Roanapur Nights

A RosarioVampire and Black Lagoon Crossover

Chapter 27

Chang knew the city of Roanapur well. He'd ensured that the Hong Kong Triads had a major holding in every single part of the city. The pickpockets all paid some tribute to them, and of course they had a major hand in the slave trade. There was no lie that the heroine had been their biggest seller, but he'd done his best to make up other revenues of income once it was denied to them. It had stung to admit that Rock had actually managed to fuck them over like that.

Like it or no the gambler had won a small victory, and it was one that practically crippled them. There was no getting around it or denying it. So naturally he understood that when Silent Penance said they would go through the sewers that it was the only way to avoid attention that she was right. It didn't make any of it better. He looked at the cramped little maintenance room they were in.

The place had been built to obviously give the city workers a place to set their tools, get to work, and then move on. There were a couple of chairs, both of questionable quality, and a single folding table. It wasn't much, but the fact that she even knew about it was surprising to him. He knew of the existence of places like this, but mostly it was from the reports he got from the various members of the local government that they had paid off.

For the most part he was someone that accumulated knowledge, and then used it to whatever advantage he could. So far the information he'd gotten on the sewer system was being used, but the advantage was minimal at best. He looked at Silent Penance, "So, where are we going up at?"

She looked back toward him, that glowing red eye of hers a little off putting, but not enough to make him look away, "We've got another two blocks, and at that point we'll be at the pier. Your new bosses, the same people that paid me, have arranged for travel for us," she said as she looked at him, "They're going to leave in the dead of night, and we're going to head toward their closest base of operation that isn't on Roanapur. From there you will be handed over, and I was told that you'll be catching a plane over to Rome."

He nodded, "Okay, so they want me to head to Rome, what after that?"

She shrugged, "I don't know, and personally I don't care," she replied as she looked at him, "This is a business transaction. Nothing more. You are cargo, and I am the smuggler. I'd much rather would have enjoyed hunting down the men that put the hit out on you. That's more of the job that I prefer, but we take the jobs we're given, and we fucking do them."

She studied him, "And before you start any self righteous spill about taking whatever jobs come your way I want you to think. You're now a free agent, and you've agreed to work with the Scilians. That means that you're taking whatever job has come your way. But please, tell me that you're planning on betraying them. I'd love to have an excuse to do some hunting on this mission."

The words weren't just words. He understood exactly what they were. They were a promise. Silent Penance had all but informed him that she would deal with him. She had to bring him back alive, but there were various degrees that could be considered alive. She was proof that there was an acceptable amount of one's person that could simply not be anymore, and that would be fine. He nodded, "I have no reason to be hunted," he replied, his voice expressing the calm he didn't feel, "I would much rather make it out completely alive."

She nodded, "Then do us both a favor and be quiet. While we're not being actively hunted down here that doesn't mean that this place is without dangers," she warned as they took their break in the maintenance room, "More often than not some organizations likely move through there. When they do I would imagine that there are a few of them that have set up some traps."

She breathed in the air around them, "And that's not including any wildlife they may have left in their absence. It was common practice in France to leave poisonous vipers in the antichambers of the catacombs that some of the local cartels used," she stated as she looked around, "They deal with rats, and they ensure that anyone that was foolish enough to happen into their area of the catacombs were dealt with."

She shook her head, "The downside is that this area has places that my sensors can't get clear pictures. I'm struggling to find any real readings that make sense. That means that for the most part I will be dealing directly with whatever we encounter. Additionally that means that I need for you to follow my lead at all times," she made the statement, and he paid close attention, "If you start lagging behind you will find that there are ways of making you keep up. Do your best to not become a liability."

He nodded, "Believe me, I have every intention of getting out of this alive," he said as he looked toward her, "The one thing I've learned since being here is to know how the power dynamic will shift. With what I know, and my track record, I believe it will be enough to give my new employers more than enough leverage to become a major player in Roanapur."

He noticed that she finally seemed to be actually studying him for a moment, "Tell me," she said, her voice level, "Why make the change after all of this time. I know how much of the Triad and Yakuza families are like. There's a great deal that is death before dishonor. Personally, I've found it to be romanticized nonsense. If they want to commit suicide then who am I stop them, but to die because of a notion makes no sense. There's living, and there's dying. That's all there is to it. The dead can't do anything, and the living are the ones that change things."

He nodded, "Exactly," he replied, "My former employers are big about honor. They believe that it is more important to have honor, more important to stand as an entity that is beyond the purpose of making money and gaining power. It's a foolish notion. They saw the slowed income as a failure, and yet they didn't see the work going in to maintain the level of income that was needed."

He laughed a little, "They had no idea what I was doing to ensure their continued power within the city. I created the foothold the Hong Kong Families have in Roanapur. If it weren't for me there wouldn't be an established presence. It seems only right that I be the one to take it away."

She seemed to study him for a moment, "You're lying," she said, her voice flat, "Personally, I don't care that you are. My job is to escort you to the Scilian's ship that's waiting, and to ensure that you board it. Everything beyond that is on them, and it is on you. If you fuck them over, then you fuck them over. My job is simple. Don't fuck with it and I will protect you as I see fit until we get to the boat and you board it."

He looked at her, "What makes you think that I'm lying?" he asked as he studied her, "I mean what gives you that idea?"

She studied him, "There are small things that happen when people lie, and for most people they aren't things that can be caught easily," she replied, "In fact, most people that are professionals at catching liars only catch about seventy percent. They can't tell when someone's body chemistry changes ever so slightly. For instance, there's a slight chemical that is released when someone is telling a lie and they believe they are getting away with it. That chemical is similar to the same chemicals that are released when people feel like they're in love, or at least lusting after a person. Most don't understand that a person's body is essentially lying to them in order for them to fall in love. That all of the things that people seem to miss about the person they are with is their own senses fooling them."

She shook her head, "You're good at lying, and if I wasn't close to you, and I didn't have my sensors then I wouldn't be able to tell. So, yes I know you're lying, but personally I don't give a fuck."

He studied her for a moment more, "Then there's really no point in going into detail about it either," he said, his demeanor was still calm, but he was more formal, "Part of what I said was the truth. My employers absolutely have no idea what all I've had to do in order to ensure that we had a major piece of the action on Roanapur," he said before he stopped and looked at the door of the maintenance room, "And now they're going to have to learn. It will be a very hard learning curve, and it will be one that they won't want to accept."

As he talked a young dullahan studied the trail that was left behind. To many the drone that was used would have been enough to throw the trail completely off. It wasn't that way for Dahlia. She had studied the room, the drone, and she found the bits of evidence that pointed to where the transmission was coming from, "So, what would Mr. Holmes say, eh?" she asked as she studied the building she had made it to, "When you remove everything else, there's only the improbable left."

The small apartment she had traced the evidence back to looked as if it had been practically wiped clean. She could smell the cheap bleach that had been used on the surface of every hard surface. At the end of the day, any real evidence would likely be gone. The only thing that might be left would be anything that couldn't be moved. That was when she considered her prey that she was tracking. Silent Penance herself was an assassin.

She was also a man-made monster. A cyborg that used some of the more sophisticated technology available in order to do what was needed. She stopped, her eyes widened at that thought. It didn't matter how advanced something was, there were rules that all technology needed to follow. In order to control something there had to be some kind of controller. Likely that controller was Silent Penance herself, but it wouldn't be like she was able to have that kind of range. She would need to be connected to something.

The first, and most obvious answer was the internet, but that wasn't a guarantee. The internet itself was vast, and it tended to be more unlawful than all of Roanapur itself. Still, she would likely have something that would protect her from the would be attackers of the internet. So she likely had a firewall. She looked around the apartment and she saw the wall. There was a built-in modem.

The apartments themselves had small built-in modems that existed in the wall. Something that couldn't just be destroyed or removed. She moved toward it, and she studied it for a moment. She could see the paint around it, and she could see how it looked as if something had recently been plugged into it. She closed her eyes, "Okay, Likely she used it, so what now?" she asked herself as she studied it, "Damn it, I gotta find someone that knows something about hacking and networking."

She tried to think for a few moments, "What 'bout Jane?" she said as she stood there, "Girl owes me, she does, don't know if'n she's 'ere, but gotta figure that she'd wanna make things square."

With her thoughts settled she dug out the satellite phone that she had been given. She moved toward the window, opened it, and set the transmitter down. She didn't know the technical sides of it, but the guys that gave it to her said that it worked with some T.V. service satellite service. Apparently they were less monitored. She dialed the number that Jane had given her, and she waited.

"Huff, huff, hello?" came the voice of Jane, "Huff, huff, who is it?"

"Jane, ya sexed up numpty, I need technical help, and yer gonna pay me back, so get to."

There was silence for a moment, "Damn it girl, I'm in the middle of, ugh, video chatting, mmmmm, my boyfriend, can't this wait like, oh God I forgot how HUGE that thing is! Umm, I mean can't it wait like ten minutes?"

There was a moment of quiet, "Jane, remember how when you managed to piss off a very powerful 'Merican that wanted ta see if it'd be possible to make you do donkey shows for the next fifty years 'cause ya managed to steal 'bout fifteen million offa 'im?" she asked as she sat there, "The same 'Merican that's been upping the bounty every six months?"

There was silence for a moment, "Dahs, you wouldn't."

"Try me," she replied, "I need the help, and you need ta put on yer big girl panties and help."

There was a moment of silence, "Fuck," she said as she sat there, "Fine, I can't be there, but my boyfriend can. I'll send him the coordinates, and he better make it back alive and whole. Don't fuck him up, and don't let anything happen to him."

"I dunnae mess with people that I dunnae have a contract for. He's safe."

She heard a few huffs, "Benny, can you go to the location that I'm giving you, and yes, you can ask two hands to accompany you," she heard Jane say, "And Dahs, before you complain I know that it would be foolish to let him go on his own. Trust me, he'll want the protection. It's not from you, but rather from the whole damn island."

She nodded, "Good 'nough." she replied before she let the line go dead. With Jane's help she could get the information that she needed. She'd been told that all modems usually kept some kind of memory, or some kind of information on the machines hooked up to them, "Let's hope that the boys knew what they were saying then."

She leaned back and settled down for a moment. She had no doubt that Jane would finish up whatever fun she was having first, but she would cut it short. In truth she could admit that Jane was making more than good on her side of things. Honestly, if she were with someone, and she was called and told that someone was calling in their favor she'd be pissed. Sure, she'd do it. There's such a thing as honor, but she'd still be pissed.

The few moments that she spent were slowly studying the rest of the apartment. Like most people she knew electronics and computers, but she wasn't overly gifted with the more intimate knowledge of them. She was more or less a layman. Meaning that she knew enough to be dangerous, but that was about the extent of it. She could navigate the web on a computer, and she certainly could use a smartphone if needed. There were even civilian tracking devices that she could use.

But the more intimate information was information she didn't know. She didn't know how to get into a modem and see what the last machine hooked up to it was. She also didn't know how to directly figure out a way to track that machine. For that she needed to have someone skilled. She stopped the line of thoughts when she saw the one very real piece of evidence that someone had been here.

The small cup was not really out of place. It was the sort of thing that could be found in most homes, but apartments like these usually didn't keep them. It wasn't that people wouldn't use them, but rather it was because they could be used to attract bugs. The small styrofoam cup was something left behind. She could see the small bits of evidence that it had held ramen at one point. She didn't dare sniff it. If she were the assassin she would have laced it with some poison powder.

A nice quick way to deal with some unwanted individual that might be tracking her. From the looks of it the cup was the kind that came from any number of convenience stories, but there were only a few that would have complete anonymity when it came to the city. Getting the information from those that worked there would take longer than what the payout would be worth.

She knew that the cup ended up here, and she had no doubt that Chang and Silent Penance had been here. This was just confirmation. She looked around for anything else, but the rest of everything had been cleaned and removed. That further cemented her theory that whoever had left it had done so with a purpose. It was meant to be a trap. Get someone to touch or sniff it. It was meant to ensure their escape, and of course ensure the death of whoever messed with it.

She began to settle when she heard a knock. She opened the door to see a blond haired man standing there. He studied her a moment, "Jane said that you needed some information pulled from a modem?"

She nodded, "Over there," she said pointing to the wall, "The damned thing is in the wall, I cannae get it to, and I dunwanna try."

He nodded, and she watched as he pulled out a laptop. Within a few moments he was hooked up to it, and she watched as he looked surprised, but then he shrugged, seemed to type in a few commands, and then looked at her, "Whoever was last here attempted to leave a nasty little virus in the modem. It seems that they know enough about the telecom connection to leave a looping virus there," he said before he shrugged, "It wasn't hard to kill the virus, and so what did you need?"

She studied him, "What the last machine, before yerrs, that was hooked into it?"

She watched as he typed, "Huh, it's some kind of special processor. I haven't seen the specs like this on a regular machine before. I can't tell you what kind of computer, but I can tell you that it had processing power that simply outshined what most computers can do."

She nodded, glad that her choker was holding her head in place, "Okay, can ye track it?"

He studied her, "Well, I mean sure. Whatever this machine is I can see that it's automatically connecting to WiFi. That means that it's able to reach out and do so. I'm going to guess that it's for some navigation equipment it has."

He studied it and then quickly took out a small tablet, "Okay, I'm putting into the information into this tablet, and I'm setting it to automatically connect to the random open and locked WiFi hotspots around the city. It'll bypass most simple locked modems without a problem. It's going to show a flashing red dot. That's the other machine. It'll be using its own navigation equipment against it."

She took the tablet, "Thanks," she said as she stood, "Tell Jane I was sorry as hell to screw up yer little bit of fun."