The Red Dragons were still in hiding but they were all hopeful that would change soon. Dodge and Kleinman were back at the bar that served as the Red Dragon's meeting place. It wasn't the ideal place to be to get each other up to date but after they attacked Blue Snake and stole their documents and their lawyer there was no way they could go back to their warehouse headquarters. So there sat Dodge, bored, leaning his stool and supporting his elbows up on the counter. Gene was withdrawn. He sat at a table with a blank look on his face. The beams of sunlight that came through the boarded up windows reflected off Gene's glasses so you couldn't see his eyes, making him look like a ghost, a ghost that had a lot of time to think.

A car stopped in front of the bar. Taro, Kenji, and two other men exited out of the car and walked up to the bar door. They nervously shifted their eyes back and forth, making sure no one saw them. Taro knocked on the door twice, paused, and then knocked one more time. Dodge stood up from his stool and glared at the door for a second. With his eyes fixed he approached it and asked "Taro?" Taro responded back "No, it's the paper boy. Hurry the hell up and open the door Dodge." Dodge quickly turned all the locks and opened the door. "Alright, get in." said Dodge. All the men piled inside the bar as Dodge closed the door and put all the locks back on. He turned around and faced Taro. "So what is it?" asked Dodge.

Taro reached inside his coat pocket and took out a newspaper. He unrolled it and held it in the air. "Have you seen this?" he asked.

"Huh, so weren't kidding about the paper boy thing." said Dodge with a smirk. Dodge read the headline on the newspaper. In bold letters the headline read: WEAPONS MANUFACTURER MARIUS BASQUE ASSASSINATED. "Oh shit." he said.

"This is who Lee said he was going to see, right?"

"Yeah that's him…"

Taro folded the newspaper and set it down on the bar counter. "You don't think-

"He did it," said Dodge with conviction, "I know the way he likes to do things… there's no way he wasn't behind that."

Taro sighed. He looked down at the floor with a disappointed look on his face. "What the hell are we supposed to do now?" he asked.

Dodge thought for a moment. "We go on the same way we planned it. It can't be a bad thing. As long as no one knows that we did it we're still in the game. And Blue Snake won't know what hit them."

"I guess you're right. If Basque is out of the way, not in the most practical way, and we're running things like Lee told you we were going to… we've got nothing to worry about… right?"

"Nothing stops this ship." Dodge was still as confident as ever. But the thought came into his head: even though Lee didn't get caught there was always a chance he could've been and that would've ruined the whole operation for them. It was selfish and insane what Lee pulled off, but they're out of the furnace. Doubt that troubled Dodge often went away immediately and things would continue on as they intended. He trusted too much in Lee and himself.

Leandro Russ huffed and puffed as he rushed down the top floor hallway of Basque's building. He walked to Marius Basque's office with the large double doors. He pounded his fist on the door with an angry look in his eyes. "Open up!" he shouted.

Then the right door opened. Standing on the other side was a guard pointing his pistol straight Leandro. Leandro was surprised and gulped nervously.

"Ross... put the gun down. Let him in." said Lee from inside the office. Ross put his gun back in his coat and stepped aside so Leandro could walk in. Leandro walked in and Ross closed the door. There were Red Dragon members throughout the whole office; some old faces, some new. Lee sat in Basque's office chair, turned to face the window. Shiro stood by his side and cautiously watched Leandro as he walked up to the desk. Leandro was visibly angry; his eyes looked as though he wanted to strangle Lee.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" shouted Leandro.

Lee kept the chair turned away and continued to stare out the window. "Don't worry, I'm just keeping the seat warm for you." he said in a sly tone. Lee stood up out of the chair and turned to face Leandro. "You can sit in it whenever you're ready, unless... you're having second thoughts?" he said with a smirk and raised eyebrow.

"You son of a bitch Lee. You killed Marius, I never told you to do that." said Leandro.

"But essentially that's you wanted. You wanted Basque gone."

"You're insane. I never wanted him dead."

"Well I did."

"I said I wanted him in jail. That's what you said you were going to do."

"Another party entered the deal. He convinced me otherwise. Your vote was overruled."

"Party? Who the hell made a deal with you?"

"That's not important. He's done his part and now we can continue with you as head of the company, nothing's changed about that."

"His part? Wha... wait a second... it was that, that guy that was spotted last night in the ski mask wasn't it?" Leandro took a pause and recalled that Lee was going to get a confession out of Demetrius Bardon to incriminate Basque. He came to the conclusion that Lee utilized Demetrius in a different way. "It was Demetrius."

"I made it a little too obvious didn't I?"

"Where is he?"

"I can't disclose that to you, that was part of the deal I made with him."

"Oh, all of a sudden you're keen on keeping your promises."

"Leandro calm down. We won. The police don't know who he is, no one knows we're here, you can run everything like you wanted to... except if I have anything to say about it of course."

"You bastard!" Leandro snarled and was about to attack Lee. Ross quickly held him back by the neck and two others came to restrain his arms.

"Like the new guards? They're also honorary Red Dragons. Hired them earlier. And I fired all the old ones, seems they were too loyal to Basque." said Lee.

Leandro tried struggling out of the hold. He calmed down and stared Lee down. "You think you're going to get away with this?" said Leandro.

"It's in your best interest I get away with it because you're part of this too. You didn't think I'd let you off this ship did you? If I get caught... you are too." said Lee.

Leandro didn't say a word. He felt betrayed but at the same time realized that he should've seen something like this coming. He never should have trusted a gang to get things moving the way he wanted. Leandro was blinded by his greed and spite, and now he had to see the consequences.

Lee walked up to Leandro and glared at him. They were face to face and Lee smirked devilishly like he always did to intimidate others. "Now, put Mr. Russ in his rightful place." said Lee as he motioned his hand to the chair. The guards lifted Leandro and sat him down. They let go and Leandro sat in the chair with an upset look.

Lee leaned over and put his hands on the desk. He looked straight down at Leandro. "Feels good, doesn't it? Don't let the power go to your head though. Because even though it looks and feels like you're in charge, I'm in charge."

Lee stood up straight and looked around at the guards. "Alright don't just stand around, we've got work to do." he said.

Shiro and the guards followed Lee out of the office. Ross and another guard walked in front of Lee for protection. They left the office and a guard closed the doors behind them, leaving Leandro all alone.

There Leandro sat in the same chair that Basque used to sit in. He felt dirty just sitting there. It was no place for him, especially how he earned it. Was he just going to sink into that position? He worried of what was to come. Working with Lee was going to be a nightmare.

Jet sat in the main room of The Bebop, scrolling through screens on his computer. He was still sore from the night before. He had gotten a good rest but he always felt tired nonetheless. He growled when he couldn't find what he was looking for on the computer.

Spike entered the main room, walking stiffly. Jet looked at him as he stumbled in like a wounded animal. "How ya feeling? I didn't see you when I got in last night." said Jet.

Spike walked to the seat and leaned himself on it. He slowly sat down in it, trying to make sure the pain wouldn't become unbearable. He groaned as he slumped into the yellow seat. Spike looked up the ceiling and sighed. "I feel like shit Jet." he said.

"He really did a number on you." said Jet. Jet pointed at himself with his thumb. "I'm not doing as bad as you but I got a few aches that aren't going away for a while." he grumbled.

"My rib is fractured, my face is swollen, I need stitches, and the scotch I tried to sneak out of there ended up on the floor."

"That's rough pal. But you've been through worse."

Spike reached into his pocket and grabbed the tranquilizer that he had found. "Here I found this. It's like the ones Demetrius used on those guards." he said. Spike slid it across the coffee table to Jet. He rested back.

"Hmm." Jet picked up the tranquilizer and examined it between his fingers. He grabbed the scanner on the floor to the side of the table. He lifted the scanner and set it on the coffee table next to the computer. Once all the wires were connected Jet placed the tranquilizer into the tray and turned on the machine. The scanner picked up a few things from the database and displayed them on the screen. "It's made from the stinger of a Ganymede sea snail. The stinger is usually fatal but Demetrius diluted the poison so it would only sedate. He really does know what he's doing."

Spike curiously raised one eyebrow. "He must be crazy." he said.

"I've been looking at the database; it's actually how Basque manufactures his tranquilizers. Apparently it's cheaper to dilute these than create the chemical itself. Obviously when he distributes them they're more polished up than this. I think I'm going to look into just how close Demetrius was to the company."

"Well that detective work is up your alley, Jet. I'll let you handle it." said Spike as he looked up at the ceiling and closed his eyes.

"I know you're in pain but once you're back up and running you're gonna have to do your part."

"I'm not really up for this."

"But you've always gotten back up; even from the worse punishment your body has taken."

"I'm just not sure how much more I can take."

"You never struck me as the kind of guy that had limits."

"Well let's be realistic here; there's gotta be some kind of breaking point."

"I hope that breaking point isn't now."

Spike looked down from the ceiling to stare at Jet. "Seriously Jet?" he asked.

"C'mon Spike you know I need you for this." explained Jet.

"After everything you still want to go after this guy?"

"Don't you?"

"No!"

"Spike, we agreed to this."

"Since when have I ever been the one to talk that has to talk some sense into you?"

"I don't know, but we've always gone the distance. When I bite into something I don't let go and you Spike, when you wrap your mind around something you always have to prove yourself. That's the way it's always worked."

"You know things have changed Jet."

Jet sighed. "Yeah I know. Look, I'll do the work for right now while you rest. During that rest when your body heals, I think you'll change your mind."

"We'll see. Whatever happens, happens." Spike rested his head back and closed his eyes.

"Yeah." Jet stood up from the couch and grabbed his Hammerhead key from the coffee table. "I'm gonna head out, see if I can find some more info on Basque's company." he said.

"You do that." said Spike flatly.

Jet walked up the steps to the ship hangar door. The small door opened and Jet ducked down to fit through. The door closed and he walked down the stairs.

Spike rested his eyes for a moment. He actually enjoyed the silence even it was boring. Boredom was something he could manage with easier than most people.

Faye's door opened. She peeked out at the main room to see if Jet was in there. All she saw was Spike. With a slightly relieved expression she walked out into the main room. Faye stood near him and watched him while he had his eyes closed.

"Are you feeling any better?" asked Faye.

"Yeah, now that Jet's not bugging me. And that you're here instead." said Spike. Faye blushed slightly. He opened his eyes and slowly stood up. He winced slightly in pain. He faced Faye and gazed at her. But then a sharp pain went into his ribs; he put his hand on the area to put pressure and ease the pain.

"Spike!" said Faye. She put her arm around his shoulders and her other hand on his rib.

"Damn it hurts!" Spike clenched his teeth with a strained facial expression.

"Here lay down." said Faye as she began to move him. She tried to support him and slowly made their way to the couch. Faye let go of Spike and gently laid him down on the couch. Spike stretched himself across the couch. Faye sat on the coffee table to be next to him.

Faye sighed. "I guess I can't mock you when you're hurt like I used to." she said irreverently.

Spike closed his eyes once again. "Go ahead. It'll keep things interesting." he said with a smirk.

Faye smiled slightly and scoffed. She thought about the times Spike came back a bandaged mess. She always tried to brush it off and even teased him a few times. But she thought about it honestly and knew that the only reason she did that was to hide that she actually cared about everyone on the ship. As much as she tried to hide it, it would come out whenever she tried to rescue him from doing something stupid. But now she could be there for him. That made things different. Faye slowly reached her hand out and placed it on Spike's head. She ran her fingers through his hair, back and forth, and massaged his head.

"That's not so bad." said Spike with a relaxed expression.

At the Ganymede police station Sergeant Durant was on the phone in his private office. As he sat in the office chair behind his desk he kept nodding and agreeing with "yes" and "okay" to the person on the other end. A knock came at his door and was immediately opened afterward. It was Donna intruding; her focus and determination would often lead her to barge in, especially with the sergeant.

"Sergeant." said Donna as she closed the door behind her.

Durant covered the microphone on the bottom half of the phone. "What is it Donna?!" said Durant in a hushed tone.

Donna revealed a folder to Durant. "You need to hear this." she said with urgency.

"Give me a second." said Durant. He uncovered the microphone and continued speaking on the phone. Donna sighed and pulled up a chair. She plopped down in the seat and waited for Durant to finish. Sergeant Durant knew that whatever Donna had it was something he needed to know about, but a lot of the time whatever Donna brought to him was something he didn't want to know. It wasn't because she was a bad police officer, she was the best one there, but sometimes being too good of a police officer started trouble. Nonetheless he decided to listen. "Okay I'll call you back. Okay bye." said Durant. He hung up the phone and turned his attention to Donna. "Alright, you got something for me?"

Donna threw the folder onto Durant's desk. "Listen to this." she said.

Sergeant Durant looked at Donna with a confused expression. "What is it?" he asked as he lifted up the folder. He untied the string on the back of folder, tilted it, and slid out a disc case. "Donna what's this all about?"

"It's about Basque from last night; I found something I think you and upper-echelon really need to hear." said Donna.

Durant opened the case and took out the disc. He grabbed his audio player from his desk drawer, set it on the desk, and put the disc in the player. Durant clicked play and began listening to the recording. He recognized Basque's voice and began to pay close attention to Demetri's voice. The recording still had static and was as muffled as ever but Durant could make out the exchanges between Basque and Demetrius. Then he heard the gunshot that ended Basque's life. Durant clicked the stop button and looked up at Donna who had a proud smirk on her face.

Durant exhaled and stayed silent for moment to assess what he had heard. He finally spoke to Donna. "That's… that's Basque… and umm Demetrius isn't it?" he said.

Donna nodded her head. "That's right I was able to match the recording with Demetrius's voice identification too." said Donna with the smirk growing even bigger.

Durant put the disc back inside its case. "Where did you get this?" he said with an urgent tone.

"Doesn't matter where I got it, we have evidence now-

"Donna. Where did you get this?" said Durant with a demanding voice.

"Look, I got it off a bounty hunter who was spying on Basque to get the reward on Demetrius. Then Demetrius happened to show up."

"Donna, you know we can't use this."

"Why the hell not?"

"What that bounty hunter did was illegal and instead of turning him in you used his recording?"

"It's not like we haven't done it before, we have to slide things under the table sometimes Sarge."

"This is a delicate operation. Do you really think this disc will hold up in court? No. Everyone will be too focused on how ISSP got their hands dirty to catch a criminal."

Donna stood out her chair and stared Durant down. "We're running out of options Sarge, we need to stop Demetrius before he goes any further!" she said.

"Don't focus on how fast we catch him, focus on how we catch him in the safest way possible; preferably ones that don't flood our phone lines with complaints or get Captain Hudson and Major Fine breathing down my neck!"

"What was I thinking? I knew you wouldn't go for this Sarge," said Donna as she pointed her finger at Durant, "I knew you'd be too spineless to get this bastard if it meant getting chewed out."

Durant slumped into his squeaky old office chair. Donna put her hand down and stared at Durant with disappointment. She turned her face away from him and put her hands on her hips. "How are you going to find him then? How are you going to pretend you don't know who it is?" asked Donna.

"I'll manage." said Durant.

"Alright fine."

Donna began to walk away from the desk. Sergeant Durant picked up the disc case and waved it in the air. "Aren't you going to take this?" asked Durant.

Donna opened the door and stopped for a moment to answer Durant. "Keep it, it's worthless now, I don't need it." she said. Donna went through the doorway and slammed the door