Cowboy Bebop Fan Fiction ❯ Fantaisie Sign ❯ For Those About To Rock, And Want To Roll ( Chapter 14 )

DISCLAIMER: Cowboy Bebop and its characters are owned by the anime companies that made them, and not by me.

Author's Note: This fanfic is in the first-person style, with the POV being Edward's for all but a few chapters (and when the POV is different, I won't switch mid-chapter, the whole chapter will be like that). I've never even attempted doing something like this before, so bear with me.

French Note: For the few (non-generic) French language bits in this fic, I'll be using Babelfish. So pardon my French. ^_^

Note: THIS CHAPTER IS IN FREMONT'S POV. I REPEAT, FREMONT'S POV IN THIS CHAPTER. THANK YOU.

---

"Get her!"

The twelve men I'd called immediately began firing upon that wretched girl, Edward. But by the time they'd even gotten their guns aimed properly, she made it out the door and out into the parking lot. Dammit.

"Boss, should we follow her?" called one of my men. I smiled, knowing that I could have Edward killed at any moment by my twelve best men if I wanted to. And yet... it wasn't worth it. If they caused a commotion in public like this, hundreds of people may hear their shots, and even with a good deal of the police force in the palm of my hand, public opinion may frown on the killing of an innocent young woman.

"No, let her go," I told them, causing them to holster their guns and back off. "She is no longer necessary to our plans, and killing her would be a waste of bullets."

"But boss, she disrespected you..." said another one of my men, quietly. "We've gotta teach her a les-"

"We don't have to do anything!" I shouted, interrupting him. "We must forget about her and worry about the big picture. One more word about Miss Francoise Appledelhi and I will kill the man who utters it. Any questions?"

The men all shook their heads obediently. Good... Miss Appledelhi's display of brute force against my person hadn't shaken their confidence, respect, or fear of me, the one thing I was most worried about after that debacle.

"And now, for the matter of you two failures," I said, walking over to the two men who were just now getting up from the fight, the other one having already been killed by my Crescando. "It won't happen again."

I drew my blade and slashed across the necks of the two dazed men, killing them both instantly. Incompetent fools like those were expendable.

"As for the rest of you," I said, sheathing Crescando, "dispose of the three bodies and get to your vehicles immediately. We have a business meeting to conduct concerning the plan."

"You mean Le Grippage Du Bastion En Cristal?" asked one of my men.

"Precisely," I said. "The seizure begins in just 36 hours."

As the men began to clear the bodies, I quickly walked toward the front entrance to the warehouse, still unable to purge the escape of Francoise from my mind. How could I have been so stupid? Of course, I'd never seen someone fight like that before... her wrists and ankles had been bound, but she still fought with incredible determination and agility, like someone who had twelve free limbs. It was absolutely astounding, to say the least... and her resemblance to the wife of Nikola Appledelhi was astounding... truly, that kind of strength and flexibility must have come from her father, with her mother's incredible determination. Her mother's name escapes me, however... ah, yes.

---

I remember it like yesterday... a dark alley, two of my thugs holding her beautiful, snow-white, red-haired form in place as the driving rain soaked her soft white gown.

"Miss Marishani Appledelhi, how wonderful that we're seeing each other again... although it pains me for it to have to be like this."

"Where is Richilieu? What have you done with him?" she screamed, referring to a friend... more than a friend, actually. I knew she'd been having an affair with another man, and knowing this and threatening to reveal it to Nikola was the thing that had gotten her to come to me. That's one of the things you have to do when you're in a position such as myself, head of the French syndicate and all... well, second-in-command at the time, actually. Richilieu, the man she'd been referring to, was third... but she couldn't have known that, or she wouldn't have slept with him. Well, I guess she should probably know now.

"It's dangerous to sleep with a member of the French syndicate, my dear..."

"What? What are you talking about?" Marishani said, her voice tinted with shock. "You mean..."

"Richilieu is Serato Tanni's left-hand man. I happen to be his right. But Richilieu's been gaining in favor with Serato lately, and my position may be in danger. So, my beautiful queen... you are now reduced to a pawn, with which I shall checkmate Richilieu and be one step closer to becoming the leader of the French syndicate."

---

"Monsieur, your vehicle is waiting," said one of my men standing by the front door, the last one left in the building. Nechal was his name, an excellent shooter and an excellent driver, which is why he served as my official chauffeur.

"Excellent," I said as I began my stride toward the warehouse's front door. "The past is the past, but... I must not forget Francoise Appledelhi, as the spirit of her vengeful mother may still live on through her. I probably should've disposed of her when I had the chance. I will not make that mistake again. May she only hope we never cross paths again."

---

As my wheelman drove at the rear of our Syndicate convoy, through the streets of Paris, I gazed up at our destination: the Neo-Eiffel Tower.

"It's ironic," I said to my chauffeur. "That building will house tonight's meeting, where a plan will be finalized to capture it for the French syndicate... truly astonishing, don't you think?"

"Oui," he replied. "One wonders, however... it will be extremely difficult to take the building by force."

"Force will be only five percent of the plan," I said astutely. "The rest will be manipulation. Bribes, coercion, skillful political games. Most of the plan has already been implemented. I guess you're mostly right... come 36 hours, all that will be needed is force."

Our convoy parked in a small parking garage near the building. I told my twelve men to stay by their vehicles while I alone made my way into the huge structure. I walked over to the elevator and headed down, all the way down to the tenth-level basement, over a hundred feet below ground. I walked down a couple of narrow corridors until a suit-wearing man greeted me.

"Monsieur Frémont," he said cordially, "I welcome you."

"Merci," I said, a smile creeping onto my lips. "36 hours until this all becomes ours. Long live Rose du Diable."

With a smile, the man stepped aside. I walked down the hall until I reached a small door. Opening it, I stepped into a white room with a series of desks bordering the wall, behind which about twenty suited Syndicate members were seated. As I entered, one of them stood up, followed by the rest of them.

"Monsieur Frémont, it is truly good to see you," said the man who had stood first.

"Long live Cecelle Fremont! Long live Rose du Diable!" shouted the twenty men. I waved my hand slightly, causing them to sit. They listened obediently as I began to speak.

"As all of you know, Le Grippage Du Bastion En Cristal will began at precisely noon Monday," I said. "By the time the sun sets, the Neo-Eiffel Tower will be in Syndicate hands. All within who are not Syndicate members are to be either released or killed, depending on how many of our demands are met. The operation will be huge, requiring at least 15,000 Syndicate members and others, as well as the placement of a large explosive device within the core of the tower, to be detonated if the mission fails."

"We are all willing to die for the Syndicate," said one of the suited men. "All who are not should leave in shame."

The others nodded. I continued to speak.

"The explosive device was planted precisely two weeks ago, by the Syndicate division led by Monsieur Calére," I said, gesturing toward one of the men seated at the table. He nodded, and I continued. "Furthermore, many of the members of the Parisian Municipal Guard unit have been turned to our Syndicate, however, the military will be a problem, which is the reason why a large amount of manpower will be needed to capture the building."

"Monsieur Frémont, a question," said one of the Syndicate leaders whom I didn't immediately recognize. "Suppose the plan does fail, and we detonate the bomb. Who will lead the Syndicate afterwards?"

"A fine question," I said, as murmurs began to fill the room. "But I have provided for that. I have already spoken with Pierre Sarrané, leader of the Syndicate's northern division. In the event that the explosive is detonated and we are all killed, he will take over and carry on Rose Du Diable. However, I am confident... no, I assure that that will not happen. Our plan will succeed without fail. The Neo-Eiffel Tower will be ours!"

The men seated at the desk began to cheer. Well, that went according to plan... failure is absolutely out of the question. The explosive will never be detonated, not if I have anything to say about it.

"On the day of Le Grippage Du Bastion En Cristal, our men will be planted all throughout the building. The security guards have almost all been bribed, and those that have not will be killed almost immediately. Though the tower is vast, the act of capturing almost all of the area on each floor should not be difficult, as our men will all be extremely heavily armed. Once our men have secured the areas on each floor and have taken sufficient prisoners, the handing over of the tower to the Syndicate should be easy to secure, since many of the officials that will be responsible for negotiating the surrender are also heavily influenced by the Syndicate."

I continued to divulge the plan, carefully detailing and coordinating each phase of the takeover.

"All of you each have your own set of plans to give to your men," I said. "Have you been preparing them for the operation?"

The Syndicate leaders nodded.

"My men are well-prepared for the capture, Monsieur Frémont!" said one of the Syndicate leaders, a man I'd worked with quite a bit in my early Syndicate days and had promoted him to a top position in a large Neo-French city, mostly because I admired his cold efficiency in getting tough jobs done. "We will not let you down!"

"Neither will my men! We will succeed, for the future of the Syndicate!" shouted another man. More and more of the suited Syndicate leaders also professed their readiness for the grand task.

"Gentlemen, we stand at the apex of a great time in the history of our organization. A chance to seize a great and beautiful landmark as our own, to propel our traditionally underground profession to the forefront of the public view and leave an indelible mark on the history of Mars and the history of the universe itself. To this task, I say now that we must not, and will not fail, but will take the final stride toward power and glory for us all! Hail Rose du Diable!"

"Hail Cecelle Frémont! Hail Rose Du Diable!"

---

Having made the final preparations for the grand operation, I left the Neo-Eiffel Tower and walked back to my convoy, which had been waiting in the parking garage for more than three hours. I entered my limousine and reclined in the back seat as it rolled out into the busy streets.

"How was the meeting?" asked Néchal, my chauffeur.

"Néchal, my friend, soon, the Neo-Eiffel Tower will be ours, and the name of Rose Du Diable shall be in the history books forever more."

"That's excellent, Monsieur Frémont," he said. "With your masterful leadership, we shall not-"

Suddenly, a gunshot pierced the driver's side window of the vehicle. Blood spattered the window that separated my backseat from the driver's side of the hovercar, and I knew immediately that Néchal had been shot and killed as the car began to swerve off the road. I quickly drew Crescando and slashed across the window, slicing the glass wide open. I slid through the narrow space and retook the wheel, correcting the vehicle's path and turning it into a back alley. I looked out the window and saw a small, floating space cruiser zoom past, a naked woman painted on its side. Bounty hunters... I knew I had a huge bounty on my head, but no one would be foolish enough to actually try and kill me, right? I was the most dangerous man in the Solar System... I guess I should have known that greed could make people do extremely dangerous things. As I stood outside the car and began to catch my breath, I caught sight of two headlights, flashing at me. Through the window in the front of the space cruiser I could see two people, a man and a woman. The man leaned out of the window of his space cruiser and pointed a gun straight at me.

"Whoohoo, I'm gon' kill that French sumbitch and git me a hundred twenty-five meeeeellion wulongs!" the man shouted in an appaling hick accent.

"Kill 'im! Kill his ass!" shouted the woman sitting next to him, clinging to the man's shoulder. The man began to fire at me, but I easily blocked the bullets with my blade.

"You bounty hunters make me sick," I spat. "Prepare to die."

With a flick of my wrist, I tossed my Crescendo at the space cruiser. It ripped across the small craft's front window, decapitating the woman, but missing the man as he ducked, narrowly avoiding the sting of my blade. As it whirled back to me, I caught it in my hand and smiled at seeing the damage I'd caused. The man inside the cruiser turned red and began screaming in rage.

"You bastard! You bastard! I'm-'on kill you now!" the man shouted, angrily firing at me with his pistol. I again blocked the bullets with my blade, and wondered why the man couldn't simply fire on me with his space cruiser. I guess it was because he didn't have enough money to buy space cruiser ammunition... he was a poor hick, after all.

"Well, are you quite done?" I said, slowly walking up to the space cruiser again. The man began to fire at me a third time, but gasped in horror when he realized he didn't have any bullets left. "Out of bullets? Poor baby."

Tears began streaming down the man's face.

"Oh, please, please, mister Syndicate guy, ah swear ah didn't mean ta offend you..."

"I'd think a man would be more angry than scared after I just killed his sister," I said coldly, approaching the man's window.

"She was mah wife, dammit!" the man shouted. He began to fire up the thrusters on his space cruiser, determined to escape... but I wasn't about to let him get away that easily.

"Same difference," I said, seizing the man's wrist and pulling him out of his vehicle. "Now die."

And with that, I thrust my blade through the man's chest, causing him to emit a gasp of pain. Then, his eyes rolled back, and he fell over, dead. I pulled my blade out of the man, wiped off the blood on his clothes, and sheathed the blade. Then, I walked back over to my limo and pulled out Néchal's body.

"Néchal, I've avenged you..." I said, a hint of sadness in my voice. I'd known Néchal for years, and it was an unfitting end for such a fine man to be killed by such unrefined hicks... Pouvez vous reposer dans la paix."

I took Nechal's body and placed it in the back seat of the limo. Before I could enter the limo on the driver's side, my convoy finally pulled up to the alley.

"It's about time you all showed up," I said sternly.

"We heard shots, but we thought they were on your end, Monsieur Frémont," said the driver of the convoy's lead car.

"You have far too much confidence in me," I said. "What if I'd been killed? Néchal was."

Not wanting to speak another word to my eleven remaining men, I got into the bloody limousine and drove off into the night, the convoy following behind me. That way, if I got into trouble again, they'd actually see me this time. Not like I ever needed them to.

---

And that's it for Frémont's chapter! A bit shorter than the others, it's true, but it gets its point across. Geez, and you thought what he did to Ed was rotten... can Frémont's evil syndicate really capture the Neo-Eiffel Tower? Will Ed be able to stop them? Will Ed even find out in time? Next time on Fantaisie Sign... it's back to Ed's POV! Ed's reunion with Sylvan and her friends, and the results of the college applications... who gets in, who gets shafted? It's all in the next chapter!