Shiro was leaning his back against the Red Dragon's huge warehouse as Dodge walked out through the back door. Dodge and Shiro stared at each other with a grim expression.
"Did Lee get you up to speed?" asked Shiro.
"Yeah." said Dodge.
"Is it acceptable or are you going to be an ass about it?"
"What the hell is your problem man?! We barely start working together and you have Lee demoting me and putting you in my place!"
"That's not my fault, maybe I'm helping him realize that you're not as serious about this as I am."
"You're wrong! I take the Red Dragon very seriously! It's my job and it's my life!"
"Then start acting like it Dodge! Sure things are easy to run now because we're starting over inside some shit warehouse and all we have to do is some simple drug runs and hits but things are going to start changing soon! Will you be able to help run a legitimate business, the former glory that the Red Dragon syndicate once was? Do you think Lee will trust you to help him run a legitimate business?"
Dodge stayed silent with an angry look in his eyes.
"If you're not stepping up to that with the position you're in, then I'll take it myself." said Shiro.
"What makes you think that Lee will be so quick to put you into that position, what the hell makes you so special?" said Dodge.
"I'm motivated and I'm sophisticated, just like him. It's just a matter of time before I replace you." said Shiro in a smug tone.
"That is never going to happen. You hear me!" shouted Dodge in rage.
Shiro glared at Dodge with hostile eyes. Shiro was intimidating even though he was much shorter than Dodge "Are you going to stop me then? Are you finally going to man up?" he said.
"We'll see. Once this job is done I'll make sure to step up my game and I will cut you down." said Dodge looking down on Shiro.
Shiro turned away with a smug grin and walked away while Dodge stayed behind and leaned against the building. Dodge took out a cigarette from his coat pocket and placed it between his lips. He then lighted the cigarette and took a drag from it and exhaled.
"Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties it today of its strength." – Corrie Ten Boom
It was the late evening, Spike and Jet were sitting in the living room of The Bebop; Spike was shuffling a deck of cards while Jet sat on the chair with his arms crossed and his foot tapping the floor. There were three plates of food on the coffee table.
"Where the hell is Faye? I said the food would be ready at 7:00." said Jet.
Spike took a deep sigh and said "Can we just start without her? I'm starving Jet."
"Fine go ahead, what do I care. It's her food that'll go to waste." said Jet.
Spike began scarfing down the food while Jet hesitantly ate the food off his plate.
"What are you worried about Jet? Faye can take care of herself." said Spike.
"Oh yeah sure, you both do a fantastic job of taking care of yourselves. Then somehow the whatever mess you take care of always ends up rearing its ugly head back at all of us." said Jet.
"You sure you're not just worried that she's not coming back? She did leave awfully moody." said Spike.
"Ha! Yeah right, if she didn't come back that'd be much less of a headache for me." said Jet
Meanwhile Faye was sitting at the harbor, the stars were bright and the sea was calm. Her Redtail was parked next to her as she dangled her feet at the edge of the dock. Faye was contemplating whether or not she should go back to The Bebop. She felt hated by her comrades that nothing had changed in light of the events that occurred. All Jet did was bark at her like an overbearing father and Spike acted like he didn't even want her there. Faye's old motto of being alone is better than being in alone in a group started to ring true. There was no incentive for her to stay, especially since there was a entire syndicate out to exterminate them. If anything that was more than enough incentive to abandon the crew and she could keep herself away from the line of fire. Yet she still felt the strong urge to stay, after all she had already considered them her family. But she felt something more for Spike too, as much as she hated to admit it after all the near-death experiences she felt some kind of under developed affection for him. She didn't want to think of it in a romantic way though. Which made it that much harder for Faye to handle it whenever Spike gave her the cold shoulder. She also knew that even though Jet seemed to hate her presence and scold her, it was out of concern. It's nice to have someone worry about you.
Not knowing how to compute any of her thoughts, Faye got up and dusted herself off. She shivered from the cold night air, so she grabbed her bomber jacket out of her Redtail. She put on the jacket and zipped it up. She brought her hands close to her mouth and breathed on them in an attempt to warm them. Instead she put on her gloves and grabbed a cigarette from her pockets. She put it in between her lips and when she was going to light it a call rang from inside the Redtail. She climbed aboard her ship and gazed at the screen with a strained expression. Eventually she denied the call; she closed the hatch and started up the ship and flew off to a different destination.
Jet was staring at his phone and said "Huh. Faye didn't answer."
"She's a busy girl Jet, we shouldn't be bothering her." said Spike.
"I have to bother her otherwise she'll go around getting into trouble." said Jet.
"Well we can't control that now, can we?"
"This is so predictable. When she doesn't come back in time she ends leaving for a long period of time and then reappears out of the blue like some dog looking for scraps."
"Sometimes animals and even people just need to get outside Jet."
"What, like you wanting to go after a bounty after I told you we're supposed to lay low?"
"Something like that."
"Spike, we're all running from your past now I suggest you keep up."
"I get it Jet, but what the hell are we supposed to do? We can't leave, all we can do is sit around and wait for someone to come along and finally finish the job, right?"
"It's not like we can bring the fight to the Red Dragon, that's suicide."
"It's better than doing nothing."
"Spike don't be dense!"
"Then maybe I should do it myself, you know like last time."
"That is not going to happen, not this time. We've done too much for you to just go off again get yourself killed."
"I appreciate the concern Jet, but the longer we just stick around one another in fear we're only going to be around each other's necks." said Spike. He stood up from the couch and grabbed his coat and put it on.
"You're leaving?!" asked Jet.
"Not completely. I'm just going to get a drink and think things over." said Spike.
"Like what?"
"Like if I should have ever come back in the first place."
"Spike I'm not saying you that you shouldn't be here."
"Well if I wasn't here there wouldn't be this threat dangling over you and Faye."
"It's too late for that now and I have no regrets. Just focus on staying safe Spike."
"I still want that drink though…"
"We got some scotch in the fridge if you're so thirsty then."
"Okay I need a different setting then." said Spike. He straightened his coat and walked up the steps to the small ship bay door.
"Spike… tell me what has this whole thing been about for almost four years? Because we've been over this before, but now I have clue..." said Jet as he gazed at the cold floor with a blank expression.
"I don't know either… but I'll tell you once I find out." said Spike as he stared blankly at the ship bay door.
"You'll come back in one piece then?" asked Jet.
"Yeah." said Spike as the ship bay door opened. He climbed through it and went toward his Swordfish. Spike climbed aboard and sat inside. He gave a deep sigh and turned on his ship. The Bebop's hangar door opened and the Swordfish blasted off.
Shiro knocked on Lee's office door.
"Come in." said Lee.
Shiro opened the halfway door and poked his head through. "I'm not disrupting anything am I?" he asked in an obedient tone.
"No, no of course not. Have a seat Shiro." said Lee.
"Okay sir." said Shiro as he opened the door the rest of the way. He entered the office and closed the door behind him. He grabbed a seat and set it in front of Lee's desk.
"I'm correct in assuming there's something you want to discuss?" said Lee.
"It's more like small talk if I'm being completely honest sir." said Shiro.
"Small talk? It cannot be that important if it's referred to as small, now can it?"
"Well then let's just say it's kind of like a proposition then."
"Okay."
"I was thinking about the future of the Red Dragon."
"All right I'm listening." said Lee as he clasped his hands together and put his elbows on the desk.
"We're a relatively small operation right now, after we lost so many members and all of our assets the Red Dragon seemed like it just dissolved."
"I'm quite aware of that Shiro."
"I know sir, but after we take Blue Snake head on I suggest we take it a step further and restore the Red Dragon to the enterprise it once was."
"I don't know if you know this Shiro, but even though I am a busy man I still think about these things. I know the Red Dragon cannot survive unless it devours its prey and regains its strength."
"I do know that sir but I've been worried that you may not be able to take all that on yourself, have you suggested a bigger hierarchy?"
"Are you saying that I'm not strong enough to pull the weight of an entire organization on my shoulders?" said Lee with a cold stare and wrinkled lip.
Shiro swallowed out of uneasiness. "Umm… no sir I know you are more than capable but remember how the Van ran things. There were three of them and they thought alike but were still able to each bring something to the table, resulting in a fruitful organization."
"Ah, yes the Van… those old fossils and their outdated ways, there was never anything special about them."
"But having multiple frontrunners is an easier way to divide things and get things done faster, is it not?"
"I suppose so… I already do that now with Dodge and two of the top enforcers."
"Yes but your enforcers are only good for two things only: killing and pushing drugs. The Red Dragon was always so much more than that."
"Are you suggesting that I get rid of my enforcers?"
"No, I'm suggesting you put them back where they belong. Have someone else with a brain help you the enterprise part of things."
"Who do see would be able to help with such tasks?"
"I don't know sir whoever you see fit for that position." said Shiro as he leaned back in his chair.
"You're not very subtle at endorsing yourself Shiro… but I suppose you would make a viable candidate." said Lee.
"I really appreciate that sir."
"After we attack Blue Snake, I'll see how things work out and hopefully you'll be ready."
"I know I will sir." said Shiro with a smug look.
The night was still cold as Spike walked into a seedy bar and put his long brown coat on the coat rack. He walked toward the counter and leaned on it with his elbow "Give me a whiskey." he said. The bar tender obliged him and slid a glass of whiskey to Spike. Spike drank the whiskey and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. He looked across the bar to find Faye sitting on a stool and smoking a cigarette with her legs crossed. She was facing away with her eyes closed and didn't see Spike as he approached the stool next to her.
"Mind if I take this seat?" asked Spike.
Faye opened her eyes and turned them to look at Spike. "Sure, whatever." she said.
Spike pulled out the stool and sat in it. He leaned his arms on the bar counter. "Why didn't you come back to the ship yet?" he asked.
"What we have some kind of curfew?" asked Faye.
"No, Jet was getting paranoid that you weren't coming back."
"Well tell him he needs to mind his own business… how did you even find me Spike?"
"I wasn't trying to find you… I just wanted to get a drink." said Spike. He raised his hand slightly and nodded at the bartender.
"Out of all the thousands of bars on Ganymede, you randomly decided to walk into this one huh?" said Faye.
"Jet said it was the one that served the cheapest liquor." The bartender placed a glass of whiskey in front of Spike on the bar counter.
"He told me the same thing." said Faye as she exhaled a cloud of smoke.
Spike gripped the glass and gulped down the whiskey. He winced in disgust. "It tastes like cat urine." he said.
"He's such a cheapskate I swear." said Faye with an annoyed tone.
"It comes with the glamorous life-style of being a bounty hunter." said Spike.
"I need a different line of work." said Faye.
"Work? We haven't even been on a bounty this whole time, feels like we're all out of work. All we do is sit around and complain."
"You really need to learn how to take a breather Spike. You can't always be running around looking for a fight."
"Nothing else really seems to peak my interest."
"Nothing at all? What would you being doing if you weren't a bounty hunter?"
"I'm not sure… maybe work with my hands."
"Digging ditches?"
"If it put food in the fridge."
"No desk jobs huh?"
"Yeah right, I'd rather die." said Spike. He took out a cigarette from his jacket pocket. He placed it between his lips and lighted it. Time passed as Spike and Faye sat there. The smoke of the bar began to clear; one by one the drunken men left the bar. The busboys and the bar tender began cleaning and gathering the glasses and bottles of liquor.
"Death…" said Faye.
"What?" asked Spike.
"When you left the ship you told me you weren't going there to die, you were going to find out if you were really alive."
"Yeah, so what."
"Now you're back and all you keep saying is that you were supposed to die, what's that about?"
Spike sighed in annoyance.
"Spike!" said Faye in a demanding tone.
"Well what do you want me to say?!" said Spike angrily.
"Do you still think you're already dead or are you alive and want to die?! Which is the truth Spike?"
Spike blankly gazed into Faye's eyes. He dropped his head slightly and stared at the ground. "Maybe I just say a lot of things that don't really mean anything." he said.
"You really can't tell me anything about yourself..." said Faye as she turned her face away from Spike.
Spike put out his cigarette in the ash tray. He stood up from the stool and left a couple of woolongs from his pocket on the bar counter. Spike headed toward the coat rack.
"Wait!" said Faye. She stood out of her stool, left some woolongs on the counter and went after him.
Spike grabbed his coat and put it on. He opened the bar door and headed outside.
Faye grabbed her bomber jacket off the coat rack and put it on. The cold embraced her as she followed Spike outside and looked up at him. "Why are you like this Spike? Why can't you just ever talk to me?" she said.
Spike stopped walking but didn't turn to look at Faye. "I'm sorry Faye... sorry that I can't tell you what you want to hear." he said.
"It's not about what I want to I hear, it's about you being honest with yourself and everyone else." said Faye.
"What I say sounds bad, but that doesn't mean it's all lies. It's bad because the truth aches like an old wound. Maybe I'm just being brutally honest." said Spike.
Faye looked down in disappointment, her breath visible in the cold night air.
Spike turned to look upon Faye. With a guilty expression on his face he placed his hand on Faye's shoulder. "I'll tell you this… I had always believed that I just dreaming, that none of this was real, so I never feared death. Now that I look back on it I think I believed that because I was too afraid to let go of the past. But now the past is gone." said Spike.
"So what are you trying to do now?" asked Faye.
"I think that… for the first time in a long time I'm trying to live in the real world. It's just so damn hard sometimes." said Spike with a painful smile.
"That's why you've been shrugging everyone off huh?" said Faye looking up at Spike.
"Probably… but I don't mean to." said Spike.
"I guess I understand…"
"Now, come on get your Redtail and head back to the ship."
"Huh, I guess you must really want me back then." said Faye with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.
"I do Faye… I do want you back on the ship." said Spike.
Faye had a subtle expression of surprise on her face. She looked away from Spike and cleared her throat. "Okay then, I won't leave this time…" she said.
Spike gave a smirk. "Okay then." he said.
"Only because you were so sentimental about it." said Faye in a whimsical tone, pointing her finger at Spike.
"Hey don't get funny ideas, Jet and I just need someone to boss around or we won't get anything done." said Spike.
"Yeah, yeah whatever you say Spiegel." said Faye in a mocking tone as she walked away.
"You're such a pain my ass." said Spike under his breath with a smirk.