Chapter Twenty-One

"Frederica yawned widely, stretching as she slowly and carefully moved herself from Rock's arms. Even though she knew that there were people after them, she had slept well. Finally sleeping next to the man she loved so much felt nice. The warmth was comforting. It felt strange to be so comfortable with someone, even stranger than being able to talk. As she stood up, Rock opened his eyes, his hand brushing Frederica's leg. She gasped, turning around and whispering.

"Sorry, Rock… Didn't mean to wake you up." She said. Rock shook his head, smiling.

"No, I get up early anyhow. Revy expects me to run in the morning… Build up my endurance, she says." Rock said, standing and putting on a pair of shorts and a tee shirt. He looked odd out of his shirt and tie, but a little more casual. She pulled on a pair of shorts as well, and walked out the door with him.

"Do you mind if I join you?" She asked. Rock nodded.

"I'd like that. Do you have any runs that you're used to taking?"

"Not from here, but I know all the roads in Roanapur. We'll get back home eventually. You might want to take your weapons with you. I'll take some knives." Frederica said. Rock nodded, putting his belt with his guns and knives on it around his waist while Frederica took some of Shenhua's knives. She was sure Shenhua wouldn't mind.

The two ran out the door and Rock leapt down the stairs, curling into a ball on the second set and rolling down three flights before getting up on the bottom and waiting for Frederica, who decided to slide down the railing, showing excellent balance as she turned for the different flights and finally dismounted when she hit the bottom.

"Nice, Freddy…" Rock said with a mischievous grin.

"Actually, I'm more of a fan of Michael Meyers… But you knew that already. You're just teasing me, aren't you?" She asked. Rock laughed, taking her in his arms, kissing her tenderly on the lips.

"Yeah… I like Freddy. It's a cute nickname."

"In case you hadn't noticed, cute isn't exactly what most people capitalize on in Roanapur." Frederica said with a coy smile, turning from Rock and setting off running. As the two got outside, they were called from up in their room.

"Hey! Rock! Miss Sawyer! You shouldn't be out alone! Hold on!" Garda shouted, leaping from the window and landing next to the two of them. Rock smiled politely.

His smile turned to a look of surprise as Linus landed on the ground next to her.

"Hey… I hear you're a bit of a lady killer. I wouldn't wantcha puttin' the moves on Garda, yeah?"

"There's no need to worry about that. I have no intentions for Garda, Linus." Linus shrugged and said that they should start running. The foursome hurried off. Frederica showed that she was pretty good at acrobatics as well, flipping and turning when they went over obstacles.

Even given the fact that she was primarily a strong opponent wielding her chainsaw with such ease, but she was also fairly agile, able to leap and bound with Rock and Linus.
"Hey, Frederica… You're pretty lithe… Where'dya learn to run and dodge like that?" He asked. Rock scowled.

"If you have my promise not to flirt with Garda, I'd like your promise not to flirt with Frederica."

"The difference is that I have nothing to fear from either of you. You have everything to fear from all three of us. Garda, Frederica and myself. But you make a fair point. I won't flirt with Frederica."

"You really don't stand a chance, anyway." Frederica said with a smile. Linus stared for a moment, then laughed loudly at the idea that there was anything he 'didn't stand a chance at'.

Suddenly, Rock's eyes narrowed. He turned and grabbed his guns, firing two shots. For a moment, it looked like there was nobody there. But then, Ludmilla stepped out from behind the trash can.

"Hello, Genesis 4M-098. And Genesis 4F-029. It's been a while since we were really able to talk. Your Asian friend here is quite handsome." Ludmilla said. Rock scowled.

"Why are you doing this? Linus is just trying to make a living. He's not harming your organization. He's not planning any revenge."

"Oh, and excellent English, too. Color me impressed. No, we're only here because we were hired to chase him… And his woman… And any other traitors we found will give us extra money for each one. It really is nothing personal. You may as well put your gun down. You'll never hit me.

"You would need to be at point blank range to even have a chance of killing me." Ludmilla said. Rock could tell she was bluffing. He may not have been able to hit her. But he could provide backup and serve as a distraction while Linus and Garda, the ones with an actual chance of hurting them fought head on. Still, he really would rather negotiate with enemies than attack them. The restaurant was the odd situation out. They were in immediate danger, and it was fight or run.

"Is there any chance we could work out a deal with you, Miss Kaczka? I'd rather not fight with you if I had my choice." Rock said, putting his gun away and holding his hands up in a display of peaceful intentions. Ludmilla actually laughed at this.

"Is this guy for real, Linus?" She asked. Linus smiled helplessly.

"I'm afraid so. My research on his company showed that Rock was quite the diplomat, even before he became a member of Lagoon Company. He worked for a Japanese corporation. I learned that he also manipulated the entirety of Roanapur at one point while a drugged up guerilla expert named Rosarita Cisneros was on the warpath against the US army. So if anyone could negotiate with someone like you, it would be him." Linus said. Rock held his hand out.

"Linus, Frederica, Garda… Put your weapons away. If you don't like the terms I lay out, you can get back to killing each other in a few minutes, right? We have all day. How about we have some breakfast first, Miss Kaczka? It's on me." Rock said. Ludmilla seemed to think for a minute, twirling her hair around her finger, seeming so human in that moment.

"Sure… I'm kinda hungry after the healing I had to do last night." Ludmilla said, actually smiling.

Rock seemed to sigh with relief, taking Ludmilla and the rest of them to a café, where they were seated immediately. For a while, they just looked at their menus. Then Ludmilla set it down, looking fiercely at Rock, smiling again.

"I don't really want to kill you, Rock… But you seem not to be leaving us much of a choice. Your unwillingness to abandon the traitors leaves us in a delicate situation." Ludmilla said.

"I suppose I could say the same about you, Miss Kaczka…" Rock said with an easy smile.

"I feel like you would be better liked if you became part of Roanapur than if you try to fight against it. Lagoon Company, in our many jobs have made contacts with the three major crime families that are currently running the show here. Included in those families is Hotel Moscow. We've asked them for a favor, and they've agreed to hunt you and your two allies down."

"They're just normal humans. They don't scare me." Ludmilla said confidently.

"Perhaps not, but they're former Soviet Special Forces. The best of the best, some of the most organized, most tactical and most ruthless. How do you think they got to the top as they did? In an anarchy, the strongest rule. And Hotel Moscow got to the top by being the strongest.

"You can kill me if you must. But that won't stop Hotel Moscow from hunting the three of you down and putting bullets in your skulls. Regeneration aside, I don't think you can survive a bullet to the head." Rock said. Ludmilla nodded. She couldn't deny that a bullet to the head would kill her.

"But my goal in this wasn't to threaten you. I really hope that we can work out a mutually agreeable deal. We're hoping to work with you rather than against you." Rock said.

Ludmilla laughed. She actually had a very pretty voice. Her laugh sounded like a silver bell. Rock couldn't stop himself blushing slightly. Ludmilla's eyes narrowed, but she said nothing, simply smiling at Rock. He had to say that Ludmilla, like Linus seemed to have human reactions down.

"Well… I appreciate your attempts to negotiate, but I'm afraid if we turn on our employer, that would harm our reputation which to this point has been excellent.

"You could say that we're among the most reputable mercenaries amongst the international underground. We've never yet failed a mission, diplomatic or otherwise. We've assassinated top political figures in the world. Do you remember the assassination of Rufus Scomeau, the French Prime Minister?"

"I do. That was highly publicized, especially since the perpetrator was never caught."

"That was us… Well, Mathias used a sniper rifle that he created himself. The bullet entered the target's skull, exploded to ensure that the target didn't survive and then exited, after which it vaporized completely, leaving no trace of the bullet. Excuse me a moment." Ludmilla said politely, taking out a gun and shooting a metal pole. The bullet bounced off the pole, then bounced off an iron pipe, then hit a man in the leg. The man shouted in pain.

"Damnit!"

"Yuri?" Rock asked, his eyes widening. Yuri was a member of Hotel Moscow. Ludmilla had noticed him and shot him before he even got within 50 feet of her.

"Now you see, your friends, Hotel Moscow can't touch us. So perhaps you can stop your ridiculous bluff. Still, I admire your courage in trying to negotiate with me.

"How about this? We can't just stop trying to kill you, Linus… Garda… I am sorry. I like you as a person. But this is just business."

"Is there nothing we can offer you that would put you off wanting to kill us? Frankly, I think that if all four of us faced all three of you, there's no telling whether any of us would survive. You don't want to die either, do you?" Garda asked.

"Well… It's true we don't want to die. But we cannot just abandon our job. What would that look like on our record?" Ludmilla asked. Linus snapped his fingers.

"You could fake your deaths. I have just the way to do it. I always carry a few vials of hibernation serum with me. A few drops on a bullet or a knife will put you into a hibernative state for a few days. You'd be declared dead and buried. We'd dig your graves up and you could start anew."

"What about our names? I've come to like the name Ludmilla. It's a pretty name."

"What about Kaczka? Are you terribly attached to that last name?" Linus asked. Ludmilla shook her head.

"Not really. It's just a name. I'm sure I could think of a different last name in a jiffy if I were so inclined." Ludmilla said. Rock smiled politely and reached across the table to shake Ludmilla's hand.

"Well… I suppose as the leader of the group, I'm entitled to make decisions for the group.

"I will agree to this. You're on. You have to succeed at pretending to kill us. You'll have to make it convincing, and so we'll have to try to kill you as well. So… You know, don't bring anyone you can't stand to lose, right?" Ludmilla asked. Rock nodded, looking at Frederica, who looked back at Rock.

"Maybe you should stay behind." They both said at the same time.

"Me stay behind? What about you?" They continued, again at the same time.

Finally, Frederica stopped talking.

"Listen, Frederica… I don't want you getting hurt, but I'm sure I won't be able to convince you to stay behind, and I can assure you that I won't stay behind. But I can promise you that I'm not going to go in for close combat with monsters like these people. Frankly, I think the best I can do is shoot my guns from the background, carry plenty of ammo and hope to keep them distracted." Rock said in an undertone.

"You know I can hear you perfectly, right? You may want to plan your murder of us somewhere we can't hear you." Ludmilla said. Rock nodded, shaking her hand, finding that she had an extremely strong grasp, nearly crushing his hand.

"You need to strengthen your grip. Here. Take one of these. Set it to low at first and build up as you get stronger." Ludmilla said, handing Rock a grey isometric grip strengthener.

"Take this one for your other hand as well." Ludmilla said. Rock nodded and slipped them in his pockets. It would surely help when using his guns. They had a bit of kick to them, and even with his growing shoulder and arm strength, a strong grip would help him with firing.

"Alright… So, we're agreed. You try to "kill us" and we'll try to kill you. Say… Tomorrow evening at 8. We'll arrange it with the restaurant. We wouldn't want there not to be witnesses." Ludmilla said

"Agreed." Rock said, finishing his meal and standing up. The rest of the group stood up as well and Rock, Garda, Linus and Frederica continued their run, finishing around 10 am and heading back to the apartment.