Foreward.
This is my attempt at writing Black Lagoon fic. Or at writing anything actually. I apologize in advance to any fans for my lack of skills, but I need to learn somewhere.
From the technical part, this story will feature quite a lot of OC's and have a strong focus on them. I'll do my best to give justice to canon characters (once they appear) but I'm open to advice. I noticed I can point flaws in other's works but I lack perspective in my own.
Characters here often spoke differing languages, and to adress it, while everything is written in english the dialogues spoken with languages different than ACTUAL english or japanese or whatever language they speak in Roanapur in canon, will be underlined
Disclaimer: I don't own Black Lagoon and any other franchiese that may be referenced.
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Prologue
Do you know this feeling where you wish for a sleep, because reality is just too grim, too horrible to deal with and yet when it comes, you jolt awake in horror because of nightmares that come with it?
Trapped between terrors of dreams and reality, with solace in neither, what can you do to fend of creeping madness born from pain and helplessness?
You need a focus. Something to shift all you awarness to. Running towards a goal singlemindedly until old scars stop hurting and pain of the past is buried under new memories. But it takes time - for some shorter, for others longer. But what if you run out of that time? If your focus, your goal is takan away before you could heal and you run back into cold reality with your wounds half opened?
There is only so much lemonade one can drink. So when life insists on giving you lemons still, you don't force yourself to make more lemanade anyway. You take those damn yellow shits, and shove tham back life's ass and then burn its house!
And boy, he was knee deep in lemons and stacked on napalm...
"What do you mean, they disappeared!?" - Well dressed, middle aged man was shouting into the reciever, while sweating bullets. His white, freshly starched shirt suddenly felt to constricting. Forcing himself to sound calm he spoke again, this time with much more leveled tone. "Keep looking. Use dogs or something..." He suggested before sighting and disconnecting. He leaned back into his leather armchair and nervoulsy tapped his finger on his desk for a few seconds. He was Minister for barely a month, and shit was already flying his way. He started to wonder if this was such a good idea after all... He picked up the phone again and dialed international number. He hestitated a moment before confirming the connection. He didn't wanted to make that call, especially with bad news.
"This better be important. I'm busy." Growled unfriendly voice on the other side. It was shaping to be a great conversation wasn't it?
"Oh it is." The Minister answered and instantly cut to the chaice. "We have a problem. Few of those Łysa Góra lunatics, have disappeared along with equipement and we can't trace them." Minister tried to even his voice, but a tremble slipped anyway. What he heard in return, didn't helped to calm his nerves.
"Oh no... YOU have a problem." Was the indifferent answer. Minister could almost see how the man on the other side shrugs his arms. "I'm retired, you have my position now. That was the deal."
Now it was Minister's turn to growl into reciever. "You left me with the fallout that may ruin my carrier at best, and piss off foreign forces at worst! It was your idea in the first place! You pretty much let them loose! If they rise hell and the witch hunt for the guy responsible starts, I'm pointing finger at you!" He was shouting with abandon now, forgeting that his secretary may hear him just behind the doors.
The voice on the other side sounded calm, but now there was a frightening chill carried within. "Remember, that you may be important figure now, but I still have resources and connections to bring you down faster than any "witch hunt" ever could. You will be put on trial for embezzlement, incarcerated and you may even... Commit suicide out of shame... It happened before, right? It was a smaller fish, but the principle stays the same..."
Minister froze. The old bastard wasn't even trying to hide the threat. He barely heard the words that followed.
"You have a mess to clean. It comes with the territory. If you could think just a bit further ahead, you wouldn't be in this positon now. Unless it REALLY threatens us both, you're on your own." There was a click and the call ended from the other side.
Minister slowly put the reciever down. Covered in cold sweat, he put his elbows on the desk, hid his face in palms and said only "Kurwa".
Night patrols could be pleasant. Riding through the city's nightlife had a certain charm to it even if you are on duty to stop half of the fun. Patroling the forest road in the middle of nowhere, where you have a bigger chance to meet boar than a human was the opposite of fun. It was boring, mind numbing and a little bit of creepy. Also it felt pointless. At this hour, only occasional semi-trucks were passing this road and even that only on certain seasons. Tonight, there were none. On the plus side, the air was pleasant. Night was warm so Adam could open a window and let some wind in. Otherwise he would probably suffocate, what with Władek chainsmoking next to him. He gave his partner a nudge.
"What?" Władek looked at Adam with an irritated expression, fidgeting slightly in his passenger sit to get more comfortable.
"You were about to fall asleep." The driver answered. "As much as it would be entertaining to watch a burning cig falling from you mouth straight onto your dick, it's not worth the trouble that would follow."
Władek snorted. "It's not like we have much to focus on. Wanna play some car games? A few rounds of 'I spy...'" He asked sarcastically.
Adam only sighted and suppresed the impulse to cough. Tobacco smoke scratching at the back of his throat. He almost didn't noticed a faint sound, rapidly raising in volume. Turning to his partner he asked "You hear that?" But Władek was already glancing into rear mirror. They were on a sharp curve, but from behind a wall of trees, Adam could see the brightness and the sound he heard was become recognizable as a song. A car with radio playing was approaching. Fast
Lay awake
I don't give a shit
If I even ever wake up in the morning
Down below
There's a pile of sin
Always waiting for a
Waiting for a warning
He could notice the other signs as well. Scared birds were taking flight, adding their own voice to the noise. The music was getting louder. Almost to ear rupturing levels.
Burned at the stake
Inside I'm blistering
Not a whisper
Looking in you'd never know it
Miles below
I look up again
When you snap they say
Before you never show it
And like some gray-green wraith of of speed and sound, a blur blasted past them in a cacophony of music, roaring engine and terrified animals.
Someone said it's all right
Save it now, don't say it for my sake
Someone said it's all right
Faster now, you know I got no brakes (no brakes)
Almost without thinking, Adam turned on the siren and gave chase. Predictibly, the vehicle in front ignored them. Now that he had headlights on the target, he could recognize a tarp covered form of what appeared to be military truck. For a moment he wondered if he wanted to chase it. It somehow felt surreal for him. If this was a horror movie, it would turn out the truck is carrying some virus or a mutant bioweapon that would maul them as soon as they try to check. Or even the driver turns out to be some headless zombie or a serial killer with a fire axe or some shit. The atmosphere wasn't helping. No lights aside from car reflectors, walls of trees on left and right and a flocks of terrified birds screaming above. Yeah... Pretty much horror setting. He was shaken out of his reverie by Władek's voice.
"Sooo..." He drawled. "We hand him a ticket for speding in the middle of nowhere or for noise disturbance?" He asked before adding "In the middle of nowhere?"
Adam snorted. That was indeed kind of stupid. After all, the road was virtually empty and they were miles away from any settlement. The speed limits were already pretty lax here and there wasn't anyone who would be disturbed by noise, unless the local wildlife wanted to fill in some complaints. He didn't voiced it out loud however. Pointless or not, those were the rules they should stick to. Small breach here, small breach there and slippery slope to corruption may suddenly blindside them. Instead he chose a safe answer. "We pull him over for routine check. May turn out he's drunk and we can arrest him for that. But first we need to catch him."
Fuses glow
Wounds festering
Till the wind comes up
And takes it to the last pow
Back and forth
Staring at the wall
This room's a cage
I know that something's got to give now
Indeed. Despite pressing pedal to the metal, the truck was not only keeping the distance, but was actualy increasing it at steady pace. Władek voiced his toughts for him.
"Must be pimped out. This model shouldn't have this much power under the hood."
Lay awake
I don't give a shit
If I even ever wake up in the morning
Down below
There's a pile of sin
Always waiting for a
Waiting for a warning
Someone said it's all right
Save it now, don't say it for my sake
Someone said it's all right
Faster now, you know I got no brakes (no brakes)
No brakes
No brakes
The chase continued fruitlessly made worse by the choice of song, that was almost moking their efforts. However as the last tones gone silent, Adam noticed a break lights flashing at the back of the truck. The vehicle was slowing down as if the insanely loud music was it's actual power source that finally run out. At last, the truck stopped completly.
"Watch out." Władek said lighting another cig. "Something stinks here."
Adam nodded before exiting the car. Władek soon followed him. He was was cautious in approaching the drivers side. Hand unconsciously gravitating towards his gun. However as he leaned towards the window, his mind froze in tracks trying to comprehend what he looked at - because the face that was leering at him from driver's sit could not belong to a human.
The face was white. Not in the causcasian type white. Not even albino white. Nooo... It was fucking white as a sheet. Likewise white hair were laying flat atop the head, as if they were wet. Black eyes had dark circles around them, as if their owner hadn't slept for days... Or was already dead. But what chilled Adam the most, where driver's mouth. Behind chapped lips, streched in mocking smile, he could see rows of triangular, sharp teeth, that would be much more at home in pirhana's jaws.
It was a mere second or two before he got his bearings. A second or two to long. Chalk white hands that were once gripping the wheel, suddenly found themselves at his hair and collar of his uniform. Soon he was pulled through the window, with his hands stuck outside, unable to manouver them through narrow space that was now filled with his shoulders. And the ghastly hands were no longer pulling him in, but were now squeezing around his neck. Long, sharp, black nails were digging into his skin as the thumbs pressed at his arteries. He tried to pull himself away bracing with legs to get away from the window he was stuck in, but the seemingly dainty fingers were holding him like industrial clamps. Animalistic terror caused him trash in the confined space, as consciousnes began to fade. His paniced mind managed to question, what was his partner doing. He should already pull him out or attack the driver from the other side. Where the hell was he?
To be fair, Władek indeed moved almost as soon as Adam was attacked. However he was stopped by a rustling sound behind. Actually that was a proof to his good hearing since the source of the sound was at the other side of the road. Sadly for him, it proved to be less helpful than it could. He turned just in time to see some dark shape rushing at him from the trees and crossing the wide street in a heartbeat, before he was slugged in the head and send to la la land.
Soon after, Adam's struggles ceased and he was unceremoniously pushed out of the car window and crumpled down like a wet noodle. Unconscious but alive.
Only then the truck's door opened and driver stepped out, revealing to be a woman (or at least a female) judging from slight bulges in chest area. Decked in pristine white racer suit, she was stark conrast against the black background of trees. Slender build and a high of almost six feet, made her look a bit frail and scrawny. The cop lying at her feet would disagree about the frail part.
She was not only contrasting the surroundings. She was also an antithesis of the figure before her. A man, standing even taller than her by about a foot, and more muscular, clad in pitch black jacket and pants as well as boots. Even his face was smudged with black camouflage paint, masking his features, aside from amber ayes that almost glowed wolfishly.
The man spoke with audiable annoyance.
"What part of 'discreet' I was unclear about, when I asked you to meet me?"
For a briefet moment, the ghastly woman looked apologetic... And then she answered...
"I swear I was quiet. And focused and I was very happy to see you again, but the road was long and then I run over a unicorn and then Saint Christopher took shotgun seat and told me to not hit more unicorns because they are endangered species and if I drive them to extinction, no pun intended, the little children won't be able to ride them anymore and that made me sad because every child deserves a unicorn but then Saint Christopher told me to cheer up and asked to play some kick ass music so I tuned to some Offspring but then I noticed I'm late so I pushed pedal to the metal and I got here just as music ended but then the rude guys in a noisy car bothered me and I have to defend because who would chase a woman in a dark forest if not some pervert and then you showed up so here we are!"
It was amazing that she did it all on a single breath. The man was not impressed. Or amused. Instead he asked incredously. "Are you on drugs?"
Woman's head moved to the side and a slight trail of drool trickled out of the corner of her mouth, before she drawled "Maaaayybeee..."
The tall man sighted with exasperation "Ja pierdolę Strzyga, you were supposed to come clean."
He rubbed his eyes in powerless frustration.
Małgorzata Olchowska, better known as Strzyga (or Striga as most foreign langage speakers prefered), was one of his most trusted friends and till just a few months ago a sister-in-arms. She had problems. A whole pile of issues. To be fair, all of them had.
Hers started on the second year of college. She was very intelligent, with uncannily sharp mind and a memory that seemed to last forever. She absorbed knowledge like a sponge, learning skills at astounding speed. She could have try for any job, any direction and she would have succeed in life, but wanted to take it slow, not commiting herself to single option. Sadly, her control freak of a boyfriend couldn't stand that.
They quite often butted heads about her future career, but she was strong willed and stubborn as a mule and it's not like he could force her to choose as he pleased, so during one of their fights, he got frustrated and shoved her.
To be fair, he wasn't malicious, just impulsive idiot but that was enough. She fell backwards, straight onto lab table in chemistry class. Glass shards, acids and god knows what other chemicals, caused horrible burns on her back. After months of hospitalization and extensive plastic surgeries, she could return to her studies but... According to other students, some of the light was gone from her eyes. Her back was patched as much as their medicine could, but a gigantic scar remained.
Her experiences with her now ex-boyfriend, made her paranoid about another relationship and once she found someone she felt she can trust, her scarred body scared them away. Intimacy was ruined for her. Self consciousness and feeling of isolation in a crowd pushed her to depression, and that pushed her to drugs. Soon she dropped from college and lost any direction in life.
Ironically, just like her boyfriend intended to, the decision was made for her. The mysterious Łysa Góra took interest in her and she was recruited for her unusal learning talent. And that talent was directed towards military purpose. A waste really, but it gave her focus and pulled her out of the rut. Sort of. The paychecks, he had to admit, were generous. Strzyga used hers to completly reinvent herself. Have you ever seen a talk show where some guy decided he wants to be a lizard and subjected himself to series of surgeries that left him looking like a proud member of a Reptilion race? Strzyga got similiar idea. As soon as she could afford it, she decided to become a "monster they wanted them to be anyway" and subjected herself to plastic and dental make over that left her looking like this and granted her the current nickname, one she was actually proud of.
She certainly lived up to the terror this name was associated with. Not only that, but her unique talent allowed her to become (among other things) an absolute a genious of a driver and that led to her discovering a new passion for herself - speed. No, not the drug (those she tried already), but velocity. Going as fast as possible at breakneck pace with almost childish glee. It helped that she could drive pretty much anything, be it by land, sea or air, like their own version of Ghost Rider. She even looked the "ghost" part if not exactly the Marvel's image.
He would trust his life in Strzyga's hands without a second tought.
Their group was a tight knit one and bonds were as strong as family if not stronger. Forged through conflinct and sufering, uniting them by experiences not known to common men.
It wasn't a mystery that everyone was worried about her drug addiction. The black humor developed, that she wanted to go into Doomrider's footsteps and try every drug known to a man and then discover some unknown ones. Humor was the only defence against creeping, silent fear that their superiors supplied her and actively fed her addiction, because it apparently kept her skills sharper and made her easier to control. He had hoped that now when that supply was cut off, she will come clean... But she actually looked worse than the last time he saw her. She lost more weight than it was healthy and there were traces of malnourishment on her bleached face. The belief that using drugs will make you look like Emperor Palpatine was actually slight misconception. It usually weren't the chemical itself that caused the change. That was was just a catalyst which made addict's priorities shift towards getting a next fix. They would forego eating, hygiene and basic needs to save resources or time for a next dose. There were also homemade and dirty drugs. Yes, those would cause horrible devastation for the organism. And without reliable supply of clean and measured doses... This was what's been happening to Striga. Left without the fix she was hooked up on, she was scraping on her own and was falling apart twice as fast as a result.
In his personal opinion, she would be quite a pretty young woman, despite scars and modifications she subjected herself to... If she just stopped on that path. But she would need help and support for that. Neither of which he could afford right now. Lost in his musings, he almost missed her response.
"But I won't be able to see Saint Christopher!" She actually whined like a petulent child. "How am I supposed to drive without his occasional advice?"
"Just... Just give me lift." The man answered tiredly. "You have everything I asked for?"
At that Strzyga perked up. "Yup! Everything and more is in the back." She exclaimed, patting the tarp.
"Good." He answered, while picking up Władek and putting him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "Now help me put those two in their car. I don't want them to be turned into a paste in case some sleepy driver in his semi won't notice them on the road."
"Why would you care about some pervs?" Strzyga pouted, nontheless putting Adam on her back in fireman's hold.
"They are cops." He said in a dry tone. "You probably broken half a dozen traffic laws, so they pulled you over."
There was a moment of silence followed by short embarassed "Oh..." from the white woman.
With the cops safely tucked back in their car, black and white pair turned back to the truck. Striga rised a hand in a stopping gesture, before peering through the window. Than she smiled at her partner. "All right. St Christopher went back to haven, so you can take the shotgun."
Black clothed man rolled his eyes before squeezing in the passanger sit. Striga gripped the wheel with almost audiable relief, like someone who resurfeced after being held underwater. "Where to?" She asked simply.
"Get me to Slovakia. Unnoticed." The man answere grimly.
Change on Striga's face was so fast and drastic, it looked more like switching masks than natural mood shift. Gone were the childlike smiles, pouts or mischivious leers, replaced by demure expression as her eyes, usually slightly unfocused from whatever she was currently doped with, hardened in a way that few would recognize as a gaze of a soldier... Or a killer. "So... It begins..." She stated.
"No..." The man wispered, while clenching his hand into fist. "It ends."
The truck moved again, leaving an ominous atmosphere hanging in the air.
When people don't have much, they will kling to everything they do possess. Even trash can become valuable if that's all you can claim as your own. For a group of homeless, an old abandoned fish factory was as close to a home as they could get. Roanapur was not a friendly place to any one, let alone to those on the bottom and down on luck.
It wasn't important that the place was filled with mold and stench of rotting fish, that remained in the crates for years in hot and humid climate.
The bulding was large enough to host multiple families, sometimes more than one generation, forming pretty much a colony isolated from main city. It gave shelter during bad weather, and a place to stay out of sight of gangs and mafia. Ruined facility with all its filth and stink, held no interest neither for Roanapur's underworld or for a few honest citizens and that allowed the homeless to live in relative peace and safety. Till now.
Accompanied by screams, tears and curses, dozens of dirty and ragged people has been brutally tossed out of their only asylum by a small army of brutal, tattooed thugs. Bums and hobos they may have been, but honed sense of observation, that haleped them keep track of dangers of the city, allowed them to recognize the intruders as outsiders - they weren't one of the local gangs. Unknown variable was dangerous and that was enough to make most vagrants abandon their cots and sleeping bags and evacuate in haste.
Most being the key word, as few particulary stubborn denizens not only refused to leave, but were downright trying to fight the invaders... With predictible results. Aggressors didn't even bothered to use fire arms. Kicks to the ribs and broken bones took the fight out of almost all stragglers. Only few of them, still kept getting up despite the beating.
One particulary resistant man, glared at goons standing above him, as he picked himself from the ground while spitting barely coherent insults. Dressed in rags, with lice in his graying hair and beard, he was one of the older habitants of the factory and despite common sense, he refused to give up even this last safe haven. So he stood up and charged at half a dozen opponents only to be manhandled, arms twisted and brought to his knees, followed by a vicious kick to the face. Now with his mouth bleeding, and on the verge of unconsciousness, he was still getting back up, when he noticed a movement. The thugs surrounding him parted, and a new man stood before him. He was wiry, wearing a colorfoul (and horribly tacky) shirt and ripped jeans as well as a pair of sneakers. On his bald head there was a peculiar tattoo: diamond and triangular shapes, tightly packed next to each other... The snake scales. Tattoo was flowing down his neck, covering his bare arms as well. Two curved knives at his belt were the only weapons visible, but the bearded man still felt a chill down his spine. There was something almost inhuman in him. The way he was looking down at the homeless at his feet was cold and calculating. As if he wasn't seeing a human being, but option, pros and cons. Finally he turned to one of his underlings (with the way they parted for him, he was an obvious leader here).
"What is this?" He asked in a tone that all but suggested unpleasant consequences if he doesn't like the answer.
"He refuses to leave boss. No matter how much we trash him, he just gets up." The thug spat out the words, glancing between the homeless man and his superior.
Said superrior narrowed his eyes before asking "And you didn't just killed him because?"
Goon's behavior changed dramatically. He was all but sweating and looked ready to bolt at the moments notice. "This isn't our turf... We... We didn't want to stack the bodies before we know who we can be against." He stammered.
Bald man's narrowed glance sweeped over the thugs around him, producing very similiar response of fear in each of them. Finaly he sighted and spat. "That's why I hate working with newbies." Finally his gaze once again focused on the troublesome hobo. This time he asked without taking the eyes of him. "Are there any others who cause you trouble."
"There are a few, too stuborn or too drunk to leave, but we mostly cleared the place" answered different subordinate, getting an affirming nod from his leader.
"Gather them all then." Came the order from scaled man. "We could use some field testing. I assume the instalations are complete?" He asked and recived multiple confiramtions, whatever that meant. Then he smiled.
It was the scariest thing the homeless man had ever seen. Human mouth should not stretch that wide. "Well..." He said, still with that horryfying smile. "The head honcho send us one of his personal staff. Let's check if the good doctor is worth his money."
After that he turned and left, and his underlings followed, dragging the cursing, bleeding vagrant deeper into the factory...
Afterword
Well that would be all for now. I would like to complete this story as it's not an ambitious project, only two or three chapters long at most, but I can't promise updates and they depend solely only on my skill to churn them out, so don't hold your breath.
I'll gladly take some advice if anyone is willing as it may help me in the future projects if there will be any. You may also drop hints about formatting if this one is unclear or hard to read.
I thank anyone who bothered to read this at all and double thanks if you can spare some hints for me.
For now I guess C ya to everyone.
