Michael had finally arrived. Above the door's mantle read, "Bebop Headquarters". He wasted no time entering the 6-digit code written on the paper, looking both ways before entering the door built in the middle of no where. I mean, had he not been given special coordinates, Mickey would've never found this hole in the wall. Upon entering, the inside was everything but a whole in a wall. There were full body incubators with multiples bodies. The closer Michael got, the more he realized they were all clones. Each clone was labeled with a different name, but each clone was all the same nonetheless. Same height, same weight, same hairstyle, and they all looked to be the same age.

"Ahem!"

When Michael turned around, there stood the man of the hour. Spike Spiegel. The room he was lead to was already laced with the latest technology to carry out the recorded interview. Spike poured them both shots, and Michael pressed the recording button. There was no time to waste. The longer Michael stayed around Spikey, the higher his chances of death increased.

"Mr Spike Spiegel. Thank you for inviting me to your luxurious, private headquarters. I'm sure you're a busy man, and from the looks of things, you might be more vampire than man. Shall we give the people what they want?"

Spike lights a cigarette, and puts his feet up on his desk, freshly resoled bespoke shoes. He takes a sip of vodka. 

"Hello, Mr. Michael. A vampire? Perhaps... I have lived the lives of many men... and I do live among the creatures of the night. I am charming too... Yes, let's begin then. Where to start?... "

Spike awaits Michael's first question, puffing away. 

"Take us down memory lane. Where did things start for your luxurious bloodline? Where and whom did things begin with?"

My lineage dates back to another country... They were very little and naïve. Originally, my line's first crew leader was CrossDeLena, then SecretAgent, SamTheAmericanEagle, and TheBaroness. I don't really know much of what happened after that.

At some point, my line came here following the line of tiggy, they met the lines of Myrddin, and of Melis, and made friends. However, it took many years for my line to understand much of what was going on in this world. Still very little and naïve. During the time of Roman, after the death of ScreamingButterfly, my line was banned from many cities. This was when my line started to be more involved politically. Over the next year, they were assigned into low end uppers positions, for the lines of Eve and others. Later on, my line worked under DeadlySin's with Bunny, Meow Meow, Manny, etc. My line started working there having had ties to Marston's for a long time. 

In the DeadlySin era, my line started to hone its craft in terms of intelligence, political moves, and otherwise. Of course, not gun building. My line did take auth under Jaqen, shortly before that regime died. Shortly after, Cpt-Harris took over, and my line went with JakeLuciano, also due to old bloodline ties, to Czylharz. Later, that line achieved Godfather, and made the world very bloody. They met a bloody end.

After that, a group had taken over, and my line was somewhat bloodlined... Until they were given an opportunity by JohnnyNoName. Unfortunately, JohnnyNoName made a faux pas, which had him jailed and he lost his rank. my line was blamed for this, and it ended up turning into a chaotic mess. 

After that, my line worked with Meow Meow, and others, keeping that prior group down... After that regime died, my line teamed up with a Turkey, which lead to a bloody year. My line was brutal, and despite a misunderstanding, my line and Turkey's line, continued for roughly a year. After that, it was lost to RobOakheart. That did not last long, but then it was Disorder. my line was very bloodlined during that period, but my line worked in the shadows with Nilf, bloodlining where they could and being fed internal intel. My line did not live long at all during that period, and Disorder was unaware of their involvement. 

After that, there was some infighting between allies... Eventually Project Mayhem happened, and my line was killed off, again working in background, bloodlining, protecting those my line cared about. After Project Mayhem, my line, with a turkey and Remy, teamed up with the likes of Ligambi and Marie. It went well, but that also died off.

For a while after that, my line died pretty often. It took nearly two years or so until my line achieved what Macarena did. Macarena was behaving... Macarena was not totally protected by their crew leader though. But Macarena knew about certain actions being taken against that same group which my line had hunted, and had hunted my line, and fortunately, had allies that would keep him safe. That run did not last that long, and that same group took back over. 

Again, time passed on, and my line teamed up with DeadlySin. Unfortunately, his brother surrounded himself with people from that problem group, and the line of Disorder, so a choice had to be made. Can't kill one brother, even if it hurts. 

That is what lead into the last era my line was a part of. I can talk about that era separately. 

An extensive line for sure. Extensive both in quality AND quantity. When you sit back and reflect on your lineage, is it a proud feeling? Do you consider your line to be amongst some of the best?

Well, extensive sure, quantity sure, not always quality… But some gems.

As for being proud or being among the best, that seems like a loaded question…

However... My response to that is: "But you have heard of me."

You may try to downplay the quality of your bloodline, but that doesn't seem to be the case with others. Backstabber, manipulator, loser. Then you also have charmer, feared, great criminal, a LEADER. These are some of the titles attached to your name.

Do you think the hate is justified, or do people just not understand how your lineage has survived in this thing of ours?

I mean, some of the hate I guess is justified?... But hate is a bit strong here. It'd be hard for me to name anyone here I actually hate. I'm sure I could come up with one or two I guess, but they generally aren't worth the energy. People I dislike? Sure. There's a good number of those.

However, when they make it personal, there are far and few people that would actually have a real valid reason for that. What some people assume is far from fact, but they do so to try to make themselves feel better about losing or their own situations being miserable or some sort of jealousy or shame. To really hate someone for losing or being out-strategized is pretty sad, and that's somewhat funny to me so I embrace it. I'm a baiter, and I do encourage passionate emotions.

Anger is a gift and a curse, and I do like picking at it

We've seen your line publicly tell people who THOUGHT you had a problem with them, that there was no problem amongst you two. Then there are those who know its no secret that you're doing everything you can to kill them, and destroy everything they have built.

Without naming names, or do if you'd like, what or who do you consider an enemy? What does one have to do to become a lifelong target of the Spiegel line?

It goes without saying that a certain group of individuals, mainly in NY currently, would fall under being enemies. I do not hate them, but there's no retreating from targeting them. It goes both ways. So, that's probably life long. 

There are sympathizers to that group as well, who are also enemies. Not necessarily life long if they change. 

Enemies can also be people who have attacked me or any of my friends on a personal level. Usually those relationships are static and do not usually change. Usually life long depending on how bad etc.

There are other people and groups that view me as an enemy, and so they become my enemy. That can change.

Your line, as you stated previously, has seen many moons. What was yesterday's weather is not that today's. When you look back on the glory days of the past, and think about the promising times of tomorrow, what are your thoughts about TODAY? 

What are some things you dislike about the current era, what are some things you DO like, and most importantly, what do you feel is missing?

I feel that real leadership is missing. Seems like a bunch of quiet puppets, sliding by on mediocrity with small purges to keep in power. Bunch of Ligambi's and drones. I also do not see current leadership trying to create any standard for this or to dig themselves out of the bad optics. I've seen glimmers of people trying to be leaders, but they've faded. 

I feel that shifts in habits in terms of the coffeeshop have changed things a lot as well. Things are more cliquey and there are even more private rooms than before. There isn't as much global engagement. 

I also feel that those in power, on top of inactivity, are not very verbal about anything going on, and even more people than usual are left out of any narrative. 

I don't really know what I do like. I guess I like that some people have stuck around. Stamina is important.

What is the biggest misconception that people on the outside looking in have about you?

The biggest misconception… That’s tough. I’m pretty sure it’s that people assume when my line is in power, that my line is the sole decision maker. That is not the case. Sometimes even when my line is not in power, it gets blamed too for other people’s decision… My line works with a team. My line does not work alone, and their decisions a rarely solely their own. My line takes in account other people’s opinions, wants, etc. My line plays off my strategies to others as well. Also, people my line works with do things sometimes on their own, and it falls on my line. My line is a lightning rod.

Your line and Matty's line have known to go back and forth a bunch of times. Where does this rivalry stem from? 

I have zero idea what Matty’s issue is with my line. I do not know him or his history really, but for some reason, he has tried to be combative with my line in the streets. I assume it’s mostly just in defense of his allies, blindly. I don’t really hold that against him, except I find it odd that he has such a strong opinion about me, without really knowing me or my line personally.

You've mentioned Czylharz... To the people in the back, can you please tell us what that is? How did it start, how did people feel about it? Most importantly, what does it mean to you?

To my knowledge, it's the oldest surviving family from the old old country... The first of my line joined it a long long time ago, under Mr_Luciano. There are several people whose lines around now who were a part of it... Father_TeQ, Jono, Rouge, possibly others. 

There was an iteration of it not as long ago... But it was not the same thing, despite the lines behind it having original Czylharz blood, JakeLuciano, Scarin, etc. However, unfortunately, nearly half of the people in this world wore the tag for a period, so it devalued it a bit. That was not my line's idea. 

These days, it isn't that significant, other than for ancient heritage purposes. I don't forget it though.

What is the most mechanically brilliant play your bloodline has made that was completely overshadowed by your reputation?

Mechanically, my line has done a lot of fun things. Like there’s something I like to call FlashFiring…

But I guess there was one instance where my line was turned on by their own city and others, and I managed to kill all of them. That was a dance of war. Another time was Macarena executing Kaya… I don’t know about overshadowed. It pissed off a lot of people both times. There have also been other strategies my line has implemented which reduce purging, but still generally keep allies in power… Finding a balance, but I would say that it’s imperfect unless you have full cooperation.

There are many horror stories of your bloodline being associated with "purging" or "bloodlining", How much of it is factual, and how much has become exaggerated community myth? If true, why was it done?

Okay, so I’m pro-bloodlining. That’s why I don’t complain about it. If someone is your enemy, you should kill them. It would be stupid not to. As for purging, I have always tried to keep that minimal. Purging to me is something a bit less researched than bloodlining. As in, you are shooting someone who appears to be potentially dangerous, but you don’t really know. You might even know their bloodline, but it’s just a bit less educated. I also do not consider if someone is caught in logs or if someone has sworn vengeance to be purging. I do believe purging is practical to do sometimes, but to really try to sus it out before doing so. If someone responds sketchy, then that’s totally a valid reason to shoot them. I do believe in research, and feeling things out rather than just basing it on appearances. However, I also believe if you are in power and doing this, you should own it. You should not necessarily have to spill all the internal reasons for why you are purging someone if it’s confidential, but generally, you should own it to the person you killed, that you did it rather than playing games around it, witness statement catching, dropping from crews, pretending not to know when another crewleader shoots your member… etc. That just breaks a deeper layer of trust in this world. Own your actions.

If you could completely erase one specific incident from your lineage's legacy, which would it be?

I would erase what occurred about two years ago when my line was put in a bad situation at a meeting of mobsters, and Petah was attacked, despite my line holding it back for months. My line did not have many options. Kill people he was face to face with in the room with him… When one of them was his car ride the next day… or what. That would’ve led to a massive crumble and probable loss of power… Not to mention other ill effects at that event. Just a bad situation all around, but I still don’t like it. That’s the cost of having Ligambi around. Kinda just shit.

Has your bloodline ever genuinely apologized to another's behind the scenes?

Several times, my line has apologized to Dia and Polio for something. I have apologized to DeadlySin. I have apologized to many others over the years. Sometimes mistakes are made. Sometimes the waters are cloudy and the wrong move is made. Sometimes it’s just plainly one’s fault. It’s good to apologize if you mean it and you were in fact wrong. But people should also understand that things in this life aren’t always black and white.

Are there any enemies you've respected regardless of where you two stood?

I have respected Grin. My line has not really ever worked with his in any meaningful capacity, but when he’s not politicking, I think he and I would agree on most things. I do not respect some of those he has worked with in the past.

What's the wisest words of advice you can give to anyone looking to be great at this thing of ours?

Wisest words of advice… Hmm. Keep a small group of your most trusted friends. Onion/layer out the rest.

How do you want to be remembered when your lineage finally walk aways for good?

I’ve seen a lot of retirement speeches of people who say they’re leaving for good, and thanking people. I’ve always found them corny, and most times those people's lines do return… So it’s just usually a puff piece for attention.

As long as my line has allies and friends, I have no intentions of leaving them. Whether my line’s efforts reduce or not, it will likely be a presence in some way. As for my enemies, I will haunt them if I can. I am persistent. 

But as for how I want to be remembered, I want to be loved, and I want to be hated. If everyone loves you, you’re not doing this thing of ours properly. I want my enemies to remember the itch of the scars. My allies can remember me for my creativity. That’d be cool.

As Michael prepared to leave he turned around. He had one last thing to do before leaving 

That was a cracking read, Michael, genuinely well put together and some great questions.

Naturally when Spike bloodlines people it’s strategy, when he purges it’s carefully researched leadership and when he pisses people off it’s elite tier baiting, but when people do any of the above to him, they’re mediocre puppets and drones clinging to power and anyone who dislikes him is jealous, miserable or upset they got “out-strategized”.

My personal highlight was of course “I have zero idea what Matty’s issue is with me” immediately followed by a detailed explanation of what my issue apparently is, why I have it and why I’m wrong for having it.

And of course we’ve all fucking heard of you, Spike. You won’t piss off.

A thorough interview, Michael. You asked direct questions and gave an old friend enough room to speak openly about his history. Not everyone will agree with the answers, naturally, but Spike has rarely suffered from an inability to state his position.

I particularly enjoyed ‘the itch of the scars.’ Very poetic. Personally, I suspect most of Spikey’s enemies remember him less for their scars and more for the recurring headache of discovering that another one of his descendants has arrived.

He raised his cup toward Michael.

Good work putting this together. The streets could use more efforts that give people something worth reading and arguing over.

Faced with the seemingly endless Spike bloodline, Archy decided to make his own modest contribution to the historical record.

You WACKED! SPIkEySPIeGELyYyYyYy.