Session 22

"Quinn, I swear to God this wasn't planned," Spike shouted over his shoulder as he head towards the sound of the last gunshot. Quinn scoffed as she followed close behind him.

"I don't blame you for whatever's going on right now, but man, you sure picked a bad time to appear," Quinn huffed as she clutched the gun tightly within the palm of her hand. She was happy to be seeing Spike, but she was incredibly frustrated with the situation at hand. As much as she loved the adrenaline of a chase, she hated the fact that it was butting in on her work life. She was almost certain she had lost the deal she was about to make. 

"Speaking of you appearance, why the hell are you here? What's going on?" Quinn questioned, but the sound of a multiple shotgun rounds being fired down the hall put a hold on Quinn's curiosity. The duo stopped at a three way junction at the end of the hall. Suddenly, after the firing had silenced, a nagging, slightly ear splitting female voice shouted out from the right side of the intersection. 

"You made me chip a nail! Oh you've really got it coming lunkhead," the shrill voice screeched before a large slam echoed from down the hall. Spike and Quinn rounded the corner to see Faye, holding a Fusiun employee up by the collar of his shirt. He was pressed against the wall while his gun lay dormant by his feet. Quinn came to the conclusion that this whole ordeal was bounty hunt. 

"Little help here?" Faye groaned as she turned her head towards Spike and Quinn. 

"Oh hey Quinn!" Faye's frown quickly turned into a smile while Spike pulled a pair of handcuffs out from his coat pocket. 

"Longtime no see," Quinn smiled as she folded her arms across her chest. Seeing Faye eased her anxiety. Clearly, Spike and her had the situation under control. Quinn hoped that if they were to simply get this hunt over with,  she'd  still have the opportunity to make her business deal. The chances were slim of course, but Quinn liked a good challenge. 

 Spike was quick to cuff the man, and Faye dropped him to the floor once he was properly secured.

"It's been a long time for sure, what are you doing here?" Faye questioned through a laugh as she stretched her arms over her head. Quinn sighed as she looked over towards Spike who was kneeling beside the Fusiun employee. 

"I was in the middle of a meeting but then this one decided it would be an excellent idea to crash my party," Quinn teased while shooting Spike a judgmental glare. He rolled his eyes as he stood up.

"It's not like I planned this," he sighed, and Faye shrugged her shoulders.

"Yeah, but you sure were eager to take this bounty, I mean, it's only eight hundred thousand woolong per guy," Faye teased. Spike blushed before digging his hand into his coat pocket. Quinn could tell he was nervous, and she liked how flustered he became when he got called out.

"We needed some extra cash," he sputtered as he fished out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. 

"Extra cash? Don't tell me you guys have spent all of Mack's bounty already," Quinn scoffed playfully as she raised an eyebrow. 

"Believe it or not, we haven't, but Jet made a point about not quitting while we're ahead," Spike cut in as he flicked his lighter. 

"It'll be nice to be making whatever eight hundred thousand times three is," Faye half smiled as she examined the chip on her nail. Quinn paused for a moment as she accessed the situation. 

"Wait, three guys? Where's the third?" Quinn questioned, and Spike and Faye exchanged nervous glances. Quinn had a feeling that one of them had fucked up along the way, but she was hoping her assumptions were wrong. She wanted to get back to her work, but she knew she couldn't leave until this situation was solved. 

"You got the other guy, right?" Spike hissed through a drag of his cigarette. 

"I thought you did!" Faye exclaimed impatiently before throwing her hands on her hips. 

Just as Spike was about to speak, a sound erupted from above their heads. It was the unmistakable noise of a shuttle preparing for lift off. Someone was leaving from the rooftop, and Quinn had a feeling that that  someone was who they were hunting for. Before saying another word, Quinn sprinted towards the stairwell that was down the opposite end of the hallway. Spike turned to follow her before yelling at Faye over his shoulder.

"Bring that guy down to Jet, and make sure you get the other guy as well, he's in one of the boardrooms down the hall!" He shouted forcefully as Quinn pushed open the door to the stairwell. Luckily the rooftop was only a flight above them so getting up wouldn't take much time at all. 

"Come on! Why do I get to miss out on all the fun!" Faye yelled as Quinn started making her way up the stairs.

"You had your chance!" Spike grumbled mockingly as the stairwell door shut behind him. Quinn couldn't believe what she was getting herself into. She had much more important matters to tend to, but here she was running after some stranger with a little bit of cash on their head. 

"What's your plan when we get up there?" Spike huffed as he followed closely behind. 

"Plan? Don't you have one?" Quinn groaned as the last few steps of stairs  came into site. Was Spike really asking her what SHE had in mind? Quinn wasn't expecting such a statement from someone much more qualified for the job than she was. This was his area of specialty; not hers. Why was she making all the moves? She didn't know, and she didn't have the time to question it.  

"Not at all," he stated, and Quinn could almost hear the grin that was spread across his face. She so desperately wanted to turn around and slap him. His cockiness and coolness for a situation like this was becoming quite annoying, and needles to say, Quinn wasn't having any of it. 

"I don't get how you guys ever get any bounty's considering how terribly unorganized you all are!" Quinn growled angrily once she reached the rooftop landing. 

"We don't have a great track record, I'll admit that much," Spike sighed while Quinn pushed the door to the rooftop open. 

She sprinted out onto the roof as she watched the spacecraft prepare for lift off. She scanned her surroundings as she quickly caught her breath. Suddenly, her eyes caught something sitting untouched along the edge of the rooftop.

"A ship tether!" Quinn exclaimed excitedly as she bolted towards the large, wound up, spool of metal rope that was situated directly beside the shuttle. Tethers were installed on most rooftops in order to stop thief's from stealing unattended aircrafts. They were sturdy, and almost impossible to rip from the roof; even with the strongest of ships. If Quinn was able to attach the tether before the shuttle took off, she'd be home free. Then, she could easily get this thing sorted out and return back to her work. 

Once Quinn had reached the roll of metal, her heart sank as she watched the spacecraft begin to ascend. She panicked as she fiddled with the end of the tether, and as the ship began to lift up into the sky, Quinn suddenly had to make a decision. She didn't want whoever this guy was to get away, especially since she had already made it this far. She wasn't into criminals, and she sure as hell wasn't fond of people who interrupted her work. She knew she had to get this thing over with.

In a quick second, Quinn lunged at the shuttle and wrapped her free hand around the bottom bar of one of the landing wheels. She held on tight to the tether as it began to unravel around the spool. Spike watched from a distance as he watched Quinn get lifted into the sky. 

"QUINN!" Spike called out anxiously. Quinn gave him a panicked look as she tugged at the length of the tether that was getting longer and longer by the second. There was only so much metal rope wrapped around the spool, and Quinn knew if she didn't attach it to the bottom of the ship within the next ten seconds, the strength of the spacecraft pulling upwards would be more than enough force to rip her arms clean off her body. 

Of course that would only happen if she didn't let go of either tether, or the shuttle, but if she were to let go, she would surely meet her death. If she let go of the tether, she'd get taken up into the sky where she'd either be thrown off by the pilot, or taken up into space were she'd inevitably reach her demise. However, if she were to let go of the shuttle, she'd fall down onto the city streets beneath her. The Fusiun building was more than fifty stories high, and Quinn knew there was no chance of her surviving a fall like that. 

Quinn was now twenty feet away from the rooftop now. She was dangling off the bottom of the shuttle awkwardly as she attempted the attach the metal rope around the tether hook that was situated along the underside of the spacecraft. 

The hook was too far away for Quinn to reach. The operator of the shuttle had not yet retracted the landing wheels, and considering that was the area Quinn was hanging off of, she knew she wouldn't be able to reach the hook until the wheels were brought up. She panicked as she continued to stretch her arm above her head. 

Thirty feet away from the rooftop. 

The tether length was running out. In a matter of seconds she'd be facing a life or death decision. Luckily, the wheels began to retract, but, unfortunately the speed at which they were retracting was not nearly as fast as Quinn wanted it to be. She was running out of time. 

Forty feet away from the rooftop. 

The tether only had about fifty feet of length to spare, and as Quinn desperately waved her arms over her head in hopes of reaching the hook, she prayed that the fifty feet of rope length would give her enough time to achieve her goal.

Forty five feet away from the rooftop. 

Quinn was inches away from the hook now, but still not close enough. 

"Retract faster Goddamit!" Quinn hissed as she strained her arm above her head. She was reaching as far as she possibly could, but she still wasn't able to wrap the tether around the hook.

Forty seven feet.

Quinn was beginning to panic. She was seconds away from life or death. The feeling she was experiencing within her chest was a pain like no other. There had been many times in her life where she had been faced with death before, but no time was quite like this. She was used to being caught in a fight, but this wasn't like any fight she had been in before. This fight relied on too many variables that Quinn couldn't personally control. Spike couldn't provide her any aid, and as her trembling body dangled overtop of the city below, she began to accept her fate. 

Forty nine feet. 

"Please, just a few more inches," Quinn cried out as the tether just barely reached the hook. It was so close to attaching, and as she stretched her arm even further over her head, she felt tears begin to well up in her eyes. She didn't want to die.  

Fifty feet away from the rooftop. 

Quinn's heart leapt out of her chest as she heard the metal tether twang due to the tension that was being pulled along it. She had just managed to hook it around the bottom of the craft, and as she felt the shuttle lurch forwards, she used both hands to hold onto the bar she was hanging off of. 

Her heart beat rapidly in her chest as she stared at the streets beneath her. She looked back to the roof where Spike was standing nervously, with his hands deep in his pants pockets. The shuttle kept accelerating forwards, but it was no use. The tether was too strong, and it wasn't going to be long before the pilot had to return to the rooftop. 

Quinn tried to relax as she ignored the city streets beneath her. She had achieved her goal, but she knew she wasn't safe just yet. She felt her arms beginning to grow sore. She hadn't been hanging for very long, but she knew eventually her muscles were going to give out whether she liked it or not. 

She squirmed as the weight of her body strained her shaking arms.

"SPIKE!" She shouted, but it was no use, he couldn't hear here due to the distance, and the noise of the shuttle. 

"RETRACT THE TETHER!" Quinn screamed again using her head to nod towards the fully unraveled tether spool. Spike cocked his head to the side before raising a hand to his hear. Quinn's yelling was redundant. There was no way he was going to hear her, and clearly her head gestures weren't enough to tip him off. 

She didn't have much time left, and she could tell the pilot was doing everything in their power to pull away from the tethers tension. With her last bit of strength left, Quinn let go of the landing wheel bar with one arm. She groaned as she felt all of her weight fully distribute into one side of her body. She pointed towards the tether spool before quickly wrapping her hand back around the bar. Spike was motionless for a second, but when he understood what Quinn was asking for, he quickly broke out into a sprint. 

He ran over to the tether spool and activated the retraction mechanism. To Quinn's dismay, it was ridiculously slow. It pulled back about one foot of tether per second, and Quinn knew she wasn't going to be able to hold out for that long. 

"SPIKE," Quinn began to plead. She didn't know why she was calling for him. He couldn't help her in any way. 

"Spike, please don't let me fall," she cried out as the craft got closer and closer to the edge of the roof. Quinn knew her words couldn't help her in a situation like this. Spike noticed that she was in distress. He ran over towards the edge of the roof. She was still at least twenty feet away from the edge. 

"Spike please please please," Quinn cried again, her voice shaking with fear. She knew she wasn't going to make it on her own. Her arms hurt so bad, and her palms were losing grip along the bar. She knew the city streets were waiting for her below, but she didn't want to accept their calls. She didn't want to fall, but she knew she didn't have the strength to hold on any longer. 

Ten feet away from the roof. 

"Quinn hold on! You're alright, just stay strong, you're not gonna fall," Spike reassured, but Quinn shook her head as tears welled in her eyes. Her muscles ached, and her skin felt like it was splitting along her arms. Her palms burned, and every inch of her upper body felt like it was being torn in half.

"Spike, I'm gonna fall," Quinn cried, her body shook and her heart was pounding rapidly beneath her ribcage. Her end was near, but she wasn't at all ready to accept it. Spike looked at her with determination. He didn't panic, nor did he feed into her anxiety. He tried to keep her calm, but Quinn wasn't able to find peace for herself. She knew her body more than he did, and she knew her muscles were splitting under the pressure. 

Five feet.

"You're not gonna fall, you're practically here, just a few more seconds," Spike pleaded as he extended his arms forwards. His eyes were filled with hope, but behind them sat a looming shadow of doubt. It was a doubt that Quinn was able to recognize almost immediately. That doubt was not what she wanted to see, but she saw it anyways, and she figured it would be the last emotion she saw hidden behind the cowboys eyes. 

Two feet.

"I'm sorry, Spike," Quinn cried out. Her end was met. 

One foot.

Quinn's arms gave out.