Cowboy Bebop Fan Fiction ❯ Mistress of the Syndicate ❯ Damned by the Bullet ( Chapter 4 )

Chapter 4 – Damned By the Bullet

The months past, and Jade trained nonstop not only on her body but her mind. Her thoughts constantly went to the failure or triumph of her next mission. Her mind pounded in frustration at her straying thoughts, as she pounded into the hard punching bag. A thin sheet of sweat covered her slender form.

It had been four months since then and she hadn't seen Vicious. Her bruises had long since healed as well as her pride. The wrapping on her fists began to tear at Jade's harsh treatment. She was so focused in her motions, Jade was lost to everything around her.

Vicious stood at the doorway and watched her with total interest. The deadly angel before him fascinated him to no end. Instead of interrupting her training, he waited patiently for Jade to finish. She stopped a moment to catch her breath as well as taking a sip from her water bottle.

Vicious took this moment and tossed another manila folder to her feet. Jade was not surprised to see Vicious, in fact she was expecting him sooner. She stared at the folder with little emotion on her face.

"Your new target, a leader of a small gang. He has chosen to stand up against us. Now remember if you don't complete this, the consequences will be worse than death." He smirked devilishly at her making Jade roll her eyes and respond in an even tone.

"It will be done." Jade turned quickly and continued with her exercise. Vicious, somewhat annoyed, let the girl be and went to continue on with his own business.

Jade could care less of the consequences but picked up the folder anyway. The target was a son to a nobody in the Irish mob and only went by the name of Boss. The man looked kind of dirty and grungy. He had greasy black hair and tanned oily skin. The white shirt he wore in the picture was stained with all sorts of colors. He was 230 pounds of fat, which would make it hard for Jade to take down by hand. He looked pretty disgusting and his file matched his appearance.

Morally, Jade wouldn't have a problem killing someone such as this. However she could hear her mother's words.

"A life is still a life." She whispered to no one in particular.

She was startled by Spike's cough of recognition and smug comment.

"Your getting rusty, can't even sense me anymore." He folded his arms across his chest and approached her.

Jade sat down on the floor and studied the file in her hands. She paused slightly at his comment.

"You might need backup on this one. The man has a number of members in his gang."

"Well Spike if you wanted to tag along why didn't you just ask?" Jade said in a sickeningly sweet way, making Spike's smirk dissipate. Spike just sighed deeply and left the room, leaving Jade to her own thoughts.

Jade rose slowly and made her similar walk to her room. She pulled out the black duffle bag out from under the bed giving Jade a sense of De-javu. The feeling made her pause slightly, but she continued packing the bag with various weapons. She closed the door and dressed in her black ensemble and pulled her dark red locks into a loose bun, placing two black chopsticks to hold it place.

Jade went to open the door only to see Spike at her entrance. Spike sized her body up cautiously with his eyes, loving the way her outfit hugged her body.

"Are you ready to go or do you want to stare some more?" Jade said with a slight smirk on her face, causing Spike to turn in slight embarrassment. Spike said nothing and headed toward the garage with Jade following a couple of steps behind.

In the garage, Jade saw a little over ten men waiting for them next to three black cars. Spike spoke first initiating the plan while taking out a map of the building.

"So, Jade's target is on the fifth floor. There are about 30 men in the gang on the first three floors, the fourth rigged with booby traps. The snipers will be on these rooftops making sure no one runs out. The rest of the men will storm the building with me. Jade, there's an escape passage that the target may use. It leads into the basement of this abandoned building. He will come out from there sooner or later so be patient. As for my guys, watch your back and be careful on the forth floor. Don't do anything stupid, and that means you Jade."

Jade rolled her eyes and moved to one of the black and red motorcycles and strapped her bag onto the seat.

"Give me ten minutes to get to him before you storm the place. It’s a possibility that this guy has a panic room, which will make my job twice as hard." Jade said more like a statement than a question. She put on a black helmet and climbed onto the bike. Spike nodded and watched Jade speed off into the early night.

Jade got to the building in less than twenty minutes. She arrived at the front of a rundown building, most of the windows boarded up. She parked the bike about a block away and stood at the rear of the abandoned building Spike spoke of.

She breathed in deeply to prepare herself for the task ahead. Jade slowly searched for an opening in the old house, making sure she didn't miss a thing. She walked to the side of the house and found an old cellar door in the ground. The door looked incredibly old however sturdy. Jade would have missed the door but new silver chains hung on the handles, making it easy to spot. Surprisingly there was an average lock hanging off the chains, which Jade easily picked.

She walked down an old corridor leading to stairs that went down. The escape route was slightly damp and there was little illumination. Jade kept her right hand on the wall to insure that she wouldn't get lost. In caution she moved slowly, making sure to keep an eye out for any cameras.

Her mind continued to wander to the target's file. The man was known to do some horrible things, which Jade prayed she wouldn't have to see.

Spike's voice broke her thoughts from the communicator in her ear. "We're in position. When you’re ready, we’ll head in. Try to keep radio silence." The small contraption suddenly went silent as Jade moved on.

The further down Jade traveled, the more it became flooded. The freezing water was now at the top of her feet, soaking her shoes entirely, making her cold. The water kept rising as Jade went on until she came a wooden door. The door was rotting away, probably from the flood. The rusted door handle looked as if it was sealed to the wall making it nearly impossible to open.

Jade took at least ten steps back and charged the door, kicking it with all her power. The door halfway crumbled giving enough space for Jade to fit through.

Behind the door, were spiral stairs going up. Jade quickly went up the stairs, fearing someone might have heard the door breaking. It took her about six minutes to make it to the top, to reveal a fairly new door.

She put her ear to the door hoping to hear clear voices inside, but was only greeted with deep mumbles. It sounded as if it was a man and female inside. The man’s tone was demanding yet the female's voice was feeble and timid.

Jade gripped the cold metal handle tightly turning it slowly. While doing so, she sent a signal to the men outside. Surprisingly the door was open. Jade peeked in to see a disgusting scene before her.

The chubby, greasy haired target stood above a girl no more than thirteen. The girl looked a little frightened wearing only a bra and panties sitting on a brown leather couch. She covered her chest with her arms and was staring down at the floor.

Not wanting to know the situation Jade calmly walked into the room. She alerted only the girl to be silent. The girl stood still and just kept staring at the man as if seeing nothing.

Jade would have taken out the man without him knowing. That is until the target brought his thick hands around the girl’s neck, cutting off her air supply. The girl only stared at Jade, as her distorted face changed colors.

Jade's mind went blank and her body only ran on adrenaline. She sent a hard kick to the back of the man's knee, sending the man falling to the ground dropping the girl. A loud crack was heard when the man hit the floor insuring a bone breaking. The young girl was silent but shock was written on her face. She scooted to the far corner of the room tightly holding her knees to her chest. Jade only kept her eyes glued to the target preparing for any move.

The man let out an agonizing groan while collapsing on the floor. His hands were clenched tightly near his head and his breathing became ragged and forced.

Jade felt confident and spoke to the frightened teenager. "Girl, grab your stuff and leave. Now!"

Jade didn't bother looking at the girl, keeping her eyes on her target. She was only aware of the sound of the teen closing the door.

"So... You like to abuse little girls. Is that how you get off? You know what, don't answer that. You are a disgusting attempt of a man and a waste of the precious life you have, and it’s my job to end it. Sorry."

Jade's only action was bringing her gun to the man’s head and sharply pulling the hammer back. She hesitated slightly when she heard the man's empty threats.

"You're dead! I have a small army outside that will give their lives to protect me."

Jade responded with a slightly evil giggle as she brought her voice to the man's ear.

"Do you hear that? Your army is falling as I speak." She said referring to the round of gunshots outside.

The man stiffened in fear as he tried to negotiate for his life.

"Wait. Think about this, I have money. I'll give you all of it. Just don't kill me, please!"

Jade responded in an almost silent tone. "I don't want your money."

Somehow her mother's words nagged her mind. 'A life is still a life.' The saying ran over and over in her mind making her hand shake slightly. She wasn't surprised to feel the wetness of her tears on her face. The chubby man saw this and took it as a sign of weakness. Trying his best not to move his leg, he grabbed Jade's leg and pulled it harshly. This caused her to fall in surprise flat on her back. The gun flew about five feet from her and went off in reaction, but the bullet only hit the wall.

The target still held a firm grip on Jade's ankle, threatening to break it if necessary. With Jade's quick thinking she sent her free leg hurtling to the man's face. He only held tighter giving an enormous amount of pain. The pain only fueled Jade to kick harder, but was halted when the man caught her other leg. His right eye began bleed and his nose was probably broken. His grip was strong enough for Jade to clench her teeth in pain.

The man smirked as he enjoyed her agony. "When you pass out from the pain, I am going to have so much fun. You may be a little old for my taste, but I can manage."

Jade barely heard his words over the pain. It felt as if he was slowly ripping her feet off and crushing her bones at the same time.

Jade moved her arm slowly trying not to alert the man. As quick as she could Jade took out a blade and stabbed the man's hand freeing her left leg. His scream pierced her ears sharply and he quickly let go of her other leg. His screams tuned to grunts as he forcefully pulled the blade from his hand. Jade shimmied as fast as she could away from the man and reached for the gun. He threw the blade at Jade but was stopped suddenly at the sound of a gunshot. The bullet hit the dead center of his head, causing instant death.

Jade sat there in shock, realizing what she had just done. She shifted slightly and leaned her back against the front of the desk. She let out a breath she hadn't known she held.

The door of the office flung open causing Jade to draw her gun. Spike stood at the doorway with a slightly sorrowful look on his face. Jade slowly brought the gun back down to her side.

"He caught me off guard." She said as if trying to explain her injuries. Spike said nothing, and walked to her side. He lifted her up effortlessly bringing her arm around his shoulder.

Her left ankle was well enough to balance on, but her walk still held a strong limp. She leaned carefully on Spike as they both walked slowly out of the building. Unable to ride the motorcycle, someone else rode the bike as Jade rode with Spike.

The ride was quiet but somewhat calming to Jade's nerves. Neither spoke, not wanting to break the comfortable silence. They arrived at headquarters in about 30 minutes. Spike carefully helped Jade out the car making sure not to hurt her ankle.

After Jade made her visit to the infirmary she was fitted with a pair of crutches. Her body responded well with the crutches as she walked through the thin hallway of the headquarters. Jade had been silent ever since her return. She turned the corner into her room and found an assortment of gifts on her bed, as well as a banner saying 'Congratulations!'

Jade could no longer control the fury boiling inside her mind. She blindly grabbed one of the gifts and violently threw it against the opposite wall, shattering whatever was contained inside. Spike stood at the doorway seeing her whole escapade of anger. He slowly went to the fallen gift picking it up with care.

"I take it you didn't like their gifts." He said in a somewhat humorous tone while tossing the gift into the trash.

Jade stood with her back to him and her arms tightly wrapped around her torso. The words she spoke were pained and stressed showing her true emotions.

"It shouldn't be a celebration. I killed a man today. I had no right to take his life. It bothers me that it was so easy. Am I becoming you?"

Spike was a little taken back by Jade's question but answered nonetheless. "For you to be like me, you wouldn't care about taking a life."

Jade went to her bed, grabbed the gifts and tossed them all in the garbage. Afterwards, she struggled getting into bed with her crutches so Spike attempted to help.

"Need help?"

Jade shook her head and Spike backed off and left the room, sensing that she wanted to be alone. He closed the door behind to leave her to her thoughts. Shortly after Spike could her soft cries behind the door.


A/N: Hope you enjoyed that chapter because the next one won't be coming for a while. We've got ege applications and other important things to do, but we will continue this shortly. The chapter is done, it just needs work. We're actually up to chapter 9, but we want to make sure it's good enough to post. Thanks for reading. Please review. No flames...but constructive criticism is welcomed. Until next time readers!