Chapter 16

Revy and Balalaika sat in the waiting room at the hospital in Bangkok. Due to the required equipment the surgeon required Ethan to come to the capital. It pissed Revy the fuck off since she couldn't bring her cutlasses. Ethan had asked her and Balalaika to come in case anything went wrong during the surgery, he had even listed her as the next of kin on the admission papers. Honestly she thought it was horribly sappy, but she wasn't going to let him know how happy she felt that he trusted her that much.

"He will be alright Revy. Dr. Tchevonsky, is one of the finest oncological neurosurgeons that the U.S. had to offer. Mag will be perfectly fine. According to the doctor the actually surgery for such a tumor is rather routine. Why don't you step outside and have a smoke," the older woman said in a somewhat matronly voice that was unusual for her.

"I know, but they've been working on him for six motherfucking hours now. How long could it take to cut open his head and shave it out."

"Neurosurgery is some of the most complicated in the world. They could inadvertently kill him with just the most minor mistake. Doing something like this at high speed would be more likely to result in a mistake," she sighed, "I know how important he has become to you as a surrogate brother, but don't worry yourself into this place over it."

"Mercs die, I'm not worrying. I just don't know how I would deal with the same situation. It's been bugging me since I found out. I know that he's lived a harder life than I have, but I feel that even a normal person would start feeling their mortality pretty strongly."

"There are two groups who have no idea of immortality. The dieing, and soldiers."

Both women spun their heads in the direction of the door leading into the rest of the hospital. There stood a tall man wearing green surgical scrubs. Revy guessed he was just entering his forties.

"How is he Dr. Tchevonsky? Have there been any complications?"

"No Ms. Pavlovena. My partner is taking over for the moment so I can get some rest. I have some questions for you regarding his history. I don't typically delve into my patients personal history beyond the medical, but the condition of his body raises some questions. First off, has he seen military service," Dr, Tchevonsky asked seriously.

Revy hesitated, "Yes. He was an independent combat specialist. He worked with small militaries helping to train troops and act as a command officer, and performing bodyguard work," not a lie, but not the full truth.

"How long has been in that line of work?"

"Around ten years. He is mostly retired, currently, from that line of work. He currently works for the same company I do transporting high value cargoes," the answer received a well hidden praising look from Balalaika.

"Why I ask is he has at least thirteen wounds, not counting the latest, that resemble gunshot wounds, and at least twenty resembling stab wounds, and a small cluster that looks like shrapnel, though I don't have any experience with such. If we were back in the states I would be required to report such to the police. I'm not required to do such here, however, had you no answers that gave a reasonable excuse for them I was fully prepared to. I have to say, despite the severity of the abuse he has put himself through he is in excellent condition. Barring a relapse, he may outlive all of us."

Revy felt relieved, "Thank you Dr.. I'm glad you were able to help him on such short notice."

"Don't think anything of it. One more question though, do you know what caused the tumor." he asked of the blue.

Balalaika intervened on her behalf, "He was exposed to an unshielded radiation source during undercover work for the Russian government. He helped track down a group that was assembling dirty bombs. The exposure was relatively minor, and the cancer took a prolonged time to appear. I was his contact during the period, which is the reason that I sent for you."

"In that case, you have saved a great man from much pain and sorrow. I am going to catch a short nap, and then I will be returning to help finish the surgery. Ladies."

Revy turned to the Russian woman, "Thank you for the save. Also when you told me his name I though he was going to be Russian or something, He speaks better english than anyone I know."

"From what I understand his grandfather, or great grandfather, was physician to Czar Nicholas and his family, and fled during the fall of the Russian Empire. He is second or third generation American, and highly skilled."

"Good, even if he is a half broken mercenary, he deserves the best he can get. Otherwise we may not get our free meal."

As he woke up the first thing Ethan heard was the beeping of a motherfucking heart monitor. If he could he would shut the damned thing off, but that would just have a bunch of fussy nurses coming in here thinking he was about to kick it. Last thing he wanted right now was a bunch of women saying things in a language he couldn't understand a word of, it was actually more annoying than the machine.

Anesthesia always fucked up his internal clock worse than a randy high school boy with his prom date. One reason he tried to avoid getting shot as much as he possibly could. Thankfully he wasn't actively looking for battlefields anymore, and hopefully wasn't going to have brain surgery ever again. That doctor with the Russian name had said the the chances of a relapse from the surgery was unlikely, and Ethan felt he was trustworthy enough. Even if he did relapse it wouldn't be the doc's fault, it would just be the way things were.

Opening his eyes took a bit of effort, but eventually he managed to regain the ability to see. He had to admit that the room was much nicer than its counterpart in Roanapur, but he still hated hospitals, and he was really friggin' hungry. It always pissed him off that they couldn't develop someway of putting a man under on a full stomach, but no, you couldn't eat for twenty four hours before surgery.

What did it matter, that fucking thing was out of his skull and he might see old age. If he had anything to be thankful for that was it. Most men in his profession wouldn't have such an option, and he figured anyone else would have thrown themselves into some kind of suicide mission rather than try to live with it. Would have probably been less pain in the end, but pain was only to let you know you were still alive, and he liked to feel alive. He already knew he was bound for hell if it existed, but he sure as hell wasn't in a rush to get there.

He almost didn't hear the doctor walk in, "How are we feeling today Mr. Lee?"

"I feel like someone set off an M67 in my skull. Were there any complications?"

"No sir, I have to say it was one of the smoothest surgeries I have ever conducted. I heard about your history from your sister, and I have to say that I am impressed. I have heard from men who worked with PMCs after being discharged from the military, and they say a mercenary burns out fairly quickly in conflict zones. With the injuries you seemed to have accrued I am actually surprised at how good a shape you actually are in."

Ethan chuckled, "Dodging snipers is a really good form of exercise. So how long will I be down?"

"With how your vitals look now, and the fact you woke up within five hours of what ended up being a fifteen hour surgery, you should be out of here day after tomorrow. However, I don't want you to engage in any strenuous activity for a month after discharge. An average person would have spent a week in this room after this kind of surgery, God must like you."

"Doc, if God gave a fly fuck about me, I doubt I would have ever been in a position to become a merc. As far as I am concerned, he can suck my cock."

Two months later.

Heidi was not pleased. Not at all. She was still something of an outsider within Lagoon Company, but she had never felt so ignored by anyone. And by the person who had originally brought her into the fold. She wasn't the only one who felt that way either.

Dutch had been pissed enough when he had found out that Ethan had a potentially fatal illness and hadn't told anyone but Revy, and then surreptitiously had surgery to eliminate it. Benny and Rock had been indifferent to it. Heidi had been livid that her benefactor was such an inconsiderate bastard.

The current standoff pissed her off even more. It could ostensibly be considered her fault, but if she hadn't been following Ethan to figure out where he had been disappearing to for the last month, then the four thugs wouldn't have caught her. It would have helped if Ethan had been doing more than just standing there looking bored while the guy that had a hold on her was running his knife up and down her cheek.

"Why don't you hand over all your cash, and anything we might be able to sell, and we might consider letting the little slut go."

Ethan's expression didn't change, "You have too high of an opinion of yourselves. How about this, you let her go and I don't leave you bleeding to death in this alleyway."

"Come on boss, lets waste him, fuck her to death, and take whatever they have off their corpses," one of the thugs suggested.

"The Boss" grinned, "You know El Roy, that isn't such a ba..."

The gunshot surprised everyone. But there Ethan stood with his revolver leveled in line with where her captor's head had been mere seconds earlier.

"You made the wrong fucking choice."

The other three tried running, but Ethan gunned them down without any emotion. He opened the cylinder and replaced the spent casings as he approached the three runners' corpses, and placed a single round in the back of each one's head before turning to her.

"Heidi, you are too nice, and too young, a girl to be hanging out with that kind of crowd. What are we going to do with you. Whatever it is can wait, lets go home for now," he said as if this was an everyday occurrence, then again this was the warm side of Hell.

Rock had helped Heidi to develop a sign language to help save paper, and it included some very off color language that she was letting fly at the mercenary mechanic. If she had been saying this out loud there was a chance even the foul mouthed Revy might tell her to watch her mouth, but Ethan seemed to think the sight was hilarious.

'Stop laughing you thick headed ass fuck. You think this was fun for me? How would you like it if someone was practically raping you with a switchblade,' she signed indignantly.

"It wasn't like you were in any real danger. Scum like that is pretty much harmless when someone of my experience is around. I mean one of them was carrying nothing heavier than that pistol you tried to rob me with. Why have you been following me all night anyways? If you wanted to know where I've been wandering off to at night when we don't have a job you could have asked me."

Heidi paled in embarrassment, 'I thought it would be a secret since you hadn't told anyone.'

He laughed, "I'm thirty fucking years old. I am not a teenager with a curfew, I have the right to come and go as I please. I've been moonlighting as a bouncer down at the Flag. Bao has been having trouble with some shitheads that have all their intelligence come out a whiskey bottle. He's afraid that they may end up mouthing off to someone like Revy and destroy the place."

'Oh. I... I'm sorry for causing trouble for you.'

"It wasn't any trouble, those were those shitheads. Thanks to you I don't have to sit there drinking water all night instead of booze. You're almost like a good luck charm."

Ethan walked past the stricken girl in the direction of the office. The people that had been about to rape her had been putting extra cash in his pockets, and he thought it was a cunt licking joke. What the fuck was going on in his head.

"AND WATCH YOUR FUCKING LANGUAGE LITTLE GIRL," he yelled back over his shoulder.

Heidi felt something stirring in her chest that she had never felt before. It took her a moment to figure out what it was, and it wasn't surprising. She wanted to beat the living fuck out of Ethan and find someway to shove his head up his own asshole.

"What the fuck do you mean 'I' should teach Heidi to shoot. Isn't she your little tagalong," Revy asked somewhat annoyed.

Ethan winced, "I think I would be in mortal peril if I handed her a loaded gun. How about this, I will cede my share, except that which goes to pay her, for the next five jobs to you completely."

"Fuck yeah, now you are talking my lingo. I'll have her busting motherfucker skulls before you know it."

"Revy, she just needs to be able to competently defend herself, NOT A FUCKING MUTE ASSASSIN. If that was my goal I would con Sofiya into teaching her to work a sniper rifle. I'm already planning to give her an old CZ83 I've got. Teach her to make a target holy at close range, that is all I'm asking."

Revy huffed, "Fine, whatever you say. But just for the record I think that she would make a kick ass killing machine."

"That's what I'm afraid of."

A/N: Less than twenty four hours. This is a little tamer than I really wanted, but this is what got written. It also included something people have wanted, more Heidi screen time. I haven't forgotten about her, but it would be somewhat boring talking about her washing Revy's underwear. She is a good character, just not that useful of one at the moment. And it Revy's idea to use her last name on the admission forms, not Ethan or Balalaika's.