"An endless beautiful symmetry
Designed to fail, sweet catastrophe
Once lost in the glow
Now I'm the devil you don't know
What's left to lose?
All I want is you."
-Closer by Rolo Tomassi
Chapter 1: Operation Gatecrasher
"Gatecrasher?" Revy questioned, "What a stupid name for an op."
"What's got your panties in a twist?" Rock asked, "You've been frumpy since we left Roanapur."
"Call me frumpy one more time and I swear to fucking God I'll end you." Revy replied.
Rock looked over at her, the mid-day sun cast a brilliant purple aura through the gunslinger's hair. Since they had gotten closer, he had yet to figure out how to tell Revy the sort of things he found attractive about her. Normally when he complimented her it ended with threats and a swift kick in the nuts, at least the one time. But she really did look nice. And they were alone on the bow of the ship.
"I just think you look too good to be acting like this." Rock said lightly. He placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Dutch might see!" Revy whispered. The two had yet to tell anyone in their circle about their arrangement. There were always more pressing matters, and neither one knew exactly how to go about it. Rock kept his hand where it was.
"He's still on the docks with Benny, we have the boat to ourselves." Rock said.
Revy sighed, "I just hate Hong Kong is all." The Lagoon was resting in one of the outer docks of an exclusive yacht club in Hebe Haven, just outside the city where ADVENT patrols weren't likely to go snooping.
"How come?" Rock asked.
"'Cause I look like a local, and whenever someone talks to me in Cantonese I feel stupid." Revy admitted.
"Aw, that's nothing to get worked up over." Rock said.
"You're right, but whenever I try talking to them it sounds like when Chinglish tries to talk to us." Revy said. She leaned closer into his shoulder, his grip firmed up affectionately.
Rock chuckled, "I'm sure they don't mind it at all. You're making a better effort than most foreigners I bet."
"Just drop it." Revy said finally, "When're they due to get here anyway?"
Rock took his hand off her and looked at his watch, "Shouldn't be too long. They're the diversion after all."
"Still can't believe Dutch has us going with this bullshit." Revy said, "Terrorism never ever ends the way you want it to."
Rock sighed and patted Revy on the back again. He thought back to the mission brief before they left Roanapur. They would be acting as the transit for an underground resistance group called XCOM. Dutch was apparently a member back some twenty years ago, but that's all he'd say. Rock had tried to dig further into the organization, but ADVENT's encryption on the matter was too good, even for Feng and Benny's skills.
The idea was that a team of four operatives would blow up a statue in the center of the city, then drive out to the dock where the Lagoon was to escape the city. While ADVENT was distracted with that, a smaller team would move to capture something else across the city, their getaway was another contingency. The two parties would then meet on the Babuyan Islands in the Philippines, enough space from Hong Kong for Dutch to evade any ADVENT chasers.
"This isn't exactly terrorism though." Rock said, "Just a diversion."
"Sure, and what did your buddy Takanaka call it? Revolution? Jihad?" Revy spat back.
Rock had to admit she had a point, and he couldn't exactly debate her on it either. It was the first time she had pulled him out of a major fire. "Touche, mi amour." he said to defuse.
"Fuck off with that frog shit." Revy said, turning towards the dock. Rock thought he'd missed it, but he saw a slight smirk on her lips. He was going to keep teasing but there was an audible disturbance, Dutch and Benny were dashing back towards the boat.
"REVY!" Dutch called, "Get the AP rockets!"
"Get below deck, engines fired." Revy commanded, Rock didn't say anything, and they went below deck.
Rock went to the cockpit and prepped the boat's engines. The vessel rumbled to life as Dutch barged in. "Get ready to receive our cargo, they'll be coming in hot!" he said.
Rock nodded and caught a glimpse of Revy emerging from the hatch on deck, an RPG with a HEAT warhead ready to be fired. He hurried to the stern of the ship, which was closest to the docks, almost crashing into Benny on the way. He got to the deck hatch and peeked out.
There was a small utility truck racing down the docks with an ADVENT transport ship in hot pursuit. Rock had only just realized what was going on when he heard a loud blast come from the bow. Revy had shot her first rocket. It hit the transport almost dead in the center, a firehose of debris and metal flew out the opposite end where the rocket hit. The pilot struggled to keep it in the air.
The truck was nearly at the boat and Rock got on deck. A second shot from Revy hit the transport at the front, blasting another hole of thunder through the transport. It careened forward and somersaulted into the water below, taking a small yacht with it.
Rock barely had any time to take in the scene as the truck screeched to a halt by the Lagoon. The passenger door was kicked open and a soldier wearing tactical gear jumped out, an assault rifle strapped around his back. His shoulder-length auburn hair was barely held back from his eyes by a pair of aviators. He rushed to open the back door.
Inside was a woman who was clad in similar looking armor, she also wore a boonie hat with sunglasses and a bandana, almost entirely covering her face. Her tanned hands were bloody as she tried to place pressure on the neck of another soldier who was bleeding out in the seat next to her.
"MONACO!" the first man yelled, "WE GOTTA GO!"
"BLOODY HELL!" the woman shouted in reply, her accent tinged British.
She hopped out of the van and was joined by the driver, another man who was fully clad in black tactical gear, face hidden by his helmet's visor. Together they hauled the body out of the backseat and started to drag it to the edge of the dock. The first man jumped on board and was joined by Rock. The two on the dock lowered the body and jumped on board themselves.
Revy was still near the bow on overwatch with her RPG. She saw the others board and gave Dutch the thumbs up through his windshield. The boat jerked forwards as Rock helped the last of the passengers down the hatch to the brig. He closed it and found the soldiers rapidly setting up a triage center for their wounded man.
"Why didn't we bring a medkit?" the soldier with aviators asked, a hint of German slipping through his accent.
"Because Central wanted us to be high speed, low drag or whatever other bollocks he said." The woman, Monaco, said.
"What's done is done." The soldier in black said, his accent distinctly Russian.
"He's gone." Monaco said somberly as she felt for a pulse on her compatriot.
"God damn it, this Commander better be worth it." The soldier in aviators said. The three looked down at the body ominously. Rock meanwhile was standing a few paces away, letting them organize their thoughts.
After a short time, he cleared his throat. "My name is Rock. I'm sorry about your loss." he said. The soldiers looked at him and resigned themselves.
"Do you have a sink aboard?" Monaco asked.
"Sure, just go through there, then on your left." Rock directed. The soldier nodded and went through the door leading to Benny's room. Rock could see through a gap that the ship's hacker was rapidly working on his terminal, surely jamming ADVENT's response units.
"If you don't mind, what was his name?" Rock asked, referring to the body.
"He was the first casualty of this war." The soldier in black said. "And hopefully the last for a long time."
"I would hardly say he is the first." The soldier in aviators said.
"A matter of perspective." The soldier in black said. "You can call me Illusion, by the way." Illusion stuck out his hand to Rock, before realizing it was covered in blood. He retracted quickly.
"Code names?" Rock asked.
"Of course." The soldier in aviators said, "Can't be too careful. Mine is Frosty, and her's is Monaco."
"The dearly departed was Double." Illusion said.
"I see." Rock said. "Like I said, my name is Rock, also a code name of sorts. The man through the door there is Benny, our tech guy. Revy is the woman with the rockets up top, and the captain is Dutch. I need to go talk to him now actually."
"Aye-aye." Frosty said, crossing his arms. His eyes were obscured, but his chiseled mouth was somber, aimed at his dead comrade.
Rock went up to the cockpit where he found Revy and Dutch.
"What's up with the bleeder?" Revy asked.
"Dead." Rock said.
"Fuckin hell." Revy muttered.
"It's all right, we'll get paid all the same." Dutch said, "It's a damn shame though."
"What about pursuit?" Revy asked.
"We're just about out of Hong Kong's waters now, Benny's been doing the Lord's work keeping ADVENT off our backs." Dutch said, "Can't tell if it's him or Kevin Mitnik down there."
"That's good at least." Rock said.
"We should still keep our guard up." Revy said. "I'm gonna keep an eye out for anything on deck. If one of those soldier boys wants to help send them up."
"Noted." Rock said before she went out on deck, launcher in hand.
"What about the other three?" Dutch asked before Rock could turn away. "Are they still solid?"
"I can't really tell." Rock said, "You know those types, can be hard to read."
"Fair enough." Dutch pondered, "Go ask them if they'd send someone to help with overwatch. There should be a spare RPG and ammo with the other guns."
"On it." Rock said. He grabbed the other launcher and a satchel of HEAT projectiles before heading back to the brig. There he found the three soldiers in a huddle. They broke as soon as the door opened.
"I hate to trouble you, but we could use someone else on overwatch up top." Rock said meekly.
"On it." Monaco said. She grabbed the RPG and rushed outside.
"We should probably go too." Illusion said.
"Yeah, don't want to look at him anymore." Frosty said. The two almost completely ignored Rock and followed Monaco to the deck.
Rock looked around the room and saw the body, a small thermal blanket was covering it, but the outline was unmistakable. His helmet was sat on one of the room's benches, Rock's eye caught the blue insignia that was patched on the side.
"Vigilo Confido?" Rock questioned, wracking his brain for Latin, "I am watchful, I am reliable? Just who are these guys?"
As Rock pondered this, the ship took a rapid turn and he stumbled. Several rumbles and explosions came from outside, and he made way to the deck.
"RELOADING!" Revy shouted before ducking behind one of the now-empty torpedo tubes. The other launcher fired its rocket, a loud boom was heard after, a hit target. Revy had barely any time to learn the soldiers' names before ADVENT had caught up with them.
"I'm doing all I can." Benny said through Revy's headset. "Whatever these guys did, it really pissed off the aliens."
"No shit Sherlock." Revy said back. "We don't have many rockets left, maybe enough to take out two more transports." Almost as soon as she said that, Rock poked his head out of the stern hatch to watch the fight.
"ROCK!" Revy yelled over the fray, he turned his head to hers, "Get the Gepard." He nodded and ducked back inside for the antimaterial rifle.
"They're coming in for a strafe!" Frosty shouted as he handed Revy another rocket. His intuition was right, and several red bolts flew over the bow and dinged up the hull. The Lagoon was strong enough to handle a little abuse, but nothing prolonged.
Revy growled and jammed the rocket into place. She darted back up again and led the offending transport with her sights. "Backblast clear!" she shouted before pulling the trigger. The rocket sailed towards the transport hitting front and center. The ship veered to one side in the air before turning into a full barrel-roll, crashing in the sea below.
"Got 'em!" Revy celebrated.
"Nice one!" Frosty said, handing her another rocket, "But I count two more approaching."
"In my sights." Monaco said to Revy's left. Illusion and she had been covering port and joined the others starboard. She launched the rocket, and it clipped a thruster on one of the approaching transports. The pilot struggled to keep the ship stable, and a follow-up rocket from Revy sent it to the blue.
"Here's the rifle Revy." Rock said from behind. He was laden with a long anti-materiel rifle with a satchel of spare magazines across his back.
"Thanks, now go get whatever other rockets we got. Even normal ones are better than none." Revy said as she took the rifle.
"On it." Rock said before darting back towards the stern hatch.
"I'll take the rifle." Revy said, "I want you two to handle this launcher, I'll resupply her." She shoved the launcher into the hands of Illusion.
"Yes ma'am." Frosty said, the two shuffling further down along the torpedo tube.
"You got a knack for command." Monaco quipped as she loaded another rocket.
"Just don't like wasting time." Revy said as she scoped in on the other transport, which was almost 500 meters out.
Revy braced the rifle on the torpedo tube and fired off a volley of rounds. They clinked off the transport's armor, but a shot landed in one of the thruster's intakes. A billow of smoke emerged from the engine, but the pilot still had control.
"I'll finish it off." Illusion shouted form down the line.
"NO!" Revy responded, "Let me take out the engines."
She fired off the rest of the bullets in her magazine at the thruster behind the one that was smoking. Two shots hit the intake and the ship started to wax and wane before crashing into the water.
"You'd give Spades a run for her money." Monaco said. Revy ignored the comment and turned towards the hatch, where Rock was emerging once again with satchels of high explosive, but not armor piercing rockets.
"Get your ass back inside, stay with Dutch and make sure Benny's still cool." Revy told her partner. Rock nodded sternly and went towards the cabin. Revy would've normally kept him in sight, more for her own assurance than his safety. But something told her this chase was going to end sour.
The four still on deck continued their watch over the seas as the Lagoon's engine gave everything it had to put as much distance as it could from Hong Kong. Revy was getting restless, her adrenaline was still pumping, and her blood was icy cool, keeping the scope steady. The soldiers around her were in a similar state. Yet their training allowed them to better use their heightened state of awareness.
"You see that?" Monaco asked Revy, "Ten o'clock."
Revy whipped her rifle to the left and scanned through her scope at the open sky. Her eyes widened.
"Benny." she spoke into her radio, "You seein' this?"
"Yeah, radar's picking up a dozen of them." He responded.
"For fucks sake!" Revy exclaimed, "Twelve more incoming, better ready up."
"Roger." Monaco said.
"Rockets are green to go." Frosty said.
"Roger." Illusion acknowledged.
It didn't take long for the transport fleet to catch up with the Lagoon. As soon as Revy started firing, plasma bolts streaked past the Lagoon in response. She had managed to take down one with what she was convinced to be divinely assisted shots.
Meanwhile the soldiers had been busy with their rockets. The first few transports that made it within range were dealt with expediently. Once the HEAT rockets ran out though, things got more desperate.
"Revy, I'll hit the cockpit with these rockets, you try and penetrate the weakened armor." Monaco said as she readied her launcher.
"Good idea, let's get these fuckers." Revy said.
Monaco launched a rocket towards a transport that was getting closer than the others, about 400 meters. The rocket hit the front as promised, leaving a huge dent, smoldering whisps of smoke, and gray metal left bare of its black paint. Revy didn't take long to act, she piled rounds into the impact site, and she thought she was making progress, but the bullets just weren't penetrating.
"Fuck, I'm almost out of ammo." Revy said as she loaded her last magazine.
"Take out any others you can then." Monaco said, "Given they haven't blasted us out of the water yet I think they want to board."
"Revy." Dutch crackled over the radio, "I don't know how much longer I can keep up evasive maneuvers. The engine's at its limit and it's been tagged a few times."
"Okay Dutch." Revy responded, "They'll board. Just buy us a little more time and send Rock up with as many guns as he can carry."
Dutch clicked the radio and Revy managed to down one more transport with shots in the thrusters before her magazine ran cold. She whipped the rifle down and sat back against the cabin wall. The transports were right on top of them now, Monaco's prediction that they wanted to board was correct.
Revy wiped her brow with the back of her hand and stared at the closest-approaching transport. Not that she meant to get all nihilistic in that very moment, but she didn't see a clean way out of this one. And just as she managed to get Rock to stop being an idiot with her. Or maybe she was the idiot. She didn't quite know.
Revy thought back to the day when it happened. It was during that fiasco with the psycho maid and the Venezuelan kids. At the time her feelings for Rock were near fever pitch. Something about that time sort of rang true into the present. Roberta was a formidable opponent. Very few had managed to beat Revy in combat, and a draw was nigh-unheard of in a place like Roanapur. Those were for sportsmen, not mercenaries.
Revy remembered. They were in her apartment. She was working out, trying to get him to back off the whole deal he had with Garcia and Chang. She had purposefully worn only a t-shirt and sweats for the meet. Even after knowing him for years at that point, she still couldn't tell what his taste was in women. All she knew was that Eda had managed to get him blushing, but not in an amorous way.
The conversation had gotten almost too philosophical, she had to turn it back to herself. Her own feelings. She got off the frame she was using for crunches and went towards the shower. Below the steam and water, she brought up Rock's failed rescue of that schoolgirl from Japan, the one he saw drive a sword through her throat.
Revy looked down, her eyes and face fully vulnerable, not that he would've seen. "Do you ever consider me?" she asked.
"I'm grateful." Revy remembered him saying, in better words of course. But for her that wasn't enough. She needed a better reason.
"How am I supposed to live with what you do?" Revy had asked, "I'm through with just going with the flow."
Rock had taken a pause at the comment, something Revy wasn't keen on tending. She had laid out herself to him in that moment. Whatever answer he gave would define their relationship from there onwards. She desperately hoped, deep down, in her innermost core, the Rebecca Lee buried underneath the bitchy mess of Revy Two Hand, that he'd say something corny, 'You complete me', 'I can't live without you', 'I love you'. But Revy reality checked herself, of course it was never going to be that easy.
Rock lit a cigarette, "When we were in Japan, you said you were a gun." he said calmly, "If you're the gun, I'm the bullet."
Revy looked down at the tiles as the steam and water coated her. She didn't know what to make of what he had said. To someone not privy to the inner workings of their relationship it would've seemed like nonsense, and it sounded a little like that to Revy too. So, she determined to challenge it.
Revy turned off the shower, and Rock went on about his old life as she dried off. Talking about how she had set him on the path he travelled now. Like how the lead in a bullet was sent along by the hammer in a gun. It made a certain amount of sense, and Revy saw his point. But she wanted something else.
Revy walked back into the bedroom, only panties and a towel covering her. The two had seen each other naked plenty of times aboard the Lagoon. But she felt this situation was much different than those times on the job.
"Baby light my fire…" Revy had said, an old Doors lyric Rock didn't know. She reflexively started to challenge his analogy, calling him a silver bullet without a direction. Her words were true. Something that drove her attraction to Rock was his ability to do the impossible, to go into the world of Roanapur, one that had shaped her in lead. Only to come out on top repeatedly without ever firing a shot.
She questioned however if this was the right time for him to fly, or if he'd miss his shot this time around. His response was the kicker though, "…from here on out, it's your choice."
She drained a bottle of water from her fridge and thought about how to respond. Her brain had gone into a freeze at the trust he was showing in her. In a move she'd almost regretted, she tossed the empty bottle at Rock, ordering him to get more water. She lit a cigarette after he left and thought. After a short while, however, she made her way to bed and sat down. Feeling like this was a similar choice that she had faced in Japan, just before the bowling alley.
She reached the same conclusion… fuck it.
Rock came back to the room, a full bottle in his hands. He looked over at Revy and sat the thing back inside the fridge before walking up in front of her.
"You know." she started, "You give me everything, the choice of whether or not I enable your chosen path, your fulfillment." Revy thought for another second, she had to choose her words carefully.
"You don't have to think about it that way." Rock said.
"That's not what I was saying." Revy said, "I just… need… something else. Something more than your trust." Rock's eyes looked down and his hands went to his hips out of habit. Revy could tell he was thinking, anticipating her next move. Not that she had even thought that far ahead.
Revy reached out to his tie, the cyan symbol of his old life. She pulled it and brought him down to her level. Eye-to-eye she could tell he was now confused, something she could use.
"You know one thing about bullets and guns, jackass?" Revy said, Rock was going with it. The time for Rebecca Lee's corny line was here. "No matter what kind you are…the bullets go inside."
She moved her hand up to his tie's knot and pulled him closer. Their lips met.
The feeling was like a rollercoaster coming to an end. The only sensation felt by the passengers were relief, excitement, and above all, exhaustion. They both kept their eyes open, both knowing this new chapter in their relationship wouldn't be like a storybook.
The two separated after a millisecond. Rock's eyes were in a frozen state, but his instincts, his base as a person, Rokuro Okajima, took over. He grabbed the back of Rebecca's head and pulled her in again.
Her grip tightened on the tie.
His belt had vanished, her back met the sheets.
He grabbed her.
She let go.
In the aftermath of their consummation, they both were on their side. Rebecca's arms were loosely around Rokuro, her lack of true intimate experience showing its colors. He was more confident, however. His hand traced her bare back and toyed with a stray lock of hair.
The two let their eyes do the talking for a time. Each of them agreed that this wasn't out of the blue. Whether they would admit it or not, they had feelings for each other all the way back to the market where she tried to kill him. She knew that was an idiotic move on her part. But how did she expect to come back from that? When she saw his hand on her Cutlass, the muzzle just wide of his head, her heart started a slow thaw. She knew now it was up to him to finish the job.
"What does this mean?" she let slip.
"I don't know." he said, "I hope it's the start of something better."
"Got some more cheesy lines?" Rebecca asked, her lips curled into a smirk.
"If it thaws your frozen heart as much as it already has, then sure." Rokuro said.
"You're such a cliché." she said, turning and flopping down on her back. A dumb grin on her face.
He leaned up on an elbow, "But that's why you like me, right?" he chided.
"Yeah, whatever." Rebecca said, she peeked out the window, a view towards the city's harbor.
"We should talk like this more." Rokuro said, rubbing his hand on her shoulder.
"Need to improve your game though." she said, a smile still gracing her lips.
"I know you enjoyed yourself." he said, "I'm sure the neighbors know too."
"God, fuck off." Rebecca said, turning back towards Rokuro. She lightly pushed him off the bed. He tumbled down in a mess of sheets.
"Huh?" Rokuro questioned.
"We gotta go, remember?" Revy said. Rock laughed, of course they did.
Revy kept wanting to relive that day but was rocked back to sad reality by Monaco. "Get back in the game!" she said, smacking Revy lightly on the cheek.
Revy batted away the hand and sat up again. "Fuckin do that again. I dare you, cunt."
Monaco backed off. Revy couldn't see her face for sure due to all the accoutrements, but the gunslinger felt a silent resolve from the soldier. Intimidation wouldn't work on her.
"I don't give a single bloody fuck what you're daydreaming about." she said forcefully, "We got ADVENT on our ass, and we need your fucking guns!"
Revy growled and unholstered her Cutlasses. She looked to the sky and saw a transport hovering above the stern of the ship, the pilot was matching Dutch's evasive maneuvers well enough to allow the troops to land.
"Hold on!" Frost chimed, he shouldered a rocket launcher and aimed it at the ship.
"It won't penetrate." Illusion said cautiously.
"You need to think more creatively." Frost said, "Just wait until they open the doors."
"Excellent point!" Monaco said, shouldering her own launcher.
The four made their way back and took cover behind the cabin as the transport finished its preparations. The doors opened and as said, Frosty launched his rocket into the cabin. Followed by Monaco's shot the two rockets significantly damaged the transport and none of the troopers inside managed to escape the blast.
With another transport in the sea, Revy and Illusion covered the others as they reloaded. Rock meanwhile had gotten the weapons ready. He poked his head out of the bow's deck hatch and seeing it was clear, he climbed out with a duffle bag of guns and ammo.
"Here's everything I could fit." Rock said. "I can go grab more ammo too if you're running low."
"Got anymore rockets?" Frosty asked.
"No, what's up here is it." Rock said.
"DUCK!" Revy shouted. An ADVENT transport sped past the Lagoon and started hovering over the bow, two more took up spots past the stern.
"I'll head bac-" Rock started to say, but a loud bang resounded through the air. And Revy saw a large metal spike sail towards the ship. She thought it was aimed at the deck, but to her horror, the grapple landed in Rock. It skewered him through the back and jutted out just below his stomach.
His face was shocked, and Revy made to grab ahold of him. She wrapped her arms around him as the cable was reeled back in. The two were dragged off the boat, and maybe if Revy had been seeing clearer, she would've avoided falling off the front of the ship. She lost her grip on Rock and fell into the sea.
Dutch saw what happened and swerved to avoid hitting Revy. She surfaced, guns still in hand. She looked up at the transport and saw Rock being tugged into a small hatch where the grappling hook's cord came from. A shutter slammed closed, and that was the last she saw of him.
The Lagoon meanwhile was circling back towards where Revy was. Monaco was hanging off the side with her hand out to catch Revy. But as soon as the gunslinger had picked up on what was happening, a huge bolt of plasma was shot from one of the transports.
It ripped through the stern of the Lagoon. The ship stopped in its tracks and those on deck were thrown forward with the momentum. All three fell off the boat. Another bolt was launched, and a hole was ripped in the bow. Revy could only look on in horror at what was happening.
Rock was gone.
The Lagoon was sinking.
X
Author's Notes:
-Thank you for reading! This has been a project not *long* in the making, but definitely something I've invested a lot of preparation into. If you are a returning reader of mine, the rewrite of Time Will Die is in the works, and I hope to have the first chapter out very soon. I'm finishing up the fic's outline/plan, and the first chapter is mostly written already.
-I'm looking for betas! I haven't used a beta before, so I'd like to work with someone who has some experience or who themselves is an author. If you are interested, PM me and we can talk about it.
-Canon-wise, this story takes place after all the currently completed Black Lagoon manga arcs. So, between New Girl In The Hood and Where The Chips Fall. I could work with the first part of Where The Chips Fall for this as if it were a standalone chapter, but I think this arc is going to be definitive for everyone in Roanapur, and I want to see how it develops before I start writing with it. Le Majeur is going to play a big role in this fic, so I hope you're a fan of her. Feng will also make a few appearances, but she won't be a major character for the most part. For XCOM, this is essentially a walkthrough of the War of the Chosen campaign. I know that Black Lagoon takes place in the late 90s-early 00s but I'm taking artistic license to merge the two. Besides, psionics and alien tech are basically magic anyways. And I'm taking a page from the Harry Potter Manual On Logic And Reasoning and just explaining all the advanced tech merging with the Lagoon-verse as "It's magic!"
-The revision to the convo between Revy and Rock is basically a retelling of the conversation they had in Vol 7 scene-for-scene. I chose this as the point for the relationship to begin since it just feels more natural for a relationship to blossom at that point than maybe any other point. It was just so obvious what Revy wanted, all she needed was to push a bit more. Also, do expect more flashbacks!
-The XCOM soldiers I'll be using throughout this series are all from my Character Pool and whom I've been attached to over my several campaigns. Their appearances are going to be left vague with a few defining features. I don't want to spend paragraphs describing these soldiers to you. It's okay to have your own personal images of them.
-Note on weaponry: HEAT stands for High Explosive Anti-Tank, AP is Armor Penetrating. I was also originally going to use a different rifle for Revy, but that was before I remembered she canonically used a Gepard M2 rifle during the opening arc against the helicopter. I spent an oddly long time looking into Gepard rifles, really interesting if you're a gun nerd.