Cowboy Bebop Fan Fiction ❯ Stew ❯ Old Friends ( Chapter 4 )

The words spoken so coldly hung in the air like icicles. Faye's spine felt frozen and she shivered from fear and anxiety. Whoever these people where, they were obviously after Spike. Were these members....of the Red Dragon Mafia?

Couldn't be.

Why would they be after him, and why now? If they had any reason to try to get rid of them, wouldn't they have done it earlier? And why were they looking for him in the first place? He hadn't done anything with anyone even vaguely tied to the Syndicate.

Ugghhhhhhh.

She forced herself to sit up and spotted the silhouette of Spike's lanky form sitting forward on the couch. The remnants of Earth's shattered moon managed to reflect some sunlight into his rust-colored eyes, making them look like two marbles. With his unruly hair, he almost looked like a wolf with glowing eyes.

She shivered.

"S-Spike?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you....know who those guys are?"

".....I'm not quite sure....I don't recognize the voices.....but I'm afraid I might. They could be from the Syndicate....DAMN Vicious."

Faye's eyes widened. Never had she heard Spike speak in that tone - his voice, usually light and carefree, was now dripping with hate and building anger. It scared her.

"Why do you hate him?" she asked solemnly, and sat on the couch next to him.

Spike groaned. "Do you HAVE to ask?"

"Yes." She looked him square in the eyes. "Yes, I do."

Spike took a breath. "It....had to do with....Julia. Is that enough for you or do I need to further twist the knife into my flesh?"

Faye's eyes softened. "No, that's eno-"

"Spike....we know you're there...." a deep, menacing voice boomed over the radio.

"Dammit!"

Spike summoned his strength, and with Faye's help, made his way to the radio. He sat down carefully on the cushioned chair, thankful that his injury wasn't still making him fall into lapses of unconsciousness.

"Who IS this?" he demanded.

A triumphant chuckle came on after a sharp crackle of static. "We knew you were there."

"I'm warning you....TELL ME WHO YOU ARE!"

"No need to yell, dear Spike. This is Tom, and my partners Nimh, Jordan, and Kwan. Red Dragon Syndicate I.D.s 193735-"

"I don't recognize any of your names. You're rookies."

Silence. A few tense moments passed before they replied.

"We've been on for about two months. On an assignment to crush the beginnings of a rival syndicate that fled to Neptune, we chickened out. We'd never been exposed to so much at the same time, and hauled ass outta there. Now, of course, there's no returning once you've screwed up like that. The Elders would do God knows what to us."

"Uh huh...."

Spike waited impatiently for the man to continue. His leg was bouncing up and down as he tapped his heel, keeping his toe on the ground. Faye watched him anxiously. This was turning out to be interesting.

"So we've been floating around space for a few weeks now, trying to figure out where to go. Vicious called one of our personal ships and left a message -"

There were fumbling noises and muffled voices before they found the answering machine's tape:

"'I know you messed up. I can help you. If you find a fella for me, I'll make sure everything blows over with the Elders. The guy I want is a man by the name of Spike. Spike Spiegel. If you haven't heard about him from older members, I think you need to clean your ears out. I've received information from a valuable source as to the whereabouts of the ship he's on, but I'm busy with....something. Acquiring him alive and bringing him to me is your assignment. The ship is about 8,000 miles from Earth in the direction of Mars. Fulfill this mission and you will be allowed to return. Fail, and I will see to it that you are exposed of immediately.'"

Again, rustlings of movement.

"We didn't exactly have much choice..."
"Yeah. Well, do you plan on 'acquiring me alive' and taking me to him?"

"That depends. One, we really don't know if we can trust Vicious. We know he's been known to double cross, because he's ruthless in getting what he wants."

"Amen," Spike said under his breath.

A new voice came over the radio.

"We don't exactly know why he wants you dead, either, and we're thinking maybe we can pop a deal out of this other than just letting us return....you know, a few extra thousand woolong never hurt anybody."

Spike smirked at this.

VERY obviously rookies. Probably distant family members to a member of the Red Dragons or some wide-eyed innocent that had heard thrilling stories about the Red Dragons and had decided to join.

Damn fools.

"Also, we're not sure if we really want to return. I mean, it can't be THAT hard to hide from them somewhere in the galaxy....they have more important things to do than take care of us, and we've realized that lifestyle is.....too stressing for our tastes."

GOD damned fools.

Spike leaned back against the chair, took a long drag on his cigarette, and smirked.

"So....what'd you hear about me?"

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A/N: Sorry that was so short! I've written out the basic ideas for the rest of this story, and I'm very anxious to get it out on FFNet. ^_^ Please R&R!