Neon Genesis Evangelion/Black Lagoon
The Package
There was tension in the dimly lit room as the group men looked across the table at each other. The youngest man frowned as he muttered, "This is nuts. A million just to whack a kid?"
An older man with a black eye-patch shook his head as he said, "Not just any kid. He's the son of that bastard Ikari. And we need him alive."
"So he's a junior bastard?" the redheaded woman noted, flipping a knife up then casually catching it over and over.
"Plus he's being protected by the Lagoon Company," Patch noted seriously.
"Revy is SO hot," the knife using woman murmured.
Everyone gave her a look, then the younger man shook his head. "Sonja, you are weird," he said with a sigh.
"Leave her alone, Jack," Patch instructed him. He looked at the four figures around the table, "If we want a shot at that money, he have to hit them in town."
The fourth person at the table leaned forward, her black hair flowing over her shoulders. Nina frowned as she said, "Then we have to use the Flag, Dutch always takes his people there."
"Got a plan?" Sonja asked, knowing the older woman probably had something in mind.
Nina smiled coldly, "Oh, I think I have a idea..."
In the Yellow Flag, the usual heavy drinking and talking were going on, the smoky bar feeling a bit like a armed camp. EVERYONE appeared to be armed, from the gothic lolita carrying a chainsaw on her back to the Asian lady with the knives. Even the blond haired Nun was packing heat, with a pistol in a holster under her shoulder.
Shinji looked around wide eyed as Benny came back with a soda for him, while Dutch was drinking canned beer and Revy and Rock were drinking rum. Revy was tossing back the rum casually, while Rock drank his somewhat more slowly.
"So, what do you think of Roanapur?" Dutch asked, smiling at Shinji slyly.
"It's a lot different from home," Shinji admitted.
"I can imagine," Revy laughed as she noted, "if you're anything like Rock here I bet you're freaking out."
"I wasn't that bad," Rock said with some dignity, his tie loosened but his white shirt still stiff.
"Wanna bet?" Revy poked him in the side.
Shinji drank his soda, wondering how a Japanese business man had gotten caught up in a lifestyle like this. He watched the older man being teased, joking with his friends and was faintly surprised at how happy he seemed.
"Mr. Okajima?" Shinji started tentatively.
"Just call me Rock," he smiled, "everyone does."
"Rock," Shinji smiled, "how did you end up here?"
Rock swirled the rum in his glass, his expression thoughtful. "Well, when I was younger I was doing some courier work for my company..."
Shinji sat, wide eyed, as Rock calmly told a tale of kidnapping, attempted murder and blackmail. He almost couldn't believe it, but the nods from the Lagoon Company and the members chiming in with details helped convince him.
"I wasn't seriously shooting at you," Revy protested as Rock was describing how she had blasted away with one of her pistols towards him.
"It sure felt like it to me!" Rock protested.
"Trust me, if I had been seriously shooting at you," Revy noted as she caressed his cheek, "you'd be dead."
"She's got a point," Benny noted mildly.
"Anyway," Rock continued, describing his first impressions of the Yellow Flag, the mercenary attack, their escape and the eventual battle with a gun helicopter.
"Wow," Shinji finally said, wide eyed.
"So after having my bosses try to murder me, I had nowhere to go," Rock took a drink, "but the Lagoon Company were happy enough to offer me a job."
"Anyone who comes up with a plan like launching a torpeedo boat off a sunken ship to knock out a attack helicopter is someone I want working for me," Dutch noted, finishing off his beer. He nodded to Rock, "And he's gotten better with age."
Rock blushed as the others laughed. "So, who's the kid?" the blonde haired nun assked, slinking over with a smile.
"He's none of your damned business, Eda," Revy shot back, having freed Shinji from her clutches when they first came in.
"Now don't be like that, Revy," Eda said as she pulled up a chair, her breasts bouncing a bit under the habit. Shinji noticed and blushed, even more so when Eda saw him noticing and winked to him slyly.
"You wouldn't happen to have some information to sell us?" Benny asked, looking over at Eda thoughtfully.
"Oh, I have a tidbit or two," Eda said modestly, taking a drink from her stein of beer.
"And how much will it cost us?" Revy asked, frowning at her.
"Just a small favor later," Eda answered, "I'm feeling generous today."
"Or Balalaika told you to," Dutch noted calmly. He sighed, "All right, let's hear it."
"Your young friend here is a very popular boy," Eda said frankly, "seems there's a million dollar bounty to capture him."
"What?" Shinji squeaked.
Eda ignored that, "It looks like a group of European countries have put up the money, but I don't know why." She frowned, "I am sure someone else is pulling the strings, but the only name I could get was something called SEELE."
"That explains the pirates that hit us on the way here," Benny muttered.
"Capture, not kill?" Revy asked, looking thoughtful.
"Yeah," Eda agreed, "in fact there's a rider on the contract. If Shinji gets killed, the bounty goes on whoever killed him."
Revy blinked, "That is fucking weird."
"Yeah," Eda nodded.
"Has word of this spread around Roanapur?" Dutch asked, now looking around the Yellow Flag somewhat warily.
"Not that I know of, but I can bet you it will soon," Eda said seriously. She looked at Shinji thoughtfully, "If I wasn't scared of pissing off Balalaika, I'd take a shot at grabbing the kid myself." She reached out to ruffle his hair, "He's a little cutey."
"Ma'am," Shinji blushed, moving away from her hand.
"Back off, Eda," Revy growled.
As they talked the people in the bar watched, drinks flowed and good time girls kept busy in the darkened corners of the bar. There were side bets being placed on if Revy would beat the crap out of Eda again, but no one was really too serious about it. Revy really had mellowed over the years, mostly from the bad influence of Rock.
The four people entered one at a time, moving to where they could keep a eye on the Lagoon Company without drawing too much attention. They talked to people they knew even as they slid into position, watching the group in the middle of the room.
Revy downed a glass of rum, putting the glass down as she looked at Dutch. "Should we head back to the boat or...?" she asked.
"I'd usually say go back home, but I think we'd better be ready to move out fast," Dutch said after a moment's thought. "Let's head back to the boat."
Patch saw them getting up, and the older man cursed under his breath. Realizing there was no time for finesse he drew back a fist and punched the guy nearest to him, yelling, "Stop looking at my woman!"
"I wasn't looking, you crazy bastard!" the man snarled back, running at Path who dodged, sending the goon crashing into a nearby bunch of guys.
The thing about starting a fight in the Yellow Flag was that it was very easy for it to balloon into a full bore barroom brawl. Especially if four people are doing everything they can to help it along. Within minutes what was a dispute in the corner had turned into a near riot engulfing the whole bar.
"Revy, if this is your fault I'll..." Bao yelled as the old man ducked behind the specially reinforced bar.
"It's not my fault!" Revy yelled as the team hustled Shinji through the fight.
"That's what you always say," Eda noted cheerfully, slugging a guy who tried to grab her. "Hey, respect the habit!" she growled.
"Look out!" Shinji squeaked just as someone was about to hit Dutch with a chair.
Dutch ducked, then turned around to punch the other guy in the face, sending him flying backward. "Thanks," he nodded to Shinji, the group pushing through the crowd.
"They're getting away!" Jack muttered as he and Sonja tried to get to the Lagoon Company. While the fight was delaying their prey, it was also making it damn hard to actually reach them.
"I have a idea," Sonja grinned, her green eyes gleaming.
'Oh shit,' Jack thought, somehow knowing this was gonna be bad.
"Hey everybody!" Sonja yelled, "That kid with the Lagoon Company has a price on his head! They're trying to hog the bounty for themselves!"
There was a long beat of dead silence as that hit the room like a bomb. Then there was the sound of guns being drawn even as the Lagoon Company burst from the bar and out into the street.
"Get 'em!" someone yelled, and the whole mob raced for the doors.
"Run?" Rock asked as they got their bearings.
"Run," Dutch agreed as they bolted, bodily dragging Shinji after them.
To be continued...
Notes: How does Eda know about SEELE? SPOILER: Eda is secretly a CIA agent, and apparently their conduit into Roanapur. It seems likely the CIA might know something about SEELE, even if not in detail.