—xXx—

Chapter 7: A Normal Day…I wish

—xXx—

Rock was in pain. Not oww-my-arm-hurts pain, but kill-me-now-my-head-is-going-to-explode pain. Hindsight is always 20-20, and after spending a minute trying to concentrate on last night, Rock could now confirm that downing a bottle of 151 on his own was not the best way to spend the night. He tried to sit up, but found himself unable to move. Looking down, he realized that a very undressed Revy was draped over his chest and her legs were tangled with his. His movements caused his partner to groan and move to keep him in place, tightening her hold on his chest and legs. He wasn't going anywhere anywhere anytime soon.

On one hand, the situation he was in was physically pleasurable, but on the other hand, if Revy wasn't in a pleasant mood when she realized their position, he was a deadman. Seeing how it was almost guaranteed she would have a massive hangover, she would not be pleasant to deal with, making him a deadman. If Rock was capable of thinking clearly, he would have realized the dangers he was in. With his hangover, the dangers were put from his mind and he settled back into the bed and pulled Revy closer.

—xXx—

"You really know how to treat a girl, don't you, Rock." Revy teased her partner as they basked in Roanapur's tropical sun laying on the roof of the Lagoon Company's office. After Roberta's War, the only spot where they could temporarily get away from the upheaval of the city was their roof. Simply gazing up into the clouds gave them an escape that did not involve a drug or alcohol-induced haze. The power struggle that defined the aftermath of the war made it deadly to impair your ability to run and shoot. The Yellow Flag and the surrounding area quickly became the number one place for hits to go down. The Lagoon Company's roof offered the two a reprieve from the city's influence and their attraction to it when things went sour carried over through time.

"If a bottle of 151, a massive hangover and an interesting dilemma is your idea of a good time?" Rock asked.

"It depends on who that dilemma is with." Revy replied smugly and pressed up against Rock's side. Laying down allowed Revy to relax into Rock and fall into an almost hypnotized state. In a world filled with stress, murder, and the harsh cycle of human greed, having a place to relax and lower their guard helped keep the duo sane through even the hardest times.

Rock was about to reply when his cell began to vibrate and jingle. "Hello?"

'Rock,' Balalaika's unmistakable drawl came through the speaker, 'I thought that we could have a little chat. A car should be arriving momentarily. Be a dear and accompany my men.' She hung up without waiting for Rock to speak.

"Big Sis?" Revy guessed correctly. There were very few people who had acted vastly superior to Rock in their past and whom he recognized as worthy of respect; Balalaika was the only one who sent cars for you.

The moment the words left her mouth, Rock heard the breaks of Balalaika's preferred sedans from in front of the Lagoon Company's building. "Yeah, fancy a trip?"

"Might as well stay on Sis' good side and say 'hi.'" Revy stood up and put on her Cutlasses and began to climb down the ladder. Rock waited for her to clear the first few rungs of the ladder before following her down. To a stranger, Revy's motions appeared fluid and unhindered, but Rock could easily tell that she was favoring her left shoulder as she made her way down the ladder. Although she was a righty, going down a ladder generally required a pair of hands, but Revy skillfully hid her injury and swung down with her right arm.

Balalaika only sent two men, who sat up front, leaving the back seat for the duo. A fifteen minute ride through Roanapur deposited them at the entrance of Hotel Moscow. They were escorted upstairs where they had to turn over their weapons to the paramilitary guards before entering Balalaika's office.

"Yo Big Sis!" Revy shouted as they opened the door. "How ya doing?"

Balalaika's office was a large, lavishly but sparsely furnished room. On the top floor of the Hotel, it naturally held a great view of the sprawling city. It had the looks of being an executive conference room at some point in the past as the large double doors to the office were positioned so that one entered into the middle of the room to the left were a handful of comfortable chairs and two low couches surrounding a glass table. To the right, Balalaika sat behind her desk, her desktop computer humming as it updated her on the organization's financial standings.

"Excited as always, Revy." Balalaika's blue eyes sparkled as she watched the two like a hawk while maintaining a calm visage. "It is good to see you as well, Rock."

"It's always interesting to talk with you ma'am." Rock said diplomatically, inviting a battle of wits with the dangerous woman.

"So that did ya call us here for?" Revy asked, not really caring about the intensely cerebral conversation that Rock was preparing for. She wasn't dumb. She could tell that business need to be discussed. For the most part she left Dutch to deal with their employers, uninterested in the dealings, but Rock always made things interesting. His ability to put all the pieces together, form a plan and anticipate variables showed his genius. Negotiations, military campaigns, and running a business were well within his capabilities. Coupled with his skills with a gun, it made him capable of being in Balalaika's shoes if he ever wanted abandon his relatively simplistic lifestyle and put the effort into subverting other to establish himself.

He had never shown a hint of wanting to step beyond his bounds in such a manner, but where he once had years of constancy and good work to back up his word, he now had next to nothing besides the somewhat tender support of a simple trading company. No matter how trusted the Lagoon Company was, he was still new, an outsider.

"I take it that Dutch is giving you a break after your last job?" Balalaika asked to ease the conversation into gear.

"He is an understanding employer, unlike my past bosses." Rock replied. He had never forgotten the casual disregard they had for his life. "And he does his share of the work on each job, which fosters a tighter company."

"It seems that you've integrated quite rapidly with the Lagoon Company." Balalaika smirked. "And you and Two Hands seem to be getting along shockingly well."

"To be frank, Roanapur is where I have always belonged." Rock countered with a smile. "It took a little while, but I'm more at home here than I was in Japan."

"And we're supposed to be partners, so we kinda have to get along somewhat." Revy added, trying to maintain her tough-as-nails image with the Russian commander. She knew that Balalaika would not take her words seriously, but it was all a part of the game Rock played everyday.

Revy would never admit that she couldn't understand how complex a world Rock moved through. It was sort of an unspoken understanding that the two had. Rock would take care of the talking with Revy to back him up as the muscle, and Revy would take care of the gunplay, with Rock to support her. Their skill sets complimented each other extremely well despite the fact that their personalities were nearly opposites.

"Rock, Hotel Moscow would be interested in…acquiring the helicopter the Lagoon Company has recently gained possession of." Balalaika stated, offering a reason to have called Rock. It was a test.

And a trap. But he would have to be an idiot to not see it.

"You would have to talk with Dutch about that, Ma'am." Rock replied, trying to look a little unsure of himself, to give the impression that he was still the newest member of the Lagoon Company. He didn't have to try hard. With his concern that Balalaika would see through his facade, it wasn't hard to produce a mask that she could easily interpret as being something that was far less threatening that a duo who practically knew her every move before she made it.

"I've only been on a couple of jobs so far." Rock continued. "I don't really have any seniority in the company. Revy, here, is my boss really."

Revy snorted and grinned maliciously. "So you finally admit that I'm better!" Revy's grin made it's way to Balalaika's face as well.

"When you can double tap me before I can even draw, I think that counts for a lot." Rock replied. "I'm no where near as good with a gun as you."

"Most of the rabble in Roanapur can't compare to Two Hands' prowess with a gun." Balalaika stated. "There are few that are better."

"Yourself included right Big Sis?" Revy grinned. The Russian didn't say anything, but nodded slightly with the barest upwards twitch at the corners of her mouth.

"So will you take my offer to Dutch, Rock?" Balalaika quickly brought the conversation back to where she wanted it to be.

"Of course." Rock nodded as he gave his answer.

"You may go then, I trust we will see each other soon." She dismissed them with a slight warning tone in her voice indicating that she wanted the matter to be addressed sooner rather than later.

"I am sure Dutch will wish to discuss a few things with you." Rock promised.

As they left the room, they were escorted down to the main lobby of the hotel by armed guards where they once again passed through a metal detector and then received their weapons. Rock and Revy exited the hotel to find a car waiting for them. With the speed and efficiency of a well oiled fighting machine, the Russian organization proudly and subtly displayed their training and abilities.

The car ride back to the Lagoon Company office was as silent as the one to Hotel Moscow, but Revy could see the tension easing from Rock's shoulders. Tapping out two cigarettes, she passed one to Rock and lit it for him before igniting her own.

—xXx—

"So Ms. Balalaika would like to acquire our helicopter?" Dutch summarized Rock's report as he wiped the grease from his hands. As soon as Rock and Revy had returned, the gun-woman had ditched Rock, leaving him to fill their boss in on the details of their conversation with Balalaika. Dutch would appreciate Rock's mental battles more than she.

"Essentially, yes." Rock replied. "I told her that I couldn't make the decision and that it would have to come from you."

"So what do you think?" Dutch prompted the Lagoon Company's negotiator to speak his mind.

"We don't really need it." Rock answered. "In the long run it would cost us more money on repairs. The engines need more maintenance than the Lagoon and none of use know enough about jet engines to be any use repairing maintaining."

"From a fuel perspective, it is more efficient that the Lagoon." Rock debated the advantages and disadvantages aloud. "It will fly faster and it probably has a similar range. But it won't take as much cargo and it is a lot more complicated to fly and repair. On top of that with all the ocean, we cannot simply stop at many locations." Rock shrugged. "I don't think that it makes much sense to keep it in the long run. There isn't really that much that We could do with it, and to be honest, Balalaika's men would probably love that thing to pieces. They were all paratroopers and probably used those a ton."

"So we could get a good chunk of money from it?" Dutch asked in his deep voice. It was clear that he was thinking from the way his forehead wrinkled slightly in a frown.

"Sure." Rock replied. "Within reason of course." He shrugged. "To tell you the truth, it wouldn't really give them a huge tactical advantage unless they were willing to cause a lot of collateral damage and kill a lot of innocents. It would be mostly a show of power, but they might be able to use it for tactical purposes to make a statement against someone."

"Still, we don't need it, they want it, and we can make money from it." Dutch summed the key points simply.

"I'll make the call and we can begin the negotiations." Dutch nodded approval and Rock found the phone on the wall and dialed the number of Hotel Moscow's leader.

—xXx—

"250 thousand, and Hotel Moscow will replace the cannon for the Lagoon with a proper naval equivalent." Balalaika flicked open her lighter and inhaled fresh cigar smoke. "Do we have a deal?" A quarter-million dollar offer was millions less than it was worth, but in the fact of the matter was that no-one else would both want it and not be in the mood to stab him in the back.

"We have a deal." Dutch replied with a nod, and lit a cigarette of his own. "I assume you have your methods of arranging for it to be shipped to our dock? We should be able to install it ourselves.

"Now Dutch, we both know that Benny and Revy are not going to provide much assistance, and Rock won't last long pushing around a couple thousand kilograms." She offered a predatory smile. "In exchange for performing a small currier job for me, you can stop by the shipyard to meet an associate who will take care of everything."

The meeting concluded shortly there-after. As Dutch, Rock and Revy exited the hotel, Rock lit up and pulled in a lung-full of cigarette smoke. Feeling the tobacco and nicotine rushing into his system, he let out a sigh.

"Why do I feel like something big is going to happen?" He asked no one in particular.

"You ain't the only one partner." Revy punched his shoulder, forcing him to look away from the clouds floating by.