Chapter 20: Enemy Of My Enemy

Roberta emerged from the bathroom, having dressed herself in her combat gear. Once she heard the sound of struggle outside, she had come to and clambered out of the bath clumsily. It had taken her longer than desired to wrap the towel around herself and exit the bathroom, but once she did it was Pius who informed her that both the Young Master and Rock from Lagoon Company had been kidnapped. Pius knew the men straight away from the brief glimpse he got of them. They were Hawke's underlings, members of the New Order sent to take the one most precious to the Bloodhound so she would be lured out of hiding and fall into their hands. Why, then, did they not simply come for her when they had the chance? She was the one Hawke wanted, after all. She was the reason the New Order made an alliance with Ashur and forced their way into the Lovelace estate. Hawke clearly still held onto some of the ideals forced down his throat during his time as part of the FARC. He wanted Roberta dead for no other reason than she abandoned the cause. This would have been the perfect opportunity to catch her unawares and end this before it truly begun. Now, though, they had invoked her wrath. If it was the true Bloodhound of Florencia they wanted, that was exactly what they would get. She had been saving her strength and reenergising under the roof of this hotel in preparation for an encounter with the New Order. They had no idea what they were in for and she would send them to oblivion, even in her crippled state.

"Tell me what happened," she said to Pius. "Again. What exactly did you see?"

"There was a knock at the door," the priest began. "The Young Master went to answer and then he was gone. Taken by the man in military fatigues. They were Hawke's people, I'm sure of it." The New Order consisted of both FARC renegades and Colombian cartel runaways but they did not all appear to serve the same master, much for the reason that they did not. Hawke was the true de facto leader of the organisation, but his co-conspirator, Alejandro, was the one who commanded the former cartel members and they dressed in suits and formal attire as opposed to the military gear of Hawke's people.

Fabiola returned from outside shortly, having gone after the invaders as much as she could.

"Roberta!" she said hysterically, gun in hand. "Forgive me, I should have intercepted the knock as soon as I heard it! I should have-"

"It's alright, Fabiola," the Bloodhound told her, well aware that the young girl was not at fault for this. "You did nothing wrong. There was nothing to be done about this. They took the Young Master so that I would follow, hoping to catch me vulnerable and alone. They were not here for him, or for Mister Rock."

"I don't understand," Pius told her. "Why didn't they just force their way inside if it was you they wanted? There was no need to kidnap Garcia."

"Because they knew I was well protected," Roberta explained, having deduced the reason behind the New Order's tactics. "As soon as they came in here, they would have been dead because of you and dear Fabiola. They knew the only way to get to me was to take the Young Master away from me." Roberta balled her hand into a fist as best she could with three fingers and poised herself for the hunt to come. These people would regret ever crossing her, she would make sure of it. There was a storm coming and it would uproot every member of this New Order from their hiding places. "I will find Master Garcia and I will take him home if it is the last thing I do."

"No," Pius denied her before Fabiola could speak up. "You have been through enough. You should rest here. I can deal with the New Order."

"Don't be absurd," Fabiola told the priest. "You need to stay and watch over Roberta. I can find the Young Master while you remain here."

"Stop it, both of you," Roberta implored them. "There is no use arguing about it. I must go after them alone, it is the only way. And once I return the Young Master, you must take him back to Venezuela."

She had let slip more information than she intended, there. Their expressions gave it away immediately. They knew she intended to die bringing Garcia back to the Sankanpalace. She had enough strength to rescue him, but the fight with the New Order and the journey back to the hotel would result in her demise.

"You mustn't talk like that," Fabiola told her. "If you must go, at least let us accompany you."

"No, Fabiola," Roberta told her gently. "I am sworn to protect the Young Master and I must uphold my promise to keep him out of harm's way. The three of us together will risk attracting the attention of the New Order, but I can slip passed them despite my…limitations. I am sure that I can succeed, but only if I am allowed to go by myself." Fabiola and Pius wanted nothing more than to argue, but they were also intelligent enough to know when she had made up her mind. Her stubbornness would prevent them from convincing her to accept their help. She was going after Garcia alone, no matter what. They were not happy about this, but Fabiola did become somewhat distracted for a moment and her eyes went to the room that Garcia and Rock had been speaking in just before the incident.

"I just don't understand," she said, addressing the other two. "Why would they take Mister Rock? What could they have to gain from that?"

Content to listen to them no more, the ever impatient Revy rapped her knuckles against the doorframe that she was currently leaning against. None of them had noticed her until now, too preoccupied with the problem at hand, but they all turned when they heard the knocking.

"Hate to break up this little slumber party," she said with sickening sweetness, "but correct me if I heard you wrong. You telling me Rock got himself fucking kidnapped?!"

"That's right," Pius said. "Master Garcia was taken, as well." Revy did not seem to care about that last part, but the disappearance of Rock was obviously a point of great annoyance to her. She made a fist and gritted her teeth, slamming the side of her hand into the doorframe.

"Goddammit!" she growled. "You know that makes three fucking times since we came back from the Mekong?! That dipshit." They were unsure how to approach Revy, especially given her soured mood, but Roberta almost seemed content with this development. She had something on her mind.

"It is settled, then," she said, satisfied. "Revy and I will go after the New Order together." As predictable as the tides, Revy scoffed and turned her back on the room. The mention of the New Order was enough to go on for the meantime. She could track them down eventually, but Roberta knew she would be wasting precious time if she went after them alone. She was no Bloodhound.

"Keep dreaming," Lagoon Company's gunslinger said venomously. "You think I want you dragging me down like a dead fucking weight? It would take us days to find these pricks."

"On the contrary," Roberta retorted. "Without me, you would waste precious time searching aimlessly for your partner. I can give you a trail to follow. Our skills would be best suited combined."

"Jeez, give me a break," Revy said, continuing her mockery. "What makes you think I give a shit about your blonde little aristocrat, anyway?" Roberta would clearly not take too kindly to those comments on any other day, but she was making an effort to keep her composure right now. She needed Revy, and Revy needed her. Neither of them had any hope of finding their respective hostages in time alone.

"I know you have no reason to assist me," Roberta admitted, "but you will spend days out there by yourself. When you finally do pick up the scent, who's to say they will not already have killed Mister Rock?" Revy became tense all of a sudden. "Together, we can take these men by surprise and both the Young Master and Mister Rock will remain unharmed." Revy and Roberta had never seen eye to eye since the day they met one another. The same could be said of many people who had been on the end of the Chinese woman's Cutlasses at one point or another, but there was a particularly vicious animosity between these two killers. Even so, this was an unprecedented situation and, as much as she hated to admit it, Revy knew she would have more trouble than she needed to go after Rock alone. The New Order were not a concern, she had her Cutlasses to deal with them, but she could not waste any time in case Rock came to harm. As a hostage, his purpose was to draw Revy out into the open so she could be eliminated. She assumed it was Alejandro who had requested that Rock be taken, then. Because of this, Revy did not truly believe Rock would be hurt. They needed him alive. But Revy did not want to take the chance, all the same. She needed to accept Roberta's help.

"You better not slow me down, Glasses," she hissed. "If you can't keep up, you get left behind."

As Roberta was no longer in a position to fire a gun, she instead took a combat knife as her weapon of choice. It was packed into a khaki satchel bag with binoculars, bandages and several smoke grenades, courtesy of Pius. Once she was packed, she left the room without another word to the others. There was no time for goodbyes or farewells. Whatever happened, happened. Roberta emerged to find Revy astride a red motorcycle with her helmet on. She hopped onto the back of it, holding the grab handle on the back to keep herself steady as the vehicle took off at high speed.

"Alright, maid," Revy began as she drove aimlessly at first, awaiting some direction. "I'm gonna need something to work with. You got any idea where these assholes might have taken our two respective numbskulls?" It was difficult to talk over the sound of the engine, especially without a helmet, but Roberta did her best.

"I know of several locations nearby where they may be hiding," Roberta informed her. "Most are towns and villages that are sparsely populated or abandoned altogether. I would head northwest to begin with. There are some locations between this city and Rayong that would suit the needs of the New Order, empty coastal settlements they could hide in undetected."

"Well, that's something," Revy replied, suddenly tightening her hands on the brakes and swinging the motorbike around to head for the north road out of the city. Once they were in the countryside, they could veer left and head towards Rayong, scouting any locations that these people may have been hiding in. All Roberta needed was the hint of a trail and she could track them for miles on end. There was no hiding from the fearsome duo now.