The characters in SolidSocialistShiba's Alternate Universe-set Cowboy Bebop fanfic Two Dragons.
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Spike Spiegel
Did you need someone shot? Spike was there for you, and so was a nine-millimeter pistol. Someone need a solid kick to the face? Call Spike. Thirty people, and you need them dead in the next five minutes? Spike would do it in two and order a pizza with the money he rifled out of their wallets. Spike was a hitman for the Red Dragon, and he was among the best they’d ever had. Among the best they’d ever have.
The Anti-Hero protagonist of the story and one of the best hitmen in the Red Dragon syndicate, Spike is defined by his skill in combat, carefree lifestyle, and genuine care for his blood brother Vicious and Vicious's lover Julia... the latter of which goes a bit too far.- Badass in a Nice Suit: As opposed to Vicious who wears a Badass Longcoat, Spike wears a suit and tie into combat. This backfires on him, however, when leaving his tie behind in Vicious's room clues Vicious in to his affair with Julia.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Spike is a very chill guy for the most part, with an affable demeanor and a casual atmosphere. Hurt the people he cares about, however, and you're dead. Vicious's thugs learn this the hard way.
- Broken Ace: Much as Spike is one of the best killers in the system, he's crippled by his Fatal Flaw. The story makes it clear that Spike is, behind a facade, utterly miserable with life in the Red Dragon and ultimately said flaw gets him killed.
- Cultured Badass: Downplayed. Spike isn't cultured like Vicious, but it is revealed that he can quote Othello and knows the plot of Macbeth.
- Fatal Flaw: Spike's main flaw is that he earnestly believes he cannot leave the Red Dragon syndicate, coasting through life apathetically thanks to that belief. He's explicitly called out as stuck in the past and believes the syndicate is his home no matter how toxic it gets. By the time he finally chooses to leave with Julia, it's too late.
- Hidden Depths: Spike seems like a typical gunslinger on the surface, but behind the mask he's actually a deeply cultured and empathetic person, bordering on being something of a romantic. It just so happens that he's also a cynical hitman. He's also deeply, deeply clear about caring for Julia's safety and consent while they have sex.
- Hitman with a Heart: A ruthless assassin who also dearly loves his comrades, mentor, and the woman he's attached to.
- Horrible Judge of Character: You have to be one to think Vicious is genuinely a friend, and while Spike's past experience initially blinds him, he slowly comes to understand the truth behind his "best friend."
- It's All My Fault: Spike feels guilty about the death of Mao, since the plan leading to it was his own work.
- One-Man Army: Spike isn't quite on the level of Vicious, but he's nonetheless an incredible combatant capable of taking down dozens of foes. Vicious's thugs didn't even know what hit them.
- Nominal Hero: Spike is a hero because he's not nearly as bad as Vicious. That's essentially it for his heroic traits. He tries not to hurt innocent people, but he's a syndicate assassin and the story makes it clear that's his role.
- Tragic Hero: Spike is undone at the seams by his own Fatal Flaw, and ultimately gets manipulated and killed by Vicious because of it.
- Worthy Opponent: Tries to subvert this when he's finally facing Vicious, choosing to walk away with the knowledge that's what would hurt his enemy the most. Key word being tries, as Vicious quickly illuminates that he's behind the death of Mao, causing Spike to flip out on him.
Vicious
Titan had broken other men. It had forged Vicious. Where other men melted, he cooled. Vicious had always been too cold.
Spike's blood brother and the most focused-on villain in the story, a manipulative schemer who always seeks a new challenge.- Above Good and Evil: Vicious's argument for his actions boils down to this; he doesn't value whether he is "good" or "evil" because he doesn't see a reason to bother with those concepts. Instead, he terms himself a "dragon," a person who rises above humanity and independently gains power.
- Adaptational Badass: Vicious in the source material is a Grade-A badass without a doubt, but a lack of extensive fight scenes means he rarely gets to show it off, and when he does it's often to human levels. In Two Dragons, he gets much more time to shine and fight, and he's showcased as capable of tearing enemies apart in borderline inhuman fashion.
- Ambition Is Evil: Vicious wants everything, and as Spike notes, he wants more so he can want even more than that. Vicious loves battle and gaining power, fittingly for a sociopath such as himself.
- Beyond Redemption: The story toys with the idea of redemption with Spike, even having Julia outright state her intent to try and drag Spike off a path of violence. With Vicious, any thought of redemption is pointedly and bluntly rejected very quickly.
- Big Bad: Revealed as this after going through with his plot to kill off the Van, claiming leadership of the Syndicate for himself and becoming Spike's obstacle blocking he and Julia from fleeing themselves.
- Blood Knight: Vicious loves to fight, and it is his defining trait. Vicious wants to challenge himself and stimulate his tactical mind.
- Challenge Seeker: All Vicious wants in life is greater challenge, constantly searching for harder fights and more challenging plots.
- The Chessmaster: Vicious prides himself on his ability to scheme and plot, and even manages to singlehandedly orchestrate the death of The Van, his own takeover, and even the death of his two "best friends."
- Dragon-in-Chief: Vicious is the most skilled of the Red Dragon's assassins and singlehandedly wipes out any problems the Van encounter. Unfortunately for them, on top of being a brilliant tactician he also intends to kill them to take the Syndicate for himself.
- The Dreaded: People across the system fear Vicious, and it's very easy to see why.
- False Friend: Vicious respects Spike and even seems to have some limited respect for Julia, but he's incapable of genuine friendship due to his sociopathic personality.
- Hero Killer: Vicious scores a body count of "heroes." His plotting leads to Mao Yenrai's death, his thugs kill Julia, and he himself scores a fatal wound on Spike.
- Implacable Man: Vicious is nigh-impossible to kill, befitting his nigh-inhuman nature.
- In Love with Your Carnage: The most impressed Vicious ever is with Julia is when she tries to shoot him. Though she was seconds too late, Vicious admits his pride for her having the guts to do it.
- Manipulative Bastard: Vicious is brilliant at playing on the human psyche, and has no moral compunctions with using those skills to manipulate other people into achieving his ends.
- One-Man Army: Twice over, Vicious fights much greater forces. Twice over, it's a Mook Horror Show for his enemies.
- Pragmatic Villainy: What sets Vicious apart from The Van and their ilk is that he's simply interested in using people as tools, completely averting Evil Is Petty. While he has no care for anyone else, he also makes a point of not killing people who're still useful, and considers killing civilians a waste of his incredible talent. This is also why he keeps Julia around instead of killing her even as she grows bolder. Vicious knows Julia and Spike are in love with one another, and as long as Julia is around, his Worthy Opponent will be there for her.
- The Sociopath: Vicious just plain doesn't seem to feel empathy for any other human being. He kills with impunity and even states outright that he doesn't take other human beings into consideration, believing himself to be "a dragon."
- The Stoic: Vicious isn't much for words, being a cold, regimented genius. When he talks, though, people listen.
- Straw Nihilist: Vicious believes that, due to the lack of a point to the universe, it's morally acceptable to kill other people, and that people should even pursue it to strengthen themselves.
- Warrior Poet: Vicious clearly has very deep, philosophical thoughts on the world, which he expresses through a variety of monologues. Unfortunately for everyone around him, the results of his philosophy often entail wholesale death.
- Wicked Cultured: Vicious is a voracious reader with a shelf full of books. He even drops a Hemingway quote as he kills a man.
- Worthy Opponent: Genuinely respects Spike and wants nothing more than to fight him, even organizing the circumstances to provoke Spike into battle.
- Xanatos Speed Chess: Vicious rearranges his plans constantly. After Julia cheats on him with Spike and they plan to leave, Vicious wastes no time in arranging a plan that not only will destroy them, but even carries a darkly artistic edge to it.
Julia
Julia didn’t like to kill people. She hadn’t done it often during the war, and unless circumstances forced her hand, she didn’t do it for the syndicate. She was a driver more than a fighter, and she took pride in her driving skills. If you needed someone spectacularly offed, you asked Spike or Vicious. Vicious would even throw in a William Blake quote with no extra charge. You needed to get somewhere quickly, quietly, and below the eyes of the law? Well, that was Julia’s field.
A Red Dragon driver and Vicious's lover. Julia is secretly in love with Spike, and secretly fears Vicious.- Crazy-Prepared: Takes Annie's suggestion to heart and grabs a derringer to deal with Vicious. It does kill Vicious— just not by her hand.
- Dying Curse: Maybe. The last thing she says to Spike is "you're gonna carry that weight". However, it's left ambiguous how this is meant, whether it's a curse, a statement of fact, or just her reprising something Annie said to her.
- Fatal Flaw: Julia genuinely wants to think Spike and Vicious have a heart and can be redeemed, meaning she doesn't look out for herself as she should, risking everything for a pair of killers. In the case of Spike, she's likely right to care about him. In the case of Vicious, even she eventually realizes he's beyond saving.
- Faux Action Girl: Julia scores one kill in the entire story. Otherwise, every time she takes up a gun she's immediately overshadowed by Spike or Vicious. That said, her derringer is the only reason Spike manages to finally kill Vicious.
- Hidden Depths: Despite seeming somewhat shallow on the surface, Julia proves deeply thoughtful and heartfelt in her actions. In addition, despite being passive, she's pent up years of disdain for Vicious, something she proves when she asserts herself to Spike and sleeps with Spike on Vicious's bed.
- Nerves of Steel: It takes some strong courage to be at the side of the galaxy's most dangerous men, and Julia proves to more than have the stuff for it, even trying to shoot Vicious; she would've done it if Vicious hadn't been seconds too quick.
- Token Good Teammate: As opposed to Spike and Vicious, Julia genuinely doesn't like committing crimes and prefers to drive. She's visibly uncomfortable with Vicious's Blood Knight ways.
- Tragic Mistake: Had Julia just waited before instigating her affair with Spike, the two would've been leaving freely with little evidence of their absconding, though they'd no doubt have been tracked by Vicious. Instead, she let the heat of the moment capture her emotions, even chiding herself for it later.
- Senseless Sacrifice: Doesn't even score a kill in the fight before Vicious's thugs gun her down, and then Spike wipes them all out in true One-Man Army fashion.
- Sympathetic Adulterer: Even though Julia sleeps with Spike despite being in a relationship with Vicious, it's hard to blame her since he's... well... Vicious.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Zig-Zagged. On the one hand, she's a practical and even Crazy-Prepared woman who catches on to Vicious long before Spike does. On the other, she has the massive Fatal Flaw of genuinely wanting to help others to the point of self-sacrifice, and ultimately lets her passion override her good judgment. Wouldn't be a tragedy if not for a Tragic Mistake, after all.
Mao Yenrai
Spike's mentor, a kindly and honorable captain in the Red Dragon.
- Genre Savvy: He knows Vicious isn't to be trusted and is fully expecting a betrayal, to the point where he even dissuades Spike from coming along on a mission likely to end in said betrayal. Unfortunately, it can't save his life.
- Killed Offscreen: We never find out exactly what gave him his fatal wounds. Whether they were given to him by Vicious or enemy bullets are left unclear, and his death is announced to Spike and Julia by a doctor.
- The Mentor: Mao taught Spike and Vicious a lot about syndicate life, and Spike has a deep loyalty to him. Vicious... doesn't share the sentiment, to say the least.
- Mentor Occupational Hazard: Mao is Spike's Parental Substitute who taught him all about the Red Dragon, having taken him from the streets to comfort. This means that when Vicious arranges his death, it's hard for Spike to cope.
- Parental Substitute: Spike's actual parents are never referred to, but it's made very clear he thinks of Mao as his real paternal figure. Obviously, it hits pretty hard when Vicious offs him.
- Sacrificial Lion: A noble crime boss who dies to show that Vicious is playing for keeps.
- Token Good Teammate: Helps others escape the Red Dragon despite the watchful eye of his bosses. He shares the role of Token Good Teammate with Julia.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Mao is the first lead to die, but hardly the last.
The Van
(Vicious) wasn’t like The Van; no, the elders were cowards. They were old traditionalists, pleading with the red dirt on Mars not to swallow them whole. They were like water snakes, running from a cormorant. It was only a matter of time before the bird closed in, and devoured them.
Wang, Sou, and Ping Long are The Dividual leaders of the Red Dragon syndicate, characterized by arrogance, sadism, and adherence to tradition.- Asshole Victim: Nobody's crying for them when Vicious kills them, seeing as they're cruel mob bosses with a penchant for murdering their former thugs and abusing the ones still employed by them.
- Bad Boss: Murder entire blocks of people just for leaving the organization and treat their underlings like garbage. Spike even calls out that their attempt to make him a scapegoat isn't the first time they've tried to kill a subordinate over a screwed-up operation.
- Dirty Coward: The Van never get their hands dirty, leaving it up to their subordinates.
- Off with His Head!: The three are decapitated by Vicious in a single stroke of his blade, their heads toppling to the floor.
- Evil Old Folks: The Van are elderly, infirm, and rotten to the core.
- Karmic Death: One of the underlings they underestimated, tormented, and treated like garbage is the one to kill them all with a single strike after chiding them for their failures, and the minions they hide behind prove distracted and unable to aid them in the moment before their death. All thanks to Vicious, for whom this was the plan all along.
- Resignations Not Accepted: It's mentioned that a man tried to defect years ago, and The Van didn't just take issue with that— they sent Vicious to wipe out his entire block. It's implied they've done this before.
- Sadist: The Van relish in the idea of making Vicious kill his best friend, not knowing that Vicious is The Sociopath who's playing on that exact desire.
- Smug Snake: The Van are arrogant beyond belief, thoroughly convinced that any and all danger is no threat to them despite their cowardly nature. They're more than willing to talk down to the people around them, presuming that nobody will talk back, and if they do? The Van will have them killed. The Van's sadistic, smug ways catch up with them when their own desire to see Vicious kill his best friend gives Vicious the perfect shot at their heads.
Lin
A noble yet childish enforcer of the Red Dragon syndicate.
- Being Evil Sucks: Well, being evil sucks if you're not Vicious. Lin's portrayal is designed to analyze the Noble Demon archetype by showing that a truly good person struggles to adhere to a code of honor with a syndicate like the Red Dragon.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Lin is a gang enforcer who adores his brother Shin, and Shin reciprocates.
- Freudian Excuse: Lin heavily implies that something very bad happened to himself and Shin that ended up with them in the Red Dragon, but doesn't elaborate further. This is implied to have hugely affected his personality, leading to his childish and traditionalist nature.
- Hypocrite: Despite claiming he clings to "honor," Lin is desperate to appease The Van and obey their traditionalist codes, even when The Van prove to be utterly cowardly and dishonorable themselves. Lin explains this by pointing out that he wants something, anything to cling to in order to try and feel normal.
- Manchild: Lin is an adult, but still very childish in his devotion to tradition. Lin is noble and has a soft side, but he's very uptight and juvenile in many ways, acting more like a high school prefect than a gang enforcer. This goes double when he breaks down, admitting he just wants to feel at home.
- Noble Demon: Deconstructed. Lin maintains a code of honor because he feels it's the only way to leash himself to reality and morality after becoming a ruthless criminal, and sorrowfully rants about it when he's called on it.
- Tragic Villain: Lin is one of the more smug and uptight members of the Red Dragon, but he's ultimately a childish young man who wanted a home anywhere he could find one, and when his only home was a crime syndicate, he tried to stick to a code in the hopes that he could maintain some pretense of morality, being slowly torn apart by the increasingly dishonorable and radical descent of Mars' crime syndicates. Then, when Vicious makes his play, he's shot by his own brother in defense of Vicious' life, with his last contribution to the world being the death of the brother he deeply cared for.
Shin
Lin's brother and a fellow enforcer, Shin is more mature and revolutionary in comparison, yet no less effective.
- Death by Irony: The man most loyal to Mao and Spike, who only sees Vicious as a means to ensure their leadership and genuinely loves his brother, dies defending Vicious against that same brother.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Shin is a gang enforcer who deeply adores his brother Lin and is implied to have taken care of him all his life.
- Has a Type: Spike alleges that Shin is into cowgirls due to his casual confession to liking Judy from Big Shots.
- Noble Demon: Like his brother, Shin is honorable. The main difference is that Shin draws the line and genuinely wants a good ruler for the Red Dragon, rather than clinging to tradition.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Shin is more than willing to practice pragmatism, not wanting unnecessary deaths and letting the established order fall by the wayside if it means more practical leadership.
- Undying Loyalty: Shin is very loyal to Mao, and by proxy, to Spike. He is faithful and, while he works alongside anyone, is genuinely loyal to the more radical faction of the syndicate. He gives his life and kills his own brother to defend Vicious.
Annie
A bartender that the Red Dragon sometimes associates with, typically Julia.
- Brutal Honesty: Bluntly calls Julia out on her more foolish traits and actions, but it's all out of care for her.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite being rough around the edges, Annie is an alright person who does her best to help Julia out of the bad situation she's trapped in.
- Killed Offscreen: Vicious thinks about killing her, and Spike figures out he's done it, but it's never depicted in the text.
- Knowledge Broker: Annie knows a lot of things and is willing to help provide knowledge and arrange it; typically, it's for a price, but for Julia it seems to mostly be on the house since Annie is worried about her.
- Genre Savvy: Even if Vicious isn't a domestic abuser, Annie has him pegged as a murderous bastard from day one, and insists on Julia getting the hell out of the Red Dragon and away from him and Spike. Had Julia listened quicker, she'd have survived...
- Only Sane Man: The most levelheaded character in the story, who always gives good advice, even if it's blunt, and tries to help others. If everyone had taken her advice, they'd have survived.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Barring Spike, Vicious, and Julia, Annie seems like a simple conversation partner, yet her advice to Julia provokes much of Julia finally becoming proactive, and her derringer is the single thing that finally ends the threat of Vicious when it's paired alongside a well-timed Megaton Punch.
Matthew Fredrickson
A cowardly accountant for the Black Tortoise syndicate who ends up conscripted into fighting for them.
- Being Evil Sucks: Matthew doesn't want to be in the Black Tortoise syndicate in the first place, and certainly doesn't want to fight for them. All their violence ever attains him is misery. In the end, Matthew is just a cowardly pawn in a game of syndicates.
- Canon Foreigner: The only onscreen, named character in Two Dragons who isn't from the original show at all
- Dirty Coward: Zig-Zagged with Lovable Coward. Matthew is a very humanized character who just so happens to not be a fighter at all, not wanting to put himself in danger, and runs for his life at the first opportunity he gets, abandoning his comrades.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Matthew has a girlfriend he genuinely loves and thinks about regularly.
- Karmic Death: After abandoning his allies, Matthew is hunted down and butchered by Vicious, who expresses disgust with his cowardice.
- Sacrificial Lamb: Matthew is a Dirty Coward gangster who's established pretty much exclusively to be slaughtered by Vicious to show the reader that even the low-level cannon fodder of the syndicates are human, and many don't want to be there.
- Tragic Villain: Matthew is barely a villain. He's fine working for the syndicate and abandoning his comrades, but he's a small-time gangster with no interest in unnecessary killing, sentenced to a lifetime of misery by the gang he's strongarmed into working for. At the end of the day, Matthew just wanted to stay home and be a reclusive introvert.
