Contains spoilers for this episode and earlier episodes.
A bounty on Red Dragon leader Mao Yenrai draws Spike toward the criminal life he left behind. Jet recognises that this job matters to him for reasons beyond money and argues against pursuing it. Faye ignores the warning and follows the reward to an opera house, where she discovers that Mao is already dead. Vicious, the swordsman responsible for his death, captures her and uses her to summon Spike. Before answering that invitation, Spike visits Annie, an old contact whose reaction makes clear that his appearance has reopened a painful part of their shared history.
Spike arms himself and enters the cathedral where Vicious is waiting with Faye. He shoots her captor and allows her to escape, then fights through the gunmen inside. The confrontation reaches the upper windows, where Spike's pistol and Vicious's sword leave each man threatening the other's life. Vicious throws Spike through the glass, but Spike drops a grenade as he falls. Fragments of his earlier life accompany the descent: Vicious once fought beside him, and a blonde woman cared for him when he was injured. He survives and wakes aboard the Bebop with Faye nearby. His return ends the immediate rescue, while the reasons behind his break with Vicious remain only partly revealed.