A/N: Here we are. The near-end. One more chapter after this. Are you as sad as I am to see it end?
Bebop Blues
Session 29: Gotta' Knock a Little Harder
Faye unwrapped the bundle and Spike said his piece (always a damn Spiegel); they knew that Victor was inches away from death.
Don't come between a dragon and her brood.
Roy didn't have to be the one to trigger the memory.
Bonds of blood are just as thick.
Or thicker.
Spike's back was met with the harsh force of being yanked towards Mai's cell against the bars.
If he hadn't been anticipating it, he may have cursed.
The handcuffs cracked, and a brighter red never glistened in Mai's vision.
Victor had assumed that the sight of Rin would cause Mai some sort of fatal reaction.
He just didn't expect it to be his.
Faye held the bundle, all grey eyes and green hair (recessive in the Spiegel family, it seemed), to her chest as she knelt forward and rolled strategically to the front of the cell.
With one arm free, Mai took hold of Victor's gun and pulled it upwards.
Faye held Rin close to shield her ears.
The shot ricocheted from the cement ceiling and against various bars.
Right into Mai's thigh.
But she didn't notice.
With one wrist still handcuffed to Spike, she knelt to the ground and swung her bad leg.
He ran.
Faye tripped him with her body at the doorway.
Mai faced him, Spike following suit.
"3," she said.
"2," he counted.
"1," Faye finished.
"Let's jam." In sync, Mai and Spike yanked their arms forward, the handcuff breaking from the force against the bars.
Faye was scrambling to Spike's cell to open the door.
Mai was scrambling to deal with Victor.
She was more alive than she had been in the entirety of them knowing her.
And she had never fought so perfectly.
Before this, she was water.
And her jive made her a dragon.
But now she was one and the same.
As she chopped and kicked, swung and spun, it took all of Victor's efforts to dodge.
She was attacking, pushing him backwards.
The narrow hallway meant she couldn't slip behind him.
He was practically running backwards, but Mai wouldn't have it.
Faye and Spike were close at hand now.
Spike jumped to grab the bar above them and swung over Victor's head.
Cornered.
Mai growled and hissed.
Victor grinned from the edge of his mouth. "Feisty, aren't we, Mai?"
He dropped.
Through the floor.
Spike reached for him before he could fall down the chute, but he was already gone.
"Dammit!" Spike groaned.
Bullets flew around them.
Faye hit the floor, dashing forward on crouched knees, Rin against her chest. The child was blinking in wonder.
Barely a year old.
Too young to witness the wrath of men.
Mai was already making a dash for the exit, the lump on her head throbbing and the wound in her leg gushing. Her vision blurred in and out as she ran towards the shooters.
It took one roundhouse kick.
Home free.
"Jet! We need stairs!" she yelled over her com.
This wasn't a section of the facility they had memorized.
"This way!" Rose was down the adjacent hallway to their left.
The Desert Flower was done with snakes.
"You up for this?" Faye asked.
They paused to catch their breath.
Mai finally focused into sanity.
She stared at Faye. Rin. Faye. Rin again.
"Rin..." she whispered. "Rin May Spiegel..."
The name, though foreign, felt familiar on her tongue, like warm honey. It filled her with a subtle joy and a comforting sense of home.
Home she had not thought of since she woke alone.
She reached for the bundle.
"Mai..." Faye warned, pain and embarrassment mingling with sorrow; it was some silent apology.
"I know..." Mai whispered again. "If I touch her..."
Crash.
The brief solitude interrupted, they ran down the stairs.
"Faye, I'll get Rin back to the ship," Rose suggested.
Faye opened her mouth to answer, but bullets began flying again.
One through Rose's stomach.
She hit the ground with a thud and a groan of discomfort.
"Rose!" Faye yelled in unison to Jet.
They looked upwards towards the source of the noise to see the Black Dog taking shots of his own towards the attackers.
He jumped from a story above to meet them in the stairwell, bullets grazing his shoulder as the men from the floors above them gained ground.
"I'm fine," Rose answered as she pulled herself to her knees.
Without hesitation, Jet pulled her to his chest, cradling her against himself protectively.
His gun was in his real hand as his mechanical one held her close.
"Ed, Ein, and Flora are routing the doors to buy you guys some time. You've got seven minutes before the server changes network addresses again," Jet said in haste. He pulled the rifle slung over his back over his head and handed it to Rose. "Don't want you to miss any good opportunities while we get the hell out of here," he told her. "Watch yourselves," he looked to the trio.
They nodded.
And down the stairs they flew as Jet and Rose made their escape through the door they entered.
Floor.
After floor.
After floor.
There seemed to be no end; traversing the stairs to hell was some journey of denial.
As though they stood some sort of chance against the Silver Snake Syndicate.
Mai stopped periodically to clutch her leg.
The wound was healing quickly.
But the pain was always lingering.
Rin was all eyes and coos.
The throbbing in Mai's head started knocking and grew louder with each step.
Faye's heart sank as she realized the events to unfold.
Each second clicked by like hours stretched to days as she recalled the start of the end: the medical bay.
"Mai's toxic," Roy said sadly.
"The hell does that even mean?" Faye yelled.
"It means that damn gem fucked her DNA."
Faye glared intently.
"She tried to synthesize it herself. She thought she could. She's always been a bit of a chemist. She managed to liquefy it and inject it via Red Eye needle, but it wasn't the desired outcome," Roy explained.
"She's completely against that thing," Faye argued.
"With good reason. Hindsight is always 20/20."
"Why hasn't she told me this?"
Roy looked incredibly guilty at this.
"You hid it from her..." Faye realized.
"It's more complicated than that." He sighed heavily. "Laughing Bull said she would die on Mars that day, but she decided to change her stars. I laid the tracks for Spike, but despite that, the onslaught left Mai knocking on that damn door she's always been flirting with for too damn long. She was barely alive, and I was doing my damnedest to get her to a hospital." Roy sat up and lit a cigarette despite his injuries. "I picked her up from the church floor, and she smiled up at me. 'Roy, it's all blue; this dream, the door. Blue,' she said. She was fading. She looked up and said 'I think I got it this time...' She reached into her pocket and pulled out her final vial. She had tried this before, and it had left her nearly blind, but her eye recovered. This time, she wasn't so lucky." He exhaled deeply. "Her screams are burned into my head. I knew it was a bad idea to let her try, but I'm selfish. I didn't want to lose her."
"Or the baby." Faye finally concluded. The answer had been staring her in the face the entire time. Mai was a mother. "She was pregnant..." she whispered.
"How did you figure that out?"
"The night after she told Jet and me about you, she said there was some lingering feeling that there was something else she was seeking, some life beyond her solitary existence. She looked so sad. It was just cryptic at the time; I thought she was maybe talking about you."
"But Mai's the only one who's got everything figured out."
"She doesn't if you're hiding it," Faye reasoned. She realized something else as she said this, and her facial expression gave her thoughts away instantly.
"Yeah, Rin is her daughter," Spike answered. The first words he had spoken the entire conversation, and Faye wanted to smack him.
Lunkhead.
"So how does she know everything if you're hiding it?" Faye asked, ignoring Spike completely.
"I said that damn thing messed with her DNA. Her mind doesn't want to remember. When she does, she'll know why I stayed away, and she'll regret ever finding me."
"That doesn't make any sense."
"If she comes into contact with Rin, the weight of the memories and the physical reaction to Rin would kill her."
Faye went silent.
"She took that damn dose while she was pregnant, though she didn't know it at the time. Rin ended up being immune. It bred immunity into her. Conversely, it destroyed Mai. Mai has the power to destroy Rin, and Rin has the power to destroy Mai. It's some cursed karmic response to attempting to cheat Fate."
As the memory faded, so did Faye's ambitions for a successful mission.
A life without her child.
Mai would rather be dead.
That would be no life she would want to live.
And Mai would never want Rin to be without Roy.
So, Mai would have no life with them.
And suddenly it sank in.
Mai's wisdom was death's truth.
She knew how to live because she was already dead.
Spike was angry.
As they ran, he recalled the conversation with Roy over his com so many months ago.
"You're an uncle."
"That's an interesting segue."
"Mai doesn't know."
"That's even more interesting."
"She nearly died. She sealed her fate. She sealed Rin's. She sealed mine."
"And you're telling me this...?"
"Because you're Rin's godfather."
"Thanks for volunteering me."
"The main thing to remember is that a dragon's gem is none for hoarding, but I'll tell you the finer details next time I speak to you."
Spike new a code phrase when he heard one.
He heard one earlier, after all.
Mai's seemed a bit more fine-tuned than his. "Why bother mentioning all this now?"
"Because things are set in motion. But whatever happens-"
"Happens," Spike finished.
There was a brief silence of reflection before Roy spoke again.
"I miss her, you know."
"I don't blame you. She's some kind of woman."
"Try anything, and I'll kick your ass."
"Like she'd bite. She seems hung up on you."
You could practically hear Roy's heart breaking. "Yeah..."
There was an awkward pause as Roy gathered himself before continuing. "I'd be there if I could, but I've got some business to take care of first."
"Whatever you say."
"Tell you what, if I kick it, go for it."
Spike laughed. "I don't do sloppy seconds."
"Hardly sloppy."
"Well, if you kick it, Faye will be the next in line."
Roy laughed this time. "That the one in the Red Tail? With the purple hair and green eyes?"
"You saw?"
"I'm a hacker. You think I'd let my wife really fly solo without watching over things? Can't blame her; Faye's a beauty in her own right."
Spike grit his teeth. "We done?"
"Hit a sore spot?"
"Everything about the shrew is a sore spot," Spike mumbled.
Roy chuckled. "Hold on to that. It's better for you than you think. I'll call when I have an update."
"Later."
Always a damn Spiegel.
As they ran further to their fate, Spike spat out the remains of his joint long smoked.
"Blue," Mai spoke suddenly.
The duo looked to her; she was running quite a ways in front of them.
"Blue?" Faye asked.
"There's something about blue," Spike supplied.
"Anything but blue," Faye retorted.
"Well, it's always something," Mai answered cryptically.
Ignoring the banter, Spike furrowed his brow in thought.
In another memory.
"You're a pretty one." Spike's smooth voice melted over her forehead.
The woman he was speaking to was standing against the brick of the bar's wall in front of him.
Spike's forearm was flat against the wall as he leaned towards her, his breath on her brow.
Elizabeth wasn't biting.
"You're not my type," she spat.
He frowned. "My girlfriend thinks so."
"Oh? The pixie?" she asked with a sideways grin.
Spike's lips pulled taut, and Elizabeth spoke again before he could say anything.
"A very good friend of mine said I was on the bounty list for today, that a ragtag duo would be after me, and that it probably had a lot to do with my old line of business." She paused thoughtfully and stretched to the tips of her toes so that her lips were nearly against Spike's. "Mercenary, hired out by the Red Dragons on more than one occasion."
Spike pulled back and stood straight, his Jericho pressed against the center of Elizabeth's brow.
"Victor said if I killed the mighty Spike Spiegel, I get to keep the pixie as my prize."
He shot.
She dove.
And they exchanged fists and feet as they slammed through the bar door.
Back to the present, Spike closed his eyes momentarily. He opened them, determination etching itself into the thins of his pupils.
Victor had been trailing them the entire time.
All of the bounties they had been after were the result of Victor's interference.
His mind swam again.
Another memory.
"You seek wisdom, Swimming Bird."
"I'm looking for a man on Titan."
"The guard of the cursed stone, he is not amongst the walkers of this realm any longer."
Spike frowned. "Afraid you would say that."
"But the desert flower has thorns thicker than that. The silver snake cannot wind himself around her. Hill's Edge is where he bides his fleeting time."
Spike said nothing.
"You best hold onto what you have, Swimming Bird. Very few are granted many lives, and even fewer are granted in all of them a chance for happiness."
"I see." Spike turned to leave.
"Singing Dragon sees only in blue."
"Yeah. There's something about that," Spike answered thoughtfully.
"And Dashing Fox has always been within orbit. The snake may try and wrap himself around her, and he may try to chase you, Swimming Bird, but Dashing Fox is always the true victor."
Spike exited the tent.
Damn.
Faye.
They were nearly to Victor's door now.
A large blue door.
They knew this was the last opportunity for explanation.
For the truth.
"He's been laying out the bounties," Spike noted, lighting a last cigarette.
"He has, and I've been following them religiously," Mai answered.
Faye said nothing, but cradled Rin against her breast.
The baby said nothing, but blinked at her mother and uncle.
"I don't get it..." Faye admitted weakly.
She seemed tired.
Mai limped towards her, her bad leg nearly cleared of blood.
She stopped in front of Faye, hovering centimeters in front of the bundle. She looked up to peer into Faye's eyes.
"You already know this, but this one is a fake," Mai stated as she pointed to her cybernetic eye. "I lost it defying human nature in that church on Mars. Until recently, I just assumed I lost it in whatever accident put me in the hospital. Now I know that it was my fault. Now I know that Roy watched over me the entire time I was in that first hospital and planted a trigger in this damn thing."
Faye blinked at her, intimidated by her closeness in both vicinity and subconscious.
"He left because of Rin. He changed my hospital to keep me guarded, and he kept Rin safe away from me and this damn curse."
Mai was near her breaking point.
"Victor's been laying out bounties since day one; I know he has, because he's been my connection in finding them to begin with."
Faye's eyes went wide, and Spike suddenly recalled the conversation Mai during his stay at her home.
"Some lead. You almost got me killed. Yeah, I know he's the big name bounty, and I'm sure I could catch him without a hitch, but I told you I'm not interested in Syndicate hunting. Too risky. Not worth it. I'll talk the lead over with you tomorrow."
"He heard I was alive, and that's when things went sour," Spike commented.
"You caught me," Mai confessed. "I'd been working with him because the bounties were leading me closer and closer to Roy."
"But why Spike? Why did that make him fly off the edge?" Faye questioned.
"Why tell him you weren't into Syndicate hunting when you knew all those bounties were ex-mercs?" Spike added.
"I didn't know until Morrison. That's when I dug deeper and figured it out. I wasn't privy to all of dad's business, after all."
"So the big name bounties..." Faye started.
"...were all part of Victor's plan to completely dismantle any parts of the Red Dragon Syndicate that remained. That's the real reason he's been after Rin. He figured it would be the quickest way to get me and Roy to the forefront."
"And Spike with you guys," Faye finished.
"He miscalculated, though. He didn't expect me to rope Rose into things. He has a soft spot for his little girl, after all," Mai added.
"But why the gem?" Faye asked.
"Isn't it obvious, Faye? If Victor can crack it, he can rule the crime world without the fear of stepping down. He didn't figure out that Rin was the key..." Spike started.
"...until Roy showed up again," Mai concluded. "He thought Jacobs still had it, so he went to him. When Jacobs wouldn't say where Rose went, he killed him. Simple as that. Rose did a good job staying concealed on Earth, and she did an even better job of shielding Flora. He probably doesn't even know that Flora is sick."
"He's a monster," Faye voiced.
"It runs in his blood. Brethren beasts that live beyond this time, that shouldn't exist, that should have never been: Vicious and Victor," Mai explained.
"So Roy told Victor? About Rin?"
"No. Roy told Victor not to meddle in cursed science; Roy told me that while I was recovering. Victor just put two and two together, though he did have to do some digging to get the whole truth."
"It's time, Mai," Spike said.
They had been standing outside the door for a few minutes, tearing down the lies and questions and rebuilding the truths and facts.
The only questioned that remained was whether or not the stars were right, and Mai Spiegel was destined to die.
They knocked.
(Break down the door)
