Bullet XXXIII

"Ah, hell..." Dijo Chang, observing the disastrous state of the hallway leading to Balalaika's office in her Roanapur base.

There were debris from walls and ceiling scattered about, partially blocking the way where he threw the grenade at Koko and her bodyguard squad. The rest of the hallway walls were riddled with cracks, and the ceiling threatened to collapse in some parts.

Chang was surprised that the place hadn't collapsed all this time while it was left unrepaired, considering he was locked up in the police station for several days and then had to attend to his own pending business, adding more days.

Of course, he intended to repair the damage, or rather, pay for the cost of repairs...

'But it turns out these Russian sons of bitches didn't repair anything.'-Chang complained to himself, kicking a small piece of wall or ceiling and sending it flying.

He shook his head and turned his gaze to one of the few Russian soldiers who had remained in Roanapur while Balalaika was...in Korea? Chang couldn't remember, nor did he care."You, bottle of vodka with legs.". -he said, accusingly pointing at the distracted soldier, who pointed at himself with a finger, clearly confused. "Explain to me what the hell this is."

"Are you talking to me?"

"Do you see another vodka bottle with legs here?"

The Russian soldier frowned, annoyed. However, he answered the question. "This is a mess of a hallway."

"Brilliant observation."-Chang replied, acidly. "But that's not what I mean, I mean why wasn't it repaired all this time."

The soldier shrugged. "You broke it, so you must repair it."

"It was locked in a cell until recently."

"That's not my problem. If the kapitana comes back and finds this mess, she'll take you down to the dock and hang you by your balls." the soldier retorted. "So if I were you I'd get this hallway fixed up as soon as possible."

Chang watched the soldier retreat from the scene quickly, with a strong desire to shoot him in the back of the head. But he repressed that impulse and merely returned his attention to the destruction of the hallway.

He wasn't stingy, like Dutch or Balalaika herself, he just considered it a nuisance to have to call in... someone who knew how to repair damage like this, since he still had to administer Balalaika's territory.

Something that required sending his people to various parts of the city and beating the crap out of the idiots who took advantage of her being out of town, and him being locked up in the police station, to set up their own businesses.

It was nothing important, just a few small groups of pimps or drug and gun dealers. But if he let them do what they wanted for too long, more people would start setting up their own businesses around the city and in the territories with little activity.

And that couldn't happen because it would unbalance the thin economic balance and the peace between the organizations in the city.

All this wouldn't have happened in the first place, if Balalaika hadn't been a fucking backstabbing bastard bitch who tried to kill him while he was doing her a favor. But then, that wouldn't have been the old burnt face he knew and she wouldn't have been so much fun to deal with.

Fortunately, Ronnie's gang and his Italians, the third strongest and most important faction in Roanapur, along with their allies, were not part of the takeover of vacant land.

No, Ronnie was a smart guy and decided to stay out of it. Chang had barely interacted with Jaws, but she was glad he wasn't like Verrocchio. That other guy would no doubt have jumped straight for the jugular of the temporarily weakened Moscow Hotel and usurped their territories, which would have led to a direct war with Balalaika.

Or with Chang, since he would have to intervene to prevent this. Which would have led all over again to a war, only on a smaller scale.

The only bad thing, perhaps, was that Ronnie feared/respected Balalaika a little too much. Of course, anyone with any sense would, but, still, Chang wasn't entirely happy with Ronnie being in command of the Italian faction. It wasn't good to have a hot-blooded bastard leading a powerful group, it was obvious that one day something was going to go wrong, but neither was it good to have a lukewarm one leading them.

Now without Verrocchio to incentivize his allies, Chang was the only one with enough courage/stupidity to openly oppose Balalaika and her expansive, power-hungry ways.

Ronnie might also have the balls to do so if Chang pressed him or formed an alliance with him...but that was something Chang would have to consider further and calmly. It wasn't so simple for two major and powerful organizations to form an alliance, even if it was against a common enemy. There were too many issues to consider, and too many details to discuss.

"For now I have to take care of this damn hallway.".-Chang muttered bitterly... then shrugged. "Nah. I'd better leave it to that bastard Biu Yuen."

As Balalaika had mentioned earlier, the hired hacker arrived at the hotel where Rock, the twins and the Moscow hotel members were staying.

Janet Bhai, aka, Jane, as she introduced herself, looked like an ordinary person, nothing to indicate that she was some professional hacker or anything. Rock didn't know what a hacker was supposed to look like either... but he imagined something different.

And now that he thought about it, Benny worked, among other things, as the hacker for the Lagoon company. A man who supposedly swindled a mob and the FBI...and who also looked like an ordinary person.

'How disappointing.'. -Rock thought.

However, getting back to the main point, the first and last name, along with the confirmation that she was the hacker Balalaika was expecting, was all the information Rock could get on the newcomer.

Since, after introducing herself, the leader of the Moscow hotel had only dedicated herself to observe her fixedly and inexpressively. Balalaika seemed especially serious, alert even. Apparently, she was taking her time to analyze the new girl.

Or maybe she was evaluating what parts of her she could use to make soup.

In either case, this caused Jane to freeze, becoming silent and sitting in her seat as rigid as if she had a knife to her throat.

"So..." he said, trying to break the ice. If both women continued to stare at each other in silence, one expressionless and the other clearly frightened, they would never get anywhere. "How did you manage to get this job?"

"Um? Oh, yes, of course."-Jane cleared her throat and proceeded to introduce herself, as if she were in an interrogation. "I belong to a group of international hackers, Highwaymens Forum. As our group is well known, Hotel Moscow sought contact with us and offered us this good paying job, along with the possibility of forming an alliance for future business. We saw nothing wrong with accepting and... well, here I am."

"So they sent you." said Rock, pointing out the obvious.

"Well, yeah, but even though I'm knowledgeable when it comes to computers, programming and data decryption, I'm also a professional money forger."-Janet smiled confidently, now more relaxed. "In any case, give me a computer with internet access and I can get everything you need."

"Let's check it out then."-Said Balalaika, breaking her silence. Then, she motioned to one of her soldiers, who walked over to the table and deposited a laptop in front of Jane. Then, the soldier withdrew. "This laptop belongs to the director of Asahi Industries, it contains all the information related to the company. Take charge of searching and getting all valuable information and information that may be worth money."

Jane looked at the turned on computer and frowned. "The job was supposed to be to transfer money from some bank accounts..."

"You'll do that too."-Balalaika raised an eyebrow. "Or what, you can't do this, weren't you supposed to be a specialist?"

Jane snorted. "It's not impossible, but if I do both tasks, there are risks. I might attract attention if I move too much money, since there are people looking for that kind of activity on the net, and I'd have to take extra security measures to avoid detection."

"In short, it's better if you do things separately."

"Yes, something like that."

"Then focus on finding the damn industry information and files."-Balalaika replied. "Then I'll figure out how to solve that."

"There's another problem, I can speak English, and a little German, but no Japanese."

"The Japonski here will take care of that.".-Assured Balalaika, earning a blank stare from Rock. "What?"

"Is that what you asked me to stay here with you for?" he asked, almost offended. "You could have waited for her alone and reported back to me later. The kids are having a movie marathon and I'm missing it."

"You can lounge around all you want when you're done with your work." she replied, her eyes rolling. "Besides, what else would I want you here with me for, if not to perform your function as universal translator?"

"...Maybe because you like me?"

"I admit I don't dislike you, that I do ignore your constant stupid chatter, but that's no reason not to use you as the useful tool you are. If I wanted you by my side simply for company, I would have long ago made you my pet."

"Pet!?"

"I have a strong desire to put a collar on you and lock you in a cage."

"You are being too open with your desires!"

Balalaika ignored him and addressed the hacker again. "The point is, the Japonski can take care of your language problem. Ask him anything you need."

Jane looked at Rock critically. "How much do you know about-?"

He interrupted her, offering her a crooked smile. "Absolutely nothing."

"...Great. An assistant who knows nothing about computers."

"Actually, I'm good at Minesweeper."

"A completely useless skill!"

"Just kidding. Don't worry, I'm a quick learner, just guide me a little on what you need to know and we'll get it right."

Balalaika stood up. "While you take care of this, I'll go make a call to Boris to give me a report on Bando and his people. Don't bother her and let her work quietly, Rock."

He shrugged. "I'll try."

Now, she looked at Jane. "I'll be back later to check on your progress."

Jane nodded absently, as she was focused on the laptop screen. "Okay, okay, take your time. And you, slant eyes, get off your ass and come here. We've got a lot to do."

It was a scorching midday in Roanapur, maybe too scorching, to the point where Benny didn't feel like moving from the couch where he was slumped. Even if the phone had been ringing for a while.

On days like this, the Black Lagoon turned into a death trap, a hot cage, so there was no way to stay there.

His car, his precious baby, was in pieces thanks to his co-worker, so right now it was being repaired, and he couldn't shelter there along with the air conditioner he had installed.

Normally, he would handle the repair himself, but the damage was too much even for him. Benny didn't want to know the details, it was painful enough to see the state of his baby without wanting to know how he was left like that.

And after the last job, the Lagoon company would have to stay in Roanapur while they waited for Dutch to get paid for the last job they had done.

It was no big deal, just a weapons delivery-sale by the Church of Violence. The only messy part, was when Eda and Revy started calling each other names and pulled out their guns with the intention of killing each other.

Of course, since Yolanda, Dutch and Benny were used to this, they paid no attention to them.

The point was, it was hot as hell in Roanapur, and the Black Lagoon would not move from the dock to cooler quarters until Dutch got paid. The only good thing, was that Dutch's office, blessed high ceiling, was nicer than the rest of the city.

"Damn it, don't you plan on answering the damn phone?" complained Revy from across the room. Like him, she was just waiting for Dutch to come back with the paycheck.

And from the looks of it, she had no desire to move either.

"You do it."

"I'm comfortable here, you do it."

"You're closer."-Benny replied.

That was a good point, since the phone was literally on top of her. Revy just had to reach up and answer it, but that seemed like a task that would require superhuman effort.

Revy clicked her tongue, relenting and answering the call almost out of obligation. The sound had probably exhausted her patience. "Lagoon Company. What the hell do you want?"

Benny watched her absently, watching her was never an unpleasant task, and noticed how Revy suddenly sat up straight in her seat. This caught his attention, along with her serious expression, so Benny straightened up in his seat as well.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Congratulations, Benny-boy."-Revy stretched out the phone, indicating for him to get up and take it. "Sis has a job for you."

Benny frowned, somewhere between concerned and confused. He could understand Balalaika hiring Revy or Dutch, which would involve the whole team, but her specifically hiring him aroused his suspicions. "What's this about?"

"How should I know? The bitch said it was none of my business. Come on, talk to her."

Benny, still hesitant, got up from the couch and walked over to the phone. Revy stepped aside to give him room and headed for the refrigerator Dutch kept in the office, in search of some cold drink probably.

"Privyet, Benny." she said, once he answered. "I understand you're a hacker, right?"

" Yeah, that's right, do you need help with anything specific?"

"A money transfer."-Balalaika replied. "From about seven accounts to one of mine. I have an agent who also knows about these things, but he is busy with another matter, so it is not possible for him to perform this task. Do you think you can do it?"

Benny relaxed, it was not an unreasonable or dangerous request. In fact, it was quite simple given his knowledge of finance. "Of course. I'll just need the details of the accounts you wish to, uh, extract money from, your own account details and the specific amount of money. The rest will be a piece of cake."

"I see. In that case, I'll have my agent contact you so the two of you can discuss that, I don't understand any of that stuff. I'll call later when my agent is off duty, is that all right with you?"

"Yeah, that's no problem at all."

"Okay, that's all for now. I'll call later."

That said, Balalaika cut the call. Benny sighed and put the phone back in its place, out of nowhere he had gotten a new business.

And while he was glad for this, as Balalaika always paid well for a job, unfortunately it would mean that he would have to stay in hot Roanapur. And that he would have to be careful not to make a mistake, or Balalaika would cut his balls off.

He said it would be "a piece of cake.", but it wasn't that simple to make a transfer from seven different accounts to one.

'There must be a lot of money involved.'- Benny thought... with a dangerous little idea popping into his mind.

But that if it went well, he was sure that with Dutch's help it would go well, he and the rest of the team could secure a decent amount of money so they wouldn't have to work and relax for some time.

At least in his case.

Unlike Revy or Dutch, especially Revy, he wasn't a man who liked action and violence. He just wanted to have money to spend, a cold beer in his hand and a hot girl to relax with.

Or a new computer, that would be even better.

"Man, that smile of yours is creepy." said Revy, grimacing, appearing with a can of beer in his hand and an exaggeratedly large sandwich in the other. "So, what's Sis' business all about and why are you grinning like a sicko?"

Without breaking his grin, Benny simply shrugged.

Later that day, after Benny had received another call from Balalaika, something that involved business for him, Benny asked Dutch and Revy to come to the Lagoon Company's office room.

Once there, he told them the proposal he had in mind.

"Have you lost your mind?"

Was the only response Revy blurted out once she heard the proposal Benny told her and Dutch...which was to keep the money from the transfers Balalaika had asked him to make.

She interrupted him in the middle of his explanation, but that didn't matter to her. No matter how many motives and explanations he might have, his plan was stupid and insane.

She shot a glance at her boss, seeking support with her refusal, but Dutch remained silent and folded-armed, leaning against the office entrance. Revy clicked her tongue and again continued, chiding her partner.

"How can you be so mentally retarded as to suggest stealing from Sis, you're not on drugs are you, bastard? Because you know damn well I don't like working with a fucking junkie."

"Of course you don't." replied Benny, half offended. "I don't like that kind of thing."

"You didn't accidentally smoke one of my joints that I use to relax? Because if you did, you'll have to pay me what they cost me. They're not cheap."

Of course, she didn't smoke them when she works, or when she knew she had to go to a job. Revy smoked them when she was bored, or when her stomach and liver had had enough alcohol for a while and she needed to get her hunger back somehow.

Sometimes, very rarely, it was when she tossed and turned in bed and couldn't get to sleep, because she was thinking about all the shit she'd had to go through for so much of her life.

Those were involuntary thoughts that would pop up when he got careless and loosened the "chains" he had in his head to keep those kinds of things locked deep in the back of his mind.

"Damn it, Revy, I'm not high. Nor crazy...I think, nor am I mentally retarded. I know my idea sounds dangerous but-"

"Dangerous?".-Revy tried to laugh, but all that came out was a grunt of disbelief. "It's suicide. If you want to die so badly, then go shoot yourself in the head. Or let me do it to save time."

"Let him finish."-Dutch interjected. "Benny-boy never looks to get in trouble, least of all with Balalaika, so I'd like to know why he came out with this so suddenly."

"You're not thinking of playing along with that shit..."

"I'll know if you shut your mouth and let him continue.".-Dutch replied, turning his head to look directly at Benny. "Now, explain what this is about. And make it clear, buddy, or I'll have to give you a few whacks on the head to get those loose wires in your brain fixed."

Benny, visibly relieved by his boss's intervention, nodded. He was sweating buckets too, and it wasn't just from the heat. "Like I said, I know it's a crazy, dangerous and stupid idea. But think about it, we've been on, what, four or five jobs in a row since Revy got out of that cell?"

"And what about that, you're not satisfied with the pay you're getting?"

"Well, no."-Benny smiled. "Nothing against you, Dutch, really. But you've got to admit that even with so many jobs in a row, the money we've raised so far hasn't been a big deal."

Revy had to agree on that point. The first 2 jobs they got were decent, but the rest, while entertaining, didn't generate much profit. But this was not Dutch's fault.

The Lagoon company was simply on a losing streak, and it wasn't the first time it had happened.

Jobs may have been plentiful in Roanapur, but the pay had to be good if they risked their lives. And many times, these jobs didn't offer worthwhile pay. And the few that weren't dangerous were deadly dull and tedious. Even for Dutch, who generally avoided getting into unnecessary dangerous situations.

"And it wouldn't be a robbery."-Benny continued. "We wouldn't keep all that money, since that's when Balalaika would really make mincemeat of us. The idea is only to keep a part of all that profit. Balalaika will give it to us voluntarily...unless she doesn't want all that money to, you know, get lost, or accidentally end up in someone else's hands. Let's call it an extra charge for protection."

"Blackmail, then." said Dutch, shaking his head. "That seems even worse than you stealing all the money from him."

"No, not even close. The transfer Balalaika asked me for isn't about a few thousand, we were talking millions. I don't know what the hell is going on over there in Japan, but she got a large sum of money this time. We would only be asking for a portion of that amount."

That, much to his chagrin, caught Revy's attention.

"How much are we talking about?" she asked helplessly.

"Approximately 20 million yen spread over 7 different accounts that will be transferred to a single account. Which makes a total of about...140 million yen, a little more, a little less."

Silence. Absolute silence. The three remained silent for a moment, so much so, that you could hear the sound of a pin dropping to the floor.

"Well..." said Dutch, in a whisper. Revy couldn't blame him, that number had stunned her. "But yen are from Japan, right? We don't have much use for them here, and the same goes for Balalaika. "

Benny smiled. "I know, and surely she knows it too, which is why Balalaika is likely looking to exchange those yen for a much more popular and valuable currency in the vast majority of the world's countries."

"Dollars."-Said Revy in understanding. That would make the most sense, even to her. "140 million yen changed to dollars, how much would that be?"

"A little over a million dollars, baby."

She turned to her boss, turning her head so fast she made a slight crackling sound. "Dutch...!"

Her boss was biting his thumb due to nervousness and in an attempt to resist greed. "Yes."

"But Sis will kill us if we do!"

"That's a yes, too."-He started pacing around the office, like a hungry lion in a cage. Then, after a moment, he suddenly stopped and looked at her. "But I think Benny has a good point. With so much money at stake, it's necessary that we have to protect it with our lives, isn't it? It's only natural that we have to put an extra price on it."

Revy was tempted to tell him that her life was worth more than a million, if you put together all the bounties for her capture in the different countries where she was wanted... you could probably put together about 4 or 5 million.

But that wasn't the point here.

She grimaced. "It's Balalaika, man. What makes you think she'll tolerate this and not order her Vysotnikis to come after our asses and turn us into soup?"

Benny cocked his head, confused. "Soup?"

"Russians are pretty creative when it comes to torturing people."

"Because she and her Vysotnikis are not in Roanapur right now, but in Japan." said Dutch, now calmer. "And if I explain it to her, she might be more willing to accept this protection proposal we'll offer her."

"You mean blackmail."

"Protection." insisted Dutch, he seemed to be trying to convince himself. "It can work, Rev'. Balalaika owes me a few favors and, more importantly, she knows you. She knows what you're capable of. She won't want to waste so many of her soldiers' lives just for a little money."

"So it's settled, we're going to betray Sis and screw up a deal for her?"-Revy clicked his tongue. "That's not our style. It could damage our image with the other Roanapur leaders."

"Our image was damaged the day you put a bullet in Verrocchio's head."-Benny replied. Receiving Dutch's support, he was now acting more relaxed and confident. "Don't forget that now our relationship with the Visconti and their allies is strained. Which brings us back to the original point of the shortage of profitable paying jobs."

"And they've already started blaming me again."-She shook her head. "I need that fucking contract as soon as possible."

"It can work, Rev'.""-Dutch repeated. "If I play my cards right with Balalaika, it can work and that would give us a nice income that we could hang on to until we get other, better paying jobs."-He smiled. "Besides, you complained a while back that you wanted exciting work. I can't think of anything more exciting than blackmailing fucking Balalaika."

That bastard had a good point.

While she wouldn't deny that idea was very tempting, Revy didn't end up liking it. She could be a bitch, a murderous criminal, the worst scum of this shitty world...But she respected Balalaika, and, even though she was a Russian bitch she was hard to deal with, she had never given him reason to betray her trust.

Still...

'It's a million dollars, goddamn it. A single part of that will be a juicy prize.'. -Revy thought, letting out a sigh and surrendering to his own greed. "All right, let's roll, bitches."

When one of her Vysotnikis handed her his phone, she still needed to get one of her own, Balalaika was already expecting it to be Dutch, informing him that the job she assigned to one of her employees was already complete.

"You son of a bitch."

But Balalaika hadn't imagined that Dutch and his underlings would have had the audacity, and stupidity, to try to blackmail her into handing over some of the loot, her loot, to them to "keep it safe" until she got to Roanapur.

She would have expected it from another group of mercenaries, hell, even that Indian hacker her bosses hired. Not from the Lagoon Company, who were based in Roanapur and lived off the business that the criminal inhabitants, especially her, provided.

What were they, mentally retarded?

The logical thing to do would be to accept, if they were willing to take such a big risk, then Dutch's subtle threat about her bank account full of yen "accidentally" ending up in someone else's hands was probably true.

But Balalaika would not be one of the leaders of that damned city if she allowed herself to be so easily pushed around by a group of mercenaries with no common sense. If she agreed to this demand and word got out, her reputation and pride would be damaged.

And Balalaika lived for her reputation and pride.

Moreover, that would also be seen as a sign of weakness to her rivals and allies, who might take the audacity to take similar actions. So, with all that in mind, Balalaika had to politely decline.

"My balls."

"Listen, Balalaika..."

"No, you listen to me, you fucking nigga" -she interrupted him. While she was pissed off, she also found the unexpected situation amusing. "You're useful, Dutch, we both know that. I owe you a few favors and we both know that too. I'm not sending my troops to chop you into little pieces and turn you into soup because of it, and I'm pretty sure you came to the same conclusion and that's why you had the nerve to spit this kind of bullshit at me, which I would normally expect from an irritating Japonski I know."

Dutch didn't say anything, but she didn't cut the call short either. She did, however, detect the faint sound of his labored breathing. The sweet sound of fear.

"I don't want to kill you, Dutch, or your imbecilic employees, because they are useful tools and we have been partners for years." continued Balalaika. "But if you think I'm going to take this offense just like that and not make you pay for it, you're so wrong. So I'll give you a chance to take it back and pretend this conversation never existed. What do you say?"

"My balls."-Dutch replied.

Oh, maybe it wasn't fear after all.

"How unfortunate."

"Yeah, it really is...for you. I mean, we've got this brutal amount of money now, and while they're not worth shit here, I know people in town who will be interested in trading it to us."

""Funny. I have people interested in tearing you and your employees apart too.", Balalaika replied.

"I have Revy.".-He said. She could almost see the bastard's confident smile. "I'd like to see who's dumb enough to want to fight her."

"I hope you don't regret those words, Dutch."

Without waiting for an answer, Balalaika ended the call... slamming her soldier's phone against the wall, smashing it to pieces. The soldier who had lent him the phone, and who had been by his side all this time, didn't say a word about it.

But he lowered his head, depressed.

"Bah, stop whining."-Balalaika reprimanded him, discarding the remains of the phone to the floor. However, she felt a little bad. But only a little. "... Later I'll buy you another one. More importantly, contact Boris and explain the situation to him. Tell him to hire any mercenary, murderous, crazy son of a bitch from Roanapur who is willing to take on Dutch and his employees and take back what is mine."

"As you command, Kapitana."

As much as she hated to admit it, Dutch was right. There wouldn't be many takers for the dangerous job looking for fights against him and Revy... nor would it be anything cheap to pay for. Balalaika didn't have high expectations of a bunch of mercenaries mowed down by their greed and bloodlust either.

No, at best they would just be a nuisance to the Lagoon company.

And if those bastards managed to find a "buyer" for her bank account, most likely some other Roanapur leader, then Dutch and his employees would have extra protection, which would further complicate the problem.

Whatever happened, it would be a pain in the ass for her.

"Tsk, but what assholes."

"Well..." said Dutch, hanging up his office phone as he noticed that Balalaika had finished talking to him. Dutch slowly turned his head towards his two employees, who were looking at him expectantly. He smiled in a nervous manner. "This is going to get ugly."

"...What?" said Benny, blanching. "What's wrong?"

Dutch searched for a good way to respond, but the truth was there was no good way to do it without being so direct and devastating. He considered lying to them, but thought that would be worse down the road, so he decided to come right out and say it.

"Balalaika turned down the deal, she's pissed at us and now she wants to kill us."

"Oh, boy..."

Revy jumped to his feet and pointed accusingly at him. "I told you, I told you that shit wasn't going to work!"

"Baby, relax."

"Relax my balls! Do you have any idea the shit storm that's going to hit us now!?".-Revy, panicking, began to walk in circles around the office. "Balalaika is going to send people to kill us and we'll have to kill them first. Watsup is going to arrest me again for the rampages we will make in the city. Then, Sis will go back to Roanapur along with Rock, he's going to find out I'm arrested and that asshole will visit me just to laugh at me."

Dutch pinched the bridge of his nose to gather calm as he let his employee continue her ramblings.

The word "panic" had never been part of his vocabulary, and, since he'd given the green light for Benny's plan, he now had to take responsibility for the failure and the dangerous consequences.

That and he'd pissed off Balalaika, provoking her more than necessary. But, in his defense, Dutch was sure there would be no one crazy and bloodthirsty enough to want to pick a fight with Revy just for a few bucks.

Still, Dutch wasn't going to take the woman's threat lightly. Balalaika had a strong reputation for being very vindictive, so he and his employees would have to be prepared to deal with any surprises Balalaika might have in mind.

"So?" said Benny, interrupting her thoughts. "What's the new plan?"

"I'm thinking of something."

"Think faster, I don't want to turn into soup."

Dutch opened his eyes to look at him. "I take suggestions, Benny-boy."

Benny lit a cigarette and ducked his head to look at the ground.

"We've got to get rid of Balalaika's bank account." he said, after a moment. "If we don't have it, then she won't look for trouble with us. Gotta let some other fucker deal with that shit."

"That doesn't sound like a good plan..."

"Of course, that means we'll sell it to someone to make a profit for us and without telling her what she'll be getting involved in."

"I don't see how that improves our situation."-Dutch sighed and scratched his bald head. "I don't know man, maybe it's not too late. If I call Balalaika right now and give her back her money, maybe she won't try to kill us."

"What, we'd be left with no money at all if we did that."

"...You're being pretty greedy, Benny-boy."

Benny shrugged. "Dude, there's a million dollars at stake. If you weren't interested in that kind of money, you wouldn't have played along with me, risks included, in the first place."

A logical point. Hard to refute.

Dutch sighed again. "Whatever. I think you're right with your earlier point, now that the negotiation with Balalaika has failed, it would be best to get rid of that time bomb as soon as possible. Although I do think we should explain to the prospective buyer what a mess he'd be getting himself into."

"But if we do that, no one's going to buy the fucking disk from us."-Benny protested. "Other than us, I don't know anyone crazy enough to accept something that belongs to Balalaika."

At that moment, Revy stopped mumbling possible scenarios and stopped to look at him.

"Which disk?".-she asked.

"Well, apparently, Balalaika has hired a hacker for another business there in Japan, whether it has anything to do with money or not, I really don't know. But just to be on the safe side, I saved her bank account information on a physical disk.".-Benny replied.

Dutch slowly got up from his seat. "You mean the time bomb is now real, it's in the form of a disk and Balalaika won't be able to retrieve it unless it's taken out of our dead hands?"

"That's right, as a matter of fact, I have the disk stored right here in my pocket."

"Damn it, Benny! Don't do things without consulting first, you've done enough screw-ups already!"

"You were the one acting so confident and bragging that you 'could handle it'!".- his employee retorted, pointing accusingly at him. "If we're in this mess, it's because of your lousy negotiating!"

"Don't you dare blame me, if you're the one who started all this!"

"I'd blame Revy, but the contract prevents me from doing so!"

"Hey, leave me out of this, you piece of shit!" said Revy this time, shaking his fist in a threatening manner. "I was against your stupid idea from the beginning!"

Dutch sighed deeply to calm down. This was no time to be arguing in vain, they had to act and get rid of the disk as soon as possible. They were already up to their necks in shit, there was no point in trying to back out now.

Once they could sell the disk, he would call Balalaika to explain the new situation and leave that problem to some other poor bastard.

"Okay, people, let's move our asses. We need to get a buyer before they turn us into soup."

Rock thought that whatever Janet was doing with the two laptops, hers and that of the director of Asahi Industries, she was doing it right.

"Hehehehe."

Or so it seemed, considering the little giggles she let out from time to time.

"In short..." said Hansel, catching her attention.

To Rock's surprise, he and Gretel was near Balalaika, when normally they preferred to be away from her, asking her questions about the latest news she told them. Or rather, the news she told Rock.

But he passed the gossip on to the kids because...Japan was boring and there wasn't much to do.

"That group of brainless mercenaries stole all your money to blackmail you for more money, and now as revenge you're going after their asses to teach them a lesson?" the male twin continued, taking a step closer towards Balalaika, who wrinkled her face a little in disgust.

Despite having spent so much time together during this job, she still wasn't used to the twins' presence. Still, Rock didn't stop them and allowed them to mess with Balalaika.

It was amusing for him to see the discomfort Balalaika, who normally behaved in a cold and indifferent manner, even when performing the more savage acts such as torture... except for when she was pissed off.

Pissed off Balalaika was very scary.

Rock didn't know if her discomfort was because she was mean to kids in general, or because the twins were, especially Hansel, in the habit of destroying her toilets for fun. In either case, it was funny.

"That's right.".-Balalaika replied.

"Damn it!"-Hansel pounded his fist against his open hand. "I knew we should have stayed there! Those idiots always make things funnier!"

"I don't think being chased by mercenaries who want to kill them qualifies as fun."

"No, I meant it about stealing money from you just to piss you off."

"...Are you looking for me to kill you, you little bastard?"

"Now, that would be fun too."

As the conversation was becoming dangerous, Rock was about to intervene and push Hansel away. But fortunately, Gretel beat him to it, kicking her brother in the shin.

The latter let out a small pained squeal and knelt down, rubbing his injured leg. "That's enough."-she said sternly. "Stop messing with the Ruskie, it will be a serious problem if we antagonize her again."

Balalaika snorted, somewhere between relieved and amused. "It's good to know that one of you has sense."

Gretel continued her scolding, "After all, we may have to call Mom at some point."

"Where did that come from?!" exclaimed Rock, springing to his feet and startling Jane, as he was sitting next to her to guide her in the use of Kageyama's boss pc.

Gretel looked at him with noticeable seriousness and a hint of annoyance. "Do you really find that so surprising? The sexual tension between you and her is stronger than the one you have with Anego, you can practically cut it with a knife, it's starting to make me uncomfortable."

"No, you're totally wrong!"

"I'm surprised the two of you haven't fucked yet."

Rock covered his ears, embarrassed. "Stop it!"

"Anyway, back to the previous point, the Lagoon company now has all the money that I didn't have to try too hard to steal for." said Balalaika, changing the subject without being bothered by Gretel's outrageous statements.

'Huh?' Rock thought stupidly. 'Without being bothered?'

"It's a shit, because even though I know they will go to one of the other leaders in Ronapaur to change the money in that bank account...".-Continued Balalaika. "I have no idea who it might be with, there are many possible candidates."

"Well, send mercenaries to search one by one," Hansel commented. "And if any of them have that thing you're looking for, then have them kill them and retrieve it."

"It's not that simple, brat. There aren't many mercenaries willing to take on leaders of criminal organizations, including Two Hands, just for a little money."

"I'd do it, and without needing to be paid in return."

"You're a bloodthirsty psychopath, you don't count."-Balalaika replied.

"Is it really that hard to predict who they'll go with?" said Rock, now calmer, catching her and the twins' attention. "It's pretty obvious to me."

"What do you mean, Japonski?"

"You say you're sure they'll go for some Roanapur leader..."

"Da. While it's not so easy to exchange that much money for another currency of higher value, Dutch has many contacts among important people in the city who can help him with that task, even more so if he's willing to give a portion of that income. You know, typical money laundering."

" Yeah, but you're forgetting something important; almost everyone is afraid of you. Ronnie and his allies, the Albanian mafia if I remember correctly, won't be encouraged to look for trouble with you. The Roanapur Yakuza might present a danger, but the Washimine group have allied themselves with you and the other independent groups are too small to take that risk. The same applies to the Latin mafia there. " Rock explained, from his logical point of view...

Although he wasn't entirely sure, given the tendency of criminals on that island, especially a certain brainless gunwoman, to lack common sense.

"With all that, I can only think of someone crazy and brave enough to dare accept that bank account, even if it means defying you, since he has the necessary strength and resources." Rock continued, with a bead of cold sweat trickling down his face. "And that would be..."

"Are you guys retarded?" said Chang, after hearing Dutch's explanation of the new mess he and his useless employees had gotten themselves into, and the reason why the three of them came looking for him.

He knew that they would sooner or later do something that would complicate their lives, after all, once he was done with his other unfinished business, Chang set in motion his malicious little plan of revenge against Dutch for turning him in to Watsup that one time.

Namely, meddling in the Lagoon company's business so that they would get low-value jobs and find themselves in a financial bind. Nothing significantly harmful and it wasn't going to last long either, he just wanted to see Dutch suffer a little.

But he never imagined that they would dare to steal money from Balalaika...

Chang didn't know if he should call that decision incredibly stupid, or brave.

But this outcome, the Lagoon company stealing a disk containing a big amount of money from Balalaika, although unexpected, turned out to be beneficial for him. After all, Dutch and his useless employees had brought him a good opportunity to get back at Balalaika for conspiring with the brat Hekmatyar to try to kill him.

'The main problem here, is the fucking Two Hands.' -Chang thought, staring at Revy unnoticed thanks to his cool dark glasses.

How could he deal with that useful, and dangerous, work tool without having to kill her? It would be a waste to do it just for a little money and it wouldn't be worth the risks.

There was also Dutch, who, while he hadn't seen him fight, was clearly a tough, strong guy. Benny posed no threat whatsoever, so he didn't bother to consider a method of reducing him without killing him.

In fact, there was a possibility, but...

"That's what I said, I warned these morons that it was a bad idea.". -Growled Revy defensively, interrupting his train of thought. "But they wouldn't listen to me."

"And since when do you warn people not to do something stupid and dangerous?"

She shrugged and, for some reason, smiled. "Heh. I guess some asshole I know rubbed a little of his common sense off on me."

Chang put a hand to his chest in a gesture that indicated he was moved. "Aww..."

"I wasn't talking about you!"

"I have a hard time believing that you learned anything good from anyone, and that it's not related to beating or killing people." -Chang replied, leaning back in his seat behind Balalaika's desk and casually reaching a hand toward his pocket.

He had a grenade hidden there.

Last time that trick worked well, so, ever since he got out of his confinement in the police station, he always carried a grenade in his pocket in case the Hekmatyar girl tried to attack him again.

'But using it here will be really troublesome.' -Chang thought. 'If I use it as a threat, Revy will either blow my head off with one shot, or they'll run away. And if he threw it, the explosion will destroy the disk and kill us all.'

Or worse, he would survive, but badly hurt, without the disk and having to pay Balalaika's office repair costs... again.

While Chang was racking his brain for a solution, his bodyguard, Biu Yuen, entered the office.

However, he looked more like a foreman than a bodyguard, as he was dressed in an outfit that a construction worker would normally wear. Biu Yue even got himself a yellow helmet to indicate that he was the boss and would not put up with any impertinence from a lower-ranking worker.

That, and the fact that he still had his dark glasses covering his eyes, gave him a truly arrogant appearance.

'A minor character shouldn't look so cool.'

"Mr. Chang, the hallway repairs are complete. All that's left is for the cement on the walls to harden, so I estimate that by tomorrow everything will be as good as new." -Biu Yuen reported, taking his role as foreman seriously.

"Grenade!" -Chang exclaimed in response, removing the pin from his hidden grenade and throwing it hard.

His bodyguard ducked to dodge the dangerous object and, as the doors were open, it flew past him, heading quickly towards the middle of the hallway.

An instant later, an explosion rocked the building and destroyed all the previous work of Bie Yuen and his workers.

"What the fuck, Mr. Chang!?" -Bie Yuen roared, visibly pissed off.

But Chang didn't answer her this time, as he had rushed at full speed towards the dazed and confused Lagoon company members.

Revy was the first to notice, but by then Chang was already in front of her. He then wrapped his arm around Revy's neck and slammed her to the ground with all his might.

Noticing this, Dutch turned to look at him, alarmed.

But then, taking advantage of the momentum, Chang threw an uppercut straight at Dutch's chin, impacting successfully. The force of the blow knocked the ex-military man off balance and he ended up falling backwards, slamming his head against the office wall.

He, like Revy, was knocked out.

Without stopping his attack for a second, Chang spun around and attacked Benny with a kick directly to his ribs, knocking him down and leaving him breathless.

All in less than a minute.

"What the fuck... Mr. Chang?" -Repatted his bodyguard, dumbfounded.

"Thanks, man."-Chang had a big smile on his face. It had been a while since he had moved so intensely, so it was funny. "You're as convenient as ever."