Pretty Girls Make Graves
Vaas watches Dominique disappear into the diner, his arousal trying to swallow him whole. The way she touches him, her lips puckered up and shining like a berry he's been dying to taste, how her sweet voice sends jolts to his crotch, and the way she switches her hips so hard that large ass jiggles just the way he likes is enough to shut off the logic in his brain. It's been a while since he'd been seduced like that; he hasn't really had any action outside of the regular village whore and…his incestuous past with Citra that he narrowly escaped with his life. He doesn't want to think about it much longer; he doesn't want her haunting him from the grave. He won't give her the satisfaction.
His philosophical detour with Freud vanished when an expensive looking Jeep rolls onto the sand and parks outside the diner. It doesn't take a genius to know it's none other than Jefe; brown hair, specs, and he's pale as a ghost matches the description. He's going into the diner, where Dominique is…
He hopes this all goes according to plan; her plan is working a little too perfectly for it to be true. What coincidence, what luck, could allow their target to fall into their laps like this…?
He hides inside the foliage, debating on whether to eavesdrop or hope that Dominique doesn't fuck it up and leave them to their own devices. Fuck that; after all the headaches she's given him, he has no reason to trust her. He crouches down and makes his way to the back of the diner; he'll be in the backroom and listen in…
A force slams him against the sand, a sharp object jammed against his throat.
"Don't. Fucking. Move. A. Muscle."
The familiar smell of blood and gunpowder fills Vaas' nose.
"Trust me, motherfucker. I'm the wrong one to fuck with. Let me go and maybe I'll let you die quick and easy."
"Where's Dominique?"
That did the trick.
He slams himself against the mass and flips it over his shoulder by his arms. The mass is revealed to be a bloodied, disheveled, crazed-looking dark skinned woman with loosely-curled hair and vibrant hazel eyes. It's the Cook.
"Just the woman I've been dying to see. You're not too upset about me putting a gun to your head—"
She charges at him, swiping at him with a knife, barely missing his cheek.
"I'll kill you, for all the hell you put us through. You…you…bastard!" tears are streaming down her cheeks.
"Do you know what I did, how many people I killed, because you couldn't let us get off this goddamn island?"
"Oh, you want my pity for you killing? You fucking Americans with your hypocrisy, man. Always quick to play white savior and play victim when you're caught with blood on your hands. I'm in the middle of something, hermana, and I'd appreciate it if you'd fuck off until then. We can settle this after Dominique does her thing."
"She…she's alive?"
"No fucking shit. She wants to play martyr and sacrifice her life for you fuckers. She's working for me and after that, you guys leave the island and she'll be stuck with me as my slave. You hurt one hair off my head and the deal's off."
"She sacrificed herself for us? Why?"
"Because she had no other fucking choice. Now unless you want to dance and lose your chance at freedom, I'm gonna ask you to fuck off. Disappear." He lets out a whistle.
"This isn't over, Vaas. You're coming with me even if I have to drag you."
Vaas snorts.
"Looks like your balls dropped, Princess. You used to be a crying little bitch not too long ago, now you killed a few people and you want to act tough? I can break you, destroy every piece of who you are and make you beg for death and I won't even break a sweat. Tell me this, you think you can measure up to a real Rakyat warrior? You think you can square up with me, you little bitch?" he looks at her weapon of choice.
"With a fucking knife? That's the best weapon you can come up with?"
"No, but this is." She pulls out an assault rifle.
"You know how to use that thing?"
"I killed eight men with this thing in a span of 30 seconds. Want to test your luck?"
"I killed eight men in eight seconds. You bluffing me?"
"Yeah. But I'm sure they're not."
Before he could react, he feels the blow to the back of his head and he succumbed to darkness.
He comes to, head throbbing from the blow, and finds himself bound at his hands and feet to the ceiling, heat and darkness swallowing him whole. Okay, this is new but familiar; he hadn't been captured and at the mercy of assailants since he was…sixteen? Seventeen? He can't remember.
Muffled voices are speaking through the thin slit of what appears to be the doorway; he strains his ears for a better listen.
"You sure it's him? It was almost too easy to subdue him."
"He knows where Dominique is. He has the tatau. It's definitely him."
"How do you know he's going to help us? He's our enemy?"
"He might also be an enemy of that fucker Kingston. An enemy of my enemy is a friend of mine."
"I hope he's still asleep. This man is dangerous when he's awake. I know from experience."
The door opens. Vaas is blinded by light; shadows block the light and with proper focus he notices they're all women. Women who have tatau, piercings, warrior hairstyles, and armed to the teeth. They have blood, battle-wounds, and tattered clothing; they've been fighting.
"He's awake. Alert the Healer and Kali."
"Hello, ladies. Fancy meeting you here. Have the Gods answered my prayers for an orgy of women?" he grins at them, chuckling at their barely masked looks of disgust.
"Count your stars you used to be one of us, traitor. Because believe me, I'd love nothing more than your head on a silver platter for turning your back on your people! Your treachery has brought these…savages on our land! You…you killed my family for those pale-faced monsters!" a spear is pointed at his throat. He gulps.
"You and every other bitch in town. Take a number and get in line for the fuckers who have a bone to pick with me." He fires back.
"Shasta! Stand down, we need him alive. His fate will be determined after his…redemption."
"Redemption?" he scoffs. "I got too much blood on my hands. You must be fucking stupid if you think a group of bitches are going to scare me into turning the other cheek."
"Not that kind of redemption, Vaas."
Vaas is greeted to the Doctor and the Cook, whose gun is pointed at him.
"Hello, again. Vaas. I think you and I both know that we have something the other wants."
"So, you mean to tell me you want Jefe dead as well?"
"The man may have saved us from a premature execution, but he has captured Mike and forced us to watch him slaughter an entire village so we know not to fuck with him. We escaped with our lives, banded with the female Rakyat, and have been attacking his weak spots. I have to rescue my friend, you want him dead, we both can come to an arrangement."
"You want to bargain? Dominique already got you covered."
"No. I want to join forces. We both have a common enemy. We can work together…"
"I work for no one after Hoyt. You're my prisoners."
"We're not anything after Kingston weakened your military, destroyed your base, and desecrated your hiding spot. Half of these islands are destroyed and turned into drug fields. He has killed nearly all of your men and the ones that survived scattered to join him. You may not like it, but we're the only ones you got now. We're the only ones in your corner.
"You are a strong, irrational, skilled warrior from what I heard, but I also know you're a pragmatist. You understand that you, a lone human being, going against a man with resources, connections, and a militia of men that will gun you down in seconds is a stupid decision. You're also badly injured; when's the last time you gotten fresh bandages for the flesh that needs to heal?" The Doctor's fingers trace the filthy bandages on Vaas' chest. He glares.
"You need us. We work with you and take down Kingston together, and we go our separate ways. I'll take my friends and we get the hell off this island. Carmen even took one of Kingston's boats for a clean escape. We can do this, but we need your help. You're a warrior who knows these islands like the back of your hand. We can use that to take him down. We need you, Vaas."
"Dominique and I were already doing that. She's a fucking spy, like in those James Bond movies. She was supposed to get info and we use that to take him down."
"Dominique's alive?" The Doctor's eyes widen.
"No fucking shit."
"Oh, God. She…she made it…"
"Now isn't the time. Now we have to work with this…this…monster, and take out the threat so we can rescue Mike." Carmen claps a hand on her shoulder.
"You need us. You have an army of women who will be at your command. Mothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, grandmothers. These women have nothing to lose and will die for the cause."
"You're telling me I can command them? Hmm? Anything I want?"
"You're training them for battle. You give out orders for the army. You're the general. Whip them into shape. Dominique gathers intel, Carmen becomes the muscle and I strategize our next plan of attack. We can make this work, Vaas."
"Did I ever tell you what the definition of insanity is?"
"No. But I know Albert Einstein did. And trust me, after this, it will be different. This war, this violence, this…insanity is going to end. We just have to work together."
"If I don't?"
"You have to fight through an army of women who are twice as strong and twice as brutal as your men. They've done some shit that will make your atrocities look like child's play. We throw you to the women, and they will tear you apart for all the shit you've done to your people. Trust me, an angry group of women is something you don't want to fuck with. Do we have a deal: work with us or die?"
Vaas chuckles.
"I don't have much of a fucking choice, do I? I just want that colonial fuck dead."
"So do I, Vaas. So. Do. I."
As they stare into each other's eyes, it was all the agreement they need.
They're a team now, whether they like it or not.