Chapter Rating: M

"I've got all three of them!" Takato said into the mic. "We're heading out of here!"

"How are they?" Saito asked worriedly. "Are they injured?"

Takato winced. "Yeah," he answered. "Revy will definitely need some help. Listen, we're almost at the deck, I'll call you back later."

He shut off his mic and opened the porthole, pointing his bullpup left and right as he sweeped the area with the suppressed nose of his rifle. Seeing that the coast was clear, he moved forward, using Army hand signals to tell Dutch to follow. He quickly threw some ropelines down to his RIB and they very carefully took turns carrying Revy down to the small boat. Once Taka threw off the tarp, and discarded it into the water, they settled in tightly behind the weapon crates. Gunning the engine loudly, they sprinted away from the cruiser.

"Showtime Saito!" Takato yelled, and far off in the distance canonfire lit the sky as the 120mm artillery gun they borrowed from the Church of Violence opened massive automatic fire on the cruisers. Klaxxon sirens filled the air, but the mobsters were slow to the response as one ship was soon a flaming decktop as the slow automatic shelling destroyed the bridge and everything topside. Takato made Benny take the controls as he moved to the weapon crates, while Dutch used his stolen AK-47 to shoot at the mobsters on the deck, who were shooting back at them. Throwing the lid off of one crate, Taka lifted the Javelin launcher out and hefted the heavy tube onto his shoulder, switching the system on. He quickly locked onto one of the large rocket pods, and squeezed the trigger.

There was little recoil as the launcher spit out a long white missile, and the munition soared in the air for about 20 feet before its thruster ignited, a large plume of red and orange fire exploding from its rocket as it streaked towards the rocket pod, hitting it shortly before the ship's anti-missile Phalanx gatling guns could shoot it down. The rocket pod exploded mightily, each of the 20 huge munitions inside triggered by the large Javelin's explosion. It tore away at the immediate vicinty, removing a nice large chunk of the ship's bridge and defense. Takato tossed the launcher into the water and its crate as well, before opening up another one. He took aim at another cruiser and fired, aiming for its rockets as well with the night vision screen. Another large explosion rocked the next ship as the Miyuki speed around the harbor, firing upon all of the Triad ships with the 120mm canon that was smack in the middle of the deck, the 80mm canon at the bow, and the automatic RPG launchers on the sides. The small attack force was devastating the Triad, who were overwhelmed with surprise. Several RPG rockets were shot out of the sky by Phalanix's, but the sheer number of them (4 at a time) made sure that at least one would hit its target.

Once Takato had used up 4 launchers, the RIB was considerably light now, and they were jetting away quickly. He called Saito and told them to start retreating. The large yacht started to pull back in a zigzag, making sure to at least keep one side firing at the smoking cruisers as it pulled away, and the RIB flitted up behind it. They escaped Hong Kong port easily, and weren't even pursued so far. Taka took the controls from Benny and guided the boat up to the Miyuki's rear, which was putting up some heavy waves from the powerful engines. Eda was at the garage, and she fired out the attachment rope, which sailed through the air before Dutch caught it in his strong hands.

"Hey, clip the hook onto the nose of the boat!" Takato yelled, and Dutch did so. There was a jerk as Eda turned on the winch, and the small inflatable boat was slowly pulled into the garage of the yacht, making everyone on it sigh in relief. They were safe.

"She looks like shit," Eda remarked upon seeing Revy's battered and broken body. "I'll get the medical kit, put her down in the sick bay!"

While Eda treated Revy's wounds, Dutch and Benny went to help Saito up at the bridge to navigate out of the now-dangerous Hong Kong waters. Takato emptied the boat of the remaining 2 launcher crates, and decided to carry one up to the bridge with him. He met with the other men as they Miyuki rocketed through the sea at 65 knots, kicking up an impressive spray of water behind it.

"Well, that was epic," he smirked, using the yacht's rearward camera to zoom in on the smouldering wrecks of ships. He turned away from the LCD monitor.

"Any pursuit craft?" he asked his brother. Saito shook his head.

"No water-craft, but radar's picking up something else," he said, his eyes tense. "It's moving too fast to be a boat, so I'll have to think it's a helicopter."

"Maybe a news chopper?" Takato asked hopefully.

Saito shook his head again. "Not at this speed," he said. He glanced at the large launcher in Takato's hands. "Best put the to good use," he warned.

"Got it," Takato said, moving to the door. He turned back. "Dutch, there's another launcher in the garage, do you know how to use one?" he asked.

"Of course, it's not that different than what I used in Nam," Dutch said, before following Taka out and heading below deck. Takato stood on the bow of the yacht, surrounded by large canons. He pulled the Javelin launcher onto his shoulder and scanned the skies for anything moving. A faint light, a tiny one was approaching and he grinned wryly. They're smart, turning their lights off, he thought as what looked to be a Russian-made Mi-24 Hind B appear in the night skies, but the indicator light is always on no matter what.

He knew the gunship couldn't target the yacht at far ranges, since the radar-guided missiles it used wouldn't be able to lock onto the Miyuki. It would have to come within a distance of at least 400 feet to engage with its rockets and 25mm gatling gun. Since the Javelin could only lock onto surface, or slow-moving vehicles, he would have to set it to direct-fire, which would fire the missile unguided like an RPG. Although, if the gunship came at them head-on, then he could easily lock on and fire, and the missile would most likely hit the Hind as it tried to dodge slowly to the side. The Hind was a large gunship, which would be its downfall. Since it was configured to also carry around 10 passengers, its large wide frame prevented it from dodging side-to-side easily.

Just as he thought, the Hind was coming up on their starboard side head-on. Dutch came to stand beside him.

"Hey Dutch, want to do something cool?" Takato asked as the gunship grew closer, at least 500 feet away.

"Sure," Dutch said, hoisting the tube onto his shoulder. "Shoot."

"I'll lock onto its slightly to the left, you slightly to the right?" Takato asked, using the pistolgrip controls to zoom into the chopper's canopy. "Fire at the same time?"

Dutch grinned. "Sounds like a plan," he answered, training his launcher as well. They both aimed for a moment. "You ready?"

"On three," Takato said. "1... 2... THREE!"

Two missiles were ejected into the sky, and began to streak towards the Hind-B. The gunship pilot panicked, and fired some flares, but the radar-guided missiles weren't interested in the heat-emitting decoys and continued onwards. He tried to bank left, but that only succeeded in Takato's missile missing, while Dutch's changed course to meet the chopper and hit it dead-on the cockpit. It exploded in a massive fireball, and plummeted into the unforgiving waters. Dutch gave an approving nod as he set the tube on the deck, standing beside Takato.

"You're right, that was cool," he commented. "Would you believe that's the second Hind-B I've shot down in my life?"

Takato looked surprised. "Really?" he asked.

Dutch nodded. "Ask Rock about it sometime, he'll tell you about his insane plan that led to me shooting the chopper down with one of the Lagoon's torpedos," he smiled. His smile turned into a frown. "Damn, my boat's gone."

Takato slapped the older man on the shoulders. "Don't worry about it old man," he said cheerfully as they looked out to the sea. "I'm sure you'll find something new."

-----

Revy was immediately taken to the hospital when they arrived home, with a frantic Rock and his daughter behind the ambulance. Balalaika had expressed with higly veiled threats her thoughts to the doctors should they be unable to fix the girl. Dutch and Benny were taken to the hospital as well to get treatment for their minor wounds, and Rock was taking Jane with him as well.

Takato and Saito called up Rico to get help with unloading the canon and other weapons and ammo they borrowed, and it took the group of 4 (Taka, Saito, Rico and Eda) to finally dismantle and pack up the massive artillery gun, and all the shells for it. Rico gave them a cheerful wave as he drove the semi away, confident in knowing that Sister Yolanda would be happy that her half million dollar canon was fine. They all took a cleansing shower and decided to head over to the Yellow Flag for a well-needed and deserved drink. Many drinks.

"Job well done you guys," Balalaika congratulated, patting each brother on the head as she sat down on one of the stools. "Bao, can I have a shot of Rodnik please."

They all nursed their drinks for a bit as they sat in comfortable silence. Literally, it was dead silent since everyone else had vacated the premesis when Balalaika walked in. She sighed.

"Revy will be fine in a month or two," she announced, gesturing to Bao to get her another shot. "She might not like it, but she can't do jobs anyways, what with their PT boat destroyed."

"Is there anything we can do about that?" Saito asked. "You know Black Lagoon was Dutch's pride and joy."

Balalaika smirked. "I think I can help him out," she answered mysteriously.

-----

4 months later...

"It's a submarine," Dutch stated stupidly, staring at the wicked craft before him.

"It's... a submarine," Benny echoed with wide eyes.

"Cool! We get a submarine!" Revy cheered, jumping up and down excitedly as she raced over to the Black Lagoon dock where a sleek, beautiful submarine was moored. It looked somewhat like half a sub and half a ship. The top half had the usual round shape of a submarine, and of course the sail and foreplanes were visible. However, the lower half looked that of a regular ship, making it's appearance much like a German U-boat of WWII (look up U 995 for an example of what it would look similar too). However, what really set it off from normal submarines were the angled wings that protruded from the middle of the craft, pointing out downwards from each side diagonally. Perhaps these were used to help steer the sub.

Balalaika walked up beside Dutch. "The folks back home owed me a favor," she explained as they made their way down. "She's brand-new, do you like it?"

Dutch shook his head. "Balalaika, how can we ever pay you back for this?" he asked incredulously.

She laughed at him. "Please, if you really want to make a list I probably owe you more than you owe me," she chided. "Besides, it was cheap. And, I can't have my delivery boy sailing a tugboat, can I?"

"Most tugboats are very powerful," Dutch replied. Balalaika rolled her eyes.

"You know what I mean."

"... Thank you."

"You're welcome."

They stopped in front of the short submarine (sub-wise, it was shorter than most) and Balalaika smiled fondly at the German-made export submarine. It was a typical black in color, and very elegant-looking.

"It's a German-design ultra-compact," she explained. "40 feet long, so you might have to get used to its size. She can dive as deep as 1,300 feet safely and has a very good range."

"How far?" Dutch asked.

"12,000 miles on the surface, 420 nautical miles submerged," she said. "It's just as fast as your PT boat, doing 45 knots submerged but you can go underwater and travel over 60, so it's a fair trade off. It uses a special engine system that uses diesel-electric engines and an air fuel-cell system that propels the sub. It can run without diesel fuel on the air system, but only at a slow 5 knots. But, you can get over 1,200 nautical miles on it. It's supposed to be the quietest submarine in the world actually, if ever released. This is a prototype."

"Any weapons?" Dutch asked. She nodded.

"8 torpedes or 4 sub harpoons," she answered. At Dutch's raised eyebrow, she said, "Sub harpoons are anti-ship or plane missiles."

"Nice. No more launching torpedos in mid-air."

Balalaika laughed. "It's also got a full suite of top of the line computer systems, sensors and anti-detection systems. She can stay underwater for a max of 3 weeks without going up for air, and if the air conditioning isn't damaged," she went on. "Technically, you need around 10 people to crew it, but if you use the onboard computer systems, you and Benny should be more than enough."

They toured the interior of the submarine, which was very high-tech in appearances. There were very nice cabin rooms, and the bridge was very cool with tons of computers and holographic glass panels. Dutch had dug out the very thick manuals, and he and Benny headed back to the office to thoroughly read them over, but not without profusely thanking Balalaika again.

"Think nothing of it," she waved off. "But do try to get it running soon, I'd like some deliveries as soon as possible."

"Of course, we'll get on it!" Benny said, waving her off as he thumbed through the computer manuals. "Man, these computers totally kick the ass of what I used to have! Even the computer that runs the sub's lights can run any of the new next-gen games easily! This rocks!"

Jane (who was now 2 months pregnant) rolled her eyes and slapped him upside the head. "Just don't get blown up in this one!" she warned, shaking her finger at her husband. He grinned sheepishly.

-----

"So the Black Lagoon 2 is a submersible," Saito said with a raised eyebrow as he and Takato watched Dutch and the others crawl all over their new tuna can. "That'll make jobs a lot easier, they can hide underwater and surface to deliver the cargo."

Takato nodded. "And most sea thugs don't have anti-submarine weapons like torpedos or depth charges," he added. "But damn, that's like at least, a 2 billion dollar submarine!"

Saito laughed. "What, you think obasan can't afford it?" he asked. He shook his head. "She's sly, even to her friends. She knows Dutch won't turn any job from her down anymore, not with such generosity."

Takato laughed too. "Oh, so she's acting like you did with the strip club?" he asked. He shook his head in amusement. "That woman."

"Revy might be dissapointed that she can't tan on the deck anymore, not without sliding off," Sait said with some humor in his voice.

And thus ends saga of the Black Lagoon, and now enters the age of the Black Lagoon 2

Fin

And so ends Saga 1 of my Black Lagoon series. It ended nicely, close to what I originally wanted it to be, so I have no regrets about it. Writing short stories like this is what I'm aiming for in the near future, and I'm working on the first chapter to the sequel right now. Enjoy.