Disclaimer: I do NOT own Cowboy Bebop

Notes: just three little things: read, enjoy and REVIEW

Angel's Punishment

Chapter 3: Nemesis who?

2074, Red Dragon Hospital - Tharsis city, Mars

---- A week later ----

Spike was walking on a treadmill, the doctor had insisted that he started a program training for rehabilitating his atrophied muscles, actually the ex-bounty hunter was kind of surprised that he had made so much progress after only a week of exercise. The only problem was that he had never been so fond of technologies and he couldn't figure out how to shut off the damn thing he was walking on.

Shin entered the rehabilitation unit of the hospital and localized Spike; he couldn't help but smile when he noticed that his friend was hitting quite forcefully the control panel of the gymnastic tool he was using; as he was approaching him he also observed that he wasn't having so many troubles using his legs.

'Looks like he will be back on business sooner than I thought…' he said to himself happily.

The green haired man wasn't aware of the young man next to him till he spoke to him.

"I see you're already walking without any difficulties…" Shin commented smiling.

"Yeah…" Spike replied not even looking at him, too wrapped up in trying to stop the infernal tool by punching on it.

"Actually the doc used you to try out a new medical treatment, so that your muscles would be less atrophied when you woke up from the coma…"

"Sure…" was his careless reply when he finally managed to stop the treadmill with a hard blow, smiling proudly as the signal of ERROR appeared on the LCD screen.

"Something wrong?" Spike held himself on the lateral supports as he caught his breath before turning to the man next to him and asking with a raised eyebrow.

"Shin?"

"Yes?"

"Do I seriously have to wear those ridiculous clothes?" he questioned pointing to the black sweatpants and the black t-shirt with the RD logo printed all over them he was wearing.

"Of course, Spike… especially you, of all of us, should be the one wearing that without complaining…" Shin's eyes widened, he had promised to himself he would wait before breaking the news to Spike, but apparently his damn mouth had a mind of its own.

"Are you trying to tell me something, buddy?" he asked with a hint of suspiciousness on his tone.

"Well, you see, not only Mao but also the elders wanted you to take over the leadership of the Syndicate if something happened to them… but then Vicious organized that revolt and you weren't there, so he took the control, but now that he's out of the picture that title belongs to you… you're the new leader, Spike."

The older man didn't seem surprised by the news, at least not as much as Shin had predicted; he was just staring back at him with an enigmatic look in his mismatched eyes, he wetted his lips before speaking again.

"And I supposed you were the one who lead the Syndicate during those three years, right?" Shin nodded his answer.

"Predictable…" Spike said turning around to face the control panel; he continued messing about with it trying to restart the gymnastic tool but at a lower pace. And when he finally succeeded in his efforts he resumed his walking. Then, at that point, ex-leader of the Red Dragons watched in disbelief the green haired man in front of him acting as if nothing important had happened… he couldn't understand if he had really taken the information without any problem, or if it was just a moment of calm before the storm broke out.

"Spike?"

"Hmm?"

"You don't have anything to say? I mean I was expecting you to start complaining about your new role, maybe even hitting me… are you sure you're ok?"

"You know I could never be ok with being a Red Dragon again… I'm just playing it clever…" he answered with a grin.

"W-what do you mean?" Shin muttered starting to sweat, when he wanted Spike could be very dangerous.

"I just thought that since the old fossils are out of the picture, all their powers are in my hands now… so as soon as I'll be able to reach my big luxurious office with my own legs, the first thing I'm gonna do is give my title back to you." the smile on Spike's lips seemed to turn to almost a diabolical grin.

"B-but you can't! At least not right now that we need you!" Shin replied rising his voice, his face beet red with annoyance.

"You've done a great job in the past three years… I'm sure you won't' have any problems keeping the business going in the future…"

"That's not true… I'm a complete incompetent" his voice was thick with shame.

"You're not an inc-"

"No, Spike… you can't understand! You weren't there seeing all my best men going down one by one by the hands of a demon… I haven't been able to help them… I can't stop her, but I'm sure you will."

"Wait… did you say her? This devilish killer is a woman?" he asked incredulously.

"We call her Nemesis, the Goddess of Revenge… she's like a ghost, nobody knows who she is, and whoever has seen her found himself sliced open in no time…"

Spike listened as Shin told him about this woman; he was kind of shocked to coming to know that actually somebody could do such things, they were right calling her like the Goddess of Revenge because only somebody who wanted vengeance could have the right determination and mercilessness to act that way. He felt almost jealous of her; he had been the only one till that moment who had really scared the Red Dragons when he had confronted Vicious, but she was without a doubt doing a better job.

From what he got of Shin's speech, their greatest problem was in getting a physical description of Nemesis; she often wore wigs and even colored contacts for hiding her real identity, so the only things that actually distinguished her were her black motorbike, and her weapon… a katana.

"Didn't you put a bounty on her head?" he asked nonchalantly.

"Yeah… and make all the other syndicates laugh at me… we're trying to keep the thing down, Spike. We can't let the others see our weakness."

"Ever considered that she could be a member of the Blue Snake syndicate?"

"No, knowing them they would just come on our HQ and blow up the building…"

"So a mysterious and deadly woman is making the Red Dragons shit in their expensive pants… it's kinda interesting" Spike said with a chuckle.

"Does it mean you'll help us?" Shin asked hoping for a positive answer

"Always, if she doesn't get me first…"

"Can I-" the younger man's question was cut off by his friend's deadly glare.

"NO! Not in this life, Shin… I won't be hugged by a man again…"

"Oh… ok" Shin looked down at his feet with embarrassment written all over his face.