King of Demons

By: Black Fang 02

Disclaimer: Now if I owned Black Lagoon, I wouldn't be writing fanfiction for it, now would I.

Chapter One

Realizations

Somewhere in an underground parking lot in Japan…

"Surely you must still have some sense of justice!" Rock exclaimed in a bid to try and reason with the Russian Warmonger.

Balalaika flicked her cigarette away in agitation. "Enough Rock!" she shouted. "I've had it!" With those words, she used her unusually high level of strength to grab the smaller man by his jacket, sling him around like a rag-doll, and pretty much throw him onto the roof of the car and stand between his legs. As Balalaika drew down on Rock, Revy, who had been trying to prevent this turn of events, drew her cutlasses on both Boris and Balalaika.

Revy spoke, only to herself at first. "Damn it!" She then spoke to everyone, her voice quivering slightly, "Let's all calm down. Wha d'ya say, Sis? We don't want to reenact a scene from My Bloody Valentine, here, do we?"

Balalaika said with mild annoyance, "Shut it, Revy." She turned her attention back to the prostrate businessman and spoke quietly. "Rock, look at me." She moved her gun slightly and all other guns in the room twitched audibly. "Justice. I can't think of another word more loved by the people. It does have a nice ring to it. However, without ever exercising your own strength you seek the death of others at the hands of someone else. Heh. Well, the justice you refer to smells pretty rotten to me; the stench of a bloodbath." She shifted her grip. "Wouldn't you agree?"

While Balalaika spoke, her steel blue eyes seemed to glow with an unholy, unnatural light. Rock moved his head to the side and looked at her in guilt, fear, and anger. "Don't give me that look, Rock, after all, I'm not upset with you." Revy tried to break in unsuccessfully and Balalaika continued speaking. "Of all the people I know, I just thought I'd never hear those words coming from you. I'm amused, that's all this is," Balalaika said in a lilting tone.

Revy spoke roughly, her voice shaking with tension. "All right, you've made your point. Now just let 'im go. My fingers are twitching." Not one shooting-stance in the room slackened even by a millimeter; the tension in the area was so thick that not even a Japanese sword crafted by a master blacksmith could have cut it.

Balalaika spoke whimsically. "In the grand scheme, our lives are insignificant. They're light as air, much like a candy wrapper."

"I'm really not in the mood to talk right now. Just let 'im go," Revy implored once more, her voice riddled with agitation and worry as she stepped closer to the mafia queen and her guard.

Balalaika turned her steely gaze over her shoulder toward the twitching gunman. "And Two-hands, I have something to say to you. I don't know what's going on in that head of yours, but it will only bring you disappointment if you hope to have a life like his.

"Shut up," Revy said quieter than before, still moving closer to the pair. "I know; I know what you're saying, okay. So please just shut up now." She shifted her aim slightly. "I'm warning you, I've just about reached my limit."

This time it was Rock's turn to speak up. "Miss Balalaika, your victory here is assured and you no longer have anything to lose, so isn't that-"

Revy broke in to try to prevent his extremely stupid and potentially fatal words. "Rock!"

Rock continued on as if she hadn't spoken. "Isn't that enough for you?"

"Ah, fuckin' idiot." Revy had tried, but it seemed like he was goading Balalaika on, like he was trying to die.

Balalaika sighed in boredom. "No it isn't enough. There are two things to remember when you're begging for your life. One is to try and entertain the person holding a gun to your head, and the other is to give that person-", She chuckled and then she smiled. She actually grinned in a manner more befitting a homicidal maniac, showing teeth a little sharper than what would be on a normal human, but seemed the norm in Roanapur, "-a convincing reason why they shouldn't kill you. But you haven't managed to do either one of those things." Then she commanded, "So let's hear it! What obligation do you have to save them anyway?"

Rock's watch beeped and all bodies in the silence of the parking lot started. Rock looked at his watch and sighed loudly. "Finally, this sickening farce of kindness can end", he said to himself as he noted the time. Then to the others standing around him, "First, I never ever BEG for my life; only cowards beg for their lives and also, I can't die from bullets. Second, I don't care worth a shit what happens to that little girl; she has no idea what she's doing and her hesitant attitude bothers the hell out of me. Third, this was just a ploy to buy enough time so that my boss had time to get here; she heard about your work and wanted a chance to meet you. She needed someone capable of commanding a large army, and you just happened to fit the bill. She told me to keep you in one place today so that she could find you using me as a medium." As Rock spoke the tension in the room lowered to a more normal level when one is dealing with the Mafia and a temperamental gunman.

Revy interrupted him tersely. "Wait, wait. Who the fuck are you talking about? Wasn't Asahi Industries was your boss last anyone knew?"

Rock looked slightly irritated. "Do you think that I would really work for those piss-headed morons with out doing my normal job on them? Ugh! I implanted memories of a weakling into their minds so that I could learn all there was to know about that filthy place. I needed to infiltrate to get close enough so that I could meet the Black Lagoon crew. I needed you so that I could meet miss Balalaika and give her Mother's proposition."

Balalaika spoke in turn. "Your employer is your mother?" she asked curiously.

Rock flinched but answered truthfully. "Yes, my boss is my mother, however, she is not your traditional mother. You see; none of my family is human. We never have been and never will be human." He shuddered as if the thought disgusted him. "I'm not allowed to tell you who she is, but beware, she is one of the most cunning individuals you will ever mean. That's why all of my brothers masquerade as lawyers. If anyone is good at finding a loophole, we are. You've probably heard of them, the Terashima brothers."

Balalaika's eyes widened before she controlled her expression once more. "I have heard of them. They have never lost a single case. Why aren't you a lawyer?"

Suddenly Rock's head snapped toward the entrance of the parking lot before he could answer. There were several cars streaming in through the entrance of the parking lot, eight total. As Balalaika, Revy, Boris, and Rock watched, the cars lined up in front of them. The doors of the cars all opened simultaneously and out stepped 16 men, each wearing all black. Four more men followed them, each wearing a different colored special tailored suit. One wore a bright blue suit, another a white suit, the third a red suit, and the last brother wore a green suit. All of the brothers had black hair that shone with highlights matching their suits that touched their shoulders.

Out of the only sleek convertible stepped a woman so beautiful, it almost hurt to look at her. Her large breasts were encased in a black lace bra that peeked out from the half-unbuttoned shirt of her business suit. Her hair was so black against her pale porcelain skin it seemed to absorb the light around her. Her lips shimmered with a red so close to blood that it was a frightening effect. Her height slightly exceeded Balalaika's though she wasn't wearing shoes at all. Her skirt brushed her legs at mid thigh as she silently observed the situation around her.

Her voice, when she spoke, was low and sensual. "Rock, how are you doing living here in the big city?" She said to him.