Spike put his hands in his pockets and followed Ed to her computer. Ein was napping nearby, his legs kicking as if he was dreaming. Spike had never been particularly fond of dogs, but the little furball was beginning to grow on him.
Faye was doing her best to mask her concern. She knew how much Julia had meant to Spike in the past. He had gone off for her; secretly Faye wished the bitch had just remained dead. Ed was bouncy and singing a song like she always did when she was doing some hacking for the Bebop crew.
Edward had her goggles on her head, and she started to type into the keyboard with her feet. "E-mail message!" Ed said in her singsong voice. Spike crouched down to read the message. Faye was standing behind him, her arms crossed and a half-smoked cigarette hanging out of her mouth. She pretended like this didn't concern her, in reality it was eating at her. Spike crossed his lanky legs and bolded the screen to make the blurry message a bit easier to read:
Spike, I need help. I'm being held hostage. I know if anyone can get me out of this it's you. I've been thinking things over and maybe I was a bit too hard on you. Please, I need you. Maybe we can talk after this is all over. Julia
The message might have said something more than that, but it had gotten scrambled. Spike's eyes were somber and had a far-off look. "Ed, where did this message come from?" Spike finally called out to Edward in his deep voice. Edward was tickling Ein's feet.
"Edward traced it to a distant place on Mars!" Edward proclaimed proudly. Faye didn't like the look on Spike's face. It was the same type of look he had gotten right before he had decided to go on that little mission of his.
"You're going after her?" Faye said in a shocked and angry voice.
"I can't just leave her there to rot, Faye." Spike sighed and looked up at the determined woman before him. Faye frowned.
"How the hell do you know she's not lying! What if it's some trap by the syndicate! We don't know that all them are dead!" Faye's temper finally burst up to the surface. Spike stood up and surprised Faye by putting a hand on her shoulder.
"It's a possibility, but I doubt Julia would lie about being captured." Spike said with an air of dead calm. Edward came back and started doing something on the computer. It looked like she just might have a new opponent at chess. Spike trudged off towards his room. Faye felt fumed and went off to the back of the ship.
Faye found herself in the room where Jet kept his bonsai plants. Faye still found it amusing that a man nicknamed the "Black Dog" would have a soft spot for gardening. Jet really did take good care of the plants Faye decided. Faye was pissed, how dare that damn slut come waltzing back into Spike's life! "Just when I thought I had a shot at being happy," Faye growled to herself.
"Faye what are you doing in here?" Jet's concerned voice suddenly floated into her thoughts and startled her a bit.
"Oh, Jet I just needed to think," Faye said as she leaned against the door. Jet gave her a disbelieving look and watered a bonsai.
"This has something to do with Spike, doesn't it?" Jet deduced and Faye could not contain the shock on her face.
"How'd you guess that?" Faye asked. Jet chuckled a bit.
"I've been around a bit. I can tell when love is in the air. I can tell, and now something has happened to upset you." Jet told her. Faye's eyebrows went up.
"When the hell did you become a guru?" Faye asked with sarcasm. Jet seemed humored by Faye's statement.
"I'm not. I've just been alive long enough to know that much," the man with the one fake arm said. The former ISSP cop knew quiet a bit about people. In his former line of work you had to. If you didn't read people you never got the answers you were looking for.
Faye finally decided to give Jet the benefit of the doubt and tell him what was on her mind. He was a sort of father figure to her. "Julia is alive," Faye announced with bitterness in her tone.
"She's alive? I thought she was killed when Spike fought Vicious?" Jet sounded skeptical.
"Yeah, well join the club. That's what I thought to until the lunkhead gets this e-mail from her. Now he's back to being all depressed and serious." Faye scowled and looked off into the hall. Jet was hard to read, he wasn't one who showed his emotions easily.
"How do we know this e-mail is legitimate?" Jet finally questioned Faye. Faye shrugged her shoulders.
"That's what I asked. Spike insists Julia wouldn't lie about something like that. Personally, I smell a rat," Faye responded. Faye's instincts were usually right on. Jet looked at her with a bit of sympathy.
"Whatever he decides to do, we can't stop him," Jet told her briskly. Faye pursed her lips.
"Yes, I know. He's stubborn and will do whatever he wants to. That doesn't mean I'm letting him get away this time though," Faye grinned a bit evilly. She thought she saw a hint of a laugh in Jet's eyes.
"Just be careful Faye. You don't want to get yourself killed," Jet advised before Faye exited the room to go check on the lunkhead.