ACT V
Jet showed up at the police
station where Ed and Matthew had taken McMahon. “You two had better have a damn
good explanation for this!” he said angrily.
“There was no time to wait for
back-up,” explained Matthew.
“And so you risked my
daughter’s life because twenty million wulongs might get away?” asked Jet
angrily. “I thought you loved her. You sure aren’t acting like it.”
“It wasn’t about the money,
papa,” said Ed. “Matthew had an idea.” She whispered something in Jet’s ear.
“Things are getting crucial,”
said Matthew. “I figured it might be the only way to put a stop to this.”
“I’ll admit, that is pretty
clever,” replied Jet. “But you should have at least called for back-up and if
he tried to leave before we showed up, then and only then should you have gone
ahead and did what you did.”
“Sorry sir,” replied Matthew.
“I hadn’t thought of that. But Ed was magnificent out there. You should have
seen her.”
“I’m glad I didn’t,” replied
Jet. “I would have been terrified. Come on Ed, let’s go home.” The two of them
left. A policeman approached Matthew and gave him his bounty. He barely
noticed. He was too busy watching Ed leave.
Back at their apartment, Ed was
pleading her case to Jet. “Ed can do this. Ed caught that guy, didn’t she?”
“Beginner’s luck,” said Jet
angrily.
“And there was the guy in the
park, and there was that fake doctor, and there was one more you don’t know
about.”
“When was that?” asked Jet.
“When Ed was thirteen she
caught a mushroom dealer,” she replied. “Ed is a lot bigger and tougher now.
Why won’t you give Ed a chance?”
“Ed, take a look at my face,”
said Jet. “You ever notice how messed up it is near this eye? That didn’t come
from my police work, it came from a bounty head. In the time I’ve been doing
this line of work I’ve been stabbed twice, shot three times, and pushed out of
a third story window. And I’m a lot bigger than you are. Now look, this is the
life I chose for myself and I can live with it. But I wanted something better
for you. Something safer.”
“You mean something boring,”
she replied. “What did you want Edward to do? Go have a nine to five white
collar job in some office where I’d waste my life in boredom? That’s just not
Edward. Edward has always been different than everyone else. You know that
better than anyone. When Edward caught that guy it just felt so right.”
Jet was silent. Ed decided she
had said enough and went off to bed.
The next morning, Lau and a
young man in a three-piece suit entered the police station where Ed and Matthew
had brought McMahon. They spoke to the desk sergeant and were led to a small
room with a table and some chairs and nothing else. “We’ll bring him right up,”
said the sergeant.
Within a few minutes, McMahon
was brought in and sat down across from them. “What’s this all about?” he
asked. “Who are you two?”
“I’m Assistant District
Attorney Michael Simmons,” replied the man in the suit. “This fellow here is
Lau Xiang, a representative of the fugitive recovery firm that caught you last
night.”
“Yeah? Well I have nothing to
say to you two without a lawyer.”
“So call your lawyer,” replied
Simmons. “I think he’d be quite interested in hearing the offer we have for
you.”
“What kind of offer?” asked
McMahon.
“Wouldn’t you like to know,”
replied Lau. “We can’t tell you that now. You lawyered up, remember? We can’t
really say anything to you now. Unless of course...”
“Alright, I get it,” replied
McMahon. “Forget the lawyer. Now what do you two want? Or better yet, what are
you guys willing to do for me?”
“You know full well we have an
open and shut case against you,” replied Simmons. “We could put you away for a
very long time. However, if you do a little something for us, I can see to it
that you get lifetime probation. I can only do that because luckily, none of
your victims died.”
“I’m liking this,” replied
McMahon. “But what exactly did you have in mind when you said you wanted me to
do a little something? You don’t want me to rat someone out do you? Because if
you do, I know people who scare me a lot more than
“It’s nothing like that,”
replied Lau.
“This is going to sound like an
odd request,” said Simmons. “The fact of the matter is we would like you to
design a very specific virus for us.”
“This is a joke, right?”
replied McMahon.”
“No, this is a last resort,”
replied Lau.
“Mr. McMahon, I can assure you,
we are quite serious,” said Simmons. “We believe that a certain type of virus
may be the only way of stopping someone who has posed a grave danger to the
people of this city. The DA reluctantly agreed with me that stopping this
public menace is a bigger priority than locking you up.”
“What kind of virus do you want
me to make?” asked McMahon.
Lau handed him all of the
information they had acquired on Mars along with Doc’s notes. “Some
recreational reading for you,” he said. “Find something that could counteract
that stuff.”
“You will also have to sign a
confidentiality agreement,” said Simmons. “And one more thing, whatever you
make can’t hurt anyone else. If that’s not possible, the DA won’t approve the
deal.”
“It would be easy to infect and
disable someone who had all this hardware,” said McMahon. “Designing something
that won’t effect anyone else would be a lot tougher. I’d need just the right
type of materials to work with; stuff that’s tough to come by.”
“Like what?” asked Lau.
“Well...”
A few minutes later, Simmons
and Lau left the police station. “Thank God that went well,” said Simmons.
“Lau, I haven’t seen you in years. Not since I left
“She’s fine,” replied Lau. “But
now she’s trying to get me and Faye to move to
“Well, I have to get back and
report all this to the DA,” said Simmons. “It sure was great seeing you again
though.”
“Mike, I can’t thank you enough
for helping us out like this,” said Lau. “Without your help, there would have
been no chance of ending this at all.”
The two shook hands and parted.
Lau headed back to the Swordfish which was parked nearby. He activated the
communicator. “Jet? It went over just fine. We’re just about all set.”
Vera was sitting at a computer
terminal in the library of a local community college. She hung out there quite
frequently. She was a pretty good hacker herself and often hacked into other
websites. She always knew how to hack into the school’s mainframe when she was
done to erase all traces of her activity. Some of her favorite online
destinations were local news, local law enforcement, court reports, and of
course, the solar system bounty database. This was how she hunted for her victims.
The bounty hunter database always had specific details about violent criminals.
She could always tell who had victimized women in the area.
Just as she was about to leave,
a new case popped up on the federal court website. A serial killer was being
brought to federal court in
What Vera didn’t realize was
that this serial killer she was drooling over was a figment of Faye’s
imagination. Ed had hacked into the court site and placed what Faye had told
her to put in. Ed also put in a program that would prevent the system
administrators from being able to erase the faulty data for forty-eight hours.
“That’s perfect, Ed,” said
Faye. “This will lure her away from any real criminals and put her right where
we want her.”
“You think she’ll see this,
Faye Faye?” asked Ed.
“Count on it,” replied Faye.
“She had to have been getting her information from somewhere unless those nano
machines made her psychic or something.”
Over on
“I don’t know yet,” replied
McMahon. “I need a replica of the nano machines to see for sure.”
Lau nodded to a man in a white
lab coat. The man handed McMahon a closed glass vial. “This is a sample of the
machines,” he said. “We reproduced every single one of them exactly right down
to the last detail.”
“Great,” replied McMahon. “OK
fellas, everyone cross your fingers. I’m going to test this stuff right now.”
Everyone gathered around him eagerly. “Success! It works like a charm.”
“Thanks McMahon,” replied Lau.
“If it weren’t for the fact that you’re a homicidal wacko, I’d buy you a steak
dinner right now.”
The next day a motorcade of US
Marshals drove through the Manhattan streets towards the Federal Courthouse. At
least they appeared to be US Marshals. A van that was supposed to contain the
prisoner was being driven by Lau. Other cars were being driven by Faye,
Matthew, Bob, and Jet. A real squad car with two real cops followed the
motorcade. All Lau needed to do to enlist their help was to offer them a chance
to help nail a cop killer. Ed flew around overhead in the Falcon. She was
trying to stay out of sight but was watching the skies for any sign of Vera.
Everyone hoped she would show up before they actually reached the courthouse or
they would have to drop the act and go home. All of the sudden...
“Ed sees her! She’s coming!”
“Where is she?” yelled Lau into
the radio. He was about to get an answer to that one. All of the sudden, a
green blast of energy struck the street in front of him. A piece of pavement
flew through the windshield, missing him by inches.
Everyone followed the plan
precisely. Lau bailed out of the van right away. The cops as well as Bob, Jet,
Matthew, and Faye all drove off quickly in different directions.
Another energy bolt came from
the sky and struck the van which was continuing down the street without a
driver. It exploded. Lau looked up and saw Vera. He aimed his Glock and fired
so as to get her attention. He wanted her to stay and fight. If she left, all
was lost. Luckily, Vera took the bait.
Lau’s bullet hit her shield. It
seemed to her that the bullet shattered upon impact. That was odd because
normally a bullet would be stopped and then drop to the ground. She landed in
front of Lau and glared at him angrily. “You again?”
“Yeah, me again,” he replied
with a smirk.
“This was a set-up, wasn’t it?
You’re not a Marshall.”
Lau grinned. “My, you’re
perceptive.” He immediately opened fire on her firing round after round
continuously. Each one hit the shield and shattered.
Vera grinned triumphantly.
“Well that was pointless. I hope you don’t feel too stupid.”
Lau responded by firing one
more bullet. This one hit her right in the arm. She grabbed her arm and groaned.
“What? How...how did you do that?” She tried to create an energy bolt only to
see it fizzle out before taking shape. “What have you done to me?!”
Lau grinned. “It didn’t take a
rocket scientist to figure out that the same nano machines that created your
force field also created your energy bolts. They were so similar in appearance
that it was hard to miss. Those bullets were loaded with a virus that was meant
to disable those nano machines that made the shield. As the bullets shattered
on the shield, you breathed the virus in.”
“That’s impossible!”
“Not really,” replied Lau. “The
virus was made with a very special ingredient: a sample of my blood. Thanks to
my wife, ever since my wedding night my blood has been filled with a protein
substance that can counteract nano machines. Oh, and your flight ability is
gone too.” Lau reloaded his gun. “Now why don’t you be a nice little psycho and
put your hands up? Your bounty is up to one hundred fifty million and I’d like
to collect it as soon as possible.”
Vera may have lost some of her
supernatural abilities but her enhanced speed and strength were alive and well.
She immediately kicked the gun out of Lau’s hand before he could even pull the
trigger. He took up an aikido stance and tried to fight her. He charged at her
several times but none of his blows connected. It was as pitiful as that time
Spike tried to fight Applederry.
Vera grinned and started
smacking him around. She wasn’t hitting him too hard. The point here was to
antagonize him. Killing him could come later. “You just couldn’t mind your own
damn business could you?” she growled. “I was doing this city, this state, this
planet and the general human population a favor by eliminating those freaks.”
Lau wiped some blood off his
face. “I know what happened to you,” he said. “No matter how many people you
kill it will never ever affect the guy that violated you. He’s already dead.”
“SHUT UP!” she yelled angrily
as she kicked him in the gut. “You men are all carnivores. All you see when you
look around you are opportunities for pleasure and opportunities for letting
out some aggression. Women are all either sex objects or punching bags to you.
OR BOTH!”
Lau struggled to breathe. That
kick had knocked the wind out of him. He tried to sweep her legs but she jumped
over his kick and back-handed him. He reached up and grabbed her face with his
metal hand before she could react. He grabbed hard and threw her to the curb.
The second she was down he
grabbed his gun off the pavement. He fired at her but she was even better at
dodging bullets than Vicious. She leapt behind a parked car and produced two
guns of her own. Lau dived behind another car on the other side of the street.
All of the sudden, machine gun fire could be heard from above. It was Ed. “Ed,
get out of here!” screamed Lau into his radio. The Falcon flew in a circle
overhead as Ed continued raining down gunfire onto Vera.
Vera angrily fired back. She
missed and Ed retaliated by firing a small rocket. Vera dodged it and the car
she had been ducking behind exploded. Vera raced down the street looking for
cover. She fired nearly continuously at Lau as she did so. “Ed, now’s you
chance to escape,” yelled Lau into his radio. “She’s distracted. Get out of
here!”
This time Ed obeyed. Lau
reloaded again and went after Vera. She ran right into traffic. She wasted no
time in opening an unlocked car door and tossing the driver out. Lau raced up
made a flying leap onto the roof that would have rivaled any Olympic track
star. Vera took off. She hadn’t heard him land on the roof. Just then the
driver side window was broken and Lau fired a shot. He couldn’t see where he
was shooting so he missed. Vera fired a couple of shots through the roof. She
too missed but Lau realized she wouldn’t miss for long. He jumped off the roof
and landed in a pile of garbage bags by the curb. Vera rear-ended the car in
front of her. The driver got out angrily. “Hey, what’s the big idea?!” he
yelled. Vera quickly shot out his windows in reply. “Never mind!” he replied in
terror. “I have insurance.”
Vera apparently decided to stop
running and face Lau. He had to find another parked car to duck behind as she
opened fire on him again. He shot back but missed every time. The traffic on
the street cleared out real quick.
Just then, the two of them
simultaneously ran out of ammo. Vera threw down her guns. Lau dropped his own
and resumed his aikido stance. Vera grinned. “You bore me. Let’s end this.” She
produced a machete and slowly advanced upon Lau. “I don’t care how good you
are. I’m way too fast for you. No way are you not about to get sliced up.”
When she was only a couple feet
away, Lau pulled a capped pen out of his pocket. “What’s this?” asked Vera.
“You want to write your will or something?”
“The pen is mightier than the
sword,” replied Lau.
BANG!
It wasn’t a pen. It was a small
device that was capable of firing one single bullet. Lau had put the cap of a
pen over the bullet to conceal it. Vera could only dodge a bullet if she had
some indication it was coming ahead of time. The shot caught her completely off
guard and hit her in the chest. She fell to the sidewalk.
She looked up at Lau. For the
first time in a long time that sick hateful look was gone from her face. “It’s
alright,” she said weakly. “I never belonged in this world anyway. I couldn’t
be a real human being anymore. You know what I mean?”
Lau nodded. “Yeah, I know,” he said
quietly. Vera closed her eyes and breathed her last. Dozens of squad cars
showed up from all directions. Lau sat down on the sidewalk and stared off into
space.
About a week later it was
business as usual at MFR. Faye angrily punched the air conditioner. “Are we
ever going to get this thing fixed?” she asked angrily.
“The air conditioner people
have canceled our appointment several times,” replied Jet. “It may have
something to do with the fact that you threatened them over the phone.”
Lau sat at his desk deep in
thought. Faye came over and rubbed his back. “You OK?”
Lau nodded. “You know what?” he
said. “I’m sick of not having air conditioning too. Let’s just go out and buy a
new unit.”
Ed and Matthew were sitting on
the floor nearby watching Julia tug on Ein’s ears. Ein was very gentle and
patient around children so he gave no objection but gave Ed a look as if to say
“Make her stop! Please!”
Ed picked up Julia. “OK, no
more tugging on the doggie’s ears,” she said.
“Ed, Lau and I are going out to
look for a new air conditioner,” said Faye. “Keep an eye on the baby, OK?”
Ed nodded as she watched Lau
and Faye leave hand-in-hand. She sighed. “Ed loves watching those two. It’s so
romantic.”
She was holding Julia with one
hand. Matthew came over and took her other hand in his. She smiled at him and
kissed him. “You’re not so bad either,” she said with a grin.
“OK you two, break it up,”
growled Jet. “Matthew, don’t you have a burglar to go catch?”
“Well I don’t have any back
up,” he replied. “Would it be OK if I brought Ed along?”
Ed gave Jet a pleading look.
Jet sighed. “Oh alright. But Ed, if you don’t come back alive I’ll kill you.”
Ed came over and kissed him on
the cheek. “Ed will be careful papa. I promise.” She handed Julia over to Jet.
“In the meantime you watch the baby.”
She and Matthew headed out
towards Matthew’s car leaving Ed, Ein, and Julia all alone. Jet looked at Ein
and then walked over to the window. He put a HELP WANTED sign up. Then he
turned back to Julia. He picked her up and looked right into her eyes. “Little
girl, when you get older and start giving your father gray hairs like my kid
does to me, I am going to be there to enjoy every single minute of it.”
Julia just grinned and grabbed
Jet’s beard.
ARE YOU A REAL PERSON?
(c) 2004 Joseph Kerner jak981125catholic.org
Disclaimer: I did not create Cowboy Bebop. I wish I had, but I didn't. This is
just fanfiction.