"Vicious?" Alex asked as she glanced at a pale Jet who was wide eyed in shock. She smacked his cheek to try and snap him out of his trance. "And what was the name of the organization? Do you remember?" Blade nodded.
"Yea, it was something like 'Red Dragon' or something. But that doesn't matter; I'm not going to bother. If he shows up, he shows up. I haven't seen him or heard from him all my life and now he decides to come back and want to be a family? I think not. I have a great life as a model and I'm living very well." He said with a smile as Jet finally put his cup down.
"Wow, well Blade, it's been great seeing you. We're going to eat and then head out to the track to visit the wall of fame to see who's coming close to my dad's record." Alex said as she attempted to get him away from Jet.
"Oh, alright, maybe I can get your number and if you're going to be in town for a few days, we can go out to dinner or something?" he suggested.
"Um…sure. Jet, what's the ship's number again?" she asked him as he slowly pulled out of the trance.
"It's 597-26076-80591-60940." Alex quickly scribbled it down on a napkin and handed it to Blade, who was watching her scribble it down.
"Great, I'll call you then?" he asked.
"Yea, that'd be great!" she said with a smile.
"Wonderful. Good seeing you again Lexie. Take care!" he said as he kissed her on the cheek and then got up and left. As he left ear range Alex looked over at Jet.
"No wonder I got a bad feeling when I saw him. I CAN'T BELIEVE VICIOUS HAS A SON!" he whispered loudly. He practically screamed it under his breath.
"But I thought you said Vicious was dead? How can that affect Blade now?" she asked curiously.
"If they find out about Blade, they'll hunt him down like an animal and kill him. He's heir to the entire Red Dragon Crime Syndicate. If they don't have a leader already, they'll be looking for him, regardless of whether he's to head the organization or they find him as a threat to their future." He explained.
"So in other words, if the organization has no leader, it'll probably be him. If they do have a leader, they'll hunt him down and kill him if they find out he's Vicious' son?" Jet nodded. "That's messed up! How can we protect him?"
"Unless you can break into the building and destroy his records, there is no other way to save him, unless we keep an eye on him. And even then, we couldn't protect him forever, this organization is throughout the entire galaxy and beyond." He said breaking the truth to her. She looked like she was going to cry, but she stayed strong.
"Well, I guess that's just the way life is." She said, as she looked down into her half empty glass of orange juice. A few strands of her hair had come out of its tie and were hanging in her face.
"Hi-ya! Here's the breakfast steak with the home fries, white toast and scrambled eggs." The waitress said as she placed a steaming dish down in front of Jet and then placed another steaming dish down before Alex. "And here's the French toast with the bacon and sausage. Enjoy your meal and call me over when you're ready for the bill!" she said as she walked off.
"What do you mean 'Oh well, I guess that's just the way life is?' You don't care that he' going to be hunted down?" he asked as he began cutting up his ham steak. Alex had already cut into and eaten her first piece of the large slices of toast.
"I care, there's just nothing I can do about it to save him. I can't watch him 24/7 or anything, so what's to bother? If he's going to be hunted down, he's going to be hunted down whether I do anything or not." She ate another piece of toast. "I mean, he's practically my only childhood friend, but it's his destiny to be a part of this organization or be hunted and killed by it. I can't do anything to stop it."
"Will you listen to yourself? You sound so careless about him when he's the only person left you have that's a link to your past, and you're just going t sit around and wait for him to die? That's just wrong Alex, there's something wrong with you if you truly think that." He said as he shoved a huge piece of ham into his mouth.
"Well, what can I do? It's a whole galaxy after one person and how can I protect him against all of that? It's just like how I couldn't save my parents." She said as she ate some more of her breakfast.
"Care a little bit!"
"I do care! What the hell am I supposed to do, walk right up to him and tell him I'm a bounty hunter and there's a crime organization after him because his father was the leader and now he's wanted dead?"
"I was just suggesting that you could show a little emotion when you're talking about your loved ones dying. Yea, you show it when you talk about your parents, but your only possible link to the past? That should be one of your closest friends!"
"I'm sorry if I haven't seen him since I was a little girl and I don't feel tied to him like I was tied to my parents. You forget I've lived on the streets for several years with one pair of shoes and one set of clothes. I know what real emotion is and what it's like to be sad, angry, cold, and hungry. All of those feelings and more at once…I would love to see you handle it all." She ended. There was a long silence as both people continued to eat. When the check came, Jet paid it and both he and Alex walked out. He began to head in the direction of the race rack, but to his surprise, Alex was walking the other way, like she was going back to the ship.
"Where are you going?" he asked her when he realized she wasn't with him.
"Back to the ship to get my stuff. I figured after that in the diner, you'd want me off the ship." She said. Jet smiled and wrapped his arms around her.
"Nah, that was nothing. It takes a lot more than that to get me mad enough to throw you off the ship. I'd never do that to you anyway, we're too much alike and I don't know what I'd be like if I had no one to keep me in line!" he joked as they began to head for the track together; arm in arm.
Both Jet and Alex came upon a large structure and an open field. The open field was behind the massive building and had a long strip of tarmac dividing an oval lengthwise. The strip was about a mile long and the oval was the actual track. Jet paid their admission and they entered. They were greeted with the smell of fast food and the bustling crowds.
"I don't know why, but it feels like I'm back home when I'm here." Alex said as she looked up at the high cement ceiling and the cement supports that held it up.
"I don't blame you. It does have a warm feeling to it." Jet said as he wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead. Alex chuckled and started to pull Jet through the crowd. "Where are we going now?"
"The wall of fame. Got to go see dad." She said as she pulled him further into the crowd. After dodging two ice cream vendors and tripping over a little old lady, they finally reached the wall that was dedicated to famous racers. Alex's dad had a full segment to himself for breaking the track record for fastest speed. She walked up to it and touched the picture of her father, who was smiling while holding a trophy and check. Another picture was of her dad with her mom and her as a little girl. It was taken out on the track with Alex's mom and dad in front of her dad's racer and Alex sitting on it, smiling, as cutely as a little girl should. The wall was full of pictures of the family and her dad racing. Alex studied each one with a sorrowful smile on her face. She was both happy and sad to be here, for she could look back upon the good times with her father, but also grieve his death. One particular picture caught Jet's eye, it was a close up of Alex cheering her dad on with little Blade also cheering by her side, but there was a figure in the background that stood out. There was a tall and mysterious looking man with silvery white hair that was sort of wavy. It was Vicious!
"Alex! Come here and look at this!" he said as he called her over. She slowly walked over to look at the picture.
"Oh yea, that picture. I wish I knew who took it, its good. Blade and me looked so cute cheering like that." She said with a smile. Jet shook his head.
"No! Look at this guy in the back. The one with the silver hair." He said pointing directly at the picture of Vicious. Alex looked at him carefully through squinted eyes.
"Hey, he looks a little like…" she began before she was interrupted.
"Blade?" Jet asked. Alex looked at him and nodded. "You know why?" Jet asked again. Alex shook her head as to say no. "That's Vicious, Blade's father." He said. Alex's eyes widened and she looked intensely at the picture again. She saw the strong similarities, the hair was the most obvious and the nose was too. He looked almost like a clone.
"That's Blade's father? That's Vicious?" she asked almost frantically. Jet nodded. "That's the guy who killed your friend?" Jet continued to nod.
"Yea, about a week or so ago. I received notice the day after, a few hours after Faye left. You and Faye would've probably gotten along well."
"Yea, I suppose."
"Alex! I knew you'd be here!" called a voice that she knew from earlier in the morning. She turned to see Blade weaving through the crowd. A few people looked at him and then to her. He was wearing black boots, a pair of faded blue jeans, a white t-shirt, and a black leather jacket.
"Gee, I wonder how you knew! Maybe cause I told you!" she said with a smile as she turned to greet her friend.
"So, you feel like going to watch a few runs? You know you want to!" he suggested as he began to try and pull her towards a doorway to the grandstands. Alex looked over to Jet.
"You two go ahead, I'll be back at the ship Alex. Don't be out too late." He teased as he walked off. Alex smiled at him sarcastically before turning back to her friend.
"Yea lets go. It'll be hard to try and stay in the stands, I'm so used to the pits and the staging lanes, you'll have to tie me down." She said as she walked off into the stands with Blade.
"Yea, it was something like 'Red Dragon' or something. But that doesn't matter; I'm not going to bother. If he shows up, he shows up. I haven't seen him or heard from him all my life and now he decides to come back and want to be a family? I think not. I have a great life as a model and I'm living very well." He said with a smile as Jet finally put his cup down.
"Wow, well Blade, it's been great seeing you. We're going to eat and then head out to the track to visit the wall of fame to see who's coming close to my dad's record." Alex said as she attempted to get him away from Jet.
"Oh, alright, maybe I can get your number and if you're going to be in town for a few days, we can go out to dinner or something?" he suggested.
"Um…sure. Jet, what's the ship's number again?" she asked him as he slowly pulled out of the trance.
"It's 597-26076-80591-60940." Alex quickly scribbled it down on a napkin and handed it to Blade, who was watching her scribble it down.
"Great, I'll call you then?" he asked.
"Yea, that'd be great!" she said with a smile.
"Wonderful. Good seeing you again Lexie. Take care!" he said as he kissed her on the cheek and then got up and left. As he left ear range Alex looked over at Jet.
"No wonder I got a bad feeling when I saw him. I CAN'T BELIEVE VICIOUS HAS A SON!" he whispered loudly. He practically screamed it under his breath.
"But I thought you said Vicious was dead? How can that affect Blade now?" she asked curiously.
"If they find out about Blade, they'll hunt him down like an animal and kill him. He's heir to the entire Red Dragon Crime Syndicate. If they don't have a leader already, they'll be looking for him, regardless of whether he's to head the organization or they find him as a threat to their future." He explained.
"So in other words, if the organization has no leader, it'll probably be him. If they do have a leader, they'll hunt him down and kill him if they find out he's Vicious' son?" Jet nodded. "That's messed up! How can we protect him?"
"Unless you can break into the building and destroy his records, there is no other way to save him, unless we keep an eye on him. And even then, we couldn't protect him forever, this organization is throughout the entire galaxy and beyond." He said breaking the truth to her. She looked like she was going to cry, but she stayed strong.
"Well, I guess that's just the way life is." She said, as she looked down into her half empty glass of orange juice. A few strands of her hair had come out of its tie and were hanging in her face.
"Hi-ya! Here's the breakfast steak with the home fries, white toast and scrambled eggs." The waitress said as she placed a steaming dish down in front of Jet and then placed another steaming dish down before Alex. "And here's the French toast with the bacon and sausage. Enjoy your meal and call me over when you're ready for the bill!" she said as she walked off.
"What do you mean 'Oh well, I guess that's just the way life is?' You don't care that he' going to be hunted down?" he asked as he began cutting up his ham steak. Alex had already cut into and eaten her first piece of the large slices of toast.
"I care, there's just nothing I can do about it to save him. I can't watch him 24/7 or anything, so what's to bother? If he's going to be hunted down, he's going to be hunted down whether I do anything or not." She ate another piece of toast. "I mean, he's practically my only childhood friend, but it's his destiny to be a part of this organization or be hunted and killed by it. I can't do anything to stop it."
"Will you listen to yourself? You sound so careless about him when he's the only person left you have that's a link to your past, and you're just going t sit around and wait for him to die? That's just wrong Alex, there's something wrong with you if you truly think that." He said as he shoved a huge piece of ham into his mouth.
"Well, what can I do? It's a whole galaxy after one person and how can I protect him against all of that? It's just like how I couldn't save my parents." She said as she ate some more of her breakfast.
"Care a little bit!"
"I do care! What the hell am I supposed to do, walk right up to him and tell him I'm a bounty hunter and there's a crime organization after him because his father was the leader and now he's wanted dead?"
"I was just suggesting that you could show a little emotion when you're talking about your loved ones dying. Yea, you show it when you talk about your parents, but your only possible link to the past? That should be one of your closest friends!"
"I'm sorry if I haven't seen him since I was a little girl and I don't feel tied to him like I was tied to my parents. You forget I've lived on the streets for several years with one pair of shoes and one set of clothes. I know what real emotion is and what it's like to be sad, angry, cold, and hungry. All of those feelings and more at once…I would love to see you handle it all." She ended. There was a long silence as both people continued to eat. When the check came, Jet paid it and both he and Alex walked out. He began to head in the direction of the race rack, but to his surprise, Alex was walking the other way, like she was going back to the ship.
"Where are you going?" he asked her when he realized she wasn't with him.
"Back to the ship to get my stuff. I figured after that in the diner, you'd want me off the ship." She said. Jet smiled and wrapped his arms around her.
"Nah, that was nothing. It takes a lot more than that to get me mad enough to throw you off the ship. I'd never do that to you anyway, we're too much alike and I don't know what I'd be like if I had no one to keep me in line!" he joked as they began to head for the track together; arm in arm.
Both Jet and Alex came upon a large structure and an open field. The open field was behind the massive building and had a long strip of tarmac dividing an oval lengthwise. The strip was about a mile long and the oval was the actual track. Jet paid their admission and they entered. They were greeted with the smell of fast food and the bustling crowds.
"I don't know why, but it feels like I'm back home when I'm here." Alex said as she looked up at the high cement ceiling and the cement supports that held it up.
"I don't blame you. It does have a warm feeling to it." Jet said as he wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead. Alex chuckled and started to pull Jet through the crowd. "Where are we going now?"
"The wall of fame. Got to go see dad." She said as she pulled him further into the crowd. After dodging two ice cream vendors and tripping over a little old lady, they finally reached the wall that was dedicated to famous racers. Alex's dad had a full segment to himself for breaking the track record for fastest speed. She walked up to it and touched the picture of her father, who was smiling while holding a trophy and check. Another picture was of her dad with her mom and her as a little girl. It was taken out on the track with Alex's mom and dad in front of her dad's racer and Alex sitting on it, smiling, as cutely as a little girl should. The wall was full of pictures of the family and her dad racing. Alex studied each one with a sorrowful smile on her face. She was both happy and sad to be here, for she could look back upon the good times with her father, but also grieve his death. One particular picture caught Jet's eye, it was a close up of Alex cheering her dad on with little Blade also cheering by her side, but there was a figure in the background that stood out. There was a tall and mysterious looking man with silvery white hair that was sort of wavy. It was Vicious!
"Alex! Come here and look at this!" he said as he called her over. She slowly walked over to look at the picture.
"Oh yea, that picture. I wish I knew who took it, its good. Blade and me looked so cute cheering like that." She said with a smile. Jet shook his head.
"No! Look at this guy in the back. The one with the silver hair." He said pointing directly at the picture of Vicious. Alex looked at him carefully through squinted eyes.
"Hey, he looks a little like…" she began before she was interrupted.
"Blade?" Jet asked. Alex looked at him and nodded. "You know why?" Jet asked again. Alex shook her head as to say no. "That's Vicious, Blade's father." He said. Alex's eyes widened and she looked intensely at the picture again. She saw the strong similarities, the hair was the most obvious and the nose was too. He looked almost like a clone.
"That's Blade's father? That's Vicious?" she asked almost frantically. Jet nodded. "That's the guy who killed your friend?" Jet continued to nod.
"Yea, about a week or so ago. I received notice the day after, a few hours after Faye left. You and Faye would've probably gotten along well."
"Yea, I suppose."
"Alex! I knew you'd be here!" called a voice that she knew from earlier in the morning. She turned to see Blade weaving through the crowd. A few people looked at him and then to her. He was wearing black boots, a pair of faded blue jeans, a white t-shirt, and a black leather jacket.
"Gee, I wonder how you knew! Maybe cause I told you!" she said with a smile as she turned to greet her friend.
"So, you feel like going to watch a few runs? You know you want to!" he suggested as he began to try and pull her towards a doorway to the grandstands. Alex looked over to Jet.
"You two go ahead, I'll be back at the ship Alex. Don't be out too late." He teased as he walked off. Alex smiled at him sarcastically before turning back to her friend.
"Yea lets go. It'll be hard to try and stay in the stands, I'm so used to the pits and the staging lanes, you'll have to tie me down." She said as she walked off into the stands with Blade.