Cowboy Bebop Fan Fiction ❯ The Nero Chronicles ❯ Prolouge: The Legend ( Chapter 1 )

The Nero Chronicles

A bounty hunter's tale By Edicius

 

Prologue: The Legend

 

The hazy smoke, low lights, and constant chatter of the bar was a comfort to William Svenior, an recently escaped convict who just saw himself go up on the bounty hunter's show for a whopping 20 million woolongs. This was a cue to go, though Blue Haven was well known as a hideout for criminals and had nearly no bounty hunters. He also was careful about using his bank accounts and other assets so he was nearly undetectable.

On his way out he passed a sleeping young man, 18 or 19 by the looks of it, with shoulder-length blue hair and a full-length leather trench coat. Noticing him only by his strange looks he walked out the door and into the alley. Nearly 2 minutes later the door opened behind him and he heard a voice say “Excuse me sir, but can I bum a smoke?”

The boy he had passed earlier was behind him with a pleading look in his eyes. William himself was feeling his nicotine addiction start to tug at him, removing a pack from his pocket he pulled out one for himself and offered the pack to the stranger. “Thank you.” Said the younger man taking a cancer stick. “Saw you on the TV, and it's not a good idea to stay in Blue Haven.”

“Oh, and why is that?” Said William starting to get annoyed.

“Bounty Hunter's have been coming here arresting people, just today one nabbed a murderer not 2 blocks from here.” Said the young man. “If I were you I'd take off before you got found by them or the ISP.”

“What I do is none of your buisness! Why don't you smoke your cigarette and leave me the hell alone.”

“No thanks.” Said the young man tearing the smoke in two, his voice suddenly taking on a more serious tone “That stuff will kill you, and you're worth too much for me to just leave alone, William.” For the first time the boy looked up revealing golden eyes that shined in the darkness like searchlights. When William saw those eyes he immediately knew who he was dealing with though he could hardly believe it.

“Nero Naragawa?” He asked his voice shaking. He never knew going to a bar would put him face to face with one of the best bounty hunters in the biz. He remebered his cellmate (who was another one of Nero's captures) telling him how Nero never let anyone go.

“No convict who has seen Nero has escaped.” Said the child molester. “They are always haunted by his golden eyes, the only part of him they remember, other than his great big black wings. William if you ever meet him on the outside, run away before he removes his jacket, for few have ever survived, let alone escaped, when he spreads his wings.”

He took this advice now and ran to the end of the alley. Nero reacted by neatly leaping 10 feet over his head, blocking his escape. William threw a punch at Nero which he easily ducked and retalited first with a punch to the gut, and than a swift kick to his manhood. William hit the ground, coughing and holding himself.

“Ready to give up yet? Or do you want me to sterilize you.” Nero taunted putting a foot on the nick of William's neck. “Or should I just kill you right here and now, the reward is dead or alive.” Said Nero reaching down and pulling a pendant off of William's neck. William subsequent explosion of rage caused him to stand up suddenly, and Nero apparently anticipated the maneuver because he went into a graceful backflip landing neatly in front of William. The pendant containing the picture of William's daughter clutched in Nero's hand enraged the father even furthur. His little girl was the reason why he commited the robbery that landed him in jail in the first place. Now this young, naïve bounty hunter clutched her in his hands, the only part of him that he perserved, ever since she died from her cancer 2 years ago. In his rage William didn't notice the trench coat fall from Nero's shoulders, in fact it took the sight of two black wings jutting from the boys back to burn out his rage and replace it with fear. William fell at the feet of the young boy begging for mercy.

Nero responded by blacking out the man with a swift kick to the face, hearing the sirens in the distance he placed the pendant and his calling card on top of the comatose man and put his trench coat on as he walked away. Two days later 20 million was deposited into his account and William was behind bars.