Chapter 4 Raw Hide
"Dutch and Revy stood in the dusty torn up street examining the bodies of the dead Colombian gangsters up close and were awed by the clean cuts to swiftly put them six feet under. "Shit this doesn't look good" Dutch said as he saw the the tattoo's on each of their inner left arms. "These guys work for the Manzarella cartel Abreago's gonna be pissed when he finds out about this" "Yeah who ever was stupid enough to kill these fuckers, will have a target painted on his back as long as he's alive" Revy replied with the same seriousness as Dutch.
"It wasn't long before the rest of the Manzarella cartel members showed up on the scene weapons in hand, with Abreago leading read faced. "Who the FUCK! did this?"demanded Abreago his eyes turning red with rage at the sight before him. "WHO KILLED MY MEN HUH!?" Abreago yelled looking around for someone to blame for the death of his men. He spotted Revy and Dutch and immediately started walking towards them.
"Hey Lagoon Company!" "Fuck" Revy and Dutch said at the same time, "Did you see who killed my men?" "No Abreago we know just about as much as you do in this matter" Dutch said trying to calm Abreago down before he shot someone who had no affiliation with this murder. 'Heh murder never thought I'd have to say those words again' Dutch thought to himself. "When I find the fucker who did this I'm going to nail him to cross and leave him on the wall to die" Abreago said as he left the scene with his men both alive and dead.
"Well I don't know about you Dutch but I'm going to head down to the Yellow Flag, No point in wasting away standing here" Revy said as she walked down the street to her favorite watering hole. "Sigh Yeah well don't get to shit faced Revy we may have a job tomorrow you here" Dutch replied as he made his way back to the apartment. As he entered the building he thought he saw out of the corner of his eye a man wearing a dark green poncho over a white dress shirt walk the way Revy was heading.
Rock made his way down the street the way his land lord Alfonso pointed saying that the best bar in town was just a few blocks down the street and would give him a nice meal if he paid for it up front. He followed the street to the end until he made it to the western style saloon doors of the bar known as the Yellow Flag.
From the outside Rock was not entirely impressed by the building yet compared to the other building surrounding it, the bar had held up quite nicely. The wood doors were stained to give it that extra old western style feel when you looked at it and as Rock entered he saw that the bar was just as authentic in nature. While there were a few bullet holes in the tables, walls and the counter top, the place looked just as good as Alfonso described it.
He notice there was only a women, with tribal tattoo's on her right arm wearing a black tank top and Daisy duke shorts, sitting at the bar counter quickly drinking a bottle of whiskey shot by shot. Walking up to the counter he noticed that there were eyes on him many of them eying him as they waited to see what Rock would do. "Could you give me a beer sir?" Rock asked the bartender as he sat down on a vacant stool two seats down from the tattooed woman.
"That's just piss you'd be drinking stranger" It was the woman sitting to his left who said this and Rock was slightly annoyed by her choice of words.
Revy was shocked that some stranger actually had the balls to sit next to her at the bar and not fear for his life. The people in Roanapur knew to keep their distance from her on the street, in the field of battle, and defiantly at the bar. Those who didn't usually ended up on her bad side either hitting on her or trying to sweet talk her into having sex with her; these people ended up getting their asses kicked shortly after.
'Yet here a complete stranger just sat down, in my territory no less, and ordered a Fuck'in beer instead of anything else, man he must be a fucking wimp or a guy whose got no sense of taste' Revy thought to herself.
"Excuse me?" the stranger asked, in a slightly confused voice, about her comment.
"In my opinion Beer in no better than piss that shit will never get you drunk. REAL men drink rum" Revy said smirking at her insult hoping to get under this guy's skin. "...BUT if you' don't have the balls to be able to keep up with a woman than go right ahead" after her remark the room went silent and whispers were passed back and forth in the background.
"I'm sorry MISS but I wasn't planing on getting shit faced this early in the day like some teenager at their first house party" the man retorted in a calm voice before he started chugging his glass. When he finished his glass he set it down firmly and reached for a shot glass next to Revy and quickly drank the shot without the slightest hesitation. "How ever I could still drink you under the table if I wanted to" the man replied with a small smirk on his face.
For any who heard this reply, while they were drinking, immediately did a spit take, no man in the entire city had the balls to say that to the second most deadliest woman in New Roanapur. Anyone with more than a single brain cell knew to never do three things around Revy.
Never hit on Revy or treat her like a piece of ass to tap, She'll Kick you're ass. Never fight with her physically of verbally it will put you in an earlier grave, and never try to drink her under the table you would die from alcohol poisoning just trying to keep up with her. And here a complete stranger in the city of the Dead just broke the third Cardinal rule regarding Revy. Men immediately began making bets on the two drinkers ready to see who would make them some extra cash for the week.
With the challenge made Revy couldn't back down from a good old fashioned drinking match, her reputation as the undefeated Two Hands was at stake. She quickly grabbed an empty shot glass, filled it, then quickly swallowed the contents then stared into the strangers eyes not faltering, letting the man before her know she accepted his challenge.
After a few seconds of intense starring the two intimidating patrons quickly spun their heads to face the bar tender and yelled "BRING US ALL THE WHISKEY YOU HAVE!" with both of them slamming down a fist full of bullets and water tokens to buy the first few drinks.
(Play Have a Drink On Me AC%DC)
It had already been half and hour since Rock had been drinking with this tough and sexy, though he never would say it out loud, woman with a tribal tattoo on her right arm. Time seemed to drag on for him to the point where he didn't even notice the jukebox playing a song that suited the mood quite well.
Rock and his female opponent drank 6 bottles of Bacardi and were working their way down the bottom of the seventh when they both showed signs of fatigue. Rock's legs felt like jello and he was light headed he knew that if there was a fight in the next few hours he would be at a sever disadvantage. Yet his opponent seemed to be fairing far less than him, she was leaning in her chair and hanging onto the counter for support to prevent her from falling down. He figured if he stayed in the chair for five more drinks he would be victorious.
Rock counted each drink as the music played in the background four drinks to go 'Damn this is gonna be close' Rock thought as he felt the alcohol slowly start to affect his vision.
Three Drinks to go 'Oh God I think I'm gonna throw up' Revy thought as she reached for the next drink missing it a few times before grabbing it and struggling to drink the contents quickly.
Two drinks to go 'Im surprised I'm still alive after this much alcohol' Rock thought as he grabbed the next glass from the counter not even recognizing the taste.
One Drink to go 'I think I'm gonna beat this guy after the next shot' Revy told herself as she held the glass full of booze in a unsteady hand then brought it up to her lips.
Thunk!
(End Song)
To the onlookers they were shocked at the outcome of the drinking match. Revy, Two Hands, the second most deadly woman in Roanapur collapsed out of her bar stool onto the floor. Then shortly after there was another loud Thunk! Rock had also passed out on the floor from the consumption of alcohol facing Revy.
For the onlookers who made bets on who would win the drinking match the fighting began over who won and who lost. For those who bet on Rock, who they called the stranger, said since he passed out after Revy he won the match. For the sore losers who bet on Revy tried arguing that since Rock passed out right after Revy did they match was a draw. Verbal insults and fist fighting soon ensued after the indecisive nature of the bar patrons on who beat who in the drinking match.
After a few knocked heads and broken bones later the bar was "Peaceful" once again. No more than five minutes later Dutch and Benny arrived on the scene to see the aftermath in the Yellow Flag. "Shit didn't you just refurbish the place last week Bao?" Dutch asked the bartender who was wiping his counter top down with and irritated face and simply replied with a hissed "Yes."
Dutch soon found who he was looking for spotting Revy passed out on the ground laying next to a stranger wearing a desert parka and black jeans. "Well Bao sorry to take and run, but if Revy isn't back at the apartment when she wakes up she gets really bitchy" Dutch said as he scooped Revy off the ground ready to walk out the bar when Bao stopped him.
"Hey! Take that guy as well" Bao said pointing to the man laying right next to where Revy was. "I don't know where he lives and I don't want to find out if he is just as bad as Revy after waking up t a hangover" he said as he went back to cleaning up his bar.
Dutch looked down at the unconscious stranger and sighed picking him up as Benny held Revy over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "There better be some explanation when Revy wakes up" Dutch thought to himself as they made their way back to their apartment/place of business.
Abreago sat in his worn office chair fuming over the lose of his men. He had ordered all of his men to search the city for eye witnesses, yet despite hours of interrogations and bribery no one could give a decent enough description other than that the man was Asian and had a sword. This would have been helpful to him if the city wasn't populated by a wide variety of Asians, from the Chinese Triads, Japanese Yakuza, former Indonesian pirates turned mercenaries and raiders.
"We have searched the city for twelve hours and we've come up with nothing Mr. Abreago" said one of his subordinates who was sweating bullets as he gave the bad news.
Abreago stood up quickly knocking back his chair and yelled as loud as he could "FUCK!"
"FUCK! I WANT THE MOTHER FUCKER FOUND NO MATTER WHAT! I DON'T CARE IF I HAVE TO GO TO WAR WITH THE YELLOW BASTARDS JUST TO FIND HIM, I WANT THE BASTARD FOUND AND KILLED YOU GOT THAT!"
"Y- ye-yes sir" stammered the man as he quickly backed away from his boss. "NO WAIT! Spread the word any useful information on the Fucker who killed my men today will be paid in bullets, oil, water or flesh. You got that!"
"Yes Mr. Abreago I'll spread the word as fast as I can" and with that the man ran out of the building as fast as his legs could take him not wanting to wait for a further outburst from his boss.
The next morning Revy awoke with a splitting hangover that rivaled her normal hangovers times ten. "Urgh! What happened last night? Normally when I drink I just get a headache that I can handle but this is just torture" she said aloud to no one in particular.
Revy struggled getting up from the bed and slowly made her way to the dirty bathroom. "Where did I leave the pain killers" she whined holding her head as she shifted through the medicine cabinet searching for the pain relief she desired. After struggling for a long five minutes she finally found her bottle of medicine and swallowed a handful hoping the increased amount would take care of the pain faster.
After a good fifteen minutes of getting dressed and gathering her guns and whatever ammo she had in her room she opened her door to find a shocking sight. There on her couch sat a complete stranger massaging his temples. Revy quickly drew her Cutlasses out of their holsters and aimed them at the stranger. What Revy had not expected was to have a blade at her throat at nearly the exact same moment.
"Who the Fuck are you and how did you/I get here" they both yelled at the same willing to kill one another just to get the answer.
"You first you god damn bastard" Revy said squeezing her fingers ever so slightly on the triggers if the intruder made any sudden movements.
"I'm the guest so you tell me before I slice your throat open and ruin this nice couch" Rock replied calmly.
At that moment Dutch walked in just in time before the blood started flowing. "What the hell is going on Revy? Here I am going to kindly welcome our guest an you are threatening to put a bullet in his head right after surviving a drinking contest with you."
"BULLSHIT DUTCH!" Revy yelled in disbelief still aiming her guns at the man right in front of her. "No man has ever been brought back here after he loses a drinking match with me so he had to've broken in here" Revy tried to reason the alcohol from the previous night still clouding here judgement and reasoning.
"Wrong on both accounts Revy. According to Bao, and a few on lookers, you lost the drinking match just before this guy passed out. Also Bao made me bring him here since he didn't know where he lives" Dutch replied trying to defuse the situation before things got out of hand.
Thankfully, for Dutch and Benny, Rock and Revy withdrew their weapons slowly not taking their hands off of them. "Fine, but if he makes a move I'll put him down for good!" Revy emphasized, "Agreed" Rock replied.
After a few minutes of calming down Revy and Rock sat at opposite ends of of the room. There was an uneasiness felt in the room by everyone it wasn't until Dutch broke the ice by offering a cigaret to Rock.
"So what's you name stranger or shall we just keep calling you stranger?" Dutch asked as he cracked a joke. To everyone's surprise Rock chuckled and replied "My birth name is Rokuro Okajima, but no one calls me that anymore. You can call me Rock" he said with a small smile on his face.
"Right nice to meet you Rock I'm Dutch the head of this delivery/mercenary company, the skinny white guy with glasses is Benny he was once a computer wiz from Florida that came here before the war, and I know you've already met Revy, she is our hired gun. We often do odd jobs that are often dangerous just to put food on the table." Dutch finished.
Rock looked at each of them focusing on their facial expressions and their attitudes towards him. Dutch seemed like a negotiator and a calm man who wouldn't fight unless he had to. From what he could tell about Benny he seemed like a laid back kind of guy who hadn't even held a gun let alone use one. Where as Revy was everything the other two weren't, she had a bad attitude she was aggressive and she looked at Rock with an icy glare almost if she was trying to kill him with her eyes.
"Thank you for the introduction, I'll be sure to look you guys up if I need anything delivered" Rock said as he gathered his few belongings and started towards the door.
"Wait a sec!" Dutch said before Rock walked out into the city. "Look, I can't let you go without asking you this first" Dutch sighed unsure why he was even asking Rock in the first place. "Would you be interested in joining us even if it is for a short while? We each get a piece of the profit and we can keep what ever we find as long as we finish the job." Rock was kind of take back by the offer and was slightly intrigued. "So, Rock what will it be?"
Hey guys I hope you enjoy it and I have to thank each of the readers that have reviewed my story so far and enjoy the plot and action scenes I'm sorry if there wasn't any action or enough action in this chapter, but the next one will be full of that so please wait and thank you once again.