Everyone was down at the docks, from the Russians to the everyday scum that called the city home. The focus of the entire city's attention was the single ship coming into the harbor, for three days rumor had spread about the old sailing vessel. It had been spotted by several pirates, the location was called in, and it was boarded. The pirate ships never came back, all were killed- their bodies found floating in the ocean, dismembered by what looked like a sword. Although not uncommon in the city where eccentric serial killers used everything from steak knives and hammers, to meat hooks and flamethrowers.
Seven more times ships went out to investigate, and every time no one came back alive. Now after days of waiting, the ship had come into the harbor.
The old sailing ship was dominated by the sight of its black sails and the blood stains that covered its deck. Looking like it sailed out of the pages of a history book, the wooden-hulled boat had no more than a dozen cannons on its deck, all of which looked aged and not safe to fire. Everyone was silent as the boat came to a halt, seemingly on its own, at the end of one of the docks…
For more than five minutes no one said a thing. It seemed as if everyone in the city had come to see the strange vessel. It was, after all, a slow day. With only a few murders, and no real violence in the last week, the arrival of the boat was a welcome break from the boredom. Suddenly, several men, bored with all of the waiting and decked out in more weapons then was necessary, jumped aboard.
Everyone held their breath, waiting for something to happen; well, except one, Two Hands Revy, the master of the two guns. She stared at the men in boredom, not caring about what was happening. If the morons got themselves killed, then that was their fault.
Throwing off the nervousness, the men headed towards the cabin. But with the door only half open, the men suddenly fell to the ground, blood gushing from multiple wounds. The sudden deaths jarred everyone, including Revy. Three men killed within one second, all without the sound of a gun-shot. That didn't just happen. Maybe it was planned, some kind of trap triggered when they came too close the door.
The men's friends that were still on the dock jumped aboard to avenge their friends' deaths, rushing into the cabin yelling obscenities like the underdeveloped morons they were.
Seconds passed by, enough time for Revy to spot more than a dozen bodies in various forms of decomposition spread across the deck, whoever was on the boat had killed a lot of people before they had come into harbor, and they weren't just the pirates that had went out to investigate. Looking closely, she could see bits and pieces of uniforms from up and down the west coast of Africa, and even parts of Europe.
Before the citizens of Roanapur could understand what was happening, the men's screams were heard, loud, and clearly full of pain, and then the mutilated body of one of the men came flying out of the darkened doorway only to crash into the ancient wood mast, his head severed. Although the sight of dead bodies was not uncommon, even showing signs of torture, it was a disturbing sight to see
With that Balalaika, the head of the hotel Moscow, came speeding down the road, making people jump out of the way to avoid getting ran over. Swerving to a stop in her black BMW, one of the most feared persons in all of Roanapur jumped out of her car with an urgency no one had ever seen. Stunned, Two Hands could only watch as what could only be described as true fear spread across her face at the sight if the boat.
In her years of working with the woman, Revy had never seen any look but that of calm determination in whatever she did. Yelling out in a voice filled with fear, the men around her produced guns of all kinds, and they didn't hesitate to unload all they had into the wooden walls. Walls that wouldn't do anything to protect anyone. Minutes passed by without anything but the sound of gun fire. After close to twenty minutes, the gun fire stopped. Leaving behind mounds of polished brass around their feet and an almost cloud of gun smoke had formed around them.
All of the members of the Russian mafia loaded their guns while they kept their eyes on the boat with a practiced ease.
But then came the sound of laughing echoing out of the cabin; dark, evil laughter that sent chills down the back of anyone who had the misfortune of hearing it. It was almost like that of the vampire twins she had run across the year prior. It could only be insanity a laugh like that. If it was another unstable killer like the twins, then they wouldn't make it far.
But her thoughts were interrupted by a man when he stepped out of the cabin, one who wasn't from Roanapur. Naked from the waste up, the black haired, green eyed man carried no form of weapon, but was stained with the blood of the men who had just been killed.
"Balalaika, it looks like I finally found you. What a fun chase you sent me on, what; after you fled Moscow I had a hard time finding out where you went." He started, his voice matched the insanity of his laugh. There was something familiar about that voice, about the man in general but Revy could not put her finger on it.
"But now, I found you, and you're going to die." A sickening grin spread across his face, leaving no doubt to the condition of the man's mind. "You killed her, and now you're going to share her fate." He said as if to justify his actions. But in truth, no one in the city had ever felt the need to explain themselves. With those last words the man disappeared. The bodies of the men that guarded Balalaika fell in heaping piles of their own flesh as he moved among their ranks. The bodies fell, cut neater then anything a butcher could do.
The smell of disemboweled bodies soon spread, a familiar scent to most of the citizens present. In the end, all of Balalaikas vanguard fell dead around her, killed by the man. In just seconds, the most powerful criminal organization in the eastern world lost many of its top members.
Seven seconds, that's how long it took for the stunned women to react to the death of her subordinates. Looking around for some kind of savoir that would stave off the death that was sure to come, it was then that the scared woman spotted the gun carrying smuggler.
"Revy!" The mafia leader yelled, her voice bordering on hysteria, "If you can kill him, you can have whatever you want!" Her voice was filled with real fear. The type only found when you're about to die.
Before she could do anything though, she felt one arm wrap around her neck while the other snaked around her bare waist. His breath hot on her neck, "I wouldn't do anything." Revy was surprised by the deepness of the man's voice; it seemed to reverberate deep in his chest, gaining a darkness that added an almost spiteful tone to the man's words.
"That woman has been living on borrowed time, and today she is going to die and there's nothing you can do about it." The man said, his voice a quiet almost whisper. "Now stand down Rebecca I don't want to hurt an old friend." For Revy, everything stopped- the sound of yelling, the sound of the waves, even the wind that had picked up.
The only thing she could hear was the sound of her own hart beat loud in her ears. Her breath turned shallow, and she told herself over and over again. It couldn't be, it couldn't be him… he had died years ago. But the sense of familiarity was too much.
His arms unwound from around her waist as he moved back towards Balalaika. Her legs gave out from his lack of support, and the smuggler slowly sunk to the ground, much to the surprises to everyone watching. It couldn't be him, no it wasn't possible. But then again the hair, the same eyes, even the unnatural speed at which he moved they all reminded her of him.
Perseus. It had been months since she had last thought of him, and years since he had died. But he wasn't dead now was he.
~FLASHBACK
A young Revy stood in the mouth of the alleyway staring out at the crowds that passed in front on her temporary home. By the age of ten she was living on her own, out on the dangerous New York streets. It was a life that had made her a hard person, able to steal without remorse.
But something changed that day.
Deciding that she would spend some time in central park before it got too late, she spent several hours looking for a person to rob, but things didn't turn out to well. For one thing, it seemed that the police where all over the place, not giving the young thief a chance.
It seemed as if her day couldn't get worse, but she was wrong. The heat wave that had started around the middle of July was horrible, although the shade provided by the many trees in central park helped somewhat, it was still too hot to be comfortable. So the young Rebecca sat down in the shadow of one of the park's ancient maple trees just trying not to pass out.
By this point it was later in the day and the heat had had a chance to really set in, baking the asphalt to a point where someone could cook an egg on it. Most people had the good sense and the means to escape the heat by going home, but those that didn't have homes didn't have that. The homeless of New York had to suffer through the heat wave, like they always did.
At one point the young girl had fallen asleep, the warmth and stagnant air didn't help. She had woken up hours later; the sun had set, leaving the vulnerable girl alone in central park at night. As soon as her eyes had opened, she realized the situation she was in. No decent adult would want to be in this situation. She knew about the murderers and rapists that called the park home at night, and there she was.
Standing there under the menacing braches of the tree that during the day offered comfort, the young girl could not help but let her imagination take control. Dark fantasies ran wild through her head as she nervously walked down the trail, lit by street lights that didn't do their job as well as the girl had hoped. She tried to stay in the middle, hoping to have some form of warning if anyone was to attack. That warning never came. Every shadow was some man waiting to take advantage of the girl, or at least that's what the young Rebecca thought.
The longer she walked, the more her paranoia got to her. After just five minutes, she was ready to bolt at the first sign of danger. She never noticed the man creeping up on her.
One second she was by herself, and the next, she felt his arms wrap around her torso. She was stunned for a moment, but once the surprise had worn off, she was screaming and thrashing around in the man's arms, trying her best to stave off what was bound to happen.
No matter what she tried though, nothing was good enough to break the man's grip, and she was soon dragged off into the darkness and away from the safety of the lit trail.
She knew what was going to happen, and it terrified her. She would be lucky to even survive the night, and even if she did, her body would be ruined- tainted and stained. At some point, she passed out. The trauma of the whole experience was just too much.
The future smuggler didn't know when she realized she was alive. It could have been the pain, or maybe the sun that shown painfully in her eyes. Whatever it was, she just wished she hadn't survived. The guilt she knew would come hit her full force, sending tears to her eyes. It was horrible, how could someone do this to her? Why would they do this? How could they do something like this? Questions ran through her aching head, not giving her a chance to recover. At some point she broke down completely. Tears stung her eyes and her breath came in gasps as she let the emotions flow though her.
But something snapped her out of her thoughts of self-loathing; the sound of a gasp nearby made her realize that people could still find her. Immediately, the hurting girl's eyes opened, looking for threats. Had that man came back, or was it some new pervert about to take advantage of her?
During her quick scan of the area, she found that she had woken up in a depression in the ground surrounded by trees. It was the perfect place for what had happened to her. Not only was the place hidden from view, the trees and the land itself would help mask any of her cries for help.
Another thing she realized as she sat there now, almost numb to her predicament, was that she was naked. Her clothes had been ripped from her body by the older man during the attack. The flimsy cloth that had seemed a hindrance in the hot sun the day before didn't stand a chance against the strength of an adult.
But her thoughts were interrupted once again when a boy her age dropped down next to her. He must have been the one who had made the noise earlier. To her horror, he soon started to take off his cloths. Thinking he would try to take advantage of her, Rebecca tried to move away, but her injuries were too much, and she ended up falling on her back, a pained gasp forced its way out.
But instead of feeling the kids touch like she expected, she instead felt him drop the tee-shirt over her, restoring some of her modesty. Surprised, she looked up at the boy. Standing over her in just his pants, she could see that he had horrible scars across his body. The scars weren't like the kind you saw in movies or tv, they were light, almost invisible, having faded with age. His eyes where down cast, refusing to look at her naked form. His innocence was almost charming, but too many things had happened for her to trust him just yet.
"Can you put my shirt on so I can get you out of here?" He asked nervously, his face turning a wonderful shade of red.
For several seconds Rebecca looked stunned, before slowly- so as not to trigger the bruises and soreness- pulled on the shirt. Thankfully, it was large on her and managed to drop well below her waist and was somewhat modest.
While she was doing this, the mystery kid looked away, trying to be polite. Once she had pulled on his dark t-shirt, she looked at him for real. He was her age, with dark hair that looked as if he had been running around with his friends. All in all, he looked like a normal kid, and if it wasn't for the scars that marked his body, she would have thought he was one.
Maybe it was because of the scars that she decided to trust him, or maybe it was because he had literally given her the shirt off of his back. Whatever the reason, she was going to trust him.
Reanalyzing that he didn't know that she was done, she whispered in a quiet voice, "Okay," Drawing his attention back towards her. But instead of the look of disgust she thought she would see, she was instead met by concern.
"I'll be right back," he said nervously, before running off to who knows where, leaving the young Revy in the depression by herself. For several seconds, the young girl debated on whether or not she should run, but something held her back. The boy was worried; he had even given her the shirt off of his back so she could be a little more comfortable. She had decided to trust him, but she was starting to have second thoughts.
He was different from the people on the streets, people that were always looking at you for something. This kid on the other hand didn't want anything, he had just given her his shirt and ran off, not asking for anything in return. For several minutes she stood there, trying to decide whether she should run or not, but before she could decide, the strange boy came back.
But now he was dragging someone behind him. The person frightened her at first, just by their size she could tell the person was an adult. With her last experience not going so well, she was justifiably nervous, but when she looked up at her face, she stopped.
This woman was different from the ones she knew. Instead of the greasy pale face that she expected to see from the homeless, or the precisely painted look of the businesswomen on Wall Street. She was open with who she was, there wasn't a single stroke of makeup and neither was there a single speck of dirt. This look was what a mother should look like, beautiful, and simple, just like a mother should.
As soon as Sally had seen the state in which Revy stood there, she immediately let go of her sons hand and rushed towards the girl. If the ripped clothes that surrounded the girl didn't tell Sally what had happened, then the blood that trickled down her inner leg did.
Coming to a stop, Sally sat down on her knees and looked the girl over for any injuries. The mother let out a sigh of relief when she saw none. But even with that small comfort, the part time nurse and candy saleswoman knew that there were more than just physical injuries when this type of thing happened, and they were often the greater of the evils.
"Are you okay?" she asked, trying to be as friendly as possible without being creepy. She didn't want to scare the girl away.
When she nodded, and Sally sent her another smile. Now came the hard part. "Do you know who did this?" the question immediately set the girls guard back up, and she went silent. Sally realized she wasn't going to get anything out of her on the matter, so she went on with more questioning.
It took a lot of work to get the girl to trust the family of two. Even then as they left towards the car she would send looks over her shoulder, looking for her attacker maybe, or just trying to find a place to run. Noticing her nervousness, a young Percy grabbed her hand and led her along. This made a smile break out on Sally's face.
Little did any of them know, that was the day the young girl would meet her soon to be best friend.
That day Sally and Percy took the young girl into their home and family, and soon the two became inseparable, she would never leave his side. Even if she was the more violent of the two, it was usually only for those who made fun of Percy, and because of this she was often in trouble.
Because the apartment was so small, only having two bed rooms, Percy and Revy slept in the same room. Neither them nor Sally wanted anyone even touching Gabe's couch, it was so disgusting. So Sally bought a second bed for her to sleep in. But Revy didn't sleep in the bed alone. The first nights in the apartment were filled with nightmares, and at night she would ether sneak in and lay with Sally, or more often, next to Percy.
That summer, Revy felt like for the first time in her life she had a family. But even with all of the good things that seemed to happen, there was a dark cloud that hung over their fun. Sally's husband, and Percy's stepfather, who was a long distance truck driver, had been on a more then month long trip and was coming home soon.
From what she had heard from Percy, he was a violent man. When she had first seen him, she had seen the scars of abuse that the man inflicted on Percy, and knew that her friend's stories didn't do the abuse justice.
The day smelly Gabe came home was quiet. They had spent the day cleaning, getting their small apartment ready. Sally had spent the day making as much food as they could afford. All of this was done in hopes that Gabe would let Revy stay.
They waited there patiently for the man to come home. Percy was restless as he sat in his and Revy's shared room. He hadn't come out all day, and the girls were starting to get worried. Usually the boy was all over the place, bouncing off the walls, but he hadn't even moved that day, let alone spoken.
But before ether of them could do anything, the door slammed open, revealing the worst looking human being Revy had ever, or would ever, see.
Gabe was first of all short and pudgy; he looked like the stereotypical white trash husband you would see on tv shows, like cops getting arrested on the front lawn without a shirt on.
As soon as he had walked in, a wave of smell spread into the house, it felt as if Revy had been hit in the stomach. The man smelled horrible, the scent of alcohol, cigarettes and week old fast-food did not go well together.
As soon as he saw Rebecca, he stopped and got this strange look in his eyes, a look that sent chills down her back.
"Who's this?" he demanded, looking at Sally, his voice was not as deep as was expected, although he did have a rasp of a practiced smoker, something she was expecting.
Nervously, Sally stepped forward, "She's a girl Percy and I found. She was hurt and…" Gabe cut her off by razing his hand. This action caused Sally to flinch, and step back. Her reaction was all Revy needed to realize the man in front of her was cut from the same cloth as the man who raped her.
Slowly, she started to back away, trying to sneak her way back into Percy's room. If she could get a door in between her and that man, she would feel a lot safer then standing out there in the open.
But before she made it very far, things took a turn for the worse. Gabe took another step towards her and spoke to Sally without looking at her. "A stray, right? Someone you felt sorry for and had to bring into our house. Did you even think of how we would afford it?"
Sally, seeing the look for the first time, moved to stand in front of him, giving Revy some protection. "I can work another job if I have to." The older woman's words sent a warm feeling through the young girl, she was generally concerned for her welfare and would go to as much trouble as to find a third job just so she could stay with them.
"You need to get another job anyways, the company just laid off me, and another hundred poor slobs, so things are going to be tight for a while. We don't need another mouth to feed around here; your failure of a son is already enough."
"Have a heart Gabe, she's just a small girl, we can afford this-" her protest was cut short by the back of her husband's hand. He had hit her so hard, that Sally was sent to the floor semi-conscious, not able to grasp the situation.
But then he turned his eyes back towards the now cowering Revy. Walking slowly, he licked his cracked lips several times as he started to take off this clothing.
It was happening again, Revy told herself, he was going to rape her just like the other one did, and there was nothing she could do about it. Even if there was, she could now see the handles of two hand guns that hung from shoulder holsters. If he wanted to, he could kill her right now, so she did the only thing she could think of and closed her eyes. But even then as she was prepared for his assault the sound of a door slamming open made her and Gabe look up.
Percy had come out of his room and was holding an aluminum baseball bat awkwardly in his hand.
"Leave her alone!" he yelled, and brought the length of metal down on Gabe's knee. The sickening crack made everyone wince, even if it was Gabe who was the recipient. But even as he fell, the older man lashed out with one hand and struck Percy across the face, opening a deep cut across his eyebrow.
Soon both Percy and his step father were on the ground fighting back and forth. Even with the badly broken knee, Percy was no match for the older man and was getting quite a beating. Soon his face was covered in bruises and blood, masking his friendly features.
But Rebecca couldn't stand it anymore, he and his mom had helped save her, and she was going to do the same. She ran towards the bat with the intention of using it on the man until he would no longer be a threat to her friend.
But Gabe saw her move towards the weapon and lunged towards her, tackling her to the ground where she was trapped by his weight. "You and I are going to enjoy this, you little prepubescent slut," he growled out, reaching for the buttons on the young girls barrowed jeans.
But she was saved again, this time by an irate Sally. The mother moved with a speed that could only be the result of adrenalin. When she hit the balding man above her, they both went tumbling into the glass coffee table, which shattered under their weight. Sometime during the struggle, Gabe's guns had fallen from their holsters, and they were now lying on the floor. The weapons called to her, if she could just figure out how to use one, she could save Sally and Percy. Running forward, she scooped up the two lengths of nickel-plated steel.
They were heavier then she thought they'd be, as if the potential actions of her choice were weighing them down. She lifted one of them up, trying to aim at Gabe, but he and Sally rolled around on the floor, the glass from the broken table sending both of their blood everywhere. The fight looked pretty even. Even if Sally was the weaker of the two, she used Gabe's injury against him, and was constantly sending kicks into his bad knee. But it was only a matter of time before he got the upper had again.
Even as she was ready to pull the trigger, Percy showed up out of nowhere and grabbed her hand. "Come on Revy!" he yelled over the noise of the fighting. He dragged her towards the fire escape, a place where they had spent hours talking, safe from the outside world and Sally's motherly pestering. Throwing open the window, he almost shoved her out, "Go, we'll meet you at the park!" he shouted, his voice braking with fright.
"What about the guns?" she replied holding up her two stolen weapons.
"Keep them protect yourself if anyone tries to hurt you." With that, her only friend slammed the window shut and ran back into the room were the fighting had been coming from. That was the last time she had seen him. She had ran that entire night back towards the park that they spent most of their time at when it was cool enough to go outside.
They never showed up. She waited for two days before she went back to the apartment complex. It had burnt down that night; more than a dozen people had died. The place was still surrounded by police when she showed up. She knew when she saw Sally's car burnt out in the back lot that they had not survived.
She cried for a long time after that, remembering Percy and Sally's smiling faces, now gone.
She didn't know how long it had been but when she looked up her now living friend had vanished from her side, only to show up behind the kneeling Balalaika. All the while Revy could only sit there and stare, her mouth hanging open. The residents who were familiar with the woman's reputation didn't know what happened during their brief interaction, but if the man in front of them could, with just a few words, send the gun-loving smuggler to her knees crying, he wasn't someone they wanted to mess with.
Slowly, some of the more intelligent observers started to move back away from the scene, and slip back into the city. But the arrival off the last of the Russians in their identical cars drew the attention of the crowd to where the dock connected to the pier. The black cars blocked the dock's exit, and made it so the people who had stayed would have to swim in order to get off.
The Russians didn't waste time. Snipers popped up from around the open doors. There was a second of quiet before the thunder of the heavy caliber guns ripped through the air. The bullets ripped up the concrete, turning it to dust before making contact with Percy's body, throwing it down on the ground under the their weight.
The shooters didn't stop until they couldn't see past all of the concrete dust in the air. One by one the guns clicked empty and the firing stopped.
But they held their breath until the dust settled and revealed the bloodied and hole-ridden body of Revy's friend.
"He's finally dead!" Balalaika yelled in relief. But every one's eyes were drawn back to the dark haired man who was now sitting up. His chest was ripped apart in many places, but somehow he was alive. Then in almost perfect sync, everyone left on the blood stained pier took several steps back. It shouldn't have been possible, even if he was wearing body armor the armor-piercing rounds that the Russians used would have made the effort useless.
"Now," he said, with a pregnant pause his voice taking on a dark edge, "You all die."
The bodies of the Russians exploded, staining the trapped citizens with gore. Every last Russian, including Balalaika, looked as if they had been rigged with explosives from the inside out. None of them were coming back.
Revy ran towards her friend, she didn't know how he had done what he did, but she didn't care. She almost dived the last three feet in order to catch his falling head. The tears that had started with his appearance had now come back with a vengeance, and streamed down her face.
"Percy…" she whispered, "Don't leave me… not again." her pleas were broken by the sobs that shook her slender shoulders. Something caused her to look up, whether it was some sixth sense or intuition that caused her to, she would never know. Racing towards the whole of Roanaper was the largest tidal wave she had ever seen; it dwarfed the stone Buda at the entrance and passed over the protective cliffs as if they were nothing.
It would destroy the city and everyone in it. Slowly, she fell onto her friend's ruined chest, hugging him tightly. She felt the massive wall of water block out the sun, even if her eyes where shut. Just barely loud enough for her to hear him over the rush of the water, Percy whispered into her ear, "Never again."
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