The Calm

Disclaimer: this is really getting on my nerves ppl! If ya\'ll don\'t know by now that I\'m not the owner of Bebop... then I\'ll beat you with a wet noodle!

The Calm
Chapter 31: Blood on the Wall

Spike groaned as he headed down the unimpressive hall towards Amaya’s apartment. She was going to kill him for telling Sith, but he needed to talk to her. She had known everything, she had files on all of them, probably written most of them. She understood why he would want to talk. No one else quite could understand his predicament.

He paused before her door, his eyes alighting to the fact that the doorknob was gone, and the wood was rittled with bullet holes. He stopped breathing as he burst inside, his pistol drawn as he rushed in. The room was quiet, the walls covered with holes and a few bodies lying on the floor, bloodstains in the dirty carpeting. Quietly, he slunk over them and checked all the closed rooms. The bathroom was clear, save for the dead man in the tub filled with diluted blood and the broken mirror. The kitchen was void of anything unnatural, save a few bullet holes.

He stopped before the bedroom and took in a deep breath. ‘Please let her be okay,’ he prayed mentally. “Amaya?” he called outloud.

No answer.

Spike closed his eyes and quickly opened the door. As he scanned the room his body tensed and his eyes widened. “Oh God!”

~*~*~*~

Amaya groaned as she came to. She could remember the gunshots. The men in suits followed by a familiar and hated blonde, and then the fight, her retreat into her bedroom, and then the sting of bullets as they hit her before she blacked out. Slowly, she raised her head from its position on her chest and looked about the bleak cell she was in.

“What the fuck?” she murmured.

“You’re awake,” Julia’s soft voice called from the shadows.

Amaya tensed and thrashed, only to feel the bite of wire into her wrists as she dangled from the ceiling as though she was being crucified. “Oh, joy,” Amaya grumbled.

“I’m going to enjoy torturing you, Amaya, “ Julia said as she walked from the shadows, a grin on her face. “So very much.”

~*~*~*~

“WHAT?!” Vicious’ voice bellowed through the apartment.

“Are you kidding me?” Faye this time.

Spike sat on a chair, his head facing the floor as he nodded. “I’m not kidding. She’s gone.”

Faye laughed nervously. “You mean she split again, right? Tell me that she just ged ged addresses!”

Spike shook his head. “No.”

“Julia?” James inquired.

Spike nodded. “Yeah,” he answered. The pain and sorrow evident in his voice.

“How do you know?” Vicious asked.

Spike flashed a fierce look in the colder looking man’s eyes. It was a look not commonly found on the man, and it chilled everyone in the room to the bone. Spike was dead serious. “Julia left a message. That’s how I know,” he growled.

“What sort of message?” Sith asked.

“The kind in blood… It said ‘It’s all a dream… or a nightmare.’” he answered.

“Sounds like Julia,” Vicious mumbled.

Spike stared at the silver haired man, a look of worry in his eyes. It was not unnoticed by a certain woman with crimson hair. She too saw it in Vicious, the building psychosis that had seemed to have left. The one that had started after Julia had stolen away Spike from him. The same look that had been in his eyes when Eve left the syndicate and became Rain. This wasn’t good.

“I’ll call Ed,” Faye said as she left the room. “She’ll be able to track them down.”

The others seemed to all unconsciously agree and nodded. James’ eyes seemed distant as he stared out a rain covered window. The torrential storm blazing outside. An ominous feeling fell over the group.

“I should have known Julia would find her apartment,” Spike sighed.

Vicious raised his head, his eyes paler than usual. “What do you mean?”

“It was an old safehouse. I should have just dragged her back here that night at the bar. Should have tied her to the bed,” Spike said.

Vicious nodded. “I didn’t think of it either. We both should have.”

Sith hissed and slapped both of the males upside the head, her eyes flashing violet. “Stop blaming yourselves! We cannot change the past! Now stop moping about what you could have done and try to find where Julia is! Faye is being constructive and contacting her hacker friend. What are you going to do?”

Spike shied away from Sith. “I’ll check a few places. I’ll keep in contact,” he said as he stood and rushed out the door.

Sith stared at Vicious. “Well?”

Vicious seemed lost within his own mind. He said nothing, merely blinked. Perhaps Vicious had not been as strong as he seemed. Too much had happened and now he was gone, eatieating into himself. Perhaps a look into his and Spike’s files were in order.

James turned from the window and locked eyes with Sith. There was a sadness and resignation within those cerulean orbs. “You go and check on the ‘bits. Look over Amaya’s stuff and try to see if you can find anyplace that Julia would know about and might use. I remember a warehouse when I was being ‘eld by the bint. I’ll keep ‘an eye on ‘im. You guys ‘ave work to do. Just keep me updated if you find Julia, I ‘ave me own score to settle with her.

Sith nodded slightly to her brother and turned to leave, to check on the children. “I will,” she said as she left the room.

James sighed and looked over at the catatonic Vicious. “I understand ‘ow you feel, man. I really do.”

~*~*~*~
Levii: And it begins! Julia has made her move and now the others must act! And what about Vicious, eh? It just, like, came to me. I mean, they are all going to have to handle this in thier own way, but I think the stress finally got to Vicious. Not to mention, the guy has to feel pretty guilty. He was one of the first to be duped by Julia. Ah, well, my theories continue. Review!