Cowboy Bebop Fan Fiction ❯ No Nothing ❯ Chapter 4 ( Chapter 4 )

Disclaimer: Are these really necessary? I don't own Bebop. Sunrise/Bandai does/do. But I do own Jenni and Kolossi.

I know that at least two people are reading this, because one of them sent me an email asking when this takes place. I'm not quite sure of which episodes, but it takes place in place of the last, oh, three episodes, maybe? Plus some time after that. The other person: Thanx go to Cherry Cheese Head for my first review!!!!

Remember, if you don't review I don't get any feedback and I can't change anything you people don't like. The moral of this: REVIEW!!!!!!

Chapter 4

Revving up the Swordfish II with a quick flick of his wrist, Spike was about to take off when he heard a whacking from the side. Opening the cockpit he caught sight of Jenni. "What're you doing here?"

"Glad to see you, too," Jenni replied sardonically. "Jet wants to deal with Kolossi, so lemme in!"

Spike glanced over at Jenni. "I don't know if both of us will fit."

Jenni began to get slightly impatient. "It's worked before, and if you keep stalling it will take us longer to get to him, so move!!!"

He moved over to the side of the pod, grumbling about what sounded like women with attitudes. Not that he minded being locked in a tight space with her for a prolonged length of time, but the idea of being ordered around by a woman, actually anybody, particularly irked Spike.

The hangar door opened to allow them out. Spike and Jenni took off first, followed by Jet and Faye. Ed and Ein appeared on their screens, giving up-to-the-second updates on their bounty. "Okies, he's just outside the gates leading to Venus, traveling pretty slow," Ed said to all of them from back on the BeBop. "So if you guys hurry, you can make it to him in about an hour, if he doesn't pick up speed."

"Or how about you help us out a bit, Ed," Jenni said sweetly, "by making sure he can't pick up speed."

Ed looked at her, slightly puzzled. "I don't think Ed knows how to do that."

"Of course you do," Jenni said. "You can hack into their control database and stop the computers."

"Oh!" Ed momentarily disappeared from sight, and then came back with a wide grin. "Ed stopped the crazy man from going anywhere!"

Jet's voice came over the broadcasting system. "Good idea, Jenni. Spike, I guess we'll be seeing you in about an hour."

Spike wasn't going to let Jet off that easily. "Why'd you leave me with her?" he asked. "You hate taking the guys back alone."

Jet could be heard laughing on the other end. "You'll thank me later, Spike-o."

"I hate to break in," Faye said, "but we've got something else to deal with, and that something's worth a million woolongs!"

"Two million, if we get the docs back in perfect condition. And I bet you despise eavesdropping," Spike scoffed at Faye.

Faye replied, "It's too much fun to hate."

"Ditz," Spike muttered under his breath, just loud enough for Jenni to hear.

"I tend to agree," she said, still fidgeting to make room for both of them.

Spike decided to help her out a bit on this. "Come here," he said, moving forward enough for her to fit behind him.

Jenni obeyed him, all the while muttering to herself. Putting one of her legs on either side of Spike, Jenni said, "You look tense."

Grinning, Spike said, "I've got two million woolongs hanging over my head, a gorgeous woman straddling my back, and it feels like an elephant trampled on top of me a few days ago. So I guess you could say that."

Gently, Jenni laid her hands on Spike's shoulders. He tensed even more at first, but relaxed as her hands began to massage one of the afflicted areas. Her hands kneaded the skin and muscles of his shoulders, and Spike felt his eyes begin to droop. "Since when have we had a massage master with us?"

"Since Jet commanded me to come aboard with you in here," Jenni said while sliding off Spike's coat. "Honestly, that guy can get pretty intimidating."

"He's harmless. Just don't get him severely pissed," Spike counseled.

Jenni repositioned herself so she was facing Spike and started unbuttoning the front of his shirt. "That may be, but it must suck to be caught by him." Moving back around, she resumed her work on Spike's now bare shoulders.

"Hm." Spike's attention partially reverted back to space, where they were just about to enter one of the gates that would lead them to Venus.

CBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCBCB

An ancient, beat-up ship sat suspended in space as Spike, Jenni, Jet, and Faye approached it. Ed's signal was beginning to fade as the distance between them increased. "We're here, so what do we do now?" Faye asked.

"Easy," Jet said. "We go aboard and get him."

"Pretty obvious, don't you think, Faye?" Spike asked her mockingly.

A loud, "Hmmph" could be heard on Faye's end. "So where's the precious Jenni?" Faye asked Spike.

Spike looked behind him and saw Jenni fast asleep, curled up in the only extra space available and covered in Spike's discarded shirt and coat. "Sleeping. Why do you care?"

Jet joined their conversation. "Well go and wake up Sleeping Beauty. I'd hate to see her not hold up her end because of us."

"Growing quite fond of her, eh?" Spike asked Jet, a hint of a jeer in his voice.

"Look who's talking," Jet said with equal ridicule.

Instead of replying, Spike frowned and twisted around to face Jenni. "Hey, wake up," he said while gently shaking her shoulder.

Before Spike even knew what had hit him, he was on his back with Jenni leaning over him, hand to his throat and a dagger held wavering above his heart. Her eyes were wide with alarm, but softened at the sight of Spike's shocked face. "Sorry, old habit."

"What, murdering the nearest person?" Spike asked somewhat irritably as Jenni removed her hand and blade and he began massaging his throat.

Jenni raised an eyebrow. "I think you'd be the same way if you had to worry about being bumped-off in your sleep for almost a decade."

No matter how skeptical he usually was, Spike didn't doubt this. He remembered, although he'd much rather forget, what it was like to live in fear of being killed because of a simple mistake. The frightened look in her eyes was something that couldn't even be pulled off by the greatest of actors. "Sorry."

"Forget about it," Jenni said as she gave him a sideways grin, cocked her pistol, and returned it to its secret hiding space. "You good to go?"

Spike prepared his trusted Jericho in the same manner. "Almost, but I might need my clothes back." In one swift movement Jenni swiped the blue jacket and yellowish shirt from the floor and held them out to Spike. He took them from her, quickly throwing the shirt around his shoulders and fingers flying as he buttoned it. Both articles of clothing on, Spike landed the Swordfish II on the deck, entering the already open hangar.

He got out and began helping Jenni out when Jet walked over to them from his Hammerhead. Peering around him, he said, "I don't like this."

"Yeah, it was way too easy getting aboard," Spike said as his grip on his gun tightened. "Like he's expecting us."

Faye came over and joined the group. "Let's just go and get this done with," she said while glancing around nervously. "I want my share as soon as possible."

Spike took this opportunity to make fun of her. "What, you scared, Faye?" he asked with a playful sneer.

Instead of her usual insult or excuse, Faye just growled at Spike and headed for the door.

"Pipe down, you two," Jet said as he followed Faye's lead.

Spike and Jenni went in last, the only ones carrying their pistols at the ready. Although she'd never been on a bounty hunt before, Jenni knew when something wasn't right. The eerie silence, how everything seemed to have been layed out for them. In fact, she was so caught up in the strangeness of the situation that she didn't notice the guy standing in a corner, gun aimed at them, until Spike stepped in front of her and put a bullet through the man's chest. "C'mon, there's bound to be others," he said, grabbing hold of her arm and both running to catch up with Jet and Faye.

"What the hell was that?" Jet asked Spike as he and Jenni joined him and Faye up ahead.

"Sniper," Spike replied cooly. "Keep an eye out for more."

Faye stared at them. "So not only do we have to worry about this guy, but his henchmen, too!?"

"Yeah, that sounds about right," Jenni replied casually while attempting to light a cigarette, only to have her lighter weakly spark. Spike pulled his lighter from a back pocket and ignited it in front of her. Lighting the tip, she exhaled and said, "Thanks." She offered one to Spike, which he accepted and lit.

Jet cocked the Walther in his hands as they proceeded around the corner. They didn't meet anything along the silent corridors, until they stepped into a large double-leveled room.

All of them stood huddled together in the room as a power surge erupted and the bright lights above them flickered to life. Spike immediately shielded his eyes and peered around the room. There was nothing out of the ordinary, until he saw a shadow in an upper corner out of the corner of his eye. He watched the shadow cock and aim its gun before yelling, "Watch out!" Jet, Faye, and Spike scrambled for the shield of a few nearby walls as the bullet ricocheted off the floor where Spike was standing only seconds before. They watched Jenni dive for the floor and rapidly somersault to the opposite wall where she landed in a crouched position and took out the guy in one fluid movement.

At once, the upper level banisters filled with men, all armed with various weapons. "Aw, shit!" Jenni cried out before the bullets started flying towards them. A fierce competition began between the crew of the BeBop and these guys as each tried to eliminate the other. So far, the <i>Bebop<i> was winning. The four members stood strong, while Kolossi's advocates were dropping like flies.

Nonetheless, Jet's robotic arm was full of many holes and dents and Faye's leg was bleeding freely. These few seconds Spike spent taking in these injuries cost him a bullet to the arm, which he felt begin to gush unhindered. In retaliation he narrowed in on the guy who had shot him and put a carefully sighted bullet through his neck.

Jenni began wandering backwards to get a better view of her opponents, when she felt her back rest against someone else's. "Having any luck?" the owner asked.

"Yeah," Jenni said in reply to Spike's question. Noticing she was out of ammunition she searched her coat for another magazine, which she successfully located only after a few seconds. After it was loaded, she felt something graze across her cheek, causing her to take a sharp intake of breath. The guy who had shot her was still staring at her, that is, until she put a few rounds through his chest. "Bastard," she muttered under her breath.

The room was blood-soaked and smelled of death and gun smoke minutes later. "You all okay?" Jet asked his comrades, who either nodded or weakly replied. "Then let's nab this guy and get the hell outta here." Faye began limping through the cavity in the wall after Jet, grumbling the entire way.

Spike and Jenni were about to leave the room when Spike revolved to face Jenni and wiped his thumb over the scrape on her cheek, brushing the blood away. "You've done this many times before," Jenni said while gesturing to all the corpses.

"Yeah," Spike replied shortly before following Jenni out the door.

The twisting hallways were dark and narrow, emanating a cold aura as they wandered through them. Often times there was a "Dammit, get off my heels!" or a "Who the hell just stopped?", but this was to be expected.

Finally, the halls ended in a well-equipped control room. At first glance it was empty, but standing with his back to them was a short, plump man with no hair atop his head. "Are the aliens here yet?" he asked whilst turning to face them. A manic gleam in his eyes flashed as he caught sight of them, one which immediately turned to confusion. "Wha- You're not the aliens. Who are you?" he asked them.

"Just a couple of bounty hunters," Jet said, directing his Walther towards the man. "Now if you'd kindly come with us, Ernie Kolossi, you'll be given a nice cell with the Ganymede police."

Kolossi picked up the machine gun next to his feet and held it towards Jet. The group spread out around him, surrounding the madman. "B- B- But the aliens! They're expecting me! If they get here and nobody else is here to greet them, all hell will break loose!"

Unable to tolerate the constant babbling, Jenni aimed the tranquilizer gun at Kolossi and pulled the trigger. It took a few seconds, but he eventually fell to the ground in an unconscious heap, a small dart sticking out from his back.

Faye looked at her as if she were crazy. "Are you nuts?! If he dies, we don't get the bounty!"

Composedly, Jenni twirled the gun around her finger before placing it in the holster under her arm. "Don't worry. It's not strong enough to kill him, just to knock him out for a few hours."

Jet shrugged and placed a pair of handcuffs around their bounty head's wrists. He lifted the body up effortlessly and flung him over his shoulders. "Care to enlighten us about that stuff when we get back?" Jet asked as he veered towards the hangar and back through the ship.

All of them walked, or in Faye's case limped, to their starships and climbed aboard. "You able to handle him, Jet?" Spike asked over the communications system.

"Yeah, I think I can handle this one, buddy," Jet answered with a trace of sarcasm. "I should really be asking about you, though."

"Ha ha . . . no."

Taking the opportunity to harass his colleague Jet asked, "Is that a no as in 'I can't handle her' or 'Don't even go there'?"

"Take your pick," Spike said as he placed a cigarette between his lips and lit it.

Jenni swiped the box from Spike's grasp and followed suit. "I'd watch it, both of you."

"Hey, you stole my cigarettes!" Spike shouted as he tried to get the pack back.

Dodging out of his reach, Jenni exclaimed, "You owe me one!" Still, Spike persisted in reaching over to get them back. "If you don't watch it, you might grab something I'll have to shoot you for," Jenni warned as his hand barely missed her chest.

"I'll take my chances," said Spike as he navigated the Swordfish II with one hand and reached for his cigarettes with the other. "Dammit, will you just give them back to me?!"

The lighter was held upright in her hand as she said, "Not a chance." Jenni flicked the lighter to ignite it. At the same time as she moved it closer to her cigarette, Spike's hand came to an unconscious stop over the flame.

"EEEEEAAAAAAAUUUUUUGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!" Spike whipped his hand away from her and held it in front of his face. The burn mark was raw and red, and just hurt more the longer he looked at it.

Jenni took his hand and held it in front of her. She spit on the burn, which caused Spike to give her an odd glance. "To keep it from blistering," she explained. Spike nodded and turned back to space. "You're lucky it was on the same arm as the gunshot wound," Jenni said to him.

"Why's that?" Spike asked carelessly.

"Because," Jenni said, dropping Spike's arm so it fell to his side, "I only fix one arm per person a day."

Spike exhaled and said, "Lucky me."

Tapping the ash from her cigarette, Jenni said, "You should feel lucky. And be forewarned," she said as a grin tugged at the corners of her mouth, "there's some alcohol involved."

One of his eyebrows shot upwards and a smile crossed his face. "Sounds good to me."

Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaasssse R/R!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!