Disclaimer: I do not own Black Lagoon.

Omertà

By Moonlith

Chapter One: End of an Era

Dusk had settled over the dark waters surrounding the equally dark city of Roanapur. With the moon on the verge of the horizon and about to go down, surrendering the pitch black sky to be enlightened only by countless of stars, it was bound to be a clear and good night.

It had been one heck of a day for the Lagoon delivery company, overall. Doing dangerous jobs in illegal business in a manner almost comparable to freelance, one surely wouldn't expect things to go smoothly always to begin with. But even against this frame, business hadn't indeed been so good for the four mercenaries on the last few occasions. And the job they had been assigned and left to do earlier that day had proved itself to be continuing the long list of those gigs that had brought an unpleasant amount of trouble in their wake.

At first, it had sounded fairly simple and easy, really. To pick up an old painting from a sunken World War two German submarine for a Spanish antique collector. The water area in which the submarine had sunken was now an itching controversial question for far bigger executives than the poor crew members of Black Lagoon. This, on the other hand, provided an excellent chance for scavengers like them to sneak in and snatch their prey without anyone noticing. The risks involved with the mission were fairly low as well, with only the possibility of a few rotten corpses causing a scare for their squeamish novice, Rock. To top it off, Rock would also get to pursue his interest towards scuba diving again after a long time. Work and fun combined while making a healthy amount of money in the process, there was a tickling sensation in the air that the mercenaries would finally get the job done without any unwelcome surprises.

But as fate would have it, this was not to be the case. No sooner had Benny made the arrangements to relax and observe at the same time the movements of Revy and Rock, who had been sent to fetch the painting, when he noticed something suspicious a few hundred yards away in the open sea. Further examination proved that it was another ship, and very much larger than theirs at that. Not only larger, though, but more heavily armed as well, as the Lagoon crew members soon learned when the sudden visitors launched several missiles at them. In order to secure themselves from any serious harm, Dutch and Benny were left with no options but to retreat. As for how Revy and Rock were supposed to make it, well, in situations like this, "every man for himself" was the most convenient creed to follow, they figured.

After a series of unfortunate events, the four members of the Black Lagoon did manage to get together again. Given the situation though, the reunion wasn't a happy one. Their raid prolonged and not expecting any additional company, Rock and Revy were forced to deal with the other group of treasure hunters consisting of zealous neo-Nazis. Soon finding themselves in an underdog position, the two set the saving of their own arses as their top priority, leaving the painting and other valuables behind.

Now being in a position where no more failures could be allowed due to the many recent fiascoes, the Lagoon traders were short of options for their next course of action. It was quickly decided then: the painting had to be retrieved by any means. To the nazis, this would mean a rude and bloody interruption of their party on their ship. Revy and Dutch on the other hand considered themselves to be in for a load of fun, given the compensation it would be to get their revenge along with the painting. So, Dutch and Revy would raid the enemy ship, and with Revy's enthusiastic agreement, the deal was sealed.

Rock found his only female coworker on the deck of the boat. Dutch had tasked him with feeding the redhead before they would set off to their crusade, and now Rock found her sitting near the bow of the boat. Having her hair freed for once from the hair tie she usually wore, her tresses were now gently swaying in the night breeze. Her gaze fixed on something in the distance and a lit cigaret hanging absently between her lips, she appeared to be lost in thought.

"Revy", Rock broke her daze with a simple call of her name.

After receiving an equally simple acknowledgement for his presence, the Japanese man continued:

"Here's dinner. Dutch says you should have something to eat".

As Revy offered no reply, he finished:

"I'll leave it here."

With the silence continuing to linger in the air, Rock decided to try his luck before leaving:

"If this is about what happened in the U-boat...", he began, referring to both their dark mannered conversation they had had in the dim submarine as well as to Revy's even glummer appearance that seemed to be the result of it.

Revy, however, didn't seem to be too eager to talk about the subject, as she wasted no time before cutting in:

"Rock, that's over now. There's no reason to go through it again, now is there?"

The heavy, even sinister tone in Revy's voice was enough of a clue for the young Japanese ex-businessman to drop the matter as he a bit timidly stammered his agreement and left.

Revy continued to sit in silence. A ferocious hunger indeed gnawed inside of her, but the hunger she felt wasn't one to be satisfied with even the most delicious of foods. No, the target of her craving was far beyond those of normal human needs. Whether it was due to the unusual confrontations she had had with the Japanese man recently or something else entirely, she did not know nor did she care. As Revy started to prepare herself for the upcoming mission, her thoughts slowly shifted to the blissfully unaware future victims in the Nazi ship. Tonight her hunger would be satiated with a feast, a feast reeking of blood and carnage.

"You seem glum. Did something happen with Rock?" Addressed the Afro-American leader of the Black Lagoon his companion.

The two of them were now seated in a small motorboat en route to the Nazi ship. The low roar of the boat's engine was the only sound filling the air for a moment, until at last Revy gave her single-word answer:

"Nothing."

The tone in the woman's voice left little doubt whether she was willing to continue the conversation, and thus the rest of the way was carried out in silence, the noises of celebration in their destination growing ever louder.

Dieter staggered his way to the deck of the ship, the cacophony of the crew's celebration fading as he reached the open air. He had escaped the partying for a moment to seek brief respite, eager to have a few lungfuls of the brisk night air. His wobbly steps came to a halt, however, as he noticed an alien anchor attached to the railings. Drunken as he was, the meaning behind the intrusion did not escape him. But he was only beginning to form the first shouts of warning when a click of a gun behind his head told him that he was already too late.

"And the first little piggy came to it's end", he heard the cold female voice teasing, and the two ensuing gunshots ended his life then and there.

Barely even listening the instructions Dutch were giving her, Revy began to make her way down the nearby staircase deeper into the ship. An ominous look in her eyes and both of her guns cocked in her hands, she was already in the mindset for mayhem and ready to fill her appetite.

Leaving behind large pools of blood everywhere she went, Revy had now found her way to the cockpit of the ship. Kicking the door open and immediately leveling her guns at the occupants of the room, she caught the crew members by surprise. Extremely threatening as she looked, one of the men came up to her holding his hands in the air and desperately trying to convince her not to open fire at them, pleading to the fact that they were just hired outsiders. He was granted with a punch in the face and bullets in both knees. Revy was about to end his agony by putting one in his head as well when there came a sudden interruption.

She caught a glimpse of movement in the corner of her eye, but wasn't quick enough to dodge the monstrous hand grabbing her by the shirt. The black war veteran looked very angry.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Roared Dutch as he slammed his comrade fiercely against a wall.

"Hey, just starting some shit as you told me, Dicky boy. Making bloodbaths is exactly what we do, right?", said Revy, in a taunting tone without any regret.

Needles to say, Dutch was not pleased with this, as he went on:

"A gunman is a professional. One who goes with his moods is just a bloody shooter. I thought I hired a professional, Revy. Outside of work, it's all your decision if you go on rampage, but if you happen to fuck up when we are on job, it's a bit of a problem for me too. Just be cool as a cucumber, Revy, and if you can't put up with that, you might just as damn well climb on top of a church and shoot down idiots."

Instead of amusement, Revy started to grow fairly irritated herself as she retorted:

"So now even you're going to give me a lecture, eh? Don't make me laugh."

Dutch didn't back down as he gave his final statement:

"Of course, Two-Hands. I'm your employer, after all.", to which Revy gave humorless laugh.

Then, slowly, both of them drew their guns. As if this wasn't bad enough of a sing that their argument had gone too far, they suddenly pointed their guns at each other. For a split second, the insanity of the situation finally hit Revy: one of her legendary Sword Cutlasses, which had so many times brought terror and death to her enemies in the past, was now pointed directly at one of her few oldest true friends.

Then, a gunshot. Only one.

For a moment, the scene was overtaken by a grave silence. A slender line of bitter smoke rose from the end of Revy's handgun. Dutch whispered her name in a voice heavy and hoarse with agony and disbelief as the nasty crimson stain in the chest of his shirt grew wider and darker. With all life quickly draining from his body along with his blood, Dutch fell on his knees in front of Revy, staining his partner's shirt in his blood as well. His energy spent, Dutch collapsed on the deck as the last sparkle of life escaped from his body. The renowned Vietnam War veteran was no more, and all that was left of him was an enormous heap of dead meat.

And then, all hell broke loose. The nazis had managed to pull their fronts back together. Being now pursued on either side and left with no time to think, Revy automatically let her instincts take over and made her escape. Seeing that the ship was now entirely crowded with nothing but enemies, Revy was left with no solution but to launch the flare gun they had taken with them to give a sing to Rock and Benny to come and pick them up. Only now it was just her who would leave, she accidentally let the bitter thought cross her mind. Bullets flying from every direction, she had absolutely no other route for escape but jumping overboard.

The coldness of the ocean water that now enclosed her was enough to cool down the heat of battle and survival instinct in her body, giving way to the shock and horror of what she had done. As the choking feeling of anxiety grew in her chest, Revy tried to convince herself that the stinging in her eyes was solely due to the salty seawater around her.

As soon as Rock and Benny noticed the flare that was shot to the sky from the Nazi ship, they knew what to do. Benny hurried to start the engines while Rock stayed on the deck to observe further events. It had been quite a stressful night for the two men as their mellow nature prevented them from participating in the violence. They had spent the whole evening in an uneasy atmosphere, talking little and not knowing how to settle down as the concern for their companions dominated their thoughts every moment. Now that the situation seemed to be over, both of them hoped from the bottom of their hearts that everything had gone well.

When they arrived at the scene, the view that greeted them was disquieting and did little to soothe their worries. Several guns were still blazing, and for a moment they didn't have any idea as to where their fellow partners might be. Then, almost by a miracle, they caught Revy in the spot of their searchlight on the deck. Arms flailing in the air and frantic shouts escaping from her lungs, Rock was quick to aid her out of the water while Benny rushed to start the engines.

"Where's Du..." The question died on Rock's lips as he noticed Revy had already ignored him completely, the fiery redhead now dashing to open the hatch leading inside the boat.

Quickly Rock followed her there, only to hear her hysterically shriek a command to Benny:

"GET US THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!!!"

Completely stunned, Benny began asking, as if on a reflex:

"But what about Du..."

The same question got cut off again, only this time with an actual answer, confusing and hard to understand as it was:

"Dead, dead, dead, DEAD, DEAD!!", Revy continued to shout, her own agony taken the form of a tantrum.

No further questioning was possible as the gunfire directed at them from the other ship indicated that it would indeed be better to act now and do the talking later. So without further inquiring, Benny turned the boat around and accelerated to full speed, leaving the enemy ship far behind.

Now safe from imminent danger, the want for escaping was still screaming in Revy's mind. To escape from Benny, from Rock. From herself, as the confusion and horror of the events of the night threatened to overwhelm her. Doing the only thing she could think of at the moment, Revy grabbed as many cans of beer as she could find lying around and isolated herself into one of the boat's empty cabins. Quickly she proceeded to pouring the warm alcohol down her throat, hoping that it would blur at least the sharpest edge of the haunting thoughts away.

So it continued; one of the longest nights of young Rebecca's life.

A/N: This will be a short story of maximum five chapters in total. Comments will be welcomed with open arms.

Moonlith