Cowboy Bebop Fan Fiction ❯ Unveiled Emotions ❯ Fear ( Chapter 13 )

Vicious stepped out onto the street, his eyes wary. The streetlight illuminated him palely as he pushed up the collar on his white trench coat. He feared that he had stayed too long from her side. His enemies would most likely try something while they knew that she was vulnerable. He quickened his pace but not quick enough to sound urgent, lest his enemies were listening and kept a fixed gaze at the banquet hall. Absolutely nothing. A shot, followed by a scream, caught Vicious' attention and he ran back to where he had left Rei in Sanders' company. He climbed the platinum fence that surrounded the banquet hall and dropped lightly to the ground on the opposite side.
A bullet sailed past his forehead and Vicious' eyes grew extremely cold. Someone was trying to kill him. He withdrew his gun from the holster on his left side and cocked it, ready to shoot the first enemy he saw.
"The bastards will pay," he said to himself and ran swiftly up the stairs and onto the patio where Rei, and his antagonists were.
He stopped short when he saw that it was Rei holding the gun. He let his own weapon slide from his grasp as the immediate events played over in his mind. Now that he thought about it, the shots fired were extremely erratic. Something had obviously frightened her. At least she was standing, which meant that Sanders had been able to do some good in his absence.
"What the hell happened here?" Vicious demanded.
"I guess her nerves were affected when I administered that medicine to her," Sanders replied.
"You guess or are you not willing to tell me?"
There was a silence and Vicious purposefully tapped the hilt of his sword. Sanders swallowed heavily and the only thing that broke the deadly silence was the clicking of an empty gun. Vicious turned and walked towards her, fully aware of the look of hysteria on her face. He took a step forward, his eyes taking in the painful sight of her face. It reminded him of his life in another time….
"Calm down. You'll be fine. You'll be fine, Rei," he said as he tried to keep his eyes unemotional. Why did she suddenly remind him of his mother? He neared her and she dropped the gun and fell to her knees. He had called her by name. She could not remember him doing that before. He was slowly showing his affection for her and it brought tears to her eyes. She knew that she could hear his most inner thoughts but to have him say it out loud…
"Calm down. Are you feeling any better?" he asked, his voice soft and perhaps…gentle? She nodded her head in amongst her sobs and flinched slightly when she felt his hand underneath her chin. He began stroking her soft skin and her sobs lessened slightly.
"Can you tell me what happened?"
"V-vicious…" Rei managed to gasp as she placed her arms around him in a tight embrace.
"In any event, she can move now so I'll send you my bill," Sanders said and Vicious looked at him.
"Set up a meeting with your acquaintance," Vicious said as he glanced at Rei. "And…"
"And?"
"I want a report of what you did to her along with the bill. If you did anything you shouldn't have, I will find out."
"I'll have it all sent to you by tomorrow morning."
Vicious ran his free hand through Rei's hair and Rei closed her eyes. She nodded her head at his silent question and he coaxed her to stand.
"Let's get out of here. There are still things that I need to attend to," he said as he watched Sanders pick his things up.
"You'll have all the necessary information in the morning," Sanders said and Vicious gave him a curt nod.
"Fine. You've been one of my more reliable employees so far."
Sanders gave no response to the dual compliment and threat. He turned and silently went on his way, knowing full well that one day his place of security would break.
"It's a dangerous position to be in," he said to himself. "Hopefully my luck will hold out."
"You're still alive. So where did his woman get injured?" a physician asked as Sanders stepped into the laboratory.
"She was shot in the chest," Sanders replied as he set his coat on the table. "He was dead set on killing her."
"I'm glad he's gone. He was kinda insane. Ironic, isn't it? Someone insane running a mental institution. So, did you grope at all?"
"I was being watched the entire time I worked on her. I wasn't fool enough to try something like that in plain sight of Vicious."
"Is she good looking?"
"She's very well developed for her species. The only thing that turns me off is her telepathic ability."
"You know, if there was some way to access that ability, we would have Vicious where we want him."
"Perhaps. I don't want to get into this discussion any further. I'd prefer to stay on Vicious' good side for as long as I possibly can."
"We all want that," another physician said as he walked past Sanders.
"You can say that lightheartedly, Tinope. You aren't the one that's favored in Vicious' eyes. You're not the one that's going to get bitten when the snake changes his mood. I've managed to stay alive this long merely by luck. I cannot forget why his name is Vicious. He has the heart as cold as the winds on Titan and the killing bite of a snake," Sanders said and Tinope gazed at him.
"Then how can he care for a woman so? Although he's a formidable opponent, he's still human and he has weaknesses. If there was a way to find those weaknesses, we'd be able to strike back and end all this fear."
"Look, I have a job. A good paying one. I don't know how long it'll last, but at least I have a job. If you go around talking like that, you're only going to get us all killed. I would rather work in a risky situation than have my death assured by going against Vicious."