Alright I got some good reviews and a decent reception so thanks for that. Now obviously this is going to be slightly AU considering Black Lagoon takes place in the nineties while Far Cry takes place today, so I'm bumping up Lagoons time line a bit. Now for some of the older characters like Balalaika and Lagoons Dutch will be a bit older than in Canon though that really doesn't effect anything.

Well that is all. To the story!

…

Great peace have those who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble.

-Psalm 119:165

Chapter 1: Eye of the Storm

Jerking awake with a gasp, Nate looked around and was about to throw a punch into the old mustached face that came into view before he recognized who it was.

"Woah! Easy there Rook. It's just little old me." Said Sheriff Whitehorse raising his hands up to placate the startled man.

Nate was able to calm himself down after a few slow breaths. He nervously ran a hand through his hair as he glanced down at his watch. "Shit, only ten minutes? So much for getting a good nap in." He said with sigh.

Whitehorse just looked at Nate through his glasses with worried eyes. He knew his deputy wasn't sleeping well at night and while on patrol he had suggested to the young man to take an energy nap. That obviously was out of the question now. "Was it the 'collapse' again?"

Nate just nodded his head. "Yeah, yeah it was."

The Sheriff frowned at this. He knew damn well what his subordinate was going through. He himself still had bad dreams about that incident, but Nate had it much worse.

When they had caught up to Joseph, the Father was able to manipulate their drug addled minds enough to think the end of the world was at hand. Everyone saw something different. Hudson saw a massive tidal wave, Pratt saw demons appear out of nowhere, and all the sheriff saw was just a horrible dark shadow stretching across the land. Rook however saw a nuclear war and the whole world burned, like it was something straight out of hell. All that fear drove them to get to safety, and one bad turn sent them into a tree. The next thing they knew, Rook's friends had finally found them, all unconscious in the car. All accept Joseph and Rook who were both missing.

Once the officers saw that the world was not coming to an end, they all set out in search of their lost comrade.

Thankfully Jess Black and Boomer were able to pick up the trail fairly quickly. Dutch's Island was fairly small, but the trees were thick and the man himself couldn't find either of them on the cameras he set up.

It was half an hour later that the group finally caught up to missing men. They were discovered in the middle of the dirt road outside the Ranger Station. Nate Rook sat there shirtless, a blank look on his face as he gazed down at the body by his feet. There was Joseph Seed, the Father, the Shepard of Eden's Gate, dead. His eyes blank, his throat absolutely crushed.

When he saw his friends, that blank look still remained, yet a few tears leaked out of the corners of his eyes. Then it turned from a few tears into full on sobbing. They had heard him grunt in pain when a bullet struck his vest, scream as he tried to put out his flaming shirt, seen the emotional toll on him every time a Seed family member took him away only for him to come back more ready to fight than ever. Whatever dam he put up to keep that all at bay had just come down. Every bit of pain he had been holding back came rushing to the surface.

No one had known what do to console the man. No one except one.

Boomer had all but tackled the deputy, smothering his master with licks. Despite the tears, there came a slight chuckle. Inspired by the loyal hound, the resident Master Huntress ran forward and slid on her knees to wrap her arms around her friend who was more than happy to return the hug. They were like that for a minute, just sitting there in a comfortable embrace. No one wanted to interrupt the scene before them, well most of them.

The comforting embrace turned into a desperate struggle for breath as the two were caught in a bone crushing bear hug from Hurk.

It had been several weeks since then and the cult attacks had for the most part stopped. Whether it be lack of moral or lack of numbers, there was only the occasional patrol who thought their faith in the Father would see them defeat the 'sinners' who now had control of the county again. They were quickly proven wrong.

The Sheriff's department quickly got back into the old routine of patrolling the county looking out for trouble. Albeit with much more fire power than did before. Today Rook decided to go along with Whitehorse on a patrol near the prison. It became extremely obvious to the sheriff that his deputy could barely keep his eyes open and so he decided to pull over to give Nate a chance to grab a power nap. That nap however was ended by the reoccurring nightmare that was the 'collapse.'

"You know if you keep going like this, your going to start running on empty son." The Sheriff said with a worried look.

"Yeah trust me. I know this needs to stop, I just, I don't know how!" Nate said with a low growl. "Every time I shut my eyes he's there. He's there as the world's burning and he was right!" He slammed his fist into the cars dashboard. "I know it was all bullshit, every word out of that family's mouth was bullshit, but there in that bunker? He's right."

Rubbing his eyes, Nate let out a sigh. He knew he wasn't the only one having a bad time recovering either. Hudson was complaining of similar dreams of John torturing her, Whitehorse was drinking more and would occasionally mumble about still hearing Faith's laughter in his drunken state, and Pratt was more or less institutionalized for the time being as the Whitetail Militia tried to get rid of Jacob's programming.

Whitehorse gave his own sigh in return. "Normally this is the part the wise old man gives the hero life changing advise right?" He chuckled. "Honestly, I don't really know a god damn thing to tell ya other than I wish you luck."

"Huh, too bad. Well since I'm not staying out how about we head-"

"Sheriff come in." Came Hudson's voice from over the radio.

Grabbing his radio, the Sheriff pressed down on the talk button.

"I'm here Joey. What's wrong? Was there an attack?" He asked, as both he and Rook checked over their weapons.

"No, but we do have a 10-666 at the O'Hara haunted house."

"Damn it Sharky." Whitehorse grumbled while Nate tried and failed to hide his smirk. "What was his excuse this time?"

"Something about sending a clown named Nickelcunning back to hell with the flames of badassness."

There was a moment of silence in the car as that information was processed. Nate just groaned as he properly summarized the entire situation.

"Dumbass pyro."

…

"Look Dep, I swear it was real! It was there and it laughed at me, like that damn skunk back in grade school!" Sharky, ranted on in his defense of burning the homemade haunted house to the ground.

He and Nate were sitting at a table outside the 8 Bit Pizza Bar at night and the deputy was trying to fight off the headache he knew he was brewing.

"Sharky, we've talked about this. No setting random buildings on fire, how did you even start it I took away your flamethrower didn't I?"

"Yeah but you left yours out. I thought it was a secret message saying 'hey buddy, let make take your old fun machine so your you can use this new even more awesome looking one.' Also I had some matches and some grease soaked boxers, so you know, back up plan." The Pyromaniac said while taking a bite out of his pizza.

Nate just stared at the man and just hung his head in defeat. He knew if Sharky wanted to burn something it was going to be burned, it was only a matter of when. "Just don't do it again. The only reason your not in jail right now is because of all the good you did fighting the cult and we're afraid that you might burn the prison down if we do lock you up."

Sharky just shrugged as he finished his pizza. "True. Well I got run, got to meet up with Hurk later. See ya po-po." He said getting up and hurrying out the door.

Just as Nate was about to get up to leave as well, he heard a gruff yet feminine voice from behind him.

"Damn Rook, sure have gotten bossy since you put the uniform back on."

Turning around, he smiled as he saw the scarred face of Jess Black, archery expert, master huntress, and cultist killer. She returned her own somewhat predatory smile. One thing he noticed that was odd was how she kept her hands hidden behind her back.

"I have to be. Without Eden's gate keeping them busy, I'm pretty sure he and Hurk would destroy the whole county without supervision. Speaking of the cult, how are you holding up without Peggies to kill?" He asked. It was well known how much Jess hated the cult and had developed what could be called an addiction to killing cultists.

She just shrugged at the question. "As good as I can be. It ain't to bad. Those shits may be hiding now but it'll only be a matter of time before we gut them in their hidey holes, so I have that to look forward to. Oh by the way, I have a surprise for you."

Moving her arms in front of her, in her hands was a battered but still usable light grey Stetson hat. When Nate saw that, his face broke out into a wild grin.

"My hat!" He squealed as he snatched it from her hands and hugged it like a child would their favorite toy. "Where did you find it this time?"

He set the hat on his head, and if Jess were honest with herself, it looked good on him. Especially now that he was wearing his deputy's uniform. Whitehorse had found him an old spare after they had control of the county again. The whole ensemble gave him a cowboy look but without looking obnoxious.

"I found it near Dutch's bunker. A beaver decided the ratty thing was only good for building a dam. Try not to lose it, again." She said putting emphasis on the last word.

There was laughter from a nearby table. Looking over, they both saw Nick Rye and Grace Armstrong struggling to not to choke on their beers.

"Jess, him keeping his hat is as likely as Adelaide to suddenly join a convent or Hurk becoming a doctor." Nick said between his chuckles.

Grace smiled at Nate jokingly . "Sorry kid, but he's right. You and that hat just weren't meant to be."

Nate swore at them under his breath. He also would never admit even under the pain of torture is that they were right. He knew damn well that the likelihood of losing his hat, again, was high. He had already lost the thing forty one times already, no wait forty two now. He would lose it during a fire fight, doing some insane stunt or while getting captured by the Seed family. Whether it was just luck or divine intervention he would find it again, usually in a place it shouldn't logically be. Honestly screw that eagles nest and those stupid birds.

Jess sitting herself down at his table brought him out of his internal musings. "So Rook, when is the Guard going to show up and, you know, actually do their damn jobs?"

He sighed at that. "Its gonna be a while Jess. With the world as nuts as it is right now, they've got their hands full. So for now we're on our own." The Junior Deputy hated to admit it, but the Seed's weren't exactly wrong when they said they world was broken and full of sin. While radio and news from the outside world was hard to come by during the occupation, what did get through wasn't good.

Peace talks in the middle east had broken down again, several natural disasters struck all across the eastern seaboard, and finally thousands of IED's were detonated all across Moscow. Apparently several dozen terrorist groups had gotten together and coordinated a massive strike against the Russian people, who were now all crying out for terrorist blood. Next, after all of North Korea's bluster over the years, they were finally arrogant enough to attack American ships in international water and declaring war on the United States. China wisely hung Korea out to dry and no one expected for it to be a long war. It was North Korea after all. Yet while the military was gearing for war, the left wing extremists were calling the President a war monger, and then in turn started inciting riots throughout the country. You know for people so eager to improve the lives of everyone and wanting peace For all, they sure were quick to start burning things when things didn't go their way. Then to top it all off some would be revolutionists/anarchists threatened to blow up several locations across D.C., and with panic already high lots of people were evacuating the city.

It was almost enough to think that Joseph had a point to his teachings. Though that didn't last long once he recalled all the horrible atrocities the Seed's had committed on people who wouldn't join their flock. So with all the chaos in the world right now the National Guard had more pressing matters to deal with than the remains of some backwater cult. Then again their superiors probably didn't tell them just how bad it really was here. Probably didn't want the general public knowing about how bad Homeland Security screwed up letting a militant group as Powerful as Eden's Gate spring up in their own back yard. The sad thing was that even with its issues rebuilding Hope County was probably one of the most stable areas in the country at the moment.

Nate went for his drink only to start rubbing his eyes and stifle a yawn.

"Jeez, you could just tell me I was boring you to sleep." Jess said with a smirk.

"Not you. I just can't get any damn sleep lately."

Jess smirk disappeared at that replaced by what Nate could claim was a look of concern. "Nightmares?"

He nodded his head. "That obvious huh?"

What she did next surprised Nate. He was used to her being aggressive and tough as nails, so it caught him off guard when she grabbed his hand with firm but gentle grip.

"Look Nate, I know about nightmares. I used to have them all the time, I still do occasionally. But I know for certain that they'll get better, maybe not for a long ass while but they will. The first thing you need to do is accept that it's only there to mess with you and all you need to do is stop caring about what its trying to tell you because honestly in the end, they're just dreams and they mean fuck all in the end." Then her smirk came back, this time with a hint of…something in her eye. "Also if you really needs some sleep, I learned a few ways to get rid of the dreams temporarily. All you need to do is go to sleep utterly exhausted and your body sore, all the while feeling like a million damn bucks."

Nate just stared at her blankly. "Alright and how would one such as myself get to be in that…oddly specific state?"

"Remember the Testicle Festival?"

He rolled his eyes at that. "You and I both know there's a LOT that I don't remember about that day, other than losing my hat to a pig."

"Specifically between you and Mary."

He thought back to that day, or at least tried to. Hurk had brought his own homemade booze that Nate had started chugging like there was no tomorrow and the rest of the festival was a blur, though he knew for certain he never actually ate any of the 'cuisine'. One of the brief but clear memories of the event was of him and Mary going to the room above the Spread Eagle and…oh.

Thinking about what happened immediately made his cheeks redden and began stuttering and mumbling to himself, this eliciting a chuckle from Jess.

Regaining his sense of composure, Nate managed to fight down his blush and speak in actual sentences again. "Well I get your point and I guess I can see how that could work but I don't exactly see anyone offering right now do I?"

"Who's says I'm not?" She said.

His entire thought process came to a screeching halt as she said those words. He tried to say something, anything to get his mind restarted only thing he could get out was a flat "What?"

"I said who says I'm not offering? I'm in a good mood for once and I had a decent day, so why not end the day with a good screw?" She said taking a sip from my beer.

"Um, would you believe me if I said I'm not interested?"

"No."

"Good because I'd be lying. Honestly though this could end bad you know." He said glancing at his beer bottle only to see it was empty and chucking it into the nearby trashcan. "I mean…I Mean have you ever seen those old reruns of Friends? What I can tell is that friends sleeping with friends tends to really screw things up for everyone."

She just rolled her eyes at him. "Nate it's just some good old fashioned fun. As usual your over thinking things and being a real fucking idiot."

"Hopefully a literal one too." He joked, getting a small almost uncharacteristic giggle from the huntress. "Alright then, if we're doing this, where are we going, because I know your staying with Grace and I live in Holland Valley and it'll take a while to drive there."

"Don't know don't care, just come up with something soon. I'm in the mood right now but I just might find someone else if you take to long." She said with a teasing smirk.

He knew she was joking, but on the off chance she wasn't he thought of all the ways he could possibly get them to his house and fast. He was thinking on what to do when he saw a bit of yellow out of the corner of his eye and smirked.

Hopefully Nick won't mind if I 'barrow' Carmilla.

…

Outside on the balcony of a five star Hotel in Canada was what looked like an ordinary business man smoking a cigarette. He was of Asian decent, had short black hair and wore regular slacks with a white button up dress shirt and a loose blue tie. This was Romero Okayama AKA Rock. He was currently trying to figure out why on earth he was there of all places.

It had started on a usual day in Roanapur, hot, humid, and with plenty of illegal activities going on in the shadows. For the members of the Lagoon Delivery Company, they were just hanging around the office waiting for work to come their way. Then a call came from none other than Balalaika, the woman in charge of Hotel Moscow, the Roanapur branch of the Russian mafia and the most powerful gang in the city.

There was little detail on the actual job but the payment was staggering, the only odd thing was that they came for Benny. Apparently they were still gathering information on the job and wanted Lagoon's resident hacker to help. A week later, they were ushered onto a repurposed cargo ship heading towards North America, as they were unfortunately forced to leave their patrol boat behind.

The extremely odd thing was that it became obvious they weren't the only ones on bored. There were several dozen high-end mercenaries around the ship along with gang members from not just Hotel Moscow but also the Han Ying Fan triad, along with the Italian mafia and Manisalera cartel. If all four of the big gangs were cooperating with each other then whatever was going on was big, very big.

The trip across the Pacific was over and they had all arrived in some port town in Canada where Balalaika had a few deals going on with the local officials. Each gang had their men set up in separate hotels while the mercenaries and hired guns were put in another, Lagoon company included.

Rock was thinking, trying to figure out just what had gotten the gangs so motivated?

"Rock! Hurry the fuck up and let's get going already!" An angry female voice called from the room. Putting out his smoke, Rock stepped inside to see his fellow crewmate Revy. The Chinese American woman was scowling at her weapons as she put her dark brown hair in a pony, upset that she couldn't carry them around like she wanted to. She wore her normal attire of a black tank top, Jean shorts and combat boots, though she did add stockings and a leather coat to her ensemble for the slight chill this far north.

"You ready Revy? The meetings going to start in a few minutes. Dutch is probably already there waiting on us." Rock said as he fixed his tie.

"The bastard can wait for all I care. Let's just get all this horse shit over with already." She grumbled as she stormed out the door, Rock close behind.

The trip to the main atrium was one of silence, there was nothing to be said. The atrium they arrived at was large but also well lit and decorated with tasteful portraits of beautiful scenes from around the world and with plenty of room for several hundred people. No doubt it was meant for company conferences, and the meeting was probably under the name of one of the criminal organizations legitimate businesses. It was packed full of all sorts of mercs and killers, some of whom Rock knew on sight. Looking for their boss in the crowd, Rock and Revy spied a pair a of nuns in the crowd. The younger one with a scowl and pointed sunglasses on her face was Eda, someone they both knew well.

It was another indicator to Rock that something major was going on. The Church of Violence is the biggest suppliers of weapons and ammunition in Roanapur. So what ever was going on, then the gangs actually considered that they might need to resupply themselves, which was actually terrifying with that implication.

The two pirates soon spotted their boss in the front row. Dutch was a tall well muscled black man. His head was bald but he had a well trimmed beard. He wore his usual green combat vest and pants along with his ever present sunglasses.

"About time you two showed up." He told them as they got close. "Now sit down, shut up and listen. Maybe now we can find out what we actually signed up for."

Revy opened her mouth to argue back but a sideways glance that brokered no argument had her shut it just as quick and sit down with a huff.

Just as the two got comfortable, the final member of their crew stepped into the front of the room. Benny was a young man with glasses, long blonde hair tied in a pony tail while wearing red tropical shirt. He was also one of the best hackers in the entire criminal underworld.

"Good evening ladies, gentlemen and bastards who owe me money. As you all know we're all being paid to be here but don't actually know the job. Well that's why I'm here! Thanks to our esteemed benefactors over there," He motioned toward a set of four people. One a Hispanic man in a white suit and aviators, a smug young man with a sadistic smile filled with braces, a happy looking Chinese man and an attractive blonde woman with burn scars along the right side of her face and was wearing a red business outfit, this was Balalaika herself. "I've been doing plenty of info gathering so it's up to me to actually tell you guys why everything has been so hush hush."

"Alright, can any of you tell me about what bliss means to you?" Benny's question got him a lot of odd glances, one of which was from his female crewmate. "Don't tell me because your wrong. A few months ago a few Americans showed up in Roanapur trying to sell some product. Obviously they got shut down pretty damn fast and they were just selling the usual stuff. However they also had a few vials of something new."

Benny pulled out a remote from his pocket and with a the push of a button an overhead projector came on. The picture showed what looked like a gallon jug full of a bright green liquid, though it was extremely odd how it appeared to produce a sort of fog similar to liquid nitrogen.

"This boys and girls is what the would be dealers called Bliss. Apparently the best way to use it is to inhale it's vapors and the testers that were given it claimed it's one of the best highs they've ever had."

One of the mercs, a large man with a bald head with a tattoo of a skull on his face scoffed at that. "So what? So a few junkies like the stuff, what do you expect us to do make the damn shit? If this stuff is on the market now, what the hell do you need us for?"

Benny took the accusing questions in stride, in fact his smile seemed to get wider.

"That's the point I was going to get to. It isn't on the market. It's not anywhere. No pharmacists sell it as over the counter knockoffs, no one's cooking the stuff in their basement, you can't find this stuff anywhere in the world…" there was a lot of murmuring going on in the room. They were all business people at heart and they all knew that if something new came out, who ever got their hands on it first would stand to make a fortune.

"…That is anywhere except Hope County, Montana." The next slide Benny brought up was an aerial view of what looked like land filled with tall pine trees, mountains, wilderness and the occasional man made structure.

Rock raised his eyebrow at that. He knew the criminal underworld pretty well, and if there was one thing he knew was that you always tried to avoid first world countries like America. The local officials were just as likely as to turn you in as work with you. In most countries across the globe the criminals had free reign to do what they want as long as they don't bother the people in charge, but these countries actively hunted down criminal organizations, even if it did appear to be in a small community.

"Now I know what your thinking, but this unassuming County is extremely isolated and it's much easier to keep things like this to themselves. So for all intents and purposes this is the birth place and home to the only manufacturer of Bliss in the entire world."

"In other words, a monopoly." Dutch's voice rumbled out.

"Bingo." Benny said snapping his fingers. "They have a monopoly on something extremely rare and we're all getting paid to help the big guys get in on the racket. Though there is a reason why they hired so much muscle and that's because of the people who actually developed the Bliss to begin with."

The next slide was of a portrait of four people, three men and a blonde girl. The three men were of different ages but they all bore a family resemblance, though Rock didn't see how the girl fit, unless she was a lover to one of the men maybe. What Rock did know was that even in the picture, he could see a darkness and insanity in their eyes. Some the most hardened killers in the room felt a chill go down their spine just looking at their picture.

"Meet the Seed family. John, Faith, Jacob and Joseph, three brothers and their adopted sister. Now since Hope County is so out of the way, it looks like the four siblings went and started their own doomsday cult called the Project at Eden's Gate and considered Joseph, the guy with the yellow glasses, to be a prophet who would lead them to salvation after the end of days. Faith and her lackeys were the ones to make the Bliss though so we'll probably be looking for anything belonging to her."

"So they make drug and drink kool-aid. What big deal?" an Asian looking woman said in broken English. She was dressed in in a red qipao under a white jacket. This was Shenhua, the triads most reliable assassin.

Benny just looked at her with a deadpan stare as he pressed his remote again.

The screen changed from the image of Bliss to a video. The video opened up on an absolutely gorgeous meadow before panning over to a small picturesque white chapel. It also became apparent that they were seeing through the lens of a man's personal camcorder. The camera started making its way towards the chapel and was apparently hidden by its user. As the camera man entered the building they saw men in dark brown long coats guarding the door with what looked like Soviet model AK-47's. Several of the hired killers in the crowd voiced their confusion on why some god loving bible thumper would be so well armed.

"The Collapse is upon us my children." a voice said through the video as the doors to the house of worship were closed. The camera man's walking muffled the man's speech until the user sat down, giving everyone a good view of Joseph Seed.

"God demands we save those lost souls whether they want to be saved or not. Some will wish to harm us… some will wish to destroy all that we have built here together." The camera man managed to zoom in on the preaching man's face. "Some…will wish to betray us." Joseph stopped his sermon and glared right at the camera and the one holding it. Everyone who lived in Roanapur knew how to kill in some way, whether it be a gun, a knife to the back or knowing the right people to get the job done for you. Power after all came a near infinite number of shapes and sizes. However, there was just some people who you knew not to mess with just by the look in their eyes. Based on the look of pure malice in his gaze and the confidence in his stance, Joseph Seed was one of those people.

The camera started shaking and fell to the ground, revealing the guards grabbing the camera man, tying him up and forcing him to his knees in front of the 'Father.'

"And those in the outside world are blind. For they do not believe. They have no faith." He said putting his hand on the camera man's shoulder who immediately tried to pull away. "Shhh. But I will make them see." Grabbing the man's head, Joseph plunged his thumbs into the man's eyes as he screamed and thrashed about. After a few seconds Joseph pushed the man away who collapsed, no doubt passing out from the pain. Joseph then raised his bloodied hands as if in prayer before going on with his sermon. It was then the film ended, leaving the citizens of Roanapur without anything to say. They had all seen, even done worse to their fellow man. But to watch a self proclaimed holy man gouge a man's eyes out in front of his followers as if it were nothing was something they hadn't seen before.

"Yeah as you can probably tell, these guys make the Manson Family look like the Brady Bunch." Benny said rubbing his eyes. "I mean we're talking about a group with several thousand members, more guns and fire power than most countries, where religious zealotry was standard behavior and worst if all, they all went through military styled training." He said with a grimace.

"Oh, so very big deal." Shenhua said with a surprised expression on her face. She could honestly say she wasn't expecting some run of the mill cult to be so dangerous.

"Alright Benny Boy, get to the point." Revy said with a growl. It was well known to her associates the she had a very…negative view on religion. No doubt the idea of a cult like this no doubt had her famous hair trigger temper flaring. "So we go in, kill some bearded fucks and steal their shit. That about it?"

Benny just gave a tired chuckle. "I wish. Eden's Gate has a foot in the grave as is. You see that video got the wheels of the justice system turning, and apparently a glory hound of a Federal Marshal decided to arrest Joseph by himself along with the local sheriff's department. Ended like you would expect, the cult went on their own little blitzkrieg slash holy war and took over the entire county. And the locals being who they are didn't like that and started fighting back."

"Ha! let me guess, the cousin fuckers got their shit kicked in." Eda said from across the room.

"Exact opposite actually. The locals of Hope County are a mix of farmers, fishers, preppers, and plenty of military veterans and just about everyone there knows how to operate a weapon. Hell they even formed their own resistance and waged their own war on the cult. We're talking ambushes, fire fights, full on assaults, hell even aerial dog fights because apparently both sides managed to get their hands on some planes and outfitted them with machine guns, bombs and fucking rockets!" He said with enthusiasm, thinking the whole thing sounding like something out of an action movie.

"This went on for a few months and now all of the Seed's are dead and the cults on their last legs. These guys are the real reason why you're all here. These people have been through hell and with the world right now, they are forced to rebuild by themselves. So if we go in and start pushing them around then they're going to push right back. So if that happens, we're there to keep the locals at bay while the others try to find as much Bliss as possible."

"So we're a bunch of glorified bodyguards!?" Revy snapped at the blonde man.

He considered her accusations before nonchalantly shrugging. "Basically yeah, but well paid ones. We're also probably going to be transporting the stuff as well. Now during all this I came across a few files on a few of the more important locals. You guys have no idea how many favors I had to call in to get this info. I got all this from FBI databases and even a few profiles from the cult itself."

The screen changed to a set of pictures, all of several different people. One was of a older white man wearing an old military uniform from the Vietnam War, the other was a young blonde woman outside a bar, and the final picture of a black man dressed in bother a priests clothes under a Kevlar vest.

Rock was looking at the photos when he saw Dutch stiffen out of the corner of his eye only to relax just as fast. He almost thought he was making it up until he saw his boss tapping his foot in a nervous fashion. That had him mentally reeling, Dutch was never nervous.

"Alright, first is Richard "Dutch" Roosevelt. Any relation boss?" He asked Dutch, only to receive silence and an irritated glare over his sun glasses. "Alright forget I asked. Anyways white Dutch is a Vietnam vet from the eighty second airborne and moved to Hope County and became a prepper. He was more or less a one man intelligence net work for the resistance. Then there's Mary May Fairgrave, owns the local bar called the Spread Eagle." That statement caused a few men to chuckle, including the Cartel leader, Abrego. "Yeah yeah laugh it up guys. Well this bar owner kept the people of Holland Valley organized and is currently the county's unofficial mayor. And then we have Jerome Jeffries."

Again Rock noticed a slight twitch in Dutch's frame. Why did he seem so nervous about that man?

"Jerome Is a veteran of the Gulf War and former gunnery sergeant. After his time was up the guy found religion and became a Roman Catholic priest. He became friends with Joseph at first, until he lost his congregation to the crazy bastard. Some of his former followers turned cultists came back to beat and leave him for dead, that obviously didn't take. He didn't like that so much so he personally lead dozens of raids to rescue people from the cult. He's like some god damn front line general. A religious man who actually has both morals and conviction, that is a rare thing my friends."

The next slide was more grainy, but Rock could still make out what looked like a middle aged blonde woman and a young man who looked of Indian decent (come to our casino Indian, not curry eater Indian). "These two are Tammy Barnes and Wheaty. The current leaders of the Whitetail militia. A group of ex-veterans turned doomsday preppers. They're good fighters and have plenty of fire power of their own, I mean we're talking military grade stuff."

The next slide was of an older man with a cowboy hat who looked like a stereotypical Sheriff standing next a young black woman in a gray hoodie. "Finally we have Tracey Leder, member of the local baseball team and Sheriff Earl Whitehorse. They turned the local prison into their own personal fortress and reveled attacks for days and weeks straight without rest."

"These guys were all the men and women who lead the resistance and took the reins in leading the charge. However there were a few fighters that really caught my attention, just not in a good way for us. I mean, the more I find out about the county the more I'm convinced it breeds just as much crazy as back home."

Revy leaned forward a bit with a vicious grin. "Alright let's see what's so badass about these hillbillies fucks." She honestly couldn't see what was so tough about those yokels. They can shoot a gun, so what? She could shoot in her sleep if she wanted to, though it was a shit way to wake up to when you have a hangover.

The first man looked like a stereotypical redneck, from the beard, to the plaid shirt and trucker hat. "This fine specimen is Nick Rye. Owner of Rye and Sons Aviation, crop duster by trade and considered the best pilot around. Eden's Gate threw everything they could at him and his plane, only to be blown to bits because he turned his family's old seaplane into a flying death dealer."

With a click the screen then showed a black woman in a makeshift combat uniform with a baseball cap and American flag bandana around her neck. "Now the lovely lady here is-"

"Grace Armstrong. Former United states Army sniper, veteran of the war on terror who had served in Afghanistan and winner of the Olympic bronze medal in marksmanship during the last summer Olympics." An accented female voice said cutting him off. All the heads tuned to see it had come from Balalaika herself. Now the woman had a hatred for Americans that was infamous throughout all of Roanapur. So it came as shock that as she listed off Grace's achievements she did so with a small smile and what almost sounded like…respect in her voice.

"Uh…y-yeah pretty much all that." Benny stuttered try to get back on track. "Now she's also gone and made a name for herself with the cult. If they even so much as get an inkling that she was around they would start running. Though from the reports I found is that it didn't help them do anything except die tired."

Another click and another picture came up. This time it was a goateed man wearing a green hoodie and baseball hat. The man also sported a rather big happy (if a bit deranged) grin on his face.

"Who this fuck?" Shenhua asked as she glanced up from filing her nails.

"Boys and girls, this right here is Charlemagne Victor Boshaw IV. Looked into his past and I have got to say this guy has the longest list of felony charges I have ever seen, and yes that includes everyone here. Almost all them having something to do with taking a person, place or thing and setting it on fire. The police don't even bother arresting him anymore because he somehow always ends up burning the Jail cell to the ground, even if it's mostly made of concrete. So when the cult came a'knockin he thought it would be fun to melt their faces off. Oh and don't even get me started on his cousin."

The next picture was of a scruffy looking man with a beard, wearing a red tanktop, American flag pants, and a blue bandana on his forehead. "This is his cousin Hur-"

"It's the monkey man!" a scream came from the crowd.

A ragged man with tattoos covering his arms wearing a red t-shirt, green cargo pants and his face was covered by a red bandana stood up. "That bastard killed ten of my drinking buddies! Him and those fucking monkeys on those stupid islands!"

"No it's the stupid elephant man you imbecile!" A Himalayan looking man in a worn grey and red uniform said. "That barbarian killed my men, him and those damned mongrels in the Golden Path!"

"Alright boys, settle down." Benny said with his hands raised. "Glad to see you guys know him. Yeah this is Hurk Drubman Jr. Born and raised in Hope County, he decided to travel the world, see the sights and blow up whatever pissed him off. He likes fighting for underdogs fought both Hoyt's pirates on the Rook islands and Pagan Min's regime in Kyrat. You remember those guys right?" He asked.

He was met with a lot nodding heads and grumbles of acknowledgment. Hoyt Volker had been the leader of a drug and human trafficking ring in East Asia who's ruthlessness was legendary even to the criminals of Roanapur. He owned a private army of pirates and privateers that made even Hotel Moscow hesitant to cross him, at least until his death several years ago. Pagan Min was also known to them as the ruler of the small nation of Kyrat and the biggest supplier of opium in the eastern hemisphere.

So if this Hurk guy willingly picked a fight with those groups, then they all thought he must either be one hell of a fighter or stupidly insane. Or both.

They all thought about it as the pirate glared at the former Royal Army man who returned it with one filled with equal contempt.

"Stay out of my way lama fucker. The bastard is mine."

"To bad sea rat, I'll be the one to put that dog down."

"Moving on we have Hurk's mother, Adelaide." Benny said trying to get everyone's focus back on the screen which was now showing the picture of an older looking blonde woman. Despite her obvious older age, she seemed fit and in extremely good shape, especially in maintaining her curves. "This woman not only runs a local marina but is a hell of a chopper pilot, especially now that she added a pair of thirty cal. machine guns to her personal ride." He said with enthusiasm. Benny also doubled as Lagoon Company's mechanic, so he could respect a fellow gear head like her. It also didn't hurt that the lady had a sexy cougar vibe to her.

Another click and another picture appeared. This time a brown haired woman wearing a green hooded jacket and several scars over her face.

"Hey Benny," Revy called out. "Who's the bitch that looked like she tried to suck off a blender?"

"Someone I can add to the ever growing list of women I'm afraid will murder me if I cross them." He answered.

Revy gave him a wicked grin. "Am I on that list Benny Boy?"

"You're number three."

Revy looked as if so nervous had insulted her shooting skills. "What? Why the hell am I only third?!"

"Balalaika and Roberta terrify me more. Anyways this is Jess Black." He said switching topics to avoid any more questions that might piss someone off and getting him shot. "She's a self proclaimed master Huntress and from the info I have on her she's more than earned it. She seemed to be a big trouble maker during her kiddie years. Vandalism, thievery, drug dealing and setter the principle's car on fire, the usual. Then her grandmother set her straight by teaching her how to take care of herself and surviving in the wilderness. Jess then managed to patch things up with her parents. It was happily ever after until the cult showed up. The reports say that one of the Seed's goons grabbed them in the middle of the night and starved them all for a few days."

During this several of the hired killers were shaking their heads, no doubt knowing how this story was going to turn out. Even if most of them were heartless bastards, some could still feel pity for the girl.

"Now the file doesn't go into detail, but from what I can gather is the guy cut off her parents toes and made her eat them one by one. Then when that was over he burned her parents to death right in front of her." Several people, including Rock, grimaced at that. It sounded like this cult member would feel right at home in Roanapur.

"Rightfully pissed, she went from hunting animals to hunting people. She took those skills of hers and put them to use against Eden's Gate. No guns or bullets either, just her bow and some arrows because that's apparently all she needed to make the bodies start piling up."

Another click and another picture, this time of three people dressed in green uniforms and posing for the camera. The one on the left was a long black haired woman, on the right was a lanky looking man with black hair. In the middle was a young man with a bright smile wearing a gray cowboy hat. He looked normal enough, though there was just something about him that just grabbed your attention, something about how deep those blue eyes of his were.

"Finally we get to the local deputies. These three were the only backup the stupid marshal brought with him. The girl is Joey Hudson and the guy on the right is Staci Pratt. They both got capture at the beginning of the fighting and were personally tortured by Joseph's brothers. Once they got free they both went on murderous rampages and started tearing shit up."

"Alright then who's the cowboy wannabe?" Dutch said. Despite the happy smile in the photograph, there was something about the man that had Dutch on edge.

"That would be Junior Deputy Nathaniel Rook. There wasn't to much on him before becoming a deputy. He grew up in several small towns around the state of Kansas was raised by his dad who taught him everything from how to fish to stripping a rifle. The only thing of note on him growing up was when he was sixteen and home alone, two Burglars broke into his house. He grabbed is pop's gun, shot one and beat the other death with his fists, but It was deemed self defense and the matter was dropped. After years of working odd jobs he made his way to Montana and joined the police force. His first assignment was dealing with Eden's Gate. Right after that however it became pretty obvious that this guy was actually one scary son of a bitch." He said dropping his smile.

"I'll be honest with you guys, this man was the driving force behind the resistance and in the last few months he has racked up a body count to put most of you to shame. The cult considered him the single biggest threat to their entire operation and would send several squads after him if he was ever spotted. They're all dead now. Not only that but he's adept with just about every weapon he got his hands on and if the reports from the files are true and not exaggeration, then they found several dozen of their men dead via impalement by shovel."

As Benny continued his report, he could see several of them gaping in shock and a few with wicked grins, no doubt itching to see if all this was real or just talk. Revy had an almost unreadable expression, though there was a slight glint in her eyes that he knew meant trouble, no doubt thinking of an excuse to fight the Deputy that wouldn't get her in trouble with Dutch.

"He also knows how to take out entire outposts singlehandedly whether by sneaking in and killing them all without so much as a sound or just going in guns blazing and blowing away anything that moved. Basically if that psycho maid Roberta was the Terminator then Mr. Rook here is Robo Cop."

The projector then turned off and the room was filled with silence. Rock gulped as the info sunk in. It finally made sense why there would be so much hired muscle for the job. If even half of what Benny said was true then the citizens of Hope County would be a force to be reckoned with if ever came to blows and no doubt they wouldn't take too kindly to criminals coming in and pushing them around. He supposed that's why he was there, to minimize the conflict if things went south.

The sound of heels echoed through the room and everyone saw the scarred Russian woman make her way to the front, giving Benny a glance to step down which he did as fast as possible, taking a seat next his crew mates.

"Thank you Benny for that wonderful presentation." Said while lighting a cigar and taking a puff. "Now you know why he hired you all to help with this…excursion. The others and I all came to the conclusion that the payoff of the Bliss production was more than enough to have us cooperate rather than at each other's throats. Now as much fun as it would be to storm in and take the county for ourselves, unfortunately it would be best to keep our presence to a minimum considering the level of tension in the country as of this time." she said with a smile. It was regretful what had happened to Moscow, but she took comfort in the fact that her country was getting it's fangs back and that America was dealing with its own troubles.

"That is why we must move as swiftly as possible. Pack your things immediately, we will be traveling all night and we will all arrive in Hope County first thing in the morning. No doubt the locals will notice our presence almost immediately, so it would be best to confront them and let them know…most, of our intentions. You are all to spread out and scope out the surrounding areas. If possible try to learn as much as you can on what they did with the Bliss. My associates and I will 'talk' to their leaders about their new found situation."

With one last puff, she dropped her cigar and put it out with her heel. "Now go get packed, we all have a job to do tomorrow."

…

Waking up to the morning sun was always a complex affair. It signified the start of a new day, but it took the sleeper from the warm comforting embrace of a mattress and it's sheets. However there were certain things that made waking up a pleasant experience, such as the birds singing their songs or the smell of cooking bacon. Waking up with a completely naked woman on top of you with her bare breasts pressed against your chest was something Nate believed was the best thing one could experience first thing in the morning.

With a content sigh he let his eyes closed again, just enjoying Jess's warm body.

She was right after all. Best sleep I've had in weeks.

He was content to let his body drift back into the abyss of sleep, only to stop as he heard the slight thumps of padded feet. Looking at the entrance to the room, he was meet with two pairs of eyes gleaming with animalistic hunger. Their mouths open and fangs gleaming as he saw the animals prepare to lunge. Nate knew what was about to happen and he knew there was nothing he could do to stop it. Yet he cried out in a harsh whisper in a vane attempt to stop the incoming pain.

"Boomer, Peaches don't you dare!"

It was too late. As they leapt through the air, several hundred pounds of animal muscle landed on either side of the humans. Jess awoke with a rather girlish squeal only to be silenced by a rough feline tongue linking at her face. Nate was in little better condition as Boomer held him down and showered him with kisses.

After a few minutes of struggling, the two humans managed to get the cougar and hunting dog off of them before glancing at each other and breaking out into laughter.

"Well it looks like your cat found us." Nate said as Jess gave Peaches a scratch behind the ears.

"Yeah well your dog is the one who let her in."

After patting Boomer's he got up and threw on some clean underwear and cargo pants. "Hey, thanks for the suggestion by the way. Best night I've had in a long while, both before and after falling asleep."

Jess smirked. "Yeah well I can say it was pretty good, so if you need any more help sleeping my door is always open." She reached down to the floor and grabbed her under garment, pushing away the bed covers and revealing her flesh, her body being covered in just as many scars as her face.

"Hey, how about you stay for breakfast?" He asked. "I could make you an omelet, or you know, something other than deer jerky."

"Hey! You like deer jerky." She accused.

"Yeah well not enough to eat it with every meal. So?"

She tapped her chin as she jokingly made herself look like it was a tough decision. "Sure, why the fuck not?"

"Good, because no was not an acceptable answer. It'll be ready in a few minutes." Nate said walking out the door.

Closing it behind him, Nate walked into the main room of his house. Well technically it still belonged to Larry Parker but the man wouldn't be needing it anymore. The man was either right all along and really did get teleported to Mars or he got vaporized by his own machine. Nate didn't know or particularly care for that matter. It took a while to get rid of the alien conspiracy junk and get it set up in a way he would like it.

Walking into the kitchen, he pulled out several eggs, cheese, bits of ham and a bag of chopped bell peppers out of the fridge. He had long ago learned to make omelets that were both delicious and filling. It was a shame that the supplies for it were limited. The country was having a difficult time getting shipments of food to its intended destination without being harassed by hungry and displaced citizens or destroyed by some idiotic protester because they were stupid enough to think destroying valuable products was a good way to get people to listen to what you had to say. While Hope County was rich in resources, more exotic foods and ingredients were almost impossible to get this deep into the Montana wilderness.

Nate was just about done when he heard the bed room door open. Out walked a mostly clothed Jess. She was wearing her jeans and her signature green hoodie but had neglected to put on the shirt she usually wears underneath it, showing off her some things black bra.

"Well that's smells delicious. Oh by the way, have you seen my bow? I can't remember what I did with it last night." She said grabbing her omelet while Nate put out food gorgeous Boomer and Peaches.

"Yeah I put it over there with my weapons." He said walking over to the massive weapon rack that took up the entire wall. Now Nate had always had a healthy respect for firearms, but ever since he had started fighting the Seed family he had developed what most would consider a obsession with the them. He however just considered himself a collector of all things built to put good sized holes in someone and it wasn't like he didn't use them. He had gotten well acquainted with all of them though out his misadventures.

He picked up the recurve bow and turned around to hand it to Jess only to see her staring in confusion at something over his shoulder.

"What in the ever living fuck is that thing?"

Looking to see what she was staring at when realization hit. "Oh that, it was a thank you gift from Hurk. He saw how good I had gotten at killing peggies with a shovel and combined it with one his rocket launchers."

"He made a shovel launcher?" She said with a raised eyebrow.

"Yep, no clue if it works though. I was thinking of tricking Sharky into using it first, just in case it explodes. You see I have this plan where I lure a few-"

"Rook! Rook come in!" Nate's radio went off and Mary's voice coming through.

Hurrying over he grabbed the radio and contacted the bar owner. "Rook here, what going on? Another cult attack?"

"Don't know yet. A few hunters saw a bunch of SUV's driving along in what looked like a convoy and they were heading towards Falls End. It doesn't look like peggies but it's best if you there as back up, just in case."

"Alright, I'll grab my stuff and be there in a few minutes. Rook out."

He glanced at his untouched omelet and sighed as he shoved the whole thing into his mouth, sad he couldn't really enjoy it.

"Hey," Jess called out. He glanced back to see her put on her undershirt and grabbing a quiver of arrows. "You mind if I tag along? It's been way to long since I've killed anything."

Nate shot her smile, one with a hidden viciousness to it. Nate had always considered himself a good man and at first hated the killing, but as the fighting with the cult escalated he had become apathetic to the death of his enemies. But after Jacob and everything he had been put through, a small part of him had learned to enjoy the bloodshed and it was difficult to hide that fact from the others. Hid it away from everyone, except Jess because she would just smile right back.

"Sure. You know what I always say, the more the merrier."

…

Wow, I think this the single biggest piece of writing I have ever done. Now this was obviously all set up with a healthy dose of information dump to have the black lagoon cast and readers know more about the far cry cast.

Now next chapter is the meeting worlds and there might be some fighting, there might not. Now please leave a review and suggestions for possible events in the story you would like to see, I just might put it in.

Love you guys, bye!