Alright, for anyone who read the first chapter, I give you another installment. I still don't own anything and reviews are much appreciated!

Ch. 2: Miss Rebecca's Good Fortune

The drive to the dock was uneventful for the most part. There were a few of the usual near misses caused by Benny's lead foot and the poor driving of the average Roanapur driver, which was shitty at its best. These scrapes did nothing for Revy's mood as Benny's evasive maneuvering caused Rock to play a heated game of corners with his hungover partner.

Each time Rock crashed into her, there were obscenities and threats hurled at Benny, which were closely followed by the sounds of Rock crashing back against his side of the backseat. From his seat in the front, Dutch laughed at his employee's display.

This went on for a couple more turns until something very interesting happened. As Benny roughly drifted around a right corner, Rock was again thrown into the unhappy gunslinger. Her reaction was rather unusual and nobody in the car, including Rock himself, had realized what happened until Revy's gloved fist collided with the side of his face and sent him careening back into the window where he slid into the floorboard.

"Keep yer hands off my tits, you asswipe!" Revy shouted, although the effect would've been ruined if anyone would've looked to see that she was blushing furiously. In truth, as soon as his hand had made contact, memories of every conversation she'd had about him with Eda flashed through her head in that second it took for her fist to contact his face. When she thought about it, she may have only punched him as a knee-jerk reaction. After all, she was an attractive woman, and in their city of low lifes, it wasn't uncommon for someone to try and cop a feel. Actually, she'd be lying to herself if she said she didn't like it. At the moment, though, she wasn't sure she wanted to be honest.

She let out a low, almost inaudible, growl with that last thought. Damn that Eda, she thought. The fake nun had hounded her so many times about her relationship with Rock that she could actually hear the skank taunting her like some sort of "angel" on her shoulder. Just when the fuck did Eda become her moral compass?

Once they reached the dock everyone stepped out of the car and began to go about their own various rituals for the job. Dutch, as usual, went to the helm of the boat; Benny headed for his computers to bring up the coordinates of the island, and Rock followed Revy since he had taken to helping her clean her weapons shortly after the return from Japan.

Rock was perplexed as he followed Revy onto the boat. Ever since she'd punched him in the car, she seemed to be deep in thought about something. She seemed to be brooding over something…like she was having an inner struggle with herself, yet she seemed less irritable than she had been that morning. She was so deep in thought that she was oblivious to her surroundings on the boat; or so it seemed to Rock. He didn't even think that she'd noticed him following her. He had a feeling about what was bothering her, but he knew well not to say anything until Revy was damn good and ready.

Revy finally stopped once they reached the ammo storage room that they used as a place to clean any guns they might be using on the mission. She made no move to enter the room, yet she still didn't acknowledge Rock. He grew more concerned by the minute that he had actually broken her some how.

Meanwhile, the internal struggle continued inside Revy's mind. The part of her that had been buried underneath years of shit, gutter filth, murder, rape, and thievery was struggling with all of her pent up cynicism. That part of her knew that the Lagoon Company really was her family, that Rock truly was her best friend and would not hurt her or use her. That part of her had known that she loved him on some level for a while now. However, the cynical part of her mind contended that she was an idiot to think that love was more than just an illusion. Rock would just leave her or hurt her like everyone else in this God forsaken world of shit and sin.

It didn't help Revy that she had a partial view of Rock's face in the midst of her mental struggle. While she stood there, brooding and thinking, she could see his face begin to morph into a look of concern. The dead side of her was pissed by that display, while the side of her that was still human was comforted to see him supporting her cause.

Revy shook her head in frustration and glared at Rock, "Take a fuckin' picture, Rock, it'll last longer, and stop fucking giving me that damn look."

Her complaint had the desired effect as the concerned look left Rock's eyes and was replaced by a relieved smile. That was the Revy he knew.

"Sorry, Revy."

Revy huffed lightly and let Rock lead the way through the door. "Yeah, yeah, whatever."

Without another word, Revy removed both cutlasses from her holsters and tossed one into Rock's waiting hands with a grumpy huff. She didn't really want to be this close to him right now, yet for some reason, she couldn't bring herself to send him away. Most likely, because he didn't actually do anything and she knew it would hurt his feelings since he seemed to enjoy the extra time with her with the added bonus that he got to handle her weapons as well.

As Rock carefully dismantled the cutlass she had thrown him, he spared Revy the occasional glance out of the corner of his eye. It seemed that she had gone back to the conflicted state she had been in before they entered the room; although now, she seemed to be focused. Rock's curiosity was gradually beginning to take hold as he sat wiping down the barrel of the cutlass that had probably been pointed in his face if not actually fired at him. He could never remember which of the two that she actually had fired at him.

With a slight smirk, he continued to clean the weapon. He still found it ironic that he had gone from being on the business end of her guns actually having her trust him enough to allow him to clean her guns. She didn't let anyone but old man Praiyachat touch her guns before him.

His thoughts were interrupted when Revy let out a light-hearted snort in contrast to her apparent pensive mood and spoke to him, "Just what the fuck are you thinkin' about, Rock?" She said as she re-assembled a cutlass and flipped it into the left holster. "Remember what I said when you first joined us? You're too fuckin' young for that reminiscing bullshit."

She took the other cutlass from him and loaded it before flipping it into the right holster while Rock responded, "I know, and I usually don't, but…" He paused to thing about his next words and to light a cigarette. "Can you really tell me you never think about how far we've come?" the tone in his voice was light and held a touch of humor and irony in it. Very few people in Roanapur expected Rock to survive working with Revy as long as he had, let alone become her partner. Yet, something about their dynamic worked. He liked to think that he lasted this long because he had somehow stirred something human within the gunslinger that wouldn't allow her to harm him when he first joined. Now, he hoped, that the reason she wouldn't harm him was because she actually felt something for him as a friend. 'Maybe even more,' the back of his mind chimed into his thoughts.

Revy's immediate response to the question was a casual shrug of her shoulders in concession. After all, she thought, he did have a point. She did reflect quite a bit on her life around the time that she had first met him. In the time that he'd been employed by the company, she realized that he had rubbed off quite a bit on her.

When he first joined, she was absolutely rabid, to the point that she would've gone on a shooting spree in the city until she killed someone she shouldn't have and the Visotoniki put her out of her misery. When Rock came along, she began to calm down, although the kill switch was still present inside of her. She realized that, while she was by no means tame, she was still pretty tame compared to the rabid animal she'd been when Rock entered her life.

"Whaddaya say we go topside? I gotta get some air to clear my head before this shit starts." Revy said, pulling Rock up and walking out the door, her boots clanking on the metal floor as she went.

Sometime shortly after nightfall, an island began to come into view through the front windows of the Lagoon's bridge.

"You see anything yet, Benny boy?" Dutch asked as he slowed the throttle and scanned the shoreline for any signs of one of the small vessels that he knew Chang usually received his drugs from.

"I have a ship on radar to the north-east, Dutch." Benny confirmed, but then spoke again "Wait a minute. I'm picking up a second vessel."

"What? Two vessels? Can you tell which one's ours?" Dutch continued to scan the area in front of him after he'd made alterations to his course. He reached down and grabbed a beer out of the cooler before opening it and taking a swig.

"It appears to be the vessel to the north-east. The other vessel looks like its dead in the water. Its not moving and I'm not getting any response from 'em."

"Hmm." Dutch hummed pensively. It wasn't unusual in this part of the sea for a ship to be crippled, but for some reason his instincts were telling him that something wasn't right. He looked out the front windows and finally spotted the other boat waiting for them.

"Alright, Revy, Rock, ya'll are up."

The pair each gave their own acknowledgements into their headsets before walking across the deck to wait until the other boat was close enough for them to climb the short ladder.

Once they were on deck, Rock immediately noticed something. The man that appeared to be the one in charge of their shipment was most definitely Japanese, and he looked familiar. Rock shook it off and just figured he'd seen the man during his former life in Japan, but he still leaned over and whispered to Revy.

"I thought this was a Chinese gang."

Revy just chuckled lightly and answered, "It isn't unusual for the triad to have people of any Asian background on their payroll." It was her way of getting him to shut up and drop the matter, but, she too, sensed something familiar about the man, though she couldn't place it.

Rock nodded and addressed the Japanese man in front of him.

"I believe you have something for us, Mr…?"

The man just smirked and shook his head, and with a clap of his hands, his associates brought forth several cases of drugs.

"Our names are not important. After all, we are nothing more than delivery men, yes?"

Usually, even the most sleazy of clients would give their name, or at least give a fake name when Rock asked. It was clear to Revy that he didn't want his name known, which in the best case scenario meant he was trying to screw Chang over.

"No. Give us the fuckin' name. Now." Revy spoke in a low and dangerous tone, putting a hand on her cutlass.

Several of the triad members responded by drawing their guns on her and the Japanese man put his hand up to tell them to lower their weapons.

"Very well, I am Shinji Hakubi." He smiled in an attempt at friendliness, though Revy ignored it and was about to speak when Rock picked up on what she was about to say.

"Mr. Hakubi, I mean no offense to you or the triad. However, we need to make sure that the product is as Mr. Chang ordered it. Could you show us the cargo?"

Shinji grinned a smile that caused Revy to grab Rock in preparation to throw him to safety if need be as he lifted his hand. At the first sight of the detonation device, Revy's eyes widened and she ran towards the Black Lagoon, pulling Rock with her.

"Shit! Double-crossing bastards!" She yelled as they landed on the deck and Revy began to exchange fire with several of the men.

"Revy, what's goin' on up there?" Dutch asked worriedly as he watched Revy firing from his view on the bridge.

Revy emptied a clip and replaced it, muttering curses all the while.

"There are no fuckin' drugs, Dutch. Just a fuckin' buncha limp-dick traitors." She growled as she saw a bullet nearly graze the side of Rock's head before he flinched and tucked his body down even lower.

"They have explosives Dutch, let's get out of here before they decide to use them!" Rock shouted in panic as the bullets continued to fly over his head.

"Fuck me." Dutch groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose, "Alright, get inside, you two. Benny, can you find that dead boat? I think it's worth checking into."

"Sure thing, Dutch."

Okay, that's two. I know It's not much story development, but I like to develop my stories over several chapters. Anyway, I hope you liked it, please R&R!