The crew was back in Roanapur after finishing their mission in the Gulf of Thailand. They were currently at their headquarters, preparing to leave with the sword. Dutch and Revy were very eager to show their client the sword they stole from the yacht as they believed that it would increase their paycheck. All four crew members carried the case that the sword is contained in with great effort and put it in the back of the pickup truck.
"Damn that was heavy!" Benny announced as the group released the case onto the pickup truck which made a loud thud. "You are sure this thing is going to bring in the big bucks?"
"Oh, it will." Dutch assured with a smile. "Balalaika knows some antique collectors who would want to get their hands on this. Now get in the back of the truck."
"Aw man I wanted to call shotgun." Benny said in disappointment.
Benny and Rock got in the back of the pickup truck with the case as Dutch took the driver's seat and Revy got in the passenger's seat. They take off and proceed to go to their destination.
The drive to their client's location only took 20 minutes to get there. The location is a dark yellow corporate-looking building covered in multiple square windows. This building is known as Bougainvillea Trade Company which is the business front that belongs to their client. That client is Hotel Moscow and specifically their leader goes under the name Balalaika. Formed in 1992 after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Hotel Moscow has become one of the biggest players in organized crime around the world. Being made up by hardened veterans from the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, it is easy to see how they quickly managed to establish themselves in Roanapur. Because of this the Chinese Triads (one of Roanapur's larger mafias) considered them their only serious competition.
The pickup truck parked right in front of the entrance gate which was guarded by two men in military uniforms. One of the guards went up to the driver's side of the truck to ask a question. Dutch anticipated this so he had his window put down ahead of time so he can answer the guard's question.
"State your business." the guard asked bluntly with his thick Russian accent.
"We have a delivery for Miss Balalaika." Dutch responded firmly. "She will be quite interested."
"I see." the guard confirms. "You're free to go in."
The two guards opened the entrance gate and the Lagoon Crew entered through it with ease. They find the parking lot where Hotel Moscow keeps their fleet of black limousines. They park the pickup truck in an empty spot far from the black limousines. The crew then proceeded to get off the truck to do their job. The crew once again put great effort into lifting the case.
"Why is this thing so damn heavy!?" Rock complained as he feels like his muscles are tearing apart.
"Stop your bitching and focus on the money!" Revy harshly told Rock. "This is all worth it, trust me!"
The Lagoon Crew entered the building with the case in tow. The inside of the trade of the company is quite different from what you would normally expect from a average corporate building in the west as the color palette mostly consists of dirty brown or dark yellow instead of a sterile while and grey. The floor had a black and white checkered pattern which is something you would see in a mansion rather than a corporate building. The overall color scheme gave the inside of the building a vintage look.
The Lagoon Crew went up the stairs without somehow dropping the heavy case and made it to the second floor where their client's office is. It didn't take them long to find the office as this was not their first time visiting it. They find the door to the office and enter through it.
The office was basically a mini library filled to the brim with books, probably from the former Soviet Union. In front of a shelf lays a desk and sitting in that desk is a blonde woman in her early thirties with long hair and wearing a velvet red office dress. The most visibly noticeable thing about her appearance is the burn scars on her face.
This woman is indeed the one and only Balalaika.
"I see you're struggling with the special cargo." Balalaika says with a playful tone as she procced to chomp down a Cuban cigar. "Bring it over."
The Lagoon Crew did exactly what she told them and brought the case to her. When they put the case on the desk, it made a noticeable thud, and the desk creaked a little. Balalaika noticed the creak and proceeded to comment on it.
"You better not have just damaged my desk. Its custom made you know." Balalaika warned. "This thing better be good or else I'll consider slashing your paycheck for my damaging my desk."
Rock was visibly displeased when he heard that and had his hands covering his face to hide it. Rock was praying to whatever God out there that whatever Revy and Dutch brought was worth damaging Balalaika's desk.
Balalaika opened the case and laid her eyes on its content. Her eyes open with interest as she observes what is shown before.
"My my what do we have here?" Balalaika says with intrigue. She slides her finger across the blade of the sword to get a feel of it. She feels the cold steel as it sends shivers up her finger. It was like nothing she had seen before.
"I'm impressed." Balalaika complements the crew. "An artifact like this would definitely attract some wealthy antique collectors. Congratulations Dutch, you and your crew have earned a pay raise."
Rock was relieved after hearing this as their paycheck is no longer at risk of being slashed.
"Thank you, Balalaika." Dutch responded. "We also took care of that yacht that was worrying you."
Balalaika stood up from her seat as she is very much interested in what Dutch has to say about the yacht as that yacht was bothering her for a while.
"What did you encounter on the yacht?" Balalaika asked in a curious tone.
Before Dutch could answer, Revy intervened and gave a response.
"Pale ass soldiers only using spears and arrows. Fucking crazy I know? Like, they were like a cult in terms of how fanatical they were about stopping us. I think they were protecting this sword."
Revy left out the part about the captain shooting something out of his fingers at her as she thinks Balalaika wouldn't believe it.
"I see." Balalaika responded as she processed the information that was being told her. "I guess I was being a bit paranoid. We have nothing to worry about then."
"Are you sure about that?" asked Benny as he stepped forward. "I'm pretty whoever those pale soldiers were working for wouldn't be happy that their sword was just stolen."
"If what Revy is telling me is true then they pose no threat to me." Balalaika assured confidently. "Their archaic methods wouldn't last five minutes against my men. They would get eaten alive by the average Roanapur trash before they can even make it to my headquarters."
Benny thought the response was reasonable enough, so he stepped back and let Dutch take center stage again.
"Anyway, give us the payment." Dutch requested.
Balalaika opened one of the drawers on her desk and pulled out a stack of 100-dollar bills. She gave the payment to Dutch and Dutch proceeded to count the money to make sure it was the proper amount. After counting the money, Dutch noticed something wrong then proceeded to ask Balalaika a question.
"Where is the pay raise?" Dutch questioned. "This is just the payment for taking out the yacht."
"Your pay rise will increase depending how much this sword sells for." Balalaika answered. "You'll find out once I find a buyer."
Dutch was peeved at the situation, but he made sure to not show it on his face. Revy on the other hand was visibly irritated at what had just happened. Dutch seeing Revy's irritation on her face decided it was time to leave and head to their favorite bar.
"Well crew I thinks it's about time we go get some drinks." Dutch announced to his crew. "I'll pay the tab this time."
"Yeah, I'm with you." Benny quickly agreed as he also saw Revy's irritated facial expression. "Let's all go to the Yellow Flag!"
The crew left Balalaika's office to head back to the pickup truck. Not too soon after the crew left the office, one of Balalaika's own men entered the room.
"Oh, hey Boris." Balalaika greeted as she noticed the man. "I assume you heard everything?"
"Yes, I did Kapitan." Boris answered. "It was just another business day in the office."
Balalaika has her own office wiretapped so her men can hear what's going on in case if a business deal goes south. Luckily such an incident has not happened yet.
"A usual business day indeed." Balalaika affirmed. "Well anyway, I'm glad you're here because I need you to get this thing off my desk. I have important work to do, and this is getting in my way."
"Yes Kapitan." Boris responded.
The Lagoon Crew left the building and got back to the pickup truck. They eventually left the parking lot and went on their way to their favorite bar, The Yellow Flag. Little did they know that someone was watching them from the bushes.
"The perpetrators have left the building."
The Lagoon Crew finally made it to their favorite bar, The Yellow Flag. The Yellow Flag is one of the most popular bars in all of Roanapur where its citizens can indulge in their hedonistic tendencies. It is the place where the Lagoon Crew hangs out after doing a mission. It is where you can find some of the hardest booze in the world and a 50% chance of dying as bar fights are a common enough occurrence. And they get violent real fast.
The Lagoon Crew burst through the double doors of bar with Revy leading the way as she is the most excited to drink a ton of alcohol. The crew made it to the counter and sat in their seats. Soon after, a middle-aged Vietnamese man who is assumed to be the bar tender arrives to take their order.
"Oh, great it's you again." the bar tender groaned. "Try not to destroy my bar again."
"Come on Bao, those previous times weren't my fault." Revy defended herself. "The last time your bar got destroyed was entirely that beaner's fault."
"Yet you're the one who brought her here." Bao retorted. "Give me your orders already so I don't have to look at your face any longer."
Revy groaned as she didn't like being disrespected but complied anyway.
"Give me a Picardi."
"Same as her." Dutch chimed in.
"I'll take a Heineken." Benny requested.
"I'll take an Asahi beer." Rock requested.
"You still like that piss?" Revy interrogated Rock.
"It's the one thing I miss from Japan." Rock answered. "It was the only thing that gave me any sort of happiness back there."
"Your country's alcohol tastes like ass. Don't get me started on that sake shit!"
Bao came back with their orders and handed the drinks to them. Bao then left the scene to attend to other matters but mainly to get away from Revy.
As the crew enjoyed their drinks, Rock was wondering about what went on that yacht. With the way that Revy described the soldiers earlier during their meeting with Balalaika he couldn't help but be curious about. He decided this was the opportunity to ask Revy about it.
"Hey Revy."
Revy turns to her head to face Rock.
"Those soldiers on the yacht…were they really only using bows and spears?" questioned Rock.
"Yeah." Revy answered as she took sip from her Picardi. "Not a single one of them had a firearm."
"I see. And what did you mean that they were pale?" Rock continued questioning.
"Their skin color was really pale. It likes they have never seen the sun before." Revy answered.
Revy took another sip of her Picardi. Revy then paused to think about what to say next.
"There were some things I left out when we talked to Balalaika earlier. When I got a closer look on those soldiers faces, they all looked identical to each other."
"Identical?" Rock wondered.
"Yeah. The hair and eye color were all the same and even the skin tone too." Revy further explained. "It creeps the hell out of me now that I think about it."
After listening to Revy's explanation, Rock was now wondering what those soldiers that Revy encountered could be. Rock is normally not a conspiracy theorist but considering what Revy just described he entertained the idea of those soldiers potentially being a deranged cult or government sanctioned clones. After all the stuff he's been through anything is possible at this point. Aliens might as well be real for all he knows.
Rock was going to ask Revy another question but before he could, he could hear a beeping noise very close by. It came from Dutch as Dutch pulled out a pager from his pocket to check the number.
"Damn it's from Balalaika." Dutch announced. He stood up from his seat as he planned on leaving the bar.
"I have to go outside to call her." Dutch tells his crew. "You guys' better finish your drinks because this might be another assignment."
"Don't forget to pay me cause I ain't letting you guys get away without paying." Bao announced as he came back.
"Don't worry. I'll pay the tab once I'm done with this." Dutch responded. Dutch then went outside to get to the nearest phone booth.
Revy after hearing Dutch's announcement decided to suddenly gulp down the entire glass of Picardi as she wanted to finish it before Dutch came back.
"You do know you are going to feel that in the morning?" asked a concerned Benny.
"Yeah, I know." Revy responded dismissively. "Can't let some good booze go to waste."
As Benny tries to warn Revy about the dangers of alcohol poisoning, Rock decided to ask Bao a question to see if he knows about the pale soldiers. After all, you can gather information about what's going on in Roanapur at the Yellow Flag as it is a neutral place. For a price of course.
"Hey Bao, have you heard about anything regarding pale soldiers with bows and spears?"
"Not at all. If I heard anything about that I would have charged you a thousand dollars for it."
"Damn it." Rock internally thought.
Dutch came back from the phone call with some news to announce.
"Well crew it seems like Balalaika already found a buyer for the sword we brought her. Three hours from now there will be a transaction at the intersection and we're expected to be there to make sure it goes smoothly. If things go as they should we'll get our pay rise."
"Wait three hours from now?!" said a confused Revy. "I just chugged a whole glass of Picardi for nothing! We could spend another hour in here!"
"I do not tolerate drunkenness on the job." Dutch reprimanded Revy. "Sober your ass in three hours because the pay is too good to afford screwing it up."
"How much money are we talking about?" asked Benny.
"Apparently the guy who is buying the sword is going to pay 400,000 dollars to get it." Dutch answered. "If we even get a tenth of that, that's going cover boat maintenance for the next couple of months."
"Holy Shit!" Benny said out loud. "I can finally buy a new car! I'll never forgive that psycho maid for wrecking it!"
Benny immediately got out of his seat and left the bar to head back to the truck. Bao saw Benny leave the bar and he wasn't happy.
"Hey! Get your ass back here and- "
Before Bao could finish complaining Dutch handed him a thousand dollars to get him to shut up.
"We're leaving." Dutch announced to his two remaining subordinates.
"On it." Revy responded in a disappointed tone as she didn't get the chance to get blackout drunk. Rock on the other hand was glad that Revy didn't start a get a chance to start a bar fight by accident.
The rest of the crew left the bar to get to the truck. Once they get to the truck, Dutch notices Benny in the passenger seat.
"Sorry seniority dictates you get in the back."
"Aw man." Benny said disappointingly. He then got in the back of the pickup truck with Rock, and they drove off to get to their headquarters.
Someone was in a car in the parking lot watching them driving off. The person next to him asks a question.
"Is that the people who attacks us today?"
"Yes, they are."
3 hours later.
The sun is setting on Roanapur and nighttime is coming soon. The night is when Roanapur's true nature comes out with all the hookers on the streets and people doing all drugs they can find. It was an unusual decision to have a transaction in the middle of an intersection, but the buyer was insistent on it.
Coming from the left entrance of the intersection were four limousines and a pickup truck. The limousines belonged to Hotel Moscow and pickup truck to the Lagoon Crew. Coming from the right entrance of the intersection is a freezer truck surrounded by two Volkswagens. They belonged to the buyer and his men.
The group of vehicles parked in the center of intersection, and everyone got out their cars to conduct the meeting. One side was led by Balalaika with her four of her men carrying the case containing the sword behind her. The other side led by an elderly man in a wheelchair being accompanied by three bodyguards and an assistant moving him. The Lagoon Crew stayed in the back of their side to watch the whole deal going on.
Once the two parties meet in the exact center of the intersection, one of the elderly man's bodyguards set up a table for the case to be placed on. Balalaika understood this and signaled her men to put the case of the table.
The elderly man was moved forward by his assistant so he could see the sword up close. Before the elderly man could open the case, he noticed Dutch in the back and gave a look of disapproval.
"Why did you have to bring the Negroid here?" he asks.
"He is a highly useful asset." Balalaika responds professionally.
Dutch heard the old man's comment and he immediately know who this man was.
"Oh great its this guy." Dutch comments.
"Who's this guy Dutch and how do you know him?" asked Rock.
"Remember that one time when we had to get a painting of Brunhild for that antique collector and we had to murder a whole boat of Neo-Nazis to get it? It's that antique collector." Dutch explained.
"Isn't that guy a former SS officer?" Rock inquired.
"Most likely." Dutch answered. "It would explain why he's so interested in Nazi memorabilia."
"Wait WHAT?!" yelled a panicked Benny. "I can't believe we're making a business deal with a fucking Nazi! My parents are going to be so disappointed in me if they find out about this!"
"As if your parents even know that you're still alive." Revy countered Benny. "Also, we already do business deals with drug lords, but you cross the line at Nazis?"
"Hey I'm Jewish." Benny responded in a defensive tone. "Our family motto is fuck the Nazis."
"Despite being in the criminal underworld for a few years, you're still somehow act like a pansy ass liberal." Revy retorted. "It's honestly amazing that somehow you managed to achieve that."
While Revy and Benny were bickering with each other, Rock asked Dutch another question in order to ignore the bickering that's happening next to him.
"You think Balalaika even likes dealing with this person? I imagine her grandfather fought in the Great Patriotic War and would be disappointed if he saw this. I heard that the Nazis wanted to wipe the Slavs from the face of the earth."
Dutch took out a cigarette and lit it. After taking a puff he answered Rock's question.
"You should know by now that morals mean nothing in this world. In this world we'll do anything for money even if it means selling your soul to the devil. I learned that a long time ago."
The old man opened the case and laid his eyes on what's inside. His eyes widened and chuckled in joy.
"Heh heh…. Its finally here! I have it!"
Balalaika looked down at the old man with contempt. Even though she was now a crime lord and no longer an ideological communist, she still harbored a dislike for the regime that the old man was once part of that tried to destroy her people. Balalaika wanted nothing more to get this deal over with.
"Do you know what this sword is?" the old man asks.
"No Alfred." Balalaika answered in an uncaring tone. "What is it?"
"This sword here is Clarent, one of King Aurther's many weapons." Alfred explained. "Such a beautiful Aryan artifact. I am so glad you actually managed to find this. If you weren't a filthy Slav, I would have given you an iron cross for this achievement."
"I don't care for your ramblings of the importance of preserving Aryan heritage." Balalaika responded harshly. "I just want 400,000 dollars you promised."
"Of course the Judeo-Bolshevik doesn't care about the Aryan race." Alfred snapped back. "All what you care about is money and your own power."
Alfred turned his head to the left to bark out command at one of his subordinates.
"Give them the money."
One of Alfred's men was walking towards them with a case that presumably that had the money. Once he got there, he was about to give the case to Balalaika until something unexpected happened.
Something flew in the air and struck the old SS officer in the chest, instantly killing him. The man holding the case of money saw his now dead client and dropped the case in shock. Upon closer inspection Balalaika could see it was an arrow that killed the old man. Everyone was baffled at what just happened. This should not have happened as nobody else knew about this about this deal and Hotel Moscow certainly didn't have plans on killing him.
"Dutch what just happened?" asked Revy in a concerned tone. "Why did the guy drop the case of money?"
"Holy Shit." Dutch announced out loud as he took down his sunglasses.
This shocked the rest of the crew since Dutch never takes off his sunglasses. They knew at that moment they had just got into some real shit.
"The old bastard is dead." Dutch continued.
After hearing Dutch say that Revy looked up at the surrounding buildings as she believes that there had to be a sniper on one of them. It's the only way Alfred could have been killed. It didn't take long for Revy to find the culprit. She opened her eyes in shock as she couldn't believe who it was.
Pale soldiers looking exactly like the ones she fought on the boat earlier today. They were even armed with bows and arrows. Revy continued looking around and could see that they were all over the rooftops of the buildings on the intersection. Revy only had one thing to say about this situation.
"Oh fuck me."