Chapter Two: The Day After
As impossible as it seemed in light of the previous night's events, the sun did rise the following morning. It appeared to have no qualms of doing so, no pity nor courtesy for the mourning Lagoon members who had been reduced from four to three just few hours before. By showing up like innumerable times in the past, it proved yet again the undisputed might of the circuit of life, thus forcing Rock, Benny, and Revy to face a new day. A day which fully dragged out the fact that the heart and soul of their delivery company, their recognized leader and almost a father figure, the Vietnam War veteran Dutch was now gone.
But as much as there was sadness, confusion was an equally strong feeling in the air, especially for Rock and Benny. Revy's extremely aggressive and intimidating appearance had long since taught other people the valuable lesson of not to approach her when she was, to put it mildly, in a bad mood. Nevertheless, the lack of Dutch's return from the Nazi ship and the hasty and shocking explanation Revy had given them forced Rock and Benny to seek proper answers. Apparently the situation had made even Revy to understand this, and so she had provided Rock and Benny a brief recap of last night's unfortunate events.
It would be a sick joke to say that Revy's words "Got caught in a crossfire, he's dead now" had brought any ease for their minds as they had hoped. However, the very late hour coupled with the fact that they hadn't slept in days pushed them to the conclusion that it'd be best to deal with the matter later. "Come morning, and we will be able to look at this with clearer minds", they thought to themselves.
Well now the morning had come, and their hopes of being able to face the terrifying facts any better after a few hours of restless sleep were proven empty. As each of the remaining Lagoon members opened their eyes, reality immediately slapped them in the face. The sun's blazing rays struck their eyes through the windows, adding to their shock. Indeed waking up to a new day felt like a cold shower for each of them despite the burning heat outside. Slowly and hesitantly Rock, Revy, and Benny proceeded to the difficult task of climbing out of their beds, and one by one they gathered to the living room of their office.
By any means, the delivery company of Black Lagoon was not a merry entourage of close friends. Though not operating under strictly formal business manner either, the crew members had firmly kept their total independence and privacy and thus had a certain amount of acknowledged distance between each other. True enough, they regularly participated together in leisure time activities usually consisting of drinking in their preferred hangout of the bar of Yellow Flag, where they either relaxed after a successful job or made preliminary plans for a future one.
But whereas being totally capable of discussing work related issues easily, they never engaged in conversations about their personal matters. Perhaps some loose small talk of basically nothing in particular would occur from time to time, but it was always shadowed by the unspoken contract of not digging in topics of unnecessary depth or bringing up something too personal. Each of them had their dark pasts of hardships and sorrows, and that in it's simplicity was all that they needed to now of one anothers' backgrounds. The code of silencing about them was not out of hostility, it was out of understanding that it would do no good to snoop on painful memories.
That was until just a few months ago, when the lives of the Lagoon members had received an upside down blow. A blow which was delivered by their newest member, Okajima Rokuro, or Rock, as they had named him.
The former Japanese businessman hadn't brought the change by outrunning even the shadiest characters of Roanapur in felony or even proving himself to be at least a decent villain among them, quite the opposite in fact. In his tidy and proper business attire, the kindred spirit had almost seemed like a deer among jackals by striving to solve arguments diplomatically with words instead of weapons. The fact he succeeded in this, along with the surprising quality of being able to provide noteworthy ideas and insights on their missions on occasion, had quickly aroused the attention of the Lagoon company as well as their main employer Balalaika. One would consider it rather shocking, but in the end it came quite naturally that what had started as a mere Stockholm syndrome ended up as a permanent post as their new sailor.
Given the feature of having a higher standard in morals and not letting unpleasant issues left unhandled, which tended to irritate especially Revy, it wasn't surprising to see him making the first attempt to restore contact and order between them after the recent tragedy.
"Good morning", he began, the quiet and hesitant tone of his voice doing little to lift the atmosphere.
Benny remained silent, occupying himself with the task of preparing them the first cups of coffee with tired and downcast countenance. Revy slouched on the couch, bent forward with hands clasped at the back of her head. To Rock, she looked like a desperate hostage whose life was at stake. If only he had the ability to read minds, he could've seen just how close he'd hit with his silent observation, on a mental level at least.
Seeing their reactions, or lack thereof, Rock was overcome by a rush of embarrassment, understanding that pretension was useless.
"C-come on, guys, it's not like this is the end of the world! W-weren't we supposed to be relentless mercenaries, n-never looking back and..." Rock hastily tried to cover himself, his voice shrill and the words stumbling out of his mouth uncontrollably.
His obviously visible agony was greeted with a raw cut off from Revy, her tone cold and foreboding:
"Rock...shut the hell up", the words dropped into the silence, soon to be accompanied by loud sobs as the Japanese man broke down to his knees .
Revy was not a woman of high tolerance for such signs of weakness. With an exploding anger she kicked the table before her, sending it flying across the room. Fuming, she took a few quick steps towards Rock, yanked him halfway to his feet and growled:
"You sniveling shit. Relentless mercenaries my ass, you sputtering such words looking like that only shows that you really don't know shit about the lifestyle the rest of us have been leading here."
Revy's sudden outburst had left Rock terrified, and now he listened with eyes firmly jammed shut as the woman went on.
"And not only that, but your bitchy whimpering just screams that you're not even halfway there yet. So since you're clearly invalid of even pretending to be a tough guy, shutting your pie hole and keeping it that way is a start. That, along with getting a grip of yourself and picking your sorry ass up that fucking floor, is the only good thing you can do at the moment, soldier." Revy finished, mockery evident in her last choice of word.
Deep silence settled over the office. Rock's loud sobs had died down, and now only a few irregular and quiet moans escaped his mouth. He was still wretched on the floor with Revy standing before him. Her outburst had drained most of the anger and frustration out of her, and now the exhaustion and feeling of defeat returned in full. Benny hadn't moved a step from his spot, but now the downturn in his posture revealed him to be equally crushed by the confrontation. The clock on the wall ticked away long seconds, and the sound it's pointers made echoed in the stillness . Finally Revy broke the daze by releasing a quick snort and taking her leave. Rooted on their spots, Rock and Benny continued to share the silence. A few moments later, the distant yet loud sound of the door to Revy's room slamming shut reached their ears.
And so the morning passed on.
Her room was in a state of downright chaos. The bed lay unkempt on the opposite wall across from the door, sheets tattered and the blanket a lone bundle on the floor. With the blinds of the room's only window shut, the rest of the space face blissfully consumed by darkness. What small light was admitted to the room made the varying objects scattered across the floor be visible only as vague forms. Several articles of clothing littered the floor, clean and dirty alike. Nutritional commodities consisting mostly of alcoholic drinks and packages of junk food lay everywhere at hand's reach. Piles of boxes that housed enough weaponry to make the terminator look tame in comparison rose from the floor, reaching such heights that they looked ready to fall over at the slightest disturbance. A single broken ventilator was located near the ceiling to fight off the heat.
After storming away from Benny and Rock, Revy had managed to reach at least the most tentative mood of relaxation. Now she found herself slumped on the bed and promptly getting lost in her mind.
When she had tried her best to fight back, Revy was forced to realize that no amount of alcohol or any other efforts were enough to chase the horrifying images away. The only thing the last night's drinking excursion had resulted in was an awful hangover which did little to soothe her nerves. Now there was nothing she could do anymore, nobody else around her to yell at. Having lost all escape routes and the darkness of the room as her sole companion, Revy gave in to the stream of thoughts.
Goddamn it.
It was the first thing to surface from the depths of her mind, and although she knew it would take a lot more complicated inner struggle to clear the mess in her head, it was a start..
One hell of a riot I've indeed put up this time. Just to think I'm now stuck with a computer geek and a spineless wimp as my coworkers. Way to go Two-Hand, on your way to the fucking limelights you are...
Bitter yet shallow thoughts shot across her mind like lightnings. Subconsciously it was the easiest way to begin her long and hard contemplation, but soon the unpleasant lack of certainty and doubt for her actions the night before started to creep in.
Dutch...
Revy felt suddenly an odd burning in her eyes and exhaled heavily. She pushed it back, however, and shook her head rapidly in denial.
Motherfucker, tried to shoot me..
Or did he?
He drew his gun, for Christ's sake!
Yeah, in order to surprise those Nazi fuckheads who were approaching us. Assholes, probably thought they were really smart or something, like their footsteps could've gone unheard even by a deaf granny.
He was just going to assault them and thought you'd play along. What happened to your supposed chemistry, huh, Rebecca?
Again, a violent shake of the head. It was not easy for her to consider she herself had made a mistake, especially as grievous as it had been if Dutch had indeed all along attempted to fire at the enemy instead of her.
Stick to the freaking facts now, Revy. You were both pissed and barking at each other, and then he drew his cannon, directing it right at your face. You saw a threat, and with an instinct and nature of a gunman, you took the threat down. Fair enough.
And besides, what's done is done. Only weaklings surrender to wallowing in the past and worrying over things beyond their control, and you sure as hell aren't one of them, you know that.
But as soon as she had offered herself these comforting thoughts, they began to ring in a sound of malicious false in her head.
Revy was not a woman of long lasting patience either, and as the often advised method of calming down had failed her, the built up frustration came gushing out.
Not even noticing the hot tears streaming down her cheeks, Revy cried out the longest litany of curses in her life and grabbed a small chair from beside her bed. Allowing her limbs to act on impulse, she cast the piece of furniture right through the window. With all obstacles from it's way now suddenly gone, the sun threw it's light into the room, exposing in full the wreckage of both the room itself and the hostess of it. The beams of the sun struck her eyes and bore all the way to the back of her skull, causing Revy to cower in pain. Lying on her knees, she rested her arms on the bed and buried her teeth in its mattress. Full of anger towards herself for letting her emotions take the better of her, Revy gripped on the resolve to suppress her sobs the best she could.
Once the distasteful episode earlier in the morning had passed, Rock and Benny had both settled down in their own ways.
After finding himself in a desperate need to take his mind off of the encounter with Revy, it hadn't taken long for Rock to see just the right opportunity to do so. Being true to his organized and neat nature, the Japanese man proceeded gradually to the table Revy had knocked over and lifted it back up. Then he began to pinpoint the items that had been on the table and scattered across the floor. Kneeling down once again and carefully starting to pick them up, he let his gaze wander through the room.
The office of the Lagoon Company was a plain sight overall; a fitting testimony for their unglamorous business.
A set of ugly and worn-out blinds covered the windows, effectively preventing any additional light from entering the office. Decorations on the decadent walls consisted of a white note board with a map of the area, a telephone and a single framed photograph portraying a mundane beach scenery. Down in one corner lay an ordinary flowerpot, the plant it sheltered withering and forgotten. Strange wooden bars separated the kitchen from the rest of the office. Some necessary pieces of furniture were located at the center of the room, while in one corner sat a lonesome chair seemingly out of place and without purpose. Just like me, Rock thought to himself.
"Are you okay?"
Benny's question snapped Rock out of his reverie. He had finished his task and sat down on one the couch. Having his hands idle again he had been involuntarily sucked back in to the sorrow ridden thoughts, and now he was greeted with the sight of Benny offering him a hefty mug of steaming and comfortingly odorous coffee.
"Ah, thank you", Rock accepted the drink as the other man took seat opposite of him. Benny let out a content sigh, obviously finding the dark brown liquid very soothing after all the agonizing incidents To Rock's slight surprise, the blond man found it in himself to even offer a few comforting words to lighten the mood.
"Try not to let Revy's antics get to you. She's just simply as devastated as we are, if not even more so. That just now was only a part of how she normally deals with this kind of stuff. If anything about her can be considered as normal in the first place, that is." He finished, attempting a small joke at the end of his speech.
"Y-yeah, I suppose" Rock gave a brief laugh, if for no other reason than to express his gratitude for Benny's effort to cheer him up. Truth to be told, Rock wasn't quite yet in the mood for any sort of jesting. But he wanted to show he really appreciated the way Benny at least tried to act as if the world itself hadn't ended, that they could overcome this.
After being kidnapped by the crew of Black Lagoon, it hadn't taken long for Rock to understand each of their roles in the team. Dutch was immediately recognized as the boss, and not only for being the biggest in the pack by size. He had led the operation with a natural talent, locating the disk he'd been sent to collect without any extra effort. What little opposition Rock had displayed was quenched with a boulder-like fist. Having accomplished his mission, the senior war veteran wrapped up the show by tactfully instructing the hostages and not forgetting to mention their torpedoes in case any of them were to show resistance.
Invigorating the business was Revy, the primary gunman of the group. Fiery as she was by her temperament unlike Dutch and Benny, Revy would've preferred violence over Dutch's more diplomatic approach. Continuing her wayward behaviour, she'd been the one to make the fateful decision of taking the hapless Japanese man hostage. But when the same hotheaded woman had proved to be the most reluctant one of them to talk about personal matters, Rock had concluded that under her hard shell Revy was actually the most wounded one out of them all.
And then there was Benny. The blonde green-eyed man with glasses was the neutral one between the fierce young woman and the composed war veteran, lacking the steely nerves of the latter yet not quite sharing the fiery nature of the former either. He was the group's most regular one, and when Rock had made his first attempts at casual conversation with his captors, Benny was the one from whom he had received the most response. He and Rock were also in common in the way that neither of them were ever inclined towards violence; an aspect which the Japanese man found very appealing.
Rewinding his observations and interactions with his fellow coworkers, Rock was left with the same conclusion he had reached before: though not exactly a soul mate, Benny was the one he had the most similarities with. And amidst the disarray the Black Lagoon was now under, he was grateful to have a neutral and even understanding person like him around.
But just as Rock was about to voice his musings, the content silence between them was shattered by the sharp jingling sound of shattering glass and Revy's scream.
Upon hearing the disastrous noises from Revy's room, Rock and Benny shot up from their seats to see what had happened. But as soon as they jerked the door to Revy's room open, the said redhead's rude demand for them to leave sent them right back. As the two of them stood outside her room, however, it occurred to them that they could not let it continue like this. They were all upset and shocked for what had transpired, of course, but they also realized that getting stuck on the matter did nothing for them. Despite their individual privacy, they were still a team, and a team had to work together in order to maintain its capability.
Ignoring the horrendous sounds of rampage issuing from the gunwoman's room, Rock and Benny opened the door to confront their vital comrade.
"We need to talk", greeted Benny softly yet firmly as he stepped in.
As if on an unverbal response, a glass ashtray Revy had thrown crashed against the door frame right next to Benny's face. Miraculously the blond man managed to bring up his hands to shield his face in time, and the tiny splinters of glass fell harmlessly enough on the floor. Seeing that at the moment there was no chance for peaceful reasoning with the woman, Rock and Benny resulted to uncharacteristic methods and surged forward. Benny managed to grab hold of both of Revy's wrists and quickly he drove her against a wall, pinning her hands above her head. Before the fuming redhead would use her superior physique to fight him off, Benny decided to seek her attention by roaring her name loud enough to cut through her rage.
As Revy ceased her struggling for a fragment of a second, Benny decided that now was the time to try and talk with her, in vain as it would probably be.
"Revy, listen. I understand that-"
"You say you understand, huh? I'm afraid you don't, four-eyes, since you fail to get that I'm a bit pissed and don't want your company right now", Revy hissed vehemently, cutting off the blond man before he could even properly start.
Benny was not surprised at the quick retort, in fact he was happy he'd even gotten the chance to open his mouth. Making sure not to let anything in his voice that might provoke the other even further, Benny composed himself and continued:
"Believe me, Revy, I can see just fine that you are upset, I might even go as far as to say you should be. But, you see, me and Rock are no different; what happened last night weighs on us just as much. So since we're all in the same boat in that regard, how about we stop this madness and try to come up with a solution?" Benny finished, immensely relieved that he'd gotten to say what he wanted without interruption.
Revy, her seething cooled to mere anger, regarded the man with a cold glare.
"If you would first release me, and then we'll see what'll come next." She spoke in a tone so icy and ominous that Benny came close to shuddering. Deciding that the woman had calmed down enough and really seeing no other options, Benny slowly complied.
Rubbing her wrists, Revy spoke again with a voice encouragingly close to her usual haughtiness:
"Well then, Benny-boy, since you were the most eager to concoct brilliant solutions, why don't you let us hear your take on the matter first, hm?"
Ignoring the sarcasm in Revy's words and instead rejoicing that she was willing to co-operate, Benny wasted no time in announcing the first reasonable sounding idea that came to his mind:
"We should go tell the news to Miss Balalaika. She is our main employer after all, and it'll be awkward if she approaches us with a new job or something without even knowing what's happened. Besides, she and Dutch were somewhat close, as far as I understood it."
Silence reigned over them as each contemplated Benny's idea. Seeing how vital business partner the Russian Mafia icon had been to them and her deeper camaraderie with their own leader, now deceased Dutch, taking the word to her in person seemed wise enough. As the sings of approval were given, with Revy snorting and making for the door while Rock gulped and vigorously nodded his head, the three of them departed to see the grim Miss Balalaika.
The streets of Roanapur were the same as they had always been, painfully contradicting to the drastic change that Dutch's demise had brought for the remaining Lagoon members. In one corner, a group of shabby men were gambling. Apparently an argument had arisen, for one of them had pulled out a small handgun and was now pointing it at one of his friends, eliciting the rest of them to do likewise. Soon the scene had turned into an all-out fight. Street vendors advertised their goods with loud voices, the steps of dozens of pedestrians pulsated on the streets while the ever-present wailing of police sirens cried in the background. The setting sun painted the entire scenery in fiery crimson, signaling the forthcoming night and the city's awakening to its true colors of darkness and death.
Benny, Revy, and Rock drove their way through the all too familiar cityscape, with Benny behind the wheel and the two others occupying the backseats. No words were spoken as the uneventful journey continued in complete silence. Even though the group had managed to agree upon a course of action, it didn't mean that they were any closer to relaxed speaking terms. Each of them mulled over their thoughts their own way, with Revy resting her chin in her hand and looking outside with disinterested eyes, Benny keeping his eyes on the road and seeming to concentrate on driving alone, and Rock pressing against the door in his usual manner, gaze fixed on the ground.
Finally they arrived at their destination as the headquarters of Hotel Moscow began to loom ever closer. Regulars as they were in visiting the place, Benny didn't have to do but stop briefly in front of the gates and the guard standing there nodded, admitting the three of them into the courtyard. There they were stopped yet again as one of the many grim-looking and armed members of Hotel Moscow approached and inquired for their business. They simply requested an audience with Miss Balalaika, and after a brief phone call, the three of them were allowed to proceed into the interior of the building.
"Welcome, my friends. What might be the reason behind this sudden visit? And pray tell, where have you left our dearest Dutch?" Balalaika, the head of Hotel Moscow, chirped happily as they entered. The usually very intimidating Russian woman was sometimes prone to such informality when dealing with her closest business partners, especially with the crew of Black Lagoon. From time to time Balalaika displayed even something akin to a motherly care towards them, and as the Lagoon members discovered to their chagrin, now was one such time.
"Dutch is dead", Revy decided to crush the carefree atmosphere with a blunt statement, almost as if making sure that none of them would forget why they had come in the first place.
But apparently Balalaika's mood wasn't so easily shaken, for the blond woman didn't seem to take any of Revy's words for what they were.
"Come, now. Spare me the tricky guessing games and spill it. The three of you are here, surely you wouldn't leave your head behind. Besides, I might have another job for you, and that cannot be discussed unless Dutch is present." Balalaika went on, her tone being that of mild amusement mixed with light scolding.
The three remainders of Black Lagoon. stood uncomfortably, all of them seeing the Russian woman's good weather, all of them understanding just how sickeningly warped the situation was, yet none of them ready to forcibly break the atmosphere. Rock kept fidgeting in place, his eyes set on a distant corner of the room. Benny bit his lips hard, looking anywhere but Balalaika, while Revy stood impatiently with arms akimbo. In a stroke of both good and bad fortune for all of them, Revy's tolerance for pretense reached its limit and she lashed out, stomping her foot on the floor:
"For Christ's sake, sis, how many times do you want me to say it? Dutch-is-dead! Six feet under, kicked the bucket, out cold, take you fucking pick, just...damnit!" Revy trailed off, one hand balled to a fist at her side while the other was busy scratching the top of her head furiously.
The outburst was enough to cut the message through. Silence descended. A silence so profound that the Lagoon members found the sound of blood humming in their ears almost deafening. A cold sweat crept to their brows, blurring their vision as the perspiration seeped to their eyes which were locked open in awaiting terror.
The time that passed thus couldn't have been more than mere moments, but for Revy, Rock, and Benny it felt like a small eternity. Finally the turquoise-eyed woman spoke, her voice shaken off of all mirth, each word being like a cube of ice sent to trickle down the necks of the Lagoon members:
"Each of you, suit yourselves. I do not want your pussyfooting nor childish anger. What I want, now, is an explanation, do you understand?"
They did.
After the depressing story was given, silence took over once more. Balalaika stood still with her eyes closed, carefully considering what she'd heard. Now that the matter had been brought out in the open, some of the tension in the air had been lifted. In fact the Lagoon members were surprised to find a hint of relief spreading inside of them, scarce and slightly misplaced though it was.
The aura around Balalaika had turned from that of ominous to contemplative, and as they now prepared to listen what she had to say, it was done in the air of neutral anticipation instead of outright horror.
"These are indeed very grave news. But alas, we mustn't give in to the temptation of idle mourning. It isn't what Dutch would've wanted nor is it fitting for his memory. But actions will be taken, of that much I can assure you."
The three of them perked their ears, curiosity momentarily overtaking their sorrow as they listened to Balalaika's conclusion:
"We will not leave the matter at this."