Session 6: "Sympathy For The Devil"

Spike and Jet are in an old jazz bar, watching a young boy named Wen play a harmonica. They're really spying their bounty, a man named Giraffe wanted for some nasty old government crimes. The young boy leaves with his father, a crippled old man, and Giraffe follows. Jet distracts a nearby man who's in the way, and Spike pursues Giraffe, jumping in the Swordfish II.

Just as he gets up close to the room Giraffe ran into, he suddenly flies out the window! Something (or someone) knocked him out of the window. Just before dieing, Giraffe gives Spike an old ring, telling him "not to be fooled by his looks...the ring will give him back time". Spike's in the dark, however, and Giraffe dies before he can tell him more.

Back on the Bebop, Spike's curiosity has gotten the best of him concerning the ring. After talking to Jet, he decides that Giraffe must have meant Wen's father, who is Giraffe's old partner, Zebra. So, Spike pursues him and finds Zebra in an old factory, along with Wen.

Meanwhile, Jet's doing research when they notice an old article on Wen. Problem is, the picture is 30 years old and Wen hasn't aged a day since!

Yes, Wen is really...very old. He was around long before Spike was, and is the result of an explosion that stopped his body from aging. Spike is able to recapture Zebra, but Wen escapes.

On the Bebop, Jet uses an invention of his to check Zebra's brainwaves, trying to find out what happened. It turns out that Wen's body has been producing a substance similar to melatonin, which has prevented his body from aging. The ring is a compound of materials created by the same Hypergate explosion that stopped Wen's aging. So, Jet fashions a bullet from the ring and Spike grabs a very big rifle. Should this work, Wen's ability to age will be immediatly returned...or, the whole thing could just blow up, killing both of them. Naturally, Spike loves the odds.

Spike tracks down Wen, who fires off a few rounds, nicking Spike's face. Spike casually lifts up the rifle and aims for Wen's chest, squeezing off the bullet. It finds it's mark,and Wen begins to age, finally showing his true age and turning into a wrinkled, decrepid, bag of bones. Wen lives long enough to tell Spike that he feels very heavy...and, yet, he feels free.

Not that Spike understands that, of course.

SEE YOU SPACE COWBOY