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The Ghost of Roanapur - Chapter 3: Guerrilla Warfare
🕑 Added 2023-12-04 13:00:06 +0000 UTCIn the lounge of the Lagoon Company building Amara, Benny and Dutch were sitting in front of the Hong Kong Triad leader, Bai Ji-Shin Chang, and his men.
Mr. Chang, as he was so often called, was a man of Chinese descent with styled back black hair. He was wearing a granite trench coat over a black three-piece suit. Black custom-made loafers, a white scarf that rested on his shoulders instead of wrapping around his neck, and his signature black sunglasses.
Chang took a long drag of his cigarette, placing his feet on the table in front of him as he exhaled. “I’ve been waiting for quite a while now. You haven’t even brought out a cup of coffee or anything. Honestly Dutch, is this what you call service?”
“It's my mistake for not knowing we we’re running a café.” Dutch said. “You do know why I own a torpedo boat don’t you, Mr. Chang?”
Chang took another drag of his cigarette before speaking again, “Such cold words Dutch. We were burned out of our home, and we immediately came here. I'd say the least you could do is offer us a cup of coffee.”
“That’s some bad luck. I hear you lost half your building.” Dutch said as he made him the coffee he was asking for.
“Yeah, those guys hit us hard.”
“Was it the Russians?” Benny asked as he looked out the window in the direction of the embassy.
“Nah, that’s impossible. We’ve always been very friendly with Miss Balalaika and company.”
Now that’s a load of bullshit. Amara thought. She remembered back in ‘93 when Hotel Moscow first appeared in Roanapur, it led to a battle between them and the Triad so intense it nearly destroyed the city.
After this Revy and Rock entered the room, gaining everyone’s attention.
“Someone want to fill me in? Did I miss much?” Revy asked after a few seconds.
One of Chang’s men then handed him a briefcase that he put on the table. “No, we’re just getting started. This briefcase is the cause of everything but that just proves how valuable it is. I took this off an incredibly stupid Bulgarian who was to make a quick buck in my territory. Here’s the thing, I don’t remember giving permission to sell weapons to anyone other than good old Yolanda from the Rip-Off Church. But for some reason this guy thought he’d try it anyway. He was causally selling guns on the street like he was running a hotdog stand or something. What’s worse, he took all my warnings as a joke! Although, he eventually understood and made a deal. Right around the time we told him we were going to crush his balls like grapes.”
Revy and Benny snickered while Amara was imagining the man getting tortured by Chang and his men in her head.
“It was unbelievable. I mean that guy was a real idiot, but he had an interesting job.”
“Yeah?” Dutch asked.
“He works, I mean worked for Bulgarian Intelligence. This city is a comfortable place for people like that. Normally a guy like that would be particularly useful to us. But... you can only play with fire for so long before you get burned. What do you think he offered us in exchange for his balls? Well Dutch... documents.”
“Really?” Dutch asked, his voice showing a tiny bit of interest.
“The hiking routes of a friendly little organization we all know. I’m sure you’ve heard of them. If I’m not mistaken the little job, they did before they hit us has been on TV all morning.”
“The US Embassy!” Both Rock and Amara exclaimed.
“Hmm... Sounds dangerous to me.” Dutch said.
“Turns out ball boy’s real job was actually with them.” Mr. Chang said. “Apparently the worlds full of people who want ‘Uncle Sam’ to disappear. They’re just the latest ones to try. Anyway, I’ve decided to contact one such group. And I told them that they dropped something important. But as soon as I told them what it would cost to get it back, they to get the hell out of there before they burned my ass alive. So, this is how I answered... ‘Fine, have it your way, I’ll go somewhere else then.’ Thanks to that my office was blasted all the way to Jordan today. And as I predicted my ass did nearly come close to being roasted before I got here. So, Dutch here’s the deal, I want you to deliver this briefcase. Five teams will leave Roanapur at the same time. But here’s the thing, each of them will have a different destination. There are five cases but only one jackpot.”
“So, it’s a feint.” Dutch guessed.
“Yep, as insurance of course. Your destination is a military base on Basilan Island. You have two days, after that my contacts would have left Basilan.”
“Chang, two days doesn’t give us enough time.”
“There’s never enough time is there, Dutch?”
As the conversation was still going on, a few jeeps had parked next to the building. Men wearing ski masks and green battle uniforms, carrying AK-47s could be seen leaving the jeeps, ready to storm the building.
“Last night’s embassy bombing is just the first in a series of events. Two days from now, the next scheduled one will begin. When they’re done with hiking this time, there’s going to be a new president. ‘Uncle Sam’ came to me because their embassy went up like a Challenger. If they knew how to deal with this, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. We will provide you with a getaway driver and a guard once you get to the island. I'm counting on you Dutch.”
While the conversation was going on both Revy and Amara felt something off. The two looked at each other for a moment before the older woman walked towards the window to find out what was going on.
As she did so, Amara worried that Revy would get shot. Revy took a peak out the window and saw a group of armed men about to start a raid on the building. She then noticed one of them armed with an RPG, pointing it at the window she was peeking through.
“RPG!!!” Revy yelled as she ran from the window and jumped over the couch.
The apartment window was hit by a rocket, and it almost destroyed the room that the Lagoon Company and the Triad were in when it exploded.
Everyone began to recover once the explosion was over. Even Chang was already on his feet despite most of the couch he was sitting on being obliterated.
“Your information has been leaked Chang. We’re going to have to cancel this one.” Dutch said, wiping the dust off his shoulders.
“Are you going to quit?” Chang asked as he was handed two AMT Hardballer Longslide pistols and another lit cigarette from his men. “I hate to see you stuck with the repair bill for this, the least I could do is escort you to your boat. But first... I must admit it's been a while since I've been in the field. Emergency exit?”
“I’ll show ya!” Revy said, smiling as she pulled out her pistols. “Follow me!”
“A little guided tour huh? Great!”
Just before the masked assailants could breach the room, Revy and Chang kicked down the door and started shooting, killing every shooter they saw. The two were coordinated, showing off their phenomenal Akimbo style. Mr. Chang’s style was better than Revy’s, it reminded Amara of characters from John Woo movies. I wonder if those actors got their moves from Mr. Chang?
Just as the two were about to walk down the hallway, a grenade was thrown in front of them.
“Damn, my hands!” Revy yelled when she spotted the explosive.
“Don’t be impatient, Two Hands. Like this,” Chang kicked up the grenade and volleyed it towards the man who threw it.
BOOM!
“See? If you hesitate, you lose.” Chang smirked.
Revy and Chang cleared the room allowing the rest of the group to make their way to the roof.
“Heh, that was reckless, Boss.” Revy turned and grinned at the man.
“You’re on to talk, Two Hands.” Chang lifted his arm to the ceiling, shooting the attacker that was hiding above them. “You’ve still got a long way to go.”
“True, I can admit I'm not at your level, but I'll get there someday.”
“Now that’s a good answer. Despite being American Chinese, its admirable that you such good aim.” Chang replied.
“Dutch! The car that’s circling us, take it and go to the harbor!” Chang yelled once he and Revy made it to the others.
“Tch, fucking great. One of these days I'd like a job where I don’t get shot at!” Dutch yelled.
“Don’t complain, Dutch. We’ll handle this problem. Hurry.”
“I’ll leave it to you, Chang.” Dutch said as to jumped off the building and next to the car, the rest of the Lagoon Company following suit.
“Dutch! When you arrive at Basilan, don’t forget the password! The password is...”
~X~
“Right. I understand.” A man wearing a military uniform with dark hair and a goatee said into a landline before hanging up.
In the room with him was another man also in military uniform laying on a bed, he was much larger than his comrade and with a buzzcut.
“Our comrades have spotted the delivery boys on the main road. We should be able to take care of them near Ban Kantang.” The bearded man said to the man in the bed.
“I wonder about that. This job should have been over after the bombing of the Triad office. That would have taken care of things.” He replied.
“I’m in no mood to judge the failure of our comrades.” The bearded man responded.
“But you mock these people as being nothing more than simple gangsters, but Chang turned out to be a much smarter gangster than thought, isn’t that, right?” The man said while turning over to lay on his back. “’Strategically, we should despise all our enemies. But tactically, we should take them all seriously.’ Those are the words of Mao Zedong. You could learn from them, Ibraha.”
Ibraha glared at him, “Moral discourse from a man with no god? Its worthless.”
“He was right though. Besides, I don’t believe in God either, never have and never will.”
“You’re still my comrade, Takenaka.”
Takenaka smiled, “Well, more importantly perhaps we should move faster with the plans in America.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. The FBI has been watching us. If we move now before the feint, the plan will be wasted.”
“If I had to guess which of the five routes they’ll use, I think it's safe to say that we can rule out anything overland, and flying is too visible.”
“That just rules out the sea route. Do you have any proof.”
“Don’t need proof when you got intuition.”
“I’ll ask on of our comrades in the Philippines for assistance.”
“And as for the sea route, I guess I'll have to take care of that.” Takenaka said as he stood up and began making his room out of the room.
“This is the final step in changing the world, Tankenaka.”
Tankenaka just waved his hand, singing ‘Drunken Sailor’ as he left the room.
~X~
“Did you hear the password he gave us? ‘May the force be with you.’ That’s so fucking lame.” Revy groaned as the crew had now found themselves on The Black Lagoon heading southeast towards their destination.
“I mean the guy can handle a gun and he's got great style, but Chang couldn’t even make a fucking retard laugh.”
Dutch chuckled, “If there’s one thing I've learned, it's that nobody's perfect at everything.”
As this was going on, Amara quietly made her way over to the briefcase they were giving, opening it, and taking out the documents.
“What you doing, kid?” Revy asked when she saw what Amara was doing.
“Moving the documents.” Amara replied, closing the briefcase, and handing the papers to Revy.
“Why?” Revy asked as she took the documents.
Amara let out a disheartened laugh, “Since I’ve joined the crew, I’ve noticed that everything that can go wrong, will go wrong. So, I figure it’s best if we have a contingency plan for when this inevitably goes to shit.”
Revy rolled her eyes, “You really think so?”
“I know so.” Amara confidently said.
Revy raised her shirt up and placed the now folded up documents between her breasts. Amara did not know why the older woman did not just put them in her pockets but knew better than to question her.
“So, we not telling Rock?” Revy asked.
“Do you think Rock will be able to play along and not give anything away?” Amara responded.
Revy scoffed, “Fuck no. That idiot would make it obvious there’s nothing in the case.”
Before the two could continue their conversation, Benny's voice sounded over the radio. “Sorry to but in but Revy! There’s a lot of motorboats approaching from the rear port! It's show time! Let’s make ‘em dance!”
A ferocious grin appeared on Revy's face at Benny's announcement. “I can handle this, Benny. Now then guys, let's show them our best. Let’s have these fuckers shouting to the afterlife.”
Revy them climbed to the starboard turret, using a pair of binoculars to eye the enemy boats.
“Rock, bring me the Remington and the Hydra API ammo while you’re at it.” Revy told the ex-salary worker.
“Sure.” Rock said, doing as he was told.
Revy then aimed the rifle at one of the boats behind them, firing two shots.
“We've taken out the enemy’s eyes, but they might not be the only ones.” Dutch spoke. “Rock, Amara, Benny, and I will be the bait and head straight towards Zamboanga. I want you two and Revy to get off there and use the Zodiac to rendezvous with us.”
“We got it.” Rock replied while Amara nodded her head.
The Zodiac raft was released into the water, the rope still attaching it to the boat.
~X~
“So, once we deliver the documents, we'll meet you at the base.” Revy said after the raft hit the water with a splash.
“Yeah. I'll come get you when I lose these guys tailing us. What a pain in the ass.” Dutch said.
Revy smirked, “Tell me about it. What is it about guys fighting for a cause? They just don’t know when to quit.”
Amara hummed, “Sometimes a cause is all a person has in this life. Without it then they have nothing to live for.”
Revy scoffed, “Well then, I’m glad I’m not pathetic like these bitches.”
“Alright.” Dutch cut in knowing that if he did not, Revy would go on a rant about the topic. “One more thing, I have an additional message for you from Mr. Chang. And remember to tell Rock when he gets back from the can.”
Revy and Amara shared a look just as Rock reappeared from the bathroom.
The Zodiac then immediately left the PT boat, traveling towards Basilan.
The sun had just barely risen when the trio had reached Basilan.
Revy groaned once they reached the dock of an abandoned Basilan town. “Here we are, in the capital of fucking Dullsville. What time is it?”
“It's almost 6:00.” Rock said after looking at his watch. “It was more trouble than we expected finding a place to come ashore. I'm pretty sure the village is this way.”
The trio walked across the docks and had yet to see anyone, prompting Rock to question why it was so quiet in the village.
“Yeah, it’s a ghost town. No one in sight. They had martial law here for two years, but it hasn’t made a difference. The army and the guerrillas are shooting at each other day and night. It’s a real fucking circus. The people here must’ve gotten sick of dating their cousins and moved to real cities.” Revy spoke as they moved further into the town.
Before they knew it, the sounds of a car engine starting up roared behind them and a green jeep began speeding at them.
Rock gripped the briefcase to his chest as Revy pushed him out of the way and pointed one of her guns at the driver once the car came to a stop in front of them. Amara stood in front of Rock, one of her hands grasping onto his arm while the other held one of her trench knives.
The driver's side window came down, revealing a man with a receding hairline, sunglasses, and a military uniform. “Keep you waiting? You’re from Lagoon Company, right? I heard that there were four of you, or am I wrong?”
“And why the hell should I answer that question?” Revy asked as she holsters her gun.
“There’s no reason you should.” Takenaka responded.
Revy placed her hands on her hips and stared the man down, “It’s just me, those two, and a briefcase. That’s it. By the way I don’t see your partner anywhere. Where's your guard?”
Takenaka smiled while resting his head on the steering wheel. “That jackass. He's running around right now looking for a restroom. It turns out that he doesn’t know the difference between beer and Volvic.”
Revy sighed, “Let’s cut to the chase. May the force...”
Takenaka smiled as he feigned ignorance, “Now how did that one go again?”
Revy did not find this funny as her eyes grew colder, “This isn’t the time for jokes. If you don’t get to the point, I’ll shoot you in the face.”
“Hey, hey. Don’t get so hot. It was just a little joke to break the ice. Its ‘May the force be with you,’ right?” Takenaka confidently responded, leaning back in his seat. “You’ve got to admit his sense of humor is a bit off.”
Rock released a sigh of relief and Amara made a showing of holstering her blade.
Revy let out a laugh as she stood next to the driver’s side door. “You think so too, huh?”
“Well, I suspected it of course. But I think he’s outdone himself with this one.” Takenaka joked as he and Revy shook hands.
“Exactly you stupid asshole.” Revy said. “In fact, I have a message from the boss for you. ‘I am tai san fu kwan.’ Has a nice ring to it, huh? It means the god of death and punishment shall hereby bring down judgement upon you. And I’ve got to say it's not looking good. I have no fucking idea where you got that password from, but boss Chang isn’t the idiot you think he is.”
Rock backed up as he began to understand what was going on, Amara maintained her hold on Rock, moving backwards with him.
Revy pulled out a sheet of paper from her cleavage and held it up to her face. “He prepared a whole new password for shitheads like you. You hoped into this parade with your ass hanging out of your pants and now your fucked.”
“What? Don’t think it's funny? This is the part where you’re supposed to laugh. So go ahead.” Revy remarked, letting go of the paper and letting it fall to the floor.
Takenaka smiled, “Well, you got me I guess I got a little carried away.” The grip the two had on each other's hand continued to tighten as the man spoke. “The hell was I thinking? Besides to get handled like this by a little girl, that’s plain embarrassing.”
A few tense moments passed before both released their hands and pulled their guns out on the other.
“Get back!” Revy yelled as the two began firing at each other. While Amara was distracted by what was going on in front of her, Rock took off running only for Takenaka to reverse the car and a man reaching opening the back door, jumping out and pushing Rock inside.
Amara ran after her crewmate and quickly pulled out one of her knives and threw it at the man, embedding it in the back of his skull. Just as she was about to jump into the car, Takenaka leaned back and his seat and began firing out of the opened door, forcing Amara to jump back. Once Amara moved away, the car sped away.
“Damn you, Rock!” Revy yelled. “You really screwed up this time.”
As soon as Takenaka and Rock disappeared, the sounds of more cars coming to life filled the air. The two women turned around and saw a group of terrorists driving at them armed with machine guns.
The two were forced to run and hide behind a building for cover. Revy began returning fire while Amara looked for any areas of escape.
“Damn. They just keep coming.” Revy complained as she reloaded. “Stupid shit for brains Rock.”
Amara grabbed Revy’s arm, pulling her further into the alley once the enemy began getting closer. Just as they were about to close in on the pair, a dark green car pulled up behind them.
“Sisters! Lower your heads please.” A tall Asian woman long black hair and a face covered in makeup called out and before the two could process what was happening, they were forced to lean back, watching as several throwing knives flew inches above their faces and killed the soldiers in front of them.
“Are you the getaway driver?” Revy asked while she and Amara were still leaning backwards.
“No, I’m a fucking lawyer! What do you think?!” The blond man in the driver’s seat yelled out, his Irish accent clear as he spoke.
He began driving again and Revy and Amara ran after the car and jumped inside as it sped off. The enemy did not follow them as they escaped.
“Mr. Chang told me there was supposed to be five of yous. So, what the hell happened? Where are the other three?” Leigharch asked the women as Shenhua crawled through the sunroof and into the passenger seat.
“Plans changed and it became three of us. But one of us got captured.” Revy responded as she pulled out a cigarette and began to smoke.
“Oh, he sounds like real idiot.” Shenhua stated.
“Well, we are going straight to the fucking base. Might want to finish this job and go home.” Leigharch declared.
“So, where’s their hideout?” Revy asked.
“Is not a village for six miles. You find barren jungle.” Shenhua answered.
Revy placed herself between the two front seats, “We’re not going to the military base, taking care of these guys first.”
The two began to laugh at Revy’s statement.
“We take you to base only then getting money. We not interested in anymore.” Shenhua said once she stopped laughing.
Revy growled, “Our partner has the fucking documents. Do you follow? Understand you, yes? You got that, Chinglish?”
Amara rested a hand on her forehead, she did not understand why Revy felt the need to mock people who were not only doing their job, especially as they were trying to convince the two to help them.
And why is she calling her Chinglish like she’s not Asian herself? Hell, I don’t even think Shenhua is Chinese. Amara thought to herself.
Shenhua quickly pulled out one of her kukri blades and held it up the Revy’s throat. The two women stared each other down as the car came to a stop.
“Not my new interior. If you must, do it outside.” Leigharch said, not even bothering to look at the women.
“My English not very good because I am pure Taiwanese. Maybe you like for me to skin your ass, bitch?” Shenhua said as her blade inched closer to the cigarette in Revy’s mouth.
Amara gently pulled Revy back a little, “Look, I understand that you guys just want to do your job and leave, but we can’t do that without the documents. So, we need to get our crewmate or none of us get paid.”
Shenhua and Leigharch shared a look before the man put the car in drive and began driving towards the enemy camp.
“我為我的朋友感到抱歉。她只是每個人的婊子” Amara said after a few moments of silence.
Shenhua raised an eyebrow, surprised that the younger woman in front of her knew how to speak Hokkien. “我理解了。她的屁股上有什麼樣的棍子” She replied with a smirk.
“她對我們俘虜的隊友有感情，但情緒低落而無法承認.” Amara said and the two women laughed.
“What the fuck are you speaking?” Revy asked, confused by the conversation she was watching take place.
“We are speaking Hokkien or Taiwanese.” Amara answered.
“You speak Taiwanese?” Revy asked.
“Yeah, I learned to speak it as a child from my father who was Taiwanese.” Amara replied as she stared out of the window.
Revy blinked, “You’re Taiwanese?”
“Half-Taiwanese.” Amara corrected.
Revy was unaware of her crewmate’s heritage, to be fair the members of the Lagoon Company did not discuss their pasts with each other very often. Not to mention that unlike Shenhua, Amara did not look Taiwanese with her darker skin, tall stature, and bright green eyes.
I guess she takes after whoever the fuck her mom is. Revy thought. So, her father is Taiwanese like how my own was...
“Wait, what were you two taking about?” Revy asked, forcing herself to move away from her thoughts.
“Nothing important, Rev.” Amara answered, still not making eye contact with Revy.
“Yeah, bitch. It not important.” Shenhua smirked at Revy.
Revy glared at the woman, her smug look telling the shooter that the two women had been talking about her. She growled and sat back in her seat, knowing that neither were going to tell her what they had been talking about and the car became silent once again.
Less than an hour later, the group had found themselves a few miles outside of the enemy camp.
“We’re gonna have to walk from here.” Revy said, reloading her twin Berettas as she and Amara exited the car.
“We don’t keep driving in car?” Shenhua asked while reapplying her makeup.
Revy nodded her head at the car, “We don’t want to charge in with this piece of shit, especially not with a crack head at the wheel.”
“Fuck you!” Leigharch yelled as he flipped Revy off. “I’ll have you know this is the world’s greatest off-road vehicle, you heartless bitch!”
Revy eyed the car and its owner with a look of distain, “Listen up you fucking leprechaun, you’re gonna wait here till you get our signal. If you run away, I’ll hunt you down and castrate you.”
“My, she say good things, I agree very much.” Shenhua said.
“Fucking ballocks!” Leigharch growled after raising his middle finger at the two women.
Revy waved him off, “Just lay off the weed, all right? I don’t need you all fucked up when we need to make a run for it.”
Shenhua snapped her compact shut, “You don’t worry for this guy when it come to that. Even with his brain off to Mars, he never mess up driving.”
Revy just rolled her eyes, “Let’s go, Chink!”
Shenhua followed the pair, “Oh, you like for me to split your ass in four? It’s not nice to make fun. You one rotten bitch.”
Amara let out a small groan at the women's arguing, “This is going to be a long fucking walk.”
~X~
The sun had begun to set and Revy, Shenhua, and Amara had made it to the enemy camp.
“Three at the west gate. Six more at the east gate. And only a fifty caliber at the front.” Revy said as she looked through a pair of binoculars. “Any mines?”
“No mines.” Shenhua said, boredom oozing from her voice.
The trio were hiding in the trees, scouting the camp, and waiting for the sun to go down.
Shenhua sighed, “We hurry now. If idiot partner talk, this all for nothing.”
“There’s no need to worry, Rock’s a tight-lipped guy. He wouldn’t talk even if they put him in front of a firing squad.” Revy said as she jumped off the tree branch, she was standing on.
Amara and Shenhua followed her lead as they moved towards the camp.
“We go at sunset. They won't see us coming and will be too disorganized to counter.” Amara said.
“Yeah, yeah.” Revy waved. “You ready to go Chinglish?”
“Yes, Twinkie, I ready. And don’t forget after job, I chop some meat off your ass, stupid whore.” Shenhua replied.
After his ‘interrogation’ from Tankenaka and Ibraha, Rock sat on the floor with his head resting on his knees.
“Dammit!” Rock said, throwing the folding chair that he had previously been sitting on.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
“Huh? Revy?” Rock asked aloud as the sound of gunfire rang out across the camp.
“Revy! Is that you?! I’m right here, Revy!” Rock yelled as he scrambled to the door.
Just as he laid his head against it, the door was kicked open, sending Rock flying backwards.
When Rock tried to stand, the dead body of one of the soldiers fell on top of him, sending him falling to the floor again.
“Ugh! What the hell?!” Rock exclaimed, quickly pushing the body off him.
“Rocky, baby. You’ve been a good boy?” Revy smirked as she sauntered into the cabin. “If you promise to behave yourself a little longer sweetie pie, I’ll even buy you some cotton candy.”
Rock smiled, relieved that he had been found.
“Hey, Rock.” Amara said while whipping some of the blood off her face.
“Oh, is he dumbass you talking about?” Shenhua asked as she quickly cleaned her blades.
“Huh, who the hell is she?” Rock asked.
Before an answer could be given, Tankenaka and another soldier came running to them.
“Well, isn’t this a surprise.” Revy said as she pulled the trigger, shooting the unnamed soldier.
Tankenaka dove to the floor to avoid the bullets.
Revy simply laughed before jumping over the man and running, Amara and Shenhua followed suit, neither paying the man any attention. Rock gave Tankenaka a long look before running after the three women.
“Drive!” Revy yelled as the four entered Leigharch’s jeep.
“Wah? I’m actually feeling pretty good about being right here.” Leigharch said as he put his blunt back in his mouth.
Revy kicked the back of his chair in anger before he could take another drag. “Too fucking bad! It’s your job to drive, asshole. So, get this shit jeep rolling!”
“Oh...Oh Yeah!” Leigharch yelled, leaning forward, and grabbing onto the steering wheel, “I almost forgot! We’ve got to get to Liverpool!!!”
The man then pulled the joint from his lips and smashed it against the overflowing number of joint buds in his glove box. “Jimmy Hendrix is calling me back! He got my message to defeat the Klingons asap!”
During this tirade, Leigharch put his seat bleat on and started the car, “Wait for me, I’m coming soon! Ca-Captain Pickaaaaaaaaard!!”
The car roared to life, spinning in a circle and immediately taking off, racing down the path and towards the military base.
“What the fuck is he smoking? Cause I know weed can’t be causing this.” Amara asked aloud as she heard the things Leigharch was screaming.
“Who cares! Its fucking hilarious!” Revy said with a bark of laughter.
The older woman’s laughter quickly ended when Leigharch began to drive them in the direction of the camp instead of the military base. “Hey, you jackass, you’re going the wrong way!”
Leigharch started to laugh hysterically, and Revy knew it was a lost cause to drive and talk sense into him and leaned her upper half out her door’s open window. “God Damnit! Gives us no choice now but to start shooting.”
And so, Revy pulled out her guns and started shooting once more at the enemy soldiers, Leigharch recklessly driving the Jeep all throughout the camp.
After a few moments, Leigharch drove the group out of the camp and started taking them to the military base, still laughing his head off all the while.
“Aye! We got company!” Amara as she saw that the soldiers had entered their own vehicles and began to pursue them.
“Look at these fools! They came all grouped together!” Revy said with a ferocious grin, excited for a second encounter.
“Damn.” Rock muttered as he saw the soldiers through the window of his door.
“What crawled up your ass?” Revy asked, noticing the man’s change in behavior.
Rock sighed, “Revy...I... I talked with that Japanese guy for a long time, and I realized, I-”
“Let’s see who goes first.” Shenhua replied, as only one person could comfortably stand in the car’s sunroof, cutting off Rock.
“Rock, paper, scissors!” Revy yelled, throwing out her hand to make paper, losing to Shenhua’s scissors. “Damnit! I get fucking leftovers!”
“I see you later!” Shenhua said mockingly as she pulled herself through the sunroof.
“Hey, you can get to of ‘em then we switch!” Revy yelled as Shenhua left before turning back to Rock. “Did you say something?”
“No. Never mind.” Rock replied, still staring out the window.
Revy shrugged, taking the man’s words at face value and crawling out of the sunroof when she noticed that Shenhua had caused a large explosion taking out a good number of the soldiers, using Rock as a step to do so. “Hey! Didn’t I tell you not to kill them all?! Move. I'm taking the left side!”
Rock let out a groan when Revy started standing on the back of the seat and not his shoulders.
“What were you saying at the Japanese guy?” Amara asked, her eyes following Revy and Shenhua’s bodies as they pushed and shoved each other for space.
Rock was surprised, not expecting the question. “You want to know? And why are you here with me? Shouldn’t you be up there with them, getting kill points or something?”
Amara rolled her eyes, “Unlike them I don’t enjoy killing people; I do it because I would rather live then be killed myself, and I'm good at it. Besides, my trench knives aren’t good for situations like this; they’re not long-range weapons.”
“I guess that makes sense.” Rock muttered, realizing that Amara was just as useful as he was in this moment, so it was better to just sit back and let the psychotic women above them do the work.
“So, Japanese guy?” Amara asked again.
It was as if the floodgates of Rock’s heart were released as he soon told Amara the story of his encounter with Takenaka and his story of the man who never stopped fighting.
“So, this guy made you realize that you have no purpose in life and that your reasons for leaving your old life behind are weak and childish in comparison to his?” Amara summarized, her green eyes lazily taking Rock in.
Rock flinched at the statement, unnerved by how easily Amara was able to read him. “Yeah...”
“You're overthinking it, Rock.” Amara said plainly.
“Huh? How could I be overthinking things? If anything, I'm underthinking!” Rock exclaimed.
“I mean, you can’t compare your experiences to that of someone else, we all live different lives, feel things differently, so a comparison is pointless. Who cares if you don’t have a great purpose or whatever, you’ll find what pushes you forward, and it will be important to you.” Amara explained.
“Huh...” Was all Rock could say in response, thinking over what Amara had just said and feeling comforted by her words.
“You good, Rock?” Amara said, snapping her fingers in front of his face as Rock had started to stare off into space.
“Yeah, I'm good. Thank you, Amara, for the advice. You’re wiser and more profound than I gave you credit for.” Rock said.
Amara halfheartedly punched his arm, “Rude.”
Before Rock could respond, an even larger explosion sounded behind them and Revy and Shenhua reentered the car.
“If we had an M72 or a minigun, it would’ve been easier to finish the job.” Revy smirked as she retook her seat.
“Stupid. Cannon and gun, they always needing ammo. Body and blade last forever. They always be the best weapon in the world.” Shenhua argued, tracing her finger against the blade of one of her swords.
“That’s the dumbest thing I ever heard. A knife can chip. It’s guns over swords and nukes over guns.” Revy said as she removed her guns’ empty magazines, “Now if we had one of those, it would be the greatest thing ever. But its rigged so only politicians can get their hand on ‘em.”
“Your head not right, it not for you to buy. criminal only use such a weapon for making big crime.” Shenhua sneered.
Amara groaned and leaned her head against the window, “Wake me up we get there or when they stop fighting.”
Rock envied the girl’s ability to fall asleep so easily as now he was left alone with a high lunatic of a getaway driver and two murderous Asian women.
~X~
Amara let out a yawn as she watched a helicopter fly a couple of feet above her.
The group had reached the base, not encountering any other groups of enemy soldiers and had made it just in time to deliver the documents.
“What you got for me?! Has the lottery’s delivery boy arrived?!” A man with short blond hair, sunglasses and a white suit yelled over the noise of the helicopter, standing next to the open door and looking down at the group.
“Well, well, you’re late again, Langley!” Revy said in response, smiling amusedly at the man as they watched the helicopter begin to land.
“That’s because Langley’s busy. There's too many bastards shitting on freedom and justice these days.” The blond snarked, walking to the group once the helicopter landed.
“Alright, enough chit chatting. Where's this thing that’s supposed to make us all excited.” Another man had asked.
The two were Agents Sugar and Blend, members of the CIA.
“Oh shit! The briefcase!” Rock yelled, realizing that the briefcase was still at the camp.
“What?!” Shenhua yelled.
“I don’t have the briefcase! Revy, Amara, we’re in big trouble!” Rock exclaimed.
Revy snorted at the scene, “Don’t panic, Rock. If we’re lucky Aladdin will show up and rub his magic dick for us and bam...”
Revy lifted the bottom of her top and pulled out the documents that she had stored between her cleavage. “Here, just like that.”
“What the hell? Then why you take us on long ride to save dumbass?” Shenhua asked, confused as Revy and Amara had told them that Rock had the documents with him.
“You guys wouldn’t have come if we didn't give you a good reason.” Amara answered, unbothered by the glare she received in return.
Agent Blend reluctantly took the documents, “Aw shit! They’re covered in sweat!”
Still Agent Blend put the documents in his jacket pocket and returned to the helicopter with Agent Sugar. “All right, people. Thanks a lot, but next time try to keep your deliveries in better shape or the boss will be pissed.”
The helicopter started up again and began to rise into the air, preparing to take off.
Despite this, Agent Blend still had words to say to Revy, “Oh, yeah, one more thing Rebecca. If the chief at Buffalo Hill and your pals over at the 27th precinct happened to hear about you now, they’d be pissing their pants!”
“Damnit.” Revy hissed; unwanted memories began to fill her head as Agent Blend continued to speak.
“Now don’t get me wrong, personally I couldn't give a shit; our job’s to destroy the enemies of the United States. They’re sure as hell not paying us enough to chase down criminals too. Just a little something to think about when we call you for the next job.”
Revy stood deathly still as she watched the CIA helicopter fade into the distance, a loud ringing sound echoing through her head.
Amara watched as Rock shyly walked towards Revy and silently prayed for him in her head. It did not take a genius to figure out that whatever Agent Blend said to Revy was personal and was currently bothering her.
And while Amara had not been a part of the Lagoon Company for long, she knew Revy well enough to that she would take her anger out on the first person to speak to her.
“Hey, Revy. Uh, I haven’t gotten the chance to thank you yet, so, uh, thanks.”
Revy turned to face Rock, eyes cold for a moment before a smirk formed on her lips, placing her forearm against his chest. “Cut it out. We’re buddies, so there’s no need for this formal you bullshit. By the way Rock--”
THUD
Rock crouched down, holding the top of his head as he felt nothing but pain from the strike that Revy had delivered.
“What the fuck were you thinking?! Guess what? That’s the last favor you’re gonna get from me, you fucking pea brain. One more thing; all the rescue expenses are coming out of your pay. Next time you wanna be saved, you better start asking God for favors!” Revy screeched as she kneeled in front of the fallen Rock.
“Give me a fucking break.” Revy groaned as she walked back to the jeep.
Amara sighed and went to help Rock stand to his feet and lead him to the car, not surprised by what had just happened.
Never a boring day with these guys around...
