Cowboy Bebop Fan Fiction ❯ Past/Present/Future ❯ Checkmate ( Chapter 7 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Opium_Princess 
Anime/Manga: Cowboy Bebop Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama / Mystery / Romance / | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 09.28.2003 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.6K | Visits: 272 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Cowboy Bebop Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama / Mystery / Romance / | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 09.28.2003 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.6K | Visits: 272 | Status: Completed
Checkmate
When I came back to the Bebop, I was completely wet. Every time someone would let me in, and I said something about catching a bounty, they would throw me out. Even my damn cigarettes where too soggy to smoke. I expected Faye to be on the couch, painting her toe nails, Ed and Ein to be off somewhere and Jet maybe making repairs to the ship or clipping those little trees of his. Instead, there was a woman I've never seen sitting on the couch painting her nails and eating ice-cream, Jet was typing on the computer and Ed was no where to be seen. The woman was dressed like a man..for some odd reason. She had real short hair, cut to the scalp. Slicked down with bangs swinging in her eyes. She glanced at Jet from time to time, telling him different things to click on and what to type in. I cleared my throat to announce my arrival. My faithful friend didn't even bother to look up, but she did. She hopped up from the couch and wobbled over to me, trying her best not to get her toe-paint smudged.
"My name is Song. You must be Spike," she said giving me a hug. Never mind that we're completely strangers to one another, she's got her shirt wide open and that she's in my ship. Just goes right up to me and hugs me. She doesn't wait for me to say anything, just wobbles back to the couch and plops down.
"Faye didn't come with you?" Jet asks, looking up from the computer. I let out a snort and rolled my eyes.
"I don't know where she is," I told him. Soon as the words left my mouth, Faye came trotting in wearing a pink tube-top dress that reached her knees and a big floppy pink hat with a yellow ribbon around it. She had shopping bags on her arms and in her hands, but the one with the pink and silver swirls stood out the most. She dropped the bags and walked over to Jet, completely ignoring the look I gave to her. No cleavage? No ass-cheeks? No yellow vinyl and red sweater?
"Sorry, couldn't get info anywhere," she said, taking off her hat. She had her hair pinned up. "Who are you?" she asked the girl.
"My name is Song. I'm here to help out on ya'll bounty."
"She went out with him in the 8th grade," Jet pitched in. Song grinned up at Faye.
"So we're cutting the cash 5 ways?" Faye asked, crossing her arms and putting her weight on her right hip.
"Nope. I'm getting some of Jet's money. You all are gonna get your half, don't worry...oh that Jet! Click on that one right there!" Song said getting excited. Faye turned to see what Jet was doing and took a seat right next to the new member of the crew. I really hate to say it, but I did feel a little left out. I considered smoking, but I remembered my smokes where soaking wet.
"Where's Ed?" I said to the group, not really expecting anyone to answer. I just wanted to say something, to let them know I was there. I wasn't used to being left out of things like that.
"Ya mean the redhead?" Song said looking at me. "She left an hour and 30 minutes ago. Said something about finding something. That's a crazy kid, we y'all get her from?"
"She just sort of fell on us, like the rest of the members of the crew," I said walking past the group. Faye shot me a nasty look and I couldn't help but to smile. Jet was right, she wasn't the type to drop the first apology, neither was I. I stuck around for a while, then decided to go back out to look for some more clues to this big bounty. Rink Van Hoosen..
I'm guessing it's a Swedish name. Or maybe German. It sure as hell isn't a common name, I know that much. But what I really want to know is, why no one would give me any clues. When we went to go catch Edward, we we're getting information left and right. But with this one, people where afraid to even say his name. Well, this lets me in on one thing, he's differently been through here and had a hell of an affect on people..I'm guessing he's done a lot more then just write up some phony bank accounts to get some easy cash. All I had to do was find someone who wasn't scared shitless to give me some information.
I thought about the subject as I walked the crowded streets of Earth. People always say that Earthlings are werid..maybe that would explain Ed. But that planet isn't the only one with a reputation. Mars, is known for breeding some of the hardest people with the coldest hearts, Venus is said to have a lot of kind hearted folks. From what I've seen, it's partially true. I wonder where Faye was born. Sometimes she can be real weird, hard to understand. And she can be sweet as sugar one moment, then a bitch the next. I will never figure out that woman, and even though that fight we had was two days ago, I could slightly taste the twang of guilt in my mouth.
I crossed the street, into a park. People would jog by, ride their bikes along the paths. There was even a chess and checker section in the center. Old men stood around, laughing and talking. A lot of them gossiping like women do in beauty-salons. I sat down on a bench across from them and crossed my legs. Watching a game.
"You liein' bastard!" one of the guys shouted, I could see spit fly off his wrinkled lip. "You liein' cheatin' son of a bitch!"
"Man, give me the money, you just lost. Fair and Square," the other one replied, cool as ice. The other one, an old guy with pale skin and pale blue eyes, quickly sat down and shut up. It wasn't because of what his opponent said. Soon all the old men hushed, and quickly turned off the subject they where on (which was their experiences with viarga) and switched to sports. I couldn't help but to turn and see what had made the mood change. She had thick crinkly hair that turned red when the light shone through it. It contrasted with her golden-bronze skin. She was wearing a pink flower dress that came to her knees and pink highheel sandals, she had a bag in her hand.
"Grandpa here's your medication," she said in a sweet tone and said hello to all off the guys. H grandfather, which was a man with a much lighter complexion and thick, straight black hair combed back smiled and hugged his granddaughter, slipping a wad of cash in her hand. She quickly stuck it in her tiny purse and turned towards the game. The pale man quickly stood up, mumbling cruse words and paid the man his money. "Who's gonna play me next? How about you Annie? You up for a game?" He said nodding towards the chess board. The word echoed in my head.
"Annie.."
"Naw. That's all right Mr. Blake. I'm not feeling up to it. How about you?" she said looking towards me. I raised an eyebrow.
"Excuse me?" I said, pretending as if I wasn't listening.
"Why don't you play against Mr. Blake? He's beaten everyone here, expect for me," she said, causing the man to get laughed at by his friends. I shrugged and stood up.
"Hell why not," I replied, sitting down across from the old man. He had medium brown skin and a white white mustache with a hat on. He smiled, perfect white teeth, putting his pieces back into place.
"What's your name boy?" he asked.
"Spike."
"I know your damn name," he spat back unexpectedly. I glanced up at him, as he set the time clock. "You used to be in the Red Dragons. Folks thought you were dead." he had a deep set frown.
"How'd you-"
"I know a lot of things boy. I used to be in the Dragons myself back in the day. I was one of those guys who saw to the money."
"An accountant," I said. He nodded, punch the clock and moved a pawn. The clock made a slight -click- sound when he pushed the button.
"What you doin' here on Earth?" I moved a pawn as well. -click-
"I'm a bounty hunter now."
"Bounty hunting, eh? Seems to be pretty popular these days," -click-
"How'd you get out of the Syndicate?" I asked interested, trying to calculate if I could capture his bishop with a knight without getting captured myself.
"Hell, I faked my own death too." He said laughing. "All these old fuckers has been in some kind of gang." Annie's grandfather hit him with his cane for cursing. "Excuse my French honey," he apologized. Annie nodded and chuckled a little. "Check," he sat back in his chair and laced his fingers together. I looked down at the board, impressed that he caught me that fast. "You see boy, chess is just like war. I got you too concerned on this part of the board, that you didn't even notice me check you. That's the way the syndicates are. They get you all dazzled with this image that you never even notice what's really going on." I nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly. Red Dragons wasn't at all what I thought it was gonna be when I first joined it. "Who are you hunting?"
"Some guy. Everyone's too scared to tell me anything about him," I said trying to figure out how to get out off the situation. "Name's Rink Van Hoosen."
I could feel the air pause around me. Annie, who was into the game, quickly looked to the side. The man I was playing against looked at me seriously.
"What they got a bounty on him for?" he asked.
"Banking fraud," -click- "made up some phony bank accounts. Got millions for it. I never seen people so scared of a computer hacker."
"Because he just ain't no computer hacker," Mr. Blake said. -click-
"What do you mean by that?" I asked, leaning over the board, almost knocking over the pieces.
"What I mean is, he's obviously into something a bit more serious then just hacking. He may have cheated his way into Bank Roll City, but it's a veil son. It's a veil to cover up something more deep than that. See, he's got the cops so caught up in one side of the board, that they don't even noticed what he's doing on the other."
"Your the first one to talk to me about him.." I paused to let the information soak in my brain "Do you know where I could get some more information," -click- "check."
"Well, since the town knows his name. He probably done something real big. I suggest checking the library downtown for his name. They have a copy of every newspaper printed in this town. Checkmate," he smiled again, blinding me with his perfect white teeth. I sat there, almost dumbfounded. Why hadn't I thought of that before? I stood up and handed the man 20 dollars. I nodded to the rest of the men and started to speed walk towards downtown. My thoughts where so occupied that I didn't even notice the light clacking sound of shoes following me.
"Wait! Hold up!" The voice shouted. She came running up to me, her dress flying behind her. I wondered what this girl, Annie, wanted. "Your not gonna walk all the way downtown are you?" she asked, matching my pace.
"Well, walk some of the way and catch a cab for the rest," I told her, lighting a cigarette. She reached in her purse and pulled out some keys.
"I can drive you. My car is right there," she pointed to a black convertible.
"Nice car," I said on the way there, running my hand along the sleek black hood.
"Thanks, My grandfather gave it to me for my birthday," she said slipping in the drivers seat. Annie pulled out and drove for a few minutes in silence, besides the R&B music playing from the radio. Finally, I had to say what had been eating at me since I heard her name.
"Is Annie your full name?"
"Nope," she said turning onto the highway, "it's short for Anastasia." The name hit me like a ton of bricks.
"Anastasia isn't a common name."
"Yeah I know," she said putting some gum in her mouth. She offered me a piece but I said no thanks. She shrugged and blew a huge bubble.
"I got a friend named Anastasia," I started, not knowing why the hell I was telling a strange girl this. "She doesn't like for me to call her that, since her husband died."
"That's sad," she said pushing hair out of her face and turning off the highway. "Was you close to her?"
"You could say that." I said, not wanting to go back to the memories. She must have sensed it because she stopped talking. We was at the library in no time. It looked a lot like the old Greek buildings in text books. "Why do you want to help me on finding this guy?" I blurted out. She parked and turned the car off and looked at me, her dark brown eyes glittering.
"Can't someone help people out because of the kindness of their heart?" she said, making me feel a little bad for being suspicious.
"Yes, but people don't usually help other people catch a bounty," I bounced back, smirking a little at the sudden change of expression on her face.
"Well, I got my own reasons."
When I came back to the Bebop, I was completely wet. Every time someone would let me in, and I said something about catching a bounty, they would throw me out. Even my damn cigarettes where too soggy to smoke. I expected Faye to be on the couch, painting her toe nails, Ed and Ein to be off somewhere and Jet maybe making repairs to the ship or clipping those little trees of his. Instead, there was a woman I've never seen sitting on the couch painting her nails and eating ice-cream, Jet was typing on the computer and Ed was no where to be seen. The woman was dressed like a man..for some odd reason. She had real short hair, cut to the scalp. Slicked down with bangs swinging in her eyes. She glanced at Jet from time to time, telling him different things to click on and what to type in. I cleared my throat to announce my arrival. My faithful friend didn't even bother to look up, but she did. She hopped up from the couch and wobbled over to me, trying her best not to get her toe-paint smudged.
"My name is Song. You must be Spike," she said giving me a hug. Never mind that we're completely strangers to one another, she's got her shirt wide open and that she's in my ship. Just goes right up to me and hugs me. She doesn't wait for me to say anything, just wobbles back to the couch and plops down.
"Faye didn't come with you?" Jet asks, looking up from the computer. I let out a snort and rolled my eyes.
"I don't know where she is," I told him. Soon as the words left my mouth, Faye came trotting in wearing a pink tube-top dress that reached her knees and a big floppy pink hat with a yellow ribbon around it. She had shopping bags on her arms and in her hands, but the one with the pink and silver swirls stood out the most. She dropped the bags and walked over to Jet, completely ignoring the look I gave to her. No cleavage? No ass-cheeks? No yellow vinyl and red sweater?
"Sorry, couldn't get info anywhere," she said, taking off her hat. She had her hair pinned up. "Who are you?" she asked the girl.
"My name is Song. I'm here to help out on ya'll bounty."
"She went out with him in the 8th grade," Jet pitched in. Song grinned up at Faye.
"So we're cutting the cash 5 ways?" Faye asked, crossing her arms and putting her weight on her right hip.
"Nope. I'm getting some of Jet's money. You all are gonna get your half, don't worry...oh that Jet! Click on that one right there!" Song said getting excited. Faye turned to see what Jet was doing and took a seat right next to the new member of the crew. I really hate to say it, but I did feel a little left out. I considered smoking, but I remembered my smokes where soaking wet.
"Where's Ed?" I said to the group, not really expecting anyone to answer. I just wanted to say something, to let them know I was there. I wasn't used to being left out of things like that.
"Ya mean the redhead?" Song said looking at me. "She left an hour and 30 minutes ago. Said something about finding something. That's a crazy kid, we y'all get her from?"
"She just sort of fell on us, like the rest of the members of the crew," I said walking past the group. Faye shot me a nasty look and I couldn't help but to smile. Jet was right, she wasn't the type to drop the first apology, neither was I. I stuck around for a while, then decided to go back out to look for some more clues to this big bounty. Rink Van Hoosen..
I'm guessing it's a Swedish name. Or maybe German. It sure as hell isn't a common name, I know that much. But what I really want to know is, why no one would give me any clues. When we went to go catch Edward, we we're getting information left and right. But with this one, people where afraid to even say his name. Well, this lets me in on one thing, he's differently been through here and had a hell of an affect on people..I'm guessing he's done a lot more then just write up some phony bank accounts to get some easy cash. All I had to do was find someone who wasn't scared shitless to give me some information.
I thought about the subject as I walked the crowded streets of Earth. People always say that Earthlings are werid..maybe that would explain Ed. But that planet isn't the only one with a reputation. Mars, is known for breeding some of the hardest people with the coldest hearts, Venus is said to have a lot of kind hearted folks. From what I've seen, it's partially true. I wonder where Faye was born. Sometimes she can be real weird, hard to understand. And she can be sweet as sugar one moment, then a bitch the next. I will never figure out that woman, and even though that fight we had was two days ago, I could slightly taste the twang of guilt in my mouth.
I crossed the street, into a park. People would jog by, ride their bikes along the paths. There was even a chess and checker section in the center. Old men stood around, laughing and talking. A lot of them gossiping like women do in beauty-salons. I sat down on a bench across from them and crossed my legs. Watching a game.
"You liein' bastard!" one of the guys shouted, I could see spit fly off his wrinkled lip. "You liein' cheatin' son of a bitch!"
"Man, give me the money, you just lost. Fair and Square," the other one replied, cool as ice. The other one, an old guy with pale skin and pale blue eyes, quickly sat down and shut up. It wasn't because of what his opponent said. Soon all the old men hushed, and quickly turned off the subject they where on (which was their experiences with viarga) and switched to sports. I couldn't help but to turn and see what had made the mood change. She had thick crinkly hair that turned red when the light shone through it. It contrasted with her golden-bronze skin. She was wearing a pink flower dress that came to her knees and pink highheel sandals, she had a bag in her hand.
"Grandpa here's your medication," she said in a sweet tone and said hello to all off the guys. H grandfather, which was a man with a much lighter complexion and thick, straight black hair combed back smiled and hugged his granddaughter, slipping a wad of cash in her hand. She quickly stuck it in her tiny purse and turned towards the game. The pale man quickly stood up, mumbling cruse words and paid the man his money. "Who's gonna play me next? How about you Annie? You up for a game?" He said nodding towards the chess board. The word echoed in my head.
"Annie.."
"Naw. That's all right Mr. Blake. I'm not feeling up to it. How about you?" she said looking towards me. I raised an eyebrow.
"Excuse me?" I said, pretending as if I wasn't listening.
"Why don't you play against Mr. Blake? He's beaten everyone here, expect for me," she said, causing the man to get laughed at by his friends. I shrugged and stood up.
"Hell why not," I replied, sitting down across from the old man. He had medium brown skin and a white white mustache with a hat on. He smiled, perfect white teeth, putting his pieces back into place.
"What's your name boy?" he asked.
"Spike."
"I know your damn name," he spat back unexpectedly. I glanced up at him, as he set the time clock. "You used to be in the Red Dragons. Folks thought you were dead." he had a deep set frown.
"How'd you-"
"I know a lot of things boy. I used to be in the Dragons myself back in the day. I was one of those guys who saw to the money."
"An accountant," I said. He nodded, punch the clock and moved a pawn. The clock made a slight -click- sound when he pushed the button.
"What you doin' here on Earth?" I moved a pawn as well. -click-
"I'm a bounty hunter now."
"Bounty hunting, eh? Seems to be pretty popular these days," -click-
"How'd you get out of the Syndicate?" I asked interested, trying to calculate if I could capture his bishop with a knight without getting captured myself.
"Hell, I faked my own death too." He said laughing. "All these old fuckers has been in some kind of gang." Annie's grandfather hit him with his cane for cursing. "Excuse my French honey," he apologized. Annie nodded and chuckled a little. "Check," he sat back in his chair and laced his fingers together. I looked down at the board, impressed that he caught me that fast. "You see boy, chess is just like war. I got you too concerned on this part of the board, that you didn't even notice me check you. That's the way the syndicates are. They get you all dazzled with this image that you never even notice what's really going on." I nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly. Red Dragons wasn't at all what I thought it was gonna be when I first joined it. "Who are you hunting?"
"Some guy. Everyone's too scared to tell me anything about him," I said trying to figure out how to get out off the situation. "Name's Rink Van Hoosen."
I could feel the air pause around me. Annie, who was into the game, quickly looked to the side. The man I was playing against looked at me seriously.
"What they got a bounty on him for?" he asked.
"Banking fraud," -click- "made up some phony bank accounts. Got millions for it. I never seen people so scared of a computer hacker."
"Because he just ain't no computer hacker," Mr. Blake said. -click-
"What do you mean by that?" I asked, leaning over the board, almost knocking over the pieces.
"What I mean is, he's obviously into something a bit more serious then just hacking. He may have cheated his way into Bank Roll City, but it's a veil son. It's a veil to cover up something more deep than that. See, he's got the cops so caught up in one side of the board, that they don't even noticed what he's doing on the other."
"Your the first one to talk to me about him.." I paused to let the information soak in my brain "Do you know where I could get some more information," -click- "check."
"Well, since the town knows his name. He probably done something real big. I suggest checking the library downtown for his name. They have a copy of every newspaper printed in this town. Checkmate," he smiled again, blinding me with his perfect white teeth. I sat there, almost dumbfounded. Why hadn't I thought of that before? I stood up and handed the man 20 dollars. I nodded to the rest of the men and started to speed walk towards downtown. My thoughts where so occupied that I didn't even notice the light clacking sound of shoes following me.
"Wait! Hold up!" The voice shouted. She came running up to me, her dress flying behind her. I wondered what this girl, Annie, wanted. "Your not gonna walk all the way downtown are you?" she asked, matching my pace.
"Well, walk some of the way and catch a cab for the rest," I told her, lighting a cigarette. She reached in her purse and pulled out some keys.
"I can drive you. My car is right there," she pointed to a black convertible.
"Nice car," I said on the way there, running my hand along the sleek black hood.
"Thanks, My grandfather gave it to me for my birthday," she said slipping in the drivers seat. Annie pulled out and drove for a few minutes in silence, besides the R&B music playing from the radio. Finally, I had to say what had been eating at me since I heard her name.
"Is Annie your full name?"
"Nope," she said turning onto the highway, "it's short for Anastasia." The name hit me like a ton of bricks.
"Anastasia isn't a common name."
"Yeah I know," she said putting some gum in her mouth. She offered me a piece but I said no thanks. She shrugged and blew a huge bubble.
"I got a friend named Anastasia," I started, not knowing why the hell I was telling a strange girl this. "She doesn't like for me to call her that, since her husband died."
"That's sad," she said pushing hair out of her face and turning off the highway. "Was you close to her?"
"You could say that." I said, not wanting to go back to the memories. She must have sensed it because she stopped talking. We was at the library in no time. It looked a lot like the old Greek buildings in text books. "Why do you want to help me on finding this guy?" I blurted out. She parked and turned the car off and looked at me, her dark brown eyes glittering.
"Can't someone help people out because of the kindness of their heart?" she said, making me feel a little bad for being suspicious.
"Yes, but people don't usually help other people catch a bounty," I bounced back, smirking a little at the sudden change of expression on her face.
"Well, I got my own reasons."