Disclaimer: I do not own any copyrighted material mentioned, including Black Lagoon and Ed Sheeran's 'A-Team', they are instead owned by their respective owners

(I strongly recommend that you listen to 'A-Team' by Ed Sheeran as you read)

It was a late evening in the city of Roanupur, but what was unusual for the city that evening was the total lack of sporadic gunfire and booming yelling and swearing that usually resounded from the streets below. Instead, it was only the constant patter of rain hitting the the metal roofs of a few of the smaller buildings and dull thumps of rain as it hit the pavement; the rain being the reason for the lack of activity in the city as no matter the types of people in the city, no one would willingly be outside in this weather.

And it was because of this that a pair of co-workers and smugglers were sitting bored, unable and unwilling to go to the bar that they frequently went to. Rather, if one were to look inside a small apartment that the smugglers owned with the rest of their crew, one would see a slightly strained Japanese man in a white shirt and blue tie playing cards with a Chinese looking woman in less than modest clothing and holsters. A woman who had a more than smug look on her face as she watched the man across from her, absentmindedly playing with the cigarette that was sticking out of her clenched teeth. After another twenty seconds of the man's tense hold on his cards, he placed the cards down and sighed while the woman smiled and took the small pot from the middle of the table.

Looking slightly annoyed, the man took a pack of cigarettes from his breast pocket before taking a new one, "Honestly Revy, I still don't get why I keep playing you when all I do is end up losing my money in the end."

The woman, now identified as Revy, laughed again before absentmindedly answering back as she counted the pot, "Two reasons 'Watson', first is because you still think you can beat me one of these days. The second being as there's nothing else to do other than play cards while Dutch and Benny are fixing the boat," The woman finished, slightly proud of the look she got from the man because of the nickname.

Grunting, the man lit the cigarette before looking back at Revy, "I'm surprised that the ship wasn't even damaged worse from that RPG round that hit. It could have been a lot worse."

Looking up from her counting, Revy gave another smirk, "American military manufacturing at it's finest, just be glad that we got the boat that isn't like the others or else it would have been destroyed years ago. Besides, it wasn't even a direct hit on the hull, or else it really would have been a lot worse."

Used to his companion's weird sense of humor, the man instead looked outside the window into the empty streets below, enjoying the quietness that was rare for the otherwise over the top city. After thinking about the city for a few more minutes while Revy recounted the money once again, the man broke the silence, "Hey Revy?"

Looking up from her loot, Revy eyed the man who broke the silence, "Yeah Rock?"

Looking away from the window, the man now known as Rock looked at his companion and asked the question that was on his mind, "Are you happy with the way that Roanupur's like? With all the crime, yelling, and the random events that always seem to be happening?"

Surprised at the question, Revy stared at Rock's questioning face for a few seconds before returning back to counting the money, "Rock, I've been living in this city for years. To me it's just the same as any other city I've ever lived in or been too."

Astonished, Rock gave her a look that screamed confusion, "What do you mean 'same as any other city'? I've seen men killed just for looking at someone wrong and more being beaten for even less. I know we don't think the same way," Rock pauses when he hears Revy snort at that comment, "but how does this even resemble places like New York or Tokyo?"

Sighing, Revy tries to inhale more of her cigarette, only to scowl when she realized that all that's left is the butt of the cigarette. Taking it out, Revy threw the butt away with a glare before turning back to Rock, "What I meant is that, no matter where you go or how clean and peaceful a city looks, if you look hard enough or live anywhere long enough you will find the darker side to the city."

Using this pause, Revy took out a new cigarette and lit it before turning back to Rock with a challenging look on her face, "And before you go all high and fucking mighty like you normally do, saying it isn't true, let me to tell you I lived that life. Before anyone tells you that New York is the land of possibilities and power, know that it can also eat you up and turn you into a monster, I know I did."

Not willing to accept what he was hearing, Rock looked up and said, "I don't believe you. That's only the opinion of one person, Revy."

Rising up quickly and slamming her hands on the table in front of her, Revy sneered at the man that she was arguing with once again, "Like hell I'm the only one Rock! You know I used to be like you, thinking that it was all a series of fucked up circumstances and that I've been dealt a bad hand. But then that would mean either I'd pity myself, which I have to say is the worst fucked up thing in the world," She says, slowly sinking back into her chair, "Or I'd have to learn to accept that this is just life biting me in the ass. Even though I'd end up despising myself for accepting this as reality, I would rather hate myself than wallow in self-pity," pausing once again, Revy started to wearily rub her face with the heel of her palm, "And I'm just the next in a long line of people who think like that, Rock."

Desperately wanting to understand what his companion was saying, to try and convince her that this wasn't the way that one should live, Rock pushed further, "What do you mean by that?"

Although being so weary, Revy was still too riled up to simply let the discussion end, "It happened a month or two after I joined up with Dutch, back before you or even Benny were in the picture. We took the PT boat down to Los Angeles and hid it down the coast so no-one would see it."

Cutting in due to his curiosity, Rack asked why they had hid the boat down the coast, causing Revy to groan at the question, "Rock," she groused out, "do you really think it'd be wise to dock a fully armed military-grade torpedo boat in an American port, let alone a highly dense and busy port. For someone who prides himself in being smart, you sure can be a dumb-ass."

Both pleased and pissed off at the same time at seeing the look on Rock's face, she continued, "Dutch was looking for an old friend he had that had contacts for local gangs or organizations that may need a smuggler's touch. That, or he was able to improve the ship's capabilities. Anyways, the friend was an old squad-member he was with back in Vietnam or something, I never really did catch the full story."

Taking another drag from her cigarette, Revy paused before continuing, "Eventually, Dutch left the bar we were meeting at to look at these connections that he and his friend were talking about, so I was stuck alone with the friend. We started talking, him sharing war stories with me while I told him a few of my adventures at the time. Eventually though, I started to talk about how I was surprised at how warm and calm the city was, and you want to know what he did after I said that?"

Intrigued, Rock nodded his head wanting for her to continue, "The bastard laughed at me," she said with a growl.

Confused at this, Rock couldn't help but sputter, "H-he laughed?"

Still growling, Revy pointed her cigarette at Rock, "Yeah, the bastard laughed before telling me that 'It's still too cold for that' which pissed me off, so I had to ask what he meant. To this day I don't know if he was a fucking idiot or a genius for what he asked me afterwards."

Cutting in, Rock was on the edge of his seat as he asked, "What did he ask?" only to flinch at the look he received from Revy.

"Stop interrupting me, Got it?" she groused out only to get a nod, "The bastard asked me if I had seen any angels in the city. When I told him I haven't he told me that no matter what happens, the city would never be worthy of being called "The City of Angels". That the city, underneath all of the false liveliness and false atmosphere, the city would never be worthy of being a place worthy of angels, at how 'cold' any city, not just LA, is."

Fully confused at what she was saying, Rock asked what the man had meant as 'cold'.

Shrugging half-committedly, Revy drawled out the answer, "Murder, extortion, prostitution, drugs, abuse, corruption, hell even littering. No matter where you would go, you would always see their presence if you looked hard enough," finishing up her cigarette, Revy threw the butt to the floor before continuing, "Ever since he told me that, all I could see was the darker side of wherever I go, and I hate him for that."

Both of the smugglers paused in silence for about half a minute before Revy continued, "But at the same time I'm thankful for what he told me," seeing the look of confusion from Rock, she continued with a dry chuckle, "No matter where I go now, I can always feel in a perverted sense that I belong. The worst parts of each city match my life fucking perfectly and if needed I can feel secure that I belong because no matter how you look at it I deserve to be like that."

After another minute of silence between the two, Rock eyed the miserable Revy before telling her what he thought which broke her out of her thoughts, "I still don't understand what you mean."

Slamming the table with her fist, Revy leaned forward with hate filled eyes before yelling, "What isn't there to understand, huh!? You either believe in a false sense of safety and existence, which you can't seem to realize is total bullshit, or you get you head out of your ass and see reality like the rest of us, because I'll be damned if no-one else sees the truth! No matter how much you sugarcoat every, single, goddamn thing you see in life one day you have to realize that there's always something more underneath! Remember that discussion that we had when you first started out, when we were in that old U-boat!? You remember how you sugarcoated the entire thing as how the medals represented the life of the men on board and that it is what they would be known for!? Well too fucking bad because like I said before, stuff like that doesn't exist in the real world! Instead, when you look at them for what they are, they're just pieces of metal that anyone could sell without a second glance!"

Not stopping despite the look on Rock's face the entire time, Revy continued in a growl, "That's one thing you have to realize Rock, sugar-coating everything will only lead to harm at one point. Either learn to face reality or it'll kill you without a second thought and I'll be damned you die because you were too much of a crybaby to realize it."

The next few minutes were one of a tense silence between the two smugglers, the only sound coming from the rain that continued to fall outside the window. It was only when Revy leaned forward did the two show any sign of life. Leaning forward, Revy held out the deck of cards to Rock, "It's your turn to deal, Rock."

Total length of story: 2071 words

The reason that I thought that you should listen to 'A-Team' by Ed Sheeran was because that was what inspired me to write this. Beneath the story that he was telling there was still the sense that he accepted what had happened despite the topic at hand.

If anyone who is reading this is a follower of my stories, I'm sorry for my inactivity in both writing and reviewing stories. Every year i go into a period of depression for a couple months and this is one of those times.

~ Jazbez