Forcibly United

oOo

A Weekend With Eda

Chapter 1

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Two boys were sitting in the front of a rather large fishing boat, currently being piloted by a Eda. The nun had, for once, eschewed her habit for gear more appropriate for a tropical climate. That is not to say that the clothing she typically wore hadn't been made to withstand the heat of the southern climate which was prevalent in the south, but a day on a fine boat, she'd declared, required something more fitting for the occasion.

Hence why the blond teenager was currently wearing a bikini, some sort of translucent cloth wrap tied loosely at the waist, and nothing else aside from the sandals on her feet and the smile on her face. Ranma had pointedly informed her that both boys were rather taken when she'd showed up at the dock, and Ryouga thought he'd detected a hint of disappointment there.

"Ranma, explain to me why we took this job again?" Ryouga wondered, doing his best to keep his eyes off the shapely girl behind them both. He kept reminding himself to think of Akari. Sweet Akari, with her soft brown hair. She would never wear anything so... So... His train of thought was interrupted by Ranma's answering snort.

"Eda said she's tracked down some cache of Nazi gold hidden by some idiots which was never recovered. She needs a couple people who can help her move the stuff who she can trust not to shoot her in the back," Ranma replied with a shrug, leaning back against the railing. "She's giving us a ten percent cut just because we're not complete jerks who'll take everything the moment her back is turned."

"How much gold is the gold worth that she's worried about hiring people?" Ryouga replied, quirking an eyebrow.

"The documents she found said there was a little over five hundred kilograms. Which means that if we get our hands on the full lot, we'd get fifty kilograms of gold to ourselves," Ranma replied with a broad grin.

"Wait, gold's really expensive. How much would that mean?" Ryouga asked, his eyes widening.

"Ryouga... One kilogram of pure gold is worth about thirty-seven thousand bucks American. Do the math," Ranma replied, getting up and fishing a beer out of the cooler. He tossed one to the stunned boy, who caught it absentmindedly.

"Wait, you're saying that..." Ryouga began, his jaw slack.

"Yep. If things go smoothly for us, we've got a paycheck of nearly two million waiting for us at the end of it. Combined with what we've earned already and, well... How does owning your own dojo once we get these bracers off sound?" Ranma asked lightly, punctuating his sentence with the pop of his Heireken opening.

Ryouga could only stare in response.

oOo

Eda's spirits were high: Her cooler was full of beer and chilled scotch, and strangely enough, she had two people working with her she was willing to trust. Between those facts and the lack of anything between her flesh and the sweet sun, the American teenager was feeling pretty good about things.

The boys were very good at their jobs, and more importantly, they'd managed to cling to their innocence. It was endearing that the little suckers still believed in things like honour and loyalty, which was a large part of the reason that Eda had offered the job to them. Initially, she hadn't believed that they were as honourable as they claimed... but who could blame her for believing otherwise?

The way they acted... They were practically an honest-to-God pair of medieval Samurai, at least as far as she understood matters. Hell, the pigtailed kid was willing to spend his free time honing his ability to dodge Revy's gunfire because technically, they still had a duel going on. Revy had admitted she'd expected the kid to hire some outside assistance to off her, but the Chinese-American woman had confided to Eda that no such hit had been attempted.

The kid actually was willing to dodge gunfire from one of the deadliest women in Roanapur rather than circumvent the rules of their fight or admitting defeat.

Eda could admit that that had enhanced his mystique, all told. Nobody in Roanapur could lay claim to actually desiring the wrath of the purple-haired woman on Dutch's payroll, and anyone who managed it would have said they were sorry in a heartbeat if that was all that it'd take to get Two Hands off their back.

If someone crossed one of the big names in Roanapur once and lived, they were considered lucky. If they did it twice and survived, they were considered very good. Crossing someone like the weapon-mistress of the Lagoon Company three times proved that that person was in the big times, that they were among the best mercenaries on offer in one of the deadliest cities in the world. Nobody went out of their way to cross someone like that without good cause.

Supposedly, it was suicide. She grinned at the boy drinking his beer at the front of the old fishing boat she'd purchased. He certainly didn't look dead or suicidally depressed to her.

Between the absurdly skilled young men lounging at the front of her boat, their deliciously tight torsos basking in theb sun, and the promise of gold, the American teenager decided that she was allowed a measure of calm.

Hell, between hanging out with Dumb and Dumber and the lack of cameras, she didn't even have to worry about her sunglasses. The novelty of seeing the world without a random colour tint was something she was willing to fully embrace.

Beyond that... This was a chance for her to really change the equation in Roanapur.

Her position was... fragile at best. She didn't get much in the way funding from her superiors, due in large part to her autonomy from them. She was one of the rare, few agents who were entrusted to infiltrate a hostile environment and gather intelligence while getting no support in turn.

Any support would have blown her cover. So she was essentially living in this asshole of the world for nothing besides patriotic duty and the vague promise of a star on the wall at Langley if she died in the line of duty. Beyond that, she got no orders from her handlers or was even gifted with a demand for a more detailed report.

As far as the blond was concerned, her reports could have been filed down a black hole. She never saw any results, never saw any of the more terrible elements of Roanapur's criminals curtailed. The slavers, the rapists, the sex tourists... None of them ever got punished for their crimes.

The money she was sailing towards would change all of that.

She would be able to hire men to track everyone one of the Roanpur criminal underground who warranted punishment. She'd be able to enact that punishment herself. She'd be able to curtail the drug trade without worrying about supplying her suppliers with the cash which she would eventually use to end them.

With nearly twenty million dollars worth of solid gold... She could begin to force order on the lawless city of Roanapur. She could hire the right men and women to shore up her own insubstantial presence, men and women who would begin to enforce an air of common civility and decency on the masses. With that gold, assholes like the current police chief could be ousted from their jobs and true, lawful reform could begin to take hold of the city to which the woman had pledged her life.

She could reform the entire city's stance on crime.

Nothing would make it a lawful city. Nothing would render it acceptable to the average American citizen. The formerly older woman reflected upon the fact as she guided her boat towards the dock on the small island which housed her prize.

Then again, it clearly was not her responsibility to reform the entire city in the first place. Anything that would help transform the city would help her goals. As long as rapists and murderers had a more difficult time in the city, she was achieving her goals.

The blond grimly reflected that her boss had been right when he'd assigned her to her position.

Roanpur really was the Wild West all over again.

oOo

Unbeknownst to the trio on the old fishing boat, another much larger and much sleeker vessel was approaching the same small island with precisely the same destination in mind. The Germanic captain left the bridge, moving down two levels and past two platoons worth of men, until he was standing in front of the doorway to the 'special asset'.

The woman, who appeared to be in her late teens to her early twenties, pushed up her glasses as she glanced up at the blond man as he entered her cabin. He wasn't certain, but he thought perhaps that the glasses were an affection, that she didn't actually need them.

Not that he'd ever dare suggest it.

"We're approaching the target," the Captain informed her, the woman's blue eyes rising to meet his own. He suppressed the snort he felt upon seeing her glossy blue-black hair pushed aside by nimble fingertips as the woman tucked it behind one ear. "We do not expect any trouble, but just in case... You will be ready, yes?"

"Of course, Captain," the woman said, continuing to polish the ancient rifle she had disassembled on the workbench in her cabin. "My bullet will be ready to pierce any and all enemies which may face us, but I do not expect your men to have need of my own unique talents. The great enemy, The Devouring One... He is no longer a problem. Our only foes are mortal. You know just how well I can deal with mortal trouble,"

The woman finished her declaration with a grin. The Captain tried to ignore the glint of the light off her fangs.

"There doesn't exist a mortal alive who can stand up to the strength of my weapon," the dark-haired girl assured him, polishing the barrel of her gun. "Rest assured, Captain, that your mission will go off without a hitch, regardless of any interference. Short of an army, we will be fine."

The Captain had only had need of her services once. The memory of that one blue-sheathed bullet shredding dozens of men would forever haunt his dreams. He nodded, backing out.

"I just wished for you to be aware. We do not call on the services of one of your kind lightly," the man informed her with a wary look.

She flashed him a feral smile in response. It showed off each and every one of her pointed teeth.

He retreated back to the cabin.

Damned vampire.

oOo

Author's Notes:

So... Nazi villains. One arc of the Black Lagoon story touched on them, which justified their use here... and really, who doesn't think Vampires when they think Nazi villains? I wonder how this new threat will fare without a certain someone in her way to eat her soul and enslave her? Will Ranma and Ryouga get into some adventure with Eda and her information leading the way?

There really is do doubt that the plans of both groups have will go awry. I'm looking forward to writing this arc, since it's entirely comprised of action sequences and pulpy adventure stuff. Also, if you haven't recognized the new villain, I'm disappointed in you. Or you've not watched Hellsing. Either or, I guess.

So... I did mention something about not updating at my psychotic update schedule one week and four chapters ago, didn't I? I suppose that theory is shafted about as much as a pretty new boy at a maximum security pris- No, I won't sink that low.

Not enough to finish that sentence. Though I guess I've sunk pretty low overall, in some respects. :P