Cowboy Bebop Fan Fiction ❯ Stew ❯ Unexpected Surprises ( Chapter 3 )

Spike fell in and out of consciousness several times during the remainder of the day. Each time he awoke, Faye was there with some water or painkillers and talked to him about anything and everything.

It was getting dark outside and Jet and the others still hadn't returned.

Faye began to worry. What if they had run into trouble? She was here alone with a very seriously injured Spike - he could bleed to death if not given the right treatment. They had very few supplies and even less food.

This was definitely not good.

Whenever Spike was unconscious, Faye would stand up and stretch, use the bathroom, maybe drink some water. Once, as she was returning from using the restroom, he was flailing slightly, his forehead tensed, his mouth curled into a frown.

"Julia....no, no I didn't....I don't know....Julia! What about...but I....I did. I do. Really, I do..."

He called out in pain and awoke.

"Damned joystick..." he muttered weakly.

Faye got a cool, wet washcloth and wiped his sweat away gently.

"Hey, you got a smoke?"

Faye rolled her eyes. Nonetheless, she stood and fetched a pack, then opened it as Spike carefully sat up. He took one, reached into his pocket, and lit it.

"Where's Jet?"

"He went with Ed and Ein to go get food and a doctor."

Spike grunted in acknowledgement.

Faye studied him carefully as he looked around, then sat back with his hands behind his head. Was he back to normal yet?

"Spike?"

"Mmph?"

"Do you remember what happened to give you that injury?"

"Of course. We crash landed. How could I forget?"

He opened her eyes to look at her suspiciously. She was looking off somewhere above him, but somehow, she was staring at nothing. As he watched her out-of-focus eyes shimmer, he saw a vulnerable side of her he'd never seen before. Had he missed something?

Yet, as soon as he saw it, it disappeared, a layer of cold ice glazing over them. The Faye he knew and l-....well, the Faye he knew was back.

She snapped out of it and saw he had been watching her, and blushed. Standing and walking over to one of the windows, she muttered, "Damn that Jet. Where....are.....OH MY GOD!!!"

"What? What?!?" Spike tried to get up but a bolt of pain shot through him and he had to sit back down.

Faye held a trembling hand up to her open mouth in shock.

"It's....it's...."

She backed away from the window right as a shot pierced the outside of the 5-inch thick unbreakable windows right in front of her face.

Her instincts taking over, she dropped to her knees, then rolled to the side and got out her gun.

"What is it, dammit?!?" Spike shouted from the couch.

"Those ships that shot at us....you tangled them in the ropes and now...."

She crawled quickly to the window on the opposite side and quickly took a peek over the edge of the window sill.

Damn.

"Spike....there were two ships....they're on either side of us." She could feel her stomach lurching in fear.

"One of the ships has Jet in it, strapped to a chair, and the other has Ed and Ein. They're in plain view....obviously the people want something from us. What, I don't know, but they have them hostage."

Within the time it took her to finish, Spike had used the coffee table as a support and slowly stood up, taking meticulous step after meticulous step towards her. When she finished and didn't hear a comment from him, she turned and gasped to find him kneeling beside her. He gave a weak smile, but he wasn't fooling her - she could see the sweat on his face and neck from such an effort and panic stuck her.

What do I do? I'm...I'm the only defense for the Bebop and the only hope for Jet, Ed, and Ein....and....Spike. What do I DO!?!

"Faye."

She looked at Spike and saw determination in his eyes. He had that look on his face every time he played pool against someone who could challenge him. And every time he shot a bullet. And every time he had gambled against her. It was the will to put 150% of his effort into winning.

Instantly she understood, and his determination was channeled through his eyes into hers. She frowned in concentration, then very carefully helped Spike back to the couch.

"Spike, I'm going to need your help. Tell me what to do. We have to bluff and make them think we have more people in here than we do."

He nodded. "First, go turn off all the lights. They won't be able to see us inside."

"Right."

She started towards the control room.

"Hey, Faye."

She turned to look at him. He nearly burst out laughing at her, caught in mid-stride on her hands and knees, a blunt look of seriousness on her features.

"Go check on the radio system too. I'm sure they would have contacted us by now unless there was something wrong with it."

She turned back around and continued on her way. When she finally made it to the control room, she stood up and realized her knees and hands were red and hurt like hell. There were no windows in this room, and for good reason. If someone outside the ship could shoot a succession of bullets at around the same spot, they'd get through and damage the ship's system with ease. Faye looked around, taking the cover boards off and looking through wires. After a few minutes, she got frustrated and decided to rest for a few seconds. It was deathly hot in the room.

As she sat back and wiped the sweat off her brow, her attention was drawn to a bright red double lever. It was labeled in big white letters, "LIGHTS."

"Shut up, Spike," she smirked. For once she thought ahead and got out two flashlights from a box in the back closet of the room where they kept spare parts and such. Using all her strength, she pulled the levers toward her.

The ship went black and the sound of the lights running down echoed through the metal ship. Once that stopped, she turned on one of the flashlights and made her way up to the front of the ship, where they steered, which was just the next room over. Dragging a small but heavy toolbox with her, she made it within a minute and started taking out tools, then examined the radio system.

The box that contained all of its wires had been jammed in, and it took her a while to take the cover off since it had been twisted and contorted to resemble a silverish piece of crumbled paper. Upon looking inside, she saw nothing but a mess of red, green, yellow, and black wires until she parted them and looked through the jungle of microchips. There, on the left side of the box, was a group of 3 wires that had been severed by the box cover's sharp edge. They connected two larger chips together, and she knew she had to find a way to fix this.

Putting on the thick gloves used for working with electronic parts to prevent getting shocked, she picked up a small pair of tweezers and twisted the copperish ends of the frayed wires hanging out of the colored rubber wire covers together, then used the mini-torch to weld them together.

Sweat poured down her front, back, and face, making her hair stick to her head and hang in her face. She knew she had to correct this problem and that it might mean the difference between survival or expiration. The pressure mounted as she was welding the last wire together. The torch slipped from her glove because of sweat that had dripped down onto it and it flared as the knob controlling the amount of fuel was turned by hitting Faye's knee on it's way down.

"SHIT!" she hissed as it barely grazed her open wound. She had forgotten about it as she had cared for Spike, too caught up in taking care of him to notice the trail of blood she was leaving everywhere.

**********************flashback**********************

"Now, stay still, my dear," the old doctor told her. She trembled in her mother's arms and looked away, her eyes closed tightly in fear.

"This is a VERY old technique, but there is a shortage of the medicine you need...so please, dear, I'd never do this if it weren't for that reason. You know Doctor Bender loves you."

He very carefully held the flame an inch and a half above her wound and watched as it sealed. She didn't scream once.

"What a good girl!" the nurse cooed sweetly. "Here's a lollipop for being such a good patient."

**********************end flashback**********************

Faye sat on the floor, stunned by such an odd and sudden flashback. She crawled slowly back to the room where Spike was waiting and didn't see the concerned look on his face as she collapsed with emotion.

After a few tense seconds of silence, the radio speakers crackled loudly.

"Vicious wants you dead...."