Hello again, Constant Readers, and welcome to chapter two of Red Fraction! I'm certainly having fun with this, and I'm glad to see that a lot of you are, too. I don't really have all that much to say here, so let's just get this party started!

Oh, at the time of writing this author's note, I'm thinking about putting a lemon at the end of the chapter. I don't know at the moment if I'm going to, but I thought I'd best put this here just in case.

Let's begin.


Rock Ramps it Up a Notch

After Rock's outburst, everything went really quiet, though none of us really noticed. I was stood there with no weapon but my revolver, which wouldn't exactly do much good against a gunship, and for some reason I couldn't take my eyes off Rock, who was breathing heavily, still standing where he was when he threw the assault rifle into the water.

"… You good?" I asked him. "Did you get all that all out of your system?"

He didn't respond. He didn't even turn to face me. He just carried on with his heavy breathing, staring out into the water.

"Rock!" Revy shouted. She grabbed on to the shoulder of the life jacket Rock was wearing and used it to forcefully yank him around to face her. "What the hell are you thinking? Do you have any idea how much one of those things costs!?"

"This is it," Rock said through clenched teeth. "They came here to kill me. Why should I have to suffer for all this crap my boss got us involved in?" He grabbed Revy's hand and forced her to let go of his shoulder, then he walked past her.

It was at around this point that I finally noticed the relative silence that had overtaken the area. Why aren't they shooting at us …? I questioned in my mind. Not that I was complaining about the distinct lack of bullets being fired at us, but it seemed strange to me that they would have spent all that time shooting at the Black Lagoon and then just stopped. What's your game, you bastards? What the fuck are you playing at …?

"I think you're missing the point here," Revy said to Rock. "What they really want is to destroy that disk, right? Your life is just—"

"My life is just an accessory to that," Rock growled, cutting Revy off. "Damn it! Damn it, damn it, damn it!" He emphasised each use of the phrase damn it by kicking the loaded torpedo launcher he had previously freaked out about.

I would have questioned his sanity, but I was used to crazy people by this point.

"You know … there's a torpedo in there …" Revy said in a deadpan.

"Shut up!" Rock shouted. It looked like he had finally hit his breaking point.

"On the subject of shutting up," I interjected, seeing the perfect opportunity to point out what I'd noticed. "Has anyone else noticed that they've stopped shooting at us?"

Revy looked at me for a moment, then looked up at the gunship, which was still there but was being awfully quiet. She looked just as confused as I felt. Hell, even Rock stopped abusing our torpedo launcher when I pointed out the lack of gunfire. The three of us stood in complete silence for a few moments, tensing, like we were just waiting for the gunfire to start back up again. It didn't. Instead, things remained as quiet as they had been for the last few minutes, and that confused me.

"… What the fuck?" said Revy finally. She looked around a little. "Why the hell aren't they shooting?"

"Is that really something to complain about?" Rock asked in confusion.

"Normally, no," I said. "But when they have the capability to tear us apart in two minutes flat, them not doing so means something is very fucking wrong here. Those bellends are up to something …"

Revy gritted her teeth for a moment, then stalked off toward the door that lead to the small cabin of the Black Lagoon. I followed after her, and Rock after me. Revy opened the door to the cabin and peered inside. "Dutch, what the hell's going on?" she asked. She stepped inside, as did Rock and I. "Where'd those guys go?"

"Benny-boy?" Dutch said into his earpiece.

"Yeah," Benny's voice said through Dutch's headphones. "It looks like they've fallen back about five thousand metres and they're still tailing us from that distance. What do these guys want, anyway?"

"Well, I'm no expert or anything, but I think they were trying to kill us," I said. Then I felt a grimace cross my face. "They have enough fire-power to tear us about a hundred new assholes, so the fact that they're not makes me worried. They're … toying with us, or some shit. Like a cat playing with a mouse."

A grim silence followed what I had said, and for a moment I wished I had never opened my God damn mouth. I knew why these guys had stopped – it was like I'd said; they were playing with prey that they, regrettably correctly, assumed couldn't fight back – but that didn't mean I had to draw attention to it. I had seen enough situations in which the people with the upper hand toyed with their targets to know that pointing it out only made things worse. Even for people like us. Frankly, I always much preferred being on the other side of situations like this. But fuck it; if there was one thing all those bad cartoons had taught me, it's that sometimes, in a game of cat and mouse, the mouse manages to pull off a victory.

Dutch seemed to realise something and reached to grab the map. He opened it and scanned his eyes over it. "Damn it!" he said. "The channel."

"That's it!" Benny said in realisation. "The channel!"

"The path ahead of us to Belawan is filled with rocks and mangroves, and they must've figured that out," said Dutch. "The further we go, the tighter it's gonna get. In the end, we won't be able to take evasive manoeuvres."

"So they're caging us in …" I said in realisation.

"Let's turn this boat around and get outta here," Revy said, resting an arm on the back of Dutch's chair.

"Yeah," Dutch agreed. He pulled a lever near him and the boat began to turn around.

And that's when the shitstorm of gunfire started up again.

The horrifically loud sounds of their guns firing happened only a split second before the water seemed to explode upward in front of us. Dutch took a sharp turn, which made me stumble a little, but at least it got us out of the path of the gunfire … Well, the first load, anyway. The bastards continued to fire at us as we sailed away, some of the shots hitting and some not. They were just as relentless about it as they had been the first time.

And then, just as suddenly as before, the gunfire stopped again. I could still hear the helicopter, but the bullets had stopped raining down on us.

"You'd better not say I suck at this," said Dutch grimly. "But I guess I can't redeem myself now, right?"

"I wouldn't say that," said Revy.

"I had no other options," said Dutch. "I had to avoid to the right."

"Yeah, I know that," said Revy.

Neither of them sounded particularly happy.

What are they going on about …? I wondered as I moved to look out the window. "Oh …" We were now sailing down a river or a stream or something. It didn't really matter what it was, we were pretty screwed either way. Rivers and streams always had to end somewhere, and when that happened … well, bye-bye Black Lagoon … "Bloody hell," I groaned as I slumped down on the floor, resting my back against a wall.

"Did we just enter the mouth of a river?" Rock asked, staring out the window I had just looked through. "This is a river, right? If we continue like this, we're gonna run out of options to escape."

"No shit, Sherlock," I said.

"We already figured that one out," said Revy.

"These guys have us completely trapped …" said Rock.

"The enemy's behind us again," said Benny. "He's looking down on us from about five thousand metres back right now."

Of course they are, I thought, scowling. The pricks know they've got us trapped. At this point it's either die trying to make a break for it or wait until this fucking river comes to an end and just wait for them to kill us. I didn't like that, not at all. I had always known I was probably going to die in a fight or some shit, but I would have much preferred it if it was a situation I could actually fight back in. I had no problems with leaving this world kicking and screaming, covered in somebody else's blood; I did have a problem with dying in a bullshit game of cat and mouse with some dickheads in a fucking attack helicopter.

"Check that out," said Revy, looking out the window. "A sunken ship. What a bad omen."

"I fucking hate omens," I said. "Always making things feel much worse than they have to. This entire situation is bullshit …"

"Guess we might have to take a rain check on that stress relief," Revy said, grinning at me.

"Okay, now you're just rubbing it in," I said. I mock glared at her, and she laughed. I caught Rock staring at us curiously from the corner of my eye; probably wondering how we could joke around under those circumstances.

"Dutch, they just stopped by that sunken ship, and they're hovering there," said Benny. "They're not chasing us any more."

"It's not worth the energy for them to follow us," said Dutch. "That's exactly what this means."

"Damn," said Rock.

We spent some time after that just sailing along in silence. No one wanted to acknowledged it, but there was a sense of dread hanging in the air. It was quite clear that none of us expected to get out of there alive by that point. I had been in some tight spots before – hell, I met these guys while I was in a tight spot – but I had never been in one so tight that death was all but guaranteed. I didn't like it. It made me feel strange, almost powerless, and while I had always been a follower rather than a leader, I was still used to having some semblance of control over a situation depending on what I did. I didn't have that here, and that made me uncomfortable.

The feeling of dread finally came to a head as we reached a circular area surrounded by waterfalls. The only way out was the way we came in.

"It's a dead end …" Rock said in realisation.

"Sure is," said Dutch.

"Damn it!" Rock yelled.

"There's no road ahead of us," said Dutch. "The only option we have now is to turn around. And when we do that, they'll be waiting for us. My gut tells me he put us here on purpose. They wanna finish us off face to face." He turned to face us. "So, who wants to ring the gong?"

"Cornered like animals …" I said with a scowl. "What a shitty way to die."

"It ain't something that happens every day," Dutch said, lighting up a cigarette. "But once in a while you find them around. Wannabe vets who like to pretend they're cowboys."

"Wait a second!" said Rock, getting near Dutch. "You're saying our only choice is to die!?"

"All right, why don't you calm down, Rock?" said Dutch.

"I know! Let's call the local police! I mean, that's gotta be better than—"

Rock never got to finish his reasoning. Dutch delivered an uppercut right to his face. Rock staggered back and slumped against the wall.

"You're not helping," said Dutch. "Like I said, just calm down."

"Ain't no point in flipping out, mate," I said to Rock. "While I still say it's bullshit, there ain't nothing we can do about it. All we can do is try to stay alive and hope for the best, as cheesy as that shit sounds."

"Gren's right, Rock," said Dutch. "If you wanna survive, you gotta start using your head."

Revy walked up behind Dutch's chair. "Dutch, how about waiting for them to run out of fuel?" she asked.

"Yeah, but these bastards are from EO," said Dutch. "They'll come finish the job before that happens."

"Damn it …" said Rock. "Why did things have to end up like this?"

"No matter how many times you say that, it ain't gonna make a difference," I said. Then I sighed and turned to Dutch. "So, what? Do we turn round and try to at least put a dent in them before we get mutilated? 'Cause I'm not seeing any other way out of this. Unless, of course, you just wanna sit here and wait for 'em to finish the job?"

"No chance," said Dutch.

"Didn't think so," I said.

"How bad's the ship?" Revy asked.

"So far, she's not looking too bad," said Dutch. "But I'm more worried about those things." He nodded out the window in the direction of the torpedoes. "If even a single bullet hits a torpedo, we'll all be flying to the moon."

Revy groaned. "That's what you get for keeping them, dumbass," she said.

"I always figured I'd end up using them for something," said Dutch.

"Like fucking what?" I asked. "Aren't torpedoes normally for underwater? We're not exactly a submarine, Dutch."

"Gabe's got a point," said Benny. "And I know it might be a waste, but maybe we should throw those overboard."

"Guess we have no choice," said Dutch.

"What a waste …" said Revy.

Dutch reached for the lever that would dump the torpedoes off our boat …

"Wait!" Rock yelled suddenly, standing up faster than I would have thought possible after that uppercut he took. "Dutch, listen to me."

"You go back to sleep," said Dutch.

"I figured something out now that I've had time to think," said Rock. He wiped away some blood that was trickling from his mouth. "Just hear me out."

"If you break my concentration again, then I'll let Revy hit you next time," Dutch told him. "And it ain't gonna be pretty. Especially if she lets Gren take a shot at you, too. Those two are practically the Devil when they work together."

Surprisingly, a rather daring smirk appeared on Rock's face. "I say we go face to face with these guys," he said.

"Are you retarded?" Dutch asked. "How can we have a shoot-out? All we have on board is an antiaircraft rifle! They've got missiles on their side."

"I noticed that chopper had infra-red homing missiles on it," said Revy.

"Way to add fuel to the fire, Revy," I said, shaking my head. I looked at Rock. "They are right, though. I love a good gunfight as much as the next bloke – or woman, since that's normally Revy – but we'd be ripped the fuck apart if we tried to fight them head on."

"Yeah, we don't even come close," said Dutch.

"You think so?" Rock asked. "We do have something we can use."

"Revy, Gren, what've you two been giving him to drink?" Dutch asked us.

"Don't blame me for this," said Revy, at the same time as I said, "If he drank anything I could give him, he'd be dead."

"If you think about it, this is just a big game of chicken, right?" said Rock. "This boat's armaments and speed, that sunken ship we passed … I'm pretty sure we have everything we need."

There was silence for a few moments, then Dutch spoke. "What the hell do you have in mind, anyway?"

"Exactly what you guys were just talking about," said Rock. "Why don't we fly them to the moon instead?"

I both liked and feared the look he had on his face as he said that. Then he explained his plan to us, and I started to respect this crazy bastard's imagination. This was a plan of Michael Bay levels of impossibility and impracticality, but if it worked … this was going to be fucking awesome!

"Impossible," Dutch said after we'd heard the plan. "There's no way we can pull that off."

"If you think about it, in theory, this ship is meant to hydroplane," said Benny, who had come into the room with us. He held his thumb and index finger to show a small amount of empty space. "At full speed we're only in the water about this much."

"Plus, if we don't manage to pull this off, we'll be dead," I said. "Not a very different result from what would happen if we tried to make a run for it. At least this way we go out in style."

"Well, Dutch, it's not like we've got any better options," said Revy. "I say we do it."

Dutch used his lighter to light up a cigarette for Rock. "You do realise the plan's not gonna work unless they're right in front of us?" he asked. "Do you really think that's gonna happen, Rock?"

Rock took a puff of the cigarette. "It seems like they're having a lot of fun chasing us around, even though it's obvious they have the advantage," he said. "What reason would they have to start the whole fight over again? You said it yourself earlier, this is the sort of guy who thinks of himself as a real cowboy. If we lure him into a game of chicken, he won't be able to resist. I don't have any guarantees. At this point, it's your decision to make as captain."

Dutch tapped a finger three times. "We sure managed to pick up one crazy son of a bitch," he said. "You've gotta be completely insane. But the idea's exciting, and what's the point of life if you can't get excited? Right, let's do this thing!"

Revy, Rock and I headed up to the deck of the ship again. We all wore earpieces so that we could keep in contact as we did one of the craziest fucking things I think we've ever done. I couldn't stop the blood from pumping fast through my veins. Rock's plan was crazy, completely insane, but it sounded fun. And if by some miracle we did pull this off … well, it would be action movie shit worthy of Hollywood.

Dutch turned the boat around and we began to sail back the way we came. The gunship lowered in the air, still facing us, and came toward us.

"Rock, you know what you've gotta do, right?" Dutch said over the earpieces.

"If they fire a missile, I shoot a signal flare away from the boat," said Rock.

"You got it," said Dutch. "I see the jackass! Revy! It's a game of chicken! Send 'em an invitation! And Gren, try and make things a little more interesting."

"Nice one, boss," I said, grinning widely.

Revy started opening fire on the gunship with the antiaircraft rifle. They seemed to take the challenge and lowered their gunship, firing off bullets and missiles at us. When they were low enough, I grabbed one of the grenades from my belt – we kept a few below deck for emergencies – and pulled the pin, then threw it at the gunship. It didn't do anything, but I think the explosion might have made them a little more eager to play with us.

"Rock, they're coming!" Revy yelled. "Shoot that flare!"

Rock did just that, shooting the flare into the air and away from our boat. It turned out that Revy had been right about the infra-red missiles – the missiles that the gunship had fired at us changed directions and began shooting toward where the flare had exploded in the sky. The missiles collided with each other and exploded spectacularly.

"It worked!" said Rock.

I whistled as I looked at the bright explosion in the air. "Now those are fireworks!" I said in admiration.

"We're on the alpine course now!" Benny said over the earpieces as we began to approach the boat we had passed before. "All three of you get back in the cabin!"

We didn't need telling twice. All three of us got back into the cabin as quickly as we could, and then held on for dear life to whatever was near us. I grabbed a piece of piping on the wall; my knuckles were white, I was gripping it so hard.

"Three hundred feet to go!" Benny told us. "One-fifty … One hundred!"

And a few moments later we made contact with the crashed boat … and, using it as a ramp, were flung out of the water and into the air.

"Fire number one! Fire number two!" Dutch yelled as he pulled two of the levers in front of him.

The two torpedoes we kept on deck fired, and, because of our positioning, one of them hit the gunship dead on.

"Yeah!" Rock yelled. "You got fucked!"

I didn't have time to register much else. Landing back in the water was rather rough.

I felt myself lurch forward, just barely managing to cling to the pipe I was holding onto … then a smashing sound and a burst of pain caught my attention. A whiskey bottle had collided with and broken against my head, and man did it fucking hurt! Now that we were relatively steady, I released the pipe and put a hand against my forehead. When I took it away, I saw that there was a little blood on my hand, but other than the initial burst of pain when the bottle hit me, I didn't feel a thing.

Dutch groaned and sat up again. His head seemed to have collided with the controls during the landing. "Well, feels like my head's still attached," he said. He brought up a hand to check his shades. "And my sunglasses aren't broken. Amen, hallelujah, and peanut butter."

Revy had landed ass-over-head. Her back was against the wall, but her head was on the floor and her ass was in the air. "Fucking hell," she said. "We made it this time, but I will never do this again."

"I wouldn't mind doing it again," I said, smirking. "You look pretty good from this angle. Now, if only your shirt would fall down …"

"Fuck you, Gren," she said. She sat up, looked at my face, and grinned maliciously. "You look like shit."

"I think it's only thanks to the adrenaline rush that I don't feel like shit, too," I said.

"Benny, you okay?" Dutch asked over the radio.

"Yeah, I'm alive, somehow," came the sound of Benny's voice. "But all my instruments are fucked. We're gonna have to repair all—"

"What about Rock?" Dutch asked.

"He's passed out over there," said Revy. She was standing up and holding her own head now. I looked over to where she was looking and saw Rock lying on the floor, covered in broken glass. "He was yelling like a maniac right before we hit 'em. Just like William Holden in The Wild Bunch."

"Just look at him," said Dutch. There was a smile on his face. "He looks so comfortable, sprawled out like that."

"The guy's clearly insane," I said. Another grin wormed its way onto my face. "Can we keep him around? I think I'm starting to like this crazy bastard. He's certainly not the pathetic little wanker I thought he was a few hours ago."

"No kidding," said Revy. She looked over at me. "Still not feeling the blood pissing outta your head?"

"Is it really that bad?" I asked. "I honestly don't feel a thing … I'll go to the bathroom and clear myself up. Back in a minute."

I went below deck in order to get to the bathroom. On my way there, I had to pass by Benny, and he hadn't been exaggerating about his equipment. That stuff was well and truly fucked.

"Hey, Benny," I said as I made my way through the room. "That shit's gonna be expensive to replace, huh?"

"Yeah, no shit," said Benny. Then he looked up at me. "Damn, Gabe, you look like shit."

I laughed. "That's exactly how Revy put it," I said. "I'm just gonna get myself cleaned up. Then I'll give you a hand cleaning up all this shite."

I went on without saying anything else. The bathroom was only around the corner. I went in and locked the door behind me. The place was a bit of a mess after the rough landing, but it still looked to be fully functional. I walked over to the sink and turned on the cold water, then I looked in the mirror to see the damage.

Revy was right, there was a lot of blood pissing out of a nasty cut on my forehead. I thought I could even see some glass in there. I picked up a towel from the floor, put it under the running tap, and then began to scrub my face. As I cleaned, the pale, strong, scarred, yet somehow still handsome face that I saw every time I looked in a mirror came into view. My rose red eyes still looked bloodstained, but they always had – I never knew why my eyes were that colour, but I thought they looked cool. I didn't need to clean my hair from what I could see, but I did so anyway; the dark brown could be deceiving when it came to cleaning. None of the blood had gotten onto my black vest, which was a bonus. I was just glad I had foregone wearing my trenchcoat on this job. On my legs I wore a pair of black joggers, and on my feet a pair of brown shoes. My right hand and a large portion of my right arm were covered by a long, black glove.

I turned the tap off once I was done cleaning myself up and picking glass out of the cut on my forehead. I didn't normally like washing myself off until we got home, but I didn't particularly like being covered in my own blood, either. I could still feel my heart beating at a much faster pace than usual. That would pass soon enough.

They were a bunch of cunts, but at least we got some fun out of it, I thought to myself, and a smile grew on my face. And Rock … that mental bastard turned out to be something of a badass. The world's full of surprises …

Then I left the bathroom and started helping to clean up the boat.


We docked the boat at the place where we had agreed to drop off the disk. The sun was just starting to set. The adrenaline rush I had had worn off at this point, and I was starting to feel as shitty as I looked. Luckily, the pain in my head was just a dull throbbing by this point. Nothing a little alcohol wouldn't fix … All right, nothing a lot of alcohol wouldn't fix. Sometimes my high tolerance to alcohol was just as much a curse as it was a blessing …

"Excellent work," Balalaika said as Dutch handed her the disk. She was a middle-aged woman with long blonde hair that was done up in a huge ponytail that reached the base of her spine. She had blue eyes. She would have been rather attractive were it not for the burn scar on the right side of her face, and even then she wasn't particularly bad looking. The scars also went down her body, but they were only really visible where her shirt ended. She wore a red skirt suit with black stockings and high heels. She also had a Russian military coat draped over her shoulders. "You know I really admire smart work, Dutch. But I've got to tell you, you guys are all looking … a little rough."

That's putting it mildly, I thought.

"Well it's not like we're going to some dinner party," said Dutch. "It's just our style."

Balalaika turned toward the businessman who was standing my his car – Rock's boss. "Now, Mr Kageyama," she said to him. "We from Hotel Moscow have a code of honour."

"Oh?" said Kageyama. I didn't like him already; he had the voice of a pompous asshole who could really use a bullet to the brain. "I thought you were a representative of the Bougainvillea Trade Company."

"As you can see, we followed through on our end of the bargain," said Balalaika, approaching Kageyama with the disk. She held it out to him. "So there shouldn't be any hard feelings."

He took the disk and put it in his jacket pocket. "Of course not," he said. "The world is full of things that cannot be helped."

"Now it's your turn to follow through on your end of the bargain. We'll go over the details at the hotel."

"Very well, then." One of Kageyama's assistants opened his car door for him. Kageyama turned around and looked at Rock. "Thanks for your good work on this, Okajima. Now come along, let's go." He climbed into the car.

Rock didn't move.

"Well, Okajima?" asked the assistant, who was still holding the car door open. "What are you waiting for? Come on."

Rock slowly began to approach the car, but stopped when he was looking at Kageyama through the open door. "Hey, boss," he said. "Don't you remember?" He tore his tie off and looked at Kageyama with a hard expression. "Well, you should. I'm already dead. You said it, remember? And by the way, my name is Rock now."

"That so?" asked Kageyama, not a trace of emotion on his face. "Very well. Do as you wish. Let's get going," he added to his assistant.

"Y-y-yes, sir," said the assistant. He closed the car door, got in the front, and the two of them drove away.

Balalaika stopped her car near Rock and talked to him for a bit after that, but I wasn't paying attention any more. I was too busy thinking about what Rock had just done. He had spent so much of his time with us complaining about his situation, but he had just thrown away any chance he may have had at going back to his old life. I had never seen this before, but I think I've heard of it happening. Some people get a taste for this sort of thing really quickly. I wonder if that's what's happened to Rock …?

It probably was. And honestly, after the crazy shit he pulled with the boat earlier, I wasn't going to complain if he decided to stay.

Dutch, Benny, Revy and I were leaning against a wall, facing away from the setting sun. Well, Dutch, Benny and I were leaning, Revy was sitting on the wall, but you get the idea. We were all looking at Rock as he faced us again once Balalaika had driven off.

"So, tell me, Rock," said Dutch. "What will you do now?"

Rock shrugged. "Guess I'm not a hostage any more," he said, smiling. He stuffed his hands in his pockets. "And I've got nowhere to go …"

"Hey," said Revy. "There's this crew I've heard of that might be looking for a good sailor. Think you could be interested in something like that? They're a delivery company—"

"Who sometimes break rules to put food on the table," Rock finished for her. He was smoking a cigarette now, that grin still on his face. "Isn't that right?"

"Spot on, Rock," I said. A large grin spread across my face, too. "No more working for pompous dickheads. You really were wasted in an office job, you crazy son of a bitch. Now you can enjoy a job where your unique and slightly insane way of thinking can actually be put in use." I laughed, and he laughed, too. "Chuck us a ciggy, will ya?"

"Sure thing," he said, giving me a cigarette and holding out a lighter. "I look forward to working with you, Gren."

I grinned. "Likewise, Rock."

"Okay, we should get going," said Dutch. "At this rate, it'll be dark by the time we reach Roanupur."

The lot of us got back aboard the Black Lagoon, and Dutch began to sail us away. I stood up on the deck with Revy. Rock, Dutch and Benny were all inside. It was getting dark quickly, so there was the beginnings of a chill in the air.

"Hell of a day," I said. "Had a hell of an adrenaline rush earlier, but it's gone now. Funny thing, though; I still don't feel tired out."

"Me, neither," said Revy.

The two of us looked at each other and smirked.

"Stress relief?" I asked.

"Stress relief," Revy said in confirmation.

I felt the smirk on my face grow by a fair margin. I could hardly wait to get back to Roanupur.


When we got back to Roanupur, the city of murderers, thieves, and other assorted scum of the Earth, it was already dark out. That didn't mean the place was quiet, though; there were still plenty of people out and about. Homeless people, prostitutes, drug dealers, and a shit-ton of drunk people. Say what you want about this place, it was never quiet or dull here. That can be kind of a pain in the ass for people who are trying to sleep, but I had gained a certain fondness for this shithole since I first came here. We didn't stop by Bao's bar this time – we didn't think he'd be very pleased to see us, considering the last time we'd gone in there, a bunch of people who were after us had completely shot the place to hell.

Instead, we went straight to our apartment building. We all lived in there, in separate apartments, but we spent most of the day in Dutch's. The others were really only so that we all had a room to sleep in, and no one had to take the couch. Rock might have to for the night, but only for the one. Well, actually …

"Hey, Rock," I said as we entered the building. I fished around in my pockets and took out the key to my apartment, and I gave it to Rock. "My apartment's on the third floor, make yourself at home. I doubt I'll be in there tonight, so feel free to use the bed."

He took the key, looked down at it – I presume for the apartment number – and then looked back at me. "Thanks, Gren," he said.

"No prob," I said. There wasn't really much conversation other than that. I watched as Dutch, Benny and Rock all went up the stairs to the apartments, then I looked at Revy, who was still standing beside me. I let a smirk grace my lips. "Now, I believe we have an appointment to keep."

She smirked back. "What do you think I was waiting for, dumbass?" she asked. She began to walk up the stairs, and I followed.

The sense of anticipation that filled me as I ascended the stairs behind Revy was almost unbearable. I'll admit, I had come to be quite addicted to the sex, even if it only happened once a week or so, if that. I could feel my dick harden slightly just from the anticipation of what was about to occur. I felt my excitement increase as I thought about the feel of Revy's rocking body against my own … the feeling was maddening …

We reached the fourth floor, where Revy's apartment was located, and she took her keys out. She opened the door, the two of us walked inside, and she locked the door again. Didn't want anything interrupting us. The loud noises of outside were drowned out somewhat. Not completely gone, but quiet enough to be ignored.

The second Revy had locked that door, I wrapped my arms around her midsection from behind and placed a long, lingering kiss on the side of her neck. I felt her push back against me, bringing her body closer to mine, as she hummed at the feeling. She managed to turn herself around, and before I knew it our lips were locked, and our tongues were battling one another for dominance. This didn't last long, however, as Revy pulled away from me, and a smirk of cockiness and satisfaction appeared on her face.

"Couldn't wait till we got in the bedroom, huh?" she asked.

I brought a hand forward and began rubbing one of her breasts. "You have no idea," I said, then attacked her lips again.

The two of us stumbled, lips locked, into Revy's bedroom, and practically fell onto the double bed (we practically all had one; bigger was more comfortable). I wrapped my arms around Revy's waist, and she wrapped her arms around my back. Our tongues swirled around each other, rubbing up against each other every so often, and I felt my already hardening dick grow even harder.

Our lips disconnected, and Revy lifted up her shirt, revealing her grey sports bra. I didn't waste a second; I immediately moved to help her remove the bra, and her amazing breasts came free.

I didn't even hesitate. The second the bra came off, I was grabbing and kneading those fine tits of hers. I grasped the warm orbs of flesh in my hands and suckled on Revy's nipples. I felt her hand on the back of my head, pushing me deeper into her bosom as she released quiet noises of pleasure. Deciding to make those noises a little louder, I brought my left hand down to the crotch of Revy's incredibly short jeans, and began to rub through them. That didn't get much of a reaction, mostly because of the material, but when I brought my hand into the jeans, she moaned pretty loudly. The moist feel of her underwear made me grin in satisfaction.

I took my head away from her breasts and began to head downwards. I took the glove off my right hand on the way down and threw it away, revealing my severely scarred forearm. As I reached Revy's bottom half, I grasped her jeans and panties both at once, and pulled downward, throwing them both onto the floor. She kicked her shoes off herself. I looked at the glorious pussy I had uncovered, and was quite pleased to discover just how wet she was already.

"This wet this quickly, Revy?" I asked. "Wow, and here I thought my job was going to be difficult."

"Just start licking, shithead!" she yelled at me.

I chuckled. "Killjoy," I said, then shoved my face between her legs.

The loud moan Revy released when I started licking was truly music to my ears. I used my fingers to poke and prod at her folds and her clitoris as I used my tongue to explore her warm depths. I felt Revy's hand on the back of my head again, encouraging me to go in deeper. I obliged. Then I brought up my left hand, while my right was still playing with Revy's folds, and inserted a finger into her glistening wet pussy. I heard her moans pick up in volume, but only slightly, and started using two fingers instead. I thought she tasted fantastic.

After a few more minutes, I felt Revy's hand grasp my hair in a vice grip, and her back arched. Her inner walls clamped around my tongue and I got a face full of pussy juice. I licked up as much as I could.

"You really … haven't lost your touch …" Revy said, breathing heavily.

"What can I say?" I asked, smirking. "I'm a God damn sexual Tyrannosaurus."

"Really?" Revy asked, rolling her eyes. "Let's see if that ego of yours lasts until we're done. Now take your damn shirt off."

"Yes, ma'am." I stood up and did as she told me, pulling my vest up and over my head, revealing my muscular body. She stood up, too, and kissed me again, shoving her tongue into my mouth and rubbing her hands up and down my toned, scarred body. I took the opportunity to take hold of her breasts again, then I brought my hands down and started kneading her ass in my hands. I had a huge stiffy by this point.

Revy pulled her lips away from mine and smirked. "Now it's your turn," she said. She turned us around and pushed me onto the bed. Then she got on her knees in front of me, grasped the top of both my joggers and boxer shorts in her hands, and began to pull them down. I helped her out by lifting my hips and kicking my shoes off, and in a few seconds I was as naked as she was, my incredibly stiff dick pointing into the air.

"Ah, my favourite part of your body," she said.

I started to chuckle and come up with a witty response, but it turned into a moan as Revy grabbed my throbbing shaft and started to rub it up and down. She began to run her pleasantly moist tongue from my ballsack all the way to the tip of my dick, all the while jerking me off. Then Revy took me by surprise by wrapping her succulent lips around the tip of my dick and bringing her head down, taking as much of me into her mouth as she could. I released a loud moan of pleasure at the action.

She made eye contact with me and smirked around my length. She took her hands away from my prick and brought them down to her breasts, which she then raised to be level with my dick and pressed against it. An even louder groan of pleasure escaped my mouth as Revy began to use her tits to pleasure me along with her mouth. I continued to make loud noises of pleasure as Revy continued to stroke and suck my cock. I began to feel a build up of pressure in my groin, and before I could warn Revy it felt like the Earth had stopped spinning, and I dissolved into pleasure, releasing my come into Revy's suckling mouth.

When Revy removed her mouth and tits from my dick, there wasn't a trace of come anywhere, so I assumed she had managed to swallow the lot.

"You sure do taste good, Gren," Revy said as she crawled up the bed next to me.

"That's gotta be a pleasant thought after having your mouth full for so long," I said, grinning. I reached over to a drawer just beside the bed and pulled a condom out of it, which I then slipped on. I moved myself so that I was on my hands and knees above her, and she was on her back looking up at me, her legs spread. I teased her by rubbing the head of my dick against her pussy gently. "Time for the main event."

I pushed inside her and found myself grunting in pleasure at how pleasantly tight Revy was, even after all the times we had done this. She moaned out, too, and put her hands behind my back, gripping my shoulders. I didn't wait for anything; I simply began to pound myself in and out of Revy's warm pussy.

She moaned and I groaned as I brought myself in and out of her at a fast pace. I began to palm and knead her breasts as I went, and if her moans were anything to go by, I was only making the experience better for her. Our lips pressed together, and we kissed passionately whilst moaning into each others mouths. The exchange of saliva was sloppy but arousing. Revy bucked her hips along with my movements, and I started to feel her nails digging into my shoulders.

I broke our lips apart and sat up, grabbing onto Revy's hips as I pounded into her. I reached my right hand down and brought up Revy's left leg, resting it on my shoulder. Then, placing my right hand on the bed for support, I continued to vigorously slam our hips together. Revy's loud moans of pleasure were even louder now, and I grunted in pleasure with her.

It wasn't long before I felt Revy's delightful pussy tightening around my dick. The pressure, which had been building up in my groin again, finally exploded, and it was like I was being struck by a lightning bolt of pleasure. I continued thrusting until I was running on empty, at which point I pulled out and removed the condom, throwing it into a bin that was nearby … and full of used condoms. I'm honestly surprised it hadn't started to stink yet.

The two of us lay there, sweaty and dishevelled, until we both fell asleep. Normally we would have gone a few more times, fucked in a couple more positions, but it had been a very tiring day.

Tonight was a night for resting, and we both went to sleep satisfied.


Okay, people, so I did end up writing that lemon after all. What did you guys think of it? A lot better than the one I put in my Highschool of the Dead story, right? There's going to be more going into any future lemons; this is mostly just me trying to ease into writing that sort of thing, as it's only the second lemon I've ever written.

I hope you guys enjoyed chapter 2. But before we go I'm going to answer a few of your reviews.

Theboblinator: I'm glad you liked him. I'll admit, I'm not used to writing characters (or even stories) like this, so I'm glad to know he's been well received. He didn't do much this chapter, because it was Rock's time to shine, but he'll be contributing a lot more in future chapters, I promise you. I do hope chapter 2 didn't disappoint!

pyrojack25: Yeah, I described him this chapter. It's because, with the way I write, I only really describe what my character sees, so they normally describe their appearances during scenes where they can see their reflection (as you can see this chapter). Yeah, those two are real fucking crazy, eh?

Wolf King 0811: I'm very glad you're enjoying it.

Guest: Don't worry, Their Afterlife will be uploaded eventually. Relatively soon, even, if I'm successful in doing what I said I'm going to do in the new story I'm uploading today. I thought about making Gren a little more like Deadpool, but I decided against it since I wanted him to be relatively realistic; doesn't mean he won't quote Deadpool a few times, though. Well, hope you like it!

demonicDRAMAqueen: Yay, it went through this time! I tried to make it more realistic and grounded, 'cause that's just the way I prefer things with series like this. I'm glad I was able to keep everyone in character. I'm not sure what E-Dock means, I'm afraid. Yeah, you're right, so I went back and changed his hair colour (not the eye colour, though, 'cause I thought that was cool).

DCMatriXHunter: I was glad to write it. Don't get me wrong, Gren won't have exactly the same personality as Revy, as you'll see when it comes to the stuff with the Nazis, but he's enough like her that they get along really well.

ShadowEonEclipseChaos: Thank you! Here's that update!

Well, that's all for now, folks. I'm also uploading a new Rosario + Vampire story today if you wanna check that out. I just need to proofread it, and it'll be released an hour or two from now.

See you guys next time!