Saying Hello To A New Crew Chap. 4: (Just a simple pickup?)

12:00 P.M

As Rock went back outside to give Revy some privacy, he noticed that Dutch already finished his call with Balalaika. A few minutes later, Revy came in wearing her usual clothing. A black tube top that exposed her belly, cutoff jeans that exposed her slender legs, and her hair fixed up in a loose ponytail. In fact, she really was the epitome of beauty in this hellhole. However, no one flirted with her and the ones that did ended up in the gutter courtesy of her custom Baretta 92's.

Dutch was already prepared for the job at hand. Wearing a flak-jacket over his military fatigues, he was currently loading 12-gauge slugs into his sliver Remington 870 Marine Magnum Shotgun. Six in the tube, one in the chamber. After that, he loaded his Smith & Wesson Model 629. Chambered in 44. Magnum and holding 6 rounds, his wheelgun was capable of taking out anything short of a charging Grizzly Bear. On the other hand, Benny was carrying a box of electronics simply marked "Do not touch." He looked like he wouldn't be out of place at a Miami club with his orange Hawaiian shirt and somewhat messy blonde hair. Noticing that everyone was here, Dutch informed them of their next job.

"Listen up, Balalaika wants us to exchange some bribe money with some mercenaries for information."
The rest of the crew just groaned at that prospect. After all, the last mercenaries they dealt with (Extra Order or EO for short) were a bunch of foolhardy cowboys with enough weaponry to arm a small country.  He then continued, saying that Benny had new detection equipment so they should be able to get the jump on the mercs if they decide to double-cross them. Revy simply raised an eyebrow at this and mumbled about needing a smoke.

(3 Hours Later)

Once again, Rock started the negotiations on the behalf of the crew. To his right, Revy acting has his bodyguard guns ready at a moments notice.
"Do you have the package, Mr. Smith?"
The Man simply grinned.
"Do you have the money?"
Rock opened his suitcase.
"100K in cash as agreed upon with Ms. Balalaika over the phone."
Mr. Smith then picked up a stack to check it's authenticity.

Back at the boat, Benny was observing his equipment listening for any chatter.
"Guys?"
Benny said tentatively over the radio.
"Hmmm?" Revy mumbled
"It appears that our friends are gonna ambush you in one minute."
Revy then grabbed a cigarette. To the mercs, it looked like she simply wanted a smoke to pass the time. But to Rock, this was a signal to be on his toes. One click of the lighter. That means he had one minute before the shit started.  Three drags. That means there were three gunmen ready to shoot at a moments notice. Added to Mr. Smith, that meant four people ready to ambush them.  Then, Mr. Smith started talking.

"This looks legit. Nice doing business with you Mr. Okajima."
Rocks eyes then widened when he said Okajima.
"How the hell did he know my name?!"He thought nervously.
Rock then composed himself and continued the conversation.
"I suppose this means that we will be doing business again?"
The man simply chuckled.
"I'm sorry, but our business is finished. You won't be receiving any more business from us. Or any of your other clients."
He then reached into his coat pocket for his 1911A1. Behind Mr. Smith, Rock could hear guns cocking.
Revy then screamed.
"GET DOWN ROCK!'
Rock proceeded to roll into the nearest hard point on his left. This time around, it was a Concrete support pillar.  Revy pulled out her twin cutlasses out of their leather cross-draw shoulder holsters and squeezed the trigger on her left gun. Despite still being in danger, Rock stared in awe as Revy shot Mr. Smith in the head splattering grey matter behind as the bullet exited his head.

Revy then moved to the pillar opposite his and took a mental note of where the gunmen were.  On the other side of the warehouse 20 yards away, there were two gunmen hiding behind some pillars. One on the left, and one on the right. The final gunman was walking in the middle of the room, gun still pointed at her.  Normally, this wouldn't have been much of a problem. Just shoot the one approaching from the middle, and shoot the other two when they retaliate. However, all of the gunmen were wearing plate carriers with ceramic inserts. Those were capable of dealing with 7.62×39mm rounds from an AK without fail and thus her 9mm would not even faze him. To make things worse, all the gunmen were wearing ballistic face masks. That means headshots with her guns would be futile. If only she could grab the gunman's AK and use it against the other two. But to do that, she would have to kill him. That would be impossible unless she got a shot at the back of his head.

Noticing this, Rock panicked.
"Was this the way they were going to go down?  Killed in some dusty warehouse by some mercenary assholes looking to make an extra buck?"
He cringed at the thought.
"No. If I'm going to die, better as well die fighting.  After all, was there a better way to go down then fighting alongside your partner?"
Quickly analyzing his options he realized what he had to do. He had to make himself a target to distract the gunman and hope that Revy could make the shot.
He dived towards the cases in the middle of the room and grabbed them. As he was falling to the ground, the gunman noticed him and twisted his whole body to level his rifle at Rock. Noticing this sudden change of events, Revy aimed at the gunman's head with her right gun and fired. Unfourtunly for Rock, the gunman was able to get a shot off before he died.  Fortunately, the bullet narrowly missed his head, impacting only an inch from his left ear.

Revy then took the opportunity and lunged for the gunman's body. Grabbing the AK and two mags, she fired at the gunman on her right. The one on the left then peeked around his pillar thinking that he could get the kill and a promotion and got his number punched for his troubles. Realizing what his situation was, the gunman on the right cursed the companies damn accountants for not allowing him to bring explosives on this mission and proceeded to use a smoke grenade as cover so he could get out with his face intact.

Only a minute after the action, Revy was screaming at Rock (again) for being such a fucking idiot.
"What the fuck was that for Rock!?"
Still not realizing how close he was to death, Rock was simply confused at her anger.
"What do you mean?"
Angered at his stupidity, Revy proceeded to punch him in the gut and glared at him as he collapsed in pain.
"Lunging for the cases? Do you not realize how fucking close you were to dying? I mean, we may be the walking dead, but that doesn't mean you should be so stupid with your life!"
Suddenly realizing how worried Revy was and how close he was to death, Rock told her why he lunged for the case.
"I realized that the gunman needed to be distracted for you to get a shot, so I decided to distract him by taking the case."
Noticing that his explanation wasn't enough, he then continued nervously.
"I realized that taking this risk was the only chance we had to make it out alive."
Revys eyes then softened at those words. Picking him up, she softly asked,
"What if you died Rock?"
Rock sighed and said,
"As long as you made it out, I would be content. After all, what better way to go then fighting alongside your partner?"
Then, the radio crackled and Rock could hear Dutch talking through the headset.
"You two ok? We heard gunshots and saw one of the mercs leaving the building."
Revy then answered with a grin.
"We're fine Dutch.  Those mercs tried to double cross us and I killed them. Same old, same old."
Dutch simply chuckled
"Oh right you two, just get back to the boat so we can get paid."
Rock then smiled at Revy and was about to say something when she glared at him.
"If you tell anyone about this..."
Rock simply chuckled.
"I know, you're gonna shoot me. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

(Four Hours Later)
Lagoon Docks/Office

"I would like to thank your crew for your services Dutch."
Balalaika started.
"It's most unfortunate that those mercenaries tried to double cross you. However, in this line of work things like that are bound to happen. Take the bribe money as a token of my appreciation."
When the money was mentioned, Revy's eyes simply lit up. On top of the 10K each for the job, they were going to get 25K extra!
Balalaika then continued talking about the job. Things like how that company is now an enemy of Hotel Moscow, details about what they were armed with, and other various pieces of intel were exchanged as part of the debrief.
"Once again, thank you for your services Lagoon Company. We'll call you when we have another job for you."

When she was gone, Rock then asked
"Yellow Flag?"
Usually speaking, Revy would have jumped at the opportunity of free booze. After all, Rock usually paid their tab either out of kindness or cause she drank him under the table. However, she didn't want to drink with him tonight.
"Nah. Gonna go to the Rip-Off Church and drink with Eda tonight."
Rock simply raised an eyebrow at this.
"You sure?"
However, Revy was already gone.
"Dutch? Benny? You guys wanna come with?"
Dutch simply grabbed some tools and said,
"Not tonight Rock. I have to fix some problems with the Lagoon. Engine 2 is idling funny again."
Benny was grabbing some lotion and going towards his room when he responded.
"Sorry Rock, Gonna talk with Jane tonight."
"Well, I guess it's just me then."
Rock sighed as he went out.
Little did he know, those Mercs were preparing another assault.

(Next Chapter: https://pastebin.com/aiPKjLW5)
(Another Day, Another Dollar)