Tales from Roanapur.
Eleven
Lotton lead Shenhua and Sawyer around the building, the trenchcoat clad man moving quietly. They were hunting the survivors of a Chinese gang, one that had been operating in the city without Triad permission. Worse, they had been stupid enough to target Revy. The men were lucky they weren't dead already.
One of Lotten's contacts had said the men were camping out in an recently abandoned home on the edge of town. Of course it could be a trap, which was why they cased out the place first. However everything had been quiet, so they headed in.
"So, idiots here?" Shenhua asked, the tall, bosomy black haired beauty following Lotten closely.
"Looks like they bailed," Sawyer noted, taking in the apparently empty rooms. The gothic lolita clad woman was hefting a chainsaw...
"Shit," Lotten sighed, "they must have been spooked by something."
Without prompting they searched the rooms. Not much was in the bedrooms, but the mess was truly awful. If Sawyer was hired to clean the place, it'd be her premium rate. However, they did find papers left in the kitchen.
"Huh." Shenhua paused as she looked at something on one of the papers. She wasn't that well read, but it LOOKED interesting. "Hey, Lotton, come look at this."
"Wait... these idiots are also connected to the attempted attack on the Germans? What?" Lotten blinked, reading intently.
"What now?" Sawyer asked.
"We go sell the information to the Germans, of course," Lotten said cheerfully.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Tanya Degurechaff was used to dealing with professionals. Even after leaving the military, she usually dealt with pros. These three? Not pros. One was dressed in a slinky gown that showed every curve, and the other was in fancy gothic lolita wear!
"We let you in our headquarters because we've worked with Miss Sawyer," Tanya noted dryly, "explain yourselves."
"While working another job, we came across information you might be interested in," Lotten explained.
"I would like my intelligence officer to look at it," Tanya said firmly, "we'll pay fairly if the information is worth it."
Lotten looked at the others, who nodded. "Of course," he agreed.
Erya Roth was called in, and the documents were passed to her. She flipped through the pages then paused. "Well, shit..." she muttered.
"What?" Visha asked, the other woman as usual by Tanya's side.
"If this is right the kidnapping attempt was personal," Erya admitted, "it was payback for the Brazil mission when we hunted Neo-Nazis,"
Tanya looked interested, "But can we confirm that?"
"I'll need to look into it," Erya admitted. "But I do think the intelligence is worth paying for."
The three mercs visibly relaxed, and Tanya had to hide her amusement.
"Visha?" Erya looked over at her, knowing the woman helped handle the budget.
"I think this would be reasonable," Visha named a figure based on what they paid informants back home.
"We'll take it," Lotten very quickly agreed, then the three left before their hosts could change their minds.
"I think that amount was high," an amused Tanya observed once they left.
Erya shrugged, "Paying informants well is usually a good idea anyway. Though obviously we'll not tolerate being scammed."
"Sawyer, at least, has a good reputation in this town," Visha observed.
"I'll start digging into this," Erya waved the documents around, "call a few of my old contacts. It'll take a few days to get solid info."
"Understood," Tanya agreed.
"We have a meeting with Erich this afternoon. Security for the shipments, I understand," Visha noted after Erya left.
"He's not going to be happy," Tanya admitted. "Short of a squad escorting every run, we can't promise full security."
"I'm sure Erich will understand," Visha answered.
"You DO remember how often command expected me to solve impossible situations?" Tanya deadpanned.
"Point," Visha conceded.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Well, Germans targeted by Neo-Nazis? How droll," Balalaika noted.
Hotel Moscow did NOT have a source inside the German operation. But Erya had to reveal at least some information to her contacts, and that eventually got back to them.
"So, do you think the information is valid?" Balalaika asked.
Eda squirmed uncomfortably. The 'nun' in the Church of Violence was also a CIA agent, thought that was supposed to be a secret. However, Balalaika knew and was quite willing to use her as an information source.
"Could be," Eda said evasively.
"Oh come on. I'm certain you got the files on Degurechaff's unit," Balalaika scoffed.
"Yes, I can confirm they assisted in a op against Brazilian Neo-Nazis," Eda conceded, "and intelligence suggests there were survivors. I can't say if they were the ones behind the attempted kidnapping, though."
"There's limits on US reach?" Balalaika teased.
Eda gave her a look. "No, they're too small change to really notice," she said dryly.
"Ha!" Balalaika smiled. "All right, fair enough."
Eda changed the subject, "I'm officially here because the Mother Superior sent me. There may be a delay in the next weapons order."
Balalaika frowned slightly at that. "Oh?" she drawled.
"One of our shipments was hit, ironically," Eda admitted flatly. "We're organizing a trip to... deal with the situation."
Balalaika had the amusing mental image of Eda and her crew attacking the bandits in full religious garb. It would certainly give them a psychological edge...
"What are you smiling at?" Eda asked.
"Oh, nothing," Balalaika chuckled.
"Hmph," Eda grunted.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Most of Aya Iseshima's job involved being scary and sort of looming behind whatever Hotel Moscow member she was working with. Sometimes, however, it still got hairy.
"Alexi, you dumb ass!" Aya shouted uncharateristicly.
Alexi flinched visibly, "I'm sorry, Miss Aya."
Aya especially didn't normally do rescue missions. But Alexi was a cousin of one of Balalaika's troops, and despite also having been in the military he was very innocent. So when they heard he was kidnapped out of a gambling den, a rescue was organized.
A five man team busted into the place, mayhem followed and Aya grabbed the kid and got him out. As planned. However the fire team got tangled up with the kidnappers, leaving Aya alone dragging the young man away...
"ugh," Alexi nearly tripped and Aya realized the kid had been drugged too.
"Fuck," Aya swore softly.
They got out of the alley and hit a main street. Well, main for Roanapur anyway. Men and women saw a young woman hauling a seemingly drunk guy, and quickly hurried on.
"Bastards," Aya muttered as she helped keep Alexi standing. She looked around, knowing she'd have a hard time dragging him back on her own.
The man looked military, and had that stiffness of just coming into town. He also looked vaguely familiar...
Grantz, a member of the recently arrived German faction, recognized her. "Miss Aya? Is your friend unwell?"
"Someone slipped him a mickey," Aya admitted, "I could use a hand getting him home."
"Of course," Grantz jumped to volunteer, to her surprise.
They hauled the young man along for a minute before Aya had to ask, "Why?"
"I was the youngest in my unit," Grantz shrugged, "I can sympathise. " He added, "Besides, we owe you for Elya."
"I don't really consider that a debt...," Aya shrugged.
"Which makes you very unusual for this town," Grantz grinned.
"Ha," Aya smiled faintly.
They made it back to Hotel Moscow before the strike team, surprisingly. She thanked Grantz, who just waved cheerfully as he left, then Aya hauled the young man inside.
"Next time someone else does the rescuing," Aya muttered.
To be continued...
Notes: Yeah, not as exciting. I'll try to ramp it up next chapter.