When Jasmine and the others arrived at the Ramshack Inn where the stakeout was taking place, they entered the room that was being used as a stakeout area and they saw a few mercenares in the room crowding by a window looking over the city before Jasmine stood next to Revy as she said with a hint of disgust in her voice, "Bunch of amatures, I bet most of these guys have never taken jobs like these before."
Eda then let out a puff of smoke from the cigarette she was smoking before she perked a brow at Jasmine as she replied, "And that makes you a professional? I doubt you ever did anything like this before either." and Jasmine glared at Eda as she said,
"Believe it or not I used to take bounties as a side gig whenever I was waiting for my next contract, and I never said I was a professional, but I at least know what I am doing when it comes to bounties, bitch!"
Before Jasmine took her Valkerie sniper rifle and aimed it out of the window before she looked at Revy and said to her, "Revy, watch my six, there's no telling who could come after me." and Revy smiled at Jasmine as she replied,
"Don't worry short fuse, with me here no one here will be stupid enough to take you out, but I'll watch ya back anyway."
Then one of the mercenaries next to Jasmine said, "Those brats should be riding in a black car, Japanese make I think." and Jasmine looked through the scope of her sniper rifle at the passing cars as she replied,
"Target is a black car, Japanese make. Got it. That reward is as good as mine!"
While they were waiting, Eda looked at Revy as she said, "So Revy, a little birdie told me that someone has it out for your girlfriend over there, who do you think put a hit on Jasmine?" and Revy tilted her head at Eda, making sure to at least keep an eye on her girlfriend by the window as she replied,
"Look, I don't care what dipshit put a hit on Jasmine, the only thing I care about right now is making sure no one tries to claim that reward for taking out Jasmine. Unless you know something we don't, just stand there and shut the fuck up and have my back if any of these assholes try anything on Jasmine, got that?"
Just then Jasmine spotted a car that matched the description as she said, "Nighty night." before she pulled the trigger and the bullet of the sniper hit the engine of the car as it bounced across the road, before the car then came to a stand still and Jasmine looked through the scope of her sniper again to confirm the kill before she said, "Fuck! whoever we're dealing with is smarter than I thought. we just killed a couple of civilians."
Meanwhile…
The child with the axe said to the child with the rifle, "That was a good idea to dress those people to look like us Sora Mea." and the child with the rifle smiled at the child with the axe as she replied,
"Why thank you Fratele Meu, but don't forget that we still have a job to do."
Then the child with the axe said to the child with the rifle, "Of course Sora Mea, we still have to kill that Russian." before a thug opened the door to their room and his eyes widened in shock as he saw a corpse sitting on a chair filled with nails and was twitching slightly everytime one of the children struck a nail, the child with the rifle then smiled at the thug as she said to him,
"Hey mister, you should try hitting these nails into this man, he doesn't talk anymore but he still twitches and moves."
The thug then looked at the children before he said, "You brats are sick! you weren't supposed to kill him!" before he then walked out of the room and said to the other thugs waiting outside, "I'm done! I ain't babysitting those brats anymore, the boss ain't gonna be happy with having to hide a body."
The child with the rifle then looked at the child with the axe as she said, "That man didn't seem very happy with us Fratele Meu, what should we do now?" and the child with the axe looked at the child with the rifle as he replied,
"I guess we will just have to find some new people who will want to play with us Sora Mea. We should say thank you to these people first."
Just then, as a couple of thugs were carrying the nail filled body down a corridor they were stopped by the child with the axe and one of the thugs said, "What do you brats want now?" and the child with the axe had a innoccent looking smile on his face as he replied,
"We wanted to say thank you for looking after us mister, we even have a present for you."
The thug then looked at the child with the axe as he said, "Can't it wait? Can't you see we're busy cleaning up the mess you brats made?" and the child with the axe smiled as he replied,
"But we think you will really like this present mister."
Before the child with the rifle unleashed a hail of bullets into the thugs, while the child with the axe swung his axe at some of the other thugs that tried to fight back, leaving nothing but a trail of bodies and blood before they made their way to where boss was sitting and he could hear gunshots coming from outside his room before he said to one of the thugs in the room with him, "Just what the hell is going on out there? How hard can it be to watch a couple of kids?"
One of the thugs outside was launched into the boss's room filled with bullet holes, and he crawled across the floor leaving a trail of blood behind before looking up at the boss as he weakly said, "Their monsters! Those...brats ain't human…" before he collapsed lifeless on the ground and the boss looked to see the blood covered children standing in the door way.
Later…
Back at the Lagoon office, the phone rang and Dutch answered it as he said, "Yeah? This is the Lagoon company, what can we do for you?" and Balalaika replied on the other end of the phone,
"Hello Dutch, as I'm sure you are aware there a couple twins going around killing people in my city and you know I can't have that. Perhaps you can help me with something?"
And Dutch said on the phone, "Yeah, that would be bad for business, depends on what exactly you need help with." so Balalaika replied on the other end,
"I have reports that say these children referred to each other as Fratele Meu and Sora Mea, you wouldn't happen to know what that means? Or perhaps one of your colleagues might."
Dutch then looked over at Jasmine as he asked her, "Jasmine, are the words Fratele Meu and Sora Mea familiar to you at all?" and Jasmine nodded her head as she answered,
"Yeah, they do sound familiar to me, why?"
Then Dutch held the phone out to Jasmine as he said to her, "Someone wants a word with you." so Jasmine stood up from the sofa where she was sitting with Revy, and walked over to the phone as she said,
"Hello?"
And Balalaika replied on the other end, "Hello Jasmine, do you know what Fratele Meu and Sora Mea mean?" and Jasmine nodded her head as she replied,
"I do Ma'am, It's Romanian I think, and those words can roughly be translated to mean My sister or My brother. I did some research a while ago about a target I had that was from Romania, when I used to be a hired Assassin."
Balalaika then smiled slightly on the other end as she said, "Thank you Jasmine, it would seem your past is catching up to you as you have become a target yourself, I hope you will be careful heading out into the city." and Revy could tell that Balalaika had gotten under Jasmine's skin again as she could see that her fists were curled tightly, before Jasmine then took a deep breath as she replied,
"I'll manage Ma'am, I knew the risks of my previous line of work. It's nothing I won't be able to handle." before she then hung up the phone and went back to sit with Revy on the sofa, where Revy placed an arm around Jasmine comfortingly as she said to her,
"Try not to let whatever sis said get to ya, she used be a general for the Russian army before she was let go, she knows exactly what to say to get under peoples skin, and she knows that those people wouldn't be stupid enough to challenge her."
Jasmine then smiled at Revy before giving her a kiss on her lips as she replied, "I'm tougher than I look Revy, I'll try not to let what Balalaika said get to me, but we still have to find these twins." Then Rock took a sip of his can of beer as he said to the others,
"Jasmine's right, we have to find those twins. They may not be as bad as we think they are and maybe we can help them."
And Jasmine let out a small laugh as she looked at Rock as she replied, "When I said we need to find those twins Rock, it wasn't so we could help them, it was so we could claim the reward for the bounty. Think about what we could do with $50,000." and Rock looked a little shocked at Jasmine as he said,
"You can't be serious Jasmine, let's not forget you also have a bounty on you and that makes you a target. Say we do decide to claim the bounty for ourselves, what's stopping someone else from killing Jasmine and claiming the reward for the twins as well as Jasmine?"
Revy then had a slightly irritated look on her face as she let out a sigh and said to Jasmine, "As much as I'd hate to admit it, the dumbass does have a point. It's too risky for you to be out in the city on your own, which is why I'm coming with ya. At least then, if anyone is stupid enough to try and claim that bounty on you, I'll watch your back."
That night…
Revy and Jasmine were walking down the streets of Roanapur, when they saw Eda and Jasmine looked at Eda as she said, "What are you doing here?" and Eda had a slight smirk on her face as she replied,
"I came to help you two look for those twins of course, why else would I be out here?"
And Revy looked at Eda as she said in a slightly annoyed tone, "If I had to take a guess, the only reason you wanna help us is because you want us to share the reward. Am I right?" and Eda smiled at Revy and stuck her middle finger up at her as she replied,
"Fuck you! I'm not in it for the reward, I'm wanna help because Jasmine is also a target and I don't want you to feel heartbroken if someone takes out your girlfriend that's all."
Jasmine then grit her teeth as scowled at Eda and growled, "You think I don't know I have a god damn target on my back, bitch? It's that very reason that Revy is watching my back! I'm lucky that the whole fucking city isn't out to look for me and take my head off so that they can claim the reward!"
While they were arguing they didn't notice that one of the twins had walked right into them, before Revy smirked as she aimed her cutlass pistol and said, "You just walked into the wrong neighbourhood." and then Jasmine aimed her beretta at the child with the rifle as she said with a smirk on her face,
"You've come face to face with the angel of death, what do want written on your tombstone as this is the end of the road of you."
Then the child with the rifle looked at Jasmine and smiled as she replied, "You're just like us miss, you've killed many people." and Jasmine grit her teeth as she loaded her beretta and looked at the child with the rifle as she growled,
"I am nothing like you kid! Sure I have killed people whether they were innocent ot not but I didn't have a choice because it was my job! So don't tell me that I am anything like you!"
The child with the rifle then pulled out a handful of money from the bag she was carrying before she smiled at Jasmine and said, "Do you like money miss? I can give you a lot of money." and Eda smiled as she replied,
"How much?"
Revy then scowled at Eda as she growled, "Are ya fucking serious? It's obvious the kid is trying to bribe us and you're just gonna stand there and accept it?" and while Revy and Eda were busy arguing with each other, the child with the rifle threw a handful of money in the air causing all three women to look up briefly before Jasmine the looked around and noticed the child with the rifle was gone as she said in a slightly annoyed tone,
"Fuck! We had the kid right in our hands, yet the kid played us like we were fools."
Revy let out a frustrated sigh as she said, "Well, guess our little bounty hunt is over. We were so close too." and Eda looked at the money lying on the ground in front of them before she looked at both Revy and Jasmine as she said to them,
"And you guys are just gonna leave all this money lying around? I wonder if there is enough to split between us?"
Jasmine then aimed her beretta at Eda as she said in almost a threatening tone, "Are you sure it's about the money? How do I know your not planning on claiming the bounty put on me for yourself?" and Revy slowly pushed Jasmine's arm down forcing her to lower her gun before she said to her,
"Easy short fuse, Eda is nothing but a money grubbing bitch, but I know that even she wouldn't be that stupid."
Then Jasmine loosened her grip on her beretta slightly as she took a deep breath and replied, "I'm sorry Revy, I guess having this bounty on me is starting to get to me a little. Let's just get back to the office befor Dutch starts worrying about us." and Revy smiled at Jasmine as she said,
"Yeah, let's head back to the office before Dutch starts to worry about us, and we can relax a little and get some much needed rest."
Eda then smirked a little as she said to Revy, "looks like someone is a little paranoid, I'd be careful if I were you Revy. your girlfriend might just pull the trigger on you." and Jasmine scowled at Eda and fired her gun at her feet before she said to her in a threatening tone,
"Consider that a warning, don't piss me off Eda. Because next time, I won't miss."
Before Jasmine then began walking back to the lagoon office and Revy followed after, stopping briefly as she looked back at Eda and said, "You're playing a dangerous game here Eda, Jasmine has been through enough shit already, just remember who stopped her from putting you in a wooden box the next time you wanna try and tick off my girlfriend. Goodnight." before she then continued following her girlfriend back to the lagoon office.
The next morning…
Balalaika was sitting by a fountain in the park and was smoking a cigarette, she knew she wasn't in any danger since she had a sniper close by, and she took a deep breath and let out a puff of smoke before she said, "Why don't you come out now, there's no point in hiding." and the child with the axe walked out from behind a tree and smiled as he said,
"You knew where I was, that's very clever of you miss."
The child with the axe then walked towards Balalaika a little as he said, "Your soldiers are very good as well miss, I couldn't hit a single one." and Balalaika smirked slightly as she replied,
"Well, I expect nothing less from my men, but this is the end for you."
And the child with the axe smiled as he said, "That other soldier of yours was very loyal to you miss, he kept saying "Captain! Captain!" right up until he died and he made an "Argh!" sound like that." and Balalaika smirked as she replied,
"I'm sure he did."
Then the child with the axe took out his axe as he said, "That was cold miss, but there isn't much time left to talk." and Balalaika coldly replied,
"On that I can agree, all this time you thought you were hunting us, but in reality you were being led right to your death. So I suggest you kneel."
The child with the axe went to take a step forward and Balalaika scowled at the child as she growled, "I SAID KNEEL!" and a bullet hit the child in his leg causing him to collapse face first on the ground, he cried out in pain as he briefly looked at the wound on his leg before he then tried to swing his axe at Balalaika but another bullet hit the child in his arm cutting it off completely before Balalaika said to the child,
"Now I should torture you before you die, after all that would be appropriate considering what you did to one of my men, but I think I will just sit here and watch as you take your last breath instead, given your wounds I'd say you roughly have ten minutes."
The child with the axe hazily looked up at Balalaika as he weakly said, "But miss...we...we can't die, because we...we have killed many, many, many, many people. So that means that...we would get to live...that much longer…" and Balalaika let out another puff of smoke from her cigarette as she replied,
"What an odd belief, but I'm afraid no one lives forever, that's just how it goes."
Then as the child with the axe laid in his pool of blood, he began to cry as tears fell from his eyes and Balalaika coldly said, "Don't you dare cry, torturing you wouldn't have even given me any satisfaction." and after the child had taken his last breath, Boris said to Balalaika in her earpiece,
"Captain."
And Balalaika took a deep breath as she replied, "It's done, I've done my end of the deal." and Boris said to Balalaika in her earpiece,
"That was tough Captain, even to watch."
Balalaika then took another puff of her cigarette as she said, "Well, what's done is done Boris, but sometimes I think...I'm too old for this."
Later…
Jasmine was leaning against the wall by the hold in the boat and let out a sigh as she muttered to herself, "I am not paranoid. Why the hell would Eda think I'm paranoid?" before Revy walked over to her and smiled slightly as she said to her,
"You know short fuse, some people might look at the way you acted last night and say you were just having a bad day, but I do have to agree with ya, thinking your paranoid is a bit much, I would go as far as to say you're just a little on edge."
And Jasmine smiled a little back at Revy and let out a small laugh as she replied, "I admit I might be a little on edge because I've become a target, I'm not sure who I can trust or if the people closest to me want to take me out so that they can claim the reward. But don't give me that crap that I'm just having a bad day, there is no such thing as a bad day, I'm just one wrong day away from becoming a crazed gunman."
Revy then had a smirk on her face as she walked over to Jasmine and cupped her cheek with her left hand, as she said, "Well short fuse, you know you can trust me. I may have wanted to kill you after tried to assassinate Rock, but I had every opportunity to pull the trigger on you if I was serious about claiming that bounty on you, right now I want nothing more than to protect you because you have shown me something I was missing, love. I love you Jasmine and I always will even if it kills me." before she then pressed her lips against Jasmine's as they shared a kiss with each other.
Then Jasmine broke the kiss and smiled at Revy as she replied, "I love you too Revy, and...I guess you're right, the Lagoon company is a group I can trust, you, Dutch, Benny, hell even Rock have had plenty of opportunities to take a shot at me and claim the bounty that's on me but none of you have even tried to kill me. and you showed me that I can find happiness and I don't have to lock away my heart, so...thank you Revy and I will protect you even if it kills me." before they both then went back to kissing each other.
Meanwhile, Rock was busy talking with the child with the rifle as he asked, "So, do you have a name?" and the child with the rifle shook her head as she replied,
"I wasn't given a proper name mister, I was always referred to as Gretel, and my brother was referred to as Hansel."
Then Rock smiled slightly at Gretel as he said, "I've heard about a play that has shares the same name as you, Gretel." before he then frowned a little as he added, "I'm sorry about your brother, he's most likely dead by now." and Gretel shook her head as she replied,
"Don't be sad mister, me and my brother will always be together."
Before Gretel then started to sing a song, she was loud enough that even Benny and Dutch could hear her from the bridge and Dutch smiled a little as he said, "The girl sure can sing, it's like the devil with a voice of an angel." and Benny smiled and nodded his head as he replied,
'Hard to argue with that, luckily I have all the appropriate documents she needs to pass the border."
Soon enough Dutch arrived at a nearby port and parked the boat as Rock made sure Gretel had everything she needed before she got off the boat, when Gretel stepped of the boat she smiled as she felt the sun against her skin before she turned to Rock as she said, "It's so beautiful, I never got to see the sun when I was at the Orphanage."
And Jasmine was busy handing over the documents for Gretel to Elroy as she smiled at him and said, "Does this cover what she needs to past the border?" and Elroy smiled back at Jasmine as he replied,
"Yeah, this should be enough to get the girl past the border, don't worry I'll make sure she gets there in one piece."
Then Jasmine nodded her head as she said, "Thank you for doing this for us." and Elroy smiled at Jasmine as he replied,
"No worries, I'll make sure to send Dutch his money once the job is done. I'll just go and make sure the boat is ready."
But as Elroy left to prepare his boat to transport Gretel, a gunshot was heard and blood poured from Gretel's head as she collapsed to the floor and Rock's eyes were wide in shock as he saw the smoking barrel of Jasmine's gun before Jasmine said to Rock, "One last contract from Balalaika herself. after this I'm done accepting contracts. from now on if anyone wants me to assassinate someone, they'll have to pay me to do it. If you have a problem with it Rock, tell her yourself, not sure how well it will end for you though."
Dutch then said, "We better get some tarp to cover the body." before Rock looked at Dutch and shook his head as he replied,
"No, I think we should leave her like this, that way at least she can look up at the sun."
