First off, I have to say I am a HUGE fan of the brilliant anime/manga series that is Black Lagoon. I love it because unlike most anime/manga, it doesn't go off and do things that are completely impossible in real life, and it has a plot that goes beneath the surface, examining what makes people who sell drugs, kill for a living and so on do what they do, instead of immediately labelling them as criminals. With that out of the way, allow me to introduce the opening chapter of Black-Five-seveN. Enjoy!

Anzac-A1: Revy would you mind?

Revy: Fuck...fine. All right, Anzac-A1 doesn't fucking own Black Lagoon, got it?

Anzac-A1: And here I thought you couldn't be nice.

Revy: (draws Cutlasses) You say something?

Anzac-A1: Nothing! Nothing!

Chapter 1: Twin Darkness.

The cry of seagulls could be heard for miles around, as the PT boat known as the Black Lagoon sliced through the calm waters of the South China Sea, heading out on yet another courier job. This job however was unlike any other that the infamous Lagoon Company had undertaken before. The reason was that the job had come from Mr Chang of the Hong Kong Triad, not so unusual it itself, but what was odd was the fact that Chang had decided to accompany the group on their job along with Biu, his right-hand man. Even more amazing was the money Chang had offered for the job; $75,000 for a simple pick-up job. Stranger still was that Chang had yet to explain who or what they were picking up.

"So Boss, you gonna tell us what's so important to you that you'd actually tag along?" Revy asked, eliciting a grin from the Triad leader. It was typical Revy; getting straight to the point without, as Revy would put it, fucking screwing around.

"Calm down, Two Hands. Trust me on this; you'll understand why I asked to come along when I introduce you." Chang replied, in his usual cool, calm tone. He knew exactly what Revy was thinking; it was dangerous to keep secrets, especially in their line of work, where a secret could earn you a bullet to the head and a one-way ticket to the gates of hell.

"So I take it we're picking up a person then?" Rock asked, posing the question that had been brewing in his head since they set off.

"Perceptive as always, Rock. But you're right, we're picking up two people actually." Chang replied.

"You mind if I ask who exactly we're bringing on-board?" Dutch asked, not taking his eyes off the waters ahead. "Not that I don't trust you Mr Chang, but I just want to make sure it's not people who might try and kill us." Revy snorted.

"Come on, Dutch. If they do try anything, I've been wanting some fun for a while." Revy said, a hand resting on one of her custom Berretta 92M Cutlasses.

"I wouldn't try it, Revy. I'd be willing to bet these two are even better than you are." Chang told her, causing everyone including Revy to stare at him in shock. Saying someone was more skilled with a gun than Revy was saying they were practically Delta or SAS worthy. Only Roberta, the Lovelace family maid and former Bloodhound of Florencia, had proven to be on Revy's level of skill with a gun.

"Well then, this is gonna be fucking interesting." Revy said, grinning the same way she did whenever she smelt a good gunfight coming on.

A few hours later, the Black Lagoon arrived at the small island port where they were to pick up their two mysterious passengers. Chang still refused to explain any details until they actually met them, so the Lagoon Company were all interested in finally meeting whoever Chang had hired them to carry. As the boat approached the dock, Rock spotted two figures through his binoculars. Both were dressed in the same fashion as the other Triad members he'd seen; black suit pants and jacket, with a white under shirt and black tie. Black glasses covered their eyes. The only clue to their gender was that one of them had long blonde hair, that Rock estimated went down to mid-back. The two were sitting on some kind of crate, which Rock immediately recognised from all of his work for the Lagoon Company as a weapons crate. However there were no markings to hint at what lay inside the crate. The two people turned stood up and faced the boat as it glided up to the dock. After Revy and Rock had secured the boat the rest of the crew, including Chang and Biu disembarked as well.

"Dai-lo Chang." said the first person, his voice revealing that he was a boy.

"Please Aaron, you don't have to be so formal. I'm your boss and your friend." Chang replied. The boy and girl removed their glasses, revealing their green and blue eyes respectively.

"So, is this the famous Lagoon Company you told us about?" the girl asked, clearly unimpressed by what she saw. Revy's eye twitched, as she strained to refrain from drawing her guns on the girl. Chang nodded, ignoring Revy's reaction.

"Now then, let me introduce you all. Lagoon Company, I'd like you to meet two of my most valuable assassins; Artemis and Serene." Chang said. Everyone gulped when they heard this. They still remembered what happened in Roanapur when Hansel and Gretel had shown up. Understandably they were more than a bit apprehensive about another pair of young assassins walking around, even if they did apparently work for Chang.

"Uh, Mr Chang…" Rock asked, his voice close to shaking, betraying the nervousness they all felt.

"Don't worry Rock. You only need to worry if you either piss them off or try to kill them." Chang replied, knowing what the former businessman was about to ask.

"Well then, now that we know who's who, how about we start heading back? I'd like to make it back before it gets too dark." Dutch announced. Everyone present agreed, and after loading Artemis and Serene's crate onto the boat, they left the port and set a course for Roanapur. Chang and Biu stayed with Dutch and Rock at the helm, while Revy opted to stay below with Artemis and Serene. Although she gave no reason as to why, everyone else knew what Revy was doing. She might trust Chang and his word, but she was still edgy about bringing along two teenagers that might prove to be even worse than Hansel and Gretel, something which she knew everyone in Roanapur, especially Balalaika, did not want. The two teens were already looking in her direction as she entered, having heard her footsteps on the metal floor. Even though Revy was well versed in concealing her emotions, she still felt unnerved by the two teen staring at her, as if sizing her up to see if she posed a threat to them.

"So, you're here to keep an eye on us, right?" Serene asked. Revy felt a little more at ease; she knew that tone. The only people who spoke like that had had their lives torn apart, burnt, then chucked into the gutter, while the world just fucking watched and didn't give a damn. Revy knew that these two had probably gone through even more hell than she had, given that they were probably only eighteen and were already assassins, working for a powerful Chinese Triad no less. In a way, Revy felt some pity, but surprisingly she almost admired the two for still bothering to keep on living, even after the world had left them to die.

"Fuck, am I that easy to read now?" Revy asked, sitting down with an exasperated sigh.

"Not really, it's just how everyone looks at us when they find out what we do and who we work for. They all get that same look in their eyes...of fear. Because of that, most people we meet either avoid us entirely or try to kill us." Artemis replied, his voice carrying the same dead tone as Serene's.

"Tch, I'm guessing the ones that run either value their lives more, or the ones that attack are just too fucking stupid. I mean the fact that you work for the Triad should be enough of a warning." Revy said sarcastically. She'd heard it all before; dippshits with guns who thought they could prove something by taking on the big boys. "So, what kind of guns do you guys use? Must be a lot if you need a whole fucking crate to carry them." The two teens glanced at each other, before Artemis pulled a pistol out of his jacket. He removed the magazine, before handing the gun butt first to Revy. Revy took the gun, examining it. Surprisingly she'd never seen this kind of handgun before, at least not in Roanapur.

"FN Herstel Five seveN semi-automatic pistol. Chambers a 5.7x28mm round, thirty in the magazine, one in the chamber. And it'll go through Kevlar body armour at 100m." Artemis explained.

"Fuck, now that's a gun! I've gotta get me a couple of those!" Revy exclaimed, handing the pistol back to Artemis. He reinserted the magazine and put the gun back inside his jacket, while Serene opened the lid of the crate. Revy walked over and was amazed at what lay inside; a CheyTac Intervention sniper rifle, a Heckler & Koch G36C assault rifle and an FN FAL battle rifle. Revy knew that each of the weapons was devastating in their own right and was even more impressed by the fact that the selection had clearly been well chosen. The Intervention may have the slight handicap of its bolt-action, but the rifle boasted pinpoint accuracy at extreme ranges. As for the G36c, its high rate of fire, small size, low weight, and high accuracy made it an ideal weapon for both medium range and close-quarters. In contrast, the FAL made up for its large size with good accuracy and phenomenal stopping power. Its 7.62mm round could easily penetrate body armour even at long range, effectively nullifying the fact that it was only semi-automatic. Her previous reservations thrown out the door, she proceeded to talk to the two assassins about why they'd chosen the guns they had and various other things about weapons, which Artemis and Serene politely answered.

Meanwhile back up at the Black Lagoon's bridge, Rock was having trouble keeping his mind on the job. Revy had told him before how no one in Roanapur liked anyone who was too curious for their own good, but Rock couldn't stop himself from wondering about Artemis and Serene. What could they have possibly gone through to end up working for a Triad?

"Mister Chang? I was just..." Rock started to ask, before the Triad boss cut him off.

"Wondering how the hell two teenagers ended up working for someone like me, right?" Chang asked, having expected the question for a while. He knew that, given Rock's natural curiosity, that he would eventually ask for an explanation.

"Uh, yeah." Rock replied sheepishly, knowing he'd been caught out.

"I understand that you're curious, but you probably won't like it." Chang warned him, his voice growing deadly serious.

"Well, even if it is, I'd rather hear it than not know." Rock replied.

"Well, all right then." Chang said. "Well, I don't really know exactly where either of 'em are from, they never mentioned the subject so I never asked. To make a long story short, both of their families were on vacation in Hong Kong, when they got caught up in the middle of a local gang war. The rest of their families were gunned down pretty quick, but these two somehow managed to survive. How they did, I have no idea. After that, they stayed in Hong Kong, mostly because they didn't want to go back, knowing that they'd still be alone anyway. So they took what money their family members were carrying and decided to hunt down the ones who killed them. Ironically, they found these guys just as they were attacking me and some of my associates."

"W-What happened?" Rock asked.

"Well...let's just say the police in Hong Kong probably still haven't found all the pieces yet. I've never seen something so messed up before. I'll be honest Rock, those two scared the shit out of me the first time we met. Sure Revy's probably killed a lot more then they have, but these two mutilated the people who killed their families so badly that you almost couldn't tell they were human. I've done all I can to make sure they don't snap and end up like those Romanian twins did. The last thing we need is more of that brand of hell." Chang replied. Rock was completely horrified by what the Triad boss had told him, though he managed to hid his emotions quickly.

"Why does this world...have to be so twisted? I thought Revy's life was bad, but these two have been through more hell than anyone should ever have to experience." he thought, no more disgusted by the world than ever. Artemis and Serene should've been living a normal life, having relationships, getting a decent job, just living a good life. Instead, they had all of that snatched away from them in the blink of an eye, and left to fend for themselves without anyone giving a shit about what happened to them.

A few hours later the Black Lagoon cruised into the Roanapur harbour, the crew glad to finally be back home. Despite Chang's reassurance, the Lagoon Company were still feeling a little unnerved whenever they were in the same room as the two assassins, especially Rock, now that he knew the whole followed up on his part of the bargain, paying the crew what he'd promised as Artemis and Serene hauled their crate off the boat and into a waiting black van, the kind the Triad used whenever they needed to transport large or heavy goods, usually weapons of some kind. Rock watched as the two assassins drove off, wondering to himself what would happen to the city, now that these two lethal teens called it home.

Here's some info on Artemis and Seren's weapons.

Handgun/s

- FN Herstel Five Seven 5.7x28mm, 31 rounds max (1 in chamber, 30 in mag), penetrate Kevlar body armour at 100m.

Rifle

- Heckler & Koch G36C 5.56x45mm, 30 rounds max (3,018 feet/s).

- FAL 50.00 7.62x51mm, 20-30 round magazines, semi-automatic only (fully-automatic later).

Sniper Rifle

- CheyTac Intervention, bolt-action sniper rifle, .408 Chey Tac, 7 round magazine, effective range: 2000+ m (maximum reported range 2,530 yards/2,313m).

Finally, it's done! Sorry if I took so long (I started this chapter about three weeks ago!), but I've been busy with my other stories as well. Anyway, please let me know what you think, particularly about Artemis and Serene's back story. Just to let you know, Artemis and Serene will stop working for the Triad next chapter and become sort of freelance mercenaries, and they will be hired by Hotel Moscow quite often, work with the Lagoon Company, etc.

P.S. The reason the title is spelled 'Black Five-seveN' is because of Artemis and Serene's main weapon, the FN Five-seveN. The reason the pistol's name is spelled this way was to emphasize the manufacturer's initials, like so: Five-seveN = FN.