Cowboy Bebop Fan Fiction ❯ THE SHOW MUST GO ON! Part 2 ❯ THE SHOW MUST GO ON! Part 2 ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]



Session 16

THE SHOW MUST GO ON! (part 2)

by jak981125

Note: This story is part of a series. It will make more sense if you
read the earlier sessions.

"Stupid Lau!" grumbled Jet. "It was his idea to leave Mars in
the first place. Then he pulls a one-eighty on me and this happens!"

Jet walked up to Laughing Bull's teepee and slowly entered. The
two men gazed at one another for a moment without speaking. "You are
trembling, Running Rock," said Laughing Bull. "The woman and her child
will live. I have foreseen it."

Jet turned to leave but stopped. He slowly turned back around.
"That's not my only concern," he said softly.

"I know," replied Laughing Bull. "What is it that frightens you
so much my son?"

"The past," replied Jet. "I can't stand the thought that history
could repeat itself. I'm worried my partner will go out the same way
Spike did. I'm not sure I could handle it if that happened."

Lau was sitting on a gurney in the emergency room with an oxygen
mask on his face. Tears of anxiety ran down his cheeks because no one
could tell him what was happening. After Faye had been hit, Lau had gone
into shock and stopped breathing. Three male nurses, ignoring orders to
wait for the police, ran outside to aide Faye and Lau. Lau might not
have lived long enough for the police to show up. Upstairs, Faye and her
new daughter were having emergency surgery. The bullet had torn through
the baby's buttock. Any injury like that is life-threatening to someone
that small, but she was doing all right. Faye had been given several
units of blood and her outlook improved dramatically as well.

Back in the wilderness, Laughing Bull sighed. "Why do you have
such a strong fear of death? Are you so afraid of it that you will blind
yourself to what is required? It is an inevitable reality. Why do you
cling so tightly to this fantasy that you believe to be the real world?"

"Then it's not real?" asked Jet. "You mean to tell me that
Vicious was right in that crazy letter of his?"

"The Snake saw much, perhaps more than most men ever will,"
replied Laughing Bull. "But though he had two good eyes to see with, he
blinded himself so that he could not see the whole picture. I can only
conclude that his blindness led him out of this world through the wrong
door. It is the door that leads to true death, and that is what should
truly be feared; real and unending death."

Jet stood up to leave. "You have not answered my question yet,
Running Rock," said Laughing Bull. "In this world there are many snakes
all around us and the innocent must be protected. While they strike at
heels, man must strike at their heads."

"I didn't know you knew anything so Biblical," replied Jet.

"See this weapon?" asked Laughing Bull, holding up an ax. "I
once killed a man with this. He tried to rape one of my daughters at
knife-point. So I killed him."

"Well of course you did," replied Jet. "You had a right to
defend your family."

"More than a right," replied Laughing Bull. "I had an
obligation. Lau now feels the weight of this obligation as well. It is
not out of hate or malice that he will seek out and destroy his enemy.
It is out of obligation towards his family and towards the innocent.
Now, Running Rock, what are you prepared to do for your family?"

"Me?" asked Jet. "I don't have a...." He suddenly stopped.

Laughing Bull led Jet outside and pointed at the sky. "I
recently saw the most amazing thing," he said. "Those two stars there,
they were alone, isolated, far away from one another. In just one night
they drifted towards one another and have been side-by-side ever since.
They are inseparable."

"You're talking about me and Ed, aren't you?"

Lau stood over Faye as she lay unconscious in a bed in post-op.
Next to her was the baby, also unconscious. I'm sure you can imagine
what was going through Lau's mind at this point. Seeing his young family
hurt like that was too much to take.

In the wilderness Laughing Bull put his arm around Jet's
shoulder. "Should your fear of what lies beyond render you unable to
stand up and do the right thing in spite of the danger? I know you are
no coward. But remember that each spirit must render an account of
itself at the end of it's life to the Great Spirit. The child needs you.
It was no accident that she came to you. Your feelings that developed
towards her after she left were no accident either. It was all part of
the Great Spirit's design. It is His will that you watch over her and
raise her. These snakes are bullies and cowards. They have sought to
harm innocent bystanders to make you and your partner suffer. You must
forget the pain of the past and deal with this."

"If I do, will I live long enough to see her grow up?" asked Jet
quietly.

"So your true fear surfaces at last," said Laughing Bull. "It is
not for me to know. I have not foreseen the fall of your star just yet,
so I believe their is good chance of it. Now go! Go be with your partner."

Lau walked out of the hospital. His car was still outside by the
emergency room entrance. He watched in horror as two men used a hose to
clean Faye's blood off the sidewalk. Angrily, he walked to his car and
pulled out of the parking lot.

On the Bebop, Ed sat on a sofa, stroking Ein's fur. Ein whined
softly. "Is Edward hurting you? Ed is sorry. Poor Ein." Just then Ed
detected she was not alone. Jet was standing behind her watching her.
"Jet, Ed didn't hear you come in. Are you done talking to your friend yet?"

He nodded and sat down next to her. "Have you heard from Lau at
all about how Faye and the baby are doing?"

"No, nobody has called Edward since you left."

"Ed, we need to talk about something important," said Jet.

Lau drove over to the west side of town and backed the car into
an alley. Carefully he watched everyone who went by. He was waiting to
see a syndicate man on his side of the street who was all alone.

Jet sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "Ed, I was thinking
that I might...no...I was thinking that I do really want to adopt you. I
want to be your father, not just some legal guardian. The day you walked
back into my life was probably the happiest day I've ever known."

Ed sat back with her eyes wide open. "You...want to be...Ed's
father person?"

"If that's OK with you, sweetie."

Ed smiled. "Ed likes being called sweetie, and she likes Jet,
and Ed says if Jet wants to be the father person, then WAH HOO!" She and
Jet embraced.

In the alley, Lau saw exactly what he was looking for. A
syndicate man stepped into the alley to sneak a reefer on the side. He
hadn't even noticed that someone was in the sedan he was standing next
to. Or maybe he felt like he could do anything in front of anyone as
long as he was in syndicate garb. He couldn't have been more mistaken.
Before he knew what hit him, Lau grabbed him, disarmed him, and threw
him against a wall. Before the man could make a sound, Lau jammed his
gun in his mouth. "I've got a little message for Akira," he said.

Back on the Bebop, Ed searched rapidly through the bounty hunter
database. "Aye ya, every single name you gave Ed checks out. All these
guys have a bounty."

"OK, good Ed. That's all the remaining syndicate members on
Mars. Now I need a couple more favors. First of all I need the
blueprints for this address." Jet handed Ed a business card. "Second,
you controlled the Bebop with a remote control a couple of times. Do you
think you could do the same thing with the Swordfish?"

Ed nodded. "Sure, Ed can do that. It's easy."

"OK, you get to work on that and I have a couple of calls to
make." Jet pulled out a phone. "Hello Bob, you're still on Mars right
now, right? Good. Say Bob, feel like doing something a little crazy?"

Returning to the hospital, Lau stepped out of the elevator and
headed to post-op. Faye and the baby were gone. The nurse told him they
had been given a private room, so he headed over there. Faye was still
asleep as he approached. The baby was awake and lying on it's stomach.
It had an awfully confused look on it's face as if to say "Hey, why does
my butt hurt?"

As Lau walked over, the baby looked up at him with her eyes wide
open. Lau reached over, and softly stroked the wisps of hairs on her
head. She reached up and grabbed his finger. Lau had never felt anything
in his life before quite like he was feeling now. He leaned over and
kissed the baby on the head. The baby let go of his finger and went back
to sleep.

"Isn't she beautiful?"

Lau looked over to see that it was Faye who had spoken. She was
awake, but a wee bit groggy. Her hospital bed was pretty big, so he
climbed in next to her and laid down. He leaned over and kissed Faye's
lips gently. "I don't need anything else in life now," he said.

The smile on his face slowly vanished. "Lau, what's wrong?"
asked Faye. "All of the sudden you have the most serious look on your face."

"It won't stop here," he replied. "They won't stop coming after
us until I do something about this."

Faye had been groggy but upon hearing that she was wide awake.
"No, don't say that! Please, don't go doing something stupid. Not now.
We need you. We love you so much. Please!"

"Faye, I have no intention of going out and getting myself
killed the way Spike did, if that's what you're worried about," he said.
"I'm not going to do something like single-handedly take on a small army
of goons."

"But you're going to do something, aren't you?" asked Faye.

"Akira."

"No."

"I have to."

"But why?"

"I'm nothing to the rest of these scumbags," replied Lau.
"Without him, they won't care about us. Akira on the other hand poses a
constant danger to me. I can handle that but what I can't handle is him
coming after my family. He goes, we're safe, that's that."

"But if you go after their leader..."

"They won't be around to take retribution," said Jet from the
doorway. "We're taking them out tonight. All of them. Anyone who doesn't
surrender dies."

Lau stood up and looked into his partner's eyes. "I wish I could
come with you, but my business is with Akira tonight."

"I know."

"Lau...Lau, dammit, you'd better not get killed!" said Faye.

Lau smiled. "I'm two-for-two against this guy. He goes down
tonight. End of story." He walked over and kissed her and the baby one
last time. He took one more look at them and then walked out.

Faye tried to put on a brave front, but as soon as Lau and Jet
walked out of the room, she burst into tears.

At the syndicate headquarters, the man that Lau had grabbed
raced upstairs to the lair of the Van. He opened the door and raced up
to Akira. Akira opened his eyes and looked deeply into the thug's eyes.
He smiled.

"You've just had a run-in with Lau, haven't you?" he asked.

"Yes sir. He gave me a message. He wants to challenge you to a
duel tonight."

"And what are the terms?" asked Akira.

"Swords only, no guns. You also have to come alone."

"Where?"

"The pedestrian bridge over the river by State Street."

"I accept," said Akira with a gleam in his eye.

"Sir, what instructions do you have for the rest of us? We're
gonna ambush him, right?"

"If I see any of you within a hundred miles of that bridge, I'll
kill you myself," replied Akira. "This is between me and Lau. The rest
of the Clan stays here on guard duty tonight in case the cops try to
invade."

"But what if you're walking into a trap? Please take someone
with you. It's for your own good, sir."

"My own good?" Akira, without warning, pulled out a gun and shot
the man to death. "Have someone clean him up."

In the hallway at the hospital, Lau and Jet were talking. "Every
one of the Blue Snakes has a price on his head," explained Jet. "Me and
Bob have put together an entire group of bounty hunters on rather short
notice. We're going in there and we're gonna put a stop to these guys
once and for all. I'm telling you, we thought of everything. Our inside
man in the syndicate says everyone is going to be at headquarters
tonight on guard duty. One thing though. Think I could borrow the
Swordfish?"

Lau managed a weak smile. "Sure. Sounds like you've got this all
figured out. Can I ask you something? What was the last thing you and
Spike ever said to each other?"

"Before he went out to get Vicious, I asked him if he was doing
this for Julia," replied Jet.

"What did he say?"

"He said that she was dead and there was nothing he could do for
her now. What about you, Lau? Are you doing it for the girl?"

"Yeah. I am. What about you? Are you doing this for Ed?"

"I'm going to adopt her," replied Jet. He held out his hand and
spit in it. "Lau, let's make a solemn pact right now. If I don't come
back from this, you take care of Ed and Ein. If you don't come back from
this, I take care of Faye and the baby. What do you say?"

Lau said nothing but spit in his own hand and shook hands with
Jet. He started to walk away but stopped. Her turned back and gave Jet a
hug. "Save a place for me at the dinner table, OK Jet?"

"Sure thing, Lau."

Lau walked out. He got into his car and drove off towards State
Street. Images flashed through his mind. He remembered the day he met
Talia, his first wife. She hadn't heard him coming and the two of them
bumped into one another on the sidewalk. It took Lau less than a moment
to realize she was blind. He couldn't help but think she was also the
most beautiful girl he had ever met. He also remembered the exact moment
he fell in love with Faye. It was at the banquet after Danny's funeral.
She had sat down and the two had stared into each other's eyes. He had
to fight an overwhelming urge to lean over and kiss her right there and
then. He arrived at his destination and stepped out of the car. It was
chilly so he was wearing a black trench coat. Hidden underneath was
Vicious's katana. He walked up to the bridge and waited for Akira to
show up.

A couple of blocks away from the Blue Snake HQ, Ed was waiting
all alone on top of a warehouse. The Swordfish was parked on the roof
next door. With her binoculars, she could see the target building very
well. It looked crowded tonight.

Standing on the bridge, Lau didn't have to wait too long. Akira
appeared out of the shadows a few minutes later. The two old enemies
stared at each other in silence for a moment. "They both survived," Lau
finally said.

"I'll make sure to remedy that as soon as I'm done killing you,"
replied Akira coldly. "You brought this on yourself and on them, Lau. I
recall once warning you what would happen if you didn't finish me off
back in San Francisco. You brought this on your own family."

Lau frowned at him. "One of two things happens tonight. One: I
disarm you and collect a very generous bounty on your sorry ass. Two:
you die. Only two options."

"You forgot the third option in which I take your head home for
a trophy," smirked Akira.

"There is no third option," said Lau. "Let's do this." Both of
them drew their swords. The metal gleamed eerily under the street light.
The blades made almost a sizzling sound as they clashed.

Across town, Ed saw all the lights in the Snake HQ go out
suddenly. She knew power to the building had just been cut. Just then,
she received a transmission from Jet. "Ed, green light!" Immediately she
pulled out a remote control and activated the Swordfish. Using the other
roof like a runway, it took off. Ed guided it down to about street level.

The guards inside were expecting some sort of trouble but none
of them were prepared when the Swordfish crashed through the glass doors
and started flying around the lobby. It started spraying a non-flammable
knock-out gas all over the place. The machine gun fired tranquilizer
bullets at anything that moved. When it ran out of gas and ammo, it
landed. Just then a small army of bounty hunters lead by Jet ran in. All
of them were wearing body armor and gas masks. They also all had
night-vision goggles. They raced up the stairs to search assigned floors.

Back at the bridge, Akira and Lau were going at it hammer and
tongs. Both of them had some degree of training in sword fighting. Akira
reached into his sleeve and tossed a knife at Lau. Lau saw it coming and
batted it out of the air harmlessly with his katana.

At headquarters, machine gun fire could be heard throughout the
building. Very few Blue Snakes surrendered. Those that tried to fight
were gunned down immediately. Not one inch of the building was left
unsearched. Outside, Ed was watching to warn if she saw anyone escaping.
She had four remote controlled toy helicopters with cameras hovering
over the building. Other bounty hunters would grab anyone that she
warned them about.

Jet and Bob raced to the top floor. They had a specific target
in mind; Lobo Jenkins. Lobo was by far the most valuable bounty head in
the entire building. They ran to the end of the hallway and kicked in a
door on the right. At the far end of a large office was Lobo. They
couldn't see his face very well with the night-vision but they knew it
was him. But as soon as Jet shined a flashlight in his face, he saw
something he wasn't prepared for. Lobo had taken red eye. "BOB, HE
JUICED UP!" screamed Jet at the top of his lungs. Lobo charged at them.
He easily dodged every shot they fired at him. He plowed into Bob so
hard that he knocked him through a wall. He then turned his attention on
Jet. Jet immediately dropped to one knee and punched him in the groin as
hard as he could with his metal arm. In anger he grabbed Jet by the
throat. Jet shot him in the gut and Lobo let go for just a moment. Jet
backed up as quickly as he could. Lobo looked at his wound for a moment
and then at Jet. In a rage he charged at him. At the last possible
moment Jet jumped out of his way. So forcefully had Lobo charged, that
he crashed through the wall and right out the side of the building. He
fell to his death on the street below. The raid had been an overwhelming
success. The Blue Snake had been defeated. All but one.

Faster and faster, Lau and Akira traded blows. One had come too
close to Lau and he had not been able to move away quickly enough to
avoid getting his cheek lacerated. And then...quick as lightning Lau
made a twisting motion with his katana and knocked the sword out of
Akira's hand. He put his blade to the gangster's throat. "I told you
there were only two options."

Akira smiled. "I'll take option number two!" He reached inside
his trench coat and pulled out a gun. Lau slit his throat before he
could fire. Akira dropped the gun and pointed his finger at Lau. "Bang!"
And he dropped to the pavement and died. His little joke was lost on
Lau. Lau hadn't seen Spike die. It was over. The Mars syndicate was
officially dead. Lau took one last look at his fallen opponent and
walked back to his car.

A few days later the Bebop had a new resident. Faye and Lau were
as proud as you could imagine as they walked in with their new baby. To
honor Spike, they had named the baby Julia. Ein hobbled over to the
couch, hoping to get a good look at the infant.

Just then, Jet walked in triumphantly with Ed on his shoulders.
"It's official. I met your new daughter, now you meet mine." He set Ed
down so she could look at little Julia. Jet sat down next to Lau. "It's
such a relief knowing that life isn't just a series of sad endings."

Lau looked at him. "Jet, I don't know about you, but I've had
about enough excitement for one lifetime. Let's get out of here."

Faye smiled and looked up. "I think my husband has a business
proposition for you, Jet."

"You said you were thinking about using the prize money for an
investment," said Lau. I've got one in mind. Let's go back to New York
and make Manhattan Fugitive Recovery an offer to buy their business."

"All right! Edward loves New York. Can we go Jet...I mean papa,
can we please?"

Jet grinned. "Before we talk about that, we have to talk about
something else. If we go to New York, that's fine, but once we get
there, the Bebop's yours."

"What?" asked Lau in disbelief.

"Me and Ed should get out of your hair and get our own place,"
replied Jet. "You guys deserve to have a home to yourself."

"But it's your ship," replied Faye. "If anything we should leave."

"Nothing doing," replied Jet. "I never gave you guys a wedding
present, so this is it. As for MFR, sure, sounds like a good idea."

"But Ed wants to stay on Bebop and watch Julia grow up,"
complained Ed.

"Tell you what, I'll make you our official baby-sitter," replied
Faye. "You can see Julia every day." She handed Julia over to Ed.

"Excuse me for a minute, I have one thing I have to take care
of," said Lau. He got up and went into his bedroom. He reached under the
bed and pulled out the katana. He climbed up to the deck of the ship. He
drew the sword and sliced the air with it a couple of times. He smiled,
put it back in it's sheath, and threw it overboard. THE END.

Look for "COWBOY BEBOP: The Second Movie", coming soon to a website near
you.

HAPPY TRAILS SPACE COWBOY

(c) 2004 Joseph Kerner

jak981125@catholic.org

Disclaimer: I did not create Cowboy Bebop. I wish I had, but I didn't.
This is just fanfiction.