Ever After

Sixteen: Black Lagoon Part One

Roanapur,

It would not be an exaggeration to call it 'a den of scum and villany.' Of course, you'd be risking being sued by Lucasfilm, but eh. It was that kind of town. It was a hub of many criminal activities, constantly on the verge of a gang war, one that was kept from breaking out only because of how frightening the lead mob was.

The gangsters of Roanapur were jaded as hell, and had thought they had seen everything. Today, they were in for a surprise.

"Hup!" the one woman grunted as she swung her katana, her movements nearly a blur as she cut the bullets from the air.

"... the fuck," Mr Chang blinked. The local boss of the Triads had seen some shit. Including Chinese Vampires, once. But slapping bullets out of the air with a KATANA?

"Boss? What do we...?" one of his gunmen asked.

"Stop shooting," Mr. Chang yelled, noting that crazy sword lady was only blocking their shots. If she charged them with that kind of speed? They'd be picking up severed limbs.

The black haired woman lowered her blade, looking around warily. A pretty blonde in a revealing witch's outfit stood nearby, as well as a vaguely mid-eastern looking woman. All of them were gorgeous, too.

"Cover me," Mr. Chang ordered, then after holstering his pistols walked up to the three women, keeping his hands visible and trying to look un-threatening.

"Yes?" the black haired woman studied him warily.

Mr. Chang decided just to cut to the chase, "You ladies are aware you are in Triad territory? And we've recently been attacked by members of a new Japanese faction here?"

The three strange women exchanged glances. "We literally just arrived in town," the asian woman told him, "on a personal errand. We're looking for a missing person."

Mr. Chang studied them, ultimately deciding they were probably telling him the truth. He wanted to curse, but held it back. Getting innocent people involved with gang business here could have unexpected repercussions.

"All right, Miss...?" Chang started.

"Hazuki," she introduced herself, adding, "and this is Lilith and Quill."

Chang wondered at the odd names. Then he noticed the eyeball on Lilith's hat was moving. And looking right AT HIM. Right then he decided he did not want anything else to do with this.

"I'll have one of my people escort you to the Yellow Flag," Mr. Chang said briskly. "The bar is neutral territory, and someone there might help you find your missing person."

"Thank you," Hazuki bowed slightly.

"Shenhua!" Mr. Chang yelled, and soon the knife fighter was leading them off.

"Was that girl REALLY cutting bullets out of the air?" one gunman wondered aloud.

Mr. Chang lit up a cigarette, "That wasn't the weirdest thing." Several men looked at him as he continued, "Bullets were just... stopping in mid air in front of the OTHER women."

Everyone exchanged vaguely worried looks at that...

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The Yellow Flag was bustling as Revy leaned up against the bar, scanning the crowd. She was hitting the bar alone, tonight, as the other members of the Lagoon Company were being sticks-in-the-mud. Besides, after the craziness they had seen lately she needed a drink.

"Bao! Rum!" Revy ordered briskly.

"Yeah, yeah, keep your shirt on," Bao mildly complained, putting a clean glass down along with the bottle.

"Thanks," Revy unscrewed the top and poured. She cheerfully tossed it back, then sighed. "Aww, that's good."

"You think the local trouble is over?" Bao asked curiously. "Who'd have thought Japanese yakuza would hit Roanapur and wipe out the Italian mob!"

"I think things have settled down. For now," Revy noted.

Nearly a month ago she, Rock and the Lagoon Company had gone with Hotel Moscow to Japan to negotiate a deal, Rock working as translator. Things went south, and a faction of the Yakuza fought Hotel Moscow. The the Washimine Clan, realizing they were horribly out-matched, met with Balalaika and struck a deal with her: she would let them live in exchange for them wiping out an enemy of hers, the Italian mob in Roanapur.

Revy figured that Balalaika had thought that either the Washimine would be destroyed, or they'd kill the Italians but be wrecked by it and easily eliminated. But apparently Yukio had learned a LOT watching Hotel Moscow rip into them in Japan, and applied that to beating the italians with minimal losses. So now she was a 'power' in Roanapur, and no one really knew what was going to happen next.

"Revy!" Eda yelled as the bosomy blond sauntered up to her. "Heard there was trouble in Triad territory. Ladies shooting up against Mr Chang."

"Then they're probably dead," Revy noted irritably as Eda sat beside her.

"Here's the crazy bit: one of them slapped the bullets out of the air with a sword!" Eda revealed.

"More weirdness from the Washimine clan?" Revy wondered as she tossed back more rum.

"Who knows. Certainly makes things more interesting, though," Eda grinned, then both looked up as several people came into the bar.

"Ha. You fun to travel around with," Shenhua noted cheerfully to three strange woman. She had some blood splatter on her, and her clothes were ripped. Didn't seem to mind though.

'Fuck. That chick is carrying a sword. Is she...?' Revy blinked. She also noted that the other two girls were nearly as busty as Shenhua. They rivaled Greenback Jane even.

"Think that's them?" Eda had to ask.

Revy just ignored that, watching as the four approched various groups of patrons fearlessly. They appeared to ask about something, then move on once they got an answer. One or two guys tried to get grabby, but a glare from the sword chick made them back off.

Overhearing, Revy noted they were looking for a blonde with red eyes, oddly enough. Named Hatsumi, or maybe Eve of all things.

"Doesn't that sound like the counter girl Rowan had working for him?" Eda noted.

Revy blinked. "Yeah, actually... he claimed he was saving her for some deflowering event, but I think he just felt sorry for her," she noted.

Annoyingly the sword chick heard that. "Who is this Rowan and where can I find him?" she demanded calmly, but with a dangerous glint in her eye.

"He runs a sex show up the street," Revy noted calmly. "You're probably too young to get in, though," she added.

"Let's help them out," Eda offered, grinning.

Revy gave her a look, "What."

"I totally want to see if they murder Rowan or not," Eda said cheerfully.

"Okay, point...," Revy conceded.

"Thank you!" Hazuki smiled after the introductions were done. They paid for their drinks then headed out of the bar together.

"What an interesting place," Quill noted.

"This may be the most violent book we've been to yet," Lilith observed cheerfully.

Revy wasn't sure what the hell THAT meant.

"How did you get banged up?" Eda asked Shenhua conversationally as they walked up the street together.

"While we were walking to Yellow Flag, Hazuki see pimp strike hooker. She beat him down, his friends got involved, much fighting followed," Shenhua said cheerfully. She clearly didn't care about the morality of the situation, she just enjoyed the fight.

Eda had to admit, the kid kind of reminded her of when Rock first arrived there. Trying to hold onto a moral code despite basically being a pirate.

"So, you think she's going to just shiv Rowan?" Revy had to ask.

"Let's find out," Eda grinned as they reached Rowan's place.

"Well, hello," the good looking woman in a transparent nightie smiled as they came in. She knew Eda, Revy and Shenhua, of course, but her gaze fell on Quill, Lilith and Hazuki curiously. A impish smile appeared as she lingered on Hazuki, "We normally just do guys, but I could see making a exception..."

Amusingly, the blushing Hazuki had no idea where to look. Revy also noticed that Lilith looked REALLY pissed off at the woman flirting with Hazuki.

"We need to see Rowan about something," Eda told her firmly.

"Aww," she pouted but sauntered off to get the boss.

"Whew," Hazuki sighed quietly.

The group was ushered into 'Jackpot' Rowan's office, where the afro haired black man waited. "Ladies!" he beamed cheerfully.

Hazuki walked up to him, scowling down at him. "You had a blond haired girl here, with red eyes. Where is she?" she demanded.

Rowan looked like he wanted to order her to back off, but her pure aura of dangerous fury held him back. "Uhm, I...," he started.

"That mute chick," Eda reminded him.

Rowan looked like he wished she hadn't reminded him. "Yeah. She took off not that long ago. Just left a note and," he shrugged, "gone."

"A note? Not just disappeared?" Lilith jumped in. "Did it say where she went?"

Rowan looked even more nervous, "Hotel Moscow."

Revy, Eda and Shenhua all froze. "Fuck," Revy blinked.

To be continued...

Notes: Trying to write the chapter from Black Lagoon character points of view. Let me know if it works OK.

This also is a divergence from Black Lagoon canon, as I decided to have the Washimine Clan characters survive. Will go into them a bit more next chapter...