Cowboy Bebop Fan Fiction / Trigun Fan Fiction ❯ Cowboy Bebop Meets Trigun ❯ Diablo ( Chapter 5 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: As much as I hate to admit it, neither Trigun nor Cowboy Bebop is mine.

A/N: Whew! Here comes Chapter 5! In my opinion, it's not as good as the other chapters, but that's because it is more or less a copy of the Trigun episode called Diablo. However, because of where I'm trying to make this story go, it really is necessary so please bear with me and keep that in mind as you read.

Chapter 5: Diablo

As machine gun fire erupted in the hotel, Vash ran for cover, scooping Meryl up as he went, despite her protests. His movements were a blur as he tumbled over behind his bed. As he and Meryl huddled there, Vash prayed that Ed and Millie had found a safe place to hide. They could see and hear the shrapnel and rubble as the bullets continued to fly. In no time at all, the entire room was in shambles.

Suddenly, the gunfire whirred to a stop. Vash heard a voice from the other room.

“Can you hear me, Vash the Stampede? My name is Monev the Gale, and I'm here to send you to hell, just as you were promised!”

Vash leapt from behind the bed and charged through the door past Monev, who had removed his cloak and hat to reveal a blue bodysuit, two cylindrical machine gun around his arms, and a transparent, orange helmet, and out into the street.

I've got to take this out of the town! Innocent people could get hurt!

As he was running through the city, passing people on the streets, he shouted, “Stay away from me! Run for your lives! Comin' through! Whatever you do, don't get near me! Take cover until I'm safely out of town! I'm not kidding! It's a matter of life and death here!”

Spike watched from the shadows as Vash the Stampede sprinted from the hotel, yelling for everyone to take cover. People scattered left and right, frantic to find shelter. The man calling himself Monev the Gale walked slowly to the entrance of the hotel.

“It's true what I've been told about this guy! He's a complete chicken-shit,” Monev muttered, as he began his pursuit of Vash the Stampede.

Spike turned and looked at his companions. Faye's face was pale, and it was doubtful that she wanted to follow after the two combatants, despite the lure of the $$60 billion. Jet, on the other hand, was frowning. He seemed to be contemplating something. Well, either way, Spike decided that he should be the one to follow the Vash and Monev to see what was happening.

“Well, you two, I think I'd better follow them. Any objections?”

Faye shook her head mutely, but Jet said, “Spike, there's something I forgot to mention earlier.”

Spike sighed. There's always somesort of complication, isn't there? “What now Jet?”

“Well,” Jet told him, slowly, “while I was digging up info on Vash the Stampede, my, ahem, informant told me that there is some sort of conspiracy forming to get rid of our bounty.”

“What? You mean like another bounty hunter set it up?”

“No. I mean that whoever is setting this up, and I think Monev is one of those conspirators, is trying to eliminate Vash the Stampede.” Jet looked at Spike meaningfully.

“So what you're saying is that he's managed to piss off some people who want him dead, never mind the reward,” Spike said, smoothly.

“Yeah, I'd say that about covers it,” Jet shrugged. “I think they call themselves `Gung-Ho Guns', or something like that.”

Spike thought about this new information for a few moments. So, someone else was after Vash the Stampede, but unlike the Bebop bounty hunters, these so-called “Gung-Ho Guns” simply wanted to get rid of the Humanoid Typhoon. Permanently.

“Well, that just means we'll have to get to him first!” Faye said, heatedly.

“Couldn't have said it better myself,” Spike said cheerfully. “I'll see you guys later!”

And with that, Spike leaped onto the nearest roof, and began to follow the trail of destruction that had stalked Vash the Stampede throughout the city.

Vash was beginning to tire. He had been running for a while now, and even though his wound was only limiting his movement slightly, the loss of blood was what was really taking its toll on him. Not only that, but Vash kept on finding himself in positions where he had to get people out of the line of fire, often quite roughly.

There had been one incident where he had literally flung an old man through a window, luckily onto a couch, shouting, “Sorry, Grandpa!”

Another time, a guy had poked his head to see what all of the racket was. Vash had pretty much punched him back into the house, saying, “No peaking!” A second after, bullets had torn through the shutters.

The most recent event was when a bunch of hotshot idiot punks had tried to ignore his warning.

“Run! Run, or I'll shoot!” Vash had shouted to them, still in an all-out sprint.

“Yeah, right! Whatever, hotshot!” they had jeered at him.

“Idiots! I warned you!” Vash fired, and the idiots ducked, just in time to miss being turned into Swiss cheese by machine gun fire.

“Still helping others, even at a time like this? You are weak,” came Monev the Gale's voice. “If you have any expectations of staying alive, then you'd better use them as a shield! But don't worry, it'll all be over soon anyway.”

Vash had been navigating the narrow, back streets of the town in order to limit Monev's maneuverability. So far, it had been a success, except for a few close calls. However, suddenly, the narrow streets ended, and Vash skidded to a halt as he realized, horror-stricken, what he had done. All of the narrower streets in the town eventually make their way back towards the center of the city, a wide-open space with relatively little cover of any kind. As he entered from the side street, people pointed towards him and began to run.

It was too late. Monev had already reached Vash. There was no time for the people to seek any kind of shelter. Vash looked around frantically, trying to decide what to do. He couldn't save them all! There were too many!

“Now's the end of Vash the Stampede! YOU AND THIS TOWN DIE TOGETHER!” Monev shouted above the screams of the people, as he aimed on ofhis monstrous machine guns.

“NOT THE PEOPLE!” Vash screamed. (1)

Monev opened fire. Vash watched, paralyzed, as bullets began to fly around him, tearing people to shreds. Buildings were reduced to rubble. Vash barely felt it as a chunk of debris hit him on the head, causing him to fall. He lost consciousness.

A few moments later, Vash came to, and he struggled to stand up. He could feel the blood as it trickled down the left side of his face. He slowly began to look around. He gasped.

Corpses were everywhere. Some had been crushed by falling debris. Others had had their life's blood poured out, mixing with the dust, because of the bullets. It was a massacre. Men, women, and children had lost their lives. For what? Because of him? Was Vash the reason this had all happened?

No! Vash thought, the sound of death ringing in his ears. It's HIS fault! He will pay for this. I'll make sure of it!

Faye was creeping along a rooftop with Spike when she heard the sound of machine gun fire. At first, she had been willing to let Spike go off on his own, but then, at the last minute, she had run after him, ignoring Jet's demands that she come back. Faye knew she was afraid, but she had decided to go anyway. Spike had grumbled, of course, when she had said she wanted to come. However, no man was going to tell her what to do. No way in hell.

Spike slowed and looked at her. The seriousness of his gaze clearly indicated that silence was of paramount importance. Faye inclined her head slightly to show she understood.

The two of them moved slowly towards the edge of the roof. Faye gasped. Buildings had been reduced to rubble. Not only that, but the corpses of men, women, and children were scattered around. Some were buried in rubble while others were dead from gunshot wounds. Most of their bodies looked mangled. Although Faye had seen death before and didn't care much for the lives of others, this really was sickening. There had been no reason for it. None. It was a tragedy.

Spike's face was impassive, but she could tell that he felt the same way she did. Faye continued to search the rubble for Vash the Stampede, but she couldn't see anything because of the dense cloud of dust that separated the massacre from the murder. Monev the Gale seemed to believe it was over. She felt an unfamiliar surge of righteous fury when he began to laugh.

“I did it! I did it! So much for the legendary outlaw! He died like a coward! At last! At last, I'm free! Now, I can live the way I want to live!”

His laughter was suddenly interrupted by the sound of gunshots. Faye heard three shots, each one so fast that they sound as if they were one. The bullets hit Monev squarely on his forehead. If he hadn't had his mask on, he would have been dead.

The force of the shots forced Monev to stumble back a few steps. He looked up into the dust cloud. Suddenly, Vash the Stampede emerged from the haze. His gun was in his hand, and he seemed a little hunched over. However, when Faye saw his face, she sucked in her breath. The same face that had been stuffed full of donuts only hours ago was twisted in a death mask. His eyes glowed brightly, yet the light wasn't warm. It was cold and promised death.

Those eyes! It's like looking into the eyes of the Diablo!

Monev the Gale seemed to be thinking much the same. When Vash raised his gun for another shot, Monev jumped onto a nearby building, barely missed getting hit, and raced off into the night.

Both Spike and Faye sat there for a moment, stunned by what they had seen transpire. Finally, Faye felt a hand on her shoulder. Spike was smiling sadly at her.

“Let's go,” he said, quietly.

Faye couldn't speak, but she managed to nod. Then, both of them began to make their way back to Jet, who had elected to stay near the hotel in case Vash the Stampede returned there.

Meryl, after sufficiently recovering from the shock of being fired upon, had gone looking for Millie and Ed. She found them in Millie's room, huddled together on the floor as far from the door as possible. After they had all calmed down, Meryl told them she was going to look for Vash. Millie and Ed had immediately insisted upon accompanying her. Meryl had protested, but the two of them were not to be dissuaded.

The three of them had followed the path of destruction. Finally, they reached the center of town. Meryl looked around until she saw Vash. His back was towards her, and he was a little hunched over. She was about to walk up to him when he cut her off.

“STAY BACK!” Then, in a quieter voice, he said, “Stay away from me.”

He began to walk away. Ed called his name, but he didn't respond. He simply continued walking.

“Who is he?” Meryl asked no one in particular. “That's not Vash. That is not the same man.” Tears began to pool in Meryl's eyes as she said, “He's walking away. If we let him leave now, he'll probably never come back.”

“I don't think we can stop him,” Millie said, softly, a little choked up. “The way he's acting, I don't think anyone could stop him right now.”

The three girls watched as the Humanoid Typhoon left them behind. Finally, Millie suggested that they return to the hotel. No one said a word. They all simply went.

Spike was alone again. He and Faye had split up. She had obviously been shaken up by what she had seen. It's hadn't been the massacre so much that had done it; it was more like what she had seen of Vash the Stampede. Spike now understood just why he was known as the Humanoid Typhoon. First impressions could be deceiving.

Spike had been following Vash the Stampede ever since he had split up with Faye. He had followed him all the way to the Planet Bank, where Vash had gone in. He hadn't come out yet. Spike suspected that Vash was planning to use the bank safe for something.

It wasn't long before he saw Monev the Gale approaching via another rooftop. Monev stood there for a minute, as if trying to figure out what Vash was planning to do.

Monev laughed. “I see your plan. You're planning to use that big safe as a shield. I'll mutilate you!” He jumped off the building and landed. “Along with that vault door!”

Monev opened fire. However, as Spike watched, the vault door came flying out of the bank straight at Monev. Vash was behind it. He fired two shots, dislodging the machine gun from Monev's arm. However, Monev switched to a huge auto-cannon. He aimed it at Vash.

“You have no more bullets left, coward!” Monev fired an explosive shell.

Suddenly, right in front of Spike's eyes, Vash's left arm shifted, transforming into a gun. Vash shot the shell, causing it to explode. Monev's mask was blown off his face, and he lay in the dirt. Vash was walking towards him, slowly taking each step.

“You'll pay! You will pay for this!” threatened Monev. Spike thought that that was foolish. Monev wasn't in any position to be dealing out threats.

“They're dead. People are dead.” Vash's voice had an undertone of barely concealed fury.

“Who the hell cares?” snarled Monev.

Vash kicked him violently. Monev landed on his back. Before he could react, the gun that was Vash's left arm was shoved right onto Monev's right eye.

“You killed all the people! They're dead, and you killed them all! And you were the one solely responsible! Now you are also going to die!” Vash raged!

“Don't kill me! Please don't kill me! I'm sorry! I don't wanna die! I don't wanna die! Please don't kill me! I DON'T WANNA-I DON'T WANNA DIE!” Monev pleaded.

Spike was sure Vash was going to kill him.

Vash was furious. Furious enough to do what he had sworn he would never do. He was going to pull the trigger! Yet, as Monev the Gale began to beg for his life, Vash couldn't pull the trigger. As much as the man deserved to die, Vash couldn't pull the trigger. It wasn't long before Vash heard a familiar voice:

“Are you awake now?”

Vash was in a beautiful landscape. It was always like this when he thought of Rem. He was floating in the sky with Rem, and red geranium petals (Rem's favorite flower) drifted through the air. He was lying down on his back with his right hand over his forehead, and she was sitting up. Rem was wearing a simple white shirt and jeans. Her raven-black hair fell loosely about her shoulders.

“Yeah, but I was dreaming, Rem. Everything…everything was so horribly dry, even people's hearts. From far away, as I watched the people who lived there, I always found myself wondering, how and why could they possibly keep on living? What motivation did they have that would get them up every day, no matter what, for the rest of their lives?”

Rem began to chuckle.

“Rem, why are you laughing?”

“It's just that you're so serious, even when you're dreaming.” She turned her head in his direction, smiling a smile that reached her twinkling brown eyes. “You'll turn into an old man very quickly if you keep on constantly pondering like that. I'm excited to think that the ticket I was handed on the day of my birth was completely open. The choices we make in life have unlimited possibilities. All I can do is think about them.”

Then, Vash began to hear the song that had been with him ever since he had been a child. Rem's favorite song: “Sound Life.” Vash very slowly removed his gun from Monev's face. He cradled his left arm in his right, as the tears began to slide down his cheeks. He lifted his face toward the sun, which was now beginning to rise.

This is all I can do, Vash thought in anguish. If I shot him now, you really would die!

A single tear fell, sliding down the cold metal of his left arm.

It would be wrong to shoot him, right?

(1) I am not exactly sure WHAT Vash said after Monev shouted that because the show muted what Vash was yelling. Therefore, I am merely guessing that that's what he said.

As you have probably already guessed, this is the end of Chapter 5. I hope you liked it, even though I personally think it isn't that great. Little originality. Yet, it was necessary. I know I should have the Bebop crew more involved in the plot besides just observing, but I think that that's what they're good for right now. At least I tried to make this chapter mostly from their points of view. Don't worry, I'll start getting them involved more as soon as I can. I feel like the storyline is developing very slowly, but that's the price I pay for being so detailed in my descriptions.

As always, please review! I really appreciate it!