Tales from Roanapur
Part Thirteen
Mary Sioux had been an American soldier. And a proud one, right up until she was ordered to bodyguard a CIA spook. It turned out he was selling drugs to finance weapons for supposed anti-communist forces. And because it was all hush hush black ops, she had nowhere to protest the assignment or the legalities.
Then the bastard got caught.
And everyone associated with the op, including her, was casually thrown under the bus. All the military types recieved dis-honorable discharges all around. Worse, the CIA man walked away from it mostly unscathed.
Left basically unemployable for most civilian work, Mary applied to various mercenaries and such. Including, on impulse, a German one. Imagine her surprise when they called her back... and she found out they were lead by Tanya Degurechaff, whom she had hated with a passion.
"Don't cut your nose off to spite your face," Tanya noted in the initial entry interview, seeing how furious Mary was.
"Oh?" Mary said flatly.
"You need work, we need exceptional soldiers. Which we both know you are. You're welcome to hate my guts otherwise," Tanya said.
"What's to stop me from just shooting you in the back at one point?" Mary asked, honestly surprised Tanya was offering her the job.
"You're too honorable for that," Tanya replied.
Mary scolded, but she really couldn't deny that.
Which, eventually, was what brought her here guarding ANOTHER spook.
Erya Roth gave her an amused look. "No shooting up the place," she ordered.
"Oh poo," Mary pouted.
Actually, Mary didn't really mind Erya. She was less twisty than most spooks, and actually looked out for her companions. Unlike that CIA bastard.
"So what's the plan?" Mary asked.
"Chief Watsup is functionally useless," Erya noted, "but he is connected to the police network. If your weapons shipment were stopped legally, he may know."
"We're probably going to have to bribe him, aren't we?" Mary sighed.
Erya nodded.
"Couldn't I just threaten to give him a new third nostril with my shotgun?" Mary cheerfully suggested.
"No. He's a waste of air, but killing him might bring in actual, capable cops," Erya noted. "No one wants that."
"Fine," Mary sighed.
The two women went into the police station, talked their way into Chief Watsup's office then convinced him to access records on smuggling. Sadly, there were no reports on anyone's shipments being legally seized.
"So that means it was crooks?" Mary asked as they walked up the street.
"Maybe," Erya answered, "or the reports just haven't hit the system." She added, "Filing is spotty at best here."
"Fuck," Mary growled.
"Yeah," Erya agreed, but she seemed a little distracted.
Mary looked where Erya was gazing, and saw an attractive, young-ish looking asian woman. 'Ah.' Mary smirked.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Miss Aya!" a voice called.
Aya Iseshima turned a bit warily to look, then brightened. "Miss Erya," she said warmly. Teasingly she added, "No new kidnapping attempts?"
Erya laughed, "Thankfully no." She looked over at Mary and sighed, "I need to get back."
"Nice seeing you," Aya said.
"I still want us to do dinner," Erya added as they walked away.
Aya smiled then turned to her patiently waiting associate. Who was frowning a bit. "Sorry for the wait," she said.
"Be careful around her," Nikolai warned.
"Hmm?" Aya looked at him questioningly.
"She's a former spy, and fiercely loyal to Degurechaff. If her boss asked her to snuff you, she'd do it," Nikolai said.
Aya shrugged as she reasonably pointed out, "Wouldn't anyone in Hotel Moscow do the same thing for Balalaika?"
Nikolai looked startled then laughed. "Point," he agreed.
"So, what's the job?" Aya asked briskly.
"Just collections. You're along to loom ominously," Nikolai noted.
"Phht. I'm not tall enough to loom," Aya noted.
"You manage ominous quite well," Nikolai answered.
Indeed, Aya was still well known for her ability to beat bloody much larger foes. And her casual arm breaking. Now though... she wondered what Erya thought of her reputation?
As they moved into a alley, Aya frowned. "Wait," she cautioned.
"YOU HOTEL MOSCOW BASTARDS BANKRUPTED ME!" the man roared incoherently as he charged, gun blazing.
Aya felt a pain and burning in her side, but ignored it. She chopped her hand across his wrist, making him drop the gun.
"Erp?" he managed.
Aya felt her strength rushing out, but she still managed to slug him unconscious.
"Aya!" Nikolai yelled as she collapsed.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Tanya really didn't want to be away from Roanapur, but there wasn't much choice. They needed to find out who took their stuff, and why. She had also pretty much defaulted to overall command, as Yolanda agreed she was best qualified.
"Fuck I hate this," Eda muttered.
"It is very muggy," Visha agreed.
Tanya had argued her second should have stayed in Roanapur, but Visha insisted, arguing no one knew better on how to take care of Tanya. She couldn't really argue that...
They had taken vehicles most of the way, but were now advancing on foot towards the border. Everyone had weapons ready, but fingers off the triggers. Tanya did not want them opening fire first, just in case.
"We got a call from Erya," Gantz reported, "there's no information that the police stopped either of our shipments."
"So if we find them we can blow whomever it is away," Revy noted.
"I still want to know who and why," Tanya said firmly.
"Trust me, I'll get the facts out of them," Miranda said, the knife using nun grinning.
Irene, the quieter one, just hefted her shotgun.
Visha murmured, "Movement."
Their scout, Rico, and Lt. Koening returned. "There's an encampment up ahead," Koening reported.
"They're clearly not cops or military, either. No uniforms, and they're using mismatched weapons," Rico jumped in.
"Huh," Tanya nodded. She asked, "How many?"
"Twelve, though there might have been other under concealment," Koening reported.
Tanya made an executive decision, "As we're outnumbered, we need to hit them hard and fast. Weapons are free to use."
"Yes!" Revy grinned.
"Don't kill everyone," Tanya added. "I want someone to question."
"Yeah, yeah," Eda nodded.
The croup advanced in a crestent formation, to avoid friendly fire. They covertly made their way through the brush, eventually coming in sight of the camp. Tanya raised an arm... then chopped down, everyone opening fire.
They dropped several targets nearly immediately. Revy charged in to the mayhem, twin pistols blazing, but making herself a target.
"Damn amateurs," Koening muttered.
Tanya agreed, but didn't say it aloud. They wiped out the gang, leaving two wounded men alive.
"You bastards...," one survivor muttered.
"Arm shipments," Eda demanded, "why did you stop them."
He refused to answer, then Eda's friend Maggie went to work with her knife.
"We're from Vietnam! We just wanted to muscle in a bit!" the one guy admitted, crying. "The stuffs in a warehouse in Bangkok!"
"Yeah, yeah. Tell us everything," Eda ordered, then shot him.
To be continued...
Notes: Mary's origin story. She at some point fought Tanya in the military, and hates her guts for out thinking her.
Part Fourteen
Tanya, her forces and the Church of Violence team both returned to the town, then split up. She assumed the church would deploy a team to Bangkok to retrieve their materials, and maybe to steal anything else the bandits swiped.
"We're not going after the lost merchandise?" Tanya frowned after she reported in.
Erich Rerugen shrugged, though he didn't look happy. "Our superiors have decided the shipment was small enough to make it not worth the trouble," he said.
Tanya dryly noted, "I was thinking more of the deterrent value of hitting them."
"You and the Church DID wipe out their team on the border," Rerugen said.
"Hmm," Tanya accepted that, if reluctantly.
"Tanya, the woman who rescued Erya..." Visha rushed in, "she's been shot!"
"Shit," Tanya said, instantly wondering if it was related to Erya's attempted abduction.
Rerugen waved, "Go check it out."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Erya sat at the woman's bedside, fretting quietly.
She had been surprised to find out Aya was being cared for in Hotel Moscow's headquarters. Clearly they valued the young woman a lot. The place was also well guarded, but giving her name and explaining she wanted to see Aya got her inside.
"Her wound isn't that serious," Boris, the huge second in command of Hotel Moscow noted, "there was a lot of blood loss, however."
"She'll be all right, then," Erya noted firmly.
"Barring unexpected complication," another voice drawled.
Balalaika had a unlit cigar in her teeth, probably holding off on lighting it as there was a injured person there. She was tall, and remarkably striking, her presence just rolling over Erya like a wave. Even her facial scars didn't detract from her beauty, just giving it a dark accent.
"Miss Balalaika," Erya jumped to her feet.
"Sit, sit," Balalaika waved, "you've been her awhile. Has she woken?"
"No, though the doctor mentioned that wasn't unexpected. She lost a lot of blood, despite it being a clean wound," Erya noted.
"Hmm," Balalaika nodded slightly. "Our doctor is very good, for a combat medic," she added, "she'll be fine."
Erya watched leave, wondering what prompted the visit. Concern for a trooper maybe?
"Uhh," came from the bed.
Erya whipped around, joyfully seeing that Aya was at least somewhat awake. "Aya?" she asked her quietly.
"This... really hurts," Aya muttered, and tried to get up.
"No, lay down," Erya put a hand on her shoulder, "you've been shot."
"What?" Aya blinked.
"You were shot in the side," Erya told her, "luckily it went right through and was a relatively clean wound. You should be fine."
Aya laid back, blinking. "I... remember a sharp pain, then just falling unconscious," she said after a moment.
"Might have been shock," Erya noted, having some experience with battlefield events.
"I guess," Aya winced as she shifted.
"I'll let the doctor know you're awake," Erya got up to go to the door. A nice boy was waiting, and she told him to let the doctor know. In a few minutes, he arrived, along with Balalaika herself and another fellow.
Nikolai, who apparently worked with Aya, smiled as he said, "Glad you're all right."
"Well, I will be," Aya said as the doctor gave her a pain shot.
"Rest up. We'll need you keeping this idiot safe," Balalaika noted dryly.
"Hey," Nikolai looked wounded.
Within a few minutes the pain shor knocked Aya out again. Erya reluctantly got up, despite wanting to stay. She had work to do, damn it.
"You can stay if you wish," Balalaika noted as Erya moved to leave.
"As much as I want to, I have work," Erya sighed. She thought of something, "What happened to the bastard that shot her?"
"Dead," Balalaika said.
"Good," Erya nodded.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"We're going WHERE?" Revy demanded, the crew of the Lagoon sitting in the Yellow Flag getting a drink..
"We're helping out the Church of Violence with their Bangkok raid," Dutch noted calmly as he drank from a beer.
"Fuck, I thought we were done with this mess," Revy muttered as she finished off her first glass of rum.
"Why? Oh, right. We'll be a rapid escape route if needed," Rock realized, sipping his drink.
"Heck, we might end up going up the canals into Bangkok," Benny noted. "I better get us some updated maps..."
"It'll be a small team, but it might be a bit tight on the boat," Dutch noted.
"Even fucking better," Revy muttered. She waved, "Hey, Bao! Refills over here!"
"Yeah, yeah, keep your shirt on," Bao grumbled.
As they were talking, three women entered. Two were of average height, while the third was shorter. They were talking as they came in.
"... but she's all right, yes?" Visha said.
"Thank god for that," Erya said, "I feel guilty, though. I think I heard her getting shot as we walked away."
Tanya noted, "Considering how often we hear gunshots in this town, you can't blame yourself for not reacting."
"My brain knows that," Erya sighed, "my gut, however..."
"Hey," Revy waved, "Degurechaff! Come here a sec."
The group came over to their table as Tanya nodded, "Revy. I see you made it back okay."
"Yeah," Revy agreed, "Dutch, everyone, this is Tanya Degurechaff. She lead that expedition I helped out with the Church, did pretty damn good too."
"Ma'am," Dutch nodded respectfully, "nice to meet you."
"Your reputation proceeds you. I've heard good things about the Lagoon Company," Tanya nodded politely.
"Clearly they were lying," Rock joked.
"Join us for a drink?" Dutch offered.
"We're actually discussing private matters," Visha said, "excuse us."
"Fair enough,." Dutch said, "nice to meet you."
"German beer," Tanya ordered as they took a side table.
"Here ya go," Bao delivered the bottles and took payment.
"I guess we're still too new to run a tab," Visha mused as they all took a drink.
"Considering several factions want us dead, I don't blame him," Erya noted.
Tanya took a drink, noting it was actually pretty decent beer. "So getting back to Aya... was the shooting connected to us?" she asked.
"Thankfully, no," Erya said, and explained how an local operator crossed Hotel Moscow, got crushed, then decided to shoot someone.
"I'm glad we don't deal with locals too much," Tanya muttered.
Visha finished her bottle. "So, Erya," she looked at her longtime friend, "what does this Ata mean to you?"
Erya nearly choked on her drink. "Visha," she growled.
Visha pointed at her, "I heard from the others. Once you heard about her being shot you rushed to her side and stayed until she awoke."
"I owe her," Erya said sullenly.
Tanya waved for a refill as she said, "You don't do that for someone you just owe."
Erya drank some beer, looking thoughtful. "For someone who does what she does and lives... well, HERE, she's weirdly innocent," she admitted.
"And you want to save her?" Visha offered.
"Well, something anyway," Erya said.
Tanya finished her second beer, and decided to stop there. She was a bit of a lightweight with booze. "Do you think she knows?" she asked curiously.
"God I hope not," Erya sighed.
To be continued...
Part Fifteen
"Oh god," Benny groaned, flat on his back as the gorgeous blonde straddled him.
"Yes?" Greenback Jane smirked down at him.
"I'm done. Really," Benny protested weakly.
Jane slip off of him with a wet noise, then gently stroked him. "Trust me," she said as she got him hard again, "I'll perk you right up."
'Oh god...,' Benny thought, again.
"Round three!" Jane chirped as she rolled them over, him on top.
The next morning, The Lagoon Co was getting ready to go, and poor Benny looked like he hadn't slept.
"You gonna be okay?" Dutch asked gruffly.
"Jane knew we're going to be gone a few days, so she wanted to stock up, or something," Benny noted ruefully.
"You can collapse down bellow for the first few hours," Dutch noted wryly.
"I'll be fine!" Benny protested.
Not long after Benny was fast asleep at his computer workstation. Rock left him alone, going up to the deck to see Revy.
"Benny?" Revy asked.
"Out like a light," Rock admitted.
"Ha," Revy smiled, lighting a smoke.
"Uhm," Rock hesitated then asked, "Is Jane really that bad?"
Revy shrugged as she explained, "She's a fucking nympho. Greenback Jane's pretty much totally insatiable."
Rock had a disturbed look on his face, "I see."
Revy considered mentioning that Jane might want to bang HIM, too, but decided not to. Despite everything, Rock might be interested...
"Okay, we're going to go pick up the Church of Violence," Dutch announced, "be on your toes, everybody."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"How long will she need bed rest?" Nikolai asked.
"Normally it would take several weeks to heal," the Hotel Moscow employed doctor noted, "the wound, however, is a clean through and through and she's very healthy. If she's careful, she might be up and around sooner."
"Thank you," Nikolai nodded.
Aya Iseshima was laying in bed, looking up at the ceiling. She was still frighteningly pale, which he did not like the look of.
"How are you feeling?" Nikolai asked as he sat beside her.
"Annoyingly weak," Aya admitted. She sighed, "I'm sure you former troops would just slap a pressure bandage on the wound and get up."
Nikolai snorted, "We're not that stupid."
Aya gave him a look.
"Okay," Nikolai conceded, "in the field, in combat conditions, maybe. Otherwise, no."
"Did the Doctor say how long I'll be stuck in bed?" Aya asked quietly.
"A few weeks, possibly less," Nikolai answered.
"Ugh," Aya sighed.
Nikolai gave her a sympathetic look as he said, "I can get you a TV if you like. And books if you'd prefer that."
"I'm... a little surprised to be put up here at Hotel Moscow," Aya admitted quietly.
"Miss Balalaika feels responsible for her people," Nikolai explained, "and she considers you one of them."
"Indeed," a voice from the doorway noted. They both looked up to see Balalaika there, an unlit cigar in her mouth.
"Ma'am," Nikolai popped up.
"Sit, sit," Balalaika ordered. She addressed Aya, "We take care of our own, including you." She looked at Nikolai, "Especially since you got shot saving this idiot."
"Hey," Nikolai looked wounded.
"So if you need something, ask. And if you wish to leave here and return to Japan, I can arrange that too," Balalaika said calmly.
"Huh?" Aya blinked, then shook her head, "I'm happy here, ma'am."
Balalaika looked dubious, but said, "Think about it." With that, she left...
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"So in addition to clean up, you do body disposal?" Mary Sue noted.
"Hmm," Sawyer nodded.
"Damn," Mary shook her head.
The group was at the Yellow Flag, and several members of the German faction were there getting drinks. On Tanya's orders they came in as a group, and were under orders not to drink too much. Shen-hua, Lotten and Sawyer were there getting drinks too, and Mary Sue decided to investigate them.
"It's a living," Sawyer added.
"I heard you're US born, right?" Lotton asked, sunglasses hiding his eyes. He wore a silly looking long overcoat too, but apparently it was to help hide his bulletproof vest. He clearly wasn't as foolish as some types here.
"Yes. I don't want to talk about it," Mary said flatly.
Shen-hua gave her a thoughtful look, the tall knife welder in a slinky Chinese dress. "Okay," she shrugged, "you like everyone here."
Mary looked at her in surprise, "Huh."
"Bao! Refills!" Lotton waved.
"Yeah, yeah, keep your pants on," Bao grumbled. As he served Mary he noted, "One thing I like about you Germans, you don't bust the place up."
"Yet," Johann Weiss noted, the man smiling as he took his drink.
"Don't jinx it," Bao sighed as Grantz got a refill too.
Weiss, Grantz and Mary had come in together, but they didn't necessarily like each other. Everyone, basically, considered Mary too prickly, basically. That didn't mean they wouldn't watch each other's backs, though.
"It's weirdly quiet with the Lagoon Company and the Church of Violence out of town," Lotton admitted as he finished a beer.
Just then the door slammed open as three armed men burst inside.
"You HAD to say it," Shen-hua muttered to Lotton.
"Where's that bitch Eda?! Give her up NOW!" the lead man roared, but no one budged. "I said now!" he repeated.
"Aren't they usually here for Revy?" Lotton noted casually.
"Yeah. Weird," Bao agreed.
"Don't screw with us!" the other dude yelled, waving a gun wildly.
"Put the guns down, boys," Mary warned flatly.
"Fuck you!" the third yelled, pointing his weapon at her.
Without another work Mary drew a pistol from a holster in the small of her back, and casually blew the guy's head off.
"Shit!" Bao yelped, ducking behind the bar.
"Shit!" weapons started firing wildly.
Lotton shot another dude, then Weiss and Grantz both nailed the last one.
There was blood, smoke and bodies, and generally a mess to clean.
"Well, fuck," Bao emerged from behind the armored bar.
"Sorry," Mary shrugged eloquently.
"Well, cost of running a bar in Roanapur," Bao sighed. He added, "Anyone know who these asshole's are?"
There was a general chorus of nos.
Sawyer calmly searched the corpses, apparently unbothered. She reported, "No identification. In fact there's almost nothing on them."
"No way these guys were pros," Mary noted.
"Well, who ever sent them," Weiss frowned, "they didn't want them traced back."
"I fuckin' hate mysteries," Bao sighed.
To be continued...
Notes: I need to decide if Mary Sue ever ran into Eda while in the US military.
Part Sixteen
"Wait, WHAT?" Erya Roth blinked.
Balalaika took a drag on her cigar, "Someone apparently erased all trace of the evidence connecting Aya to the people she thinks she killed."
Erya and Balalaika were talking, not long after Aya had fallen asleep. Her medications and the sedatives tended to knock her out fairly quickly. Erya had asked how Aya had ended up in Roanapur, and for her own reasons Balalaika told her.
"We know they actually died?" Erya checked, frowning.
Balalaika nodded seriously, "My investigators confirmed the deaths, and that they were likely done by a very skilled martial artist."
Erya nodded.
"But there's no police investigation into the killings. Someone with a great deal of influence killed the case," Balalaika said flatly.
"So... Aya could go home if she wanted?" Erya mused.
"Probably," Balalaika conceded, "but we have no idea who, or which organization, did all that. Or what their intentions are."
"Fair enough," Erya agreed, nodding. She added grimly, "Do you mind if I put my contacts on the case?"
"Please," Balalaika nodded, "I don't like this sort of mystery."
Erya frowned as she remembered something, "But you offered to send her home?"
"Whatever is going on in Japan, it's probably safer than here," Balalaika noted dryly.
"Well, point," Erya admitted.
"Ma'am, your meeting," Boris stuck his head into her office to remind her.
"Thank you for your time," Erya got up, shaking the other woman's hand. She added,. "If I hear anything else, I'll let you know."
"Please," Balalaika nodded as she left.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"FUCK!" Revy cursed as she and Eda laid down cover fire.
The PLAN had been to go in, find the headquarters of the bandits, and retrieve the stuff. That's it. They didn't even necessarily plan to fight... they just wanted to make these yahoos aware who they had tried to rip off. And, obviously, try to get their stuff back.
Of course, things went into the shitter.
Turns out these yahoos had security. WELL ARMED security. Who drew on the Church representatives as soon as they said what they were there for. Miranda, the knife using nun, was gunned down then Eda, Revy and Irene started shooting back.
Dutch, Irene, Revy and Eda were pulling back, as the guards tried to nail them. Eda had already shot the bosses, so in theory this was all pointless. The guards, apparently, didn't care.
"Rock!" Dutch barked into the phone, "We're coming in hot! Get the engines fired up!"
"Right!" Rock replied.
"He can drive that..?" Eda had to ask.
"He and Benny both know the basics," Revy replied, firing her pistols with both hands as the group retreated.
"Where are the cops?" Irene wondered. "This isn't Roanapur, cops should be showing up."
"They paid them off," Dutch guessed, "they knew we were coming?"
"FUCK," Eda growled as bullets zipped by them.
Benny had managed to get the boat up a canal reasonably close to them. And Rico, a priest with the church, was waiting.
"COME ON, BASTARDS!" Rico yelled, laying down heavy fire with a chain fed machine gun.
"Get on!" Rock yelled as they hurried up.
Within moments all of them were aboard, then Dutch took the helm and started to get them out of there.
"Where's Miss Miranda?" Rock asked.
Irene scowled, "She didn't make it."
Rock sighed, "I'm sorry."
Eda was visibly shaking with anger as they swiftly motored away. "What's wrong?" Revy asked her with a frown.
"You heard Dutch's theory," Eda said grimly. "they KNEW we were coming and set us up. It's why they were so well armed and why no cops turned up."
"We're gonna make them pay for this?" Irene asked flatly.
Eda smiled coldly, "Damn right."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
News that the Church of Violence members had been ambushed made it back to Roanapur in a few hours or so.
"Do we know where the leak came from?" Tanya asked them flatly as she, Visha and Erya met in her office.
"No, and there are far too many possibilities," Erya admitted.
"Oh?" Visha asked.
Erya calmly noted, "I've confirmed that the Church didn't really practice information security while planning the operation. They even discussed it openly in the Yellow Flag."
"So any of the regulars could have heard some or all of the plan and decided to sell the information," Tanya noted.
"Ugh," Visha made a face.
"If you were to investigate the leak...?" Tanya ask Erya.
"Well, I'd try to narrow down who could have overheard, then look into everyone's finances," Erya admitted.
"Follow the money," Visha agreed, "they had to have gotten a payout."
"Agreed," Tanya nodded. She changed the subject, "We've been asked to meet the governing council of Roanapur. Anyone know why?"
"We did destroy the Columbians," Visha noted.
"And hit the Mexicans hard," Erya added, "arguably, we're the third most powerful faction in Roanapur, along with the Triads and Hotel Moscow."
"Do you think they're inviting us into the ruling council?" Tanya wondered.
"It's about time," Visha said loyally.
"That's the rumour I'm hearing," Erya agreed, "though it looks like several of the smaller groups are fighting it."
"They're worried we, Hotel Moscow and the Triads will totally dominate everything," Visha offered thoughtfully.
"Which I can't really blame them," Tanya sighed.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Sitting in the Yellow Flag, Lobos waited for his guest. He was running the Neveral Cartel, though more accurately he was the only surviving leader.
(The Cartel had been the employers of Greenback Jane, when she first came to Roanapur. She was supposed to make high quality counterfit bills for them. However things went badly wrong, Jane fled for her life, his former boss Elvis actually shot up the Rip Off Church, and all hell broke loose.)
Honestly, Lobos often thought he was lucky to be alive.
"Mr Chang," Lobos smiled as the slick asian man joined him at a table.
"Lobos," Chang nodded "So, you're trying to rebuild, hmm?" he asked, the local head of the Triads giving him a dubious look.
"The Florida and Cuba guys have promised me they'll be hands off, now," Lobos promised, "no more fuckups like the fight at the Church."
"And I should believe this?" Chang asked mildly.
"Well, both Elvis and Russell are dead," Lobos referred to his former associates, "my superiors know not to fuck around here."
"Well, I can't stop you," Chang noted. He added, "Hopefully the Rip Off Church isn't still carrying a grudge."
Lobos gulped nervously.
"Oh," Chang added, "there's a new faction that set up while you were gone, a group og Germans. I strongly advise not fucking with them."
"Right," Lobos nodded as he left.
"You okay, boss?" his bodyguard, Chase, asked, the older man having hovered in the background.
"Well, I'm alive," Lobos sighed.
"Chang wouldn't just shoot you out of hand," Chase noted calmly. "Now, Balalaika? She'd just shoot you dead."
"Don't remind me," Lobos winced.
To be continued...
Notes: I wanted a op for major characters in the series to actually go wrong, since that almost never happens in the anime. I also need to figure out who the 'minor' factions in the city are.