Bullet XIV

Fortunately, the twins successfully managed to hold off the guards long enough to retreat without complications. Revy somehow managed to make it to the prison dock, even though she was carrying the full weight of the unconscious Rock and the bullet wound in her ankle was killing her.

"It would be easier if you'd let us carry him.". -Said Hansel.

"And I already told you no, I can do it."

"You're being damn stubborn.". -Said Gretel this time.

"Just like you, shut the fuck up already." -Responded Revy. She was out of breath and sweating from the effort, it was a long walk, but they were almost to the Black Lagoon, there was no sense in giving up just now. She could see her companions on the deck of the boat. "Oi, get off your asses and come help!"

Benny jumped off, coming over to them and draping Rock's free arm over his shoulders. "What the hell happened, is he unconscious?"

"I hope so, it'd be a real bitch to have dragged a fucking corpse all the way." -Responded Revy.

Dutch walked to the edge of the deck and let out a small whistle at the sight of her dressed as a guard. "A new fashion style?" -He said. "It doesn't suit you at all."

"Stop talking bullshit and help me pull him up, Rock is starting to weigh a ton and Benny has the strength of a girl."

"Hey, I'm trying to help here."

"Okay, bring him over here and I'll take care of the rest. No sudden moves, I don't want his guts spilled all over my boat.".

The two of them carried Rock's body over to the Black Lagoon, and with the twins' help, carefully pulled him closer to Dutch. But Benny slipped off the guard's uniform and ended up dropping Rock's body. Rock's head ended up hitting his head on the hull of the boat with a thud.

"Gaahh!" -exclaimed the two adults and the twins.

"Brain dead." -Murmured Dutch.

"Be careful, dammit!"

"Sorry, sorry!"

"It's okay, it looks like he's still alive. ". -Said Dutch. "Chop-Chop, people, we don't have all day."

After a second attempt, they were finally able to get Rock onto the boat. The blow to his head had awakened him, but they decided to leave him lying face up on the floor to inspect the damage.

Dutch and Benny returned the cabin and started up the Black Lagoon, speeding away from the prison. And while the twins went to get a first aid kit, Revy unbuttoned the guard uniform in one tug to see how badly Rock was hurt.

And he came across the bulletproof vest. It was a little ripped and had several good-sized holes in it, but other than that, the bulletproof vest was mostly intact. She let out a sigh of relief. "Fuck..."

Rock coughed instead of generating a laugh. His face was pale, but Revy guessed it was only from pain. There was no important damage to his body, only superficial wounds on his right arm, where the shotgun pellets hit him. "Plot armor, bitch."

"You mean bulletproof vest."

"...Yeah, that."

"I've told you before, but you're one crazy son of a bitch."

"And I believe I told you...you gave me that crazy." -He smiled; he was recovering quickly. "Are you okay?"

"I wasn't the one who took a full shotgun blast, why the hell did you do that stupid thing, Rock?"

"You guys already had Fang Jian, you could have left without a problem. Why did you decide to come back for Hansel and me?"

"I didn't like the idea of leaving someone behind."

"Well, I didn't like the idea of watching you die..."

Revy nodded, suddenly unable to hold Rock's gaze. "Yeah, of course you'd say something like that."

She frowned, struggling to find the right words to tell Rock how grateful she was.

How on earth could she explain to him that this was the first time someone had saved her life? Well, not exactly, Dutch had done it at least a dozen times before, but...not like that. Of all the people Revy knew, she couldn't imagine one of them taking a bullet for her, let alone a fucking shotgun blast.

"Thank you." -She said finally, stiffly. She wasn't used to thanking anyone for anything. But, while it could be a lot of things, she wasn't an ungrateful bitch. "Thanks, Rock, I owe you one."

"Nah, when we get back to Roanapur just gift me a can of Pepsi and we'll call it even."

Revy smiled. "I see your bullshit is back, so you're really okay. Just don't ever do anything like that again."

"That depends, will you stop getting into life and death situations?"

"Where's the fun in that?"

"In not dying? Ah, never mind. I forgot you're a shitstorm magnet."

"Fuck you, Rock. You're the one with the lousy luck and the one who's a fucking disaster magnet."

"Speaking of disasters...where are the kids?"

"Are you sure about this, Gretel?"

Hansel followed his sister as they headed below deck. The original idea was to grab a first aid kit and hurry back to Rock's side. But after seeing that Rock was more or less okay, her sister had insisted on spying on him and the bipolar bitch, she suddenly changed her mind and decided to look for the other two passengers.

"That's right, Boss is not at risk of death, you saw that he was already talking normally, so there should be no problem that we leave him in Anego's hands.". -Responded the girl, checking a small room. She clicked her tongue when she saw that her target wasn't there. "Besides, that'll come in handy for Anego, did you see the expression she had on her face?"

"She had the same one as you, so I think she was worried."

"Well, that too, but I didn't exactly mean that expression." -Gretel smiled. "Never mind, it's no use my explaining, because your brain is dry and rotten. Let's just say, it's best to leave those two alone for a moment."

Hansel shrugged, that was another one of those rare episodes where he couldn't understand his sister's reasoning. "In any case, does this have anything to do with that wound you have?"

Gretel nodded. " Yeah, that Chinese bitch tried to kill me. I think it's time to return the favor."

"The others aren't going to be upset about that?"

"So what if they get upset? You surprise me, brother. Usually you're the one who doesn't care about that stuff."

"We've been through a lot of shit today, literally." -Hansel replied, suffering a shiver. Those sewers would haunt him for many nights to come. "I'm tired and, oh, I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I don't want to kill anyone else today."

He and his sister had done pretty well for most of the raid, avoiding killing people. But that last moment, when they were on their way out and Rock got shot, ruined everything and they both ended up killing several guards and prisoners while covering Revy's retreat.

It's not like they'd had much choice, and Rock had told them it was okay as long as it was necessary. But Hansel believed he had failed to keep his word anyway, and now he was struggling with a vague sense of guilt, telling him he'd screwed up.

Gretel stopped and looked at him, seeming to realize what her brother was thinking. Then she reached over and gave him a few small reassuring pats on his head. "There, there. There's nothing to worry about, we're not going to kill anyone. I just want to play a little joke on that woman."

Hansel stepped back. "Stop doing that, it feels weird."

"The only weird thing here is you."

"What exactly are you planning to do?"

Gretel shrugged and resumed her march. "I don't know yet, she cut me a little deep, so I plan to do the same to her, adding a few small cuts here and there."

"And they call me a psycho?"

"Eye for an eye, cut for a cut, dear brother.".

A little further on, the twins reached another door leading to a second room. With great care, Gretel managed to open it without making a sound. Hansel didn't know what was in there, but he could hear his sister laugh quietly. "What is it?" -asked the boy.

"It looks like the spider caught a fly."

After recovering sufficiently, Rock was finally able to stand up and walk. Dutch was kind enough to lend him his private bathroom and let him take a shower, because he wasn't going to put up with the smell of shit all the way to Bangkok, and incidentally change out of his guard uniform into his usual clothes.

"Now, the problem is this freighter ship heading straight for us.". -Benny tapped a couple of times on the radar screen with his index finger. Rock and Revy watched the screen closely, there was a small horizontal line on the radar, not far from where the small circle representing the Black Lagoon was. "Look at the size of this thing. It's huge and very fast."

"Maybe it's just passing through.". -Said Revy, shrugging, downplaying the matter. She had also re-tied her hair, and put on her usual clothes. "You know how extravagant rich people are, it's not at all uncommon for them to charter a freighter just for sightseeing."

"This isn't a commercial route, and when I was planning an escape route, I saw that this is also a restricted area for civilians." -Benny replied. "Even if they were some millionaire guys in the mood for sightseeing, they wouldn't be able to access that area. And it's not like there's anything interesting to see either."

"Maybe they're just fishing."

"Of course. There's a whole fucking ocean to fish in, but everyone knows the best place to do it, is near a maximum security prison." -Said Rock this time. "It happens all the time."

Revy looked at him blankly. "I liked you better when you were all 'dying and sore'."

"Does that mean you like me now? But wait, I'm still sore. And I'm supposed to have these horrible bruises?"

"Well, in theory you should be dead. Because, even if the bulletproof vest withstood the shotgun blast, the force of the impact should have mashed your intestines and shattered your bones."

"That's a relief to hear that...oh, blessed plot armor."

"Bulletproof vest."

"Yeah, that too."

Benny snapped his fingers a couple of times to get their attention. "Be serious dammit. What the fuck are we going to do with this thing coming at us?"

Rock shrugged. Other than initiating a desperate getaway, there was nothing they could do against a ship several times their size and strength. "Ask nicely not to kill us?"

"I can blast the shit out of them with my good friend; the minigun."

"You've never seen a fucking freighter? As powerful as the minigun is, I couldn't do anything to it." -Benny replied, shaking his head. "The ship's hull is too thick, it'll soak up all the bullets like a sponge."

"Tsk. We could use an RPG right about now."

"You mean they don't have any?" -Rock asked, raising an eyebrow. "What kind of mercenary pirates don't have a rocket launcher in their arsenal?"

"We don't shit money, asshole." -Replied Revy, kicking him. "And those things cost a lot of money. Besides, the fucking church wouldn't sell Dutch an RPG."

"Just out of curiosity, where is that church located?"

"In Roanapur."

"Ah, yes, of course it would be there." -Rock shook his head, the more he found out about that city, the more corrupt and rotten it seemed to him. Not even a church was spared. "Well, the machine gun's no good, and there's no rocket launcher. What about the torpedoes this ship has? The ones we used to drop that crappy helicopter that one time."

"Good idea, but it's a shame they're empty." -said Benny, offering an apologetic smile. "Dutch keeps them more for decoration than anything else. He says it makes Black Lagoon look more badass that way."

"...Tsk."

"Hey, it's not my fault."

"And I guess throwing grenades at him is just as useless as shooting him." -Said Revy, crossing her arms. "I mean, unless we have a fucking grenade launcher, and we don't have ones, the grenades are just going to bounce off the hull. It'd be like throwing rocks, and they're not going to stand by and watch quietly as we try to sink their ship."

"If you were on that ship, yes, you would." -Commented Rock, nudging him lightly. "And you'd laugh at them."

Revy grinned. "Ha! Hell, yeah, it would be hilarious."

"Well, admittedly, that wouldn't work." -said Benny. "And we don't have any grenades either."

"Rock's brats sure have some. They're always blowing stuff up."

"That's right!" -Rock's eyes widened as an idea came to him all at once. Rock turned to Revy, who was looking at him confused by his enthusiasm. "Thank you and please tell me you brought the backpack on the boat."

"The one you were wearing when you were shot? Yes, it's here on the boat, but what-?"

"I think I have an idea how to get rid of that fucking freighter."

After that small emergency meeting, the three of them headed over to Dutch's place to explain the plan Rock had devised. In the distance, Revy could see what was rapidly approaching toward the Black Lagoon. Even from this far away, the freighter was large. And from up close it would surely be even bigger.

Now she understood why Benny was so worried, it was hard to imagine being able to sink that beast. But Rock was quite confident with his little idea, so much so that Benny grabbed Rock by the shoulders and shook him a little when he told what he had in mind.

"All right." -Said Dutch, after hearing the little plan. He ran his hand over his bald head. "Let me see if I got this straight. You want us to get close to that thing..."

Rock nodded.

"I mean real close, close enough that we can touch the freighter ship, and they can sink us just by moving a little. Or shoot us, or anything..."

"Yeah."

"And somehow place a fucking payload of explosives on the hull of the ship, get as far away as possible, and blow them to smithereens. Did I miss something?"

"Nope. That would be it."

Dutch looked at him silently for a moment, then started laughing. "That's the dumbest, most ridiculous, craziest idea I've ever heard."

"You have any other ideas?" -Rvy asked, not taking his eyes off the freighter, which was really close by now. No longer a dot on the horizon, she could see the silhouette perfectly. "Because we're open to suggestions."

"Maybe we can ask what the hell they want, they might not even be enemies."

"Come on Dutch, earlier some idiot mercenaries tried to steal our loot, chances are that fucking ship is full of other idiot mercenaries too."

"We'll be taking a lot of risks trying to do what our demolitions expert proposed."

"I like risks." -Replied Revy. "We were able to take down a fucking helicopter before with an equally dumb, ridiculous and crazy idea. I think this could work."

Benny let out a sigh. "Although I'd prefer not to do it unless absolutely necessary."

"I agree, I like the idea of running away better than a showdown.". -Rock replied. He tried to loosen his tie, but remembered he wasn't wearing it, having lost it at some point when he put on his guard uniform. Too bad. "But just in case that freighter is very insistent about sinking us, well, we'll have to sink it ourselves first.".

"You're finally starting to sound like a real sailor, mate.". -said Revy, turning to look at him. "And you seem to like getting in the middle of shit storms now, too."

"That's exactly what I'm worried about."

"That's bullshit, you fucking liar. You love it, you know life isn't exciting without being on the edge of death at least once a week. That's why you decided to stay in fucking Roanapur."

Rock was going to reply that no, she was wrong and it wasn't like that at all, but he couldn't do it, because he knew she was right.

Deep down, he enjoyed all that adrenaline and euphoria he felt when he took big risks and somehow managed to overcome them. Surviving near-death experiences made him feel more alive, invincible. Yes, it was very hard to deny Revy's words.

Rock decided to focus on Dutch, then he could worry about his growing insanity. "In any case, the Black Lagoon is yours and you're in charge, Dutch. The decision to do this or not is up to you."

There was a pause, where the entire cabin was silent for a moment. Then, Dutch let out a long, tired sigh. "Okay, we're still a fucking democracy, so let's go ahead with what the people have decided. Let's get this shit done."

Revy looked back at Rock and smiled at him. Not a friendly smile, it was a fierce one, she bared all her teeth. "The dance of death is still going on, baby."

The freighter stopped a short distance from the target.

From the deck, Koko Hekmatyar watched the tiny enemy ship with amusement, where mercenaries came out on deck to engage her. They were two men, a woman and... two armed children?

"Shit..." -Koko muttered, her eyes widening. "Child soldiers... isn't that cool? Makes me want to have one."

Koko and his team had come a long way to get here, having to postpone and advance a few business deals to free up their schedule.

After sending that maggot known as Fang Jian to prison, Koko had forgotten about the man. However, after a purchase of a significant amount of C-4 explosive a few weeks ago by a Chinese Triad boss, a certain 'Mr. Chang', she learned that they were planning to break Fang Jian out of prison, thanks to the information provided by some mercenaries.

After paying them for that, plus an extra payment for bringing Fang Jian to her, Koko decided to go to the great trouble of going all the way to Taiwan to wait for her package. Because it really pissed her off when they tried to pay her for her products with anything other than money, especially if it was drugs, and she had not been satisfied with the punishment that bastard received.

Besides, Koko was in the mood to fuck someone's life up.

In any case, she lost contact with the hired mercenaries shortly after they informed her that they encountered a second group of mercenaries, along with a small description of the enemy ship, so she hurried her march to the prison before they could escape.

And now that Koko saw them, she remembered hearing some stories about the Black Lagoon and its infamous crew.

But she wasn't worried in the least. What could a bunch of tin-pot pirates do against her massively larger and heavier ship? They had no way of boarding her freighter, and even if they had an RPG, they wouldn't be able to do significant enough damage.

Besides, in case they did come to a confrontation, his freighter was far better equipped, and Koko had full confidence in the abilities of his bodyguards.

"Valmet, hand me the megaphone." -Said Koko, without taking her eyes off the Black Lagoon.

Vamet was a tall woman with a white patch covering one of her eyes. She was also one of his many bodyguards that Koko personally selected. Valmet obeyed the order and handed her a megaphone silently. Koko cleared her throat before taking a breath and speaking:

"Crew of the Black Lagoon, I am Koko Hekmatyar, daughter of Floyd Hekmatyar, belonging to a family involved in the arms trade around the world!" -Koko exclaimed, then pointed accusingly at them. "You have in your possession a miserable worm that has pissed me off to no end, if you hand him over right now, there will be no problem for you. However... if you refuse to hand him over, we will use all our strength to retrieve the prisoner Fang Jian, your choice!"

Koko lowered the megaphone and looked at her subordinate. "How was it?"

Valmet smiled and gave both thumbs up. "It was fantastic, princess! It was a great and intimidating presentation."

"Heh-heh. I know, I was practicing all the way through. I was thinking of making it longer and more elaborate, but I opted to be direct and simple."

"Um, miss!" -someone exclaimed from the Black Lagoon, it was a Japanese man. To Koko, he looked more like a clerk than a mercenary. He too was using a megaphone. "We didn't quite hear what you said! Could you repeat it, please?"

Koko frowned and looked at his megaphone, confused. "Valmet?"

"Yes?"

"Is this thing on?"

"Ah, no, it isn't." -Valmet walked up to her boss, and pointed to a small button the megaphone had on one side. "You have to press this button first."

Koko smiled. "Thanks...by the way, why didn't you tell me this thing was off?"

"Oh, I just love the sound of your voice, princess."

"What are you, an idiot!?" -Koko smacked her subordinate's head with her open palm. "You made a fool out of me!"

"Tehehe~, I'm sorry."

"Tsk." -Koko turned on the megaphone and turned to Black Lagoon again. But when she tried to speak, the megaphone let out a loud, high-pitched 'EENNGG'. And despite being quite far away, she could hear the laughter coming from the enemy ship. Koko's face turned red with embarrassment and anger. "These sons of bitches..."

"Now we hear that!"

"Aargh, goddamn it, I'm Koko Hekmatyar-!"

"Listen, miss, we don't give a shit who you are. What business do you have with us, and why are you blocking our way?"

Koko got a twitch in her left eye, who the hell did that guy think he was? "I'm coming for Fang Jian, you assholes. I know they've got him stuffed in that sardine can they call 'Black Lagoon'. Turn Fang Jian over to me to return his Asian ass to prison, and it'll all end smoothly for you."

"Who are you, fucking Law & Order?"

"No, I am someone important enough to control the Taiwanese police. I went to the great trouble of keeping the authorities at the port so they wouldn't come and arrest all you idiots. Now, stop wasting time and turn that Chinese piece of shit in."

"...And what are you offering in return?"

"I don't think you're in a position to bargain, Oji-san."

"Really? Because we've got the fucking Chinaman you want so badly."

"We can go and take away the fucking Chinese guy I want so badly." -Koko replied.

"If I were you, I'd think twice before doing that, miss. We have a boatload of crazy, armed people with the will to kill."

"Funny, I also have a ship with a lot of guns and crazy people with the will to kill.". -Koko smiled. That jerk was just wasting his time, or maybe he really thought he could intimidate her with such bravado. "Last chance, Oji-san. If you don't hand over Fang Jian to me right now, we'll take him by force and sink your ship."

"Not if we sink your ship first!"

That made Koko laugh, her laughter echoed thanks to the megaphone. " Go ahead, give it a try. We can bet how many shots with an RPG they can get off before we squash them like the bugs they are!"

"We don't need a rocket launcher if we've got a lot of fucking C-4, bitch!"-replied the man. "Now, Dutch!"

By the time Koko understood what the Japanese man said, the Black Lagoon had taken off in a hurry and came barreling full speed up to his freighter, nearly ramming it and scraping the hull in the process and releasing a bunch of sparks. Then, the Black Lagoon made a sharp turn the other way, heading away from the freighter towards the open sea.

Then, a huge explosion rocked the ship, staggering Koko and nearly throwing her overboard. Fortunately for her, Valmet reacted quickly and pounced on her, knocking her to the ground and preventing her from falling into the ocean. An alarm began to sound on the cargo ship.

"Koko, are you all right?" -Valmet asked.

"Yes, I am, thank you."

"Valmet? Valmet!" -said a man's voice in the woman's ear, coming from her communicator. "Is Koko all right? Pick up, you motherfu-"

"Whoa! Take it easy, Lehm. Koko is fine, and so am I, thank you very much for asking."

"What was that explosion? What the fuck just happened? I knew it was a bad idea to leave you alone with Koko."

Valmet ignored the last comment and stood up, leaving a still shocked Koko on the ground. She walked over to the edge of the boat and looked down and grimaced. There was a huge new hole in the hull of the ship. "Oh, boy... Um, Lehm?"

"What?"

" Now we have a nice hole in the hull of the ship.". -Responded Valmet, paling as he watched the water rush in. "I think we're going to sink, man."

"...What!?

The Black Lagoon was leaving quickly towards the port of Taiwan, they would load some things that were left at the base and then begin the journey to Bangkok. While Revy, Benny and the twins celebrated that small victory against Koko Hekmatyar, Rock just watched as the freighter slowly disappeared in the distance.

When it finally disappeared from his sight, he let out a sigh of relief, and leaned back against the edge of the deck. Revy crept up and slapped him hard on his back, startling him. "Gaahh!"

"Relax that ass!"

"Damn it, Revy..." -Rock growled, turning to look at her.

"Lighten up a little man, your crazy plan worked."-She said, smiling. "In fact, I think it was the only plan that worked all day."

"Yeah, I'm still surprised it all went so well...it was very convenient."

"...What?"

"Yes. I mean, I thought that, having such a head start, she'd get a little overconfident and let her guard down for a moment. Moment we could use to attack with the C-4." -Rock replied, taking out a cigarette. "Of course, I also figured we couldn't just charge straight at them yelling 'let's-go-get-you-exploded' or it would have sunk us before we could get close enough. That's why I had to ask Dutch to stop in front of them and do that little act of bravado and attempt at negotiation."

Revy blinked a couple of times. "In short...all that talk you spewed during your conversation with that Koko girl, was it to make her think she had us cornered so she could get her guard down and sneak attack her?"

"Something like that."

" Damn..." -She had thought Rock's plan was very simple and straightforward, something like a last-minute risky move, but now that he explained it better, it was more complicated than it sounded. "And how the hell did you know it was all going to work?"

He shrugged. "I didn't know, I made a bet. 50% it would work/50% we'd fail. We got a lot of luck."

"...Dude, I think you're scaring me."

"Oh, come on, it's no big deal. It's not like I did anything impressive, I just talked bullshit for a while." -Responded Rock, then started walking towards the booth. "I'm sure you and Dutch would have managed somehow."

Revy wasn't so sure about that. Running away was out of the question, as the enemy had encircled them and could have sunk them if they tried to escape, so she could only think of a direct confrontation. Dutch, she and Shenhua would have to have boarded the ship somehow and gotten rid of that Koko girl.

Although that bitch had mentioned that she had 'a lot of guns and crazy people' on her ship, so she probably had a good number of mercenaries or bodyguards. They would have been in for a good shootout and a massacre. Maybe the three of them would have made it if they had done that.

Instead, Rock had managed to make it all work, just as he planned, without the need to fire a bullet, or kill anyone. The man just had to stand and talk for a while.

'That's what scares me...'. -Revy thought, watching him walk away.