Bat Lagoon!

Chapter Ten

The bounty hunting 'team' from Hotel Moscow were mercenaries, rather than Balalaika's personal soldiers. She would have rather sent her own men, of course, but getting them into the US legally would be a pain. Worse, they would likely be arrested by Gotham Police. So instead Balalaika used the mercs instead. They were useful, could be deployed quite easily, and if things went horribly wrong they were not connected to her directly.

In other words, they were expendable.

The abandoned building on 22 Drake street was owned by various shell companies, but Peking Duck traced the ownership back to Dent. And scouts had spotted signs of activity on the second floor. As expected from Two Face.

The six man team entered the deserted lobby, then advanced warily to the stairs. They hurried up to the second floor, then down the dingy hall to the room marked 0202.

"Smash the door down," the team leader ordered, and two of the men hammered the door with a portable battering ram.

The door fell in with a crash... just as the explosive charges planted in the walls all detonated. Loaded with shrapnel, they exploded through the mercenary team.

"ARRRGH!"

"GAK!"

"URKH!"

Blood splattered the walls and floor, even as the badly wounded men scattered around groaned and cried out in pain.

Room 04 up the hall opened, and Two Face emerged with the twins, all of them carrying weapons. "Kill em," Harvey Dent ordered, "but leave one to question."

"Yes sir!" Hansel said as he charged with his axes.

"There's really no point in my getting into this," Gretel pouted as she just stood by Two Face. Her heavy anti-personel rifle was just too much for such a small area. Besides, the mercs were mostly near dead anyway.

"Don't worry," Harvey patted her head gently as he said, "I promise you'll have something to do next time."

Gretel looked up at him and smiled, "Thank you!"

A few moments of bloodshed and ultra-violence later, and Hansel dragged a merc over. "I saved the least wounded one," he told Harvey.

"Thanks, kid," Harvey patted him on the head too.

"What the hell...?" the wounded merc managed to get his wits back, a bit.

Harvey calmly clouted him across the head. "No swearing in front of the kids," he ordered the captive calmly.

The merc just kind of stared at Harvey blankly, as one of the 'kids' had just murdered his team with a axe. And was standing by him covered with blood splatter.

"Noticed you boys trying to follow us," Harvey noted casually, "it's distracting from what I'm trying to do. Who sent you, and why?"

"I won't talk," the man said stubbornly.

"Oh, you WILL talk," Harvey noted. "You see, it's either tell me what I want to know or," he gestured to the two grinning children, "I let THEM play with you. For hours maybe."

He looked at Hansel and Gretel and gulped. "You'll let me go?" he asked.

"No," Harvey said honestly, "but I promise to make it fast and clean. Unlike your dying of your current wounds."

The battered and bleeding man weighed his options and sighed. "Hotel Moscow, the Roanapur branch of the Russian Mob," he revealed. "The twins there crossed them. They want the kids captured, or if that's impossible they want 'em dead."

"Huh," Harvey grunted. Well, it fit with what he knew... and really shouldn't have been that unexpected too. "Gretel," he ordered, "waste him."

"Yes sir," Gretel whipped her rifle around and calmly blew the merc's head off, spraying his brains across the wall.

"All right, let's get out of here," Harvey added, "even in this part of town, that much noise will get someone to call the cops."

"Right!" both kids hurried to follow him up the hall.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"God damn it," Gordon cursed softly as they took in the mayhem.

"Commish, you don't need ta be here," Bullock told him flatly.

James Gordon ignored that. CSI teams were going over the scene, picking up trace evidence and photographing everything. Though it wasn't hard to see what happened: the soldiers had attempted to break in, set off a booby trap then were finished off.

"Do you think Two Face set up here as a trap?" Gordon wondered aloud.

"He knows that we know he's fixated on twos," Harvey conceded. "It's pretty likely the other guys chasing him know that too."

If Two Face was actively hunting the people chasing the bounty on him... things could get a lot more bloody. Especially considering how well armed the bounty hunters were. "Do we know who these guys were, or who they work for?" Gordon wondered.

"No," Harvey admitted.

A voice from the shadows said, "International Task Force. Based out of London."

"ACK," Harvey acked as both men whipped around. Batman stood in the shadowed corner, though how he got their neither man knew.

"They're working for the Russian Mob," Batman continued to tell them calmly, "specifically for Hotel Moscow."

"Who?" Harvey asked bluntly.

"We got a bulletin on them," Gordon noted, "lead by a former military officer, Balalaika. They're supposed to be incredibly dangerous if you cross them."

"Yes," Batman agreed, "they could probably overthrow a small country."

"Then we'd better hope we can keep them outta Gotham," Harvey drawled.

The CSI team was packing up, and drew the two cop's attention. They turned back to where Batman had been standing... then saw he was gone.

"I hate when he does that," Gordon growled.

"At least when he DOES vanish like that you know it's actually him," Harvey noted.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"They did WHAT?" Rotten demanded.

He, Shen-hua and Sawyer were in a dive bar with Revy and the rest of the Lagoon Company. The pirates and extraction specialists were catching up the bounty hunters on the latest news.

Eda didn't look pleased as she relayed, "Seems Two Face and the Twins set a trap for Balalaika's men. With C-4."

"How bad?" Rock had to ask.

"The nearest to the blast pretty much painted the walls with blood. The survivors were taken out by Two Face and the kids," Eda said.

"Wonder if I could get the clean up business?" Sawyer wondered.

"SAWYER," Rotten sighed.

"It's a legitimate business," Sawyer protested.

"If they're actually hunting bounty hunters, it's going to get a lot more dangerous," Dutch pointed out flatly.

"I'll keep you guys in front as meat shields," Revy told Lotten and company.

"Your consideration for us warms my heart," Rotten noted.

"You too crazy to hide behind us anyway," Shen-hua pointed out.

"She's got a point," Eda agreed.

Changing the subject Dutch looked over at Benny, "Are you having any more luck in hacking the City systems?"

"No," Benny shook his head ruefully, "and it's getting insane how much resources we're throwing at it. Me, Jane, Peking Duck AND everyone in Jane's team are trying to break in. No dice."

"That's impossible," Rock blinked.

"Not impossible, but very unlikely," Benny agreed. "Whoever is guarding Gotham city's system clearly has super computer access AND is an expert hacker."

"No way a city is affording that," Dutch noted.

"Yeah. And that Oracle mask popped up on the Hotel Moscow system too. Whomever they are, it looks like they're counter attacing," Benny sighed.

"Balalaika is going to be PISSED," Dutch muttered.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Miss Moxon, it's REALLY not safe to go out," Renee cautioned the other woman.

"I thought I asked you to call me Lanna?" she teased.

"Lanna," Renee conceded. "Dent has apparently massacred a pro mercenary team. This is NOT the time to go out and party."

"Today we party for tomorrow we may die," Lanna deliberately mis-quoted.

"I would really rather not be collateral damage if Dent goes after you," Renee pointed out.

Lanna sighed, though she had to admit Renee had a point. "If I do stay in, will you promise to keep me entertained?" she teased.

Renee blushed.

To be continued...