I'm really sorry for not posting in so long, but I gave the roughs to a friend, and it took forever to get them back!
--
Junefrost leans back, stretching. Next to her, Lefer punches in numbers on their computer device, calculating how many bounties the three of them had bagged in the past month. Triumphantly, he calls out the total.
"20, 000 woolongs!"
Junefrost glances over. "Does that include expenses?"
"Yup. That's the profit on our account."
"Really? Huh. We have been busy. You think it's about time we went back to home base?"
Lefer considers the glow-in-the-dark stars on the fan. "Yes."
She hops up. "Okee-dokee. New course, Mars! Duh-duhduh-duh-duh-daaaaaaa!!"
She speeds out, heading for the bridge. Lefer snorts in amusement, watching her zoom out, then goes back to the computer, using the chip to scroll down the page of Martian news. He sighs as he reads about attack after attack on innocent civilians, the result of the power struggle between the Northern Star Syndicate and the Blue Lilies syndicate. He feels the Bebop shift course and the slight feeling of nausea as the artificial gravity cuts out for a second before the gyroscopes catch up. Tired from the near–constant hunting they'd been doing, he lies back on the couch and quietly drops off to sleep.
When Junefrost pokes her head back in, she grins and dives for her messenger bag, opening her sketchbook, flipping past the drawings of Spike, both as he was and as Alphonse, Lefer, and Faye with Jet. At a blank page, she starts sketching Lefer sleeping, amusing herself as the Bebop hurtled through space towards Mars.
Thus, the two of them were completely unprepared when the pirates attacked.
When the first missiles struck, they shorted out the lights; Lefer, who'd fallen off the sofa at impact, leapt up and ran for the bridge door, slipping through. As the emergency lights went on, Junefrost yelled at Spike.
"Spike-a-roo! Pirates! C'mon, get in the Sailfish!"
She hops out of the chair and runs for the hanger door. Spike slides down the railing of the stairs and paces her, the two of them breaking in at the same time. They each leapt into their respective ships, Spike's Sailfish 7, a sleek fighter a lot like his old ship, and Junefrost's Enfinity, a small fighter packing a lot of firepower. The second they were buckled in, Lefer opened the hanger doors ad they shot out, blasting into the void.
"Two 'o clock and twelve 'o clock. They were waiting for us," Lefer's voice crackles out.
"Roger," Junefrost and Spike say.
With a roar of boosters, the two of them zoomed off. Each targeting system locks onto ships, each pilot waits until they're in point-blank range before they fire. After the first round, the flight paths of Spike and Junefrost cross. Spike's enemies are more numerous, but that's no big deal for the Enfinity's scattershot; Junefrost's enemies were larger, but they were a cinch for the Sailfish's Tsunami Wave. The two of them flew back to the Bebop triumphant.
Lefer was standing in the living room, smoking a Rhapsody and cradling his head in his hand as he tried to tuck some wires back into the wall. He glanced back at the two of them as they came in, then gave up and went over to sit beside Junefrost on the couch.
"We almost to the scan station?" she asks.
"'Bout an hour away," he answers.
Spike leans forward. "What are those things for, anyways?"
Junefrost and Lefer look at each other. "Might as well," she mutters. Lefer nods and looks back at Spike.
"Okay, Spike. It's been twenty years since you've last visited Mars. A lot has changed, some of it because of you."
Spike raises an eyebrow. "Me?"
"Yes, you," Junefrost answers. "When you destroyed the Red Dragon Syndicate, the world of Mars was shaken to its core. The Syndicate had its paws in everything, as you well know. When you dropped dead in front of their building, there was some major upheaval. Not a lot of people liked the Syndicate, so they hailed you as a hero. By the way, your body's buried next to Julia's. We made sure of that."
"Anyways." Lefer picks up the dropped line. "That's part of the reason we made your body look like that. Anyone thinking of Spike probably wouldn't give you a second glance after the hair color."
"Yeah, about that," Spike interrupts. "Why do the two of you change yourselves every time we hit one of those stations?"
Junefrost grins evilly. "'Cause the real Junefrost and Lefer don't exist. I may have been put in the database after I was born, but after I met Lefer, I erased myself and stuck Jule in instead. Every time we come to Mars, we stay like this. That way, if we get inta' trouble, we can get out quickly. All it takes is a little shape shifting and poof! We're gone."
"Shape shifting, huh? How come I can't do that? I know he can," Spike gestures at Lefer. "because he's an angel, but if I can't, why can you?"
Lefer waves. "I'm not 'just an angel'. You're looking at the top of the pecking order here. I'm so special that my specialness rubs off on others."
"Or it could just be all the Rhapsody I've inhaled on accident through the years. Since I don't need it, it may have decided to make itself useful in another way," Junefrost puts in.
"And why don't you need Rhapsody?" Spike presses.
Junefrost waves her hands in the air. "Because I haven't died yet! But that's beside the point; we were telling you why they had scan stations!"
Spike leans back and relaxes. "Alright. No need to freak out or anything."
She sighs. "Naturally, when the Red Dragon fell, more powers were waiting in the wings to fill the space vacated by it. Our syndicate, the Northern Star, was one of them." With a grimace, she continues.
"When the time came, we thought we'd have an easy transition. But somehow, the Blue Lilies appeared and blocked our way."
"The Liles are just like the Dragon syndicate was, you see," Lefer continues. "While the Northern Star is a peacemaker; we wish to help to help the people of Mars. The Lilies just want control. And while our power struggle goes on, Mars falls apart under the strain."
"The Lilies are using every trick in the book, and they've even stooped to attacking innocent civilians. All of the incidents have been accredited to terrorism, though and, as a result, security around the ports has beefed up a lot. Everyone's personal stats have been placed in databases where the Inspectors can pull it up to examine. If you change your appearance a little, you have to file it. Your occupation, whether or not you need passes for it, all of that is in there. Even the scan stations are cloaked; the only way to find them is to have a software installed in your computer that allows you to know where it is," Junefrost says.
Spike stares a little. "Sounds like Mars has changed a lot."
"Well, twenty years is a long time for a human. And, of course, there are ways around this extra security. If you're a good hacker or computer programmer, you can create or jack a program that allows you to see the stations. There's more than one Inspector out there willing to let you through for a couple hundred woolongs. And I've heard rumors of illegal jump rings," Lefer says.
"But the funnest part is," Junefrost remarks, "when they find out that you've done something wrong. If you haven't sent in a change form, they'll stick you in prison for a little while. Miss a scan station, and they have the authority to shoot you down under the assumption that if you miss, you don't have the proper software and are thus illegal or a threat." She sighs. "Mars has changed a lot, Spike. It's not the relatively peaceful home that you remember." She glances to the side. "But that's what the Northern Star's working on. To help Mars become the free port that it was."
Struck speechless, Spike stares over the shoulders of the two. They wait patiently for his reaction.
"So….," he finally says. "You're telling me that I'm the one who has to make Mars go back to its original state." He looks at the both of them. "You're crazy! The two of you! There's no way I can do that on my own!"
Lefer cut in. "You won't be on your own. The people from the Northern Star will help."
"A lot of good that'll do me! How much help can a bunch of political officers give?"
"More than you'd expect," Lefer countered. "Considering over three-fourths of them have been brought back from death like you have, Spike. Don't judge by appearance or status alone."
"That's insane! How could you have gotten so many people just for this?"
Junefrost grinned, showing her teeth in a rather sinister smile. "A little insanity makes life interesting, Spike. And besides. They're not all souls from Shangri-la."
Spike stares at her. "Why does that smile creep me out more than a little?" he asks Lefer. The angel can only shrug.
"She gets like that sometimes. Just stay out of her way and don't make her angry."
Their scrutiny of Junefrost is cut short, however, by the beeping of an alarm. The two of them jump off the couch and run for the bridge door, changing as they go. By the time the slip through the metal doorway, Lefer's hair had changed from silver to brown and his twin silver disk eyes have gained a pupil and icy blue irises while Junefrost has completed the transformation to Jule. Spike follows them at a more leisurely pace and seats himself right as Jule and Lefer switch from autopilot to manual for docking. He braces himself for an interrogation, but Jule laughs and waves the minute the Inspector's face pops up on screen.
"Hello, Inspector Lacadomo! How are things?"
The man on screen waves back. "Hello Jule. We haven't seen the Bebop on Mars for quite a while. Chasing heads?"
"Yup." She nods. "And we got a lot of woolongs for them."
The Inspector glances at his papers. "And your new crewmate. Alphonse Sirius, correct?"
Spike nods cautiously. Lacadomo sighs and waves the papers around.
"We just got these files a few days ago; all the stations in the Mereangel system are so out of date," he explains. "Bunch of stuffed shirts, the lot of them." He glances down at the papers again. "Looks all good. Go on through then."
"Thanks Lacadomo!"
He waves goodbye, then the screen blips off and they move forward to the warp rings. When the starscape changes to blurs of yellow, Lefer and Junefrost assume their natural forms. She swivels around in her chair and looks at Spike.
"You should remember what he looks like, Spike-a-roo. Lacadomo's part of the Northern Star syndicate," she says.
Spike looks at her. "The Northern Star have Inspectors in their ranks?"
She nods. "Yup. As do the Lilies. And before you ask, yes, he's dead."
He sits back. "Huh. That's weird…," he mutters to himself. "Long blond hair. Green eyes." He glances down at Junefrost. "So. I'll see him again?"
"You'll probably work with everyone who's died before in the Star," she replies, more concerned with untangling the wire of her earbuds. She glances up and notices his tension. "Hey, relax, Spike-a-roo. Things'll work out alright, I promise. We'll get to Mars and you'll see."
"In the meantime," Lefer says, "you'd better rest up. The first thing we'll do after we get there is go check in with the Star. You'll probably have to re-acquaint yourself with the streets, so…" He shrugs. "We'll probably be there for a while.
Spike sighs. "I can't believe it. I'm really going back to Mars…"
Something beeps faintly, and Junefrost bursts from her chair and rushes out. Spike stares after her.
Lefer just laughs and gets up, following her. The bounty hunter shrugs and does the same.
They come into the living room, and find Junefrost sitting on the sofa, devouring ramen with a pair off chopsticks, her eyes glued to the monitor of her computer where a status report is scrolling away. Lefer reaches around her and picks up his bowl of rice.
"I can't understand why you like that stuff," he remarks after taking a few bites. "It's not even technically real food; it's probably over fifty percent preservatives…"
She glares at him. "It's my ramen and you're not getting any. I was deprived as a child, and I enjoy the artificial pork taste."
Spike gives here another glance. "She eats that junk as a meal?"
Lefer sighs. "She could survive on what the rest of us would consider a snack."
She finishes her ramen, presses pause on her screen, and wanders off into the kitchen, coming back with a plastic bottle of a dark drink. Arranging herself on the couch, she presses play and keeps reading. Lefer and Spike finish both their lunches and go clean up. (Or rather, Lefer clean ups up whiles Spike sites beside Junefrost and tries to figure out what she's reading.)
After a few minutes, Spike is thoroughly confused. "What the hell is that?"
She glances over at him, sipping her Coca-cola. "Disney."
"But."
"But what?"
"Why does it look like something else from the back?"
"What?! Y'think I'm such a crappy hacker that I can't disguise what I'm doin'?"
"You have an accent."
"That's beside the point."
Spike points at the screen. "It's a cartoon. About mice. That talk."
She does her evil grin. "Perhaps. Or perhaps it's an encrypted message from the Star."
He stares at her. "Don't do that. It's really creepy."
"If you must know it's The Great Mouse Detective."
"And what does that have to do with me?"
She shrugs as Lefer comes back in and sits down. The angel glances over at the screen and blinks.
"I would've thought you would watch something like Beauty and the Beast," he says.
"Did that already," she flippantly answers.
Spike just shrugs at Lefer, who sighs.
She rolls her eyes and stretches, still grinning like a Cheshire Cat, then leaps to her feet.
"I'm gonna pack. Make sure we don't hit anything too violently, else you might find a new hole in the stern." She skips away unconcernedly.
Spike stares after her, then transfers his gaze to Lefer. "A hole?" he asks.
The angel shrugs. "She's very good at making illegal explosives that look legal. Unfortunately, that means that a lot of bang has to be packed into a small space." He smiles. "Things get a little messy for the person on the receiving end of one of her grenades."
Spike shakes his head. "I guess Junefrost's right," he mutters. "Insanity does make life interesting."
"That's the spirit," Lefer quips, standing up. "Just keep repeating that to yourself over and over again. You might even start believing it after the hundredth time or so."
Spike's head snaps up, and the angel grins innocently at him before disappearing into the bridge. The green-haired bounty hunter decides he has no defense against the oddity surrounding him and pursues solace in a blue-purple Rhapsody.
--
Junefrost looks down into Spike's face. "You know," she remarks to Lefer. "He looks so innocent." With a shrug, she finishes her thought of oh well and crouches down until she's level with his ear.
Taking a deep breath, she yells, "HEY! SPIKE-A-ROO! GET UP YOU LAZY BUM!!"
Spike shoots several feet up in the air and lands ungracefully on the floor. Rubbing his ear, murder on his mind, he looks around for the unfortunate soul who woke him up.
Junefrost is nowhere in sight.
Muttering curse words under his breath, he stalks toward the bridge.
Lefer looks up at the slam of a door (how Spike managed to slam an automatic door is anyone's guess) and hides his grin. Behind him, Junefrost is calmly shoveling small canisters into the largest pocket of her messenger bag. When the last sphere was inside, she easily closed the flap of the bag, fastened it, and waited a few seconds. After about five, she opened the bag again to a totally empty pocket. With a satisfied nod, she fits some water, food, her computer, and several other little things inside before closing it and slinging it over her shoulder. Looking up at Spike, she smiles and waves.
"Hiya!" she says. "Did you enjoy your nap?"
He starts forward, seriously considering strangling her, then stops, and sighs. "Never mind," he mutters, then goes to sit by Lefer. The angel glances over at him from behind his book.
"Look, Spike," he says, gesturing at the front window. "It's Mars."
Spike turns around and stares at the red, green, and blue gem suspended before him in the endless starscape. "Mars," he breathes.
Junefrost comes up behind him and leans on the back of his chair. He looks up at her, between her two supporting arms. She smiles down at him, an innocent, bright grin.
"Welcome home."
--
….phew