Chapter 10: Calm Down
"So, this is your room." The voice was Wolf's. Revy groaned, hoping that she was still asleep. The sound of the assassin clearing his throat threw that idea out the window. If her usual sleep schedule was anything to go by, it was probably after midday. Wolf cleared his throat again, provoking a second annoyed groan from the barely conscious Revy. When she did not move, he leaned one arm on her and opened the drapes with the other. The light would have blinded her if her eyes were open. "Come on, sleepyhead. We've got shit to do." He started towards the door, halting to see if she would rise. She didn't exactly have many options.
"Goddammit," she grumbled, sitting up in her bed and looking around the room for her shorts. "Did Dutch send you in here to get me up?"
"Yup," Wolf answered. "He wants to talk about this shit with Hunter. Up and at 'em, Rev." Despite the animosity and tension that existed between the two less than two days ago, the assassin was clearly doing his best to ignore their spat at his apartment. Honestly, Revy neither had the energy or the motivation to remain angry at him, which was remarkable on her part. What was done couldn't be undone at this point. All they could do now was try and rectify the situation with Hunter. Revy snatched up her shorts and slipped them on, clumsily buckling her belt with one hand and wiping her eyes with the other. "Hotel Moscow paid me a visit this morning. Balalaika is fucking scary."
"You said it. What did she want?" Revy asked as her body did its best to function properly after what was easily twelve straight hours of lying in the same position on an uncomfortable bed.
"That's sort of why I'm here," he told her as she rose from the bed and holstered the Cutlasses that had been strewn across the floor. "Come on. Dutch is going to run us through it." They went to the living room of Lagoon Company's apartment where Dutch, Rock and Benny were gathered. The blonde was currently sifting through two files, the files Wolf assumed Balalaika had dropped off. He was curious to read them, given Hotel Moscow's parting words earlier today.
"So, why'd ya get me up, Dutch?" Revy asked, leaning against the far wall. Dutch looked at Benny and nodded.
"Balalaika dropped off these files a while ago," the blonde began. "She tells us that Hunter has been in contact with two assassins outside of the country. She thinks he'll be sending for them if he doesn't get Usagi." He opened the first file and laid it down on the table for all of them to see. The picture was black and white but it was almost impossible not to see that the strong-jawed man in it was Native American. His thick black hair was swept back behind his ears and he wore a black beanie on his head. There was also military paint across his face. He was smiling openly at the camera. There were two pages of writing about him, but Benny was quick to start talking once he realised none of the others were bothered reading it all. "His name is Black Bear. Or at least that's what he calls himself. Pretty dangerous guy. Rumour has it he's been involved in the assassinations of senators and politicians across America for years. If my information is right, he's been one of Hunter's 'go-to' hitmen whenever he needs somebody taken out."
"Looks like a pussy to me," Revy growled. Wolf did not recognise this man, nor did anything about his file strike him as odd. He assumed Balalaika had been referring to the next assassin when she told Wolf that he would be interested to see what the file contained. Benny opened it and set it down on top of the other one. The woman in this picture had the bottom half of her face covered by a military face-wrap, but even in the black and white colouring it was easy to see that her eyes were presumably blue and her hair was blonde.
"This one is weird, even for her line of work," Benny went on. "Goes by the name Andromeda. She's a hardass. Dropped off the face of the Earth two years ago, but Balalaika seems to think that at least fifty assassinations that took place in Asia during that time are her doing. She's a favourite of Hunter's." Dutch whistled.
"Sounds like we'll have our work cut out for us if Hunter calls these guys," he said cryptically.
"That's not even the worst part," Benny continued, turning his eyes towards Wolf. "She was trained by Sif. For about a year before she went missing. Seems she was going to be a member of Wolf Pack." They were silent for a few moments as they waited for the assassin to weigh in.
"Well, shit," he sighed. "That's great. So how dangerous is she, exactly?"
"Considering she was probably the only person Sif gave her full attention to other than you, I'm guessing pretty damn dangerous," Benny told him. That was troubling news. Wolf had been convinced that during his time under Sif, he was the only 'prototype' for her new Wolf Pack. She trained him vigorously day after day in an attempt to turn him into a weapon she would use to commandeer the possessions of rival organisations. But from the sounds of things, this Andromeda was just like him. He knew Sif had taken on more than one personal protégé but he always assumed the rest had dropped out of the training program or hadn't been as skilled as him. Andromeda's existence proved that theory wrong.
"I'm assuming we won't want to tangle with her," Dutch piped up then.
"Nope," Benny agreed, snatching up the files and setting them down neatly beside his laptop. "On a scale from Rock to Bloodhound, she's about an eight." Rock almost looked offended before realising he had no argument. Of basically all of Roanapur's people, he was the least skilled in combat. Even Benny looked like he'd put up more of a fight.
"We're meeting Balalaika at the port tomorrow," Dutch told them then. "That's where we'll meet with Hunter. She tell you to bring the girl?" The question was directed at Wolf.
"Yeah," he answered. "I assume she's giving her to Hunter." Rock shifted his weight awkwardly. He and Wolf were probably the only two that actually cared what happened to Usagi. The rest of Lagoon Company were happy to go along with Hotel Moscow if it meant getting Hunter to leave the city. His presence made them feel uneasy. While he hadn't made any overtly aggressive moves so far, the fact that he had even been in contact with these two assassins meant that he was fully prepared to go to war. The boat of his people Revy wiped out on the water, too, was evidence of his willingness and preparedness to fight. They were eager to see him leave Roanapur before he got wind of that.
"So, where do I fall in on this scale of yours, Benny?" Wolf asked with a coy smile. Benny fake-laughed nervously, his eyes darting from side to side.
"You're…about a seven." The assassin's smile disappeared instantly. "Seven and a half, maybe." His eyebrows fell and he glared at the blonde intently.
"Dude!" he yelled, hurt. Revy couldn't have looked more pleased.
"Hah! Don't look too down, Wolfy. Some of us are just more cut out for killing than others." The smile she bore from ear to ear lasted for mere seconds as Benny spoke up once more.
"Actually, you're about the same, Revy," he told her, fear evident in his face. Revy took a step forward, folding her arms.
"WHAT?!" she screamed, her voice like a razor as it sliced through the air.
"How do you figure that?!" Wolf asked, clearly insulted that someone who hadn't had nearly the level of training that he had was considered an equal killer. Benny couldn't have looked more uncomfortable by the second. Dutch and Rock made no attempt to ease his anxiety, smiling openly at the situation that was unfolding.
"We-well, um, it's like this," the American began, adjusting his glasses. "Wolf is better at hand to hand stuff, you know? Like martial arts level shit. But you're better with guns and firearms. That makes you two pretty evenly matched, in my mind." Again, he laughed nervously in an attempt to diffuse the tension.
"You're full of shit, Benny!" Revy spat at him. He sighed, glancing towards Dutch who simply shook his head.
"Don't look at me, Benny-Boy," he told him. "You got yourself into this mess."
"How about you, Dutch?" Rock asked. "Don't you want to know?"
"Nope," the big man replied. "I don't need a number to make me feel good about myself." That put the other two to shame as they hung their heads and looked around the room.
"Well, with my pride thoroughly torn asunder, I think I'll be off," Wolf told them going to the door.
"Didn't think you'd leave the girl alone," Dutch told him as he opened the door.
"Nah, she's with Lucille," he answered as a grin appeared on his lips. "Someone I'm guessing is a firm nine on Benny's scale."
"I'd go as far to put her on par with the maid," Benny told them. Wolf left the apartment laughing. Revy fell onto the couch face first then.
"Is Miss Balalaika really going to give up Usagi tomorrow?" Rock asked as he retrieved a beer from the fridge and sat down across from Revy.
"I assume so," Dutch told him. "It's her best option at this point. The girl should've been turned over to him when her dad came looking for her." Rock was silent, but his expression was contemplative. "What's on your mind, Rock?"
"It's just not like Balalaika," he claimed. "If past experience is anything to go by, Hotel Moscow doesn't just roll over and submit to the demands of its enemies. They've always dealt with potential rival organisations aggressively. It's just strange, is all."
"Well, it's a strange situation," Dutch explained. "Can't say anything like this has ever happened before. These Dead Men aren't exactly waging war. They want the girl, that's a simple enough request. If that's what it takes to get them out of Roanapur, I can see Balalaika going through with it." Rock supposed that was true, but his face told them all he was not convinced.
"Don't know what you're getting your panties in a twist for," Revy told him. "This shit will all be sorted out tomorrow. After that, we can go back to normal."
"Right," Dutch agreed. "One last job and Hunter goes back home, end of story. Then it's back to the grind, boys and girls." As simple as they made it sound, Rock couldn't help but feel like there was more to come. In Roanapur, nothing ever went as planned, less so when the Wolf was involved. In Rock's mind, one of three things would happen tomorrow; firstly, Hunter would take Usagi and have his people turn on Hotel Moscow anyway either out of spite or to punish them for harbouring the girl for this long. Secondly, Wolf would be stupid enough to refuse to give Usagi up and that would start a bloodbath between the Dead Men and Roanapur's leaders. Or thirdly, and least likely, everything would go as planned and they would never see Hunter again. Rock was not content to see Usagi go. He was growing fond of her, that much was obvious to him. He would not interfere if she was turned over to the Dead Men, but he would be upset at her departure. She did not deserve the life Hotel Moscow were condemning her to. Whatever happened tomorrow, Rock would be in a dark place for the following few days.