirty-five of them spread all over the city. It's nearly impossible to track since there's so many."
He could have maybe stopped one bomb.
But one hundred and thirty-five of them?
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Yeah, I know what you're thinking. What the hell is going to happen now? Well, this is when you start paying attention to all the little details because this is when time becomes more crucial by the minute. Anyway, I hope you guys liked it. I am going somewhere with this. It does have an ending, but there's still more than day left so don't worry. There's still more to come.
By the way, the Alpha-Catch is that thing the used in "Sympathy for the Devil" to look into the mind of the guy in the wheelchair. Just in case you couldn't remember.
Again, a special thanks to Tenko, and Kajouka for all their hard beta-ing work on this chapter. A special shout-out goes out to Kaj, because she worked on this even when she was sick. :D Thanks ever so much for all your work!
And above all, thanks to all my readers and reviewers. I love you guys!