Again

Again

It wasn't supposed to be like this.

This time it was supposed to be a win!

SHE was the one going in to con them! To catch Londes and rake in all that bounty and start to whittle down her entirely unjust debt.

How the fuck had it all gotten twisted around? How had she become the victim AGAIN?

She was Faye Fucking Valentine, dammit!

It had seemed so simple. Masquerade as one of many gullible fools seeking enlightenment or absolution or whatever the hell these people were enticed by. She just wanted a life free of debt. A slate scraped clean. A fucking chance at making her own mistakes instead of being held hostage by bullshit beyond her control.

The decrepit building should have been the first red flag. And, truthfully, it had been. Her hackles had been raised.

But it had also made sense. If you were conning folks out of a fortune by getting them to sign over their life rights and whatever... tricking people into paying out the ass for the "latest and greatest" gaming technology... why wouldn't you be holed up in some abandoned warehouse waiting for the dust to settle before emerging to lord your riches over the masses like the mastermind you were?

So she had swallowed her fear and ventured in. Crept past the rooms with doors blown off or otherwise unhinged, slipped underneath the tentacles of technology that reached down from the dislodged ceiling tiles to dangle in the air of hallways and vacant rooms alike. The sense of ill ease had ramped up when she came across the first body. But she hadn't been without protection. Her trusty Glock always had her back - was always tucked away behind her back until the gun was needed, in fact.

Who was the corpse? Who knew? The body was relatively fresh, so to speak. The air of the interior of the building was thickly cloying with the disturbing scent of decay, though this particular body showed no signs of that yet. So he wasn't the first, whoever he had been. But he certainly hadn't been killed in whatever disaster had left most of this quadrant of the city in disarray. Someone else searching for the man behind the program. Someone else hunting the bounty that Faye herself was after.

Her heartbeat pounded in her chest, all her senses straining. Perhaps it had been an overconfident oversight to chase this tech-whiz, this supposed guru, on her own. Like so many times before, the dollar signs of the bountyhead had filled her mind with all the ways she could spend said money after turning this yahoo in. Don't count your chickens before they hatch, wasn't that the saying? Well, Faye had the tendency to not only count her chickens but to daydream up all the ways she'd cook those birds too.

And now, poised on the brink of success... or else about to plunge into the time of doom that had met the other corpses she was encountering... now she was feeling regrets.

And... something more than that. There was a whine in the air, not quite like Ein's favorite way to voice his complaints... something more like... a high pitched hum, perhaps? It tickled at her fragmented memory. Something to do with televisions?

The combination of the sound-that-wasn't-exactly-a-sound and the rotting flesh of half a dozen unfortunate souls was beginning to take its toll.

Without warning her vision blurred. Stumbling, panting with abrupt fear, Faye continued forward. This was a mistake, her mind told her. You've fallen into a trap again... again... again...

Suddenly she was terrified right down to her boots. The enormity of the error loomed over her like the damaged ceiling tiles so far above that they were lost in shadow. She was a stranger in a strange land, utterly alone. No one knew where she was. No one was looking for her. No one would be coming to save her. Alone... alone... alone...

Alone again. Tricked again. No hope for you here, no hope at all...

Fumbling lethargically for her COMM device, Faye struggled to keep standing. She wouldn't give in to whatever was happening. She couldn't let this bastard win. Just a few more paces and she'd be in the room where all the intact cords seemed to be leading. Oh, wouldn't Ed be overjoyed to discover whatever lay at the end of this maze of wire? Ed... maybe just... Ed... if she called Ed, well, maybe she wouldn't have to share the bounty very much. Ed never cared about woolongs. Ed might be able to unravel the mystery... or at least let Spike and Jet know that...

"Help... I need... help..." Faye activated the COMM as she managed to enter the room at the end of the hall, dread tingling down her spine. So many bodies.

Was she about to become the latest? It wasn't fair. It wasn't FAIR!

The COMM made a little noise as the connection was made. A sliver of hope shot through her and Faye grasped onto consciousness desperately. "I'm... in a little... trouble..."

Race Against the Clock

(search party / panic attack / "if only we could hold on")

***

"Where is she?!"

"Faye. Calm down. You're hyperventilating."

Wide, wild green eyes stared uncomprehendingly back at him. Faye's breathing did not improve. The thick clouds of dust in the air were no help for breathing or for seeing a damn thing.

"She... she..." Faye gasped.

"Dammit, Spike! Forget about her for a second! Ed needs our help here!" Jet shouted as he continued to furiously dig through the rubble that was settling all around them.

Spike scowled. The circumstances were not great. Faye's panic attack was the most useless thing that could have happened at such a critical juncture. Although, something lurked in the back of Spike's mind about the dangers of attempting a rescue before a structure had finished falling apart. There was a risk that Jet's hasty attempts to dislodge the broken portions of the building would cause more of it to crumble and it's not like they even knew exactly where Ed was in all the disarray.

"Faye." He cupped her face between his hands, palms pressing against her cheeks gently. "You are making things worse. Get your fucking shit together."

Cruel words but he didn't have time to baby her. Besides, Faye tended to react more immediately and aggressively to negative comments than to anything sweet and soothing. Probably something psychological to explore there but this wasn't the place for that.

As he'd hoped, his callous command sparked something in her. She stiffened beneath his touch and jerked back as her spine straightened up. Hurt warred with confusion in her gaze for a moment before her eyes snapped like green fire at him. She shoved past him without a word and started to sift through the wreckage of a different section of the collapsed housing complex.

Worry over the fate of the lost hacker was predominant in Spike's mind as well but he wasn't convinced she was trapped where the others were searching. Ed had discovered a trapdoor leading into shadowy depths underneath the apartments. He'd seen as much for himself in the video feed of her COMM call before the ground began to heave and the signal cut out.

She might be hidden under more debris than the others realized.

A shudder tore through him at the thought that she might not be buried alive at all. She might just be... buried.

No.

NO.

Wrenching his thoughts from that dark avenue, Spike threw himself bodily into heaving aside fragments of concrete and wood and whatever else had once shoddily held the apartment building together. If he could just find the remains of the stairwell... if that section had been built strong enough to remain intact while the hallways and everything else fell apart... if he could just get further down, deeper down...

The dog was with her, after all. The two most clever and resourceful members of the crew, trapped together somewhere in a place where they might not be getting much oxygen. Where they might be wounded or worse. How much time did they have? How long before there wasn't any air at all to breathe? It was a race against the clock - a clock they couldn't even see. A race they might have already lost.

Worst-case scenarios continued to plague his thoughts. He could hear Jet grunting with effort, could practically taste the tears on Faye's cheeks as she choked back sobs and choked also on the dusty air they were breathing in.

No.

Ed and Ein would be fine. They just needed to hold on... Spike and the others would get to them soon... if they could just... if they...

Dammit.

"Hold on, kiddo. We're coming for you." Spike muttered quietly, his throat tight with unwanted emotion and burning from all the nasty shit he was inhaling. "Just... hold on..."

Chapters: 2/2 Fandom: X-Men '97 (Cartoon 2024) Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Remy LeBeau/Rogue Characters: Rogue (X-Men), Remy LeBeau Summary:

Character POVs for a portion of episode 5 (spoilers abound)

sometimes I write for fandoms other than Cowboy Bebop... love me some Remy LeBeau for example. something about that type of character (Robin Hood - the fox version especially - and Matrim Cauthon and Tom Paris and the entire Lupin gang, for example)... thieves, mavericks, "bad" guys/gals with hearts of gold who will go to any length for people in their heart or to save the world...  rascals, scamps, tramps, scoundrels, rogues... speaking of Rogues actually...  Remy and Rogue are such a fun couple to me. definitely my X-Men OTP. anyway, here's a link to a short little thing I wrote up after watching Episode 5 of X-Men '97 so please let me reiterate: HERE THERE BE SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN EPISODE 5!

Heritage post (right? Not entirely sure but I mean...why not?)

Let Spike love everyone/anyone! Faye, Jet, Green, Vicious, Julia, VT, Asimov, your OC, literally the world is so full of possibilities and love can be found in so many places... For that matter, let any of the characters match with whomever they please!

Love is eternal! Love is unbound! Characters are capable of growth and of rediscovering the power of love with brand new people they meet! It's a vast universe...have fun with it!

Dear citizens, our castle is under siege again

Flashmob idea: post Spike/Faye/Jet/Vicious/Andy/etc content using #see you space cowboy

Spike is for everyone. The smell of roses only should not block the scent of violets, daisies, lilies and other flowers

if you missed out on the physical copies... don't feel bad! we live in a digital age for a reason... so we can have beautiful things that we enjoy and take them on the go with us! no worries about spilling coffee on your magazine if it's on your phone or tablet or whatever! (i mean, your phone or whatever will not take kindly to getting water damage but at least the digital zine will be A-OK regardless, lol) anyway, act now and own some lovely fan-made artwork and written pieces about one of the hottest and most enduring couples in the X-Man Universe... Remy Lebeau and Anne Marie LeBeau <3 <3 <3 hands down my OTP for this fandom for decades now! Cheers to Gambit and Rogue!

Hey all! Preorders are now offically closed for physical bundles as we start up production. 🙌 However, digital only tiers will still remain available for a few more weeks in case anyone still wants to get in on the action. Thank you all for your support so far! We can't wait to send it all out to you! ❤

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Act fast! Time is running out!

Still heartbroken over X-Men '97? Me too, my darlings. But here there is hope! Here there is happiness! Here there is love!

Only 1 week of preorders left!!! Don't wait! Home & Harbor fanzine is here to give you an absolute lovefest of Rogue and Gambit content, the treatment that they have earned after over 30 years of publishing and too many years of on/off. If you are already getting frustrated by how they have been left in limbo by X-Men'97, please accept this love letter to Romy as balm for your troubled soul.

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