Revy was sprawled across the couch in the Black Lagoon's bridge. Though her body appeared to be resting, the gunslinger felt nothing but tension. Her body was like a coiled spring, waiting to release all the energy inside. Sometimes she would reach for her Cutlasses on the table in front of her, thinking that Dutch or Benny finally got a call for some work. But alas, it was just another sleepless 1AM morning on the Lagoon.
Her boss, Dutch, a big African-American man with a Vietnam-era flak jacket and unique sunglasses that were more small black shot glasses tied to his face by thin rods, was manning the Lagoon's controls in the front of the deck. Benny, the blond, computer-nerd telecommunications and research expert of the Lagoon crew, was by his side, examining charts, graphs, and reports from other organizations in Roanapur. He was wearing his usual orange Hawaiian style shirt, something that Revy wished Rock would do.
Roanapur's side of the South China Sea melted into the dark sky. From where she was, Revy couldn't tell where Roanapur's waters were and where the night began. "I'm fuckin' bored, Dutch. When are we finally going to get some work?" she said, sitting up on the couch.
Dutch sighed. Always the calm, level-headed leader, Dutch knew that the one thing Revy hated above anything else, even assholes, was boredom. Truthfully, he was itching for a little action too. Even though Rock and Revy's last job for Boss Chang of the Triads landed them a hefty sum to the music of $5 million of Uncle Sam's bucks, he was a businessman, and businessmen worked. Sure, he could say they were secure just sitting her on the Lagoon's dock, but sitting on his ass playing with his thumbs wasn't his idea of work either.
"Revy, I've got as much cabin fever as you. But we haven't had a call from Chang, Balalaika, or anyone in the past two months. Everyone's too busy with their own business, that we probably won't be getting any for a while," Dutch replied, his eyes and hands still fiddling about the Lagoon's control panel. He expected Revy to rant, fire off a few bullets in response to the cold hard truth, but all he heard was Revy's exasperated groan behind him. He smiled, amused. Revy was an okay person to be in the same room with when she wasn't attached to her guns.
"With all respect to Revy and you Dutch, I actually wouldn't mind a few more days of this vacation," Benny chimed in. "The gangs are calling in their hubs from across the world, getting new men and shipments each day. If you ask me, with all these hired guns, they're gonna end up crossing each other soon, and we can't afford pissing off some of our best customers." He flipped his roll of Benjamins that was sitting on his workspace. "Besides, we've got enough money to wait out this storm. Charts are done, by the way, Dutch. No operations from either Hotel Moscow or the Triads within 500km of Roanapur." He stood up from his workspace. "I'll be taking a nap now, if you don't mind," he said in between yawns, making his way for the bridge's door.
"Good work, Benny-boy. If anything does come up, we'll be prepared. Get some sleep."
"Sure hoping nothing does come up. Will do, Dutch. Night, Revy." Revy mumbled incoherently in response.
Whenever Rock wasn't around, Benny always advocated for using less bullets…it meant less work. Like Dutch, he was a hard-worker, but unlike Dutch and Revy, violence was something necessary that he tried to avoid. This time, he was right. With Roanapur still recovering from the "Psycho-Maid" Roberta and Uncle Sam's own visit to the city of the walking dead, the major players in Roanapur were more concerned with regaining and retaining their hold on their respective parts of the city.
The heavy metal door creaked, closing behind Benny. "Great, now only two of us are going to die of boredom," Revy said sarcastically. "To hell with that bitch maid. Should've offed her and that mini-maid when I had the chance," She clenched her fists as the name came back to her head. Roberta the Maid. It wasn't that Revy hated her. In fact, the lack of business opportunity right now wasn't entirely the maid's fault, but the fact that Hotel Moscow, the Triads, the cartels, and other factions in Roanapur were still reeling from the distrust and miscommunication during her one-woman war. No, Revy just couldn't stand that she was rendered useless during the whole fiasco. The wound left by a bullet striking her left elbow had healed already, but it didn't change that for one moment she stuck her head out for someone, she was vulnerable. And she had almost died.
That someone's name then floated to the top of her consciousness, and Revy could feel her blood boil.
Thanks for nothing, Rock.
The captain scoffed. "Like hell you'd turn down all of that money Chang offered to get Roberta and the US army out of here. Speaking of which, Benny is right. You've got money and time to burn. The whole world's yours, Revy. Why don't you pay the Yellow Flag a visit, or at least see some of the sights? Roanapur's a lot of fun if you know where to look. It'll be more fun than wasting away like a corpse here."
We're already dead, Dutch. "Tcht. A few problems there, bossman. One, I don't have a dick or a pair," Dutch, still facing away from Revy, found that VERY amusing, trying his best to let out a laugh, "so that chops off half of the city's 'fun' spots for me. Two, Bao's still pretty pissed off about the whole tiny-maid incident. And whaddaya know, he blames me. Real fuckin' surprise there, huh? Little girl stabs a guy in the balls, she starts throwing grenades everywhere, and somehow, ol' Two Hands is the red-handed culprit." Before she continued, she paused and turned away, visibly embarrassed at what she was about to say. "And third…"
"What is it?"
"I've…I've got no money." she blurted out shamefully.
Dutch, now less amused and more confused, wheeled the chair around and looked at Revy judgingly. Fortunately for her, she was looking away like a daughter who told her father that she committed a crime, so even she couldn't see Dutch's stupidly surprised face.
"Hold up. You mean to tell me your share of the pay, that $1 million dollar paycheck, is gone?" he said.
Revy, too exhausted and too down of a mood to reply violently, sighed. "You heard it, Dutch. All poofed away like a little tooth fairy took it. Or in this case, a damned nun."
"How the HELL did you screw that up?" he demanded.
Still looking away, Revy explained herself. "It was one night, visited Eda at the Ripoff Church. We played a few games, a few hands and I…kind of lost the money."
"Kind of? Revy, you just threw a $1 million dollar fish into the ocean. Did you even THINK that Eda or anyone else in Roanapur aside from Balalaika or Chang had that much money?"
"All right, all right! So I made a bad bet. Sheesh, you sound like a mom. Not that I'd know what a mom does."
"There's a difference between a bad bet and wasting money. Remind me never to put you in charge of the books."
Revy groaned at Dutch's half-assed lecture. "Christ, if I wanted to get lectured, I'd just say a few curse words in front of Rock and watch as he tries to baptize me." She straightened her black tank top like a tie, and styled her hair like Rock's with her hands. " 'Revy, that's not polite in front of our customers. Revy, will you please put your cigarette out, it might give Fry-Face PTSD flashbacks. Revy, I need your help to save a little schoolgirl who's got a fuckin' samurai for a bodyguard,' " she mocked. "His bleeding heart and the mess he caused Roanapur is the only reason I'm sitting here bored."
"Come to think of it, I haven't seen your little boyfriend around a lot, lately." Dutch asked. That certainly waked Revy up from her moody stupor. "A few calls to make sure he's still in one piece out there, but aside from that, I haven't heard him at all."
As soon as Dutch finished talking, Revy quickly replied. "He's nothing like that Dutch. Don't even for a second think I'd be interested in a mopey shit like him. Never."
"That certainly sounds different from a few weeks ago."
"How?"
"You said his heart was too big and too warm to not get shot in a place like this," Dutch recalled. "Which is pretty much the same thing you just said, just worded much differently." He stood up from the calibrated control panel, and walked towards Revy. "Hell, it's weird not to see you two tied to the hip nowadays. Did you two have a fight or something?"
"No, nothing like that," she replied. It was so painfully truthful that Revy quickly restrained herself, unwilling to reveal more. "And I don't want to talk about it," Revy replied curtly.
"It must have important enough to make you lose $1 million in one night," Dutch said. "You only bet big and stupid when you're upset." Great. Now two people knew her weakness. "As captain of the Lagoon, I am also the PR head of this crew. So I'm here to listen and hopefully get you back into working shape."
Revy looked up from the ground and at Dutch. "You really want the truth, Dutch?" Revy's eyes seemed different tonight, Dutch thought. They weren't the rabid eyes of a hungry dog or a skull, like himself or the other nobodies who roamed Roanapur. For once, Dutch saw a sliver of humanity in her eyes. And that was all she needed to have Dutch's full support and attention.
"I wouldn't expect anything less than that from my employee," he said, taking a seat next to Revy on the couch. For a while, the only sounds Dutch heard were the seagulls in the port and a few gunshots in the distance. Revy remained silent, finding out how to put the words in her mouth.
"It's Rock," she flatly said.
"I could've guessed that a few minutes ago."
"Remember how I said he wasn't one of us when he first joined? How I almost blew his brains out in the middle of a noodle café?" she said slowly, carefully. Reminiscing the past, a different time and a different Rock, almost felt kind of good. Like a smoke after a bath.
"The amount we bribed the police to get both of you out of jail rings a bell. What does that have to do with him now?"
"He's different. He's not the same wide-eyed naïve businessman I took hostage."
Dutch thought about that statement. It was well over a year and a half since that day they took Rock with them. He didn't regret it. Rock was, as his job was, an exceptional businessman. He took over the books from Benny the second day of his employment, and within a few months, "missed" payments from customers started coming in by the boatload. Of course, he had Revy to help him too.
"I reckon, in this field, he wouldn't have survived if he stayed the same."
"Yeah. Wait, no, it's not that," Revy backtracked. "Forget what I said."
"Forgotten. You mind starting over so I'm not confused?"
"Dutch, Rock is…he's still got that dumb, big heart of his. Always trying to be the hero. Doing anything he can to do that. Even using people to get his happy ending." The more she talked about Rock, the more tense she felt. Rock, the idiot businessman who almost got her killed for the sake of "doing what's right". She reached her pockets for a cigarette, but cursed under her breath when she realized she didn't have any because she had no money to buy anymore.
"Still not seeing the point, Revy. So Rock knows how to get what he wants. It's not different from how you use your guns to get your point across."
"Fuck you, it is!" Revy burst. Dutch reeled at the sudden explosion of despair from Revy. The gunslinger, wide-eyed and vulnerable, quickly turned away, hiding her sadness. "I'm sorry."
"Apology accepted. But you're not leaving until you get this off your chest," Dutch calmly replied, lighting his own cigarette. Revy heard the sound of his zippo, but Dutch refused her unspoken request. "Not until you tell me everything, Two-Hands."
"Fuck. He just…throws himself into these god-damn situations that are going to earn him a new asshole. He's going to end up in some gutter if he keeps following that damned heart of his. Always the bleeding heart, always having to do "what's right", always has to go out and save some crying person from a terrible end. But by himself, he's useless. Dead useless without someone there to do the hard work." She stopped, remembering her and Rock's words. If I'm the bullet, you're the gun.
Dutch puffed the cigarette, and took it out of mouth. "You must mean the psycho maid incident. The Romanian twins. And that job in Japan."
"He's playing a fuckin' tightrope game, with himself and everyone around him at stake. And for what? Just to make himself feel better? To make himself think that he's not as bad as the rest of us? If that's how it is, he's a selfish shit, and he can rot in a fucking ditch for all I care." Revy's words started to pour out faster, and faster, but softer. She paused to take a breath. "Or maybe he's actually doing this for the people he sticks his head out for. Maybe he actually does care for that unfortunate bastard who finds herself shit out of luck in a world that'll eat her alive. Maybe he doesn't want them to end up like the people here. And if it's like that, he's a lucky moron. That kind of attitude should have gotten him iced a year ago." Revy had never spoken this much about anyone to…anyone. It scared her. Actually, this was the first time she said anything about anyone that wasn't a direct insult or threat. Dutch nodded silently, taking in everything Revy was saying.
"So is it Rock's safety you're worried about? I'll admit, he's not much of a fighter, but he's got enough brains to get himself out of sticky situations."
"It's not his safety I'm worried about. I mean, as long as he's with Lagoon, there's no way I'm letting him buy it out here. " Revy crossed her arms. "This whole "talking it out" with the PR head wasn't a good idea at all, Dutch."
"Then this whole thing sounds like something you two have to work out," he said as he stood up, making his way for the end of the bridge. "I'm tired. As the head of PR on this boat and the captain, I suggest you go talk this out with our little Romeo himself."
"I'll pass. He'll probably ask me some other impossible favor. Between Nip-land and that psycho maid, I've had enough bullets and swords jammed into my joints for the next year or two. Thanks for the ' help ', Dutch," Revy said sarcastically. "Hey, gimme that smoke." Dutch casually threw her the rest of the pack. Revy fingered through it, but found that it was empty, much to her disappointment. "Go to hell!" she yelled as Dutch laughed.
"You want a smoke? I know a Japanese businessman whose got plenty of those he's willing to share. He probably didn't throw his $1 million paycheck away, either. Maybe you could go out and convince him to get you a drink or two at Bao's?" Dutch said smoothly. "Just check on him for us, at least. You're not the only crew member who's worrying me right now. Good night, Rebecca."
Before Revy could ask him for at least a lighter, the door closed, leaving Revy alone in the dark bridge.
"Fuck."