Chapter 5: Outnumbered

"Once the meeting had finished, I prepared to leave," Pius said. They had all returned to the Yellowflag once the intruders had been killed. Now, the priest was finally explaining himself in full. "But one of them must have noticed me inside. He followed me to my car, tried to tackle me. So I strangled him."

"That was a dumb move," Revy told him. Until now, they weren't sure why these people had any quarrel with him. Now, it seemed clearer. Had Pius been able to avoid any conflict altogether, he may well have gotten away with heading to Roanapur and giving the others this information. As it was, they had followed him in an attempt to kill him. Not only did he kill one of theirs, but they probably didn't take too kindly to the fact that he had been listening in on their meeting in the bar.

"What choice did I have?" the man defended himself. "Regardless, I made my way to the Lovelace estate. I didn't know when this New Order planned to make their move, but I needed to warn Master Garcia as soon as I could." Pius had identified himself as a friend of the Lovelaces, a recent acquaintance who had been making monthly trips to the estate. What business he had there was still unknown to the others, but they didn't care that much. What was important was that he had warned them, allowing them to prepare.

"They must have followed you there," Rock said, then.

"No," Pius answered simply. "Not that night. Besides, it sounds like they already knew where the estate was. Their leader spoke as if they'd been waiting for the right moment to strike. But they did show within the week. The Lovelaces had the gates locked and their youngest, Fabiola, stood guard. I assisted, of course, but I was expecting more resistance."

"You telling me they didn't even try and make their way in?" Eda asked, incredulous.

"They didn't need to. Their leader came to the gates with six of his subordinates. He commented on the gates but other than that he seemed content to leave them closed. He told us that he wanted Roberta. That was two days ago. He's due to return tomorrow. If he doesn't get what he wants, he's assured us his people will force their way in." That didn't sound good at all. Roberta's time in Roanapur facing off against the Dead Men took its toll on her. Had she not been beaten down so badly, she could probably deal with this herself, assisted by the young but dangerous Fabiola. But that was not the case. Under current circumstances, the Lovelaces were quite vulnerable. Not only that, but Wolf couldn't ignore the fact that there was inherently something amiss about the whole situation. While he did believe the Lovelaces were in danger, something about Pius's story seemed off to him. There was more to this than met the eye. Still, when all was said and done, Wolf had a more substantial connection to the Lovelaces than he let on. The fact that they were in danger at this very moment made him feel anxious. He would keep that to himself, though.

"I thought this brat was dirt poor," Revy exclaimed. "Where's he getting the money to hire Wolfy?!" Despite the fact that Wolf had been hired in the past, he deigned to share that this seemed as though Garcia was extending an invitation to help free of charge, an invitation Wolf would readily accept. The others would judge him for that, but he would not extort money out of the family for this.

"That brings me to the next order of business," Pius continued. "While Garcia did ask for the Wolf, he also asked for you two." He pointed to Rock and Revy, then.

"Us?!" Rock asked. "Why does Garcia think we'll be of any help?"

"Well, the fact remains that there are a lot of this Hawke's people in Venezuela. My guess is he wants to use your skills any way he can to make sure none of them pose a threat to his family."

"Hah! That weasel really thinks we wanna help him?" Revy roared. She found the mere concept completely ridiculous.

"Come on, Revy," Rock scolded her gently. "You're the one who wanted to know why Pius was here. We can't just ignore this, not when Garcia has asked for us personally." Revy audibly groaned out of sheer annoyance at that. Not only did she have no desire whatsoever to help the Lovelaces, but she was only just beginning to enjoy some peace and quiet after everything Hunter had put them through. That whole ordeal with the Dead Men had been taxing for all of them. Revy, in particular, had a lot of emotions and thoughts to sift through after everything. And, of course, in typical Revy fashion, she would not voice any of this to the rest of them. She would continue to deal with these internal struggles and emotional upheavals on her own. Wolf just hoped that she would at least confide in Rock, to a degree. The amount of inner turmoil that was present in Revy was too much for one person to bear. If she insisted on shutting the rest of them out, it would consume her. Saying that, she had become better at expressing herself during the last year and a half. Not perfect, but better.

"If it's any consolation, I doubt you'll be alone," Pius told her.

"How's that?" she asked him, sure he was just humouring her.

"Part of the New Order are made up of former cartel members, the Colombian cartel. The same cartel used to harass the Lovelaces, something their renegades insist on continuing. Lucky for us, that same cartel has put bounties on their runaways."

"Let me guess," Eda began, "you put the word out right here in the city?"

"Guilty as charged," Pius told her. "I'm betting on any number of bounty hunters from Roanapur making their way over in an attempt to make some quick cash."

"Oh, a certain trio comes to mind, alright," Wolf groaned, locking eyes with Revy. Shenhua, Sawyer and Lotton never turned down an opportunity to earn some quick cash, nor did they shy away from a promising job. If this New Order really had been targeted by the cartel for several bounties, it was likely their deaths would earn the one responsible quite a bit of money. It seemed odd that the three bounty hunters would go anywhere near Roberta, considering how frightened they were of her. But nevertheless, the prospect of making money had apparently trumped those fears.

"Fine, then," Revy grunted, accepting the fact that she would not be getting out of this. "But if that little turd pisses me off, I'm gonna break his fucking nose."

"Dutch isn't going to like this," Rock mused.

"What, losing the two of us for who knows how long so we can babysit the Glasses Bitch? Yeah, I don't think he'll be thrilled." Considering the current climate in the city, he may not actually be too bothered by this. Lagoon Company weren't doing anything right now anyway, nor were they expecting any urgent jobs. Still, this was highly unorthodox. He wasn't exactly going to be ecstatic about the news.

"You said these clowns were going to show up tomorrow?" Wolf asked, then. Pius nodded.

"At six in the evening, to be specific."

"Why do they want Roberta so bad, anyway?" Rock asked. That was a question none of them had even considered until now. During Pius's recollection of the night he eavesdropped on the meeting, he mentioned that they spoke about killing the Bloodhound, but he had forgotten to mention why, specifically, they were after her. Or perhaps he had omitted that information intentionally.

"Well, that's the interesting part," the priest told them. "Hawke, and presumably a number of his people, used to part of the F.A.R.C., the same group Roberta herself worked for." That genuinely came as a surprise to them all.

"You're shitting me," Revy croaked.

"The organisation has since given up on the idea of finding her, especially after what happened to the last unit they sent after her." Rock and Revy remembered that all too well. "But Hawke was not so easily convinced. He took a number of his comrades and decided they weren't going to give up the chase. If you come back with me, we might have a chance."

"You want us to hold them off?" Revy asked. That sounded like he planned to evacuate the estate while Wolf and Revy gunned down as many of Hawke's people as they could. But Pius's face said it all. He had other ideas.

"I want you to wipe them out," he said quietly. They became visibly taken aback by that. They expected Pius to be orchestrating a plan where a sizeable chunk of the New Order would fall, but the idea that the whole group would meet their end was ambitious to say the least, if not downright insane. Eda, for one, openly laughed at that suggestion.

"Sounds to me like you've got a few screws loose, Father," she told him, making no attempt to lighten the blow of her insult. "These guys have got trained terrorists on their side, and who knows how many of them there are altogether? Trust me, this is suicide."

"Mock me if you will," Pius told her, clearly unimpressed. "But I assure you, I have a plan. All I need are these three. The only thing is, we need to leave soon." So it was decided, then. Wolf, Revy and Rock would accompany Pius back to Venezuela to confront this Hawke. Then, in following this plan he had apparently formulated, they would proceed to wipe out the group until they no longer posed a threat to the Lovelaces, finally leaving them in peace. If they did manage to pull this off, as unlikely as it seemed, they could return to Roanapur happy and satisfied that they had done good work. Then again, Revy's morale may actually be lowered considering she presumably wasn't getting paid. That would be a nice surprise for her. Wolf, on the other hand, was anticipating a meeting with the Lovelaces. He hadn't seen Roberta since the death of Hunter Woods.

"Well, don't say I didn't warn you," Eda called to them as she made her way to the door. If it's any consolation, I'll say a few words to the big man upstairs and see if that helps. Take it from the bible, 2 Chronicles, verse 14:11; 'O Lord, there is no one but you who can help the weak when they are vastly outnumbered. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on you and have marched on your behalf against this huge army. O Lord our God, don't let men prevail against you!'"