As Alex rushed to him, Spike didn't know what to do first. All his emotions rushed forward at once; confused, angered, relieved, all these and more, trying to surface at the same time.
"Spike!" Alex squeaked as she wrapped her arms around him in a flood of tears. He almost fell over. He maintained the constant glare at Gren. No one spoke for fear of someone, particularly Spike, snapping and going on a shooting spree. Alex continued crying into Spike's shoulder, and as he began to get an idea of what happened, Spike slowly wrapped his arms around her, slowly bringing himself out of the trance he was in.
"You…you're dead." He managed to utter after a few moments. Gren stood there with a nonchalant look on his face. He knew he was going to get this type of response from him, seeing as the last time anyone saw him, he was almost dead.
"If I'm standing before you Spike, I'm not dead." He said as he shifted the weight on his feet. He stood there with confidence. Spike still was somewhat shocked and wanted to have a little…chat with Gren, but he didn't want to upset Alex. Not to mention he was still very fragile from his outing the other day and his early checkout from the hospital.
"Alex, I want you to go lay down, alright?" he said. She looked up at him and sniffled. He couldn't help but smile, seeing her face again when he thought he never would. He wiped her tears away and sent her into their room. When the door was safely shut, Spike hobbled over to the couch and sat down with a grunt, he was still very sore and stiff from laying in the hospital bed and whatnot. "Gren, have a seat." Gren nodded and took a seat in the chair across from him. Jet quickly grabbed a dustpan and brush and swept up the broken glass he'd dropped and wiped up the alcohol that was inside and that had spilled all over the floor. He was careful to keep very quiet so he could hear everything the two said.
"You aren't looking too good Spike, you should take better care of yourself." Gren said as he relaxed into his chair. Spike scowled at him.
"Why'd you take her." He demanded. Gren rolled his eyes.
"Now Spike, I honestly didn't know about you and her. I was just sent to do it."
"Who sent you?" Spike asked, or rather demanded yet again. Gren's eyes sank to the floor with a sigh as he leaned forward resting his elbows on his knees. He looked back up at Spike who was staring at him intently, waiting for his answer.
"I'll be killed if I tell you."
"You'll be killed if you don't." Spike said making reference to the gun on the table. Gren sat for a while, debating whether to tell or not. Spike glared him down, Gren could feel it, Jet made himself look busy as he attempted to sweep up the broken glass, but as he got it all up and stood, Gren looked up at Spike and spoke.
"Blade sent me." he said quickly. Jet dropped the dustpan full of the broken glass, scattering the shards once again. Spike shut his eyes and rocked forward to the same position Gren sat, with his elbows resting on his knees. "He paid me ten million woolongs up front with another forty million promised on her delivery. When I got her into the van to take her to him and she told me who she was engaged to, I decided that it might not be too smart to play between the two of you based on his family history and yours." Spike was quiet for a while. Jet swept up the glass again and managed to get it to the trash this time.
"He put fifty million on my girl's head, that son of a bitch. I can't believe it." he said to himself. Gren stood as he said this. "Where do you think you're going?"
"By now the syndicate probably knows I won't be delivering their bounty, therefore the fifty million has now been placed both on my head and hers. One hundred million woolongs for the two of us alive to the Red Dragon Syndicate, one hell of a paycheck huh?" he said as he headed for the door. "Except the fifty on me is now dead or alive." Spike picked up his gun.
"I could use a quick fifty million, couldn't you Jet?" Spike said as he took aim. Jet looked over at him and shook his head.
"Spike, don't you get it? He threw away his life to bring Alex back to you. You could at least be thankful." He said irritated. Spike thought for a moment and Gren just stood there. Finally he lowered his gun to the table and sat back.
"Good to see you one last time Spike, take care of yourself. And tell Alex I'm sorry for everything that happened today, I really, truly am." He said as he turned and left. His footsteps echoed down the hall. After the door opened and shut, Jet and Spike looked at each other.
"Lets get out of here, I need a vacation." Spike said as he stood. He walked slowly to the door of his and Alex's bedroom and pushed it open. As the light shined in, he saw her curled up asleep on their bed with her cheeks damp from crying. The light danced on the ring he had given her and brightened his mood a little as he sat down on the edge of the bed. He kicked off his boots as the ship's engines started and laid down beside her. With a handful of the sheets, he dried her cheeks, but it woke her up. When she realized that the engines were on, she abruptly sat up.
"Spike, where are we going?" she said worriedly. He hushed her and had her lay back down beside him, taking her in his arms.
"We're just getting off the planet. It's alright, you're safe here now sweetheart." He said calmingly as he held her close. She started to cry again.
"Spike it was terrible, I was so scared and I thought I would never see you again." she sobbed. He continued to hush her.
"Calm down, everything's alright. Just please lay down and take a nap with me. We've both had full days and a rest would help us both out." He urged. He felt her head nod before she nuzzled into him.
"Are you okay? I mean, are you healing alright?" she said softly. He couldn't believe her, no matter what was going on, she had to make sure he was alright.
"Now that you're home, I'm much better." He smiled. He knew she didn't hear his answer; she was unconscious before he finished his sentence.
For the next few weeks, the crew of the bebop took it easy. There was no bounty chasing at all, even the easy ones. After taking off from the planet, they cruised around the system for a time with a short stop on Venus for a little more relaxing. After that, they once again cruised around open space. Jet preoccupied himself with a few bonsai's that needed trimming, Ed created a few new hacking programs for whenever they did return to bounty hunting, and Faye just generally floated in and out, staying out of everyone's way ever since the incident between her and Spike about the guitar and Alex. Spike healed more and more each day; he was still very sore, but he felt better with time. Alex spent most of her time either watching Spike and keeping him company, or gutting her ship. It bothered Jet slightly when she did because of all the noise, but it was understandable. After their stop on Venus, she got back in touch with Pidge and found out when would be a good time to get back together for another assessment of what she had pulled out and off of the Pegasus and where to go from there. She told him she couldn't come back to the planet just yet, but she'd let him know when they'd be able to get back together. Those weeks were peaceful, until an incoming message from Mars one evening.
Spike was sitting out in the hangar watching Alex fool with her ship, Ed was at her computer with Ein, and Jet was on the bridge playing games on the computer when the signal came in.
"What the…who is this?" Jet asked as the connection opened and a picture of his ISSP buddy Frank popped up on the screen. "Oh, hey, what's up Frank?"
"Jet, we've gotten some information from an anonymous source that you're carrying a bounty head with you for safe keeping. What's going on?" he asked. Jet looked at him oddly; what the hell was he talking about?
"We haven't hunted any bounties for about a month now Frank, I don't know what you're talking about." Frank looked around for a second and then whispered into the screen.
"Look Jet, I could get in some serious shit for telling you this, but I'm only telling you to keep you safe. Some guy from the Red Dragon came in here a few days ago with information about a tall blond girl traveling with you guys that caused some sort of uproar in the syndicate and they need us to find her. What's the deal? You got her or what?" Jet was shocked.
"What did the guy look like? Tall guy with silvery hair?" he asked.
"Yea, why?" Frank responded as he recalled the visitor.
"Shit! That was their leader. The person he's after is a girl from his past he grew up with, he wants to kill her because she won't marry him and give him a son." Jet explained. Frank listened to every word.
"Well, it does sound serious enough I suppose, if we can get her to file a complaint with the ISSP she could be alright, but she has to come to the station." He said after someone walked behind him. Jet thought about it for a second.
"Hold on for a few seconds, will you? I'll call her up to talk with you now." He said as he opened up another line to the hangar. Alex's grease-covered face popped up a few moments later.
"Yea?" she said as she wiped some grease off her cheek with a rag.
"I need you up on the bridge now, there's something really big going on and you're in danger again." he said Alex's eyes widened and she nodded. She disappeared from the screen and the link was closed bringing up Frank again.
"Well?"
"She's on her way up. why didn't you call us sooner Frank?"
"I haven't had the chance. As soon as they left, everyone got on the case because he offered to reward the entire fleet. That's why it's a big deal this time Jet, you need to get her somewhere safe and have her file against him." Frank explained as the door whooshed open. Alex stood there out of breath and with grease all over her still.
"Wipe that off and come over here." Jet said as she came through the doorway.
"What's going on Jet? Why am I in danger again?" she said as she wiped the grease away and came upon the screen.
"Alex, this is Frank. He works at the ISSP and he called with information regarding some disturbing things that have been going on as of late." He said with a quick introduction. Alex nodded with a quick grin as did Frank.
"Miss Bondora is it?"
"Yes, that's me." she said half curious, half afraid.
"A few days ago a Mr. Blade McGowan came to us claiming that you caused some sort of uproar in the Red Dragon Syndicate and that they needed to find you as soon as possible."
"Oh no…please god no!" she practically wailed. She couldn't go through it again, no more, she wanted no more to do with him.
"It's alright, he still doesn't know where you are and no one is aware I am talking to you right now, but here's what we need to do to insure your safety. We need you to come to a station and file a complaint against him claiming harassment or whatever else is going on. I recommend coming to this station and filing with me because Jet and I go way back and you're guaranteed safe with me. I follow my paperwork through until it's in stone." He said reassuring her of her safety. She looked to Jet.
"If you get a disguise together, we can walk right in and get it over with no questions asked." He said with the most sincere look. Alex thought for a moment before she decided.
"Alright, we'll be there soon then." She said before she turned and walked off.
"Where are you going?" Jet asked before she left the room. she turned and looked at him as the door whooshed open and it was revealed Spike was on the other side.
"I'm going to find that hair dye I bought a few weeks ago." She said as she walked out and Spike walked in. Spike looked at her cluelessly and walked over to Jet.
"What's she looking for that for?" he asked as he came up on the computer. Jet sighed and leaned back to stretch his back.
"I tell you Spike, you'd better love that woman a whole hell of a lot to stick with her through the messes she keeps getting us into. I swear I just grew another couple gray hairs."
"Spike!" Alex squeaked as she wrapped her arms around him in a flood of tears. He almost fell over. He maintained the constant glare at Gren. No one spoke for fear of someone, particularly Spike, snapping and going on a shooting spree. Alex continued crying into Spike's shoulder, and as he began to get an idea of what happened, Spike slowly wrapped his arms around her, slowly bringing himself out of the trance he was in.
"You…you're dead." He managed to utter after a few moments. Gren stood there with a nonchalant look on his face. He knew he was going to get this type of response from him, seeing as the last time anyone saw him, he was almost dead.
"If I'm standing before you Spike, I'm not dead." He said as he shifted the weight on his feet. He stood there with confidence. Spike still was somewhat shocked and wanted to have a little…chat with Gren, but he didn't want to upset Alex. Not to mention he was still very fragile from his outing the other day and his early checkout from the hospital.
"Alex, I want you to go lay down, alright?" he said. She looked up at him and sniffled. He couldn't help but smile, seeing her face again when he thought he never would. He wiped her tears away and sent her into their room. When the door was safely shut, Spike hobbled over to the couch and sat down with a grunt, he was still very sore and stiff from laying in the hospital bed and whatnot. "Gren, have a seat." Gren nodded and took a seat in the chair across from him. Jet quickly grabbed a dustpan and brush and swept up the broken glass he'd dropped and wiped up the alcohol that was inside and that had spilled all over the floor. He was careful to keep very quiet so he could hear everything the two said.
"You aren't looking too good Spike, you should take better care of yourself." Gren said as he relaxed into his chair. Spike scowled at him.
"Why'd you take her." He demanded. Gren rolled his eyes.
"Now Spike, I honestly didn't know about you and her. I was just sent to do it."
"Who sent you?" Spike asked, or rather demanded yet again. Gren's eyes sank to the floor with a sigh as he leaned forward resting his elbows on his knees. He looked back up at Spike who was staring at him intently, waiting for his answer.
"I'll be killed if I tell you."
"You'll be killed if you don't." Spike said making reference to the gun on the table. Gren sat for a while, debating whether to tell or not. Spike glared him down, Gren could feel it, Jet made himself look busy as he attempted to sweep up the broken glass, but as he got it all up and stood, Gren looked up at Spike and spoke.
"Blade sent me." he said quickly. Jet dropped the dustpan full of the broken glass, scattering the shards once again. Spike shut his eyes and rocked forward to the same position Gren sat, with his elbows resting on his knees. "He paid me ten million woolongs up front with another forty million promised on her delivery. When I got her into the van to take her to him and she told me who she was engaged to, I decided that it might not be too smart to play between the two of you based on his family history and yours." Spike was quiet for a while. Jet swept up the glass again and managed to get it to the trash this time.
"He put fifty million on my girl's head, that son of a bitch. I can't believe it." he said to himself. Gren stood as he said this. "Where do you think you're going?"
"By now the syndicate probably knows I won't be delivering their bounty, therefore the fifty million has now been placed both on my head and hers. One hundred million woolongs for the two of us alive to the Red Dragon Syndicate, one hell of a paycheck huh?" he said as he headed for the door. "Except the fifty on me is now dead or alive." Spike picked up his gun.
"I could use a quick fifty million, couldn't you Jet?" Spike said as he took aim. Jet looked over at him and shook his head.
"Spike, don't you get it? He threw away his life to bring Alex back to you. You could at least be thankful." He said irritated. Spike thought for a moment and Gren just stood there. Finally he lowered his gun to the table and sat back.
"Good to see you one last time Spike, take care of yourself. And tell Alex I'm sorry for everything that happened today, I really, truly am." He said as he turned and left. His footsteps echoed down the hall. After the door opened and shut, Jet and Spike looked at each other.
"Lets get out of here, I need a vacation." Spike said as he stood. He walked slowly to the door of his and Alex's bedroom and pushed it open. As the light shined in, he saw her curled up asleep on their bed with her cheeks damp from crying. The light danced on the ring he had given her and brightened his mood a little as he sat down on the edge of the bed. He kicked off his boots as the ship's engines started and laid down beside her. With a handful of the sheets, he dried her cheeks, but it woke her up. When she realized that the engines were on, she abruptly sat up.
"Spike, where are we going?" she said worriedly. He hushed her and had her lay back down beside him, taking her in his arms.
"We're just getting off the planet. It's alright, you're safe here now sweetheart." He said calmingly as he held her close. She started to cry again.
"Spike it was terrible, I was so scared and I thought I would never see you again." she sobbed. He continued to hush her.
"Calm down, everything's alright. Just please lay down and take a nap with me. We've both had full days and a rest would help us both out." He urged. He felt her head nod before she nuzzled into him.
"Are you okay? I mean, are you healing alright?" she said softly. He couldn't believe her, no matter what was going on, she had to make sure he was alright.
"Now that you're home, I'm much better." He smiled. He knew she didn't hear his answer; she was unconscious before he finished his sentence.
For the next few weeks, the crew of the bebop took it easy. There was no bounty chasing at all, even the easy ones. After taking off from the planet, they cruised around the system for a time with a short stop on Venus for a little more relaxing. After that, they once again cruised around open space. Jet preoccupied himself with a few bonsai's that needed trimming, Ed created a few new hacking programs for whenever they did return to bounty hunting, and Faye just generally floated in and out, staying out of everyone's way ever since the incident between her and Spike about the guitar and Alex. Spike healed more and more each day; he was still very sore, but he felt better with time. Alex spent most of her time either watching Spike and keeping him company, or gutting her ship. It bothered Jet slightly when she did because of all the noise, but it was understandable. After their stop on Venus, she got back in touch with Pidge and found out when would be a good time to get back together for another assessment of what she had pulled out and off of the Pegasus and where to go from there. She told him she couldn't come back to the planet just yet, but she'd let him know when they'd be able to get back together. Those weeks were peaceful, until an incoming message from Mars one evening.
Spike was sitting out in the hangar watching Alex fool with her ship, Ed was at her computer with Ein, and Jet was on the bridge playing games on the computer when the signal came in.
"What the…who is this?" Jet asked as the connection opened and a picture of his ISSP buddy Frank popped up on the screen. "Oh, hey, what's up Frank?"
"Jet, we've gotten some information from an anonymous source that you're carrying a bounty head with you for safe keeping. What's going on?" he asked. Jet looked at him oddly; what the hell was he talking about?
"We haven't hunted any bounties for about a month now Frank, I don't know what you're talking about." Frank looked around for a second and then whispered into the screen.
"Look Jet, I could get in some serious shit for telling you this, but I'm only telling you to keep you safe. Some guy from the Red Dragon came in here a few days ago with information about a tall blond girl traveling with you guys that caused some sort of uproar in the syndicate and they need us to find her. What's the deal? You got her or what?" Jet was shocked.
"What did the guy look like? Tall guy with silvery hair?" he asked.
"Yea, why?" Frank responded as he recalled the visitor.
"Shit! That was their leader. The person he's after is a girl from his past he grew up with, he wants to kill her because she won't marry him and give him a son." Jet explained. Frank listened to every word.
"Well, it does sound serious enough I suppose, if we can get her to file a complaint with the ISSP she could be alright, but she has to come to the station." He said after someone walked behind him. Jet thought about it for a second.
"Hold on for a few seconds, will you? I'll call her up to talk with you now." He said as he opened up another line to the hangar. Alex's grease-covered face popped up a few moments later.
"Yea?" she said as she wiped some grease off her cheek with a rag.
"I need you up on the bridge now, there's something really big going on and you're in danger again." he said Alex's eyes widened and she nodded. She disappeared from the screen and the link was closed bringing up Frank again.
"Well?"
"She's on her way up. why didn't you call us sooner Frank?"
"I haven't had the chance. As soon as they left, everyone got on the case because he offered to reward the entire fleet. That's why it's a big deal this time Jet, you need to get her somewhere safe and have her file against him." Frank explained as the door whooshed open. Alex stood there out of breath and with grease all over her still.
"Wipe that off and come over here." Jet said as she came through the doorway.
"What's going on Jet? Why am I in danger again?" she said as she wiped the grease away and came upon the screen.
"Alex, this is Frank. He works at the ISSP and he called with information regarding some disturbing things that have been going on as of late." He said with a quick introduction. Alex nodded with a quick grin as did Frank.
"Miss Bondora is it?"
"Yes, that's me." she said half curious, half afraid.
"A few days ago a Mr. Blade McGowan came to us claiming that you caused some sort of uproar in the Red Dragon Syndicate and that they needed to find you as soon as possible."
"Oh no…please god no!" she practically wailed. She couldn't go through it again, no more, she wanted no more to do with him.
"It's alright, he still doesn't know where you are and no one is aware I am talking to you right now, but here's what we need to do to insure your safety. We need you to come to a station and file a complaint against him claiming harassment or whatever else is going on. I recommend coming to this station and filing with me because Jet and I go way back and you're guaranteed safe with me. I follow my paperwork through until it's in stone." He said reassuring her of her safety. She looked to Jet.
"If you get a disguise together, we can walk right in and get it over with no questions asked." He said with the most sincere look. Alex thought for a moment before she decided.
"Alright, we'll be there soon then." She said before she turned and walked off.
"Where are you going?" Jet asked before she left the room. she turned and looked at him as the door whooshed open and it was revealed Spike was on the other side.
"I'm going to find that hair dye I bought a few weeks ago." She said as she walked out and Spike walked in. Spike looked at her cluelessly and walked over to Jet.
"What's she looking for that for?" he asked as he came up on the computer. Jet sighed and leaned back to stretch his back.
"I tell you Spike, you'd better love that woman a whole hell of a lot to stick with her through the messes she keeps getting us into. I swear I just grew another couple gray hairs."